When: Friday, January 27, 2017
Where: Albany Community Center, Main Room, 7-8:30pm
Admission: FREE
How do they do that? Find out in this insider's guide for film lovers, filmmakers, and would-be filmmakers who've always wanted to know what actually goes into making a movie.
Local independent horror-comedy filmmaker Waylon Bacon ("Help Wanted," screened at ComicCon) discusses the ins and outs of filmmakiing, from pre-production to post-production. Waylon will discuss casting, budgeting, storyboarding, editing, cheap FX solutions and other fundamentals filmmakers don't often discuss, like creating a fun atmosphere for his cast and crew, general philosophy and how he deals with stress. This event is in partnership with the Albany Recreation Department.
Here is what he’ll be discussing:
1. Pre-Visualize Your Project: It's easier to get your cast and crew excited about the your project if you have a visual package to go along with the script. You'll learn ideas for how to create storyboards if you can't draw, like using still frames from other films, getting friends and family to pose for pictures, or even using action figures. There will also be a brief drawing lesson for those who want to go down that road.
2. Do Your Own Groundwork: Do as much as possible beforehand so your crew doesn't burn out during post production. We'll talk about doingyour own temp shooting schedule and script breakdown, taking pictures of locations you would like to use, speaking to local businesses, etc. This way, your crew isn't so much generating work as checking and revising your own. It also helps people put in the long hours for your shoot if they see you are working just as hard or harder as they are.
3. Keep Your Crew Skeletal: This will help keep your costs down, and make location shooting easier, especially if you aren't working with a permit, as you will draw less attention to yourself.
4. Who to Pay and How Much: The pros and cons of having a paid cast and crew vs a volunteer one.
5. Location Shooting: Getting the most out of your locations, with and without a permit, including the process of getting a permit and applying for insurance. Tips on how to draw the least amount of attention to yourself if working without a permit.
6. Rehearsals: You need to rehears your crew as well as your cast. Make sure you run tests on any tricky shots you have in mind, sit down with them and have a meeting, and generally make sure everybody is going into the shoot with some prep - it will make everything run much smoother.
7. Casting: We'll cover not only where to post casting notices, but where to hold auditions for cheap, be it a friend's backyard, your own apartment, or your local theater.
8. Filming: Creating a shooting schedule that is broken down by shots instead of scenes, creating a worst-case-scenario list and backup plan, rewriting as you shoot, and how to go about scheduling re-shoots and pickup shots.
9. Effects: Cheap special effects you can achieve with little experience.
10. Editing: Quick tips on everything from getting out of your own head, to color correction, to audio, and more.
11. Submitting to Festivals: Having a festival game plan, and what use you can get out of festivals in an Internet/YouTube world.