VERTIBLOG Film School IV - THE $1,500 MOVIE, Part 3

PRE PRODUCTION

When a movie is in our head and the words only exist on the page, we have the luxury of time. We revise; we rewrite. We noodle things around.

But when we start to extricate that movie from its residence in our mind's eye, it starts to become more real. More possible. It's not longer just a script, it's a potential movie. And then there's this natural inclination that many of us have -- this voice that screams in our head:

"Let's shoot."

It seems so tempting to just grab the camera and shoot that scene, that simple one in the gravel pit. All we need is the two lead actors. There isn't even any dialogue. How about we do it Saturday?

You probably shouldn't.

This is going to be your shot at a feature film and the last thing you want to do is have it implode. For many of us $1,500 is a lot of money. All it takes for your movie to fail is for others to see that you're not prepared. And if they don't have faith in you, you're sunk. These are the people who are going to be working for cold pizza and no money, with the hope that whatever you have up your sleeve will somehow benefit them. Not to speak too cynically, but there are really only two reasons that people will work on your film.

-For money. Not likely in this case. You're going to be VERY careful about whom you pay.
-For credit/experience/exposure/reciprocity. This is the crowd you want to surround yourself with.

There is a third reason, I guess:

-For friendship.

The talent level may be nil, though you'll need all the help you can get. But you won't be able to dip into this well too many times. As soon as your otherwise uninterested family and friends see how unbelievably tedious filmmaking can be, they'll be done with it.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

Now is the time for action. We've been sitting in front of that computer for long enough, right?

STEP 1. BREAK DOWN YOUR SCRIPT

Actually, no... we're should probably stay in front of it a little longer. Or at least stay in the seated position.

The first thing you need to do is print out your script. The second thing you need to do is get it three hole punched.

******************MONEY SAVING HINT*******************

Every so often I'll pipe in with a little tip I've picked up about saving cash during filmmaking.

So, you need paper, right? Hopefully, you're employed and they need it, too. Now, I'm not condoing stealing, but mention to your boss that you're working on a film and have to print up some script pages. He/she either won't care and say 'whatever'. Or they'll be pretty interested and say, 'sure'. Very few will actually say, 'no.' Bosses KNOW people steal stuff, like paper when employees are printing up church bazaar flyers or fantasy baseball rosters. They'll appreciate that you're being up front with them.

To get your script 3-hole punched for free, bring your printed up script to a mom and pop printing shop. Don't go to Staples or Office Max. Mom and pop stores are independently run, and when you go in have them 3-hole punch your script, start a conversation with them. "Hey, do you guys have a 3-hole punch machine? I was hoping you could punch these 77 pages for me. It's a script for a movie I'm making". They'll be so interested in what/how you're making a movie in their little town, that they won't charge you for the punching. Seriously, it works every time.

*******************************

It's worth mentioning here that you should have been aiming for a certain length of your script. The target? 90 to 120 pages. A page of screenplay averages out to a minute of screen time. If your script is 58 pages long, you're not making a feature film -- you're making a short. Which is fine, unless you want to make a feature film... then it's not fine.

In the $1,500 independent film world 120 pages is probably pushing it. Even 90 may even be a bit long in the tooth. Our script for MAGDALENA'S BRAIN was about 82 pages long. Our rough cut of the movie? About 82 minutes. Seriously. It was weird. So let's revise that last paragraph.

The target? 75 to 90 pages.

So you now have 77 pages in front of you and should, as they sayin the industry,"break it down".
This is a multi-part process; the reason we do it is to create a budget, create a shooting schedule, determine our casting needs, determine the props we'll need, and figure out every location that's necessary.

Yeah, it does a lot. To start with, though... it's pretty easy...

STEP 1a: Break it down into 8ths

... and actually, pretty fun. Scriptwriting and filmmaking require every ounce of your attention during every second that your involved with it.

This doesn't.

Here's all you have to do: Get a ruler (actually any straight edge will do) and get a pencil. Then, draw eight equidistant horizontal lines across the paper. Start by drawing three lines that bisect each of the 3 holes punched on the left hand side. Then draw 2 lines in between the first and second holes, and again between the second and third holes.

It should look a little something like this:

Of course, there would be words all over the place, but you get the idea.

By breaking the script down to 8ths, we get manageble chunks of page count to work with. Each scene of the movie will be a certain length, measured in 8ths, with 1/8th being the shortest possible scene we'll have. When we go to the next part of breaking the script down, we'll use these measurements to create a shooting schedule that will give a per-day page count to shoot for. We'll know that on day 6, we have to shoot 6 2/3 pages to keep on schedule.

So, grab your pencil and go to town making those lines on each and every page.

STEP 1b: Scene Numbers

Next, you need to apply a scene number to each and every scene. For each slug line/scene heading you have that represents a location shift/change, you need to number it in ascending order. Write (or type) the scene number in both the left and right margins.

The first scene in your script is Scene 1, the last is Scene Whatever. How many scenes in a script varies wildly from screenplay to screenplay. MAGDALENA'S BRAIN had about 80 scenes. Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze's ADAPTATION has 123 scenes, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN has 227 scenes.

So now, before you, you will have a marked up script with a bunch of horizontal lines going through it and a bunch of numbers to the left (and right) of each scene heading.

But, up until this point, we haven't really "broken down" anything. We've just gotten things ready. This next step is a very revealing one, and will get you more intimate with your script than you ever have been before.

(continued)

© 2006 by Marty Langford