The 24 Diary
- Thread starter jls4
- Start date
slimchrisp
Well-known member
exactly. :beer:
Hey jls4
Amazing thread
Every single chapter so far included some things I did not think of when shooting my first little films.
If you can remind the readers that you can create a very good dof by zooming in and getting as close to the subject as possible while keeping the background as far away as possible, that'd be awsome!
This thread has gotten me even more excited about shooting my feature.
It might not be No-Budget, but I'll try to save as much as possible. If you feel like coming in to Chicago when it happens, I'd love to have you there to help out, especially in the "god-please-don't-go-over-budget" department.
Charlie!
Amazing thread
Every single chapter so far included some things I did not think of when shooting my first little films.
If you can remind the readers that you can create a very good dof by zooming in and getting as close to the subject as possible while keeping the background as far away as possible, that'd be awsome!
This thread has gotten me even more excited about shooting my feature.
It might not be No-Budget, but I'll try to save as much as possible. If you feel like coming in to Chicago when it happens, I'd love to have you there to help out, especially in the "god-please-don't-go-over-budget" department.
Charlie!
jls4
Veteran
Charlie you flatter me and I'd love to come. Only problem is this job I have. If I didn't have that I'd be on a plane in a heartbeat. It's my hope and goal to make movies, so I'd love to help out anyway I can. As you get closer and your dates start to solidify - you never know - maybe I can take off a few days from work. We'll see.
As for the DOF - I think you just told everybody!
But for those who don't know, if you don't have a DOF Adapter, you can place your camera as far away from the subject as possible and simply zoom in with the camera. This creates a larger depth of field from a Video Camera without an adapter, the only problem is, that if you don't have enough room, you may not be able to create the amount of DOF that you desire.
jls4
Veteran
I have a few chapters in mind, the business side may be awhile for me though. I've done som estudy on business plans and I've already written mine, but I haven't used it yet, because I want to finish up my current movie first and then start using it to get more money for the next project. So I'll report on my experiences as I get to that point.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to the day that I'll be happy to go to work.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to the day that I'll be happy to go to work.
Rubbersquare
Well-known member
thank you so much for all the work put into this thread. i read every damn word (and will reread over a few times, the way re-watching the 10-minute film school helped you).
i was lucky for my first short, breaking all the rules above, by calling in favors with professionals (our DP shot My Name Is Bruce just prior to shooting our short - but that's more being lucky in whom you know). but, having done that, i realised there were SO many aspects of filmmaking i THOUGHT i knew, but had no clue. so i'm going back to square one, getting the cheap camera to experiment with, learning and reading and practicing. i love the process of making films too much to a) give up and b) do it badly. i have a passion for it and maybe some talent. but it's great to hear some followable advice and tips. i am a sponge at this point, soaking in everything and it's people like you, justin, zak, adam, everyone who shares their experiences and thoughts and theories - right or wrong - because i think everyone reading these takes a bit from thread 1 and a bit from thread 2, etc. and tailors them to their way of doing things. hopefully i'll have the opportunity to share my experiences here at some point. for now, a big thanks. this is why i came to this forum. you've definitely helped more than your minimum of one person.
i was lucky for my first short, breaking all the rules above, by calling in favors with professionals (our DP shot My Name Is Bruce just prior to shooting our short - but that's more being lucky in whom you know). but, having done that, i realised there were SO many aspects of filmmaking i THOUGHT i knew, but had no clue. so i'm going back to square one, getting the cheap camera to experiment with, learning and reading and practicing. i love the process of making films too much to a) give up and b) do it badly. i have a passion for it and maybe some talent. but it's great to hear some followable advice and tips. i am a sponge at this point, soaking in everything and it's people like you, justin, zak, adam, everyone who shares their experiences and thoughts and theories - right or wrong - because i think everyone reading these takes a bit from thread 1 and a bit from thread 2, etc. and tailors them to their way of doing things. hopefully i'll have the opportunity to share my experiences here at some point. for now, a big thanks. this is why i came to this forum. you've definitely helped more than your minimum of one person.
filmman
Veteran
Thanks for taking the time to share your ideas about low budget movie making, J.
I appreciate the fact that you comment on my threads as well. You were very helpful regarding your comments to my business plan question. This is how I ended up coming to this thread.
Normally I don't read threads like this, because my experience of 40 years in filmmaking is sufficient for me to draw from; however, I find there's always something to learn from other filmmakers, especially those like you who have sold their movies.
To be a great artist it isn't necessary to sell anything -- look at Van Gough never sold anything in his lifetime -- but it helps to be able to make a movie and sell it, because a filmmaker can't go on making movies like a painter who only needs paint, brush and canvass.
I appreciate the fact that you comment on my threads as well. You were very helpful regarding your comments to my business plan question. This is how I ended up coming to this thread.
Normally I don't read threads like this, because my experience of 40 years in filmmaking is sufficient for me to draw from; however, I find there's always something to learn from other filmmakers, especially those like you who have sold their movies.
To be a great artist it isn't necessary to sell anything -- look at Van Gough
never sold anything in his lifetime -- but it helps to be able to make a movie and sell it, because a filmmaker can't go on making movies like a painter who only needs paint, brush and canvass.Good words filmman
I got it from some other thread
the essentials
How much I need to borrow
How many days I'm shooting
how long post will take
who is in it
which equip I'll be using
How much I pan to make 1st year
2nd year,
3rd year
All actors I plan to attach
What other movies of the same genre have made xx amount f profit, how much I expect to make back
What else?
!!!
Charlie
I got it from some other thread
the essentials
How much I need to borrow
How many days I'm shooting
how long post will take
who is in it
which equip I'll be using
How much I pan to make 1st year
2nd year,
3rd year
All actors I plan to attach
What other movies of the same genre have made xx amount f profit, how much I expect to make back
What else?
!!!Charlie
jls4
Veteran
Sorry guys I've been away for a while. I got real sick like on Thursday - nothing too major- but enough to be away from work and the boards. But thanks for the good words. I'll try to get a new chanpter up soon. Right now I'm working with a guy I met on DVXuser on a treatment for a feature which maybe my next movie. This'll be the first time I've collabo-ed on an idea.
jls4
Veteran
Chapter 7: Staging and Depth of Field
In this Chapter we’ll be discussing Staging in the scene. Staging is simply where people and things are placed in a given set. Staging is a follow up to the DOF discussion from last chapter.
I’m borrowing a few stills from projects already on DVXuser to illustrate a few things. If someone gets offended, let me know. I just don’t have time right now to fully illustrate most of the problems – solutions. In my statements below, I won’t be discussing anything BUT staging and production design in regard to the shot, not lighting, not composition.
This shot is from “No Greater Love”
Besides the guy’s expression – what feeling does it give you? Definitely not loneliness, I mean we have post-its up in the background. Somebody is leaving “notes.” Notice how the whole background is filled with things to see. Not just blank. The frame is full. There are several things to fill the frame with, lighting variations and things (or lack of things – remember it’s all about control). The staging is good, because we have distance between our subject and our background. Ideally, from my experience and from other people’s work, I’d say you want to have a good amount of distance, say 3 feet or more, or maybe up your mm on your DOF lens. We want to focus on our subject – see the background, but unless it’s important, it’s nice to have it out of focus so it won’t draw our eyes.
Also notice the cup in his hand. I would estimate his arm length to be less than 2 feet away from his eyes (focus point) yet his hand is extremely blurry/out of focus.
If you place your subjects too close to the wall or another object, that object will “share focus” with your subject. So if you place an actor next to a bookshelf, your audience may be able to read what books you have on the shelf. If you DON’T want your audience browsing your personal library then you need to place your actor further from the bookshelf plane.
There is an invisible “plane” that cuts into your subject. This “Focus Plane” is what is in focus in space. In front of the plane things go slowly out of focus and behind the plane again things go slowly out of focus. The further the camera is away from the subject or the closer the camera is to the subject will also change these rates of Depth of Field. Also Aperture changes the DOF amount.
As the camera draws near the subject (Distance between camera and subject) the more depth will be created behind the subject. The further away the camera is from the subject, the more the depth is reduced. This is assuming DSLR/SLR Lenses for use on many of the Depth of Field Adapters.
As far as the focus plane, it may be acceptable for 3 to 6 inches to be “in focus” or in focus enough that the human eye will not complain. To extend this reach (every lens is different) you must Close the Aperture (Iris) which will make the f-stop larger, but your actual iris will get smaller. As you do this, your Focal Box, if you will, will become bigger. I haven’t done many tests, but I’ve seen 2 inches of focus go to about 9 inches over about 5 to 6 stops of light cut. Whatever is in this “Focal Box” will be in focus or acceptable focus, what is not in the box will be blurry. This again leans to the AC (Assistant Camera) because as an actor even nods forward slightly, an experienced AC will move the “Focal Plane/Box” with him/her to ensure the actor doesn’t go out of focus.
This “sharpness” as you lose light is easy to explain really. If anyone has had their eyes “dilated” by your eye doctor, what happened simply was the doctor used chemicals to force your eye’s “iris” to go to a human f-stop of OPEN/0. Not only was bright light painful, if you remember – you couldn’t “focus” well. Also those who do wear glasses probably notice that if you are outside on a sunny day, and you take your glasses off you can see much better than if you take your glasses of at night. As your personal iris closes, things get sharper.
What you find out - especially for a small budget set, is by staging your actors/props you can increase your depth of field without sacraficing your lighting. HMIs are expensive so my best guess is that though most of the 24 months, you'll be on tungsten with eats watts and blows out fuses very quickly - not to mention the heat.
What I've learned from my features is to keep actors away from walls and other items "cheat out" sofas and chairs when you can. And by using the "producion design" element of stuff, when you do decide to push your background Out of Focus, there will be objects there to actually be Out of focus, instead of just a white wall.
Also remember your walk and talk trick. As you deal more with staging, you can place your actors on a plane that stays in relative focus with the camera, making it easier for you to be alone shooting, or just with your audio person.
I'll try to see if I can load these images onto my server later so I can maybe remove them from the thumbnails below - I think it'd be easier if they all came exactly after or before my comments. I also may extend this chapter later, once I get the locations chapter finished.
CONGRATS TO THIS THREAD OVER 1000 VIEWS! - Thanks Guys for all your support!
In this Chapter we’ll be discussing Staging in the scene. Staging is simply where people and things are placed in a given set. Staging is a follow up to the DOF discussion from last chapter.
I’m borrowing a few stills from projects already on DVXuser to illustrate a few things. If someone gets offended, let me know. I just don’t have time right now to fully illustrate most of the problems – solutions. In my statements below, I won’t be discussing anything BUT staging and production design in regard to the shot, not lighting, not composition.
This shot is from “No Greater Love”
Besides the guy’s expression – what feeling does it give you? Definitely not loneliness, I mean we have post-its up in the background. Somebody is leaving “notes.” Notice how the whole background is filled with things to see. Not just blank. The frame is full. There are several things to fill the frame with, lighting variations and things (or lack of things – remember it’s all about control). The staging is good, because we have distance between our subject and our background. Ideally, from my experience and from other people’s work, I’d say you want to have a good amount of distance, say 3 feet or more, or maybe up your mm on your DOF lens. We want to focus on our subject – see the background, but unless it’s important, it’s nice to have it out of focus so it won’t draw our eyes.
Also notice the cup in his hand. I would estimate his arm length to be less than 2 feet away from his eyes (focus point) yet his hand is extremely blurry/out of focus.
If you place your subjects too close to the wall or another object, that object will “share focus” with your subject. So if you place an actor next to a bookshelf, your audience may be able to read what books you have on the shelf. If you DON’T want your audience browsing your personal library then you need to place your actor further from the bookshelf plane.
There is an invisible “plane” that cuts into your subject. This “Focus Plane” is what is in focus in space. In front of the plane things go slowly out of focus and behind the plane again things go slowly out of focus. The further the camera is away from the subject or the closer the camera is to the subject will also change these rates of Depth of Field. Also Aperture changes the DOF amount.
As the camera draws near the subject (Distance between camera and subject) the more depth will be created behind the subject. The further away the camera is from the subject, the more the depth is reduced. This is assuming DSLR/SLR Lenses for use on many of the Depth of Field Adapters.
As far as the focus plane, it may be acceptable for 3 to 6 inches to be “in focus” or in focus enough that the human eye will not complain. To extend this reach (every lens is different) you must Close the Aperture (Iris) which will make the f-stop larger, but your actual iris will get smaller. As you do this, your Focal Box, if you will, will become bigger. I haven’t done many tests, but I’ve seen 2 inches of focus go to about 9 inches over about 5 to 6 stops of light cut. Whatever is in this “Focal Box” will be in focus or acceptable focus, what is not in the box will be blurry. This again leans to the AC (Assistant Camera) because as an actor even nods forward slightly, an experienced AC will move the “Focal Plane/Box” with him/her to ensure the actor doesn’t go out of focus.
This “sharpness” as you lose light is easy to explain really. If anyone has had their eyes “dilated” by your eye doctor, what happened simply was the doctor used chemicals to force your eye’s “iris” to go to a human f-stop of OPEN/0. Not only was bright light painful, if you remember – you couldn’t “focus” well. Also those who do wear glasses probably notice that if you are outside on a sunny day, and you take your glasses off you can see much better than if you take your glasses of at night. As your personal iris closes, things get sharper.
What you find out - especially for a small budget set, is by staging your actors/props you can increase your depth of field without sacraficing your lighting. HMIs are expensive so my best guess is that though most of the 24 months, you'll be on tungsten with eats watts and blows out fuses very quickly - not to mention the heat.
What I've learned from my features is to keep actors away from walls and other items "cheat out" sofas and chairs when you can. And by using the "producion design" element of stuff, when you do decide to push your background Out of Focus, there will be objects there to actually be Out of focus, instead of just a white wall.
Also remember your walk and talk trick. As you deal more with staging, you can place your actors on a plane that stays in relative focus with the camera, making it easier for you to be alone shooting, or just with your audio person.
I'll try to see if I can load these images onto my server later so I can maybe remove them from the thumbnails below - I think it'd be easier if they all came exactly after or before my comments. I also may extend this chapter later, once I get the locations chapter finished.
CONGRATS TO THIS THREAD OVER 1000 VIEWS! - Thanks Guys for all your support!
Last edited:
jls4
Veteran
Chapter 8: Location, Location, Location
Have you ever been to Universal Studios or Disney World? Ever walk along paths made of Styrofoam and concrete made to look like ancient or futuristic lands? I went to Six Flags the year “Batman the Ride” debuted. We waited until the end of the day to go to “Gotham City” and ride it. I was amazed at how much I felt like I was in the movie itself. We as people are affected by our environments, as a director/producer you must understand these things by helping to create the best environments for your actors, lighting and camera folks.
Location Manager: is responsible for the finding and securing locations to be used and coordinating the logistics involved for the production to successfully complete its necessary work. They are also the face of the production to the community and responsible for addressing the issues that may arise due to the production's impact on the community. – wikipedia.com
Production Designer: is a term used in the movie and television industries to refer to the person responsible for the overall look of a filmed event such as films, TV programs, music videos or adverts. Production Designers have one of the key creative roles in the creation of motion pictures and television. Working directly with the director and producer, they must select the settings and style to visually tell the story. – wikipedia.com
In Chapter 5, I briefly talked about Production Design because it is constantly overlooked when it comes to Indie Cinema. It’s important to think about the way the production looks, especially in regards to a specialized movie such as Sci-Fi and Horror. A cheery environment can cause an audience to laugh during a suspenseful scene instead of constantly cringing waiting on the action to occur.
As an indie, you SHOULD NOT pay a lot, if anything for your locations. Of course this will vary region by region, for instance in LA – the home for movies – I doubt you’ll get too many breaks, but in Maine they might roll out the Red Carpet for you. A movie in Maine is exciting; a movie in LA is just work. Try to work with people/companies that will help you out and that realize that you’re broke. But in your “scouting” look for a more “clustered” environment, full of color and life (unless your point is to show less life for your own artistic purposes).
You need to think production when searching for locations. Problems such as such as crowd control, noise levels, and location control need to be considered. Even if using a person’s house, you need to figure how far you are away from noise making elements, and also if the person’s house is “movie ready”. For instance, you know by now that you need to try to stay away from light colored walls (unless they are a part of your theme) and you need stuff on the walls and in the rooms. So your bachelor best friend and his studio apartment may or may not be a good fit. Maybe your girlfriend’s condo would work better – she’s got stuff everywhere!
Shooting at restaurants takes lots of care in the audio department. Shooting on Sunday morning, when the company is closed or maybe on a Tuesday or Wednesday night may be better than trying to shoot on a Friday night. If you do have to shoot at a busy open restaurant, ask the manager to at least turn the radio off and get at least 2 minutes of room tone. This way you can patch up as much of the audio as possible, then run a “song” in your editor which will help the audience feel that the scene is fluid.
On our last movie, we had the awesome opportunity to work at a historical Office in South Atlanta. Problem was we were about 5 miles from the Airport. For those who don’t know, Atlanta has the business airport in the United States! We shot between landing patterns – seriously. We’d shoot 2 minutes and then wait 3 minutes – sometimes between lines then pick up as the noise dissolved in the distance. So great place – but audio suffered. If it wasn’t for the 2 minutes of airplane rotation, great actors and crew we would have had nothing but unusable scenes, but we only had 2 occurrences where the noise actually came into the scene! Yay for us!
Locations need to fill many voids. You need a location that looks like or seems like the area that you need for the scene. The location needs to be whisper quiet – not close to airports, active train tracks, interstates. In housing communities watch out for people doing yard work, and any things that can change your continuity. Think of it this way, say your neighbor decides to cut down their tree in the front yard AFTER you’ve already shot the tree two days earlier. You need to find a way to either shoot around the problem OR maybe have an actor to say a line “That D&mn Wilberton he cut down my shade tree.” And keep going.
Stealing locations is also done a lot in the indie world. There are 2 ways to do this, I’ll discuss one now, the other will have it’s own chapter. The first is simply – Run and Gun. You get your actors to hop out, shoot the scene, and get away quickly. Downside of this, is you still can’t control the environment, police or another authority may stop you, you look unprofessional, and you don’t allow your actors or yourself time to get the scene perfect. You also run the risk that when distributed, depending on what location you “stole” you may not be able to get a release, so you could be sued. It’s probably little to no chance it’ll happen unless you steal like a shot in The Trump Towers and your movie blows up like Blair Witch. But it sure would suck if that happened. If you’re going to steal, at least steal alleys, streets, unmarked buildings, etc.
The problem as an indie is two fold: one you need a great location(s) to push your movie, but at the same time you can’t afford them. You have to beg, borrow and steal locations. One thing I try to do is write my script around 7 or fewer locations. This means less phone calls and fewer problems. I also see a house as many locations. You can shoot upstairs and say it’s “Jane’s House” then shoot downstairs and it becomes “Mark’s House.” Your actors also may have houses or know people. Make sure you’re asking everyone. You do have a benefit to being broke in that no one thinks you’re getting over on them, once people feel you have at least $100K in your pocket, they will start putting their hand out to receive some of it. :huh:
Have you ever been to Universal Studios or Disney World? Ever walk along paths made of Styrofoam and concrete made to look like ancient or futuristic lands? I went to Six Flags the year “Batman the Ride” debuted. We waited until the end of the day to go to “Gotham City” and ride it. I was amazed at how much I felt like I was in the movie itself. We as people are affected by our environments, as a director/producer you must understand these things by helping to create the best environments for your actors, lighting and camera folks.
Location Manager: is responsible for the finding and securing locations to be used and coordinating the logistics involved for the production to successfully complete its necessary work. They are also the face of the production to the community and responsible for addressing the issues that may arise due to the production's impact on the community. – wikipedia.com
Production Designer: is a term used in the movie and television industries to refer to the person responsible for the overall look of a filmed event such as films, TV programs, music videos or adverts. Production Designers have one of the key creative roles in the creation of motion pictures and television. Working directly with the director and producer, they must select the settings and style to visually tell the story. – wikipedia.com
In Chapter 5, I briefly talked about Production Design because it is constantly overlooked when it comes to Indie Cinema. It’s important to think about the way the production looks, especially in regards to a specialized movie such as Sci-Fi and Horror. A cheery environment can cause an audience to laugh during a suspenseful scene instead of constantly cringing waiting on the action to occur.
As an indie, you SHOULD NOT pay a lot, if anything for your locations. Of course this will vary region by region, for instance in LA – the home for movies – I doubt you’ll get too many breaks, but in Maine they might roll out the Red Carpet for you. A movie in Maine is exciting; a movie in LA is just work. Try to work with people/companies that will help you out and that realize that you’re broke. But in your “scouting” look for a more “clustered” environment, full of color and life (unless your point is to show less life for your own artistic purposes).
You need to think production when searching for locations. Problems such as such as crowd control, noise levels, and location control need to be considered. Even if using a person’s house, you need to figure how far you are away from noise making elements, and also if the person’s house is “movie ready”. For instance, you know by now that you need to try to stay away from light colored walls (unless they are a part of your theme) and you need stuff on the walls and in the rooms. So your bachelor best friend and his studio apartment may or may not be a good fit. Maybe your girlfriend’s condo would work better – she’s got stuff everywhere!
Shooting at restaurants takes lots of care in the audio department. Shooting on Sunday morning, when the company is closed or maybe on a Tuesday or Wednesday night may be better than trying to shoot on a Friday night. If you do have to shoot at a busy open restaurant, ask the manager to at least turn the radio off and get at least 2 minutes of room tone. This way you can patch up as much of the audio as possible, then run a “song” in your editor which will help the audience feel that the scene is fluid.
On our last movie, we had the awesome opportunity to work at a historical Office in South Atlanta. Problem was we were about 5 miles from the Airport. For those who don’t know, Atlanta has the business airport in the United States! We shot between landing patterns – seriously. We’d shoot 2 minutes and then wait 3 minutes – sometimes between lines then pick up as the noise dissolved in the distance. So great place – but audio suffered. If it wasn’t for the 2 minutes of airplane rotation, great actors and crew we would have had nothing but unusable scenes, but we only had 2 occurrences where the noise actually came into the scene! Yay for us!
Locations need to fill many voids. You need a location that looks like or seems like the area that you need for the scene. The location needs to be whisper quiet – not close to airports, active train tracks, interstates. In housing communities watch out for people doing yard work, and any things that can change your continuity. Think of it this way, say your neighbor decides to cut down their tree in the front yard AFTER you’ve already shot the tree two days earlier. You need to find a way to either shoot around the problem OR maybe have an actor to say a line “That D&mn Wilberton he cut down my shade tree.” And keep going.
Stealing locations is also done a lot in the indie world. There are 2 ways to do this, I’ll discuss one now, the other will have it’s own chapter. The first is simply – Run and Gun. You get your actors to hop out, shoot the scene, and get away quickly. Downside of this, is you still can’t control the environment, police or another authority may stop you, you look unprofessional, and you don’t allow your actors or yourself time to get the scene perfect. You also run the risk that when distributed, depending on what location you “stole” you may not be able to get a release, so you could be sued. It’s probably little to no chance it’ll happen unless you steal like a shot in The Trump Towers and your movie blows up like Blair Witch. But it sure would suck if that happened. If you’re going to steal, at least steal alleys, streets, unmarked buildings, etc.
The problem as an indie is two fold: one you need a great location(s) to push your movie, but at the same time you can’t afford them. You have to beg, borrow and steal locations. One thing I try to do is write my script around 7 or fewer locations. This means less phone calls and fewer problems. I also see a house as many locations. You can shoot upstairs and say it’s “Jane’s House” then shoot downstairs and it becomes “Mark’s House.” Your actors also may have houses or know people. Make sure you’re asking everyone. You do have a benefit to being broke in that no one thinks you’re getting over on them, once people feel you have at least $100K in your pocket, they will start putting their hand out to receive some of it. :huh:
jls4
Veteran
Chapter 9: Borrowing Locations with Lots of Green
This is one of those great Indie Tips that I figured out by reading up a few tutorials. Here’s a page that has what I’m talking about. This concept is nothing “new”. The thread is by Prodigi Pictures and the concept is using Green Screen to put your scene on whatever location you choose.
This is my implementation of the concept:
Being an indie, many locations may want to help you out, but they simply can’t allow you to come in and close down their environment. So what do you do? Why not tell them, you’ll come in, they don’t have to stop what they are doing, you may only use a little power, you’ll probably stay an hour or so and then you’ll be done.
Doesn’t make since yet? Go to the location, say a restaurant, set up lights to light the main area that you’re concerned about. Bring a notepad and a small digital camera. Take pictures of where you put the lights and other lights in the scene (the ones from the restaurant), figure out approx how far away each light is to your subjects. Write detailed information. Rehearse the scene and shoot – don’t worry about the audio. Make sure you write down the settings on your camera, the iris, the gain, etc.
I know at this point, you think I’ve lost my mind, but follow me. What you want to do is get the basics of how the scene will flow. Then get only your WIDE SHOT, your B-ROLL, and any other small item in the scene. Record the scene several times. Get at least 3 good takes. Now set up for your Close ups and Mediums. Mark exactly how far away each actor is from the camera at two locations, at the tripod base to the actor’s spine (if it were to intersect with the floor) and from the lens to the actor. Take pictures with the photo camera to see the angles. Now have your actor to move out of the shot/frame and say their lines – run the scene with your DOF Focus on where the actor WAS. Repeat this for all CLOSES and MEDIUMS. Don’t forget to get Room Tone.
Now go tell the manager thanks, and go home. The next day reconstruct the table at the restaurant at your house or studio and make it look as close to the actual table as possible. (You might be able to even borrow an older table from the place). Use your notes and pics to reconstruct the scene, but now about 6 feet behind them, place a green screen.
Green Screen software is so easy to use these days; you’d be silly not to use it. Set your camera EXACTLY the same. Don’t attempt to make the image sharper, close or open the iris. Light the room as close as possible to the original location, now have your actors to take their time and go through the lines and record audio.
You should have everything you need for your edit. Remove the green screen and put the Out of Focus area you recorded behind your actors. This footage should look much more realistic than if you “cheated” with mattes. You’ll have people moving and interacting in the background. If a shot doesn’t look right, go to your WIDE and try to match up the dialogue as much as possible. Add your Room Tone (remember audio is 40 to 50% of the experience) and there you have it!
You can use this technique anywhere you want a “controlled” location but can’t afford one. Green Screen is the indie’s best friend. It allows us to do anything we want and it’s cheap and effective. Any camera HDV and higher should have little problems pulling a decent key.
For my last film we shot Actors riding down the street in a car. The interiors were with Green Screen. I intercut the footage with exteriors and most people couldn’t tell. Another thing I did was I vibrated the screen, so it looked like the camera was mounted onto a moving car – since cars vibrate. My Green Screen was lit by the Sun and was almost blown out, yet I still was able to pull the key! Under controlled environments I’ve never had a problem even if the screen was partially lit incorrectly. Don’t be afraid of the Green – Green is your friend. Now your story can be in shopping malls, parks, the interstate, etc. Just shoot your wide on location and your mediums/closes in front of the green.
The reason I push the wide on location is that the purpose of the WIDE is to allow your audience to see everything and get connected with the scene. If the WIDE is real, they will be more accepting of your semi-fake Closes. Steven Spielberg during Jurassic Park uses both real and fake dinosaurs. If the Dinos had close-ups, he would use a robot, a person in a Dino Suit, or a puppet. If the Dinos needed to move fast or do something difficult, then he used CGI. The trick is to Intercut your fake with real footage, confusing the brain into thinking both must be real.
This is one of those great Indie Tips that I figured out by reading up a few tutorials. Here’s a page that has what I’m talking about. This concept is nothing “new”. The thread is by Prodigi Pictures and the concept is using Green Screen to put your scene on whatever location you choose.
This is my implementation of the concept:
Being an indie, many locations may want to help you out, but they simply can’t allow you to come in and close down their environment. So what do you do? Why not tell them, you’ll come in, they don’t have to stop what they are doing, you may only use a little power, you’ll probably stay an hour or so and then you’ll be done.
Doesn’t make since yet? Go to the location, say a restaurant, set up lights to light the main area that you’re concerned about. Bring a notepad and a small digital camera. Take pictures of where you put the lights and other lights in the scene (the ones from the restaurant), figure out approx how far away each light is to your subjects. Write detailed information. Rehearse the scene and shoot – don’t worry about the audio. Make sure you write down the settings on your camera, the iris, the gain, etc.
I know at this point, you think I’ve lost my mind, but follow me. What you want to do is get the basics of how the scene will flow. Then get only your WIDE SHOT, your B-ROLL, and any other small item in the scene. Record the scene several times. Get at least 3 good takes. Now set up for your Close ups and Mediums. Mark exactly how far away each actor is from the camera at two locations, at the tripod base to the actor’s spine (if it were to intersect with the floor) and from the lens to the actor. Take pictures with the photo camera to see the angles. Now have your actor to move out of the shot/frame and say their lines – run the scene with your DOF Focus on where the actor WAS. Repeat this for all CLOSES and MEDIUMS. Don’t forget to get Room Tone.
Now go tell the manager thanks, and go home. The next day reconstruct the table at the restaurant at your house or studio and make it look as close to the actual table as possible. (You might be able to even borrow an older table from the place). Use your notes and pics to reconstruct the scene, but now about 6 feet behind them, place a green screen.
Green Screen software is so easy to use these days; you’d be silly not to use it. Set your camera EXACTLY the same. Don’t attempt to make the image sharper, close or open the iris. Light the room as close as possible to the original location, now have your actors to take their time and go through the lines and record audio.
You should have everything you need for your edit. Remove the green screen and put the Out of Focus area you recorded behind your actors. This footage should look much more realistic than if you “cheated” with mattes. You’ll have people moving and interacting in the background. If a shot doesn’t look right, go to your WIDE and try to match up the dialogue as much as possible. Add your Room Tone (remember audio is 40 to 50% of the experience) and there you have it!
You can use this technique anywhere you want a “controlled” location but can’t afford one. Green Screen is the indie’s best friend. It allows us to do anything we want and it’s cheap and effective. Any camera HDV and higher should have little problems pulling a decent key.
For my last film we shot Actors riding down the street in a car. The interiors were with Green Screen. I intercut the footage with exteriors and most people couldn’t tell. Another thing I did was I vibrated the screen, so it looked like the camera was mounted onto a moving car – since cars vibrate. My Green Screen was lit by the Sun and was almost blown out, yet I still was able to pull the key! Under controlled environments I’ve never had a problem even if the screen was partially lit incorrectly. Don’t be afraid of the Green – Green is your friend. Now your story can be in shopping malls, parks, the interstate, etc. Just shoot your wide on location and your mediums/closes in front of the green.
The reason I push the wide on location is that the purpose of the WIDE is to allow your audience to see everything and get connected with the scene. If the WIDE is real, they will be more accepting of your semi-fake Closes. Steven Spielberg during Jurassic Park uses both real and fake dinosaurs. If the Dinos had close-ups, he would use a robot, a person in a Dino Suit, or a puppet. If the Dinos needed to move fast or do something difficult, then he used CGI. The trick is to Intercut your fake with real footage, confusing the brain into thinking both must be real.
Chance White
Well-known member
Just wanted to chime in and say fantastic thread. Thank you.
jls4
Veteran
Thanks a lot Chance. I'm glad that you guys are getting a lot out of it.
jls4
Veteran
Chapter 10: Homework and the Final Exam
I’ve heard people equate making a movie as the ultimate test of their filmmaking skills. I’d like to give it a different term for sake of argument and call it a Final Exam. I’d say the shorts that lead up to it are more like Quizzes and Tests, and that playing around at home with the equipment are simply akin to Homework and Experiments. Saying that a movie is a test is almost negating the power of a feature. As always a real world example: If one were to go to College and have their parents pay say $4,500 out of pocket for the year, followed by $6000 in Student Loans and maybe a $2500 scholarship; that may very well equate to a reasonable $13,000 school year. During that year, the student will take many tests but failure on one or two tests may not truly effect the final grade, however the Final Exam proves mastery and will define not only the passing grade, if any, but this score could also cause a failure of the course and maybe have consequences of loss of Student Loans, Scholarships and even Parental Support. So basically failure could equate to a loss of time and money. Making a feature is definitely a final exam.
But this information is not designed to scare someone away from the wonderful world of cinema, simply a reminder now ten chapters in, on what’s at stake. Before you reach this Final Exam you should take several Tests, Quizzes and do lots of Homework. Tests and Quizzes can come in many forms, saying simply “A short” would again negate the knowledge that many mediums can bring you. So I would equate Short with Web and TV Commercials, Music Videos, Interviews, and even Staged Wedding Videography. Basically anytime that you are taking a large portion of time and are using that time to create something that can stand alone, you are taking a test or pop quiz. This information you should already have known.
So why make a chapter out of it all, and why try to scare people? Because of the Experiment and Homework side of everything. As people call you and ask you for help in their projects, as in earlier chapters, by all means go! Go help these people (if time permits) helping others creates a network for you and you never know what you may learn from someone else. Just be cautious of each networking bridge you create. Many of my bridges to people go One Way. Basically I’ll help them, but I don’t want their help. Yikes! Sounds bad – but like I’ve said before, as you’re creating your team or expanding you must constantly be on the search for talented people or those who want to become talented.
Case in point. A met a guy one time and we talked for about an hour, so he wanted to come and meet up with me in person. So I said okay and we met up. I was telling him about this particular book in cinematography. We talked about it for about 45 minutes, but I couldn’t remember what the name was – so we went to Borders to take a look. We found it and he immediately bought the book! This is not to say that if he hadn’t bought the book he’s a bad guy. Heck I haven’t bought the book yet. But the point was he was trying to get better, that was his goal. Half the people on my set, including myself, I would not consider Industry Pros, by no means. But that doesn’t mean we are not good – heck maybe great. What we have is the core art, but what we are missing is the technical expertise. Fortunately the former is hard to get, much more than the latter.
You need to constantly do your “Homework”. I can’t stress this enough – and this is the reason for the chapter. There are several types of “homework”. The first is simply basic study and reading. As I’ve said already, but will reemphasize here is to study everything. And I mean everything you can get your eyes on. People have gone before you and have made mistakes, learn from their mistakes. It’s like the adage – “Those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it.” That’s not entirely true, but enough to make a point to study other people’s work, because in essence we live in “History”. This thread you’re reading is a Historical Document – by the time your eyes see it and finish the page, time has changed and now the piece is in the past. In fact, you can only experience the present, everything else is in the past – so you are always studying history.
The reason I said the adage “Those who don’t …” is not entirely true, is because like Math you have to experience certain things in order that they make since. Simply studying many times is not good enough. So what you have to do is get your Bratz Head out and start testing lighting or get your audio equipment and follow your friends around the house while they are on the telephone. – My wife hated this. But yes, women are great phone talkers. They talk for hours. So I put my audio equipment on, setup my mic, put in a CF card and as she talked I would follow her around the house trying to pick up the best sound. It’s great. Then I’d analyze where she was when I got the most echo or when I could barely hear her.
But this homework is the key to knowing your equipment’s strengths and weaknesses, finding out products that you may need or may not need, figuring out the rules and learning when to break the rules.
The people around you – this team – they have to have the same mentality otherwise what will happen is that you’ll get better and they won’t. It’s kind of like the concept of the weakest link. You’re only as strong as your strongest person. You can teach others and push others, but there is a point where they have to come up to snuff. You will reach that point, if you’re always working, testing, believing – but unless they are doing it, you’ll leave them behind.
Aside: Many people in life wonder why their friends leave them, or worse they say that people have “changed”. We all change – we’re constantly in the state of change – some changing positively while some negatively. People around me, hear me say “You have to keep moving, because you can’t be stagnant – Stagnant water stinks.” Water that flows keeps “fresh” bacteria can’t grow because it’s moving, but as soon as it gets into areas that won’t allow the water to move, the bacteria get in and it starts to stink.
You can’t let those around you slow you down or stop you. They will stop and start stinking, and you can try to tell them, encourage them to keep moving, but many will just sit there and stink. You have to let those people go. You have to know it’s okay to move on with your life and recognize the “Cream Rises to the Top.” – End Aside
Experiment with everything you touch, not in just basic stuff like sharpness and color, but absence of color, off-color. There was a great guy on Vimeo, Brett Clements ( http://www.vimeo.com/brettclements/videos ) who I simply love as a DP. The reason – simple. He knows all the rules and then decides which ones to break. By experimenting he would be able to say “you know what I like this over here, I don’t care what the “Manual” says – I don’t care what other people say.” Now people imitate him. He’s now the standard for radical color with the Ex1.
I’ve said before that the difference between Hollywood and well... us is that they have a commitment to create and learn. As a filmmaker what is your commitment to? If someone were to put you on Camera, what would we see? 8 Hours of a 9to5, followed by 4 hours of TV, followed by a trip to the movie store – watch a movie then time for bed? Or would we see the 9 to 5, then 2 hours on the computer studying film followed by 2 hours of experimenting with the camera, lighting, audio, makeup and production design. Followed by a trip to the movie store to find movies that you could study scenes – not watch the movie, but watch a scene over and over again to see what the filmmakers did right and what they did wrong? How many times do you watch a “Good Short” you find on the web? Once to tell the filmmaker, or multiple times to study the good, bad and ugly of the scene?
The biggest test you may take is testing your own personal commitment to the movie process, to this plan or to other plans to make your dreams come true.
I’ve heard people equate making a movie as the ultimate test of their filmmaking skills. I’d like to give it a different term for sake of argument and call it a Final Exam. I’d say the shorts that lead up to it are more like Quizzes and Tests, and that playing around at home with the equipment are simply akin to Homework and Experiments. Saying that a movie is a test is almost negating the power of a feature. As always a real world example: If one were to go to College and have their parents pay say $4,500 out of pocket for the year, followed by $6000 in Student Loans and maybe a $2500 scholarship; that may very well equate to a reasonable $13,000 school year. During that year, the student will take many tests but failure on one or two tests may not truly effect the final grade, however the Final Exam proves mastery and will define not only the passing grade, if any, but this score could also cause a failure of the course and maybe have consequences of loss of Student Loans, Scholarships and even Parental Support. So basically failure could equate to a loss of time and money. Making a feature is definitely a final exam.
But this information is not designed to scare someone away from the wonderful world of cinema, simply a reminder now ten chapters in, on what’s at stake. Before you reach this Final Exam you should take several Tests, Quizzes and do lots of Homework. Tests and Quizzes can come in many forms, saying simply “A short” would again negate the knowledge that many mediums can bring you. So I would equate Short with Web and TV Commercials, Music Videos, Interviews, and even Staged Wedding Videography. Basically anytime that you are taking a large portion of time and are using that time to create something that can stand alone, you are taking a test or pop quiz. This information you should already have known.
So why make a chapter out of it all, and why try to scare people? Because of the Experiment and Homework side of everything. As people call you and ask you for help in their projects, as in earlier chapters, by all means go! Go help these people (if time permits) helping others creates a network for you and you never know what you may learn from someone else. Just be cautious of each networking bridge you create. Many of my bridges to people go One Way. Basically I’ll help them, but I don’t want their help. Yikes! Sounds bad – but like I’ve said before, as you’re creating your team or expanding you must constantly be on the search for talented people or those who want to become talented.
Case in point. A met a guy one time and we talked for about an hour, so he wanted to come and meet up with me in person. So I said okay and we met up. I was telling him about this particular book in cinematography. We talked about it for about 45 minutes, but I couldn’t remember what the name was – so we went to Borders to take a look. We found it and he immediately bought the book! This is not to say that if he hadn’t bought the book he’s a bad guy. Heck I haven’t bought the book yet. But the point was he was trying to get better, that was his goal. Half the people on my set, including myself, I would not consider Industry Pros, by no means. But that doesn’t mean we are not good – heck maybe great. What we have is the core art, but what we are missing is the technical expertise. Fortunately the former is hard to get, much more than the latter.
You need to constantly do your “Homework”. I can’t stress this enough – and this is the reason for the chapter. There are several types of “homework”. The first is simply basic study and reading. As I’ve said already, but will reemphasize here is to study everything. And I mean everything you can get your eyes on. People have gone before you and have made mistakes, learn from their mistakes. It’s like the adage – “Those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it.” That’s not entirely true, but enough to make a point to study other people’s work, because in essence we live in “History”. This thread you’re reading is a Historical Document – by the time your eyes see it and finish the page, time has changed and now the piece is in the past. In fact, you can only experience the present, everything else is in the past – so you are always studying history.
The reason I said the adage “Those who don’t …” is not entirely true, is because like Math you have to experience certain things in order that they make since. Simply studying many times is not good enough. So what you have to do is get your Bratz Head out and start testing lighting or get your audio equipment and follow your friends around the house while they are on the telephone. – My wife hated this. But yes, women are great phone talkers. They talk for hours. So I put my audio equipment on, setup my mic, put in a CF card and as she talked I would follow her around the house trying to pick up the best sound. It’s great. Then I’d analyze where she was when I got the most echo or when I could barely hear her.
But this homework is the key to knowing your equipment’s strengths and weaknesses, finding out products that you may need or may not need, figuring out the rules and learning when to break the rules.
The people around you – this team – they have to have the same mentality otherwise what will happen is that you’ll get better and they won’t. It’s kind of like the concept of the weakest link. You’re only as strong as your strongest person. You can teach others and push others, but there is a point where they have to come up to snuff. You will reach that point, if you’re always working, testing, believing – but unless they are doing it, you’ll leave them behind.
Aside: Many people in life wonder why their friends leave them, or worse they say that people have “changed”. We all change – we’re constantly in the state of change – some changing positively while some negatively. People around me, hear me say “You have to keep moving, because you can’t be stagnant – Stagnant water stinks.” Water that flows keeps “fresh” bacteria can’t grow because it’s moving, but as soon as it gets into areas that won’t allow the water to move, the bacteria get in and it starts to stink.
You can’t let those around you slow you down or stop you. They will stop and start stinking, and you can try to tell them, encourage them to keep moving, but many will just sit there and stink. You have to let those people go. You have to know it’s okay to move on with your life and recognize the “Cream Rises to the Top.” – End Aside
Experiment with everything you touch, not in just basic stuff like sharpness and color, but absence of color, off-color. There was a great guy on Vimeo, Brett Clements ( http://www.vimeo.com/brettclements/videos ) who I simply love as a DP. The reason – simple. He knows all the rules and then decides which ones to break. By experimenting he would be able to say “you know what I like this over here, I don’t care what the “Manual” says – I don’t care what other people say.” Now people imitate him. He’s now the standard for radical color with the Ex1.
I’ve said before that the difference between Hollywood and well... us is that they have a commitment to create and learn. As a filmmaker what is your commitment to? If someone were to put you on Camera, what would we see? 8 Hours of a 9to5, followed by 4 hours of TV, followed by a trip to the movie store – watch a movie then time for bed? Or would we see the 9 to 5, then 2 hours on the computer studying film followed by 2 hours of experimenting with the camera, lighting, audio, makeup and production design. Followed by a trip to the movie store to find movies that you could study scenes – not watch the movie, but watch a scene over and over again to see what the filmmakers did right and what they did wrong? How many times do you watch a “Good Short” you find on the web? Once to tell the filmmaker, or multiple times to study the good, bad and ugly of the scene?
The biggest test you may take is testing your own personal commitment to the movie process, to this plan or to other plans to make your dreams come true.
egyptianboxer104
Well-known member
Loving it! keep em coming if you have anythign left in ya lol
jls4
Veteran
Thanks for everyone's posts. Don't have a new chapter, but do have a little inspiration for you guys from a guy named Greg Krupka
http://www.spike.com/video/trouble-everyday/2656201
http://www.spike.com/video/steel/2932409
Have fun
http://www.spike.com/video/trouble-everyday/2656201
http://www.spike.com/video/steel/2932409
Have fun