Filmmaking For Dummies

Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond the Book
Where to Go from Here
Part 1 Getting Started with Filmmaking
Chapter 1 So You Want to Be a Filmmaker
Independents Day versus the Hollywood Way
Filmmaking: Celluloid Film Stock or Digital?
All digital: The new age of technology
Thanks for the memories: Memory cards
Developing Your Sense of Story
Financing Your Production: Where’s the Money?
On a Budget: Scheduling Your Shoot
Planning Your Shoot, Shooting Your Plan
Hiring Your Cast and Crewing Up
Shooting in the Right Direction
Seeing the light
Being heard and scene
Actors taking your direction
Directing through the camera
Cut It Out! Editing Your Movie
Listening to your movie
Simulating a film-look with software
Distributing Your Movie and Finding an Audience
Chapter 2 Genres in General
Exploring Film Genres
Making ’em laugh with comedy
Getting dramatic about it
Horrifying horror films
Romancing the romantic
Getting physical: No talk and all action
Separating fact from (science) fiction
Indulging your fantasy
Go west, young man: Westerns
Going to war
Thrilling audiences with suspense
Stealing the audience’s attention: Crime pays
Making music with musicals
Kidding around: Family-friendly films
Categorizing Your Genres
Featuring films
Made-for-TV movie
Documenting documentaries
Shooting digital shorts: Keep it brief!
Directing television programs
Directing commercials
Minding your PSAs: Public service announcements
Feel like dancing? Music videos
Industrials: Industrial strength
A word about branding and sequels
Chapter 3 Penning and Pitching a Great Story
Screening for the Perfect Screenplay
The “write” way to find a writer
Adapting: A novel idea
Writing Your Own Original Screenplay
Structuring your screenplay
Creating conflict
Developing characters
Drafting your screenplay: Scene by scene
Collaborating with writer’s software
Formatting your screenplay
Selling Your Screenplay to a Studio, Distributor, or Investor
Getting your foot (and screenplay) in the door
Pitching a home run
Part 2 Gearing Up to Make Your Movie
Chapter 4 Scheduling and Budgeting Your Movie
The Art of Scheduling a Production
Lining your script
Breaking into breakdown sheets
Creating production strips
Scheduling software to make your life easier
Stripping down your schedule
Balancing Your Budget
Tightrope walking above the line
Hanging below the line
Topping your budget
Budgeting for budget software
Factoring in a contingency amount
Insurance Is Your Best Policy
Finding an insurance broker
Bond, completion bond
Chapter 5 Financing Your Movie
Creating an Enticing Prospectus
Synopsis of your story
Information about you: What’s your history?
Info about your cast and crew
Your budget and profit projections
Investigating Investors
Locating potential investors: Show me the money!
Approaching a potential investor
Keeping the Securities and Exchange Commission in mind
Starting a Production Company
Being in the right company
Other things to do to set up your production company
Going Escrow
Contracting Your Investor
Tapping into Alternative Sources
Pre-selling your movie
Getting a grant
Getting a loan
Kickstarting your Indiegogo: Crowdfunding
Bartering: Trade you this for that
Chapter 6 Location, Location, Location
Locating Locations
Managing location managers and scouts
Evaluating potential locations
Taking location pictures: Shooting in Landscape mode
Sounding Off about Soundstages
Finding — or creating — a soundstage
Putting up walls: Using flats
Shooting in the United States or Crossing the Border?
Researching U.S. government incentives
Traveling to Canada
Locating Stock Footage
Virtual Locations: Creating New Worlds on Your Computer
Securing Your Locations
Acquiring permits
Ensuring you’re insured
Mapping out your locations
Policing your locations
Fire!
Shooting Second-Unit Locations
Chapter 7 Crewing Up: Hiring Your Crew
Something to Crew About
Producing the producer
Directing the direction
Stepping over the line producer
Uniting with a production manager
Supervising the script
Directing photography with a cinematographer
Going with your gaffer
Getting a grip
Sounding like your sound mixer
Booming the sound
Propping up the prop master
Dressing up the wardrobe department
Making up is hard to do
Gopher this, gopher that
Keeping your composer
Editing: Cut that out!
And the rest . . .
Finding and Interviewing Your Crew
Creative Ways to Pay Your Crew
Paying later: Deferments or points
Racking up credits
Hiring student bodies
Paying a kit fee
Hiring crew as independent contractors
Union or non-union — that is the question
Putting Out a Contract on Your Crew
Chapter 8 Assembling Your Cast of Characters
Hooking Your Cast and Reeling Them In
Calling all agents
Casting through casting directors
Placing casting ads
Calling casting services
Accessing actor directories
Screening an Actor’s Information
Headshots and resumes
Recording their act
Spinning an actor’s website
Auditioning Your Potential Cast
Creating a friendly environment
Inspecting an actor’s etiquette
Slating on camera
Avoiding bitter-cold readings
Monologues leave you all by yourself
Making the Cut: Picking Your Cast
Calling back
Screen testing
And the winners are . . .
Agreeing with Actors’ Agreements
Contracting union players
Contracting non-union players
Securing releases from extras
Chapter 9 Storyboarding Your Movie
Understanding the Basics and Benefits of Storyboarding
Setting Up to Storyboard
Breaking down your script
Evaluating each shot
Organizing a shot list
Framing storyboard panels
Deciding What to Include in Each Panel: Putting Pencil to Paper
Choosing the right angles
Imagining camera and actor movement
Boarding your special effects
Sketching out the actors, props, and vehicles
Looking at lighting and location
I Can’t Draw, Even If My Life Depended on It
Designing with storyboard software
Drawing the help of a professional artist
Part 3 Ready to Roll: Starting Production on Your Movie
Chapter 10 Shooting through the Looking Glass
Choosing the Right Camera
Rolling with film cameras (the old-fashioned way?)
Recording with digital cameras
Do You Need Glasses? Types of Lenses and What They See
Pocket Camera Osmosis
The normal lens sees what you see
Short or wide-angle lens
Going long with telephoto
Zooming in on zoom lenses
Clearing the Air about Filters
Sliding-in or screwing-on: Types of filters
Coloring with filters
Day for night and night for day
Neutral about neutral density filters
Polarizers
Exposing Yourself to Exposures
F-stopping to a “t”
Shuttering to think
Focusing a Sharper Image: Depth of Field
Chapter 11 Let There Be Lighting!
Lighting Up Your Life
Shedding Some Light on Lighting Jargon
Big foot-candles: Lighting for film cameras
Lux (and cream cheese): Lighting for digital
Taking your color temperature
Illuminating with soft light versus hard light
Seeing your eye light
Painting with Light
Spotlight on Lighting Equipment
Shining light on halogens, LEDs, incandescents, fluorescents, and HMIs
Filming the light of day
You’re on a roll with gels
Reflecting on reflector boards
Opening barn doors: No cows or chickens here
Cooking with cookies, scrims, and diffused glass
Waving flags and snoots
Measuring with light meters
Gathering light on accessories
Blowing a Fuse: Taking Safety Precautions
Chapter 12 Sound Advice: Production Sound
Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3
Assembling a Sound Team
Mixing it up with your mixer
Making room for the boom operator
Choosing Analog or Digital Sound
Analog: The sound of Nagra Falls
In the field with digital recorders
Recording with Microphones
Shooting with shotgun (directional) microphones
Omni-directional mics
Lapel microphones
Wireless microphones
Using Your Headphones
Walking and Talking: Walkie-Talkies on Set
Listening for Quiet
Shushing the camera: Barney hears you
Silencing footsteps with sound blankets and foot foam
Slating with the clapper board
Syncing picture and sound with timecode
Capturing On-Set Ambience
Reporting Your Sound
Chapter 13 Directing Your Actors: . . . And Action!
Getting Your Actors Familiar with the Material — and Each Other
Remembering that familiarity breeds content
Reading through the script: The table read
Adjusting dialogue to make it read naturally
Being a Parent and Mentor to Your Actors — with No Allowance
Preparing Your Actors before the Shoot
Rehearsals, yea or nay?
Rehearsing the characters, not just the lines
Discovering the characters’ backstories
Reading between the lines: Subtext
Exercising and warming up your actors
Acting is reacting
Speaking with body language
Directing Actors during the Shoot
Encouraging your actors to ask questions — but not too many
Reminding your actors that less is more — more or less
Feeling the words, not just memorizing
Blocking, walking, and talking
Taking care of business
Matching actors’ actions
Commending the actors
Chapter 14 A Sense of Direction: Directing Your Movie
Focusing on Directing
Directing traits
Training yourself as a director
Translating Script to Screen
Understanding the screenplay
Rewriting or adjusting the script
Visualizing your screenplay
Mapping Out Your Plans for the Camera
Designing storyboards
Creating a shot list
Sketching schematics
Making notes on the script
Planning with models (not the high-fashion kind)
Continuing Continuity with Your Script Supervisor
Got a match?
Inserting coverage and cutaways
Screen direction: Your other left
Taking Your Best Shot
Where the heck are we? Establishing a wide shot
You don’t have to be a psychic to get a medium shot
Two shot: Three’s a crowd
I’m ready for my close-up
Picture This: Deciding When to Move the Camera and Why
Playing with dollies
Craning to get a high shot
Stabilizing the camera
Part 4 Finishing Your Movie in Post
Chapter 15 Cut to: Editing Your Movie — Shot by Shot
Editing Your Movie: Putting One Frame in Front of the Other
Choosing an editor: Cut that out!
Shooting enough coverage
Assembling a first cut
Building a director’s cut
Photo finish: Finalizing a final cut
Listening to the sound editor
Linear versus Nonlinear Editing
Editing in linear
Editing in nonlinear
Editing on Your Computer
Hard driving
Cutting it with editing software
Posting your production in your computer
Outputting your masterpiece
Developing a Relationship with Your Film Lab
Developing negatives, producing prints, and DCP
Being positive about a negative cutter
Color-correcting your movie: As plain as black and white
Coloring your world
L.U.T.s to look up
Cloning, Not Copying; Cloning, Not Copying
Chapter 16 Posting Your Movie’s Soundtrack: Adding Music and Effects to the Mix
Finishing Sound in Post-Production
Stirring up the mixer’s toolbox
Mixing the right balance
Looping the loop
Creating Sound Effects with a Bang
Listening to digital sound-effects libraries
Creating and recording your own sound effects
Getting to know Jack Foley
Adding room tone: Ambience or background sounds
Scoring Big with Music
Conducting a composer to set the mood
Composing your own music
The sound of music libraries and music software
Singing original songs
Orchestrating the rights to popular music
Cueing up cue sheets
Finding songs in the public domain
Outputting Your Final Mix
Surrounding sound
Listening in stereo
Separating music and effects tracks for foreign release
Chapter 17 Conjuring Up Special Effects
Creating Effects: In or Out of Camera?
Dropping in Backgrounds
Turning blue and green
Dishing out background plates
A touch of glass: Matte paintings
Have you seen scenic backdrops?
Weathering the storm
Downsizing Miniatures
Looking down on miniatures
Foreground Fooling
Forcing the perspective, forcefully
Climbing the walls
Creating Effects Right in the Camera
Backward about reverse photography
Double exposure, double exposure
Cranking the camera and speeding slowly
Creating effects with lenses and filters
Exploding Effects on Fire
Making Up Your Mind about Makeup Effects
Applying prosthetics
Here’s looking at scleral lenses
Take a bite out of this
Pulling out your hair with lace hairpieces
Chapter 18 Giving Credit and Titles
Titling Your Movie
Running a List of Names and Positions
Spelling it write
Entitled to a credit
Designing Your Titles and Credits
Designing the style with fonts
Animating your main title and credits
Digitally creating your credits
Crediting without a computer
Rolling Your Title and Credits with Software
Timing for opening and ending credits
Ordering your title and credits
Ensuring the safety of your credits
Covering Your Eyes: Stripping Titles for Foreign Textless
Part 5 Finding Distribution for Your Movie
Chapter 19 Distributing Your Movie
Understanding How Distribution Works
Presenting Your Film to Distributors
Posting a poster of your movie
Picturing the set photographer
Pulling your audience in with a trailer
Premiering your movie
Distributing Your Film Domestically
Minding media rights
Steamlining your movie
Anticipating ancillary rights
Distributing Your Film around the World
Selling your film at the super markets
Negotiating: How much for your film?
Speaking their language
Finding a Distributor or Sales Agent
The best domestic distributors
The best foreign distributors (also called foreign sales agents)
Demystifying Distribution Contracts
Insuring for errors and omissions
Accounting for creative bookkeeping
Chapter 20 Exploring and Entering Film Festivals
Demystifying Film Festivals
Judging the difference between a film festival and a film market
Screening the benefits of entering film festivals
Entering and Winning Secrets
Sending a work-in-progress — Don’t!
Entering the right festivals for your film
Choosing the appropriate genre and category
Writing a great synopsis of your movie
Picture perfect: Selecting the best photos from your film
Submitting the best format securely
Entering onto the Film Freeway
Getting an entry-fee discount
Part 6 The Part of Tens
Chapter 21 Ten Tips for Discovering New Talent
Streaming Independent Films
Visiting Local Theater
Auditing Acting Schools and Showcases
Talking to Agents and Managers
Accessing Actors Access
Schmoozing at Film Festivals and Markets
Partying at Parties
Walking Down the Street
Holding Talent Contests
Casting Your Family
Chapter 22 Ten Ways to Get Publicity for Your Movie
Uploading a Press Release Online
Getting a Review from Movie Critics
Mailing Out DVD Screeners or Linking to a Secure Online Screener
Attending Film Festivals
Emailing and Setting Up a Website
Being Social by Using Social Media
Designing T-Shirts and Other Premiums
Planning a Publicity Stunt
Organizing a Screening Party or Charity Event
Placing an Ad in Print or on Social Media
Chapter 23 Ten Ways to Avoid Murphy’s Law
Testing Camera and Sound
Scouting Locations for Noise
Forecasting a Weather App
Backing Up Locations and Actors
Using a Stunt Double
Standing by with First-Aid Kit or Medic On-Set
Anticipating That Cellphones and Internet Don’t Work Everywhere
Mapping Out Directions with a Link
Providing Plenty of Parking
Securing Security Overnight
Powering Up ahead of Time
Chapter 24 Ten Tips for Shooting on Your Smartphone
Shooting in Landscape
Take Off with Airplane Mode
Steady as She Goes
Steady as a Rock
Shooting Format and Resolution
Saving Your Movie Files
Miniature Camera Equipment
Use Several Smartphones to Capture Your Movie
Great Sound on Your Smartphone Too!
Your Smartphone Is an Entire Production Studio
Index
EULA