True, I don't need to break windows. But people will still be thrown around the room and I am not sure if location owners will be okay with that, to their property. Sure the walls will more likely not be damaged, but they could likely still say no cause of it. Any fight scene will someone being thrusted against a wall, guaranteed.
Should I shoot a whole movie green screen?
- Thread starter harmonica44
- Start date
True, I don't need to break windows. But people will still be thrown around the room and I am not sure if location owners will be okay with that, to their property. Sure the walls will more likely not be damaged, but they could likely still say no cause of it. Any fight scene will someone being thrusted against a wall, guaranteed.
2 4/8 pages per 12 hour day...? Your setups must be intense..
We tend to stick to an average of 5 pages/day, depending on how intense the setups are and the coverage we need for each scene. It often varies between 4 and 6 pages, but a 2 4/8 pages day seems like it would be either really slow or your setups are really full on..
And in Hollywood they'd consider that a blistering pace.
I'd LOVE to be able to shoot 2 pages a day.
So how do you guys shoot some chase and suspense scenes on a very low budget without green screen. It's difficult to write action that remains indoors. I mean if someone wants to kill you and you're in a house, logically you would want to get out of the house, which means the action must go outside, where is where legal shooting gets tricky. I can get away with shooting from awkard angles such as from rooftops maybe, but that would be awkward directing, if a lot of a chase was shot from that high up for that much time.
If not green screen, how do I shoot action outdoors, and have it look good on a low budget, or how do I keep it indoors logically? Trouble finding answers to this one, where is why I originally considered finding an expert in green screening.
If not green screen, how do I shoot action outdoors, and have it look good on a low budget, or how do I keep it indoors logically? Trouble finding answers to this one, where is why I originally considered finding an expert in green screening.
Keeping it indoors is simple: the person who wants to get out of the house, doesn't get the change to. Attempting to get away could be one of the elements that add suspense.
I never shot real fightscenes.
Only fragmented ones that need no real logic. (I made a few fake movietrailers; you may have seen them before.)
And a very short one where the one with the knive died within 3 seconds: no struggle, only the suspense of the wait and anticlimax of a quick, but effective defense.
(Somehow violence isn't a big theme in my own projects; I never really realised that, lol. But I already did realise that violence is hard to do right: safety, laws and proper scripting are important. And damage costs money.)
I never shot real fightscenes.
Only fragmented ones that need no real logic. (I made a few fake movietrailers; you may have seen them before.)
And a very short one where the one with the knive died within 3 seconds: no struggle, only the suspense of the wait and anticlimax of a quick, but effective defense.
(Somehow violence isn't a big theme in my own projects; I never really realised that, lol. But I already did realise that violence is hard to do right: safety, laws and proper scripting are important. And damage costs money.)
You need to become more efficient! lol.. that's really slow. I can see if you have a budget of $10 million and you have the luxury of taking 1-2 months of production time but one should be able to shoot 4-7 pages on a small budget and still make it look great.
I could change the house one, but there are other scenarios which are more difficult. In one scene for example these villains are trying to steal from safe in a building, that has the 'macguffin' in that they need. The cops have the place surrounded. I need this to happen for a some of the cops and some of the villains to be killed, which leads to a chain reaction of plot turns that carry on the climax. But I need some of the villains to escape as well. How do you escape a building when a lot of the cops would be on the outside without showing it?
There is also a part where a group of suspects escaping a police station with hostages, but it's the same thing. Their would be cops on the outside on their way to set up road blocks.
I could have it so that all the shooting and violence happens inside the building, and inside the station, but once they get outside, I cut to the next scene, and all of a sudden we see that they somehow have escaped the blockades, plus the perimeter, which would have logically been set up.
The audience might wonder why I cut away in the middle of an escape, unfinished, just because the story has to logically go outside.
There is also a part where a group of suspects escaping a police station with hostages, but it's the same thing. Their would be cops on the outside on their way to set up road blocks.
I could have it so that all the shooting and violence happens inside the building, and inside the station, but once they get outside, I cut to the next scene, and all of a sudden we see that they somehow have escaped the blockades, plus the perimeter, which would have logically been set up.
The audience might wonder why I cut away in the middle of an escape, unfinished, just because the story has to logically go outside.
A few months back I started taking notes on favored action films as to what they were doing that was so "actiony".
CRANK and CRANK 2 had some good low budget elements.
Code:
[B]Crank[/B]
Driving Chev races about town in his Riviera
Behavior Dancing girls! Dancing girls! BDSM girls! Dancing Girls!
Threat Chev sticks a gun in a friend's face, lotta screaming and yelling
Threat Friend's posse all stick their guns in Chev's face, more screaming and yelling
Fight Attacks posse member, they all fight, is thrown through door
Car Chase Chev escapes in car at high speed, police chase him as he drives through mall crashing kiosks
Foot Chase Chev now on foot runs through mall, escapes through mall back alleys
Behavior Appropriates cab
Fight Assaults convenience store clerk, robs store
Behavior Jumps into pool, screaming argues with Carlito while armed guards observe, leaves smashing tables
Fight Grabs cab driver by collar, yells at him throws him to ground
Maiming Chev chops off hand of Verona's brother, fights
Kill x 1 Chev shoots Verona's brother in back of head
Foot Chase Runs through hospital, assaults, fires pistol, asks to be shocked w/ defibrillator
Threat Fires pistol at police intentionally missing
Foot Chase Runs from hospital and down the streets in hospital gown
Behavior Steals pistol from motorcycle cop, throws pistol then steals motorcycle, officer spinning in circles
Behavior Chev stands up on the bike seat as it drives down street, crashes, gets back on races away
Fight Runs downstairs to slam one bad guy into wall
Fight Runs over and fights another, pushes him into pool
Behavior Argument with GF turns into public sex
Kill x 1 Tranny friend asphixiated
Fight Chev sneaks up on rooftop, attacks man up there, turns out to be Carlito, throws him over edge
Gunfight Argument with guns turns into a gunfight, becomes a running gunfight through factory and outside
Car Chase Shoves GF through shot out car window, drives away bad guys in pursuit, car chase gunfight
Gunfight Rooftop argument become a gunfight between Carlito and Triad gang
Fight Helicopter fist fight, fall to questionable death
Crank 2: High Voltage
Behavior Chev's heart's removed by Asian surgeons
Fight Fight with two medical personnel
Gunfight Gunfight in the back lot
Gunfight Steal car, escape amid gunfight from bad guys
Car Crash Crash car, eject through window
Foot Chase Jump start body with car battery & cables, run to next location
Fight Fight everyone in the cat house
Fight Failed carjacking
Behavior Dancing girls! Dancing girls! Dancing Girls!
Behavior Bad guys cut off other bad guy's elbow
Fight Throw Randy off stage and into another room, then girlfriends fight
Gunfight Gunfight in the strip club
Fight Fights multiple police in parking lot
Behavior Steals police car, shocks self with taser
Behavior Runs, steals electric dog collar, shocks self, runs away from police
Behavior Public sex w/ GF at racetrack
Foot Chase Chase bad guy with heart on cooler, then chase him while he drives down parking corkscrew
Gunfight Abducted into limo, gunfight ensues before car crash
Fight Girlfriend fights scummy old boyfriend
Event Crazy girl runs across street, gets smashed by passing car
Gunfight Running gun fight
Fight Fight in the electrical sub-station
Event CatOnine tails beating
Gunfight Three way gun fight between Tranny's brother's peeps, the whore corps, and El HuronYou could probably modify some of these low impact / low expense approaches to you films.
Doesn't cost much to have a bunch of guys point guns ate each other while yelling and threatening.
Doesn't cost much to have guys running around, stealing cars, chasing each other.
Doesn't cost much to "slam" people into walls, fake punch, wrap plastic bags over their heads and throw them into pools.
No need to break a whole lotta stuff like in current James Bond films.
Solution A - Bad guys create distraction on one side of building to misdirect attention for escape.
Solution B - Fake good guys come and get the bad guys and remove them from building.
Solution C - Rewrite.
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H44, I admire your tenacity in trying to come up with ways to shoot a million dollar budgeted movie script on $50. And I know that this isn't what you want to hear, but there's a reason it seems impossible to do what you want: it’s practically impossible.
You're writing a script with all this high concept stuff in it, and you want to make it into a finished film with an ULTRA low concept budget.
And I'm not saying it can't be done. It's just not going to be done the way you're thinking about it, at least not in a way that you'll be satisfied with. I know this because I've seen how you've obsessed over EVERY little detail on you last short, which still isn't completed, BTW...
If you expect to go into shooting this high concept screenplay on a pauper's budget, you should expect to get footage that will look like it was filmed on a pauper's budget. There's no magic formula that allows you to do more than that. If there were, somebody would already be doing it...
You're writing a script with all this high concept stuff in it, and you want to make it into a finished film with an ULTRA low concept budget.
And I'm not saying it can't be done. It's just not going to be done the way you're thinking about it, at least not in a way that you'll be satisfied with. I know this because I've seen how you've obsessed over EVERY little detail on you last short, which still isn't completed, BTW...
If you expect to go into shooting this high concept screenplay on a pauper's budget, you should expect to get footage that will look like it was filmed on a pauper's budget. There's no magic formula that allows you to do more than that. If there were, somebody would already be doing it...
Yeah. I just thought a green screen expert could help. But NO green screen then. I'll rewrite. Even though I am writing it as low budget as possible though, a lot of it is about a police investigation, and so a police station is the most used location. I will have to find a building that will give me enough hours to shoot, that can convincingly pass as one. There are office buildings around but don't know if that will do, aside from the actual office scenes.
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I have a plan for you:
1) Finish your short
2) Write the script you are working on now as you want it to be
3) Start another project, which is easier to accomplish: (less actors, less locations, less violence? more about human interaction and emotion?)
4) Finish that newer, simpler project
5) Read the script you wrote and rewrite it to make it (more) possible
Let's face it: you have ambitious plans (which is good),
but your first short wasn't going as smoothly as you hoped it would (people canceling, troubles with locations, miscommunication about shots, still a lot to learn about editing). Upscaling everything (length, number of actors & locations) on your second project won't make those problems/fears go away.
Your next project should be something you can control, a project you'll discover you can handle it and that you can come up with your own solutions, a project you don't act in, so you can focus on shooting/directing it.
You will get more experience and more confidence.
Both will make your ambitious project easier.
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BTW:
when I said keep it indoors, I didn't mean: skip everything that's outdoors.
Somehow you always interpret a comment on a question about a scene, as a rule for your whole project. That's not the case. It's a suggestion about that subject you ask questions about: just a possible solution, because you seem to worry about shooting outside.
This doesn't mean you can cutout half the story by cutting the escape. (The escape wasn't in the question!)
You realise it will be confusing (or unbelievable) to cut the escape; this means you need the escape scene(s)!
Slimming the scenes to make it simpler, is not the same as cutting out the 'difficult to shoot parts', without replacing it with something that still tells the story.
1) Finish your short
2) Write the script you are working on now as you want it to be
3) Start another project, which is easier to accomplish: (less actors, less locations, less violence? more about human interaction and emotion?)
4) Finish that newer, simpler project
5) Read the script you wrote and rewrite it to make it (more) possible
Let's face it: you have ambitious plans (which is good),
but your first short wasn't going as smoothly as you hoped it would (people canceling, troubles with locations, miscommunication about shots, still a lot to learn about editing). Upscaling everything (length, number of actors & locations) on your second project won't make those problems/fears go away.
Your next project should be something you can control, a project you'll discover you can handle it and that you can come up with your own solutions, a project you don't act in, so you can focus on shooting/directing it.
You will get more experience and more confidence.
Both will make your ambitious project easier.
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BTW:
when I said keep it indoors, I didn't mean: skip everything that's outdoors.
Somehow you always interpret a comment on a question about a scene, as a rule for your whole project. That's not the case. It's a suggestion about that subject you ask questions about: just a possible solution, because you seem to worry about shooting outside.
This doesn't mean you can cutout half the story by cutting the escape. (The escape wasn't in the question!)
You realise it will be confusing (or unbelievable) to cut the escape; this means you need the escape scene(s)!
Slimming the scenes to make it simpler, is not the same as cutting out the 'difficult to shoot parts', without replacing it with something that still tells the story.
Set dressing/art department.
I've been on shoots where we've made empty warehouses, sheds and sound stages look like modern police stations, 80's police stations, business offices ,a garage, a 'nightmare' land, the moon, a space station, a run down shack, a standard living room, a school hallway... and the list goes on and on. And it was completely convincing. You can dress a room to be anything if you have the right people on board.
Sure. And I am not looking to jump into this project right away. Just writing the script so I know what I need. I plan on at least two more shorts, I have scripts for, and a lot of practice in between.
I could see about using a warehouse, but like I said, so far everyone has this rule, don't move anything. I'll still see though of course, and it sounds like a good suggestion. Thanks.
I could see about using a warehouse, but like I said, so far everyone has this rule, don't move anything. I'll still see though of course, and it sounds like a good suggestion. Thanks.
So am I reading it right that you have an Assault On Precinct 13 kind of a thing going on? John Carpenter filmed his original version on a low budget.
Does it have to be police station? Could it be a private investigator's office? Then you could any office building.
Or, if you absolutely need police and/or prisoners involved but don't have a police station to work with, make it a prisoner transfer station. Then you could film at virtually any warehouse that has a high fence with barbed/razor wire on top.
Whatever way you decide to go in the end, just write that screenplay as if you have a billion dollar budget, and get the story written. Then, go through and make the needed changes to fit your budget.
Does it have to be police station? Could it be a private investigator's office? Then you could any office building.
Or, if you absolutely need police and/or prisoners involved but don't have a police station to work with, make it a prisoner transfer station. Then you could film at virtually any warehouse that has a high fence with barbed/razor wire on top.
Whatever way you decide to go in the end, just write that screenplay as if you have a billion dollar budget, and get the story written. Then, go through and make the needed changes to fit your budget.
Lol hey man, not being a d*ck or anything, but... you have a hard time figuring out how to flip an image in Premiere and you already want to shoot an entire movie on a green screen?
Okay thanks. Kind of an Assault on Precinct 13 thing going on, yes.
I have most of it written already and making changes. I can't use a private investigator's because arrested suspects escape and take hostages and private eye's aren't in the business of arresting and detaining.
I can't use the prison transfer station because at the point of escape the suspects have just recently been arrested and are being interrogated and no charges are legally able to be laid yet, so it would just be a station at that point. I still have to use a station for several other scenes anyway that deal with the investigation.
I don't need show prison cells though. It would be nice for art decoration and atmosphere to actually show the suspects lock cops in the cells once they take hostages, but I don't have to if it cannot be.
I need to show the suspects shoot their way from the interrogation room to the exit and escape outside though, but I am still writing exactly how they do that one.
If it absolutely has to be a police station, then you should try writing it like they did on "The Shield." Their station was called "The Barn" and was a former small church in the bad part of town.
So you could have your story take place in whatever type of location you can get your hands on, and explain that the station is a new sub-station that has just opened and the renovations are still "under construction." That will explain anything that doesn't look like it belongs...
So you could have your story take place in whatever type of location you can get your hands on, and explain that the station is a new sub-station that has just opened and the renovations are still "under construction." That will explain anything that doesn't look like it belongs...
What parts of the prison is shown in the film, exactly? Like all of them. Because the way it sounds, you could, like someone else said, just use an office or something like that for their office. Now, the cells and the escape does sound more challenging, because you'd probably have to use it.
How much of this escape is part of the film? Because it sounds like you might have to cut it... Imply it, maybe? I dunno. But it sure sounds like you may have to move around that.