Filmmaking
amateur style…
Few years
ago, when I bought my cell phone, I discovered that
it had an inbuilt camera in it. The long hibernating
film-maker in me woke up. In fact, within two hours of my
buying the phone, I could hear my name being announced for the
first ever Oscar for India. But sadly Oscars do not have any
category for birthday videos shot on a 2-mega pixel mobile
camera. And, even more sadly I realised that amateur
filmmaking seemingly so simple is not so simple, after all!
What to do
first...
First of all you need to have at least some rudimentary
knowledge of scriptwriting. But if you do not know much about
it, do not worry. There are lots of books on the subject,
including the definitive tome,
Bob
McKee's Story.
But with the mind-boggling number of opportunities that are
available, how do you decide what to write about? If you are
self-financing which in all probability is the case, your
magnum opus is likely to be shot on a shoestring budget.
Still, you can write a script that can be shot in as few
locations as possible.
Get ready,
get set...
Traditionally, the three major pre-production areas were:
hiring the crew, finding equipment, casting the actors and
securing locations. A good movie also meant great deal of
homework -- Prepare a shooting schedule, script breakdown, and
budget. As films are not shot in a chronological sequence,
therefore, a shooting schedule -- of which scenes will be shot
at which locations on what days -- was a must.
Things are simplified now at creative-isha.com
Just follow these steps:
-
Prepare
a script
-
Get a
digital webcam
-
Shoot.
Now click any of the free editing tool links here and upload
your rushes. Edit them following the simple guidelines and
when you are satisfied, save it in your hard disk and then
upload to share it with the world.
There is lot more happening here...
-
Invite
your friends to creative-isha.com to watch your masterpiece
-
Challenge them to mash it for a joint production. Imagine
the power of a joint enterprise!
-
You can
create and upload videos uptil 10 minutes duration FREE!
Lights! Sound!! Camera!!! Action!!!! Isha’s
tips…
Though Satyajit Rays and Steven Spielbergs are born not made,
undoubtedly, there is much to be learned. One of the best
resources is Judith Weston's book,
Directing
Actors.
In addition to rehearsing, you should exactly know what
coverage you need for each scene.
"Coverage" means the various angles you need of each scene in
order to give the editor enough to work with e.g. you might
want a wide, establishing shot of each scene, plus close-ups
of each actor, as well as some doubles (two-shots) and shots
of a "medium" flavor. The best guide to refer to on the "how
and why" of camera set-ups and composition is Steve Katz's
Film
Directing Shot by Shot.
Typically, as director, you view the scenes on the video
monitor and identify the "circle takes" to the script
supervisor.
After this is put together a very "rough assemblage."
The purpose of the rough cut is for the director to see how
the script was "covered" and get a general idea of how the
story is coming together.
Now comes the task of refining the rough cut and laying in
temp music.
There are many amateur composers who would love to work on
your short or feature film project for practically nothing.
After the film is ready, you need audience for it. Try out
film fests. But you have to keep in mind the programming
philosophy of a particular film festival and plan your
strategy accordingly.
Be ready with your feature project -- script,
budget/breakdown, business plan. The rest of the things you
can learn from being a regular visitor to our website. We make
it your workshop for creativity. Please keep posting on it to
make short film-making a shared experience.
Thank and all the best from Isha Creative Vision.
