Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Coming Soon
Coming Soon will be a post about film equipment, lighting equipment, and different software. These articles will go indepth about different equipment, and what's best for a beginner or a professional.
The Complete Filmmaking Process
Ok, so i'm back after a break. This post is about preparing to create a film. Creating a film is not an easy task by any mean, and there are many things that can contribute to creating a film. First off, you are going to need to come up with a plot/idea that you can then write a script about. This can be anything you want as your imagination is limitless. Once you have an idea/plot, go ahead and create your script. If you need help either creating a plot/idea or writing a script consult my older posts on those two topics. So you now have a script. Now what you should do, is create something that is called a storyboard. A storyboard is something that shows what your vision for each scene will look like. Normally you would pick a few shots per scene, and draw them. Using the angles/lighting/color that you would want it to look like. After you have created a storyboard most directors/filmmakers will create costume designs and scenic designs for every character/scene. Sometimes the director will hire another person to do this because it is his/her specialty. These will help in the creation of the set/scene and the costumes. Another thing that the director will do is create a master prop list for the film. Than they themselves or someone else will go scavanging for props, or they will make them out of materials or junk. This is probably the most fun job because you literally get to play with toys. After this the director will then either hold auditions or choose actors to portray the characters he invisioned.
Everything before this was the pre-production process. The audition process is the most challenging because you not always can take everyone who you liked and it might altogether be impossible to find that spot on actor who can portray the character exactly to what you invisioned. With this process you normally have to stretch and skew your perception of a character to fit the actor.
So you have a script, you have the costumes, you have a set, and you got the actors. Now you need to make sure you have the proper camera and equipment to shoot this film. Just so i can go more in depth on equipment, i am going to skip over that for now. And I will definitely post an in depth review of a lot of different types of equipment and what is and is not necessary. So lets just say that you have a camera, and every other type of equipment that you will need. So now its time to shoot your film. Shooting your film is the easiest and hardest thing to do at the same time. Its the easiest because it only involves pressing a button on your camera, and moving it around occasionally. But it's the hardest thing to do because you have to get the right angle, and you have to make sure the lighting looks the way you want it to, and you have to make sure that there is no background noise, etc. This is the reason it is the easiest and the hardest thing at the same time.
So you now have shot your film, and your ready to edit the film. If you are planning on releasing this film to either your school or another group, but you want to release a trailer, I will put out an article on how to create a trailer. But otherwise just go ahead and start editing your film. There is something called continuity. Continuity in the film world relates to how smooth your film is. Also if you have one shot where the actor is wearing a bright green shirt, and in the next shot he is wearing a blue shirt, and the shots are one right after another, and it is supposed to be in the same scene, that isn't good because you can't change the color of your shirt in a split second. So make sure everything is the same. Don't be OCD about it, but make sure all of the obvious things aren't obvious. Chances are that the average audience won't look hard enough to detect the small little details. After you have the rough cut done of the film, now its time to add your special effects, music, titles, etc. These are all things that go in the final process of editing. Once this is done, if this is possible for you, you want to try and use a DVD menu creating program and create a DVD menu. I use iDVD which came with my iMac. This program works fine, as it does have pre programmed themes, but it also allows you to customize pretty much everything about the theme. In the few times that I have used iDVD, the reaction was amazing. I will talk more about these type of programs in my software post.
Now you have your film shot, edited, and burned to a DVD. Now all that's left is popping the popcorn and getting out the drinks, and now its time to sit back, relax, and enjoy!
Everything before this was the pre-production process. The audition process is the most challenging because you not always can take everyone who you liked and it might altogether be impossible to find that spot on actor who can portray the character exactly to what you invisioned. With this process you normally have to stretch and skew your perception of a character to fit the actor.
So you have a script, you have the costumes, you have a set, and you got the actors. Now you need to make sure you have the proper camera and equipment to shoot this film. Just so i can go more in depth on equipment, i am going to skip over that for now. And I will definitely post an in depth review of a lot of different types of equipment and what is and is not necessary. So lets just say that you have a camera, and every other type of equipment that you will need. So now its time to shoot your film. Shooting your film is the easiest and hardest thing to do at the same time. Its the easiest because it only involves pressing a button on your camera, and moving it around occasionally. But it's the hardest thing to do because you have to get the right angle, and you have to make sure the lighting looks the way you want it to, and you have to make sure that there is no background noise, etc. This is the reason it is the easiest and the hardest thing at the same time.
So you now have shot your film, and your ready to edit the film. If you are planning on releasing this film to either your school or another group, but you want to release a trailer, I will put out an article on how to create a trailer. But otherwise just go ahead and start editing your film. There is something called continuity. Continuity in the film world relates to how smooth your film is. Also if you have one shot where the actor is wearing a bright green shirt, and in the next shot he is wearing a blue shirt, and the shots are one right after another, and it is supposed to be in the same scene, that isn't good because you can't change the color of your shirt in a split second. So make sure everything is the same. Don't be OCD about it, but make sure all of the obvious things aren't obvious. Chances are that the average audience won't look hard enough to detect the small little details. After you have the rough cut done of the film, now its time to add your special effects, music, titles, etc. These are all things that go in the final process of editing. Once this is done, if this is possible for you, you want to try and use a DVD menu creating program and create a DVD menu. I use iDVD which came with my iMac. This program works fine, as it does have pre programmed themes, but it also allows you to customize pretty much everything about the theme. In the few times that I have used iDVD, the reaction was amazing. I will talk more about these type of programs in my software post.
Now you have your film shot, edited, and burned to a DVD. Now all that's left is popping the popcorn and getting out the drinks, and now its time to sit back, relax, and enjoy!
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