Fan Filmmaker's Primer

[Ginandtonic]

Improvisation is a great way to make up for a lack of money and/or technological resources. TOS is a great example: they originally planned to send away teams to planets by shuttle craft, but the expense was prohibitive and they came up with the transporter. The result was not just a cost saving, but it allowed the script to go directly from the ship to the action without having to fill any space between. The result was tighter writing and faster pacing.

Another example: a friend of mine was working on a college video project and she didn't have any way to create opening titles. So she came up with the idea of mocking up newspaper front pages and having them thrown into the shot. The result was an eye catching way of getting her point across. It was much more effective than regular graphics would have been.

Couldn't agree more, improv often results in better ideas.

 

[lennier1]

Another example: a friend of mine was working on a college video project and she didn't have any way to create opening titles. So she came up with the idea of mocking up newspaper front pages and having them thrown into the shot. The result was an eye catching way of getting her point across. It was much more effective than regular graphics would have been.

How is that different from the newspaper front pages filmmakers have been using for decades because they allow them to seamlessly convey a message without having to break from the atmosphere of the story? Sounds like she simply chose the best option, saving herself time and expenses at the same time. Just shows she's efficient and can work on a tight budget, which is always a good talent to have.

 

[MikeH92467]

Another example: a friend of mine was working on a college video project and she didn't have any way to create opening titles. So she came up with the idea of mocking up newspaper front pages and having them thrown into the shot. The result was an eye catching way of getting her point across. It was much more effective than regular graphics would have been.

How is that different from the newspaper front pages filmmakers have been using for decades because they allow them to seamlessly convey a message without having to break from the atmosphere of the story? Sounds like she simply chose the best option, saving herself time and expenses at the same time. Just shows she's efficient and can work on a tight budget, which is always a good talent to have.

No disagreement. It's just that the initial thought was to use normal graphics and when it wasn't available, she didn't pack it in, she just found a workable alternative, that actually turned out better. Actually the TOS example is even more interesting in its own way, because it shows that even full-scale professional productions run into these kinds of issues.

 

[Maurice]

^^^I'm a big believer in embracing limitations and using them to force yourself to be more creative. The idea of using thrown newspapers is a clever solution to a problem that I can imagine made the title sequence more interesting than it'd otherwise have been. Bravo to your friend, Mike.

Dennis and I were a few weeks ago discussing ideas for the opening titles for POLARIS, and as we both were tired of flying through starfields under space movie credits, we started discussing alternatives, looking at all kinds of title sequences from suspense and dramatic pictures from the 50s and 60s to break ourselves out of the conventional mindset.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Yes we are, but in the end I suspect there's a reason that DS9Sega addresses me from time to time as Mr. Debris...

 

[Maurice]

Yes we are, but in the end I suspect there's a reason that DS9Sega addresses me from time to time as Mr. Debris...

Roger that!

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Bring in the chorus girls.

 

[Maurice]

Bring in the chorus girls.

I remember you telling me, "Of course, I think we should add a little music...and that whole first act has got to go. They're losing the war? It's too depressing."

It's DeBris, by the way. Oy.

 

[Psion]

Yes we are, but in the end I suspect there's a reason that DS9Sega addresses me from time to time as Mr. Debris...

Dandruff?

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Bring in the chorus girls.

I remember you telling me, "Of course, I think we should add a little music...and that whole first act has got to go. They're losing the war? It's too depressing."

It's DeBris, by the way. Oy.

that's Bigboo-TEY.

 

[The Trekster]

I haven't finished reading the thread yet, and so far you guys are giving out good beginner advice. I just wanted to add a couple tips if that's cool

Every film project I've worked on in the past 366 days (Polaris, a short film and four music vidoes) have all been shot on Canon Digital SLRs of one stripe or another.

For the price you can't beat 'em. And Canon does have the market cornered. But, while technically not DSLRs, the GH1 and GH2 have been producing amazing results, and have a lot more filmmaker friendly options when hacked. I usually rent but if I were going to buy a rig for under or around 2 grand, it would probably include the GH1/2.

Good points, MikeH92467. More on the subject of...

SOUND
Number of Mics
One mic often isn't enough. Sometimes you need two mics to get all the sound in a shot, particularly if you have a scene where actors are far apart in the frame and there's overlapping dialogue.

Don't forget the type of mic. As a general rule of thumb, you're going to want a cardioid condensor mic for indoors and a shotgun mic for outdoors. A shotgun indoors is one of the things that will give you that horrible distorted roomy noise due to the narrow pickup pattern.

The Slate Clap
A lot of people don't realize how important this is. That clap sound helps you sync or resync audio to picture if you don't have a slate that generates timecode. It's particularly important if you're shooting separate sound, as you don't want to be manually trying to sync sound to picture in post...trust me.

One of the nice things about digital vs. film is that the camera is still recording audio which you can then use as a scratch track to align the wave forms when you're editing. This means that you can get away without using a professional clapper board and just have someone clap their hands on screen.

​

Also note the black sound blankets hanging from the ceiling to help deaden echoes.

For better results, pleat the sound blankets when you hang them. It means a lot more blankets but it absorbs significantly more sound.

It's fine to give flavor, but to describe a shot in excessive detail is pointless as anyone who's ever been on set can tell you.

Yep. Leave camera directions and other production notes for the shooting script.

One thing I would like to ask of the fanfilm producers who have done this before, is how do I go about setting up a website that can be capable of accepting PayPal donations towards our production and the like? I know how to start a regular free webforum, but both Alex and myself would really like to get a donation feature set up for "Battlestar Urantia", and I just don't know how to set that up myself. Anyone have any guidance on this issue?

Check out http://www.kickstarter.com

 

[Maurice]

I haven't finished reading the thread yet, and so far you guys are giving out good beginner advice. I just wanted to add a couple tips if that's cool

Always. This is a forum, not a lecture, after all.

...Canon Digital SLRs...

For the price you can't beat 'em. And Canon does have the market cornered. But, while technically not DSLRs, the GH1 and GH2 have been producing amazing results, and have a lot more filmmaker friendly options when hacked. I usually rent but if I were going to buy a rig for under or around 2 grand, it would probably include the GH1/2.

I assume you mean the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1 & GH2.

Don't forget the type of mic. As a general rule of thumb, you're going to want a cardioid condensor mic for indoors and a shotgun mic for outdoors. A shotgun indoors is one of the things that will give you that horrible distorted roomy noise due to the narrow pickup pattern.

Yep.

One of the nice things about digital vs. film is that the camera is still recording audio which you can then use as a scratch track to align the wave forms when you're editing. This means that you can get away without using a professional clapper board and just have someone clap their hands on screen.

Sure, but if lining up with the camera sound doesn't work for some reason, then you've got nothing to sync with if you don't have a visual clap. (To further complicate matters, I've noticed that the sound of the slate clap almost never actually occurs on the same frame as the image of the slate closing. Why this is I don't know, but when step through the footage I find the sound happens a few frames before.)

The slate is also important because it also holds the reel/card #, the shot # and the take, and if the files get renamed or there's some other problem, you can always look at the slate.

For better results, pleat the sound blankets when you hang them. It means a lot more blankets but it absorbs significantly more sound.

Yep again.

Yep. Leave camera directions and other production notes for the shooting script.

I'm a tad confused by this comment because we were discussing not having excessive detail in the script, period. You DON'T want to put excess detail into a shooting script.

One thing I would like to ask of the fanfilm producers who have done this before, is how do I go about setting up a website that can be capable of accepting PayPal donations towards our production and the like?...

Check out http://www.kickstarter.com

Also GoFundMe, which doesn't require you to reach your goal in order to get any the monies pledged.

 

[Loken]

DSLR's are the future. The last episode of House this past season was shot on one and if you see it the results are STUNNING.

You just need someone who knows how to shoot with them since you need to pull focus.

Just make sure you have a DP with experience using them.

Alec

 

[Maurice]

^^^You never want to use an autofocus mode on a camera anyway!

 

[MikeH92467]

^^^You never want to use an autofocus mode on a camera anyway!

Absolutely correct! Autofocus will always (well, maybe not "always" but far too often) focus on the wrong spot. It happens with both still and video cameras. Last year I had my camera at a little league baseball game and my camera was on "auto". On way too many shots, the camera focused on the back of someone's head who was standing between me and the action or some other object that got between me and the action. Also "rack focus" where you change the focal point from, say, Lt. Uhura at the back of the bridge to Captain Kirk in the center seat, simply isn't possible with auto.

 

[The Trekster]

I assume you mean the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1 & GH2.

Yessir.

(To further complicate matters, I've noticed that the sound of the slate clap almost never actually occurs on the same frame as the image of the slate closing. Why this is I don't know, but when step through the footage I find the sound happens a few frames before.)

That's interesting. Only explanation I can think of is that the sound actually begins when (ahem) first contact is made, vs when the slate finished closing?

The slate is also important because it also holds the reel/card #, the shot # and the take, and if the files get renamed or there's some other problem, you can always look at the slate.

Very true. I don't have a tablet myself, but I've heard really great things about the slate app for the iPad. It does timecodes and should have that pesky problem you mentioned above.
On another note, and maybe you've mentioned it, but it's best also to read all that info that's on the slate out loud, for the same reasons you mentioned, if file names get mixed up etc.

I'm a tad confused by this comment because we were discussing not having excessive detail in the script, period. You DON'T want to put excess detail into a shooting script.

Sure not excess detail, but my shooting scripts include notes and, when important, camera angles and definitely always a shot list. Like this:

Also GoFundMe, which doesn't require you to reach your goal in order to get any the monies pledged.

Hadn't heard of that one, thanks Although I do go back and forth on the whole "all or nothing" vs "keep what you raise" debate.
Just a heads up, too, there's some legislation in the US congress right now that is going to have a big impact on crowdfunding, one significant statute is that donors who pledge 10,000 or more must be considered investors and you must file paperwork accordingly. That would probably not effect fan films with small budgets, but what will is the rule that you're going to need to raise at least 60% in order to keep any funds. (If the bill gets signed into law, that is )


On another note, I'd like to give a shout-out/plug to a filmmaker friend who's production company puts out a lot of great free resources for indie filmmakers. http://sonnyboo.com/downloads/filmmaker.htm
He's got a lot of the documents you'll need like location and talent releases, breakdown sheets, etc; video clips of things you'll need if you need to make something broadcast ready (like SMPTE bars and tones); and also a film tips show called Framelines (which you can also catch on public tv if you're in Ohio and a couple other midwestern states.)

Ok, I think I've rambled enough. Thanks for putting up with me

 

[FalTorPan]

Good points, MikeH92467. More on the subject of...

SOUND
Number of Mics
One mic often isn't enough. Sometimes you need two mics to get all the sound in a shot, particularly if you have a scene where actors are far apart in the frame and there's overlapping dialogue.

Don't forget the type of mic. As a general rule of thumb, you're going to want a cardioid condensor mic for indoors and a shotgun mic for outdoors. A shotgun indoors is one of the things that will give you that horrible distorted roomy noise due to the narrow pickup pattern.

I recently purchased an Azden SGM-1X shotgun mic. Which cardioid condenser mic(s) might you recommend for the budget-conscious, aspiring filmmaker?

 

[The Trekster]

Good points, MikeH92467. More on the subject of...

SOUND
Number of Mics
One mic often isn't enough. Sometimes you need two mics to get all the sound in a shot, particularly if you have a scene where actors are far apart in the frame and there's overlapping dialogue.

Don't forget the type of mic. As a general rule of thumb, you're going to want a cardioid condensor mic for indoors and a shotgun mic for outdoors. A shotgun indoors is one of the things that will give you that horrible distorted roomy noise due to the narrow pickup pattern.

I recently purchased an Azden SGM-1X shotgun mic. Which cardioid condenser mic(s) might you recommend for the budget-conscious, aspiring filmmaker?

I'm no audio-gal so I'm going to quote a pro from another forum.

The only budget hyper-cardioid I would recommend is the Oktava MK-012a, which is about $250. Make sure that if you decide to buy one that it is authentic; there are a lot of Chinese knock-offs out there that are definitely inferior.

If you're willing to spend more to get some real pro gear, I can get some recommendations.

But remember, a mic is only as good as the person swinging the boom and mixing. So practice practice practice. (Or hire someone, that's what I do :P)

edit: Here's a link to his blog. Every indie filmmaker should read it! http://www.myspace.com/alcoveaudio/blog

 

[FalTorPan]

Thanks to you and anyone who has audio recommendations. In my opinion the weakest technical aspect of my recent project was audio.

 

[Maurice]

Here's a nice and very brief primer on video blogging that has some useful pointers that could be useful for no-budget filmmakers.

Beginners Guide on How to Video Blog on a Budget

• Part One: Equipment
• Part Two: Audio and Lighting