the sun, clouds, rain, or dust storms, as well as all the curious onlookers and nosepickers who might arrive (along with the cops if stealing a shot). This quote by Alfred Hitchcock sums up shooting anything outside: “In feature films the director is God; in documentary films God is the director.” Seriously, it applies.
Last but not least! Check out the bathroom status at your locations and make some notes so you can tell your crew. Trust us, bathrooms are very important. Note the toilet paper amount as well, or everyone on your set could have a really crappy time.
When all is said and done, if you’re working with a business, city government, county agency or individual, it’s time to take out your Location Agreement Form (we’ll talk about contracts later). Have them sign the form before you do any work at that location. You’ll need to sign it, too.
Congratulations! You officially have a location.
CLEANLINESS
Don’t be a dirtbag. Clean up after yourself as you film your movie. You don’t want to damage a location or leave it a wreck. If you don’t keep your location clean, you also increase the chance of losing equipment. At one location, someone chucked our tripod mount because it got placed near some trash. Yeah, it has happened.
LOCATION SAFETY
Safety first! Devise a quick safety plan in case of fire, earthquake, meteors, space invaders . . . You get it. Just come up with a head count system to keep track of everyone on set. Include a meeting location where everyone should go in case of an emergency. You also want to have the nearest hospital location and phone number. One last thing: keep a medical kit on set at all times. Include extra Band-Aids and tissues for hurt feelings. . .
LOCATION OWNER ISSUES
If your location owner wants to be there during filming, then let them. Show them how grateful you are for them allowing you to use their space. Remember to show you care about their property. Remember to be respectful of their stuff. Bring some cleaning supplies and clean up after yourself. This will really help when you need to do crucial pick-up shots at that location. Otherwise they may say, “See ya later. Film somewhere else.”
PLAN B
We recommend securing a back-up location. In the world of indie filmmaking, nothing ever goes exactly as planned. NOTHING.
DON’T GET ARRESTED
The real trick is to not get arrested. You think we’re kidding? Here’s a story. One night a few moons ago Hectic Films was filming a shooting scene for an indie feature. We were in a downtown bar and had permission from the owners. Of course the cops showed up. They were being sneaky. Really sneaky. They waited outside, hoping to nail us on some trumped up charge. But as Rickey left to walk up the steps, he was greeted by three cops with guns out. Someone had seen us in the bar with guns, didn’t know we were filming, and called the cops. Once they were alerted that we were shooting a film, they left us there to finish our scene. . . Indie Filmmakers 1, Cops 0. Of course, we’ve seen less careful film teams arrested for stealing on-the-go shots. One group of filmmakers was shooting scenes in a parking garage. No permission. Easily seen from the street. Easy access for cops to bust everyone involved, make arrests, and take their fake guns; they weren’t able to finish filming their project. Tsk, tsk. Cops 1, Indie Filmmakers 0. Let this be a reminder that guns are a huge no-no when filming in a public space. If your character has a gun, then re-write your public scenes so your character doesn’t use or display a weapon. No guns, folks. No one wants to actually get shot. Please remember, you and your small crew will be the only ones who know the guns are fake. Don’t bring real guns on set and respect the police when they come onto set.
PUBLIC SPACES
Parks, bus stops, parking garages, even crowds may help your project—and usually require permits. It’s tough to get good audio in them, but they’re great for montage or flashback scenes—pretty much any type of scene that doesn’t require audio and can be replaced with music and or voice over. You didn’t hear this from us, but if you’re low key, then who’s to say people can’t think you were filming some home video while in a public space? Escape From Tomorrow was entirely filmed at different Disneyland parks with handheld cameras and incognito actors reading scripts off their phones. Ever see Lost in Translation? Some of the scenes in the street crowds were shots totally stolen by Sofia Coppola’s film crew. No way could they have afforded that with their budget. Our favorite story is about when Alfred Hitchcock stole a shot of the United Nations building with Cary Grant in North by Northwest after the UN told him he wasn’t allowed to film there. We’re not telling you to break the law. But don’t get caught. And don’t blame us if you do.
Some of our favorite location cheats
It’s a good idea to get extra location shots while filming on location.
Imagine yourself on a scavenger hunt for gold. This “gold” is the really cool images you’re seeking for your film. The shots can be of anything. For example: if you see a fountain in front of the cheap motel where you’re filming, grab a couple of shots. Why not? You might use the footage as an establishing shot of some kind. Maybe the footage will appear in the film for some completely unknown reason! That’s golden!
Here’s another location cheat: right after filming a close-up dialogue scene with your actors, don’t move your camera. Have the actors leave the frame, then record ten to twenty seconds of “clean slate.” Why? This way you can use a green screen later for any pick-up shots. You never know. You might have another scene you want to film, or worse—maybe something went completely wrong with what you already filmed. Either way, once you have that clean slate footage, you’ve saved yourself from having to drive to get that shot again.
Chapter Two
Stories That Don’t Suck
Story 101
It’s time to discuss storytelling. Not scripts. Not yet. That’s the next chapter. Don’t you dare jump ahead. We need to talk about story.
That’s right—the basics. Call it Story 101, a brief lesson so you don’t get confused. Consider this a warm-up, a way to get to know your inner writer self. When you do sit down to write a script, you want to have some idea of direction, where to look inside yourself for that wonderful story you’re going to tell (even if it is about a Halloween clown hell bent on prank calling radio stations while torturing some poor victim. Oh yeah, we did that one). Okay, enough of that. Let’s get down to science!
Writer Lisa Cron says something remarkable about our DNA. She says our brains are wired for story, that our blabbing to each other about our lives is an inherent human condition. She writes in Wired for Story: “Our brain developed a way to consciously navigate information so that, provided we have the time, we can decide on our own what to do next. Story.” She says storytelling is something our brains do naturally and implicitly. She quotes neuroscientist Antonio Damacio who tells us, “It should be no surprise that it [storytelling] pervades the entire fabric of human societies and cultures.”
Yeah? So what? What’s he talking about? It means that when the boss isn’t in the office we all sit around someone’s cubicle sharing tales. It’s our default mode.
It means you’re a storyteller.
We’re all storytellers.
It’s
