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Pre-Production
Yeah? Well this really is a bad situation. Don't worry, read to the bottom of the page
and your synapses will be buzzing furiously - ideas for films are easy to come by
(unfortunately 'great film ideas' aren't). Sharpen your pencil and by the end of the
page we'll have the next Citizen Kane (well, maybe not, but I'm sure we can manage
a 'Chain Reaction').
Get the idea, the one spark that gets your script going, and you've got your film.
Most films that really grab you can be summed up in one line - this is usually called
'the pitch'. Don't believe me? Try these :
Write down as many as you can as fast as you can. One might take your fancy.
Scribble a couple of notes down around it. At this point don't self-censor - write
everything down however dumb it seems. You're mining pure inspiration!
The great thing about chucking around concepts for films is that you can
talk through your ideas with others. Reading scripts takes a lot of effort. Chuck
an idea in someone's face and they can immediately get involved. And every time
you tell the story to someone it gets refined, you learn to tell the story better, people
throw things back at you - 'why doesn't this happen?', 'couldn't she be a suspect',
'I'm not sure about the ending, but if they did escape...' The film starts to evolve.
You find yourself thinking out aloud, adding new parts, cutting back on stuff if it gets
a bad reception. Its a tradition of oral storytelling. Keep someone's attention in a
busy pub for five minutes and you could probably entertain them on film. And the
great thing there's no budget to worry about.
Occasionally you meet people who can spot an idea a mile off - 'No, its been done -
have you ever seen 'Assault on Precinct 13'. Don't let them worry you. Remember,
your idea is your idea. Make the film and it will be different, because its your film.
Although I would recommend that you avoid watching the other movie until you've
finished it.
Time to create some more ideas.
Have a film pile-up. List a couple of movies, pretend each is a car and start
ramming them into each other. Take a look at the wreckage and see if you can make
a new movie. So totally randomly here's my attempt.
'The Omen' (horror, the devil etc.) Vs. 'The Money Pit' (Tom Hanks tries to
renovate a house with hilarious consequences).
Hmm...OK how about a film about a yuppie couple who move to a house in the
country. After a housewarming party a neighbour (well, neighbour in the country
means 15 miles away) suggests a local builder that could help them out. The yuppies
don't seem to notice that his mobile number has 666 in it, nor do they seem that
that worried when the builder starts suggesting a deep red colour scheme
throughout the house. It is only when they discover that their bedroom ceiling's
plastering resembles a pentangle and the builder's rennovations include digging
down through the cellar into an ancient burial ground that they start to worry - but
by then it is too late.
OK, so maybe Hollywood won't be knocking at my door just yet, but you get the
idea. There's a school of thought that says you shouldn't look for ideas for movies in
other movies and that you should do something original. These are the people that
hate Tarantino. They've got a point - but its still helpful to start smashing other
movies up to kickstart your inspiration. Besides, I've a horrible feeling that this is
how some films get made. Imagine, there's this producer chewing on a cigar
shouting 'I got it!! 'Die Hard...on a boat!' - before setting cameras to roll on 'Under
Seige'.
Sitting in an empty room isn't going to inspire you - read a daily newspaper, get out
to the theatre or nip down the pub. Don't push trying to get ideas, they'll come. Just
get ready for when they do. Scribble as much down as fast and as soon as possible.
Consider having some sort of film-makers journal so you can keep everything
from getting lost. I've got a book now that's stuffed full of ideas - sometimes I'll
come back to it and add things, sometimes ideas mature and start flowing into each
other. Keep doing this and you'll start to have a number of projects, ideas that you
can work on from time to time. This is exactly what real film-makers do (whoever
they are). An idea can lounge around for years before finding that the situation is
right to make it. French Director Luc Besson waited years to make 'The Fifth
Element' after having the idea as a teenager.
Just because your film has a simple concept it doesn't mean your film has to be one
dimensional. Don't think for a minute that simple concepts mean simple movies. All it
means is that you know what your movie is really about. Get stuck developing it and
you can always get back to its core. Everything in the movie stays relevant to the
central story.
What makes a good idea?
What makes a good film? Same thing. If you can imagine your idea on the big screen
then its probably going to make a good film. It needs to be visual (so no
introspective characters) and like any good story has to have a beginning, middle
and an end. You have to fully exploit your idea, so if you've got a great beginning,
make something else happen in the middle, then give it a good resolution. The story
and the characters have to go somewhere. The audience has to care what
happens to the characters. We have to empathize with them.
Boil a film down to its basics and what usually happens is this : A character gets
involved in some sort of situation, which gives them an aim. They spend most of the
movie struggling to achieve this aim, just before the end it becomes 'make-or-break'
time and either they work out how to achieve the aim, or the aim gets more
complicated, usually both. Then the story wraps itself up as the character sorts the
problem out. Roll credits.
And Finally...
In the end it all comes down to two things. 1) Do you love the idea? You better do
because when you are making the film and things go wrong (and they will) being in
love with the idea is the only thing that will bring you through. And 2) Will your
audience love the idea? Does everyone else you know think its great. Make a
movie people want to watch. If you can get them to watch your film without them
wanting to walk out, eject the tape or flip channels the idea is worth it.
Finito! End of my thoughts. Now quickly, run for a pencil and start
scribbling. Good luck!
Script Layout
Why does my screenplay have to be formatted?
So it's easy to read. It may be OK to have a scruffy looking script if you are the
only one who will use it, but to allow your cast and crew to make sense of it applying
a few rules of formatting makes it easier to read.
There are two main types of fictional screenplay - the spec script and the
shooting script. The spec script is what gets sent out to producers and actors, but we
can probably forget about that as we are going to pick up a camera ourselves, so we
can write a shooting script.
Layout
• Scripts are best typed on only one side of the paper in 12 point courier.
• Double spacing between lines allows you to read the script easier.
• Leave good borders around the script.
Keep to the above tips and you will have a well laid out script. This can help you time
your script as now one page of screenplay will equal one minute of screen time.
Now take a read of the sample script below. Clicking on any of the
underlined words will take you to an explanation of their place in a script
layout.
Slug Lines
The scene heading/slug line. Consists of either INT. (Interior - eg. in a room) or EXT.
(Exterior eg. on the street), the location (eg. CITY STREET. NEW YORK) followed by
either DAY or NIGHT (Forget about morning/afternoon/sunset etc. as it makes no
difference when it is being filmed - no one is going to shoot you for filming in the
afternoon and pretending it is the morning).
Scenes inside cars are INTeriors despite the fact that the car is outside. You may
occasionally see EXT/INT or INT/EXT on a script. This occurs when the camera is in
one location and the action is happening in another. For example :
(The camera or character are sitting in a car watching something happening through
an apartment's window. Hey, maybe their on a stakeout or something!)
The Business
The scene direction/business. This tells the reader what is going on. Clear, concise.
Always showing rather than telling. Don't say that :
...show us!
DAVID runs his hands through his hair. Picks up a shot of bourbon,
tastes it and winces. He throws the glass across the room, hitting the
mirror which SHATTERS.
Oh yeah! Write in the present tense. It gives events and action much more
immediacy, like they are really happening, which is what you want.
Dialogue
Dialogue appears in a column down the centre of the page indented from the
business. Its in the form :
NAME
(Direction)
Hey, this is what your character says.
The direction isn't always given, in fact in a spec script you would provide hardly
any - telling an actor how to act is as bad as telling a director how to direct! The only
occasion you might put some in would be if dialgue was directed specifically at
another character eg. (To Alberto) or if it has to be said in a particular style
(Whispering).
And finally the dialogue itself. Try to keep it to a minimum, no long speeches here.
That way there is less for your actors to remember and less for them to muck up.
Good actors will always make the best of what you have written for them and can
provide so much more with their intonation and body language which you simply
cannot write. I'm sure I read somwhere that only 20% of communication is speech.
Avoid exposition (that's when you character explains something in detail) - try and
show rather than tell. Keep it simple and heed Lew Hunter's words 'Good dialogue is
dialogue that illuminates what the characters are not saying'.
Character Names
When a character first appears their name in the scene direction should be in
CAPITALS. After that their name is in lower case.
Try to avoid giving minor characters names like THUG 4 as its pretty demeaning to
have to play such a lowly character - 'Hey, I'm not even playing THUG 2'. You
needn't go to extremes and give them a full name (unless the character is named by
another character), just spice it up, so that when you offer the part to your friend,
rather then being the fourth thug they could be a MEAN THUG or a TATTOED THUG.
Let's hope your friend doesn't take the description too personally, eh!
Sound
You can put important sounds in CAPITALS, so that monsters SHRIEK and cars
EXPLODE, but this is up to you. Some people like to, others don't. If you do put
sounds in upper case try not to overdo it.
You see the word OVER used in scripts. This means that there is an important sound
OVER the normal soundtrack eg. music.
Camera Directions
As this is a shooting script we can add camera and actor directions to the script - in a
spec script you wouldn't do this - just like you wouldn't turn round to Coppola and
say 'Do a Close Up here'. But as this is our show we get to play director.
There are several abbreviations to speed the writing and reading along.
C/U - Close-up
MS - Medium Shot
LS - Long Shot
Two-Shot - Shot of two characters in the same picture
P.O.V. - Point of view (eg. one of those wobbly cameras they use when someone is
breaking into an apartment in a horror movie. For a great example watch the first
few minutes of Strange Days).
M.O.S. - without sound. Apparently comes from "Mit out sound" which some German
director used to shout (or something). Great for when your characters are staking
out some joint, watching the bad guys pull off some drug deal and they can't hear
what they are saying.
Camera Movements
These are how you change from one scene to another. They always sit over to the
right of your script and on the whole you will find yourself using CUT TO : which is a
straight change of picture from one scene to the next.
There are some other transitions available but be careful, they have different
connotations to the veiwer.
DISSOLVE TO :
The final shot of the previous scenes fades into the first shot of the next scene. This
can be used to suggest the passing of time. Oh! And you will need a three machine
edit suite or a non-linear computer editng system to achieve this.
FADE IN :
Usually used at the start of films, with FADE OUT used to end the movie. You can
also use CUT TO BLACK and CUT FROM BLACK/CUT IN. You can use these
transitions together to alter the mood and pace. For example :
NICK
You're even uglier than I remember.
Alberto scratches his head, thinking, before pulling his fist back and
hitting Nick full on in the face.
CUT TO BLACK :
FADE IN :
Nick comes around, groggy at first. He gingerly feels his chin, pulls
himself off the bed and over to the sink. He grimaces and spits out a
few teeth.
If there's something that's confusing Email me, I don't claim to be any expert on
screenwriting, just enough to get by. Try buying a book on it, just one mind. Don't
end up spending all your time reading screenwriting books rather than sitting down
with a pad and a pencil and getting your own screenplay down on paper.
Great scripts (which hopefully become great films) have distinct beginnings,
middles and ends. Act One, Act Two and Act Three - a three act structure. In fact
these acts are so distinct that you can spot where each of these acts start and finish.
Let's assume a film is 2 hours long (although film lengths are creeping up - 3 hours
for 'Thin Red Line'! - aargghh! did my butt ache) - that's 120 minutes of screentime
and because a page of script roughly equals a minute of screentime (provided
the Script Layout is correct) the script should be 120 pages long.
If we split the script up into the three acts, the beginning of the film (Act One)
should take us up to 30 minutes, the middle of the film (Act Two) should run from 30
to 90 minutes and the end of the film (Act Three) should be the last 30 minutes
giving us 2 hours of non-stop action and entertainment.
And each act does a different job. Act one is the setup, Act Two gives us
confrontation and Act Three resolution.
Act 1 - Setup (1/4 of film)
OK, we're in the cinema, the logos have whooshed over our heads, we know it's a
James Cameron film...now what? Where are we? What's going on? The first 30
minutes is the setup, it has to lay the groundwork for the movie and answer three
questions.
1) Who's this film about? Who is the lead character? What kind of person are
they? Usually we are introduced to the characters and see what they get up to day to
day. We are made to identify with the characters and like them. e.g. Luke works on
his uncle's farm but wants to go to the Academy.
2) Where's it taking place? What's the story's location? What kind of world do the
characters live in? e.g. Luke lives on a desert planet called Tatooine.
That's 30 minutes to establish the Characters, the World and the Premise,
and it better keep us interested!
And now the bad news...you may have 30 minutes to set your story up but you've
probably only got 10 to get the reader's and the audience's attention. You need
Shark Theory.
Syd Field wrote 'Screenwriting' in the seventies and to be honest its beginning to look
a bit dated. In order for your film to be successful today it has to be a shark. No
really, it does!
You can split a shark up into three parts (or more if you've got a stick of dynamite) -
bite, body and tail.
Bite - Nowadays to make your film survive you have to give it impact right from the
beginning. Your film better scream out at people, grab them by the throat and force
them to watch it. It has to do something so funny, so shocking or so engrossing right
at the beginning or you've lost your audience because they've just switched channels.
Get your audience's attention and get them on your side. Give it bite.
If it's an action movie put an action scene right up front. Make your film start like
most films end - like the intro sequences to James Bond movies or the start of
Indiana Jones. Classically this would probably be called a prologue - a prelude to the
rest of the film.
Body - This is the main chunk of the film. Stuff happens, usually to one person who's
fighting against it. Pretty much like an Act Two.
Tail - The film wraps up all the story threads and resolves the body of the film. Plot
elements and characters come to the boil. Ultimately we see where things have been
heading and as a result of their actions characters change and grow. The audience
gets something out of it too - a tale is told (sorry about the bad pun) and we all learn
something about ourselves. End of story - the fin, FIN y'see!!
To be honest if you can make a great intro and a blinding ending (because that's what
your audience is going to be talking about when they leave the cinema) and a couple
of good scenes in the middle you're onto a winner. Hitchcock said that's all his films
were - a great scene which the rest of the film hangs around. Funny how it's elements
like Psycho's shower scene and the attack on the school in The Birds that are
remembered best.
Plot Point 1 - At the end of Act One comes the first plot point. A plot point is a hook
in the action that spins it around and creates direction. Something happens that sets
the course for the rest of the movie - eg. the aliens invade or a body is found. Now
the characters know their purpose; to fight back against the aliens or discover who
the murderer is. And that's what they'll spend Act Two doing.
Your character has a dramatic need; to find the holy grail, to defeat the evil empire
or to kill the shark. But it wouldn't make that great a film if they could complete their
task in the next ten minutes. Conflict is the essence of drama. The character has to
overcome a series of obstacles that you drop in their path.
Create your characters and throw shit at them for 60 minutes. Let them struggle
towards their goal.
Act Two is the biggie to write - its 60 pages long!! To help you out it can be further
subdivided into two, separated by the mid-point, exactly halfway through the film by
the mid-point - usually where something relevant to the character's main aim
becomes clearer. Each of these two halves can be cut in half by a Pinch; a key scene
that helps keep the story on track.
Plot Point 2 - At the end of Act Two comes the second plot point. Now the character
has been moving towards their goal for the last 60 minutes and it's usually by now
that the the solution is in sight. It may not be easy to achieve, but they know what
they have to do. Usually its just before plot point 2 that all the really bad things
happen. One minute you think, 'wahey! he can make it' but suddenly he is
imprisoned, or his partner gets shot or something. Now the lead character's efforts
have to be redoubled. The last mile is the hardest mile.
The film should be on a roll by now. Everything should be in place for the finale so
it's a downhill run to the finish line. All the plot threads and characterisation that has
been building up in Acts One and Two can be milked for dramatic effect and released
and resolved in Act Three.
If the setup of the film has been done well there's a lot of freedom in the final act.
The first act mainly deals with logistics (the characters live here, they do this etc.)
and whilst these can never be dispensed with completely there's a lot more room to
'ride the emotion' in the final act letting some of the finer points be ignored so you
can concentrate on the bigger picture. For example the 'Rush Hour' DVD includes
a couple of deleted scenes showing how Jackie and pals get into the art opening at
the end of the film for the final showdown. OK, so I wondered how they managed to
get in there but it was better to take them out and leave me wondering than to
defuse the action and emotion that the director had built up just to explain that
Elizabeth Pena had managed to get them tickets.
By Plot Point 2 the main character knows what needs to be done so Act Three (if you
need to split it down any finer) is spent planning and getting into a position of
strength, mostly carrying out the action and finally enjoying the afterglow and seeing
who gets to ride off with who into the sunset.
Are screenplays that formulaic? When I first read about 3 act structure I tried in
damn hard to prove Syd wrong, if only so that there could be a little magic left, a
little artistry. Unfortunately after watching films with Syd's theories in mind I have to
admit that most films do have a three act structure. But that doesn't mean there's no
magic or artistry. Even with a structure in place its still not paint-by-numbers. You
still need to use your creativity and talent to stick the meat on the bones of the
structure - to tell a good story with great characters.
Let's face it writing a feature film is a long haul, that's 90 minutes of screentime you
have to fill! Anything that helps break this task into bite-sized chunks is welcome.
And this is dynamite info to have. With the basic structure of your film mapped out
you can concentrate on telling the story, building characters and writing cracking
dialogue.
And this is not just important for feature films. Three act structure is just as
vital for short films. Before shooting 'El Mariachi' and 'The Faculty', Robert
Rodriguez cranked out a fair number of short films which put him in a good position
to shoot his section of Four Rooms, by far the best. He offers this advice on
structuring shorts: 'Set up the story, get to the pay-off and get out of there.'
So watch a couple of movies and take a look at their structures. If structuring your
movies works for you go with it. I'm outta here!
To illustrate Film Structure in practice
here's a real world example. Because I
can't clear the copyright from Universal for
'Jaws' eXposure is proud to present 'Shark
Attack', filmed entirely in Legovision.
Before each comment there's a rough timing from my VCR eg. 1.11.30 (1 hour, 11
minutes and 30 seconds)
Act 1 - Setup
3.20 - Following John William's ominous
shark theme we are introduced to the first of
the major characters - the Shark. A couple of
teenagers leave a beach party for a spot of
skinnydipping and before you can say 'what's
for lunch?' the girl gets pulled down and
eaten by....something.
By the end of the first act we have been introduced to all the characters: Chief Brody -
a newcomer who is afraid of the water, Quint - a Captain Ahab-a-like who's a traditional
shark hunter and Hooper - a young enthusiastic biologist. The location is established as
Amity Island which is as a popular seaside tourist resort. And the premise is that there's
a hungry shark that's bigger than anything this island has ever seen that needs to be
killed.
Act 2 - Confrontation
~50.00 - The 4th of July. Brody is patrolling
a packed beach. Hooper is out on a launch
co-ordinating the efforts at sea. Brody
persuades his son to play with his dinghy in
the pool.
Act 3 - Resolution
1.30.00 - Shark returns and starts attacking
the boat. Quint shoots at it and the shark
swims off.
Formats
A rough guide to cameras
Before we start this let me just say that any camera is better than no
camera. Checking out camera magazines you can easily catch some equipment
fetish, where you only wanna shoot with the coolist equipment. Its a waste of your
time (and money) and gets in the way of making movies so forget it.
Its what's on the film/video that's important. You never know, that grainy, crappy
image you get might be just what your film needs to give it some energy.
OK camera formats really means tape formats. The gubbins up front - the lens,
the buttons etc. don't vary much from camera to camera, but what the camera
records onto alters what film you see at the end of the day.
So lets look at the pros and cons of each of the formats (oh yeah, and the
price range is the recommended retail price, if you buy mail orders you will probably
get it cheaper, and obviously the camera is going to cost less if you buy second-
hand).
8mm
Price Range £350 - £500
Pros Cons
• Reasonable picture quality • Can't be played on normal VCR -
• Good sound quality (mono or stereo Although you can transfer to other
depending on model) formats for editing
• Compact tapes (about the size of an
audio cassette) giving 60 - 90 • Very few 8mm editing VCRs
minutes recording
• Cheapest camcorders available
• Popular format so lots of choice
• Lightweight cameras
Hi8
Price Range - £450 - £800
Pros Cons
• Good picture quality (near broadcast • Like 8mm it can't be played on
standard - 400 horizontal lines, your TV normal VCR - Although you can
does 525) transfer to other formats for
• Top notch stereo sound editing
• Tape a bit more expensive than 8mm • To retain picture quality you will
but still compact and you can record up really need a Hi8 editing deck
to 90 minutes on standard play.
• Can use 8mm tape as well (although • Costs more than 8mm - boo!
the picture won't be as good as with
proper Hi8 tape).
• Lightweight cameras
VHS
Price Range £850 - £1400 RRP.
Pros Cons
• Same tape as you put in your normal VCR, so its • Only has a mono
cheap, easily available and you can edit easier. soundtrack
• Because the tape is bigger than 8mm, the • Bulkier cameras also
cameras are also bigger. This means you look mean lugging around
like a proper film-maker and you can shove it on something which is
your shoulder which means more stable shots. heavier - nurg!
• Picture quality about 8mm standard - which
means its not that bad. • Very few cameras
• Long recording time (3 to 4 hours) available.
Pros Cons
• Essentially VHS-C is smaller VHS tapes, meaning • Only has a mono
the tapes are more compact. soundtrack
• Like VHS picture quality about 8mm standard -
which means its not that bad. • Because of the
• Compact, lighweight cameras. decrease in size the
• All the advantages of VHS as far as editing goes tapes are shorter (30 -
as you use an adaptor (which looks like a VHS 45 mins).
tape) that allows your VCR to play VHS-C tapes
like normal videotapes.
• Cheap cameras!!
S-VHS
Price Range £900
Pros Cons
• Excellent picture quality • Despite being the same size as
• Stereo soundtrack VHS tape, tapes can only be
• Can also record onto VHS tapes played back on S-VHS VCRs.
(although the quality isn't as good as • Expensive.
using proper VHS tapes) or S-VHS-C • Bulky machines - although this
tapes with an adaptor. isn't necessarily that bad it
makes for steadier shots
• S-VHS VCRs are top notch - a wide
choice with excellent control over editing • Few cameras to choose from.
of sound and pictures.
Pros Cons
• Like S-VHS excellent picture quality (near • Because of the decrease in
broadcast standard) size the tapes are shorter (30
• Stereo soundtrack - 45 mins).
• S-VHS VCRs are top notch - a wide choice • Needs a S-VHS VCR to
with excellent control over editing of playback tapes.
sound and pictures.
• Not cheap.
• Compact little cameras
Mini DV
Price Range £700 - £2700
Pros Cons
• Offers bloody good pictures - nigh on TV • Err...buy one of these and
quality (500 line horizontal resolution) have to be nice to your
• CD quality sound bank manager for a long
• Designers are experimenting with design of time.
cameras so they are some nice machines out
there eg. JVC's metal fag packet and • Editing VCRs are
Panasonic's Tube Cam (not the official names) available, but damn
• No loss of picture quality in editing provided it expensive.
is all edited on DVC VCRs or non-linearly using
a Firewire card.
Digital8
Price Range £??? - £???
Pros Cons
• DV quality pictures using compression • It's a Sony technology so you
ie. 500 lines resolution have to buy a Sony camera
• CD quality sound
• Uses cheap 8mm and Hi8 tape
• Can play back old 8mm and Hi8 tapes
Super8
Price Range £5 - £2000
Pros Cons
• Its film, so everything looks nicer and more, • At the moment it costs
err...filmy. Y'know like home movies and pop about £12 for 4 minutes of
videos. film (including developing).
• On the whole they are well built - ie. metal This makes it pretty
etc. expensive to lark around
• Inexpensive - because everyone's Uncle Bob with if you don't know what
had one of these you might find someone in you're shooting.
the family with one, or as everyone else is
getting rid of their you can pick them up • Don't expect to find
cheap in second hand shops - I got 3 for a autofocus or any to other
tenner the other day. Wahey! 'latest features' type stuff
• You can also pick up editing equipment on them. Almost everything
cheap as well. is manual - but this is no
• Full on retro stylee. bad thing, at least you
learn.
• I saw a film shot on Super8 the other day
and frankly you couldn't tell the difference
between that and 16mm.
Super8 is punk - underground Super8 site courtesy of a smart New Yorker
small movies - well designed (but graphics intensive) Super8 site
Super8 for sale - 'cos I love you loads and I want you to get your films made here's
a link I use every day just to check if there are any good cheap secondhands cine
cameras in the UK (yep, its Loot Online - UK only I'm afraid).
Pros Cons
• These cameras record 3 or 4 minutes of ghost- • Never released in the
like black and white pictures onto a normal UK
audio cassette, they were meant for kids but • No sound
now they are being used by underground US
film-makers. • About $400 if you buy
one off someone who
• Probably dead cheap if you could find one in a knows what they have
junk store. got their hands on.
...and that's yer lot. There are other formats available (Betacam, D1, D2, Umatic,
16mm etc.) but for starting out they either too complicated, too expensive or difficult
to get yer mitts on. What you choose is up to your budget and your film.
Also note that prices for cameras are always coming down. Each time I update this
article I discover that the prices halve every 18 months. Isn't technology great!
For more info on individual cameras with reviews then try the excellent US magazine
Videomaker and its equally good web site.
I've rented mostly S-VHS and Hi8. The price was good, the quality was tip-top and
you got stereo sound. I've bought a couple of battered Super8 cameras to
experiment with and (bitten by the equipment bug- bad thing), oh yeah, and I
picked up a Tyco Kidcam in the sales. At the moment I'm shooting on a MiniDV
camcorder and whoah, are they smart. It pays to experiment, so play around with
what you can get hold of and make up your own mind.
Wanna know the secret to big budget effects at no-budget prices? Read on my
friend.
The bullet hits in the clip above were achieved using the same method professionals use
- a small explosive charge is triggered by a battery causing a blood-filled bag to burst
outwards.
I had a set of very sturdy 5 x 4 inch metal plates made up (which are usually backed
with foam to cushion the actor). A squib, which is a small explosive charge triggered by a
9V battery, was taped to the plate and a blood pack placed over the charge and secured
in place with gaffer tape. Blood packs can be anything that can be filled and sealed, but
most people use condoms ('Always practice safe effects'). Placing the blood pack over the
charge reduces the flash given off by the squib detonating. The rigged plate is taped or
strapped to the actor and concealed under clothing. White clothes show the effect off
best and should be pre-scored with a knife to weaken the fabric. Ideally the squib should
blow through the shirt and it helps here if the shirt is tucked in. Cable is run from the
squib down the actor's leg to a control box or nail board. A bit of simple wiring allowed us
to trigger the charges in turn by running a nail across a nail board (a piece of wood with
a series of nails in a line). Before firing everyone stood well clear of the charges, the
actor avoided looking down at his chest, and the camera was a safe distance away. Only
at the last moment was the circuit completed and the charges made live. A simple
countdown helped the actor be aware of when to expect the hit.
Take a look at the film clip again. That is the first and last time I am ever going to
use an explosive charge to perform a bullet hit like that. The first bang is near the top of
the actor's chest. When he grimaces and pulls his arm back its for real. A plastic shard
from the top of the squib flew off and hit him painfully in the shoulder. That's real pain.
And at that point in time he knows he still has another two hits to come. To his credit he
carried on far beyond the call of duty.
Need your next movie to start with a bang? Eejit's Guide has full instructions for
compressed gas bullet hits.
Step Seven - Have the assistant who will fire the trigger,
out of camera shot on the ground. Here stuntman
Stephen demonstrates what the setup would look like if it
wasn't concealed underneath the shirt.
OK, that's probably enough to get this page an 18 certificate! But funnily enough
its not what you see that makes the effect so gory. In truth there is probably only one or
two frames where you can see a flash of red spray. If you pay attention whilst watching
some action movies you'll notice the same thing. Most bullet hits are one frame wonders,
barely enough for the eye to register.
So what makes these effects so shocking? Turn the volume down and watch the
clips again - not so effective huh? There's two reasons for this :
1) Sound is 80% of the effect - It's the bang, crunch and splat that make the effect
work. Most of the clips above had had their sound tweaked (using Adobe Premiere). The
original sound for the squib movie has explosions that sound like 'pops', they were
lowered as the clip was slowed down and become more effective. The compressed air hit
had an extra sound of a slowed down and distorted hand clap added to it to beef up the
hit. Finally the compressed air head hit had a gun shot and splat added from a copyright-
free sound effects CD (the bizarre 'Totally Gross Sound F/X from Hell'). All of the above
methods work to increase the shock value.
2) They need to be in a dramatic context - OK, so we've been talking about how to
achieve the effect, but this is wasted if they are overused in a film. Repeat the same
images again and again and they lose their potency. By watching these clips to see how
they are achieved you probably no longer find them so shocking - you've become
desensitized to them. To be effective in a film they have work dramatically - we have to
care about the character who gets shot, there needs to be a tension in the air before the
gun goes off, or it needs to suprise us by happening when we least expect it. We don't
always need to see the hit itself, sometime only the effects of the hit (the spray of blood
on the car windshield) or the sound of the gun (whilst cutting to a wideshot of a building)
can be just as disturbing. Don't believe me? Seen a Tarantino movie lately?
Finally a word of warning - whatever you are using to make your effects be careful.
Your cast and crew's safety is vital. Not only that make sure that everyone around
you knows what you are doing. We were shooting a bank siege. There were a couple of
police cars and van, extras as an armed response team and our lead actor in the middle
of all this toting a pair of handguns. A couple of squibs later and he was lying on the floor
in a pool of fake blood. Unfortunately this was so realistic that we later discovered that a
member of the public had made a complaint when they discovered it was a film we were
shooting. They hadn't entered the building as they believed it was for real!
Big-budget effects at low-budget prices! Now you know how its done. So next time
you shoot your video, shoot your actors as well. So to speak.
Blood & Bullets for No-Budget movies
EXT. CITY-STREET - DAY.
Wanna know the secret to big budget effects at no-budget prices? Read on my
friend.
The bullet hits in the clip above were achieved using the same method professionals use
- a small explosive charge is triggered by a battery causing a blood-filled bag to burst
outwards.
I had a set of very sturdy 5 x 4 inch metal plates made up (which are usually backed
with foam to cushion the actor). A squib, which is a small explosive charge triggered by a
9V battery, was taped to the plate and a blood pack placed over the charge and secured
in place with gaffer tape. Blood packs can be anything that can be filled and sealed, but
most people use condoms ('Always practice safe effects'). Placing the blood pack over the
charge reduces the flash given off by the squib detonating. The rigged plate is taped or
strapped to the actor and concealed under clothing. White clothes show the effect off
best and should be pre-scored with a knife to weaken the fabric. Ideally the squib should
blow through the shirt and it helps here if the shirt is tucked in. Cable is run from the
squib down the actor's leg to a control box or nail board. A bit of simple wiring allowed us
to trigger the charges in turn by running a nail across a nail board (a piece of wood with
a series of nails in a line). Before firing everyone stood well clear of the charges, the
actor avoided looking down at his chest, and the camera was a safe distance away. Only
at the last moment was the circuit completed and the charges made live. A simple
countdown helped the actor be aware of when to expect the hit.
Take a look at the film clip again. That is the first and last time I am ever going to
use an explosive charge to perform a bullet hit like that. The first bang is near the top of
the actor's chest. When he grimaces and pulls his arm back its for real. A plastic shard
from the top of the squib flew off and hit him painfully in the shoulder. That's real pain.
And at that point in time he knows he still has another two hits to come. To his credit he
carried on far beyond the call of duty.
For low-budget/no-budget films there is no reason to use anything so
dangerous or expensive. Each one of those bullet hits costs about £10. Suddenly your
action movie gets a lot less violent as you start cutting out bullet hits to save money. And
the cost of an injured actor is unimaginable. There is a cheaper, safer and more
effective method available. It is portable, easily made and uses no explosive
charges! And it looks better!!
Need your next movie to start with a bang? Eejit's Guide has full instructions for
compressed gas bullet hits.
Step Seven - Have the assistant who will fire the trigger,
out of camera shot on the ground. Here stuntman
Stephen demonstrates what the setup would look like if it
wasn't concealed underneath the shirt.
OK, that's probably enough to get this page an 18 certificate! But funnily enough
its not what you see that makes the effect so gory. In truth there is probably only one or
two frames where you can see a flash of red spray. If you pay attention whilst watching
some action movies you'll notice the same thing. Most bullet hits are one frame wonders,
barely enough for the eye to register.
So what makes these effects so shocking? Turn the volume down and watch the
clips again - not so effective huh? There's two reasons for this :
1) Sound is 80% of the effect - It's the bang, crunch and splat that make the effect
work. Most of the clips above had had their sound tweaked (using Adobe Premiere). The
original sound for the squib movie has explosions that sound like 'pops', they were
lowered as the clip was slowed down and become more effective. The compressed air hit
had an extra sound of a slowed down and distorted hand clap added to it to beef up the
hit. Finally the compressed air head hit had a gun shot and splat added from a copyright-
free sound effects CD (the bizarre 'Totally Gross Sound F/X from Hell'). All of the above
methods work to increase the shock value.
2) They need to be in a dramatic context - OK, so we've been talking about how to
achieve the effect, but this is wasted if they are overused in a film. Repeat the same
images again and again and they lose their potency. By watching these clips to see how
they are achieved you probably no longer find them so shocking - you've become
desensitized to them. To be effective in a film they have work dramatically - we have to
care about the character who gets shot, there needs to be a tension in the air before the
gun goes off, or it needs to suprise us by happening when we least expect it. We don't
always need to see the hit itself, sometime only the effects of the hit (the spray of blood
on the car windshield) or the sound of the gun (whilst cutting to a wideshot of a building)
can be just as disturbing. Don't believe me? Seen a Tarantino movie lately?
Finally a word of warning - whatever you are using to make your effects be careful.
Your cast and crew's safety is vital. Not only that make sure that everyone around
you knows what you are doing. We were shooting a bank siege. There were a couple of
police cars and van, extras as an armed response team and our lead actor in the middle
of all this toting a pair of handguns. A couple of squibs later and he was lying on the floor
in a pool of fake blood. Unfortunately this was so realistic that we later discovered that a
member of the public had made a complaint when they discovered it was a film we were
shooting. They hadn't entered the building as they believed it was for real!
Big-budget effects at low-budget prices! Now you know how its done. So next time
you shoot your video, shoot your actors as well. So to speak.
Film & Video Lighting for low-budgets
OK so after making sure that your actor is saying the right lines, that the
picture is in focus and the camera is recording probably the last thing on
your mind is the way the picture is lit. But wait, the difference between
something that is well lit and something that isn't can be the difference between a
film that's great and one that's totally pants.
Generally you want to keep your light level up. Video cameras work best in a
certain range - too bright and whites get blasted out (use a Neutral Density Filter to
combat this effect) too dark and you get a grainy image without much colour. Well lit
footage makes your film look like it was shot with a really good camera.
But you also want to create a play or light and shade on the objects before you,
revealing depth, form and mood.
I was working with a group making a film (I was making the tea this time around)
who were shooting on film. They had some proper lights, so I had the opportunity to
observe how these semi-pro's went around their work. After sitting around for 40
minutes waiting them to set up I figured out their technique. They blasted a light at
the actors which gave hideous shadows so they blasted another light to get rid of the
shadows, which created another shadow etc. etc. etc. All this only served to slow
everything down to a painfully slow pace and tire everyone out.
My advice, keep it simple and fast. Work with the light that is already there.
• Put as many existing lights and lamps on in the room to increase the room's
overall light level. (Techie Tip! Lights that are in the scene anyway are called
'practicals')
• Replace existing lightbulbs with more powerful lightbulbs.
• Use a reflector to bounce an existing light source onto your subject.
Reflectors
A reflector is a piece of silvery, gold or white fabric stretched over a frame. Lastolite
make some really cool ones that explode open into massive circles. They come in two
main varieties : silver/white and gold/white (the gold is good for warming up flesh
tones). They are always a good investment, but if you can't afford them there's a
cheaper solution around the corner.
Waste of time. They sit on your camera, zapping power, and have all the strength of
a decrepid glowworm. They also blast straight ahead, which flattens rather than
flatters your subject and create bloody big shadows over the rest of your picture.
Forget 'em.
Now for the big boys (and girls). Proper big lights like the pros use. Remember our
budget (or lack of budget)here so don't buy 'em, rent 'em.
Big Lights
To get more bang for your buck, or strictly more wattage from your wallet get a
bigger light. There are a few lights that can be carried by a separate person (such as
the Reportalight) but to seriously light a scene you need lights over 100 watts.
These lights come with stands which you can adjust to the appropriate height, they
also have filters and barndoors so you can adjust the quality and quantity of light
they put out. The most standard pro light is a Redhead. Now I thought they were
called Redheads cos the back of them are red (well, a deep orange really), but
apparently its because the more powerful ones are called Brunettes and the most
powerful are called Blondes (well, they do say that blondes have all the fun).
There's a couple of things to watch out for when you are using these. Be very
careful when adjusting the barn doors as they tend to get quite hot (here
speaks a man who saw the skin off his fingertips vaporize before his eyes). Oh, and
make sure that the stands are secure and that nobody can accidentally knock them
over, as a hot moving object crashing down on cast and crew is a bad idea.
If you're shooting in a small room keep the lights switched off when you're not using
them as the room can get very hot very quickly. (We were making a documentary
and had lit a wall with a blonde cos that was all they had left at the renting place.
That room go soo hot, it was freezing outside and we were all in this room sweating
buckets).
During December I came home from shopping one night, turned the corner and
there was this massive blinding white light right outside my house. It was shining
through the trees and kinda looked like something out of the X-Files, what with it
being up in the trees. Turns out that they were shooting an advert there, dunno what
for, but when I got home my shoes were covered in false snow (which according to
the news is the same snow they used in GoldenEye). Wow! I trod in James Bond
snow!
Three light setups
So let's assume you have blagged a set of three redheads from a local hire place.
What next?
Set something up you want to light. The example that is always used is a person. Set
up your first redhead (they come with little tripods which they attach to) and put it in
front of the subject at a 45o angle looking down on them a little. This is the key
light. Our subject is now lit. Hurrah!
But the subject does seem to have heavy shadows on the opposite side of their face.
Erect another redhead making this one more diffuse by reflecting it off a wall, a
reflector or by putting a scrim (basically a grille) in front of it. This is the fill light
and helps soften the shadows.
You can also add a light above and behind the subject to add a slight corona (ie.
white line) around them that helps to separate them from the background. This is
called the back light.
Remember that the further you move a light away from the object you are lighting
the less light falls on it - not exactly rocket scinece eh? Well think back to your
Physics lessons and you might also be able to remember the inverse square law. This
states that 'the intensity of light observed from a source of constant intrinsic
luminosity falls of as the square of the distance from the object'.
Wow! But what does that mean? Well if I am lighting Cameron Diaz if I double the
distance she is from the light (by moving the light to the other side of the room) I
would decrease the brightness of the light so it was only a quarter of what it was,
resulting in a very dark Miss Diaz so that nobody good see her. Not good.
Avoid Backlighting - This is where your subject is standing with the sky or a
window or white wall behind them. The camera goes 'Hey, loads of white I better set
my exposure to that', so when you come to look at your footage all you can see it a
silhouette of your subject and you can hardly see their face. Solution - turn around,
and use the light from the wall/window to light your subject (Some cameras might
have a BLC - Backlight Compensation button, but these tend to on the whole suck).
Light not only differs in intensity, but also in its colour. Lights have different colour
temperatures. Sunlight is kindof bluey, artificial light (like lightbulbs and stuff) is
orangey and fluorescent strip lights are greeny.
Sunlight Bluey
Artificial Light Orangey
Fluorescents Greeny
Your eyes can sort this information out, but the camera tends to make everything
look all one colour if its on the wrong setting. So remember to check the white
balance on your camcorder.
White balance is essentially what colour your camera thinks is white. Some
cameras have buttons for this i.e. indoors, outdoors etc. Other cameras sort this out
automatically (although they can make a botch job of it) and some allow you to set it
manually (by sticking a piece of white card in front of it and saying 'Hey, this is white
you dumb camera').
If at all possible use a colour monitor (ie. play around when your camera is plugged
into the telly) to see what colour different lights look on through your camera and
how effective your camera's auto white balance settings are.
Try changing your camera's white balance for effect. Try using your indoor
setting when filming sunsets etc.to make it even redder, and try using your outdoor
setting indoors to create a blue clinical feel.
Gels
When you add light to a scene you usually end up mixing light of different colour
tempertures. To make light all of the same colour you have to fit gels over the lights.
Gels are plastic strips that attach via bulldog style clips to the light's barndoors. Most
of the time you will simply add a blue gel to a Redhead to give it daylight balanced
light.
You can double up gels or use theatrical gels to create really strong lighting
schemes (see Dick Tracy). We tried this out on one film, starting off with the
Redhead bare, and increasing the number of orange gels, so that by the end of the
film the light is almost red, turning a normal bedroom into a vision of hell.
Light at Night
Lighting at night is no fun at all. However much light you seem to pour onto a
subject it still looks dark and grainy, either that or your subject looks blasted out -
white and washed out, like a rabbit caught in a car's headlights.
The best bet is to shoot all your night stuff just before light is about to go, when it
looks like night but there is still some light on the horizon (you better be quick), or
shoot it day for night.
Day for night is a cheapo 60's style technique. Check out ITV series from that
period and Connery Bond films. You fit a blue filter to the front of the camera and
decrease the exposure. Remember to make sure that what is in front of the camera
looks right, so lights in houses need to be on and remember, no birds flying through
shot!
Have you ever really paid attention to scenes where there are two characters driving
along at night talking to each other. The car's interior is lit so that both actors look
like they are sitting there with 1000W lights sitting on their laps (which they probably
are). Compare this to real life - light in car? nil.
We shot a scene like this using a portable light aimed downwards bounced off a
reflector that was sitting in the back seat. Unortunately this car was a mini so there
wasn't much room and we had rented the world's largest reflector which proceeded
to unfold itself halfway through the shot appearing in the back seat like a surprised
passenger! Take two.
Need to create a decent fire effect on the faces of two characters as they watch a
building burn? Aim a redhead with an orange gel away from the actors towards a
massive reflector. Shake the reflector, aiming the light onto the actors. Add burning
sound effects and voila 'instant fire'.
If you want to be a real show off and start painting with light you might want to
consider using a smoke machine. By diffusing the smoke so that a thin haze fills the
room you can shine light through it so that the beam reflects off the smoke particles
and can be seen. Watch any episode of My So Called Life or Party of Five for a brief
example. Smoke machines use a liquid which it heats up producing clouds on non-
toxic smoke - you can usually rent one for ten or twenty quid a day.
Good lighting adds so much to your film. It's like having another actor. Use light
to create a mood, to tell us more about the characters and the world they live in.
The greatest thing about making movies is that it is pure madness. All you are doing
is trying to capture rays of light onto a thin piece of celluloid or videotape.
Moviemaking is simply painting with light.
Shooting : The Commandments
101 Tips to make shooting with your camcorder easier
Remember to take the lens cap off. (Eh?) No, really, I'm being serious. In the
rush of setting everything up for a shot you would be surprised at the number of
people who set the camera recording with the lens cap still on. Even the pros can do
it - a friend of mine had some footage that a Channel 4 documentary crew had shot
the other day, there was a five minute segment with just sound, until the producer
starts cursing when he discovers the lens cap is still on.
Always record 5 seconds before and after the shot you want. Editing decks
need a bit of space to get the signal properly (called pre-roll) and they can muck
their edits up if you don't have enough pre-roll. Your editor will hate you if you don't
have enough, and if you don't have an editor you will hate yourself even more.
Use manual focus if at all possible. Autofocus hunts for stuff to focus on, so if
someone walks through the shot it will try and focus on them, getting your subject
out of focus. Autfocus also uses up a lot of battery power, so using manual focus and
push focus (a button you can press for autofocusing) makes your batteries last
longer. Whatever, make sure your subject is in focus. To be absolutely sure, zoom in
on the subject, focus, and zoom out.
Leave that zoom rocker switch alone! See that button that rests just underneath
your fingers when you hold the camera? That's your ticket to bad film-making. Its
sitting there, nuzzling you saying 'Hey press me! Zoom in, go on. Now zoom out!
Smart'. Unfortunately when you come to watch your film most of your audience will
be sick because the zoom is constantly tromboning in and out. There are only two
occasions when it is OK to use the zoom during a shot.
1) You are interviewing a man who has just seen his daughter run down by a
steamroller. Understandibly its a heartwrenching moment. So Mr. NewsCameraman
zooms in really slow (you barely notice it) so we capture that first tear perfectly (how
they can do this I do not know).
2) Cheesy 70's cop movie. We have just ended the last car chase scene and we want
to establish that they are now back in the cop shop.
CUT TO :
SUPERINTENDENT ROBERTS is chewing the asses off the two rookie cops have just flunked the car chase. He's
angry, he's mean and he's got huge sweat rings under his armpits.
OK, so you get the picture. Zoom for effect - not because the button is forcing you
to.By all means use it to set up a shot when the camera's not rolling, but leave it at
that.
Use a tripod - If you want a steady shot then stick your camera on a stand (or a
wall or something).
Check your white balance, especially if you are in mixed lighted rooms. (White
Balance? Mixed lighting? Eh?) White balance is essentially what colour your camera
thinks is white. Some cameras have buttons for this i.e. indoors, outdoors etc. Other
cameras sort this out automatically (although they can make a botch job of it) and
some allow you to set it manually (by sticking a piece of white card in front of it and
saying 'Hey, this is white you dumb camera'.
This all matters because not all light is the same colour. Lights have different colour
temperatures. Sunlight is kindof bluey, artificial light (like lightbulbs and stuff) is
orangey and fluorescent strip lights are greeny. Your eyes can sort this information
out, but the camera tends to make everything look all one colour if its on the wrong
setting.
Checking your white balance is okay if you've got a colour viewfinder but you'll need
to wire the camera into a TV if you haven't. Failing that sure the preset is right and
hope its OK.
So remember :
Sunlight Bluey
Artificial Light Orangey
Fluorescents Greeny
Avoid Backlighting - This is where your subject is standing with the sky or a
window or white wall behind them. The camera goes 'Hey, loads of white I better set
my exposure to that', so when you come to look at your footage all you can see it a
silhouette of your subject and you can hardly see their face. Solution - turn around,
and use the light from the wall/window to light your subject (Some cameras might
have a BLC - Backlight Compensation button, but these tend to on the whole suck).
Try not to appear in your own film - Unless of course you are Hitchcock or your
actor has called in sick and you're having to play the role yourself you want to try
and avoid appearing in your film as...the camera operator! Avoid fingers near the
lens or long hair draping into shot. Equally be careful when shooting through glass,
mirrors or shiny objects not to catch a view of yourself. Use a polarizing filter to cut
down on any reflection.
Switch the camera on before you take the lens cap off - I don't know where I
heard this, but apparently you can damage the camera's CCD chip if you take the
cap off then switch it on - y'know, cap off, light streams in, chip gets frazzled.
Equally don't point your camera at really bright lights i.e. the sun, nuclear explosions
etc
Check your sound - Most cameras have headphone sockets so you can monitor
what the camera is picking up. Recording without checking your sound is like
shooting and not looking down your viewfinder. Remember : your ears are great
(they can filter out all that extra noise and focus in on just one voice) - your camera
isn't, it'll pick up on every squeak and rumble.
Use an external mike if possible - To get better sound get your hands on an good
external microphone that plugs into your camera. This should cut down on operating
noise from the camera (gubbins inside whirring etc.) and you can pick a mike for the
job at hand. Doing street interviews? Get an unidirectional mike (y'know, the ones
that look like ice creams) to cut down on all that traffic noise (if your camera has any
kind of handle tie your flex around this, so if your interviewer yanks on the cord the
mike isn't pulled out). Drama? Try a supercardoid mike and mount it on a old broom
and get a mate to stand there and dangle it in front of your actors.
Gag your microphone - If you know you're going to be shooting in a windy place
get a wind gag for your mike. Wind gags are basically furry things that fit over your
mike (in the wild they can live up to 70 years), that cut down on the roar you will
hear if filming in wind. The other day I stuck my camera out of a car window and the
sound I got was like ground zero at a nuclear blast!
Protect your equipment - You've got to keep it safe from two things - the
environment and from it getting nicked. Keep your gear clear from dust and dirt (use
a cover to protect it from the rain) and screw on a skylight filter to protect the lens.
Clean the lens/filter and viewfinder using blowerbrushes, airjets etc. Security! Keep
your camera close to you, make sure its insured and know its serial number if it does
get pinched.
Tape Care - Always use the best quality tape you can afford (usually metal
evaporated). You can only capture an event on tape once. The great thing about tape
is that you can record over stuff but be careful you may need footage again in the
future. Remember, keep all your rushes!
Batteries - Always carry fully-charged extra batteries, otherwise you can bet that
you will lose power halfway through the most important shot of your film. Bear in
mind that batteries have a shorter lifespan in the cold. Hug them to keep 'em warm
(and show them that you love them).
Shoot loads! - Tape is cheap. Use it. When you get around to editing you might just
need a certain shot, so shoot everything. Shoot plenty of cutaways (shots to cut in at
any point - closeups, buildings, reactions of other people). Don't tell your actors, but
shoot practice takes (you might need to put a bit of gaffer tape over the recording
light) sometimes they are the best, most natural take.
Shoot with both eyes open -- like the news cameramen do. It takes some practice
but it allows you to see what's going on in the viewfinder as well as around you.
(Jonathan Lewis)
Avoid the horns of satan! - Try to keep an eye on what is in the background of
your shot. You want to try and avoid pot plants sprouting from peoples heads etc.
Especially steer clear of backdrops where there's visually exciting stuff going on - a
videogame running in the background as you can guarantee that your audience will
end of paying more attention to this than what the person is saying or doing. There's
a classic clip I've seen where two policemen are talking about what a quiet night it
had been with no arrests. Outside the chippy in the background are two lads beating
each other to a pulp.
Umm..Tripods?
If you do get a tripod make sure its a good one, you want a fluid (or Teflon bearing)
head so your pans and tilts are smooth. [I was playing with this awful tripod the other
day, every time you tried to pan it jerked violently and sqeaked. The effect was kind of
like NYPD Blue meets Kingdom of the Mice.] You also wanna get make sure its got a
quick release head so you can get your camera on and off it quick and ideally get a
lightweight one so its easy to carry around.
Yeah right, like sticking your camera on a stand is gonna make it smooth. It'll make it
look professional, but it will also look rigid. Rodriguez says dump the stand - I agree.
Whenever the going gets tough and you need to shoot a bunch of stuff real fast the first
thing I do is dump the tripod as it vastly slows you down.
Handheld right?
Urr, kindof. The trouble is that you get jitter from your arms etc. so you really need to
isolate the camera from your body.
Failing that you will find that a lot of modern camcorders have image stabilizers. These
come in two fruit flavours : electronic and optical. I say ignore electronic like the plague.
With electronic the picture 'floats' within the CCD chip (CCD chip? - umm..the bit that
changes the picture into an electronic signal) thereby decreasing the actual amount of
chip able to take a picture, so your picture quality isn't quite as good. Optical image
stabilisers like Sony's Steadyshot use a bunch of moving lenses (or something) meaning
your picture quality isn't affected - hurrah!
(Tip for the Top - Get close to your subject and go wideangle as much as possible to
decrease camera shake.)
Trouble is though even with a stabilizer the problem hasn't completely gone away and
your camera movement can feel 'sluggish' as at first the camera may try and
compensate for any movement you do thinking that its shake. So let's see what the big
boys (and girls) use.
Steadicam®
Strap yourself into a metal body vest and look like you are going to war. For smart use
of a Steadicam check out Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining' (all those shots following the
kid around on his trike - that's Steadicam) and pretty much every major movie since.
Basically its a series of counterbalanced weights which moves the camera's centre of
gravity away from the operator whilst still allowing them to perform camera moves. You
need to keep fit if you wanna use a full size one as it can get pretty tiring supporting a
full camera's weight. But thankfully Steadicam (the company) have made Steadicam Jr.
which is designed to carry lighter cameras like camcorders. Its the same type of thing
but without the body vest and with a LCD monitor so you can watch what you are filming
without having to look down the viewfinder - neat! Only problem is that it will hit you for
£499 - ouch! (Still, that's a fraction of what a full-size Steadicam will cost you).
There are also some pretenders to the Steadicam crown. Glidecam is another counter-
balanced system and they have just started importing them into the UK and HandyMan
looks to be a Steadicam variant built of metal (although its more expensive).
Dale's Tale of Woe
I'm after some smooth shots for my next film, so after some umming and arring (and a
cash windfall) I decided to get a Steadicam JR for my camcorder (a Sony VX700). It
comes with this really cool intro tape showing you sample Steadicam shots and its
inventor Garret Brown explaining how to set it up - nice touch. Now setting up takes a
while, as you have to be really delicate with the thing and you have to counterbalance
your camera just right. I almost got it perfect (after about 3 hours fiddling) and got
some nice shots BUT......then it snapped. Holding it like I was supposed to, one of the
arms gave way and a screw flew out. Personally I reckon it was because my camera was
too heavy (although the camera's weight was well under the limit its effective weight
was greater cos its back heavy). Then the platform jammed up and it took my 3 hours
with an engineer to remove my camera from this piece of plastic. Grrr.
Anyway, its gone back now and I replaced it with a Glidecam. Good thing is Glidecam is
cheaper and built better (metal) although it doesn't have a monitor and low down shots
are more difficult (although not impossible).
Then there's the option of a dolly and jib. A dolly is basically a set of wheels that go on
the bottom of your tripod and allow you to wheel it around whilst a jib arm is an arm
that fits over the top of your tripod that allows you to do crane shots (y'know, those bits
where the camera moves up and out allowing you to look down on the whole scene).
Hague do a smart Semi-Pro Jib and Dolly for £499. Again, its a question of cash (oh and
lugging it around, you'll need a car).
BagCam®
Get a plastic bag, ideally a good strong big one. Put your camera inside and cut a hole
near the bottom on of the sides, large enough for your lens to poke through but not
large enough for your camera to fall out. Now hold the back at the top and try walking
around with it. This should isolate the camera from your movement (a bit) and make
shots smoother (a bit). Try getting hold of one of those bags made out of string as this
should work even better.
MyArmHurtsCam®
Get a monopod (like a tripod, but with only one leg), add weights to the bottom of it
(adjust weight to taste). Now screw your camera into position on the top and hold the
monopod underneath the camera. Now try moving about. The centre of gravity is lower
so it should move smoother. However this could hurt the old arm a bit if you do this all
day.
BalloonCam®
OK, now something really stupid. Seeing as camcorders are getting lighter, why not buy
a bunch of helium balloons (and I'm talking about quite a few of them) and attach them
to your camera. Instant crane shots!
Now a couple of major things can go wrong here. 1) You may not get enough lift so your
camera could never get up - try adding some more balloons. 2) You could get too much
lift so you might never see your camera again - add some guy ropes so that you can
control the camera. 3) Your camera might not point at the right stuff - err,
counterbalance the whole rig so that it points groundwards.
If you are mad enough to try this one let us know how it goes!
OK, so the conclusion of this might seem to be - buy the stuff for the job. But at
least you now know that the equipment is out there and that there are cheap
techniques to get pro results.
Non-Linear Editing #1
a.k.a. Let Dead Horses Sleep*
There's a revolution taking place in film-making. Chances are that the last
film you watched down at your local multiplex wasn't edited on film.
Hollywood is saying goodbye to edit suites cluttered with strips of film and ageing
Steenbecks and hello to digital technology. Yes, the movie was still shot on film (for
the time being!) but it is was probably digitized to a non-linear computer suite and
edited on computer. And this revolution isn't just affecting those people with the
biggest budgets - its going to have its biggest effect on low-budget/no-budget film-
makers who can now edit films on their humble home computer to a standard that a
few years ago would have required a roomful of techie black boxes.
Every day the technology gets better and more affordable, putting powerful
and professional editing within your grasp. You can now have frame accurate editing,
powerful visual effects, sound mixing, titling, blue-screening and CGI modelling all on
your desktop.
The key to all of this is non-linear computer editing. In traditional video editing
you copy segments of your rushes tape to your master tape - laying shots in order
linearly onto your tape. Get to the end of a sequence and decide that you want to
change the 3rd shot and you have to edit the entire sequence all over again. Grrr!
Film editing is non-linear. Because the picture and sound exist as pieces of
celluloid and magnetic tape that you physically cut and splice together if you decide
you don't like the 3rd shot in a sequence it is simple enough to cut it out and replace
it.
Computer editing combines the best of both worlds - no need hunt through rooms of
film to find your shot and its equally able to edit sequences together in any order.
Non-linear computer editing allows you manipulate movie clips like you would add
and change words in a word-processor - simply CUT, COPY and PASTE your movie
together!
Big Hard Drive - Once your video is digitized it starts taking up a lot of disk space -
typically between 1.5Mb - 4Mb per second!! You can expect to see disk space
disappearing rapidly as video clips start to colonise your hard disk. Its important to
have a fast hard drive too - the drive needs to be able to record 3 to 4 megabytes
worth of information every second. If it isn't up to the job it will start to drop frames
ie. it will skip frames resulting in glitches and ocasionally jerky video. The solution is
to buy a dedicated AV hard drive - the bigger and faster the better.
More storage! - As you work on projects you may want to store and archive clips to
work on in the future. Pound per megabyte the cheapest method currently is
Recordable CD. For a quid you can store 650Mb (Jaz Drives can store a Gigabyte of
data but Jaz cartridges are £40 whilst DVD-Ram drives can store 5.2Gb for £30) CD
recorders also allow you to produce soundtrack CDs, enhanced CDs and send video
clips to people around the world for negligible cost.
Video Compression, Data Rates and Disk Usage for Full Size PAL video
Video Quality Compression Megabytes per Minutes per
second Gigabyte
VHS/8mm minimum 15:1 1.4 12
S-VHS/Hi8 minimum 10:1 2.1 8
S-VHS/Hi8
7:1 3 5
recommended
DV 5:1 3.6 4
Non-linear editing software - Software usually comes bundled with the card. Get
a powerful, flexible package that is easy to work with. Names to look out for include
Adobe Premiere, Ulead MediaStudio, Judgement, EditDV and Avid. I prefer Premiere
as its pretty powerful stuff and there's a lot you can do with it.
The Setup
Apologies for the above diagram - if at first glance it looks like a mess of cables
then you're right...it is!! If you start wiring your computer equipment up to your
video equipment its not long before everything
disappears under a mountain of leads and
power cables.
After editing the final movie can be sent back over the firewire cable to the
camcorder. The movie file is of the same high quality as the original captured file.
Digital In. Digital Out. Sounds great...in theory.
Unfortunately there's an extra hurdle to cross if you're in the UK. The big
selling point of DV was that there was no need to buy a DV VCR to record your final
movie on - the camera could do the job through firewire. First the bad news - UK
Firewire camcorders had DV IN deactivated due to EU import taxes. The only solution
at the time was to buy a £3000 DV VCR (ouch!). Now the good news! DV IN can be
reactivated on some camcorders by reprogramming the camera's memory.
Thankfully we can skip the science bit as companies like Datavision produce a widget
that connects to your camcorder and allows you to switch codes to enable DV IN.
And the even better bit of good news is that in recent months camcorder
manufacturers have seen sense and released UK DV camcorders with DV IN as
standard. Remember to check before you buy.
The final step is to transfer from the MiniDV master tape to VHS using the
camcorder's phono outputs. Tadaaa!! One edited VHS copy of your movie.
What if you have a analog camcorder?...a Hi8, 8mm or S-VHS. You can still
edit digitally but first you have to capture from your camcorder. If you are using a hi-
band camcorder (Hi8, S-VHS, S-VHS-C) and your camcorder has an S-video output
use a capture card with an S-video input for the best quality. Low-band camcorder
users (8mm, VHS, VHS-C) might as well save themselves the expense and use the
phono outputs.
The quality you capture at depends on the quality you want your final
movie. There's a couple of settings you can vary including the screen size (smaller if
your final movie is for CD-Rom or the internet), frame rate (again fewer for CD-Rom
or internet movies), audio sample rates and image compression. The capture card
samples the picture and sound data and compresses it to store on your hard disk.
The files produced are called M-JPEG files (Motion-JPEG).
Again you edit non-linearly using software such as Premiere and produce a final
movie file. The final movie file is transferred to directly to VHS (or if you have access
a high band tape format such as Betacam or S-VHS). Here there is generation loss.
The original image and the final image suffer slight degredation as the image has
had to be sampled and copied. However this effect is minimal.
Now we know what kit we are using we will look at non-linear editing in
practice. Next time we'll get our hands dirty; capturing and editing some
footage in Premiere, going from our rushes to a final edited movie, all
within the digital realm.
Audio capture works by taking slices out of your sound files. The greater the audio
setting the more slices it takes. For example 44KHz is CD-quality sound whilst 22KHz
Nicam stereo sound takes up half as much disk space. Done sensibly sound settings
can be lowered considerably before you can hear the drop in quality. Again
compression can be applied to decrease file sizes.
3. A baseball cap - Directors always wear baseball caps. If its a cold shoot they have a
cap on to keep warm, if its a hot sunny shoot they have a cap on to keep cool -
presumably this is to keep their brains in optimum condition. Caps can also double up as
advertising space for your latest feature or as an alternative revenue stream. Man to
take tips from - Spike Lee, he's made a career out of the baseball cap.
5. A quirk - so people can remember who you are in interviews eg. Tarantino - 'speak-
very-fast' quirk, Scorcese - eyebrows quirk, Tim Burton - quirk of nature.
6. Friends - no, not your ordinary pals, or even the US comedy six pack, but real life
celebrity mates. Be seen hanging out with Eric Stoltz, throw a barbie and invite Winona
and Brad over. Yeah as if! Alternatively find a couple of lookalikes/cardboard cut-outs,
get a photo done and casually leave the pictures around your abode/send them to film
mags. An even easier method (although not recommnded) is to shoot the breeze with
Charlie Sheen, Sean Young and other has-beens.
7. A guess spot directing for TV - Spike Lee's done it (Red Stripe commercials),
Quentin Tarantino's done it (ER) even David Cronenberg's done it (Nike).
8. Umm...one of those chairs, y'know the director fold out ones that are made out of
wood and canvas with DIRECTOR on the back. Don't make the mistake of using a deck
chair instead. Sure its similar, but it just won't do.
If you're ever on a film set for a laugh try sitting in the Director's chair. A wannabe film-
maker friend of mine did this and he directed half of Batman and Robin before anybody
realised.
9. A megaphone. Okay, so close your eyes and try and imagine a film-maker and
you've probably put one of these in their hands. Why??
10. And finally, a damn famous film. You can go one of two ways, you can either
have Hollywood's cheapest film...
- "Hi I'm Edward Burns, I've just made 'The Brothers McMullen for $25, 000" ,
- "Yeah? well go swing Mr. Burns. I'm Robert Rodriguez and I've just made 'El Mariachi'
for $7,500",
- "Is that so Robert? I've just made a coming of age/romantic-comedy/sci-fi epic for
£7.50!"
- "Hi I'm Jim Cameron and I've just spent more money than any other person in history
on my latest film - 'True Lies'"
- "As if, Mr. C. I've just made 'Waterworld' and spent more money than most small
country's own and I didn't even have to pay for Schwarznegger."
Got all of the above? Congratulations, you are now a Film Director!
* No, Spike Jonze doesn't count, he's had to spell it wrong to get some attention.
Buy a job-lot of stick on sideburns. Remember, two for every actor, if after that
you have any spare stick 'em on the actresses, it'll keep the audiences interested.
Corsets - allows you to cast any actress you like and still have Kate Moss size
characters - simple pull the cords tighter!
Locations - using a bit of black gaffer tape create 'leading' for your french
window/kitchen window (y'know those black lines) - ta! da! instant Stately Home.
Failing that, get in costume and pretending you're a bit strange go see a Stately
Home. Pull the old video camera out and shoot a couple of scenes with authentic
backdroppery!!
Period detail - remember, hide everything that might give the game away about
when you filmed it, so digital watches and cellular's are out. Don't worry too much
about haircuts though. If past form is anything to go by you can get away with
anything. Check out some 70s costume drama and they all have 70s haircuts, in 80s
costume drama they all look like Neil Morrisey etc. so you should be able to get away
with a few dreadlocks and Jennifer Anniston Shag cuts. Besides if people get lippy
you can always mention that it is a 'radical adaptation'.
Nip down to the bookshop and buy one of those Penguin Classics. In the UK it should
be 50 years old or more which means that it's out of copyright (75+ years in the
USA), so for the price of your book, you've just bought the rights to a classic novel.
Alternatively hit up Project Gutenburg, download your classic text and you don't even
have to pay a penny - hurrah!
Now the tricky bit, the adaptation. Because these books tend to waffle on a bit
(jaysus! I saw Little Dorrit the other day - it was six hours long!!) take a pair of
scissors and randomly hack out about half of your book. Throw this in the bin. Now
give what you have got left a good read through, if it doesn't make sense don't
worry, remember its a 'radical adaptation'. If its looking a bit boring spice it up by
inserting a few choice sex scenes or a bit of violence. Authentic period violence and
sex includes hunting for wild animals, gardening at the Chatterley's or anything that
takes place in a scullery.
If you're stuck with a scene or two that doesn't make much sense 'cos there's all this
internal drivel going on with the character then give them a companion to talk to.
They can basically splurge all the details about what they have been up to in India or
how they are suffering inner torment to their companion. Sample companions include
pet whippets, token Americans or mutes (remember, it worked for The Piano).
If you fell asleep during the Costume bit, or frankly reckoned that was way too much
effort why not make your costume drama a 'loose adaptation'? This is basically like a
costume drama with all the advantages of not having to pay for the rights but
without all the frilly bits. See 'Clueless', described as a 'loose adaptation of Jane
Austen's 'Emma' or the latest version of 'Romeo and Juliet'.
...and that's it! Get yourself a slot on BBC and watch the cash roll in.
Hey, if you've never heard of this invaluable aid its basically a (usually black)
cloth tape. Its damn sticky, super wide and you can rip it rather than having to
cut it. Frankly its ace!
Loose cables on set? Lead actor broken his neck when he tripped on a power line?
Dimwitted Director dragging cameras across the set by getting caught in cables? Then
you need Gaffer Tape. Simply tape all your cables to the floor of your set and your world
becomes a much safer place.
Wanna play sneaky? Cover that blinking red record light on the front of your
camcorder and the actors need never know that you're filming their rehearsals.
Remember, sometimes the good footage comes first.
Does you medieval epic need a slab of Braveheart gung ho? Use lightweight
plastic rods covered in shock foam and wrapped up with silver gaffer tape and you've
got instant swords, now your actors can happily swash and bickle to their heart's
content.
Don't keep your actors up all night. We shot some saturday night interiors on a
bright sunday morning. Simply attach black bin bags to the windows with your trusty roll
of gaffer tape thereby preventing light leaking in, close the curtains/blinds and voila
instant night.
Camera broken? Prop in pieces? Actor snapped? A couple of strips of gaffer tape and
they are as good as new.
and finally...
In space they have no bras! That's official, George Lucas says so. During some of the
action in Star Wars Carrie Fisher was experiencing the effects of inertia all too much, and
as the Death Star isn't a Gossard stockist her breasts had to be taped down - ouch!
Another triumph for Gaffer Tape!
It has no doubt appeared in every single film production ever, but it has never
won an Oscar, never been to Cannes and has strangely never been
credited...Gaffer Tape, we salute you!!
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