There are a lot of filmmakers out there feel that free form and improvisation are a good foundation for filmmaking. I'm not one of them.

I'm not saying that those two things don't have their place within the creative and production processes. However, I'm one of the believers that Organization and Structure do not limit you, they free you. Once the structure is in place, your freedom actually increases because you know you can do anything you want within the structured environment you've created. And assuming that you've created an environment that is heavily slanted toward a successful project, then anything you do within that environment, including improv and "free form", may actually improve the end result.

And Structure, to me, ensures more than just freedom, it ensures that the project will actually be completed.

And in amateur filmland... that's critical.

Organization:
Justice is the story of four people who's lives, within a single day, intertwine and their lives are changed forever. Their days all begin at 7:04 a.m. and cinematically end within moments of each other. In order to make sure that all of these intersecting lives were covered, I created a simple spreadsheet with specific hours of the day defined and determined what each character was doing at that time.

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As each scene was shot, I'd highlight it, leaving me a simple way, while on location, to quickly determine what was left to shoot.

Structure and Storyboards:
I'm of the "old school" where just about every shot of a project should be storyboarded. Believe me, I've tried shooting projects with and without storyboards and the one's without always lack clarity, cinematic vision and a directorial imprint. For me, my projects where I did not use storyboards were more exercises in setting up a camera and getting things recorded than it was trying to evoke emotion through imagery.

And since the acting (including my own) in our first project, Raw Footage, was so woefully inadequate, I felt Justice should revert back to my silent Super 8 days... shoot the video, but no sound. In the end the images would be laid against the appropriate soundtrack, like the silent movie days.

I really enjoy this type of project because it forces you to think visually. Since you never hear anyone speak, you must convey the conversation through camera angles and emotion. It's very challenging and rewarding.

Since we could not effectively follow four lives of the characters at the same time, we had to pick one character that would be the focal point of the film. And the most exciting character was the Husband, who steals corporate secrets. So, we open with him and follow him through the day. As he intersects with the three other characters, we flash back to the beginning of their respective days and follow them up to the moment of their intersection with the Husband. Not only did I think this would alleviate some of the story-telling problems I also thought... well, that it was cool.

Not everyone likes to use storyboards as extensively as I do. It entirely depends on their own distinctive directorial vision. Some directors thrive in the "documentary" style of filmmaking, some in heavy dialogue, etc. I seem to thrive using storyboards.

You can check out the first scene storyboards and screenshots to illustrate how closely I utilized storyboards in the creation of project.