How to Make a Short Film: Surviving Your First Day of Filming

The first day of shooting a short film—or any film—can suck. Here’s how I learned to make it suck less.

Chillin' on set waiting for the action (Rachel Kyle, Jennifer Verzuh)

At the point you are on your first day of shooting to make your dream project you have somehow convinced/conned a bunch of people to believe, a) you have a story worth telling and b) that you’re capable of leading that story to screen—keeping all the spinning plates in the air on set and managing every crisis that comes up. But when you get to set you prove you either can or you can’t, you either get the shot or you don’t.

Sometimes a sword is just the answer to your problems

And even when it's not it's awesome.

My first day filming my first short film (Kelly vs ThePhilosophers) was one crisis management after another. We had lost one of our costume people the other night and so the costumes hadn’t been tested. We were left with costumes that didn’t work and hadn’t been tried on the actors. Several actors had to pitch in to pull stuffing out of jackets or run back to their apartments nearby to try on different sets of outfits. Because the DPs and I didn’t thoroughly block things out beforehand, a lot of actors who came in their timeslots had to wait around for us to be ready. This was frustrating for them and stressful for me. (Remember this, guys? Ahhh good times.)

No, this is an actual scene. The set didn't come to blows. (Marry Cassella, Rachel Kyle)

But it worked out. Here’s what I learned.

Lesson #1. Do pre-production right. Almost all of these things would have been avoided if I put more work into pre-production. I’ve learned you can almost never do too much with pre-production. If we had planned out for costumes to be done long before, if I had planned more blocking of the scenes before the actors were there, things would have gone more smoothly.

Lesson #2. Work with forgiving people. It makes so much a difference when you're starting out--or anytime--to have friends who love you working with you. Because these were all my friends—as well as great at their jobs—everyone was on my side and wanted to make things work. During the whole debacle, I didn’t have one person act angry with me, annoyed with me, or give me a hard time. Everyone was helpful and supportive.

I say this over and over, but there is probably no better lesson to learn than that the people you work with matter. As a filmmaker your film family is your closest family for the time you’re filming. And if you can build as great a film family as I did not only will your filming suck less—life will suck less.  In fact, it will be great.

Lara Jane, Rachel Kyle, showing what we all feel.

Love all you guys. You are the reason that first day--and every day--didn't suck. It was amazing. 

Josh Shabshis, Hope Epperson, Alex Foley

How To Make a Short Film: Make Their Dreams Come True

So long guys. What an amazing journey it's been.
(Photo Cred: Tianna Halldorson)

This past Saturday I finished my last day of shooting a short film with King’s Image Films (KIF). KIF is a student filmmaking organization I started back in fall of 2013 as a sophomore. Now, as a senior, I am preparing to walk away.

It made me so happy to watch my KIF family taking charge of things. The short film was from a script by a freshman, Rachel Sheldon, directed by another freshman, Ashley Morris, cinematography and sound were done by two of my best friends and loyal exec team Tianna Halldorson and Deryka Tso. I am president of the filmmaking org but I was simply there to make sure everything went smoothly and everyone was okay. Soon, I will be graduating and no longer president. One of these people will be the new guy in charge. I feel a lot like a dad watching his teenage daughter leave for college.

Left to Right: Zeke Ward (star), Ashley Morris, Rachel Sheldon,
Deryka Tso, Me, Tianna Halldorson
(Photo Cred: Tianna Halldorson)

My KIF filmmaking family is the best. They are hard-working, talented, passionate and full of love for the film medium. They know how to laugh through the crazy production problems, improvise, encourage each other, and just tell amazing stories in a short film. It was and is a privilege to know them and work with them. I started this club so that people like them could learn to be the best filmmaker they could be in a community that loved and supported them.

When you’re a filmmaker you often get caught up in our own vision. It’s about me. My story I want to tell. My short film. My dream. But we forget that we inevitably bring other people with us. Other people dedicate their time, talent, to make our filmmaking dreams a reality. And in indie films, they’re not doing it for the money. They are not doing it for your dream. They are doing it because—for some reason—they have decided it is their dream as well.

You want to be a great filmmaker? Make other people’s dreams come true. Give that actress the role of the lifetime. Give that cinematographer the best stuff to shoot. Help that screenwriter make the best script she can. Be the person who allows them to be their best filmmaking self. And they will always come back to work with you again. And you will find something more precious than that by the end.

Remember Mad Max: Fury Road? That movie won every technical award for filmmaking there was to win at the Academy Awards. George Miller, the guy who made all that possible, didn’t get nominated for best director. But he made a space for other people to be geniuses who won awards. And everyone who did is glad they worked with them. Same with your short films.

Your film—short film or not—is not just about your dream. If you learn that, you will not just be a filmmaker or succeed at filmmaking. You will gain a family. Without even knowing what you're doing.

Six Things You Need to Make Your First Movie

So you want to be a filmmaker. You were born with a camera in your hand yelling "action" when you wanted your parents to feed you (which may explain why they never supported your dream) You have the talent and the will, but where do you start? What stuff do you need in your utility belt before you can put together your film?

I was once where you are. I had next to no experience in film and little to no connection to the industry. I had to make do with what I had and fumble along until I came to a reasonable place. I haven't made it yet. (I have still have not won my first Oscar. Yet, if Leo can, there's hope.) But I've come a long way and I want to share with you the benefits of my experience.

Ready to go on the journey with me?

For those going on the journey to the Mordor that is the independent film industry, here is the checklist of indispensable things you need to bring on your way. They won't make the journey easy. But without them, it won't even be possible.


1. A CAMERA

If there is one thing that you need by definition to make a film, it is a video camera. A movie without moving images is simply not a movie. It's a photograph or a radio show or the sound of one hand clapping. Now, this doesn't have to be an expensive one. If you let an old-timey filmmaker or film nut talk long enough they will talk about how "everyone can make movies on their phone now"--which to me is basically endorsing the use of phones to make your first movies. Now, the better your camera, the better your movie will look. But if you're just starting out and all you have is an iPhone 6, don't let that keep the world from experiencing your life-changing work. (I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt, here.)

The beautiful thing is, if you've got a camera, and you go out and shoot footage, you are a filmmaker. You have found a way of looking at the world that no one else has and found a way to show it to others.

Well done. Now keep reading.

2. EDITING SOFTWARE

Unless the movie you are making is one long take with no cuts, you need some way to edit your different shots together. Again, the better the software the better your work will be. But until you can afford to buy Adobe Premiere (or unless you want to go old school and cut and paste actual film), feel free to start small. If you're doing simple, short videos for quick upload to the internet, "KnowMe" is a great video editing App. If you have no other options, I will allow you to use iMovie or Windows Media Player. Just don't let anyone know you used them.

Ever.

Trust me.

Lie, if you have to.

It's not worth it.

3. INCOME



Real talk: you will not be making money on your movies right away. Probably never. But I don't want to take away all your hope. Because then you might stop reading my blog. And, anyway, if I'm deluding myself that I can make it it's not fair for me to not delude you too.

Regardless, at first you will not be making money off of it. So you will need some other source of money. Whether it is your parents while you're in school (Thanks, Mom! :) ) or a day job when you graduate, your your parents after you get fired, you will need food and shelter until somebody discovers your brilliant work at Sundace. So be sure you find a good job or good parents until that happens.

4. THE INTERNET



The internet is where you find how to properly format your script. It's where you can do research for you story. It's where you can get educated in filmmaking techniques without going to school. It's where you can share your movies on youtube or submit it to festivals. It's where you download software. Basically, unless you know people who can teach you, give you stuff, and show your film to others, you need the internet.

5. FRIENDS



You can't pay people yet. So who's going to be in your films? Yup, your buddies who like you enough to stand around for hours in a silly looking outfit while you frame the right shot. These are the people who will--if, God willing, they get into the film industry later--will give you the opportunities you need to get in yourself. They will be doing it because they like you. Does nobody like you? Find people to like you. And it will only work if they like you before you need something from them. Every great opportunity I had was because of someone who liked me and wanted to help me out. Because I needed a lot of it.

But that's another blog post.


6. LOVE



But the most important thing you need is love. You need to love making films; you need to be unable to imagine not making them. If you love it that much you'll find a way to get the other things.

Making movies is a hard business. You have to be willing to work long and hard. You have to be willing to embarrass yourself and call in favors and let other people laugh at you. When you've organized everything and then everything falls apart and everyone blames you and thinks badly of you, you have to think it was worth it. When you are spending your weekends on getting that last shot because it will make the movie that much better instead of sleeping in and hanging with your friends, you have to think it was worth it.

Here are two things every filmmaker knows: making movies sucks. And it's totally worth it.

If you guys are still here, congrats. You might just be filmmakers. Follow me. Mordor isn't going to conquer itself.