In this day and age, anyone can become a film maker with a bit of knowledge about the film making industry. Where the new film makers are concerned, the crew with the best equipment is the crew they want. If the man with the camera has a brand the film maker is familiar with he may just get the job. No matter the operators ability or experience, the camera operator’s abilities come up after the fact.

The production sound mixer, also called the video tech, is usually the one who will keep the camera man in line. He is also responsible for capturing the sound and he is expected to be close to perfect at this. The most important aspect of hiring a sound man is whether he has the right radio microphones.

Production companies feel that these two are the only crew they need and the cameraman has to negotiate to get a crew of at least five, they have to negotiate to gain approval in the budget. They are clueless about how many people are needed on the crew.

Once the crew has succeeded in getting a few more people hired on, they find they need to educate others. The crew needs to know what the next shot will be and not what they will be shooting next week. Many new directors do not understand how to just explain the next shot. Without the information the crew does not know what to do next.

When the film maker has made any changes, they need to include the sound mixer in the explanation. The gaffer, assistant cameraman, and the grip can get instruction from the cameraman, but the sound mixer needs to know what direction he is going in to get the best sound. If the sound mixer is not kept in the loop, there will be many delays.

The crew needs to see a rehearsal of the scene before they actually shoot it. New film makers tend to think that skipping rehearsals will make up for lost time. The crew really needs to see the rehearsal to see how they will shoot the scene. This is very important to make sure the lighting, sound mikes, and focus are right. Some new film makers want to roll the tape anyway, although even the stars don’t understand entirely what they are supposed to do. The crew can see that rolling tape at this particular time is a complete waste.

Good scenes don’t happen by themselves, but many new film makers wait for everything to become clear once the camera is rolling. The foreground and background action needs to be tried and gotten right before the shots will be great ones. Looking at the script will not make it happen, the crew needs direction.

The film maker needs to tell the cameramen and sound mixer when to roll and when to cut. They need to be clear about this, when they are satisfied with the shot. The crew hears action before they hear roll camera, much too often. With video tape, there is a slight delay between the time the cameraman starts the machine and it is ready to record the action. You will need to record several seconds of lead film for the tape to be edited effectively later on.

Cut is the word the cameraman wants to hear when they stop rolling. Some film makers don’t say cut until they have had a long talk with the cameraman. The crew needs to hear the word cut so they will know when the take is over.

There are other peeves that a crew has with novice film makers, but there are too many to continue in this article. The best bet for any novice film maker is to get feedback from their crew so that everyone knows what to expect from each other.

Deliberate Stranger

Movie Details :

Starring :

Mark Harmon as Ted Bundy

Frederic Forrest as Detective Bob Keppel

Ben Master as Detective Mike Fisher

Runtime – 185 mins

Movie Review

The Deliberate Stranger is one of the earlier movies dipicting the life and crimes of one of America’s most notorious serial killers, Ted Bundy. The movie is based on the book of the same name written by friend and colleague of Bundy’s, Richard Larson.

Larson’s perspective on the Ted Bundy story leaves out a lot of what made Bundy the monster that he was ie. his mental state and focuses more on the events, time lines and of course the outward persona of Bundy. Not suprising since Larson was one of Bundy’s supporters when he was accused of the brutal murders of all those women, it is easy to see why Larson drew attention to Bundy’s apparent all-American boy image in this movie.

This is where Mark Harmon comes in to the picture. The decision to cast the cute, wholesome looking Harmon in the starring role was an inspired choice. Harmon gives a convincing performance and is credible as the charming confident Ted and also as the psychotic killer Ted. (more…)

To find a job in film making is quite a difficult task, film making is not widely advertised. Film makers looking for a crew rely on networking and the gossip route to communicate. Positions are filled by the time production starts.

When a film is being made, any jobs are only the duration of the production. Film makers and producers are only into one project at a time, they do not hire a permanent crew especially when they are an independent contractor and not part of a major network.

It is based on what and who you know, and most importantly, what you have done in film lately. Anyone who has worked in film making knows you are always thinking ahead to the next job while you are on this one. If you do not know how this business works and what the hiring process is, you will not get anywhere. You need to formulate a few strategies to get hired.

If you are new to film making never send a resume unless it is asked for. Producers and directors don’t have time to read through these and they will usually end up trashed. When a job in film making is in the classified ads, they are usually taken before the ad is in print. Quite a few personnel departments advertise jobs that they already have someone in mind for, to show good intentions when it comes to equal opportunity. They are able to show that the job was open and in the papers before anyone was hired by the number of resumes they received before they hired someone.

Do not make demands at the interview or spout off a list of the errands or tasks you will not perform, you may as well stay home if this is your plan. A job in film making or television, means schedules and even tasks are constantly being adjusted. There is no set quitting time and a work day is usually 10 to 12 hours long. Your family and friends are put on a back burner while you are working on a project. Those who work in the film making industry love their jobs and wouldn’t think of doing anything else.

Never act like a beginner, even if you are, as you will find you will not get anywhere in this business. No matter if it is your first day, the moment you are hired you are a professional. Always think and act professionally, if you don’t you may be let go as the powers that be may feel you are not competent to handle the job.

Professional people produce high quality results, no matter how long they have been on the job. They never worry about the pay, long hours, or tasks they need to perform. A professional has learned the rules of the trade before they step onto a set, and will act accordingly to achieve excellence in their work. They are always working to be the best at what they do to convince the film maker that you were the right choice for this job and hire them for the next project.

You need to maintain a good attitude most of the time, nobody wants to work with someone who constantly has a poor outlook and is sour all of the time. Everyone has an off day, but that shouldn’t be every day. If you are a downer most of the time or have a great deal of personal problems, this type of job is not for you.

If you really desire a job in the film making industry you may need to accept an internship or volunteer and show them how professional you are. You will need to be willing, as a beginner, to work for little money or even free. Once you have your foot in the door and show that you are willing to go the distance and do an excellent job you will have a good chance of being hired on future projects.

Fly Filmmaking is closely related to Guerilla Filmmaking. The latter is done literally with all that there is on hand and in the shortest amount of time possible. Spike Lee did this with his film “She’s Gotta Have it” and he has received continuing critical acclaim for his first effort.

Fly Filmmaking is very similar and was conceived by the organizers of the Seattle International Film Festival. The name literally refers to filmmaking on the fly and this is a challenge done every year for about the last 10 years. This is done to showcase the filmmaking community in the Seattle area.

It consists of 3 separate teams that are given all that they need to make a film and a time frame of about 10 days. In this time they have to conceive of and create a film. The run time of the films is anywhere from 5 minutes to 22 minutes. The judges view the ending result and announce the winner at the festival.

The arrangements and actual work are done about 3 weeks before the festival starts. The producer, director, sound engineers, director of photography, actors, and post-production facilities are arranged and after everyone meets to go over the final details, the 3 crews are let loose to make their films as fast as they can. The music is even done on the fly by local composers and recorded by professional musicians.

This challenge is an effort to have film made without the consideration of cost and avoiding the politics that are so frequently present in filmmaking. However, the boundaries of time can be a bit of a headache, but that is the challenge. Participants are surprised by their own efforts.

This form of filmmaking has been “borrowed” by other festivals in the following years and it has always been a real crowd pleaser. It would seem that a similar plan was used with the new Fox show “On the Lot”. There may be some differences but basically it is the same model as SIFF’s Fly Filmmaking.

The results of these attempts are amazing and it would seem that they took much longer to make. Usually in the process of making a film a great deal of time is taken to make decisions about what would be best in the production. There is no time to spend making decisions or discussing ideas. You have to go with whatever comes up at the moment.

As an experiment I would suggest that as an exercise you try Fly Filmmaking. Of course you may have to use your own camera and figure out how to do your own post-production as best you can, but it may be worth it. Any film school student could probably pull this one off. Use the school’s equipment loan program and you would also have a post facility available to you at not cost. This should challenge you and teach you to economize on the time and resources it takes to make a short film.