There are a few ways to add production value to an independent effort. In one of my recent "Inside HFP" videos I talk about how, like with anything in life, you have to ask in order to get. We had quite a few local businesses come to our rescue for completing "Jack vs Lanterns", and I appreciate them all. That video will be cycling into this blog eventually, so I won't post it here, but I would like to expand on the subject.
In my Indie Movie Review Blog this morning I reviewed a movie entitled, "Close Encounters of the 4th Kind: Infestation From Mars". There was some acting, some F/X and a few audio moments that gave away the movie's smaller budget, but the scale was HUGE. It seemed like the whole town was behind this film and in a good way. There were celebrities, police cars, fire trucks, a burning building, tremendous crowds and more. Pop over to the review for my take on it.
Now, getting the town behind your movie can be tricky. If they say "no", you can put yourself on a radar screen you don't want to show up on. But if they say yes, the results can be amazing. For "Stopped Dead", I had written in a scene that took place at fun park. It was way more than my budget could handle, but I had a plan to shoot most of the scenes as the characters walking around, and doing the dialogue in a corner that didn't matter much. I made that my back up plan. Then we went to Fun Spot, told them my budget for the day, and were treated like royalty. The scene adds some huge scope to the movie. We still went with the montage, but the park had staff and put up signage to cover use for "extras" that may be scene during filming. I was very glad I had done it.
The one drawback to favors like these is that if your film looks "too big", other shortcomings, like low budget F/X will not be so easily forgiven as "well, they didn't have the money", because now you LOOK like you had a lot of money. So, there's a balance there. For example, we couldn't get by with our usual canned music after the movie appear so large in other ways, so we enlisted the help of award winning composer Rob Reider to create a score. He worked with our budget and the score is amazing. We were lucky enough to work with Rob just before he became an award winning composer (like literally, he had finished the score that won him that early award, but the festivals hadn't run yet while he was composing the score for "Stopped Dead")
So, what's my advice here? Ask for help when you need it. See if you can get help when it will just improve your movie, but realize that once you raise certain parts of your production to a higher level, it may take the shine off of your more indie looking scenes. That small office you shot in might not have looked small until you filmed another scene in an actual crowded movie theatre. I always think it's worth the risk to get as many big scenes done as you can, so long as they fit the story and move things forward.
In my Indie Movie Review Blog this morning I reviewed a movie entitled, "Close Encounters of the 4th Kind: Infestation From Mars". There was some acting, some F/X and a few audio moments that gave away the movie's smaller budget, but the scale was HUGE. It seemed like the whole town was behind this film and in a good way. There were celebrities, police cars, fire trucks, a burning building, tremendous crowds and more. Pop over to the review for my take on it.
Now, getting the town behind your movie can be tricky. If they say "no", you can put yourself on a radar screen you don't want to show up on. But if they say yes, the results can be amazing. For "Stopped Dead", I had written in a scene that took place at fun park. It was way more than my budget could handle, but I had a plan to shoot most of the scenes as the characters walking around, and doing the dialogue in a corner that didn't matter much. I made that my back up plan. Then we went to Fun Spot, told them my budget for the day, and were treated like royalty. The scene adds some huge scope to the movie. We still went with the montage, but the park had staff and put up signage to cover use for "extras" that may be scene during filming. I was very glad I had done it.
 |
| Being able to shoot wide shots from high angles adds scope. |
 |
With the right score, this shot added a really eerie feeling to "Stopped Dead"
|
The one drawback to favors like these is that if your film looks "too big", other shortcomings, like low budget F/X will not be so easily forgiven as "well, they didn't have the money", because now you LOOK like you had a lot of money. So, there's a balance there. For example, we couldn't get by with our usual canned music after the movie appear so large in other ways, so we enlisted the help of award winning composer Rob Reider to create a score. He worked with our budget and the score is amazing. We were lucky enough to work with Rob just before he became an award winning composer (like literally, he had finished the score that won him that early award, but the festivals hadn't run yet while he was composing the score for "Stopped Dead")
So, what's my advice here? Ask for help when you need it. See if you can get help when it will just improve your movie, but realize that once you raise certain parts of your production to a higher level, it may take the shine off of your more indie looking scenes. That small office you shot in might not have looked small until you filmed another scene in an actual crowded movie theatre. I always think it's worth the risk to get as many big scenes done as you can, so long as they fit the story and move things forward.
No comments:
Post a Comment