Lights...Camera...Friendships

Well after 2 day of not being on facebook i got bored. So now i got back on again and decided to get back because it still a great tool to get my up and coming projects of film. After that is said let me get into the very important subject of this blog. Now ever since i have been 15 years old I always wanted to be a film maker and even before that at a very young age i was always a storyteller. When i started making films all I had was 1 a Hi8 Camcorder and 8mm Cassettes to record them on. My actors were always that I had around me, I did try to ask for some girls help but they were always shy or scared to be in front of the camera. After high school a lot of my friends aka cast & actors went off to have families and explore life beyond Virginia. For awhile i stop making movies because i too had life's bug bit hit me, plus getting a new crew and actors always seems an up hill battle when you have to do everything by yourself. That was the case until one day after working at an insurance company where i met my future film partner Tarik Joyner. I remember the first time we were bouncing different ideas we had about films that we wanted to see that Hollywood wasn't making. Fast forward a bit and we are on a set shooting my first paid music video with a huge cast of video girls, camera crew and makeup artist plus the whole video took place at a TV studio which we had 2 to 3 hours to film. Most music videos take 2 or 3 days but we had planned it so well that it was easy coming shooting day. But before that I was working on a short film called RED....We started on that first but i was quick to realised is that when we asked for friends for help they were willing to do it and when it came time to do the scene they would either change their mind or the time for the shot. After making the music video we used a lot of people who were not our friends and who we found over the Internet that wanted to be in films or makeup that we needed. Having friends are great to day to day life....but when you have something like film them seem less reliable people to ask for help you make your vision come true. Not to say that all your friends aren't reliable .... there are a few that are reliable. Me and a friend who is a fellow film maker talked about the very same issues he had when he was getting his projects done when using friends instead of a stranger. When you work on a film before and after filming beings you have to always remember that you are the boss, film making is a collaborative process but there has to be a leader to push the project where it has to go and when it will be done. When you work with a stranger they have to work on your shooting schedule and they can take direction and most important criticism on their performance. When it comes to friends you have to constantly remind them when your shooting schedule is or when can they have free time to get the scenes done plus giving direction or criticism to your friend they might take it personally. In the coming film projects you will see less and less of unknown faces who are not friends of mine. It's not because I don't want my friends being in them...its just that I want to work with a lot of unknown talent in the northern Virginia Area as well as Maryland and Washington D.C. or what i like to call The D.M.V. Thank you for reading my blog and i hope to bring you more insight of a film maker in the coming months on new film projects.