Nicolas Scroggins's Lounge Discussions

Create a story u want to produce. Then try to purchase all the equipment u need or at least rent it! So now u have the equipment or are renting it. Start looking for those interested in your project. You are in school perfect place to find all the players. Do not be nervous in asking your professors to come on board. They should have contacts. Being a producer just means you are able to pull the team together! My mantra in life don't be afraid to ask, the only thing that can happen is they say no! Great place to get equipment is B &H in NYC. Voila! Your a producer!

... and the more you learn (the less you'll seem to know), the more you must become to passing that knowledge on.

Nicholas - Out of curiosity, where are you going to school?

Breaking into production requires a multitude of talents, several of which I struggle to achieve. I've bitten the bullet and broken a few teeth on it. The hardest for me is Management (I can only just manage myself). I would suggest that you assume you have the creative clout to recognise a script worthy of several years of your life. Without that script you can call yourself what you like but it'll just be a name. If you've been successful in any other business, ask yourself what qualities you brought to it and be honest about what you lack. Study business but especially the art of selling because that's the bottom line to what a producer does. If you're not a salesman even the best script in the world won't get funded (there's just too much competition). But also bear in mind that many bad films get made. They were made because someone believed that they were better than they were (or convinced others to believe it). Go to lots of movies and analyse them for yourself, not what others say about them but what you see in them. Much of the rest you'll be making up as you go along; you'll need to be very good at bluff and have far more than your natural dose of good luck. Oh! And thanks for the question. Its always worth peering into your own mind to find out why we do what we do.

Best place is on the job. Work on as many film shoots as possible, as a producer you need to really know everyone's job well to be able to produce on a tight budget, which is always.

Do a bit of both like Peter Jackson in his early career he directed, DPed at least a few shots, produced, and acted in all his early films and for most of his mega budget stuff too

as for me I write, produce, dp a few shots direct and edit cause I have a budget of less then 20 euro to work with most of the time

A DP can make a living much easier* than a Director- but if you advertise yourself as both, you will get far fewer calls as DP because directors do not want another director on their set. (*easier is relative- it has never been harder for a DP to make a lving, particularly starting out. Most working DP's are older and did not start as DPs, but as assistants, lighting crew, etc...)

i know DP Directors... they do get work, but I would recommend marketing yourself as a DP... most DP's direct, that is part of being a DP... look up Shane Hulbert... a DP who has directed some cool films as well... he is famous for the blow up Christian Bale on the Terminator Salvation movie

I'm a filmmaker, I do everything!

It was a simple handheld steadicam without an arm/suit. Steadicam 5000 pro I think it's called.

Great poem and poetic approach to the visuals! The camerawork reminds me of the active role the camera plays in Terrence Malick's films. You definitely made the most out of your steadicam. Is this the style you usually go for or one of many?

Thank you and yeah! I'm always greatly inspired by the images Emmanuel Lubezki (Terrence Malick's cinematographer) and Terrence Malick create together. "The Tree of Life" and his most recent film "To The Wonder" actually inspired me to make this film. I wouldn't really call it my style or trademark, I just felt like the story needed that organic and spontaneous approach to camera movement and emphasis on different subjects entering/leaving the frame. I'm glad the decision worked for the project as a whole. I've always wanted to make a "poetic/Terrence Malick" type of film :)

This is great work, Nicolas...poetic and dreamy and meandering. I love how the camera 'swims' through space.

Lubezki is great! I'm a big fan of his and Malick's approach to shooting, often improvisational and using the natural resources around them. If you'd like to take a look, Nicolas, this may interest you. It's a short film I shot in Paris with that similar approach, minus the steadicam (though that would have been awesome!), and in a "poetic" manner: https://vimeo.com/50028182

Nice narrative!

Gorgeous work!

Nice reel Nicolas!

The relationship is a collaboration between two professionals. A director should take as much advice from the DP as is given. There should be no line drawn. If the two do not share the same vision they should not work together. A good director will choose the right DP. Not one who will roll over but one who will challenge and inspire.

The Director is the creative lead. If there is a disagreement about a creative choice between the DP and Director, the Director wins. However being a collaborative sport, every good Director chooses a good DP who can bring his creative and technical expertise to make strong recommendations. It would be foolish for a Director to override his DP without a very good reason, but he must have that flexibility. The only one who could trump the director is the producer; being the business lead. Then again, it would be foolish for a producer to second guess the director he hired to make a change without a very good reason. In some movies, the producer trumping the director has been a good decision, such as any movie where they were fired (The Wizard of Oz) or a film where the producers had it recut after the director was done (none off the top of my head). And there have been cases where producers second guessing their directors was a poor choice (Blade Runner).

Using one of the seven story arcs? Inevitable. Not re writing 'The Godfather'? Completely possible.

you can't avoid it completely. A completely original work will actually have been constructed in segments from other works in the artist's brain. What's original is the collection of elements, and how they're put together. You can avoid technical plagiarism easily by not looking at other work beforehand. As the others have said, there are common techniques, layouts and formulas, but it's all about how you use them, how your ideas interact with them.

I'm learning a lot from all this feedback. Thank you all for commenting.