Lesson Learned: “The Farewell”

In the continuing effort of relaying what I've learned from my previous projects, I'll move back in time a bit to our second short film, "The Farewell." This post contains spoilers for the film (obviously), so before you read this, go watch the film below.

Now that you've watched that mediocrity, let's talk about it. "The Farewell" was a decent film in it's own rights, but more than anything, it was an attempt to challenge myself in writing more than just dialogue in film, which brings me to my first lesson.

1. Challenge Yourself

What is said isn't as important as why it's said.

Sure, life is going to challenge you with hardships and chaos every now and again, and who would want to go through hard times willingly, right? But notice how you learn way more going through tough experiences than you do just coasting. The biggest thing I did for this film was to craft a story without using words. In my personal film career, I always relied heavily upon dialogue exposition, you know, where the main character says something no one else would because it's way too descriptive. "Are those the test results we ordered for our son Tommy to take earlier this week after he got back from baseball camp with that weird rash on his leg?" Yeah, no one talks like that. But my only goal for this film was to stretch my creative writing, to see if I could tell a cohesive story without the luxury of words. Sure, at one point the characters talk to each other, but their words are muffled, because what they say isn't as important as why they're saying them and what they lead to. After coming on the heels of a film which relied solely on dialogue and a small action piece at the end, I wanted to see if I could not only tell a story without words, but if I could tell a story that meant something, that may resonate with someone in a way an action film never could. And from this challenge came all the other lessons I could learn from this film.

2. You Can Do More Than You Think

I knew I had a limit, and I kept the script contained.

We all would love to make a short film on a big cushy budget with craft services in tow, but that's just not reality. I see all these filmmakers posting about how much money they saved by buying their new RED Epic, and I'm over here still holding my camcorder. It's easy to get lost in the sea and wonder if you can ever rise above it, but if all you see are price tags, you will be held back forever. Until you look around and find what you have or someone who has it, you may never be able to make your film the way you want. For this film, we were able to film in my living room, using a bare minimum set. The boxes were easy to grab from our places of business, and we simply filled them with sheets and blankets so he could exert energy in throwing them without breaking anything. But more than that, I knew the resources that I had, and while I wrote a script that would stretch me to find new things, I knew I had a limit, and I kept the script contained. For instance, I could have easily written that this man lived in a lavish home with all the trimmings and this girl was just getting in his way of him and his money. It would have completely changed the film, but more importantly, greatly increased our budget. I had to write for what I knew was available or what I could challenge myself to get using whatever money I may have. My buddy had a Canon Rebel, so we used that for film. All the dolly shots were a tripod placed on a plastic bin lid and slid carefully across the floor. Use what you have, more than just the professional gear works. But whatever you do, don't skimp on making sure that your talent and crew have food and are well taken care of. Always, always, always provide food. (That's something I learned from another film.)

3. Be Flexible

When things weren't going our way, we filmed anyway.

Not everything is going to work out just as you planned, but if you roll with the punches, you just may find something better. For the second film in a row, rain came on days we didn't want it. We filmed this in two days, and the weather simply wouldn't cooperate. There is a brief flashback scene where the man and the woman are talking and walking with coats on during what's presumably fall or winter. Well, it wasn't. It was February, so I was hoping for cold, dreary weather. Instead, we got an abnormally warm but still cloudy day. I had the talent put their coats on, and they were boiling. We filmed quickly so we could get back in the car and cool down. On the day when most of our outside shots were due, the weather decided that now was the time to act like February in Alabama, and thus it was cold, rainy, and dreary. But we couldn't control the rain and I couldn't reschedule filming days, since we scraped by to get the two we got. So, we were flexible and filmed anyway. What came out were beautiful shots with sporadic raindrops exemplifying the main characters sorrow. What could have easily been rescheduled since it wasn't ideal turned out to be a great shoot and really captured the essence of the film.

Closing Remarks

All in all, this film was great fun and a wonderful experience. We had some good laughs, some intense moments, and overall a blast. My crew and I, who have now worked on more three projects together, bonded all the more and I'm positive our films will be better in the future because of that fact alone. I trust my team to help me create the best version of the story possible, so the final lesson, which I will touch base with a little more in the next post, is trust your team. They've got your back, they're in this, too. This film had such a small crew (four guys including myself) and cast (three actors) that we really had to trust each other at every turn to make sure this film turned out the best it could have. And I believe it did. We challenged ourselves, were super flexible, and because of that and more, we accomplished more than we ever thought we could. So believe in yourself and your team and make the best film you know how to make.