took to complete the film, he spent more than twice
his original budget.
In making a film, meticulous preparation is
everything, and key people take the time to think
out alternatives and choose the one that seems best
for the film. Thorough planning does not stifle fur-
ther creativity or improvisation during production
but rather encourages it, because planning makes
the alternatives clear. Director Sidney Lumet
emphasizes the logistics:
Someone once asked me what making a movie was
like. I said it was like making a mosaic. Each setup is
like a tiny tile [a setup, the basic component of a
film’s production, consists of one camera position
and everything associated with it]. You color it,
shape it, polish it as best you can. You’ll do six or
seven hundred of these, maybe a thousand. (There
can easily be that many setups in a movie.) Then you
literally paste them together and hope it’s what you
set out to do. But if you expect the final mosaic to
look like anything, you’d better know what you’re
going for as you work on each tiny tile.^8Production
Production, the actual shooting, can last six weeks
to several months or more. Although the producer
and director continue to work very closely together,
the director ordinarily takes charge during the
shooting. The director’s principal activities during
this period are conducting blocking and lighting
rehearsals on the set with stand-ins, followed by
rehearsals with the cast; supervising the compila-
tion of the records that indicate what is being shot
each day and informing cast and crew members of
their assignments; placing and, for each subsequent
shot, replacing cameras, lights, microphones, and
other equipment; shooting each shot as many times
as necessary until the director is satisfied and calls
“print”; reviewing the results of each day’s shooting
(called rushesor dailies) with key creative personnel
and cast; and reshooting as necessary.
Every director works differently. Ordinarily,
however, the director further breaks down the
shooting script into manageable sections, then sets
a goal of shooting a specified number of pages a day
(typically, three pages is a full day’s work). This
process depends on the number of setups involved.
Most directors try to shoot between fifteen and
twenty setups a day when they’re in the studio, where
everything can be controlled; for exterior shooting,
the number of setups varies. In any event, everyone
involved in the production works a full day—usually
from about 8:00 a.m. to about 6:00 p.m. (depend-
ing on their jobs and contracts), five days a week,
with overtime when necessary. When complicated
makeup and costuming are required, the actors
may be asked to report for work early enough to
finish that preparation before the crew is due to
report. After each day’s shooting, or as soon there-
after as the processing laboratory can deliver them,
the director and others review the rushes. (Movies
shot digitally or with a video assist camera can be
reviewed immediately, allowing retakes to be made
with the same setup or a different one.)
At a recent movie shoot in a Manhattan store,
which was closed for the night to give the crew
maximum access, any observer would have seen
why it takes longer than one might expect to com-
plete even the simplest shot. By actual count, forty
crew members were there to support the director
and four actors, who were ready to work. After the
first setup was blocked, rehearsed, and lit, the
director made three takes. This process took three
hours. However, the rest of the day’s schedule was
abandoned because the lighting that had been
brought in for the shoot failed. Why? The gaffer,
the chief electrician, had neglected to ensure that
the store’s electrical capacity could support it.
By the time generators were located and trucked
to the site, two hours had been lost. Of course, any
one of a dozen problems—human and technical—
could have kept the director and crew from meet-
ing their schedule.
During production, the number of people
required to film a particular shot depends on the
needs of that shot or, more precisely, on the overall
scene in which the shot occurs. Many factors deter-
mine the size of the crew for any shot or scene,
including the use of studio or exterior locations,(^8) Sidney Lumet, Making Movies(New York: Knopf, 1995), p. 58. day or night shooting, shooting on an uncrowded
HOW A MOVIE IS MADE 493