i was in your exact position about 3 and a half years ago. Sony Handycam and making a cheap horror film with a budget of about 10$ (most of which was spent on teh fake knife). What are some tricks you want to know? Ill give you some basic easy, cheap and important tricks for making a horror film.

1)blood- there are many ways to do this. i think there is another thread on here about blood. First i used ketchup but it doesnt look real on tape. so, take some pancake syrup and add in about five drops of red food coloring and two drops of green food coloring. This makes a darker red blood that look good. You can play with teh food coloring to best suit your needs and wants. also, i havent tried this but i heard if you add dishwasher fluid (as long as you dont have to eat teh syrup) it makes it more liquid like.

2)everything always looks creepier in the dark. so to do this without any special lights just shut off most of the lights in teh room you are shooting except maybe one (maybe a desk lamp or something) or yo ucould just cover some of the lights with shirts. I found out that with a low end consumer camera everything turns out darker then you think it is. So when you are shooting you might think its too llight but youll be surprised. Lightning always looks really cool to. Your gonna have to spend some money for this though. Go to a home depot and buy one of those construction lights. the yellow ones with the grates over the light bulbs. plug that in out side a window and just have some body flicker them and it look slike lightning.

3)knife sticking out of a body- this is easy. Buy a cheap plastic knife that has a similar handle to the one that is doing the stabbing and cut off the blade at the depth you want it, then tape what is left of the knife to the belt as if you are stabbing teh belt. then just buckle it around the torso, cut a whole in the shirt, put the shirt on and it should look like the knife is stuck in teh person. Make sure the hole is small so it doesnt expose the belt...once you have this belt/knife contraption you can also do a REALLY cool shot. YOu can do the old throwing knife into somebody back trick. First, buckle the person with the knife positioned where you want it. then give the thrower the other fake knife. Shoot from the side. Start the shot on the person throwing the knife. They are going to pretend to throw it. almost mid throw quickly pan the camera to teh person being stabbed and have teh person react as if the knife got thrown into them. Its gonna look really fake while you shoot it. but after you record it, watch it. it looks really cool. It's a guarantee "how did you do that?" shot. The trick is getting the timing down so that the person flinches at teh right time. I had a friends stand off screen and jjust point to the victim when the knife would of hit him. Also make sure you move the camera really quick from the thrower to the victim.

thats all i can think of right now. if you want other tips ask specifically for what you want for, otherwise youll get another novel from me. ?:D?

enjoy and good luck

"I believe the cinema is one of our principal forms of art. It is an incredibly powerful way to tell uplifitng stories that can move people to cry with joy and inspire them to reach for the stars."-Wes Craven

I'm thinking of neat camera shots. How do you follow a moving person and do it smoothly?

How do you do a zoom in shot from down the hall and make it look like it does in the movies?

Any actual "camera tricks" as opposed to special effects would be very helpful.

robi, thanks for all of the other advice. I may try a few of those effects.
Thanks,

I need more cow-bell!

One more thing. Should I go with auto focus or handle that myself manually?

Thanks again,

I need more cow-bell!

One more thing... how do you do that shot where it seems like the background is getting closer and closer but the main object barely changes.
(Wish I could edit my previous post and just add to it...)

I need more cow-bell!

Just thought of something else, how can I get a shot of the main actor talking to himself in the same shot. Imagine that he has a twin (but he doesn't) and I want them both in the same shot. Is there an easy way to do a split screen shot or can I do this in editing?

I need more cow-bell!

(1) The split screen thing is easy with most modern editing programs, the problem is the timing of the two people talking and the possibility of lighting changes if you use natural light. Set the frame up where they will both be. Light the guy in both positions. Shoot him in one position. Shoot the same position with him in the second position. Then in editing you can simply overlap half the picture upon the other half, if the camera doesn't move at all the split in the background should be invisible.

(2) The effect your looking for with the zoom has to do with moving your camera backwards or forwards while simultaniously zooming in our out. I don't remember the word for it, but use this sparingly. Usually its good for a "just realized something moment".

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

Mike, to edit your post click on the icon just to the right of your name that looks like a piece of paper with a pencil.

A dolly zoom is also variously known as the "Hitchcock zoom" or the "Vertigo effect" More technically as forward zoom, reverse tracking or zoom in/dolly out.

In the dolly zoom, the setting of a zoom lens is used to adjust the field of view at the same time as the camera dollies (or moves) towards or away from the subject in such a way as to keep the subject the same size in the frame throughout. In its classic form, the camera is pulled away from a subject while the lens zooms in.

Following a moving person smoothly is called a dolly shot. Most movies use a device (the dolly) that is on a track to make the move very smooth. You can do it handheld with some practice like most no budget moviemakers do. You can even try sitting in a wheelchair and having someone push you. It takes some practice, but it?s worth it.

You are a better judge of weather you should use manual focus or auto than us. Which do YOU prefer?

Thanks guys! Great advice and nice forum BTW.
I'll play with the focus manually and see how I do.

I only plan on using the "Hitchcock zoom" once, I just want to get it right.

BTW, I don't see the edit option (pencil and paper) beside my name. Could this be because I'm using Firefox as my browser?

EDIT: Now I see it, I wasn't logged on.

Any other shooting tips would be great.

Thanks again,

I need more cow-bell!

quote:

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How do you follow a moving person and do it smoothly?

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Look up the '$10 homemade Steadicam'-type sites on the web. Or, if that's too hard to build, you can do a half-decent job by attaching a tripod with the legs folded and a weight on the bottom (if the tripod isn't heavy enough by itself) and then holding the tripod just below the camera. Or build a 'Raimi-cam' by attaching the camera to the middle of a plank of wood and holding the ends to damp out your movements.

keep the camera moving... edit tightly, especially if there's going to be dialogue...

www.maketradefair.com
www.thehungersite.com
www.oxfam.ca

Heres the link to a easy to build and cheap steadycam

?url? http://www.cs.cmu.edu/?johnny/steadycam/?/url?

i built it and it works pretty good. Its nothing great but it'll do.

"I believe the cinema is one of our principal forms of art. It is an incredibly powerful way to tell uplifitng stories that can move people to cry with joy and inspire them to reach for the stars."-Wes Craven

hai dude this is selvam from india.my email id- mavles?rediffmail.com

for ur question
1)if ur doing night shoot u can do it in day time itself by using filters or in post-production u can do it in premiere

2) for dual charectors shoot u can go for green/blue screen shoot with the new technology called "REFLECTMEDIA" VISIT SITE refelectmedia.com

3) for moving shots behind a person u can simply use a "wheel chair"
u can stand or sit and shoot.someday has to push the wheel chair.

4)for horror films focus more on lighting,shadows,costume and sound effects.only sound fx creats the suspense

keep in touch...budy

Great feedback guys! I REALLY appreciate it.
I'm going to put as much of this advice to use as I can.

Keep the tips coming if you have them.

I'll also get back to emails ASAP.

Thanks,

Mike

I need more cow-bell!

what kills most amateur films i think are akward composition when there's dialogue, and static camera movement.

if you're going to have dialgoue, have the people talking to one another in interesting ways that don't become boring and too mechanical.

and keep cuts tight. no wasted time.

www.maketradefair.com
www.thehungersite.com
www.oxfam.ca