A dance scene.

[Aspiring Mogul]

I was browsing youtube and came across this scene, so it inspired me to adapt for one of my budding stories. It's the end of the interstellar war, and everyone is celebrating. For some reason, the current fashion is retro-style, so they're into the 1930's and 1940's big bands.

I wrote this draft, and I felt good doing it. Writing is truly my creative passion.

Adapted from Swing Dance (1943) with Ms Jean Veloz.



The soldiers, male and female are gathered at the dance hall to celebrate the end of the war. Many are in uniform, but some, obviously the partners of those in uniform, are in civvies. At the far end is the symphony. One male soldier, in green army uniform, is seated, playing “L’il Marlene”, on his harmonica.



Then the band suddenly strikes out Glen Miller’s “In the mood”. A male, in army uniform, comes out and starts dancing. Then a female, in civilian skirt, comes out and joins him. They do some swing dance moves, while everyone watches, then the female twirls the first male to the side. A second male, in space fleet uniform, joins her, and the twirl, even as the first male dances at the side.



The second male then twirls the first female to the side, and, while she and the first male dance and watch, a second female comes up to the second male, and both take centre stage.



Then everyone turns to their partners, and they start holding hands and dancing – some couples are male and female, while others are male and male or female and female.

Out of curiosity, how much would it cost to film a short like this?

 

[Aspiring Mogul]

Idk what rushing has to do with anything. I'm just pointing out you are acting like an aspiring artist instead of an apsiring mogul.
You have an idea that you came up with and you like it and want to create it. But creating things is what artists do.

Then I'm an aspiring artist.

 

[Unknown Screenwriter]

It's STILL all about distribution... LOL. Nothing's really changed.

 

[sfoster]

Then I'm an aspiring artist.

That being the case you should definitely look to build experience, it's really crucial.

I think that you should lower the standard you have in mind for visual effects and compromise in order to tell a story.
You can do DECENT spacecraft effects and stuff for a reasonable amont of money. It's not the 80s anymore.

there are students and hobbists that would be hired for much cheaper than a professional house and the quality of the work is watchable.
The trick is to think like a low budget indie film maker and get the most bang for your buck out of the fewest possible vfx scenarios.

One example is that Lost in Space show on netflix.. a sci-fi space show but like 95% of the show they are stranded on a planet.
Super low budget wilderness for 95% of the show... and then splurged sci-fi vfx for 5% of the story to draw in the viewers.

They did that trick on the old star trek show a lot too.
Hell even that CW show "The 100" has a similar tactic.

I loved the old BBC show "Red Dwarf" and that was quite low budget, the animation wasn't great but it was good enough to tell the story.

 

[sfoster]

The guy that made this was an old member here mussonman, it was basically 0 budget bc he did all the effects himself

That is just whats possible with one person doing everything, if you hired someone to just focus on the effects alone you could have it look a little better. not hollywood quality but enough to tell a short story or a scene from the feature film. just getting some experiencing of doing one scene and seeing your writing on the screen and how it plays out is invaluable.

 

[Nate North]

To give a practical example of what Sean is referring to, SFX production cost is in large part about frame time, and asset quality. I dropped my quality expectations by about 35%, and my frame time (the time it takes to produce each frame of animation) dropped by about 95%. Accomplishing this is very complicated, but if you're serious about producing sci fi on a budget, it's obviously worthwhile. Scenes that once took me two weeks to pull off can now be done in a day, and that makes all the difference in the world.

I'd also note that there is no need to go to extremes, such as cutting out sfx completely. You can optimize and become more efficient, which tends to make impossible things become practical.

 

[Aspiring Mogul]

By the way, when I was watching "12 O'clock High", where Gregory Peck was the lead actor, I kept thinking that, since he was in England, he better be careful or he could be running into The Omen.