^faldo^
Member
Hey guys,
I'm putting together my first film set. It's currently a large, depressing concrete cave -- the storage area of the office. I'd say it's about 20 by 10 meters (60 by 30 feet) at a guess. I'll measure it and upload the photos tomorrow. Even though I've built a few sets for theatre I'd like some feedback on possible lighting plots, set ideas and any other words of wisdom and ideas that you can offer.
Some background info: We're a tech magazine that's looking at filming really good video podcasts plus how-tos for cover DVDs on our magazines. Our audience is fiercely loyal and expects top notch content which we deliver. It's going to be the same with video, but we don't need to blow $50,000 setting up my studio. Content will pull us through, and as long as we get as far away from garage production as we can, we'll be alright.
So the aim is to pull off a workable, good-looking set on a budget. The great news is that the ceiling is very high so lights can be flown well and truly out of frame, there's a staircase that we plan to use to dramatic effect, and I have several tonnes of processing power, software suites and the rest of the hardware is always the most powerful available.
The bad news is that the space it acoustically echoey. Very echoey, but that's for another time. The budget is AUD$10,000 for everything, but this is slightly elastic, and I'm trying to get a separate budget for set dressing. Everything means lights, sound-deadening, greenscreen, cyc, set construction, set design, ceiling mounted truss or winch-able lighting bars (I'm used to a gantry, and I don't know the name of what I'm looking for). I don't need to worry about cameras, tripods or radio mics.
I want to split the set into two main parts: The serious side, where we present products, do demonstrations etc; and the fun side, where we chat, rant, play games, interview guests etc. The serious side should be a clinical presentation space with a cluttered background indicating the magazine's colours (Green and Black) and the warm side should be a warm, slightly green backlit living room scene.
Here's the area we're going to be filming in...
<pics are at the office, I'll upload in the morning>
...here's the "diagram" of the top elevation...
...and here's the key.
1. Green Screen
2. Cycs
2a: Royal velvet, blue or red color
2b-d: Unknown color
3 a and b. Couch
4a: Floorstanding lamp
4b: Small coffee table
5. 16 black PCs, arranged into a throne from which we rant (already have these)
6. Coffee table
7. Trophy cabinet for our IT Journo awards
8. 2 desks with camera facing monitors at either edge
9. test bench, filled with boxes , laptops and other junk from the labs
10. Proposed wall for additional shooting angle
11. Dolly
?. The Mystery Space! Whenever we want to introduce something we are unsure about, we reposition the dolly and Hitchcock into the non-specific background.
I'm worried about the void between the cycs and the couches. I suppose we can fill it with old arcade machines, a globe, speakers on stands, assorted geek toys, a stack of broken DVD players and monitors with our logo on them. Possibly a Punch and Judy stand, although that may be reserved for the ? space. If the last addition sounds strange, a colleague and myself are NIDA trained Actors and TV presenters respectively, and we think explaining things with sock puppets could be funny.
I'm going to build my own soft lights with a friend who works at an electrical wholesaler. I'm thinking of taking lots of old computer cases, chopping them in half, and backing them with a mirror. Then attaching makeshift barndoors with stiff hinges, adding Osram 3200K lamps, and holding the tubes in place somehow. We'll cross that last bridge when we come to it. The half computer case thing works nicely because we are a hardcore computer enthusiast magazine, and it'll go down very well if the readers find out we've hacked old PCs for other uses. Backstage passes if all goes well, perhaps?
I'd like a small green screen for versatility, although it doesn't need to wrap around or have any motion tracking on it. More importantly, the set needs to sell our performances. We're going to make it ourselves (ourselves = myself and the guys who are going to be in front of the camera) so we'll feel more comfortable in it. We'll be doing interviews, news roundups, comedy sketches, mini-sitcoms, sitting on a couch playing and reviewing games, reading viewer mail and doing whatever else we can think of between now and setup. We need a set that will let us work with these existing ideas and give us the versatility to do expand and do whatever we think will work, when we think of it.
I'll leave Sound-deadening out for now, because it's going to be a *****. I'm thinking of getting lots of movers' blankets and hanging them from the ceiling, but I doubt that will be enough. Anyway, we'll be using 2x HVX200's, and shooting in DVCProHD at 720p 24/48/12, depending on if I want an over/under cranked or normal shot.
Thanks for your input, and thanks for reading through all this. It looks a little intimidating having typed it all.
I'm putting together my first film set. It's currently a large, depressing concrete cave -- the storage area of the office. I'd say it's about 20 by 10 meters (60 by 30 feet) at a guess. I'll measure it and upload the photos tomorrow. Even though I've built a few sets for theatre I'd like some feedback on possible lighting plots, set ideas and any other words of wisdom and ideas that you can offer.
Some background info: We're a tech magazine that's looking at filming really good video podcasts plus how-tos for cover DVDs on our magazines. Our audience is fiercely loyal and expects top notch content which we deliver. It's going to be the same with video, but we don't need to blow $50,000 setting up my studio. Content will pull us through, and as long as we get as far away from garage production as we can, we'll be alright.
So the aim is to pull off a workable, good-looking set on a budget. The great news is that the ceiling is very high so lights can be flown well and truly out of frame, there's a staircase that we plan to use to dramatic effect, and I have several tonnes of processing power, software suites and the rest of the hardware is always the most powerful available.
The bad news is that the space it acoustically echoey. Very echoey, but that's for another time. The budget is AUD$10,000 for everything, but this is slightly elastic, and I'm trying to get a separate budget for set dressing. Everything means lights, sound-deadening, greenscreen, cyc, set construction, set design, ceiling mounted truss or winch-able lighting bars (I'm used to a gantry, and I don't know the name of what I'm looking for). I don't need to worry about cameras, tripods or radio mics.
I want to split the set into two main parts: The serious side, where we present products, do demonstrations etc; and the fun side, where we chat, rant, play games, interview guests etc. The serious side should be a clinical presentation space with a cluttered background indicating the magazine's colours (Green and Black) and the warm side should be a warm, slightly green backlit living room scene.
Here's the area we're going to be filming in...
<pics are at the office, I'll upload in the morning>
...here's the "diagram" of the top elevation...
...and here's the key.
1. Green Screen
2. Cycs
2a: Royal velvet, blue or red color
2b-d: Unknown color
3 a and b. Couch
4a: Floorstanding lamp
4b: Small coffee table
5. 16 black PCs, arranged into a throne from which we rant (already have these)
6. Coffee table
7. Trophy cabinet for our IT Journo awards
8. 2 desks with camera facing monitors at either edge
9. test bench, filled with boxes , laptops and other junk from the labs
10. Proposed wall for additional shooting angle
11. Dolly
?. The Mystery Space! Whenever we want to introduce something we are unsure about, we reposition the dolly and Hitchcock into the non-specific background.
I'm worried about the void between the cycs and the couches. I suppose we can fill it with old arcade machines, a globe, speakers on stands, assorted geek toys, a stack of broken DVD players and monitors with our logo on them. Possibly a Punch and Judy stand, although that may be reserved for the ? space. If the last addition sounds strange, a colleague and myself are NIDA trained Actors and TV presenters respectively, and we think explaining things with sock puppets could be funny.
I'm going to build my own soft lights with a friend who works at an electrical wholesaler. I'm thinking of taking lots of old computer cases, chopping them in half, and backing them with a mirror. Then attaching makeshift barndoors with stiff hinges, adding Osram 3200K lamps, and holding the tubes in place somehow. We'll cross that last bridge when we come to it. The half computer case thing works nicely because we are a hardcore computer enthusiast magazine, and it'll go down very well if the readers find out we've hacked old PCs for other uses. Backstage passes if all goes well, perhaps?
I'd like a small green screen for versatility, although it doesn't need to wrap around or have any motion tracking on it. More importantly, the set needs to sell our performances. We're going to make it ourselves (ourselves = myself and the guys who are going to be in front of the camera) so we'll feel more comfortable in it. We'll be doing interviews, news roundups, comedy sketches, mini-sitcoms, sitting on a couch playing and reviewing games, reading viewer mail and doing whatever else we can think of between now and setup. We need a set that will let us work with these existing ideas and give us the versatility to do expand and do whatever we think will work, when we think of it.
I'll leave Sound-deadening out for now, because it's going to be a *****. I'm thinking of getting lots of movers' blankets and hanging them from the ceiling, but I doubt that will be enough. Anyway, we'll be using 2x HVX200's, and shooting in DVCProHD at 720p 24/48/12, depending on if I want an over/under cranked or normal shot.
Thanks for your input, and thanks for reading through all this. It looks a little intimidating having typed it all.
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