How I Made My Biggest Short Film in Three Days

How do you film a 20 minute epic fantasy adventure short film in three days with no budget while you’re in school? 

If you said blackmail, slave labor, or sell your soul to the devil, then you're a horrible person. Also, you are probably a filmmaker. Also, have you been reading my notes?

Also, can I introduce you to this guy?

(If you didn’t get that joke it means you haven’t seen the short film yet. Which you can rectify below and then read it again to laugh uproariously. )

I did this question back when I made my last student film Happy Never After. After filming my previous film over six weekends in a schedule that made everyone involved hate life (and me) and pray for the I they knew would not come I decided to try a different strategy: one, breakneck pace weekend where we work like crazy and get everything done. As crazy as it sounded--and it sounded Joker, Annie Wilkies, and Norman bates on a road trip in a stopped car crazy--it worked. What I learned helped me learn the best ways to use your time best to get the most from your crew in the shortest amount of time.

1. Preplan, preplan, preplan.

Everything that went right that weekend went well because we pre-planned things well. Everything that went wrong went wrong because we didn’t pre-plan enough. The Cinematographer, Forest Erwin, and I went over the vision for the look of the film and the shots and scenes beforehand so we knew exactly what we were shooting, where, when, and for how long. We figured out we could save so much time if we divided our shoot into everything we filmed in the FiDi (Ron/Sarah’s coffee meeting, flashback, walk by the water) Day 1, the chapel scene Day 2, and everything else in Brooklyn (zombie chase, funeral, party) Day 3. This served us amazingly well. This meant everyone knew where they should be when and for how long and could plan their other stuff accordingly.

2. Have dedicated people.

You can’t convince people to give up so much of their weekend for free unless they really want to be there. Nobody will do it unless they really like you or really like your idea. Fortunately, I had both. I had made a lot of amazing friends while at school who wanted to work with me, and a great script I'd written that people loved. My cinematographer was excited about the project, my actor friends were excited about it. Everyone wanted to make it work and so they put in the work to make sure it did. They even convinced their friends and family to be on the project too. Most of the extras where there because of our line-producer, Deryka Tso. We got the church because of Forest. If they didn't, the movie could not have happened. So make friends and have a good script is the lesson here. 

Was it hard? It was hard, but selling your soul to the devil is more costly in the long run. 

Don't ask me how I know.

What say you? What are stories you have about making a film at a breakneck pace on no budget? Let me know in the comments.

How to Make a Short Film: Working with Your Editor

Benjamin Capitano (left) and Joseph Holmes (right). Director/editor dream team.

Editors are one of your most important collaborators as a filmmaker trying to make a short film. So how do you work with them well?

A film editor has incredible creative power over the final film product. It’s been said—not inaccurately—that a different editor gives you a different movie. A bad editor can make a good product look cheap and trashy. A talented and skilled editor can make a film look professional and exciting. (Provided you’ve given him or her something to work with; they are not magic. I don’t think. I sometimes wonder. I’ve had some amazing editors.) When you make your short film, you really need to have the good kind. I was blessed to have one of the best, Benjamin Capitano, work with me on my first short film Kelly vs The Philosophers. 

It's about college students. Fighting philosophers. With textbooks. And dropkicks. 

Here is what I learned on how to help a good editor do his best to give you a great final cut of your short film.

#1. Bring them in at the beginning. This is especially true on a smaller film, the editor is going to have a lot of say in the aesthetic of the film. So it’s good to get them on board and inspired with the vision in the pre-production stages. Ben Capitano doubled as a creative developer and the two of us had a blast going to comic shops and watching Scott Pilgrim vs The World as research. (I swear it was research.)

I'm serious! Debating for hours whether Romona or Knives is better for Scott is critical research for my film!

#2. Give it to them Organized. Once we got all the footage and audio compiled, I dumped it all on Ben like a pile of dirty laundry. Prompting a “uhhhhhh what is this?” to which I naturally replied “But aren’t u majik?” to which Ben calmly played Scotty to my Captain Kirk and told me that he was not a magician and needed to organize the footage in a way he could work with it.

"But, can't you just... I don't know, put all the footage in a sorting hat?"

"...You don't know anything about Final Cut. Do you, Sir."

Ideally, during production, you have the shots you got matched to the shots you wanted in the shot list, and the assistant editor would be responsible for organizing which is which, and you show the editor which shots you want used. But we were all students and this was my first short film so I combed through the footage myself and sent it to Ben. 

I do not miss those days.

#3. Collaborate. In order to do his or her best work, the editor needs to have a little freedom to be creative. However, the director usually has a very particular vision for what he wants. (At least I did.) I learned that there is a balance of give and take with the editor. On the one hand, most of Ben’s ideas were extra-ordinary: from the animated video game text and music, to using the final shot as an end-credits scene. But sometimes there were things I just insisted on doing a certain way. It was a balance learning which was which.

I’ll be honest, when I finished shooting Kelly vs The Philosophers I didn’t know how the film would turn out. When I first saw the edited footage of the film--that was when I knew my baby would be okay. I’m grateful to all the editors who I’ve worked with since. I hope I've been a decent director and learned something. Haha. You have helped make my films what they are.  

Which is awesome. 

Just like you guys.

Movie magic. Some After Effects required.

How about you guys? Do you have any tips working with editors or as an editor you'd like to share? Sound off in the comments below
.

How to Make a Short Film: Dealing with a Difficult Person

How do you deal with a difficult person on your film team who doesn't do their job but it's all volunteer and you have no money to pay anyone ?

Because running is not always an option. Believe me, I wish it was.

I’m going to be honest: I don’t like dealing with conflict. But as a filmmaker, the filmmaking business requires you to work with lots of people, and it attracts some people with egos the size of a small planet. (Including probably you.) If you are going to make a short film, or any film, conflict is liable to come up and it is good to know how to deal with it. 

Because you never know when an unassuming person will start kung-fuing you because why not?

So what do you do if you butt heads with someone who you can't just talk things through with? A lot of conflict is just creative disagreement and can be worked out. As long as everyone knows their job and is willing to do it and believes in the movie. But sometimes people just don't want to work out the conflict. If you can learn to spot trouble beforehand and don’t invite them on that's best. But if they slip past you, do these things:

Free these words of wisdom these are. Welcome, you are.

1. Make sure you are communicating clearly with everyone what your expectations for them are--and those expectations are public--so no one can say “You never told me to do that"

2. Try to make sure you know people who can fill in for the role if need be. So you aren’t stuck with them or not getting to make the movie.

3. Confront them about their behavior privately.

4. If they have complaints, figure out if there is legitimacy in them.

5. If you have to get rid of them, do it as early as possible.A difficult person will continue to add stress to a filmmaking experience that is going to have its own stress anyway.

Also bring a suit of armor. And shield. Just in case.

On my first short student film Kelly vs The Philosophers, I brought on an assistant to help out my main costume manager. I knew the girl was a bit snarky but I found that more charming than anything. I explained what we needed her to do and when and she was on board. But for weeks after the girl didn’t do any work and tried to pass her work onto other people, then complained when we were only a couple weeks out that we didn’t have enough time.

When even Loki can't make excuses for you.

The night before shooting I asked her where she was with things. She still hadn’t done them and was blaming me again, so I reminded her—someone sarcastically—that she had been blowing me off. At this point she threw a fit and quit.

Sorry not sorry?

What should I have done differently? I should have confronted her earlier about her blowing off the project. I should have confronted her with more love and less sarcasm—even if she deserved it. But I am glad that I solved the problem before shooting. And I'm glad we had someone else who could do costumes. Because it would have been a nightmare otherwise. 

And that's my first major conflict as a filmmaker not knowing what I was doing. Really, God was covering my back and I can't take much credit.

Do you have any stories about dealing with conflict in film? Any advice that you can share? Leave a comment below!

How to Make a Short Film: Explaining Your Vision

How do you, as a filmmaker, communicate your vision?

Epic pose with "Kelly" star Rachel Kyle

One of the most important things that a director does when trying to make a short film or any film is communicate his vision. Quentin Tarantino said: “As a director ... Your job is explaining your vision. Your job is articulating … what you want on the screen.” If you explain to everyone well what your film is supposed to look like, feel like, be like, then they know how to use their unique creative talents and expertise to make that happen. (A phenomenon I also discuss here.) You don’t have to micromanage every detail for things you don’t know. Like costume design. Do I know the best way to make costumes? No, I do not.

In case you doubted...

But how do you, a budding filmmaker, explain your vision to your team?

The best way I’ve found, as a filmmaker, is use two things they already know. This is actually a very common way to “pitch” films to producers. Sky High was called Harry Potter meets The Incredibles. The Martian was called Castaway in space.

Along with the inevitable Die Hard everywhere combinations

My first short film Kelly vs The Philosophers had such an odd story people had a hard time getting it.

“So it’s an action-comedy about a college student who fights the phantoms of various philosophers she’s studying for class.”

Totally blank expressions.

So I changed tactics. Since it was a video-game eque action comedy and my college was big on classical education, I added this to the pitch.

“It’s like Scott Pilgrim vs The World at our college.”

“Ohhhhh, that sounds really cool!”

Right away that helped me with pre-production. My chief editor Benjamin Capitano made a night of it and went to Midtown Comics and looked through a bunch of Scott Pilgrims and other comics. Then we spent a night watching the movie again. There was popcorn and laughter in the apartment. I can neither confirm nor deny Scott Pilgrim battle reenactments. 

We take our work seriously (Ben, left. Me, right)

This was also helpful with my costume designer, Megan Ristine. Once she knew we were going with a  Scott Pilgrim vibe, she was able to lend her experience to making the outfits believable but over the top—authentic, but with character. The actors also knew where to ground their performance on the realism scale with less coaching. We had such a fun time with it together, laughing about the concept and everyone throwing their own ideas into the pot.

Megan Ristine in her element.

This is the best part as a filmmaker: when you’re all on the same page with the film, it’s not just your vision anymore. It’s all your vision you’re sharing together. Everyone wants to make this movie, not just you. That’s how real communities are formed that last a lifetime. And that is one of the best things you can have when you make a short film, or any film at all.

Cast and crew photo. Left to right: Taylor Pope, Jennifer Verzuh, Joshua Shabshis, Hope Epperson, Megan Ristine, Rachel Kyle, EC Hannah, Alex Foley, Bryce Lewis, Brian Stewart, Josh Simons, Lara Jane

How to Make a Short Film: How to Hold Auditions - What People Don't Tell You

There is nothing that makes you feel more like a real filmmaker to have people audition for your film. I didn’t realize before I started casting Kelly vs The Philosophers—about to make my first short film. When people audition, that means they actually want to be a part of the story you want to tell, to achieve your vision. You feel just a wee little bit like a big shot. Enjoy it. When the filmmaking problems start you’ll get over it.

Left to Right: Taylor Pope, Jennifer Verzuh, Josh Shabshis, Hope Epperson, Megan Restine, Rachel Kyle, EC Hannah, Alex Foley, Bryce Lewis, Brian Stewart, Josh Simons, Lara Jane

When you're a filmmaker make your first short film, here are the things I learned you should look for in an audition that nobody tells you about. Unlike many of my stories, in this case most of what I learned was what I did right.

1. Lead the actors. You should know what you want from the actors communicate that with them clearly. They are depending on you to tell them what you want to see so they can give you their best performance possible.

I told my auditoners that they should bring their own script and that it should show ability to do comedy. Rachel Kyle (who would end up being Kelly in Kelly vs The Philosophers) and her friend Adriana Hanson (who would end up co-writing a script with me) did a two woman show that was really impressive. To help me decide, I told them to do the same audition but in the opposite role. You can see how amazingly that turned out.

2. Always record your audition. I was smart enough—in this case—to know that people look differently on video than they do in real life, so you need to see what they’ll look like on film. That’s in addition to how helpful it is to watch it later if you’re debating between two candidates. Watch Hope Epperson (who would eventually become The Librarian) nail hers below.

3. Ask to see a funny audition. This is more of a personal thing. But I find I learn more about the actor in funny auditions. Humor shows if someone can portray personality, spontaneity, and timing, things that are important in funny or dramatic roles. Of course, in this case I was casting for funny, but in cases of drama, I would still ask for two—one dramatic and one funny.

This is my favorite audition I received. Hope did a second audition with her friend Rebecca Averett and the two of them killed with a self-written parody two-woman show of Willy Wonka. You owe it to yourself to watch this audition and be amazed by these two.

4. Have Friends Who are Great Actors. This is a bit of a cheat. But you need two things when you are casting an actor: someone who’s a great talent and someone with whom you get along. If you have actor friends you know will work for the role that will cut down a lot on stress. Just be sure they really can act. Nothing is worse than casting a friend who’s a bad actor. Happily, Mary Cassella is not one of those.

So that's it! Have you ever held an audition or been in an audition? Tell me any of your stories or lessons in the comments.

How to Make a Short Film: Coming Up with the Story

How do you pick the right story when you make your short film?

Aside from using in a bathtub. That is assumed. 

Almost every independent filmmaker has to struggle between telling the story they want to tell and telling the story other people want to watch. Independent filmmaker Hal Hartley told No Film School “people don't go to movies unless you see sex and violence. So no matter what you are to address …, no one's going to pay attention unless there's a girl and a gun. And so I try to just wrestle with that.” The juggling of these things becomes something of a Faustian bargain between making something meaningful and something enjoyable.

I wanted to challenge myself with my first short film—Kelly vs The Philosophers—to effectively tell a story that was both deep and really fun to watch. Now, I have an advantage because my favorite movies are the ones that have appeal to the elites and the masses, such as Gladiator, Silver-Linings Playbook, Inception and Iron Man. So to me it’s not a Devil’s pact as it is just making the kind of movie I’d like to watch. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

The story for Kelly vs The Philosophers came about when my politics professor David Tubbs told the class that we should “struggle” with the philosophers he was assigning us to read. He believed if we argued mentally with what they were saying we would get a lot more out of them than if we just passively accepted or dismissed their ideas. For me, my first thought was? What if I too that idea and had a student literally fight with the philosophers, action-hero style? And what if I played against type and made the action hero an average girl rather than action archetype? From there the ideas came quickly and easily.

Our lineup of philosophers was actually pretty intimidating, right?

The film, when it finally premiered, opened to enthusiastic reactions at my school. Everyone enjoyed it and were—best of all, also—engaged with the ideas. That convinced me that I was on the right track with my self-challenge to make movies that are fun and important.

Four takeaways.

1. Don’t feel like you’re cheapening the story by also having it be fun. You don’t have to be. And it will mean more people will engage with the story you want to tell.

2. Play against type. A lot of the magic of the story came from gender-swapping the lead character from the expected guy to girl. That makes your story a little different and sparks creativity.

3. Know your audience. My college was very into philosophy. So taking an idea that was relevant to the student body meant that the people I would be showing it to could get excited about the idea.

4. Love what you’re telling a story about. I love philosophy and I love action and comedy. These are things that are worth celebrating to me. People love to see other people share what they love with them—even if they don’t already love them. People can tell, and believe me, it’s infectious.

Do you have a story about coming up with a story for your film and what you learned? Sound off in the comments below!

How to Make A Short Film: Finding Your Team

(Left to right: Bryce Lewis, Megan Ristine, Brian Stewart,
 Rachel Kyle, Josh Simons, Taylor Pope, EC Hannah, Alex Foley,
 Hope Epperson, Jennifer Verzuh, Lara Jane, Josh Shabshis)

I wanted to make a short film but I wasn’t going to a filmmaking school.

You need a lot of help to make a really good film. Orson Welles once said, “A poet needs a pen, a painter a brush, and a director an army.” To make a short film to start on your filmmaking career you have to find a way to convince other people to join in with you. The people you have around you is going to very a lot so you need to know who’s in your circle and why they might agree to work on your project.

Orson Welles could get pretty bitter about the film industry. Later on he said: "I think I made 
essentially a mistake in staying  in movies but it’s a mistake I can’t regret because it’s like saying 
I shouldn't have stayed married to that woman but I did because I love her."

The spring of my freshman year I was talking to prospective students who might be coming next year. Everybody I was talking to wanting to go into filmmaking. Seemed to me there might be a market for someone to start a filmmaking club. We had one for theater. Why not this?

First thing I needed was to test to see if there really was interest in making short films. I came up with a story and hammered out a script. (Which became Kelly vs The Philosophers) Then I started asking around to the people I knew and people I thought might be interested

1. Theater crowd.

2. Filmmaker crowd.

3. Any Friends.

4. General advertisement to student body.

Immediately I got a lot of filmmaking interest in the general call for cast and crew, which made me very happy. I called up one of my friends who I had specifically in mind for the role of Machiavelli: Alex Foley, a guy who, if you knew him, you’d know why he was instantly the one I wanted for that role. I messaged him and he immediately and enthusiastically agreed. Another friend I had in mind to be my editor—Benjamin Capitano--I didn’t have to even ask; the minute he got wind it was happening, he jumped on it. Which I was really glad about because he was—and is—so amazingly talented.

 (Here Alex Foley is in another video series he starred in that I made--just to give you an idea.)

My filmmaking resources were the fact that I was going to a school where—although it was not a film school per-se—it was full of people who were interested in the arts and film. More than that, everyone I knew was a doer who liked to pull together a do things and do them well—whether that was to make a short film or not. So what are yours? Make a list of the ones you’ve got.

Do you have any stories about getting started on your filmmaking career or getting to make your first short film? Tell me in the comments. And stay tuned for more lessons I learned working on Kelly vs The Philosophers.

How to Make a Short Film: Kelly vs The Philosophers

I often dreamed of making films. But like my goal to one day have superpowers they were just that: dreams. That is until college when I finally decided to put my money where my mouth was. (For film. Still waiting on the superpowers.) That’s where I made my first short film: Kelly vs The Philosophers. I didn’t have any experience filmmaking or making a short film. I wasn’t at a film school. But I knew this was what I wanted to do. So I decided to go for it.

IS THERE A MARKET?

First thing to make a short film I had to do was figure out if there was even interest in making films at this school. I had to gauge interest with my friends, filmmaking lovers at the school I knew, and the student body in general. I had to see if there were enough people who were willing to put the work into it. Check.

GETTING THE STORY RIGHT

Second I had to make sure I had a story worth telling. That wasn’t hard to do, as I love telling stories and always have ones that I believe should be told. I’m really interested in making films that talkabout important ideas in a fun way. Since my school was heavy into philosophy I decided to do an action-comedy about a girl fighting philosophers.

(Left to right: Bryce Lewis, Megan Ristine, Brian Stewart,
 Rachel Kyle, Josh Simons, Taylor Pope, EC Hannah, Alex Foley,
 Hope Epperson, Jennifer Verzuh, Lara Jane, Josh Shabshis)

ORGANIZING PRE-PRODUCTION

Then was the actual organizing and running of pre-production. To make this short film I needed to audition actors, be able to explain my vision, have a library to film in. I needed to have costumes (and therefore an amazing costume designer). I needed to co-ordinate schedules for filming days. Shouldn’t be any problem, right?

DEALING WITH CONFLICT

I had my first big conflict in this film too during pre-production. The person never did any work and kept demanding we move the date back. Eventually that issue resolved itself, but it taught me that this was something that was going to happen and I was going to have to learn to deal with it. 

FILMING 

First day making the short film was chaotic and stressful because I hadn’t put enough time into making sure pre-production was organized enough. But everyone was really good and pulled together and it worked out amazingly. But it still took way longer than it would have. Put a lot of time into that pre-production, boys. Things will go a lot smoother.

Close calls like this were very common on set

EDITING THE FILM

Once filming the short film was done, editing began. I was blessed to work with an amazing editor who helped turn all the bits of filmmaking footage into something magical. Making sure that you and your editor are on the same page with the vision will make sure he or she are able to be creative while still making the film you want.

PREMIERING THE FILM

After that, we set the premiere date for the film. A lot of people weren’t sure how good the short film was going to end up being. But the film ended with roaring applause from the audience. 

Now, three years later, that film has launched a filmmaking club that is preparing to have it's first year without me leading it and three more films.  That’s where my filmmaking journey kicked off and I’ve never looked back.

Watch the final film below and let me know what you think!

How to Make a Short Film: Filmmaking When the Cops Show Up

(Zeke Ward [Left], Coner Dee [Right]
Photo credit: Tianna Halldorson. Meme Credit, Ashley Morris.)

I took a one week filmmaking course a couple years back. (The extent of my formal filmmaking education.) Someone asked the professor how they get permits to film somewhere or what they do if they can’t film somewhere and the cops show up.

His reply? Don’t get caught.

Leaving aside misdemeanors as a go-to policy, as an independent filmmaker doing your independent filmmaking thing, you will rarely have the budget or time to get permits for everything. So what do you do in those circumstances? Encouraging illegal activity aside (something that I would never do, being both a boy scout and a coward), the first thing to do is to know all the laws in your area about where to film. In NYC the rule is basically, if it’s public property and you’re not obstructing anything, you’re good. (I'd recommend having a printout of the law in case you get stopped.) But not all laws are the same everywhere.

Last weekend, my final shoot filmmaking a short film as a student filmmaker with my filmmaking club King's Image Films (KIF), we had to deal with the cops.

We were filmmaking our short film in New Jersey, where we didn’t know the laws there as well. We saw these train tracks and wanted to use them in our shoot. They were amazing train tracks. We didn’t see the “No Trespassing” sign because we were rushed to finish filming.

We were just wrapping up the shoot when we saw the cop car roll up.

The cop was very nice. We stayed calm, explained the situation to him, that we didn’t realize we weren’t supposed to be here, we are just student filmmakers filmmaking a short film, and please be nice to us. He let us off with a warning and got one of us not planning to ever have a career in politics to volunteer our name for their records. He explained to us the dangers of hanging out by a train track (which we knew, but we nodded anyway).

So if the cops do show up?  In my experience, it's the obvious: Don’t act like a criminal. Be respectful, apologize, co-operate, have someone there willing to sign stuff. It’s not a big deal. They usually give you the benefit of the doubt.  I haven’t ever been in the totally regrettable situation where you haven’t finished getting your shots and the cops have already shown up.  My advice is, once again, not to get in that situation in the first place if you can help it.

Or you could just take the filmmaking advice of my professor.

Have light equipment and really fast legs.

Do any of you have stories of run-ins with cops? Sound off in the comments below.

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.

How to Get Free (or Cheap) Equipment for Your Film

This is the face of a man who spent all his money on film equipment.

Making films is expensive because you need expensive equipment to make your product. You can’t just use a paintbrush and easel, or music and your feet. Like I said in my first blog post, making a movie without a camera is like making ice cream without milk. Without milk you are not making ice cream. You may be making sorbet, which is great, but it’s not ice cream. If you want to make sorbet, you can ignore the rest of the post. For the rest of you, read on.

Now I’m hungry.

Good quality in production is the difference between being considered a professional and an amateur. If, like me when starting out, you are poor and unknowledgeable and technically illiterate and poor (and don’t forget poor), here is what I learned about getting the best equipment possible.

SCHOOL

I was very particular about my choice of colleges. Particularly the location of the college. Specifically, I wanted to live in New York City, because, although I didn’t know that New York City was the independent filmmaking capitol of the world, I knew it was pretty darn close to it.

It was a big move. But it was one of the best decisions I ever made.

My college is not a film school. But one of the great things about it is it does have a media lab for the film students. Until recently it was run by students and gave them great on-the-job training. (I wish I had taken more advantage of it. But that’s another blog post.) If you have the opportunity to go to a film school or a school that has a good media lab, take advantage of that in every way you can.

Not everyone has the choice to go to a college in NYC like I did. I recognize that this was a blessing that I am grateful for.

But that’s another blog post.

FRIENDS

I will go back to this again and again. Having film friends is important. Having friends is important in general. (Shout out Aristotle so I make my philosophy professor proud.) But when it comes to getting the best equipment, friends are irreplaceable for four reasons: 1. they will tell you what you should be looking for when you buy your own equipment, 2. you can borrow their equipment, 3. they will teach you the tricks they know, and 4. they might let you buy it off them for a cheaper price. Aside from what I used from the school, all of my films where shot one or more of these four ways.

If you want to make film friends. It is also helpful to live in New York City (or LA, but that’s a bit more the Hollywood scene than independent). Because there are so many film nerds there. You have a higher chance of making those connections here.

Basically, live in New York City is the lesson here.

RESEARCH/GRANTS

Finally, the best thing you can do—if all these fail, and even if they don’t—is learn to do your own research. The internet is full of places that you can look at to give you the best deals or give you advice on. Look at amazon, look at craigslist dealers. Find the equipment that have the best reviews and within your price range and experiment as best you can. Research grants to fund your projects so you can get the top notch stuff. This is tough to do on your own and could take some expensive trial and error. (Grants less so.) I have never been good at research and experimenting, and that has held me back. If you can have a friend who can walk you through this it will be a better.

And there you have it. That’s how I learned to get the equipment I need. How about you? Any other tips you’ve learned on how to get access to good equipment on your films? Comment below.

If you’ll excuse me, it’s time to make some ice cream.

The Importance of Doing Research

Research is something you’re going to have to do when learning how to make films. Because there aren’t enough friends, classes, or time to experiment in the world to figure out everything you need to know about filmmaking as fast as you need it.

Research is something I hate doing. Partly because I’m no good at it. It’s like in gym where you enjoy it less with each injury you sustain. Using the internet to find what you need without knowing where to look is like trying to find a needle in an atomic explosion.  Google is like handing me a metal detector and pointing me to that same explosion.

I once tried to look for a new camera to buy. I looked on Amazon. I compared the types. I did research. I thought I knew what I was doing.

I had no idea what the differences were.

I talked to a friend. I took them two minutes to figure it out.

So how do you go about finding the best ways to do research?Some things are easy to find on your own. If you need a tutorial on how to use a particular camera or Adobe Premiere, those are good with a google search and one is as good as another.

Where things become a problem are when you’re looking for specialized knowledge and expertise or equipment. With that, the best way to get started is get your filmmaker friends to recommend places for you to look. My friends recommended several film sites such as “No Film School” for general tips on better filmmaking, and “Every Frame a Painting” to help me notice the artistry of film. Once you find sites like that, they typically lead you to other sites that are helpful.

At that point you also become much better at discerning what things are going to be useful to you when you do your own research.

Basically: get friends help, find useful sites, just bite the bullet and research.

Not every part of film is glamorous. But you can wear shades and help that out a bit.