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Sunday, December 16, 2007

Pre-Production: The Vital Catalyst

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

Assalam-u-alaikum (Peace be upon you),
cat·a·lyst : someone or something that helps bring about a change
This post is to backup a little bit and "start from the beginning."

There is a saying that goes something like "A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step!"--this most definitely holds true to this day. Today, in this day and age, it is very easy to find the basic equipment to make movies so you can tell your story. Just like, today, there is all the information you need at your fingertips to accomplish whatever you want. You obviously need motivation to make you want to do something, but nothing happens if You don't do it!! So, if you want to accomplish something, start now, do something, anything. Open a text file on your computer right now, and write some ideas down, or grab your camcorder and shoot something, or sign up for a blog and document something awesome--just DO SOMETHING! Many people nowadays would love to do something, or should i say, they love the idea of doing something. That first step is never easy, but someone has got to take it--might as well be you :).

Enough with the lecturing, wow, now back to Pre-Production: The Vital Catalyst. As i just explained, you need a first step, and that first step in making a movie is, the broad, Pre-Production. This could involve you doing many things, like just shooting some clips and worrying about the rest later. But most of the time it involves writing a script and getting a producer. For Tomorrow Never Comes, UmmahFilms wanted to do this right, and wrote a script and got some, more experienced individuals (check archives on that), to help them get the script up to par. From there, the blog was advertised to entice people to jump on board, which allowed for people to come on, and help make this thing happen. The producer was already designated since UmmahFilms already had the person who would be "in-charge." But they truly wanted to get as much experience on the team as possible so they kept searching and attempting to get things together. After a while, an undisclosed number of months :-p, UmmahFilms got enough motivated individuals to put this project on the fast track. This was done with patience, and by believing in the project and continually working on getting the right team together. Meetings were setup weekly, on Sundays, and most aspects of Production and Post-Production were discussed. For instance, location of the shoot is very important, so options for that were laid out and discussed, etc. After things settled, the script was analyzed, and a Production schedule was made, the date for Production was ready to be set. Setting the date allowed the team to move forward and detail even further who, how, and when people would get together, and how and when this movie would be shot. The Producer is the person responsible for ensuring most of this happens. A director (or two) is/are usually brought on early in Pre-Production as well to layout how the movie should be shot, which constrains the Production Schedule. This sums up in a "big" nutshell how UmmahFilms got through the first, and most vital stage in making a movie.

Takeaways:

  • "Be the change you want to see" -Ghandi.
  • Pre-Production is The Vital Catalyst to making a movie.
  • The only reason anything happened is because that first step (action!) was taken to make the goal, of making this movie, a reality.
  • Subscribe to this blog so you can see how we progress :)
  • Take that first step, and start your "Pre-Production" today.

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