multiple location dilemma

Fadi

Fadi

Member
I'm preparing to shoot my short film and as I'm looking for locations I can only think of one problem which is (I find it hard to explain but anyways :D)
well...the story takes place in a guy's bedroom who keeps looking from the window to another window across the street where a girl sits playing piano. as it is hard to find a location with all these elements. I think I should shoot in two different location (the guy's room window, and the girls window) and then put them together in editing some way that when he looks out of his window we cut to her window so it would seem like the two windows are actually infront of eacother.
any advise about this since it's really confusing me
i'll appreciate any idea or a similar experience
thanks
 
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for the interiors in each location you can put a green screen in the windows. Then shoot plates to replace the windows from the right vantage point looking at the other window. do this for each location.
 
If you can get an exterior shot there is no problem at all. The person looks out the window and you shoot them from the exterior looking toward the camera and cut to the other person. If hight is a problem shoot a ground floor window with an establishing shot of a tall building. You can have shots of the guy looking out the window from within the apartment but don't show out the window.
 
I guess you will have to find 2 houses that perfectly line up to each other and light both exteriors and interiors at the same time and shoot them simultaneously. That is a whole lot of lighting gear to light all those locations in one shot.

Green paint, cloth material, or even green posterboard to cover even the largest of windows will be around $20. Keying is so easy that 12 year olds post green screen tutorials on youtube. Lining up those locations and lighting them to shoot will be more expensive than your time playing with 2 clips and keylight in after effects.
I don't know what you use to edit or manipulate footage but between AE and PP I have about 6 different keyers.
 
I guess you will have to find 2 houses that perfectly line up to each other and light both exteriors and interiors at the same time and shoot them simultaneously. That is a whole lot of lighting gear to light all those locations in one shot.
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I know this is quite hard that's why I was thinking of an approprite alternative.

Green paint, cloth material, or even green posterboard to cover even the largest of windows will be around $20. Keying is so easy that 12 year olds post green screen tutorials on youtube. Lining up those locations and lighting them to shoot will be more expensive than your time playing with 2 clips and keylight in after effects.
I don't know what you use to edit or manipulate footage but between AE and PP I have about 6 different keyers.
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I just feel that if not lit well green screens can be a pain when keying..u know unclean keying i mean...it might not look real...what do u think?

If you can get an exterior shot there is no problem at all. The person looks out the window and you shoot them from the exterior looking toward the camera and cut to the other person. If hight is a problem shoot a ground floor window with an establishing shot of a tall building. You can have shots of the guy looking out the window from within the apartment but don't show out the window.
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Ok let's say that i'm taking this route. what advice can u give to make this look as realistic and convincing as possible?

:dankk2:
 
If you have enough room, you could also build the wall and window he looks out, and then build her window across from it with an exterior wall.
 
This is fairly easy if your camera is static. You may even be able to do this in one location if that location has two or more windows, ideally the one that already has the piano. Make sure you take note of the lighting conditions since it has to match the shadows and light intensity.
Position your camera such that your guy is looking out the window but not blocking any parts of the frame of the window. You will later crop the outside view using a compositing program (After Effects/Combustion etc...) and replace the view with (matching angle and lens parameters) the shot of the girl playing piano.
For a more dramatic effect, you can synchronize the changing of focus from the guy to the girl but of course that takes a little bit more work
 
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