filming shorts with friends

[ASHREY]

hey all.

new guy to the forum and to film making. hello!

I'm going to attempt to film a short film script I've been working on in the coming weeks (hopefully).
Its my first attempt at making anything out side of high school. And is my first attempt at something I've written.
I'm fairly proud of the script, and the vision i have for the film i think has potential. If anything, to be enjoyable.
I'm planning to use my friends as the actors, and they are all keen to help out.
but there is quite a bit of dialogue and a 'mood' for the film. and i don't know if my mates will be able to pull it off in the way I'm would like it to be performed. yet, we are both equally inexperienced and untrained so who am i to say there not good enough?

just wanting to know if anyone has used there close mates to star for them and how it turned out?

thanks.


NOTE:
I'm gonna go ahead with making it anyways.

 

[MichaelAzzopardi]

I'm in the same boat too. Am currently finishing off filming my very first film and I have used workmates and friends as the actors.

I'm happy (as much as I could be on my first attempt) with how it is coming out. And I guess when you look at other shorts made by people who use "proper" actors, you CAN see a definite difference between them, but at least this gives you a few 'pointers' for next time around.

The whole experience has showed me what I need to do more as a Director in the future. It's the old adage of 'if you don't tell people where they are going wrong, then how are they supposed to know'.

It's all a learning curve, I guess. And a VERY steep one at that.

Good luck with the filming, please let us know how you get on.

Michael

 

[countevil]

Well it depends how convincing actors your friends are. You may be lucky and have a friend who's brilliant or it could go the other way.

It can go extremely badly, because you're working with frinds they won't nescecarily see you as a serious filmmaker. They'll see you as their friend, so they may not take it seriously and that can show on camera. Sometimes you see indie films with actors who have a smirk on their face or have very unreal expressions.

If you want a better quality of acting go to your local college, school or drama group and get some ameture actors to work for you.

It's great though that you have friends willing to help you.

 

[ASHREY]

I'm in the same boat too. Am currently finishing off filming my very first film and I have used workmates and friends as the actors.

I'm happy (as much as I could be on my first attempt) with how it is coming out. And I guess when you look at other shorts made by people who use "proper" actors, you CAN see a definite difference between them, but at least this gives you a few 'pointers' for next time around.

The whole experience has showed me what I need to do more as a Director in the future. It's the old adage of 'if you don't tell people where they are going wrong, then how are they supposed to know'.

It's all a learning curve, I guess. And a VERY steep one at that.

Good luck with the filming, please let us know how you get on.

Michael

yeah I'm most defiantly going to be looking at it as a learning curve.
get some hands on experience!! I can't wait!

Well it depends how convincing actors your friends are. You may be lucky and have a friend who's brilliant or it could go the other way.

It can go extremely badly, because you're working with frinds they won't nescecarily see you as a serious filmmaker. They'll see you as their friend, so they may not take it seriously and that can show on camera. Sometimes you see indie films with actors who have a smirk on their face or have very unreal expressions.

If you want a better quality of acting go to your local college, school or drama group and get some ameture actors to work for you.

It's great though that you have friends willing to help you.

i don't know if I have the confidence just yet to work with a unfamiliar and possibly talented cast.
I'm hoping this outing will help build that confidence for next time!

yeah my mates think it will be a lot of fun. as do i!



thanks heaps guys.

 

[barnaclelapse]

Well, I think the most important thing is to just get out there and try to put something together. You obviously can't learn without doing and learning to make the best of what you've got is likely a pretty big part of that learning curve.

All I can really do is wish you luck and admit that I'm pretty jealous.

 

[Alcove Audio]

Preproduce, preproduce, preproduce!!!!!!!!

Be sure that you work out all of the technical details way in advance - lighting, sound, camera settings, etc. Professional actors are used to waiting around while technical problems are worked out. They don't like it any more than anyone else does, but it is a part of the profession and they are being paid. However, your friends are not professionals; they will easily become bored and feel that their time is being wasted, so be excruciatingly well prepared. That way when they arrive on the set it's all about them and they will maintain whatever focus they may have.

 

[indietalk]

"Equally untrained" will show more on camera than off (That's debatable, but you are the director, and you sound like you know what you want.). If you are using your friends as actors and don't think they can pull it off, cast the film properly. All it takes is a craigslist or similar post.

Sounds like you are trying to take your films to the next level. So do it.

 

[sunchaser]

perhaps an idea is to use your friends and do a no frills production as a learning experience and then it will give you the confidence to do your film with a more experienced cast.

 

[ASHREY]

hey guys.

late update.

a couple of weeks back i got a couple of mates around to try a shot a some scenes.

did not work

i gave up trying to do the script about 20mins in. it was not going well. it was very cringeworthy! so we just decided to make stuff up and shoot it as we go, it wasn;t serious or anything. its was heaps of fun and didn't turn out too awful either!

i'm kinda glad in a way, because now i can keep this script on the shelf until i have some more experience and more options to be able to facilitate it. to try and make it the film i see it to be!

thanks for all the comments
xo

 

[John@Bophe]

ASHREY -- a while back I posted a similar question and the thread got a lot of very valuable replies. Try reading through this one -- http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=8820

Anyway -- good luck! All of our movies have been made just by pulling in friends for the acting roles. Its worked out pretty well so far, but we tend to go light on the dialogue and more with the visual. Perhaps that might work out for those friends who may not be great at delivering lines.