It's not often that one goes to bed at 4 am, and then 2 days later wakes up at the same time. However, when I had the chance to work on a short film with John Lyde and a bunch of other good friends of mine, I'd do a lot more.
Like wake up at 4am, drive 260 miles to set, shoot all day in the sun, then drive 260 miles back home?
Yep, did that too. Didn't get paid a dime, but what I saw and learned was invaluable.
Arriving on set, I immediately met with the camera teams and signed on board, as this would put be in the middle of the action all day, and from this vantage point I was able to see how John was able to direct a 10 minute short in the space of two days. Here are a couple things I picked out.
1) He's a one man directors team.
He effectively conducted the set like the 1st AD, supervised the continuity/script like a script supervisor, and place the background like a 2nd AD. When you combine the 4 of those jobs into one person, it eliminates a lot of space on set and time spent on communication.
2) Simple story and simple action.
With this short film, it was pretty straight forward. A man is killing a bunch of bandits in order to rescue the damsel in distress. Most of the days were spent doing comical and action packed assassinations. Just think Assassins Creed but with Cowboys. Running, stabbing, shooting. He kept it small and manageable. The rest of the scenes were simple yet powerful dialogue with only one scene involving more than 2 people. This makes for scenes that are relatively easy to shoot.
3) Professional and practiced help.
I found that the people who were working on the shoot had worked with John before, and knew how he liked to operate and run things. The best example was Paul Green, who would always watch and wait, and be ready to place camera on the fly, but never until John told him where to put it. He related a story where he once followed John all the way up a large hill, only to have John tell him to place the camera down at the bottom. "I just wanted to see what it was like up here". Lesson Learned.
The stuntmen of CBR were also incredibly talented, took care of themselves, and even added great ideas on how they could be killed. Very excellent collaborators and often nailed the performance on the first take whilst being safe as well.
The actors were especially great and came knowing their parts. This alludes to the fact that John had worked with them ahead of time to develop within their minds their characters and the story they are involved in. The big thing? THEY WERE PREPARED!
4) He's fun on set!
He didn't stress out, yell, or rely on a set storyboard. He was always cracking jokes, easily approachable, and very enjoyable to be around. He knew he was making a fun, action packed passion project, and his countenance resembled the exact feel he wanted the audience to have.
Thanks for tuning in, and stay tuned for more on set experiences and insights.
