|
Professional filmmakers often developed their passion for film at a very early age, with their first 8mm home movie cameras or videocameras. These early movies may have featured friends and family acting out heroic fantasies or imitations of favorite television shows. There were no scripts, no technical crews, no overdubs or retakes- just young amateurs pointing a loaded camera and shooting for the fun of it. That same spirit of experimentation still exists today, even as the technology of filmmaking continues to improve. Young amateur filmmakers today can achieve a surprisingly professional result with the use of digital film processing and some editing software designed for home use.
But you can still achieve some professional results without such advanced and often expensive equipment. By editing your project 'in the camera', you can get a fairly professional looking film without any outside editing required. Here are some tips on editing an amateur film in the camera.
1. Break your script down into individual shots. Before starting any actual filming, try to view the project in your mind. The script may say 'A young rider is chased by a dozen evil henchmen across a field.' What you must do as a director is conceive that scene in terms of individual 'shots'. Each and every scene should be broken down this way if you are editing in the camera. In the chase sequence above, you'll need a shot of the young rider as he sprints across a field. Then you'll need a closer shot of the rider as he looks back to see who's chasing him. The next shot will show the henchmen approaching the camera. Next shot, the henchmen's view of the young rider. Another shot of the entire scene as they race across an open field. Back to the young rider's point of view, as he sees his escape route. Cut to the henchmen stopping, as they realize the young rider has escaped. Final shot- the young rider disappearing into the woods.
As you can see, even a simple scene as a rider escaping from a band of desperados involves no less than eight shots, including close-ups and POV positions. You may think this is excessive and unnecessary, but from the audience's perspective all these individual shots were needed to establish the scene. Conversations between two characters must also be planned out shot by shot. You do not want a long static shot of one character as he has an emotional conversation with another character. You'll want to cut back and forth, as characters react to each other's dialogue. The most common solution for camera movement during a conversation is shooting over the shoulder of each character as the other character speaks. Occasionally, you may also want to shoot the reaction of one character by having the camera pointed directly at them while the other actor delivers his or her lines offscreen. When editing in the camera, however, such maneuvers could prove difficult. You may have to compromise and film most of your dialogue as a 'two-shot', where both actors are in the frame during the entire conversation. If you can get the actors to maintain their line readings consistently, you may be able to shoot some individual reaction shots or over the shoulder shots. Dialogue may have to be read one line at a time, however, which can be difficult. Keep your dialogue simple and focused.
2.Rehearse your camera movements along with your actors. When editing in the camera, each take becomes critical. You may only get one shot at a perfect take, so your actors must rehearse their dialogue and movements long before filming begins. You don't want your actors to sound over-rehearsed, however, because your film will seem sterile and canned to the audience. What you are striving for in rehearsal is consistency. Improvising is dangerous when editing in the camera, so you'll want to emphasize adherence to the script when rehearsing. Along with the actors, you'll want to rehearse your camera movements. If you are doing your own camera work, keep in mind exactly where you need to be in order to capture the shot. No one enjoys watching a camera try to find the actors in a scene. Rehearse your movements as if you were choreographing a dance sequence. Place marks on the floor that will tell you precisely where to stop and where to go. If someone else will be handling the camera, teach them the same movements and make sure they can see the marks. Keep camera movement simple and repeatable when editing in the camera. You may have to settle for quite a few static (still) shots when only using one camera and limited editing. If you need to move lighting or sound equipment while filming the shot, make sure you rehearse those movements as well. Boom microphones can easily fall into camera range, so choreograph technical movements every bit as much as the actors' staging.
3. You can still pull off some professional special effects while editing in the camera. Perhaps the easiest effect to pull off is the disappearing object. Take a shot of the object you want to make disappear, then lock the camera in place. Remove the object and resume filming. You might want to cut to a reaction shot, in order to emphasize the miracle that has just taken place. Editing in the camera is probably best suited for animation, because each shot can be planned out in advance. You can animate inanimate objects by using stop-motion filming. Create an army of fruit by moving each piece of fruit a short distance and taking the shot. If you are using film, remember the projection speed of the finished piece. If your projector runs at 24 frames per second, then you will need to shoot 24 frames in order to record a second's worth of action. Increase the number of frames per second in order to achieve a slow motion effect, and decrease the frame speed to get a comical Keystone Cops result. If you are trying to duplicate natural motion, film a human model performing that action and then study the motion frame by frame. You may not be able to achieve quite as many special effects while editing live action in the camera, but you can still use some stunt shots, provided your stunt person gets the action right on the first take. You won't be able to dissolve from one scene to the next, but some videocameras do have fadeout options. You may have some fun with using silent film tricks, such as title cards between scenes or frenetic jump cuts. When editing in the camera, your story can either be very linear and straightforward or non-linear and experimental. Just think in terms of shots and relationship to the story and you should be able to get some good results without editing equipment.
|
| |
