I shot my second feature length indie film not too long ago. It was a documentary about the former Book-Cadillac Hotel in Detroit; focusing on its history, efforts to redevelop it and what all of this means to the surrounding community.

My shoot seemed to go well - or at least I thought it did. When I sat down with my editor to put together a finished documentary, however, I discovered a disaster. Three of my most crucial shots were missing from the digital tape that I thought I had recorded them onto. My editor and I spent a couple of hours going over everything, trying to find those three crucial scenes.

But they weren't there.

After a lot more investigation, I eventually discovered what happened to my missing footage.

Before one of the interviews, my camera operator changed batteries on the camera. When it lost its power source, my digital camera basically acted like a computer and re-booted itself. That "re-boot" included rewinding the tape that was inside.

We recorded over those scenes in my documentary without even realizing it. It took me a couple of weeks and a whole lot of drinking to recover from that set back.

More over, my narrator, the very talented Ann Marie Weinert, had returned to her native Chicago and taken on other projects. Bringing her back to Detroit to re-record those missing scenes will cost me almost $1,500 for her travel costs and hotel, a per diem fee, another day's worth of equipment rental and all of the expenses that come with indie filmmaking.

This delay also meant I missed a couple of key submission deadlines for film festivals. The 2005 Sundance Film Festival will have to go on without my motion picture, I'm afraid. I might still be able to submit for next year's Toronto International Film Festival or some of the smaller film festivals. Regardless of which film festivals I may or may not be able to submit for, this delay was not a welcome one.

Losing those scenes with Ann Marie Weinert was a hard lesson for me to learn. In the aftermath of this documentary disaster, I thought about the other lessons in indie filmmaking that I learned the hard way. Things that weren't mentioned in any books. Things that they never taught me in film school or that were briefly glossed over when they deserved much more attention.

Things that I simply had learned about directing, producing and indie filmmaking on my own. My own film school, if you will. Something that is rarely mentioned in a workshop at any of the film festivals.

It was this experience that motivated me to start this web site - so I could share these lessons with other filmmakers in the hope that you wouldn't have to experience the same pain. Making documentaries often means a lot of learning, not only about your subject but about indie filmmaking in general.

I also hope that some filmmakers will even be kind enough to share a few of their experiences to make my future indie filmmaking projects a little easier. You will find a way to contact me on the final page of this series.

Lastly, you will no doubt notice a few ads woven into this site. Please don't be offended. This is one of the things that I'm doing to raise the $1,500 I need to finish my documentery. If you would be so kind as to click on one or two them, I would be quite grateful. (Click a link. Support indie filmmaking.)

Each of these lessons relate to things that I learned while filming documentaries. However, I'm confident most of them would apply to directing and producing any kind of motion picture.

A lot of the lessons that I've included here are things that I learned shooting with a digital camera, but apply to indie filmmaking in any format.

Without further ado, here are some of the things about indie filmmaking, documentaries, directing and producing that I had to learn the hard way.

Lesson #1. Never use a battery to power a digital camera when a normal electrical outlet is available

If I had known this one, I could have bypassed the whole debacle with my camera during the Book-Cadillac Hotel project since there was an A/C outlet less than 10 ft. from where my digital camera was set-up. You simply aren't likely to have to change regular outlet while shooting a scene.

Lesson #2. Write It Down

Keep a log of what shots you filmed, what roll or tape they are on and how far along on that roll or tape each shot is. I was told this once in film school, but never realized its importance until after my mishap on the Book-Cadillac Hotel documentary with Ann Marie Weinert. If I had done this then I would have been paying closer attention to the meter (in order to write everything down) and realized that my tape had rewound.

Keeping a shot log has two other advantages. Editing is easier when you can find the shot you’re looking for faster. It’s also useful because you can do a quick checklist before wrapping your shoot for the day. Start with all of the shots you wanted to get that day; compare it with your log of what actually recorded to see if there is anything that got left out.

Lesson #3. Write It Down (Part Two)

It’s also a good idea to sketch out a floor plan that show where your actors and camera are located for each scene. Making a note of how your lights are set up is also a good idea. Doing this ahead of time will help you visualize everything so you can set up your shots more efficiently.

Keeping these notes is also useful if you ever have to re-shoot a given scene or interview. It's all part of independent filmmaking.

My urgings for you to write down that relates to your motion picture might seem rather anal-retentive. However, I'm rapidly learning that a little bit of organiztion goes a long ways towards doing the things I want to do.