On one side, you
have your locations and the dates you have to use them. Usually, that’s in concrete. However, within each day, there is the question
of what rooms and in what order to shoot them.
You want to shoot all the lobby scenes together, so you don’t have to waste
time moving the crew and equipment, but…
…you also don’t want
to schedule anyone—including actors—if you’re not going to make good use of
them. So if there are five lobby scenes, but different actors are in each
scene, what are you going to sacrifice?
You’re paying a day rate for everyone to be there whether they are involved
in one scene or ten; the obvious goal as a producer is to maximize the work you
get for your dollar. So do you shoot
the lobby scenes and pay actors to be on set for only one scene, or do you arrange
the day around the actors and have them working the whole time, but moving the
crew and equipment? You end up going
with what’s cheaper: your cast or your crew and equipment. On smaller films, the camera and crew generally
cost more, so you’ll often have actors hanging round all day. They’re idle and bored and...and you’re
paying them a full day’s rate for less than a full day on camera.
And then there’s
the question of off-camera time. Does
your actress have a shower or swimming pool scene? She’ll need time to blow dry her hair and get
prepped for the next scene. Does your
actor need three days of beard growth for a scene? When is he going to get the days off to do
that without ruining other scenes? And the
list can go on.
So what do you
do? You put all the variables into each
decision for each shot and then for each transition between shots and then for
each day as it butts up against the next.
And, if you’ve done your job right, you should have a fairly smooth production.
Or you’ll have a
fairly memorable lesson learned.
~
If you’re reading this and you’d like to help out with my current project, click on the link below and donate securely through PayPal. You can be a producer and help make “Deadly Revisions”--a new psychological thriller/horror film starring Bill Oberst Jr. Check out the teaser trailer. You could even be in the movie! I promise to have a decent shot list!
The original teaser trailer:
For more info or to donate to DEADLY REVISIONS the movie: www.DeadlyRevisionsMovie.com
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