Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

You don't drive them, you select suitable people for the roles and inspire them.

Regarding cinematography, it's a matter of selecting a suitable DP and giving them the appropriate tools. It also depends on what is meant by cinematography and if also includes the shots and their framing, it that's the case you may be better leaving it more to the DP and just give general instructions. It's surprising how little direction is given by feature film directors regarding the camera angles.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

If you hire a DP or actors and need to drive them to be better than they are, that's called training, or education. Directors choose trained people. They don't go into teacher moe and encourage them to do their jobs! It's about getting the best of of people, getting them to push their personal boundaries, take chances and even experiment within a framework.

Can I please urge you to NOT say "I've been told .....' You do it all the time and we just cringe waiting for the next crazy thing people have told you that you have believed. Have the courage to reject stupid statements, or at the very least, ask them to explain - which they never do, it seems.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

Oh okay thanks. I just thought maybe I should listen to other filmmakers who have done it, cause every time I try to do things my own way, I don't think I get good results. So I thought it's best to follow in the footsteps of people I know who have made more features compared to me.

But, I can try to pick suitable people without having to spend more money on it. I can try looking in other places for those people. As for cinematography, I thought I would choose shots and framing and storyboard those out, but I would want the DP to do the lighting, color and camera movement, since I am not as familiar there, if that sounds good.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

I suppose it is what you thing the 'D' in DP means as opposed to being a cameraman/camera operator. The troubles arise when the person selecting the framing and composition does it better than you do - do you go with their idea, because that's what you are paying them for, or are you sufficiently confident your composition is better?

That's why it's never a good move to be less skilled than your crew. The minute you lose control and their respect, you're doomed.

Many of us have said we're not very good directors, and just don't quite have their skill set - but you seem to be unshakable. You won't listen. We tell you to get experience but you resist. If you do loads of sound work, it will NOT make you a Director. It will however, make you a better sound person. A soundie rarely operates cameras, cameras are often uninterested in makeup. Costume people rarely know how to put a plug on. So many skill sets with very little crossover.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

To be brutally honest, Ryan has no business being a director, he hasn’t paid his dues on a professional set, his training consists of what he has read or what someone told him just like he copy pastes ideas from other movies. It’s a crazy quilt of opinions, rules and assumptions. I can’t fathom how he could possibly direct a feature film. I know there has been people who have acted/directed a picture maybe Ryan will be the first boom op/director.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

I think thats where making your own no/low budget shorts can be helpful...try things and fail and hopefully get better with each project but WITHOUT spending $20000. Maybe a few hundred on each short if necessary.

Working on pro sets in a low position and working your way up is another path, but I dont think sound department is the way to go as youll a) only get better at sound and b) often be too busy to observe the process and learn that way.

PA would be better probably, or somehow become an assistant to a director (NOT the same thing as as assistant director). A colleague of mine somehow was the assistant to the director of Enemy of the State (the Will Smith vehicle from years ago)...helped him out with various tasks, reworked the script with him every night during prepro or maybe during the shoot. Something like that would be great for Ryan but I have no idea how one lucks into that position, especially in Ryan’s area.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

Oh okay, I've been a PA on productions over the years so far. So far I've been making shorts for only a few hundred. I would like to correct the mistakes of the acting and cinematography not being very good. But spending money on bringing in talent from further away areas and allowing more people to choose from is not the way to go then?

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

Better people help but another component is having the judgment to know when those better people arent doing something right. pro actors and DPS still screw up or at least do something different than what you wanted and you have to be able to tell when thats happening AS it happens, not in post. Throwing money at the actors and crew wont solve that problem cause that problem comes from you.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

You'll need to move up the budget scale if you want to bring people in. BTW the shorts here, that receive some funding through schemes, have much higher budgets than that, it includes production insurance, equipment rental and other costs. Of course, these budgets are now much smaller than when they were being shot on film and the budget included delivering 35mm prints. This is competitive and so involves selection.

A few hundred dollars would be for entering the film into festivals, unless you only enter the free entry ones. The US ones tend to cost money and you need to enter a few in order to get selected, especially if you apply to the ones that receive a lot of entries

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

Oh okay. I want to get better at directing actors but it's tough. For example, one of my short films I wanted two actors to walk down a hallway and talk to each other. However, the actress kept stopping her walking and stopped to talk. I just explained that I wanted her to walk and recite her lines simultaneously. But she kept stopping, and I tried to explain to her after every take, where she kept stopping to talk.

Finally I just gave up after like six takes of it. But in this example, what could have done better as director to get her to walk and talk?

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

Actors vary and sometimes you need to go with what feels natural to them. Was there a reason why she had to keep walking? If there's a reason tell them why they need to keep walking, motivate them into a performance, don't just tell them to keep walking.

It's also possible you may be wrong and she needs to stop because in reality that's what the scene emotionally requires.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

Oh well the reason was, is that it was the end of the scene and the character was leaving the building, so I had it storyboarded so that she says her lines and she leaves the door, and the door closing was how I wanted to end the scene. But I suppose this doesn't really have as much to do with acting though, cause I still want the acting to be better of course.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

The storyboard is only a snap shot within the scene, why is she saying lines if she's just leaving the building? If they're not adding anything dramatically to the scene, why are they there?

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

No the lines establish more story, it's just that I wanted her to say them as she left and closed the door, cause I thought it would be a better transition into the next scene.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

That sounds like exposition, which is to be avoided in a script.

With all the stops, how close to the door did she finish speaking?

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

Like right at the door. Oh okay, I didn't think it was exposition since she was still talking about the situation at hand though. Why does it sound like exposition?

She stopped close to the door but I didn't want her to stop and keep going. I just didn't think she would stop and felt it was unnatural.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

If she still has dialogue to say and she's reached the door, it's possible you've got too many lines for the walk.

If she's just explaining something, it's exposition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposition_(narrative) , You don't need to explain everything and if the characters are opposites it's possible to introduce a measure of conflict that allows you to bury the exposition. Basically show, don't say, unless you're making a soap opera you don't need on the nose dialogue.

"You'll see when we get there" in more intriguing than you explaining everything, plus it has more energy.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

Oh well this was one of those cases, where what she was explaining was not going to be shown later though. As for having too much dialogue before she reached the door, I didn't think it was too much, but I wasn't able to tell, since she kept stopping to talk, instead of walking to see. So I was never able to tell, but I think if she had, she could have gotten it all in.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

With all the stops and she's till talking at the door, it seems oblivious she has too much dialogue.

Why is she explaining something that you won't see later on? That's exposition. Plus the audience will have probably forgotten about it after a few minutes. At least have them searching and not finding this thing, that's dramatic.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

Why did you not just time the dialogue? Easy to see if it fits then, and if critical tells you how long the shot needs to be?

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

Oh well a lot of times people explain things you don't see later on though. Basically I wanted to establish in the plot that she was going out to dinner, but I didn't want to show the dinner cause it wasn't necessary. But the fact that was going out to dinner that night, I thought was relevant.

And she didn't have too much dialogue that she wouldn't have been able to not finish it before reaching the door. She just couldn't walk and talk simultaneously. It wasn't a timing thing, she was having trouble multitasking.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

If you don't see things and they don't have anything to do with the story, why are you putting them into script?

The plot isn't the story, it's how you organise the story.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

Oh okay, I believed that the conversation did have to do with the story. You don't have to see everything though, and many movies do not show everything, but still establish certain things in dialogue.

For future scripts I can be sure to ask if there is any exposition in them though. However, as a director though, I want to get better at directing actors, and that was just one example, of how I couldn't get an actor to walk and talk simultaneously. So is there anything I can do to get better at things like that, and pulling out better performances?

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

How the actor performs a scene can be influenced by the dialogue and the beats within a scene.

Dialogue about a dinner that's so unimportant that you don't show it, what has it to do with the story? It may be a bit about the character, but it becomes more important if she can't go to the dinner because of the story is destroying her personal life.

This has been mentioned before, but doing acting classes should help with the directing

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

Okay thanks, I've done acting classes before, and about do them again, once they start up again soon. I was also told to get better actors and a better DP. When I post for casting calls for example, it's always the same group of actors that apply it seems. I feel I want the next short to be really good, I need actors who can really knock it out of the park. Is there other places I can be looking though, rather than just posting on facebook, craigslist, university theater, etc?

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

This problem is really just an example of what you get using non-professional actors. It's not even about training - it's about ability, and she clearly has none!

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

Well where can I find the professional ones though? People say to use theater actors, but I found the acting to be too theatrical for the camera. Maybe that can be good, but I think people will be bothered by it.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

You'll have to train them, I've used professional actors who've had little or no film experience in the past and it's worked out. Lend them a copy of Micheal Caine's book on acting, after you've read it yourself.

These days most have had some experience, but they are usually keen to get more film experience, which can work to your advantage.

The auditions are the time to select actors who can make the leap.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

I'm working with a guy who has been acting for a very long time. He is in a current sitcom, and also on stage.

Acting is acting - the differences between theatrical, which involves special skills such being able to project - to fill a space are sadly lacking from some people who act on TV and film, where their acting skills might be just reading a script and remembering it. Most are in between somewhere. Acting for film and TV misses out the specific theatrical bit, but most decent actors can do TV and film, even if they struggle unamplified with a 1000 people listening.

If they act badly for the camera, then they simply weren't very good.

Your problem seems to be that you have no idea if they're good or bad until you ask your friends for opinion, then you say "I was told they were a good actor" when you simply advertise traditionally or on line for professional actors and you pay them what it costs. nothing wrong with amateurs if they meet the same standards.You are describing amateurish which is a totally different thing.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

If you cast the right amateur or even non actor in the correct role they can hold up extremely well with the professional actors, some may be even better and go on to become professional actors.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

Indeed - one of those jobs you can either do, or not do. Being paid for it is no guarantee of acting excellence, and doing it for fun can produce excellent work.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

Okay thanks. I think one of the reasons that short term didn't turn out as well, as the actors seem to do better in the auditions and rehearsals, but then one actor became unavailable as well as one of the locations so I had to rewrite the script, and then that caused the acting to not be as good after, since changes had to be implemented. So I will try to adjust to that better next time as well.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

script rewrites don't change the acting standard with real actors - scripts get changed continually. The actors just get told to go from the bottom of 49, cut everything untill he says"uncertain future" then continue up to the door slam, then look at him and say.... They scribble in the script and it's done. That's their job. If you direct them and say "this is where you stare him back in the eyes and wait.." they write it down, and do it.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

Oh it's just that since one actor left, I scrapped the character, but then since the character left, I had to change a good deal of the dialogue, and I thought maybe that is why the performances were not as good cause the actors had to memorize new dialogue on a shorter notice before shooting I thought.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

Auditions usually offer you alternatives, you check up on the other possible actors to replace them. I did this on the day with one film when one actor couldn't make it. The replacement learnt his lines on the day.

Given enough notice you can often find alternative locations or reschedule that scene to another day, when the alterative is found. One short film I worked on did this with a shop.

Actors seem to use their short term memory on films, on one production we had to reshoot something later in the day (I've forgotten the reason) and the actor had to relearn the lines again. He had learnt the lines (or at least refreshing his memory) just before shooting each scene, BTW these were 2 or 3 minute monologues.

That's a good skill to have on soaps, which work at a fast pace with new episodes on the conveyor belt.

BTW Your films seem to be rather dialogue heavy, which tends to make them televisual than cinematic.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

Oh okay, the actors from before were no longer available by that time. I could have rescheduled to another location on another day, but I felt it was risky, and thought I shouldn't loose the shoot day I already have, cause people I had were becoming less available later.

But next time I could try to chance it.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

Sounds like you need to consider the business side more carefully.

Your productions have costs, therefore you need commitment from your people - technical and artistic. Do you have a proper contract with them? When, what, how, who and why? Dates and times are critical. many actors may have commitments with other production companies so you cannot just say stay late, start early - they will have put your production in their diary slots. If they agree to your times and then duck out costing money, then you need it in writing what the consequences could be - as in they are responsible for extra costs, but at your discretion. Unions, though I think I'm a bit negative union membership at the moment having been let down by one, can be useful for policy, payments and systems.

You can also include callbacks if shooting gets unavoidably delayed through no fault of yours. You can even build in marketing and merchandising into them. Publicity stills as a minimum.

If you want a particular actor because they're right, you don't want them going off on a better paying job, so you need to deal with this early in the negotiation stages. You have, it seems, a drama club - where people do work for you for a leisure activity. They can mess you around happily because it's friends not business.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

Oh okay thanks. In past projects I had contracts but there were a couple of people who broke it and made no difference to them.

I can to try to get more committed people though.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

In my world, your reputation is paramount. Break a contract without good reason and nobody chases you to the court - they just don't ever use you again, and tell everyone who will listen why. Dropping out of a contract is not a thing to do lightly. With good reasons, and time - they can often be sorted pleasantly, but leave a production company in the lurch at your peril. They have long memories.

Re: What can I do to get noticed as a boom operator?
 

Oh okay, well the person who dropped out of the contract is now living in Vancouver and is more successful than me and other filmmakers I have worked with. I guess I could have spread the word about him, but thought that would come off as whiny to do do so.