Stress Relief for Filmmakers

In other words, I’m not alone. Making movies is stressful!

Why though?

I figured this week I’d break down my worries about this specific project, and what steps I might be able to take to ease those stresses.

I have a feeling you all will relate – so tell me if these sound familiar to you…

Worry #1: Pushing My Skillset

Every time I have to DP my own projects, I get worried about the lighting. I know the basics, but lighting scenes definitely isn’t my strong-suit. And this film takes place at night, meaning I can’t lean on sunlight.

Also, there’s a bunch of practical FX I’ve never done before.

SOLUTION: There are only 4 areas in the house I’m shooting. The night before the shoot, I should frame up the widest shot from each of those scenes and figure out a lighting setup that works for each.

Wide shots are always the hardest to light. When you move in for the closeups, you can keep the lights where they are, or cheat their positions to enhance the look you created in the wide.

That means the challenge of lighting this film can be simplified to figuring out 4 lighting setups. Not so intimidating.

And tomorrow my priority is testing out all the practical effects I’ve planned out. If there’s any problems, I’ll just worry about it then.

Worry #2: Stakes & Mistakes

This film is being made with the assistance of 2 sponsors. That’s great! I’m getting paid to make this film – living the dream!

However, that means it’s not just for fun – I now have deadlines and extra responsibilities on set.

Besides producing, directing, shooting, and acting in this film, I have to direct the behind-the-scenes footage at the same time, making sure to cover what the sponsors expect, while also teaching the how’s and why’s of everything I’m doing during the shoot.

This splits my focus for the day, and I’m worried I’ll forget to say/do/shoot something important.

SOLUTION: Do what I always do for a shoot – over-prepare.

For the film itself, I’ll have my shotlist, and even rough photo storyboards for each shot. On set I can be confident that as long as I can check each shot off, the film should work.

As for the YouTube side… since the film is no-budget and I’m shooting in my own house, I can split the shoot up into 2 nights. How lucky to have no time crunch!

I’ll try to cover all the BTS sponsor stuff on the first night, review the BTS footage the next morning, and pick up whatever I forgot on night 2. Now the schedule has a built-in safety net.

Worry #3: Mediocrity

The film is a comedy, and it’s very short with funny gags throughout – in other words, I’m sure it will be entertaining. And I’ve made enough films that I doubt I’ll get to the editing room with total garbage on my hands.

However, it’s so easy to fall into the trap of good enough. And since this film is intentionally micro-budget, with only 2 other people involved, and shot on an iPhone – there’s not much wiggle room on my part for poor taste or laziness.

Weak decisions or shortcuts along the way will make it FEEL like a silly, no-budget, iPhone film. I don’t want that…

…Even though that’s exactly what it is.

SOLUTION: Embrace the fact that I’m making a silly, no-budget, iPhone film.

It’s not going to be The Godfather, and it shouldn’t be.

If the film makes people laugh and leans into the unique advantages of iPhone shooting, then it did its job. And odds are, the more serious I am about the film, the less funny it will be.

What now?

Re-reading over this, I feel calmer about the shoot.

This is actually my favorite way to handle all the things that bring me stress and anxiety – articulate it the best I can, and take an objective look at it. It’s part of Tim Ferriss’s fear-setting exercise.

Here’s the short and sweet version:

How to Overcome Filmmaking Stress

1. Bring your fear out into the daylight by writing down exactly what it is.
2. Ask yourself what the worst-case scenario is for that fear. Write down all the gory details of how it might totally blow up in your face.
3. Ask yourself if you could live with that worst-case scenario. Write down what would happen, and how you might recover from it.
4. Ask yourself how likely that worst-case scenario is to actually happen. Is it a 50% chance? No. More likely it’s a >1% chance. Write down that number.
5. Then ask yourself, what’s the most likely scenario? Write that down, especially any positive outcomes (even if this scenario isn’t all roses and sunshine).
6. Ask yourself what it’s costing you (emotionally, financially, etc) to NOT move forward right now with this thing that’s giving you fear & anxiety. Write all those costs down.

Usually when I do this exercise, the unnamed fears floating in my head turn into relatively simple problems to solve, and I feel more comfortable taking action on them.

Hopefully it helps squash some stress on your next project.

Favorites this week:

👨‍💻 Website: FrameSet.app

Whoops, last week I forgot to give the discount code. Use code STANDARD at checkout for 10% off this handy searchable library of still images from all kinds of films & videos for creating moodboards / lookbooks / pitch decks / etc for your films.

That’s it for this week.

Let’s make some movies.

-Kent