This is what is considered a basic shot list. It has all the components that give the cinematographer and director the concept of what they are going to shoot on the day of filming. What I want to do is to expand on the shot list in a way that it will become more efficient in terms of incorporating creative and technical elements for shooting each shot. What I intend to do is to create a prototype of this for the purpose of shooting a sketch of my actual film that I have been working on “Loveable Moron”. However, the efficiency is mainly focused on how to assist the director and DOP on getting a better understanding of camera coverage of a scene on a day of high stress and mind-burning issues that arise on the day. Here is a sample of a basic shot list that I intend to develop into my own.

Shot list

‘Investigate the writings of a filmmaker who has theorized, or written in depth, on their craft. Consider the actual relationship between their writing and their filmmaking.’

Contemporary cinema and auteurs have generally neglected theorizing their filmmaking practices in written form. No longer do great directors write theses or in-depth academic analysis to be published. Where I have found the equivalent in writing is through books noting each and every interview taken place with specific directors, such as Quentin Tarantino.

What I have found through his recorded interviews is that Tarantino identifies his filmmaking as being born through being ‘raised by television’ during the 1970’s in Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.A. He idolizes television programs as being the parent that he had when his mother was not there. He speaks with enthusiasm of his child fantasies of watching Clint Eastwood shoot Indians on horseback, or Pam Grier stun the ‘black community’ with her beauty and power.

Tarantino’s child-like excitement when it comes to film rings through in his theorization that filmmaking is always about entertaining the audience through creating entertainment. But while he makes it appear all fun and games, most of his filmmaking is very in-depth and intricate, as it makes numerous pop-culture references, complex and entangling storylines, hypnotizing dialogue, and a style, that has evolved exploitation cinema to the mainstream in his own way.

This can be identified in his 2009 film ‘Inglorious Basterds’ in one of the very first scenes. The antagonist Hans Landa of the Nazi SS, played by Christoph Waltz, sits with a French farmer who is hiding Jews during the holocaust underneath the floorboards of where the two sit. The slow and methodical timing and rhythm of this scene is tailored to make your heart palpitate with each step Landa takes, as he moves through the farmhouse. His big SS leather boots create creaks in the floor boards that are emphasized to create a sense of anxiety, as is the floorboards are to crack and reveal the Jewish family beneath the floor. Despite this only being a small element that formulates the entire viscera of the scene, it alone would allude that Tarantino’s rhetoric of ‘fun cinema’ would be more complex than he lets on. He utilizes complex technique to create almost perfect audience reactions, this being the key to great filmmaking, to make the audience feel.

Judging by this, Tarantino does not explain how to make the films he does, to keep the image of being of ‘higher thinking’ that Directors must have. This is a common affliction of many great auteurs.

When he does speak of why he creates scenes or shots the way that he does, he would usually speak of films from his childhood that he remembers, and how he wanted to pay homage or replicate for the film that he is creating. He is the embodiment of the quote “steal from one person, it’s plagiarism. Steal from a thousand, and you’re a genius”. This is not in any way to his discredit, but to invite an in-depth and critical thought of his auteuristic process.

I will be shooting tomorrow…hypothetically. This is where all the money, time and energy has been put in to, to be able to actually shoot this film. The nerves are normal. However, sometimes the nerves and the fast paced energy can be too much, so it’s important that your producer is with you for at least 12 hours prior to shooting (that means sleeping over) to ensure that he or she has got it down-packed with organisational facets, and making sure that everything will run smoothly.

The person that the director will be spending the most time with is the assistant, actors and also the cameramen. There are two ways I usually go about being a director with films, and that all depends on my investment and foreseeable future of my film. 1) I usually understand that everyone is learning and that sometimes it won’t be perfect. This is where I need to be calm, and act as a mentor, not a dictator. I allow for mistakes, and encourage people to try their best and to learn from their errors. OR… 2) I will do as many takes until i can get the shot that i want, given I have the time to do so, and will make sure that not one single error occurs. However, this one usually leaves people feeling stressed, and may leave you with high expectations, and soon to become disappointment, as no film ever has been shot without errors involved. They can either be covered up in post-production, or kept in the final cut because they are so minimal, but include a really great shot nonetheless.

This is where the learning comes from as a director/producer of a film or scene. We make mistakes, and learn from them, but we have to know that while this is our ‘baby’, and we want it to be the best, all the time, perfect is never perfect. The interpretation of the audience will decide the quality, and validity of your film as either professional, or amateur. That is the cutthroat business we are in. But as a student of film for life, I remember a quote by Quentin Tarantino: “Why spend 300,000 dollars on film school, when you can spend 30,000 dollars on a film. That’s the best film school in the world!” Because we learn.

Now that I am thinking about moving on to the production phase of the film, also known as actually shooting the film, I need to keep in mind that everyone I am working with is doing this voluntarily. Not many people enjoy holding a 4 meter long pole with a fluffy microphone on the end for hours, so it’s important that I create some kind of incentive other than experience and pizza.

However, I cannot do this myself, I need someone else to do it, as I am the director. I usually have a 2nd AD, who I do not use for their written purpose on Wikipedia. I use them as what I call ‘Hype-men’. This person is in charge of keeping a party atmosphere, and a fun environment while everyone works on setting up. This includes telling jokes, having a laugh, talking about beers after, playing ‘Uptown Funk’ and watching everybody start dancing like lunatics! It’s a really great asset to have. By this point, no one is thinking “this sucks, i could be at home watching game of thrones!” they’re thinking “This is fun as, I want to do this again sometime!” They’re working, but they want to even more than for the sake of experience. There’s even the bonus of having your reputation as a producer/director boosted through word of mouth, as well as having people like and respect you.

When the time comes where you need to speak seriously, and firmly, they will listen to you, because you are not the hype man, you are the boss, the director. They respect you, and want to listen.

I have mentioned this previously in my other posts, but originality is key and will set you apart from every other filmmaker. It is the heart and voice of the auteur and is highly misunderstood in its actual meaning by many filmmakers. My originality consists of identifying the photogenie of many films and real life events, and joining certain aspects of each to create a foundation of thought and style for my films.

Example: I really like studying political events involving the revolution of the working class. I also like 1960’s rock n’ roll. I also like the movie ‘The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly’. So, if I put these elements together, and use that as frame work for a story, I could make a film about a suit turned outlaw, who creates a violent but righteous revolutionary movement in Melbourne, to the score of 1960’s psychedelic rock. I would then tailor these elements of the narrative to be able to logically intertwine and connect through symbolism and meaning.

Above all, every film needs a voice. You need to say something that someone hasn’t said before, or re-itterate in a unique view what someone has already said, making it appear as if it is fresh and new. My message in “Loveable Moron” is that professionalism and societal mannerisms should take the backseat when it comes to personal expression and accepting difference. We are all different, and despite people’s views, every difference is unique and interesting in its own way.

Now that I have all my pre-production work done, I need to get a crew together, and it needs to be a capable one. Most people will usually ask friends or family to help out, however, this may cause more problems than it is worth in convenience. I will usually seek the nearest educational facility of filmmakers looking to get hands on experience through volunteer work. So, I went through my contacts in RMIT University and located several class members who would be able to help me out. This works perfectly for me, because I know them personally, I can trust them, I know their level of skill/capability, and we all share a mutual interest in filmmaking.

With my delegation, I need to take into account the few roles that are crucial, and that could make or break a film. These include the obvious camera, and the dreadfully temperamental audio. With these two facets, I am careful to fully brief my crew in these areas, and to make sure they are trained fully with test runs on set. If sound is not perfect, it can really distract an audience. If the camera is shaky, too tightly framed, not calibrated correctly, it can make the Mona Lisa look like finger-painting.

So, I have gone through most of my friends and delegated roles accordingly, putting myself as Director, and assigning a Producer. The Producer is your best friend, without them, the film will go kaput, or you will be running around like a headless chicken trying to sort everything out, leaving your brain fried full of stress, and your directorial abilities next to nothing of what you are capable of.

I am not looking to shoot this film at the end, thus far, but the crew I have organised would be, and are very capable of shooting this film in the way I envision. My delegation also includes heads of department, so that I do not need to worry about every element of the production, except for directing. This is the best way to be able to get in touch with ‘higher-thinking’.

This is the hardest part. You have come up with your idea, style, script and the aesthetics of what you want it to look like. Now, make it, but in your head. This comes naturally to some, but not at all to others. The way I have found to trigger your imagination into creating shots and the order of the film, is to watch the films or stimulus that you have chosen previously as your inspiration, as well as listen to the music that will trigger the style for the film you wish to create.

So, I have gone back over the music and film that has inspired my filmmaking, and happened was that I sat in my chair, in a quiet space, and just listened and watched. The photogenie and style of films are unique unto themselves, so it was important that I could take it all in. From that, I already had a memory of how alot of the films were shot and how they were effective to communicate their style. I began writing the shotlist. I decided that the film should be shot in a meta-film style, in order to encapsulate its own awareness.

I begin writing a shotlist usually in Celtx, or in Exel, but I am going to use Celtx for this particular exercise. So I will write out the scene headings in chronological order and go through each scene, gradually tailoring the shots to fit into a particular rhythm or flow of how I would like the film to play out. Keep in mind that shotlists are usually points of reference and dont have to be set in stone. So, by going through each scene, I can now invisage what they would look like if they were framed and shot on set. So now, I would go through a storyboard, listing all the technical details below and illustrated thumbnail of each shot. It sucks when you’re not a fantastic illustrator, so if you have the money to be able to hire someone to do it for you, it’s always a plus. However, you will need to be very descriptive in describing what the shots will look like, hence, you’re already directing.

Sara_s storyboard (final)-2

When we’re thinking about the coverage of a scene, it is very important to also consider how the particular cameras and lenses you use may affect the aesthetic visual of the film. Most films will be shot on digital in the 21st century, but some auteurs choose to shoot on film. I possess both a digital Canon 5d mk iii DSLR camera, and an 8mm camera from the 1950’s named the ‘something or rather’.

The differences between the two film formats are massive, and it is much easier to shoot on digital, so that is what I usually do. I have only ever shot on film once, and I still have no idea what to do with it, other than hand it over to my grandfather who was a projectionist in the 1960’s. Nonetheless, film offers a more unique and grainy visual which is reminiscent and pleasing to some, as it represents a time gone by that has left some of the greatest films known to cinema.

I am going to shoot on digital with my Canon, as it provides a much crisper visual, as well as offering a much more efficient post-production alternative to film. So, the reason I am choosing a Canon 5d mk iii is because it has superior megapixels, a high frame rate option for fast paced movement, and a great variety of settings to tailor my scene’s aesthetic visual. Also, it would be a massive pain to have to cut, stick and soak film for hours on end to be able to make a film…oh! And find a projector!

I am a massive fan of online casting! It is the greatest organisational tool a producer can have. You can profile check multiple different actors, see their expression of interest, experience, appearance, age, weight, you name it! It will save time and money for film producers everywhere by cancelling out going to an agency and asking for recommendations.

The website that I use is www.starnow.com

This website allows me to do everything that I need in order to get a following of actors looking for work. It also allows you to demonstrate that you are in fact a legitimate casting agent, and are looking to either pay, not pay, or re-emberse actors for their expenses.

So, once you have set up your account on here, like I have done, you can then wait at least a half-week or a full week before deciding to hold auditions. Once you do that, it is best to deliver an excerpt from your script to the actors, give them plenty of notice as to when auditions will be held, and develop a schedule to follow for the audition dates.

My recommendation is to use either an office space, university classroom, or a private room (preferably not your house for security reasons). Once you have this all organised, you need to know what to look for when casting an actor or actors. Have a small bio infront of you describing what kind of actor you are looking for that will best fit the character. Most actors will have a theatre background, so it is also important sometimes to encourage less melodramatic acting, and look for a more natural and minimalist approach to their expression skills, and interpretation of the script. ALSO! GIVE THEM FEEDBACK AND ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT THEM!!

Scriptwriting can often be the hardest part of filmmaking. You’re staring at a blank screen with ideas bouncing off each other in all sorts of different directions. But, through the Stokeward method, you have a foundation for your concept and have consolidated your ideas into a structure and direction. This will serve the screenwriter in the most powerful form. We can often become lost in our own narrative and lose sight of the overall importance of the story itself by unintentionally avoiding subtlety and subtext, amongst other things.

To begin writing a script, one must begin with their protagonist in the forefront of the story, or an event that encapsulates the overall mood and style of the film. This will give the audience a context and an expectation that the movie will have to live up to.

Then, we must introduce other secondary characters to provide support for the main protagonist. While secondary characters do not explicitly exist to support the main character, they portray through dialogue exchanges, personality, conflict and personal beliefs, the counterpoint or reflection of the protagonist.

Introducing a conflict is the most important part of the narrative. It is a part of the ‘Hero’s Journey’ theory, to which there must always be an obstacle to overcome, and a character arc as a result of their defeat or accomplishment. Delving into the minds of characters and imagining a false scenario or possible clash of ideology that may result in a conflict can do this. This should be the main drive of either the protagonist of the antagonist, depending on whom you wish to focus on.

Portraying a climax is optional, but is effective to flag the climax or turning point of a film. This will usually play out sometime around the third quarter of the film. The climax doesn’t have to be as obvious as a gun battle or huge explosion; it can be as little as a sudden change in relationship, a loss, a gain, but something that must result in the change of the protagonist.

The ending must also either be left tied up in a bow, meaning, all problems resolved, and the conflict has been extinguished. On the contrary, it can also be a sudden ending that will make the audience think. The sudden ending must portray significance and symbolic importance that will be imprinted in the minds of the audience through shock, disbelief or deep thought.

I have attached my script for the film that I have written and entitled “The Loveable Moron”. It’s a Comedy.

” Loveable Moron