ABSTRACT
Movies are make-believe. They are designed to portray reality to such an authentic degree that even stories taking place millennia ago in faraway galaxies look true and convincing. In historic movies or science fiction films, this becomes obvious as there is no any such “reality” that might be used to film in—but of course, this is true for any story set in everyday life—and even for documentaries to a certain degree. Considering that it takes a small “army” of technicians, actors, and other personnel to create this illusion, it becomes obvious that there is no “let’s just go ahead and shoot” without meticulous preparation, planning, and legal work far prior to any first day of cameras rolling (however, there are no cameras “rolling” anymore as there is no “film” anymore—digital data are being “stored” instead). This book will try to offer an insight into the mechanics of organizing for and accomplishing shooting of motion pictures, especially from the viewpoint of a production manager and a line producer.
