I'm making a zombie short and since I don't have a large amount of people to be zombies at my disposal, its kinda hard to convince the audience that the characters are fighting off a horde of the undead. (If you want to see what I mean, watch my first zombie film!) Anyone have any tips on how to create the illusion that there are more zombies in the shot than there really are?
tips for making it seems as though there are more actors than there really are
- Thread starter nobudgetfilmmaker
- Start date
You can either use digital FX to splice together different parts of the set which you've filled with your 5-10 extras (they do this now in crowd scenes all the time in HW.
Or... you can use a series of tight shots and put your extras all in frame every time (different orders of them) to make it look as though your main actors are surrounded.
Or... you can use a series of tight shots and put your extras all in frame every time (different orders of them) to make it look as though your main actors are surrounded.
another way is the sound. Screams, moans and groans of many many zombies can give the illusion.
Movie "Delirious" did it. They needed to have large "oscar" type of the crowd for one of the scenes, but couldnt afford so many extras and large hall to shoot so the scene was completed with camera pointing at very bright light on the ceiling, POV of an actor who stands on the stage, and audio of cheering crowd. Worked really well.
Movie "Delirious" did it. They needed to have large "oscar" type of the crowd for one of the scenes, but couldnt afford so many extras and large hall to shoot so the scene was completed with camera pointing at very bright light on the ceiling, POV of an actor who stands on the stage, and audio of cheering crowd. Worked really well.
Last edited:
Tight, enclosed spaces are the way to go. Narrow hallways, small rooms, unseen hordes pounding at doors and blocked off windows, etc, etc. Avoid fields and gymnasiums.
You're doing RE fanfilms, right? In the first game, there were rarely more than a couple zombies on screen at a time, yet it was still effective and scary. Maybe focus on those sort of scenes, and save your crowd scene ideas until you can get some more people together, or learn to fake it!
You're doing RE fanfilms, right? In the first game, there were rarely more than a couple zombies on screen at a time, yet it was still effective and scary. Maybe focus on those sort of scenes, and save your crowd scene ideas until you can get some more people together, or learn to fake it!
Say for example, you have 10 people playing zombies.
Like people have said before, shoot tight. Also, rotate your zombies.
If you have four in the front for a number of scenes, make sure you send them to the back or to the sides, so that the ones in the back are upfront and 'different'. This will work better if you have more zombies.
-- spinner
Like people have said before, shoot tight. Also, rotate your zombies.
If you have four in the front for a number of scenes, make sure you send them to the back or to the sides, so that the ones in the back are upfront and 'different'. This will work better if you have more zombies.
-- spinner