After completing "Time Traveling a Secret", my short script I've had in mind for over a year, my inner producer surfaced as I looked at the material from a filmmaker's point of view. Breaking the script down is one of the most important phases of production - in fact, if you skipped it, you'd be wasting money, time, and resources.
I'm still learning about breaking material down, but I have a handle on how to do it efficient enough for what I need as a producer and director. I went through the script with a few colored pencils and underlined, according to color-code, characters, props, and special effects. It's really all I need to know as the filmmaker. Once finsihed, I went through the material again and broke it down by scene ... although final draft can do this, I felt more comfortable doing it the old fashioned way. Once I had all the scenes organized I color coded the locations where I would shoot them. It's important to know where a certain scene will take place so that the production crew can use the location as quickly and efficiently as possible. Think of when you're making a road trip and you decide to stop for lunch ... you don't want to leave In-n-out without using the bathroom and filling up the gas tank next door ... because then you'd have to either return to the location or visit another down the road.
I discovered that around 50% of my material can be shot at my apartment whether it's in the garage, the office, or the facility's public gym - therefor, I can shoot half my movie without even leaving the "studio". In addition to the single location, around 40% of the material must be shot on a ranch and it's various facilities - a ranch is a great place to shoot because you have fields, woods, lakes, and roads at your service. In addition to the regular locations, I have a secret location that is under strict cover in order to protect the production ... no, I'm not going to shoot at the White House - though, it's just as exciting.
I'm currently at the step where I need to schedule the shoot out in order to estimate the budget - which as an inde-filmmaker with no money and producing a short film, will be close to none.
I'm excited to work with the actors in speaking roles, dramatic situations, and real emotion which is unlike anything I've produced before. My previous short was GoldFishing, a great exercise but overall broad, and A La Carte, my first organized production that has a playtime of around two minutes and an unbearable production timeline of over a year! You can watch GoldFishing below.
Check back soon to see what "Time Traveling a Secret" is going to cost!
Christopher
Gold Fishing
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