PART II
PRE-PRODUCTION
The pre-production process is an important stage in film
making, regardless of the size of the budget -- especially if you don't
have a budget!
The first thing you do as a film maker is to "breakdown" the script.
SCRIPT BREAKDOWN
Script breakdown entails estimating the personnel, time,
materiel, location and financial resources required by the script.
Many productions use Strip Boards for planning the shooting schedule.
Each scene is laid out to be shot in a certain ideal order, on a
particular location. Day or Night, Exterior or Interior, Insert or
Special Effect -- everything is planned for the best time and place of
accomplishing it.
At the end of each day of production, anything that was not
shot can be conveniently rescheduled by moving the strip of each shot
over to the new day where it is to be scheduled. Everything that was
shot ends up on the left side of the strip board separated by a black
strip, that is the marker.
Buy a Strip Board from a professional supplier and learn how to use it
well. It will make life easier for you as a film maker.
There are all kinds of forms that can be prepared for scheduling cast
and crew, (referred to as Call Sheets,) general production schedules
for directions of how to get to locations, wake-up calls for cast,
transportation and equipment information, costumes, catering, etc. --
it all depends on how well staffed you are or what your project
requires, because you may have an "army" of PAs doing all these things.
As for using resources, there are so many variations that
require ingenious efforts in planning for the successful accomplishment
of your production goals.
You may have millions of dollars at your disposal, you may have
thousands or nothing (don't laugh, there is such a thing as begging!)
-- whatever the budget, you have to be realistic about the production
value you can generate.
There are all kinds of ways to make a movie. The most expensive isn't
necessarily the best way.
In fact, it's the true sign of the professional film maker, when the
budget is in line with the best presentation of a certain subject
matter.
Take a movie like "Schindler's List." It was shot in Black
and White, with documentary style camerawork. It doesn't matter what
the budget was (certainly Steven Spielberg doesn't need to worry about
that); but, possibly by virtue of the fact that he didn't have to spend
a lot of money on achieving technical gloss and getting himself
embroiled in thousands of technical
considerations, he ended up making a better film from a "thematic
handling" standpoint. So much so, that he won the "Best Director"
Oscar. It was a truly meaningful award because he didn't win it for
directing actors only (which is what Hollywood traditionally gives the
Award for), but for all facets of the director's art, which is the
essence of being a film maker.