Shooting a horror/thriller.

Alex.Karp · October 10, 2006

Hello everyone, I do really hope I'm posting this in the right forum thread.

Anyway. This is the case I'm on.

I'm going to shoot a no-budget horror/thriller/comedy (if it sounds a bit weird? Yes, it is.) I'm going to shoot this movie with a HDR-FX1 camcorder, and I do really need some tips and tricks while shooting this the best way possible.

I'm planning to avoid shooting long shots. Of course I will only when I absolutely need to. Otherwise I get the feeling it will look a bit too "amateur" than I want to. So I'll try stick to mainly closeups and medium shots.

My settings in the camcorder. Or shall I say the basic settings are: Iris F. 1.6 - Gain 0dB.

And I know I always need really good lightning to get it as I want.

And of course always white balance for every single light difference since I want to get rid of that warm red or yellow look.

That's how far I am at this point.

So, I really want to reach this typical movie-look to get it as good as possible and I need your help. So please tell me of some tips and tricks you are using to get it as good as possible.

Any tip is good enough for me.

Thanks

// Alex Karp

Edited October 10, 2006 by Alex.Karp

Matt Sandstrom · October 11, 2006

how will you light it? is it mainly int or ext? day or night?

and what on earth is amateur about long shots anyway? go to the theater and see "du & jag" right away. shot with the z1 by my good friend linus eklund. plenty of fantastic long shots. and a good example of what hdv can look like when blown up to 35mm. i.e. not quite as sharp as "real" hd but neither with any of the common video artifacts.

/matt

Alex.Karp · October 11, 2006

It's mainly EXT. NIGHT(evening)

The thing about long shots, I don't think I was clear enough, sorry for that.

But what I actually meant was that I think It's easier to screw it up and make it look like it's made by a tourist or something with long shots than it is with closeups.

But if you're just good enough and not as green as I am, there is probably not hard at all to make it look better, see my point?. I just want to be safe I won't cause a disaster.

That's at just the feeling I've got but I might of course be wrong.

Thanks for the quick answer! I'll absolutely go watch that movie.

If you've got some other good advices to give me I'd me more then happy.

// Alex.

Josh Bass · October 11, 2006

Is this going to be a short film or a feature length (upwards of 90 minutes) project?

It sounds like you might want to slow down, if you were planning to do a feature, and do a short, or several, first, to get some experience, and teach youself some basic cinematography skills. You'll learn what kinds of shots work for what kinds of situations, what cuts together well and what doesn't, etc.

Matt Sandstrom · October 11, 2006

yeah, night exteriors can be hard to do, especially if you're inexperienced and don't have plenty of light and a good gaffer. what's the location and what's the natural light like there? what lights were you plannng on bringing. you realize that this is more a lighting than a camera issue, right?

/matt