The Importance of the

Overlooked
(Filmmaking)
Submitted by: Nate Evans
Salt Lake Community College
COMM 1010
12/10/14

Overview:
Filmmaking is exciting and fun, it is gratifying and provides those with a large
imagination, a type of creative freedom you cant find anywhere else. With any large production
there is always a considerable amount of planning and coordination on all participative fronts.
Filmmaking is a team effort where good communication skills, or lack thereof is a factor that can
lead you to major success, or failure. Today I would like to speak and elaborate on some specific
communication practices and techniques that can be better put to use and utilized in the
wonderful and grand world of filmmaking. I am an aspiring filmmaker with hopes and goals of
making it big one day as a movie director. A goal of that size takes dedication and talent, but
equally or more important is the ability to communicate effectively.
Description of Problem:
Film sets are chaotic, to put it lightly. Especially those of larger productions consisting of
a team made up of the cast and the hundreds of crew members. The term Virtual Team; teams
that interact and function without being in the same place at the same time, (Adler & Elmhorst p.
189) fits quite nicely within the world of filmmaking. Theres a lot of behind the scenes work
thats done that not even the entire crew gets to see. For example, director Peter Jackson, or
designated leader in communication terms, began working on The Lord of the Rings films a few
years they even began shooting it. The script and screen play had to be written, the locations
found, the sets built, the costumes and props made, and the cast well, cast. When the preparation
work is finished they begin to film the movie, and even then there were hundreds of people
working tirelessly in different places. Jackson filmed with multiple film units in various locations

in order to cut down the time of the shoot which ended up to be fifteen months long. And even
then the film was far from finished. Post production consists of the special effects, editing,
sound, and soundtrack work.
What Im getting at here are the massive amounts of work that goes into putting films
together especially those as detailed and well done as The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Now I have
never worked on a film of that magnitude, yet. But filmmaking is filmmaking and the same
principles apply to all levels of professionalism and experience, no matter the budget or scale of
the project. The process of putting a film together is basically all just one big team project, where
the director has the final say in all things.
There is an enormous amount of supervision and attention that the director needs to
dedicate to his cause. The director is always the hardest working guy on the set, from the
beginning of the production to the end. Peter was constantly traveling about visiting the art
department, the set designers, his location scouts and so on. Jackson held a lot of whats known
as expert power (Adler & Elmhorst p.196) the entire cast and crew respected him for his
expertise and knowledge. Something that I hope to gain. No big time film director will say his
job is easy, but imagine how much harder it would be without patience, preparation, ability to
interact well with others and many other key communication skills and techniques. Which, as I
mentioned earlier can be true for any line of work.
There are so many things to write about concerning this very broad subject of
filmmaking. I am sure that all the principles in the book could easily be applied to at least one
aspect or another. Why? Because there is so much going on, and so many people with different
roles that factor into one big production. So as an amateur director myself, I will be focusing this
particular proposal on an elaboration and application of various communication principles to

better help me improve my communication skills in a team project. Which, again as I stated
earlier, is what team filmmaking essentially is.
Resources and Constraints:
I have mentioned Peter Jackson, a filmmaking hero of mine. One major thing that sets
him apart as an accomplished film director is that hes not a product of film school. Hes a
product of making everything himself and figuring out how films are structured. Hes very
unusual man in the regard. There isnt anybody thats come the route hes come and is doing the
size of pictures hes doing.
But to focus on more of the communication aspects of Mr. Jackson; hes a very
expressive person who is able to get his ideas out clearly and in a doable fashion. Peter is a very
patient task oriented listener (Adler & Elmhorst p. 66), which I know is a bit contradictory, but is
extremely necessary on a film set where time is of the essence. However Peter approaches task
oriented listening in a more loving manner, considering the opinion or idea of the cast or crew
member, but never losing or going too astray from his vision as a director. Now there are times
when critical thinking (Adler & Elmhorst p. 66) is very key, like in production meetings where
ideas are being described and evaluated by various people, where Peter demonstrates that
principle in a very professional manner. I hope to pursue the same attributes and habits of
listening to eventually become a great film director.
Recommendations:
Attentively listening and then replying with constructive feedback or then portraying
your ideas as a director is very important. It can all be quite challenging when you have so many
things to manage and accomplish with a limited amount of time. A director can easily become

stressed, angry and quite frankly, bossy; not taking time to listen and respond, but in its place
barking orders and hastily rushing from one task to the other. Peter is a bit of a perfectionist and
takes things slow and shoots take after take, either to get one hes pleased with, or to just have
more options to choose from when its time to edit in post production.
Im filming something big in a couple of weeks, a production for an upcoming film
festival; and some particular goals I have set with end of improving my listening skills are one:
Value the participation of others. The productions I do are so low budget and ghetto that its
often hard for volunteer actors and extras to stick around and tough out the long hours of
shooting. I have no money to pay them for their work or cater the shoot or anything like that, but
what I can do is make them feel loved and important. I will really make the effort to care for
each cast member and implement relational listening (Adler & Elmhorst p. 65). I want people to
help me with my shoots and stick around for them because weve become friends or have
connected one another to an extent. I plan to take time to talk with them and listen what they
have to say.
Another goal I plan on putting into action is that of lowering my egocentrism as much as
possible while still sticking the general mood of the film. I always approach my shoots with a
story board and over all game plan of what I want to accomplish, but I always let the cast know
that I am open to their ideas and suggestions. Which helps them feel important and contributive.
Some of the really great shots and scenes Ive gotten in the past havent even been my idea!
These goals I have mentioned, if executed properly will result in the development of key
listening skills. These habits I intend on developing will not only benefit my career as a
filmmaker, but also all aspects of my life such as family, and social.

Summary:
I am sure that we can all agree that communication is such a key aspect in every
one of our lives. No matter the job, career, position or specific role or place in life you hold,
there will always be room for improvement in your communication skills. Never will it be
mastered, or the end of it found. It is infinite and universal. Not only does it take a brilliant mind
and level of ambition to create a well done film projects; but I personally believe that the greatest
and most successful movie directors are the ones who are effective communicators. I believe
listening is often overlooked as a crucial part of communication. When in reality it is half the
battle or even more so. We should all find what were passionate about, and then set
communication related goals referring to that field, in efforts of bettering ourselves. After careful
planning and preparation to make your dreams become reality, dedicate yourself to your goals.
The results are sure to follow, which will only motivate you to set new goals and go even further.

Work Cited
Adler, R & Elmhorst, J. (2013). Communicating at work: SLCC custom text (2nd ed). Boston.
McGraw Hill.