Covering up those walls!

sfoster

sfoster

Staff Member
Moderator
Turn plain white walls into a background at a real house!
Lets hear some ideas.

I'll begin..

1) A photo of the character and or/his friends framed on the wall.

2) An end table with a lamp. Or just a tall floor lamp.
 
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Alcove Audio said:
Sky… Foster… Behave yourselves!!!


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I think it's a bit silly on an indie board to answer peoples questions with "hire a person to do it for you"

I mean you could say that for pretty much anything, that could be every answer on the board.

I'm having a problem with my script.. hire a writer!!
How do I fix this pacing problem.. hire an editor!!
I want some dramatic lighting in this scene, how do I do it? .. hire a DP!!

I think a lot of us on here fill in pretty much every role and we are looking for ideas to help us fill in those roles.
 
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sfoster said:
If it is so impossible how did you come to this conclusion?

"A production designer can easily be one of the biggest differences in the final product that seperates you from an "indie" short and a quality short."
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Okay sfoster. Here, you want to know films that would have been horrible without production designers?

http://www.imdb.com/chart/top

Every single film on that list had a production designer. Every single film on that list was smart enough to know that a film with bad set design would have failed.

Here enjoy some PBS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS47EXccx3I

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I mean no offense by this, but if you are under the impression that a production designer isn't one of the major components of a crew than you are very wrong.

The vision of a film are formed by three people - Director, DP, and the Production Designer.

Question, do you think Harry Potter would have been successful if YOU did the set design? Do you think ANY of the movies on that top 250 would even be known if YOU had done the set design?
 
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SkyCopeland said:
Okay sfoster. Here, you want to know films that would have been horrible without production designers?

http://www.imdb.com/chart/top

Do you think ANY of the movies on that top 250 would even be known if YOU had done the set design?
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okay once again I have to call bullshit.
#1 on that list is Shawshank Redemption.

The fact that you think it would have been horrible without production designers is nothing short of absurd to me. It's a bunch of prison cells and barren walls with great acting and a fantastic story.

A RESOUNDING YES if I had been in charge of set design on shawshank it would still be known and it would still be a good movie.

It makes no sense to spend millions and millions on a movie and not hire a production designer. Just like it makes no sense to only have $1,000 to spend on a short and to spend that on a production designer.

I'm not saying I don't think it's important or deserves attention. Hell I made a thread about it, we're in it right now.

A barren white wall doesn't make for a very dynamic or engaging image. But I don't think its the biggest difference. Lighting is a bigger difference. Acting is a bigger difference. Music is a bigger difference. The list goes on in my mind.
 
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sfoster said:
okay once again I have to call bullshit.
#1 on that list is Shawshank Redemption.

The fact that you think it would have been horrible without production designers is nothing short of absurd to me. It's a bunch of prison cells and barren walls with great acting and a fantastic story.

A RESOUNDING YES if I had been in charge of set design on shawshank it would still be known and it would still be a good movie.

It makes no sense to spend millions and millions on a movie and not hire a production designer. Just like it makes no sense to only have $1,000 to spend on a short and to spend that on a production designer.

I'm not saying I don't think it's important or deserves attention. Hell I made a thread about it, we're in it right now.

A barren white wall doesn't make for a very dynamic or engaging image. But I don't think its the biggest difference. Lighting is a bigger difference. Acting is a bigger difference. Music is a bigger difference. The list goes on in my mind.
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I see there is no point in trying to convince you the value of production design then. You might as well just use a white blank wall, after all if your story and whatnot is great, then the short will be great no matter what is on the wall apparently.

Continue on the one-man filmmaker route and you'll eventually realize you're getting nowhere.
 
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The first short I ever made I spent a ton of time on set design. Nobody notice, nobody cared. They just said the jokes weren't funny so it sucked.

My mistake for trying comedy, it's just so pervasive on youtube.
I wasted so much time on that set design it's disgusting.
 
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sfoster said:
I see you've missed the entire point of my thread.
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No, you asked a "how long is a piece of string" question. The answer you got was best fitted for that. Set design relies on your story and characters.

You can't just say "Hey guys, I have some white walls, what kinds of things can I fill them with?" You need to break down the kind of people that live in that house.

What would your character fill those walls with?
How long have they lived there and been invested in those walls?
How old are they?
Are your characters big into family? pets? Fan of architecture?
Do they like music?
Were are they from?
What are their religious beliefs?

These are all questions that you could answer, they are all questions that a production designer would use to create the set design.

If you think just filling the space with stuff is the answer, than the answer to your thread is that you need a production designer.
 
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Back to the ideas:

) a calendar. like one of those big white dry erase-board calendars.

) a poster (or multiple posters) of something the character enjoys

) a large computer desk with a lot of stuff stacked on it
 
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SkyCopeland said:
No, you asked a "how long is a piece of string" question. The answer you got was best fitted for that. Set design relies on your story and characters.

You can't just say "Hey guys, I have some white walls, what kinds of things can I fill them with?" You need to break down the kind of people that live in that house.

What would your character fill those walls with?
How long have they lived there and been invested in those walls?
How old are they?
Are your characters big into family? pets? Fan of architecture?
Do they like music?
Were are they from?
What are their religious beliefs?

These are all questions that you could answer, they are all questions that a production designer would use to create the set design.

If you think just filling the space with stuff is the answer, than the answer to your thread is that you need a production designer.
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I think a list of stuff can be helpful. Lets say we come up with suggestions and we have a list of 50 different interesting looking things you can have on a wall.

That is a great resource! you could browse through that and one of them might resonate with your character.

It's actually not a "how long is a piece of string question" because I'm not looking for a single correct answer. I am looking for a variety of ideas! There have been contributions to this page to that end although so far none by you.
 
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mussonman said:
:lol: then what would APE ever have to discuss? (other than his dense point of view?)
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Kind of my point, there would be no discussion at all if that's how people approached every question!

:D

mussonman said:
Back to the ideas:

) a calendar. like one of those big white dry erase-board calendars.

) a poster (or multiple posters) of something the character enjoys

) a large computer desk with a lot of stuff stacked on it
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Posters would be nice although I'm always worried about copyright and legal issues. :no:
I'd love to be able to have movie posters and stuff.
 
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Without knowing the story or the characters, we can only guess. Could be swords, musket or shotgun. Could have a stack of empty beer cans. Could be a noose if the person was depressed. Pictures could range from Playboy centerfolds to those of the Three Stooges to Einstein, but may have copyright issues. Why not wallpaper? A mantle with an urn. A huge wide screen television.

The list goes on, but it is hard to know what you want or the mood.
 
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I'd love to be able to have movie posters and stuff.
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I've given other indie movies permission to use a Surviving Family poster, and I know other indie producers who have done the same. No, you're not going to get permission to use a poster from The Godfather, etc, but you could certainly have some fun with movies.
 
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mlesemann said:
I've given other indie movies permission to use a Surviving Family poster, and I know other indie producers who have done the same. No, you're not going to get permission to use a poster from The Godfather, etc, but you could certainly have some fun with movies.
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That's a good point. I'm filming tomorrow so it's a bit late but I'll definitely keep that in mind for next time.
 
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You could make your own posters. They don't have to be movie posters. They could be sexy women in bikinis, FAKE movies, Nazi Propaganda, Travel Posters, Event/Concert Posters, Affirmation posters, motivational, etc.
 
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mussonman said:
You could make your own posters. They don't have to be movie posters. They could be sexy women in bikinis, FAKE movies, Nazi Propaganda, Travel Posters, Event/Concert Posters, Affirmation posters, motivational, etc.
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You'd think there would be a website that sells stuff like this without copyright/trademark strings attached.
 
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