Post by nigel on Jun 1, 2008 8:21:36 GMT -5
PRE-PRODUCTION
Pre-production is probably the most important part of the film making process and like Roger Corman said the cheapest.
Pre production expenses should run to some stamps, some paper and envelopes and some (probably hefty) phone bills. But beside that all the brainpower and organisation that goes into the pre-production process should cost you nothing. So it is worth taking your time at this stage and getting everything you can right. And time is the one thing that you probably do have plenty of. It is never too early to start organising for your film. One suggested ratio is that five preproduction days should be allocated for every production day. Because you aren't going to be able to pay for services on demand, you will have to take even more time that this to make sure that everything is in place. Six months before you start shooting would not be a bad time to first start thinking about what is going to have to be done. Because once you start shooting anything left unorganised is going to cost you a) massive amounts of stress and b) possibly money. So get it right!
The Paper Trail.
In the industry, the pre-production process gobbles up acres of rain forest. And despite your right-on-ness you're going to be no different. Industry practice exists because it works (at least as regards pre production) and you want to prove to your investors or buyers or future employers that you are working in a professional manner.
There seems to be a tendency among no budget film makers, if not exactly make it up as they go along, to keep it all in their heads and translate it like the oracle to their crew on the day. Now this can work. Rick Schmidt argues this is where the magic of no budget film comes in as the accidents of time and space bring that certain je-ne-sais-quoi to your film. Well I think at this budget level if that magic isn't happening you might as well pack it in. But it's going to happen even if you are very organised. So get organised.
Also, to translate the movie in your head into the real world, at the end of a seventeen-hour day, your film might be losing something in translation and your only going to find out maybe eight weeks later. A script breakdown, shot list and a storyboard are not going to make you any less creative. They're your storyboards, etc. so you can also ignore/change them but is better that they are there.
Before you start on the paper trail, my advice is get hold of a computer and somebody that can work it. Specifically somebody that can work spreadsheets and databases and if they can compose amazingly crawly begging letters into the bargain so much the better.
The script
Hopefully from an artistic point of view, the script will be as good as it can be got and because you have already written it with your budget in mind there should be no nasty surprises when you are breaking it down. E.g. the chariot race was dropped. Your script should be being running about one page a minute in standard script format so your script should run to not less than 70 pages absolute minimum. If there is action in a script you should describe in real time. This stops any nasty surprises, like coming up 20 minutes short of running time. Of course long scenes can be described in few words. Like "Napoleon retreats from Moscow" for example. But otherwise detail that action. If nothing else it will help you when you have to come to the practicalities of planning the shot.
By this stage you have hopefully worked out how many characters you have, how many story days (and therefore possible changes of costume) the story runs or will it require costumes that the actors cannot provide themselves, are any night shoots really necessary, how many locations there will be, etc.
Breaking down the script
Once the script is in it's final form, you can start to break it down. This is done by preparing industry standard break down pages, and going through the script scene by scene (one breakdown page per scene) to figure out what is required in terms of actors, costumes, set, locations, equipment, transportation, etc. in each scene. The requirements for each scene can they be broken down by departments (camera department, art department, etc.) and the relevant information passed on as to what those departments will need or have to organise or have to purchase. If you know somebody that can make relational databases do their stuff, it is possible to set the whole break down system on a database, using the scene number as the one to many relationship.
The breakdown page is also important because it is from this that the budget and schedule will be prepared.
The Budget
Industry standard budget sheets which are broken down under specific process and department headings can be taken from any number of books on the subject or alternatively get hold of a Channel Four budget breakdown, essentially the industry standard in Britain. You will of course be able to dispense with many of the headings but in determining what should and shouldn't be left out, it should give you food for thought as to the necessary and the unnecessary. When you've decided which headings are relevant get them put on to a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet will do all the hard work of adding and subtracting and VAT calculations and give you running totals as you adjust your figures.
If you haven't quite worked out the necessary and unnecessary at least you can start on the affordable and unaffordable. And it is here the real fun of NBM making begins (in my opinion). What can you scam, what can you hustle, what can you beg or borrow to lift you film production values up from the bargain basement. How are you going to get what little money you have up on screen and make it look ten times as much. Who can you sweet talk bribe or harangue into acting for you, giving up their car, or their life for three weeks? You'd be surprised how many people are still seduced by the glamour of film and will grant you all sorts of favour and license should you but ask.
One thing you have to offer people is a cut of the profits (should there be any) but this should generally be offered to only the cast and crew and of course any investors.
By preparing the breakdown pages and the budget you enter into the debate with yourself about what you really need for your film. If your budget is woefully under the amount needed to realise your vision, you have a choice, change your vision or figure out how to get more money.
Scaling down your vision of course can be as simple as letting a few scenes go. Changing some night shots (which could require big lights and cabling etc.) into day shots or at least day for night or dumping a scene with a lot of extras or letting go of a location that was going to cost. Shoot mute and dub the sound. But hopefully you've written a script that you won't have to change radically.
One cost that you will have to add on to your budget will be insurance. This can be had from specialist brokers for about £100 a week. Get it. Because if you drop a camera (god forbid) it is going to cost you a d**n sight more than a two or three hundred pounds. Negative insurance (i.e. the cost of putting what is on the negative back on the negative) and personal liability should be included in the price as well as equipment.
Petty cash and Contingency. Contingency money is usually calculated at something like 10% of the budget. In your case this is likely to manifest it self as petty cash. Film is a machine and is unfortunately lubricated with money, and during a shooting day you will find yourself handing out money for everything from food to petrol to makeup, etc. No matter how hard you plan this is going to happen, and at current prices £50 a day isn't uncommon, so you are going to need at least £500 for petty cash. Budget overruns elsewhere should be easier to contain by keeping a constant eye on what is spent. This is where a credit card comes in handy. It is harder to spend than cash, if only yourself and say the production manager have a card on the same account. Because if it only you that has a card, you often can't be there, so get two cards. Watch your shoot ratio, every extra can of film (while perhaps quite cheap in itself) translates into more lab and telecine time.
The Schedule
Scheduling unlike script writing is an art. A good schedule means people and things turn up when they are supposed to. If it's raining you got alternative scenes to shoot and you'll be able to see the progress you're making as you whiz through those set-ups. Good scheduling means the efficient use of time and that means money saved and stress negated.
Good scheduling is doubly important on NBM because you will have little or no slack in terms of time or money. You will have to take into account that many members of your cast may be working or have other (paying) commitments, and having the right cast members turning up on the right days to fit in with locations or props or equipment that may only be available for a few days or possibly even a few hours will beset you (or your production manger) with problems of logistics that would befuddle Einstein (never mind Eisenstein).
From the breakdown page thin strips are made for each scene containing information on the location, cast, storyday etc. Traditionally these strips were made up on pieces of card and put onto a production board, a foldout folder effort in which the strips could be rearranged. Production boards can cost a packet. As easier solution is to make up spreadsheet that mimics the breakdown strips (see illustration) and the strips can then be rearranged by the cut and paste commands in the programme. Because the spreadsheet can then be printed off the "production board" will be available to a wider group of people in a neat accessible form, replacing the call sheet. There are also specialist computer programmes that do this, the best being Movie Magic.
As production time comes closer, the board can be adjusted to suit the prevailing situation. As scenes need to be dropped or rescheduling during the shoot the necessary changes can be made.
Besides how are you going to shoot it, it is worth thinking about when you are going to shoot it. My advice would be shoot in the summer (unless you particularly want or need wintry scenes or a lot of darkness). In summer it's warmer, people are generally happier, it's easier for people to take holidays, you'll have longer shooting days because of the light, the weather should be better (but no guarantees in Britain) and locations such as schools or colleges can be relatively empty. A film makes a good year project, scripted in January, produced for 6 months, shoot for two to three weeks in August, a week off, and then four months post production, film ready for Christmas ready to start again.
The main shoot should last 14-21 days. Non-synced establishing shoots and certain cutaways can be shot afterwards, perhaps on a cheaper (or free) but noisier camera.
You should be aiming to shoot about (maximum) about two rolls of film a day. Shooting four to one this will give you about five minutes of screen time a day. Therefore the minimum shoot will be a fortnight. If you can afford to take it slightly slower good. 17-hour days make for good war stories but they can be very inefficient. You, and your crew will need sleep; people can get very cranky otherwise. 14-hour days (with meal breaks) seem to produce optimum results (along with 6 hours sleep a night).
Storyboard
When it comes to doing story boards people come up with all sorts of excuses for not doing them, like they might compromise their artistic integrity or something’, but they main reason people don't like doing storyboards is that they're plain f**king lazy. It's a hassle doing storyboards. I only ever did them when threatened with physical violence or worse by the AD and PM. But it was worth it. Why. Well at the end of the day, even if you don't keep to the shots you've drawn because of time, financial or artistic restrictions, at least you've brought the movie in your head, out of your head into a concrete form that other people can look at and discuss with you. It brings you film into the real world, and enables you to engage in debate. And the more you have to think about how you going to get that shot or express that emotion the better. It doesn't matter that you stick people you draw may look like they've got some horrible degenerative disease. It's the mental process of putting down on paper that is the point of the exercise. Of course you may be able to convince somebody else to do all the drawing for you, in, which case your laughing.
O f course some will argue that this goes against the whole spontaneous, improvised feel of some no budget art house movies. And it may be true that if this is the feeling that you want, if you are an amateur, storyboards are not for you. But as I've mentioned before the movie in your head can get a bit fuzzy after 14 -16 hour days. And of course there’s the possibility that the editor might come looking for you with a knife (and this could be true even if you're doing your own editing) because certain shots just aren't there because you "forgot".
How detailed your storyboards are up to you. Time is the one thing that you do have, so you could even just draw a shot a day for three months. That wouldn't be too hard. It can help keep your morale up when you wonder why you embarked on the project in the first place. You are of course editing in camera, and with sufficiently detailed storyboards, you could bring your shoot ration down to say two to one (or lower). Storyboards also make for easier editing. Finnish director Renny Harlin (Mr. Genna Davies and director of Die Hard II, Nightmare on Elm Street IV, The Long Kiss Goodnight) claims to have delivered the final cut of Nightmare, two days after he finished shooting due to storyboarding.
But either way if you end up doing elementary sketches of each scene or meticulous angle-by-angle breakdowns, do it. You can then use your storyboards along with the script to make up a shot list.
Usually I would encourage where possible to let the computer take the strain of any work, but not in storyboarding a) because any of the storyboarding drawing programmes I have seen don’t cut it because their limited amount of characters and settings they provide could not hope to compete with your imagination and b) as I've emphasised the process of getting in on to paper is as important as the result.
On the other hand, you can do some pretty groovy 3D fly bys and walk through type stuff with CAD/raytracing and animation packages which may be useful for working out camera angles and tracking shots or set design. (Or attracting money.)
Crewing Up
You have friend’s right. They can read right. Let them read you’re by now extensive library of film books. They can become camera assistants, runners, grips etc. Some of them are in bands, right, and know about recording sound and might have DAT and microphones. Maybe some of them are involved with theatre and know about lights, make up, props and set building. It is also worth approaching any film schools or colleges that run video courses or any sort of video training outfit. Besides film\video student’s colleges turn out all sorts of qualified and under employed people who can do all sorts of things. Find them meet them and greet them.
As long as the camera person (who should also be acting as Director Of Photography) and the sound person know what they are doing everybody else can wing it if they don't have any relevant experience. Because the best way to learn about filmmaking is doing it. No contest.
How large or small can the crew be? Well I suppose it depends on many people you can con or condole into helping you. Ideally everybody should have one job but this will often prove impossible. But besides cameraperson and soundperson how small a crew can you get away with. You will need a camera assistant to move the camera, set up the tripod, take measurements (very important) and clap (if they're not pulling the lens into focus). You will need a boom op. A continuity person/script supervisor stills photographer. A gaffer for the lights. Someone to do props/set decoration that might also double as the makeup person. And a runner.
And if you are the defector producer (i.e. it's mainly your money) you will need a production manager. If your producer is different person they will act as production manager. It is said NBM are produced as much as they are directed, so get someone who is organised, they are as important as the director. They should be responsible for all the organisation from breaking down the script, to securing locations, keeping finances under control, making sure the crew is fed and rested and most importantly that the schedule is adhered to. All this without causing the director grief.
If you can hustle up an assistant director so much the better. Like the producer/production manger, the AD should be there to let the director direct with out having to worry about other things. This isn't to cocoon the director but he/she won't have the time to butt kiss all the cast and crew and tell them what a fine job they're doing. This is the AD's job.
Depending on the type of film, you might also need fight co-coordinators, stunt people, special effects crew, and pyro-technicians. Any extra hand can become grips, best boy/girls, clappers, and production assistants, 2nd ADs. And you can never too many runners. Or extras.
However big your crew or wherever you got them from, pick people you can get along with. You don't need wars on set, and believe me if war were going to start anywhere, the stressful nature of filmmaking makes it ideal. All energy must go towards the films.
Cast/casting
Actors by the nature of their job are usually resting. And chances are that if they are working you won't be able to get them. Unless you got such a killer script that Harvey Keitel will arrange finance and star in it (like Reservoir Dogs) or Christopher Lee will agree to a cameo (like Funny man). But chances are (no disrespect) you will have to make do. Not to say that you won't get at least two or three actors that are capable of bringing some depth and gravity to any role that they're given. Give these people the leads. For the rest of the cast (assuming that there is a rest of the cast) it's horses for courses. Get people to play themselves. If they happy chirpy, get them to play happy chirpy, serious, serious, etc. This can allow you to use non-actors to good effect. 17 stone guys called Wayne can make excellent heavies.
Legal Stuff
Besides Insurance it is well worth drawing up some sort of contract with your cast and crew. Besides giving your shoot an air of professionalism, a contract will also be important if (when!) you film makes money. It will be there in black and white what people are due which can save all sorts of rows. Contracts are also important in respect of any copyright assignments that might exist with music written for the film.
The contract does not necessarily have to be written by a lawyer or be absolutely watertight. Sample contracts can be found in any number of film books (mainly American) and adjusted to suit your needs. If you ever make enough money that every one is a hiring lawyer to sue you, take it as a sign you've made it.
Your crew will be working for percentages rather than a deferred fixed sum, because there's no guarantee that you going to make any money at all. But the beauty of percentages is that they appeal to the same mentality that makes people buy lottery tickets. How big should the percentages be? Well it depends on how many people are in your crew; you can't pay out more than a hundred percent though. Don't get greedy, you couldn't make a film without your crew help and buy the end of the shoot they will be like family. You can get greedy when somebody else starts to put up the bucks. And remember to save some of the profits for your next film.
Pre-production is probably the most important part of the film making process and like Roger Corman said the cheapest.
Pre production expenses should run to some stamps, some paper and envelopes and some (probably hefty) phone bills. But beside that all the brainpower and organisation that goes into the pre-production process should cost you nothing. So it is worth taking your time at this stage and getting everything you can right. And time is the one thing that you probably do have plenty of. It is never too early to start organising for your film. One suggested ratio is that five preproduction days should be allocated for every production day. Because you aren't going to be able to pay for services on demand, you will have to take even more time that this to make sure that everything is in place. Six months before you start shooting would not be a bad time to first start thinking about what is going to have to be done. Because once you start shooting anything left unorganised is going to cost you a) massive amounts of stress and b) possibly money. So get it right!
The Paper Trail.
In the industry, the pre-production process gobbles up acres of rain forest. And despite your right-on-ness you're going to be no different. Industry practice exists because it works (at least as regards pre production) and you want to prove to your investors or buyers or future employers that you are working in a professional manner.
There seems to be a tendency among no budget film makers, if not exactly make it up as they go along, to keep it all in their heads and translate it like the oracle to their crew on the day. Now this can work. Rick Schmidt argues this is where the magic of no budget film comes in as the accidents of time and space bring that certain je-ne-sais-quoi to your film. Well I think at this budget level if that magic isn't happening you might as well pack it in. But it's going to happen even if you are very organised. So get organised.
Also, to translate the movie in your head into the real world, at the end of a seventeen-hour day, your film might be losing something in translation and your only going to find out maybe eight weeks later. A script breakdown, shot list and a storyboard are not going to make you any less creative. They're your storyboards, etc. so you can also ignore/change them but is better that they are there.
Before you start on the paper trail, my advice is get hold of a computer and somebody that can work it. Specifically somebody that can work spreadsheets and databases and if they can compose amazingly crawly begging letters into the bargain so much the better.
The script
Hopefully from an artistic point of view, the script will be as good as it can be got and because you have already written it with your budget in mind there should be no nasty surprises when you are breaking it down. E.g. the chariot race was dropped. Your script should be being running about one page a minute in standard script format so your script should run to not less than 70 pages absolute minimum. If there is action in a script you should describe in real time. This stops any nasty surprises, like coming up 20 minutes short of running time. Of course long scenes can be described in few words. Like "Napoleon retreats from Moscow" for example. But otherwise detail that action. If nothing else it will help you when you have to come to the practicalities of planning the shot.
By this stage you have hopefully worked out how many characters you have, how many story days (and therefore possible changes of costume) the story runs or will it require costumes that the actors cannot provide themselves, are any night shoots really necessary, how many locations there will be, etc.
Breaking down the script
Once the script is in it's final form, you can start to break it down. This is done by preparing industry standard break down pages, and going through the script scene by scene (one breakdown page per scene) to figure out what is required in terms of actors, costumes, set, locations, equipment, transportation, etc. in each scene. The requirements for each scene can they be broken down by departments (camera department, art department, etc.) and the relevant information passed on as to what those departments will need or have to organise or have to purchase. If you know somebody that can make relational databases do their stuff, it is possible to set the whole break down system on a database, using the scene number as the one to many relationship.
The breakdown page is also important because it is from this that the budget and schedule will be prepared.
The Budget
Industry standard budget sheets which are broken down under specific process and department headings can be taken from any number of books on the subject or alternatively get hold of a Channel Four budget breakdown, essentially the industry standard in Britain. You will of course be able to dispense with many of the headings but in determining what should and shouldn't be left out, it should give you food for thought as to the necessary and the unnecessary. When you've decided which headings are relevant get them put on to a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet will do all the hard work of adding and subtracting and VAT calculations and give you running totals as you adjust your figures.
If you haven't quite worked out the necessary and unnecessary at least you can start on the affordable and unaffordable. And it is here the real fun of NBM making begins (in my opinion). What can you scam, what can you hustle, what can you beg or borrow to lift you film production values up from the bargain basement. How are you going to get what little money you have up on screen and make it look ten times as much. Who can you sweet talk bribe or harangue into acting for you, giving up their car, or their life for three weeks? You'd be surprised how many people are still seduced by the glamour of film and will grant you all sorts of favour and license should you but ask.
One thing you have to offer people is a cut of the profits (should there be any) but this should generally be offered to only the cast and crew and of course any investors.
By preparing the breakdown pages and the budget you enter into the debate with yourself about what you really need for your film. If your budget is woefully under the amount needed to realise your vision, you have a choice, change your vision or figure out how to get more money.
Scaling down your vision of course can be as simple as letting a few scenes go. Changing some night shots (which could require big lights and cabling etc.) into day shots or at least day for night or dumping a scene with a lot of extras or letting go of a location that was going to cost. Shoot mute and dub the sound. But hopefully you've written a script that you won't have to change radically.
One cost that you will have to add on to your budget will be insurance. This can be had from specialist brokers for about £100 a week. Get it. Because if you drop a camera (god forbid) it is going to cost you a d**n sight more than a two or three hundred pounds. Negative insurance (i.e. the cost of putting what is on the negative back on the negative) and personal liability should be included in the price as well as equipment.
Petty cash and Contingency. Contingency money is usually calculated at something like 10% of the budget. In your case this is likely to manifest it self as petty cash. Film is a machine and is unfortunately lubricated with money, and during a shooting day you will find yourself handing out money for everything from food to petrol to makeup, etc. No matter how hard you plan this is going to happen, and at current prices £50 a day isn't uncommon, so you are going to need at least £500 for petty cash. Budget overruns elsewhere should be easier to contain by keeping a constant eye on what is spent. This is where a credit card comes in handy. It is harder to spend than cash, if only yourself and say the production manager have a card on the same account. Because if it only you that has a card, you often can't be there, so get two cards. Watch your shoot ratio, every extra can of film (while perhaps quite cheap in itself) translates into more lab and telecine time.
The Schedule
Scheduling unlike script writing is an art. A good schedule means people and things turn up when they are supposed to. If it's raining you got alternative scenes to shoot and you'll be able to see the progress you're making as you whiz through those set-ups. Good scheduling means the efficient use of time and that means money saved and stress negated.
Good scheduling is doubly important on NBM because you will have little or no slack in terms of time or money. You will have to take into account that many members of your cast may be working or have other (paying) commitments, and having the right cast members turning up on the right days to fit in with locations or props or equipment that may only be available for a few days or possibly even a few hours will beset you (or your production manger) with problems of logistics that would befuddle Einstein (never mind Eisenstein).
From the breakdown page thin strips are made for each scene containing information on the location, cast, storyday etc. Traditionally these strips were made up on pieces of card and put onto a production board, a foldout folder effort in which the strips could be rearranged. Production boards can cost a packet. As easier solution is to make up spreadsheet that mimics the breakdown strips (see illustration) and the strips can then be rearranged by the cut and paste commands in the programme. Because the spreadsheet can then be printed off the "production board" will be available to a wider group of people in a neat accessible form, replacing the call sheet. There are also specialist computer programmes that do this, the best being Movie Magic.
As production time comes closer, the board can be adjusted to suit the prevailing situation. As scenes need to be dropped or rescheduling during the shoot the necessary changes can be made.
Besides how are you going to shoot it, it is worth thinking about when you are going to shoot it. My advice would be shoot in the summer (unless you particularly want or need wintry scenes or a lot of darkness). In summer it's warmer, people are generally happier, it's easier for people to take holidays, you'll have longer shooting days because of the light, the weather should be better (but no guarantees in Britain) and locations such as schools or colleges can be relatively empty. A film makes a good year project, scripted in January, produced for 6 months, shoot for two to three weeks in August, a week off, and then four months post production, film ready for Christmas ready to start again.
The main shoot should last 14-21 days. Non-synced establishing shoots and certain cutaways can be shot afterwards, perhaps on a cheaper (or free) but noisier camera.
You should be aiming to shoot about (maximum) about two rolls of film a day. Shooting four to one this will give you about five minutes of screen time a day. Therefore the minimum shoot will be a fortnight. If you can afford to take it slightly slower good. 17-hour days make for good war stories but they can be very inefficient. You, and your crew will need sleep; people can get very cranky otherwise. 14-hour days (with meal breaks) seem to produce optimum results (along with 6 hours sleep a night).
Storyboard
When it comes to doing story boards people come up with all sorts of excuses for not doing them, like they might compromise their artistic integrity or something’, but they main reason people don't like doing storyboards is that they're plain f**king lazy. It's a hassle doing storyboards. I only ever did them when threatened with physical violence or worse by the AD and PM. But it was worth it. Why. Well at the end of the day, even if you don't keep to the shots you've drawn because of time, financial or artistic restrictions, at least you've brought the movie in your head, out of your head into a concrete form that other people can look at and discuss with you. It brings you film into the real world, and enables you to engage in debate. And the more you have to think about how you going to get that shot or express that emotion the better. It doesn't matter that you stick people you draw may look like they've got some horrible degenerative disease. It's the mental process of putting down on paper that is the point of the exercise. Of course you may be able to convince somebody else to do all the drawing for you, in, which case your laughing.
O f course some will argue that this goes against the whole spontaneous, improvised feel of some no budget art house movies. And it may be true that if this is the feeling that you want, if you are an amateur, storyboards are not for you. But as I've mentioned before the movie in your head can get a bit fuzzy after 14 -16 hour days. And of course there’s the possibility that the editor might come looking for you with a knife (and this could be true even if you're doing your own editing) because certain shots just aren't there because you "forgot".
How detailed your storyboards are up to you. Time is the one thing that you do have, so you could even just draw a shot a day for three months. That wouldn't be too hard. It can help keep your morale up when you wonder why you embarked on the project in the first place. You are of course editing in camera, and with sufficiently detailed storyboards, you could bring your shoot ration down to say two to one (or lower). Storyboards also make for easier editing. Finnish director Renny Harlin (Mr. Genna Davies and director of Die Hard II, Nightmare on Elm Street IV, The Long Kiss Goodnight) claims to have delivered the final cut of Nightmare, two days after he finished shooting due to storyboarding.
But either way if you end up doing elementary sketches of each scene or meticulous angle-by-angle breakdowns, do it. You can then use your storyboards along with the script to make up a shot list.
Usually I would encourage where possible to let the computer take the strain of any work, but not in storyboarding a) because any of the storyboarding drawing programmes I have seen don’t cut it because their limited amount of characters and settings they provide could not hope to compete with your imagination and b) as I've emphasised the process of getting in on to paper is as important as the result.
On the other hand, you can do some pretty groovy 3D fly bys and walk through type stuff with CAD/raytracing and animation packages which may be useful for working out camera angles and tracking shots or set design. (Or attracting money.)
Crewing Up
You have friend’s right. They can read right. Let them read you’re by now extensive library of film books. They can become camera assistants, runners, grips etc. Some of them are in bands, right, and know about recording sound and might have DAT and microphones. Maybe some of them are involved with theatre and know about lights, make up, props and set building. It is also worth approaching any film schools or colleges that run video courses or any sort of video training outfit. Besides film\video student’s colleges turn out all sorts of qualified and under employed people who can do all sorts of things. Find them meet them and greet them.
As long as the camera person (who should also be acting as Director Of Photography) and the sound person know what they are doing everybody else can wing it if they don't have any relevant experience. Because the best way to learn about filmmaking is doing it. No contest.
How large or small can the crew be? Well I suppose it depends on many people you can con or condole into helping you. Ideally everybody should have one job but this will often prove impossible. But besides cameraperson and soundperson how small a crew can you get away with. You will need a camera assistant to move the camera, set up the tripod, take measurements (very important) and clap (if they're not pulling the lens into focus). You will need a boom op. A continuity person/script supervisor stills photographer. A gaffer for the lights. Someone to do props/set decoration that might also double as the makeup person. And a runner.
And if you are the defector producer (i.e. it's mainly your money) you will need a production manager. If your producer is different person they will act as production manager. It is said NBM are produced as much as they are directed, so get someone who is organised, they are as important as the director. They should be responsible for all the organisation from breaking down the script, to securing locations, keeping finances under control, making sure the crew is fed and rested and most importantly that the schedule is adhered to. All this without causing the director grief.
If you can hustle up an assistant director so much the better. Like the producer/production manger, the AD should be there to let the director direct with out having to worry about other things. This isn't to cocoon the director but he/she won't have the time to butt kiss all the cast and crew and tell them what a fine job they're doing. This is the AD's job.
Depending on the type of film, you might also need fight co-coordinators, stunt people, special effects crew, and pyro-technicians. Any extra hand can become grips, best boy/girls, clappers, and production assistants, 2nd ADs. And you can never too many runners. Or extras.
However big your crew or wherever you got them from, pick people you can get along with. You don't need wars on set, and believe me if war were going to start anywhere, the stressful nature of filmmaking makes it ideal. All energy must go towards the films.
Cast/casting
Actors by the nature of their job are usually resting. And chances are that if they are working you won't be able to get them. Unless you got such a killer script that Harvey Keitel will arrange finance and star in it (like Reservoir Dogs) or Christopher Lee will agree to a cameo (like Funny man). But chances are (no disrespect) you will have to make do. Not to say that you won't get at least two or three actors that are capable of bringing some depth and gravity to any role that they're given. Give these people the leads. For the rest of the cast (assuming that there is a rest of the cast) it's horses for courses. Get people to play themselves. If they happy chirpy, get them to play happy chirpy, serious, serious, etc. This can allow you to use non-actors to good effect. 17 stone guys called Wayne can make excellent heavies.
Legal Stuff
Besides Insurance it is well worth drawing up some sort of contract with your cast and crew. Besides giving your shoot an air of professionalism, a contract will also be important if (when!) you film makes money. It will be there in black and white what people are due which can save all sorts of rows. Contracts are also important in respect of any copyright assignments that might exist with music written for the film.
The contract does not necessarily have to be written by a lawyer or be absolutely watertight. Sample contracts can be found in any number of film books (mainly American) and adjusted to suit your needs. If you ever make enough money that every one is a hiring lawyer to sue you, take it as a sign you've made it.
Your crew will be working for percentages rather than a deferred fixed sum, because there's no guarantee that you going to make any money at all. But the beauty of percentages is that they appeal to the same mentality that makes people buy lottery tickets. How big should the percentages be? Well it depends on how many people are in your crew; you can't pay out more than a hundred percent though. Don't get greedy, you couldn't make a film without your crew help and buy the end of the shoot they will be like family. You can get greedy when somebody else starts to put up the bucks. And remember to save some of the profits for your next film.