Why Making Amateur Films Is Harder Than Making Professional Films

**philipswales** · August 6th, 2002, 01:45 PM

One word: scheduling.

I have produced several no-budget shorts over the past few years, and the biggest headache I have is trying to get everyone together in the same place at the same time.

In the past we've only used permanent members of the group, but now we're embarking on a new short and using outside people to act, help out on the crew, etc.

So now I'm trying to schedule the making of a film around about a dozen different people, which basically means a dozen different full-time jobs, college courses, social lives....

It's a nightmare. I held my first rehearsal session last week and four actors failed to show (I've since sacked two of them). On a professional film, people are paid to be on set at a certain time, do their job then go home. Since our films have a budget of around ?50 each, I don't have the luxury of paying (or bribing) people to turn up when I want them to.

THe only solution, I've found, is to stop trying to accommodate everyone else and be firm and assertive. TELL people, don't ask, that they have to be at location X on day Y at time Z - no excuses. The ones that can't manage this will drop out - good riddance, you don't need noncommited people like that anyway.

We start shooting this new film on Sunday morning. I'm giving out the Call Sheets tonight that shows an 8.30 am start. I expect some resistance, but f**k 'em - I made it clear to everyone before they came on board that they'd be expected to give up their Sundays for a few weeks, as it's the best day/time for most people to spare.

Anyone else have such problems?

Spare Time Films

**Esparto** · August 6th, 2002, 07:52 PM

theres a simple solution, shoot out of sequence.

assuming you don't have all your actors in every shot, you wont need them all "on set" every day.

plan what you're gona shoot around who can make it. if two people that need to be in the same scene can never make it on the same day, cheat. film one's lines one day, then anothers another day.

remember, pro film making also has scheduling problems, for example you might not be able to film on one location for some reason, or weather conditions etc.

basically all film making is bitchin hard,
but you know you love it [img]wink.gif[/img]
just keep on truckin [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]

**philipswales** · August 6th, 2002, 09:20 PM

I am shooting out of sequence - that was already a given. But I don't want to have to resort to filming two people separately, as I think that just looks bad. Besides, this thing has been storyboarded for months.

I have knocked up a schedule to make the best use of people's time.

I've just come back from rehearsal, and surprisingly no-one complained about the early
start. GUess they've just accepted it. Good.

I just hope it doesn't rain on Sunday...

eddie · August 7th, 2002, 08:33 AM

I agree.
You cant offer the motivation of money.
But I doubt it gets easier even when people are being paid. You will still get your bullsh1tters, and time wasters. Maybe it hurts more because you just paid someone who did a sh1t job.
At least at the lowbudget level it is (mostly) fun.
Sounds like your cast and crew are OK, if they happily started early, and turned up for a rehearsal.
Good luck on Sunday.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ August 07, 2002 05:34 AM: Message edited by: eddie ]</font>

**philipswales** · August 7th, 2002, 05:32 PM

Thank you.

BTW, does anyone know where I can get some free film scheduling software? Something along the lines of Movie Magic, but without the prohibitive price tag...

Cheers

Philip

**Esparto** · August 7th, 2002, 07:27 PM

you could try www.downloads.com its full of software demos, shareware, etc.

you might be able to find suitable software for free [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]
although you might have to search through pages of (rap

good luck with your filming

**philipswales** · August 11th, 2002, 02:29 PM

Just thought you'd like to know the shoot went well.

Fourteen set-ups in about 3 and a half hours. Not bad considering I was acting in the scene as well as directing it.

**philipswales** · August 25th, 2002, 09:50 AM

Just got back from the second day of shooting on "Transient Evil".

First off, one actor turned up late, even though he only lives two minutes walk away from the location. He's also on the Spare Time Films committee, so should know better.

Then our lead actor turned up, having just been made-up by our FX guy. He forgot to add the symbol on the actor's forehead, which is important as it is the motif for the entire film and appears in several scenes. The actor had to draw the thing on himself in the end.

Finally, our actress fu**ed off after an hour. She told me last week she had to go to a uni open day, and had to leave by 11.30 at the latest, which was fine. Then it gets to 9.50 am and I hear her talking to two crew members, looking worried. Apparently, and unbeknownst to me, they are discussing what to do about the "time problem". "What time problem?", I asked.

"I have to go at ten", she replied. In TEN MINUTES time. I kicked off. I told her she never said anything to me. She claims she did, but if she had have done I'd have kicked off when she first told me, not an hour later.

Does this bint honestly expect me to shoot an entire scene in one hour? I had about 12 set-ups to get, and even though we were working quickly, I was settling for "usable" as opposed to "good" to meet her original 11.30 deadline. Cow.

I tried to schedule for an hour tomorrow to compensate, but people were busy so Christ knows when we're going to finish the scene. I've already scheduled the film so it'll have to be slotted in on one afternoon in several week's time.

Just another day in the life of a low-budget film-maker.

Spare Time Films