It’s been a long time since I tackled a narrative short film of my own... not since my first short, Chance. Otherworldly Encounters was a documentary, where I just needed to aim a camera at an interviewee and ask questions... Other shorts of mine involved voice overs and pictures instead of live action. And sure, I’ve helped friends on their shoots, but I kept putting off and putting off (against my own logic) doing my next dramatic short.
Why?
Because it’s really, really hard.
Well... ok, that’s only half-true. The thing about filming a dramatized story is that it just SEEMS completely overwhelming, which is why it’s easy to, well, never do it. Once you get into it, though, you go one step at a time and it's not so bad... despite the fact that there is a lot to figure out and organize. (Which is why you better be passionate about the project.)
A dramatic piece involves a LOT of planning, story-boarding, and... location-scouting.
Location scouting is something I never gave a moment’s thought and which has proved, on this project, anyway, to be the bane of my existence.
With Chance, I had two characters in one location - Grand Central. That in and of itself was hard, because GC is packed with lots of tourists who want to wave in the background and snap flash photos of your film-in-progress. It’s also a location where time was limited. But at least it was one location, two characters. Not too many schedules to coordinate.
But for this new short I outdid myself. Six characters, six locations where practically every character has to appear, a big crew... and basically, a big, big struggle.
As I write this, I believe the schedule has finally been nailed down... But getting to this point felt like nothing short of a Herculean task. As a result, on this second dramatic production there are several important new things I’ve learned about locations that I want to pass along.
- If you don’t have the right locations, postpone your shoot. It can be painful, but it’s better to take more time and get things right.
- Have your locations confirmed BEFORE you do auditions. That way, everyone auditioning commits to the same days, days when you have your locations. (Don’t do what I did - set your days, audition and choose your cast, THEN get your locations. This ensures that you’ll have to change your original days as you struggle to find times that work for your whole mob of cast, crew, and people generous enough to let you film in their homes.
- If you can’t pay them, throw the homeowners whose homes you use as locations all the perks you can think of.
- Remember logistics. If a location is far away, you’re not only responsible for getting everyone there - you also need to make sure it’s possible to get all you want at that location in one day’s time (or you’ll be schlepping everyone out there again the next time they can all make it - which might be next year.)
- Combine locations whenever possible. Also, if you have an actor coming from a long way off, try to keep your locations close enough so that he’s not on the road all day.
That’s it for now, but I’m sure I’ll think of more. Granted, these lessons apply to the low-budget filmmaker who’s pretty much coordinating these things alone and without a budget. In which case, I saved the best piece of advice for last:
Set your story in one location - preferably your own home!
