Post - Apocalyptic Enviroment

R

RED ROBOT

I'm working on a post - apocalyptic short film.

I've always wanted to make it but they destroyed almost all the abondoned buildings I could've shoot in .


Do you have any tricks or ideas on how I can recreate the environment ?


I know that just walking around in the woods can do the job but for me it looks horrible and cheesy.
 
NickysFX said:
I'm working on a post - apocalyptic short film.

I've always wanted to make it but they destroyed almost all the abondoned buildings I could've shoot in .


Do you have any tricks or ideas on how I can recreate the environment ?


I know that just walking around in the woods can do the job but for me it looks horrible and cheesy.
Click to expand...

Mostly it is a combination of matte painting and integration of CG objects. If you always take a camera with you and just shoot reference shots whenever you see an abandoned building, you can quite easily get a limit on the scope of things you can do.

It just takes a lot of preparation. You need to be absolutely sure that you can use the interior of your favorite abandoned buildings. Then use vfx whenever you get outside. This is pretty much what the walking dead does. The forest and camping sequences are all in-camera. Postapocalyptic city stuff? Pretty much all matte paintings. Here's a breakdown of the effects: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y4Zute7ARY.

It takes a LOT more work to do a post-apo-indie film than a regular indie film, but the good thing is that if you are committed to your project, you can do a lot of the work in preproduction, before spending any hard cash on the actual production. Start modelling and texturing all the CG that you are absolutely certain you have to use. In the meantime, you can refine your story and work on getting locations. Once you got locations set, start prepping the matte paintings.
 
Yeah, I would shoot it in abandoned buildings. Without fancy CGI, you'll be limited in where you can put the camera, and what can be in the background, but I think you can still get the job done.
 
I'm pretty good at After Effects and Maya so I think I'll go for matte painting and some 3D work . I just thought doing it all practical could lead to a better results but it would probably cost a lot ...
 
According to the title of the thread, unless you are making a silent film, an environment is not just a picture or even a sequence of pictures, in modern film an environment is also what you hear!

In a forest for example how are you going to create an aural post apocalyptic environment? A light breeze through the leaves with birds singing and the sounds of wildlife in the background is not going to sound very post apocalyptic.

A large deserted building on the other hand provides great potential for a palette of creaks, drips and other useful sounds as well as a bleak/bare sounding reverb. You've still got to be ingenious with the background sound though, neither standard city nor rural ambiances will likely support the illusion of post apocalyptic.

G
 
Yes I totally forgot to ask advice about the sound.


As soon as I saw that your nick was the last one that posted I was like ' Oh shit ! I forgot the sound ! ' :D . But I really love to get creative in post once it comes for the sound .

There will be no dialogue in my film btw.


https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/522749_511471522232709_617765220_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/481684_511466518899876_2121619163_n.jpg


My masks and costumes came today . I did these test shots , however I'm pretty short :D so it looks odd to me , but once I play with the costumes a bit more and my actor actually wears them as he is a lot taller I think it will look nicer :) .

Thanks for the replies btw !
 
NickysFX said:
I really love to get creative in post once it comes for the sound... There will be no dialogue in my film btw.
Click to expand...

The secret to using sound to enhance your story is NOT to leave it until post production! With no dialogue to concentrate on, the quality and believability of the sound will be even more important. BTW, have you seen this thread on sound design?

G
 
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