What do you do when you're behind your computer...

[emjen]

and see the footage you've filmed.

And it's crap. You've all been there probably. I've literally had my hands in my hair many a times reviewing the footage, shouting to the actor "why didn't you act like you supposed to!!??", to the camera man "Why didn't you take that extreme close up like I told you!!!" and most of all, to myself "Why didn't you see them doing that!"

Damn... But there is an upside to this. I think you learn most of filmmaking at the editing table, and you see what you've done wrong instead of what you've done right.

I now know that I'm going to tell exactly what I want and don't want it any other way. I'm going look through the lens every new shot. I'm going to fuck ants. And everything anyone else brings up I'm gonna bring to the ground.

Goddamn. Communication is an important tool.

Oh well. It's not like the whole shoot is ruined. Just a few shot.

I'm just pissed off right now.

EDIT: can't even spell right!
Oh and there's this rape scene I've got to cut too. Haven't seen the footage of that. But that might be fun. Shooting it was... awkward... though.

Oh and of course the reply 'you're not a good director if you're experiencing problems like this' is to be expected. It's just that when I show my oh so detailed storyboard to the cameraman (and he's got a nice eye for good shots as well) with, for example, an extreme close up of a pair of eyes and a camera movement from left to right, he still manages to film his entire body. I can't bloody see what he's filming so when he tells me 'It looked nice' I stick out my thumb, do a dance and shout 'next shot!'.

Fuck, I really need one of those screens.

Sorry for the rant guys. I'm just pissed. I am in now way a producer. Can't manage for shit. Anyway, please elaborate on your frustrations.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ December 23, 2004 06:17 PM: Message edited by: emjen ]</font>

[untamed_aggression]

Welcome to the world of Killer Sandwich.

[eidde]

&gt; I'm going to fuck ants.

wow, are you??!
Hows that going to help??

Ive never really had this problem since Ive nearly always been operating the camera and I tend to know what I got.

Since Ive done most of my stuff on super 8 I only know whats come out 3 weeks later.
If the film hasnt exposed properly, or if, as normally seems to happen, I havent actually filmed what I thought I had, I always try to forget 're-shoots' or perfection and take the attitude - "Well thats all over now, the storyboards, the coaching people, the film shoot - its all over now. What do we HAVE to show for it" And Ill make the film from these new raw materials. Otherwise you'll go mad. Which sounds like is whats happening to you.
You have to be able to shrug and say thats that. And then start again from the raw materials that are your rushes. The film is in there, may not be quite what you had in mind, but so what?
Unless you are an absolute perfectionist, in which case you need to get a patient crew and learn to be a fascist on set. Or learn a few people skills that ensure you absolutley get what you want when filming.
Otherwise chill out, accept that these scenes and takes are your film, and you've gotta make the best film you can out of it.
Sometimes you just have to do a reshoot since no matter how creative you try to be when editing it just isnt going to work. But these can be easier to arrange than a full shoot.
Ive found loads of times that a scene just needs something else - maybe a cutaway of some sort to make it neater.
Hence the old tricks of:
Get an establishing shot.
Get a master shot.
Do it all again with Close ups (even if you dont plan to use them)
Get some interesting Cut aways.
With Video there really isnt an excuse not to get as much footage as you like, think you might (or might not) need.

Speaking of this, Ive had a nightmare with 2nd hand super8 cameras which choose to suddenly pack up and die midway through a shoot.
You get the footage back and it suddenly all goes out of focus.
Avoid these problems by getting good equipment or someone who can maintain it properly...um...hence the role of camera operator on a real film set.

Good luck, and Im sure you have a film amongst all the shit footage you've got, you just need to find it (Even if it hardly follows your original script any more :-) )

Im not sure that fucking ants is going to help you, but then what do I know about it.

[twister!]

Originally posted by emjen:
[QB]and see the footage you've filmed.

And it's crap.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Reshoot.

The plus side is - you can now see what is wrong and go and fix it. It's far better than having all the footage you wanted and the film not working and not knowing why.

You will also have learned from the mistakes and can build on that next time.

It's not all so bad Emjen... Stay away from those poor little ants [img]eek.gif[/img]

[emjen]

I edited what I got. It's OK actually. The point comes across. And I'm going to reshoot a bunch of shots next tuesday, as long as the weather is about the same. Should only make it better.

Truth is, I made many movies where I didn't care as much about how the shots results were, as long as the point came across. But this is sort of a pet project of mine, and now the most important shots are kind of useless, and I've got to do with the other 'lesser' shots to make my movie. ARR!

Oh and the fucking ants thing, it's a Dutch saying, means you're going to be one precise whining bitch. Didn't know the english saying.

[Chance1234]

It's just that when I show my oh so detailed storyboard to the cameraman (and he's got a nice eye for good shots as well) with, for example, an extreme close up of a pair of eyes and a camera movement from left to right, he still manages to film his entire body. I can't bloody see what he's filming so when he tells me 'It looked nice' I stick out my thumb, do a dance and shout 'next shot!'.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Being constructive as it;s season of goodwill etc etc, reading the above is familiar, one of the things i learnt the hardway is that when you are preparing your storyboards etc, you need to have some sort of idea on what the lens you are shooting on can and can;t acheive on it. a whole set of storyboards i did weren't useless on the day, but they wernt ideal. As I imagine you are shooting on a consumer DV camera and don't have access to a selection of lenses, find out what you can and can't acheive on your camera. if it has a still option on it, use this to come up with a reference card for a vareity of different shots such as MCU, CU etc this will help you when coming to storyboarding.