Besides being eternally grateful for being able to make a second feature film, what else should you do from the experience? Learn.
I learned so much from directing my first feature film and I’ve written extensively about that experience, my directorial methods, and my philosophy, so I thought I would touch on some of the things I encountered while directing my second feature film, “Darkness Hunting”, and what I learned from the experience.
When it comes to working with actors, both experienced and inexperienced, each day is different, each individual is different, and each project is different. The opportunity to learn from all of these is immense, and the more things you put in your directorial toolbox, the better prepared you will be for your next adventure.
Here are the things I learned from directing, “Darkness Hunting”, and the new tools I was able to collect and put in my toolbox.
No Actor, No Problem
That’s not entirely true, but on an independent film set where you are constantly pressed for time and money, you should always be willing to think outside the box and be as flexible as possible.
I didn’t have any actor availability issues on the set of, “The Devil’s Instrument”, mostly because I had more time to prepare and I was only working with five actors.
With, “Darkness Hunting”, however, I only had a couple of weeks to prepare and I was working with nine actors.
I recall one of the shooting days on set when I was about to shoot a scene that required four of the actors, but only three of them were available. Obviously, I couldn’t shoot the scene now, or at least, not in the way I intended.
But always remember – don’t panic. All that does is freak people out, and you want to try to avoid that if at all possible.
What I ended up doing was shooting one of the smaller scenes with two of the actors and then I shot the scene that I intended to in the beginning. That is, I shot all of the other three actors’ parts and I shot some coverage. The next day, when the other actor was there, I quickly shot his parts and, much later, I cut everything together in post.
I ended up using this method quite a lot for the film. The movie is about a group of ghosthunters and there happens to be five of them in the group. So, the majority of the scenes have all five actors in them.
For the haunted location, however, I only had five days to shoot. And because of actor availability, for one reason or another, I only had the five actors all together for one of those days. Trust me when I say, if you can make that work, you can make anything work.
The important thing to remember is to stay organized. Keep a careful record of who’s part you shot when and who’s part you still need to shoot. It’s yet another thing to keep track of, but, if it’s the only option you have to get a film in the can, I’d do it any day of the week with a smile on my face.
Experience is Important
Something else I noticed while I was directing, “Darkness Hunting”, was what an experienced actor really brings to the table.
I’m sure everyone is aware that experience is important and that goes without saying, but when you witness this phenomenon firsthand, you surely won’t forget it.
Every scene I shot that had an experienced actor in it, that is to say an actor that has been in a feature film before, went smoothly and went by quickly. Why?
Well, for a couple of different reasons. One, they put the inexperienced actors at ease and even helped guide them through the shoot, offering them advice and really taking them under their wing. Two, their talent and experience gave the inexperienced actors more to work off of and this elevated their talent as a result. I mean, the inexperienced actors really stepped up their game. A big part of acting is reacting, and it’s easier to react if you believe what’s happening in front of you. And they all believed.
Here’s a piece of advice: If you only have one experienced actor for your project, you will do well to put them in every scene.
Also, when working with inexperienced actors, I recommend really hammering home the point of staying in character until somebody yells, “cut”. This is a difficult thing for some inexperienced actors to get used to and if you can get them in the habit early on, the better off you’ll be. I mean, you really need all of that extra film footage at the beginning of a scene and especially at the end of a scene. It may seem like nothing but once you get into post, that whole-lotta nothing really starts to become a useful something.
Do What You Gotta Do
Another thing I learned from directing “Darkness Hunting” is that, when you’re making a true independent film, you really just gotta do what you gotta do.
A good example of this is when I was shooting one of the scenes at the haunted location. It was just me and three of the actors, but all three of the actors were in the scene. Again, I didn’t have enough money for a location sound person or a cinematographer, so I was doing all of these jobs myself.
I had both cameras on the tripods, but the scene required me to pan and follow one of the actors until he joined the other two. That would normally be fine, except, I was also holding a boom pole. Time to get creative.
I would have put the mic on a stand, but the actors were going to be moving, and I really needed to be able to pivot with the mic so that there wouldn’t be any issues with the audio. I’m not brave enough to boom overhead with just one hand, so, I planned to boom from below with one hand so that I could use my other hand to do the pan and follow.
Showtime. I hit record on one of the cameras. I hit record on the other camera. I hit record on the digital recorder and said, “action.” Then, I failed miserably.
I completely lost sight of the actor with the camera when I was panning and then I banged the mic against one of the tripods and nearly busted my eardrums.
Needless to say, we did about eight or ten takes, but we eventually got what we needed. Like I said, sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.
Also, I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating here: make sure you have a surplus of batteries on hand and a mountain of SD cards (or whatever type of memory card your camera uses).
I went through about thirty batteries and four SD cards with, “Darkness Hunting”. That came as a bit of a surprise because I only went through about ten batteries and one card for, “The Devil’s Instrument”. Needless to say, the more you have the better prepared you’ll be to handle any situation.
These are all of the lessons that I learned from directing my second feature film, “Darkness Hunting”. All of these lessons were hard fought and well earned, and I will never forget the experience and what it taught me. I wonder what surprises my third feature film will have in store for me, and, more importantly, what will they teach me?
