Production Viewpoint From Newbies

 So, my 35mm motion picture returned from some kids who wanted to borrow it to shoot something in Utah.

I love production stories. This is the very first film he's ever made on 35mm and I gotta say...proud of what he was able to do.

I think if I were in my early 20's I would've done the same thing.

I recall, as a teenager, taking two different buses out to the middle of nowhere to buy a Super8 camera from some weirdo's barn in Ohio. He not only had the camera but he also had a viewer, a splicer and some other things I used to make my very first film on film. I mean, if you are dedicated to craft you really take more risks to learn.

It is the freedom and joy of testing your mettle to get your movie across. See, I went to film school and I made medium budgeted movies, been on big budget sets, been on mid-range sets. And the same is true for everyone REGARDLESS of size and project...you never feel you have time or enough money. No one does. Ever.

If after a shoot, you replay all your setups, you want to vomit on yourself. Because you feel you didn't get enough. I had that sickening feeling for a long time. And, truth be told, even legends like cinematographer Roger Deakins feels this way. He fights the Coen Brothers to provide more coverage. Any coverage, is what it seemed like in his podcast.

But that's the thing you storytellers have to understand: thrift.

The word means a lot. It indicates that you tell your story with the least amount possible. Whether it be exposition or gear or locations or all the things you wish you had. Or heard in some production story they had.

I notice these days people don't share set stories as much. I love that these young gentlemen who desperately wanted to make a movie on film were willing to share all the nuances. Because, it gives me an insight on how to guide people to do the project in a scenario where they're just learning (expensive lessons here).

If you are new, your greatest weapon is actually ignorance. Sometimes if you know too much the goal becomes daunting and you quit before you start. If you don't know the circumstances of how things can go wrong, you go in guns blazing.