• Action Movie made by Highschoolers help?
    24 replies, posted
Hey Facepunch, So I have this friend. And he wants to be a director later in life, so I told him to keep making small movies as practice for making bigger stuff later in life, which I think is a pretty good idea. And now he wants to make this action movie, he's writing the script now and it doesn't look too great. I was thinking about helping him write, and I probably will later, but I was wondering, what tips do you fellow movie-makers have for us beginners? Keep in mind that we're only in highschool and don't have cars yet, so we can't travel very far without getting questions asked. Although the lead in the movie has a brother who has a car and can drive us to nearby areas, but not far. Does anyone have any tips? I plan to create some special effects in Adobe AfterEffects CS4 as well. If you have tips for filming, or for using after-effects, please post them here. Thank you for your time.
You'll just get bashed by the critics and the movie will not sell shit
I am 19 years old and make short movies like you and so i will write some stuff that could be useful for you. Sorry for my bad grammar but i am Italian. Adobe After Effects is certainly the best special effects program out there. I advise you to use it with Adobe Premiere Pro and also use Adobe Dynamic Link to "pass on" clips from AE to PP without the intermediate rendering process. Take your time editing clips and try not to rush or you will end up making a mess. For an action film you should keep in mind that it is not easy so you need to learn how to hold guns correctly and to imitate correctly the movement of the gun when it's fired.
If this is all for fun, go right ahead since this is just for experience. Otherwise, you should start with something smaller before getting into special effects. You should tell your friend the truth since criticism is the best way to get better.
You gotta invest money into shit like audio equipment (mics, sound recorders), lighting (best to have 3 for most situations), an AC kit, props, and all that fun shit. Also, your first couple movies probably will suck, and even when you start making movies others like, don't be surprised if you personally hate it, when you spend so much time on something it really isnt that uncommon
[QUOTE=Lufttygger306;28386577]You'll just get bashed by the critics and the movie will not sell shit[/QUOTE] I ain't selling it. I'm just putting it on YouTube. On my friend's channel [editline]2nd March 2011[/editline] He and I have already worked together frequently. And I have used After Effects multiple times before. [QUOTE=imMonkeyGOD;28386767]If this is all for fun, go right ahead since this is just for experience. Otherwise, you should start with something smaller before getting into special effects. You should tell your friend the truth since criticism is the best way to get better.[/QUOTE] [editline]2nd March 2011[/editline] My other friend's Dad works on a show called Pretty Little Liars, so he has access to all that stuff and is willing to help us, so we got our equipment down, and as for criticism on my own movies, I already have and will continue to. I kinda look at it like, "Oh, what could I have done better here?" or "Oh man, this scene was bad. What would I do next time for it?" That kinda stuff. Thank you. [QUOTE=CjienX;28387068]You gotta invest money into shit like audio equipment (mics, sound recorders), lighting (best to have 3 for most situations), an AC kit, props, and all that fun shit. Also, your first couple movies probably will suck, and even when you start making movies others like, don't be surprised if you personally hate it, when you spend so much time on something it really isnt that uncommon[/QUOTE] [editline]2nd March 2011[/editline] Thanks man, I'll take those into consideration. And as for the action scenes, since my cousin used to work at the local shooting range, I used to go there a lot so I know how real guns look and feel. Thanks! [QUOTE=KlaseR;28386649]I am 19 years old and make short movies like you and so i will write some stuff that could be useful for you. Sorry for my bad grammar but i am Italian. Adobe After Effects is certainly the best special effects program out there. I advise you to use it with Adobe Premiere Pro and also use Adobe Dynamic Link to "pass on" clips from AE to PP without the intermediate rendering process. Take your time editing clips and try not to rush or you will end up making a mess. For an action film you should keep in mind that it is not easy so you need to learn how to hold guns correctly and to imitate correctly the movement of the gun when it's fired.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Morgankim96;28392806] My other friend's Dad works on a show called Pretty Little Liars, so he has access to all that stuff and is willing to help us, so we got our equipment down, and as for criticism on my own movies, I already have and will continue to. I kinda look at it like, "Oh, what could I have done better here?" or "Oh man, this scene was bad. What would I do next time for it?" That kinda stuff. Thank you. [/QUOTE] You don't know how much I envy you right now. I need equipment but don't have money and I'm trying to get into a film school for the next school year so it's a little hard getting a job right now with them knowing I'm not gonna be here long
[QUOTE=CjienX;28392935]You don't know how much I envy you right now. I need equipment but don't have money and I'm trying to get into a film school for the next school year so it's a little hard getting a job right now with them knowing I'm not gonna be here long[/QUOTE] Hahaha, good luck with all that though. Film school sounds like a good path
[QUOTE=CjienX;28392935]You don't know how much I envy you right now. I need equipment but don't have money and I'm trying to get into a film school for the next school year so it's a little hard getting a job right now with them knowing I'm not gonna be here long[/QUOTE] Hahaha, good luck with all that though. Film school sounds like a good path
Read film making and screen writing books, they always help.
One thing that always bothers me when I see films on youtube is an overuse of cheap digital effects. Obviously muzzle flashes and so on are necessary but don't abuse it. If the effect can be achieved using practical effects then it will be much more impressive to watch.
OK i read Adobe After effects and seriously stop there op. To be blunt that shit doesnt matter at all, how solid is your script? have you got it checked over by independent parties? can your lead role uphold the audiences attention? Special effects etc are all secondary to story, and really if your in highschool concentrate on story because #1 you wont be fantastic at effects and #2 doing sfx at this stage of your movie making hobbie is stupid for a number of reasons, its like trying to run when you cant even walk, you need to grasp the fundamentals first. Start with the basics, get a coherent story, develop characters and have them act on an arch with a defined beginning middle and climax, and seriously do that and your more successful than 90% of youtube and probably the world. So my advice is: Dont write in 'sfx scenes' into your story - it will always end up turning crap, concentrate on your characters arch, their story and how it unfolds. The effects will come later
Me and some of my pals are doing that too. Don't worry if it is shit. I made a little crappy film and posted it on Facepunch, where alot of the people here have been exposed to greatness such as freddiew, so they will come down harsh on you, which is a good thing because it will put you more in focus with what you need to fix. But even if people here or on YouTube call it shit, post it to your Face Book, I guarantee that all your friends will be amazed by it just because they know you and will think its funny. Altough the film I made was crap (Even I know it was) it got 60 likes by friends on Face Book because they thought it was good, so that can make you more motivated. Good luck.
Also you should keep in consideration to keep the film at the pace of the music: often i see short films in which you hear fast-paced music on slow paced action sequences.
Freediew makes pritty kool Action movies. Buy some Airsoft guns and learn how to muzzel shot. Always good
If he's serious about Directing in the future, I suggest [url=http://www.videocopilot.net/products/action2/]Action Essentials 2[/url] It's a 2 disc dvd set with hundreds of action effects, in 2 resolutions, 720p and 2048x1152. I want to be a director/movie maker when I'm older as well.
While SFX are important when it comes down to shooting an action film, you should, as dude2193 pointed out before, focus on writing a decent script, have it checked by your audience and cast, and listen to the feedback you get, a good script makes the difference between crap and gold. As for special effects, Action Movie Essentials is the way to go if you're going for that kind of film. But I also recommend learning 3DSMax or a similar 3D design software (I use LightWave myself), in conjunction with After Effects, as you can achieve some pretty impressive effects with those.
[QUOTE=dude2193;28418141]OK i read Adobe After effects and seriously stop there op. To be blunt that shit doesnt matter at all, how solid is your script? have you got it checked over by independent parties? can your lead role uphold the audiences attention? Special effects etc are all secondary to story, and really if your in highschool concentrate on story because #1 you wont be fantastic at effects and #2 doing sfx at this stage of your movie making hobbie is stupid for a number of reasons, its like trying to run when you cant even walk, you need to grasp the fundamentals first. Start with the basics, get a coherent story, develop characters and have them act on an arch with a defined beginning middle and climax, and seriously do that and your more successful than 90% of youtube and probably the world. So my advice is: Dont write in 'sfx scenes' into your story - it will always end up turning crap, concentrate on your characters arch, their story and how it unfolds. The effects will come later[/QUOTE] Uh, no. You need to know as much as you can about post as everything else.
[QUOTE=CjienX;28521807]Uh, no. You need to know as much as you can about post as everything else.[/QUOTE] You wont even reach post unless you come up with an 'actually good enough to shoot' script, case in point you cant run before you can crawl. [editline]10th March 2011[/editline] Another point is [b]one of[/b] the best films ever made, Pulp Fiction has barely any SFX scenes, its story and character driven. Also look at this scene, the only special effects are the blank bullets in the guns, and the yellow wash when they're firing, which honestly arent really needed in the first place, but added as an extra ontop of a good story. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6csp2fZt2E[/media] So like i said before, story, story story, the rest will come later, when you actually have a need for them, IE i have this intense moment and need to use SFX to persuade the audience to feel a certain way, NOT i want a cool meteor to blow up this car as my main character is running down the street. [editline]10th March 2011[/editline] Last thing, this might help too, [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhNhT7EwZ74[/media]
[QUOTE=dude2193;28522665]You wont even reach post unless you come up with an 'actually good enough to shoot' script, case in point you cant run before you can crawl. [editline]10th March 2011[/editline] Another point is [b]one of[/b] the best films ever made, Pulp Fiction has barely any SFX scenes, its story and character driven. Also look at this scene, the only special effects are the blank bullets in the guns, and the yellow wash when they're firing, which honestly arent really needed in the first place, but added as an extra ontop of a good story. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6csp2fZt2E[/media][/QUOTE] Notice how I said AS MUCH AS EVERYTHING ELSE. If you get your actually good enough to shoot script and get all that done and you have no experience in post you're either fucked or out a lot of money because you need to hire someone else. And you really can't use Tarantino as an example for this, it isn't like Pulp Fiction was the first thing he ever made.
[QUOTE=CjienX;28522742]Notice how I said AS MUCH AS EVERYTHING ELSE. If you get your actually good enough to shoot script and get all that done and you have no experience in post you're either fucked or out a lot of money because you need to hire someone else..[/QUOTE] I think this is going in circles, last thing ill say on it is how can one get experience in post if he has nothing to do there ? hes never gonna get experience in post unless what he has is worth editing together, its all about the story. [QUOTE=CjienX;28522742]it isn't like Pulp Fiction was the first thing he ever made.[/QUOTE] I used it as an example of story/characters over special effects
[QUOTE=dude2193;28522780]I think this is going in circles, last thing ill say on it is how can one get experience in post if he has nothing to do there ? hes never gonna get experience in post unless what he has is worth editing together, its all about the story. I used it as an example of story/characters over special effects[/QUOTE] OP blatantly said that his friend is the one writing and that he'll be helping with it later on. There's no reason to discourage him from doing SFX work to get practice in.
[QUOTE=CjienX;28522805]OP blatantly said that his friend is the one writing and that he'll be helping with it later on. There's no reason to discourage him from doing SFX work to get practice in.[/QUOTE] I know i said i wasnt going to keep going with this, but seriously man your acting a little silly. Like ive said a couple of time before: You cant run until you can walk. How can the OP do SFX with no base knowledge first, and ill quote the OP: [quote] I was thinking about helping him write, and I probably will later, but I was wondering, what tips do you fellow movie-makers have for us beginners? Keep in mind that we're only in highschool and don't have cars yet, [/quote] -- #1 The op's friend wants to do an action move, thats why i said cont concentrate on SFX, over story as most action oriented films tend to to. #2 OP is going to help write the script, like i said in my first post, [quote]So my advice is: Dont write in 'sfx scenes' into your story - it will always end up turning crap, concentrate on your characters arch, their story and how it unfolds. The effects will come later[/quote] #3 I didnt discourage, in fact i actually enforced it, but after a coherent story. quote, [quote]So like i said before, story, story story, the rest will come later, when you actually have a need for them, IE i have this intense moment and need to use SFX to persuade the audience to feel a certain way,[/quote] [quote]concentrate on your characters arch, their story and how it unfolds. The effects will come later.[/quote] So really, why are you arguing CjienX? the OP is in bloody high school, hes new to film making in general and to be blatently honest its my firm opinion that he should concentrate on story over SFX at this point in development.
[QUOTE=dude2193;28523067]I know i said i wasnt going to keep going with this, but seriously man your acting a little silly. Like ive said a couple of time before: You cant run until you can walk. How can the OP do SFX with no base knowledge first, and ill quote the OP:[/quote] By opening the program and playing around with it and\or looking up tutorials. [quote]So really, why are you arguing CjienX? the OP is in bloody high school, hes new to film making in general and to be blatently honest its my firm opinion that he should concentrate on story over SFX at this point in development.[/quote] His friend is the one making the movie.
[QUOTE=Over-Run;28419234]Me and some of my pals are doing that too. Don't worry if it is shit. I made a little crappy film and posted it on Facepunch, where alot of the people here have been exposed to greatness such as freddiew, so they will come down harsh on you, which is a good thing because it will put you more in focus with what you need to fix. But even if people here or on YouTube call it shit, post it to your Face Book, I guarantee that all your friends will be amazed by it just because they know you and will think its funny. Altough the film I made was crap (Even I know it was) it got 60 likes by friends on Face Book because they thought it was good, so that can make you more motivated. Good luck.[/QUOTE] I can see where you're coming from and all, but with past videos that I put on other forums, all I really got was just plain "aklsdnfn this sucks dick lknwea" type stuff. There wasn't any constructive criticism, really. Just said that one part sucked lol [editline]10th March 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=JonVX;28510428]If he's serious about Directing in the future, I suggest [url=http://www.videocopilot.net/products/action2/]Action Essentials 2[/url] It's a 2 disc dvd set with hundreds of action effects, in 2 resolutions, 720p and 2048x1152. I want to be a director/movie maker when I'm older as well.[/QUOTE] I already have a copy of that, my friend's dad works on the TV show "Pretty little Liars". Now I have no idea why the flying fuck they would need that, but they do. Lmao
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