If there's one thing more stressful than getting married, it's making a
fully improvised comedy about the process in real time. Debbie Isitt,
writer and director, kept a diary of the making of her film Confetti, an extravaganza of jealousy, nudity, ball boys....and improvised dialogue.
How
many notices have we seen from directors who have a great idea for a
film, have written a script themselves and now ‘just’ need a producer
to raise a hundred thousand to make it? What could be simpler? And
let’s not forget that all-important incentive… no fee, but you’ll get a
VHS copy of the film if, and when, it’s finished! Wow, as a producer
myself, I’m drooling and chomping at the bit to get a piece of that
action! Who wouldn’t?
Anyone
trying to gain employment in the Britain's film industry knows how hard
it can be getting a foot in the door. Three years at film school and
all the enthusiasm and determination in the world still can't guarantee
you a job in an industry that measures success in terms of who you have
worked with and what films you have worked on. Here's a story that
shows how one aspiring filmmaker got his first lucky break. Not only in
the crew, but in front of the camera as well. Tim Maguire – Director of
The Rosslyn Enigma explains…
The
only people who truly know how much blood sweat and tears go into the
making of a feature length movie are those who have done it themselves.
The effort required is also in indirect proportion to the size of the
budget - the smaller the budget the greater will be the effort
required.
This particular story is that of Neil Oseman
("Hereford's Stephen Speilberg" - The Guardian) a freelance
lighting camera operator. Between jobs, Oseman
co-wrote, developed, shot, post-produced and finally...
distributed his film in his home town, sandwiched between trips filming
corporates in London, reccees in Italy and being a Director of
Photography on a film shooting in upstate New York. Oseman always
travels with his own film file and story boarding kit to while away the
travel time working on his own movie.
Anyone interested in the process of filmmaking at zero budget levels will find Neil's diaries on the making of his filmSoul Searcher,
a revelation and a thoroughly absorbing read. Neil Oseman has allowed
us access to his diaries and his archive of film artwork, to put you
more fully in the picture - his picture, Soulsearcher......
That's a wrap; wind reel and print - but did you remember about the trailer?It's often the last thing a filmmaker thinks about, but it might be the first indication anyone has of what the feature is about, how good it is and whether or not to spend some of their hard earned pay on going to see it next week. It's your pitch to the punters, so let's make it a good one. Here's how.
Producers are different things to different people, making this
question difficult to answer. There are no detailed job
descriptions and no two producers handle their jobs in exactly the
same way. Is it any wonder that both audiences, and many
'insiders', are bewildered by the proliferation of producer
credits in films?
