Well I dont know abit giving you tips. Most things when it comes to making 'shorts' for the first time, it just comes with doing and trail and error

But as for 'interlacing' I'm assuming you're talking about 'Fields' in your footage. Basically only save the output of your movie in 'Fields'if the primary viewing is going to be on TV. HOwever, if you're going to just show it on the computer screen or through projectors, havign the movie saved as 'Progressive' rather than 'fields' will produce a better looking picture, even if only by a small bit.

The best advice is tp pre-produce your 'Short' thoroughly, by making storyboards of the scenes, the shots you're gonna do, etc. Really lay it out so that in the long run it's easy and quick to get each scene done. Yea this is the tedious part of the job and I know everyone wants to just get straight in there and film it all, but if you plan it carefully, you'll start seeing problems as you're planning it that might take up time in the long run. This Pre-Production process is more important in the big films where money is a huge issue.

Happy filming, and try and give us a link of your final product

=Cadeyz=

Wherever you go, there you are

cadeyz makes a good point. Its tough to give you general tips because there are so many its tough to know where to start. But you seem to have all the right equipment for a first time short. So just go make it and come back with problems (if you have any that is). The best way to learn is to shoot it and figure stuff out as you go. Also, shoot your first short then watch it and make a list or something abou twhat parts really suck and let other people watch it and let them tell you what they think...but be ready for some cold honesty. So, go shoot it and come back and ask us more specific questions that wsay we can give you better advise and help you more

Here are three general thing i would focus on:
1)lighting
2)if there is a lot of dialogue dont stay on one shot to long. (itll get boring)
3)once we figure out how to get basic shots, try to create some cool shots and play around.

There is also a thread on here called "camera Tricks" and there is ALOT of good and useful info on there

"Anyone who has ever been privileged to direct a film also knows that, although it can be like trying to write 'War and Peace' in a bumper car in an amusement park, when you finally get it right, there are not many joys in life that can equal the feeling." - Stanley Kubrick

Thanks for the info guys. I have just completed the first day of my shoot and have manged to capture some nice shots - I was wondering;

I'm looking to pull off a slow motion effect on one of my shots - do i do this in post, which i'm told can be blurry, or can i do this through the pdv 150?.

Also today, being the first day, I forgot the cable to rig my lights up. I shot the indoor scenes using the domestic strip light(bar type thing, forgotten the name now.....). I used the eyepiece to determine if my shots were accuratley lit. Will this fail me later on in the edit - can i take the colour out through the pdv 150??

If anyone can shed a little on the situation - excuse the pun, i would be very grateful

a somewhat nervous - Noswal???

Bar type light is probably a florescent light, this tends to turn up slightly green on film, I'm not sure how it looks on DV but it's probably the same. I'm not sure about correcting it in post, I'll leave that part to someone else although off colors can look really cool if used properly.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

the only problem with the eye piece is that you are seeing it in black and white. And what looks good in black and white looks different in color. If you are plan on making it black in white in post anyway then it should look fine but i would still get a monitor. Even if you have a small tv lying around the house use that. That way you will get a better idea of what it will really look like on a screen. If you use the LCD screen this wont help much either because depending on teh angle you look at it everything looks different and often looks different once you put it on a good monitor. So go with a monitor. If you can't then as a last resort use the eyepiece. Also, if it still comes out looking not the way you planned then you can use color correction to fix it a little. Good Luck

"Anyone who has ever been privileged to direct a film also knows that, although it can be like trying to write 'War and Peace' in a bumper car in an amusement park, when you finally get it right, there are not many joys in life that can equal the feeling." - Stanley Kubrick

can i speed up the frame rate using the sony pdv 150 or is it best to do it in post???? I'm looking for the best possible slow mo effect.

Three general tips for what they are worth.

(1) Look carefully for boom mics, boom mic shadows, and reflections. They may not be visible in the view finder but obvious when you look at your footage later. Don't trust the viewfinder, use your eye.

(2) Get coverage. You might have a shot list and know exactly what shots you want, but it is generally easier to set up the camera and go through the entire scene from that angle than it is to just do the little snippet. Then move the camera and do the entire scene again. If something goes wrong and your shot by shot doesn't come out you are covered. You might notice something just works better from a different angle than you expected, a reaction or whatever. You might also find you have good sound on one angle and not on others and can borrow. Also if you have real actors they often find it easier to do scenes rather than just two lines out of context. In addition to this you might want to shoot some other shots, the clock on the wall, the lights above, a characters feet. Just in case you have a hole you need to plug later.

(3) Get 30 seconds of room tone. It can save a lot of audio hassles later. You might consider getting it early rather than later because peopel get wound up and at least my cast and crew found it really difficult to shut the hell up for 30 seconds. Earlier in the day they somehow managed.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

can i speed up the frame rate using the sony pdv 150 or is it best to do it in post???? I'm looking for the best possible slow mo effect.

Sounds like you've got a lot more to work with than I did when I first started out. I'll try to give you some tips from a true "guerilla filmmaker".

First off....ditch the super 8, the digital will look much better.

Shoot in color, then desaturate later. If you shoot in B&W it will have a kinda yellowish tint to it once imported to your computer. It's subtle, but you're better off having the color data there just incase you decide to use it, and desaturating it in post looks better anyway.

Lastly, as far as interlacing goes I'm far from an expert....but I do know one thing. When I leave my stuff interlaced it looks like crap on TV, just take the time to run it through a quick de-interlace (blend fields seems to work best) before exporting it to DVD (or whatever your media of choice)

www.mentalhouse.org - My Film Studio