Time

The main things that consists around time is deadlines. You need to have the ability to meet deadlines otherwise life can become quite difficult for you. Deadlines for the shoot are important due to keeping to the schedule. You need to make sure you meet the first day of the shoot, so all pre-production must be completed before this day. Also you need to know when the last day of the shoot will be due to it being the last day of your equipment and personnel availability, followed by staying within the budget.

Availability of equipment, you need to be organised and make sure you have all the essentials to make your short film. First, you need to understand what equipment is available to you. The quicker you can obtain equipment the more time you will have! For example, if we are thinking about myself right now the equipment i have available are:

• Sony Video camera 
• Sound mixer and boom operator 
• Mic 
• Lighting 
•  Avid Editing software and computer 
• Memory cards for clip storage 
• Tripod 
• grip 
• Speakers 
• Headphones 
• Mac with imovie installed

You might wonder form my list that what else could you need? i have a video camera, i have editing software? what else would i need? You would be surprised with the amount of equipment you actually need to make a high quality film. My desired equipment would be: 

• Sony NEX video camera (highest of quality)
• Vanguard alto pro tripod 
• Power director power 14 editing software 

Not all of it but a few essentials. On your equipment you must get pricing on absolutely everything to identify how much it eats into your budget. 

Availability of personnel, this is important because you need to make sure that everyone else you need for the set is ready to be there, otherwise delays of scenes can be caused. You need to specify exactly when the person you are recruiting is free, such as hours or days. 

Timescale for clearances, you need to save time to remove all copyright from your short film, if not then you could forget about it, release it then you will find all your hard work has gone down the drain. You need everything signed off the actors, locations and everything that follows before your production.

Picture lock, this is when you edit the visuals first to set the base of the short film. You need this done first to create a base for the sound operator, if not finished then the sound operator will have to change the whole scene due to changing the visual. Unnecessary delay for your short film. Sound lock s the same principal only with sound.

Music and visual effects must be created on schedule otherwise this will also create delay for your short film. In addition, when the colour correction comes into play there is no going back so you must make sure that all deadlines are met.




If I was going to recruit a team, one of the first things I would need to find out would be if they are free on the days i want them to work.