steps of film making

You know, maybe you are not film director. It's okay. Maybe you are a screen writer! Or a producer?

You have to go through the whole experience once or twice before you will know who you are. Maybe you hate the production aspect of it? Pre-production period will give some taste of it.

storyboard
images

camera

crew
actors

director

producer

production manager

In your "shot-by-shot book each above topic should have a special section. The cast and crew must be on the contact lists (production manager, PM, builds the lists with the info regarding conflicts and etc.) IMAGES: You can keep your "scrap book" seperately, but for many the collection of the images proved to be very helpful (especially working with the camera person and designers, they can see what kind of effects or moods you are looking for).

The PRODUCER part is for your self-discipline, to look at your shooting script from a different, financial, perspective -- how much this or that shot will cost and if this is worthy.

I advise my students to use Editing Page not only while working on the script, but also again at the Preproduction cycle (you will use it again in the Post-production cycle, when you got the footage).

Also, I advise directors to keep their notebooks (or journals), so you can write down you think about, but something which is not ready to pass on the cast and the crew. You can see the breakdown of such an approach at HamletDreams online (the show I am doing in the Fall 2001). While the fasks becoming more complex moving through the production forest, you must keep the initial vision, this is the main resposibility of a director. You must communicated to everybody's involved constantly in order for them to work on the details.

One more time -- the time ratio: it takes years to put a movie together, months -- to get the producing machine, days -- to shoot, minutes -- on the screen. /\
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___________ The bigger the foundation of this piramide, the better result at the top!

In many film textbooks "mise-en-scene" defined as "the widly-used term for all the lements placed in a scene: setting, props, costume, makeup." Semiotic theory is the analysis of these elements as code or system of signs that creates meanings.

Tips & Quotes:

"Rehearsals (Acting)

Once the major roles for a film have been cast, directors can begin preliminary run-throughs (rehearsals) to help actors develop their specific characters. The amount of rehearsal time afforded depends greatly on what the director wants, the availability of the actor, and the overall time constraints on the film. Generally rehearsals last 2-3 weeks before the actual shooting process begins.
Rehearsals can be very helpful in establishing relationships between actors and directors, along with determining if a specific scene plays out as believable or not. It is a time when the actors can give input, ask questions and collaborate with the director on whether a scene will relay well to the audience. If not, this is the time to make changes.

Different directors have differing points of view as to whether rehearsal is important to the overall production of the film or not. On one side there are those such as Paul Williams, "I am very actor oriented, and am very concerned with performance. I don't know how to do it without rehearsals. Next there are directors such as Bernardo Bertolicci, "I don't rehearse too much. I try, if I can."

Then there are directors such as Robert Altman, "I don't have any real rehearsal period. I'm embarrassed to rehearse because I don't know what to do." Finally, there are directors like Michael Winner, who don't believe in rehearsal for a film.

For the actor, rehearsals are not just about nailing a part or figuring it out, but also discovering if there will be chemistry between the actors. Actress Mary McDonnell (Passion Fish, Dances With Wolves) contends that the best actors are the ones who aren't afraid to make mistakes. Invariably, actors discover something about themselves as they move through rehearsal."