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How a movie is made

Explore this creative process, from the screenwriter's words to the editor's final cut, put yourself in a producer's shoes by managing the production of a movie.

Screenwriting

Silent movies, directors, editors, and cameramen are making silent movies with the help of a scenarist, usually an actor who invents funny situations. These early movies don't need a screenwriters, without sound, there is no need for dialogue.

All of that changed with the advent of sound for movie in the 1920s. Suddenly, actors needed something to say. For a brief time in the 1930s, some of the world's most famous writers wrote movie scripts. Screenwriters today are important in the moviemaking process. They are paid as well as directors and producers are, and their work is considered an art. 

Directors

The director's vision shapes the look and feel of a movie. He or she is the creative force that pulls a movie together, responsible for turning the words of a script into images on the screen. Most movies are designed to pull you into the story without being aware of the director's hand. Many talented movie directors with long lists of feature movie credits are so skilled at being invisible that they are little known by the public.

Production Designer

This person is responsible for the believability of a movie's scenery and sets. In essence, the production designer is the architect of the movie, working to make your vision, as director, a reality. The production designer also works closely with the art director and set decorator, making certain all the visual details are accurate and the style and period of the movie reflect your wishes.

Cinematographer

The cinematographer, or director of photography, helps to translate your vision to movie, scene by scene, planning shots and supervising camera operators. Often, cinematographers are artists with experience in painting and photography. Their job is to create and capture the images that best tell the story.

Post production

After months or even years of development, delays, and rewrites, the final script is set and the movie goes into pre production. During this phase, budgets are detailed, scenes are planned and designed, and a shooting schedule is prepared.

Storyboards

A visual representations of every shot are prepared by a storyboard artist in consultation with the director, director of photography, and designer. Before a single frame is shot, the movie is planned from beginning to end on paper.

Thousands of feet of movie need to be assembled into a coherent story. Days or weeks of shooting result in only a few minutes of screen time. In the editing room, your vision will either come to life or perish. With your guidance, the movie and sound editor will complete the detailed technical work required.

Directors cut

Your director's cut of the movie, is the one you work with the editor to make, this may not be the final one the audience sees. The movie's producers may decide to cut certain scenes or use a different movie clip

Alan Smithee

Alan Smithee is a director famous for his bad movies :)- . Almost all of the movies he has made have been really, really bad. He’s famous for it !. And yet, now and then, he still gets work in Hollywood.

This is because he doesn’t really exist. The Directors Guild don’t allow a movie to be released without naming its director: to do so would undermine the work they’ve done in building the role of the director as the primary creative force behind a movie. Sometimes, though, a director can go to the Guild and complain that the movie was taken out of their control.

When the director dislikes the final cut and decides not to be listed in the credits, the credits list Alan Smithee as the director......

Camera Angles

When a movie was made, there would have been many techniques used that can shape the look and feel of a movie. You can vary a shot's perspective, lighting, location, or other qualities to achieve certain effects. One powerful way to communicate your vision is through camera angles.

Establishing shot

A shot, normally taken from a great distance or from a "bird's eye view," that establishes where the action is about to occur.

Long shot

A shot that shows a scene from a distance (but not as great a distance as the establishing shot). A long shot is used to stress the environment or setting of a scene.

Medium shot

A shot that frames actors, normally from the waist up. The medium shot can be used to focus attention on an interaction between two actors, such as a struggle or embrace.

Over-the-shoulder shot

A shot of one actor taken from over the shoulder of another actor. An over-the-shoulder shot is used when two characters are interacting face-to-face. Moving over an actor's shoulder focuses the audience's attention on one actor at a time in a conversation.

Close-up

A shot taken at close range, sometimes only inches away from an actor's face, a prop, or some other object. The close-up is designed to focus attention on an actor's expression, to give significance to a certain object, or to direct the audience to some other important element of the movie.

Producer

The movie's producer acts as an administrator, communicator, and guide, helping hundreds of people reach a final goal: completing the movie on schedule, on budget, and as the director envisioned. The producer administers all the various aspects of movie production, from initial concept to script and budget preparation to shooting, post-production, and release. He or she does not have to be able to write, direct, edit, or act to help screenwriters, directors, editors, and actors do their best work.

Actors

These are the people who don-t do all the work :)- No cinematographer or movie editor, no matter how gifted, can turn a terrible performance into a great one. The right actor can give a screenwriter's words exciting new depth and dimensions. Actors are essential for conveying emotions to an audience, for bringing the words and ideas in a script to life.

New script

The agent has been able to secure a copy of the script for you. You have been cast as Mr Blobby a pink fellow with large eyes. You have two scenes, which will give you approximately four minutes of screen time. Somehow you must connect closely with your character. You read and reread the entire script. You try to understand the characters' relationships with each other.

Shooting the scene

The day of the shoot, you walk onto the sound stage or location. The set has been constructed prior to your arrival by the swing gang. You'll be working with a diverse crew of people to get your scene done, each of whom has an important role in the making of the movie.

• Cinematographer
  Responsible for the lighting, choice of movie, correct exposure, correct use of lenses

• Mixer
  Responsible recording the sound.
• Foley artists.
  Other sounds are added during post-production by

• Gaffer
  Responsible for making sure all the lighting equipment is where it should be.

• key grip
  Responsible for the rigging (carpentry) and for moving and readying the sets.

• Set dresser
  Decorates the set.

• Property master
  Ensures the sets and actors have all the necessary dressing and props.

• Wardrobe master
  Responsible for all wardrobe needs.

• Make up person
  Responsible for all makeup.

• Assistant director
  keeps order on the set and makes sure the production moves according to schedule.
• Man in the street
  There is usually a few :)

Movie Production Jargon

What is a take' If you're asked to cheat, what are you being asked to do' As an actor on a film set, you'll need to know the following words and phrases.

• Action
  The word the director uses when he wants the actors to begin performing.
• Actor's call
  Your call to the set. You will be called at least an hour before the assistant director needs you
• Cheating
  When an actor takes on a physical position that would not be natural in real life.
• Close up
  Positioning the camera close to an actor's face or any object.
• Cut
  The director is the only person on the set allowed to "cut," or stop, a scene.
• Break It
  If the assistant director, sound mixer, or camera operator needs to stop the scene.
• Hit your mark
  Find your predetermined location in the scene without looking at the marks on the floor.
• Long shot
  A camera angle used to stress the environment or setting
• Medium shot
  A camera position that results in full- to half-figure shots of performers.
• Pickup
  The director uses this term to indicate that he or she wants to redo a small part of the scene.
• Print it
  What the director says when the take completed is good enough to use.
• Setup
  The camera position or the composition of a shot.
• Speed
  A term used to let the production crew know that the camera or the sound is being recorded.
• Take
  A scene that is being or has been filmed. 
• That's a wrap
  A phrase that means, Shooting is over for today.

And that's a wrap !