The Making of Amal: Behind the Scenes of our Award winning short. Pre-Production
Writing this haunts me with all the daunting tasks that had to take place.
However. Write I will and maybe you will like pre-production more than me. Regardless, whether you like it or not. I hope that this can be of some help to you.
Finding a Crew
This is the first step to making great things happen. And whatever your vision is, you need the right people to go out there and make it. Now if you have friends who are in the film industry, bang. Hit them up. There is your crew. However, for me. I didnt feel like there was anyone I could reach out to. Most of my friends were still in college or out in the world doing their own thing. So, I resorted to two main platforms: Facebook and Backstage. I posted my story idea on Tisch Crew Calls (FB), and Backstage. I got responses for a Crew, faster than I thought I would. I looked through applications, interviewed people I thought were good candidates and gathered the crew together.
Reflections on Crew
My crew (Alhamdulilah) was amazing. They put in so much work. Especially my DP, Art Director, Gaffers, Sound, Makeup, PAs all really went above and beyond. Ultimately though everyone did there part. My one mistake was that there was someone one set who my gut was like mm maybe not. That will happen. There will be people who you want to work with again (most of my crew) and people who you won’t want to work with again. Thats ok. You kind of just have to be chill, and sometimes the people you want to work with won’t want to work with you. So many different scenarios but ultimately you find your people and they find you. Enjoy the experience of working with others and reflect on how you would want to make it better next time. At the end of the day everyone wants to make a good product and we are all human.
Finding Actors
My characters were Middle Eastern, so finding characters that followed that description alone was tough. Though, I guess its all how you think about it. You can be like AGHHHH NO NEVER AGAINNN… or you can be like, ITS AN ADVENTURE HELL YEAAHHH. So… That part is all up to you. Anyways, the actor part. Was an adventure.
Finding Ali Nasser (Played Bassam)
Adventure on Adventure. Ali was a blessing but finding him was hard. I called around different agencies. They had no one. Then I reached out to different people who were listed as Casting Directors. I reached out to a friend who had a friend who didnt have anyone. Then finally blessings find there way from the skies to me and I found out about an organization called MENA. Middle Eastern Arts Initiative. They had a giant list of Actors.Actresses.Playwrights. anything you needed it was there. I reached out to all the Arab Men on that list. Quite a few got back to me, however only two made the cut. One of them was a Rapper and the other was Ali Nasser. I chose the Rapper because he was Syrian, and Ali was Egyptian. But the Rapper wasn’t a better actor, its just that he was Syrian and that was really what determined my decision. However after thinking over it a little bit more, I realized that the background didnt matter as much as the emotion and I felt that Ali pulled it off better. So after telling him that I had found someone else, I called him back and hoped for a yes and he accepted the offer.
Finding Layla Hatahet (Played Amal)
I started off making it more complicated than it should’ve been. Again, I called agencies, asked around, but had no luck at all. Then there was the moment inspiration (shoutout god), Community flashed in front of my eyes. I knew I had to keep an eye out. My mom was actually the one who suggested that I reach out to Laylas mom and from there we had cast Amal.
Raising Money/Crowdfunding
The Daunting task of raising money for your short film is not any easy one. And off the bat my #1 suggestion is over budget for your film because most of your money will go into production and production can get expensive. Super. Duper. Expensive. When I say low budget. We were very low budget. However, we raised the money. How? Hitting up group chats, writing an emotionally compelling pitch, going up to people, calling friends, people you know and you dont know. Again its an adventure. All of it. So embrace it and whether its $100 dollars or a $100,000 you can do it. Full speed ahead.
To go into specifics, I used Indiegogo. Some things I recommend: start your venture 3 months in advance. Tell everyone you know and try to get a 100 on the first day. If 20 people commit to donating 5 bucks. Your good. In regards to Producers. Some help and some dont help. You may have to just push yourself into the unknown. It will be ok though, just trust.
Reflections
OVERBUDGETTTT!!!!!
Rehearsing with Actors
So. This one. Is one of the greatest parts of Pre-Production. I just set aside tie with Layla and we would meet twice a week to practice. Kids are malleable so she was able to get the lines down pretty quickly. Ali, didnt rehearse and he still did a great job. The hardest part was the dialect (switching from Egyptian to Syrian) but he still managed.
Finding Location
We had two locations. One in Queens and one in Jersey. The location in Jersey I went around, asking people if I could use there plot of land to film on because I was looking for something specific. If your not looking for something specific, any plot of land will do. If you have a vision, do everything you can to fulfill it and the location, matters.
Food and Catering
Look for people to Sponsor your film, and ask if they would be willing to provide discounts for food.
Rentals
Your DP will take care of the Rental List. You just have to send them the order and go pick it up. Just ensure that they dont rip you off and overcharge.
Insurance
A necessary evil. Or is it? This will be a big expense. Do your best to get a friends insurance and do a sub insurance.
Overall Reflections
Get opinions and thoughts from people who know more than you. And Chill. You must be chill and relaxed, you make the best decisions like this. Ultimately its not that serious. So take a deep breath and do your thing.
