The Quick and Dirty Guide to DIY Moviemaking By Don and Kel Muña 1
BUDGET: $6,000.00, funded by credit cards TOTAL TIME TO PRODUCE: 2 years With over fifteen years of multimedia experience, the Muña Bros. are best known for producing, writing and directing the internationally acclaimed independent feature film, Shiro s Head. The film was crowned Winner of the Silver Ace Award at the Las Vegas International Film Festival, Best of Festival and Best Feature Film at the Sandhills Film Festival, as well as Grand Jury Award Finalist at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. Shiro s Head was honored its European premiere as an Official Selection for the notable Strasbourg International Film Festival in France, The HISTORICA Film Festival in Japan, the Louis Vuitton 28th Annual Hawaii International Film Festival and the inaugural Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival. The cast includes Don Muña, Matt Ladmirault, Aleta Borja, Julius Santos, Dion Lizama, Nick Baza, Justin Mateo, Andy Wheeler, Abel Inocencio and Dianna Ladmirault. The soundtrack includes all original music by Brandon Mayer, Rebel Lion, D.U.B., Brandi Jae Aguon, By Blood, Hymn For The Tortured, Last Minute, Jason J., Virtuoso, Matala and Island Trybe. For more information on the movie and its filmmakers, visit: THE MUÑA BROS. OFFICIAL SITE: www.munabros.com SHIRO S HEAD - THE OFFICIAL SITE www.shiroshead.com WHY GO TO FILM SCHOOL? www.whygotofilmschool.com For complete bedhind-the-scenes commentary on Shiro s Head visit: The Muna Bros. Official Site at: http://www.munabros.com 2
THE PREREQUISITE: NO EXCUSES. JUST DO IT. But before you go pulling out all your credit cards, here are a few things to note: 1. If you don t love it, don t do it, cause it s not worth it. Steve Buscemi 2. If you re in it for the quick money, stop reading this and buy a lotto ticket instead. 3. DIY filmmaking is tough. But here s your chance to step it up, live your dream and separate yourself from all the rest. 3
STEP #1: Plan It (Pre-Production) PRODUCTION VALUE - FIGURE OUT YOUR RESOURCES You could write the biggest blockbuster hit, but if you don t have the budget to back it up, you re only option is to write around your resources. Shiro s Head Fact: We were able to maximize our production value with things we already had. This applied to our equipment and gear as well. We couldn t afford to buy new cameras, so we used our old standard definition wedding video cameras. We couldn t afford real dolly tracks, fig rigs or jibs so we made our own from PVC pipes and aluminum tubing found at a local hardware store. Sure, it all looked pretty ghetto when you saw it in person, but when you see the results on the big screen, you d think we d spent a million bucks. And that s all that matters. WRITE YOUR SCRIPT From Star Wars to Twilight, the structure of a story is this: Act One introduces the main character(s) as well as the hook that sets the rest of the movie in motion. Act Two is the complication of the story in which the main character has reached the point of no return and must resolve the issue at hand. Act Three is the resolution of your story. A good rule of thumb in scriptwriting is that one physical page of written script equals roughly one minute of screen time. Shiro s Head Fact: We knew that we were going to work with non-actors, so we kept the dialogue to a minimum and instead, focused on the visuals and the audience intellect to drive it home. It worked out well because most people at our festival screenings couldn t believe that our cast was made up of non-actors. Don Muña assembles a homemade camera dolly and jib made of PVC pipes and aluminum tubing. Notice in the background the gardening pump used for squibs and work lights used for spot lighting. 4
STORYBOARDING Use this only as a template and don t rely on it. With DIY productions, you can t count on secured locations or even secured talent which leads to tons of things changing on the fly. If you do decide to put a storyboard together and don t have access to actors/stand-ins, use Barbie dolls and a digital camera to get your shot composition down. Shiro s Head Fact: We did this and ended up changing about 99% of it during the actual production. Also, if you re not sure where to put the camera, just watch similar movies and study their camera placements. BEFORE: Using a digital camera for storyboarding during rehearsals. AFTER: While shooting on location, just refer to your digital stills for a general composition. 5
FIND YOUR CAST Hold a casting call. Get the word out on Facebook, MySpace, local colleges, etc. Pin up fliers, call up friends or do what you need to do to get people interested in auditioning for the roles in your flick. If you try it and still don t have a big pool of potential cast members for your movie, then take it upon yourself to go out and look for them. Shiro s Head Fact: we literally just went out and scouted for people that we thought looked great for the part. Yes, people thought we were nuts and yes, we were a bit embarrassed and yes people flat out turned us down on the spot cause they thought we were joking. But we kept at it. We went to clubs, coffee shops, bar-b-q s, etc. and it paid off. The non-actors were invited to a 'meet and greet' and much to the filmmakers surprise, they showed up as promised. Many of them were strangers that were scouted by the Muña Bros. at clubs, coffee shops, bar-b-cues and on the street. They would later become the award-winning cast of "Shiro's Head". LOCATION SCOUTING Public places are always the best locations for DIY location shoots. Just be sure you leave the place in the same if not better condition than when you got there. Is it in the middle of a flight path? Is there construction nearby? Loud traffic or neighborhood dogs? Where does the sun rise and set? Take note of such things when scouting for a potential location. Also, remember to keep things safe. Shiro s Head Fact: We spent about a week scouting locations and for the ones that weren t public, we just asked permission. Be sure to ask nicely and approach them professionally. ;) 6
STEP #2: Shoot It (Production) SHOTLIST & SCHEDULING Get ready to juggle your cast s work/school schedules in order to maximize your shotlist efficiently. This means that you ll be shooting your movie out of sequential order to keep everything productive with little down time. This is where continuity comes in to play. Make sure that you keep track of the actors wardrobe, blocking (the movement of actors), props, etc. Shiro s Head Fact: The baseball field scene in Shiro s Head was a result of five whole nights of shooting due to our continuity screw-ups. REHEARSING AND BLOCKING Non-actors always feel awkward when delivering lines and movement in front of a camera. Take the edge off a bit by taping their rehearsals and playing it back for them. Shiro s Head Fact: The performance of our non-actor Matt Ladmirault improved greatly after watching himself on the screen during playback for the first time in one of our test scenes. DIRECTING NON-ACTORS Treat them with respect and don t waste their time. Keep it simple and to the point. Just break it down to the basics by figuring out each of your cast members strengths and direct it accordingly to each scene. Focus more on facial expressions and subtleties. Shiro s Head Fact: Don would coach the non-actors by acting out the scene first and giving them an idea of what we needed for the scene. Cast member Dion Lizama holds the ladder steady as Don Muña prepares for a shoot with Julius Santos. And remember to at least FEED your cast. It s the least you can do. 7
EQUIPMENT AND GEAR You would have already prepared and planned this out with your shotlist and schedule. Simply bring only what you need to each shoot such as the necessary props, makeup, etc. Be confident in your planning. Perhaps a few good extras to have would be some gaffer s tape, extension cords and some cash for food and drink for the cast and any crew you may have. Shiro s Head Fact: During our initial production phases of shooting, we brought almost all of our gear that included two huge camera bags and tons of unnecessary extras. By the time we found our groove, we were out the door with just our cameras, mics, props and makeup. SHOOTING YOUR SCENES Be confident in your shooting skills! Limit your shooting ratio to at least 3 takes for each shot - any more and you ll be taking valuable time away from your production and adding it to the amount of work you do in post production. Be prepared to improvise a lot! Things hardly go as planned on a DIY shoot. Shiro s Head Fact: Our shooting ratio started at something like 10 takes for every scene. By the time we found our groove, we would get it in about two takes. IN AND OUT OF FRAME TECHNIQUE By allowing your subject to enter the frame from one side and then exit the frame on the other side, you can connect two different scenes smoothly in editing. Shiro s Head Fact: We learned this method from Robert Rodriguez s 10 Minute Film School! B-ROLL and DETAIL SHOTS Random B-roll and detail shots will really save you when it comes time for editing. They can save your scene s fluidity and help the transition of scenes greatly. Skies, trees, surroundings, tight shots of actions, etc. Shiro s Head Fact: When we couldn t shoot any scenes due to conflicting cast schedules, we went out and shot random island scenery that ended up making the final cut of the movie. B-Roll and detail shots will increase your production value and can also enhance your editing by serving as transitional footage between scenes. 8
LOCATION AUDIO One thing audiences won t forgive is bad audio. When recording scenes on location, always get at least 30 seconds of ambient audio at each location. Be sure that when you do record this, everyone must keep completely quiet. This will help smooth out your editing if you need to intercut the audio from multiple shots or do ADR in post. You may also want to record the sound of each action that takes place during the scene (car door opening/closing, beer bottle opening, etc.). This will give you the freedom to manipulate them in post as needed. Shiro s Head Fact: We couldn t afford to hire a boom operator, so we decided to shoot the movie without any location audio and replaced every single sound, including dialogue, in post production. Over 5,000 unique sounds! ACTORS DIALOGUE Use a boom pole for close ups. Use lavaliere mics for wide shots. Or just use a shotgun mic placed on your camera. Shiro s Head Fact: Because we couldn t afford a boom operator, we were forced to bring the entire cast back to record their voices during post production (ADR). NATURAL LIGHTING Nothing beats the sun. Use it to your advantage by shooting interior scenes near large windows. The window serves as a minor diffuser. And it s free. Shiro s Head Fact: Most of the movie was shot using just natural sunlight. Shooting an actor near a window during interior shots will provide evenly diffused natural light. 9
STEP #3: Cut It (Post-Production) LOGGING FOOTAGE Once you ve dumped all your footage into your editing workstation, log all clips and scenes accordingly. Shiro s Head Fact: We used around 79 mini-dv tapes for the total shoot and had to capture it real time. TIMING IS EVERYTHING Editing a movie is like telling a joke. If the timing is off, the punch line goes limp. Feel it out. When in doubt, watch other movies and pay attention to their style and pacing. Shiro s Head Fact: We are also musicians which helped us to understand the general principles of movie pacing. DON T MARRY YOUR MOVIE If there are certain scenes that you shot and you find that they don t fluidly move the story along, get rid of it. Kel Muña editing the animation sequence for "Shiro's Head". Shiro s Head Fact: We filmed a scene that took 12 hours to shoot. It got deleted from the final cut of the movie! GET OUT You ll be editing for a long time, so be sure that you don t burn yourself out on the overall editing of the movie. You need fresh eyes for your edit. Take a break for a day or two and come back for more. Shiro s Head Fact: Even in a tag team effort to edit the movie, it took nearly a year for all post production. 10
CUT FOR MOVIE TIME, NOT REAL TIME Get to the point. Compress the time in your movie for the story s sake, not for reality s sake. Remember that you don t have to show your actors every single movement to get the point across to your audience. Shiro s Head Fact: We watched movies and muted the audio to focus on the cuts. INTERCUT SCENES AND EXPERIMENT The more you chop away at the edits, the more you ll notice other possibilities to help shape your story through editing. Some scenes that are meant to be shown at the end might work better for the movie if you cut them into the middle. Mix it up a little bit and you might be surprised with what you find. Shiro s Head Fact: The initial plan was to place the Legend at the beginning of the movie. Cast member Matt Ladmirault during an ADR session. The DIY setup included thick comforters and a futon to help absorb the audio during recording. 11
ORIGINAL MUSIC This helps to promote new artists. Shiro s Head Fact: Brandi Jae Aguon s Color Blind was recorded in one take just for the movie. MIX CLEAN AUDIO Again, audio is half the movie. Mix it as clean as you can. Listen to similar movies to gauge their background mix, dialogue mix, sound effects mix, music mix, etc. Shiro s Head Fact: During our critical screening, we blew out the sound system at our friend s house with too much low end frequency. Lastly, when all is said and done and your masterpiece is ready for viewing, hold a critical screening. Only invite people who are not attached in any way to your movie. They ll give you the most honest critique and may suggest things that just may help your movie immensely. Good luck and we ll see you at your premiere! A sold-out crowd during the opening weekend of "Shiro's Head". 12