Buy Buy Bestie

Buy Buy Bestie is a short film I directed with the Business and Film Association (BAFA) at UC Berkeley, with a crew of 20+ and a cast of 4.

Directing it was the first time I was truly in charge of a team. Over twenty people were looking to me, literally, for direction. That made it an incredible learning experience in working with people under pressure, in a stressful environment, for nearly 12-hour days.

What went well

Leadership

My leadership style is consensus-driven. I always try to ask others for their input, and on a project like this that mattered more than ever. I had never directed anything before, and the people around me knew far more about directing than I did. I leveraged their knowledge, asking questions constantly to learn as much as I could, while still balancing that against implementing my own ideas.

I carry that mindset into everything I do. Some people will always know more than me, so I learn from them while still bringing my own thoughts to the table.

Handling stress

Being on set is constant crunch time. There are always tight deadlines and you are always running late. These are the environments I thrive in. I kept track of our shot list and schedule while overseeing creative decisions for the actors, the cinematography, and the lighting.

Communication

With 20 people on set, clear lines of communication between my producers, actors, assistant director, and everyone else were essential. I kept a central group chat going, but I also reached out to people directly and often. Instead of leaving them to report back on their own, asking them directly was a friendly way to remind and encourage them to stay in touch without putting too much pressure on anyone.

What I’d do differently

Watching my scenes

One thing I struggled with was making time to watch the scenes as we filmed them, so I could give feedback on lighting, acting, and cinematography. Often my director of photography was right at the camera watching the shot, and we didn’t have a secondary screen. The broader struggle was pushing for myself to have a spot to view our shots instead of taking a back seat. I trusted the people around me, but I also needed to step further into my role as director.

Getting involved earlier

Another improvement for next time is deeper involvement earlier in the process. Our club deliberately separates pre-production from production to avoid overbearing directors controlling everything, but I know I would never be that kind of director. I should have been more involved in planning, writing, costuming, and location scouting so that my vision stayed coherent across the whole project.