first timer planning short film...lotsa questions

[hopper001]

Anyone who could offer any assistance whatsoever..it would be extremely appreciated. I would like to make a short film. Say about 15 or 20 minutes. I have never done this type of thing on a serious basis before and I am not too proud to say that there are many many things that I don't know and don't understand. Suffice it to say that I am pretty "green" about the whole filmmaking thing. I have what I consider to be a pretty good idea. Involves a car and two men and would be shot mostly outdoors. It would be adapted from an unpublished story of mine. I know how to write screenplays because I actually wrote one. Had an agent for it even...but this guy was a slacker and never did anything with it. Anyway...my equipment is pretty tame. Although I do have a Sony digital camera with the firewire connection on it and everything, it is pretty much consumer based stuff. Also have Adobe Premier and AfterEffects with a firewire card in my Pentium 2 500mhz/120 meg of ram. Performs ok on Windows 98. Lots of stuff that can be done with the software if you really apply it to its full use and have enough disk space. Anyway...in regards to the camera. Don't know if renting is an option....although I'd be petrified that I would rent a $10,000 betacam and break it in mid shoot. I realize the digital medium is really big today and makes things tons easier than they used to be. I plan to take full advantage of that if I ever get this off the ground. To make it easier, perhaps I should list some of my questions and maybe you can answer some.

1. Where in the world do I get talent (actors) from. Someone who will work for dirt cheap on account of I don't have very much money to blow on this thing. I think $5,000 would be the absolute tops I would spend on it. But I have no clue as to how to get a hold of talent that can do a reasonably convincing job of acting and work for little or better yet nothing (I'd spring for eats )
2. As I mentioned a lot would be shot outdoors and on videotape (digital most likely). Film is FAR too expensive at this point and cumbersome to edit especially if you have no clue as to what you are doing. Is it very difficult to light exteriors? I've seen reflectors and I've heard it is a pain sometimes to shoot outdoors because of the background noise and sometimes you have to overdub later in post production and such. How would you light something shot outside? I guess it gets even worse when you start losing the sun. How about indoor lighting? I know there is standard backlighting, a front light and a fill light using maybe a soft white surface to bounce the light more naturally...but anything else anyone could offer would be of great assistance.
3. Here's a real important one for me. Sound. How would you capture sound? I know the built in mikes on cameras are notoriously horrible so I would have to use something external. Have absolutely no clue here as to how it could be recorded with good quality and merged with the visual footage (help!)
4. What is white balance? Heard of it...not sure what it is. Also...lense filters?
5. I'd like to shoot this in PA. I live in NJ, but a friend of mine lives in the boonies in PA and it is deserted out there. Perfect setting for a movie like this as the desolation and remoteness is integral to the story. Does anyone know if you need permits or such for that kind of thing....even if it is in the middle of nowhere?
6. What type of videocamera is recommended to capture decent footage?
7. I have some friends that could help out with this...but how would you go about getting people who know what they are doing?

Well..those are the main points. Hope someone can help. THANX!!

[eastriver]

Answers to your questions as best I can:

1. Actors will come to you if you advertise in the right places. For my second short I posted adverts in the drama department of colleges and universities. I was only expecting a small response, but I ended up doing over a day of screen tests. Most actors trying to break in will not be expecting any payment at all.

2. Lighting for DV is a total enigma, I acted as lighting director and be aware....cheap DV cameras are crap in under lit scenes. If you have access to 3 point lighting rig, then do it but heavily overlight the key. If you don't you get something called 'lack of light' distortion it makes it look like it was shot on VHS. Very naff. Gives the editor a nightmare.

3. Sound mmmm, well I recorded on DAT and also on a hard drive recording desk, but I am a student and have access to the kit. You might want to try minidisk, it's good quality as long as you use a decent capacitor mike (AKG etc.). As for dubbing it is a lot easier than people make out, just make sure you use a reference at the start of each take (clapperboard etc.)

4. A white balance is a feature where you hold up a piece of white card into the lens, at a distance so that you're light can reflect. When you press the white balance button the camera will set up the colour on the board as true white, it then refrences all colours to this. It means if you have two slightly different lighting set ups in the same scene then the colours will still be the same.

5. You on your own there mate I live in England.

6. Your camera should be fine, just make sure you have a decent capture card (avoid pinnacle cards if you intend to use any other machine).

7. You mates are always best if they have a bit of knowledge because you can shout at them and not feel too guilty, in England we have a thing called shootingpeople.org which is a bulletin board fro posting crewing info. you can always get crew there, maybe you have something similar....

Hope that was of some help. Nobady has all the answers just get out there and do it.

[marti-c]

HI there

A few pointers regarding some of your questions:

Outdoor light is much easier to record than you think. The sun is an ideal keylight so angle your subject so that you can use a large reflector to bounce light back onto the other side of someones face. The best kind of light to record in is a dull sunless day as what your really getting is a massive fill light source. As for indoor lighting scenario, i use 3 redheads (between 600w to 800w) Use a high defused keylight and a reflector as the fill. Then put a lamp at the rear of the subject as a backlight and use the last lamp behind a cardboard cut-out (GOBO) to light the backdrop.

As for the white balance/lens filters: White balance as stated above is the way of telling the camera what is white. The professional cameras have a filter selection which correspond to

tungsten(which is redheads etc)which is a colour temprature of 3200 degrees kelvin. As all video cameras are made electronically to tungsten what this setting is actually a clear piece of glass on the lens setting.

Daylight(which is outdoor light, sometimes reffered to standard european daylight) which is a colour temprature of 5600 degrees Kelvin. This is actually a piece of orange filter in the camera converting the blue daylight to a tungsten orange colour.

There is also a filter which is equivalent to daylight but with a Neutral density filter added. This is to help in a really sunny day when the colour temp can go really high.

Once the filter has been correctly selected then you hit the white balance switch whilst pointing at a white card(or black balance in front of a black card)

Some cameras have memory settings so that you can program the camera to switch instantly. For instance if you have ever watched a documentary where the cameraman goes from outside into someones doorway then what you dont see is that he has had to switch a preset as soon as he enters the house so all the whites look right.

NOTE as the daytime shifts so will the colour temprature. Therefore sunrise and sunset will be completely different from midday. (In fact sunset can be eerily close to tungsten) An example can be seen if you watch a football match that is taking place during the day. As the daylight starts to fade they will have to white balance several times.

Also note that mixed lighting conditions are something that should be avoided. By mixed i mean that tungsten(orangy) should not be present with daylight(Blue). This can arise if your shooting in a room with a window. There are 2 main ways to correct this situation. First you have to choose which temprature your going to use. If you go with tungsten (which will be more expensive) then you have to get orange gel and cover every piece of glass in the window. The cheaper method everyone uses is to put blue gels over the redhead barn doors. (this stuff isnt really blue ,it is known as C.T.B.)

Quickly......the best way of getting good sound is to use a good microphone. I use a SQN 4 mixer with a seinnheiser 416 microphone. These are very directional and should only pick up what you want it too. At this stage you should be thinking of a good quiet location rather than blame the recording equipment!

marti

[Jimsimm]

GOTO : www.undergroundfilmworks.com
you might get some usful info?

Jim*

[hopper001]

Hi EastRiver!

Wow...didn't expect answers so fast. I really want to thank you. You answered a LOT of my questions. If you have an email drop me a line at:

[email protected]

I'd be interested to hear more from you. Hello from the States!

Russ