AboutMichael Belanger Expertise Screenwriters in Boston, AM?
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I can answer questions about film scoring for indie film, home recording, music production and related equiptment including computers and software. I enjoy the creative and business sides of independant film making and music production.
Experience I have scored several independant films. I am part of an active film making team that creates one or two films a year. I have been actively involved with many aspects of music creation for 15 years.
Organizations I am a member of The Society of Composers and Lyricists and a partner of Mindbeside Studios (www.Mindbeside.com).
Publications Examples of my music can be streamed or downloaded from www.michaelbelanger.com and http://www.thekillinghand.com.
Expert: Michael Belanger Date: 9/11/2006 Subject: Shooting schedules
Question Good evening. I know this question is perhaps not in your line of interest but I thought I'd just try. I am a 3rd year film student from a film school in South Africa and will be shooting my graduation film in the mockumentary style in 3 weeks. I was wondering if there are any guidelines for scheduling. As the cinematographer, I want to make sure that I allocate an adequate ammount of time to each shot. Can one round it off by saying, eg. that tracking shots get half an hour, crane shots an hour, etc? Do you have any tools that you use for working out a shooting schedule?
Thank you very much
Sincerely
Nicky
Answer Hey Nicky,
It's great that you're taking on this project. Good luck with it. It is not easy but its worth it.
Timing for shots is something that you will learn over time. It depends on so many things that it is not really possible to ballpark it on your first time out. What you must do instead is set goals and limits for yourself.
The better your planning beforehand the smoother things will go. Having all your gear ready for the shoot and ALL of the people there at the right times will minimize some of the time slips but you should expect many problems anyway and be mentally ready to tackle them when they come up.
My suggestion is to plan one major location a day. It will take hours to get setup and provided everyone knows what they are doing, you can then run through as many of your shots as you can in the shortest time you can - provided you are getting things down the way you hoped. I would worry more about setup for each shot as opposed to the time it takes to actually shoot it. Getting the lighting right and all of the people coordinated takes some time.
Without knowing how involved your shoot will be its hard for me to help you estimate your schedule. What kind of lighting will you be using? Will you have complete control of your sets for a certain block of time? (that's usually your time limit!) Are you using an experienced DP? Are you using some experienced actors? or all volenteer amatures? Will you have your scenes blocked out and shots planned out BEFORE the shoot?
As I'm sure you know already, there's a lot to consider. Give me a high level plan for your shoot and I might be able to help you estimate your schedule. I'm no expert but I have been on a set or two and we've done it right and we've done it wrong. After your first shoot you will probably be able to answer a lot of these questions for yourself.
