Microcinema Flashback - Note to Self (2000)

Also from December 2000 are some lessons learned on our first official foray into microcinema with a short film called Justice. We tested out the theory on a bad flick called Raw Footage, but Justice was the first attempt to really tell something with an intent greater than just getting something, anything on film.

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Note to Self
by Pete Bauer

Well, as I wrap up JUSTICE I made a few mental notes on the things I've learned from my experience.

1) My wife loves me so much she allowed herself to be in this project even though every atom in her genome screamed in protest. She HATES being on camera, but she did it because the project meant a lot to me. And, that sacrifice meant infinitely more to me than making the film itself.

2) My best friend defined the term "best friend" by always being there, whatever day, whatever hour necessary to complete the project. Without him, or my wife, this thing would still be collecting dust in my desk drawer.

3) Along those same lines... spending time with my family and friends to make this project is worth the price you pay when you do these no-budget things. Their dedication drove me to complete the project while overcoming surgery and hurricanes. Leaving it unfinished devalues their sacrifice for the project and I couldn't let that happen, no matter how convenient dropping the project would have been.

4) After promising myself that I'd never act in any of my projects again, I was forced to take over a role abandoned by my brother and it made me realize the reason I'm ALWAYS in my projects... because I know that I'll be there when the director (me) needs me. You can't really say that about many people in this world (except for #1 and #2).

5) Storyboards saved my life. When shooting with no money and no time in places you don't have permission to be in, it's easy to get distracted and lose your train of thought. Having storyboards made sure that every shot I needed, I got.

6) Editing while you shoot rocks. Non-linear editing makes the process much easier. Every night, after shooting, I'd digitize and edit the project. I'd immediately know what worked, what didn't and what shots to add to fix it. And the fact that you can actually do all this stuff on a crappy little computer is amazing in of itself. Just a few years ago all of this would have been impossible... or damn expensive.

7) If a scene doesn't work either cut it or reshoot it. There's no excuse for keeping a shot or a scene in a project that will only undermine the purpose for shooting it in the first place.

8) MPEG-1 quality sucks. I had viewed most MPEG-1 projects on my computer from the web. It looks a LOT better using the pixels on your computer than it ever does "blown up" on your television. But, since the goal of the project was to use what I got, then I'll suck it up and take my lumps when everyone pans the thing for looking so pathetic.

9) Newly acquired access to an MPEG-2 digitizer made me realize that I'll probably end up re-editing this thing all over again once the thought of recreating months of work no longer nauseates me.

10) It always takes three times longer than planned to shoot a scene.

11) Creating music from Sony Mixman is easy and challenging at the same time. If it would only give you the ability to view your work in seconds instead of beats, life would have been SO much easier. I had to develop the virtue of patience in order to survive this process.

12) The hardest thing to maintain over months of shooting is the length of your actors' hair.

13) When acting in a project, never agree to use the clothes you like best. After wearing it off and on for six months or so, you'll end up wanting to burn it in ritual sacrifice to the gods of wardrobe.

14) Never have characters park their car in an empty parking lot. It looks extremely unrealistic. The only thing it conveys is the place they're going to is closed.

15) Direct with confidence. Amateur actors feed off of you... if they think you know exactly what you're doing, they do whatever you want.

16) Nothing can compensate for a story with bad logic... so fix it before you shoot it.

17) Getting people enthused enough to be in your project is not that hard. Keeping them enthused six months later when they're in the last scenes that need to be shot is MUCH harder.

18) It's nice to know that what you actually imagine in your head actually works on film/video.

19) You've wasted everyone's time and effort if the project is left unfinished.

20) You've done something right when your simple little premiere party costs more than your project.

JUSTICE sat in my desk for almost 10 years before finally getting done. It's evolved a lot since the original storyboards, hopefully for the better. But, no matter what the end result, the process of making the thing has been a great learning experience.

I can't wait to start on the next one...