5 Clever Filmmaking Tricks You Should Try
They're simple. They're cool. They should definitely be used in your next film.
There's like a billion hurdles to jump over when making a film, but, fortunately, there are so many tricks and hacks you can use to give yourself a little extra oomph to make it over the top.
In this video, Ryan Connolly of Film Riot goes over 5 of his favorite filmmaking tricks that he and his team have used over the past 10 years of making movies, and they might just be the thing you need to bring your project past the finish line. Check it out below.
Whip Pans
These super quick pans are useful in a number of ways. If you want to give your scene a little extra momentum and energy, use a whip pan. If you want to pull off a stylish match-on-action, use a whip pan. If you want to move from one scene to the next, use a whip pan.
Stop-Motion Special Effect
This is an interesting approach to special effects and stunts, especially for those who aren't experienced in creating CGI and VFX. Ryan uses a stop-motion technique to depict a character flying through the air after getting brutally...I don't know..."force pushed" by someone much smaller than him. It's awesome.
Set Building
We don't all have the ability to shoot in the locations we need to tell our stories. However, if you have a bit of empty space and some creativity, you can successfully turn an empty warehouse into a foggy forest, lush rainforest, or whatever you want. This trick works best if the scene takes place at night...for obvious reasons.
French Turn-Around
Speaking of space, if you don't have enough of if to set your actors and camera/lighting setups, you can do what's called a French turn-around. Instead of moving your camera and lighting, you move your actors to get reverse and reaction shots. Saves time, space, and energy.
Green Screen
Green screen and blue screen can be used to do so many things. Connolly talks about how he used it to depict one of his characters falling from a roof, but you can use it to do...anything.
What are your favorite filmmaking tricks? Let us know down below.
Source: Film Riot
