Hey guys! Before I started this vlog, I
just want to say I'm sorry for the bad
audio quality. I shot this vlog in a mall
and it was really way too loud to be
shooting there. I was originally actually
going to throw all of this footage away but the
material is so important. It's not the
kind of quality that I want to normally have
on this vlog. So thanks for your patience.
Today I want to talk about my workflow
with our last shortfilm, just in case
anybody else is just getting started
like I am. You know, I already gone through my
first rodeo, and maybe that would help
you, so, right now I'm going up the stairs to
the gym and later on I'll hit a cafe and
we'll talk "shortfilm".
Ok, so, I've got my computer here in the mall
I'm just outside of a cafe. This is actually an
abbreviated version of what I do, but I will go through
the step-by-step process of making a shortfilm.
The first thing you want to do is work on the idea. You can have
lots of different sources for inspiration. For us, we finally settled, for the last film we made,
on a local, Ukrainian holiday called, "Ivana Kupala."
The next thing you want to do, once you have an idea is to write a script.
That's, like, a whole VLOG in itself, or, like, a series of VLOGs.
So, I can't go into that completely.
There's a lot of good information and good books on Amazon.
You know - do some research, if you're working on that.
But, you want to have a good, solid script before you start any other step.
For "Ivana Kupala", we didn't have a literal script.
We had more of like a plan, which served instead of a script, because of the format of the film.
It fit the film.
That doesn't mean we skipped this step; we had a script in a different kind of... way.
We wrote the monologue for the actor, the voice actor, and then wrote out, phrase-by-phrase,
what we wanted on the actual screen.
After you have a script, at least, what I do, is I start storyboarding.
This can be both fun and painstaking.
Right now, I'm going to show some pictures of our storyboard for "Ivana Kupala".
This is our actual storyboard; this is what I sent to our director of photography, and
this allowed us to work together and understand each other much better.
And, notice that it has a drawing of the shot, the time of day, and the shot number.
In some of the frames, though, there are also added symbols or arrows to indicate camera
movement or that one shot is represented by multiple frames, and stuff like that.
You want to have that kind of detail, and this step is essential.
You cannot make a film...
Well, you can, but it's very hard to make a film without this.
And, the reason why is because films are visual, and, what storyboarding does, is it forces
you to think through your script visually.
It allows you to talk to your director of photography, talk through every single shot,
and that's what you want to do.
And then, it also allows you to plan and budget the entire film, because you know what you
want in every shot.
You can think about what your actors are wearing, you can think about what locations you want,
you can think about what camera lenses you want, you can think about, you know,
all of these different aspects.
Storyboarding - it forces you to do this, because, you're finally putting
what you've written into a picture.
Right now, I'm working on a new way to storyboard.
It's more visual and tactile, and, because I learn better... I'm a tactile learner.
So, if you look up "tactile learning" on Wikipedia, you can see what I mean by that.
So, your next step is planning and budgeting.
And this isn't as bad as it sounds. It is an essential piece of filmmaking, though.
And this is why there's a producer and why the producer is actually the boss, not the director,
because the producer pays the salary.
I get to be both with my films, and I like that.
Overplan you budget. Overplan for EVERYTHING.
Things will be more expensive, there will be random things that will break, there will
be random trips that you have to make.
Overplan, overplan, overplan, overplan, and always have a plan "B".
Once you've got your budget down, now you can start casting.
For "Ivana Kupala", we didn't really cast, we didn't really practice.
All of the practicing was on set, and casting was just... we put a message on Facebook and
said, "Hey, guys, we're making an evangelistic film."
Casting is going to be a lot more involved for our next film.
We are looking still for the right people to play the right roles and stuff.
It's going to be cool. It's going to be really cool.
I'm still learning with this, so I can't give "expert advice", but this is the next step.
After that, the next thing I would do is work out a shooting schedule, and this is very
important and something that can be overlooked.
Here's a screenshot of the first page of our shooting schedule for "Ivana Kupala".
And you can notice that I have four columns on the schedule.
A shot number for the storyboard, the date and time, a shot description, and a place
for notes on props, location, camera movement, etc.
This is only the essential information; everything else, I printed this thing out, and I wrote in.
You will need at least this much to plan your film.
We took, actually, a really big risk with "Ivana Kupala", because everywhere we shot
was outside, and Lviv is known for unpredictable weather.
So, be aware of these kinds of things when you're making your shooting script and you're
planning your shooting schedule.
Is it a weekday, is it a weekend, is there going to be traffic, is there going to be
a lot of people there? Is there going to be sun up or down?
Is it going to be sunset, sunrise, you know... You can easily find these things online.
Do your research! Plan, plan, plan, plan, plan!
And, that way, you'll know, do you need extra lighting, do you need extra shade?
And you, also with the shooting schedule you're
going to want to have your location scouting and preparation.
These are... These go hand-in-hand.
Some directors that I respect the most treat locations as a character almost as much as
the actual actors on screen.
It really, really affects the mood of your film, the emotion of your film.
Rule #1 - scout your locations and get any permission that you need BEFORE, long before shooting.
Try to scout your locations with your director of photography, because he (or she) will have a much
better understanding of what lighting issues you may have, because directors of photography,
they're really cool guys (or gals) - they, you know, cinematographers - they...
Your job as a director is the story.
His (or her) job as cinematographer or director of photography is the camera, the light, the
lenses, the "look". That's all he (or she) ever thinks about,
and so, to have somebody that's that focused on something like that, that will really benefit
you, especially as you go to these locations.
Like I said, make sure you get permission.
Get permission for your primary location and your backup plan.
And get EVERYTHING in writing.
Get permission to use their electricity, to use their bathrooms,
to use their location on film.
Rule #2 - have a backup plan!
Now, this applies to everything, not just location scouting.
It applies to actors, it applies to, you know, scripting, it applies to camera, it applies
to every, every, everything! Have a backup plan!
Sun Tzu, the guy (I hope I'm saying that correctly),
he's the guy wrote "The Art of War" (400's BC)
He said, "The general who looses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand."
And the idea is, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
Ok, now you've got all that stuff done, right?
Next step: Make sure you have good sound!
For "Ivana Kupala", I had Stas, whose picture will be shown right there.
He recorded his voice in a professional studio, and we purchased the soundtrack for the film
on themusicbed.com.
So, that means we didn't need on-set sound, which made it a lot easier to make this film,
"Ivana Kupala".
But, for our next film, we purchased a couple of lav mics, which is actually what I'm
recording on right now.
Hopefully that will make it so that we get a lot better sound, you know, on set.
The very first sign of amateur video is bad sound, so you want
to make sure that you get really good sound.
Don't let it be you, the guy that has the worst sound in your film festival or whatever
you're making this film for.
Have the best sound.
People will notice.
Man, the guy that's sitting next to me is so loud.
I hope you guys can hear me well.
I'm going to wait a second for him to quit talking.
Good - it looks like he's about to leave.
Yes.
So, once you have all of that down, you're just about ready to start shooting.
I'm saying, "just about", because I don't want to give you the impression that
that is, like, the complete, absolute exhaustive list of everything you do before you start shooting.
That's how filmmaking goes.
So, but, that's my, like, abbreviated list, and you're about ready to start shooting.
I hope you planned in your budget snacks and drinks for everybody, because it's really
important for shooting.
If everybody is happy and positive and fed on set, and they're all, you know, they got
their M&M's or Snicker bars, whatever they want, then you're going to be an awesome director,
and the production will go faster, and you'll get a better movie...
and know when it's time to just take a break and say,
"Ok, guys, take 5."
Don't feel like you have to follow the script, the storyboard, and your shooting schedule exactly.
One of the cool things that we were able to do with "Ivana Kupala" was actually get ahead
of ourselves, because we rushed a little bit with some of the things that we knew would
take, like, less time.
We budgeted 15 minutes for a particular shot that only took 5, and, so, we had 10 minutes
to go and transition to the next shot, and so we got a little bit ahead, and then a little
bit more ahead, and then a little bit more ahead, and that meant we could take a whole
day off by the end of it, to not shoot on the fourth day.
We budgeted four days; we shot it in three.
So, here's another Sun Tzu quote:
"According as circumstances are favorable, one should modify one's plans."
There is no plan "B" without plan "A", and you need both to succeed.
I just made that up.
The danger, though, of not following your plan, is that you may have problems with continuity.
This is why I want to have a script manager with our current production.
We haven't found one yet, but we're working on it.
Script managers have a lot of responsibilities, but one of their main responsibilities is
continuity, and so, here's an example of (a problem with) continuity.
You have one shot where someone is talking on the phone, and they're talking on the phone
on this ear, and then, they're talking on the phone on this ear in the next shot, and
it completely throws everybody off, like, it doesn't work.
We call those types of problems in movies "bloopers", but, for an amateur film,
it's not funny.
It's completely distracting.
So, yes, you want to be flexible, but also you want to pay attention to the details,
and that means that you can adapt to what you've already done.
You might get half-way through the script and realize that
your ending is completely wrong.
Don't rush it,
think it through,
be humble,
make the changes you need,
and finish the film.
It will be great, because it's been run through the fires of actually TRYING.
That is what tests a film the most.
I'm not saying go change every ending that you have or anything like that. (HISHE???)
I'm just saying, be flexible and realize when you have made a mistake, and don't be too
proud to correct it.
Ok, so you've shot your film. You're done, right?
No!
Now you need to go into a whole new phase called post production, obviously.
I like this part.
This is editing, adding the soundtrack, adding special effects, etc.
It's really important.
With editing, if this is your first film, here's a rule that really helps me...
Less is more!
The first film we made, "Ivana Kupala", it is WAY TOO LONG.
If you watch it, it's about five minutes long, and there's a point in the middle
where everybody just gets bored.
I'm planning on editing it to make it better, but, you know, it's already
on the YouTube channel.
If there is anything in your film that takes away from the main story, cut it out, even
if it's your favorite shot or your favorite scene.
In fact, I think this is what I want to do with our current film, is to make a bare-bones edit
and then see if there's anything we want to add to it.
That's good storytelling.
Like, for instance, Episode II, I think it is, of Star Wars, would actually be, like,
a 30-minute film if you cut out all of the unnecessary politics.
That might actually be a good movie if you cut all of that out...
...might!
Don't let your film be too long. Keep it moving.
With your soundtrack, this is something that you want to spend money on.
If you have the money, $15000 to pay for a custom soundtrack, do it!
We didn't have that kind of money for "Ivana Kupala"; we don't have that kind of money for
the current project we're doing.
There's a guy that might donate a score to us - we're working that out.
Music - it is so powerful, and it's so important, so invest in it.
You can see how the music works with "Ivana Kupala" in the place where we stop talking
about the holiday itself and start talking about John the Baptist.
Once you've finished editing, you're not finished.
Show it to someone else, and watch it with them.
Show it to one person at a time, and then correct any mistakes you've made.
You will be so surprised to see how your perspective changes when you
watch your film with someone else.
So, you watch it with one person, write down all of the mistakes you made, edit it again,
watch it with a separate person who hasn't seen it yet,
write down all of the mistakes that you made...
Keep doing this until you've watched it with about four or five people, and then you're
about there with your final edit.
And now, you need to color correct and color grade!
And this is really important!
And those are two, actually, separate steps.
Color correcting is making the film look natural, and color grading is when you establish the
"look" of your film.
I don't have enough time to go through this,
but there are a TON of great tutorials on YouTube.
Just look up "color correction" and then "color grading".
Make sure you do that with your film, because it will make it look SO much better.
So, once you've color corrected AND color graded, you do that whole process again where
you watch it with two or three people that have not seen it yet.
It's a GREAT way to check yourself.
And now, you are just about... remember that key phrase?
You are just about ready to release your film.
I really like Vimeo, but they have a cap on how many megabytes you can upload in a week,
so I do everything on YouTube.
I mean you guys can see my VLOG is here on YouTube, and all of my films are, right now,
on YouTube.
So, I may change that in the future, but I'm not willing to shell out money to be a "Pro"
on Vimeo, yet...
Yet.
So, whichever one you have your channel on, you're ready to release the film.
So, that's the abbreviated version on my workflow.
If you have any other questions, be sure to click on the link below,
the "contact me" link,
so, you know, I could, maybe, help you along with one of these steps or a few of
these steps.
I'm still learning.
We're all still learning.
Even if it's Spielberg or... anyone that thinks that they've arrived and they can't learn
something from someone else...
That's not a good filmmaker.
So, let's learn from each other!
If you have corrections, if you want to tell me what I'm doing wrong, please send me a
message! I am willing to take critique, because
I want to learn! I want to make these films as BEST I can,
and I think you do, too.
So, thanks a lot for watching! You guys have a good day!
Whew! That was a LONG edit!
I hope you guys got something out of that.
It actually took a LOT of work to get through all of those thoughts in one sitting, and
that's why I don't want to shoot this again.
I'm not going to make another VLOG that is that long, at least in the near future!
Thank you for watching!
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