Time to Shoot!

You are ready for your first day of production! Congratulations! Since your actors and crew are working for free, it is important to keep them interested, fed and motivated. Make sure you lock down all of your locations as well as cast and crew. Make sure they are still available for the days you have scheduled. I think it's a nice gesture to send around an e-mail to your team showing your passion and excitement for the upcoming shoot. It's great motivation for the cast and crew and it will get them excited as well.

Have you figured out how you are going to feed your cast and crew? You are the one responsible for this. (It's the least you can do if they are working for free!) Good thing people will do a lot for free food. In fact, the $850 we spent on creating Exit 117 was almost all spent on feeding the cast and crew. Pizza, Chinese food, whatever was cheap, was what we gave them. Being that they were young college kids, it was more or less what they were used to and didn’t complain. However, if you are dealing with picky eaters or people with special dietary needs, make sure you know this prior to shooting so you can plan accordingly. Also, if you shoot for 6 more hours after lunch, make sure to provide a second meal for them. Always have water and snacks available as well.

During shooting, you have to keep to your schedule. Keeping on top of the director (or yourself) is very important. You can’t waste time trying to get the perfect shot or spending too long setting up a shot. Don’t dilly dally, even if you are working with your friends. Goofing around wastes time that you need to shoot your film!

Make sure you don’t over work your actors. It is better to schedule less in the day so you can make sure you are getting top notch performanes from all cast and crew members. Additionally, you don’t want your actors to turn against you for keeping them longer than expected. Speaking of which, always overestimate the time you will need an actor. They will be happy when you release them earlier!

So, in order for successful shooting, make sure your actors are not overworked and tired, well fed and happy to be there. Even if you are stressed out, always keep high spirits so the rest of the cast and crew does as well!