Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

Yeah that sounds about right, plus make up. But make up will not want to see them of course.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

I meant that will be the TOTALITY of your crew. Probably out of those positions I mentioned it'd be DP and possibly the grip/electric who would need to see the storyboards. Just tell your actors where to stand/move.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

Oh okay. I also thought I should show the sound person as well, of course.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

Nope. They will decide that after actually seeing the shot on camera.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

Oh okay, it's just in my experience I prefer to see it beforehand because there may be problems that can be addressed beforehand, compared to when the camera is set up, and thus less times to solve those problems. But I can try to creating storyboards that are more boom friendly.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

That's just you, the boom operator doesn't need to see the storyboard in order to do their job. It would be like a battle plan, it works until the first shots are fired. Any problems can usually be seen when the director is blocking out with the actors.

Also, you can't tell the lighting from a storyboard, that can also affect where you can position the mic boom because of the shadows.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

This is just you doing your management thing Ryan. You assume that other people would want to work like you, and they don’t. You want to ‘help’ the composer, the DoP, the cast, the crew, everyone by inflicting your way of working on them. If you have somebody to do makeup, are you sending them photos from movies you like so they get the style of the makeup? Have you sent them a lipstick colour chart, or examples of eyeshadow colour. Are you buying them an airbrush kit because pad application can be seen in HD, let alone 4K? Can your storyboard do costume and makeup?

Storyboards help those that need them, and invariably the details they want are not the ultra quality renders software can produce. Yours will look great, and instantly fall over when circumstances change and you have to adapt, as in every production so far, when you have to change script, locations and people.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

Don’t give Ryan any more ideas on how to micro manage this movie to death. You’re right. I could see him trying to tell the makeup artist how to do her job supplying her with stills from movies he wants to emulate and color strips.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

Oh well I would just talk to the make up artist about what the movie would look like and then hear the ideas they would have I thought.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

I am having some challenges getting use to FramgeForge. I think maybe I will just draw out the storyboards myself but does it come off as unprofessional if the drawings are bad?

When I see storyboards of professional movies that have been made, when storyboards are discussed, they always look good. I never see really unprofessionally drawn ones. So would those make a bad impression?

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

I've never had a piece of artwork as a storyboard. who cares? They are private documents and not public - if they are scribbles that work, nobody cares? If as we've said, you have serious problems elsewhere, nobody is interested in them.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

Martin Scorsese's storyboards are fairly rough affairs, more high school level than a professional artist's work. All they need to do is get the shot ideas across to the camera crew and the art department, so they know what to dress on the set.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

(a comment to an earlier question) If you watch TV being produced under covid guidelines, it's very strange - in one two people who are having an illicit affair were kissing - I thought how weird this was and illegal probably, but then discovered the two actors are actually married - so for them it's fine - yet everyone else is 2m apart and it makes the thing very obviously a covid production. In years to come, we'll watch TV reruns and movies and say - 2020/2021 - it's that obvious.

If you get everyone to have an injection and probably have to pay for them, it doesn't mean everything is safe - there will be cases of people who are not immunised, and of course, our isolation doesn't mean we're immune to other infectious diseases, and the separation for covid means we're perhaps more likely to get flu and the other things. Unless you really need to produce the movie now, don't. Especially as your cast and crew will not be that keen.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

To add to that, even when you ARE vaccinated, you are still not immune; it’s just an extra layer of protection. STILL need masks and distancing. This is per a doctor friend of mine who deals with this stuff every day. I donf know about Saskatoon or rest of world but here in the US we are still a long, long way from normal.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

Well there have been movies made during the pandemic that have come out, so the government is doing something to give them special circumstances. Mine cannot get recognized as a professional production, but if I can, then I can hopefully get those government granted circumstances that others are acquiring.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

Theyre following strict protocols you wont be able to afford (cost of on set testing, medic, etc) to enforce and those actors are getting proper industry rates to make it worth it for them, that you also cant afford.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

Being honest Ryan, it isn't a professional production, it's an amateur one, and your trying to make it as high quality as you can. You are trying to emulate some of the things professional production companies do, but that doesn't make it 'professional' either in legal reality or quality. There have been amateur, cheap and really good movies and simply awful professional ones. With your amateur cast and somewhat random crew, and a director producer who runs around planning his heart out, but having to cope with indifferent and uninterested composers, dodgy locations with silly rules, makes it far from professional in real terms. It's a one-man band with a mix of hired help and volunteers, with no responsibility and from what we've seen from some, any real interest. People do seem to be involved because they have nothing better to do. Covid will mean you will become more stretched, and even more things will go wrong forcing you to abandon your careful planning and find new locations, new bits of script and new actors when they get ill, or bored.

Can you not see these issues from previous movies have not been resolved. Did you not learn from Timewine and the two silly guys and their martial arts, that proper planning must be followed. You lost the battle with things outside your control big time - what has changed?

wait for covid to be over, and your people will have such a better time. I feel awkward in the line at the post office when some idiot without a mask comes in and nobody has the courage to stand up to them.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

Oh okay, but I don't think it's going to be over, and I think covid is hear to stay for the next generation, so I thought I would therefore have to make the best of it.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

Then movie making is dead.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

Covid 19 is going to be around. like flu and other diseases that exist. That's why people should get vaccinated, so that there is a herd immunity. It's possible for certain jobs it's requirement that you must have the jabs and possibly keep them up to date as new variants come out.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

While this COVID straightjacket still hangs around, you might do well by taking a break from your current script and write a complete different project which you can live with while carrying the COVID monkey on your back.

I realise that you may be anxious about losing momentum but sometimes, things improve or resolve for want of intervention and action.

It can be a surprising revelation when you go back over a shelved project and find yourself asking, "what in the hell was I thinking, believing this or that would work."

The trees of the forest can get a bit thick, especially when you are rolling your own and wearing very many hats.

Why not write and shoot a small one-hander simply for the fun of it and come back to your passion project when conditions permit you to stay truer to your original vision. If you hack it up now and make too much compromise, you may regret it later.

You might also need to examine the leadership and management skills which are so essential to a director. Now is as good a time to take off to research and study leadership and managerial psyschology.

Directors are ideally remarkable team builders with more than a small dose of personal charisma, careful recruiters of people so they can confidently, delegate and trust them to get it right every time.

It is too easy for directors to be distracted by or take refuge in the tech and turn their actors loose when they are desperate for guidance.

You can't do it all on your own, certainly not when you are still developing your own skillset. Although there are a few souls who can pull it off, you may also discover they are incredibly intelligent, are old hands with very much experience or both.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

Oh okay thanks for the ideas. I started writing another project, a Santa Clause type story more so. But anything has to be put to the same covid restrictions though, so not sure if this can be shot any differently, because of covid, but maybe.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

In suggesting a "one hander" I should have expanded that comment. It would have to be a short film.

A feature-length single character film could run out of steam quickly unless told with flashbacks which then brings back the need for actors to be gathered together.

Examples to mind are "Castaway", "The Spirit Of St. Louis", "21 Hours", "2001 A Space Odyssey".

There will be films which become "typed" as COVID films because the story is founded in this time period with COVID as a topic or a style dictated by the safety conditions gives it away.

By "one hander", in present circumstances, the story might be written from the point-of-view of a person, maybe as a guard in a booth at a boomgate, a drive-through MacDonalds or a checkout operator at a small shop, with the camera locked off, triggered by your actor if need be.

Your separate single characters can be on the other side of a window if you want to have a live operator at the camera.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

That's a new one to me. I've heard of a "one reeler" or "single reeler" referring to old shorts when 35mm film reels were 1000 feet long, thus a running time of under 15 minutes silent speed, or under 10 minutes sound speed. Perhaps this is this related to your slang "one hander" (which sounded rather ... ahem ... questionable to me).

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

I was gonna "go there" but feared my comment would be summarily deleted.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

Greg and Josh. Yes. The choices made in my use of the English language were rather unfortunate in this instance. The connotations attachable to those two words never for one moment entered my brain.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

Me neither Bob - Alan Bennett rather made one-handers his own for a while. I always find them a bit strange though - Actors breaking the 4th wall and talking to the camera is just a bit odd?

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

I believe you mean “artistic.”

And dont mind the connotations...I may be in my 40s but my mind is 12.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

A number of films do have actors talking to the audience. "Annie Hall" does it.in one scene,

They also look at the camera, sometimes with it as as the audience, other times at a character who is represented by the camera

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

So as I am storyboarding, I am trying not to give the characters much headroom so a boom mic can be close to them in the mastershots, but is it awkward for me to do draw master shots, where the actors do not have much headroom in order so the boom mic can go closer?

For example, in this movie mastershot here:


Why do they frame the actor so he has so much headroom between him and the boom mic. Wouldn't it just make more sense to frame so the boom mic can get as close in as possible?

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

Storyboards aren't about headroom for the boom, they are visualizing the telling of the story,

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

Oh yes for sure, but I figure I might as well keep the boom in mind too though, since I don't want mastershots with two much headroom in though. I thought about framing in 1.85, but now after storyboarding quite a few shots, I feel like that maybe 2.39 might have less headroom, while still being able to have a wide shot with a few actors in it, without having to cut anyone off now...

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

The height of the ceiling is usually the main issue for wide shots. Having a long boom also helps, for drama a 15ft job is part of the kit.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

You have a huge massive room? If you letterbox too much then in an ordinary room space, the restricted width will cause you problems. I can't quite settle on that being a classic master shot though - it seems to be the primary shot - the framing, the content - and the camera move. I guess it's sort off a master shot, but it seems to be the key shot for most of the scene, till the closer framing comes in? Visually it does look good. Trouble is, the space required might be a snag for you without a very wide angle with no distortion.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

Oh okay, but if I have some distortion, is that okay to live with? My boompole is 16 feet if that will do the job.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

That length should be fine for drama work.

It depends if distortion is part of the look.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

I'd say no. If you have bent verticals and horizontals, just to get a really wide screen - I'd say that's a mistake?

You're also not too good with the boom, I seem to remember. It caused you real trouble didn't it?

I found some of my shotguns today in the studio when I opened a flight case. I found an Audio Technica 815 - which is a longer shotgun than the 416's, but I also found my long lost AKG CK-9 - which is a monster long shotgun. Plugged it in and it still works fine - but I cannot find a windshield for it, so indoors only.

Maybe you'd be better with discretely hidden wavs on your actors Ryan - thinking back to the background noise. If you look at that old B&W clip - think how high the boom would have been. Is that feasible at the location you have in mind? A big untreated room will sound pretty horrible at a distance?

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

Oh okay but that is why I was thinking of shooting wider because then you can havea few actors in a wide shot but there's not near as much headroom like in that clip. So the goal would be to have a few actors in a shot but no headroom hardly and still get the boom in real close.

I don't seem to remember having trouble with the boom or if I did, what was it?

I'm just trying to save money on labs and I don't want to buy laughs for five actors or more if they can be avoided for a scene, compared to just using a couple of mics on booms.

but it seems to me that headroom in a master shot, is an easy fix, because all you have to do is shoot in a wide aspect ratio, and don't give the actors no more headroom then you would give them in a medium close-up shot.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

You are letting the tail wag the dog with all this. Wide shots generally have more head room than a MCU.

Re: I'm having trouble storyboarding a movie because of covid restrictions.
 

Well what I mean is I wouldn't want to give too much head room so I could still use the boom. That is why I thought maybe shooting in 2.39 might be better now because as I am storyboarding in 1.85, the headroom may just be too much maybe if you want multiple actors in a wide shot.