Justin Hayward

And speaking of having my "producer" hat on... Phil, would you be interested in flying to Chicago with all your gear and shooting a music video for free? :lol:

It's funny, I owe a friend of mine a favor and he asked if I would produce and direct a music video for his band. Of course I'm going to do it, but it's really been hard for me to get the ball rolling, because producing anything feels so freaking daunting these days. I'm much better at telling a producer what we're going to need and them figuring out how that's going to happen. :P

I think you would really enjoy these books by the film producer Art Linson if you haven't read them already... A Pound of Flesh: Perilous Tales of How to Produce Movies in Hollywood What Just Happened? Bitter Hollywood Tales From the Front Line They're great. I've read them a couple times.

I'm curious about the history of this. Wikipedia says... "In general, Above-the-line refers to Actors, Producers, Writers and Directors. For the most part, these are fixed costs. For example, if a scene is cut from the script, the writer is still paid the same amount." But if a movie gets a sequel the original writer gets paid a ton without doing any work on the new project at all. Which is one of the reasons they break out lawyers when it comes to assigning credit. (Of course I'm talking about writers in the WGA)

If the day ever should come that you decide to interrupt a gaffer's smoke to tell him he needs to download footage... please make sure someone gets it on camera. :lol: :P

Of course how you plan to shoot depends on the job and the people involved. Point is, it's unlikely the director and DP will show up on the shoot day with as little knowledge of how they plan to shoot as the general crew.

This is a job I directed a few months ago followed by the boards. Those boards were drawn after several location scouts. The heads of every department knew what they were going to do before the shoot day (including where dolly track was going to be). The AD and I planned the order of the shoot around the direction of the sun throughout the day. Of course there's a bunch of tinkering and improvisation once the camera is up and we're looking at a monitor, and a couple shots were dropped on the day. But, other than that, we followed the boards really close. Carbon express commercial

Well, they would have seen your reel and know what you're capable of before you come in to interview. It's more about your take on the script and if you would get along with the director. Things like that. Ridley Scott talked about being interviewed by Matt Damon for "The Martian" as Matt Damon was developing the property before they had a director. He said it wasn't an actual interview as we typically think of them, but more to see how they got along with each other. And they got along great! I've only worked with a DP I didn't know once on a commercial. I knew he was very good, because his reel was awesome, but I was a little concerned how we would get along. Then after a very pleasant phone call (we talked for over an hour about movies and styles we liked), I knew it was going to be fine, and it was. It also turned out to be one of the best looking spots on my reel.

Thanks a lot Gregg. I really appreciate it. It's funny, the writer originally pitched this concept to an ad agency as a McDonald's commercial. So, the original script was much quirkier and sillier (if that's possible:). I took the idea and played it a little less quirky and silly. Thanks again.

Thanks Miguel!

Vegetable oil or something like it lightly brushed on.

Thanks Bill, I really appreciate that. I was really happy with the music. I felt like the composer got the tone of every scene just right. It's always playful even when it's dramatic. Thanks again.

Hey everyone! Here's the movie if you're interested. It's had a pretty good run. Lots of cool festivals and a handful of awards (including cash :) Enjoy! Tiny's New Home

They also use the real client product. If they're shooting Big Macs, for example, McDonalds will ship cases and cases of their buns, burgers, sauce, lettuce and everything else that goes on a Big Mac to the production company. Then the food stylists or their assistants will spend a few days picking out the very best of everything and setting it aside. It's hard to find a bun with no cracks or dents. McDonalds actually provides their own lead food stylist as well for consistency. Then on the shoot days they will take however long it takes to build the perfect sandwich to shoot. And like Adam pointed out, if there's anything faked it's little tricks here and there like putting mashed potatoes between the back of the sandwich to keep the bun straight. Stuff like that. Funny side note about McDonalds, they used to be very particular about the food looking absolutely perfect, which almost came off as fake looking. But now I notice they're much more rustic and natural (almost sloppy) in their approach which seems to be the style in table top food these days. https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/full-menu/burgers.html For me, one of the cool things about shooting table top food is the food stylists are usually accomplished chefs too, so if you're at all interested in cooking (which I am) you can get great tips all day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esCHW1ylEHQ I was one of a few DP's working with two very talented directors.

I really dig the style of interviews in this...

I know. I'm just commenting overall. To the original question I do ask people to repeat the question in their answer if possible. "What's your favorite color?" "My favorite color is blue." Although I've had a stubborn dude tell me he wasn't going to do that, so I had to incorporate my questions with subtitles.

I've directed and DP'd a handful of short docs and we almost always use two cameras on interviews, a wide and a tight. That way you can cut out any "ums" or throat clearing or anything little things like that without missing a beat. You can also piece together two lines that were said two hours apart. Stuff like that. I shot one of the ESPN 30 for 30's about five years ago and we actually used a jib for one of the cameras on the interviews, which looked okay, but I usually think a nice, dynamic, locked off, composition feels more engaging. I directed a charming (even if I do say so myself :) little 5 minute doc for Illinois tourism about a veterans war museum where we used the two camera, wide and tight, method, but added a little camera movement on the tripods. But I can't remember why. I guess it felt right for whatever reason. Go figure. Anyway, you can check it out here... http://www.enjoyillinois.com/thingstodo/details/6045305

I just saw that first Pennzoil spot on TV yesterday and thought, that's gotta be one of the directors of "Fast and Furious". The energy is sick. Freaking awesome. I was about to post a "recent work" topic and show the hand full of jobs I've had in the last few months. Not now ;) Awesome stuff.

That's great, thanks. I really love the difference in lighting and color between the white house and his home life. It really emphasizes the difference of his two worlds. Really nice work, as usual.

Interesting. I can certainly see "United 93" now that you mention it. Although I noticed in some of the more frantic scenes where you used some chaotic handheld camera movement, there were also lock off close ups and things intercut. In general, how many cameras were used at once on some of those busier scenes? And did the director or producers or anyone specifically steer you away from other White House type dramas? Like, did anyone say, "This is not 'House of Cards' dark."? :) Thanks

Looks great! What's the general process of getting a pilot for you? Did you pitch your take on the show to the director or were you their first pick? And what, if any, were some references you used in designing the look? It's a fun show. My wife is on maternity leave so we're looking for shows to pass time holding a sleeping baby. Now we have a new one :)

It's like playing the game, "Clue" :P The butler did it! :D

So there must have been no script supervisor or any sort of camera reports or any notes whatsoever passed on to you if you had to... 100 percent GUESS... if the cinematographer was a complete moron or was purposely under exposing the footage by THREE whole stops??? I mean, if the budget was so low they couldn't afford any notes on the camera work, why didn't you call the DP and ask if he purposely underexposed everything by three stops? Editors and colorists have called me on multiple occasions to ask my intention if it wasn't totally clear. Please don't tell me you're so cut off you can't get the cinematographer's phone number on a project of theirs that you're coloring.

That's something I think I've said on this website before, but I can't remember. Point is, life's not fair.