"Pulling Off Your Shorts" is the second part of the book title. Heehee.
The authors first explain why a beginning film-maker would want to create a short film, one lasting 5 minutes. Then the process is described step by step. Whoa! I love it! It's got everything from how to write a screenplay to where to get equipment, how to use the aforementioned equipment, and how to find your cast and crew. And then how to get your work seen. It's short and to the point. One thing in particular that I liked was the description of various crew positions and where to find people with the appropriate traits and skills. For example, the camera operator has to have good physical stamina, be artistic and understand composition, and his/her best classes at school are probably art and computer science. The assistant director prefers history or social studies, is a leader without being bossy, and is calm under fire.
I think it would be daunting for someone who's never produced a film before to work with the kinds of deadlines the authors suggest on such a large scale (12 crew members, and who knows how many in the cast). It doesn't matter how old you are in that respect; the project will eat up gobs of time.
Having produced videos myself, on a tiny scale, I was able to more fully enjoy the book and fantasize about a larger production. It would be a documentary, methinks, but it'll remaein a fantasy for a while yet, because I'm too much of a control freak at this point, and the thought of coming up with a good idea and a vision for bringing it to life, let alone having to beg and bribe 20 people to do what I want for 3 days, makes me queasy!
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