One Man Band Filmmaking

Tumblr Keeps Hovering Dangerously like a Flying Motorcycle

Dear 19-People-Who-Follow-Me, 

I gave up on Tumblr a year ago, I just couldn’t figure out how to make it work in an organized, searchable way.  So I moved my One Man Band blog to Wordpress… www.onemanbandfilm.com.  But since no one looks at Wordpress, that’s not much fun either.  On the flip side, feisty Tumblr keep telling me I have new “followers,” even though I swear I killed this blog many times.  The beast just won’t die.

So how about this…  I will begin posting again on Tumblr, but nothing of any particular value (hence, no need to search archives for production gems).  Just straight drivel.  Notes from the field.  Collosal failures.  Accounts payable.  Let’s do this.

Hmmm.  Awkward silence.  How to break the ice.  Welp, how bout: what am I working on now?  

Tomorrow, I drive to Carmel, CA to film Dezso Mollnar, an engineering genius who thinks the future of low-fuel travel is the we each have our own flying motorcycle.  I’ve been hired by an LA production company to film him, but they haven’t been to location with me yet, so it’s a bit like I’m working for the boss on Charlie’s Angels.  Which is getting to be fairly normal, and as a filmmaker is pretty liberating.  We’re collaborating on a style as we go.  And as we did on our first shoot last December, Dezso and I will wing it this weekend.  Here’s a frame grab of an interview I did with him.  I was like, Hey Dezso, should we maybe do an interview?  And he said Sure, why not.  It’s always good to film people who are on a mission.  They’re up for anything.  And Dezso has a mission: to get you into a flying motorcycle.

thoughtception asked: Hi mate, nice blog! Was just wondering - you mentioned in your first post about getting calls from producers of TV channels and the like - how do you get calls like that? Is it just people you know or have you signed up to be part of some filmmaker database or what? Appreciate it :)

Hi Thoughtception.  I thought I killed this Tumblr a year ago.  It won’t die! I now keep the blog at wordpress… but no one follows me on Wordpress.  

I’m not on a filmmaker database, it’s mostly my network from filmschool and life.  But there are a few you can look at, depending where you live.   Maybe I should write a post about it!  

The blog is at onemanbandfilm.com

Dude, where’s my keys?

One of the biggest challenges of OMB filmmaking is not forgetting anything.  A simple mistake like leaving your tripod plate on the camera you didn’t bring can mess up your whole day.  But we’ve all done it.  I did it to Annie Sundberg, co-director of Joan Rivers: Piece of Work.  One of my mentors, doc legend Jon Else, has done it.  He talks about once having to bungee-cord a camera to a tripod.

Now that you’re an OMB filmmaker, you need to remember not only the camera equipment, but audio gear, lighting rig, production notes, lunch, etc, etc and, dare I say… etc. Anything that needs to be remembered, YOU must remember it.  Unless you have Rainman savant skills, the best way to deal with this is to develop SYSTEMS—lists, habits, and rituals, that will guarantee you have everything you need, and you can find it in a dark cave.  Malcolm Gladwell has an piece about the effectiveness of lists, and we’ll visit that later, but I want to give an example of rituals.

I believe it was Else himself who taught me this one:  If you’re on a shoot, and you need to charge a battery, how can you GUARANTEE you won’t leave without it?  Easy:  Leave your car keys on top of the charger.  If you have to turn off the refrigerator during an interview, how can you guarantee that you remember to turn it back on?  Simple: leave your keys inside the fridge.

I was recently on a shoot for the Discovery series “Weed Wars,” which required me to shoot for long periods of time in a confined area… thick with a mysterious smoke.  Needless to say, after a while I was a bit scatterbrained.  But having this system came in handy.  When I sat down in my car to leave and felt for my keys, I realized right where they were:  On the kitchen counter, with my battery and charger, which I had forgotten.

Exene Cervenka goes solo

X Last month I went to see Exene Cervenka perform solo at a bowling alley in San Francisco.  Along with John Doe, she sings for the Los Angeles band X, who you may remember from their 80s punk anthem “Los Angeles,” or their 90s alt-country hit “4th of July,” depending on your age and shoe style.  She was also married to actor Viggo Mortensen, who fathered her only child, if that interests you.

 …….In addition to making music, Exena is making a film about her musician-friend Ivy, completely by herself.  Over by the pinball machines, I snapped a few photos of Exena getting a shot of the word “change” and panning to Ivy.  I think Ivy is an activist.  Nice shot.  You can see some of Exene’s interesting OMB videos here.

I asked Exene about her choice of gear—a small JVC consumer camera.  She said, “Oh, I just use whatever camera I can borrow.”  So punk rock.

Getting a Grip on Windows

I got a call to shoot on a America’s Cup style racing boat.  But before I regurgitate the gory details of shooting reality TV on the high seas, let’s cut to the major challenge of this shoot: the interviews.

On a One Man Band shoot, you’re not going to have a grip.  A grip is the person who sets up the lights, flags, dolly tracks, crane, etc, so that the shot is well lit and movement is smooth.  And they’ve got all the bells and whistles to make it look right.  In this case, the directors, Ingrid and Benjamin of the Canadian production company Miz Monday, wanted a grip’s nightmare:  set up the subjects indoors, in front of a large window, at high noon, with the ocean in the background.  To get enough light in the room, without blowing out the ocean to a sea of white, would be a challenge for any grip. And we didn’t have one.

To give you an example, here is a shot of Melissa Etheridge, set up in front of a window, from an edit I did for the Pandora Video Series (after correction):

Chances are the shooter had five minutes with the superstar, and had little choice.  But to avoid this shadowy look on the Canadian sailors, we set up all our lights blasting the subject.  Still not enough.  So I decided we needed to filter the windows with Neutral Density gels.  ND filters bring the light level down without changing the color temperature.  They’re large and expensive.  And I don’t own them.

Next problem: we’re in fricking Sausalito.  No rental houses.  But I do know one (much more experienced) shooter in the area: Mark Eveslage.  I call him, and he recommends I rent ND gels from Magnetic Image Video in San Rafael.

 I zip up the road, and I’m back with a 50-foot roll of ND-3 gel in 30 minutes.  It’s not enough (I should have gotten ND-6), so we cut it and doubled up.  And it’s just enough to get the subject and and the background to decent light levels.  Ingrid and Benjamin’s vision is intact.  Here’s Ingrid sitting in as I tape up the gels.  Notice how blown out the windows are to the right and left:

Lesson here?  You can’t be expected to own everything, but do keep in mind who you can borrow or rent gear from, wherever you go.  Thanks to Marko for saving thew day.  I spent $30 bucks, but I had happy clients who were fine to pay it in order to to get the shot they wanted.  Here’s a still of the final product:

….Not perfect, but not bad, eh.  Another lesson: work for Canadians.  They are so easy going.

One Man Band Filmmaking: What is that?

Once upon a time, a “crew” filmed things.  There was a director or producer, camera operator, sound person, maybe a grip or assistant camera, or even a production assistant.  But the idea of a “film crew” is becoming more and more rare.  Especially in the news, documentary and reality markets, the crew is rapidly being replaced by the “one man band.”

We all know the one man band, with a bass drum strapped to his or her back, and various instruments attached from chin to toe.   And the music isn’t perfect, but it’s still pretty impressive, low cost, highly mobile, and kind of ridiculous.  Well, think of the modern non-fiction filmmaker like that.

People have various theories why one man banding has become the new normal:  the bad economy, greedy cost-cutting measures, new compact technologies.  This blog is not concerned with the cause.  The simple fact is, one man banding is the new reality, and we need to adjust to it, or be eaten alive by fire ants.

If you haven’t already one man banded, your first experience will probably begin with a phone call.  It will go something like this:

(ring ring)

Hello?

Hi, my name is X and I’m calling from Y Films, and we’re making a TV show about Z.  Are you available next Monday?

Let me check my calendar (pretend to check calendar).  Why, yes I am.

Great.  And you have a Sony XPDF-Z 1.14?

I’m polishing it as we speak.  (You will google the XPDF-Z later).

Perfect.  And do you have sound gear?

Yes ma’am.

Great.  And you have lights?  Tripod?  Car?

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Fantastic.  So we’ll have you light it, shoot it, and get really clean sound.  And are you okay conducting the interview?

I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Perfect.  And you can upload all of this by 5pm to our ftp site?

 I was hoping you’d ask me to do that.

Great!  Hopefully next time we’ll be able to get you a (PA/Field Producer/Sound Person, etc).  But sorry to make you one man band this one.

Sound overwhelming?  The above is a typical conversation you might have with a producer for programming for Discovery, NatGeo, MTV, or any other non-fiction outlet.  In this age, a non-fiction shooter is expected to have a complete production package ready to go.  And skills to get the content from the subjects.  Yes, it’s a pricey investment, and a lot to juggle.  But it’s the new normal.  And with the right preparation, you can one man band effectively, get great sound and images, and make a decent living doing it.

The purpose of this blog is to chronicle my experiences as I go out and one man band for documentary films, reality TV, educational videos, and other non-fiction films. I will also hand the mic over to other one man banders, with their own war stories. We’ll share cost saving hints, organization methods, and many, many stupid mistakes.  There’s no right way to one man band, and no film school that teaches it. We’ll learn as we go.  Take away what you will, and enjoy.

photo courtesy of http://farm3.static.flickr.com/