Some friends and i are making a movie over the summer, and we are running into some problems, mainly because none of us have a lot of experience making movies. here are some problems we are haveing. please give tips on any of them. (they are listed in order of importance.)
1. there is an epic battle scene in the movie, but we only have three actors, (remember, we are very amature). what can we do to make scenes look like there are a lot of people?
2. Any tips on making interacting scenes where someone looks smaller than they actually are would be much appreciated.
3. if you had to choose between editing a film on "Windows Movie Maker" or "iMovie", which would have the most capabilities?
4. What are some good ways to get good sound when shooting outside with limited equipment. we just have two basic digital video cameras.
1. Watch this video http://www.beyondhollywood.com/saving-private-ryans-beach-scene-on-the-cheap/
You will need to know quite a bit about masking (sometimes greenscreening) and have software for it, but it's not very hard an well worth it. The fxhome products are very user friendly and excellent for beginners.
2. That would depend entirely on the shot you want or the scene your doing, theres a hundred ways.
3. 100% iMovie.
4. With basic video camera your not going to get a good sound, a boom and a mic are recommended, there are very cheap mics and there are very expensive ones, as long as you get it as close to the actor as possible, it will give you a better sound. Also make sure your camera(s) have a mic input.
Hope that helps a bit.
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"Imperfection equals Realism"
1. Is the battle a gunbattle, or hand-to-hand. Both would be handled differently.
2. There is a website filled with videos on how to do tricks cheap. They have one on how to make an actor look like a giant. Making one look small is the same thing more or less.
3. iMovie vs Windows Movie Maker depends on if you have a Mac or a PC. If you have access to both its a coin toss.
4. With your budgets and things you should seriously consider adding in all the sound in post production. The mics on the cameras are gonna suck but if you get them in close, in a closet where sound won't echo and there will be no wind, you might be able to get passable sound to lay ontop of the junky sound you capture on location. Sound is the number one give away with a cheapo production and with a bit of ADR and time you can generally make it work.
Shooting outside you'll be able to avoid a typical lighting package (assuming you're shooting during the day) but you might want a bounceboard out of frame to reflect some light up into the shadows on peoples faces so that you can see your actors a bit better. Lighting is one of the real give aways with a cheap production.
RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA
RJSchwarz
thanks a lot for the help, this is all really good stuff. the battle is mostly hand-to-hand, and the only reason i was asking about imovie vs. movie maker is because i can't get free bluescreen capability with imovie. i was checking if it would be worth buying it.
thanks for the ideas, and any other suggestions would be great.
Final Cut Express is the cheap version of Final Cut Pro. I believe it has green screen capabilities and leads to a natural upgrade to Final Cut Pro in time when you are ready and have money.
RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA
RJSchwarz
Shooting modern combat. The latest style is to shoot up really close and cut a lot. This creates a jarring effect that I'm not fond of but it is the current style and works to help you hide the number of actors.
Use greenscreen as in that link to literally dump the same people in the frame. This works especially for the establishing the large army type scenes before the battle.
Have two guys fighting with a third sort of in frame in the background. I'm talking fill the frame here, overflow the frame and position the third guy so that any background that shows mostly shows that guy. Try to get the background guy out of focus. If you change the angle make sure you change the costume on the background guy so he looks different.
Have someone walk in front of the camera from time to time. They don't need to be an actor. In fact they can be a stuffed animal or added in post, as they are a big out of focus blob that will look like some fighting is happening in between the camera and the fighting. This works particularly well if your actors fight there way off to one side of the frame exposing the lack of action on the other side. This also works really well to mask the cuts between bits when you have the same actors but in different costumes.
Use the camera as the POV of one guy so you can have the three actors surrounding the camera and now it looks like you've got a larger group in the frame.
Now change up the costumes and repeat the whole thing as if they are different guys altogether at a different part of the fight.
RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA
RJSchwarz
