Strictly Personal

My lessons from directing Indian Giver:

• You will not understand the nature of the piece till you have everything on one timeline. Till then, it is all a dream.
• Figure out your editing plan. Figure this out or you will creative energy will be sapped when it comes time to edit.
• Again, always get more than what you want. Take a gamble on other emotions, ideas that weren’t in the script. You will always need it.
• Remember you did well to recover from bad weather. The story shifted away from the original and that was probably a good thing.
• If you going to do a story in a music video, be detailed about the plot and hi and lows of the song. Make sure the movements are correct.
• If possible, pick actors and other stuff based on flexibility. Because Lindsey lived so faraway, I could not shoot any reshoots. I had one shot. And because the weather was screwed up, that simply wasn’t enough.
• On a positive note, the camera work was good. Making something out of nothing.
• I didn’t achieve anything with the editing till it got messy. Till I started making choices. Till then I wasn’t going anywhere. Being editor, don’t be afraid of losing the plot a little. Of getting your hands dirty.
• If you are going to do something that works in a subtle way. Also include obvious scenes, even if you don’t plan to do anything with them. The obvious moments made this video. Otherwise, it was very very bland.
• Subtlety works well when something else is very obvious or direct.
• Actor chemistry is so important. Important that people meet and you have a chance to watch them interact.
• Many times actors work when the camera likes them in the same angles.
• HD is overrated. Lighting is underrated.