Welcome to the lab, every shoot starts here. Ideas get stress-tested, comedy is sharpened, timing is finessed, rigs get made, practical effects come to life, visual effects get planned, and people watching in from the outside see a grown ass adult acting like a kid with his friends playing with toys.
TIMING TESTS
The first line of defense. Take the script, take a phone, take a friend/family/neighbor/myself, film said script and put it in a sample edit. So much can be learned from this and it’s something that I do nearly on every shoot. Not only does it help understand the comedy within the concept better but it fixes any issues with timing and extends also to capture all the many aspects needed for things like practical and visual effects. I’ve done this with everything from 15-second spots on up to an entire feature film.
PRACTICAL EFFECTS
PROPS / COSTUMES / PUPPETS / RIGS / GAGS… OH MY! God I love this part of filmmaking. Every new concept within this category can make for an amazing project but can also go fantastically wrong if not planned and tested accordingly. And this fabrication portion happening during pre-production is so much fun. Lots of failures and triumphs happen here and it’s one of the most exciting times for collaboration. You’ll see these elements a lot in my work and it’s a big part of my signature as a filmmaker.
VISUAL EFFECTS
VFX, a post-heavy process, really comes down to production and making sure that everything is captured properly. I often mix SFX with VFX, a hybrid marriage of absurdity, so these plans all have to come together perfectly. From previs to working closely with the VFX artists, again you guessed it, lots of tests are needed.
I do this because I’m also an editor, and whether I’m cutting the piece or handing it off, I approach every project with the edit front of mind. Sounds like common sense, but you’d be surprised how often this isn’t the case. It’s all fun and games until you get to the cut and it actually has to work. Both my director brain and editor brain are firing off simultaneously for the entirety of the process. Also my food brain, trying to think about what I’m going to eat for lunch in the middle of all of this.
This was created in the pitching process, a look at how we’d pull off the final gag. Not only did this help guide the final product, but it was also a huge help in casting as we had to bring a leaf blower in and ask the actors to say their lines while being hit directly with the stream of wind. I think most thought we were playing a trick on them until they saw me do the exact same thing in this test.
CASTING
How cool of a job is acting, yeah? I mean they get to play make-believe, transport us emotionally to someplace else, be the human conduit to all of the ideas that have been cooking throughout the process. So finding the right person to be there on camera is key, and it’s a true joy discovering that perfect person for the project and then working with them throughout to help give soul to the project.
IMPROV TO THE FINISH LINE
Now… all the tires have been kicked, the i’s have been dotted, the pasta water has been salted… we’re basically ready. You get it. But being super ready allows for a special type of confidence and freedom to be had on set. When appropriate to the project, I’m much more of a “the script is the guide not the Bible” type of guy. Let’s let some magic happen. Great people, the top of their craft in each department, all coming together to make something that is greater than each individual part could have been. There needs to be flexibility for this to happen and having that solid plan helps us to roll with things and flow with the day. A good plan should never get in the way of a great shoot.
And that's a bit
about my process
Here are a few more BTS videos in case you want to see more.
