Three Lessons From Our First Short Film

Hi friend,

We recently reached out via email about supporting us in greenlighting our first short film, You Smoke?. Well, 🥁 we filmed it!

Although it was a short project, I learned a L O T, and I’m here to share it with you.

Lesson 1: You’re only as good as your team

When bringing on crew members, I always try to bring on folks who are experienced and, in some cases, have more experience than I do. As a DP, you have to know a lot between camera, grip, and electric. I’m so grateful I was able to bring on a strong, talented crew with deep knowledge of the tools needed to tell this story.

Outside of experience and talent, I work to bring on crew members who are connected to the story being told and who will gel with each other. Some folks on my crew had never worked together before, but were able to bring a positive and collaborative attitude to set that was necessary for this overnight shoot.

Lesson 2: Ask for help

I chose to support the shoot by picking up and returning G&E equipment for this overnight shoot. Honestly, I should’ve asked for extra hands on that task. The additional physical labor before and after this overnight shoot, TOOK ME OUT.

So this lesson is one I come back to again and again. I’ve often been hired to be a one-person crew as a videographer, audio engineer, photographer, interviewer, and on-camera talent. I’m used to relying on myself.

But when it comes to larger shoots, it’s a luxury to have the resources you need and to be able to rely on your teammates. And while it’s hard to flex that muscle, you should fully indulge in that luxury.

Lesson 3: Remain flexible

Every department head will tell you that no matter how many months you spend planning for production, there will be something you didn’t plan for. In this case, we were missing parts that would have allowed us to use a new tool on set to tell a stronger story.

It was a bummer that we had to miss out on the chance to use a fun new tool, but we had to move on to save time and rely on the basics of framing and blocking to get a similar effect.

There’s only so much you can control when you’ve got a team of people to support, and you’ve got to trust those folks and roll with the punches.

If you made it this far in this post, I’m rewarding you with an exclusive first look at what we captured. 😜

Yes, that is Chicago DJ Icey Baby!

If you have any questions or can relate to these lessons, we’d love to hear back from you. And if you want to hear what Ani learned about herself from producing You Smoke, check out her latest IG post.

Well, my friend, that’s all for now. Keep an eye on your inbox because soon we’ll be sending you something extra cheesy. 🧀

Be well,

M