Just Stop. You're F*cking it Up.

You've got a killer idea, a camera and a microphone.  Somehow you've managed to sucker a few saps into helping shoot your film.  You've figured out locations, props, a midget and a cool dream sequence - maybe you've even gone the distance and worked out a car chase or two.  You and your motley crew of guerrilla filmmakers pile into the car and head out to your first location of the day.  The shot list is ready, everyone's set.  This is the scene where Phoenix Cain - the hitman with a heart of gold - walks into the bar and discovers that the suitcase he's been hired to deliver doesn't have money in it.  He's been set up.  This drug deal has done gone bad.  This is the moment when a table full of Irish Boondock Saints looking dudes pull their Glocks and get ready to off our man.  It's two-thousand percent awesome.  Just then, in the distance behind your main actor, some J-hole across the street has noticed your film crew and is miming what can only be described as a gigantic 'stroking of his imaginary 3 foot penis.'  Or maybe there's a boom mic in frame.  If not that, then perhaps you notice a smudge on the lens that's blurring the bottom corner of the frame.  Everyone else keeps working.  You're the only one who's aware.  For a nanosecond, you think about yelling cut but you don't.  You roll on.  These actors only have another 20 minutes before they start their shift at Starbucks.  You can fix this in post.

Stop.

Take your right hand, curl it into a fist and PUNCH yourself in the face as HARD as you can.

You can't fix your way out of a paper bag.  You f*cking DOLT.

What I have just described is a scenario that plays itself out every time a filmmaker picks up a camera to shoot anything.  It's as sure as death and taxes - whatever can go wrong will go wrong.  They call it Murphy's Law for a reason.

The question you must ask yourself is, what do you deal with now and what can you deal with later?  Allow me to explain.  The 'quality' of your film is is directly proportionate to how many distractions take the viewer out of the 'moment.'  Extraneous sounds that don't make sense in the scene, bad lighting, bad audio quality, jerky camera moves that aren't intentional.  There are literally ten thousand things that can increase the suckitude of a scene. These things, when allowed to stack up, can ruin the execution of your masterpiece. As a director, it is your job mitigate and minimize all of the unintended bullsh*t that will otherwise muck up your movie.

Give Your Crew the Tools for Success.

On my shoots, I always try to maximize my focus on story and the scene.  I'm here to direct, not to nitpick.  So I seek out the most nit-picky assistants I can find and assign them the task of looking for problems while I'm directing.  Usually I will have one person just watching the monitor, looking for anomalies.  Is anyone's fly down?  Does the leading lady have toilet paper on her shoe?  Is the mic in frame?  Another person isn't looking at the monitor, they're looking at the set for the same kinds of things.  If either of those people spot something weird, they are to tell me immediately.  With frick and frack on the case, I instruct my audio guy that he has full authority to cut the scene at any time.  I can't hear what he or she can hear.  What goes into the mic and what goes into the human ear are two completely different things.  Trust your sound person.  There is a right and a wrong way to do this, however.  On my shoots, only the sound engineer or myself is allowed to yell cut (unless there's an obvious safety problem and someone's about to get electrocuted or something.)  If the audio issue isn't too bad, I'll ask my sound engineer walk over, tap me on the shoulder, giving me the option of making the call to cut or not - if he's certain the audio is unusable and I trust his judgment, I'll give him permission to yell cut.  Occasionally you actually can fix something in post but you should at least be aware of everything going on so you can make the call.  This method has saved me more times than I can count.  You should always make sure that someone on your team aside from you is keeping an eye on the store.  Your job is to direct the movie.  You can't be everywhere at once.  Mistakes that look small in the moment can suddenly seem oh so much larger on the big screen...

Remember, your crew looks to you for leadership.  They're are with you because of your drive, your motivation and your idea.  Lead them.  Give them your expectations up front and be clear.  If they don't know how to do something, show them the proper way and then hold them to that standard.  Remember, it's everyone's job to minimize mistakes.

- Clint

Cliff Roles confirmed as Film Competition Judge!

A little background...

Prior to making his home here in on the Gulf Coast of Florida, Cliff Roles worked extensively with over 130 of the world’s most famous rock and pop stars of the 80’s and 90’s. Elton John, Céline Dion, Bon Jovi, Metallica, Robert Plant, Lionel Richie, Donna Summer, Def Leppard, Tears For Fears, Dire Straits and Kiss were just a few of the artists he had the privilege of working with as, among other things, Head of Promotion and International Marketing Manager of Mercury Records, Germany.

A proud recipient of the Sarasota County Arts Council 2007 Arts Leadership Award for Media, Cliff Roles was also awarded Best Suncoast Enthusiast and Best Local Actor in Creative Loafing’s Best of 2007 and 2008, and was voted one of the top three in the category Best Local Actor 2008 and 2009 by the readers of Sarasota Magazine and the Readers’ Choice winner in the Sarasota Herald Tribune’s Curtain Call 2008 of Best Supporting Actor, Play for his performance as Val in the Golden Apple Dinner Theatre production of Neil Simon’s "Laughter on the 23rd Floor".

In March 2009 Mr. Roles was voted Best Local Charismatic Actor by the readers of SRQ Magazine in its Best of SRQ Local 2009. In addition, he is also very proud to have been voted Best Emcee/Auctioneer 2009 by Scene Magazine!


In October 2009: he was voted Best Media Personality, Best Local Actor and Best Mixed Message by the readers and critics of Creative Loafing’s “Best of the Suncoast 2009” poll.
  

Not one to rest on his laurels, when not performing Mr. Roles works professionally as a photographer, specializing in professional and lifestyle portfolios, head-shots, family portraits and more.

We are thrilled and to have Mr. Roles join our judging panel for 2011. His extensive experience as an accomplished actor, skilled photographer and talent expert will be a great asset to the competition.

 

- 48GFC Team

Photo of the Day

A great shot of the crowd from the 2008 48 Hour Guerrilla Film Competition awards party.  What a crowd!

After a grueling 48 hours of shooting, editing, running and gunning we understand that you need to let off a little steam - that's why we here at the 48GFC always try to throw a hell of a party.  There's nothing like trash-talking your fellow filmmakers before seeing who won the gold...

Introduction to Location Sound - Great Audio Is Half the Battle.

George Lucas once said, "Sound is fifty-percent of the moviegoing experience." and that has remained true since The Jazz Singer first brought recorded audio to film.  Sound is what ties you to the moment.  It gives a sense of reality and ambiance to the world that filmmakers so painstakingly try to create.  More than special effects, dynamic lighting or impressive stunts and gun play, sound is the key to great filmmaking.  Simply put, it's the number two thing on your to do list when shooting - GET GREAT AUDIO. 

Most filmmakers I know obsess over cameras, lenses, lights and editing software.  They scrimp, save, beg, borrow and (sometimes) steal to get the latest and most advanced gear - all in the name of achieving a 'film look' at any cost.  They operate under a faulty assumption - that a 'film look' will somehow catapult their project into Sundance and get them the break they've been chasing since they first picked up a camera.  More than likely, you are one of those people.  If so, you are wrong.

At the 48 Hour Guerrilla Film Competition, as with any film competition or festival, we rate sound at the top of our scoring sheet.  It will quite literally break an otherwise fantastic film and cost you prize money and possibly even your screening slot.  Why do we care so much about sound?  Because aside from our staff and judges, everyone in the theater who hopefully ends up watching your film on the big screen is going to have to listen to it - and if your audio sucks, they will hate you for it.  And so will we.  If you really don't think it's that important, go watch your favourite film and turn off the sound.  See how long you can pay attention.

That said, let's look at some simple location sound recording methods that will get you the biggest bang for your buck when setting out to shoot your masterpiece. Or underground porno.  Whatever, it's all the same to us.

KNOW WHAT YOU'RE SHOOTING
This is much more complicated for some people than you might think.  The Guerrilla Filmmaker in you may want to just grab your camera and hit the streets.  Plan?  Who needs a plan?!  Hold on there, Tex.  Guerrilla doesn't mean sloppy.  It means thinking outside of the box.  You don't have to know every detail of what you plan to shoot or have a crew of 25 people handling every minute aspect of your set but you should consider some factors that may come into play before you start rolling.  Are you shooting indoors or outdoors?  If you're shooting indoors, is there an echo in the space where you'll be shooting?  Are there florescent lights?  Do they hum?  What is the ambient noise situation?  Are there crowds of people moving about (shopping malls, restaurants) is there music?  If you're shooting outdoors, the same rules apply - seagulls, traffic, people, and WIND are all things you need to keep in mind.  Consider your ambient situation first - this will help you figure out how you will need to approach your audio.  Simply ask yourself, Will I be able to record clean audio here?  If the answer is anything but yes, stop, re-evaluate and shoot someplace else.  If we can't hear the actors when they speak - you've failed.

I promise you - no location is so awesome that it's worth trashing your audio for.

THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB
There are literally hundreds of ways to record audio but for the sake of brevity, let's look at the most common and see how they can accommodate your needs.

ON BOARD AUDIO
Using the mic that's built into your camera.  This is the simplest (and worst) way to record sound.  Most on board mics come with built in limiters and have an enormous 'cone,' which is to say that they record a very wide area in front of them.  They are typically what we'd call ambient mics.  They're great for shooting birthday parties and bah mitzvahs but when it comes to shooting something you're actually putting effort into, they don't cut it.  AVOID USING YOUR ON BOARD MIC AT ALL COSTS.

BOOM MICS
You know what these are.  They've been around since day one.  But for those of you who just showed up, a boom mic is simply a combination of a boom (a long stick) and a mic.  It's a mic on a stick.  The stick allows the boom operator to maneuver and manipulate the mic while simultaneously keeping it out of the frame of the camera.  The point at which the mic crosses into the safe zone of the frame is knows as the 'boom line.'  This is different than just coming into the shot.  More on that another time. 

 It is nearly always preferable (notice that I said ALMOST) to boom your shoots.  This is because a boom mic will record what is directly underneath it rather than everything in the room.  Since what you're shooting (and thus what you can control) will be directly in front of you it makes sense to record ONLY that audio.  The boom is the simplest means to accomplish this goal.  It's not ALWAYS the right choice, but for the purpose of keeping this post simple, it's USUALLY the best way to go.

SHOTGUN MICS

You know what a shotgun does, right?  It shoots a blast of pellets outward in the shape of a cone.  It's one of the most versatile weapons platforms on earth.  It's awesome. Shotgun mics are equally awesome.  They do the same thing shotguns do, but they do so by recording sound instead of blowing people away.  Make sense?  Good.  This is my 5D MKII setup with a Rode shotgun mic and a windsock.

Shotgun mics are specially designed microphones that (typically) record a 60-120 degree cone, depending on the manufacturer.  All mics will have a 'sweet spot' and this will vary with each mic but for the most part about 6-10 feet is a good rule of thumb.  Primarily, a shotgun mic will be mounted on the camera via a rail system or gaff tape (if you're nasty) and it will shoot on a horizontal axis (as opposed to the boom mic shooting downward on a vertical axis).  Shotgun mics are great for what we call 'run and gun' shooting.  You're moving around a lot and you need maximum mobility with minimum fuss.  You'll be able to record what is in front of you and ditch 80% of the sound that's off to the sides and all of the sound that's in the rear.  I'm a BIG fan of shotgun mics because the moment you take them off of your camera and hang them from a long stick, they become (say it with me) BOOM MICS!  So now you know, shotgun mics give you options.  They will set you free. There are ways to MacGruber a shotgun mic if you can't afford one but I'm saving that tutorial for another post.  



OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
You should always have a plan for your audio and that plan should include a stand alone person to handle sound.  This person should be in charge of all audio equipment, cables, mics and assorted gear and they should have a good set of quality head phones (or cans, as we call them in the biz) to monitor what they are recording.  You wouldn't just turn on your camera and walk away from it, hoping that it magically gets the shot you want - you have a camera operator.  Have a sound guy too and you've covered 90% of your technical challenges.

We get a lot of emails from people asking 'How much should I spend on a good mic?"  That's a tough question to answer and it all depends on your situation.  Ideally, I'd suggest you budget around a hundred to two-hundred bucks on a good mic and another fifty on the proper cables and assorted accessories.  It's a rough figure and that might be out of your price range but that's about the starting point for a decent mic that will do the job.  I order my gear through B&H but I'd look at Craigslist, Ebay or Amazon to get the best price.  Just do your research and find the mic that fits your budget and needs.  The main thing here is that you educate yourself.  You know your shooting style, find an audio setup that meets your needs.  You'll thank yourself later as the results will become immediately apparent.

Finally - and I can't stress this enough - get a good bag for your audio gear.  I like to separate my gear into individual bags that I can grab at a moments notice and throw into the car.  I keep a printed list of what is in my bag/kit and I inventory all of my gear before I leave a location to make sure that nothing gets left behind.  Having a single bag to store your audio gear and a separate bag for your video gear will keep you organized and ensure that you don't start losing things you've just spent a weeks pay on.  I recommend cheaperthandirt, they have great deals and offer a wide assortment of stuff that can come in handy on all your guerrilla shooting excursions. 

Have questions or possibly techniques that you've used in the field?  Post them in the comments section!


 That is all.

- Clint

48GFC 2011: EVOLUTION

UPDATE!

Thanks to huge interest from other cities around the country and the enormous success of the 2010 48GFC, we're thrilled to have to expand the reach of the 48 Hour Guerrilla Film Competition.   That said, in 2011 the 48GFC will evolve... 

Starting next year we'll accept entries from anywhere.  That's right, baby - we're going worldwide.

There will be 3 ways to get your film to us:

1.) You may have your finished film uploaded to Vimeo or Youtube within 48 hours of the competition launch.
 
2.) You can UPS, FedEx or priority mail your submission to us - as long as we have your tracking info prior to the clock running out your entry will be counted.  Pretty simple, right? 

3.) You may simply drop off a physical DVD to us the old fashioned way if you're near our base of operations.

Obviously there's a little more to it than that but for the most part, it's pretty damn simple.  The key thing is that we have confirmation that your film is on it's way to us and out of your hands within 48 hours. 

We're also broadening the way we judge the films and give out awards.  More on that later.  Rest assured, you're going to like the way we've changed.  I guarantee it.

-C

Using an iPad to monitor the Canon 5D MKII

There's an awesome blog over on Planet 5D that demonstrates how some clever guys are using iPads to wirelessly monitor the MKII while shooting.  There's a great video demonstrating how they do it, well worth a quick watch.

Here's the LINK.

-C

2011 Poster and dates announced!

Yes, yes - I know what you're saying. "Gee, the last time you posted anything was over a year ago. WHERE HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN?!"

Sadly, we've been working our "Joe jobs" trying to scrape by in this sh*ttiest of economies all the while thinking about how we could make the next 48 Hour Film Competition even better for you guys. I'm proud to say that after converting countless hundreds of dollars of rent money into gallons of imported beer and much time spent at various pubs in the area (supporting our local economy), we've got some ideas. Ok, 2 ideas. One of them is really REALLY good though so back off. Aside from that, we've got new artwork for this year and it's cool as all get out.

We're also announcing the dates for 2011 today, they are:

April 1/2/3 2011.

Check out the poster art and feel free to let us know what you think!

More info tomorrow.


- The GFC Team