Shooting inside a real and fake elevator - please help...

[JJ Alexander]

I will be shooting 3 scenes inside a real elevator. Its part of a feature film. There is money in the budget to also build a break away fake elevator. Does anyone have experience with this type situation and are there special things I should be aware of. The fake one will enable the walls roof and floor to be removed for shooting.
Thanks,
JJ

 

[clang]

A local production company doesn't have one you could rent? I'd have thought fake elevators must be fairly standard. Seems like a lot of money to build one for just three scenes. (Unless the elevator needs some bizarre characteristics - I presume it doesn't, since you're using a real one as well.)

My low budget expereience is that real elevators are great to show people getting in and out of them (because faking the opening/closing doors is a pain), and to shoot front shots inside (if you can lock the doors open). Side/back/top shots will indeed need a breakaway fake elevator.

Don't waste a fortune making an exact copy of the real elevator - it's usually simpler and cheaper to create a fake back wall to temporarily put in the real elevator (the side walls won't be seen from outside) - ideally literally reusing the back wall of your fake elevator set. Keep it simple - most elevators are just stainless steel boxes - the actors' behaviour and a few sound effects are enough to fool the audience.