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Fan Filmmaker's Primer

JE Smith said:
So my question is: what techniques/gadgets/tips are there for no-budget/fan films to try (again, beyond the obvious deadcat) and cut wind/outside mic noise as much as humanly possible?
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Beyond the obvious you can flag the mics. It's the wind hitting the mics that creates most of the racket, just like when an actor pops a "P". You need to minimize the airflow hitting the mic.

JE Smith said:
A lot of great points there -- but as with many things in the no-budget/fan area, it's not something you can always afford to hand over. And for me, personally, editing is where the real fun comes in, and it starts to really feel "real." I consider myself a better editor than a director, frankly, but in both cases, I'm all I can afford and/or count on. :ack:
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Oh, I agree. It's certainly not practical in a lot of circumstances for the director not to edit the show, especially on small crew/no-budget films . On the other hand, oftentimes a fresh pair of eyes does indeed result in a fresh approach. In the case of TTI's 4th Act part of the problem was the people who directed and produced it were too close to the material to see how it should go together, and I was the fresh pair of eyeballs on that.
 
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Here's a page full of neat stuff which I think a lot of fan filmmakers could learn from.

The ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ 1-Page Film School (link)

The included resources are: 17 embedded Videos and 9 downloadable PDFs. They are all compiled below to create a detailed and informative database showcasing Raiders of the Lost Ark’s intricate components. It covers: Directing, Film Editing, Cinematography, Screenwritiing, Sound Design and Music. It’s not something that can be consumed in one sitting…so take your time and chunk away when you can. Please enjoy my first ‘1-Page Film School’ with its amazing insights into the Craft of Filmmaking!
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Not that I think many really still looks at this, but in the event anyone is, here's a cool little video essay on "The Art of the Gag" which—even if you aren't doing comedy—is valuable for its observations about staging action to surprise an audience, and the importance of the single uncut take in selling the reality of a moment on film.

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​
 
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I still watch for each new post, so thank you for continuing to post new stuff.

I actually found a link to some sound design videos but since it was post production, I figured it wouldn't fit in with this thread.
 
No, it would be fine for this thread. At one point someone talked about doing a post-production thread, but as it never came to pass, please.
 
There is a permanent link to this thread from my collection of links for fan film producers. And that is a frequently visited page at my website.
 
Thanks, Maurice. The videos I found are actually specific to post production sound design for sound effects. Hope that is ok. These are a series of videos by Mark Edward Lewis of how he designed the sounds for Axanar. They may have already been posted elsewhere on the boards, but I thought the info would fit in here nicely for fan filmmakers. Here's the link to a page with all the videos, seven of them Star Trek specific and some other more general ones.

http://markedwardlewis.com/wp/knowledge-base/#!prettyPhoto[portfolio]/1/
 
In the "Art of the Gag" video a few posts back there's mention of the importance of staging certain kinds of scenes in a single cut. Next, here's a discussion of the "oner" (that pronounced "wun-er") as practiced by Spielberg, with some good observations on why his single shot scenes are both effective and invisible.

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Maurice said:
In the "Art of the Gag" video a few posts back there's mention of the importance of staging certain kinds of scene in a single cut. Next, here's a discussion of the "oner" (that pronounced "wun-er") as practiced by Spielberg, with some good observations on why his single shot scenes are both effective and invisible.

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q4X2vDRfRk[/yt]​
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Aaron Sorken Dramas have a similar shooting device called the "Walk and Talk"...

I imagine that given the limited sets and lighting capabilities of most fan films, this type of long moving, drawn out shot, would be very difficult/impossible to do....
 
^^^A "Walk and Talk" is an extended take, but it's more like the Jaws example in the video than most of the others. If shooting on location in daylight this kind of thing is fairly easy to do, albeit it requires a lot of blocking.

To me "drawn out" is colloquially pejorative, so I wouldn't call a "oner" drawn out unless it was actually overlong.

Here's an example of a single shot in a set with a fairly simple set of camera moves, and something any film with a big enough 3-wall set could do:

 
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JE Smith said:
Outside sound. ...So my question is: what techniques/gadgets/tips are there for no-budget/fan films to try (again, beyond the obvious deadcat) and cut wind/outside mic noise as much as humanly possible?
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This might be of help as well:

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A succinct analysis of a tricky to use well but overused today shot type.

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Thanks, Maurice, for continuing to add informative posts to this thread. It is greatly appreciated.
 
So, let's talk about something that could be very useful to fan filmmakers, which is how to cover a scene in a single shot rather than shooting a lot of coverage.

ENSEMBLE STAGING v. COVERAGE

Many if not most fanfilms have rather perfunctory shooting schedules. One of many potential negatives resulting from this is limited time to get as many takes as you'd like, and certainly not as many setups.

But there's actually a practical potential upside to this. Instead of rushing to do a bunch of different setups, why not try to get everything in a oner (one-er)? You can do this in a master shot, or, more specifically, via Ensemble Staging.
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Now to do something like this you really need to carefully block the scene and any camera moves. This takes time. But it doesn't really take any more time than it would take to do more traditional coverage (master, medium closeup, closeup, etc.). In fact, if you do it well, it can actually save you time because all you need is one good take and you have the scene or that chunk of the scene.

The danger with covering a scene this way is that if something doesn't work when you're editing, you effectively have nothing to cut to. You're left with no practical method for adjusting the scene's pacing or picking the best line reads from a bunch of coverage. So, as always, it's a risk v. reward balance.
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Maurice said:
Not that I think many really still looks at this, but in the event anyone is, here's a cool little video essay on "The Art of the Gag" which—even if you aren't doing comedy—is valuable for its observations about staging action to surprise an audience, and the importance of the single uncut take in selling the reality of a moment on film.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
​
Click to expand...
Speaking of Keaton, here's an example of a brilliant sight gag comedy built into an elaborate sequence. One thing to pay attention to is how he caps bits of business, often leading you to expect one result, then doing something unexpected. Again, even if you're not doing comedy, "surprise" is a really effective technique.

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Click THIS to jump right to the big chase sequence described below​

In the film above, called Seven Chances (1925) Buster has to be married by 7pm to collect a $7 million inheritance, and when word of this gets out a bevy of wanna-be brides show , but then become vengeful when they're told (incorrectly) it's a prank. (Remade as the bomb The Bachelor in 1999. Chris O'Donnel's no Buster.)
 
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publiusr said:
I loved 12 Angry Men--you didn't see the same set-up twice. With enough shooting locations--there is no camera.
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Great use of camera in a very limiting circumstance. Also, note the use of costuming to emphasize where people stand on the issues; unity and divisiveness are reinforced by who wears what when.
 
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