Communication for Producers (and Directors)

My producer, Kate O'Neil.  She usually knows what I need before I know what I need.  She is also, usually, always on the phone...

Below is a list of questions and directives from producer Ted Hope which I think one should review before, during and after every film.  He lists it as "communication for producers" but it is, in my opinion, just as applicable to directors. Reprinted from his blog TrulyFreeFilm.  I thought it was particularly important for when you're in deep, and sometimes forget why you're making the film in the first place...

Why do you love this movie?

You are making the director’s movie. (which isn’t the same as doing everything the director wants).

You are trying to make the best movie possible.

You will make the movie profitable.

You will get the movie seen. You will find the film’s audiences.

The producer works to create the right environment for all.

You appreciate people’s good work and hard work.

You have chosen to be here and know others have chosen that too.

People like to be led. You are here to provide leadership.

People like to participate. Provide opportunities.

Anyone can follow a plan. What can you do to provide inspiration?

Calm = clarity What do you need to do to reduce stress so all see clearly?

Why will they believe you? How will they follow you?

34th Cleveland Int'l Film Festival - Trailer Shoot

This past weekend, we shot the Cleveland Int'l Film Festival trailer.  This is one of our favorite projects, because it brings local crew and community together for a couple days for some good bonding time and no-pressure fun.  This year's idea is "...because of the Cleveland Int'l Film Festival" and we had over 80 people in two days come in to tell us how the film fest had influenced or changed their life.

We shot with the Canon 1D Mark IV, and my co-DPs John Turk and Jon LaGuardia have confessed that this is our new love child.  We've done a lot of work with the Canon 5D lately, yet the 1D seems sturdier and the monitoring capabilities are better than the 5D.  It also shoots slo-mo and, more importantly 24p, which was crucial as we'll be doing a film-out to 35mm. prints.  We were discussing whether this could be one of the first film-outs from the 1D and think that, possibly, it could be.  It will be interesting to see how an HD DSLR will handle a 35mm print and 30 foot projection.

The backdrop to our interviews are the vibrant colors of this year's campaign, courtesy of the talented folks over at Twist Creative, which were then rear-projected onto a 20-foot screen.  Jon LaGuardia created about 30 different variations on the colors, and we switched them out with every interview.

Many thanks to our great crew of (from left) Kip Gynn (location sound), Rick Stern (projectionist, key grip, electric), Matthew T. (assistant director), Kate O'Neil, Bobby Ruggeri (second A.D.), Jon LaGuardia (director of photography, editor, media manager) Bob Stefanov (line producer), Kylee Cook (stylist, hair and make-up), Bill Garvey (location manager), Keith Nickoson (key grip), and Donnie Schneider (key grip).  Not pictured are John Turk, (director of photography, snapping the picture), Grace Nowak (producer) and Danielle Muad'Dib (stylist, hair, make-up).

We'll be creating a number of different versions from the 80+ people we shot, which will be screened during the festival, prior to each film...so be sure to block out March 18-28 for one of the best programmed film festivals in the U.S.

See you there.

MIXING RUNNING AMERICA

A sound mixer, a director, and an editor walk into a dark room, the director says to the sound mixer...

Two weeks of composing and sound mixing at Ante Up studios are completed on Running America.  Michael Seifert and company put together an amazing original score that I couldn't be happier with.  It's rare that you can become unwedded to the temp music you've seen up against a scene so many times, but after a couple of rounds with Michael's music in there, I couldn't even remember what we had slugged in as temp.  The alt-folk sound includes steel pedal guitar, banjo, harmonica, various acoustic guitars - it really captures what I was going for in terms of reinforcing the look and feel of the film.

Sitting in a dark room listening to scenes over and over, I began to jokingly suffer from "ear fatigue" during the mix - listening to trucks whooshing, distant thunder claps, ambient RV noise, and various other sounds over and over.  Pete Horner came in from Zoetrope in San Francisco to do the mix and had only the kind of ideas a good sound mixer has - adding layers to the film that otherwise wouldn't happen without his ears.  We had kind of gotten used to the fact that this was a movie shot, well, on the side of a road for 53 days, but in the mix we realized it again - and spent a good amount of time both adding in and taking out the accompanying sounds.  We reduced distractions (the ever-present hum of the RVs which our runners stayed in) but we also added layers of sound, giving us the visceral sense that the occasional 18-wheelers that brushed past were a very real danger (and they certainly were).

We also were aware of the most prescient sound for a runner - that of each footstep landing against the ground.  This was an important element, and we worked hard to make sure this is a, ahem, running theme throughout the film.

Now to a week of color correction, where we make an already gorgeous film even more gorgeous...

LOCKING RUNNING AMERICA

It's often said that a film is only abandoned by a director, that it is never truly finished.  Yesterday, we began locking picture on Running America. This is a tedious, detail-oriented process of creating files, double-checking audio cues, making last-minute changes, and so forth.

Michael O'Brien, our editor (on a sabbatical from The Carson Group) took on an army of footage and conquered it, crafting scenes out of nothing and finding things I didn't even know existed.  A great editor makes possible something that would not have been possible without them.  Mike is such an editor.  I believe he's taken, oh, maybe 3 days off in the past 4 months of editing.  His dedication has been astounding.

Early on, my director of photography, Andreas von Scheele, and I discussed how this would be Ansel Adams meets FSA photography. Gorgeous vistas punctuated with portraits of real people and their struggles during a time of change in the country.  When I go back and look at the mood and tone book we created at the outset of the project, I can actually point to photographs and say "we got that" and "we definitely got that."  This is incredibly satisfying.  Our interviews with Americans yielded moments of great insight and emotion, and we met people who surprised and enlightened us along the route.  

We charted our edit of the film like we charted the run.  "We're in about Nebraska..." "We just crossed the Mississippi!"  "Oh, looks like we have to go back to Colorado" and so on. After 4 plus months of editing, so many late night sessions, roundabout discussions about scene directions and sequences, we pushed through many "I don't know what to think anymore..." moments to arrive at realizations we knew would help the film.  

And it was about that moment when we felt we could not ingest any more caffeine, that the talented Michael Seifert at Ante Up Studios played us some ideas for the score.  This jolt of energy was better than any shot of espresso.  This Wednesday, a session band will be in place - pedal guitar, acoustic guitar, banjo, harmonica - for a tracking session that will probably go into the night.  Then, on to sound mix.