the list of 9 for november 4, 2003:
NINE THINGS I LEARNED WHILE MAKING "CLAUSTROPHOBIA"
Most filmmakers will tell you that making their first feature is hard. What's funny is that a lotof people assume that somehow the second feature will be easier. My stock answer to that is thatit's like assuming one's second marriage will be easier than the first. You walk into it a littlewiser from your earlier experiences, but it's such a different animal that you quickly find thatfew of the same rules apply. I learned this especially with Claustrophobia. It wasdifferent in so many ways from Foreign Correspondents. It was mostly self-funded, I was myown producer, it was shot digitally, mostly in one location with a small cast and a budget arounda tenth of the first film's. All smart decisions. But still, there were things I learned. To thosebudding young filmmakers reading this, I hope to impart some of my newfound, if still limited, wisdom onto you.
- WHEN WORKING WITH SAG, USE THE MODIFIED LOW BUDGETAGREEMENT. The Screen Actors Guild has many budget levels that filmmakers can workwith, when employing union actors as I did. I used the Limited Exhibition Agreement, which meansyou pay the actors just a little up front, and you only pay them more if you find a distributor.Well, I found a distributor, and wound up paying much more than if I had gone with the ModifiedLow Budget Agreement, where you pay the actors more up front, but owe them no deferred salarieslater on. The risk with the latter is that if your film goes nowhere, you're out of luck. However,I had such headaches due to SAG's ill-planned discrepencies between the Limited Exhibitionagreement and the agreement I was "bumped up to" upon distribution. It's not worth going intohere, but I invite all filmmakers who want to work with SAG to contact me with questions. By theway, there is an interesting trend in hiring SAG talent and then not dealing with SAG.Write to me about that too!
- AUDITION EVERYBODY. I'll go on the record as beingextremely happy with all the performances in Claustrophobia. But the funny thing is, of the12 actors who received screen credit - everybody from the main stars to a corpse - only 2 of themactually read for their parts. That's so risky. It would have been beneficial to all involved ifevery last actor auditioned before they were cast, just to see where the strengths and weaknesseslied. Next time for sure.
- STAY CLOSE TO THE CAST. This was entirely my fault.Because we were all cramped together in one house, often there was no space for me to be near theactors while filming, so I had to sit in the next room and watch the action on a monitor. Thismade a difference when communicating with the cast. I think by being physically close to theactors, you don't seem as detached and aloof (a distant voice calling out from the next room), andthey may respond to your direction more readily.
- EDIT IN A QUIET ROOM. My editor and I worked on aPowerBook that, while a trustworthy computer, also had a very loud fan. Often we couldn't hearlittle subtle noises in the background of each scene, and they came up later during the moreexpensive sound editing process. Next time, I'll do what I can to edit in a completely silentspace, so we can pick up any "Action!"s or airplanes or car alarms. Couldn't hear any of that crapover the fan.
- VIDEOTAPE YOUR LOCATIONS BEFORE YOU SHOOT THERE. This isnot to see how said locations will look on film. This is to make sure you have documented allexisting damages in said locations before you set up heavy equipment or bring in a crew!Basically, there were a lot of reported damages to the house where we shot Claustrophobiaafter we finished, and I had doubts as to their validity since I never saw whether those scratchesand dings were there before we arrived. That created major problems that actually became legalissues with the homeowner. Everything worked out, but what a nightmare. Document everything beforesetting up production, just like how you should report any dents in your rental car before youdrive it off the lot.
- SCREW PRO TOOLS. Pro Tools is the number-one audio editingsoftware in both professional film and music worlds. However, I found it unwieldly, unfriendly andunpredictable. It did nothing that my editor and I couldn't have done more quickly, cheaply, andeasily with Final Cut Pro. Pro Tools, you stink. And your days are numbered.
- PAL TO NTSC STILL INTERLACES. Okay, I can see the eyesglazing over for all readers who are not techies. Hey, I'm not either. But the whole point of ourshooting on European PAL video as opposed to American NTSC was to get a more "cinematic" look inthe transfer. We got that look with a cheap piece of conversion software. We lost it when Itook the PAL master to a professional transfer house to do it "right"! Fact is, both video formatsinterlace, and thus both formats will look like, well, home video. Thankfully we now have allthese fancy 24 frame-per-second digital cameras that do NOT interlace their video frames, and thuslook for all the world like film.
- WORK CLOSELY WITH YOUR STILLS PHOTOGRAPHER. Every movieneeds lots of good photos for publicity, posters, newspaper ads, etc. A good stills photographeris on set every day and takes photos of the action as it will look in the finished movie. These arefar more useful than "behind the scenes" pics, candids, or staged photos. And please, shoot thosestills on film, not digitally. You'd be surprised at how many film festivals still want slides or8 by 10 glossies.
- BE IN A HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP WHEN FILMING. Personalinsecurity rides high when making a movie. I got dumped a couple of weeks before we shotClaustrophobia and that wreaked havoc on my self-confidence. (Note: I later wound upmarrying that girl.) You'll need your romantic partner by your side while you go insane for a fewweeks. Make sure everything is happy and good before taking the plunge into production, then buythem a fancy dinner when it's all over as a reward for their patience. Either that or just staysingle.
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