Tamil Short Film 'Full Stop' - Lessons from Production

These are a few lessons we learned after we finished shooting our latest Tamil short film, 'Full Stop'. You can watch it HERE. The idea for this film came about a year ago, when we repeatedly saw unconscious alcoholics in the middle of the road, completely oblivious to the reality around them. So we thought what would happen if we did something about it. So there...we made this film for fun, to tickle our production bug. A few things we thought might be worth sharing, especially if you want to know more about the filmmaking process. Anyways...

1. Always be in touch with filmmaking, especially production. Makes you grounded to the reality of the chaotic beast that is. The last shoot we had was about 5 months ago and shooting after that gap was like a wake-up call, a reality check. We scrambled a bit to a delayed start and then got on track. So keep scripting and shooting.
2. While working with new actors, always block-rehearse(Characters’ movement and positioning in relation to each other with dialogues) before getting them in front of the camera. If your actors are new, this is very important. Otherwise, you are likely to spend more time on this during the shoot.
3. Create Storyboards…highly recommended. Unless you are extremely confident and trained in conceiving and executing shots, create storyboards.
4. Create a Shot List. That is, what shots you need in a particular scene. Say if the Lead Character touches something, you write that down and say whether it's a Close-up shot or a medium shot or a long shot. And if you can match it with the Storyboards, great, do it.
5. Stick to your Shot List. If you must improvise with extra shots, do so minimally and don’t go overboard just because you are shooting digital and have resources at your disposal. If you want extra safety shots, include that in your Shot List.
6. Find and work with people who are passionate, sincere and with a collaborative mindset. Especially those who believe in the vision of the project. While most obvious, this is something you should always be aware of.