First published in Screen Education Magazine.

As this article is still being sold online by Metro Magazine, please contact Monique for the pdf version.

As Buddhists say, it is bet­ter to have awareness. Then you don’t walk straight into the puddle. Rather you stop, see the puddle and step around it. Awareness, like good filmmaking skills, takes hard work to master. Making your first short film brings such an amazing sense of satisfaction and joy. Then there is the struggle of improving your tech­nique on many short films and seeing only a little progress. There is so much to take in and it is easy to get lost in all that there is to learn. Filmmaking combines creative talent with technological exper­tise and the ability to work together in a team. Subtle differences in creative and technical skills can mean the difference between and a good and great film.

Creating films, for many people, is an all-consuming passion. I have worked on a large number of short films and features in many capacities: as a producer, direc­tor, editor, writer, actor, camera opera­tor, assistant of various kinds and runner. In my time I have seen utterly awful films and some great ones. There are many classic mistakes that new filmmakers al­ways seem to make. To help you avoid those puddles I have prepared a list of the most common ones.

1. Failing to Communicate

Communication is a vital skill that needs to be developed and refined. Many directors do not think about how to communi­cate with the cast and crew. As an actor I was once asked to ‘be like a rabbit’… I asked, ‘Do you want a soft and furry kind of rabbit, or do you mean a bouncy kind of rabbit? Or do you want a cute rabbit?’ I managed to extract from him the partic­ular kind of rabbit that he was thinking of (I do not usually play rabbits, I swear) but forcing an actor to interrogate you is not the best way to communicate your goal.

With any scene work you need to dis­cuss what is happening with the ac­tors. You need to look at the plot, the arc of the story, subtext, character and the emotional intensity of the scene. For example, say there is an argument oc­curring between a couple. The next scene shows that one of them has been mur­dered. The argu­ment in question needs to be of a partic­ular intensi­ty so the au­dience will believe the murder. We also need to consider the characters. We need to foreshadow, however subtly, the ability of one of the characters to com­mit such a deed. We also need to look at the issues, personality and driving force each character brings to the scene. The argument scene will show people outside their comfort zone. People react to eve­ryday situations very differently than they do to life-threatening situations.

By discussing all of this with the actor, you are communicating to him or her what is important in the scene. You will both arrive at the truth or core of the scene together. Now you can experi­ment with different ways of cre­ating the scene, and you will have the same agenda and goal. This is a recipe for success. Trust the actor to do their job (this doesn’t apply if you have hired your best friend’s girlfriend and she doesn’t know how to act!) and give them time to find their way in the scene.

This applies for all members of your pro­duction. I have seen what happens when peo­ple on a production have differ­ent goals and agendas. It is no good if you can see it all perfectly in your mind but cannot articulate it.

Spend some time thinking about how to con­vey your story. Dis­cuss it with your crew and cast, and then make sure they have correctly inter­preted it.

2. Taking the Wrong Attitude Towards the Actors

While we are on the sub­ject of actors, there are a few more essential things you need to know. A com­mon mistake is asking for a particular emotion from the ac­tor, eg. anger, sadness, happi­ness. An actor can easily supply an emo­tion, but by asking them to do so you are shutting down their initiative. There will be no subtext, layering or charac­ter. More importantly the character will lack the inner motivation that is essential for any good characterization. The on-screen result will be a one-dimensional emotion that lacks realness.

Many directors look down on actors be­cause they think they are too precious or aren’t a part of the ‘real’ filmmaking proc­ess. Even at cast and crew parties, or at lunch whilst filming, you will often see two separate crowds: the filmmakers and the actors. So let’s look at this more close­ly. Who will be contributing to telling your story the most? The gaffers, the make-up and costume people? Certainly, some crew members play a very large role.

But it is the actors whom the audience watch, relate to, cry with and laugh at. It is the actors who convey the most informa­tion to the audience. Their emotional and psychological interpretation can make or break the film. Don’t treat actors as an un­usual and slightly bizarre breed of peo­ple. Once you have a healthy respect for and attitude towards them you’re half­way there. A good actor will do almost an­ything for you if he or she knows you re­spect their talent and skills.

3. Great Pictures, Horrible Sound

It is rare to see a student film with good sound. Directors will spend hours with the Director of Photography discuss­ing how to frame the shot or what kind of lighting to use. The sound recordist, if there is one at all, rarely gets any at­tention. The result is often a sound track that is very poor with lots jarring noises. This may be the case even though the sound people have done the best that they can.

Please, please, please make sure you use ap­propriate sound equipment and have a sound re­cordist and gaf­fer who know something. They don’t need to be very experi­enced, but they must be interest­ed in that area and have a keen ear. Consider the sound effects you will need be­forehand and in­clude them in your filming schedule.

Short films also have a tendency to fea­ture strange music by the director’s friend’s band. I realize that this seems like a win-win situation for you and for your friend. They get exposure and you don’t have to worry about copyright. But if it doesn’t suit the film then you are not really doing yourself any favours in the long run.

4. Strange casting, strange music and stranger locations

We have spoken about featuring your friend’s band in the short film. This also applies to casting friends who want to be famous but have no acting experi­ence, woman who are meant to look al­luring and impossibly beautiful but are not, putting a grey beard and some badly drawn wrinkles on your gaffer and throw­ing him in front of the camera, you do­ing a cameo appearance, featuring your parents’ house as the drug lord’s house, and shooting all of the film in one room and trying to make it look like several dif­ferent locations. I think you get the pic­ture. It just looks tawdry and will spoil all the effort you have put into other parts of your film.

5. Bad Scheduling

This is not really a problem for student films as they have access to free equip­ment, though it often results in a lot of wasted time and frus­trated people. But if you have to hire equipment then other considerations arise. Most people don’t have much money to make a film. So what happens? We can’t af­ford to hire the equip­ment for five days. Better make it four days. Does this sound familiar? Then at the end of four days you haven’t finished your film and there is a mad scramble to organize another day or more! Bad scheduling makes it worse in the long run so be realistic and give yourself time to create a great movie.

6. Overuse of Special Effects and Flashy Cuts

This mistake is not just made by ama­teur filmmakers. Jump cuts became the rage and suddenly eve­ry movie that came out of Hollywood used jump cuts all the time. Sure it looked great, but we all got bored very quickly and wondered why they were doing it. Flashy cuts and special effects should be used as ar­tistic tools to enhance the film, not as random cool devices used be­cause they are cool. (Did I say cool again? It just seemed ‘cool’ to repeat it). For example, a man is doing a speedy, high-on-drugs disso­ciated monologue. Jump cuts enhance the fragmented nature of his speech and the speed at which he jumps from one thought to another. Your film will al­ways look a winner if the stylistic choices are used to complement the storytelling and not just because you think they’re cool (there’s that word again – much like an unwanted special effect). We have all seen too many student films that are lad­en with glaringly unnecessary effects.

Another overused effect is the shaky camera. Shaky looks good when running and chasing is involved because that is what people see when running. Random shaky camerawork, on the other hand, just shows inferior skill and a lack of care. Other special effects errors include too many wipes and cross-fades, over­use of zoom and too much messing with the colour ratios, gamma, light etc. The list goes on and I’m sure you can think of plenty more to add.

7. Great story, great characters – but it’s too long!

All filmmakers get attached to that great shot or scene because they have put so much work into it. The difference be­tween a professional and an amateur is that the professional has learnt to let all that go. You cannot make a great film if you get stuck in the past. Your goal should be to make the best film possible. And remember people absorb informa­tion very quickly these days. Most short films could actually be a great deal short­er. There is no need to linger on a shot or a scene. When in doubt, cut it! Be ruth­less, as every second counts on screen. Examine your script with this in mind in pre-production. The prize is a film that costs less time and money, and is a lot easier to watch.

A note on the dialogue in short films: watch feature films closely and you will notice that the dialogue occurs much faster than it would in real life. Many short films have dialogue that is too slow, while the beats between the lines are also too long.

8. Not Trusting Your Editor

Your editor is the one person who has completely fresh eyes. Many directors become horrible creatures in the editing suite and react with outrage to any com­ment that does not fit their agenda. At this point in the filmmaking process you are very close to your project. The editor will have perspective and can see things that you cannot. You don’t always have to do what your editor suggests, but it is vital to create an environment where he or she can express an opinion and help you. Don’t treat your film like it’s your fa­vourite teddy bear that no one is allowed to touch. Sticking to your vision does not mean being a close-minded idiot. Edit­ing is also the time when you need to fix filming and plot mistakes, and your ed­itor’s skills will be invaluable in solving these.

9. The Joke with the Twist at the End (aka the Tropfest Twist)

There are a few filmmakers who have made their fame and fortune with this perfect short story format. However if you look closely at their resume (and I’m not talking about the PR version that is told to newspapers and magazines) you will see a swag of short films that have been solidly and carefully crafted. Fund­ing bodies and investors need to see that you know how to tell a story and that their money is not going to be wasted on you. A gag is not a real story. A story in­cludes a ripper plot with subplots, as well as great characters. Furthermore, there is a story arc, which usually coincides with significant character development. I’m not saying don’t do the gag film, but it should be only one aspect of your film­making skills.