The advantages of being both a director and a cameraman

Indie films, budgetary constraints mean that not all roles can always be filled like they can on major studio films, so filmmakers often have to take on multiple roles at once. Director Chris Lawing can speak to this topic, as he primarily serves as both cinematographer and director on many of his commercial works.

Also about his latest crime/thriller: BusesHe was not only a director and cameraman, but also a writer, producer and editor.

When it comes to the benefits of having multiple roles, Chris says, “When you’re working on such a low budget, you have one less person to pay as a director and cameraman. In some ways, it’s great to have a collaborator. In other ways, you’re trying to move so quickly that not having the extra collaborator allowed me to make decisions quicker.”

“They may not have been the better decisions, but they were the quicker decisions and we had to work quickly. Also, as an editor, I knew what we were getting. I knew when the scene was shot and if I had to move on due to time constraints, I was confident that I could move on. I was confident not only when thinking about it from a director’s perspective or a DP’s perspective, but also from an editing perspective.”

Chris talks more about it and how Buses was made below. You can see BusesNow.

PENITENTIA | Official 4K Trailer (2023) | CRIME | Film Threat Trailersyoutube.com

Editor’s note: The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

No film school: You both wrote the screenplay and directed Buses. Where did the idea for this story come from?

Chris Lawing: My father had died a year and a half before I wrote this story, but because of COVID, we hadn’t had his funeral yet. I drove back to Kansas for the funeral and knew I didn’t want to stand up and speak. I didn’t want to break down in front of a crowd of people. So I thought about ways to honor him and what he stood for. He was a civil rights attorney in Wichita, Kansas, for 50 years.

I came up with this story because he was passionate about prisoners’ rights and other civil rights issues. I thought I could write a story that honored his memory and the things that were really important to him. As I was driving, I started writing this story where an older mentor is working with a younger lawyer and the younger lawyer is figuring out what area of ​​law he wants to practice in.

NFS:One of the characters in the film was inspired by your own father. Can you talk about that?

Case law: My father was very social justice conscious. That was his guiding light and his lodestar. I wanted to create a story, not necessarily about him, but what was important to him was the guiding light of the film. So he plays the role of the mentor to the main character, Ale Villacano. He really challenges Ale to be a different lawyer than Ale imagines himself to be. That was the inspiration I took from my father and gave him the role of Marvin Weissman.

NFS:What was the screenwriting process like for this film?

Case law: I knew early on that I wanted to make this an indie film, not just write it. I went about it pretty aggressively. I had three months to do the writing process. I worked with a script consultant; that was the first time I’d done that. Everything I’d written before that I’d written on my own. I thought it would be nice to collaborate with someone, and some kind of outside compatibility would help me stick to this tight schedule. The way I went about it was that I had a basic narrative structure. I created a rough outline, dove in, and was very prolific with my pages. I edited the pages and made sure the narrative structure didn’t fall apart. Three months later, I had a working draft.

NFS: Have you seen any films that inspired you? Buses?

Case law: Not really. If I had one film in mind that I was a fan of in terms of legal crime drama, it would be Michael Clayton. I don’t think I looked at it to get any particular inspiration, I just wanted my story to be rooted in a realistic setting and I thought Michael Clayton did this very well while also driving the narrative forward and keeping the stakes high.

‘Buses’Mercury films

NFS: Were there any lucky coincidences in the production Buses?

Case law: I’ve certainly had situations in my career where I didn’t realize that, but a lot of times in independent filmmaking, things don’t work out and you have to pivot. Most of the film was like that. We came up with a plan and then deviated from it pretty quickly. Was there something that told me it wasn’t going to be great and then it happened? I don’t have a specific antidote that I can point to.

NFS: How did directing and the role of cameraman help you?

Case law: There are several things. It definitely helped with the budget. When you’re working on such a small budget, you have one less person to pay. In some ways, it’s great to have one employee. But in other ways, you’re trying to move so quickly by taking out that extra employee that I was able to make decisions faster. They may not have been the better decisions, but they were the faster decisions and we had to work quickly.

The other thing is being the editor. I have a lot of experience as an editor, I knew what we had. I knew when the scene was shot and if I had to move on due to time constraints, I was confident I could move on. I was confident not only thinking about it from the director’s perspective or the DP’s perspective, but also from the editing perspective.

NFS: Have you done anything to Buses that you haven’t done in any of your previous projects?

Case law: Yes, absolutely. I had a lot of different roles. Not only was I the writer/director, I had also been a writer/director on several short films and projects. On this one, I was the producer, writer, director and cinematographer. Taking on all these big roles on such a big project was definitely new for me. It was quite a herculean task to pull it off. In terms of newness, I would say the scope of the project was definitely a first for me.

‘Buses’Mercury films

NFS: Would you like to say something about the creation of Buses that we may not know?

Case law: We shot the film in 15 days. We had a very low budget. With all that in mind, we stuck pretty closely to the hours of the day. We didn’t work crazy hours. We were extremely efficient. The reason we were able to be so efficient was because I had a well-prepared cast. We were able to get through a lot of pages because my cast had studied their lines and characters thoroughly. I couldn’t have asked for a better cast.

NFS: How would you describe your directing style?

Jurisprudence: I think my directing style is like my writing style. I’m rooted in realism. I want to reflect the natural world around us, but that’s not possible. It’s wrong. If we did, it would be really boring. You have to manufacture things and condense them. You have to raise the stakes, but at the same time be rooted in realism. In my stories, it’s really important that my characters are rooted in that realistic environment. That tells me what lens choice I use? How do I light something? What directions do I give the actors? What dialogue do I like? Do I write long monologues? What is the dialogue like? All of that stems from the idea that I want an accurate reflection of the world around us.

NFS: If you had a budget of $10 million, what would be your ideal film project?

Case law: When I left college, I wrote a script. It got passed around a little bit. It was a film noir from the 1920s. I haven’t let go of the script even 20 years later. $10 million might not be enough to make the film, but I think if someone gave me $10 million to make this film, I would work really hard to make it happen.

Mercury films

NFS: What are you working on next?

Case law: I am two days away from pre-production of a project called Greg goes to rehab. It is a production of Mercury Films. It is in a way a love letter to the coming-of-age story and the metal scene of the 1980s. I take the lessons from Buses and apply them to avoid some of the mistakes I made BusesI want to feel like I’m that next step in the filmmaking process.

In BusesA prestigious job lures Ale Villacano into the good life until a pro bono case reawakens his sense of justice. Torn between his criminal past and his promising future, Ale must decide what kind of lawyer he really wants to be.

The main roles in the film are played by Glenn Stanton (The Walking Dead), Rusty Schwimmer (The Righteous Gems), Chris Bylsma (El Camino: A Breaking Bad Story), Kate Flanagan (The Murder Castle), Nigel Vonas (Arrow) and Natasha Coppola-Shalom (chrome) and was written and directed by Chris Lawing.