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What do you wish you could tell the next generation of filmmakers?


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We have had many threads on here that involve stating annoyance at what filmmakers should know but do not when they come out of film school. If you had one hour with a class, what would you choose to tell them about? I ask because tomorrow, my office is a classroom.

~Mark.

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A) This little pursuit of yours is not cheap nor meant to abuse others as you climb over their bodies....

B- Respect ALL crew members, treat people as you think people should be properly treated, and lastly.... loose the bulls--t bad attitude... it serves no good purpose.... and frankly makes you look like an ass that nobody wants to work with.

C) Follow the rules of filming... there are many which have been in place for many years and some new ones which are there and in place to provide some safety guidlines for what we do and how we do things... Failure to do so may cause somebody their life... These are films, movies, shows, gigs or whatever you want to call them... They should NEVER cause someone to loose their life or become seriously injured... EVER... All the panic for a shot, all the nervousness and rushing is not THAT worth it... Remember that..

D) You make a deal, keep a deal.... for better or for worse... promise something, deliver on that promise.. be a stand up Motion picture worker.. have some class.

E) If you make a mistake, fess up to it and move on.... do this quickly and clearly... Everyone makes mistakes, thats why we have takes. Nobody is perfect.

F) Respect the craft, I know this is impossible for some, but many have worked for years to arrive at these price points for Rates... in all departments, if you just can't seem to get a grip on this for yourself, do it for your craft... have respect for all the other folks making a living at this trade...

G) Don't ever be late... EVER.

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In many ways, and for many reasons, I kind of think "Mirror" has a valid and good point. The "business" is and has been changing for the worse for years. I don't think anybody loves the movie/film world as much as I do, but I cannot realistically recommend it as a "profession" anymore.

In today's world you must have the kind of desire and passion to be a filmmaker, because I don't think you're going to get rich working, especially at the crew level, on films, series, or commercials for that matter. It must be the end all to your be all it must be the only thing you want to do, and you must be willing to put up with all kinds of poor behavior, by those in charge.

My vision of the future for film, and television series, is going to be downloadable. Since the advent of the 70" high definiton television, what is it that will make you go out and pay to sit in a theatre and subject yourselves to random talking, poor focus and less than perfect sound systems? It's my belief that Netflix, Funny or Die, and YouTube are leading the way in this transition. Many new apartment complexes already have "viewing" rooms, where you can reserve the room for a time period and entertain friends and watch a DVD on a high quality televison, or projection system.

Ask the students, what is it that makes you want to go to the theatre, as opposed to downloading a film from Netflix and watching the film at home on your personally designed home entertainment center, where you control the sound and image quality?

Studios are already chasing this now, it seems to me, that they think the "event film" is what will get people to come, and they're spending hundreds of millions of dollars trying to prove it. IMax 3D films are events larger screens and three demensions of visuals. However, look at this year, "John Carter" with a budget North of $200M USD, and "Battleship" with a similar budget, both "tanked" at the box office, John Carter did so poorly that Disney Studios wrote off a loss of $200M USD. "Battleship" a film from a board game, proved that no matter how much money you spend, you still must have a story.

The harsher reality for them is that what still rules the day is a good story. This is evident by the winner of this year's Palme d Or, a film about an aging couple, and how they care for each other. I haven't seen the film, but I would bet that there's not one gun shot or car crash in the whole film. So teach them the structure of story, the importance of foreshadowing, the denouement, and climax.

Finally, I would suggest that when working with professiionals treat them with the respect that you want them to treat you with, you'll get more out of them this way, then if you're the tortured artist and demanding they respect you first.

I'm not trying to be negative, but after 35 years of working in the film business, I now find myself on the outside looking in.

Cheers,

Rich Van Dyke

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In many ways, and for many reasons, I kind of think "Mirror" has a valid and good point. The "business" is and has been changing for the worse for years. I don't think anybody loves the movie/film world as much as I do, but I cannot realistically recommend it as a "profession" anymore.

In today's world you must have the kind of desire and passion to be a filmmaker, because I don't think you're going to get rich working, especially at the crew level, on films, series, or commercials for that matter. It must be the end all to your be all it must be the only thing you want to do, and you must be willing to put up with all kinds of poor behavior, by those in charge.

My vision of the future for film, and television series, is going to be downloadable. Since the advent of the 70" high definiton television, what is it that will make you go out and pay to sit in a theatre and subject yourselves to random talking, poor focus and less than perfect sound systems? It's my belief that Netflix, Funny or Die, and YouTube are leading the way in this transition. Many new apartment complexes already have "viewing" rooms, where you can reserve the room for a time period and entertain friends and watch a DVD on a high quality televison, or projection system.

Ask the students, what is it that makes you want to go to the theatre, as opposed to downloading a film from Netflix and watching the film at home on your personally designed home entertainment center, where you control the sound and image quality?

Studios are already chasing this now, it seems to me, that they think the "event film" is what will get people to come, and they're spending hundreds of millions of dollars trying to prove it. IMax 3D films are events larger screens and three demensions of visuals. However, look at this year, "John Carter" with a budget North of $200M USD, and "Battleship" with a similar budget, both "tanked" at the box office, John Carter did so poorly that Disney Studios wrote off a loss of $200M USD. "Battleship" a film from a board game, proved that no matter how much money you spend, you still must have a story.

The harsher reality for them is that what still rules the day is a good story. This is evident by the winner of this year's Palme d Or, a film about an aging couple, and how they care for each other. I haven't seen the film, but I would bet that there's no one gun shot or car crash in the whole film. So teach them the structure of story, the importance of foreshadowing, the denouement, and climax.

Finally, I would suggest that when working with professiionals treat them with the respect that you want them to treat you with, you'll get more out of them this way, then if you're the tortured artist and demanding they respect you first.

I'm not trying to be negative, but after 35 years of working in the film business, I now find myself on the outside looking in.

Cheers,

Rich Van Dyke

Agree with Richard, the best days are now behind us... I count the days and months until I can bow out... I used to say a few more years, but i don't know if i can last this long or if the money I can make will continue to be worth it if this spiral in rates continues...

I also believe this is the fault of all in this business who took, and take the bait of continued rate declines and work without declining jobs that pay seriously inferior wages. We sank our own ship.... I have seen rates offered that were below that of IN and OUT Burger... no kidding.... as long as this continues, newcomers are better off to think twice before embarking on a career in this business.

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I agree w most of what Mr Years said in his 1st post.. I agree w most of what Mr Years and Mr RVD say about the best days being in our rear view mirror but that is what the old timers were telling me when I started out as well. I think it's all about one's POV. My kids, (27 n 29) think the job of production sound is the best gig in the world. It beats most real jobs out there in their minds. I tried to talk them out of this career path but they PA'd for years getting their days and are doing OK. I think there is something about showing up, setting up, doing the day, tearing it down and moving on that appeals to certain types. Who knows, it could all be done in China in 2 years but until the ride is over, I'm hanging on and enjoying my time.

CrewC

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We have had many threads on here that involve stating annoyance at what filmmakers should know but do not when they come out of film school. If you had one hour with a class, what would you choose to tell them about? I ask because tomorrow, my office is a classroom.

~Mark.

What they need to "know", can't be known until they get a enough experience. So first you crawl, then you walk, then run. And then,

only when you know all the "rules", will you be able to break them and, reinvent the craft for your generation. You take any 10 year period TV & films i.e. 20's 30's 40's 50's 60's 70's 80's 90's etc. will always reflect the consciousness and technologies of that particular era.

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newcomers are better off to think twice before embarking on a career in this business.

This has been the advice of many people in many fields (I heard this countless times when I started working at a Toyota dealership as a mechanic), but my view as a newcomer into this industry is slightly different. Yes, I could have become a banker or something and get a lot more money, but I chose this path because it's something I genuinely want to do. Simply telling someone to go to another profession because they will make a better living discounts the reason they wanted to be a sound guy in the first place.

I want a life that I can truly enjoy and be proud of, and bar sleeping, what I do for a living will be what takes up roughly half of my waking moments. The thought of spending that much time doing something I hate or am indifferent to gives me a sinking feeling in my stomach that I can't and shouldn't ignore. It's hard to really put into words what drives me to do sound work, but I know it's what I want to do and I'll continue to do my very best to be successful at it.

There is a sense of accomplishment I get from completing a project. From looking back at something I helped create and being able to say to someone "Look what I was a part of." There aren't many professions where what you do can outlast you as a legacy, as evidence of existence. For me that's worth a struggle, I wish everyone could experience that feeling, but not everyone will. I'm grateful that I do.

That being said, there is no excuse for abuse of labor for the sake of "creativity" and I will not subject myself to that. I'll pick the jobs I think are a good fit, and if some don't call back because I won't work for pittance then so be it. More time for me to browse forums and read books. I will take in the vast amount of information and insight available on this site from the people I know in real life. I'm grateful for all the answers to my silly questions, but I will not be dissuaded from having a career I can be proud of.

:D

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Yes, I could have become a banker or something and get a lot more money, but I chose this path because it's something I genuinely want to do. Simply telling someone to go to another profession because they will make a better living discounts the reason they wanted to be a sound guy in the first place.

Just to clarify, as I said earlier, to want to be in the film business it must be something that is your passion and you'll be willing to tolerate the hours on sets, away from family and friends, and be able to sustain yourself through periods of no work.

The people, that I'm trying to discourage, are the ones that have only a passing interest in working in film. It seems from your post Jesse, that you have that kind of passion, and the fact that you say you're a mixer, boom op, and audio post seems that you're diversified enough to work at a couple of different positions.

What I don't like about the business now, as opposed to when I started, is the decline in the quality of work. Everyone here gripes about low paying jobs, but some of you created this market, by accepting the low pay and driving down the quality of work. You'd never hear the expression, "But, the last sound mixer I hired worked for less than I'm offerring to pay you!" if someone hadn't accepted that rate and provided adequate sound.

I think that whatever you do with/in your life, you should do it with love and passion and do it to the highest level of quality, otherwise you'd just be miserable.

Good Luck to All,

RVD

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This has been the advice of many people in many fields (I heard this countless times when I started working at a Toyota dealership as a mechanic), but my view as a newcomer into this industry is slightly different. Yes, I could have become a banker or something and get a lot more money, but I chose this path because it's something I genuinely want to do. Simply telling someone to go to another profession because they will make a better living discounts the reason they wanted to be a sound guy in the first place.

I want a life that I can truly enjoy and be proud of, and bar sleeping, what I do for a living will be what takes up roughly half of my waking moments. The thought of spending that much time doing something I hate or am indifferent to gives me a sinking feeling in my stomach that I can't and shouldn't ignore. It's hard to really put into words what drives me to do sound work, but I know it's what I want to do and I'll continue to do my very best to be successful at it.

There is a sense of accomplishment I get from completing a project. From looking back at something I helped create and being able to say to someone "Look what I was a part of." There aren't many professions where what you do can outlast you as a legacy, as evidence of existence. For me that's worth a struggle, I wish everyone could experience that feeling, but not everyone will. I'm grateful that I do.

That being said, there is no excuse for abuse of labor for the sake of "creativity" and I will not subject myself to that. I'll pick the jobs I think are a good fit, and if some don't call back because I won't work for pittance then so be it. More time for me to browse forums and read books. I will take in the vast amount of information and insight available on this site from the people I know in real life. I'm grateful for all the answers to my silly questions, but I will not be dissuaded from having a career I can be proud of.

:D

Read what I said carefully... "newcomers are better off to think twice before embarking on a career in this business."

Think twice.... sounds like you have... and now you can make a rational decision... Sounds like you are on the right path to be happy...

Important to note that I believe one should think about the life they want to create for oneself... if that means earning money sitting on a park bench, all the power to someone... or a career doing film (video) for whatever wages they can earn... but if your young, don't underestimate how much you may actually need to be comfortable in the future... Life is getting more expensive all the time... health care alone can eat up much of what someone might earn... forget about food, and other expenses... A wife... family?.. Hold on for the ride... the most important decisions someone makes, they make while they are young... make them carefully... Good news is, you have time to make all the corrections as you go... for a while...

Nice post Jesse..... you make a lot of sense...

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.. attension film makers,

I only have 2 basic rules to pass on..

1) Understand that KNOW ONE, knows everything about everything.. This is why it is so important to seek out, and then surround yourself with 'can-do' Generals for each department.

2) A good first AD could possibly be the most important player on your crew!!

-Richard

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1) Understand that KNOW ONE, knows everything about everything.. This is why it is so important to seek out, and then surround yourself with 'can-do' Generals for each department.

Very close to my sentiments, Richard. I was going to say: hire people who are smarter than you are, and trust them to do their jobs well.

2) A good first AD could possibly be the most important player on your crew!!

Pretty good advice. The best sets I've ever worked on were the ones with a strong AD who was focused, kept things moving at a brisk pace, but also understood why delays happen and how to communicate with everybody (especially the sound department). The difference on sets with a crappy AD and a great AD were astonishing to me.

My own addition (from the "Subway Tuna School of Filmmaking"):

Do not expect to be able to hire people to work for you for free. This is insulting to professionals everywhere. Find the money to make your film at a reasonable budget. Low Budget is better than No Budget.

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You've never worked for David Fincher or Ridley Scott, I'm guessing.....

I would add in Micheal Bay and James Cameron to that list too.. However, these guys are simply insanely great at what they do, still no one can know how to do EVERYTHING great. But because these people are so truly good at what they do, they DEMAND even more greatness when you work for them.

-Richard

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