ABSTRACT
There are many ways to shoot a narrative fi lm. The complexity of the project, the size of the crew, the nature of the location, and the style of the director all have an impact on what actually occurs on the fi lm set. Director Kelly Reichardt shot her third feature fi lm, Old Joy, with a crew of six, a principal cast of two, predominantly exterior locations and available light, and with everyone bunking together on location for the duration of the shoot (see p. 12). Filmmaker Didier Rouget shot his fi rst short fi lm, Vive le Premier Mai, in one afternoon, on the streets of Paris, with two other crew members, two actors, no lights, and no sound (see p. 133). The shooting processes for these productions are bound to be different than those for your standard industry blockbuster fi lm, with crew members numbering into the dozens and a veritable convoy of equipment trucks and trailers. There are many books on the market that explain in complex detail all of the tasks and procedures on a standard commercial feature fi lm, but be careful: a production must adjust its personnel size and on-set procedures to the scale of the project, especially on short fi lms, in order to keep the creative process from being weighed down by excessively elaborate logistics. This chapter will look at the basic on-set process for an average short narrative fi lm with sync sound. While certain tasks and procedures can be scaled to fi t larger or smaller projects and crews, there’s nothing in the following discussion that you can cut entirely.
