Budgets can either protect the creative or strangle it. In my experience, when the numbers are a mess, everything else feels harder: conversations get tense, producers are distracted, and everyone’s just trying to stop the bleeding instead of making the day.

Enter Saturation.io: a cloud-based tool for collaborative budgeting, actualization (“what did we spend vs what we planned”), payments, and expense tracking.

This has been built from the ground up by working filmmakers, for filmmakers. It’s also built to handle teams that need to move fast. You can give department heads, producers, and directors access to the budget and expenses for real-time visibility, so they know what’s going on before it becomes an issue.

Here are some of our personal recommendations…

Start Early in Pre-Production:

One thing I’ve noticed is how much smoother things go when you start building the budget early. In our line producing series, we talk about breaking a script down and calling vendors right away for real quotes.

Nicole Hirsch Whitaker said she spent months in prep just doing research and talking to camera and lighting houses before her crew was even hired, which probably saved her a ton of stress later.

This is where Saturation.io fits in. Bring it in as soon as you start bidding on a job, location scouting, getting quotes, or pricing rentals. If this is all new to you, they have budget templates like AICP, Amazon, Feature Film, Netflix Productions, Music Videos, or tax credit programs. You can add rates for crew, equipment, and vendors right into your workspace as you collect them — day rates, rental packages, even currency-specific pricing — so you’re not retyping everything from scratch for the next project. You can also attach PDFs of quotes right to a contact, so when you need to update numbers or request a new bid, you have the history right there.

Build the budget as you collect info — not two weeks before production. It’s way harder to reverse-engineer a budget once you’re in the middle of a shoot. Shane talks all the time about strong prep being the thing that protects the creative, and this is part of that. Let Saturation live in your workflow from day one so you’re not just reacting to numbers, you’re steering them.

Define Roles Clearly

Inside Saturation, you can assign who “owns” which part of the budget — who enters expenses, who approves payments, who updates rates. That keeps everyone from stepping on each other’s toes. Without that clarity, you’ll end up with duplicate expenses or missed invoices, which is how budgets spiral out of control.

Use It as a Decision Filter

One of the better parts of Saturation is how fast you can see the impact of changes. Thinking about adding a second camera or a Steadicam day? Duplicate the budget, plug in the cost from your saved rate card, and see what happens. It might turn out you can afford it — or that you need to cut something else to make it work. Either way, you’re making choices with numbers, not gut feelings.

Educate the Whole Team

Don’t leave departments out. If cinematography, art, lighting, etc., all understand how budgets work (or see what costs certain gear or crew time), creativity becomes more grounded and resourceful. Because rates and contacts live in one place, it’s easy to give department heads visibility into what things actually cost. If Grip knows the real rental rates for specialty gear, they might choose a smarter substitution before asking for something that blows the budget.

Maintain Transparency, but Protect Vision

The nice thing about having a shared platform is that you can give people the right level of access. Producers and accountants might see everything; department heads might just see their lines and available spend. You can keep sensitive conversations private while still giving the team enough info to plan responsibly.

Reflect During Wrap / Post-Mortem

Shane has often emphasized learning from each project. After production (or even mid-shoot), run reports: what budgeted items went over, what savings were found, what estimates were wildly off. Once the project wraps, you can run reports in Saturation showing where you went over or under and compare those numbers to your original rate cards. This makes the next project’s prep way faster because you’re working from real, updated data instead of just guessing again. Shane’s big on learning from every job; this is an easy way to carry those lessons forward.

Real-World Scenarios: How Saturation Can Save the Day

Sometimes it’s easier to see the value of a tool in action. Or at least, in a hypothetical situation that feels uncomfortably familiar. Here’s how using Saturation.io could have helped.

The Equipment Overrun on a Remote Shoot

Imagine you’re shooting in a remote location. Rentals, transport, crew per diems, meals. Suddenly, you discover that shipping lighting gear up the mountain costs way more than anticipated.

If you used Saturation.io from the start, those costs would have been sitting in your budget already. Because you’d have added the transport rates from your grip truck vendor to your workspace rate card during prep. Your line producer could’ve tagged those costs to the right contacts and flagged the added expense for everyone to see.

Instead of scrambling on set, you could run a quick “what-if” version (called a Phase) of the budget: scale down the gear package, add a pre-rig day to spread out crew hours, or compare the cost of shooting closer to basecamp. The director would have clear numbers in minutes, not days, and could make a call before the first truck leaves the yard.

Mid-Production Change Demands:

Say the director calls for extra coverage, or the weather shuts you down for half a day. With Saturation, you can log that change order in real time, link it to the affected line items, and see the ripple effect on overtime and rentals right there, real time in the budget.

Because your crew and equipment rates were already stored in Saturation, you don’t have to ask production accounting to “run the numbers” from scratch. You just make a new phase of the budget (duplicate), adjust the quantity of hours/days, and see how far you can push before hitting the red.

Then, when you need to trim elsewhere to stay on target, you’ve got a live picture of which departments can actually afford to give something back. That kind of agility keeps morale up, because everyone knows the decisions are based on real data, not gut panic. It helps avoid the dreaded “we tried our best, but we overspent by 30%” moment at wrap.

To be clear: Saturation.io is strong, but no tool is perfect. Based on what Shane’s audience expects, here are some features to check, or what to watch out for:

Customizable Reporting & Exporting

Does it let you export in formats your finance team uses (e.g., PDF, XLS, CSV, or integration with accounting software)?

Yes! You can export custom PDFs, CSVs, import budgets from other software, invite members of your team for access, and Saturation even integrates with QuickBooks.

Offline / On-Location Modes

Sometimes connectivity sucks on location; is there a way to input expenses or approve offline and sync later?

Unfortunately, not yet. The benefit of being cloud-based is that, like QuickBooks Online, nothing will crash, and it’s not locked to 1 computer. Everything is always stored and safe, and accessible whenever you have an internet connection.

Cost of License/Subscription

Ensure the pricing makes sense for your production size. With an annual subscription, Saturation is a lot less expensive than other software licenses.

Security and Permissions Control

Who sees what? Who can edit vs who can view vs who can approve?

The great thing about Saturation is that you can invite others from your team, or department heads, and you can have limited access to specific areas of a budget. You can also invite a producer or accountant to manage project allocation.

Support/Training

Like any tool, you only get out what you put in. Tools with good onboarding, tutorials, or even in-team training will scale much better. Saturation is very intuitive. It feels like Google Sheets, Air Table, or Notion. But it’s designed with filmmakers in mind. They have a library of guided tutorials on their YouTube Channel.

The Bottom Line: It’s A Lot More Than Spreadsheets

Shane consistently pushes filmmakers to do more than just “get the shot.” He emphasizes vision, leadership, technical mastery, and clear communication. A tool like Saturation.io feeds into that ethos: it’s not flashy, but when used well, it enables freedom to make bold creative choices without being blindsided by unexpected costs, time overruns, or miscommunication.

If you’re a producer, director, or someone who wants to spend less time apologizing for missing numbers and more time getting your frames, lighting your scenes, working with your art & camera departments, this is the kind of system that helps you reclaim your creativity.

If you want to take things even further, Saturation also has Saturation Pay, which is included with an annual subscription to Saturation (for US-based, with no extra or hidden fees). This is where it gets really practical. You can issue digital or physical payment cards (P-Cards) to department heads, crew leads, or vendors (within seconds), and they can add them to Apple Pay to start using them right away. When a purchase is made, you can also scan receipts right then and there from the mobile app, categorize transactions, and watch them roll straight into the correct budget line. All in real time.

Need to pay a vendor? You can upload an invoice, send a payment with one click, and even set project-specific spending caps so no one goes over without approval. It basically turns your production bank account into a tool that’s as collaborative as the rest of your workflow. Meaning, you’ll always know where the money’s going while you still have time to course-correct (not after wrap).

Sign up for a Saturation Account!

JENS JACOB, PGA

Jens Jacob, PGA, is a seasoned film producer, founder of Sypher Films/Sypher Studios, and creator of Saturation.io, a platform innovating how productions manage budgets, payments, and financial workflows. He’s produced a diverse slate of films and videos, from music videos and branded content to documentaries and theatricals. His notable works include The Heart of Man, After Death, Please Don’t Feed the Children. Beyond producing, Jens combines creative vision with business acumen: leading teams, securing financing, navigating distribution deals, and developing original content for both features and series (Spreaker Article, IMDPro Profile, Wrapbook Interview, Voyage LA Interview).

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Gimbal Operator Jason Robbins considers the Ronin 4D one of the most versatile tools he’s ever worked with. In the first lesson, Jason shows you how to prepare it for single-operator mode. 

STEP 1: ATTACH A TB-50 DJI BATTERY

First thing, Jason attaches the TB50 DJI Battery by sliding it on the back of the camera. You should hear a click when it’s secured into the lock position. 

STEP 2: ATTACH DJI PROSSD, CFEXPRESS MEMORY CARD (OR EXTERNAL SSD HARD DRIVE)

Next thing Jason does is choose the format he plans to record on. He picks PROSSD made by DGI but he could also use CFExpress cards. The reason Jason goes with the PROSSD is that he wants to record 6K Raw, and that’s the only way to do it. 

To do so, he first opens the hatch door at the side of the camera. Inside, he presses down on a little lever to pop it off. 

Next, Jason takes the PROSSD card reader and rotates it around. 

He advises taking the dummy CF card, sliding it into the slot, and pushing it all the way in until it clicks into place. Then, align the card reader in the hollow area. 

While holding the card reader in place, you will need a 1.5mm Allen tool to fasten it. 

Once tightened, Jason inserts the 1 Terabyte DJI PROSSD into the channel. 

To remove the card, you will need to hold the eject button while pulling the card reader out.

STEP 3: ADD THE LENS 

Before anything, you must install a lens mount. For this demonstration, Jason uses the DJI proprietary DL mount adapter. There are other mount adapters you can use, such as an E, L, or M mount. 

Jason centers the bracket to the top of the lens mount, lining it up with the DJI logo. Then, he rotates the locking mechanism clockwise. 

Once you feel it stop, it’s nice and secure. 

For this demo, Jason uses the DJI 17-28mm T3.0 ASPH PZ zoom lens which features the DL mount. 

It has very little chromatic aberration and it’s a power focal zoom lens, meaning that it can focus at 17, punch in, and still be in focus at 28. Plus, it’s very smooth on the motor. 

To install the lens, line up the red dot to the camera’s red dot and push in, rotate clockwise, and wait for the click. 

STEP 4: ATTACH LiDAR SYSTEM

Now that the lens is installed, Jason next attaches the DJI LiDAR Range Finder. The Range Finder emits pulsed light from the sensor to bounce off an object to measure the distance. 

Note the little silver knob that will slide down the little channel on top of the lens. 

Tighten the knob on top of the LiDAR, take the USBC connector, and attach it to the right-hand side of the gimbal. 

Make sure it’s seated and then use the tightening screw to make sure that it’s fully secured. 

STEP 5: BALANCE THE RONIN 4D

Now that the lens and LiDAR sensor are installed, Jason is going to balance the gimbal. The first thing he does is unlock the Pan, Roll, and Tilt axis. 

1. Unlock Pan, Roll, and Tilt axis
2. Loosen right and left knobs on top to adjust Tilt balance
3. Loosen the knob on the bottom to adjust the Pan balance
4. Loosen the top knobs to balance the Roll axis

After loosening the knobs, it’s out of balance and front-heavy. Jason fine-tunes the tilt balance and locks it in followed by the Pan balance. 

STEP 6: HOLD POWER BUTTON FOR ONE SECOND TO POWER ON RONIN 4D

Now that it’s fully balanced, the gimbal is unlocked, and there’s a battery-powered solution, it’s time to power up the Ronin 4D. To do so, Jason holds down the power button for one second and lets it boot up. 

Jason mirrors the image from the Ronin 4D to the DJI Transmission Hybrid Monitor. 

The gimbal is up and running, it’s unlocked, it’s energized, and it’s ready to go. 

STEP 7: INSTALL LEFT & RIGHT HAND GRIPS

The next step to do is to install the hand grips. There’s a left and a right. So, take the male hand grip and slide it into the Cold Shoe Adapter on the left until you hear the click, and then move the black lever down to the lock position. 

Make sure it’s nice and snug so it doesn’t get loose. Then, do the same thing with the right-hand grip by sliding it into the Cold Shoe and ensuring the black knob is in the lock position. 

Another cool feature with the hand grips is when you press them, you can then move it into the desired position. There are almost 180 degrees of tilt ability and ease, which is fantastic for different shots. 

STEP 8: ALL CAMERA SETTINGS

Now that the hand grips are installed, next up are the project settings, and the time to ensure that the Ronin 4D is ready to shoot in your preferred mode. 

With the 5-inch DJI High-Bright Remote Monitor, Jason can adjust the settings on the camera. 

RECORDING SUBMENU

He next shifts over to the Audio tab to check that both left and right microphones are set to the correct settings. You can also add your own audio input. 

Under the Settings tab, we can change Image Sharpness, Noise Reduction, Record Sound Alert, and Tally Light. 

DISPLAY SUBMENU

Next, Jason navigates to the Display submenu and Exposure Assistant tab. 

This is where you can select the type of exposure assistance you want, like Zebra Stripes, Waveform, or False Color. 

Under the Focus Assistant tab, you can select the PEAK Button Functions and choose between Focus Peaking, Focus Magnification, or LiDAR Waveform. 

Jason notes how the LiDAR Waveform is one of the best features of this system. From the previous menu, he makes sure that he selected LiDAR Waveform and confirmed that it’s also toggled on, indicated by the green switch. 

When Jason exits the menu and switches to the recording screen, notice the waveform on the right-hand side of the screen. 

By lining up the yellow line with the waveform, you can determine whether or not you’re in focus. 

USER SETTINGS SUBMENU

Under the User Settings submenu, you can customize the C1, C2, and the Right Hand Grip Trigger. 

For this project, Jason loaded a user profile called FILMMAKERS_1. 

It has all of Jason’s favorite settings for the project pre-loaded. So, he can load it by navigating to FILMMAKERS_1 and then selecting Confirm. 

The User Profile function is very helpful because you may require different settings for each job or for each scene. You can program them and then reload them quickly at any point in the job. 

STORAGE SUBMENU

Next, Jason is going to format this PROSSD by navigating to the Storage submenu and selecting FORMAT DJI PROSSD. 

As an extra layer of protection, you must tap and hold the Format button. That way, you don’t accidentally format precious media that could cost thousands of dollars. 

SYSTEM SUBMENU

After formatting the card, make sure all of your settings under the System submenu are to your preference. 

If there are major issues with your gimbal, obviously you should power it on and off first to see if that solves the problem. If the issue still persists after a reboot, you will want to do a factory reset. 

Fan Mode is an important setting when in an on set scenario where sound is sensitive. So, if the sound mixer asks you to handle the loud sound from the fan, select Record Low. 

With Record Low, the fans will move at full tilt cooling the system when the camera is idling. Then, when you press record the fans will dial it back so the noise is not as loud. 

Now, if you were to choose Low Noise, the fans would operate on low 100% of the time. Jason doesn’t recommend this option because it could overheat the camera. 

However, for the sake of the demonstration, Jason keeps the fans on Normal. 

LENS SUBMENU

The Lens submenu has three tabs: Focus, Calibration, and Motor. Under the Focus tab, you can select what kind of autofocus mode you want.

The two autofocus modes to choose between are AF and AMF. AF is autofocus and AMF is automated manual focus. 

AMF allows you to interact with the autofocus by inputting your own input into the dial while it autofocuses. 

ROI Mode is also a region of interest because you can choose between Spot, Wide, or Smart. For the demonstration, Jason selects Spot so it’s incredibly precise when he selects an object for ActiveTrack Speed or for Autofocus. 

Under the Manual Focus (MF) Mode Justin selects Distance. If you don’t select Distance, the LiDAR Range Finder will not be able to work. 

The Autofocus (AFC) Sensitivity is set to High. When selecting an object in ActiveTrack mode, you can tell the system how fast to track the object. Jason selects Fast so he can push it to the limit and show what it can do. 

In this section, you can also invert the Zoom and Focus directions on the right-hand knob. 

Right now, the unit is set to Imperial. 

STABILIZER SUBMENU

From the Stabilizer submenu, Justin navigates to the Gimbal Calibration tab and selects Auto Tune. Then, he taps Confirm. 

STEP 9: AUTO TUNE THE RONIN 4D

Make sure the gimbal is on a flat surface, all accessories are unlocked, and the gimbal is energized.

Push Pan and Push Tilt are two other features Jason prefers to switch on. This allows him to force the camera and gimbal into positions by push panning and push tilting. This can help reorient the gimbal quickly without hurting the motors or messing anything up. 

STEP 10: PRESS HORIZONTAL CALIBRATION

After the Auto Tune Jason next wants to perform a Horizontal Calibration. 

Justin selects Horizontal Calibration and then Confirm. 

The only other two adjustments that Jason could make are Pan Adjustment and Roll Adjustment. The point of the Pan and Roll is to find the center. 

So for Pan, Jason confirms that the X9 Gimbal is in line with the top handle of the main body. If for some reason when recentering the gimbal it’s off of that line, then you will need to perform a Pan Adjustment. 

The same goes for Roll. If for some reason when the gimbal is set to center and it is not level, you will need to fine-tune the Roll Adjustment. 

You can also adjust it with the joystick on the top panel controls. 

Right now, it’s on tilt which is the most intuitive way to set it. You can also control Pan, Roll, or Zoom with the top-handle rocker. 

Max Speeds are set at 50, Expo Curve at 25, and Smoothing is at 5. 

You can also invert the joystick direction depending on how you like to fly. 

LEFT HANDLE:

All of the settings are as close to the most optimum place possible. Now it’s time to focus on the left and right handles that control all of these different features and functions. 

On this left-hand grip, you will find the ActiveTrack, Exposure Control joystick control, the trigger button, and a secret button inside with an M on it, which is for Mode and enables Sport Mode instantly. 

SPORT MODE

Sport Mode is a really cool feature that strengthens the gimbal’s motors to the highest value to be as reactive as you possibly can. In Sport Mode, it’s almost one-to-one with your movement. If you want a buttery smooth movement, this may not be the way to operate the shot. But for certain types of shots, according to Jason, it can be the best way to get it. 

MODE BUTTON

If you hold down the inside Mode button, it will enable Sport Mode and immediately engage it as soon as you release it. It will return to the buttery smooth parameters Jason set for the Follow Mode. 

ACTIVETRACK

On the left thumb of the left handlebar is the ActiveTrack button. ActiveTrack allows you to select a point in space where the lens is pointed and automatically track that subject no matter where you move the gimbal. 

RIGHT HANDLE:

The right-hand grip has a Mode Selector tool that toggles you from the Zoom Control in D-Settings. ASA or ISO, Iris, Iris Control, and then Focus. 

PEAKING BUTTON

To the right of the Mode button is a Peaking button that removes the LiDAR Waveform or puts it back on the screen. You can also go into the settings and change what comes up when you tap the Peaking button. You can switch between Peaking, Focus Magnification, or the LiDAR Waveform. 

START/STOP RECORD BUTTON

To the right of the Peaking button is a Start/Stop Record button. When you tap it once, it beeps and the tally light shines on to signify you’re recording. When you tap it once again, the camera cuts. 

Z-AXIS

If you double-tap the right-hand trigger to engage the Z-Axis. The Z-Axis pops up and to disengage it you must double-tap the trigger again.

Before you can engage the Z-Axis out of the box, there is a locking toggle. You must unlock the bottom bracket to ensure that the Z-Axis can safely raise. 

Before turning on the Z-Axis, pick the gimbal up off of whatever surface it’s on and engage it before setting it back down. Try not to block the sensors underneath because you want them to know where it is in space. 

To balance the Z-Axis, use the knob on top in the middle of the Ronin 4D. There’s a plus and a minus. 

Y-AXIS

When the Y-Axis is out of balance, it will display a little graph that tells you in which direction to rotate the knob. This knob adjusts the spring arm to make it perform most optimally for the payload that’s on the arm. 

STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT LESSON…

As of now, Jason rotated the knob and tuned the Z-Axis arm. He’s now set up for success with all the right settings. Here’s a quick recap…

Stay tuned for the next lesson where Jason operates the Ronin 4D out in the field. 

In the meantime, gain access to How To Be a MoVI Gimbal Tech with Chris Herr, along with all our other content by becoming an All Access member today!

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Say you just landed in sunny Los Angeles and you’re ready to launch your filmmaking career. Whether you begin in production or as a camera tech, you need to understand rental house etiquette. That way, you can avoid awkward side glances and earn the respect of your rental house peers. 

If you take anything away from this article, it’s this… Your relationships with rental houses matter! 

Rental houses are a vital link in the filmmaking supply chain. Cinematographers like Shane Hurlbut, ASC depend on their relationships to get reliable gear and collaborate on new ideas. Not only that but you can even work your way from a camera rental house to making a career in cinematography like Michael Dallatorre. 

Keep reading to discover general rental house etiquette in Los Angeles along with other key insights!

• 6 Tips for Renting Equipment from a Film Rental House
• Finding The Frame: Michael Dallatorre

RENTAL HOUSE ETIQUETTE 

While no rental house is the same, there are standard protocols and etiquette that you should know before stepping through the door. Keep these tips in mind be they for production rentals, G&E, art, cameras and lens houses, etc. 

Below are types of rental houses and trusted leaders. 

Production Rental Companies:

• Quixote 
• Apache Rental Group 

Production Vehicle Rental Companies: 

• Galpin Rentals 
• Avon Rentals 
• Sirreel Rentals 

Expendables Companies: 

• Expendables by Cinelease 
• FilmTools 
• Hollywood Expendables

1. WHO IS THE RENTAL AGENT OR POINT OF CONTACT?

When production orders equipment from a vendor, a rental agent or point of contact is assigned to the order. They are responsible for handling possible issues with the order and answering any questions. 

This is an easy one. Even if you rent something from ShareGrid (which you might do on smaller projects), you have the renter’s information to field questions.

2. KNOW WHO MANAGES THE PRODUCTION 

Basically, who are you reporting to? Whether it’s the UPM or a Production Coordinator, make sure you have their phone number. In the event something goes wrong, you will need to handle any such issue by authorizing payments or showing proof of insurance. 

In this sense, you serve as the liaison between the production and the rental house. So, always handle yourself professionally and clearly communicate the issue with your point person to remedy the situation.

3. WHAT ARE YOU PICKING UP? 

Learn about what you are picking up ahead of time to know if you have the right kind of vehicle. You could (literally) come across any situation, especially if working non-union gigs. As a production assistant or set dec, for example, you will handle smaller pickups with your own vehicle. Other times, you might drive a rental van or a three-ton truck. 

If you are just picking up a lens, you know there’s no need for the truck. But if you’re also picking up G&E from Wooden Nickel followed by some gack at Hollywood Expendables, you probably could get away with a van depending on the load. But if your day includes a foliage stop at Green Set then you’ll need to trade in the van keys for the truck. 

Fortunately, the production manager or coordinator (or whoever your point person is) will advise you on the vehicle. That said, take the time to understand the equipment because you may be making plenty of stops on a pickup day. Maximizing your efficiency with each round of pickups is the name of the game.

So, get the rental order in advance and make sure you have the right size vehicle to pick up the equipment. And if you need help with a particularly heavy load, just ask one of the kind rental employees for a hand. 

4. DOES IT NEED PREPPING?

Take into account the time and workload for the prep of a particular piece of equipment or gear at the rental house. For example, the camera department usually preps at the rental house before rolling out on the job.

If you want to master the AC prep process, become an All Access member to watch the complete Camera Assistant Prep course instructed by 1st AC Derek Edwards!

What is your role on the production and will you be a part of that process? If not, get to know who all is involved so you can best facilitate the production.

5. DOUBLE-CHECK THE ORDER!!

Review all equipment listed on the order piece by piece to ensure everything is accounted for. Take the time to do it right, but don’t take too long. In good time, you will pick up speed. 

And if you don’t know a piece of equipment, just ask! It’s best to speak up and confirm everything on the order rather than miss something because you were worried about how you looked asking. Just make sure to see it as a learning experience and know what it is next time around!

The last thing you want to happen is that you show up on the job and something listed isn’t there for the day. If you miss something, you’ll lose time calling your point person and the rental house to troubleshoot. 

6. THE ART OF LOADING

Just as there are many ways to skin a cat, there are many ways to load a truck. Chances are you will witness more ways to secure equipment than you could ever imagine. It becomes a real-life game of Tetris where you ultimately create your own method that is an amalgamation of other methods you saw. 

We don’t have time to explain every nuance of loading but we’ll share a few quick tips. The first rule of loading is organization. The more organized you are, the more space you will conserve and the less of a chance something is damaged in transit. That means keep your ratchet straps and furni pads neatly hung and folded until needed for use. 

Secure all of the gear and equipment to ensure it’s all adequately supported before taking off. You might think a piece of heavy equipment won’t budge but you would be wrong. Don’t find out the hard way; clamp it up. 

If you don’t have ratchets or furni pads, you can pick them up at most rental houses. But if you work on smaller productions, ask the point person if they have their own. If a rental employee is giving you a hand, it’s a good idea to check out their method. 

7. BUILD A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE RENTAL HOUSE

Getting to know the people at the rental houses and building those relationships is absolutely essential. 

In fact, it’s one of the best ways to grow as a filmmaker. These people are crucial to scaling your career whether it be as a cinematographer, producer, director, or anything in between. 

We cannot highlight this point enough. Trusting a group of people who will have your back is essential these days. 

So, start up a conversation, learn their names, and remember them. Take them a box of doughnuts, show them you care, and leave them a treat on the holidays. They’ll be sure to return the favor. 

8. LEARN THE LOCATION OF EACH RENTAL HOUSE

We can thank the film gods for GPS apps like Google Maps and Waze. Although, try not to rely on an app to the extent that it’s a crutch. 

There may be times when you don’t have a charger and your phone dies. You’re pretty helpless if you have no understanding of your surroundings. Get a lay of the land and learn the directions to the rental houses. 

Then, if any equipment is lost or breaks and you need to make an emergency trip to the rental house, you’re a hero. Or, you may just want to plot out your day in the most efficient way possible. You don’t want to drive from Burbank to Pasadena and then back to Burbank. 

So, plan your route in advance and check traffic volume during specific times of the day. If you have multiple pickups, you don’t want to waste time by going back and forth when you could plan your route in advance. 

9. KNOW THE VENDORS

As a new filmmaker, learn the names of the vendors and what they supply. This is something that you can pick up on set. Note that the G&E came from Quixote and the rental truck was supplied by Avon, for example. 

Another reason it’s good to learn is that you can start to associate the brand with the rental and where they are located. Then, if something needs to be swapped out (like in the point made above), you will know what the product is and where to replace it. 

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Join the Filmmakers Academy community by becoming a member today! As a member, you will gain full access to all of our courses, monthly live coaching events, premium podcasts, and our community. 

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Camera Assistant Tip: Remote Follow Focus Systems

In this excerpt from our Prepping Remote Follow Focus course, 1st AC Derek Edwards explains the value of working with handsets like the Arri WCU-4 in real-world scenarios.

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ARRI WCU-4 FEATURES:

The ARRI WCU-4 empowers the camera department and makes your job easier. One such scenario where the WCU-4 handset was essential was on the movie Into the Blue. 

During the underwater cinematography, Derek obviously had to be able to change the frame rate, shutter, and settings. Without the handset, he would have to pull the camera out of the water and then out of the housing. By then, it would’ve been 30 minutes, and then he would still need to ensure the underwater housing still kept the water out. 

According to Derek, the handset saved his life. If you go into the WCU-4 functions, you can see how it controls the brain on the camera. 

When Derek taps the Camera button, it provides details about the camera. 

ACCESS CAMERA SETTINGS: 

1. Tap Camera Button
2. Press Camera Setup

In the Camera Setup, you will find settings like Frame Rate, Shutter Angle, Exposure Index, White Balance, and ND Filter. 

Picking back up from the previous scenario, say the DP looked over at Derek and said, “Hey, go 48 frames!” 

All Derek had to do was tap the Camera button, press Setup, navigate to Frame Rate, and hit Select. Then, he chose his desired frame rate, which in this case was 48 fps.  

You changed your frame rate, now what do you do? 

Change your shutter! So, back out to the menu, select Shutter, and Derek in this instance chooses a 90-degree shutter because he already knows what shutter his DP loves. Same thing goes if Derek needs to add some NDs.

IN CONCLUSION:

In any scenario where you cannot easily access the camera, the handset will absolutely save you. Derek always includes the handset in his toolkit so he’s not running to the camera every 20 minutes to change settings. 

By the time the DP starts talking on his comms and says to change the settings to 56 Kelvin, Derek can quickly do so with the handset. He’s not looking for the DIT or anyone else to figure it out. He has the brains of the camera in his hands and can work as efficiently as humanly possible. 

There have been times Derek was on top of a mountain with a camera 80 feet in the air. In today’s world, there’s no time to bring the camera down to change the settings. Time is precious. 

Remember what Derek always says, “If you never hear the camera department over walkie or out of anyone’s mouth, you’ve done a great job.” 

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Cinematography: Virtual Location Scouting with the Insta360

You’ve probably heard it a thousand times before, pre-production is the most important part of any production. From the location scout all the way to designing the blocking and lighting schematics in the production office, this is the time when you lay the groundwork from which everything else will stand on. If it’s flimsy, everything will implode like a deck of cards. That’s why we embrace new tools like the Insta360 camera that revolutionize our approach to pre-production. 

Below Shane Hurlbut, ASC explains why a 360-degree camera like the Insta360 saves time and money for tech and location scouts. If you’re interested in learning how to properly capture locations with the Insta360 and use that footage to create shot lists, blocking schematics, and lighting schematics, become a member today!

You’re going to learn: The value of a 360-degree camera like the Insta360 How the Insta360 helps you avoid burning a location Insta360 features Insta360 app Insta360 case study

WATCH INTRO TO VIRTUAL LOCATION SCOUTING

Watch a segment from the first lesson of the course, Virtual Scouting & Prep with 360-Degree Camera. Join today to access the full course. 

THE VALUE OF A 360-DEGREE CAMERA:

You might ask yourself why you need a 360-degree camera for tech and location scouts. That is until you realize how much time and money you will save as a result. 

Just imagine all the other areas you can invest your resources that would otherwise go into countless trips to the location — not to mention mounting transportation and production costs. 

A visual, 360-degree reference that you and your team can turn to at any time is an absolute game changer. 

This location-scouting method was first made essential during the pandemic when only a few people were permitted to access locations. At that time, Shane could simply travel to the location with a small party, capture the location with the Insta360, and share it with the other departments.

The Insta360 camera captures all 360 degrees so when walking through a location, you can film the entire area around you. Then, later on, you can navigate virtually through the footage, determine each location’s features, and even get near-accurate measurements. 

Typically, Shane will travel to anywhere between five to 30 locations in a given location scout. After a while, the locations tend to blend together and the photos you take are not typically a failsafe reference. 

The power of virtually tracking through a location allows you to identify things like windows, hallways to stage equipment, outlets on a wall, areas to block shots, along with a myriad of other factors. 

Shane makes sure to film outside of each location, too, in order to showcase the windows for G&E. Not to mention, capturing the area for the cable runs and where the generators could live. Basically, he covers the entire perimeter of any given location, and then he goes up and down multiple stories, if possible.

DON’T BURN THE LOCATION:

One of the biggest challenges for filmmakers is traveling back and forth between a given location. This work is absolutely essential to ensure that the production days run as smoothly as possible. However, you also face the risk of burning the location. 

If you travel to a location with the art department, then the grip department, then the electric department, then the production department, and then you go to create your shot list, it is neither efficient nor affordable. 

Plus, you become more of a burden on the location owner which could lead to additional costs and frustration with the production. At the end of the day, you want to keep the location owner happy and on your side. The Insta360 ideally does just that!

INSTA360 FEATURES:

In addition to shooting 360 degrees, the Insta360 has other features that help it stand out as a virtual camera system. When shooting, for example, there’s no need to worry about the pesky selfie stick obscuring your shot. 

That’s because the Insta360 automatically removes the selfie stick from the shot so you have an uninterrupted view of the room, from the ceiling to the floor and everywhere in between. 

The audio on the camera is also very good so you can articulate any notes or commentary that is useful to a particular location. 

INSTA360 STUDIO APP:

Once you have your footage from the location, you can view and share it with the Insta360 Studio app. This is the part of the process where you educate the production team and department heads. 

Simply open the app to navigate around the virtual location whenever you want. So, when you get that creative itch, dive right into the location and get to work. This flexibility alone has forever changed Shane’s creative approach, giving him extra breathing room to plan shots and really push the boundaries of what’s possible.

Technically speaking, say you’re uncertain you can get a jib arm in the room. Or maybe you want to see if a condor will fit in the backyard. Even when it comes to transportation, is street parking available? Can you fit all the trucks? Where’s the best area for base camp? Now, you can assess all the variables at hand at any time. 

To really cement the process, Shane also logs this information into his Sun Path app. That way, he knows exactly where the sun will be when shooting.

INSTA360 CASE STUDY:

Shane first pioneered the Insta360 camera system while location scouting for the Disney+ movie Safety during the pandemic. It was up to him to keep all of the departments on the same page, and the Insta360 made virtual location scouting possible. 

A majority of the filming took place in Atlanta. However, they had about five days at Clemson University which is a two-hour drive from the city. Instead of putting together a whole transportation team with all the department heads (which also includes stops for meals), Shane was able to travel with just the director, 1st AD, and the art department head. 

They observed the locations they wanted to shoot, including the stadium, weight room, library, and campus green area. While there, Shane pulled out the Insta360, put it on the selfie stick, and walked every location.  

They also filmed a drone shot that captures the area from the sky for a bird’s eye view. 

Afterward, Shane guided the virtual tech scout with an 80-inch monitor in an amphitheater during a production meeting. If someone wanted to see a particular area, Shane would rotate around, navigate to the place in question, and zoom in, if needed. 

He could pause it, take measurements within the app, and outline the logistics. By the end, they could see everything from what streets they needed permits for to where they would place the condors. 

Did they have to return to the location for the tech scout? Sure. But they didn’t need to return three or more additional times. The logistics were already in place. And since they had an initial reference, they could move in and out of the location in under six hours. So, ultimately, the scout was more effective and less expensive. 

IN CONCLUSION:

By using a 360-degree camera, you can conduct virtual location scouting and easily share with all the departments for reference and to ensure everyone is on the same page. This saves time and money for production while also ensuring that you don’t burn a location. 

Then, you can conduct a virtual tech scout anytime you wish and create your shot list when you feel the most creative. Scouting locations virtually stimulates collaboration and creates the best conditions for success!

We’ve got a special deal for our readers. When you buy the Insta360 X3, you get a free invisible selfie stick (valued at $24.99) for free!

Access the full lesson and course by becoming a member today!

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UNLOCKED: How To Program the Iris: Preston FIZ

1st AC Derek Edwards shows the details in the handset that you need to optimize the Preston FIZ. You can add a single channel to the mix which takes over the iris so the director of photography can view it in the video cart. 

Let’s get into programming… 

You’re going to learn: How to calibrate the iris on the Preston FIZ handset How to calibrate the handset by matching stop points To make sure the MDR and handset are on the same channel How to mark and label rings

STEP 1: CALIBRATE IRIS BY PRESSING CALIBRATE ON MDR

Derek goes back into the menu and affirms that the lens is already up. He chooses the lens and selects Edit Lens. He then chooses Calibrate Iris and taps OK. 

From that point, go into the handset and it is preset with all of the stops on your iris. 

STEP 2: CALIBRATE THE HANDSET BY MATCHING STOP POINTS

Derek calibrates the iris. The handset is looking for a 1.5 but there is no 1.5 on the lens, so he takes it to the closest mark, which is a 2. 

Then, it tells Derek to go to a 22 and sets the iris. He then takes it back to infinity on the lens and calibrates it. Derek checks to ensure that it is reading his iris from a 2 to a 5.6. 

PRO TIP: On set, Derek uses a piece of tape to label all of his iris stops.

STEP 3: MAKE SURE THE MDR & HANDSETS ARE ON THE SAME CHANNEL

Derek powers up his single channel. 

Derek realizes that he is on the wrong channel. To make them work together, he will next put them on the same channel. 

As you can see, the channel for the MDR and hand unit is on the back and the side.

It reads at Channel 36. So, Derek must plug that number in for the handsets and units to work. It already reads Channel 36 on his hand unit.

Now, Derek will change the channel on his unit to 36.

Then, the link pops in and takes over so now Derek has iris control. 

STEP 4: USE TAPE TO MARK YOUR UNMARKED RINGS

The ring Derek has is not pre-marked. So, Derek pulls his ring off the handset and takes a piece of tape. 

Then, take your tape, set it to the ring, and lay it nice and neat. 

PRO TIP: You probably won’t need the full width of the tape. Make sure the width approximately matches the width of the ring.

If you want to change directions, pending on your DP or DIT (whoever is controlling the iris), you can also return to the MDR. 

Derek demonstrates what the motor does so you can see for yourself. 

He presses it once and then twice. You can see that the iris flipped direction and recalibrated the iris. 

As Derek calibrates his widest lens to close, it’s a natural turn on his knob. 

STEP 5: LABEL LENS STOPS ON THE RING

At this point, you’re not done. Next, you help out your DIT by labeling the lens. Derek goes down the line, starting with a 2 and continuing to 2.8, 4, 5.6, etc. Then, of course, make sure to include little hash marks. 

By now, you have self-marked the lens. You can do this on focus or iris on your hand unit. For focus, you can mark your own lenses either way or get pre-marked iris rings. 

PRO TIP: Pre-setup at prep so every lens is ready to go. On many sets, the rings don’t match so it’s best to save yourself time and a headache by labeling the rings in prep.

Upgrade to an All Access membership in order to get the complete lesson and Follow Focus System: Preston FIZ course!

Follow Focus System: Preston FIZ

Master the Preston FIZ Follow Focus system!

• 4 Lessons
• 30+ minutes of instructional videos

Follow Focus Systems: Preston FIZ explores the finer details of the follow focus which Key 1st AC Derek Edwards equates to his old ‘95 4Runner because it’s always dependable.

From inside the prep room, Derek demonstrates the Preston FIZ and how to calibrate it with your lens, recalibrate when you swap a lens, program its iris, and calibrate specifically for a zoom lens.

• Detailed Written Breakdowns
• English Subtitles

Module 1 — Preston FIZ Focus System

• 01-How to Calibrate Preston FIZ Remote Follow Focus System
• 02-How to Swap a Lens and Re-Calibrate the Preston FIZ
• 03- How to Program the Iris of the Preston FIZ
• 04-How to Calibrate a Zoom Lens with the Preston FIZ

Access the complete course to learn how to calibrate and program the Preston FIZ!

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CONFLICT RESOLUTION:

Realistically, you can prepare for the production as best you can but at some point, you will have to deal with some unforeseen variables. What happens if something goes down on set in the middle of all the action?

Jamee notes that this is where you need to utilize the conflict resolution skillset. 

Conflict resolution has three parts to it: 

• Money
• Communication
• Respect 

MONEY

Everyone has a very specific relationship with money, from their personal set of experiences all the way down to what information they’re receiving while on set. 

COMMUNICATION

As a producer, it’s your job to communicate the monetary needs to each department in a healthy and respectful way. Try to make it a win-win situation between you and the other person. 

RESPECT

Both you and the other filmmakers enter a “conflict” knowing that you want to win. In the end, you both have a like-minded goal – an amazing final product. In order for that, you must have respect for the other person and give them time to communicate their thoughts and/or feelings and solutions to a problem.

Ultimately, understand that time is money. A situation or conflict that occurs on set in the heat of the moment costs both time and money. That’s why it’s very important to take the time to develop your conflict resolution skillset. 

The three points of money, communication, and respect lead to the building of trust. 

When working with a team, you want to be able to build trust with them. As the leader, you’re here to serve, support, and honor them. However, that also works the other way around. You want your team to also honor the decisions that you’re making, and trust that they’re the right decisions. 

PRODUCERS SET BOUNDARIES:

You are going to make mistakes. Nobody’s perfect. And it’s completely okay to make mistakes. The most important lesson here is to remember to be resilient and stay focused on the end goal. If there are obstacles, then find solutions. Failure is part of the journey to success everyone must endure. A big part of that is setting healthy boundaries. 

For example, say you’re in a situation that’s hyper-creative and last minute. All the people are trying to come up with some cool things to add to the scene, which happens all the time. 

However, something seems a little bit unsafe. Or, maybe something seems like you’re not going to have the time to put into it or you’ll go over budget. You must have the strength to listen to your gut and speak up and say, “Hey guys, appreciate your ideas. Don’t think we’re going to make it in time.”

Halsey’s ‘If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power’

Set boundaries with your creatives. At the end of the day, Jamee explains, the producer is responsible for overseeing and organizing the entire production from legalities to financial decisions to some creative decisions. 

It’s important for the producer to be mindful, understand the overall scope, and make sure that it’s all balanced. 

HIRING CREATIVES:

In order to succeed as a producer, you must understand how to hire effectively. Not only are you hiring for their skillset, but you must make sure to assess qualities like interpersonal skills as well as the tools and equipment they need to do their job well. 

Jamee advises that it’s crucial to create an experience and team that feels safe for all. It’s important to establish trust and expectations through an open line of communication. 

IN CONCLUSION:

If you want to be a good producer, says Jamee, you gotta love what you do. And if you love what you do, you’re going to put your whole heart into something. You’re going to really focus on executing and building upon your skillset. 

A large part of that is advancing your communication skills. Establish trust. Be fair but firm. Show that you are all on the same team with the same goal in mind. If you respect them, they should respect you. And if not, then be sure to hire creatives with the interpersonal skills to succeed. 

Sometimes you will fail. But it’s the journey and the lessons learned through failure that make you a master at your craft.

Meet Filmmakers Academy Producing Mentor Jamee Ranta

With her keen eye for innovation, Jamee Ranta produced dozens of award-winning music videos and commercial spots. Ranta is GRAMMY-nominated for her work producing Justin Bieber’s music video “Peaches.” She also manages up-and-coming LatinX star Natalie Paris.

Known for her work as a music video producer with clients including Justin Bieber, Halsey, Kendrick Lamar, Bon Jovi, Cardi B, Selena Gomez, J. Balvin, Demi Lovato, and Jennifer Lopez, Ranta brings cutting-edge tools and top-of-the-line production value, maximizing the output and outreach for all her clients.

Ranta executive/produced Halsey’s full-length feature film If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, a genre-bending film scored by Halsey’s latest album of the same name and directed by Colin Tilley. The film premiered in IMAX theaters, selling out its limited global premiere run before becoming available on HBO Max and other major streaming platforms.

LEARN HOW TO PRODUCE LIKE AN EXPERT!

The post Rules for Success From a Movie Producer appeared first on Filmmakers Academy.

Find Your Director Inspiration

You may be surprised by what you hear. For instance, directors can reach far outside the bounds past filmmaking inspiration. Directors could find inspiration from paintings, photographs, architecture, designs, and anything that sparks that nugget of creativity.

Now, here’s the important part. Set aside a little time each day to seek out inspiration. Inspiration comes from letting your mind wander past previously unchartered territory. If you plan for it, there’s a better chance that you will stick to your goal.

Commercial Directing Master Class

In Filmmakers Academy’s Commercial Directing Master Class, director Jordan Brady reveals the crucial steps to take to become a working director. You will learn to build and manage your career as a filmmaker for major brands and advertising agencies.

Brady reveals how to get hired as a director followed by how to navigate pre-production, production, and post-production, using his own work as case studies to facilitate the learning experience. You can expect to learn the ‘Brady Method’ of casting, how to manage pre-production meetings, the Rules of Engagement on set, how to manage your crew, work with actors, and much more.

About Filmmakers Academy Mentor Jordan Brady

Jordan Brady directed four narrative feature films, three full documentaries, and over 1,200 national & regional commercials, as well as Maria Bamford’s acclaimed Netflix Comedy Special. Working with advertising campaigns for brands and agencies all over the world, Brady directed industry giants from comedy stars Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, Keegan-Michael Key, and Rory Scovel to pop icons Arnold Schwarzenegger and country music legend Brad Paisley; plus, he has directed campaigns starring actresses Kathryn Hahn for Chrysler and Lamorne Morris for Buick.

Follow Jordan Brady

• IG: https://www.instagram.com/thatjordanb...
• Website: https://jordanbrady.com/

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WATCH UNLOCKED LESSON:

FOCUS ASSIST COLOR:

Derek prefers to have his focus assist color green because it peaks nicely, and the color is easier on the eyes than red. With red, it feels like the color is bleeding everywhere.

Notice the bleeding of the red focus assist

When choosing the color of your focus assist, it helps to choose a color that isn’t common around you. For instance, green focus assist may be difficult to look at if you’re outside surrounded by green nature.

THE THREE PLANES OF FOCUS & FOCUS ASSIST SENSITIVITY:

For focus, Derek finds that people look at three planes: ears, eyes, and nose. So, pay attention to the focus in these areas. To help you with your pull, you can use various tools on the monitor such as the focus assist. Adjusting the sensitivity of your focus assist can help you with your pull/push.

If your focus assist sensitivity is set to the highest setting, there will be more edges highlighted with the focus assist color and it will look like everything is in focus. Situations with less movement make it difficult to see what specific parts of your object or talent are in focus. 

Notice with the focus assist sensitivity all the way up, it’s difficult to tell what is in focus.

In situations with talking heads and less movement, it helps if the sensitivity of the focus is turned down. That way, there is less focus assist color distracting from the image. You can seamlessly pull to the point of focus, rather than dealing with a frame that’s entirely lit up by the focus assist color. 

If your talent is moving a lot, it is better to have a higher focus assist sensitivity. While working on The Babysitter, Derek liked to have his focus assist on his Small HD DP7 monitor set around a 7 because it allowed him to feel the movement of the actors.

FOCUS AND STORYTELLING:

As a focus puller, you guide the audience’s attention to certain actors or objects. A lot of the storytelling is guided by where the focus lies in a scene. It’s the 1st AC’s responsibility to aid in storytelling and not detract from it. Missed focus can completely ruin a scene. With today’s focus monitors, there are many tools that can help assure the focus is where you want it. If the settings are dialed in correctly, focus peaking, focus assist, or pixel zoom can really help you pull focus.

Remember that focus is a big part of the image. If it wasn’t for someone pulling focus, every image would be soft. Take your time to learn the lens, how it breathes, how it works, and how it reacts in different environments. Just like every other position in the industry, it’s a process and you will continue to learn as you go. 

Now get out there and practice!

HOW TO SET UP YOUR FOCUS MONITOR:

• The focus monitor is the eyes of the camera:

• • Focus pullers can manipulate the audience with focus by guiding them where to look. 
  • Take time to see how focus can craft different narratives and tell a story. 

• Using focus peaking can be a great tool for set:

• • Make sure to dial in your focus peaking to fit the scenario that you are in. 
  • Don’t rely on focus peaking being set to the proper settings when turned on. Test it and figure out how it works for you. 
  • Peaking that is green can work better than red for extended periods of time. On the SmallHD DP7, the red tends to bleed over the image.

• Setting up your focus tree to your liking is absolutely important:

• • Not every camera assistant is the same. Some use the same tools; some have different methods; some don’t even want a tree. Make sure you dial in your focus monitor setup to keep you working efficiently on set. 
  • Find the right focus monitor for yourself and always consider the size of the monitor. Too big can be hard for your eyes to focus on the whole image. Too small can be strenuous for your eyes. 
  • Remember that your want your focus tree to be as mobile as possible. Don’t build something that is inaccessible or hard to move with one person. Your job is to be on your toes and ready to go for whatever is thrown at you. 

• Take the time to understand the three points of interest on a subject’s face:

• • From the ears to the eyes to the nose. These are going to be your three points of interest. 
  • Unless directed otherwise, your point of critical focus is always going to be the subject’s eye. From there you have a plane of focus between the ears and the nose. This plane is good to establish when setting your focus peaking. 

• Setting your focus monitor to B&W or Color can give you widely different results when focusing:

• • It’s considered that a B&W image is better for focusing because you can see the contrast of the image. 
  • Consider being outside in a green field and you are trying to focus with green peaking. 99.99% of the time, we can’t combat the colors of the world. Utilizing B&W helps suppress any confusion with color in the focus monitor.

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FILMMAKERS ACADEMY: Can you tell us what sparked the idea for If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power? At what stage of the project were you brought on and was this always intended to be an album-film?

JAMEE RANTA: Luckily, we were brought on from the very beginning. It was conceptualized and written by “Ash” Halsey (Ashley Nicolette Frangipane) and it was supposed to be eight music videos. Then, her manager and I were talking – they had met up with IMAX and I also had a connection with IMAX – and he said what if we turn it into a feature film? So, the conversation eventually turned to, ‘Okay, how are we going to shoot it? Is it going to be a musical? What kind of a film is this?’ And it ended up being a feature film with her album as the soundtrack of the film. I’m really grateful for how it all turned out but it wasn’t always meant to be that way. It was supposed to be eight music videos and that’s how it was contracted.

FILMMAKERS ACADEMY: Since Halsey wrote the film, what was her inspiration? Were the eight music videos originally set in the medieval era before it was decided to adapt into a feature film? Or, was it the result of the creative process after the fact? 

JAMEE RANTA: I think Halsey always wanted to do something medieval. So from day one, I was asked to start looking at location options where we could shoot in a castle. She really wanted to do something that was a period piece. She’s really into a lot of medieval art. So, I looked at castles in Croatia, Ukraine, Prague, France, and London. And we ended up shooting in Prague with my dear friend Lida Ordnungova, who I have worked with before. I just felt like their team was incredible and I was already familiar with them.

I knew that it was going to be a difficult task to achieve so I wanted to be with someone that I felt safe with. Plus, they have incredible locations and castles. So, it just seemed like a no-brainer to shoot in Prague. I was able to present all options and then convince them that Prague was the go-to location for this project.

Courtesy of Jamee Ranta

FILMMAKERS ACADEMY: As the executive producer, what does If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power mean to you? After the idea for it was conceptualized, what about the project directly inspired you? 

JAMEE RANTA: After having a couple of conversations with Halsey, her manager, and then our director Colin Tilley, I was really interested in the styling aspect of it, from the color palette to emotive characters. It was very important for me to also make sure that the cast was very supportive of Halsey as an actress as this was her debut acting job. In addition to her being an artist, she’s an incredible filmmaker. She’s a makeup artist; she did all of her own makeup, and I’m just overwhelmingly impressed by her artistic capabilities in all types of mediums. She even painted some of the paintings in the hallway of the film herself. So, it was really, really, empowering – the work that she puts into her project – and I wanted to match that effort on her behalf. 

I wanted to make sure that the cast had really strong expressions and that the wardrobe was also strong and able to support her vision and complement her beauty and expression. The goal was to try and find characters that were diverse in ethnicity, size, and age – but most importantly – have really strong facial features. So, like deep curves, crevices, jowls, brow lines, deep inset eyes, spaces between teeth – all types of things to make an incredible piece.

Courtesy of Jamee Ranta

FILMMAKERS ACADEMY: What did you want the audience to take away from this film? It conveys themes like love, the power of women, strength, and fearlessness, while also tackling heavier subject matter and imagery that focuses on the human body and motherhood. Can you speak about the unified message that Colin, Halsey, and yourself wanted to communicate to the audience? 

JAMEE RANTA: The ultimate takeaway is that you can experience feelings of pain and strife and sadness and anger and regret and loss while also experiencing love, wholeness, pureness, beauty, and an emotional experience of living in two spaces simultaneously. Especially as a woman. One of the things that we wanted to get across was how Halsey said how she wants to have a child and be a mother and do all the very feministic things that women do by nature with our bodies and how we communicate with the world. But at the same time, she is this powerhouse and has certain expectations. As both a business owner and a female who is in a very similar situation, I really resonate with that.

FILMMAKERS ACADEMY: Your team did an amazing job capturing these themes, not only in the writing but the imagery as well. Since this was the first time you did the IMAX delivery pipeline, what was it like handling a project with those technical logistics? How did you prepare with cinematographer Elias Talbot going into principal photography? Was this the first time that you had to manage something this large?

JAMEE RANTA: Yes, this was the first time that I’ve managed something on this scale. Working with IMAX was a dream. I’ve worked with them at the very beginning of my career as a camera intern on IMAX 3D Hubble, which is a space-themed film that premiered at science centers across the United States. This was kind of like a full-circle moment for me in my career – to be able to shoot on IMAX.

Even more importantly, to work with our post team and our post house, working with IMAX in the delivery formats, and learning how to deliver things internationally; and the whole process of closed captioning in multiple languages; and then also the quality control (QC) phase where we had to make sure that every frame looked incredible. That’s something we had to keep in mind from pre-production all the way through post-production, because while you might see something on a monitor as the DP or as a film director, it’s going to be blown up six stories high in an IMAX frame. So, we really needed to pay attention to detail, pay attention to exposure, pay attention to framing.

A lot of our typical formats go to the internet or go to people’s cell phones. Now, even though it goes to the internet and cell phones, we still shoot in 4k, which is great quality for those types of devices. However, when you’re shooting in IMAX, it’s a very different experience.

Courtesy of Dani Vitale

FILMMAKERS ACADEMY: What were some of the preparation that you did with Elias and Colin per the scope of this project? For instance, you knew you were shooting with larger camera systems. 

JAMEE RANTA: We shot on the Alexa 65 and so we went to Arri for our camera tests. And then we went to the IMAX theater in Marina Del Rey, Playa Vista area, and we would review the tests. I was the subject. And we tested the lighting, we tested the different frame rates, and we tested the camera and different exposure settings. We also tested the depth of field in those environments because another thing to consider when shooting in IMAX is that the focus is hyper-sensitive. It might look like it’s in focus on the director’s monitor, but it’s going to need to be perfectly in focus for a large format in order to tell the story appropriately.

Courtesy of Jamee Ranta

FILMMAKERS ACADEMY: What was it like shooting overseas in the Czech Republic and trying to execute such a large-scale vision? 

JAMEE RANTA: This is not the first time I shot in the Czech Republic. I shot there several years prior and I am very much an international producer. I’ve shot in so many different countries and each country has its own unique set of strengths and weaknesses in terms of filmmaking and crews. I thoroughly enjoy shooting overseas because when you shoot in another country, especially a country like Prague, there’s a different structure in the way that they run their sets. And I like the variety of personalities and the variety of roles and the way in which they approach things is different than the typical union-Los-Angeles-studio-Hollywood-production-way of doing things.

However, I will say I do appreciate every country’s level of safety, and how they operate with their teams. I think that’s a universal thing that I’m realizing is that every country values its crews, and every country is extremely safe with how they go about running their sets. 

FILMMAKERS ACADEMY: What were the big differences or challenges of shooting stateside versus filming abroad? 

The unique thing about this experience was that the country was technically completely shut down due to COVID. You couldn’t even drive on the highways without a permit, so we had to get special access for our 20-person crew. There were only three of us filmmakers and then the rest of it was Halsey’s team, her wardrobe, makeup, behind-the-scenes, and so on. But for us, it was 20 personnel that flew from the United States over to the Czech Republic that needed very special visas and special permission just to be there. And we were able to push that through by a miracle.

Then, in addition, we were able to get our permit passes for our transportation team to permit us to and from the set. To be honest with you, the castle location that we shot at would not have been available had the country not been shut down, because its main bread and butter is tourism. And they do a lot of tours throughout the day. 

FILMMAKERS ACADEMY: What were your favorite parts of shooting overseas?

Since the country was in lockdown, they were able to shut the castle down for, I think, 11 days straight. So, we were able to shoot in this castle, live and breathe there from the 11th century with priceless works of art that we were able to use and get permission and releases for. And that’s rare; very unheard of in filmmaking. So, the whole thing was a wonderful experience – equally wonderful and stressful at the same time. So that’s something to be said that ties in with the theme of the film itself. 

We were put under these crazy, ridiculous circumstances with COVID and with Halsey being pregnant, and with it being below freezing at the beginning of the shoot. COVID was a challenge in and of itself with the number of cast members and horses and animals. Everyone had to go through extreme testing, quarantine, and we had to provide food, water, shelter, testing, medical assistance, warmth, and everything for people during their quarantine. So, it was quite the production.

FILMMAKERS ACADEMY: How long was principal? And was it hard getting a lot of these variables into play and off the ground? When did you shoot the project?

JAMEE RANTA: We shot this in 2021 – actually March of 2021. So, one year ago.

FILMMAKERS ACADEMY: And how many days was principal?

JAMEE RANTA: I think it was 16 days.

FILMMAKERS ACADEMY: That’s really good. Was it hard getting the ball rolling to get the production going? Or, were you surprised with how easy some of these variables came into play once you got into the Czech Republic? 

JAMEE RANTA: Once we knew we had access to the Czech Republic and access to the locations, then everything kind of fell into place. So it was really nice to have, like I said, Lida and her team and all the support I knew that they’ve given me before. I was like, ‘Guys, this is going to be an intense challenge. This is not going to be easy, but I know that if we can all really plan this out and structure it accordingly, it’s going to be worth it.’ So, there was a lot of heavy planning.

We didn’t have a lot of prep time. I think we prepped the entire film in three weeks – and that accounts for the challenges of it being international with that many background [members], that specific wardrobe, COVID, and pregnancies. When you work with a pregnant woman, she can only work so many hours in the day. So, then, we had to fill up the rest of our shoot days with any sort of reaction shots and the things where Halsey’s not in the frame. We also had a body double that we would use occasionally for shots from behind, over-the-shoulder (OTS) shots, stunts, and whatnot. 

Courtesy of Jamee Ranta

FILMMAKERS ACADEMY: Our audience is mostly comprised of filmmakers who work on projects like commercials and narrative films. Can you speak about the general differences when it comes to working with record labels as opposed to studios?

JAMEE RANTA: One of the main differences for music videos is that they’re work for hire, like a commercial. That’s because it’s considered marketing for the artist and their song, so you don’t own the rights to anything. That’s the tricky part. So while it was a blessing to be able to make this film, it was not the initial intention. And it was contracted work for hires music use.

On the narrative side of things, filmmakers get points on the back end of sales, ticket sales, streams, and so on. So, there’s the difference there. And then in terms of working with music video or label side of things, they do things so quickly and rushed, whereas narrative has a lot of prep time. They’re quite rushed at their marketing processes for various reasons. A lot of times things are prepped in a very short amount of time with high expectations and with high art concepts and major artists as the star. So, it’s a bit more tricky in terms of production. 

FILMMAKERS ACADEMY: What’s the difference between producing music videos versus movies?

I personally think that a lot of filmmakers will look at a music video and be like, ‘Okay, but that’s a music video. Can you do a movie?’ And it’s like, no, but can you do a music video? Because I’ve worked with A-listers who are trying to do a music video and then I’ve worked with music video teams who are trying to do narratives. There are many ways that the mediums crossover.

However, I do think they’re very different. It takes a very specific type of person to be able to pull music videos off so smoothly and successfully with minimal prep. You’ve got to have a lot of experience and a lot of connections and understand systems, structures, and logistics, as well as have problem-solving skills in order to pull off music videos seamlessly. Especially with the amount of time that they give you and then be awarded for something like that. Or, to be publicly acclaimed for something like that. And I find that there’s a lot of value in the hustle and in the grit of what it takes to do a music video versus narrative pieces.

FILMMAKERS ACADEMY: It really shows with the final product of If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power. Especially when considering that you only had a three-week window for prep, working internationally in the Czech Republic, and all of the moving pieces that you outlined. This is very good for producers to understand, especially the newcomers. 

JAMEE RANTA: And the problem-solving. When mistakes are made, own them and move forward with another option.

FILMMAKERS ACADEMY: The limited run of the film sold out in over 70 theaters around the world, breaking nearly $1 million at the box office. Did you expect this level of success and positive reception, especially during the pandemic? 

JAMEE RANTA: I absolutely did not have any expectations of something like that, especially considering there was the pandemic. So, to see theaters opening worldwide and to be sold out was wild and I got the opportunity to go to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and watch the film on the premiere, opening night. And then I got to go again a couple of days later, and I just kind of sat there. When I walked out of the theater, I listened to the crowd and the things that they were saying. I had no idea how invested her fans are – extremely invested and loyal – and to her story as an artist. They could kind of see some similarities in the film and they were putting things together and asking each other questions. That’s what filmmaking is about. It’s asking questions. How does the film affect the audience? 

This piece is something very different. I don’t know if you can quite fit it into one genre. It’s a bit of a horror film. It’s kind of like a big, long music video, but no one’s singing along to it. So, it’s not a musical. It’s an hour-long, but it’s not your typical length of a feature film. And it’s definitely longer than a short film. There’s not a whole lot of dialogue. It’s mostly music-driven. So, I haven’t really seen anything quite like it or created anything quite like it before. I’m not exactly sure how to categorize it or put it into a box. But with all those things being said, to see how it affected the audience, that was my joy.

Courtesy of Jamee Ranta

FILMMAKERS ACADEMY: That’s an incredible achievement in and of itself. I would love to know what the biggest lesson or takeaway that came from this project for you as a producer.

JAMEE RANTA: I’ve done pyrotechnics – lit things on fire – I’ve worked with animals, worked in other countries all over the world, but the one thing I never really got a hold of was the distribution element. The distribution of a film and how to distribute it and the process of how a film gets into AMC theaters for theatrical release was something new. I’ve packaged many features, worked in different states in terms of film incentive programs, and I’ve bid things out, but the distribution element is the most important part. If you make a film and no one sees it, what’s the point? So, it was really an honor to learn every intricacy of how to not only distribute a film in theaters but also distribute a film internationally in theatres in IMAX using Dolby Surround Sound, which is 12.0 mix. That experience meant everything to me.

FILMMAKERS ACADEMY: I can only imagine what the distribution process is, especially using IMAX and navigating those waters. It’s really incredible. What advice do you have for producers that are new to the craft or entering their first big project? 

JAMEE RANTA: My advice would be to understand that you’re going to fail multiple times. And that how you respond to failure is going to determine your success. So, you need to have the bravery to get out there and take on projects. And when you come across a mistake, own it, learn from it, and find the solution. That’s the most important thing. I think that a good producer has the humility to own their mistakes and to move forward.

Courtesy of Jamee Ranta

Meet Producer Jamee Ranta 

With her keen eye for innovation, Jamee Ranta produced dozens of award-winning music videos and commercial spots. Ranta is GRAMMY-nominated for her work producing Justin Bieber’s music video “Peaches.” She also manages up-and-coming bilingual pop star Nathalie Paris.

Known for her work as a music video producer with clients including Justin Bieber, Halsey, Kendrick Lamar, Bon Jovi, Cardi B, Selena Gomez, J. Balvin, Demi Lovato, and Jennifer Lopez, Ranta brings cutting-edge tools and top-of-the-line production value, maximizing the output and outreach for all her clients.

Ranta executive/produced Halsey’s full-length feature film If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, a genre-bending film scored by Halsey’s latest album of the same name and directed by Colin Tilley. The film premiered in IMAX theaters, selling out its limited global premiere run before becoming available on HBO Max and other major streaming platforms.

LEARN MORE ABOUT FILMMAKERS ACADEMY MENTOR JAMEE RANTA!

The post Interview with Producer Jamee Ranta on Halsey’s Album-Film appeared first on Filmmakers Academy.

Premiering at Sundance 2021, Mass was written and directed by Fran Kranz and stars Jason Isaacs (Jay) and Martha Plimpton as the parents of the shooting victim and Ann Dowd (Linda) and Reed Birney (Richard) as the parents of the school shooter. Filmmakers Academy sat down with the film’s producers J.P. Ouellette and Dylan Matlock to learn how they produced a film with a modest budget of $300,000 and a production schedule of 14 days that’s considered one of 2021’s biggest Oscar snubs. 

Filmmakers Academy: As Fran Kranz’s directorial debut, what brought him to this project? Is he someone that you’ve worked with before?

Dylan: We met Fran five or six years ago and did a production with him on a movie that he starred in and produced. We became friends on set and were chatting about what was next. J.P. and I were writing a horror TV series and we were excited about bringing him in on that; so we were talking about that, and J.P. ran into him at a cookoff, and they were talking about other projects and he had written Mass. He was just like, ‘Hey, give it a read, check it out.’ And I think it was just for notes but once we read the script, we had to do it. We were so excited about it. It just jumps off the page. You get so invested right away, and we knew that we had to get this movie made.

Filmmakers Academy: Was the inspiration of this film purely based on Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage? 

J.P.: [Fran] does love that play. There are a lot of comparisons and stories of that nature. So yeah, we get that comparison a lot. I’m sure it was on his mind. He has a huge theater background but mostly it was just a great structure to lean on because he was researching these events for about four years and just working on what kind of story he wanted to tell and would affect him. And that’s what led to the conversation. He just wanted a conversation that started their kind of conversation. So that’s kind of the structure he was leaning on. But yeah, I can see the comparisons to that.

Filmmakers Academy: As producers, when you decided to take on this project, what specifically spoke to you both about Mass? 

J.P.: It was just the most powerful script I’ve ever read so, I mean, that was easy. I knew on page about 50 that it was a movie that had to be made and probably my next movie to make. It was just inspiring and that doesn’t happen too often with a script. It’s extremely well written, well designed; it reads like a mystery novel; it’s very gripping and emotional.

It’s one of the only times I’ve ever cried reading a script. Sure, you can get emotional watching a movie and stuff like that but we read so many scripts and so much material that we’re kind of disconnected and it’s the business part of us, and this one broke through that. So, once it did that twice and I was sobbing while reading, which is very rare, I just knew it was our next movie. [I] called Fran up and told him we had to do it and called Dylan and said, ‘Hey, we found the next movie,’ and he read it next. 

Dylan: It was funny getting the call from JP. I could just feel the excitement on the phone. It’s like this is the one, I’m telling you. And, reading it, the characters are so empathetic. There are so many interesting thoughts that are brought up and it just felt like these people were really going through it, that you could just see the information unfold, that you could see how the characters were just naturally reacting to the situation and it made it so engaging. And, you wanted to dig deeper into it.

Filmmakers Academy: Did Fran know at the time that this was going to be his next project? Was he thinking that he would send this script out to his producer friends or were there other projects in line? 

J.P.: As far as Fran’s screenplays, it was going to be his next one. I believe it was the one that was his obsession for years, it was a completed script, it was fleshed out and ready, and like Dylan was mentioning earlier, he just sent it to me for notes.

He kind of undersold it a little bit and was like, ‘Hey, I got this script, man. Give me some notes,’ and stuff like that, and didn’t tell me too much about it. And once I realized that it was a complete film and a powerful film that everyone’s experienced now, he was like, ‘Okay, so like, what do we do?’ I read it in, I think, April 2019. And then he’s like, ‘I have to start shooting in January;’ he had a big HBO show. He’s like, ‘Either we get it done before then, or we have to do it after I wrap next summer.’

I was so motivated and that’s when I called Dylan. I was like, ‘Hey, can we pull this off? Can we make this movie?’ And we just kind of sat Fran down and told him how we thought the movie could happen on a low budget in a tight timeframe and what we had to do. We just gave a checklist of these are the things we have to do, and we have to do them by this time and choose a date to shoot, and it’ll all come together. I don’t think any of us believed it but we pretended – we fought with each other – we got emotional, we kind of had a little white lie about going around town saying we were financed, and stuff like that. And, it all came together. So, we pulled off a miracle. 

Filmmakers Academy: There are films that tackle similar subject matter like Denis’s Polytechnique or Gus Van Sant’s Elephant, Lynne Ramsay’s We Need To Talk About Kevin. Each of these films offers a unique perspective to what has become a recurring, almost common, tragedy. From your perspective as producers of such a purveying issue, can you speak to how you make this kind of film in 2021? Can you expand on your message and how this film furthers the conversation? 

Dylan: I think it’s exactly that. It’s a conversation starter and what drew us to it is that this is about the aftermath. This is about parents six years later. We have like no flashbacks, nothing like that. We just deal with people healing after such a tremendous trauma. It’s all about how do they come together? How could they heal? How could they grieve properly? And I think it speaks more to the trauma that we’re all going through right now. When we shot this, we hadn’t experienced the pandemic yet. But, you know, this film just kind of speaks to healing. And I think that’s what’s been so powerful for people.

Filmmakers Academy: What I thought was very beautiful about the film when watching it is the way that Fran and your team tackled empathy. Empathy is extremely difficult and it’s also hard for audiences because it could be uncomfortable. You have to consider both sides. Everyone always wants to position characters as good or bad but when you start to break it down, it’s really not so black and white, typically. What’s great about this film is how you have discussions and explore both sides of such a horrible circumstance. I was particularly impressed with how you chose to parse this in a tragedy. Can you speak to what you hope audiences will take away from such themes?

J.P.: The reason why empathy came through so well was that during the writing process, Fran was able to get into the heads of each character. He described it almost like a bit of a multiple personality issue while he was writing because he would be in the head of one parent, and then he would jump across the table to the other. And that process really shows in the writing, and then the acting, so he was able to answer all the actors’ questions and anything about emotion and they were really able to flesh that out in the rehearsal process. 

It’s an A-political film, in a sense, because it’s not throwing one side of the debate in your face or the other, it’s bringing just two affected families from an event. And it’s letting you make the decision. It’s not alienating anyone in the audience, because – and that’s by design, so it can bring in anyone to listen.

One of the most important kinds of reviews and reactions to the film was a parent, saying, ‘Hey, this is going to be a teaching tool for parents who have potential problematic children. They’re going to see what Anne and Reed go through in their story and they’re going to see the reflections and what is going on in their own household.’ And that could eventually prevent something because they’ve shared this emotion and looked at their future. They looked at their future with this film of being across the table from a set of parents whose son died because of their son. And that was really, really powerful for me. 

Filmmakers Academy: It must be gratifying, even though it’s such a hard subject matter to tackle the way that it’s resonating with people in the way that it’s starting a conversation. Ultimately, that’s the beauty of the film, right? Where most people might want to show all of the elements, you decided to talk about something that’s the post-effect that still creates discourse. Can you discuss the decision in the symbolism behind it all taking place in the church and the religious undertones in the film?

Dylan: Sure, I think why it was originally in the script is because this is where a lot of these meetings do take place – in churches all around America. It’s about how people come together and I think that was the main aspect of it for us. That is the power of forgiveness, the power of just coming together as a community. 

Filmmakers Academy: I read that you shot it over the course of 14 days. Could you speak on the challenges of such a short production? For example, what was it like preparing with the talent Jason Isaacs, Martha Plimpton, Reed, Birney, and Anne Dowd? And were there any logistical challenges that you weren’t expecting?

J.P.: We were quite prepared, even though we were such a small movie, and part of it was the happy accident of we were shooting in Idaho during November. So the sun would go down at about 5 PM, so our days were extremely short. So, that was actually quite a happy accident. Even though we had 14 short days, we had a very well-rested crew and a cast that were able to rehearse all night, so they would only have these eight hour days, tops, so they would go home together and eat food and have each other go over scenes and call Fran if they had any questions – stuff like that.

So we had that happy accident, which usually, you think shorter days would ruin a movie, or affect a movie because we’re so used to working 12-14 hour days and packing in a full schedule. But it actually, in turn, created a lot of like, more creative time for everyone. So that was a happy accident. And just the rehearsal process as a whole.

As I mentioned, we were extremely well prepared because Fran insisted on having a huge two-day rehearsal about a month before, once we had our cast locked. A month before we shot, Fran sat everyone down – the cast – and they went over everything for two days. So, the actors were able to sit with the material, and essentially get off book in a theatrical sense for four weeks.

The material was with them for four weeks. And that made us so well prepared that it was just him setting up shots and moving around the table throughout the day and covering 8 to 12 pages a day. And the cast was just nailing it every time. So, it was kind of easy. I don’t want to brag or jinx the next movie or anything, but we knew going in that this is not a challenging movie. It’s up to us to just set the pieces, and everything kind of just went well. What do you think, Dylan?

Dylan: Yeah, I think that’s a big part of it is being prepared when you have a 14-day shoot that you know you’re going to be up against it. And I think the fact that we did come in so prepared; we knew it was going to be one location. So, some of the logistical stuff was simpler than some other films.

We just did a road movie where we were in four different states and that was a little different logistically. We were like moving to a different place every day. But, so, we had that handled, but I think it really goes to show that if you take the time in prep, it’ll really pay off. Again, this is the most prepared I think I’ve ever had a cast, they were so amazing in that Fran was so meticulous about all the stuff that he wanted, and we wanted to make sure that we had in place, so it really was that.

Filmmakers Academy: Fran is classically trained as an actor and he turned director, so there’s something to say. Especially for a film like this, which is more theatrically based in orchestrating and is really about the performance of the actors carrying us through this story. It seems like there is something to say about that talent and skill that he has. Compared to other directors, what is the big difference that you see when working with a director that isn’t an actor versus working with Fran who is an actor?

J.P.: Fran’s history, I mean, he’s one of the smartest people I’ve worked with as well. Yale graduate, you know, studied theater there, in the business over 20 years as a professional actor, and just those skills really separated him on set from any other director we’ve worked with. He was just able to – from the writing and character creation – able to, like I was saying earlier, jump in the heads of each character, and then also be able to answer his actors’ questions about each emotion and where he was writing, and speak in the code that actors speak in.

Some of the great directors, they know all of the different acting structures and teachers and things, so they’re able to speak in their language. But Fran, it was just natural. And then the actors, on the other hand, trusted Fran so much, that it wasn’t just a first-time director with someone with a great idea from a technical sense. It was one of their fellow actors who was telling them what to do, guiding them, and the trust was just wide open. And that really, really separates the differences between the two types of directors.

Filmmakers Academy: Many of our readers are younger and up-and-coming filmmakers that want to be DPs, directors, and even producers. What are some of the qualities that you look for with directors going into projects and what are some red flags that directors should be aware of? 

Dylan: I think it’s all about storytelling. Me and J.P. work so well together because we actually started writing stories together. So, when we’re looking for collaborators, that’s one of the first things that we want to know is their idea of story and does it excite them. Like, us talking through ideas with them, how do we gel? How do we bounce? Do we have the same idea for these projects? And it really is about how you vibe with someone – how well you could work together. Are they open to trusting you? Could you build that relationship?

Because at the end of the day, making a movie is a long process. It’s a marathon and you want to know that you have people on the same side, in the corner that could work together. That’s probably the main important part is being able to work together as a team.

Filmmakers Academy: The fact that this is all in one room for primarily the entire film is both an enormous feat and I’m sure challenging. It’s reminiscent of a classic like 12 Angry Men or even Hitchcock’s Rope in the sense of confinement. Did you explore any other films for inspiration? And how did you choose to navigate such challenges? 

J.P.: It was quite interesting because 12 Angry Men was a big one because we had the table – My Dinner With Andre – there are a few other films that we would reference and play and rewatch and stuff like that. To keep it fresh, you really have to keep your eye moving, keep the camera moving, and not from a sense of like, ‘Oh, the camera’s on a dolly and it’s doing different things.’

We would have a two-camera set up around the table and it would just move clockwise the whole day for eight hours. And so you would constantly have different reactions, different sizes, camera sizes, you know, on your actors and getting different emotions for the same line that they would do maybe a dozen times. So, it gave a lot of options in post-production, and that’s what you want to be doing when you’re filming is to get enough coverage and options for the post-production process. Because with something like this, you can never go back again and get something. You’re not going to get a reshoot with someone like Jason Isaacs, who has a wild schedule, and get the church in Idaho again. Like, it’s not going to happen.

So you’ve got to plan and cover everything and just have that plan to have energy. You know, it’s like, we’re sitting around a table for 72 minutes, or whatever it was. And it’s like, how are we going to give the energy? Where are the pieces where the blocking will change? And you just have to have a great plan. Fran had that and was able to go through with it perfectly.

Filmmakers Academy: Did you shoot the film in order or how was that executed over the course of the 14 days in terms of organization, keeping everyone in the pocket, just having the crew stay up to speed? It seems like it can get confusing. When I was watching the film, and specifically noticing the cinematography, it starts very locked off. Then, over the course of the film, it switches to more handheld, shaky singles, and you change the aspect ratio. Was it easy orchestrating all of that as a production and staying in tune?

Dylan: We started actually with the bookends. So, we had Breeda [Wool], Michelle [Carter], Kagan [Albright]. We started with them at the opening of the movie and then we also had the ending of the movie. We shot all that stuff first and then we went into the room and spent days and just would go, basically, in scene order – and start the day like maybe about a page back and work our way back into it. But, we would make sure that it had that progression that you see.

J.P.: Yeah, the only part that was in chronological order was the room. It was eight days in the room chronologically, and then the first maybe four or five days of the shoot was the bookends, driving pieces, establishing shots, things of that nature. But it was actually quite easy since we’re doing it chronologically. When the energy changed, our AD, Tony [Becerra] would have these perfect breaks of where shots would change and what we needed to set up for the next day. And then, we all knew when the handheld aspect ratio change was going to start. So, there was never any going back and forth. So, it was actually quite streamlined.

Filmmakers Academy: I would love to talk about the tasteful use of comedic relief to set up the film with the characters leading into it. I particularly liked the use of that Shakespearean loll after the room sequence with the flowers in the box, setting up for that final scene between the two mothers. What was the intent behind that and the juxtaposition? Did you want to give characters that sense of relief? Because it is very relieving after you go through that whole sequence. 

Dylan: Yeah, Breeda is so amazing in it. There was that set up – that you wanted that relief – and you set them up at the beginning, and you are kind of laughing, but you’re also wondering, like, ‘Why is this person so tense and why are they so jittery about this thing and it kind of also builds up that suspense. So, you’re kind of like – you’re laughing, but you’re also kind of like intrigued – like, what’s going on with this character? Like, why is she like this?

But I think it speaks to the script and how well the little things get set up – the little – like, ‘Where do I set the Kleenex box? It’s kind of funny that she’s wondering so much about this little Kleenex box and then, of course, it pays off so tremendously. And it’s those little things that really pay off and work so well dramatically, as well.

Filmmakers Academy: Now, did the script change at all from the time of reading it to the time of execution? Were there any major changes that you saw evolved over the course of it or was it very true to what it was when you first read the script?

J.P.: It was pretty true. I mean, we always said that, you know, we got the luckiest script ever. Yeah, it was ready. I mean, I think we had like two notes and I found one typo – and I was like, ‘Yes, I found something!’ It was perfect from the get-go. And then on the day, it was just the actors going over the pieces. Especially with the beginning of the film where she’s setting up, just making sure that the mystery on the page came out through her anxiety. It’s like, why is she anxious?

The reader has this mystery and turns the page, but she has this information that everyone else doesn’t. So, she’s anxious and that energy [is something that] we would debate it at the end of the day, like, ‘Was it too much? Was it not enough?’ And it just ended up being perfect. And it gives you this weird light released and before you get in the room, and then she comes back and it’s almost like a breath of fresh air. 

We were actually talking about this last night where there’s actually after everyone’s forgiven, and they have their moment in the room with the four of them, you can actually hear an audible breath that the sound design team put in, and it’s one of my favorite parts of the movie because everyone in the theater when you see it – or, see it with someone – everyone after they hear that there, they allow themselves to breathe again. And then there’s the box and then you’re laughing and you’re just like, ‘Oh, great, I need this after 70+ minutes of pure just emotion and crying and everything.’ You finally get to breathe and then laugh with this kind of odd, energetic, anxious woman and it’s just so great.

Filmmakers Academy: Something that I would love to know more about in terms of symbolism – could you talk about that reoccurring shot with the field, the marker, and the irrigation line going through it? Was there something that Fran was trying to go for with that, and was that the high school in the background? 

J.P.: It was. That was a real piece of tape. That’s not production design or anything like that. Even six months before our shoot, Fran saw it when we were scouting in the high school, he saw it there. A piece of caution tape that was years old. And it kind of spoke to him a bit that it was a piece of tape from a potential horrific event at the school years ago. This tiny little piece of police tape is just still hanging on this fence. And it just really stuck with him to the point where we came back and shot there six months later, and he’s like, ‘Great, the tape’s still here.’ And he’s like, ‘Of course, it is – it’s probably been here for five years.’

So, it’s like, it just became this moment. This symbol where especially Jason Isaacs’ character can think about and reflect on that this is the place of the event. This is something that has weight. And it actually ended up becoming our movie poster as well for Sundance, just the ribbon on the fence.

This became that symbol and then at the end we see it one more time and then the school lights turn on in the background for a football game or something. And it just like shines that hope behind it – that this event is past us – this event, this little piece of caution tape will always be here blowing in the wind, but people are forgiving.

Filmmakers Academy: Was the film based or inspired by an actual incident? 

J.P.: No, we were very careful about that – just like the legality of it. We didn’t want to just be one place; we wanted to be Any Town, USA. And whatever the audience wanted to put in their head, that’s what we want. If you’re thinking of Parkland, if you’re thinking of Columbine, because that was the first one, that’s what had the most effect on you while you were a student or young parent – or Virginia Tech, which Dylan – is on his mind. I’ll let him get into that in a moment. But like, we just wanted to have a broad sense of this is Any Town, USA, because that’s where this happens – that’s where these events happen. 

Dylan: Yeah, exactly. My sister was at Virginia Tech at the time. She was on campus and knew some of the people sadly. We didn’t want it to be just one but it is sadly something that so many communities go through. We didn’t want to make it a specific one but do connect to all of the victims and all the communities affected. 

Filmmakers Academy: There’s a great block of dialogue from the father, as he racked through all of the victims saying like, ‘Oh, no, I know, I’ve lived through this and I’ve counted through this in my head every single day.’ And I think the director and the way it was written does a really good job to convey that. Something I’d love to know about from a producer standpoint – how was it like working with the cinematographer Ryan Jackson-Healy? And what do you look for in a DP when bringing them on board? Was he the first pick or was he someone that Fran Kranz worked with before?

J.P.: I believe they worked [together] before or they definitely knew each other. They’re family friends and he was, I believe, just a graduate of AFI. And yeah, they’ve just reconnected and brought him on the film. Searching for a DP is quite a battle. We’re doing it on the new film and we just worked with a great one on Little Brother, as well [with] Conor Murphy. And now on our new film, we’re trying to introduce him to our new director. So it’s about finding that connection because the DP/Director connection is one of the most important on the set.

What we look for is literally – on the new film we’re doing now – we just went through reels and stuff that the director sent us and we didn’t like any. So we said, ‘Hey, we just worked with Conor, look at his stuff.’ And they’re like, ‘Wow, that’s amazing. Let me have a meeting.’ So it’s just about finding that artistic click and then, of course, the personality needs to click, as well, I think for those two positions.

Filmmakers Academy: And that’s what I thought was great about Ryan’s cinematography is the attention to detail. There was a great composition. It was never stale. And how much time was spent on just figuring that out and orchestrating it?

J.P.: That was a huge part of prep. Fran had this amazing shot list and design for the whole film. So, the look is very kind of simple fly-on-the-wall; reads more like a play but it has good energy, because part of a director’s job is shot selection, and when to be on a close-up, when to not, when to move around. And that was just perfectly planned and the director’s phase of pre-production.

Filmmakers Academy: What are you most proud of for accomplishing this film? 

Dylan: I really think about how much people connect with it. We were so lucky to do a test screening before the pandemic. So we got to see it that way. And then when we had our premieres and were in theaters, we got to go a couple of times and see it with people. This really is a movie that’s great to be shared with others. I think after some of our premieres, we would be in the lobby for like two hours chatting with people. I think I’m so proud of just how real this is and how it connects with people. And, lets people have conversations about such a hard topic. But, it really is all about community.

J.P.: I’m really proud of the film just as a whole and just as an experience, as well. I’m proud of the team – that we pulled it off. It was such a small film. It was under $300,000 – for a feature is kind of an impossible task. And we pulled it off and made this little movie that became one of the most critically acclaimed movies of the year. And it has this effect, like Dylan was saying, it’s a conversation starter. That’s why I love it when people even just order it on-demand with just someone in the house and they watch it. Because they have someone to talk to after. That’s what this piece is about.

[I’m] just really proud that this little story, this little piece of art has this effect to the point where we’ve had mothers of school shooting victims post about it, and how real it is and how therapeutic it was to witness this movie, and how it’s a teaching tool. We’re beyond proud for stuff like that. So yeah, it was a great journey.

Filmmakers Academy: That’s amazing. And that is very true for someone who hasn’t dealt with a tragedy like this. For myself, it was very therapeutic to watch. That was one of the first things that came to mind. I’m like, in a weird way, I feel like I understand this a bit more. And the film did a really good job of being a vessel for that. And something I’d love to know for our audience, we have a lot of first-time producers that are going into projects similar to this. What’s some advice that you could give them going through this process now that you’re on the other side?

J.P.: We were just saying in our production meeting last night, your movie’s made in prep. You’re making a movie, if you’re an upcoming filmmaker, one thing I was saying last night was, ‘Measure twice, cut once.’ So, that means do everything in prep that you can – do it twice – go over it. Because sometimes you only have one day to shoot at a location or one day with a certain actor, and it has to be perfect. It has to be ready. And, don’t let anyone tell you not to get coverage or move on too fast just when you’re filming. That’s one thing we learned on Mass is cover, cover, cover.

We shot eight hours a day, two cameras, and had all the coverage we ever needed. So, it turns out better if you make your movie in prep and then are able to finish all of your shots and get everything you need. 

Dylan: It’s finding the right people, finding the right crew, finding the right cast. Just finding everything so that you know that you’re all in it together. I think what was important for us is also making a start date, like, ‘Hey, we’re shooting at this [time].’ There’s a lot of power in that. It’d be like, ‘Alright, no matter what, we’ve got to get this movie made, we truly believe it, let’s pick a start date.’ For first-timers, start with a script that you’re passionate about, that you love, that you could also see making for a smaller budget. Because that’s what a lot of it takes as a first-time producer is doing that. 

Filmmakers Academy: Well, we really appreciate your time and would love to know if there’s anything else you’d like to add for the audience to know. Is there anything that’s coming up next that you feel like talking about? 

J.P.: Thank you for taking the time to help spread the word about Mass. It’s available everywhere on-demand, DVD, Blu-ray – so seek it out on iTunes. Especially, it’s just something we want to share and the audience has been our grassroots marketing campaign. So we just want people to keep watching it and sharing it with others. So, it just spreads this cathartic experience through our country, which we need.

We’re getting really excited; we just finished post on Little Brother, which is a movie about another social cause that we care about a lot – is the mental health crisis in America. It deals with a suicide attempt and two brothers’ journey after that event. And it’s just a beautifully shot movie and the edits are just wonderful. We’re going out to the big festivals soon with it to try to repeat what we did with Mass. So we’re pretty excited about that one, as well.

Dylan: We’re just so excited about it. Another first-time director so that we vibed with very well – Sheridan O’Donnell – and I don’t know how we’re so lucky. We’re able to pull together an amazing cast again. We’ve got J.K. Simmons, who played the father and the two brothers are some great young actors – Philip Ettinger and Dan Diemer. So again, just so excited about being able to make a movie that is human characters that people will connect with and really see themselves in. So, it’s been very thrilling. And these movies don’t shy away from the subject matter. You really will, after watching them, go through an emotional experience, but that’s what makes great movies. That’s why we all want to watch, we all want to have that experience and I think both these movies accomplish that. You’ll feel like we’ve been saying – cathartic.

If you enjoyed this interview with the producers of Mass, you may want to check out some of our other Filmmakers Academy interviews! For instance, read what Master Colorist David Cole has to say about his experience coloring Dune! 

The post A Discussion with The Producers of Mass appeared first on Filmmakers Academy.

The digital age of acting also brings with it the concepts of a digital resurrection and digital identity. The idea is that an actor like Al Pacino could star in a film long after he retires to the actors’ version of Valhalla. Er – who’s ready for Scarface: Regenesis?! 

Learn more about how digital identities will affect actors in their careers below.

Digital resurrections in Hollywood

Digital resurrections of famous actors have historically been the result of an actor’s sudden passing while in production. Who doesn’t remember saying goodbye to both Paul Walker and his character Brian O’Connor after the actor’s tragic death during the filming of Furious 7? The filmmakers brought in the best in the industry. WETA Digital tastefully completed Walker’s scenes along with the help of his brothers Caleb and Cody in 2014. 

Before the technology was available, filmmakers would either have to recast or minimize an actor’s role in the film if they died during production. However, the ‘90s presented a time when technology advanced enough to where Alex Proyas could finish The Crow after an accident with a firearm on set killed the film’s star, Brandon Lee. Lee’s stuntman Chad Stahelski (yes, the director of the John Wick films) acted out the rest of the film while the filmmakers superimposed Lee’s face with computer tech for closeups. 

How far have digital resurrections come?

Technological advancements in recent years makes it possible to use digital resurrections as an artistic choice. For the upcoming film Finding Jack, James Dean is set to star in a secondary leading role with significant screen time. (Wait until you hear that he beat out Paul Newman for the role after Elvis dropped out.) Yeesh.

The filmmakers will digitally resurrect the Hollywood star who died in 1955 to play Rogan, an army unit leader who helps a soldier, Fletcher, rescue his dog after the war in Vietnam. The filmmakers behind Finding Jack plan on “full body” CGI for Dean using footage and photos of him. The only feature not Dean is the actor who performs his voice. 

What do digital resurrections mean for actors?

The big question is: are digital resurrections good news or bad news for actors working today? Well, one could hardly deny that the technology does certainly take roles away from living performers. This is especially alarming regarding original pieces as opposed to pre-existing franchises like Star Wars. And as the technology becomes more prevalent and affordable, will smaller productions take advantage of the star power that they couldn’t otherwise afford? 

On the other hand, one could make the argument that this technology creates additional jobs. For instance, even though the filmmakers are creating full body CGI for James Dean and have no need for a body double, they still need a voice actor and a team of special effects professionals. 

Digital resurrections are a great insurance policy for large-scale blockbusters while also benefiting both a high-profile actor’s legacy and estate. That said, what’s this kind of technology mean for actors at large? 

Scanning technology creates 3D replicas

It’s not only classic Hollywood stars who are subject to digitization. The scanning technology for preserving 3D digital replicas is becoming more routine. For one, video games and cinema converged into a new kind of audio/visual experience. Now, videogame developers utilize actors to heighten storytelling and realism. 

Ingvild Deila (Carrie Fisher’s body double in Rogue One) told Technology Review about the reasoning behind being scanned by Industrial Light and Magic: “It’s sort of a safe bet for the people with the money. It’s a familiar face. We like to repeat what’s worked in the past, so it’s part financial, part nostalgia.” 

Now, the Star Wars franchise scans every lead character in case the unforeseeable happens. This means that actors could expand their legacies or even make money for their family and loved ones post mortem. Actors scanned in early enough could very well continue to receive younger roles as they age. One example is Samual L. Jackson in Captain Marvel who almost didn’t recognize himself. 

Samuel L. Jackson, Captain Marvel | Disney

This special kind of scanning is only available by select companies like Digital Domain. It’s an arduous two-day process and costs somewhere in the ballpark of a million dollars. So, only big studios will have access to the technology – at least for the near future. The scanning process involves hundreds of custom LED lights positioned in a sphere that records numerous images in the span of seconds. Digital Domain captures the way light strikes faces from every angle and varying light temperatures. 

The actor Stephen Lang (Colonel Quaritch in Avatar) told VICE’s The Creator Project about his experience being scanned, “They’re able to capture all of your expressions – 360 degrees – all the follicles of your hair and everything, so it can basically duplicate you…”

What is digital copyright?

Acting in the digital age requires that you keep a close eye on the latest trends. With the latest aforementioned advances, actors should now be aware of their digital identities. 

Digital identity is your personal data that uniquely describes you. The digital identity of the average person is a more abstract representation of themselves, pulled from their data, varying work and private accounts, social profiles, and things of that nature. 

Actors scanned by computers to create new performances present the question of identity standards. For one, we suggest actors should consider their digital likeness and how it could be used after they pass on. As an actor, you must ask yourself, would you be happy if your likeness was used in a project that you had no say over? Maybe you trust your family and estate to make such decisions, or perhaps you disagree with the very concept of it all.

Protect your digital identity

In this era of technology, actors must describe in their wills whether or not their digital identity could be employed in posthumous projects. If you’re an actor in your prime then it may be the time to have a conversation with your agent. It may sound a bit silly but our reality is becoming much more outlandish with cutting-edge digital innovations. If you’re concerned about what they think, tell your agent that if you think this topic is too fanciful, go ask Tupac’s hologram what he thought about his latest tour. 

Take note that there’s a difference between digital and virtual humans, according to Digital Domain’s Darren Hendler. Real human actors operate digital actors who wear their likeness like a suit. On the flip side, artificial intelligence drives virtual humans and therefore functions autonomously. 

The bottom line

The landscape of technology seems to have no limit, especially alongside the film and entertainment industry. Whether you think it’s a good thing or a bad thing, evidence suggests that it’s here to stay. 

There are projects currently in the works that you may otherwise question as an episode of Black Mirror. For instance, Maze Theory is leading a virtual reality development based on Peaky Blinders where AI characters will lead the narrative. They function as a “black box” and react uniquely to the way other human actors treat them. 

Perhaps we’re moving toward a time where whole projects are led by digital and AI-driven virtual humans. The experts suggest that we are still about a decade or so away from significant changes. When that time arrives, actors will serve as puppet-doubles for famous digital performers. Actors who land lead roles, however, will most likely birth a digital identity that will live out their legacy long after they’re gone. Either way, now is the time to consider how we treat our digital identities in the land of tomorrow. 

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Any filmmaker new to the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology may tremble in confusion at the idea of going directly to fans and devotees in order to fund their films. However, the film and entertainment industry is making significant strides toward blockchain. NFTs could potentially fund projects or gain funds by sharing and providing exclusive content with fans who invest directly into projects. (Examples below!)

In this article, we’ll take a look at the landscape of NFT film distribution, what it takes to fund your film with blockchain technology, and who is leading the way. 

But first, let’s glimpse over some of these intimidating terms. 

What does Blockchain mean?

To boil it down, blockchain is a system of recording information in a way that’s difficult or impossible to hack. It’s essentially a digital ledger of transactions duplicated and distributed across the entire network of computer systems on blockchain, according to Euromoney Learning. 

Photo Credit: Unsplash.com

If you never heard of blockchain before, you’ll probably more readily recognize an example of blockchain — such as the digital currency Bitcoin. Another blockchain example is Ethereum with its own native cryptocurrency ETH. In addition, the Ethereum blockchain lets you create programmable tokens used in NFTs.

What’s an NFT?

An NFT, or non-fungible token, is a digital asset that represents ownership of digital items like artwork, music, videos, and even real estate. They could be considered modern-day collectibles. 

No two NFTs are the same. “Non-fungible” refers to one-of-a-kind which means that NFTs cannot be reproduced or substituted. They are powered by smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. However, this is not to be confused with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. That said, they’re trackable by using Ethereum’s blockchain as a public ledger. 

Photo Credit: Thought Catalog

Although NFTs are created and stored on the Ethereum network, there are other blockchains that support them like Flow and Tezos.

By contrast, fungible items are exchangeable because they’re defined by their value as opposed to their unique properties. 

Examples of NFTs consist of both digital art and real-world items:

• GIFs
• Music
• Videos
• In-Game Item 
• Essay
• Domain Name 
• Tickets to events
• Deed to a car
• Legal document

NFTs are changing the film industry

The way in which Hollywood has effectively taken to NFTs has brought both filmmakers and their audiences closer together around their shared interests. In one sense, you can appeal to the fandom centered around your project, and in another, you can fund your project in a way that’s not too far removed from crowdfunding. 

Let’s take a closer look at projects and creatives who applied NFTs to their fundraising.  

Godzilla vs. Kong

It’s only fitting that two of the world’s most recognizable pop culture icons would entice audiences as collectible NFTs. Released in 2021, Godzilla vs. Kong is Legendary Pictures’ fourth entry into the MonsterVerse. 

To take advantage of the film’s built-in international appeal, Legendary Pictures partnered with the artist BossLogic in order to create exclusive collectible NFTs. So, what did this look like? Well, you need to purchase to find out! But, what we do know is that they come in the form of epic artwork of the titular monsters battling.

Marvel Films

It’s plain to see how the projects with the most iconic characters will prosper greatly from NFTs and fan culture. From digital comic books to statues and video clips, Marvel partnered with VeVe to release its collectible NFTs. 

Tarantino and Lynch NFTs

Even filmmaking legends Quentin Tarantino and David Lynch embraced the advent of NFTs. Tarantino recently launched his own NFTs in the form of uncut scenes from Pulp Fiction that will add even more context behind the film’s characters and their backgrounds. They will also include uncut handwritten scripts of Pulp Fiction and exclusive commentary from its infamous director. 

Lynch is no stranger to trying his hand across various mediums of the visual arts. He collaborated with the New York gallery Sperone in 2019, showcasing his dark vision through thought-provoking mixed media works. So, it’s no surprise that the auteur filmmaker teamed up with the band Interpol for a seven-part NFT release, where a new NFT will be released every two days for two weeks. The first NFT is a short film entitled I Touch a Red Button.

NFT Film Distribution 

NFTs aren’t just good news for the big dogs of the industry with recognizable names and projects. As we mentioned above, there’s a lack of diversity in both content and creatives due to there being so few at the top who hold power over creative decision-making. One way to bring power to the filmmakers is by effectively cutting out the middleman and reaching your audience directly. 

Photo Credit: RODNAE Productions

Creative Artists Agency (CAA)

It will be fascinating to see how this decentralization concept develops. In one case, CAA is planning to work alongside entities like Google, Samsung, and Sony to decentralize distribution. In their model, content is provided on a peer-to-peer basis with users rewarded for sharing bandwidth. Plus, they will include an NFT marketplace called ThetaDrop. It will be interesting to see how streaming services respond. 

Decentralized Pictures

In another instance, Decentralized Pictures, co-founded by Roman Coppola with tech guru Leo Matchett, and American Zoetrope Michael Musante operates from a more meritocratic position. (Plus, Gia and Sophia Coppola are on the board!) 

According to their website, they have an “online community of creatives, film fans, and industry professionals” that vote on projects to determine which receive financing from the company’s film fund. 

“We’ll help finance it, and introduce you to the people who will help you execute it in a professional way.” —Decentralized Pictures

Social Media Models

Writing for Cointelegraph, Ian Lewinter makes a compelling pitch for a decentralized film industry. His model is crafted in the form of a social media app focused on decentralization and encourages fans to engage. 

He writes, “In the same way that decentralized social media platforms offer tokens to influencers when they receive fan engagement, so would a decentralized platform incentivize users to engage with film content on the platform. Fans could theoretically engage with creator projects, voting on which film concepts are most interesting and receive utility tokens for doing so.” 

Photo Credit: Tima Miroshnichenko

Also in this model, there would entail an evaluation process by accredited investors who could provide feedback and access what films to invest in. Ultimately, this ecosystem would accumulate funds from multiple sources, essentially meaning “the fans who pay tickets to see the films would be the one’s green-lighting projects.” 

The Bottom Line: Decentralized Hollywood

The excitement sizzling around the NFT market is real and making quite an impact on the film industry. NFTs come in many shapes and sizes but in the way they’re used to appeal to fans, they’re often exclusive GIFs, BTS, digital statues, and even short films. These seem to raise money if you have an iconic character or film to appeal to a fanbase. 

However, for filmmakers without the name to prop them up, a decentralized Hollywood could lead to a meritocratic system. That means if your idea has the right stuff and is decided on democratically, it could lead to investment opportunities. 

Or, if you prefer more of a competition model, you can seek out platforms like what Decentralized Pictures provides, and see if you can gain influence among your peers. In any case, the world of blockchain is heading toward exciting times with lots of new possibilities for filmmakers. 

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