_posted in dayedayerocks | filmschool | 07 January 2011

The new quarter started on Monday.

This is the quarter we produce, finance and direct a six-ten minute short film. That sounds simple enough, but it's within the hollywood model of filmmaking. It's not shot on a 5D and it's not you and few of your friends getting together on a weekend to film.

Like our first short, we're assigned a crew for key positions: assistant director, director of photography, assistant camera, gaffer, mixer and boom, from our fellow classmates.

For the next four weeks we're taking four courses. The cinematography course includes one on one meetings with the professor, director and dp of each film. We're taking a costume design course, symposium and a preproduction course, which is twice a week. The preproduction course is comprised of the 7 people who crew for each other.

During these four weeks, we're also in preproduciton for our films: location scouting, hiring additional crew, still working on our scripts, working on character development, searching for funding, casting and then rehearsing, among a host of other things.

After the four weeks, we are thrown into a rotation of 3 day shoots, fridays to sundays, for 7 consecutive weeks.

My production group is lead by Gyula Gazdag, Hungarian filmmaker and Artistic Director of the Sundance Filmmakers Lab. We had our first production meeting Tuesday last and I was instantly smitten with Gyula.

_reasons i'm smitten with gyula

Number 01.

Create something that doesn't exist and the entire universe is against everything that is being created. You must exercise power for things to happen.

Number 02.

We should have seven different gods in our group. We need to create something in spite of all the different forces in the universe.

Number 03.

If you can convince everyone in your crew and cast about the necessity of this film being made, then the forces will multiply.

Number 04.

You don't need to know everything to be a director. You need to know what your goal is and to inspire everyone who works on the project. Inspire to get something better than what you initially recognized.

Number 05.

Asking the right questions, is more important than having the answers.

Number 06.

Your responsibility is to your vision.

Number 07.

Every single story and film has its own rules.