Jump to content

My First short film, 2 actors single location what to look out for?


John Mikka

Recommended Posts

So.... I'm in the preproduction stage of pulling the trigger on my first short film.

It's a very simple 2 act story, about a young couple having an argument - est. 15min in length.

Everything takes place in the living room/ kitchen area, with only 2 actors involved.

So being a first timer,

A)am I mistaken to think I can shoot and direct it,  maybe hire another camera crew in case I need help with follow focusing or dolly in some shots.  So a total of 4 people on set max, is this possible? I prepare to shoot it with Canon 5D MK III/IV with prime lenses.

B) I omitted the sound guy because 1) it's a small area, the actors are sitting most of the time. So I can mount the mic on a stand? 2) I have yet to test out how good/bad the sound could be in this still to-be-decided location, in terms of echo and etc.Thus, I have not much confidence in how much the onset audio is actually usable, and thinking ADR and post dubbing will inevitably happen at some point, so why bother blowing the budget on an extra sound guy, unless it's free.

C) I think I will be shooting after sun down, so no worries for windows being blown out. But what kind of lighting kit/equipment should I rent for such a living room scene. I aim to create an ambient warm/soft looking vibe but not overly so.

These are just things I can think of at the moment. Are there anything I ought to watch out for?

The end of the short film consists of a 2 min wedding montage, with no sound. Approx 30 extras, taking place in a backyard, preferably will be shot during magic hour, and at night, but not during the day. For this I will possibly ask the actors to help with setting up the tables and whatnot before shooting. But the actual shoot will be mostly handheld, so no need for that extra grip/focus puller.

My one advantage is time, which I have plenty to spend on preparing, and possibly also rehearsing with the actors, but not for the wedding scene.  But I'm planning to shoot the interior in 2 days, and another night for the wedding montage. Please let me know what's your thoughts on this.

Thanks everyone in advance.

Edited by John Mikka
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds like a fun challenge to me! I have not much to suggest, but here's an idea: where possible, put sound foam or a rug on the opposite wall during mid-shots or close-ups. It might help. Also, if the rooms aren't carpeted, put down a large rug. You could even permanently hang Persian rugs on the walls. If you can afford it, put sound foam on the ceiling, unless it's going to interfere with lighting.

I personally would use low wattage incandescent bulbs for the practicals. I'm talking 5W, like oven pilot bulbs. You could even have a large screen TV turned on, showing some generic graphics sequence, such as a test pattern or disc loading screen or perhaps something more interesting. That can create some problems with the camera if you're not careful though. Another way to introduce light into a scene could be a fish tank. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Having two people sitting for most of the time for 15mins is pretty restricting in dramatic terms.  I know some sit com programmes have used everyone sitting in a sofa, but that's part of British culture as they watch TV. In this case ,You may need to think about body language and how much sitting allows the actors to do, especially if this is a serious argument, rather than a little tiff. Just a few passing thoughts.

I would try and avoid needing ADR, since something like this is all about the actor's performances. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Brian Drysdale said:

Having two people sitting for most of the time for 15mins is pretty restricting in dramatic terms.  I know some sit com programmes have used everyone sitting in a sofa, but that's part of British culture as they watch TV. In this case ,You may need to think about body language and how much sitting allows the actors to do, especially if this is a serious argument, rather than a little tiff. Just a few passing thoughts.

thank you. there are occasions they will stand up and walk about but yes the whole scene takes place in one room.

5 hours ago, Brian Drysdale said:

I would try and avoid needing ADR, since something like this is all about the actor's performances. 

Indeed it's performance based, but I'm curious to why ADR will hinder this. I have never shot a short film or done ADR. I have been on sets but not in charge. I'm curious to know are ADRs always worse than the actual track recorded on set, I'm talking about emotionality wise... if so, why is that?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Karim D. Ghantous said:

I personally would use low wattage incandescent bulbs for the practicals. I'm talking 5W, like oven pilot bulbs.

I'm a big fan of incandescents, but one major downside is that they are not dimmable. But perhaps an assortment of 5w gives me the freedom of not needing to dim at all. just turn a few off if needed to be.

Thanks for the input,

Link to comment
Share on other sites

53 minutes ago, John Mikka said:

Indeed it's performance based, but I'm curious to why ADR will hinder this. I have never shot a short film or done ADR. I have been on sets but not in charge. I'm curious to know are ADRs always worse than the actual track recorded on set, I'm talking about emotionality wise... if so, why is that?

It really depends on how good your actors are. If you're doing it in post it can be difficult to recapture the emotion that was in the original performance. They won't be feeding off the other actor and they could be repeating the line again and again to get the best match. However, you could try recording the dialogue for sound alone just after you've got a good take. That's thought to give a fairly good match that could be used for ADR, since the actor's performance won't have drifted too much..

In the end, unless you've got the builders next door, a competent sound recordist should get good original sound in a scene like this.     

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Brian Drysdale said:

It really depends on how good your actors are. If you're doing it in post it can be difficult to recapture the emotion that was in the original performance. They won't be feeding off the other actor and they could be repeating the line again and again to get the best match. However, you could try recording the dialogue for sound alone just after you've got a good take. That's thought to give a fairly good match that could be used for ADR, since the actor's performance won't have drifted too much..

In the end, unless you've got the builders next door, a competent sound recordist should get good original sound in a scene like this.     

In this case, should I hire a sound guy with boom equipment or lavaliers, if I had to choose? The actors do walk about a bit as the scene progresses, and often not in the same frame.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, John Mikka said:

I'm a big fan of incandescents, but one major downside is that they are not dimmable. But perhaps an assortment of 5w gives me the freedom of not needing to dim at all. just turn a few off if needed to be.

Thanks for the input,

FWIW I have used incandescents with a dimmer. Sometimes, even 5W is too much light for photography!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My advice would be, don't be afraid to try something and I've seen this on many shoots that haven't been directly in my domain, where directors and DP's take the easy road and just go for a wide angle and then two close ups and that's it.

What I usually do is sit down with my DP (thankfully she's my wife) and talk about the screenplay and what I imagined happening in the final film. That's where we usually figure out all the shots we're going to need. I like to shoot with a single camera vs. multi camera because I believe that it makes for a better looking frame than multi camera where one frame may be ok and the rest not so much.
Anyway the good thing is I trust her completely and while creating a shot list of the shots I envisioned she usually leaves a side some time for shots that we hadn't thought of and she sees them on location while we're shooting. These are usually things that she sees the actors doing like touching an object or doing something with their hands or something because these shots can be used in different way to cut the dialog. So I usually love these shots because they're the ones that make the whole edit stand out.

Some DP's I've worked with sometimes take a lot of time preparing and lighting the scene and then they have a problem with the camera moment, what I love with mine is that she usually tries to find the best location that doesn't need that much tweaking and only adds light where needed making the whole process easier because we can change setups fairly quickly because the scene looks good either way.

The last thing I really hate is sound and I've had situations where we got really bad sound and it's a nightmare. So if you get good sound you'll be doing yourself a huge favor. 

But most important thing that I've done is cast right for the role and then let the actor explore their character. If it doesn't work at any time talk with the actor and ask them what their character would do or what they personally would do in a situation like that. Even if it's not the solution it usually presents with a way of solving the problem. On one of the last projects I did I almost felt useless as the director because there was so little for me to do while shooting with regards to the actors because we cast right and rehearsed like crazy and got a great result almost every time so sometimes we got away with only two to three takes.

If you run up agents the wall and something is really not working like you've tried 8 or 10 takes already and it just keeps getting worse then it's time for a little break and the problem usually is because everyone is getting stressed because it's not working. So talk to the talent and find a way for them to relate to the theme. The problem is usually that their own personality is interfering with what the character is supposed to be doing so the acting is not credible. If you can find a way for them personally to understand why they would react the way that their character is supposed to then you'll get the result you want. 

As you get to the edit I usually throw away the hand book and we try a few thing that shouldn't work but sometimes do and just for the kick of it we then edit the same thing by the book just to see how what I had in my head works better. Also don't forget about reaction shots they're just as important if not more as what the other person is saying. Thankfully my wife is also the editor so we can work together most of the time.

In the end you'll have something that works like a good narrative. But don't forget to test the edit a few times with people who don't know what it's about and when you're doing that don't watch the film but watch the persons reaction to the narrative and if you notice that they fall out of the story at one moment as in try's to talk to you or starts looking around the edit isn't working and then try to ask them why at the end. Then you can fix it.

Best of luck to you and I know how exciting these types of projects can be! ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Vital Butinar said:

My advice would be, don't be afraid to try something and I've seen this on many shoots that haven't been directly in my domain, where directors and DP's take the easy road and just go for a wide angle and then two close ups and that's it.

?

Thanks a lot for taking the time to share you experiences. I'll sure remember those valuable tips.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, John Mikka said:

Thanks a lot for taking the time to share you experiences. I'll sure remember those valuable tips.

 

No problem. 

In fact I just got handed a screenplay for a simple little short we'll probably be shooting soon in a dark room with one light, a poker table and two actors.

Anyway good luck with your project. ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...