Filming a Party Scene

W

wjones717

Member
Hey guys, getting ready to direct my first short film. One of the scenes consists of a party sequence. I have a couple questions regarding the best way to shoot it.

I'm going to open with shots of girls dancing, drinks, etc. you know, the party stuff. The song over everything will be Burn This City - Lil Wayne.

Now, i will be videoing and doing audio separately of course, with the song track^^ layed on top of everything, then turned down when dialogue begins.

I need to know how to go about this. I cant just tell 30 people to act like there partying, when its silent in reality. But i also cant play a song through a stereo to create an atmosphere of a party because my mics will pick it up.

If that makes any sense at all^^

Thanks,

Will
 
You dont need mics for the dancing stuff just the dialogue right? Just play the music when your shooting random shots that dont involve dialogue. If they were professional then you could do it without playing the music. But sounds like they are just friends so that would help you out.
 
Set it up how you would want it to look. It will need to be silent in order for it to work.

What I found that works with actors is to start rehearsal and blast music, tell people to talk like they would be in a party. The noise jumps fast. Then kill the music and tell the extras to stop talking. That will give your leads the idea of how they would be speaking in a party situation. Because essentially they are yelling at one another. Like you would be at a party. And you want to match that tonality and style of speech.

As for the dancing. Have an AD give everyone a beat that matches the music. Either clap on the down beats, or give a count like in dance. (One, Two, Three, Four, Two, Two, Three, Four, Three, Two, Three, Four) And continue.

The beat will give the background actors and idea of what they need to be doing in order to look like they are dancing to the beat of the music.

Hope that helps a bit.
 
Agree with what's been said.

Just make absolutely certain that the actors are shouting lines to each other. This is very awkward to see and for actors to do when it's dead silent around them, but it's much, much worse when you see people just talking at normal volume and then have the music dubbed over it.

To give people a rhythm, try shooting all the shots you don't need dialog in first, and with the music playing on set so everyone gets the beat. Then they just repeat themselves for the silent dancing.
 
wjones717 said:
I need to know how to go about this. I cant just tell 30 people to act like there partying, when its silent in reality.
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Uh, yea, that's exactly what you do. You play the song, let them start dancing. Cut the music while they continue to dance (to nothing) and shoot the scene. Indeed you can grab shots of people dancing to the actual music before you shoot the rest but it is common practice to make actors ACT like they're dancing. :)

-Nate
 
Okay thanks its alot more clear now, its just no one will be a professional actor so yea its going to be hard to have them shouting/dancing in silence but i'll give it a try.

Thanks for the comments

Will
 
I'd shoot the whole thing live, with the music, and background room tone, then ADR the dialog, and lay in the music track, and pull the live audio way back.

you do have copyright to "Burn This City"?
 
its going to be hard to have them shouting/dancing in silence but i'll give it a try.
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Did you read what I told you?

As for the dancing. Have an AD give everyone a beat that matches the music. Either clap on the down beats, or give a count like in dance. (One, Two, Three, Four, Two, Two, Three, Four, Three, Two, Three, Four) And continue.

The beat will give the background actors and idea of what they need to be doing in order to look like they are dancing to the beat of the music
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Dance isn't derived from music, it is derived from beat. Give the beat before the roll. The dancing will match no matter what unless the time signature changes.

I basically told you what you need to do.

Non profit film so don't need any copyrights and im only using a little section of it.
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I can't begin to tell you how wrong you are with that assumption, so I won't.
 
Dick Campbell said:
I'd shoot the whole thing live, with the music, and background room tone, then ADR the dialog, and lay in the music track, and pull the live audio way back.
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Lots of issues doing it this way. ADR should always be an "ONLY IF THERES NO OTHER WAY". The best option is to always aim at getting solid dialogue during the shot and add everything else later.

To TP, just follow what Mattykins posted, best way to go about it, and seriously read the copyright info contained on any DVD / CD carefully, this should be enough to tell you that you will doing it.
 
Yes i will mention Lil Wayne - Burn this city in the credits, but as far as copyrights to the song, this films will make no money at all, so it will be nothing more than a youtube video playing a song behind it.

Its a school project.
 
> Non profit film so don't need any copyrights and im only using a little section of it.

Red flag!

You are completely wrong about that. Figure this out now so that you don't waste all your time and money on a film that you won't even be allowed to show on Youtube.
 
Edit: I re-read your post, you aren't doin any dialogue. Just shoot the party with tons of angles and edit to the song. All depends on the style of your filmmaking I guess.

Where's the dialog happening? Shoot the party first. Keep the lighting the same, get everyone the hell out of there and position your actors wherever you want(as long as the background where people partying isn't there, use a wall or a closed off kitchen) and shoot the dialog without anyone even there. Edit it all together and no one will see the difference.
 
I wouldn't do that ^

If you shoot dialogue of a party scene without any extras in the room, you'll know it. Shoot it against a wall? Red alert - bad production design right there unless that's one hell of a wall...besides, you lose the interaction with the extras and your actors. One of the things about a party is people are moving, talking, so having people out of focus walking across your frame or just being in the background pretending to laugh and drink, etc. really adds a hell of a lot of production value that you don't see often in low budget/student short films. Extras are not a separate part of the film -- they are part of the scene itself.

If you're using friends, just watch who you choose because "friends" don't always understand how long things take to shoot.

So pretty much what everyone else has said, shoot the dialogue bits silent, shoot the dancing with music, only ADR if you must, etc.

Can't you use a song by an indie artist trying to make a break? Someone else? A really good local band? When you see a big song like that in a low budget film, even on youtube, it makes your whole thing look bad.
 
Rent "Traffic" and check out the extras. There is a breakdown on how to shoot a party scene in there. It shows all the raw footage from the scene. It shows how they shot the master with all the extras, then went in for MS and CU shots and dialogue. Yes, it's a different setting than a night club, but it should give you some idea of the coverage necessary.

As for organizing such a shoot, If the extras are unpaid, I'd give them a 4 hour window, and plan on filming the widest shots an hour after call time. That's about the time when the most people are there, just after the last stragglers show up, and just before most of the people get bored and bail. Figure you have a half an hour after that before people start to leave. I'd then save a core of 8-10 dependable extras who have committed to be til the end of the shoot. Use those to surround your main talent and to use for background and foreground crossings to help give the impression the club is still packed.

As for music, you can use whatever you want to motivate people during the shoot, but be prepared to replace it entirely with royalty free music, or something you have the rights to. When you shoot the dialogue closeups, you should shoot it with no music. Have the crowd fake it, even have them fake silent discussions so they don't make noise.

Best of luck!
 
Haha this will probably sound completely unprofessional but in school I have shot 3 shorts based around parties, I always get tons of energy drinks for the cast and get them very hyper, then i often slate, and don't call action just start recording to get natural reactions from people who are just hanging out talking shoot, it has always worked for me. So all the extras seem very natural because half the time they dont even know im filming.
 
As do I. Don't give your party goer's any sort of energy drinks or alcohol. Get someone to be in charge of keeping them in line. They will get out of hand and they will make your life a living hell. I've been there and I perfer not to go back....
 
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