5 Essentials You Forgot For Your Film Shoot

You got that fancy camera locked down, all the lights and sets built, and all the props to make your film perfect.

But if life has taught us anything, no matter how much you plan ahead, you will always forget something.

Indietips.com have come up with a list of 5 Essentials You Forgot For Your Film Shoot, that you DEFINITELY shouldn’t on a DIY/INDIE/ANY FILM SET.

We added some extras at the end that are always forgotten and always needed.

5 Essentials You Forgot For Your Film Shoot

From the video:

  1. FANS
    A mechanical fan that creates airflow. This was something we learned at a late stage of our first block of filming. With long hot days of filming inside, electrical equipment which produced heat and lights which were hot enough to fry an egg, the rooms became very muggy. Morale along with patience was quick to drop.Towards the later end of the day, we would run into the problem where the camera was working overtime to keep itself cooled, therefore, the sound of the internal fan was making a much louder noise than usual, causing our sound guy to look at me with an evil look.When we had time we quickly popped into town and picked up a few fans. After every take, the fans were switched on keeping the cast, crew & equipment cool
  2. CLOTHES-PEGS
    Pegs were vital for attaching colour gels to our lights. In the real world of on-set practices pegs are often called CP 47, “C47″, “47”, “peg”, “ammo”, or “bullet”.  However, we ran into two problems regarding clothing pegs. The first being that the secondary lights we were using had different barn doors to our primary lights.  So our pegs couldn’t fasten correctly, so we had to use our tape for blocking to attach the gels as it was the only tape we had that was sort of heat resistant. The second reason, which is also some advice, is to buy more pegs than what you already have. There is no doubt that you will also encounter the peg thief. He comes out while you swap the gels or take a break. You put the peg down for one second and the next… it’s gone.Note: Some plastic pegs have been known to melt when attached to hot lights, wood might burn but are still safer and Metal ones, with rubber bits so your fingers don’t burn, are the best.
  3. TAPE
    Gaffer tape, sellotape, double sided tape, masking tape, electrical tape. There’s going to be a need and use for each and every one of these. Whether it’s marking out your actors blocking, taping down possible trip hazards or covering up something that physically cannot be removed, like a light sensor. At one location we had already used all of our lights, we had the two 800ws lighting the deep space in the background, the 300w was coming in and hitting the actress as a backlight. The actress was facing the window so her front was fully illuminated with natural daylight. However, we just needed that extra bit of fill light to provide some facial contrast. We had an LED light, but all of the light stands were being used. So with some gaffer tape, we stuck it to a mic stand
  4. A TAPE MEASURE
    As you descend further down the ladder of film crews, from pro to DIY, the list of jobs and responsibilities start to merge into a single person. More often than not on a DIY shoot, the director is also the cinematographer. The tape measure never left my pocket and often helped speed up the shoot. Prior to production, I and my camera assistant worked out the correlation of the distance from the lens to the subject in regards to achieving a certain shot. Our primary lens was a 50mm, from our tests we knew that we had to be at least 8ft away from the subject to achieve a mid-shot, or 4ft away to obtain a CU.When it came to the day of the shoot, we had our storyboards and shot list ready to aid us, but we didn’t have to farce around with the camera getting it into the correct position. We knew that shot 1E was an ECU and needed to be placed 2ft away from the subject (at the corresponding angle to the storyboard of course). It sped up the technical aspect of the production tremendously.
  5. A BLADE
    Throughout the entire production, my trusty Stanley blade never left my right pocket. If you’re a  hands-on filmmaker, then you’re going to need it for a lot more than just tape. For one example, you may have a house hold light that you want to include in the scene but the light temperature is throwing your colour balance off and you don’t have the correct bulb, but you do have the correct gel. A quick cut and size-down of the gel and you’re good to go.

    Extras:

    Music – Either on an iPod or laptop, but there will be times when there are long times of sitting around or set prepping. Some music in the background can help prevent any boredom or tired short tempers boiling over. Trust me, it’s a life saver.

    Phone/Charging cables – You will be on your phone so often arranging things, finding out where people and equipment are etc that you will need to charge your phone a few times over the shoot. Also, so many devices use a universal USB cable, it’s good to have a couple extra at hand when one goes missing.

    Markers/Sharpies – writing little notes on tape for marks, clapper boards, even having to write out words as prompts to hold up during a long speech (Yep, its happened).

    Med Kit – Someone at some point will cut their finger, but there never seems to be any plasters about. Get a basic med kit and just have it laying around for those moments so you don’t have to tape tissue to someone’s hand.