First let,s look at a few qualities of a director

We could say that a director has to have great communication skills.  We could also say that he or she needs the power to be able to manipulate actors and crew into doing his or her bidding.  Good directors are students of human nature. A Director should have lots of confidence in what they are doing.  This can become inspiring to the rest of the crew and talent.  Some film directors get the job done and everyone on set hates them, but they get hired again because they got the job done.  Some directors can get along great with the crew but don’t get hired again by the producer because the film was a dud. Let’s not forget the bottom line to the producer is whether the film made money or not.

As in any business your previous track record of successful productions is what you get hired for.  Hitchcock, John Ford, Roman Palanski, Spielberg, Oliver North etc., all great directors with great track records.

The pathway to becoming a great film director is not an easy one.  You must keep proving yourself one film at a time.  Winning lots of festival awards helps along the way in the beginning.  By the way, I’ve won my share of film awards both national and international and I can tell you that the more you enter festivals the greater your chances of winning a few awards.  All you need is one simple award, not a gold or silver or even a bronze, but just an honourable mention award.  Now you can honestly say you are an award winning filmmaker.

My advise to new film directors is to study not only the films by great directors but also books written by directors.  One book that I found with lot’s of depth into the character of a director was “An open Book” by John Houston.  As I recall there was a Clint Eastwood film about hunting liions in Africa that was a parady on John Houston’s life.

Here is one great tip I learned while studying film in Hollywood some years back and one that I have used several times on set.  It is simply this.  Every director on a film will come to a point where exhaustion and fatique have taken their toll on mind and body.  The twelve to 16 hour days, day after day can be brutal.  Suddenly, you don’t know where to go next with your shots, ideas or anything??? blank.  When this happens you simply turn to you AD (assistant director) and tell them to give the crew a 15 minute coffee break while you and the AD discuss things.  Now the crew is happy for the break and you as the director will not look like have lost it, because if the crew senses that you have, you will lose their confidence in a hurry.  All they know is that the director had another meeting with his AD.

I’ve been speaking here about theatrical films, but please take this advise and apply it to any type of film and video production work.  You can learn a lot more along with some good production stories of what and what not to do, in my book  “The Video Bible”, also comes with a great bonus gift. A number of high schools and colleges are using it in there media classes so it is certainly a good invesment. just click on the Video Bible picture on my front page and I will ship right out to you.

I would really appreciate your feedback on my site, so drop me a line.

Cheers, Barry

This article by Mary Jander of Internet Evolution. June 2010

To many IT pros, the latest report from Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) states the obvious: The Internet’s getting bigger. Even so — and even in light of Cisco’s vested interest in the growth of IP networks worldwide — the news contains some nuggets worth chewing on.

The basics from Cisco’s “Visual Networking Index,” conducted twice yearly, indicate that global Internet traffic will more than quadruple by 2014, reaching a volume of 767 exabytes, an order of magnitude increase over IP network traffic worldwide in 2008. (Compare these levels to the 300 exabytes projected for 2011 by IDC in 2007.)

According to Cisco, in 2014, the Internet will carry about 64 exabytes of global traffic monthly — equal to 16 billion DVDs; 21 trillion MP3s; or 399 quadrillion text messages.

Video will account for the lion’s share of consumer Internet traffic, representing more than 91 percent of it by 2014, thanks to the predicted rise of HDTV and 3DTV.

What’s all this got to do with enterprise networks? Plenty, says Cisco. Even though from 2009 through 2014 the ratio of consumer to business traffic will increase, business traffic will also increase on its own, more than tripling to an estimated 7.7 exabytes a month, Cisco says — the equivalent of 5 billion DVDs. Interestingly, this level of business IP traffic will represent just about 13 percent of all monthly traffic in 2014.

Like the consumer Internet, business traffic will also contain much more video content near-term, in Cisco’s view: Business video conferencing will grow tenfold from 2009-2014 (a compound annual growth rate of 57 percent), nearly three times the rate of growth compared to overall business IP traffic. And within the business video conferencing segment, Web-based video conferencing will show a CAGR of 183 percent from 2009-2014.

After many years in this business, it came to me that each of us is directing
the greatest epic of all time….”Our life”. And when you think about life
In this way it begs the questions… Will we win an academy award nomination
for our efforts or will our epic dreams go straight to video??

Think about this for a moment.

Are you in control of (your film? your life?)

How are things going on the set each day? In the film biz. we have to handle
numerous changes throughout the day due to actors who are sick, camera
problems, script problems, location problems, time problems, budget problems.
(sounds kinda like life doesn’t it)

How are you handling your production each day? Are you in control as the
director? Does your crew respect you? Is your first assistant director supporting
you? How are you handling your budget?

This brings up the question of makes a great director? When you look at films
like Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter, you recognize that these directors can
turn out a series of films that all look great and earn many dollars. So what is
their secret?

Great film directors often have great life experiences or at least have learned
The elemental truths about how to bring out the best in people who surround
you.

So?…as the director of your epic, how are you doing with your film, with your
crew. with your budget? Think about it!!

The truth in advertising? Boy is this an oxymoron!

Ok, let’s look at the humorous side of things.

This is a bit of the topic but bare with me for a minute. From lot’s listening to commercials especially on TV, it seems to be that there a few big words that advertisers use to sell anything and everything. The words are:
*Just
*Only
*But wait
*Low Low
*Limited offer
*Have your credit card ready

JUST AND ONLY

Let’s look at (Just) & (Only) for a moment. When the advertised price is $19.95, you have to figure if that is good price or not?  They don’t want you to think about this so they think for you,,by sticking in (just or only). Now you’re convinced you can afford it because after all it’s just or only $19.95

BUT WAIT

Another big one is (but wait) They get you excited about the offer but just when you’ve got out your cheque book and about to write, the guy announces in a somewhat louder voice (BUT WAIT!!) startling you and causing you to knock over your cup and spill coffee all over your pants. This is called the up-sell.

LOW LOW.

A new one they are using now is (low, low). The phrase they used previously was; (for the low price of), but they found that it wasn’t low enough to get you to buy, so they introduced (for the low, low price of) I wonder what would happen if they introduced (the, low, low, low price of)? It’s got to cost less?

LIMITED OFFER

by the way this doesn’t mean that by waiting you might not get one. It simply means the advertiser has only so much money to keep the commercial running. It’s his limitation not yours.

OPERATORS ARE STANDING BY

What about (operators are standing by) Personally I have never seen an operator standing by and I’ve watched a number of telethons and channel 9 programs and they are never (standing) they are always sitting by. So why don’t they tell the truth, that operators are sitting by. The reason is that (sitting by) doesn’t really make you feel like they want your business but if they are leaning up against a wall… then they do?

HAVE YOUR CREDIT CARD READY

(Have your credit card ready)?? C’mon, nobody has their credit card ready. That’s why all those operators are standing by and seem to do more listening than talking. It’s because the person on the other end of the phone is off in the bedroom looking for their credit card number.

Top this for the most embarrassing moment story.

Some years ago I was a rock n roll drummer and spent more than a year in England playing and touring with some famous rock n roll legends, namely: Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and The Original Drifters.

At one point I got tired of the on the road gigs and wanted a nice steady gig where I didn’t have to travel.

I saw an add for a drummer in a house band playing 5 nights a week in a large ballroom in Bristol. This is perfect for me, I thought. So I answered the add. After checking me out on the phone the band leader asked me to come down to Bristol and audition for gig.

Now most of the material being played by this group was big band stuff like Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, the forties dance tunes. I always liked these tunes and felt very confident to play them.

So now it’s my audition night and I’m watching the band consisting of
15 musicians, most with musical degrees and all reading music. Gulp!! I thought, I don’t read very well. Too late now I said to myself, but I am A good faker and I can pull this off.

After one of the breaks the band leader invites me up to sit in. To my left is a music stand with charts for each song. It might as well have been written in Chinese as for as I was concerned. So we go through several tunes and each time the band leader looks up to me, I quickly focus my attention on the chart and make like I am reading. Now you got to remember I had a good feel for the songs even though I couldn’t read music.

After the audition the band leader comes ups and shakes my hand telling me I did great. I do my best to blurt out that I don’t read very well, but he is just fine with everything and gives me the job. So I go back to London, grab my drums and move to Bristol.

Now it’s my first night on the job. We play a few tunes and each time the band leader looks up to me I once again focus my attention on the music and fake this reading stuff.

About half way through the evening me and the band are cooking along with this Benny Goodman tune and it comes to an end. So I rest my sticks on the snare Drum and start fidgeting with the music. Then the leader waves the band on and we play the tune again. We get to end of the tune and I turn To the bass player and ask “Hey Charlie, why did we play that last tune twice”? He looks at me with head bowed and says “We didn’t…there was a 16 bar drum solo in the middle”.

So for 16 bars every guy in the band is counting time and yours truly is fidgeting through the music oblivious to what is happening.

I got fired on that my first night. I could have died on the spot. I felt completely destroyed as a drummer and it took me weeks to talk myself back from this disaster. I did eventually learn to read music, never very well but enough to prevent moments like that from happening again. And the point of this story is?

“The greatest learning always comes
from our errors and mistakes, not
from our successes”

Let me start by saying that YES! There is a way to become successful working in film. Now when I say working in film, I am of course including video production as well. While I am at it lets include all forms of production, feature films, Movies of the Week or (MOW’s) as they are known, short form television dramas, educational films, training films, television commercials, both the theatrical and non-theatrical areas of production.

Some years ago, before I went to film school in Hollywood, I was a press photographer for the Colonist Newspaper here in Victoria I was pretty good with a camera and figured that I had about 8,000 published photos over an eight year span. I won some awards and had some sales from photos in magazines along the way. At that time there were several other photographers working in the news game and still others that did weddings, postcards and commercial work. One guy in particular had his shots popping up everywhere; in magazines, posters, postcards, if it was anywhere but in the paper, his name seemed to be attached to it.

At the time I would say that we both had passion for our work, but he turned his passion into a very successful business because he educated himself in business practices and learned how to market himself. Most of us that get into this game do so because of our passion for what we do and how it makes us feel when we are doing the one thing that we know keeps us happy.

Remember the old saying, “There’s No Free Lunch”, well it is still true today. What I am getting at here is that passion for what we do is great but it has to be passion that causes you to take action. passion that moves you into learning all you can about the “business” of film production.

Do you remember meeting someone who really enjoyed their work and as you converse you can feel this coming through in their conversation. That kind of passion causes that person to succeed. They don’t worry about the hours involved in working at something that they enjoy. All they see is the end result. Let me give you an example of what I am saying here. I recently wrote a book called “The Video Bible” (step by step tools for promotional video production).

If you had come to me a few years back and told me that I would be writing a book, I would have said you’re crazy I don’t know how to do that? Well, someone did say to me “why don’t you write a book? You have done a lot of production and teaching and you probably have some good experiences and information to share with others”.

So one day I sat down at the computer and started writing and WOW!! This stuff started flowing out of me. I was feeling great passion for writing and I was engaging in a new area of film that was making me feel happy.

Now, I had some good material worth sharing but I knew nothing about how to lay out a book, how to get it published, how to market it etc. etc. This next part is very important. My passion was strong enough that I was willing to make whatever sacrifice were necessary to get the book published, which meant learning about the business end of things, spending money I hadn’t budgeted for, committing my time to the task. This is the point that many of us arrive at but never get beyond. Suddenly, the effort in front of us causes us to change our thinking. It’s almost as if we say to ourselves, “If it doesn’t come with a free lunch then I’m not buying.” Your passion has to be so strong enough that it will force you to not accept anything less than the achievement of your goal.

It doesn’t matter if you want to be the best grip, the best cam op. the best writer, the best producer or AD, your passion has to be strong enough that you are willing to charge through those things that are standing in your way. It has to be strong enough that you will take on the task of educating yourself on a regular basis to achieve your goal. It needs to force you into learning about the business end of things, something I am sure most of us do not relish, after all we are artists first and anything else later. In other words the extent of your passion will cause you to knock down all obstacles that stand in the way of you achieving your goal.

Some of the students that attend Victoria Motion Picture School have this passion and it can bee seen on the first day of class and I have now doubt that they will achieve what they want. Our training will help but it is that passion that they have for their work already built in that will make them a success.

A recent inquiry about our full time film program came in the other day from a girl who really wants to go to film school. She said she had the passion but not enough sustained passion to make the sacrifices she would need to make it all happen. She had a litany of excuses why she couldn’t get the funding together, or her credit was not good enough, or the timing wasn’t right or, or, or, or. She was looking for the free lunch. I’m sure if I had said that I would pay her way and that she didn’t have to do any work towards film school, she would have accepted that.

She talked about having passion and that going to film school was the most important thing in life to her, but it really wasn’t. “What she had was desire not passion.” Do you have passion for what you do? This can apply to all forms of work and play not just the film business. Are you talking a good game, but when it comes to making the sacrifices to achieve your goal, you fold. Have you arrived at the point where you say “I’m going for it” and throw every bit of your being in to the task. Are you willing to accept the inevitable failures along the way but recognize that each set back is a learning experience that is moving you closer to your goal?

In closing let me add this. Some months back I was sitting in the hallway of a high school waiting to give a talk to some students (I am doing much more of these motivational talks now, to schools, colleges and business groups) anyway as I was thinking about life and what I do, these words came into my mind. So I wrote them down right away.

The chances of you being healthy
are greater if you are happy.
The chances of you being happy
are greater if you are enjoying your work.
The chances of you enjoying your work
are greater if you are doing what you like.
Doing what you like is good for your health.
..Barry Casson

Here’s to sustained passion in your work.

THE SECRET – a bit of topic

There was a lot of buzz around recently about “The Secret”. It’s a film you can get on
the web by going to Secret TV.com. It is certainly worth taking a look at.

For those of you like me who believe in a higher power, in my case his name is God,
We appreciate that this universe didn’t happen by chance. We believe in a cosmic law, intuition, gut feelings, vibes, promptings and a host of other terms relating to the unseen parts of our lives.

The Secret delves into this area and calls it “The Law of Attraction” and I for one know
that it really does work. Earl nightingale, a great speaker and philosopher said it best,
“You will become What You Think About”. In my own case:

I wanted to be a drummer in a rock band – I became that drummer
I wanted to be a newspaper photog. –I became that photographer
I wanted to see my films on national television – it happened
I wanted to open a film school – it happened
I wanted to write a book – it happened
I wanted to be a public speaker – it’s happening.

If you look at your own life you may see a similar pattern to the things you have
accomplished.

Did anyone every say to you “stop daydreaming”. I used to get this all the time in school? Boy, where they out of touch. Focused daydreaming is what creates your future.

You are where you are now because of your thoughts. The more you daydream about
the future and how it will be, the greater your chance of it happening.

Maybe you want to be a great gardener, a great cook, a great bus driver, a great teacher, lawyer, accountant, filmmaker. It really doesn’t matter what it is. Dream about it, feel what it would be like and bring it about with your thoughts.

If all this sounds a little simplistic, well it really is. It’s all a matter of choosing the right kind of thinking.