Can't remember if anyone has done this. Plus I've been meaning to do this for some time since I keep coming across people asking questions about movie making. That and I haven't written a how-to since the old 'lith days I think. lol.
Equipment
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You'll need a camera. The one in the link is shareware so you don't have to give them money right away. Or at all really if you don't mind having the small fraps watermark at the top. The Shareware version can only film 30 second clips as well. Fraps is a resource hog. It eats ram like candy and uses up drive space like an elephant parking a cadillac but the end results can be quite .. professional. It's a busy site so you may have to try DLing the shareware program twice.
I use windows Movie maker (that is bundled with XP) to edit the raw fraps files either into a short movie or I use it to convert the uncompressed .AVI of fraps to compressed .WMV for later editting.
Moviemaker tutorials
If you plan on doing any voice dubbing you'll need the equipment for that as well. A mic, a QUIET room, and the software to record samples. Fortunately windows ships with a passable sound recorder that you can use if you don't want to do it straight into movie maker. It's also useful for other people across the net to do voices and then e-mail them to you.
Ideas, Scripts, and Actors
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You need an idea. Without an idea you'll just be filming stock footage. While it is possible to make a movie out of stock footage the end result won't be very polished. I've done this a number of times and the reception has been mostly lukewarm to those projects. But when I have an idea before I begin then the filming process is focused and people enjoy them a great deal more.
Once you have a basic idea it's time to flesh out the story. Before you begin writing up a script ask yourself how many people can you realistically get to help on more than one occasion? (I do reshoots all the time) I've considered filming massive battle scenes and having casts of thousands ... but in the real world I'm not going to be able to get hordes of people to give up thier time for absolutely nothing. Being an actor can be extremely boring with lots of standing around and doing nothing. Besides.. lag becomes an issue and lag looks terrible on film. I should know. :smileywink:
Okay. So you have a basic concept of the movie and you're certain (meaning you asked people and they agreed) that you have at least a couple of the main roles filled. Now you have to flesh the rest of the story out which is harder than it sounds. Some questions to ask yourself as you develop your script ...
Is there a clear conflict between my protagonist (da good guy) and my antagonist (da bad guy) that is obvious? Conflict is what drives the story.
Does Betty wonder if she is really in love with Harry Billionaire or is it the money she loves? (Inner conflict)
Is Joan the Ex out to get her for stealling Harry away? (External conflict).
For example.
Do we care about the heroes? If we don't like the heroes we won't be cheering for them. There should be a sympathetic moment that defines the character and makes us actually like them. Like a mercenary that risks his or her life to save a small child that they don't even know .... suddenly we like them more even if they are a hired gun that kills people.
Am I making the reason for the struggle clear to all? This is a trap I fall into occasionally. I like twisty turny plots that make me go 'Huh?' and think about it for a while. Like the Matrix. :robotvery-happy: But if you make it too obscure or unclear then people lose interest because they really aren't sure why this is all happening. They can't connect to the conflict.
Filming and Locations
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Okay ... NOW you are ready to start working on the preshoot work. You need to find locations for all those places you don't have in mind already. You also need to examine the areas that you already picked. As you look around keep in mind what will be in the background. Background is more important than a lot of people think. It sets the mood. Machete wielding Jason is scarier in a dark forest than on a space station. Why? Because we can believe that there could be some hockey mask wearing axe wielding maniac in the forest. Put him in a space station and it's just silly and out of the realm of the easily believable. So pick your locations carefully.
When you are about to start filming think only about that scene.. not three or four others as well. Make that scene you are filming the best you possibly can. Don't rush things. (unless you have a deadline like we did with Walrus's gig. hehe.)
Keep your actors happy. If they are happy they will be more eager to do a good job and get it right. Jokes help while they are standing around waiting. :smileywink:
Control + U gets rid of the User Interface. Also brings it back.
Control + T gets rid of the name tags. Also brings them back.
Techniques. This is a tough one. You can use yourself as an actor but then you will be centered in every shot. Plus the camera moves with you. I have a couple different ways of taking shots that I'm not in.
The Sit method: Sit down and try a couple moods until your head is out of the picture when you zoom in as far as possible. For my female RSI I found /mood sexy works really well since she leans back a bit. This gives you a camera at waist height. Not great for close ups but pretty good for medium to long range.
Sneak Method: Okay. I load up sniper because that's the one I have levelled up and enable Escape and Evasion because it makes me mostly invisble from my point of view. Now the tricky part. Put the camera in static. (in options under video.. not advanced options) This lets the camera stay at the angle you put it even if you move. Zoom in as close as possible. Now turn around so you are facing yourself (what an odd statement. hehe.) and if you move walk backwards butt first towards the location you want to end up in. Wha-la. One wheeled camera without you in it ... hehe. Even if a very very tiny part of you makes it into the shot you are mostly invisible. This technique can be used for scrolling shots too but it can be problematic at times. Strafe walking works fairly well.
Hyperjump method: This one is easy. Good for crane shot type stuff but it gives everything a slight fish-eye lens look. Just hit hyperjump then hit cntrl+U and make sure you have an angle where you can't see yourself and start filming. You can also move around with this method and is great for a crane shot moving down the street for example. I can't remember who used this the first time ... *smoke begins pouring out of the ears* Nope. Can't remember. It was brilliant though. Did a crane style shot cruising down the roads and then speeded it up really fast. The effect was polished and looked awesome.
Actors
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Just a quick word about actors. To be an actor you have to have a lot of patience and are not bored easily. You also need good knowledge of the MxO emotes and be able to take direction well. As the film maker you need to treat these people with patience, respect, and gratitude. Always make sure to give Credit to the actors in your film because that's all they get. No money. Unlikely to be famous for it. But to see thier name up on the screen is a great rush.
Editting
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Now the hard part. Whew. Editting. Experience is the best teacher in my opinion. But I will give a couple pointers. Perhaps someone else can give an in-depth look into editting. Study movies. Note how they are put together. How the flow of the film goes. Note how background music often sync's up with actions on the screen. This creates a flow.. a rhythm of sorts. Are there points that seem to drag? This is something I'm guilty of more than I care for. If you don't keep them interested they stop watching and/or give a bad review. Bad reviews are no fun. heh. If you are using voice actors do thier voices sync up with the emotes on screen? Kung fu Theatre is cool and all but unless you are doing it on purpose it looks bad.
Releasing the Film
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FINALLY!! It's done. Now you need to release it. Fileplanet is a good place to store films. Especially big ones. It's where I keep my films and makes a great online archive. There are other places to store them but Fileplanet is the one I use. I'm sure others will leave links and I'll look for some reliable ones later.
Now you have the movie somewhere online. Next step. Publicity and Opening Night. Usually these are one in the same but sometimes people go all out with previews and what not. When making the post about your film DO NOT CRITICIZE YOUR OWN WORK!!!! Leave that for other people. You saying bad things about your own film makes people think twice about downloading it. If the maker doesn't like it why would I? Instead stress the good points. A small intro like they do in commercials for movies that get money to make them. That's all. No need to make a gigantic post explaining the artistic inspiration. Short and sweet. Couple paragraphs at most. Hook 'em and reel them in.
Okay, I think that's it for now. I didn't write this out before hand and just typed it up as I thought about it so I blame all mistakes and errors on that. heh. :smileyvery-happy:
I'll add some more another time after I read this over again and see what I missed.
If anyone wants to add anything to this please do.
I'm certainly not the Lord of the Films.
More like the Ed Wood of the Matrix ... :smileywink:
Message Edited by skyscream on 04-06-200603:08 PM
