The Face of Time - POV - Aarhus Universitet

A Danish Journal of Film Studies 57
3) Be aware of your resources. Don't go overboard worrying about
production values. Concentrate more on communicating your story
clearly.
4) For a very first project just make sure you get your point across.
Films are a form of communication.
5) The two most important ingredients in a film are the script and
the actors, and in that order. Camera work, sound, production
design is important but secondary.
6) Don't neglect sound on the set. Good production sound saves you
many hours in post production and adds to the audience's illusion
of reality.
7) Don't be scared. Fear, self-censorship makes many people quit or
never even try. I almost didn't do this project for that reason and I
would have severely regretted that. I can say all this with the benefit
of hindsight.
Is there anything else you would care to add about the making of Bean
Cake, or about storytelling?
I think reaction shots (shots of the people listening to the conversation
instead of the participants) are very important. They are the
first things that get cut from a student shot list when you're running
out of time on a set. I used a ton of them in the classroom scenes to
elongate certain moments and tell the audience how I wanted them
to feel about each moment of Taro's predicament. Reaction shots are
very helpful.
4 October 2001