Freedom Comes With Preparation: Shot Lists, Floor Plans, & Storyboards

One of the things I hate to hear whenever I’m working with a Director or DP is let’s “free-flow it.” Sometimes this is a necessity if you’re going into a location where you’ve had no chance to scout or see pictures. 

In most instances, it’s the case of the Director and/or DP being lazy. The freedom to try different ideas, shots, and camerawork should stem from a complete understanding of what you need. 

It is assured you’ll hit a point on set where you don’t know the next shot without preparation. Your crew begins to question your vision of the film, scene, short film, etc…

When you prepare beforehand, you give yourself freedom to play on set. When you know the shots you absolutely need it allows you to add, cut, or combine shots after each performance. 

An understanding of your scene gives you the opportunity to play with your actors. You can focus on performance rather than worrying about if the scene will play out correct in the editing room. 

It also gives your crew the reassurance you understand your role as the Director or DP. A crew or cast that doesn’t respect you will not yield positive results. 

In this post I’m sharing a few pages from the shot list, shooting script, and floor plans I put together for a comedy sketch. The entire sketch had an ensemble cast (six actors) plus three separate scenes. It was one location, but we also had the use the same location to “create” a TV commercial to transition into the scenes afterward. 

By the end of the day, after reviewing my entire Director's Book, I had cut four shots, combined two, and added three. I wouldn't have been able to do so without prior preparation. Once I marked all each cut, integration, and addition I handed an extra copy to the producer. 

The final Director's Notebook included character analysis, character and scene beats, shot list, shooting script, and floor plans for the editor. If I'd been more diligent I would've included storyboards and possibly my version of how I'd cut the scene based on the day's work.

More importantly, my previous preparation allowed me to put down my notebook and focus on the actors since I had everything planned out in my head, but I could always reference myself when I was unsure. 

A good director and/or DP realizes freedom comes with preparation. Remember this on your next shoot. 

The United Colors of Amani

The semester is in full swing at USC's School of Cinematic Arts. I've started my internship with company, Panavision, as well as picking up a full course load for my third semester in my graduate studies. Hard work does not guarantee success, but success does not come without hard work.

That's why I'm really proud of the latest webseries I worked on, entitled The United Colors of Amani. The United Colors of Amani, created and produced by Amani Starnes, addresses many of the problems facing African-American and multi-cultural actors and actresses in Hollywood. It's been making a big, immediate splash with features on sites such as Jezebel and Tube Filter.

I met Amani during my first year of graduate school at USC. She played one of the leads in my first film at school, and we've been working together ever since. The webseries, directed by Max Faugno, the series gives a refreshingly entertaining look into an industry that oftentimes mishandles their interactions with minorities. I worked as the main cinematographer for the series, with episodes The Tryout, KC Callback, The Wire, and Shakespeare being four I was Director of Photography. I'm really proud of the work the entire cast and crew put together, and you should take out the time to watch every episode! 

Follow The United Colors of Amani HERE, then be sure to give my production page, Que The Lights, a like HERE. 

Summertime Grind: Success is Hard Work

August 26th is the official kickoff date for the beginning of the semester at USC's School of Cinematic Arts. I haven't been lulling away my summer though. Every day represents a new opportunity, so I'd like to share a few of my summer projects before the school year begins.

During the summer I learned about a film competition known as Looking At Democracy. The competition focused on finding creative media pieces which strengthened American democracy. I decided to submit my documentary, Portrait of the Storm: Tuscaloosa, AL, to the competition. I won the title of Emerging Artist in the competition.

This came with a $5000 dollar prize. You can also watch the submission by follow this LINK.

  

During the jury decisions of Looking At Democracy I came across another competition called The New York Television Festival A&E Unscripted Development Pipeline. Filmmakers pitched their reality television show to A&E Television Network for a chance to be produced. I pitched following the lives of black greeks on their prospective campuses. The title simple, The Black Greek. A month later I was chosen as one of twenty-five semi-finalist. You can check out the video I made during undergrad that was the inspiration.

Semi-finalists will also participate in the NYTVF pitch as an Official Artist in the 2013 New York Television Festival this upcoming October. So I'll be in New York a year after choosing to attend USC instead of NYU for my graduate film studies. If my pitch goes becomes top 5 I'll receive 20k to make the pilot. 

I also participated in writing competitions over the summer, though decisions haven't been made for most. I sent in a short script to Slamdance's Writing Competition. The first critique sent back to me was well received. This is a competition I'm not expecting to win, but I need to participate in. Writing is a crucial piece of my development as an artist. The best way to hone this craft is writing as much as possible, then allowing your work to be read.

First Critique Sent from Slamdance

I sent in a feature treatment, lookbook, and short script to Break Media's Prototype Competition. Eight chosen filmmakers will receive 20k to make a 5 - 10 minute short film based on their treatment/short script. One filmmaker will be given a deal to make their short into a feature. It's a long shot, but I'm more than willing to give it a chance!

Finally, I was a semi-finalist for a smaller writing competition sponsored by Dreaming Tree Productions. If I had won I would've received a 1k budget, use of a Red Epic Package, 1 Ton Grip and Lighting Equipment, and free editing and color grading of the film. This would've been an amazing win, but I wasn't chosen. Still, the feedback and collaboration with the production company left me with a very polished short comedy script I'll shoot in the future. 

The majority of the post has been geared towards non-production work, but I have been on the ground running. I decided to take the summer off and focus on honing my cinematography skills. This brought a large amount of pressure off my shoulders to direct anything in a small amount of time, freed me to work more on writing, and made me available to work on colleagues' projects. 

Working as DP and Steadicam Operator on set. 

Lighting the scene for a Kickstarter Video

I worked as The Director of Photography on a sets over the summer, and finally got the chance to steadicam operate again. These are a few of the many endeavors I dived into over the summer. I'm finishing my internship with Spiritclips, Hallmark's film production branch and I'll start with Panavision in early September. I'm working towards a dream, and I'll do whatever it takes to succeed.

Superstar Revisited

Nearly a year ago I worked on a project known as Superstar. The music video is finished, and I couldn't be happier with the results.

You can click HERE to read my previous post highlighting the production and my work as Director of Photography. Gifted, the songwriter/singer has worked with artists such as Ne-Yo, Jagged Edge, and Bei Major. He's also performed beside Miguel, Brian McKnight, and Marques Houston. In summation, he's got talent.

This production pushed my knowledge to its full extent, but the experience helped me understand the importance of lighting. Soul, aesthetic, and opinion do not pervade the depths of a camera. It should not dictate the experience. A strong cinematographer does not rely purely on the strength of the camera. They intertwine a mixture of movement, lighting, and placement to capture the director's vision. A cinematographer is a visual storyteller. The camera is his workspace, but light is his foremost tool.

Check out the behind the scenes video to learn more about the cast and crew of the music video too.

Tear It Up

Hard work does not guarantee success, but success does not come without hard work. 

It's been a busy month for me. I'm currently working as Director of Photography on a movie known as Doobie Sampson, I finished my role as DP for The Gifted Music video a few weeks ago, and I just finished shooting a music video as DP for singer, Matt Kabus. I've never been one to rest. I won't be starting anytime soon.

I have been shooting a large amount of music videos, but I haven't been sharing them as frequently as I should. One of my most recent videos was for rap duo, Controversy and Big D. I shot this a few months ago, but never got around to sharing it.  

Controversy and Big D hail from Alabama and currently attend UA. Controversy came in with me during the Fall of 2008. It's been a long time since freshmen year. I would've never begun to imagine I'd shoot a music video for one of the better known rappers around campus.

One of the other reasons I'd like to share this is due to the progression I can see in myself. I'm proud of the work I did on Tear It Up, but I'm proud to say my skills have exponentially risen after shooting the upcoming music videos for Gifted and Matt Kabus.

You can find Controversy and Big D on twitter. You can also find the music video for Tear It Up on youtube.

Superstar

Mission accomplished once again everyone. 

"Gifted Johnson"-Photo courtesy of Sumerlin Photography

I recently finished working as Director of Photography on the music video for R&B artist, Gifted. The guy is an eccentric fuse of positive energy, catchy lyrics, and superb beats. Gifted's songs emanate experience. He has a lengthy songwriting credits, the most notable being Ne-Yo, Jagged Edge, and Bei Maejor. Point being, he understands how to make a hit.

Gifted has performed on staged with Miguel, Brian McKnight, and Marques Houston so his experience within the music industry is extensive and rich with stories of high-profile meetings and hobnobbing with the famous. He has been around the block. After writing and performing for those who have gained notoriety, he wants to build a cult of personality all his own.

The song is called, Superstar. Produced by Bei Maejor, the song retains a flirtatious, and upbeat spirit. It sounds like a song you would constantly turn up when you're listening to the radio. This is where the music video comes in.

Friend and colleague, Micah Russell, pitched the idea. He wanted a music video with influences from a notable amount of current artists including:

Kanye West

Miguel

Fitz and The Tantrums

Usher

Micah's treatment (a write-up of a creative idea for a music video) revealed an interest in mixing various eye-catching colors during performances of the song within a studio (Miguel, Fitz and The Tantrums, and Kanye) while interlacing narrative style imagery from outside locations and clubs (Usher). It became my job to create an atmosphere worthy of each of these scenes.

The first thing I began working on was lighting plans (a floor plan detailing the movement of talent and where lights will be placed to illuminate them) for the entire music video.

These lighting plans encompassed the entirety of the shoot for each day. I set up floor plans for various scenes such as within a club or studio style lighting.

Photo courtesy of Sumerlin Photography

The experience was amazing. Now that my job is done, I'm looking forward to seeing what the editor brings together. Until then, check out this Behind The Scenes video highlighting me as well as my director and other individuals who made the project come together.

And Goodbye

This is it everyone. I'm done with one of the biggest goals I've held since the beginning of this blog. I've finished applying to all of the institutions I'd like to go for a graduate degree in Directing or Cinematography.

If you haven't been with me since the beginning take out the time to read one of my firsts posts, The Graduate School Quest. This was the first time I legitimately looked into pursuing film academia after my time at The University of Alabama. I wrote that on July 14, 2010. It's been over a year since that period in my life.

Honestly, it's amazing to be able to look back and have a record of my thoughts concerning a future I'm now consolidating. During the time I had my eyes set on USC, UCLA, and The American Film Conservatory. Now, the list has expanded to include NYU Tisch School of Arts and Columbia University. It's pretty ambitious and I'm nervous. I didn't apply to a safe school so it is all or nothing.

I should've done so, but for the past four years I've complied with being at a University I was not happy with. Now, as I progress forward I want to be somewhere of my own choosing. I've worked hard and I'm ready for the payoff.

Now that everything is done I'd also like to showcase my latest short film, And Goodbye. 

I directed, DP'd, and edited the short film specifically to showcase to my prospective graduate schools. I also sent my short film Portrait of the Storm as my second visual submission. I consider these two the best work I've done so far. Hopefully, they'll see merit in each of them.

I'd also like to say thank you to a few people who helped put this together. My homeboy Kevyn Bryant (of K.Bryant Photography) helped me find the talent in the film. My producer, Matthew Cocozza, put everything together smoothly. I believe this is the first time I knew I didn't have to worry about the logistics.

 My 1st and 2nd camera operators Greg Kubik and Tyler Plemons did a great job as well George Miller (who acted as our main sound operator and helped me shoot the time lapses earlier this year). The music was scored by Michael Maffei and Sundeep Kapur.

Overally, I'm happy with the final product. I'm already looking forward the next project, but I recently got in touch with Mike Gordon, one of the first people who let me touch a camera. It was amazing to hear him say the growth he's seen in my work has been exponential.

That's all I truly want. To keep getting better.

Be sure to follow Que The Lights on TWITTER and like us on FACEBOOK. 

Campus Moviefest: International Grand Finale

It's an interesting phenomena when you find yourself in a situation which embodies itself as the culmination of an entire year's worth of work. It feels as if I've been gradually building up to the moment I made it back to California..

June 17 passed a few days ago. This marked the one year anniversary of Que The Lights. From the beginning I set a simple, yet honest goal, establish myself as a legitimate filmmaker. What do I mean by legitimate?

Honestly striving to create a powerful body of work uniquely my own. I wanted to produce my own web of artistic design which displays a quality of work capable of standing on its own.

I believe I've done this to a degree. I still have a bevvy of work left to finish, start, and create, but this year has been a significant kick-start. Where I am gives validation to the words I set forth over a year ago.

Two of my films are in competition at CMF's International Grand Finale. The first is "Bottom of a Glass" and the second is "Portrait of the Storm: Tuscaloosa, AL."

"Bottom of a Glass" will be competing in the Best Drama section while "Portrait of the Storm" will be competing in the 3D competition.

Along with my own, others films from Alabama such as "Sugarbaby", "Blue Barry", and "A Certain Woman" will be in competition and screened. You can find more info here.

CMF is also providing student's with another great opportunity, the ability to meet with Hollywood executives, agents, and directors. This does not guarantee any individual a ticket into the inner-workings of the industry, but it does carry the potential of garnering valuable experience when we're thrown into the real world.

This is why they asked us to not only bring our resumes, but be ready to show our demo reel if asked. A demo reel is essentially a compilation of your best work edited into a single piece. It's your calling card to the industry and signifies the strength of your work as a filmmaker.

Check out mine and let me know what you think,


Director/DP Reel 2011 from Xavier Burgin on Vimeo.

This is why this moment truly signifies a round-up of this year. All of my best work tightly wrapped in about two minutes. It seems so small, yet every drop of sweat, long night story-boarding, headache induced irritation via shot listing, and carpal tunnel-esque bout while revising a script is somewhere simmering within this reel forming my hopes for a successful future.

Wish me luck this weekend. Hopefully my work won't need it.