Stand-Out Shorts
Stand-Out Shorts
Shooting and Sharing Your Films Online
Russell Evans
Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier
30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Burlington, MA 01803, USA
The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford, OX5 1GB, UK
© 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Details on how to seek permission, further information about the Publisher’s permissions policies and our arrangements with organizations such as the Copyright Clearance Center and the Copyright Licensing Agency, can be found at our website: www.elsevier.com/permissions.
This book and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by the Publisher (other than as may be noted herein).
Notices
Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become necessary.
Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.
To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Application submitted
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-0-240-81210-6
For information on all Focal Press publications visit our website at www.elsevierdirect.com
Printed in the United States of America
10 11 12 13 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Why Make Movies?
Thanks
Start Here
Quotes
How to Use This Book
Section 1 Prep
Chapter 1 Ideas
Chapter 2 Buying a Camera
Chapter 3 Scriptwriting
Chapter 4 Budgets
Chapter 5 Designing Your Movie
Chapter 6 Cast and Crew Online
Chapter 7 Previz
Chapter 8 Script Breakdown and Shot List
Chapter 9 Law and the Movies
Chapter 10 Working with Locations
Chapter 11 Brief Directory of All the Paperwork You Need
Section 2 Shoot
Chapter 12 Using a Camcorder
Chapter 13 Shooting
Chapter 14 Continuity
Chapter 15 Manage Your Production: Be a Producer
Chapter 16 Lighting
Chapter 17 Sound Recording
Chapter 18 Health and Safety
Section 3 Cut
Chapter 19 Your Home Editing Studio
Chapter 20 Pre-edit Footage Viewing
Chapter 21 Editing Methods: Narrative Continuity
Chapter 22 Editing Methods: Montage
Chapter 23 Audio Editing
Chapter 24 Foley
Chapter 25 Screening for Feedback
Section 4 Share Online
Chapter 26 Create a YouTube Hit
Chapter 27 Web Your Movie
Chapter 28 Your Web Plan
Chapter 29 Social Networking
Chapter 30 Create Your Own Web Series
Chapter 31 Your Online Publicity Kit
Chapter 32 Online Screening and Festivals
Section 5 Make Any Movie
Chapter 33 Genre: Drama
Chapter 34 Genre: Horror
Chapter 35 Sci-fi
Chapter 36 Comedy
Chapter 37 Drama: Noir/Thriller
Chapter 38 Documentary
Chapter 39 Music Promo
Chapter 40 Citizens News/Video Journalist
Chapter 41 (Extreme) Sports Movie
Chapter 42 Drama: War Film
Chapter 43 Freecording
Chapter 44 Road Movie
Chapter 45 Drama: Western
Chapter 46 Howcast
Section 6 Make It Happen: Schedules
Chapter 47 Slacker Schedule
Chapter 48 48-Hour Film Schedule: Make a 5-Minute Film in 48 Hours
Chapter 49 7-Day Schedule
Chapter 50 28-Day Schedule
Index
For more content such as additional chapters and interviews please visit the companion site at: http://booksite focalpress com/companion/Evans/stand-out/
Register using the passcode: shorts106
Why Make Movies?
When George Lucas’ car hit a walnut tree just after his eighteenth birthday he thought maybe he should do something with his life after all. His Fiat Bianchina left the track, he was thrown clear, and the walnut tree was shifted three feet by the impact.
What happened that June 12th 1962 changed the course of the future director’s life forever, a sudden jolt that threw him out of his small-town life and into a whole new direction. And it’s kind of like what happened to filmmakers when affordable digital video arrived. One minute you know where you are headed – along a familiar and well-worn road – and the next you’re traveling at high speed through the air into the middle of a wide open plain. No more slow road, no more road markings and no landmarks. DV meant that you could cut to the chase, pick up your camera, no cash needed, and make that movie. Then show it around the world. Suddenly the horizon was wide open, and that old slow road looked very slow indeed.
So, if that’s what today’s filmmakers have at their disposal, how is it being used? Is everyone making digital masterpieces? Not quite. Some just drive round in circles with their new-found DV tools. Like any new territory, most people don’t really know where to go and after a while start to long for the old certain places to go, even if it was slower traveling that way.
But you know that whatever technology you use, you still need passion and soul to make any movie. The biggest asset you have is your own unique way of seeing the world, and the more your films get shared on the web, the more you find other people who see things your way.
Thanks
There are a lot of people who have made this book possible, from the many film students I’ve worked with, to the filmmakers around the world who have taken time to tell me how they work and part with their hard-won tips for every aspect of making a movie. People who make films tend to be extremely generous with their time, maybe aware of how tough it was for them when they were starting out, and they responded to the request to tell what they have learned with enthusiasm. Some of them are film students themselves, others famous directors such as Nick Broomfield, but they all had the same positive response when I asked them to share their practical experiences.
A big thank you to: Preston Randolph; Nick Broomfield; Kerry David; Ben Rutkowski; Ben Winter; Derek Flagge; Gary Teperman; Nick Cox in LA; R. Gesualdo in Florida; Walter Murch; Elliot Grove; Anne Aghion; the talented Chance Brothers, Richard and John; Jason Korsner; Oscar Knott; Armen Antranikian; Blanca Escoda; Ryan Bilsborrow-Koo; Elliot Bristow; Lee Philips; Kevin Powis; Til Mustapha; Mohamed Al-Daradji; Ashvin Kumar; Dewi Griffiths; Stacey Harr
ison; Ray Gower; Catbus; Neville Steenson; Gus Berger. And to Gavin Evans for knowing all the good movies.
Thank you to Focal Press, and in particular Elinor Actipis for relentlessly pursuing this project with me over the last few years. Thanks for your belief! Also, editor Chris Simpson has been calm, patient and always on the end of the phone to gradually guide the project through. Thanks are due also to my editors on the several filmmaking magazines I worked on over the years, particularly Practical DV, for sending me great ideas to work on, some of which inspired a few chapters in this book.
Finally, a big thank you to Wendy Klein, for your constant support and inspired ideas, and to Esme, Zoe and Alfie just for being around.
Start Here
Why read this book?
This book says that making movies is no different from any other creative work – you really can just pick up a camera and start to create something, just like you do with music, dancing or acting. You don’t wait to be told you’re good enough, you just do it. And you don’t have to do things “the right way,” you just have to do it your way. Use this book to find out what works for most people, then go ahead and add your own ideas.
The big advances we look back on as the greatest moments in the movies have only come about by people rejecting “the right way” and instead doing it “their way”: special effects were invented by director Georges Méliès messing around with cameras and doing what cameras weren’t supposed to do; the great Russian editors’ invention of montage trashed every editing idea; and a 24-year old Orson Welles knew almost nothing about filmmaking except what he saw in his head, ending up with what was the number 1 critics’ movie for half a century.
You don’t have to read a dozen heavy manuals on making films, or go to film school, or be a genius director. Just find out the essential knowledge you need and start.
That’s why this book is as skinny as possible. It’s a distillation of the stuff you need to know, packed into a small space. Sure, you can get filmmaking advice on the web, but what this book does is use real experience, real interviews and tried and tested ideas and techniques to offer the simplest, most direct way to get started making movies. And it’s all in one place, just the main stuff you need to know, nothing more, nothing less.
Once you start, your journey leads to more ambitious projects – longer movies, serials, or bigger productions. When you are through with this book, carry on by finding out more from other books, film school or jobs, and burrow deep into the world of technical and artistic knowledge. But for now, shoot your shorts and share them, finding out what sort of filmmaker you are.
Quotes
“Just make it.”
“Don’t worry about technical quality for your first film so much and put the emphasis on the creative aspects – the writing, the performing, the shooting. Because people are most interested in fresh voices, not whether films look expensive or not.”
“Don’t let instructors and classmates impede you from being yourself, even if your ideas defy convention.”
“Show your film in as many places as you can and watch it with audiences in order to learn from your mistakes.”
“Make a second film.”
Nick Cox, filmmaker, Los Angeles
“Whatever part of the filmmaking process you decide is your path, only attach yourself to projects you are truly passionate about. If you are a writer, write something that captivates you, as a director take on projects that you know need your imprint. I believe that it is passion and tenacity that gets a project to the big screen and the person who has the most passion and tenacity pushes their project past the finish line.
“Enjoy the process. Relish the journey. Don’t take yourself too seriously and appreciate the people around you and what they bring to the project – no film gets made alone and, take it from me, it feels much better to accept awards for your films with your friends from the project right there with you.”
Kerry David, producer, My Date With Drew, USA
“A lot of filmmaking is putting the time in, having the patience to make it great. It’s not about being a genius, it’s about going that extra mile and digging as deep as you can, not giving up and being persistent.”
Nick Broomfield, director, Battle for Haditha, UK
How to Use This Book
Stand-Out Shorts is in four parts:
How to make movies
How to share movies online
What movie to make
How to make sure your movie happens
The first part is made up of three sections (Prep, Shoot, and Cut) and has all the technical and practical stuff you need to know, and the way to make the films you want. It’s designed to be accessed easily, avoiding long chunks of text, so you can quickly scan it to find out whether you even need it or not.
Right after the technical know-how, there is a section on sharing online. Whatever kind of film you make, this gives you a detailed guide to preparing your film for the web, creating a buzz around it, and making the most of what’s out there, from festivals to network sites. This gives you a real-world plan to get viewers for your movies.
The next section is all about the different movies you might want to make. There’s a mix of genre movies and popular online tags. Each one gives you a dip inside what that movie is and what people today expect from it, plus all the practical tips you need like what equipment to borrow, who to call up to help you and what can inspire you. There’s also an outline of what that movie needs to be like to fit in with today’s audiences. Movies change over time and what was OK once might be strictly passé now. Find out how to make sure your movie doesn’t look dated or clichéd.
Finally, to help your stand-out short stand up, there are a few schedules. These have been put together from years of working with new filmmakers and students, looking at what people need to do and what they can ignore. There’s a schedule for a quick 48-hour movie – very popular in film competitions around the world – and one-week and one-month projects. If none of those work, there’s one to fit around you when you get the time to shoot.
And when you’re through with the book, make sure you check out www. standoutshorts.com to get free updates and additions to the book. It’ll keep the book alive and up-to-date.
A FEW MORE THINGS
There are a lot of graphic bits in the text, words in bold, and icons. Most books have straight text, but this one knows you might be in a hurry, so you can read it in two ways. First, you can go at it straight, like a regular book, and read it from start to finish. Or you can scan the page for the bold text or graphics and pick up a bare-bones version. It’s like having the essentials of the essentials.
In each section you’ll see interviews and quotes from people who make films. All these have been given to me personally for this book, with everyone kindly responding to questions about every aspect of making movies, sharing their real experience for other filmmakers.
There are also parts called “Second Opinion.” These give you an opposite point of view about what was just said in a chapter. That’s because sometimes you need to have all sides of a story, not just what some people say is the right way. In filmmaking there are big differences in the ways people do things – yes or no to tripods, storyboards, or effects, using real or artificial light and so on – and any book that says there’s only one way is out of step with the real world.
Although this book takes a pop at traditional methods of filmmaking, it’s not anti-film school. If you are in a film school with some great, inspirational teachers and professors, then use this book to accompany what they say. They’ll also be talking from experience, just like the filmmakers in this book.
Section One: Prep
PREP YOUR MOVIE
You’ve got the urge to make a movie. You might not know what it’s about yet, but you’ve got something to say and you want people to hear it. This section has 11 chapters designed to guide you through the essentials of planning and preparing your movie as neatly as possi
ble and with minimum hassle.
Chapter 1: Ideas. This one helps you figure out where your thoughts lie, what sort of movie would suit you and how to develop it into a more solid form.
Chapter 2: Buying a Camera. Need to know what cam to get or even whether to get one at all? Use this checklist to make sure you know what to ask for from your store.
Chapter 3: Scriptwriting. Now that you’ve got the idea looking strong, try it out as a script. Here’s how to avoid clichés and try a few different methods to find what suits you.
Chapter 4: Budgets. How to make sure you don’t get sunk by your movie, and how to get stuff for free.
Chapter 5: Designing Your Movie. Give your film your own particular style, and create the image and feel you want.
Chapter 6: Cast and Crew Online. Next up, you’ll need to find people to work with. How to create the right email postings to attract crew and cast and make sure you keep them.
Chapter 7: Previz. That’s the part where you plan how it’s going to look, scene by scene. Find out how to create detailed images of your movie – even if you can’t draw.
Chapter 8: Script Breakdown and Shot List. This can be dull, so it’s short and painless here. Make it so everyone knows where to be and when.
Chapter 9: Law and the Movies. They always win, so avoid getting stung by The Man by making sure your movie is legit from music to story to extras.
Chapter 10: Working with Locations. Working anywhere but your home turf can be stressful. Use this guide to make sure you choose the right place and get the most out of it.
Stand-Out Shorts Page 1
