The Importance of Slates

As a filmmaker, one should never, ever underestimate the importance of the almighty slate.

While quickly shooting a little short film with a couple of my friends after Christmas, just for fun, I thought "well, it's just me, the camera, and my friends as actors - there's no need for a slate..."

Oh, how wrong I was.

It is, as I have now discovered, very difficult and time consuming to go through hundreds (yes, hundreds - I didn't realise I had shot so many) of clips from my camera, with basically no reference whatsoever to what scene or take they were. I really should have known, but I simply wasn't thinking.

Now I have to go through each clip, listen to some of the dialogue and match it with the script. I'm less than halfway through, and I am so not impressed with myself.

Lesson learned.

This, my friends, is called a Filmmaker Fail.