More On Learning Production Through Making Films

Last time I talked about preparation before stepping out on  your own to make your own movies.  There are some books out there that can help you with the legal stuff.  Don't ask me about it.  I only know enough about the law to know that I'm not qualified to give advice about it.  Do everything you can to keep yourself, other people's property, your cast and crew safe.  A lot of that has to do with common sense, like not running around in public brandishing weapons without permits to shoot and closed streets, etc.

In "Death Plots" there is a scene where a group of thugs stop my character at gun point on what looks like a public street.  It was actually a private road, well out of sight of the public that I gained access to through a regular at a bar I worked at.  He essentially owned that intersection and the surrounding area.  One of the reasons you'll want your first movies to be simple and "smaller" in scope is because of a simple rule: If you can't afford to do something safely,  you can't afford to do it.
Keep that in mind when you write something.  There are things I'd love to do with a bit more realism in my movies, but often times, safety constraints force me to make concessions.  The axe throw in "Jack vs Lanterns", for example, is a special effect instead of an actual throw.  It was  a cardboard axe, which when actually thrown flew back at me.  A heavier prop could have been dangerous, so we compromised and did the best we could.  The "speeding car" segment was shot on a public road.  There are vantage points on that road specifically intended for photography.  All we did was turn the camera around.  The car was not speeding at all.  I cranked up the speed in post and added some engine noise for effect.  The trick here was to not have any scenery or camera pans that would give away the increased footage speed.  Our pyrotechnics were all courtesy of stock footage overlays.  From muzzle flashes to explosions.  Things like that require a lot of money and expertise to be done safely.  Leave it to the experts at places like Detonation Films and use After Effects or some other program to integrate the footage safely.

In some sequences you may notice a more realistic smoke or spark from the gun. These were accomplished in "Lumber vs Jack" and "Jack vs Lanterns" by using a cap gun.  None of the guns on my sets are remotely real. They don't even fire standard blanks.

Alright, enough on the safety lecture,  you get the point.  So, write  your script to include action, but as little true danger as possible.  

Recently, even though I have been making movies for years, I find myself writing things "down".  I'll come with an idea and then start to scale it down in order to simplify it for myself and the few people I get to work with.  This is because I'm working on other things and keeping films simple allows me to have a life, but still make movies.  So, when starting out, I suggest you try to do the same.

Assume you have made the leap and at least at this point have access to a camera, a sound recording device, basic lights and either the Creative Cloud or something other prosumer video editing software.  Now, all  you need is a script and a cast, locations and time.  Maybe costumes and props.  This is where keeping it simple comes in handy.  Do you live in a basement apartment?  may I suggest that this becomes your location?  Lots of things can happen to people in their homes.  Keep it simple.


Do you have a collection of vintage dolls? Dolls can be creepy.  Maybe work with that.

Do you have a friend or three who really want to act?  Write to their strengths.  In other words, if  your friends are all 30 somethings, don't write in a 65 year old Professor or Vietnam War veteran and ask your friends to play the characters.  If they're not great with memorization try to scale down the dialogue.  Is one of them a nursing student? Great! Give her a lot of lines with medical jargon you barely understand.  It will add authenticity and she'll be able to rattle the terminology off at a speed that makes your head swim.

I would keep your first few movies down to two or three characters.  One character vs an unseen threat can be even better.  For simple shorts with small casts  check out any of the "Alien Vengeance" shorts on my Amazon Landing Page.  Actually, most of my shorts keep things pretty simple.  "Shelter" was shot in one day, as were most of the shorts on that page.  (I think "Onyx Origins" was spread out over three, but that involved two remote locations and quite a bit of chroma-key and miniature work.)

Remember, the key is keeping it simple.  In "Shelter", the action all takes place in my garage.  The same garage "Alien Vengeance: First Encounter" takes place in.  In both movies the casts were small.  The running times vary from 5 minutes to 20.  "Shelter" is a bit of a longer short, but it involves historical context, character building and an emotional edge all leading up to the kind of ending that really makes it seem like "Act I" of a feature film.

Anthology T.V. shows are  great idea generators for short sci-fi and horror movie shorts.  "The Twilight Zone", "The Outer Limits", "Monsters" and "Tales from the Darkside" all give great examples of how to build a story around scares, tension and a small cast of core characters on a budget.  Don't lift stories from them, but do watch to see how they set up characters and situations and "resolve" situations in what is often a 22 minute running time.

When you make these "limited" shorts concentrate on the things you can control.  Learn how to work with your actors to get the best performances.  Take time in setting up lighting and interesting shots.  Maybe try to work in one "spectacular" effect.  (I'm always pretty happy with the monster in "AV: First Encounter" when we finally show it.)  But most of all, hone the story telling aspect of shooting.  How do shots lead into each other.  Did  you get all of the points you wanted to across successfully to an audience that wasn't privy to what  you were trying to convey?  If not, what could you have done differently?  Can you cut exposition and get the running time down? (There are  12 and 20 minute cuts of "Onyx Origins".  Both tell a full story, but one contains less humor and set-up.)

In the end, a few of these will add up to a lot of learning and later on, these will be the "easy" productions you use to keep "fit". Sort of filmmaking workouts between features.

Now, get out there and make a movie.

BONUS: A look at a super affordable, pretty serviceable audio recorder to get you started.