Practical DV FilmMaking

Obstacles in the form of challenges to your plans and temptations in the sense of other seemingly better ideas that come up, possibly deviating from the original one. Great planning for a film is about giving you the confidence to know your idea inside out, giving you the commitment to get round problems and the confidence to know the good from the bad when new ideas come up.

Another important point to realize about filming is how nothing ever works out the way you imagine it will. Every good filmmaker needs to have a plan B available constantly, followed by C and so on.


Figure 1.1 Acclaimed animator Phil Dale on the set of his short live-action film The Census Taker.

When working on a low budget this is more likely because you have to rely more on goodwill, on people helping you out and lending you equipment. But you will also find that a shot that looks perfect on paper just isn't possible for real. You may want the bank to be seen from the telephone box and it may be really crucial for the scene, but when you get there it becomes obvious that that tree in full leaf is going to get in the way. The answer is improvisation: the ability to think fast and clearly on set so that you stay on track with your plans, coming up with ideas that can solve a problem. If you don't do this, your crew and actors will quickly realize there is a power vacuum and start arguing about the best way forward. So, plan to improvise.

Stage 3: Editing

Priorities

In editing a film you will add a further layer of development to the whole creative act as your footage -all those tapes accrued over days or weeks of filming - is cut together in a way which best resembles your plans. Editing brings your film out of the uncertainty that is the initial idea and out of the scramble that is filming. It is about order, priorities, structure, pace, timing, accuracy. But it is also about play, spontaneity and creativity. Knowing how to place your clips in the right order is perhaps a triumph of instinct over expertise and, given the range of technical trickery on offer even in mid-level editing soft­ware, one of the hardest skills to learn is knowing when to stop editing. If you know what you want you are less likely to get side-tracked by the powerful influence of all that wonderful technology.

Skills you need

When you look back over the process of making your first production you may find that the skills you thought were essential to filmmaking - those centring on the technical aspects of the medium - were secondary to the more esoteric. Some filmmakers talk about the ability to remain both in control and open to new ideas; to negotiate your way through problems; to see all aspects of the process, however mundane, as having some creative contribution to the project, that nothing is purely technical; to think of a low budget as less a hindrance to realizing your imagination than a way towards doing so more artfully, more ingeniously.

The Crunch

• Know what it is you want to make clearly

• Planning the film will save you time and money later

• Enjoy surprises

• Handle the pressure - it's worth it to have your name at the end of the film

• Improvise to get you out of trouble

• Be prepared - your footage will always disappoint you straight after filming because you are tired and it's late and you just want to go home

• Postpone any rash decisions made after viewing your rushes - footage improves with time

• Look forward to editing - you are in charge again.