Valuable Lessons Learned

[AMDQuantum]

Since everyone here seems to have such vastly different knowledge and experience. I thought I'd be cool for everyone to share some valuable lessons they've learned on the job or maybe even best practices.

[indietalk]

Murphy's Law... that is all, lol.

[AMDQuantum]

HAHAHAHA! VERY TRUE...I have one

Most actors/actresses for indie films are flakes or pre-madonnas. With that said, the lesson I had to learn was this. When making a film it's best to work with the same people as often as possible to get to the finish line.

[sfoster]

Skinny actors don't want pizza

[mlesemann]

1. Be willing to fire people if necessary.

2. After each project, make 2 lists: those who you would definitely work with again and those you would never work with again.

[Sweetie]

Murphy's Law... that is all

O'Toole's law: Murphy was an optimist.

[Quality]

"What can go wrong, will go wrong." That includes equipment, actors, budget etc.

[indietalk]

copy cat!

[jax_rox]

Be prepared, open and willing to compromise, and compromise hard. Especially if your budget isn't anything flash.

Also, ego goes out the door when you're making a film. It's one big collaboration and if everyone is pulling in different directions, it's going to be a bad time. Be open to ideas and willing to embrace them. Prosecute your ideas and be ready and willing to have the creative discussions you need to have.

Work with people who get you and avoid those who undermine you. Work with people who challenge you creatively, not just those who are complicit.

Respect the hierarchy, but develop good pre-production protocols that allow you to really challenge the creative decisions and direction before you get to set. When you're on set, you're all making the same film. Be easy to work with and get along with - you'll get hired on the next one. Make sure you're creating a very safe environment for the actors to work in and to feel comfortable being vulnerable in.

[Quality]

Originally Posted by indietalk

copy cat!

Lol

[buscando]

Get good audio on the shoot.
If you don't, you could be doubling your work in post.

[AcousticAl]

The “never one” rule.

Battery, cable, memory card. NEVER go out the door with only one. These are the things that are most likely to fail in a most crippling way.

If you’re dealing with traditional lights, that also goes for lamps.

[Quality]

I've never had cable and memory card problems, but battery... OMG!

[AcousticAl]

Originally Posted by Quality

I've never had cable and memory card problems...

Give it time.

Cables take a lot of abuse in day-to-day application. Rolling/coiling, unrolling/uncoiling, connecting and disconnecting, getting yanked when the end gets caught while coiling it (don’t do that), inievitably being tripped over by an oblivious crew member and nobody bothered to rig a strain releif loop... they simply wear out. The copper leads inside are hair-thin; yeah, there are lots of them, but as stress breaks more and more of them in one spot it does all add up.

Memory cards are mass-produced in overseas factories, and even the really good ones are subject to faulty production runs. And if purchased from Amazon, are likely poor-quality counterfeits anyway. Or, somebody decided to delete individual files from the card instead of reformatting. Or, the card has been through too many read/write/format cycles.

[jax_rox]

I’ve had SxS cards, XQD, CFast and RED Mags play up on me in the past - it’s not just limited to the cheapies. You have to decommission them for at least the day, if not the whole shoot. That’s why camera kits always come with 7-10 cards.