This episode of Film Riot is brought to you by domain.com. Today on Film Riot we have
a cheap, portable gorilla film maker, a dolly, and some location tips for your short film.
Welcome to Film Riot the show that takes the mystery out of the effects and techniques.
I'm your host Ryan Connolly. And as you may or may not know we shot a short firm while
we had the Red Epic in our clutches which I no longer have.
I had to send it back. But I'm okay. Handling it well. But while we had it we wanted to
do something more with it than just tests. So I decided to forego sleep for two weeks
and threw together an action film for us to shoot which I wrote in one day, we gathered
all the props and people we would need the next day and the location we needed the day
after that then started shooting pretty much right away.
And the reason I bring this up is because of this question right here. "Hey Ryan I'm
shooting a short film with some of my friends, problem is need a location and don't have
the money or the help. Easy player. Easy.
The first thing you to try when looking for locations is your friends and family. Tell
them what you are doing and ask if they have any ideas. That's exactly what I did for this
action short. We had no time to look around for the perfect location so we just started
asking friends if they new of any places we could shoot and sure enough one of our friends
had a connection to get us into an awesome facility that would have everything we needed.
We're here at a local facility that was kind enough to let us use this for some upcoming
episodes we have doing, since we have the Red epic I figured we need to amp this thing
up a bit and do some cooler stuff so we're looking at some locations to use and this
facility is awesome. I did write the script already but I wanted to take a look at the
facility before we finalized anything and I'm glad I did which is a great tip for you
guys.
Whenever you write a script make sure you check out where you're shooting it before
you get there because this doesn't actually fit the script I had. So I'm going to have
to go back and rewrite most of the thing. I'll be able to keep all the core moments
but overall the things are going to have to change a lot to fit this facility.
Which isn't a bad thing, it actually is going to work out better, this place looks a lot
cooler than I though it was going to be, so look forward to that which is coming in a
week or two. You'll see some behind the scenes but it's good stuff.
Logo.
So when trying to find your location, don't be so locked to what you have in your head
that you turn down a good location willing to let you use for free. The only downside
to the place that we found was that we could only shoot until 11 p.m. And the problem with
that is it doesn't get dark until 8 p.m. And the whole thing takes place at night, so,
to say the least, getting all the shots was a serious challenge.
But I went fully hand held with the whole shoot which saved a lot of time and we basically
just ran between set ups. It was kind of hilarious to see because we were literally running between
set ups. But even though we were running around like crazy, which I'm sure you will to, we
didn't forget the number one rule to shooting at any location.
And that rule is: leave the place exactly how you found it. Once you're done shooting
and you leave, it should look like you were never there, that way you ever want to use
the place again they'll know you'll be respectful and trust you to use it. You never know if
you're going to need re-shoots or not so don't be an a-hole, clean your crap up.
Basically that's what the rule says.
Well, there you go. Super simple answer. Just ask around. You'll be surprised what you can
find, and for free. Also, look for locally owned places. Just ask the owner, a lot of
them will think what you're doing is really cool and will let you use the place based
off that alone. You'll usually want to stay clear of bigger, corporate owned places like
Starbucks and so on getting a yes from them is much more difficult it takes forever since
the manager can't say, they have to ask up this giant change and it typically ends up
being a no anyway.
Now after the break and then I show you a cheap and simple camera stabilization technique.
When it comes to video the internet is where its at. Cable is a dying animal and kind of
egotistical anyway telling you what you should watch what he thinks you should watch. I don't
appreciate that. So with that in mind if you're making videos of any kind and you want to
showcase them off on the web what you want is a .tv domain name from domain.com.
It's a perfect domain name to start your on line video site. With a .tv web site you control
your content and look more professional than just having a youtube channel. If you want
to show case your work, get seen on .tv. So here's what you just go to domain.com and
search for the perfect .tv domain for your website and then use the coupon code film
riot at check out to save an extra 15%.
And if you need to host your .tv website check out domain.com's hosting plans. They're less
than 6 bucks a month and have everything you need to build, maintain, and promote your
site. So remember, when you're thinking domain names, think domain.com. If you got a great
idea, guess what it starts with.
A great domain domain.com Logo Even though I decided to shoot our short action film all
hand held. There does come a point where shakiness gets a little bit too shaky. Like if the actor
is running and I'm trying to track with him, like this. It's really hard to keep the frame
right and with a larger, more expensive camera like the Epic it can become unsafe for your
gear.
So I bought myself a wheelchair. Yes a wheelchair. And this technique is called a wheelchair
dolly and it's not an original idea. This actually gets used a lot in film making I
actually got the idea from Robert Rodriguez. The effect ends up somewhere between a dolly
shot and a handheld shot so I was still able to get that handheld feel, but with much more
stability and the ability to track perfectly with my actor for some great shots.
The wheelchair only cost me about $100 from amazon.com but you can cheaper ones and if
you look on Ebay you can probably get them super cheap and the best thing about if you're
using a wheelchair dolly is you can get great shots that are easy to set up. So if you don't
have the time to lay out dolly tracks or get that shot or if you need a tracking shot that's
much longer than your tracks will allow this is a great and one of my favorite indie film
making techniques, so add that to your box of film making knowledge.
Thank you guys.
Okay kids that is the totality of today's fun-ness. We are currently working hard in
post production to get our action short which is now tied with losses done for you guys.
We will be posting it as a stand alone video on YouTube. No sponsors. Just something cool
for all of you. Then once we have it posted we're gonna be doing some episodes showing
you how we did some of the nifty, action-y, thingies inside such like bike choreography,
realistic guns and gunfire and so on.
But we can't show you that yet because it would ruin the short so hopefully we'll have
it done in about two weeks and posted for you on the internet for your internet enjoyment
but until then you can check out my personal Facebook page. I've been posting some pictures
of us shooting the film there and I will be posting a promo poster for the short there
probably next week.
So, you know, good fun, tons of good wholesome fun and what not. But I'll see you next time
when I sculpt a mountain out of mashed potatoes. Is that a movie? Really?
Yeah it is.
What movie?
I don't know. what movie?
Holy God!