Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
Part One: -Pre-Production
Deciding to Make an Independent Film
Set a Date for Your Shoot
Build Your Film Crew
Three Indie Film Casting Considerations
Casting
Script Breakdown
Scheduling/Stripboarding
Budgeting
Pre-Production -Wrap-Up
Part Two: Production
A Convenient Truth-Scene 1
Stock Footage Can Be Your Friend-Scene 2
Film Locations Equal Production Value-Scene 3
Using Green Screen-Scene 4
Acting While Directing-Scene 5
Give Your Actor a Beat-Scene 6
Man-on-the-Street Interviews-Scene 7
Actors Who Write-Scenes 8 and 9
A Good Film Editor Will Save Your Ass-Scene 10
Talking Head Interviews-Scene 11
Directing Flexibly-Scenes 12 and 13
Improv-Scene 14
Camera Movement-Scene 15
Pre-Reveal in Film-Scene 16
The Reveal-Scenes 17-20
The Reaction-Scenes 21 and 22
Script Departure-Scenes 23-27
Use Your Actor's Face-Scene 28
Character Introduction-Scene 29
Direct First, Produce Second-Scene 30
Inserts and Reaction Shots-Scene 31
Free and Easy -Pre-Visualization-Scene 32
Pre-laps and -L-Cuts-Scene 33
Picking Your Shot (and Why Windmills Are Unpatriotic)-Scene 34
Four Considerations for a Joke in Your Film-Scene 35
Locations: Just Ask, and When to Bend Your Own Rules-Scene 36
Framing and Visual Match Transitions-Scenes 37 and 38
Conflict in Comedy-Scene 39
Structure in Your Film-Scene 40
Evergreen Satire-Scene 41
Static vs. -Non-Static Frames-Scene 42
Directing Is Listening-Scenes 43 and 44
Jump Cut (for My Love)-Scene 45
"Cheating" Multiple Locations-Scene 46
Transition Scenes and Your Film's Spine-Scene 47
Burleson Labs Advertisement #1-Scene 48
Free Color Correction-Scene 49
Building Sequences-Scenes 50-53
Creative Character Introduction-Scenes 54-56
Shoot the Script and Then Check Your Gut-Scene 57
Long Takes-Scene 58
How to Know When You're Done Editing-Scenes 59-61
Creating a Stylistic Look-Scene 62
Film Arcs-Scenes 63 and 64
Tempo and Sequences-Scenes 65-67
Serendipity in Filmmaking-Scene 68
Rule of Threes-Scene 69
Acting Is Reacting-Scenes 70 and 71
Four Lessons from a Montage-Scene 72
Resourceful Filmmaking-Scenes 73 and 74
Offensive Satire-Scene 75
A Scene in Three Shots-Scene 76
Planning a Scene-Scene 77
Get an Impossible Shot ... with Two Shots-Scene 78
Language Sequence-Scenes 79-88
Mining Film Locations-Scene 89
Slapstick Comedy-Scene 90
Pacing: The -One-Hour Mark-Scenes 91-93
Offensive Satire, Revisited-Scenes 94-96
Five Ways We Fixed a Dull Scene-Scene 97
Editing Choices-Scene 98
Staging the Casual-Scenes 99 and 100
Context Changes Everything-Scene 101
Your Time Is Limited-Scene 102
Saying No to My Entire Film Crew-Scene 103
Changes from Script to Screen-Scene 104
Additional Production Writing-Scene 105
Scheduling Can Breed Creativity-Scene 106
Seven Images, Seven Lessons-Scene 107
Serendipity in Editing-Scene 108
Beginning of the End-Scene 109
Final Scene: Make It Count-Scene 110
Part Three: Post -Post-Production
So You've Made a Feature Film
Independent Distribution
Eleven Kickstarter Campaign Lessons
The -Four-Wall Experience
Digital Distribution of Your Independent Film
Plan for -Self-Distribution from Day One
What's Next?
A Note About -Post-Film Recordkeeping
Podcasts to Keep You Going
Don't Quit (or Apologize for) Your Day Job
References
Index
