Low-budget filmmaking tip #194
Review the location before showing up ready to shoot. The fewer surprises the better.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #193
Seriously, respect fire. Fire is a special effect that can burn you and things that you love. Fire effects are often powered by propane, which can burn you and a lot of things that you love in a wide radius. Always know where the fire extinguishers are.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #192
LED lights are pricey, but they’re a lot cooler than incandescents. They won’t burn your fingers or melt gels.
Remember to white balance!
Low-budget filmmaking tip #191
Don’t get mad on set. Seriously, there is nothing getting mad on set will solve, except how to free up more time for hobbies after this production when people stop working for you. If a problem comes up, solve it. If you can’t solve it, ask for help. If no one can solve it, find a way to work around it.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #190
If you’re filming a miniature, flood the bastard with as much light as you can without starting fires or flipping breakers. Iris down to darken. Don’t go the other way ’round or it’ll look like a miniature. If you’re unsure of this, watch the opening sequence of Logan’s Run. Fatten up that Depth of Field!
One trick I’ve tried before was to put the camera farther away and zoom in, which also kind of helps that depth-of-field issue, but I was told by one fella that this wasn’t a very good idea….
Low-budget filmmaking tip #189
Recording live sound at a beach is problematic at best. Beaches are great places for action scenes, fight scenes, and dialogue-free contemplative scenes. Anything that requires sound is going to sound like crap. If you must do dialogue at a beach, plan for ADR.
If you have a higher budget, you can afford someone who knows sound well enough to do it.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #188
Filming an outdoor scene in bright sunlight’s not all it’s cracked up to be — shadows are harsh and sharp, and everybody bakes. If you film in hazy overcast, shadows are softer, sometimes gone, and everybody’s cooler. You can always color-correct the footage, but you can’t fix shadows.
Well, you can fill ‘em a bit with reflectors, so you’re not totally helpless.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #187
If you’re shooting after dark, find out who can see your set. A neighbor who doesn’t care about a day shoot might object strongly to a 1k light shining in the kids’ bedroom window.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #186
If you read through your entire script out loud, chances are excellent that every single place you stumbled on the dialogue can be cut without hurting the story. Unless you’ll be breathing-for-effect, don’t write dialogue bigger than a single breath can handle.
A lot of people make the mistake of solving things by throwing more dialogue into the script. When we do so, we are buying into the false idea that “writing” is only what the actors say.
I saw the same thing in comics — people seemed to believe that the writer was the person who wrote the words in the word balloons.
It simply never occurs to them that a comic’s writing is the whole story.
Same as all those award-winning animated shorts. All those adorable little shorts of birds on telephone wires, or nudging each other on branches, or kids in sandboxes — all of those were written. Yet no dialogue.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #185
The lights are hot enough to melt parts of the camera body, as well as melt or ignite other materials nearby. Watch those close shots and if you smell something burning, pay attention to it right then.
For example: don't do this!