Friday, March 16, 2012

Learn Your Craft

This particular article is directed at film makers, film students, and people who would consider themselves to be in the business of film making, television, etc. It does have some relations to audio and audio for film, so if that's all you care about, you may read on. But I strongly recommend that everyone listed above read this, so please pass it around.

I was inspired to write this due to a recent incident on the set of a film I was supposed to do, but had to give the job to a friend. It reminded me of almost every experience I have had dealing with independent and student film makers. Yes, this is an explosive epidemic! Why? Film schools mostly. And simple ignorance. But I'll get into that later.

My experience with independent film makers tends to go something like this: Last minute booking or they ask me for a reel, resume, interview, etc, a very long time before shooting. Then I either don't get a call sheet, or it goes out two days before the day of shooting, or very late the evening before we begin to shoot. It never has technical information on it for me except some times they say for me to record to camera because they don't want to re-sync audio in post, and I never get to sign off on locations, talk to wardrobe, or anything like that. It's literally a "hey can you work these days? good" kind of situation. So off the bat I'm flying blind, and can really only do the bare minimum because I have had no prep days, I'm probably booming, mixing, and doing audio utility work (unless it is one of those rare occasions where I actually get a boom op), and if I was ever given a script, I probably didn't get a chance to read it. Sometimes I will get sides for the day which help me a great deal. Then there's the question of compensation. Film makers are all under the impression that everyone wants to work on their project for the opportunity, networking, credit, copy, and creative fun that we all will have. But they forget that this is a business like any other, and most of us are here for a pay check. So, because film makers think that everybody wants to work on their film for so many reasons, they think that they can offer less compensation, if any at all, make us work longer hours, usually have poor food services and catering (sometimes not even coffee on set!), make people do more than one or even two jobs, and they will somehow create a masterpiece from all that chaos. Speaking of, the call sheets are usually missing a lot of information and formatted in a way that is hard to read and different from a standard call sheet. There is often times no shot list, and little organization. So the first day or so is usually very chaotic and it tends to run behind schedule.

Film Makers that go about it this way may be great film makers and may get great results, but the truth is that your crew are a bunch of hired professionals that have been trained a certain way, then through experience learned the real way to do things (believe me, you didn't learn anything in film school!). So you can't re invent the wheel because you don't want to learn how the wheel works, or because you THINK you know how it works. Productions that are running on a low budget almost always do this, and it almost always winds up hurting them in the end because they are afraid to spend their money correctly during the production process, and wind up having to go over budget in post production, or not finish the film at all.

Here is a typical add I see every day looking for a "sound guy":
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Independent film looking for a sound person to operate sound for a film. Pay is $xxx/day flat rate. Must be able to operate boom mike as well as record, and must provide own equipment. Please send reel and resume, and any links for consideration.
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Off the bat you are insulting whomever you are potentially going to hire. And you have already told me that you are inexperienced and unprofessional by not using proper terminology, expecting a single person to be your entire sound department, and to work for a flat rate. You also asked a sound recordist to provide a reel. You ask DPs, actors, and creative types for a reel, but not a technician. I don't have a reel because a reel doesn't display my work, so please don't ever ask a technician for a reel. You may ask to see their IMDb page, or links to their work, or possibly if they have a web site. But in my case, my resume speaks for its self, theres no need to verify beyond that. I wouldn't be in this business and wouldn't have a good looking resume if I wasn't good at what I did. I also obviously work a lot, hence all those credits on the IMDb page, so I clearly know how to work with people. No need for an interview. You hire your department head, and you can interview them on the tech/location scouting days. I frankly don't have time for interviews, Im working 12 hours days on set every day.

Now, about that flat rate. I know your production has a limited budget, and I know that you think that you are going to get a better deal if you make your sound person do and provide everything himself. Well the truth is, you are spending a lot to rent your RED camera, and you are spending a lot to rent your lighting package, and probably spending something on permits, locations, makeup, wardrobe, food, etc. Why do you think that the sound equipment is just going to manifest its self for free? The camera didn't! Why should I make the same as everyone else on set and also have to provide anywhere from $10k-$100k worth of equipment that I am not being compensated for?

Generally speaking, non-union productions tend to work by union rules. This is because they abide by labor laws, are safer, more organized, and make for a better work environment. That means maximum 12 hour days, and only if you cant avoid it, meal penalties, and over time. It calls for appropriate wages and kit rental fees for all equipment being used. You may not be renting the sound equipment from a rental house, the sound mixer is most likely providing it. But you do need to compensate him for that equipment. You will generally get an amazing rate on it, so don't sweat it. I talk a lot about this is a previous article, so to know more, read on.

Now, I know this is pretty basic, but you would be surprised about how often I run into this one: I as a hired professional am expected to know how to do my job and do it well. Ok, sure. Even though despite all odds and booby-traps that production has set up for me (bad location, no prep time, poor lighting conditions, unworkable camera angles, sound unfriendly wardrobe choices, physics, technical issues, etc) are against me, I rarely am unable to provide unusable audio. But I'm pro like that. And yet some people make it onto these sets that clearly do not belong. An Example:

I did a film a couple of months ago where, since there again was no technical info on the call sheets, I had to waste production time by getting together with the camera department on the first day and asked them what their technical specs were so that I could do the same. Then I asked if we were running Time Code, and syncing the sound and the camera. They had no idea. So I asked the producer and director (since there was no AD), and they had no idea what that even was. Great. So out of the kindness of my hear, I said to the 1st AC, ok, let's jam the camera. Why not? It will save time and money in post, and as a hired professional, it is in my best interest to try to save this production money if I can. Well, he didn't know how to jam-sync that camera. So after that the camera department looked on their iPhones for about a quarter of an hour, they came to the conclusion that the information was not to be found. Now, I have synced that camera plenty of times with competent ACs, so I know it can be done, though it is not my job to know how to sync a camera, just provide the time code for it to sync to. This shoot had a DP/operator, 1st AC and 2nd AC, and they didn't know how to run time code on the camera. Meanwhile I am working all by myself, getting frustrated because this is turning into another amateur film set and Im once again the most qualified person on board.

A friend of mine just wrote me in a panic because the editor for the film he is working on specifically asked for time code. So my friend provided a Lockit Box (even though this is a Camera Department Rental), synced it with his recorder, and presented it to the camera department to keep the camera in sync. Well, they cant get the camera to sync. Once again, we are talking about an incompetent person hired onto a job, and no one is going to do anything about it. Instead this just makes my friend look bad, but no one will say anything to the AC who doesn't know how to operate the camera, who's job it is to know how to operate the camera btw. But Camera department is never looked on as the villain, blame usually falls with the odd man out.

Incompetence is something that I don't tolerate. If you do not know how to do your job, you have no business being there. In this case I might speak to the AD about it, or just write it in my report and the production will have to go without time code. Because production hired a budget AC, we didn't get time code up, so now they will have to pay an Assistant Editor to sit there for a whole week and re-sync audio to the video clips before they can start editing the film. Now they are paying more when they could have spent the money up front with someone who knew what they were doing, and probably saved a little instead of having to pay two people's wages, wasting time on set, and pushing the post process back.

The difficult thing about hiring people who are qualified to do their jobs correctly is that they cost more than people eager for experience. So you need more funding. Well, like I have stated before in other articles: There is no excuse for not having enough money. If your film does not have proper funding, it is entirely because your producer did not do their job correctly. It is their job to come up with the money, whether they just provide it, find investors, whatever.

If you do decide to go the budget route, just remember: No matter how you slice it, making a film does cost a lot of money. There is no way around that. If you hire people who aren't good at their jobs, you are going to end up with a poor product. No one wants to watch a poorly made film. Even though you didn't spend as much as you could have on your project, you still did spend a lot of money, and now you have a film that no one wants to see. You have wasted a lot of money. So if you are going to go through the process of making a film, why not do it the right way? Just like with film or sound equipment: Yeah theres budget equipment, but it wont give you the quality you need. And if you are going to spend the money on a quality piece of equipment, why not go that extra bit more and get the flagship model? You're already spending the big bucks, and that model is going to be worth it in the long run. In my business, I need to own the best gear out there. I wont get good jobs, and people wont take me seriously if I dont. So please don't tell me that using a zoom recorder is good enough, or recording to camera is what you want me to do just because you don't want to take the time to re-sync sound. Do things right! Thats just lazy.

The chances of making a product worth submitting to film festivals with an "eager to learn" crew is slim to non. I don't care how good your script is. You need pros to make your vision come to life with pro equipment. A 5D and a zoom recorder are not going to give you the same results as an Alexa and a Zaxcom Deva. So why kid yourself? Plus, the better the equipment you use, the better your crew needs to be because the learning curve is greater. With cheapo wanna-be gear like a zoom recorder, it may be easy to use and "good enough" for those who aren't interested in anyone taking them seriously as a sound person or film maker, but it actually requires more skill to make it sound better than it will in the hands of the kind of person that would own one in the first place. Just sayin'...

So lets get back to that whole organization thing. Some key positions that should never be combined into one person are the AD, UPM, and LP. All of those positions require a lot of man hours and nerves to develop a practical shooting schedule. Your schedule should be productive, but light. If you work people for a full 12 hours, they will be grumpy. Also consider setup and take down time, travel time, lunch break, rehearsals, multiple takes, etc. Things take time if you want to do them right, and you cannot justify overworking your crew in an effort to save a few dollars. They will always work harder and do a better job if they are happy.

A typical indie film shoot day looks something like this for me:
I get to the location on time, and am usually the first person there. Within a half an hour everyone else shows, and they begin setting up the crafty table. They may have brought a coffee traveler or they may brew it on the spot. The longer I am waiting for my coffee, the longer it will take me to set up. I don't care when the first shot of the day is scheduled for. My attitude is such because it is someones job to make sure that those in charge of everything running smoothly, along with crafty, need to be there before the general crew shows up so that things can be ready. If I am waiting outside of a location, and it is not open for me to walk into, then I am wasting my time. If I am waiting for coffee to be made instead of setting up my audio kit, then I am wasting my time. As a film maker you do not want your department heads wasting their time!

I then set up, try to get things like sides, make sure Im on the same page as camera, make sure lighting and wardrobe isn't going to totally screw me over, try to mic up the talent, and wait for rehearsal. I need to see/hear rehearsal too, fyi. Once that happens, adjustments may be made, then we go for a shot. We keep shooting until lunch, exactly 6 hours after call time, and may be at lunch for 1/2-1 hour. Afterwards, we resume shooting until we are done for the day. Then we offload media, pack up, and go home. This is assuming things go somewhat well. Most of the time there is a lot of waiting around because other departments aren't receiving proper instructions, or we are all trying to figure out what is next because theres no shot list or storyboard, or any other number of time consuming hinderences. Some geniuses also try to plan for company moves/location changes in the same day, and usually either neglect to tell people that is going to happen, or tell people what the parking is like where we are headed. We are also supposed to pack up, drive ourselves to the next location, and just be ready to shoot without having any setup time. With a few exceptions, most different locations should be scheduled for different days, and every location should be listed on the call sheet with a map and parking instructions. If those things are not there, do not expect people to be there on time because they are probably circling around looking for the location or somewhere to park. Crew with equipment need access to the location in order to load the gear as well. There should also be different call times for different people.

Usually it takes at least a couple of hours to have the set dressed and lit, and be ready to shoot. This means that I don't need to show up at the same time as everyone else. Otherwise I am just in the way, bored, and probably hanging around crafty or socializing with others on set, making for an unproductive morning. An organized set will have people come in when they need to, and make sure that there is space allocated for all people and departments. On a real set, I would need some place to keep my sound cart where I can work from, and keep my equipment staged and available for me to access it if I need to. I, as a mixer, generally work remotely. Close enough to the action where I can see whats happening generally. My Boom Op is the one that ventures in and interacts with the goings on. A Boom Op is a lighter, more maneuverable rig that doesn't take up as much space and can get in and out more easily. I on the other hand, have to have my recorder/mixer, all my wireless microphone receivers, mics, cables, accessories, IFB, wind protection, and countless other things that take up a lot of space and can be very heavy. Making me wear all that in a bag and try to boom at the same time in a confined space that we are shooting in is literally like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, not to mention that I technically cannot mix and boom at the same time. That would require at least three arms. So my point is, instead of having me show up and be in the way all morning, why not have me come in at a more appropriate time and just be able to set up in my designated spot, and be ready when I am needed?

Going back to that film that I was supposed to do, that my friend had to work for me: He had the same call time as everyone else, and they needed to build the set, dress it, light it, etc. He was there until after lunch before they got the first shot of the day off. Better planning would have had the set built the day before, heck, maybe even lit the day before, and everyone could have funneled in and be ready to shoot within maybe an hour. Instead, that day ran late, and the crew went on strike, the picture was postponed, and the executive producers were blacklisted because of the unreasonable conditions that they put the crew through, along with unwillingness to pay overtime (they went about 18 hours), and wanted to do a 9 hour turn around! This is all actually beyond illegal! If you only have 9 hours from the time you stop shooting, to pack up, go home, have dinner, sleep, get up, get ready for the next day, travel to the location and be on time, no matter how you look at it you will not get 8 hours of sleep. On a standard 12 hour turn around it is rare that I ever get 8 hours, and after a couple of days I become a zombie, which can be very dangerous driving around in that state, or operating heavy equipment on set. Production is also responsible if people get into an accident on their way home from set if they are under rested. So be careful when you try to cram too much in one day, and be aware of how reasonable what you are asking your crew to do is. This is why unions exist, and they can be called in to regulate non union shoots.

Another thing that happened on this shoot was that because of all those terrible conditions that happened on set, the crew decided to walk. The camera crew packed up the cameras and the hard drives and walked out, taking all the footage with them. To a producer, they think that they own the footage. Yes they do, when the people who got it for them get paid. My friend was going to walk as well, and when the producers asked for his audio files, he said that he would give it to them when their check cleared. They called the police, and even the police said that my friend was 100% in the right. So the law is on the side of the laborers.

All of this comes down to the fact that these people thought that they could offer a low wage, be disorganized and it wouldn't matter if they ran late. It comes down to the fact that they were unprofessional, and didn't care if their crew was overworked, under compensated, and under slept. And perhaps worst of all for the producers and director is how bad they look to the rest of the film community and to the name talent that they had on board when their crew went on strike and wouldn't give in until their demands were met. Some of the crew went back on board under a new agreement, but a lot of people quit and spread those peoples names about with a warning never to work with them. As producers, their careers are over, and it is going to be difficult for that director to be taken seriously, and that name talent will certainly be saying some not so flattering things about how that show was run and who was responsible for it.

My point is that if you do not Learn Your Craft before undertaking this sort of venture, you WILL make yourself look bad and be insulting to those around you, even if your production goes smoothly. It's not just in worst case scenarios, or if the crew goes on strike. It's when you use improper terminology on your adds, make people wait around all day before they're needed, make people look for parking at a location, provide bad food (IE: subway), do not negotiate rates (instead dictate a flat fee, or go with the lowest bidder), or say that there isn't funds for this or that. You should have known at the start what costs would be and you should have made sure that they were there. There really are no excuses. It is a lot of work, but thats why there are people to fill the rolls to get things done. Do it right and things will go smoothly. Then the only thing you have to worry about is the script you decide to make into a movie, and how talented your actors are!

Now how seriously do you think people take you?

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