How to find your FILM CREW (or be your own)

Подробнее о видео

► My Top 10 Tips for making your best film on a budget:

Big films and TV shows usually have crews of hundreds, but a small film might just have a crew of a few people. And the most basic and cheapest method that many people start with is to do as many jobs as you can yourself.

Self filming and sound recording can be great to keep things cheap, but how do you also concentrate on the actors' performances, which is, after all, 50% of the director's job? Well, one technique I try when I'm filming solo is to behave like two separate people, first as a director
and then as a cameraman. I rehearse fully with the actors, but without the camera first and get the performance completely right, and then I can pick up the camera and try and capture it as the cameraman.

This helps to make it more like there are two people actually there, and it allows me to think of both the performance and the technical things. And then of course, I can also play the takes back
and judge them more objectively and see if I want to change anything.

But being your own crew can be exhausting and very difficult, and there's no better solution
than to team up with other people. If I have the time and the money, I will normally get better results
with as a minimum, a separate camera operator and a sound recordist.

So that way I can put my full attention on the actors and trust someone else to get good results with the picture and the sound. So if you're going to use a crew, you might want to get help with these plus a few more roles.

Again, you can often start by using friends and family for crew if they're willing to help, but be prepared. They might not be too interested in giving up all their weekends or free time for your film.

A better method is usually to try filmmaking groups on platforms like Facebook in your town, country or local area to find like-minded people who might want to collaborate. And if you do this, I would suggest always offering to work on other people's projects and make friends with them first before demanding that they give up their time to help you.

And if you work on other people's projects, then that will be more people you meet and more contacts you can make. You can use this time to find out who you click with and enjoy working with. And just as importantly, if there is anyone you would prefer to not work with,

You could also try networking events in your local area, film festivals, anything like that
where you'll meet like minded people. It takes time, but if you keep meeting and working
and offering to help other people, eventually you'll feel as if you have enough friends and collaborators to support you when making your film.

So if you do want to properly crew up for your next project and find some like minded people, agree
on the roles and stick to them. I'm going to assume you want to be director or maybe producer / director. Though you might want to work with a separate person as the producer leaving you to be just the director. This does really help because the producer organises everything to make the film happen. Leaving the director to bring it to life with their vision. And remember, everything the producer does does not happen on its own. It means you can be working with your actors and crew instead of worrying about things like when everyone will get fed and what the transport arrangements are.

Now, here are the other roles you might want to fill. If you don't want to try and do them all yourself.

First we have the director of photography. This person works with the director to design the look of the film, and is in charge of camera and lighting. On bigger shoots, the director of photography,
also known as the DP or the DOP, will be in charge of a separate camera operator as well as the lighting department. But on smaller shoots, the DP and the camera operator are usually the same person, Next, we have the sound recordist Who is in charge of capturing all the audio during the shoot. This sound is recorded separately into a separate audio recorder and not the camera.

This means that the sound person can just worry about their thing. and the camera person
can just worry about their thing. And usually the microphones that the sound recordist will be using will be in lots of different places and not necessarily anywhere near the camera to get the best audio. If you want to team up with people for camera and sound. A great tip is to try and find people, such as film students, who already have their own equipment, or at least access to equipment, and are willing to use it in your film. They will already know how to use their kit, and it can save you a a ton of money.

So hopefully that's giving you some tips on large and small crews. So depending on how big your idea is and how many people you can persuade to help, get out there and find your crew, or try and be your own.