So you want to make your short. So did I—except for one little problem. I hadn’t gone to film school. I’d never been on a set before. I didn’t actually know the first thing about filmmaking. Did I let that stop me? Heck, no! And while it certainly wasn’t perfect, I did accomplish what I’d set out to do in my short thriller on online dating, Home at Night.
I also made plenty of mistakes. But that’s how you learn, right? Save yourself some of my pain and suffering (and instead find your own pain and suffering) with these six lessons that I learned the hard way.
1) Every set-up will take longer than you think.
If you’re not sure how long it’ll take to set up a new shot, try this simple rule of thumb: every time the camera has to move, it shaves 3 days, 22 hours, and 41 minutes off your life.
Alright, that’s a (slight) exaggeration. But the point is, adjusting the camera and, most importantly, lighting a new scene is an intricate and time-consuming process overseen by your DP. So while that team is gaffing and gripping, you’ll be standing there, biting your nails and saying (quietly), what the actual $^@* is taking so long?! As your producer nervously looks at their watch.
So: simplify your set-ups as much as possible. Do you really need that shot of the guy stepping off the elevator or the woman scrolling through her phone? Is there a clever way to move the narrative from A to B, without physically moving from A to B? Find the scenes and set-ups that you can do without, and stick to what you really need to tell your story.
2) Everything in general will take longer than you think.
If your producer calls your shooting schedule “ambitious,” that’s just a nice way of saying, implausible. We shot Home at Night in two days; that was pushing it. A third day would have been ideal. There’s no such thing as a quick “we’re in and we’re out” when it comes to filming, so be realistic and pad your schedule.
Here’s a real-life example. We got so behind on Day 1, we didn’t even get to the “fight” scene we had on the schedule. That meant I had to pay our stunt coordinator for two days instead of the one I had budgeted. Not only that, one of the actors who was supposed to be in that particular scene couldn’t even come the next day. Oy gevalt!
In the end, we were saved by a desperate, late-night email to our unflappable casting director and another actor we’d auditioned who graciously agreed to sub in. We got there, but with a lot of unnecessary stress. You may think you’re saving money with a super-tight shooting schedule, but in the end, you probably won’t.
And remember, a lot of great shorts are made of people sitting on a park bench, or on a couch, or at a beach. Not that I took this advice, because I’m a masochist who likes making things difficult, but it’s definitely true.
3) You should make your movie before making your movie.
This is the biggest thing I really wish I’d done differently, and which might have even prevented the near-disastrous schedule change referred to in Thing #2. Shoot your film on your phone before you actually shoot it. There are a bunch of viewfinder apps you can download that let you mimic the focal length of different lenses to help with this.
Example: There’s a short scene in Home at Night in which the protagonist finds himself fighting to get in front of a gaggle of girls walking down the street. Sounds simple, right? Well, getting the timing right (the pace of the walking, choreographing the interception, getting it all to look right in the eye of the Steadicam), was a lot trickier than I’d anticipated. So grab a few pals and practice first. Things may shift come shoot day, but at least you’ll have a solid starting point for blocking and cues before the crew is there and the camera is rolling and you’re on a busy city sidewalk and it’s started to rain and there are angry people trying to move a mattress because it’s New York City and getting rid of a mattress is a logistical challenge similar to launching a manned space flight and you’ve asked them (nicely) to just hang tight for another minute and they don’t get why you can’t just finish your stupid walking. For example.
4) There’s no such thing as too much planning.
When it comes to pre-production, you’ll probably never plan something so much in your life, including your wedding. Not that I’ve actually had a wedding, but I imagine it’s not that hard in comparison to planning a film shoot.
Write out every shot in detail (with simple storyboards, ideally) and go over it with your DP; have a back-up plan for shots or scenes you’re unsure about. Find a great line producer with a head for details to manage schedules and call times, and who will think of all the things you won’t. Do not try to produce your film yourself.
Find a great PA or two who can do things like moving cars and fetching forgotten props. Ask them to act as props master (since you probably won’t have one): give them a checklist of what items you need for each scene. You may think you won’t forget. You will.
That also goes for creature comforts. Bathrooms and warm/cool shelter is a real problem that needs a real solution. We’d shot inside a bar and were ending the night with a scene in the alley next to it. It was mid-November, and cold and windy. The plan was…just to hang around outside? Not great. The bartender who helped us with the indoor scene kindly agreed to stick around so the bar could act as our homebase. It worked out beautifully; I just should have planned for it from the beginning.
The good thing is, when you do have to plan your wedding, it’ll feel like a piece of cake.
5) Everyone will be mad at you.
This lesson doesn’t have to do with planning or shot lists, but I think it’s a big one for first-time filmmakers that no one really talks about. You have to be ok with people just not being that happy with you. It’s a reality of filming on a budget, and, I suspect, filming at all. When you only have permission to shoot somewhere until 9 and you need another hour, or you didn’t get to an actor’s scene that day and you need them to come another day, or someone has to hold onto their mattress for a few more minutes, you just…do it. Sometimes it’s about convincing people, not pleasing them. That can be very mentally taxing when you’re not used to it.
That’s another reason it’s 100% worth it to find yourself an experienced line producer who’s adept at navigating these situations. That way, you can focus as much of your energy as possible on the last point.
6) Everything is your problem (but especially this).
Your DP owns camera and lighting. Your producer owns logistics and operations. If there’s one job that is totally, exclusively yours, it’s directing actors. It’s easy to lose sight of this when you’re in the middle of a shoot, which is really a succession of problems that need to be solved. But try your best not to.
There’s a moment at the end of Home at Night, right before the twist occurs, in which the protagonist is walking behind the character I call “Leather Jacket Woman,” getting closer. It’s a big moment; her face in that moment is everything.
We shot that at the end of our two intense shoot days, the stress and exhaustion mounting. It was cold outside, the lighting was taking a long time, there were all kinds of street noise and distractions—people walking, cars, trash trucks—not to mention the fact that by that point, we were supposed to already be out of the alley we hadn’t even started shooting in. So I was distracted, to say the least.
When I watched it again, I wished so profoundly that I’d given her just one sentence of direction. It’s not like she had no expression; she did a great job with what she had. But I had missed an opportunity. That moment could have been so much more impactful, if only I’d done my job and directed her.
It’s ok. I’m over it. Really, I am.
Making a short film will challenge, exhaust, and test you. But it’s also incredibly satisfying. So jump into the fray! There’s nothing like the feeling of saying that’s a wrap and knowing that you’ve done it: you’ve shot your short.
Allison Geller is a Miami-based writer and filmmaker usually doing too many things. Her first short film HOME AT NIGHT is a thriller exploring gender and power in online dating; she’s currently at work on a feature rom-com exploring similar themes in a less scary way. Allison can otherwise be found at the dance studio or escaping from the world with a book.
