Hey,
(I posted this in the directing forum but no replies)
I've made some music videos before with 'live action' aka with people in real life environments, but I've been asked to do a green screen one and have about £1000 as a budget. I've come up with a fun story and have decided it'd work best to shoot with human animation, the obvious touching point being this radiohead video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs1DX32t38c
In that it's
a) shot on green screen
b) features human movement in stop motion
In that sense I'm going to emulate that effect and environment. But was going to use my Ex1.
I kind of know what I'm doing conceptually but having never shot a green screen video before would appreciate people's input on if I'm on the right track!
Here's some notes about my prep:
Story:
Lead singer gets sucked into this stop motion weird wood, goes exploring and breaks a twig. This is heard by a wolfman or equivalent bad guy who goes to attack our hero.
They square up and the wolfdude releases a creature that enters our man's skin, travels up his body and forces him to vomit.
Our man then runs into a cave, where he is chased by the wolfman, who attacks him and knocks the flashlight out our man's hand.
At this point the camera will show the flashlight and we'll show our actors in shadowlight only, which should be fun. They fight, our man wins and continues to explore, but falls off a cliffface and lands back in reality.
The video is 4 minutes long and is roughly divided as follows
0-1min = into the world, exploring, breaks twig
1-2min = wolfman comes along, they square up, our man vomits
2-3min = into the cave, chasing etc
3-4min = our man wins the fight and comes into the real world
Camera:
I plan on having a static camera throughout. By that I mean there will be loads of shots, but the camera will be locked down throughout. Since I'm working a)with a small budget b)on my own pretty much and c)with animation I think this is wisest.
Animation:
The band will hate me but was planning on filming them with the EX1 by taking 1 shot at a time, 25x per second, throughout the day. For this I'd get them used to it then work out where I want them to be at the end of each second and call out 1,2,3-25 for them to move a tiny bit each time. Then I'll shoot one frame with the EX1 each time, i.e.
Call 1, they move into position 1, shoot frame 1, call 2, they move into position 2, or should that be 2/25!, shoot frame 2 etc
Workflow:
Green Screen - I've found a studio that works in the budget and will have 10 hours per day to shoot, I'm planning on a 1 day shoot.
I think this should be doable because, although it will take ages to film the movement, as I said I don't plan on moving the camera mid shot so that's no a problem and I can shoot multiple shots per setup - i.e. I'll shoot all the masters in one go etc as it's all green screen anyway - and just swap in and out the odd prop etc.
Section1 - outside in the wood - will be shot all green screen
Section2 - being chased in the cave will be shot live action, i.e. we'll go into the woods and film it in the woods, again with the same stop motion animation. This lets me use a real torch. We can shoot this outside too so no studio time needed.
Section3 - when they fight and become shadows - I suppose there's two ways to shoot this. Either a) shoot against a white background or b) green screen but 'fill' the actors with all black and make the background all white, giving the same illusion.
Then I'll also make a cardboard model designed to be the floor and roof which I'll comp in at the top and bottom of the image to make it look like they're fighting on the cave floor.
Lighting:
The studio has fixed lighting for the screen and can rent me some lights for the talent. They have loads of types from redheads to kinoflos etc, all of which I've barely used beyond basic 'this looks good' type movement. But hopefully it shouldn't be too hard!
Acting:
There's not much 'acting' required as it's stop motion so I don't think we'd need multiple takes unless there's a problem. Tiredness will be an issue but we'll have to deal with it.
Camera:
I own the Ex1 so can use that or can rent a camera with better chroma sampling like the HVX. I'm inclined to stick with the EX1 as I know it.
I also own a Letus Extreme so don't know if I should use that or not. I suppose it shouldn't make much of a difference with green screen work, but maybe it will affect the look of the image, make it nicer?
Backgrounds:
This is something that concerns me as I'm going to be using the full length of the screen for the wider shots, i.e. the background and floor.
I was planning to shoot the backgrounds in my local wood and comp them in. I was also going to shoot these as animation too, i.e. I'll just press the shutter 25 times per second for each shot/background.
What I don't really know is how best to do the floor. Should I
a) keep it green screen and comp it in
b) cover it with earth etc to give the appearance of the ground of a wood, then gather props - branches, twigs etc and place them on the ground, moving for each shot - so we have a hard flooring as it were.
A) is kinda troubling me because for it to be 3d realistic I'd need to establish fancy horizon lines and basically what is the floor, which sounds like AE work and I'm not that good at AE. FCP yes, AE not so much. I CAN do it, and I will if it's my option, I'm just not a whizz
B) i think is the better option if I can get it looking realistic and not WEIRD.
NOTE: For backgrounds I was going to note all the tilt angles etc so I can ensure the camera is pointing at the same direction throughout so everything should line up mathematically.
Software:
- I know FCP well so will edit on that.
- I will then key it out in FCP if I can. A friend has Primatte Keyer so will use that if - I can as it seems pretty decent. I can use AE if needed but like I said above I'm best in FCP
- CCorrection will be probably FCP again as I know it.
Effects:
- For the animation, as I said, I will shot in 1/25th's movement, which will piss off the band members but there you go!
- Costumes - Wolfman esq costume will probably be something bought from a store, so it doesn't look too ridiculous, with some tailoring so it looks a little non stupid.
- Creature will be shot seperately, either a model or if there's room in the budget will get an animator friend to do it.
- Skin displacement when creature enters and travels up the hero's body - will use After Effects, there's a video copilot tutorial on how to do that!
Bumps in the road - problems I'm unsure of:
- Flashlight - I don't know really how best to shoot this as we're talking green screen, do I have a flash light OFF and add a fill light in post or so I just have it on when needed and have where it's pointing a lighter shade of green. This might cause reflections etc which worry me.
Budget:
As I said I have £1000 to play with. I plan on spending it as follow:
£300ish - green screen studio 1day
£100 - lights and other rental equip 1day
£100 - props - earth (bought compost to cover the ground), twigs/leaves/shrubbery (general detritus from real woods to give texture to the ground), scenery like logs and trees either made or bought depending on how easy it is, petrol&food
£100 - clothes, both an item or two to jazz up the singer and to buy the outfit for the wolfman
This leaves £400 which will go to me for making it, for an animator/puppetteer for the creature and anything else that needs buying. It is essentially panic money I don't want to spend in case!
Day plan will therefore be:
0800-1200
1 - singer into the world, explores into the woods
2 - comes to cave
3 - wolfman alerted & comes to him
1200-1500
1 - square up
2 - creature & vomit
1500-1900 (studio says you get a 10hr day yet lists times at 0800-1900)
1 - cave fight - this is the 'shadowed' bit which will need to be shot on white background or most probably on green screen but with the people blacked out in post.
Additional footage needed:
1 - Live/In woods footage of the monster chasing the hero which will be shot in the woods at night in a suitable location
2 - Woods background, shot in my own time.
fin
So that's my 'PLAN' for this shoot.
Having read through this does it look like I'm doing ok or am I in over my depth? I'm ambitious and all that but don't want to destroy it with ineptitude!
Andy
(I posted this in the directing forum but no replies)
I've made some music videos before with 'live action' aka with people in real life environments, but I've been asked to do a green screen one and have about £1000 as a budget. I've come up with a fun story and have decided it'd work best to shoot with human animation, the obvious touching point being this radiohead video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs1DX32t38c
In that it's
a) shot on green screen
b) features human movement in stop motion
In that sense I'm going to emulate that effect and environment. But was going to use my Ex1.
I kind of know what I'm doing conceptually but having never shot a green screen video before would appreciate people's input on if I'm on the right track!
Here's some notes about my prep:
Story:
Lead singer gets sucked into this stop motion weird wood, goes exploring and breaks a twig. This is heard by a wolfman or equivalent bad guy who goes to attack our hero.
They square up and the wolfdude releases a creature that enters our man's skin, travels up his body and forces him to vomit.
Our man then runs into a cave, where he is chased by the wolfman, who attacks him and knocks the flashlight out our man's hand.
At this point the camera will show the flashlight and we'll show our actors in shadowlight only, which should be fun. They fight, our man wins and continues to explore, but falls off a cliffface and lands back in reality.
The video is 4 minutes long and is roughly divided as follows
0-1min = into the world, exploring, breaks twig
1-2min = wolfman comes along, they square up, our man vomits
2-3min = into the cave, chasing etc
3-4min = our man wins the fight and comes into the real world
Camera:
I plan on having a static camera throughout. By that I mean there will be loads of shots, but the camera will be locked down throughout. Since I'm working a)with a small budget b)on my own pretty much and c)with animation I think this is wisest.
Animation:
The band will hate me but was planning on filming them with the EX1 by taking 1 shot at a time, 25x per second, throughout the day. For this I'd get them used to it then work out where I want them to be at the end of each second and call out 1,2,3-25 for them to move a tiny bit each time. Then I'll shoot one frame with the EX1 each time, i.e.
Call 1, they move into position 1, shoot frame 1, call 2, they move into position 2, or should that be 2/25!, shoot frame 2 etc
Workflow:
Green Screen - I've found a studio that works in the budget and will have 10 hours per day to shoot, I'm planning on a 1 day shoot.
I think this should be doable because, although it will take ages to film the movement, as I said I don't plan on moving the camera mid shot so that's no a problem and I can shoot multiple shots per setup - i.e. I'll shoot all the masters in one go etc as it's all green screen anyway - and just swap in and out the odd prop etc.
Section1 - outside in the wood - will be shot all green screen
Section2 - being chased in the cave will be shot live action, i.e. we'll go into the woods and film it in the woods, again with the same stop motion animation. This lets me use a real torch. We can shoot this outside too so no studio time needed.
Section3 - when they fight and become shadows - I suppose there's two ways to shoot this. Either a) shoot against a white background or b) green screen but 'fill' the actors with all black and make the background all white, giving the same illusion.
Then I'll also make a cardboard model designed to be the floor and roof which I'll comp in at the top and bottom of the image to make it look like they're fighting on the cave floor.
Lighting:
The studio has fixed lighting for the screen and can rent me some lights for the talent. They have loads of types from redheads to kinoflos etc, all of which I've barely used beyond basic 'this looks good' type movement. But hopefully it shouldn't be too hard!
Acting:
There's not much 'acting' required as it's stop motion so I don't think we'd need multiple takes unless there's a problem. Tiredness will be an issue but we'll have to deal with it.
Camera:
I own the Ex1 so can use that or can rent a camera with better chroma sampling like the HVX. I'm inclined to stick with the EX1 as I know it.
I also own a Letus Extreme so don't know if I should use that or not. I suppose it shouldn't make much of a difference with green screen work, but maybe it will affect the look of the image, make it nicer?
Backgrounds:
This is something that concerns me as I'm going to be using the full length of the screen for the wider shots, i.e. the background and floor.
I was planning to shoot the backgrounds in my local wood and comp them in. I was also going to shoot these as animation too, i.e. I'll just press the shutter 25 times per second for each shot/background.
What I don't really know is how best to do the floor. Should I
a) keep it green screen and comp it in
b) cover it with earth etc to give the appearance of the ground of a wood, then gather props - branches, twigs etc and place them on the ground, moving for each shot - so we have a hard flooring as it were.
A) is kinda troubling me because for it to be 3d realistic I'd need to establish fancy horizon lines and basically what is the floor, which sounds like AE work and I'm not that good at AE. FCP yes, AE not so much. I CAN do it, and I will if it's my option, I'm just not a whizz
B) i think is the better option if I can get it looking realistic and not WEIRD.
NOTE: For backgrounds I was going to note all the tilt angles etc so I can ensure the camera is pointing at the same direction throughout so everything should line up mathematically.
Software:
- I know FCP well so will edit on that.
- I will then key it out in FCP if I can. A friend has Primatte Keyer so will use that if - I can as it seems pretty decent. I can use AE if needed but like I said above I'm best in FCP
- CCorrection will be probably FCP again as I know it.
Effects:
- For the animation, as I said, I will shot in 1/25th's movement, which will piss off the band members but there you go!
- Costumes - Wolfman esq costume will probably be something bought from a store, so it doesn't look too ridiculous, with some tailoring so it looks a little non stupid.
- Creature will be shot seperately, either a model or if there's room in the budget will get an animator friend to do it.
- Skin displacement when creature enters and travels up the hero's body - will use After Effects, there's a video copilot tutorial on how to do that!
Bumps in the road - problems I'm unsure of:
- Flashlight - I don't know really how best to shoot this as we're talking green screen, do I have a flash light OFF and add a fill light in post or so I just have it on when needed and have where it's pointing a lighter shade of green. This might cause reflections etc which worry me.
Budget:
As I said I have £1000 to play with. I plan on spending it as follow:
£300ish - green screen studio 1day
£100 - lights and other rental equip 1day
£100 - props - earth (bought compost to cover the ground), twigs/leaves/shrubbery (general detritus from real woods to give texture to the ground), scenery like logs and trees either made or bought depending on how easy it is, petrol&food
£100 - clothes, both an item or two to jazz up the singer and to buy the outfit for the wolfman
This leaves £400 which will go to me for making it, for an animator/puppetteer for the creature and anything else that needs buying. It is essentially panic money I don't want to spend in case!
Day plan will therefore be:
0800-1200
1 - singer into the world, explores into the woods
2 - comes to cave
3 - wolfman alerted & comes to him
1200-1500
1 - square up
2 - creature & vomit
1500-1900 (studio says you get a 10hr day yet lists times at 0800-1900)
1 - cave fight - this is the 'shadowed' bit which will need to be shot on white background or most probably on green screen but with the people blacked out in post.
Additional footage needed:
1 - Live/In woods footage of the monster chasing the hero which will be shot in the woods at night in a suitable location
2 - Woods background, shot in my own time.
fin
So that's my 'PLAN' for this shoot.
Having read through this does it look like I'm doing ok or am I in over my depth? I'm ambitious and all that but don't want to destroy it with ineptitude!
Andy
