Three Mistakes in Shooting a Scene

L

LilGryphMaster

Active member
This is not a short film, by any stretch. There is no real beginning, middle, or end... But I just wanted to get out there and shoot something, and so did my friends, but I must admit that at least three mistakes were made in shooting this clip.

Mistake #1

No read-through or blocking - The script was heavier in action than I anticipated, and we did not have time to rehearse or read through lines I had written, so when shooting time came and we were losing light fast, we cut most of the lines and the action was reduced to being captured in 2-3 one-shot takes.

Mistake #2

Shooting on location, at night, without any controlled lighting - Now, I do have my own lighting kits... But the location I chose (for it's remoteness) had no outlets in sight to be used, therefore we had to use what sunlight we had, and then after that was gone we relied on the sole sodium street lamp lighting the entire "set." Obviously, this caused problems. I tried to fix what I could in post, but the light level changes from beginning to end (thank God we shot in chronological order) are still blaringly obvious. However, thanks to the advent of "art" I could just call it an artistic decision (but it isn't)...

Mistake #3

Half-assing continuity - This was a ***** to cut together, simply because it was terribly cold and we were hungry, so we jumped into takes without making sure everything was lined up from the last take. Positions were different, costuming was altered, etc. Never, ever rush yourself when filming. You will ultimately pay for it in post.

Anyway, I'm sure I made more mistakes, but it's been 2 years since I've been behind the director's chair, so this was a great eye-opener and refresher course. Hopefully my next endeavor will come sooner, and I will learn from these mistakes.

Finally, here is the clip in two varities:

In color: http://www.aedmark.com/temp/hitman.mov
In Black and White: http://www.aedmark.com/temp/hitmanbw.mov

Enjoy.
 
Mistake

Line cross at :32 seconds in

Mistake

Audio coming from Left Speaker only

Mistake

Line cross at :54 seconds

Mistake ?

Line cross at 1:06 (Passable in my book due to set up of action and postions)

Mistake

Line cross at 1:17

and at 1:25, and again and again .....

The Audio was gnarly.

-

But, I didn't mind the color or contrast or lighting issues at all. Try layering some audio tracks down with some ambinet filler.

And study the line rule thingy
 
Okay, so I'm aware of the line rule... But, I guess I never really looked into it quite closely. As I was shooting, I was totally aware I was probably breaking that rule, but I was so caught up in everything, it got thrown out the window. But what's the point of having rules if you can't break them!?! haha, lame excuse I know.

Any chance you could explain it a bit, or do you have a link that might explain it?

Also, Robbie.. What do you mean about the audio? Are you talking about it only being in the left channel? Because I totally forgot to push the audio to mono. All the sound was done with a shotgun mic on just the left channel, so that was a mistake (but easily remedied).

Thanks for the input guys. I feel stupid for breaking the line rule, but I guess I really didn't notice. I guess that explains why some of the cuts I was making looked odd to me, though I couldn't place why. Now I can.

I made this post kindof as a lesson for others, anyway. I realize this is way beyond perfect. So I wanted people to see what can be done wrong, and learn ways to fix it. Hopefully I can reshoot this scene and do everything right, as a followup. I'll keep you guys posted.

Also, thanks for the audio comment. I was quite pleased with how it turned out. (I need a dead cat slip, though, to muffle wind noise better).
 
Don't feel stupid. We're all learning something new everyday !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/180_degree_rule

The general jist is that there should be some motivation for the camera to suddenly jump the line. Whether through the action onscreen or the physical act of moving the camera across the line.

Check out my blog where I look at a scene from FATAL ATTRACTION

http://www.cineobscure.com/?p=16

In my opinion, they cross the line purposely as it can be used to jar the audience. The first example is more a violation of the 30 degree rule. But you get the pictue (pun)
 
hah, of course. I should've known better. My film professor will be dissapointed. Haha. Thanks again, man. I'm gonna get some ambience and do some foley for this cut and I'll let you know. I'm REALLY surprised with how my mic performed, considering it's the standard Rode N 2 and everyone seems to think it's rather subpar compared to other mics (Mics $600 more expensive, mind you). I actually prefer it to the Sennheiser I used on my first short film 2 years ago.
 
i watched it, and yeah, problems have already been mentioned. But can you please explain what is happening? What does he put in the guys mouth, not sure i follow.
 
My guess was a JOS. LOUIS.

200px-Jos_Louis.jpg
 
Well, I guess I should've explained earlier. He puts a fudge round in his mouth. The basis of this scene was built upon a much larger script I was writing. We intended to shoot dialog and such, and another scene taking place just before. I didn't expect anyone to "understand" this without me telling you, so I don't know why I didn't do it earlier..

Anyway, here's the script we had for the shoot, which we completely deviated from: http://www.aedmark.com/temp/hitman.pdf

Just change "fudge-cicle" to "fudge round" and it'll make sense
 
I really loved the colors from the first couple shots before it got dark!! What did you use for CC? The greenish look really suited the beginning.
 
Thanks Abinc. I used Vegas 7's basic filters to color correct, along with whitebalancing on the blue shirt of the gagged guy. I will probably be redoing the CC in Premiere in a few days, along with enhancing the sound.
 
I'm aware of the bad wind noise, good sir. But the wind is out of my control as director; I am not God. Like I said a few posts earlier, I plan on getting a dead cat for my Rode, but I did not have one during the shoot, therefore I don't know the purpose of your post.

Thanks anyway.
 
would it be possible to just let us know what the situation is supposed to be about without making us do extra work to figure it out :) hehe, thanks
 
Alright, you want the story, I'll give you the story:

Last summer I was writing a script cause I was bored. The basic plot was about a young man named Harvey who wanted to make money very fast, so he hooked up with a minor crime circuit to get some fast cash. However, the deal goes sour when the man (Felix) who hired him want's a little more out of him. But our Harvey somehow gets away with a bag of money, and now Felix wants his money back.

Enter the hitman. The way I had it written, this scene we shot was the Hitman's introduction. It introduces him comically, by showing him doing daily errands whilst he's keeping someone in the trunk. So this scene in particular, takes place after that. If you read the script, you will find much more dialog and even a phone conversation that we just did not have time to shoot.

The basic idea is that the Hitman is still rather new at being a hitman, which is why he doesn't want to kill the man he has in his trunk. And the fudge round bit is funny because he is shown buying them, eating them on his way out from the store, and mentioning them to the gagged man while he is in the trunk.

Is that sufficient, PaPa? haha
 
Haha, thank you. Hopefully we'll have time later, when it is warmer, to shoot the script I posted a few posts earlier in it's entirety. I don't think I'll ever do the full-length script, at least not as an indie project.
 
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