Time + Money + People = Producing College Film

I know I'm not the only one that has really started to reflect on the crazy realization that this will be the last film that I make while at Ithaca College.  There have been some stellar ones, some average ones and some projects that we just don't talk about. I'm probably not the only one who didn't wind up doing what they thought they would be doing at the tail end of four years.  As a freshman, I thought it was going to be directing.  I'm not the type of person who likes getting caught up in the hands-on details of things.  Rather, I prefer to think as big picture as possible.  Somewhere between sophomore and senior year, directing became producing because I fell in love with it in a way I never did with directing.  Before I get stuck in nostalgia, or something far worse, I'll cut to the chase about what I've figured out about producing thus far...

Producing film (and TV), at least in college, can be boiled down to the management of three resources. These three resources will always be in significantly shorter supply than you'd like AND, as the producer, you will be the one held responsible if any of them are mismanaged. 

Time is one of the three things that is mine to handle.  This one is arguably the most difficult to get a hold of at the college level, and I'll venture a guess that the real world isn't all that different.  Long before I was at Ithaca College, I stage managed a number of theatrical productions back home.  Somewhere along the line there, time management became a part of my brain that doesn't shut off, ever.  When I am asked to produce a film, the first thing I do is read the script, duh. The main two time factors that I am crunching in my head as I read are: "How long is it going to take to shoot this?" and "How many weeks of preproduction do we need to get it ready to shoot?" (the third is post-production, but this usually doesn't take long to calculate).  To be honest, I'd say that the first question is usually much easier to answer for me.  If I get a good enough sense from the director as to the vision, I can usually ballpark a good schedule based on a few things: "Day/Night Shooting", "Elaborate Set Ups/Stunts", "Script Length", "Number of Characters", "Complexity of Action/Background Action".  

Right off the bat, some of these are going to be much easier to understand than others.  When the directors come to you with a script for a musical with five different dance numbers, you know those are going to each take at least two, if not three hours to shoot based on complexity. If the directors want to shoot on Cayuga Lake, you know that too will take some extra time. If there is a need for day4night or night4day, then your set ups will take significantly longer. Now the tricky thing about the way to schedule these is that while there are guidelines, there is no true right answer, and that is frustrating as all get out. My solution is that I take my time, and never go it alone. Any time I schedule a film shoot, it is with the AD, Line Producer and Director (and often DP). There is no sense  making a schedule that your crew will kill you over. More on people later! As for trying to assess the amount of preproduction needed, at the college level this is tricky.  It is tricky because of schedules.  We aren't professionals yet, and unfortunately we aren't paid to exclusively do this.  This means that when I plan preproduction I need to look at the schedules of the Director, Producers, Director of Photography and the Production Designer more than anyone else.  What other films are they making? How many classes are they in? Are they working part time jobs? Any other extra curriculars? Once you take all of their commitments into account, you then need to see where priorities lie.  Unlike scheduling shoots, planning preproduction has a much, much looser formula; this is not something I have ever been thrilled about.  I used to believe that it was always best to throw time at preproduction, but my opinion on this has changed.  If your team has all the team in the world, they lose their sense of urgency.  Well that certainly won't be a worry on this one. Five weeks until production!

Money is usually the next biggest hurdle to have to jump through.  Much like time, this management is also broken in to two main parts: budgeting and fundraising.  Not only am I the final say on how we spend our money, but I am also responsible for getting us the money to spend.  This may be one of of my favorite parts of the job.  Managing a budget starts with reading the script, marking it up and assessing what the needs will be from each department.  The highest costs are always going to be production design and camera department, at least on student film.  Ideally you would want to use as much of PPECS's equipment as possible, but there are some things they just don't have; this is where rentals come in, and they ain't cheap.  Creating the world for the film to take place in is not a time for short changing, and production design should never be underestimated.  Once the DP and Production Designer are hired, I then compare my notes with theirs to verify that my estimates are fairly on track.  The same can be said of every other department and its keys.  It is especially easy when I am the key to parts of the budget, like PR. Once the estimates are pretty locked in, I input them into a Google Sheet, which tracks our departments' estimated budgets in comparison to their actual expenditures.  As preproduction continues, it is important to keep each department in the black, as there will be unexpected costs in production (which I try to build contingency for). 

Fundraising is the other side to the coin.  Indiegogo is not a perfect platform but it does manage to get the job done! If you want a fast way to get in touch with friends, family, family friends, to communicate your need for their support, then it is perfect.  There are some serious limitations to it though.  The platform was initially created for film fundraising but it is actually the most difficult type of fundraising to do on Indiegogo.  Tech fundraisers can promise prototypes or other fancy forms of swag that filmmakers just can't.  At the end of the day, this leaves film Indiegogo pages (those of the non-famous variety, for an example of the successful ones check out Con Man) struggling to break what I like to call the "middle class ceiling".  If you are coming from a middle class background, your ability to fundraise on Indiegogo is going to tap out somewhere just above $5000, in all likelihood (that's a team of roughly three students and this is just my observation).  This leaves you looking for slightly deeper pockets.  This can be other connections such as alumni, businesses or grant applications.  I am currently in the process of designing some literature which I hope to turn in to a few thousand dollars, fingers crossed.  Really it comes down to getting the money, however you can, even if that means taking a water balloon full of hot sauce to the face. 

People wind up being the resource that is the easiest to find at the college level, and it doesn't take a lot of brains to see why.  This school is full of some of the most intelligent and gifted people I have ever met.  The tricky thing that I am starting to realize as a senior is that I no longer have anyone older than me to recruit for films.  For the first time, I have to hire on people in to major roles that are one or two years younger than me.  Admittedly this took a little getting used to, but age really is just a number, and not always an indicator of skill level.  

Some positions will always be more difficult to fill than others.  Finding good production designers, gaffers and producers is always the most difficult thing to manage, for a variety of reasons.  Production design is one of those jobs that takes a hell of a lot of effort, but arguably the least glamorous of the most difficult jobs; it also takes someone who is both detail oriented and able to see the big picture.  Gaffers just seem to not exist all that much from a "I can create a beautiful look" for this scene level.  Honestly I think this has more to do with our education than anything.  Cinema majors get a decent grounding in this, while TV/R majors can expect very little in lighting aesthetics (not to say that we don't make good grips, we kill that game).  

As for producers, well we have the job that almost nobody wants.  We have to be able to constantly ask for things to get done, without being a nag. We have to deliver bad news in the best way. We have to be able to stay friends with our peers, while also having to supervise their work. We are the organizers, the brainstormers, the hand holders, the blame takers, the huggers and the ones who get to lose sleep over it all; we are the crazy ones. We have the job that most people find either too boring or too much work. I have heard a number of times from others that we don't make art, because we don't touch cameras, write scripts, use paint, or call action. It took a long time to realize this isn't true.  True, there really isn't much art in the excessive amount of paperwork I have to do.  You have to look broader, from development to distribution, we connect everyone and everything. If you look for our art in the film you won't find it, because you aren't looking in the right place. Our art is in the film production itself. We line it all up. I don't play an instrument...

The End...

Well, after many sleepless nights, stressful mornings, and seemingly endless nights of shooting and production, it's with great excitement I welcome the end of the semester.  My team and I have worked tirelessly for months on our film Black Butterfly, and I cannot wait to see all of our hard work pay off.

I knew Fiction Field was going to be a challenge, but it was more than just many hours of hard work on a school project.  This course pushed me far outside my comfort zone, placing me in positions of authority I wasn't quite sure I could handle at first.  Arturo's expectations seemed impossible at times, and I didn't want to disappoint.  Despite my shaken confidence, my group remained supportive and encouraging throughout the production.  Every one of us had something valuable to contribute every shoot.  The overall open-minded atmosphere among us allowed our ideas to flourish fully and received critique positively.

Black Butterfly is more than a final project to us; we gave our all every day, constantly striving to improve and refine the film.  I appreciate the honest feedback from my fellow peers and classmates, as well as from Arturo.  Criticism is difficult to give and receive, and I am grateful to have honest peers with my best interest at heart.  While we remained competitive with each other, we didn't let that taint our relationships.  Many friendships were formed during the semester, and everyone's willingness to help others was truly admirable.

Thank you to everyone and anyone who assisted in the creation of Black Butterfly.  Our cast and crew sacrificed many hours of their time to help us make something great.  Their dedication never ceased to amaze me, and didn't go unnoticed among my teammates. We never would've been able to have such a wonderful experience without the generous donations of friends, family, and others who believed in our innovations.  Thank you to everyone who provided honest, genuine feedback in hopes of our improvement.  Lastly, a huge thank you to Arturo and my teammates, Meghan, Patricia, Kelly, Paul, Mike, and Dave.  As cliche as it may sound, you have each taught me something valuable.  Thank you for challenging me to better myself each shoot, and I hope you all had a great of an experience as I did. You're all so talented, and it was truly an honor to have worked with each of you!

End of the Year Reflection

Today was the last day of my Fall 2013 semester classes. It flew by in the blink of an eye but I sure did learn a lot especially in this class, Fiction Field 1. Despite the fact that this class caused the most stress and probably took a year off of my life (slightly exaggerating) I learned so much.

After this semester I have a much greater appreciation for films.  I now realize just how difficult it is to make an amazing film. I loved this class because we were given one main project and were assigned one main role. I was able to focus on one job as well as offer assistance to my teammates when they needed something.

Working in a team is definitely not my favorite thing to do but with this project I had to let go and have confidence in my teammates. I learned a lot from it and am now more comfortable relying on other people to do their own jobs.

This project really showed me how much effort is put into every aspect of a film. It also made me realize what I wouldn't want to do and what I would like to pursue in the future.

Thank you so much Arturo for all of the guidance and help along this learning experience.

Neil Hilborn, Man With OCD, Performs Heartbreaking Poem About Falling In Love

So attached above is the video to the poem I brought up in class yesterday and here is the link to the news article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/12/neil-hilborn-ocd-poem_n_3745281.html
The article features some good quotes from Neil and some other links too.

I have actually been making rough outlines of this script for a few weeks now; when I saw this video I knew I would eventually want to tell a similar story.  My thinking (all subject to change of course), is not to tell Neil's specific story, but to tell a very similar story:

I was thinking of telling the story of a young man with OCD, who has severe issues communicating with others.  The film could open with the protagonist's daily routine, which could feature lots of CUs and could show how his OCD would affect his day. The film could involve him meeting the girl very early in the story (I was thinking he has a food service or other form of customer service job, where she frequents).  Unlike Neil, I was thinking our protagonist would have such crippling anxiety that he wouldn't be able to speak to his love interest (allowing us to create a much more creative story involving other forms of communication).  I pictured the film spanning the course of a week in which he manages to get her attention, build a small friendship and in the end cause her to back off.  In one outline I have him working as a barrista in a coffee shop and the only way he communicates to her is by writing notes on her coffee cups.  I've considered him using a handkerchief to touch pretty much everything, as many people with OCD can't handle the concept of germs in every day life.
Most of my ideas feature 4 main characters: Protagonist, Female Lead, Female's Boyfriend, Protagonist's Friend.  I have been considering that the female lead currently has a boyfriend and that he is terrible to our Female Lead and that our Protagonist steps in, perhaps.  I'm thinking our protagonist has one friend, who he knows through public transportation (many people with OCD fear driving).

This does not even really begin the lists of things I have kicking around.  NONE of it is remotely final, I just like to mull ideas for scripts over.  We can start from scratch on this thing, but I wanted to provide some ideas, in case we wanted a jumping off point.  I personally would like to direct or produce this piece, but would be comfortable with other things as well.  For me, I find the life of someone with OCD to be an untold story and one that many people fight through on a daily basis.  I think we can tell a really beautiful story, provided it is accurate to the scientific facts.  Onwards and upwards!

"Noah" - A Short from TIFF 2013

Lately I have been trolling the internet for the latest news from the Toronto International Film Festival which is currently running from September 5th to the 15th.  I have just started in on the student films.  One in particular caught my eye.   The film is titled "Noah", brought to us from the University of Toronto, and the description is as follows:

"In a story that plays out entirely on a teenager's computer screen, Noah follows its eponymous protagonist as his relationship takes a rapid turn for the worse in this fascinating study of behaviour (and romance) in the digital age."

The description sums the film up fairly well, as all  17 minutes are nothing but screen grabs of Noah's computer screen and iPhone screen.  There are no other camera shots used!!  The film makers clear the hurdle of introducing our protagonist by showing us Noah through the use of Skype and Chatroulette (as he is displayed in the corner). This is the way we also meet Noah's girlfriend.  The cinematography for this movie comes from the way in which pans and zooms are done on the screen grabs.  This does a beautiful job of showing us where Noah is focusing his attentions and it also conveys his thoughts and emotions.  Much of Noah's character is also communicated through what he types, where he clicks, and his actions online.

This film does a beautiful job of showing what it is like to be a young person in the digital age.  We get a beautiful look at the true neurosis that Facebook and other social media can cause.  We also see the issues that come from a long distance relationship.  So much of our interaction is digital nowadays, and Noah does a spectacular job of pointing out some of the issues with that.  Even when Noah seems like he is going to meet a wonderful girl, he blows it because he can't resist using the internet to cheat the system.  While this film does an incredible job at what it is trying to achieve, I don't think it could have run much longer.  The 20 minute time format fit incredibly well for this piece and I don't believe this new format could have held my attention for any more time.  The writer composed a very cohesive story and told it in a fascinating way that paced well.  Congratulations to the University of Toronto and directors Walter Woodman and Patrick Cederberg!

Final Project

I think everyone is going to enjoy completing their final project mainly because of the freedom involved with it. We can choose our own topic (more or less) and there is a lot of independence from pre prod to post prod. One thing that will be good for everyone is having set position so that everyone knows their responsibilities and what each of us need to do. People can help out with other departments but for the most part, camera will stick to camera, sound will stick to sound, and so on and so forth. That lets everyone focus more on their part of the project as opposed to wearing multiple hats and trying to help write while you make a shot list or plan out locations, etc. That may make it stressful for a person to coordinate a lot, but it will definitely make the project better in the end.

We all came here to learn how to make films and doing a final project like this, culminates everything we have learned thus far. We can all learn from each other as well. Of course there will always be more experienced people and less experienced people on set. But that works in everyones favor to teach and learn and help each other out to make something we can all be proud of at the end of the semester.

Open 24 Hours

There is so much talent in the Park School of Communications at Ithaca College. The number of fantastic productions that come out of the school is amazing. I have personally worked on five ICTV shows and one senior film thesis in my short time here so far. This weekend I'll be helping out on another film. This one is a CP2 (Cinema Production II) film, Open 24 Hours. 

The basic plot is as follows: a man and his long-time girlfriend go to the store to get a morning-after pill, but after a meeting some interesting people they begin to think that this might be the perfect time to forget the pill and start a family. (disclaimer: I haven't read the entirety of the script. I read the treatment and that's pretty much the gist of it)

Even though I'm only boom op for the film, I am still really excited. We are filming in the Tops here in Ithaca (the one down past Wegmans). Because we are, y'know, filming in a supermarket, there are a bunch of things that need to be taken into account. One thing is that we can only do stuff when the store off of peak hours. Hooray for overnight shoots! The rough schedule of filming is 9pm-7am on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. 

Other things that I've thought of that could be intriguing: 

• We are probably going to have to move some food packaging around so we do not see any logos. EDIT: Apparently we aren't worrying about that
• Continuity would be a b!%&# over the course of filming three separate days. Customers or employees could move things around on Saturday that will mess up Sunday. 
• What kind of security/supervision will there be? I hardly think a supermarket will trust 20 college kids to roam in their store. EDIT: The Tops night crew is small, about seven people.
• Almost all of the crew knows each other, and I predict lots of distraction. Everything is nice and organized, however, so there's hope!
• I've never been to a shoot that has been shot on actual film, so it will be neat to see that happen.

So yeah, I am excited. It will be an interesting weekend to say the least. I wonder how much sleep I'll get...

Productions

Productions aren’t always fun, nor are they easy. This is fully hitting me during this one. Aside from going to bed at 1:30AM, waking up at 3:30, and going into the city at 5AM there have been some challenges along the way. The biggest one was getting into character. Forcing myself to get depressed is harder than I think, it’s pretty easy to do naturally, but when it’s needed, it doesn’t come. For two days I listened to the most hope sapping song I knew and tried to be in the dark as much as possible, and eat little, but I was so over joyed and excited about this project. So I probably wont be acting much anymore. Not that I can’t, but chances are I’d be acting my own projects and regardless I’d be overcritical of my work.

Day 2. Today finished the toughest part of the piece, I’m emotionally drained and can’t wait to get back to school and sleep late on Monday, if I sleep through class I’m sorry. While it was initially tough getting into character, it was rather easy getting into another one. I wasn’t too great at getting into depressed, but I was able to pull off annoyed/having a lot on the mind I’m sure. At least I know that is what I was feeling. This has been the roughest production on my body, mind and spirit yet and I would not be able to do this multiple times. Anyways I haven’t looked at the footage yet since we are still shooting, but I’m fairly confident that this will turn out to be a great piece. “Happy Birthday”

More Green Screen

Can you win an Oscar?

Oscar night was sort of a letdown for me. The hosts being probably the weakest since, well, The Oscars. Showing how Bob Hope hosted the early shows only emphasized the huge talent gap.

However, the highlight of the evening for me was Luke Matheny, the Brooklyn based filmmaker, writer and actor whose “God of Love” won the 2011 Academy Award in the Best-Live Action Short category.

The short film was Matheny’s thesis at NYU’s graduate film program. It had previously won the gold medal at the 2010 Student Academy Awards, a special jury recognition at Aspen ShortsFest and first prize and the King Award for Screenwriting at the NYU First Run Film Festival.

He is of course not new to the festival circuit. His previous short film "Earano" -- a hilarious take on Cyrano de Bergerac's love exploits, won the King Award for Screenwriting at the NYU First Run Festival, an honorable mention at the Angelus Student Film Festival, and Best Student Short at the Dam Short Film Festival in Boulder City, Nevada.

So, can you win an Oscar? Yes, you can. You just need to walk the walk...

Here is "Earano" in two parts: