Making 1 Apartment look like 2

[Sulaco]

I wasn't sure if this is the right place to put this, but no harm in trying to I figured why not.

The problem I'm faced with is this: I have one apartment, but I want to make it look like two. By that I mean... in one scene, it looks like it belongs to a 20-something guy, but in another scene I want it to look like one that would belong to say... a mother and her daughter.

Other than just dressing the apartment differently, which seems like the obvious route to go, does anyone have any other ideas for making it look different?

Are methods such as flipping the footage after it's shot (making sure continuity is ok) or lighting it differently enough to be noticeable all that I can do? I suspect to the average viewer they would still be able to tell it's the same apartment...

Any tips would be great

 

[oakstreetphotovideo]

Flipping the footage could make trouble for you, as some things (like lettering) look wrong when they're backwards.

If you shoot towards different sides of the apartment in the different scenes, you'll have different geometry. My last idea, since you already pointed out the obvious ones, would be to change the color balance between scenes. Maybe the kid would have a colder hue (bluish, or greenish like the Matrix), and the girls apartment would have a warmer tone.

One more idea, along the same lines would be to change the lighting dramatically. The girls apartment would be bright and warm, and the boys apartment would be dark and cool. If you light it right, you could make it look like the 20-something guy is living in a dimly lit studio apartment, where the two women were living in a much more spacious, bright, inviting space.

I think you can pull it off quite convincingly. I've pulled off some things that I was sure nobody would buy, but no one even noticed.

Doug

 

[spinner]

Possibly shoot all your 'mother-daughter' scenes in the room from one direction.

When it is time to shoot '20-something-guy', move all the furniture, possibly change all the furniture and shoot from the opposite direction.

Hope you have big guys on your set to help

-- spinner

 

[Sulaco]

Oakstreet: Your idea of making the 2 apartments different coloured in terms of light is a good idea, and mixed with spinner's idea would be sufficient I think.

spinner: Moving furniture isn't as hard as you'd think fortunately! There is little here... which is part of the problem >_< But shooting it from a certain angle and moving everything does sound like a good idea, except for the moving everything part.

I might do some experimentation (during the day time... neighbors wouldn't like me doing that now at 5:48 AM I think) and see how much different it all looks.