Ahoj! This is Zdenka. You may have seen many b-roll tutorials on this channel
already but if you want to step up your game filming a short film as a
one-person crew is certainly challenging but it is
highly rewarding. So in today's video let me take you behind the scenes and let's
go through tips for filming a short film with a smartphone. I'll play the final
piece at the end of this video. This video is sponsored by Epidemic Sound.
Now we're gonna do the same thing. I'm gonna be walking there,
so if you can get yourself there please. What type of short film are you going to
create? Travel film, documentary, music, horror,
narrative, unscripted? There is always a written story first
which you will turn into a visual story. Typically stories start with introducing
characters, then there is an action and at the end
is where something is resolved or there is a message.
In my case, I started with music. All I knew is that I'm going to be filming in
a winter in a snowy scene, so I wanted something a
bit dreamy.
I thought it's going to be very easy to come up with this story. Well, I failed
there. Nothing. So I sent all the information
and music to my family and friends. When you're gonna be planning
a short film, always take in consideration your budget.
How much money you have to spend, so you don't end up writing a story which you
cannot even afford to film. For example, don't pick expensive locations if you
know that you cannot really afford it. Well 24 hours later, I had an amazing
story written by Frank Cairns. You've seen him on this channel before. I was
taking you to their amazing shop. When you get stuck, don't be afraid
to reach out to other people. You might be very pleasantly surprised.
I'll have you stand as you're standing right here.
Turn facing that way.
All right, I'm just gonna figure it out. now.
Once you have your story or notes written down, it's time to choose your
actors if you're gonna be using them for your short film.
You might have a great story but what will make your story to really come
alive are those actors and their performances.
My story was very simple in terms of acting so I was more after specific look.
I knew I would be using Natalie. Yes, she's been featured on this channel many
times. At first I didn't plan on using anyone
else but then Frank thought that it would be cool for her to see a
younger version of herself as a child. Luckily I have Martina around which
coincidentally looks quite similar. The only challenge I had to deal with
was the height. Well, she's not exactly short. Let's talk about the budget a
little bit more. You can make it extremely cheap when you only need few
things or you can make it very expensive. Of course you want to have a great
location, you want to have great props. You want your actors to wear specific
wardrobe in a color so it's complementing the whole scene. The more
you pay attention to the details, it's gonna look more polished. Again, it's
something you need to think about when you're writing the story.
Okay, the other way, the other way. My budget was non-existent so I did my
best to keep it really low. I only was shopping in stores which
are not expensive. We had some wardrobe pieces already but
we didn't have many things like the coat and the jacket,
the hats, the gloves, the scarf and also the plush toy. The plush toy was very
important element of the story. That's why it is in such a
loud color. I didn't want the outfits to look way
too similar, but I wanted complementary color so when you put it
all together, it looks good in those locations. There's one more thing you
should do before you start filming and that would be sketching each scene or
each shot, or making decisions on the angles you are going to shoot.
Or you might go with a flow. If you're gonna be filming a documentary or travel
film, you will most likely go with the flow.
What did I do? I had some shots written down, the rest was created on the spot.
We had some problems with the weather. This winter here in Canada was super
cold and also we had trouble with schedule. The more people you will need
in your short film, keep in mind it's going to be quite
difficult to schedule everything when everyone is available.
One two three... I was hoping for steady light throughout
the whole short film but I ended up with some scenes filmed on overcast day and
some scenes filmed on a sunny day, but there was snow in all scenes on the
ground and the lake was frozen. That's important. Something you need to keep in
mind. Actually, quite recently I was watching a film also filmed in winter in
Netflix and I noticed that they were dealing
with exactly the same thing. Some of the shots were done clearly on sunny day and
other shots were done clearly on overcast day. Before you start filming
have your actors rehearse the scene, do the blocking and decide at that moment
what angles you are gonna be filming.
Thank you.
Pay attention to lighting so you don't have overexposed or underexposed areas.
It is way better to fix it on the spot because it's a little bit more difficult
to correct it in a post. one two three..
[Music]
Don't just film one shot or one take and
move on. You might think you got it but it is way better
to have just in case 3 or 4 good shots. Since we were dealing with very
cold weather, especially when I was filming Martina alone and I think it was
about -8 and quite windy, I was obviously trying to work fast. I had the shots but
once I started editing, I wish I had extra shots. I've made some mistakes
like camera movement and focusing. I like to share my mistakes with you so
you guys can learn from them. It is very different to film location
b-roll, versus filming actors. You can't rush it, you really need to think it
through. There are so many things you need to
think about like framing, composition, position, lighting and focus. It is just, it's
very different. I really encourage everybody to try
something like this, some short film
because you will learn so much from actual hands-on experience.
If you are not gonna be filming alone and you have someone on the set, have
them help out by watching hair, makeup, wardrobe or items which are not supposed
to be in a shot because you cannot do everything. You cannot keep
an eye on everything. You'll be so busy just with camera movements, framing and
all that. You don't want to have ear sticking out of long hair or some object
like me having a phone in the bottom left corner of the shot. Luckily, I was
able to get rid of it in a post. Well it can happen. I was reviewing the clip on
the spot but I paid attention to other things and I
simply overlooked it. Second pair of eyes will certainly help. Let's say you have
all scenes filmed. Are you gonna play only the music
with the short film? Do you want some sound effects? Do you want even a voice
over? These are all creative choices you need to make and that will actually
elevate your film further. I only wanted music at first because I
wanted just the visual and the music to stand out.
But then I realized that adding some very
minor subtle sound effects can really help.
At one point I even thought about doing a voice over by Natalie just saying a
story but then I scraped it off. I decided to only leave it as it is. I get
asked quite often in comments where I get the music and sound effects
like the footsteps in the snow or wind. I get everything from Epidemic Sound which
is also sponsor of today's video. I have used them for a number of years.
Their library is massive and they get fresh music all the time. They own 100%
of their music so you don't have to worry that you'll receive a copyright
strike or take down. You can use it on social media such as
Facebook and Instagram and also on monetized YouTube channels. What makes
them unique is the fact that you can download not only full songs but also
separate stems. You can choose between personal and commercial plans. If you
sign up with Epitomic Sound by using my link below the video in the video
description, you will receive a free one month trial.
You will also find a discount code for 50% off if you sign up for
an annual subscription for the personal plan.
Any music you will use
during the trial will remain safe and protected even if you cancel your
subscription after your trial month is over.
Thank you very much Epitomic Sound
for making this video possible. Let's talk about editing.
I found that filming was 30% of the task. 70% of the task was video editing. It is
best to set time limit and
perhaps boundaries when it comes to video editing because at first you can
have a simple edit and then you decide to
add on transitions and color grading and overlays and maybe some more special
effects. You can easily spend days, weeks and
months. That was me. One of the most frequently
asked questions I receive is how is your editing workflow. Well, at first I
transfer all the files from my smartphone via
cable to my laptop. Then I get very frustrated because all
the file names are not in order, they have these crazy file names and I have to
actually look for the clips. Then I create proxies and place the
clips in rough order. You may have a story written on the
paper, but many times the story will change in the post once you start
editing and it starts to shape itself out. And that was my case as well. First
of all, the music is short, it's under two minutes and then I had to place certain
action movements where the melody was changing
for a visual effect. But when I was looking at it over over, sometimes I had
to switch the clips because it was just making more sense and
the story was better that way. I always save a copy of edit in Adobe
Premiere Pro just in case something goes wrong. You may have shot in camera
transitions already so that would be straightforward. You can also option for
adding transitions in post if you want them.
I didn't want too many transitions, only a few as it is simple story with simple
visual. Fancy transitions would not be the right fit. I did very basic ones.
Color grading can pull the whole thing together or completely break apart. Since
I had majority of the footage from smartphone mixed with some drone shots,
I had to match them in a post. I usually start first with
selecting correct white balance and then I play with separate colors. And I admit
that I tried few different looks before I really settled on what I like. What is
left to do is to prepare a closing credits. It is a team afford and your
team members will love to see their name there.
So here's my little project. It's quite a special one for us because it's first
one where it's involving family and friends close friends.
A great memory to have. [Music]
If you liked today's video, give it a thumbs up and don't forget to subscribe
for more. If you have any questions, comments, want to send greetings or
special requests, leave it below and I'll see you my
friends in the next video. Cau... Ahoj...