VERTIBLOG Film School V - THE $1,500 MOVIE, Part 4

PRE PRODUCTION (continued)

STEP 1. BREAK DOWN YOUR SCRIPT (cont.)
STEP 1b: The Production Board

This gets a little complicated.

But fortunately, there's an amazing piece of software out there that, once you figure out how to use it, is going to save you loads of time and money, and as a super-bonus will make you look like the most organized and prepared filmmaker around. This alone makes it worth its price. With the reports and print outs you can generate, your crew will be confident in your ability as a filmmaker.

As a little aside here, as I mentioned before, the confidence you exude as a writer/producer/director/filmmaker to your crew is crucial. The men and women "helping you out", and "giving you a hand" will sacrifice many things in their own lives if they believe in you and your project. This app. is an easy, cheap way to begin the trust that you need from your crew.

Anyway, it's called Filmmaker's Software and you can download it here. To use their words, it's a "multi-featured film production software package designed for full-scale scheduling, budgeting and managing". Now to be honest, compared to all of the other production packages out there, it's no great shakes. But when you take into consideration that most other apps with the same features are $300-$900, and filmmaker's Software is $15.00, it's clear it'll be the best money you spend in pre-pro.

The most important aspect to this piece of software is the ability to create Production Boards. Production boards look like this...















... but, as earlier stated, it's a bit complicated.

One of the drawbacks to this $15 app is that its makers didn't create proprietary code for this software to be a stand-alone, specifically-designed production app. They created a series a macros to work with Microsoft Excel... it's how they can afford to sell it so cheaply. But no worries, there's a manual and some FAQs, and once you get the hang of it, like everything else in life, it becomes second nature.

*(*soapbox warning*)* Now, industrious yet dishonest people out there may read through the above stuff and determine: "well, if these other more expensive apps are better, why not just surf over to one of those torrent or file sharing sites and get me one." Well, you could that; matter of fact, you could do that very easy. We all know how to. My only response to that is fine, do just that... and when your movie gets picked up and you start to get royalties/percentages of each unit sold, don't bitch when people start thinking the same way about downloading your film, and literally stealing money from you. *(*end*)*

STEP 1b: The Production Board
I. Mindlessly inputting important data.

Don't you hate the word 'data'? Like 'product' and 'content', I've always bristled at how it takes what could be brilliant ideas/thoughts/creations, and reduces it to a single distasteful term. In our case, data means scene information that's entered to create "strips".

Strips include:
-scene number
-slug line info (INT./EXT, LOCATION, TIME OF DAY)
-short description (John meets Alice at roller rink; chaos breaks out)
-number of pages (in 8ths)
-script day (for help in continuity, it's very useful to know where each scene exists in the
timeline reality of your movie. If you film takes place over a 7 day period, you have
to know what day you're shooting. This can help an actor's performance and aid in
wardrobe.)

So, you go through your horizontally-lined/scene-numbered script, page-by-page, scene-by-scene and enter this info into well-designed fields.

STEP 1b: The Production Board
II. Carefully inputting important data.

You're not done. These five pieces of info represent only part of the strip. Once they are inputted you then go the script once again, page-by-page, scene-by-scene. This time, however, you have to read every word you've written. Very carefully. What you're doing is determining what physical and logistical elements you're going to need when you eventually shoot these scenes.

We're talking:
-cast
-extras
-special effects
-sound elements
-props
-vehicles
-wardrobe
-special makeup/hair needs
-location details
-special equipment (dolly, jib, steadicam...etc)

As intimately as you knew your script before, you'll soon know it exponentially more.

And that's a good thing.

Because you have to plan every aspect of every element of every moment of your shoot. I don't like getting into the relative values/importance of the different stages of production, but one thing is sure... without proper pre-pro, you have little chance of having a successful production & post production experience.

So, we've created strips. If you've done it right, it's taken you hours, not minutes. And you're ready to start thinking about how and when you're going to start shooting this thing.

(continued)

© 2006 by Marty Langford