Myth #16: “If I put lots and lots of profanity in my film, people will regard me as the next Quentin Tarantino or Kevin Smith.”
No, lots and lots of profanity proves you can’t write cleverly and must rely on cursing as a crutch. While Quentin and Kevin use profanity, it is in conjunction with clever dialogue, which is why people respond to it. If you put in profanity and expect it to make your dialogue clever because it’s there, you will be sadly mistaken.
Myth #17: “My friends would be awesome in the starring roles, so I don’t need to have auditions.”
Unless you are John Favreau and your friends are some of the most promising rookie actors in Hollywood with names like Vince Vaughn and Ron Livingston, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. No matter how well you know your friends (or how much you believe in their acting ability), always hold auditions. Even if you don’t have money, many talented actors will try out for your film just to gain experience.
Myth #18: “Color correction software is so good these days that I don’t need to white balance in the camera.”
Unless you’re shooting in a camera like the RED One that records in a RAW format like REDcode, each time you have to adjust its color in post you will do some damage to your footage. As such, white balancing correctly on location means that you don’t have to start damaging your footage nearly as soon. (Since all post-effects cause some damage to your footage, adding unnecessary damage can mean that your footage may visually break down and look like crap.)
Myth #19: “I don’t need to watch the dailies after a hard day of shooting, because my cameraman surely would have told me if there are any issues.”
This is another one I’ll confess to from my first film. I thought the dailies weren’t terribly necessary to check out, so I just had my camera person preview them in camera with crappy head phones. If I had plugged the camera into a TV, I would have realized that the audio had serious issues the first day of recording. Additionally, I would have realized that in one shot, my producer kept crossing her legs in and out of the frame of footage, a gaff that went unnoticed when we shot the thing.
Myth #20: “The set already has plenty of light to see by, so I don’t need to add extra lighting or control the available light.”
Just because there’s enough light for you to see by does not mean your camera has enough to record it properly. Most cameras can see no more than 1/3 of what the human eye can see and it can’t adjust to backlighting and other lighting issues the way the human eye can. As such, you will need to look at what your camera sees and adjust light to compensate. (Again, the viewscreen of your camera is not really adequate to show you what the camera is recording. Always try to have an external monitor or a laptop with video previewing software like OnLocation or ScopeBox.) Be aware that adjusting lighting isn’t just about bringing in extra lighting fixtures. While you may need to add an extra fill light to an environment, sometimes you can bounce light that is already there with a reflective bounce card. This can be an easy way to add better light to a scene, plus the light is already the same color temperature as the rest of the light in the scene. In other situations, like the issue with backlighting, you will likely need to either move your actors so they are not backlit, or put diffusion over windows to cut down on the back lighting. (When you’re shooting day exteriors, most lighting tasks usually revolve around reducing the amount of light hitting your actors.)
While these previous ones have all been dangerously bad myths, here’s a myth that has a happy answer:
Myth #21: “I’m a student, so I can’t afford any decent video, audio, or graphic software.”
This is a myth that is fun to bust. Most of the big software companies like Apple, Adobe, and Avid have outrageous deals on their software for students. (For example, After Effects CS4 runs $999 for non-students, but only $350 for students. However, when you get into bundles, the savings get even greater. The entire CS4: Production Premium package is $1699 for non-students, but only $599 for students.) Additionally, if you happen to be making ends meet by working at a retail software and/or computer store, you may be able to get even better deals. If the store you work at sells products from Adobe, Avid, Apple, or a variety of other manufacturers, they will often give you truly outrageous deals on the software, so that you are more likely to personally recommend it to customers. (When I was working at a now-defunct software chain after college, Corel was the big competitor to Adobe in the printing and photo markets. They would sell their high end photo-packages, which retailed for over $500 at the time, to store employees for $20-$40.)
Hopefully debunking these myths will help you on your journey to becoming a better filmmaker!
(First picture: Still picture from from the set of 2007's Collide. Second picture: From behind the scenes images from Collide. Third picture: Still picture from the set of 2007's McNaire Manor, artificially damaged to simulate bad white balance. Reprinted with permission from Viking Productions, Inc., and Bald Brothers Studio Productions.)
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The
director of two feature length films and half a dozen short films,
Jeremy Hanke
founded Microfilmmaker Magazine to help all no-budget filmmakers make
better films. His first book on low-budget special effects techniques, GreenScreen Made Easy, (which he co-wrote with Michele Yamazaki) was released by MWP to very favorable reviews. He's curently working on the sci-fi film franchise, World of Depleted through Depleted: Day 419 and the feature film, Depleted. |
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