Crew woes

One of the things I think will be a particular problem, come production time, is going to be assembling a crew. Because of my budget limitations I have to be really careful in making sure I get the most out of my money. The last thing I'd want is a cinematographer or a line-producer who is technically incompetent. Or worse, a sound tech who doesn't know what he's doing. These are all things that could really jeapordise the production process.

The one that worries me the most (though they all really worry me quite a bit) is the line-producer job. I know who I'd like to have on board for it, though they're likely not available. If I have to get somebody else, I know I'm going to need to get a list of references from them and make sure they get glowing recommendations. I'd hate it if it ended up being like my final project for one of my classes where we erroneously decided to do the entire shoot in a single day and ended up not being able to match colour tones because of the daylight shifts. Since we didn't plan for that, we didn't get the appropriate gels and, well, that ended poorly.

I will openly admit that the majority of that was my fault and is one of the reasons I'm interested in getting a line-producer who not only has scheduling experience, but knows well enough to discuss shot times with the cinematographer so we won't end up with any video problems. A good line producer will also work with the sound techs to make sure everything works out there too. I'm in no way absolving myself of responsibilities in those areas, but as the writer/director I'm going to have a full plate and dumping too much work on a single person, regardless of their position, is a recipe for disaster.

One of the things I loved about my time at Toronto Film and Media is that I learned enough about the various on-set jobs that I know I need to listen to the people who are trying to do their jobs but still know enough to tell when they don't know what they're talking about. I've seen a lot of short films where the sound tech either didn't do his job or the director/line-producer both ignored his advice. Nothing is worse than a movie you can't actually hear when you're watching.

Hopefully I'll be able to crew up without having to worry too much about how much this is going to cost.