The would-be filmmakers thread - Page 3

Hooooly fuck! Ryan, you spoil him!

Congrats Rath, don't let the momentum go.

Awesome, Rath! You'll have to stop in this thread periodically and keep us updated. That is, when you're not looking for packets of shut eye.

From what I heard, Doctors are sooo last season as investors.

The new trend: Dentists.

Think about it....Dentists are like the lowest rung of the medical world. They just want some friends...

We've been using what my brain likes to call the Rian Johnson plan (although many others have used this as well), i.e., passing the hat/begging family members, friends, and old professors for investments. The personal connection goes a long way.

Another good trick that I've learned works (and I learned this in a couple of grant-writing courses I sat in on, which I can't reccomend enough) is that once you get a little bit of money, you can use that money to get more money. People are much more willing to invest in a project when they see that others have taken the project seriously enough to invest. The first thousand dollars are always the hardest.

And really, I would say 5 percent of this was me -- I just wrote the script and worked on a basic plan with my producer. She did the rest.

The National finals of the 48hrs were on tv last night and this one caught my attention and I figued Vader and Ryan S~ might be interest. The finalist from Auckland were the first to get through with an animated short.

You can view it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJqQpQ5q50Y

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collyer_brothers

Making a ten minute short based on this story called "We Have Got To Take Cover Brother." We shoot next week. Should be interesting.

Really nice stuff in there. I admire their ability to get all of that done in 48 hours. Though I have to say that I'm getting a little sick of people ripping off John K's style. It's been overdone.

What's up guys. These are two of my latest ads. They were both shortlisted for Cannes Lions last week, so I'm pretty proud of 'em.

Street Magic 1
Street Magic 2

Those were pretty funny. You don't get between a sorcerer and a chicken burger.

Some excellent stuff in here. Domingo, how did your Collier brothers short turn out?

I have a question for all the would-be filmmakers here in regards to lighting. My producer and I are going to be picking up equipment this week for our shoot (bumped to August 11th due to actor scheduling, but we'll be doing second unit stuff all that first week of August), and I was wondering if there was anything specific that we needed to be aware of/be wary of when it comes to purchasing lighting equipment. This is a summer, on location shoot with a number of shots set at night, fyi.

Also, does anyone have any experience on dealing with and finding child actors? This is currently the issue that's freaking me out the most.

Do you have anyone DOP-ing your film, Rath?

Also, as far as kid actors go, I'd definitely skip any sort of street casting. I'm not sure how it works there, but here I'd probably approach an casting agency. Even if there's no money, the kid'd get exposure, which is a good way to sell it.

I don't know about specific equipment but in terms of renting any equipment, try to rent on a Friday night. Most companies rent daily but don't count Sunday as a rental day and usually aren't open for drop offs on Sunday. So if you rent for a Saturday shoot with a pick up of Friday night you'll get the equipment until Monday morning and only be charged for one day. Helps out indie filmmakers a great deal.

T-13 days. The actors' flights have been booked. The last crew are being hired.

Second unit photography begins next week, as my producer and AD come in on the 4th. There's still so much to do, and I'm alternating between crippling fear and the excitment that in less than two weeks, I'll be shooting a movie.

I've thought about this for so long, and now that it's here, I can only remember the advice of one Leo McGarry: "Don't screw up."

Fantastic! Do keep us updated.

Because I don't have any pictures to share, which would be enough to start its own thread:

So after months of anticipation, and pre-pre-production, this last week of pre-production is going pretty great. We're still obsessing about money, but after several calculations and reductions, we were able to hire a great DP. She comes in tomorrow, and we begin second unit on Wednesday.

And thanks to the advice of one Stormin' Norman, we were able to secure all of our non-camp locations (including a bar/resturant with a great kareoke stage, a church, and a cemetary) for the exact price of zero dollars.

I have to say, this hasn't become real until the last few days, and it's really the little things (like seeing the logo of the fictional camp and ordering t-shirts with that logo on it) that make me think, "Shit, I'm really making a movie. This is fucking awesome."

So much to do, but yeah, I kind of want to do this for the rest of my life.

Fuck, Rath, you're doing some really amazing stuff there. I got into filmmaking to direct movies, but somehow got sidetracked into making adverts - which isn't quite the same. I still think that I'd like to make films one day, but raising my own budget the way you did, that scares the shit out of me. I hope the rest of the experience is this good and that you turn out a kickass product.

Anyway, since I usually use this forum to shill my own stuff, here's the latest ad from my company. I didn't direct this like I did the others, but I did edit it. We watched a lot of old Nigerian commercials to get the style right, and the tune is a blatant rip of the theme from MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E... I think it came out pretty well:

Nando's Inventions

Rath: Great to hear man, never forget the tried-and-true methods of the no-budget filmmaker for they will get you out of tough spots at any budgetary level of filmmaking!

Quarant: There's only one way to start man, even if you can't raise a significant budget just write something to be cheap as hell. My first movie cost us 500 bucks but we were lucky and everyone in it worked for negative dollars (that's them paying for their own food and transport haha), but even if you can save up a couple grand it'd be enough to do a good low-fi movie like Primer (budget: 7,000) or a film done in that great and severely underutilized genre, A Buncha Guys In A Room (ie 12 Angry Men).

I already posted this in the movie scoring thread, but if any of the regulars here wanna take a listen here's the score for my feature Beantown as done by the very talented Emir Dokumcu, whose name people would be well to remember as they see it pop up in a great number of scoring credits as time goes on. Partially well-disguised midi and partially recorded traditional Celtic instruments, it's one of the things about the movie I'm most proud of. My favorite track is O'Brien's Fall. Take a listen!

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.ph...9D1A8803E2C374

(I'm going back and forth about whether to start a separate "production diary" style thread for Redemption Falls. Would people actually read that shit?)

So today, we shot our first footage! It was second unit, and only for fifteen minutes, but it felt pretty good to be out there seeing the camera. I haven't had time to look at what we got, but according to the DP, we got some good footage of kids playing soccer and shit. (Although it was amusing to me that after nine weeks of trying to get kids to be active and counselors to play with kids, the easiest way to do that is say "Want to be in a movie? Go play soccer.") I think only a few minutes will be usable, though, because I'm running in and out talking to counselors, trying to get people active, etc.

On the pre-production front, things are going pretty good. We're still trying to find a production sound manager so William Hurt doesn't ask us "how do you fuck that up?", but since we hope to shoot our real first footage with actors on Friday, we may have to just find the best way to do it ourselves. It's really nervewracking and my producer, Julie, is holding out hope that we can find a guy in time.

Most of the last couple of days have been spent sitting around a table coming up with a master shot list. Let me tell you, it's the most frustrating thing in the world for me -- I'm a writer first and a director second. I took on directing this largely to work with actors, and while I've read a lot of books and watched a lot of movies, I don't have the film school training that my DP does. She has her masters in Cinematography, and so it's been somewhat frustrating trying to explain my idea for each scene -- my two biggest communication issues have turned out to be the fact that I think like an editor rather than a cinematographer, and trying to make sure that the terminology I know is the same as the terminology that she knows -- i.e., my idea of a wide shot is different than hers is.

The reality of both film and independent film production has really hit home, though, as in the case of the former, I learned that a scene taking place over a quarter of a page takes an hour to light and shoot, and that ninety percent of filmmaking is paperwork, and in the case of the latter, I'm struggling with making the sacrifices I need to make to get this damn thing shot while preserving the artistic integrity of the piece. (Pretension ho!) So while I don't want to have to cut some of this stuff, I need to find a way to make it work.

Basically, we've figured out that we don't have time to shoot all the stuff we want to shoot, and so we've already made cuts/reworked scenes to accomodate actors, locations, etc. I worry about some of this, as this is an actor's piece and I would hate to put more stuff on them over twelve days -- but then again, at least 90 percent of the cast has had their script and character work for over a year. There are really only a couple of actors that I'm worried about, and I feel like people are going to show up excited and ready to work.

Speaking of actors, we think we've got the rest of the thing cast. When Julie came to Ohio, we were planning on flying in one or two more actor, but that's no longer financially feasible. So for the remainder of the roles, we went with a combination of local actors, my friends who have been begging me to be in this, and a girl who attends the summer camp we're shooting at. We're taking a risk on that last one -- she's had some acting experience, like junior high plays, but she's essentially a "non-actor" and it's one of the more important parts in the movie. But we spoke to the actress who has 90 percent of her scenes with her, and she said she'd work with the girl. Julie, who's an actress as well, will do the same.

I don't know if I mentioned this, but ever since we got financing, I've had one frame of reference. It's from "The West Wing," in the second season's premiere. You know that scene from "In The Shadow of Two Gunmen," where John Spencer fires all of the staff and then tells Richard Schiff, "Don't screw up?" Yeah. I kept hearing that a lot -- still do. "Don't screw up." (And on particularly neurotic days screw is replaced by a harsher word.)

But the last couple of days have had another line from John Spencer echoing through my head: "Act as if ye have faith and faith shall be given to you. Put it another way: Fake it, till you make it."

I'm trying to fake it. We'll see if I can actually lift some houses off the ground tomorrow. Whole houses, right off the ground.

(And because this post was so long, I threw up a blog at http://redemptionfalls.blogspot.com anyway)

Maybe it's because professionally I want to keep up with the production but I would certainly read an online diary.

I'll check out your blog but maybe having updates here as well is a good idea.

Good luck, Rath. I'm looking forward to what you give me at the end.

I would like to add here that so-called non-actors with no film experience will often rise to the task, and sometimes deliver better performances than the professionals. A lot of regular joes have true honest-to-God talent bubbling under the surface they don't even know about.

Rath, I would certainly read a production diary.

All right, I'll try to keep this thread and the website updated about every few days.

Anyway, my beginner's question of the day is about takes. How many do you guys usually do, especially on a fast shoot with multiple set-ups? As I've said before, this is an actor's film, and it's important that we get the performances right, but we're not going to be able to shoot a lot of takes. I'm banking on the fact that these actors have had these characters and have been rehearsing together for months, but do you guys do a lot of takes or are you usually getting the stuff you need, and more importantly, want, early on? I get the feeling that I'm going to be running on instinct most of the time, so I hope that they turn out to be right.

Good luck with this Rath, I too look forward to updates.

In retrospect, we could have picked a harder scene in the script to start off with, but tonight, we had:

1. Water
2. Nighttime
3. Doing our own lighting with the DP
4. Doing our own sound (which we've had to unfortunately record directly to tape)
5. The scene in question was a love scene that required one of the actors to strip down to her bra and shorts.

And really, the thing that I was the most nervous about (number 5) turned out to be the least stressful thing about tonight. After a hassle with the power outlet (which we temporarily solved by running an extension into my boss's cabin)*, we eventually managed to light the scene and shoot it in about an hour. (Note for future productions: Always check your power source before dragging equipment all over your location.)

My only major issue is that I thought we weren't getting close enough in on the actors even when she zoomed in, but I wasn't going to hassle the DP to put the 6,000 dollar HD camera we're shooting on close to the water on the first night of shooting.

As for the scene itself, I'll wait till I see the daillies to make a final judgement, but from where I was standing, it looked pretty hot. More importantly, it looked naturally hot and not staged. This will not be the last love scene we'll be shooting for this picture, and for a scene I was freaking out about most of the day, it went off without a hitch -- everyone was mature and professional, and it gives me a lot of hope for the scene where an actress actually has to get naked. We'll deal with that one when we come to it.

We shot it a couple of different ways, and by the end, I felt a lot more comfortable about my direction than I did at the start. (Part of this may have been from totally ripping off Greg's "one for you, a saftey, and one for them" strategy -- and that last one had some brilliant stuff in it.) And since my producer and AD are both actors, they're giving me a lot of valuable advice about how to talk to actors and such. (And also how to properly call action, as I was counting down from three, two, one before calling it.) But I felt like I didn't totally suck tonight, which was good.

It's kind of a shift, too, being a director and having people who are working with you to get the shot you want, and having my producer basically say, "If you're not happy, don't be afraid to go until you get it right." In my current job, I'm obsessed with being the nice guy, the guy who's laid back and I'm neurotic enough to want everyone to like me -- or at the very least, not be pissed at me -- so going from that attitude to one where I can have some kind of decision making power and say, "No, let's do one more."

One day down. Thirteen to go.

*Funny story about this: In trying to get the outlet to work, we accidentaly hit the air raid siren that was hooked into the outlet -- you know, the same kind of siren we use when we think a kid's drowned in the water at camp. So there was about a two minute window when we fully expected all the counselors to come barrelling down the hill and jump in the water.

We have taken some awesome production stills, both of the production in process and of scenes from the films. I hope to have one or two to share soon.

I only want to pop in, and hope to have a longer entry on the blog up later, but shooting is going amazingly well. I'm still trying to find my foot in getting what's in my head on the screen, but both my producer and AD are helping me find my way and I would be pretty fucking lost without them. And while production has had a few small snafus and we're rewriting the schedule daily to accomodate people and I'm still working out communication, we're still on time. The fact that we have a couple of aspiring filmmakers (aka college freshman/high school senior) who are working as PAs is helping things along as well -- both guys are really hard workers who want to learn and are eager to help.

Hey, I've got a question. I was working on a film in film class, and choose to work with one guy who was an amazing D.P., all his shot looked great, right amount of light, focus, etc...I sucked at this, being more director-inclined, and my films always came out either too dark or unfocused, so I thought having him on-board would make things easier.
Ho-boy.
He was an extremely confrontational dick-head. Not with me or the actors or anything, but with anybody who walked on by. And I don't mean people who would walk in the middle of the shot, I mean people who would look, off camera, at what we were shooting. He would yell and scream and curse, and then have to go spend 15 minutes cooling down. To make matters worse, whenever a cop car would come by, he would start oinking really loudly and call THEM out, and I would be forced to try and calm him down. Towards the end, he would start getting really impatient while I would try and direct the actors, rolling his eyes and generally being disrespectful. And in the end, half the shoots were fuzzy and dark!
I guess my question is how do you work with a D.P. who is good (which mine didn't really turn out being, but that's moot) but is just generally hard to work with? With actors, you can find pick and choose, on a low budget...but for D.P.s? I'm almost tempted to learn the trade myself, and I should, but I'm just so awful at the technical side of film making that I'll need a person who knows his stuff, but won't be a complete psycho. Thoughts?

God, child actors suck.

I had a DP that was very difficult to work with. He was a very nice guy and that made it harder. Everytime I told him I wanted a shot, he would tell me reasons it could not be done that way and why we needed to do to his way instead. Pretty much he was trying to take over as director and since he owned the camera, I was handcuffed. He would talk down to me in front of actors (but in a friendly non-confrontational way that made it even worse). The last straw was when me and three actors were at the site of a shot and he was thirty minutes late. My phone rang and he told me he could not make it. Made me look really bad in front of the actors. I ended production that day.

I hired a new DP, recast almost the entire movie (since I looked pretty bad to the actors thanks to the former DP) and started to shoot again. This time it was shot exaclty the way I wanted it to look and looked great. I still had a small problem because the new DP was impatient and did not like me to take too much time to direct actors and set scenes up, and grumbled and sulked while I was doing this. But everything looked amazing.

I solved the problem like this. I watched EVERYTHING he did with the camera's settings. I watched everything he did with the lighting setups (where he faced them, how he directioned them) and learned everything he was doing.

Now I can DP my own movies and don't have to worry about a DP anymore because I learned by watching a good one.

One week down, with one more to go. On one hand, this is probably the hardest thing I've ever done, I've never been more tired, and I've never had so many things demanding my attention at one time, or so many people looking to me to deliver the film. On the other, I feel more creative and energized than I have in years, I feel like I'm learning so much and growing in my own confidence as a director. And already I know that while I want to do this for the rest of my life, I also want to be way more prepared for the next film than I was for this one -- I need to get my head back in the game and prep myself for the next feature as soon as I'm done for this one. (And by prep I mean take more classes, including ones on acting, watch a ton more films, etc.).

It actually kind of sucks that I have to start a new job the day after we wrap -- why can't I just do this, now that I know that I can?

Awesome.

So the last week of production is considerably more stressful than the first, for a number of different reasons, but we're still getting some great performances and footage done. Our original production schedule has been completely revamped and we just don't have time for some scenes we hadn't scheduled, but I hoped we could get to. We had to fire one of our PAs and are already getting complaints from the parents of some kids we used last week. (They were a fairly conservative group who didn't like that we were shooting for a hard PG-13*, and actually nicked a copy of our script to read and complain about.) Luckilly, in that last case, we got releases from the kids beforehand and the camp we're shooting at supports us.

Still, with three more days to go, I'm looking forward to the rest of the shoot but I'm also incredibly depressed that it's almost over. This has been more than two years of my life, and the fact that I have to go back to the "real world" (with a new job in upstate New York starting on fucking Sunday) really makes me want to get started on the next thing -- which is obviously post-production, but then the next project after that.

So, for my fellow filmmaker brethern, how do you deal with these post-principal photography blues? Or is this just me?


*A decision made shortly after we began to use their kids, including shooting a version of certain scenes without "R-rated fuck words" (as we nicknamed it).

Whatever you do, don't lose that energy and focus. The editing process is going to be just as, if not more, involved. Don't get lazy now! You...can...do it!

Dude, there's nothing like a good shoot to piss you off at the laborious post-process. But Patrick's right. films are made or broken in the edit suite. So my advice is: forget your plans. Try everything. Move scenes around. Jettison entire shots (even if you love them), and any dodgy performances, unless they're absolutely crucial to the film. Basically, just get this baby as tight as possible.

Also, as far as the blues go, I suggest you step away for a bit. Let your editor, if you have one, work on the film on his own for a while and give him as much freedom as he needs. Hopefully what you'll get will surprise even you.

Well, we wrapped about forty minutes ago, and I don't know what I was bitching about earlier this week -- completion of principal photography, even with the long road of editing ahead, has left me feeling better than I ever have. I've been writing scripts for about ten years, and interested in filmmaking longer than that, but many of my endeavors up to this point have been half-finished and half-abandoned. (Which is one of many reasons I love Kiss Kiss Bang Bang so much, Downey's monologue about never completing anything hits very close to home.)

To have stuck with this for two years and two hot, long, rainy, exhausting, wonderful weeks, is a tremendous accomplishment for me. I don't know why I ever thought of quitting, or doing something else. And not to get too fatalistic, but if I never do anything else, at least I've done this -- at least I took my shot and went the distance, yada yada yada. While the editing and post-production still lies ahead, I can't wait to get started on the next one -- because now I know that I can.

I might be MIA over the next couple of days as I settle into my new job and recover from this adventure, but I wanted to throw thanks towards everyone in this thread and the screenwriters' one. You guys were a much needed support when I thought it wasn't going to happen right through when it did. I'd list everyone by name, but special shout-outs have to go to my fellow Chewer Young Avengers, Greg Clark, Stormin, and Ripoll, as well as Greg David and Quarant. This is the reason why CHUD is the best movie site on the net, and it's the reason I've been here for seven years. I don't want to get all sentimental, but this is your accomplishment, too. Thanks.

I'm 23, and I just finished shooting a movie. Holy shit.

Enough talking. Here are some photos (more to come):



Production Still: Hope (Savannah) and Astrid (Jenny) discussing Hope's reckless behavior while their campers take a swim test.



This look of exhausted perplexion, amusement, and overwhelming fear was pretty much a constant through production. Hopefully the last one didn't show too much.



Sean, the script supervisor, and I discuss a scene with Arjun, who played Tom in the film.



Our crew, minus our DP (who took these photos): From right - Eddie, Key PA and comic relief; Sean, script supervisor; Julie, Producer/Jude; Jack - AD/Production Sound Manager/Gregg, the Yuppie; Donny - AC.



Julie and I getting a chance to sit down.



From right: Me, Jack, Arjun, and Eddie. Eddie was our 17 year old PA and fellow aspiring filmmaker who quickly became an essential part of production and the darling of most of the cast in their free time. They're already scheming on how to get him into NYU.



Me "getting my Spielberg on" as I discuss a scene with Jason (CB) and Savannah (Hope).

Fantastic, man. Can't wait to see it cut together!

You should celebrate by getting a haircut, damn hippie.

I'm just kidding. Congrats are in order.

I'm so very happy to hear things are going well man, all us here at CHUD are proud of ya. But in terms of starting the next one, it's always good to brainstorm but don't feel down, you still have a looooooot of work ahead of you in this project. I'd say you're about two sixths of the way in once you finish filming. You wrote the damn thing and shot it, but now you need to have it edited (and if you don't like the way the guy's cutting it, do it your own damn self!) which can be a very long, long process, especially when somebody else is doing the work for you. When people are doing stuff for you for free, you're at their mercy.

And once you have it edited you have even more stuff to take care of! Adding predone sound effects, recording foley for sound effects you need, color correction, effects and titles, compiling and typing up your end credits, and of course the ultimate task: the soundtrack. Getting a really good composer to do it for free and get it to actually sound good is a Herculean effort, and it's even more difficult to track down the rights to songs you want to use and get them for cheap. All this could take you six months to two years.

And once it's "finished," your work has only just begun. Now you need to pimp the damn thing, because nobody else is going to. Figure out a film festival plan, get a poster made, start a website/myspace page, make trailers, try and build interest online, etc, etc, etc.

It's all part of being an indie director.

Hey guys, here's the director reel I just finished putting together. Watch! Enjoy! Comment! Employ!

Do you have some type of internet or DVD distribution for your stuff? I'd totally paypal some money to be able to watch your films.

And that goes for everyone - I'd love to be able to see some of your finished works.

Nah, not yet. I'm still only just getting out of the "they're finally finished!" stage, and now entering the pimping stage for both.

Rath

You're my new hero, son. Rock and fucking ROLL!

Rest of you

When you're finishing up a film, what is the process you go through to get music written/recorded? I ask because for the last couple of years I've been corresponding with a producer in Denver about doing music for a television show he was trying to get off the ground. I wrote and recorded an opening piece for the thing so he'd have something to put on his pitch reel. Now...within the last two days...I've been informed that apparently he found investors that would allow him to make the pilot into an actual movie.

Now, I've done music for most of my life. I feel confident in my compositional skills and recording chops. But I've never had to do the "work with a director" thing before. Anything I need to keep in mind from a technical and/or creative standpoint?

way to get shit done, son.

but that reel is just too damn long. you gots to chop at least five mins out. you can start with the BTS crap. i mean, for a director's reel, you need to put the focus on your storytelling skills.

otherwise, keep it up!

I'm sorry; I gotta share a gripe here. I always see other aspiring filmmakers putting their own/their actors' names on their posters, and it drives me fucking crazy. The thing is, that's a Hollywood marketing gimmick -- they're selling you the movie based on a name you're familiar with, which makes sense. For an independent film, it makes no sense at all. I'm not going to see a movie just because Steven Chambers is in it, because I have no idea who that is. Likewise, and I apologize in advance for saying this, I won't see a movie just because Greg Clark directed it. Or Daniel Strange, for that matter. Because those names mean even less to the general public than, say, Larry Cohen.

You want to sell your movie? Sell your movie.Your concept is interesting, so sell that instead of a big floating head. Find an image that's about running. An image where the guy looks desperate, at least -- something that will get people to say, "What's that about?" Something that will put asses in seats.

I apologize if this comes off as negative, but ultimately I think that kind of thing marks you as an amateur, and you're better off not doing it. I understand the importance of getting your name out there and building some sort of recognition, but I just don't think the poster is the place to do it. You know where it matters? Only one place: the office of the person who's going to hire you.When you walk in there and say, "Here's the movie I directed." Anywhere else, I think it sends the signal: "this guy is more interested in playing at being a filmmaker and making his poster look like a Hollywood poster than he is at doing this for a living."

I know that's not you, Mr. Clark -- someone who didn't care deeply about this stuff wouldn't start this thread, let alone go through the extra trouble of shooting HD -- but, again, that's the reaction I have whenever I see a poster like that.

Just one man's opinion.

All of that being said, good luck with the shoot. As a fellow aspiring filmmaker, I know how brutal this DIY stuff can be, and I know we need to share the love. I just think that sometimes it needs to be tough love, too. I'll be honest with you guys, and you'll be honest with me.

When it comes to promotional materials, I plan to study (in greater detail than I already have) the posters of Herschell Gordon Lewis. I don't know if there's a way to transfer that kind of energy into a film other than exploitation, but I just finished through a book chronicling his works, and even though they're probably all shit, I want to see every goddamn one of them. He ALWAYS oversells the shit out of everything, and makes everything sound like the most shocking thing ever made. If there's a way to oversell my films like that, you can bet like hell I'm going to do it. As much as I admire understated minimalistic poster design (and I do, I really do) it's the posters I admire more than anything else.

Sell the hell out of your film and don't worry about whether it delivers the goods, because if you don't have confidence this is a motherfucking motion picture that is worth seeing and should NOT be missed, than why the fuck did you make it?

It's not even addressing the ideas presented above my post, just a undereducated and overpassionate rant that I wanted to get off my chest.

It's tough for a composer, because the ball is always in the director's court first, and every director has a different approach. I think it's safe to say that one thing all composer-director relationships will have in common is the spotting session: you guys sit down with a copy of the movie that may or may not have temp music, you watch it together, and you take notes on what he wants where.

The thing is, some directors are better at communicating what they want than others. In my experience, two things count: tempo and mood.

For instance, I'll say something like: "I want it to hit here and here and here."

Tempo.

Then I'll be all, "This track should be scary as fuck."

Mood.

Then I leave the composer alone and let him come up with something, and usually it's pretty good.

I've had bad experiences in the past giving too much direction, so I try to keep it simple. Create a situation where their creativity can flow, while still making sure you get what you need.

As far as technical requirements go, I think Pro Tools is pretty standard. At any rate, you want some sort of program where you can sync up your compositions to the movie. In my case, I'll give the composer quicktimes of the scenes I want scored, and they'll have that window open and running as they play their compositions, so they can see how the music interacts with the picture.

This is a pretty darn good point.

I just finished engineering my first score session here in Calgary. It was long, hard and exhausting but overall a good time. Here's the process as it happened from start to finish:

1) Director and composer met and decided on what needed cues.

2) Director and composer decided what type of cues were needed. This was almost strictly based on feeling and emotion interpreted though music speak ie) tense, y'know cello doing the pizzicato thing or lingering, dreaminess like a celeste with decrescendo

3) Composer wrote music and had it approved by the director.

4) Booked musicians and conductor

5) Recorded sessions using Radar to mix live while capturing songs post-fader on Pro Tools.

6) Listen to composer, director and conductor argue about annoying little things like whether we should be able to hear the vibraphone above the celeste or mixed at the same level.

If you choose to make it so it can be a fun, creative part of the film process. Allow yourself to be opinionated on the music but not close minded and you'll do great, teledork.

Also, remember that you know far more about music then your director will. Speak in phrases that he will understand but that still get your point across.

Good luck!