On this month's Special Page:
Filmmaker, Editor and Director Tane McClure tells us how to be "limitless"
IN THE "SPECIAL PAGE" ARCHIVES:
Nicholas Tana
Elizabeth Massie
Jonathan Maberry
Stephanie Charles
Mort Castle
Tane McClure is a lifelong film, television and music professional with over 60-plus Film Festival Awards and nominations as well as earning the coveted LA Press Club - National Journalism Award. She worked on both sides of the camera and microphone as an actress, producer, writer, director, editor, VFX artist, film sound designer, and a professional singer. She has acted in over 70 films, most notably playing Reese Witherspoon's mom in Legally Blonde.
She is the daughter of actor Doug McClure, who is best known as "Trampas" from the western series The Virginian. She has authored a book, Rescue Heart: A Love Story.
She is a believer in being “limitless” and is excited to be developing new and exciting film projects with other like-minded talented producers and professionals.
You can visit her official website HERE
Advice for Up-and-Coming Filmmakers
by Tane McClure
So how does one become the writer, director, producer and editor/VFX artist? By believing in being limitless.
When I first began to put my sights on being a Producer/Director, female producers and directors were rare, so I knew that obtaining my “limitless” dream was going to be a tough one. Still, it is a tough business for every newcomer, so in this article, I would like to offer things I have learned that might help.
My advice to up-and-coming filmmakers is to study your craft and to be unafraid of failure. Failure is the building block of success. Being limitless is my mantra and it should be yours too. It doesn’t mean that we can do everything. It means that we strive for our goals without limitations, doubt or insecurity.
How do you achieve that? Confront your insecurities rather than avoid them—prepare for setbacks and know they can be part of the process. Have a growth mindset and surround yourself with knowledgeable, positive people.
I love working with talented, like-minded people so I can grow and improve. I pay special attention and respect to the mentors around me, trying to remember to be brave enough to fail and try again.
Many aspiring and recently graduated filmmakers and production crew are very eager to work on quality short films. This is where you can start your career. Plus, if it is accepted into film festivals, you will have more opportunities to get connected to the right people. Many film festivals have a category for short films that are Academy Awards qualifying, too!
Like any business, many times it is who you know, and if you are at the right place at the right time. Get to know as many filmmakers and talented crew members as you can. Learn from them.
If you want to be a director, study the work of the great directors you admire, and learn as many aspects of the filmmaking process as you can. In my mind, the best directors are the ones that understand both sides of the camera. Even if you have no desire to be an actor yourself, study acting so you know how and what to ask of your actors. If you have no desire to be a camera operator, you still should have a good understanding of what their process is.
Know your shots: Master shot, Medium, Wide, CU, ECU, Dutch angles and more. You will need these skills, not only to communicate with your crew but to build your own shot list that helps tell your story. This day and age, you really should have some editing skills as well.
“Understanding the work flow on both sides of the camera is the best advice I can give to any aspiring filmmaker.”
The first film I produced was the thriller TRANCE, starring myself, Martin Kove and Bruce Abbott. It was the beginning of my huge learning curve—the hard way.
We went over budget, so there was no money left for post-production. It was awful not being able to finish something I started. Feeling frustrated, I decided the solution was to become an editor! Then no matter what, I could do the beginning, middle and the end of any project.
Learning to be an editor was not easy for me at first. I started editing on Final Cut (an app for creating, editing, and producing high quality video) over twenty years ago. It had, at the time, a giant telephone book-size manual (today it is an interactive website and app). I would literally cry holding on to this huge book asking myself if I had reached my limitations trying to learn this complicated technology. More tears and tons of hours later, I finally got it!
With my imagination, I could see the edit in my head and feel the music in my heart, eventually developing into a seriously savvy editor. I began producing, directing, editing and camera operating for multiple commercial and corporate production companies. It was a great place to hone my skills and I began to circle back to my original goal: to produce my own films.
I recommend that aspiring filmmakers learn at least the basics of editing. There are many types of fairly affordable editing programs these days, including Final Cut Pro, Davinci Resolves, and Adobe Creative Cloud, among others.
No matter what, if you have any special effects in your screenplay, you will need to know how to do it either on camera and/or in post-production and both ways take preparation and planning.
There are many tutorials online that cover many aspects of filmmaking, but nothing compares to real work experience, which could include getting work as a Production Assistant on a film. Granted, being a lower level Production Assistant is not usually all that glamorous. It will likely include some hard work and long hours doing everything from getting water for the actors, dumping the trash, to picking up meals and more.
Do all of that with a smile. Remember that you will not only be learning but you will be making relationships in the business and that is vital. Do not expect to get mentored or have the option to shadow a director while working as a Production Assistant. That is not considered professional.
You will still learn a lot by paying attention to every detail. Do your job really well and you will be hired again and again. You will have a chance to move up, or at least you have learned something valuable when it is your turn to produce and direct.
SÉANCE GAMES – METAXU
SÉANCE GAMES – METAXU is my feature film directorial debut. I have directed many shorts, music videos, etc., but there is something uniquely challenging and awe inspiring to write, direct, produce and edit a full-length film, with many levels and surprises. It is beautiful, heartfelt, thrilling and multi-dimensional. One would not normally think of a Horror/Thriller genre film as beautiful or heartfelt...but as the story builds, the characters reveal their multi-facets and the actors deliver with honest gut-wrenching, tear jerking performances. It has a Hitchcock feel mixed in with a modern twist on séance films involving multiple eras of ghostly stories, with an online social media game.
Plot description: Four young popular social media/TikTok stars, team up to play the online Séance Game called “Metaxu.” Each team must live-stream two séances over two nights at the scariest, most haunted place they can find. The team with the highest number of followers during the séances will win over one million dollars and worldwide Metaxu fame. Thinking this is all fun and games, with just a little horror cos-play, our team soon discovers that they have encountered a true haunting with deadly consequences.
See the trailer HERE
Left to right on Metaxu: Director of Photography: Keith Jefferies; Actors: Andrew James Ferguson (Tommy), Bernard Timmons II (Stephen), Madison Taylor (Morgan), Olivia Deligan (Kat); Director: Tane McClure