Critical Lessons to make your first film a huge success!
10 lessons to instantly make your first film a huge success!
I'm a filmmaker and I want to share some of the important lessons I learned and applied to my first film that I think every first time director should know. They will serve you incredibly well with your first film.
On set of Landing Home
Lessons I learned on my first film project!
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There is a level of experience that you don't have as a first time director. And reading at least two books on filmmaking and directing, can give you valuable skills and lessons that you simply don’t know. Things to do and things you should not do as a first time director.
When you've directed multiple projects, you have those experiences to help you. But when you've never directed a film, the lack of experience can be a real challenge. It's a level, of experience that you simply don't have, and educating yourself can help you have a base knowledge that can give you confidence.
If you've directed multiple projects, you have those experiences and help you. But when you've never directed a film, it can be a challenge. It's a level, of experience that you don't have. Reading books help you learn a base a knowledge you can use and gives you the confidence.
How to direct a scene.
How not to direct a scene.
What scenes to never film as a director.
What are the critical crew positions you need to focus on?
Where to spend your money and where not to spend money.
How to get the most out of your locations?
Books I read:
“How Not to Make a Short Film”
RESEARCH
Talk to directors who have more experience than you. I was lucky to have a network of successful directors to reach out and speak to (Mathew Bonifacio, Andrew Steward Jones). Friends who have directing experience - they shared with me what to do with certain films, what not to do, and how to handle myself as a director. They gave me the confidence to feel like I was an experienced director, and helped me develop my voice as a director.
How to behave when coming to your set.
How not to behave when arriving on your set.
Guides posts to steer stay away from.
STORYBOARD YOUR FILM
The most important thing that you need to do as a first time director is storyboard your film. Storyboarding and knowing how to stage your actors is your homework as a director. And storyboarding doesn't have to be complicated. It could be as simple as stick figures and that's exactly how I started. I drew out stick figures with my film and then I hired somebody to draw them professionally for me. You don't have to do that, but I wanted to give something professional to my Director of Photography and to the rest of my team.
Storyboarding helps give you an idea of what each shot should look like. When you write a story, you don't see it frame by frame. Once your storyboard, you take the story that you have written in words, and you’ve turned it into pictures. You need to create those pictures to realize how you're going to tell that story. You have a general idea in your head with a few scenes floating around, but you need to know what the sequence of pictures is going to be so that you can make your film. And by doing this critical step, you build the movie in your head, frame by frame, and scene by scene.
When you storyboard your film, it also gives you confidence that you know your entire movie from start to finish — every single frame. Your team and your actors want you to know where everything and everyone goes. You are the captain of this ship, so actors want to feel confident that you know exactly how you want them to move into the scene and where to exit the scene.
You want to come to set knowing how to shoot the scene and everything that involves shooting the scene. Be flexible and be open enough to change things but you need a starting base. Storyboarding tell you and your team ow many shots are going to be in the day. And that shows you how to approach the day and the entire week that you are going to be filming.
Storyboarding is the most time-consuming thing you will do for your pre-production but the most valuable!
Storyboarding your film also helps you with:
You realize to stage your actors - CRITICAL
Pay attention if you have too many shots for a particular scene.
Critical to developing your voice as a director so that you can share your vision with your team.
Helps you speak to your actors.
Helps you figure out what camera lenses you should use.
How to simplify a shot, because let's face it, you are going want to do some crazy creative stuff as a first time inexperienced director when all you need is to simplify it.
From this to This.
I drew these by hand.
I then had them copied by an artist.
GET A GREAT DP
Your DP is worth its weight in gold as a first time director. I was very intimidated by the whole idea of directing my first film. I mean, I had plenty of experience as an actor, but there are so many technical things about directing a film that all of it can feel so overwhelming. They will help you feel comfortable about all the technical stuff you don't have experience with and or understand.
I studied with Alec Baldwin once, and he told me that directing a film is like driving an oil tanker. You have to make sure you don't crash it and spill all the oil.
A good DP will dramatically affect who scene feels and communicates to an audience. He will help you choose the best camera lenses and what type of shot will communicate your vision for the story. Should you use a dirty single shot which allows the viewer feel that he is part of the scene like you're in the middle of two people. Or would an over the shoulder shot known as a dirty single shot which helps the viewer feel like you're spying in on the conversation, would that be best.
They're incredibly creative in how they shoot the scene, how they light the sea. Every time I look at one of my shots in post-production and during the editing phase, I see how creative my DP and the rest of my team was. As actors, we forget that there's are so many creative individuals that are involved in when making a film. And once you direct a movie for the first time, you realize how many talented people it takes to do a project. It is a tribe that makes the film.
My amazing DP on the left, and my amazing Grip on the right
HIRE A GOOD AD
A good 1st AD is the taskmaster of your film; he can make your film run smoothly or run like shit. They are responsible for scheduling and keeping shot list's priorities in order, pushing you the director to stay on schedule. They take care of all the logistics that you can't focus on.
You need a talented and robust 1st AD who is responsible, punctual, and who has immense follow through — someone who can get things done and who is professional. Obviously, your budget is going to be limited as a first-time director, but there are people out there who are professional and who want to the experience and the opportunity. You can tell if someone is a professional or not by how they return their emails and phone calls to you. Trust your gut, if they feel like they don't take things seriously and with urgency, stay away.
PRODUCTION MANAGER
A good production manager is going to support you in many of the countless details that need to get done, but you just don't have the time to focus on. They will help you keep actors organized on set, line notes, and the most important thing when making a film, FOOD.
And if you think you are going to give your actors and crew just a bunch of granola bars, think again. You do that for one day on a shoot that produced for a week, and you will have a mutiny on your set. You need to feed your crew and your actors. A production manager will also make sure that there's water on the set, and there is plenty of coffee and Red Bull flowing.
As a director, you have so much on your plate, that you just can't be worrying about ordering burritos and tacos for people. A good production manager is going to make sure that lunch is always on time, and this is so critical when time is of the essence. The last thing you want is to be waiting for lunch to arrive when you only have 45 minutes for lunch. Every minute is incredibly valuable. You will run out of time probably every day of filming, so the last thing you want to do is waste time by waiting around for lunch.
My Amazing Sound Recordist on the fart left,
My amazing production Designer Stephanie Berumen in the middle,
And my wonderful & talented prouction manager
Kahley Rowell.
PRODUCTION DESIGNER
A good production designer is going to take a small amount of money and make it look like a lot of money, at least a good one will. And I was fortunate to have a great one. My production designer made our set for Landing Home look like she had a massive budget. She was incredibly talented and knew how to stretch a dollar. I would say that a production designer and some people would argue with me that a production designer is as critical as your DP.
Our story dealt with a veteran coming back home and him having to learn how to adjust back to normal life, and his struggles with that adjustment. So we needed to create a set that looked like a real home.
When you look and your footage in the editing phase, you will notice the production value or lack of production value. You will look at your scenes and notice if your set looks good or does not look good.
How pictures are hanged, where the plants are placed, are there pictures frames that a normal home would have, a casual sweater over the coach, all the little details that help the story of your film come alive. Once you get a good production designer on your film, you will never look at a prop on film the same way again. Every prop you see is placed where you see it for a particular reason.
A good production designer is invaluable to your film.
She took a small budget and created magic with it. Thank you Stephanie Berumen!
INTERVIEW EVERY SINGLE PERSON
You need to interview every single person you bring on your team. You need to know that you can work with that person that you are going to mesh and be able to collaborate. You need to make sure that they see your vision and that they understand that this is your story. People are going to come on with their agendas, and that's fine as long as it does not affect your vision.
You have so much on your plate that you want to make sure that whoever's working with you is there to support you and your vision only. You just DON'T HAVE THE TIME to stroke anybody's ego. Protect your set at all cost. It's critical to your success.
And if you feel you have brought someone on who is trying to override your vision and is making their agenda a priority over yours, listen to your gut and replaced them IMMEDIATELY. Chemistry is everything for your film.
And if a friend or a contact says, "Hey I know a great person for a particular role," if you have not interviewed them, DON'T HIRE THEM because you've got to make sure that they're not gonna mess up your chemistry on your film set.
It's crucial that you interview every single person and if you can't do it in person, at minimum, do it over the phone.
KEEP YOUR EMAILS ORGANIZED
Keeping your emails organized is something that a lot of artists don't put enough emphasis on but as a first time director, it's incredibly valuable. It will dramatically reduce stress and give you leverage to succeed in your film.
Create a simple folder structure with whatever system it is you are using for email. My film was called Landing Home, so I created folders that looked like what I have listed below:
Web Series / Landing Home
Crew
PA's
PM
AD
Costumes
DP
Editor
Music
Contracts
Insurance
Locations
Hair and Make-Up
Script Notes
Sound,
Casting,
Whatever makes sense for you is fine, but the goal is to stay organized with your emails. It gives you power, clarity, and focus as a director and as a leader of the project. Anytime an email came in that was corresponding to that folder, I immediately filed into its corresponding structure. Staying organized with your emails will serve you incredibly well when you're shooting your film.
When you're shooting a project for the first time, and as a first time director, you're also producing it. So you're going to to be getting so many emails from so many different people, and all of the information must be filed away in a location that you can access quickly. Because if you don't, it can all feel so overwhelming. Your inbox and sent boxes can become disaster zones, with information scattered all over the place.
By filling away those emails in the appropriate folders, it allows you to know where all your information is, and be able to access it when you need it. It helps keep things in your head clean so that you can focus on the things that you need to focus on. Keeping your emails organized gives you confidence as a director and producer, and allows you to lead the film.
EXAMPLE
When we were filming Landing Home, the sound guy I had initially hired didn't show up. Yep, crazy stuff happens on a film set. He went AWOL on the first day of filming, and I had to scramble. My AD had some recording device that we were able to use for the scene. I didn't tell the actors what was going on, I stayed calm and went into one of the email folders that I had called Sound, and looked at all the other people who had applied for the job that I was not able to hire for because of either our schedules didn't work out, or because I had already booked my sound guy.
I was able to efficiently and quickly go through my emails within my folder structure, reach out to a few sound guys who's emails I had filed and who I enjoyed communicating with and be able to find someone to hire. And we had a new guy on set for the second half of the day.
Staying organized allows you to lead the project cleanly and efficiently.
HAVE A NOTEBOOK
Create a notebook for yourself to help you keep all of your notes, thoughts, ideas, and contracts all in one place. Like keeping your emails organized, keep your story and film notes organized also gives you confidence and control on set as a director. Everything that pertains to your film should be put into a notebook and should be with you on set/ I went everywhere on set with this notebook.
I had seven episodes and everything that pertained to that particular episode would go in that section tab of my notebook. Before every scene I shot, I'd open the corresponding section in my notebook and remind myself what I wanted out of the scene. Because there are so many great ideas that you have and that you want to incorporate into either the film, that's impossible to remember all fo them. But if you have them in your notebook organized into a folder or tab of the corresponding scene, then you're golden.
Anytime I had a question, or if my actors and team had a question about a scene, I pull out my bible, and we'd go through it so that we all could get on the same page. It's quite powerful to know where everything is.
And you'll also need to be able to locate all of your permits and contracts in a moment's notice. You can be at a location, and the owner of that location will ask to see your insurance or the town or city you are in will ask you to provide your permit for shooting. The last thing you want to do is be in a scramble looking for this stuff. Help yourself out and STAY ORGANIZED.
Things I kept in my notebook.
Storyboard illustrations
Acting notes
Story notes
Contracts
Film ideas
Scene notes
Actor notes
Reading my notes in my bible which was my notebook.
COME TO SET WITH ENERGY
Come to the set with tons of energy, and be excited to be on set. Even when things are not going the way, you think they should be going, stay positive and be the happiest guy on set.
Say good morning to everybody because you should be happy that you're filming your film. It such a privilege to be able to make a film, much less your film. And be sure to always thank everybody for their work. Thank EVERY SINGLE PERSON because the whole set leads off of you.
And every morning as you walk on set as the director, o to each grip, each PA, every single person and say good morning to them. No one is making tons of money on these type of projects, and it's all a labor of love. Being gracious and being respectful helps everyone to commit to the project. They feel that you care about them, so they care about what they're doing for your film. It's so easy to treat people with respect, and yet, many do not. Don't be that director who doesn't treat their actors and or crew with respect.
And if you can find a way within your budget, buy a few beers for your crew when they are wrapping up. I bought beers for all of my crew and the end of every day. We didn't have a party or anything but just a few beers to let them know how much I appreciated their work. It was also an excellent way for all of us to bond as a team.
Everyone feeds off your. ENERGY!
GET PLENTY OF PUNCH NS
Shoot your actor's hands, their legs, their feet, your actress playing with her hair, anything that you think looks interesting. If your gut tells you to film it, then shoot it. Even if your whole crew says that's dumb to film, do it.
One particular day during the filming of Landing Home, I saw a caterpillar crawling on the floor when we are outside in the park. I thought it was very symbolic of what my character was going through, so I had my DP film it. And we were able to use it in our trailer.
Because when you're in the editing phase of cutting your film, you don't know what you're going to need, and the last thing you want is to be cutting your film and wishing you had a few more reaction shots. Or that one shot that you wanted to film but didn't.
Also, get plenty of B-Roll footage. When you're going from location to location, tell your DP to turn on his camera and record driving down the street. And I promise that you will find moments in your film to use that B-Roll.
TIP: Make sure you shoot in front of the house that you are using as a set because I forgot and I had to go back and film it. You can use that footage to establish a scene.
So if you think you need it, film it. And even if you think you might need it, shoot it.
DIRECT WITH KINDNESS
Be respectful of your actors and do what you can to relax them on set. A relaxed actor is a good actor. I've been acting for 20 years professionally, and I've been blessed to pick things up from amazing directors who I've worked with and who I respected. But unfortunately, I've also been on sets with directors who didn't know how to direct actors. So both experiences have given me a feel of how I want to direct, and how I don't want to direct my actors. I want to direct my actors how I would like to be directed.
When you yell action, do it quietly. You don't need to shout it out loud like some crazy person. Calmly say, "Action guys and go when you're ready." Acting is tough, and there is no need to get people's anxieties up by yelling "ACTION!" to your actors. And when you give them a specific direction on how would like for them to approach the scene, give it to them privately. No one else needs to know what your note to them is. It's between you and your actor.
When you're communicating privately to your actors, they don't feel any anxieties about receiving direction. You don't encourage the feeling in them that, "I'm not a good actor, or the work I'm doing isn't good enough."
A relaxed actor is a great actor. And your film will appreciate it.
Acting is hard work, help your actors feel comfortable and they will support YOU.
USE IMPROVISATION
Improve is a powerful tool to use in a scene and sometimes as an actor when you're struggling with a scene either as an actor or as a director (and it will happen) improve can help you find your rhythm. It's a little trick that I learned from Seth Barrish of Barrow Theatre Group. Improve will help your actors feel more grounded in the scene and help them listen to each other. And always film the improve because you will find beautiful moments that you can use.
Some Ideas for Improv:
Ask them to make up a story, or to talk about their day.
Ask them to talk about what they're going to do for their vacation, or a vacation they want to take.
Ask them to talk about someone they both know. It can be a celebrity or a friend but without using their name.
Ask them to talk about what they are going to do tomorrow or what their favorite food is.
YOU CAN DO IT
The last thing I want to leave you with is that you can do it. You will have many sleepless nights, during pre-production and definitely when you're filming. Remember that it's all part of the process and that you will get through it. When I was three months out of, I'd wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and be asking myself, "What did I get myself into?" But as creatives, we always find a way to get our projects done.
People you depend on will let you down, your friends will let you down, and you will have moments when you will feel completely overwhelmed, but as crazy as it sounds, be grateful You're getting an opportunity to make your film. It's an endeavor, it's expensive, and it's a lot of hard work. And to be honest, you don't know when you're going to get another opportunity to make a film and be allowed to direct.
Every night before you fall asleep, tell yourself how grateful you are that your project has been an enormous success. Thankful that there were no hiccups and the project was a huge winner. Hypnotize yourself to focus on how you want the outcome to come off. I believe that when you positively talk to yourself, that it sends energy into the world to help you make it happen.
I had plenty challenges but I got through it, and so will you. You have everything inside you to finish your project and to get it done.
I wish you nothing but the best of success and warp speed!
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.”
–Theodore Roosevelt
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