Producing a new short about a mother son duo who are spending the last few days of summer vacation outdoors but the mom doesn’t want the trip to end. It’s another shortie about 4 pages only thing is we want to shoot late Feb. Do y'all think it’s possible to achieve the effect of summer through coloring ? Or maybe global warming will work in our favor here lol. There’s two major scenes outdoors so I’m also a little worried about having a child film in the cold outdoors. Any tips or thoughts are appreciated.
locations Making the Winter feel like Summer
- Thread starter amayagrace5
- Start date
Personally I wouldn't want to have a kid in the winter outdoors wearing summer t-shirts, the idea seems fundamentally problematic and there are so many stories to tell. Maybe there is another reason the Mom doesn't want to go home - besides the weather? Something more personal she is avoiding.
To answer your question, yes it's possible the weather will be nice, and there are some trees that are green all year, called evergreen you could film with. You'd have to do location scouting and be prepared to cancel the shoot if the weather turns.
To answer your question, yes it's possible the weather will be nice, and there are some trees that are green all year, called evergreen you could film with. You'd have to do location scouting and be prepared to cancel the shoot if the weather turns.
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How flexible are the scenes? Are they dialogue-driven, so that you can adjust where they take place?
I'm thinking something like this, especially in terms of not putting a child out in the cold in skimpy clothes:
Situate the mother and child on the balcony of a beach-y (oceanfront/bayfront or damn close), looking out at the water.
Rent or borrow the type of outdoor heaters that restaurants use to make outdoor dining viable in January
(NOTE: they're common here in NJ and in NYC at least, and I first encountered one in Toronto 20 or so years ago).
You should be able to warm them up enough to shoot the scene fairly comfortably, then separately shoot the ocean that they're looking out at.
Yeah, you'll have to tweak the color a bit, but it shouldn't be too extreme.
I'm thinking something like this, especially in terms of not putting a child out in the cold in skimpy clothes:
Situate the mother and child on the balcony of a beach-y (oceanfront/bayfront or damn close), looking out at the water.
Rent or borrow the type of outdoor heaters that restaurants use to make outdoor dining viable in January
(NOTE: they're common here in NJ and in NYC at least, and I first encountered one in Toronto 20 or so years ago).
You should be able to warm them up enough to shoot the scene fairly comfortably, then separately shoot the ocean that they're looking out at.
Yeah, you'll have to tweak the color a bit, but it shouldn't be too extreme.
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It’s a forest and located in the hill country we’re looking to location scout soon around the canyon lake area.
Yes she doesn’t want him to go back to school because she wants him to stay with her. My thought is maybe it could still be winter and it’s the next semester ? She’s kinda a helicopter mom and doesn’t want to her child to be without her. The story ends when a man (presumably the dad) calls the cops on her for “kidnapping” her son. We are still in the early stage and open to script changes. I agree that it’s problematic because the little boy is suppose to be 7 and I can’t imagine a mom being okay with their son being in the cold. The problem with shooting is nature is the spot could possibly be obsolete and hard to access. The only way i can see it working is if we have a heated van on standby for breaks. Truthfully I’ve never worked with children so I’m not sure how to go about it. I’m hoping that god will grace me with a mother son acting duo LOL ,but I doubt that’s realistic. It’s just too hard to predict the weather but maybe there’s a way to alter the script to make it work ?
Sounds to me like you have a good story right there.
There could be a million reasons a Mom doesn't want to let go of her son.
I'm just spitballing, here is one possible variation.
A deadbeat no-good dad got his life together, and after 7 years has finally convinced the court to give him joint custody.
The mom doesn't trust the dad and doesn't think it's fair to lose her son after raising him.
I NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT HEATERS!!! That’s an awesome idea. It’s based on the hill country, but I think the propane based heaters would work well for this situation. The other half of the scenes take place in a motel room. The script is very action driven over dialogue. The director comes from a DP background so the scenes are based on imagery more than anything.
Maybe I should just mark off a week for potential shoot dates? What do you think ?
Absolutely I love that idea. A lot of the context I think won’t be able to be represented with dialogue because the director wants to keep it short. But I’ll definitely bring this to the director
Thanks. In some ways it's more interesting if the location is uncomfortable but she's still clinging to it.
It makes the audience wonder why.
It sounds like you could go either way with how the location is.
That's perfect to be flexible, maybe if it rains this could be your backup plan
Good luck!