Indie Film Advice!

One time, this guy asked me to give him advice about filming an indie film. I was hesitant at first, but I still squirted out a few pointers. Here's what I wrote:

For starters, let me just say that I'm not the best guy to talk to about this. Not because I don't know a lot about cinema, but because I do things my way, which sometimes isn't always the best way.

My first movie, Affinity Point, cost around 680$ (400$ of that amount were in train tickets). The reason for my budget being miniscule: I'm good at cutting costs. I also wanted to prove to myself that I didn't need any grant money. Because, frankly, grant money is a form of control. Especially in Canada, when the content/plot of the film is what gets you the money. Unfortunately, my film is a little too controversial and would fall through the cracks, while a boring Inuit film, for example, would easily get funding. So, if you plan on making an expensive movie, get funding from friends and/or family or even yourself.

Here are the things I learned while doing my first movie:

1. The most IMPORTANT thing is the script. Period. If you have a sucky script, it won't fly. When I started my movie, I had written a second draft of my first unfinished screenplay. I thought filming it would make it all come together. BIG MISTAKE. My script needed at least another draft. The problems this caused were many and the only way we could solve them is with 11 re-shoots.

2. Make sure your principal actors are good. If you're making a zombie movie, the acting is not THAT important. But if the screenplay has complex emotions, you'll need people who really know how to convey something other than fear, happiness and anger. A bad actor can fuck up a screenplay. I made the mistake of casting myself in one of the lead roles in my movie, but that was something I had to do because I was/am reliable. So, one less guy to call. BUT, directing and acting is difficult when you're doing it at the same time. Especially, the first time. So, if you plan on having a big role in your movie, make sure you have a good director/friend who can direct you. Or give yourself a smaller role (like Quentin Tarantino does in his movies).

As for the other actors: Just ask friends and family. 75% of people can act if they have a director who knows what he wants. Just work with them. Casting is also important in the sense that you should cast people who are at least close to the character you want them to play. You have to visualize them saying the dialogue.

3. Overshoot everything! If an actor is saying a line of dialogue, make him repeat it various ways. Make sure you have enough takes to at least have a good one. One of the mistakes that indie films do is not focus on the acting. But the acting is what makes the audience believe. (Thank god Kevin Smith's 'Clerks' had a great script, because the acting was terrible) Because of my mediocre acting ability, I had to re-shoot a lot of intense scenes. Those re-shoots were the rehearsal I should of had, but was too confident to do beforehand. Acting is not easy for a lot of people, and they should not take that stuff lightly.

4. Make sure your camera is good enough for what you want to do. Sure, a camcorder looks alright on tv, but try blowing it up on a huge movie screen. It's ugly as shit. You don't need an amazing film camera. Just make sure it's not from Radio Shack. You can rent awesome cameras, but if you plan on using it a lot, I would recommend buying one. It'll cost you something between 2000$-10000$. But it'll be worth it. If you DO rent, make sure it's for the weekend. Because on the weekend you get a good deal (an extra day).

5. Use a boom mic for the dialogue scenes. Not using a boom was one of my biggest mistakes. I recorded all the scenes with the camera's shotgun mic, which is good, but not good enough. Always use a boom mic for dialogue scenes. Especially if it's outside.

6. Keep your crew small and trustworthy. Don't pretend to be a big hollywood production. It'll only end up pissing you off. If people are not getting paid, they don't care as much as YOU do. So I recommend doing as much as you can yourself.

7. Make sure your first movie is not to hard to make. Keep it as simple as you can. My film was a little too overly ambitious, which was sometimes annoying, but iI knew I could do it. Know your limitations.

8. Don't bother asking for permits, just film where you want until you get thrown out. THEN ask for a permit. There's a lot of ways to do trick shots. So try to film as many close ups as you can elsewhere, and when it comes time to film on a risky location you'll just have the wide shots to do. (this is when storyboards come in handy)

If you plan on shooting in a cafe, for example, just ask the owner. Most of the time, they're ok with you filming there. A lot of immigrants love cinema, so it's usually very easy to film in corner stores and shops owned by arabs and hindu people. They love to promote their businesses. (of course, this is generally speaking)

9. Always do storyboards. It helps. Sometimes you'll forget a shot, and then you'll have to call all the actors and the crew back to film that one shot. Storyboards also help cameramen to see what you want in a shot. I usually storyboard on location before a scene, because I'm a fast drawer and the location sometimes effects the shots.

10. Don't treat the audience like idiots. Most of the time, the audience is WAY ahead of you, so keep the story moving and complex. Audiences don't use their minds as much as they would want, and when they do, it's like a brain orgasm!

11. Make sure you know how to shoot and edit dialogue scenes. This is in fact the hardest thing I learned while making my movie: dialogue scenes are hard to do. Even more so than action, because everything is relative. Make sure to watch movies to see how they edit their dialogue scenes. It's not easy.

12. Don't be scared to improvise every aspect of the production. (acting, camera movement, editing. etc) Sometimes reality presents a better option than the ideas you had in your head. Hear people out too. Sometimes actors and crew members have better ideas.

13. Let the characters determine the story and not the other way around. It quite obvious when the screenplay is tugging at the plot. If you want a character to start here and end up there, you gotta find a way to make that transition smooth. People need to forget that the characters are controlled by a script. A good example of a bad 'character controlling' script is Jon Avnet's '88 Minutes'. EVERY scene is plot driven and fake. it's so annoying!

A good example of blurred plot strings are the fantastic movies are 'Jacob's Ladder' and 'Primal Fear'. Both need to bring you and the characters at a certain point, but do it in an entertaining subtle way.

14. Make sure you have good lighting. It's easier to darken a scene that is too bright, but almost impossible to brighten a scene that is too dark. You don't need expensive lights to accomplish what you want. Just test out various ideas you have. I like to use as much location light as possible, but sometimes there's not enough light, so make sure to bring your own. A Kino Flow comes in handy sometimes too. Make sure to use the right bulbs: Blue is for outside, yellow is for inside.

15. Make sure the action in the movie is realistic. Indie horror movies tend to show the action way too much. Example: when a zombie gets his head cut off the shot should be a half a second, but since they're proud of their special effect, they leave the shot longer to make sure the audience sees the details. Fuck that! Human brains can handle fast cutting, so make the action in real time and as realistic as possible. (if you plan on making a serious film)

16. Schedule right. Start off with the easy stuff first, then as the shooting progresses, it should get harder and harder. For the first month of shooting my movie, we only shot characters walking around and doing physical stuff. (non-dialogue scenes) By the time we got to the hard scenes, the crew and the actors were prepared.

Film as many scenes as you can in a day. And if you have 5 scenes in one location, try to shoot them all in a day.

17. Finally, the biggest mistake filmmakers do is WAIT. That's a big mistake! Don't wait! Pick up the camera and film. Once you get the ball rolling you'll gain momentum, and you'll be less scared to take chances with your movie. Don't even wait for money or even the actors. Just start. At least you'll have something that you didn't have the day before: footage.