Dealing With The Late-Comers

 

While you'd think that cast and crew tardiness would be strictly a problem for volunteer projects, that's not necessarily the case.

Many a low-budget film on a tight schedule has had to rush through scenes thanks to a few people who think that an 8am call time translates into "sometime around eight-ish".

Often these folks don't think that being late is really a big deal. They don't think about the daily expenses and careful planning that goes into shooting even just a short film.

One method that seems to cut down on these problems is to schedule call time at least 15 minutes before you actually need everyone to be there. The extra time allows your cast and crew to grab some coffee and chit-chat while the habitually tardy are more likely to arrive in time to start the day proper.

If you are the director and/or producer, being early is a must. As a rule of thumb you should be the first one in and last one out.

 Another trick to thwart the habitually late cast member is to schedule his/her scenes later in the day and set their call time an hour earlier than you normally would. That way your crew is busy doing something rather than flirting with diabetes with the donuts of the crafty table while waiting to get started.

The possible downside to this is that if someone begins to catch on that they are doing nothing for the first hour or so, it may encourage them to just arrive later anyway.

The hard truth is that you can often identify your troublesome cast or crew members before the cameras start rolling if they are always late to meetings and rehearsals. It may be a very hard call to make, but if you are on a really tight schedule and can't afford to tack on extra hours (or days) to accommodate people who don't seem to care about making people wait around for them, you may want to consider replacing them before you start shooting. 

 

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Film-Making During Lockdown

 With the current pandemic forcing people to stay apart and shelter-in-place, film productions of all budgets and sizes have come to a screeching halt. However, necessity being the mother of invention has brought forth a trend of stay-at-home films either made entirely by people living at the same location or by editing together scenes films in separate locations with each being taped by the occupants of that location.

Stay-at-home videos can be tricky and a lot depends on the script. While traditionally the writer doesn't concern him/herself with how a scene will be filmed, for this type of project it is imperative for the writer to know exactly what type of props and costumes each cast member has access to, what their location looks like, and if there is someone around to hold the camera for them.

It is possible to film a scene with two actors in it while the actors are in two separate locations. To do this, make sure that both actors have access to a room with similar painted walls. (This is usually, but not always, easy with many folks having at least one room with basic white walls in their homes.)  Arrange for the actors to talk while facing opposite directions and being placed in different areas of the room, and you will be able to cut it together in editing to make them appear to be in the same place.

Using off-screen dialogue is also a tool that comes in handy to make characters appear to be in close proximity of each other even if they are miles apart in actuality.  Having one character call out to another from a different room gives the illusion that they are both in the same house.

Another easy technique to use is to create found-footage or documentary-style film, where it would be expected to only see one or two people on camera at a time and in the case of documentary-style, all characters at different locations.

 

 

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The Great Laurel Debate

For a novice film-maker, receiving those first set of laurels is a monumental occasion that goes right up there with the first IMDb credit. It makes no difference which festival they came from, they are like a badge of honor that proves that somebody out there thinks the film is good.

More sets of laurels follow. Most are Official Selections, but there might be some Semi-Finalist or Finalists in the mix. And if the Film Gods are smiling down on the project, there may even be a few Winners. All are proudly displayed on the film's poster for everyone to see. 

If the film is good and the film-maker keeps it in the festival circulation for a while, the laurel collection can grow into a vast forest that reaches beyond the open spaces on the poster and begins to deface it.

And so the great debate begins as to how many laurels should be displayed, from which festivals, or should they even be there at all?

It really boils down to what message the film-maker wishes to send and the audience that is to receive that message. 

If the goal is to impress the masses who aren't keen to the hierarchy of film festivals, then a poster overflowing with laurels certainly does the trick. It's a good idea to plan ahead for this and make sure that the poster design has plenty of open space to display the laurels without obstructing the artwork.

However, if the aim is to impress saavy film-makers and investors, a poster covered with laurels from lower-level festivals may bring about little more than a few snickers. To make an impression on that crowd, you need laurels from top-tier festivals like Sundance or Cannes tastefully displayed on the poster.

There is some debate as to whether or not Official Selection laurels should be displayed. It seems unfair that these are looked down upon by some, given that they are earned by beating out hundreds, if not thousands, of other entries. A truly knowledgeable person will recognize it as an honor, but there are those uppity folks who argue that only winning or nomination laurels should appear on a poster. 

The safest route is just to keep laurels off of your poster altogether and just use them on the film's website or other promotional materials.

Yes, this is a real movie poster.

Another option is to have three versions of the poster: one clean, one with only Winner laurels, and one that showcases every set of laurels the film has earned. That way you can use whichever poster best suits the occasion.

Regardless of how you decide to decorate your poster, don't ever let the laurel snobs get you down. You may not have a Sundance-worthy film, but you do have a film that several other festivals have a high opinion of.

 

 

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