Preparation is Everything. Period.
I had a lot of time to prepare for The Devil’s Instrument and I was more than happy to have that time. The more you prepare and the more time you spend in pre-production the better.
It allows you time to think about all of the potential pitfalls you may encounter along the way and how you might avoid them.
I believe the success of any film project is directly proportional to the amount of time spent in pre-production. And believe me, there is always plenty to do.
Everything starts with the story and screenplay, of course. And from there you can break the script down, compile all of your lists, create your schedule and budget, and begin constructing your shot list.
This will also allow you to settle on a location or locations and it will also dictate how you design your set. That is precisely what I will focus on here.
I also understand that part of yourself that wants to take action and achieve all of your goals in the everlasting now and that part of you that will lie to you and tell you that you are ready before you actually are.
So, please, I beg you. Do not fall prey to this liar that is inherent in all of us and do your due diligence while you can and spend as much time in pre-production as possible. Remember, there is no such thing as being too prepared, but there is such a thing as jumping the gun and falling flat on your face.
One good thing about making a film yourself is that you don’t have anyone to answer to and you don’t have any deadlines you have meet other than the ones you set for yourself. I didn’t have a specific date that I had to begin filming and I didn’t have a specific amount of time that I had to have the movie finished by.
I did have a specific amount of time that I needed to have the actual production completed by, though, which was about five or six days. Why? Because that’s all the time I could afford for renting the camera and other equipment.
So, I knew we needed to get in and get out as quickly as possible.
I’m going to tell you all of the things that I did to prepare the set of The Devil’s Instrument for filming and how I set things up in such a way that would not only keep the actors happy, but also allow us to work fast so that we could stay on schedule and budget and ultimately have something to show for our efforts.
Location. Location. Location.
One way to keep your costs down on a production is to have fewer locations.
The less time you spend traveling and moving things, the more time you have to shoot and the sooner you’ll be finished. This saves you time which saves you money.
If you don’t have to pay for a location or locations then this also saves you money.
So, I took things to the extreme and I decided to shoot the entire film in one location and that one location would be the house that I owned at the time.
It was a two-story house with two and a half bathrooms and plenty of square footage. The downstairs was an open floor plan with high ceilings, making it ideal for a lot of different shooting scenarios.
The film is essentially a long conversation between the devil and a guy trying to get out of a deal with him, so I tried to imagine the most interesting setting for something like that.
I imagined that when the devil first approached this character and tried to make a deal with him that he would have taken him to a castle or a mansion in order to wine and dine him and essentially dazzle him with anything and everything.
But, now that the deal is done and the character wants a meeting with the devil in order to get out of that deal, well, the setting would be totally different.
I imagined the devil, slightly annoyed, simply opening up some black void, possibly between hell and Earth, where they could have their meeting.
So, I Now Knew How to Proceed.
I would shoot the film in my living room and I would black everything out until all you have are these two characters sitting alone in this dark void.
I took everything out of the living room and put it in the garage. I moved the couch, the tables, the chairs, and anything else that might be seen or get in the way.
I put up stands with black curtains and wrapped them around the entire living room. I then moved the table that was used in the film into the room along with three chairs and a rug.
Even before all of this, I was thinking about lighting. I knew I wanted to have total control of the light on set which meant that I didn’t want any light spilling into the house from external sources like the sun, street lights, or a vehicle’s headlights.
So, I measured all of the windows downstairs. I taped together black cinematography foil, that absorbs all light that comes into contact with it, into squares that were slightly larger than the windows themselves.
Then, I covered all of the windows downstairs and this really did the trick. There was absolutely no external light coming in.
However, Nothing is Ever Perfect.
Moving all of the furniture out of the living room created a problem. More specifically, it created a sound problem. There was nothing to absorb the sound and what I was left with was a giant echo chamber. This would not do.
I needed to absorb as much sound as possible to mitigate these horrible reverberations.
Luckily, these giant curtains that I had put up all around the room provided me with the perfect hiding spots for absorbers.
I took the couch cushions and stacked them behind the curtains. I took the pillows, sheets, and blankets out of every room in the house and put them in all different places behind the curtains. I even took my toddlers entire stuffed animal collection and tossed them back there.
After all of this, the room sounded a whole lot better. Just for good measure, though, during the filming of certain scenes, I hung sound blankets just off-camera next to the actors to absorb even more sound and reduce echo.
What Else is There?
If you stepped outside the curtains, you would find yourself in the kitchen, and this is where I set up everything else that we would need for a successful shoot.
I had a coffee station set up for the actors with an endless number of cups, coffee pods, sugar and creamer. On the kitchen table, I had chips, candy bars, cookies, pastries.
I also made sure that there were enough chairs for everyone to sit in. That is very important.
I had lunch brought in everyday from someplace different and this was always a very relaxing time for all of us. We would sit, eat and talk about things totally unrelated to the film, and we would laugh. It was a great time.
On the counter I had a make-shift makeup station. There was a mirror, makeup, various pads and brushes, oil-absorbing sheets, and fake blood.
There were two bathrooms in the house. One downstairs and one upstairs. I took everything out of the bathrooms except for soap and a towel, and I always kept them clean.
I knew the actors would be spending a lot of time getting ready in there. I knew they would be changing, doing their hair, doing their makeup, and I wanted them to have a clean and spacious place in which to do all of those things.
I also had a desk in the kitchen along with a toolbox and prop tub where I kept everything that I would need easily within reach.
Having everything right there next to the set kept everyone together and I didn’t have to waste time chasing anyone down and the actors didn’t have to wait on anyone in order to get ready.
Everything was designed for efficiency, and once we got going, everything ran efficiently.
So, when designing your set, always remember to keep sound and lighting at the forefront of your thoughts and do everything you can at the beginning to ensure that you get the best from both because once you return the equipment, there are no do-overs.
The set of The Devil’s Instrument was also designed in such a way as to have everything and everybody together in one area so that we could work as fast as possible. And, if you want to keep your actors happy long into the night, always remember to keep them well fed and comfortable, and you’ll be well on your way to a successful shoot.
