Directing is such a long, tedious, drawn out affair filled with multiple responsibilities it’s a miracle I ever finish a project! Fortunately, being a geek, I use technology and geekery to get me through, here’s a some productivity tools that I use on a constant basis.
Laptop – You need one. Period. Whether you’re at home or on the go, you’ll need access to a computer. If you can swing it, get a 3G USB internet stick from your local telcom provider and you’ll always be connected.
Mobile phone with a data plan – People need to get a hold of you, always. Get one with a data plan as well when you need to do something quick online, it’s a bit more convenient than taking out your laptop.
Write Room – One of the best word processors out there is Write Room. Not because it has any fancy features, but because it clears away all the distractions and lets you get down to writing. Alternatively, you can make Google Docs look like Write Room with this script.
Google Docs / Zoho – Speaking of which, Google Docs is what I use for general word processing and creating spreadsheets. The benefit is that by writing everything online, I’ll always have access to it. There’s even limited functionality on mobile devices. Zoho is it’s major competitor although I haven’t used it enough to compare the two. For local office programs, I’m a big fan of Open Office which is completely free.
Large shoulder bag – You’ve got lots of stuff to lug around, get a big bag! I’ve actually experimented with carrying around an extremely thin backpack which is great when you don’t have much you need to carry.
iCal / Google Calendar – Calendar needs. Again, I use Google calendar but anything you can access from multiple places works just as well.
Binder – I actually have several binders, but a good quality director’s binder is a must! Depending on the project, I use a 1″ or 2″ binder and I use a 3″ to keep all the notes of completed projects.
Digital Camera – Something that can take both video and stills comes in handy, especially during preproduction.
Graph Paper – I never use lined or blank paper, I always use graph paper. Why? It’s because it’s the most versatile paper you can use. You have horizontal lines if you want to write notes and the grid helps you draw quick floorplans or even roughly accurate storyboards (draw a box that’s 8 by 4 and that roughly equals a 16:9 frame ratio).
Pocket notebook and pen – By far the most important tool in your arsenal. Nothing compares to a notebook in your pocket for when inspiration hits or for listing my to-do’s. It requires no batteries, you don’t have to worry about it crashing and you can quickly sketch in it. I always carry around my Moleskine notebook and pocket pen, it’s the most important thing on me.
What are your favourite tools to help out on set and off?
Just on a content binge! There’s a bunch more artwork in the artwork section, specifically 4 paintings of my cats that I painted last year. I’ve also uploaded some instrumental music in a new Audio section, at the moment it’s just a flash player but I intend to make each song available for download and use for non-commercial projects. For convenience sake, I’ll just link directly in this post.
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Nuts!
Written & Performed by Danny F. Santos
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Stormglass
Written & Performed by Danny F. Santos
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Troll (Variations on of a Theme)
Written & Performed by Danny F. Santos
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So, I saw Avatar over the weekend in 3D because everyone, their mom and hidden space alien in the attic was curious what this game changer was going to be like. In the end, the story was “meh” but the visuals were stunning! You have to see this in 3D it’s just visually fantastic!
But the story is still bland and it bothered me because I just couldn’t enjoy the film from anything other than a technical standpoint. Yes I know it’s Jim Cameron and he’s gonna give you something great to look at but predictable. Even so I wish they would have done something really cool with the story as opposed to “Dances with (12 foot) Smurfs”. The good thing is that the story makes logical sense as opposed to something like Transformers 2. :: shudder :: Although the Na’vi could have used some better tactics during the final battle.
Want to know what I would have done? A mockumentary of the excellent BBC series Planet Earth (Planet Pandora anyone?). I think all Cameron really wanted to build this world in as much detail as possible with it’s own history, evolution and living organisms and then explore it. I love world building myself and have several worlds and universes planned out to one degree or another. I don’t really intend on doing anything with them, I just like to create new worlds.
So in the end, I would say if you want spectacle without much substance, you can’t go wrong at all, no one does it better or with more attention to detail than Cameron. And it’s always great to see Ms. Weaver in action, she hauls ass in this movie.
Found a bunch of old comics I drew when I was toying around with keeping a comic journal. I still think I should start this up again someday as a side project, I kinda miss it.
As the months have gone by, I’ve been check out a slew of social media services. I unknowingly started using google docs more and more until I’ve reached the point where I use it almost exclusively. I also was able to get on Google Wave’s preview! While it’s pretty bare bones at the moment, it’s fun to toy with.
I’ve also been planning on uploading my earlier short films to Vimeo but the drive they’re on doesn’t want to talk to my mac. Talks to Ubuntu just fine, but the is read only… Still working out that particular problem.
I finished some online viral promo’s which I’ll be uploading fairly shortly. This was for a local improv show and I’m pleased with the way they ended up, I’ll keep you informed of that.
Back to social media, I’m still not sure how many of these services I’ll continue to use. Right now I have them all updating at the same time. Twitter has my largest following by far, so I’m keeping that one for sure.
One other thing going on is I’m on a big productivity kick. Cleaned up my home office and my work desk, it feels damn fantastic to finally clean those suckers up! In the process I simplified them, tossed a bunch of uneeded crap and reorganized. I highly recommend this to everyone.
As I restructure my life, I’d like to get into blogging more. I’m a pretty passive online kinda guy but the reality is that if I want to move forward as an independant director, I’m going to need serious backing from somewhere. And couple of fans I guess.
As the months have gone by, I’ve been check out a slew of social media services. I unknowingly started using google docs more and more until I’ve reached the point where I use it almost exclusively. I also was able to get on Google Wave’s preview! While it’s pretty bare bones at the moment, it’s fun to toy with.