My Final Year

[filmschoolbanter]

Lessons I Learnt On Each Set

It Was Almost Dark - Role: Production Designer

Lesson: Even if the actor (who is a regular smoker) INSISTS that he doesn’t need prop/herbal cigarettes for his smoking scenes, get some anyway. Five takes of him sucking down tobacco will leave him light-headed, with a raspy voice for his scenes tomorrow.

The Ex Wife - Role: Producer

Lesson: If a location is dodging your phone calls for you to set a time to sign a location agreement, you should start looking for a new/back up location just in case. They will probably will drop out. If a location DOES drop out; it is not the end of the world! There are a lot of kind people in this world who will be willing to help!

The Magician - Role: Grip/Best Boy

Lesson: Sometimes you can take all the precautions you need to and something will still go wrong. If, for example, the lead actor breaks a toilet seat, it is best to let him and his soothing British accent explain the situation to the location manager.

St Elmo - Role: Art Director

Never underestimate the power of four pairs of pants and hand warmers to keep up morale. Also, burning a house down and filming it probably a once in a life-time opportunity, but ALWAYS check if you’ve left any important props in the house before burning it.

24 EXP - Role: 1st AD

Lesson: Always check if your printer has ink before agreeing to be a 1st AD. You’re going to need it. A lot of it. Also, always check if your location is close to large tram intersection before securing it. The sound crew will be eternally grateful.

They Move By Night - Role: 1st AC

Lesson: Sometimes it rains. And you have to deal with that.

Butterfly - Role: 1st AC

Lesson: When you make a film, sometimes you may have to do things you don’t want to do in order to get a shot. Sometimes that thing is accidentally killing a few butterflies. Secondly, if you’re ever shooting near Little Bourke St, you can get 100 dumplings for under $50 and the entire crew will be on cloud nine.

Limited Time Only - Role: 2nd AC

Lesson: Think a relatively well known actor would be perfect for a part in your film? Just ask; the worst thing they can do is say no. The best thing they can do is say yes, and then you get to work with an industry professional!

After Today - Role: 1st/2nd AC

Lesson: Sometimes the best way to learn is by doing. After Today was my first shoot as a 1st AC, when someone got sick. When you get thrown in the deep end, you have to focus on keeping your head above water.

[filmschoolbanter]

The Importance of Good Catering

The biggest thing I learnt from my short time as a producer is that there is one way to ensure that your actors and crew members who are all working for free are kept sane and happy; good, frequent and warm food. 

Nothing makes someone crankier than 12 hour days with only warm spaghetti and dolminos premade sauce poured over the top to sustain them. I tell aspiring producer that you should try to be frugal with money in most aspects of the budget, but to never, ever skimp on the unit budget. 

There are still plenty of way’s to make your unit budget go a long way; shop at Aldi or buy in bulk Costo, make large, one-pot meals (My crowd favourites are Chili Con Carne, homemade Pasta Sauces and Lentil Dahl with plenty of rice/pasta to make it go that little bit further). Sandwich or wrap making stations are quite popular, and tacos are always a quick and easy way to perk everyone up on a long day. Always check your crew’s food allergies, use lots of veggies, buy fruit and muesli bars for people to snack on, if you’ve got the money buy Moccona coffee over Nestle Blend 23 and never underestimate the power of a packet of Tim Tams for crew morale.

‘Til next time!

[filmschoolbanter]

How to Slate Properly

The delicate art of correctly slating. Probably one of the main jobs of the 2nd AC, as well as assisting in lens/battery changes, camera set ups, mag loading and (potentially) Data wrangling. I like to keep a whiteboard marker taped to the back of my slate for ease of use, and also because I lose things a lot. When working on film, I also like to tape a pen, and the camera report sheets to the back of the slate to allow for a quick reset.

There are a few sections consistent on every slate

Production: The name or title of the movie

Roll: The Rolls/Memory card number you’re on

Scene: The scene number/shot 

Take: The current take of the shot

Director: Name of the Director

Camera: Name of the DOP/cinematographer of the production

Date: The month, day, and year that you’re shooting

(Optional) Timecode: Digital timecode synced to the audio

Production: Can be the real/nickname/working title of the film. 

Roll: Roll can be tricky in Film vs Digital. In the film world it refers to literally the number of the new roll whenever a mag is changed over. With Digital productions, I like to treat every new memory card as a new roll. I usually slate it as “A001″, with the A corresponding to the A Camera

Scene: On my personal slate, I have drawn a line down the middle of this section to allow for keeping the ‘scene’ number and ‘shot’ number separate. This way, there is a clear distinction between the two so that the editor can match up scene/shot numbers with the DOP’s shot list for ease of editing. I usually refer to the 1st AD or script supervisor for shot numbers. 

Take: It’s important to remember that the next take is only when the camera cuts; as sometimes (should there be an actor’s mistake or a bit of continuity error spotted just too late) the director can just call for a reset of the scene, without the camera cutting. 

Names/Dates/Etc: Pretty self explanatory - just try not to misspell the director or cinematographer’s names. There’s usually a callsheet floating around with the correct spelling on it. 

Unique Slating Scenarios;

Mos: Should the scene be Mute On Sound (MOS), I usually put a finger or whole hand in between the sticks to signal to the editor that there is definitely no sound to be synced for this shot/take. 

Second Sticks: Should the DOP have not have rolled while you had clapped, nor your clap been loud enough for the sound recordist to hear, they will ask you to call “Second Sticks” which basically means clapping again, firmly, loudly, and doing whatever you need to do quickly and getting the hell out of there. 

Soft Sticks/Loud Sticks: Sometimes the sound recordist will be far away (necessitating a louder clap), or the clapper particularly close to an actors face, in which case it is necessary to call “soft sticks” after your usual call of the slate to signify to the editor that this take was close to an actors face and therefore softer than usual.

Tail Slate: When the setup is complicated/too tight, or the director doesn’t want you to disturb a particularly difficult scene for an actor with loud clapping, they will instruct you to tail slate. The hardest thing about the tail slate is that directors often forget, and call cut before the tail slate. I tend to yell “Tail slate” directly after the call of cut in case it’s forgotten. Every DOP or 1st AC has an opinion on how to tail slate differently, but i prefer a firm clap, and then rotating the slate upside down to visually signify a tail slate. 

[filmschoolbanter]

Jack of all trades but a master of none.

Many people don’t know that the famous quote above does not end there. The full quote actually reads; “Jack of all trades, master of none; though oftentimes better than master of one.”

When I reached third year, I had a tiny mid-uni crisis, that I think everyone from any arts degree can relate to. It goes a little something like this “I’m never going to get a job!!!!!!!!!! Why would anyone hire me!!!!!!! I’m so bad!!!!!!! There’s so many people infinitely more talented than me!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m so screwed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” and you call your mum and cry and she probably gives you some kind of incredibly insightful advice that you’ll think about but never take. My issue was this; I’d spent the last two years not deciding on an area of filmmaking to specialise in, and therefore was not known to anyone in the course as an indispensable/desirable member of a team. So my solution was to learn how to do everything.

I had no attachments to any team at the start of the year, so I took on a producing role, and production designer role. Now I’m going to be completely candid. I’m not a good producer. I’m slightly unorganised, prone to procrastination and really need to learn how to prioritise tasks. I got the job done, sure, and on time, but it took me producing a film to realise that I didn’t enjoy the job, nor stress that some people thrive under.

I looked at the crew members on my set confidently putting up C-Stands, shouting slang for different lights and equipment at one another, as if speaking in a different language, and thought to myself; I want that. So I begged my way into being a Best Boy on a few music videos, asking timid questions and never doing anything before watching someone else do it first. As I got onto more sets, I got more confident, exploring different crew roles; Gaffing, Gripping, 1st AD-ing and finally fell into Camera Assisting. As soon as I gripped the slate for the first time I’d realised I found what I loved to do. Now I was confidently shouting orders in this weird film gear language too, teaching other people the art of how to fold up C-Stands so that Elvis doesn’t lecture you at gear drop off, and working with people much more talented and smarter than me and asking them if I could watch while they built the Red Epic, and why they prefer the Alexa.

I’m not going to pretend it was as easy as a brightly lit montage in an indie film to progress and learn from my mistakes, nor am I going to pretend that crewing on film’s isn’t a bit of a Boys Club. There are around five females in our graduating course who are regulars in the Camera and Lighting department and all five of us worked out butts off to be taken as seriously as some of the boys. It’s a real punch in the guts to have someone ask you if you’re the unit girl, or costume assistant or script supervisor. It sucks so much to be passed over for a crew role for male friend of existing crew members with half the experience as you, but it just drives us to work harder. If I wanted to be asked for crew roles, I didn’t have to be okay at my job. I had to be fantastic, I had to be confident, I had to know my shit, and as a result, I learnt more applicable, hands-on and relevant crewing experience in the last four months than I have across the last three years of film school. My only regret is that it took me so long to find my voice, so long to stand up and say “I want this, and this is how I’m going to get it.”

So heed my advice, young first years. Get on every graduate set you can weasel your way into. Ask questions! Watch people who are a lot better than you! Talk to other crew members about your hopes and dreams and aspirations and maybe when the Best Boy calls in sick your name will get thrown around! Do anything and everything! You’ll probably find yourself making shit instant coffee for the DOP at 3am on a freezing exterior night shoot at some point but it’s all part of this magical rollercoaster of film school.

[filmschoolbanter]

T minus 2 Months til Graduation

Holy wow, that crept up quick. Two months left in my highly illustrious film school career? Surely that’s a joke. In some ways, I can’t wait for my final class, the inevitable 4pm pilgrimage to the Hawthorn Hotel for celebratory beers and looking over the friends I’ve made for the last three years in pride. In many other ways I’m not quite ready for it to end. 

Where else would I be able to make a short film with the luxury of industry level gear for free, with a crew of my favourite people; all working tirelessly towards the same goal (and also, conveniently for the low low price of slightly above average unit catering and readily available instant coffee). The point is, I didn’t know how great of a deal I had until I faced it being taken away. 

SO here it is; The Hannah Sinagra School of How to Make the Most of Film School, Tricks to Keeping Crew Happy and Doing it All As Cheaply As Possible.