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 #174
Sometimes, motion tracking doesn’t work. Unless you or someone you know is a total whiz at it, don’t count on motion tracking to make up for what you can fix on set. Look at all signs, glass, mirrored surfaces, visible roads, etc.
A lot of people forget to check glass doors and windows to see what’s showing in the reflections.
Even cars that are clean can reflect unwanted things.
I was on one shoot where reflective cars kept showing traffic going by. Moved a couple of cars in the way and shazam!
Was in another shoot where the whole crew was visible in a mirror in the background dressing of a set. Once we saw that, we moved everything a little bit and voila (or maybe we simply covered the mirror).
In both cases, correcting that in post would have been a real headache.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #172
If you’re shooting after dark, be sure you’ve visited the set after dark. Know where all the random sources of light are coming from and try to deal with them in advance. A crazy night of playing “avoid the neighbor’s porch light” could have been easily handled by a visit to them a couple days before to arrange for the bulb to be pulled for that night.
This one I learned on the set of “The Statement of Randolph Carter.”
Low-budget filmmaking tip #161
If you think an invisible monster is dumb, or not scary at all, watch “The Fiend Without a Face” or “Forbidden Planet.” You can chuckle at the reveals, but never underestimate the power of imagination, when spiced with good sound, good music, good acting, and maybe a little on-set trick or two.
Fact is, “Forbidden Planet” gave me nightmares for a few days after watching it. Admittedly, I was a kid, but still…
It could be argued that holding off on showing a monster is a way of building tension.
However…
I might be off-base here, but I think trying to fabricate “suspense” by not showing the monster is a cheap-ass trick.
One can hold off showing a monster until the end and yet have no suspense at all, or, show the monster right away and still manage to tell a fine suspenseful tale.
This is not to say that “holding out on the monster” can’t be suspenseful, but I’ve run across more than a few people out there who just automatically think that one should not show the monster until the end simply to produce suspense.
This, I think, is simply stabbing the horse in both eyes with wooden shards from the cart’s wheels.
A lot of people mention “Jaws,” and I think that’s a great example. The suspense in that movie had nothing whatsoever to do with what the shark looked like. We knew from the very beginning that it was a shark. We even saw it kill that chick. Right away. The movie was suspenseful (and I’d say masterful), but the suspense had nothing to do with what the shark looked like, how big it was, etc.
On the other hand, “The Blair Witch Project” never ever showed the “monster.” Was that a suspenseful movie? Was it riveting? Would it have been better if the “monster” had been revealed at the end?
A couple years ago, I saw a Korean monster movie called “The Host.” While it has a lot of flaws, I’ll give it kudos for bringing the monster out right near the beginning. I found it very weirdly structured, but also very suspenseful (I expect I’m a bit of a mutant, here).
One also ought to have a solid respect for the material, if not the entire enclosing genre, lest one end up with sparkling vampires…
…an experiment, however, that could just as easily resulted in “a groundbreaking ass-kick to a stale genre trope,” I might add.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #160
There’s a reason ordinary people don’t do explosive squibs all the time — because it’s so easy to screw up. And there’s a reason there isn’t a lot of practical effects that ivolve plugging into the AC mains — because that’s a lot of power going into one human being. And there’s a really, really, really good reason these two things aren’t ever combined, and that reason is Leave the special effects to Hollywood.
Thank you, Brian Oberquell for the hilarious link!
Picture is not related, but funny nonetheless.
And NEVER put your hand over a squib effect!
Low-budget filmmaking tip #150
If you’re going to use a puppet or build a model to be manipulated with strings or wires, make the strings removable at the model or puppet, so that if you’re doing a shot that doesn’t need this or that wire, you can physically remove it. Every wire attached to the apparatus must either be taut or gone.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #143
If you have a pyrotechnical device, never leave the arming key in the firing system if you have to walk away from it… NO EXCEPTIONS. And yes, you have an arming key, the removal of which will make the effect impossible to trigger. Of course you do.
(thanks to Brian Oberquell!)
And of course, the only person with the arming key is the pyro effects person. Don’t just hand it to someone.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #134
For certain types of shots, recognize when more is better and communicate that to your crew. For example, more gore, more blood, more vomit, more air coming out of the wind machine. Sometimes subtlety is the right trick, and other times, you need to use the big extra-puffy hammer.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #133
You might think having a setpiece that consists of video monitors tracking action all over a location is a cool thing, and in a lot of ways it can be, but think of each one of those video feeds as a completely separate short movie you have to make before you make the movie. Unless you’re better at doing bluescreen than I am. Which probably isn’t hard.
And do I need to remind us all that security camera footage does NOT have cuts and dissolves and angles in it. If you’re going to show security camera footage, then grab a Handicam or something, jam it up in a corner, lock it down, and shoot some real-looking security camera footage.
It’s tedious, yeah, but it’s not hard.
Low-budget filmmaking tip #108
If you’re filming something that’s supposed to take place when it’s raining, get everything wet. Roads, sets, actors, everything. People might or might not notice rain on the video, but they will notice things not being wet.
If it’s cloth, sometimes you can get away with murder, but if it’s vinyl or a rainslicker, or a windshield, you’d better plan on sprinkling it, because people will notice.