Just finished filming a movie

The Core RPGC Main Forum
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I just got back from filming a short movie, and I’ve decided to share the experience with all you peoples.

Just for reference, I’m a New Media student at the illustrious Ryerson University, and was part of production team that consisted of two of my classmates, a student from Trebas Institute and a whole shitload of friends/acquaintances who volunteered as actors. The film is for a short film festival run by ZED called Zero to Sixty, and can be between 60 - 120 seconds long.

I’m not going to tell you the details of the plot right now (we’re keeping it pretty secret until release), but it does involve a stabbing and a LOT of changes of perspective. The working title of the film is “Between Beginnings”, and I’ll show you some of the stuff that goes into student movie making. I was essentially the “director of photography”, so I have lots of pictures to show.

The first day of the shoot was pretty uneventful. We did some of the first bedroom shots and figured out how to use operate the fancy shmancy Panasonic AG-DVX100A digital camera. It shoots digital video that rivals film quality, so we were pretty happy with some of the shots. On the left we have Alon shooting with the camera, and on the floor is Nick who is watcing the live feed through his laptop.

Now the second day was a little trickier. We had to film in an alleyway for most of the shots, so we had talked to a manager at a plaza up in Aurora and he gave us the “go ahead” to shoot there. Unfortunately, he neglected to give us any paperwork… One of the shop owners got really pissed that we were filming in front of his establishment, and called the police on us when he found out we didn’t have written consent. Apparently York region police are really bored too, because they sent THREE cruisers.

Unfortunately, we got booted out of that place and had to head down to Thornhill to film at Bishop’s Cross park. Thankfully, the lighting was pretty good there and the scenes turned out pretty good. You can see some of the equipment we used in this next shot, as well as a few of the actors. We all stayed pretty optimistic, and began filming the movie.

I must give credit to Matt for being the stabbing victim, as he had to lie on the ground in the cold for HOURS, with nothing on but pants and a T-shirt. As if that wasn’t enough, we poured fake blood (corn syrup, gelatin and food colouring) all over his neck. He’s a very positive guy though, and was almost constantly cracking jokes and giggling like a schoolgirl.

Continued on next post…

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This next photo is a perfect example of a film shoot in progress. The actors are all doing their thing, while we crowd around with cameras, microphones and other equipment. In this scene, my brother (on the left) is kicking Corey (the falling man) from the curb. Although Dima (in the paramedic suit) is holding the boom mic in this scene, I did most of the other sound work for the film.

Last, but not least, is our canine friend Leonard. One reccomendation I can make to all you filmakers out there is to NEVER WORK WITH ANIMALS! This frisky guy would not do anything we told him, and would not keep still for even a minute. It took us about two dozen takes to get an even halfway-decent shot of him walking in a straight line. If he wasn’t so cute, I’d kick him off the set.

Despite efforts by the police, store owners, and dogs, we did manage to get all the filming done. The editing/packaging process will take a couple weeks, and we’ll soon be mailing this out to the festival. Once we get it uploaded on ZEDTV, I’ll put it up for you guys to see.

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ROCK.

Can’t wait to see it! :smiley:

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Neat. I think. It’s not as if I’ve seen it yet.

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Cool, cool. I have the knowledge and experience of two movies behind me, so I can share some of your pain and happiness :stuck_out_tongue:

I think I sent TD the movie we did a year ago or so…

… and could probably distribute it ahead…

It might help if I subtitled it in English!

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Cool cool.

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Very cool, I can’t wait to see it.

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Congratulations man, I’m sure that took a lot of time and effort!

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I can do subitling with the kit at home, If you like, although You’d have to provide both Transscripts and Transaltions. Credits easy, too.

I can make it read easy on the Net with Real Media/Windows Meida. Aye, You’ll see here!

Or Even Do a DVD! (I still testing mine that out but I have several Mates who can do this porfessionally, I’ll pay if you really want some for the First batch.)

Big Nutter
PM on details on trying to get your stuff Mab.

Which one is you or are you taking the photos, And do we see you in the final Product? (Exlcuding Credits under Gaffer)

Big Nutter
I want to do two posts, and but I don’t want to do My 1000 thead to soon.

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Looks pretty. One of my classes is doing this, except we have shitty gear and we’re all amateurs and suck.

Do you have any sound equipment recommendations for me? >>

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If you have any dialogue in the movie, record it on a dynamic microphone, using some form of boom mic. This will allow you to get the mic up close to your actor’s faces, so you can actually hear what they’re saying. This will be the only audio that will absolutely have to be in sync with the video while you are recording

For any other noises (foosteps, telephone rings, etc.), you don’t have to worry about recording them perfectly when you are filming. You can always record these sounds separately at a later date, or find sounds on the web to use. When you are editing the whole film together you can sync up these sounds with the video, and generally get a much better quality results.

Also, you probably want to record about a minute of “background static”. Just ask everyone around you to be quiet, and record the natural background noise of the area you’re filming at. This is useful if you ever have to cut out a section of audio, and need something to replace it with. It sounds VERY weird if you just take out a bit of audio, and the soundtrack cuts to dead silence.

Oh yeah, and when you’re recording with a microphone you’ll be recording with one channel of sound. You’ll probably have to double it up in post.

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That is nice! I wish I was that talented to make a movie of some sort. But hell, I am only talented in drawing, and even then it isn’t as good as others. But as many say “Practice makes perfect” so that is what I am doing, practicing many times a day!

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I sure hope you have a DA account >.>

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Well, I dont have a scanner, so that is a big problem! If somebody would like to donate a scanner to me rock on!

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:0 That is so awesome! That must have been a ton of fun, especially when the cops showed up. XD, the picture with the 3 cruisers is awesome, it must have been a slow day for them, ;P. Make sure you link us the finished movie. :smiley: