//PRODUCTION
1) SCROLL LOCK, AUTO-LOCK - AUTO FOCUS ETC
Sounds obvious doesn't it? Yet how many films i have seen here that suddenly in a shot, diverge into autofocus, and even worse lol, is if that poor film maker has used some film look filter etc, (oh its painful) then u have something that looks kinda half cool, but is obviously been done in a camcorder and uch.
Worse still athe Auto-Lock, or Scroll Lock, it has several names across the world, but basically it is a simple button on prosumer mini dv cameras such as the XL-1 or PD 170 etc, which if not de-activated, will put all of your settings on automatic, from auto white balance, to auto focus, to auto iris, to auto gain etc. THIS YOU DO NOT WANT. Because it means, whatever changes you make to the functions of the camera, it will not listen, while that button is pressed. Any camera man worth half a penny will know not to have this left on, but for many amauter directors starting out, with so much else to worry about, its easily forgotten.
2) WHITE BALANCE
If you have not heard of white balance, or think its not important, think again. If there is one look that is never fashionable, it is that of no white balance. Now what is it some of you may ask?
Colour temperature is something our eyeballs see, it makes things look 'right' in the way we psychologically percieve colour, for day and night etc. Thing is though, colour is not recognised by cameras, in the same way we recognise them, unless we tell the camera what is 'right' for its eyes.
If we don't then for example, tungsten lights or practical lights will give all your indoor footage orangey glows, or if filming indoors you may end up (during the day without artificial lights) with a bluish look. Worse still, shot to shot even in the same room, but with different light sources, even if filmed in the same time, can look completely different.
That is the main reason anyones film can have a crappy 'camcorder' look. - because of lighting yes, but because of white balance. This is a BASIC camera technique that must be known.
So how do we do it? Well your camera will have in a digital menu, or button, a white balance function, we do this, by holding a white sheet (most often a slate) in front of the camera, (place it roughly in the area being filmed) and frame it in shot so that it covers your full frame. Do not, stick it right in front your camera, have it zoom in.
Once zoomed, and with white only in frame, press your white balance, and 'bing' the white you were framing will suddenly look a lot more white... so will the rest of your shot.
This must be done every time if lighting conditions change.
3) FOCUS & FRAMING
Many here do not really focus properly, this is painfully obvious at times, (and if you can notice it in a wmv export god knows what the dvd will look like huh.) Obvious mistakes are of course auto-focus, PUT IT OFF, but also if for example, the proper focus technique is not used, then mistakes can be made such as,
Getting your background in focus, and subject is soft, or just plain 'just off focus.'
You see, there is only one proper way to set your focus...
Zoom in all the way into an object in the scene, (something just off your subject perhaps) then focus it there. ZOOM IN and focus.
Once you zoom out, everything in the entire scene will then be in focus - hey presto, that is how its done.
Oh and framing? Use your tripods 'spirit level' and while taking the camera off the tripod is all the rage (hell i do it all the time too it makes for dynamic movements) the guys that do it 'right' do it because they have already mastered the basics of camera framing and correct framing.
So get to grips with a tripod, (even a cheap one) check your tilt and pan locks, always check your spirit level, (lol the dot)
4) 180 DEGREE RULE (VITAL)
Well, several of you may not know this, but instinctively do it in your own films. We percieve reality in film, through a clever mirror manipulation, which basically uses this 'rule' for camera placement, in order that people appear on the correct side of a shot.
eh? i hear you say. Well basically just do this and all will be fine in life (then think about it, and it will make sense.)
Between two subjects, draw an invisible line, and if it helps, one can imagine a circle around them, with the line running in between.
Now if your camera faces person a, and is talking to b, well as you know, you won't face the camera straight on, you will have him on one 'side' of your frame. Person B on the other. How is this achieved? How does it look right?
BY ENSURING THE CAMERA NEVER LEAVES ONE SIDE OF THE SEMI CIRCLE.
If it does, visually your film will not make sense, only do this if you are INTENTIONALLY trying to disorientate the audience.
5) LIGHTING
Obviously one could write a whole book on this subject, so we are talking incredible basics here. Why does a 'film' have a 'film look' well sure, it uses film stock, its saturations and colours and imperfections give it a difference to mini dv etc, that blah blah, has higher resolution blah blah.
These are all true to an extent, but the biggest reason is lighting. Films with budgets (using film stock) can or will afford the use of proper lighting equipment, and usage. You can too...
Redheads, (not just that gorgeous kinda gal) but the tungsten light of 800w (it can vary) is a basic light, sits happily on its own tripod, can be plugged into your mains (use a circuit breaker!)
Use one light for just 1 subject, if you can get 2, use the second for your background, if 3, use it behind the subject to provide profile. (yep the quickest ever tut on 1, 2 and 3 point lighting.) Use diffusion filters (like tracing paper) to reduce intensity, or colour gels, to 'correct colour temperature' if your using red-heads to supplant day lighting.
Before you all moan, 'hey i cant afford god damn red heads etc' yeah but i bet you can afford to hire one! just one! If you want to use lights, read up more on the net. (if your indoors, there vital, daylight will probably 90% time not be enough)
So if your cheap, make sure your outdoors, as indoor lighting is tricky, and its why half the member films with indoor shots looks like our neighbours wedding video.
So outdoor lighting is easy? no, easier, in this case, we have daylight woohoo, it will give us enought light but, day light can be soft or hard.
HARD - really bright day, strong lights, strong shadows.
SOFT - Cloudy day, even light.
(see tip 6 Exposure)
In any case if you need a little more light, use a 'reflector board' to reflect more light into shadowed areas, (for example under the chin) this again can be vital.
Make one by getting a giant piece of A1 White card, (you can experiment with it, but god forbid don't use foil!)
6) EXPOSURE
Well, this is vital too, gaining a positive exposure is simply a must, otherwise your film is good only for peeing on. Without exposure (enough light) we get gain, which is the fuzzy kinda background noise, because not enough light is getting to produce a signal blah blah.
So how do we ensure enough light gets in? (but not too much either?) this is trickier, but vital to learn. We have exposure dials, irises etc, and we can monitor the results these have, in our monitor or viewfinder, via the F stops.
F6.5 or F2.8 etc, you see these? these are telling ya how much light the camera has been told to let in, if it goes all the way down loads of light can get in, all the way up, no light will get in. You can tinker with em, and you will see your shots brighten or darken, but you cannot go by the viewfinder, as results can vary.
Commonly mini dv cameras will be set to a low Fstop, and hence will wash out things like the sky and clouds (become white) and other contrasts won't be pretty. (then notice, filming at evening indoors how grainy it looks and nothing is in focus?)
NOTE - without enough light, you will not be able to focus!!!
So tips? Well this is very vague, and you must practice, cos lighting conditions can vary enormously! If you have a cloudy day, i'd go with a lower f-stop, let more light in, but ensure things like the sun are not in the background! (so go with fstops under 4)
If in a strong lit day, (hard light) get your subject out of any 'uranium like sunlight' and keep your f-stop a little higher, anywhere between 4- 7
Be wary cos even 7 or higher, can produce grainy nastiness.
When indoors, using lighting (it can vary so much, that you must simply use what you learn from exposure outdoors with these lights.)
7) SOUND
Fancy professionals usually use dat tape recorders (these are cheap) with hooked mics, usually cos the director is using film stock (which doesn't record sound, and is why the clapper board is used to sync it later.)
So for us, we normally use our cameras to record sound, but wait? you are not using the camera microphone are you? Well don't! It sounds cr**, it sounds hideous, and nobody in their right mind should or does use it professionally. So what do they use? Well, a nice boom mic, shotgun mic, or mic on a fishpole etc.
This might sound scary to some, but basically, you can hire these guys very very cheap, and there you will have it, a broom handle with a mic on the end (or something you hold in your hand) and if you do it, and use it properly, your film can sound great!
So then, to use the microphone properly, (and were talking a 'condenser microphone') that will use batteries or phantom power or your camera for juice (this might be confusing but this is something u can ask the guy ur hiring it from, and take ur camera to the hire place and test it there, that kinda thing is cool and acceptable)
So u got ur mic, first get your sound man, and he will wear headphones (attached to the camera) and will hold your mic (with a nice dangerous trailing cable) and his job will be to get the mic to the action. The mic must be placed at approximately ARMS LENGTH towards the speaker. That is damn close right? YEP, but thats how its done. IF you get further, sound DRAMATICALLY reduces in quality. It is up to you, to shoot your film realistically that you can accomodate the sound man.
"but hey dude i saw a movie where the guy talked"
Yeah well, they were using 'radio microphones' or 'tie-clips' etc, but before you go 'hey man ill just use that' they are a lot more expensive, and before you go 'hey man its just $1 on ebay' nooo... good ones 'acceptable ones' are expensive. Again you can hire them, but the sound quality of good ones is still inferior to the much cheaper aforementioned mic, if used properly.
The sound man has headphones, so he can listen in case a pigeon farts, or a car goes past that ruins the scene. Professional sound guys are great, but normally it will be ur buttmunch pal doing it, keep him straight, cos he has to keep attentive! If he isn't u will cry during the edit...
Oh and in the edit, apply a noise sound filter in something like soundforge (go check it out) to get rid of or reduce any 'hiss'
//PRE-PRODUCTION
PLANNINGEvery short film must be planned accurately, now this could go on forever, so i'll be brief.
You must make a script, this seems obvious? unless you are working with PROFESSIONAL actors, who are aware very deeply of the improvisational scenario their working with (aka blair witch) then its a big NO. And before you say, hey man there were no professional actors in Blair witch... well, most actors who are professional are not 'famous' in the usa perspective... and are worth a million 'mates' to fill in acting roles.
So then, we have a script, actors need their scripts weeks in advance, (of course even i cant ususally manage that lol) so at least a week. If you don't then you will have problems. If you do not organise a rehearsal (with no camera's) you will have problems... if you do not have actors, and you gave them the script on the day of shooting... you will have enormous problems.
So we have a script, put it in the proper format (Read up on it) get a copy of final draft. Why? Cos then you will accidentally learn to make a shooting script. This is a list of all your shots. You need this and you gotta make lots of copies, for your AD and crew.
You will use this early on to go thru your AD and talk about the shots, and then liason on improving it further. With that complete, i would suggest very much, that you make a rough storyboard.
A Long shot, is just a LS in a script? it means buggery, but a storyboard, with a drawing of the subject and location, is in the confines of time and stress during photography MUCH EASIER.
So you got a script, a shooting script, a storyboard, what else do you need? A shooting schedule. This is how many shots you are going to do in a day, in a time, and in what order, and leave copius amounds of time for actors to turn up, get made up, (or for scum being late) and give em time to have something to eat in the middle. Do not over burdern yourself in the shooting schedule.
9) CASTING
I touched on this, one horrendous mistake i see in films often here, is that the gimps they pick to perform are their own mates and friends. This can be absolutely acceptable if your friends are Kevin Spacey and Donald Sutherland, but i doubt most are...
Well like it or not but our company of friends often resemble ourselves, if we are nerds our friends tend to be so, or if ur sporty then many of ur friends can be, If your YOUNG then most of your friends will be.
Obviously becasue their often not actors, or student actors they will actually suck in performance (if you mean to use em a lot, and they really want to be actors, they should already be studying it or be in an amatuer dramatics group to learn from more experienced individuals.)
A HALLMARK of lowbudget young peoples films, is the 'limited' variety of people, especially age.
IF I SEE ANOTHER FILM WITH 12 YEAR OLDS WIELDING MP5s in some clone of 24 or whatever..... i will hunt you down...
It looks cr**, so don't do it. Grovel to anyone over 20+ 30+ 40+ even your mommy daddy stepdad grandpa who-ever will make a better actor than your friend TJ.
10) SCRIPT ORIGINALITY (VITAL)
Before there was conformity, there was first originality, but all conformity we see in televison or film, be it the bleached bypass film filter of saving pvt ryan, to the mp5 counterstrike game movie thriller clones skulking around here, to whatever, they were first original.
Anything you see on tv or the cinema, is already getting old, the marketing guys are innovating on the carcass or replacing it, if you go and make it again, then thou shall be cursed why?
Your relationship to the visual media (film) is when your making a film, as a producer, (a creator) not as an audience member. If you create it with the mind set of an audience member (be it cattle for michael bay or the arty student for akira kurosawa) you will only replicate a vastly inferior product.
So where do we start? well start with ideas that surround you? Find inspiration in the novelties that are exclusive to yourself, and read a lot.
READ A LOT - this sounds patronising, but god i could not care less, for those who do read a lot, well know the worth of the statement, and those who don't (and will be offended perhaps) need the lesson most of all.
If you read Toltstoys War & Peace, as opposed to er harry potter, or watching band of brothers (no offence its good but were talking inspiration) then trust me, from that novel, or any other, you will be finding the building blocks of creativity that in fact came to spawn the entertainments around today.
Big difference though is you will be innovating with the building blocks, and not replicating the finished article.
Read, and intellectualise your mind, and you will find your scripts are more unusual, and sophisticated than ANYTHING exported into the mainstream form of entertainment that last inspired you...
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Thats my tips for today, those were ten, i will add more pre, production and post tips in the future, i might make this thread a kind of work in progress for newbies etc if you want it to continue etc.
If i seemed a little mean muhahaha, well u can all get back at me on my member film thread at,
http://www.matthawkins.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7888