Working with 'Da Crew'

Yesterday's blog from Debra reveals a little of how many people are involved, even on a short film production.

Interestingly, I have worked with Debra for longer than any other person with regards to films. We started working together when I was just beginning to make films in 2004 and since then she has worked on almost every major production I have done, including the very first Caution Wet Paint which subsequently garnered my first taste of the film festival pie.

As a director, it is great to find people you get along with in a creative sense. It is also good to have people that think on the same wavelength as yourself. Having a good crew is essential to this. A good crew can read my mind, allow at me to shout at them and cover up for my mistakes. The crew are the silent sweethearts of the set. They do not appear on the screen, they do not get the inches of press dedicated to them, yet they are essential to the production of any film, big or small.

At the moment I am in the pre-production stage of the new Caution Wet Paint short. That means, meeting up with a lot of people. While I meet up with the cast and have regular chats with my El Maestro, I also meet up with the crew.

The crew know what their job is, but they are there to see the script, go over the storyboard and essentially familiarise themselves with what to do. Most things happen on the day, but a clued up crew knows exactly what to do and gets on with the job.

Expect to see more from both sides of the camera on this blog in the next few months...