Setting

[GTproducions]

I wrote a movie and I'm getting ready to shoot. The movie takes place in the 1920's in Chicago. I'm wondering if I should build the set or if there is a place in the Los Angeles area that I film in that has no cars or other modern things like that.

[OutcastJiob]

Care to elaborate a bit more on exactly what you need? Since you mentioned needing an area free of cars, I'm assuming you'll need exterior shots, but what specifically do you need to film?

[GTproducions]

I need the outsides of buildings and the insides and outsides of a bank.

[maj_barnes]

You could try to get a BIG blue screen and just get pictures, or make them (depending if the movie is in color), of 1920's buildings.

[Carnage7p]

ok ok please excuse me if i go too far here, but please people. do not suggest blue screen everytime you can't find the right setting for a scene. i garantee it is the best way to make your movie look fake. now obviously the pros can pull it off well, but that is why they are pros. not only will it not look real but actors cant interact with their environment. i used to love blue/green screening. i would use it for EVERYTHING. i thought that i was soo cool cause i could use a green screen just like in the movies, then i started to realize that you can't use it and get realistic results unless it is PERFECTLY lighted, then even if you are able to light the green screen well, you have to adjust the color settings on the actor to make it match the background footage. now if you do not take film making seriously and are just having fun with it then green screen will do just fine but if you want to continue to improve, and have your film look as professional as possible take my advice and use green/blue screens only when it is absolutely necessary. sorry if that was too much but i am very passionate about this subject.

[maj_barnes]

You don't need lighting, just split the different channels for color on the character and decrease or increase untill it matches, just like in photoshop. Besides, where else are you going to find a 1920's town?

[BrownCowStudios]

You don't need lighting

Somebody just shoot me right now.

I need the outsides of buildings and the insides and outsides of a bank.

Everything Carnage said is completely accurate. Avoid the color keying at all costs. The inside of the bank may need to be contructed in order to maintain historical accuracy. This way, you'll be able to control every aspect of this set. However, the outside locations could probably be found around town. Always try to shoot a clean background plate though. If small giveaways of the film's modernity make their way into frame, you may be able to mask them out.

When you scout these locations, spend twenty minutes or so there and see what takes place. Who is there? What modern things are nearby that could pose a threat to shot composition? Is the location heavily traveled? What noises may make their way into the audio track and blow the sense of a period film? You may need to go at different times of the day to see if the "activity" is any different. It may also be beneficial to go a few days in a row to see if your results are consistent.

Best of luck.

[SgtPadrino]

Or you could just go to Chicago; there probably isn't a real big chance you're going to find any locations in LA that look even remotely like you're trying to do - Chicago is basically the only American city left that has sections of town left untouched since the Great Depression.

[maj_barnes]

Somebody just shoot me right now.

Okay:
From seeing other posts it sounds like this is going to be a shoot 'em up gangster (not gangsta') movie, and I doubt they'll let them carry guns around in public. Besides, the blue screen can help, but it does have it's limits, but is invalueable when it comes to needing a gunfight in a street which is usually crawling with law enforcement.

[reflexive_cinematics]

Yeah, you will just have to find an area and work with it or build it. If you can find an are and work with it it will save a lot of time and money. Check out my website, under 'reel' and watch ' The Rotting Menace ' . I live in Kenosha, WI which is directly between milwuakee and chicago. That short is supposed to take place in the '40s so we just looked around and Kenosha and Racine both had some building and area that looked legit and were built in that time. Kenosha even has a working street car which you can see in one of the scenes. * if you have dial up then it may be a b**ch, becuase the site is setup for broadband users *

[GTproducions]

Yes I agree fully with carnage and in almost every scene the actore must round corners, hide behind stuff in doorways and behind statues. So I would need physical items I can't possible use a green screen. I also can't just go to Chicago that would cost way to much money. And I expected I would have to get many permits from the police and the mayor and stuff like that for the weapons aspect. I have kind of an idea of the area I will shoot in. It will probably be Burbank backlots, but with the interior shots I'm thinking it would shoot better if I made the sets myself. But I would still like like any advice anyone may have.

[SgtPadrino]

Well, seeing as how this movie is going to cost a lot anyway, I figured it'd be worth it to throw out the Chicago suggestion. Any Prohibition-era movie is going to take an incredibly large amount of time, money and hard work, especially if it's an independent movie.

[GTproducions]

Thanks for the sugestion. And I appologize if I sounded rude.

[Carnage7p]

Somebody just shoot me right now.

the blue screen can help, but it does have it's limits

yeah it can help make a film look really amatuer.

[maj_barnes]

yeah it can help make a film look really amatuer.

Only if you don't know how to use it.

[Carnage7p]

ok well i'd like you to prove it then, show me that you can realistically use a green or blue screen in a scene.

[reflexive_cinematics]

ok well i'd like you to prove it then, show me that you can realistically use a green or blue screen in a scene.

s*** look at skycaptain.. or like 80% of the cronicles of riddick

they didn't build all of that stuff... Green/ Blue screen is used a LOT in movies and it works great.. IF you can work with it correctly.

[maj_barnes]

If your blue screening a low budget movie, you can't really do dynamic camera moves, instead you have to depend on artificial camera pans and stuff like that. When you try moving the camera with a blue screen the same image moves with the camera, so you do the color keying and save re-import, then you add in the camera moves or zooms; looks good, but it seems weird like when they try to do it with widescreen movies made into fullscreen.

ok well i'd like you to prove it then, show me that you can realistically use a green or blue screen in a scene.

Why should I have to prove it, why can't you prove it to yourself; expand your capibilities and you'll surprise yourself. Also when YOU first try it, you'll notice that the blue/green will reflect on the character (this is what I meant by lighting, of course you need to see the character!), so comes channel splitting: split the color channels, once done you'll notice you now have three pictures that are black and white, and you can see that the character's color compaired to the background is very different; mess with the sliders until the colors look like they match, combine the channels and you'll notice that the colors for everything look right.
Don't down something until you tried it; it may look amateur at first but as you mess with it more and more it looks much better. Also reflexive_cinematics proves a good point: most movies today employ blue/green screens in some way, since everyone here is (hopefully) an aspiring film maker, shouldn't we try to do the same things that the industry is using today so when we enter the field we're not left behind or at least wer have some knowledge of it? Kind of hit the ground running.