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action, Adaptation, advice, Barbarian, budget, character, Conan, concept, design, Evil Dead, film, filmmaker, goals, Hammet, horror, jaws, location, movie, Mystery, necessity, Pace, process, Thin Man, writer
I’m getting an early start on this post so I’m not trying to piece anything together late at night. Also, because I have to go to work early in the morning. As promised, today we are going to go a bit more in depth about how your story somewhat determines the pace of your work day. I chose this behind the scenes picture of JAWS because it is just contradictory enough that I think it fits and is slightly amusing (especially if you know what scene this is!).
I should start off by saying that when you are actually on set, you should be working as swiftly as possible with some time for breaks in between shooting. However, that will be explored more on Monday’s post. I just figured I should get it out of the way right now as a warning.
As mentioned before, your genre kind of has a say on how quickly you should move on set. I said on Monday that action movies tend to move faster. That’s not entirely true. In fact, a lot of setup goes into an action movie for stunts and special effects. Mystery and suspense tend to go more quickly because there’s less of a set up. It’s more about the mood than anything else, which leaves more time for actors to get into the idea.
Now, being a zero budget filmmaker, your pacing will generally stay the same with some shifts depending on what your goal is. If you are doing an action movie, chances are you don’t have enough to afford a stuntman, which means you are either going to have your actor do the stunt or forgo the stunt/fight entirely. There are going to be ways to work around the stunt, but that choice is up to you. If your actor is going to do this, they are going to need a lot of prep time for the scene. You don’t want anyone getting hurt and suing you, do you? I didn’t think so. The same thing goes for special effects. Unless you know how to use animation software or how to make models, you’re going to have to cut back on the special effects shots. Either that or take the time to build miniatures correctly.
Now, if you are doing story central ideas, such as a mystery or some sort of short film like that, you’re going to move a lot faster, but you’ll still want to make sure everyone gives 100%. The movie The Thin Man (1934; Directed by W.S. Van Dyke) was filmed in a week and, while it shows in parts, the overall presentation is still solid. Also, it doesn’t hurt when you have a cast that works so well together. It is worth noting that this is an adaptation and the book isn’t extraordinarily long. However, it is pretty true to the text with a few changes that improve on the narrative, in my opinion. This is an extreme case of a professional production, but it is a good example to keep in mind when working on your mystery or drama. And let’s face it, if you’re doing a horror movie, you could finish it in a week if everyone had the time. Unless you are doing the most thought provoking horror movie of all time. Then you may need to take your time.
I suppose, to sum up, the more extravagant your film is going to be, the more time it should take you. And that’s just the Production part. With genres like action and science-fiction and fantasy, most of the work comes in Post-Production. Unless you go old school, like Conan the Barbarian and Evil Dead and do it all practically, you will find yourself very limited. At least at first. Who knows: Maybe you’ll make to a point where you can do whatever you want. But until that time, keep it simple!