Soap Opera

F

fleaguit

Active member
Hey guys,

This weekend, I'm shooting a short soap opera spoof. We're basically taking all the cliche's of soaps, and doing them so over the top that it's a comedy. The project is pretty funny, and hopefully it comes out well.

On set, we're dressing everything with fake plants, and making sure the lighting setups are less than perfect, to give it that "artificial" soap opera feel. We'll either be shooting on the Sony PD 170, or the DVX, depending on what is available.

Does anyone here have any suggestions for when we're in post, to give it that soap opera "look" ? We'll be editing on FCP 5, with the whole suite, as well as using After Effects. We also have Magic Bullet. If anyone has any suggestions for color correction settings, or Magic Bullet settings, to make it look more "soap like" i'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks alot,
Steve
Fleanation Productions
steve@fleanation.com
 
Sounds like the look is going to come out right with the way you're setting it up. Definitely shoot 60i for that full-on TV video feel. And make sure your make-up artist stocks a load of hairspray.
 
Use heavy black pro-mist filters and lots of slow zooms to a close-up after a dramatic moment (with appropiately cheeseball synth strings playing in the background), then wait at least 6 seconds on the pain-stricken face before cutting to the next scene.

And definitely go with 60i. :thumbsup:
 
I think you need several beautiful women, at least one guy with an eye patch, and probably multiple cases of amnesia!
 
Hahaha guys, love it. I'll definetely post the footage when I'm done, do soaps really shoot interlaced though? I would have thought 30p would be more appropriate. . . isn't most stuff on tv shot progressive now a days? Thanks again for the help.

-Steve
 
60i, baby! It looks more like "reality." If you want progressive while still looking like a soap, it would have to be 60p on something like the upcoming HVX200. 60i is what'll give it that cheapness that soaps exploit oh-so-beautifully. If you shoot at 30p or 24p, it'll look like a tv movie-of-the-week.
 
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