One thing I hate about micro-budget filmmaking.

[harmonica44]

A lot of people who lend you their locations do not want you to change much about them. Thing must remain in their places. So the art direction of the scene can really suck sometimes. Anyone have any experience with this, and have to rely on really good story telling to hopefully beat bad art direction?

[Scoopicman]

Originally Posted by harmonica44

Anyone have any experience with this, and have to rely on really good story telling to hopefully beat bad art direction?

All the time. In these cases, you must write around your resources. Sometimes that can be a good thing, depending on what you find.

One thing you can do is use lighting to determine the look you want. A few well placed flags (shadows) can make a difference.

[harmonica44]

That's a good idea. I'm not just talking about the shadows though, sometimes props and items in the background are more the problem. And either you are not allowed to move them, or there is nothing good there, and you are not allowed to pick apart the room, to fit your props in sometimes. One good though is sometimes it is good if the room is completely empty and bland, cause then if you have to come back to reshoot part of it, you don't have to reshoot the whole thing, and nothing in the room has been moved, that you cannot touch, since there was nothing in there before. So sometimes it has it's upsides too, as long as there is nothing there. The downside being the scene feels empty.

[Scoopicman]

Originally Posted by harmonica44

That's a good idea. I'm not just talking about the shadows though, sometimes props and items in the background are more the problem. And either you are not allowed to move them, or there is nothing good there, and you are not allowed to pick apart the room, to fit your props in sometimes.

If you learn about Lighting and Composition, you can pick apart that room anyway you want to.
As far as Composition, your audience only sees what you show with the camera. You can shoot your character in closeup or medium and not see those things you don't want in frame. If you are using shallow focus, there's no reason for anything behind your character to be in focus. You decide where you want your audience to look.

This girl came over the other night and asked if I could shoot her looking like a horror hostess. Well my TV room and kitchen look like this:




I didn't want to see the rest of the room, so I shut the iris down until the room was dark (even with ambient lighting). Then I used a strong light and 2 overhead lights to just light up the couch area. I had the camera iris stopped down to the point that even the lamp in the picture was not lighting up the background area:






I've also used Effects programs to take items out of shots or change them completely. Usually, there will be copyrighted pictures on the wall, like this:





So, I used a warp filter and turned it into something unrecognizeable:





Tight angles, spot lighting and shallow depth of field can solve almost any problem you have. Beyond those, you have After Effects.

[GuerrillaAngel]

A few well placed flags (shadows) can make a difference.

And a few well placed plants (think big ones) in front of the camera can also make a difference!

a realistic set gives the viewer a bleak bland authenticity, that bigger budget movies lack.

Well, if that is not an advantage, I don't know what is!

[Cracker Funk]

Yes. That is the most difficult part of micro-budget filmmaking.

-It's not that you have to wear way more hats than you should.
-It's not that you often have to practically beg people to show up.
-It's not that you have to worry about whether or not they'll show up.
-It's not that you have to make major, on-the-fly adjustments after people haven't shown up.
-It's not that nobody takes it as seriously as you do.
-It's not that you have no money to spend.
-It's not that your screenwriting is severely hampered by the limitations of what you think you're capable of shooting.
-It's not that you're a total rookie, learning as you go along, while simultaneously trying to project a sense of confidence that everyone is volunteering their time for a worthwhile project.
-It's not that you're completely fucking sick of your day job, and you simply must find a way to turn this art into a career.
-It's not that you've been working at it, diligently, for years, investing huge amounts of both time and money, while seeing very little fruits for your efforts.
-It's not the pain of the constant rejection, after rejection, after rejection, after rejection.
-It's not the fear of the seemingly insurmountable mountain that you've, for some insane reason, chosen to climb.

It's the lack of set decoration. How dare those people, unwilling to let you re-decorate their house! I mean, all they did was take time out of their day, allowing you to film their private space. The nerve!

[harmonica44]

lol Yes I know it's nice of them to let you film. Not saying they are rude at all. Just saying the set decoration sucks. My friend argues that it's a strength though, cause a realistic set gives the viewer a bleak bland authenticity, that bigger budget movies lack.

[2001 Productions]

Originally Posted by Cracker Funk

-It's not that you have to wear way more hats than you should.
-It's not that you often have to practically beg people to show up.
-It's not that you have to worry about whether or not they'll show up.
-It's not that you have to make major, on-the-fly adjustments after people haven't shown up.
-It's not that nobody takes it as seriously as you do.
-It's not that you have no money to spend.
-It's not that your screenwriting is severely hampered by the limitations of what you think you're capable of shooting.
-It's not that you're a total rookie, learning as you go along, while simultaneously trying to project a sense of confidence that everyone is volunteering their time for a worthwhile project.
-It's not that you're completely fucking sick of your day job, and you simply must find a way to turn this art into a career.
-It's not that you've been working at it, diligently, for years, investing huge amounts of both time and money, while seeing very little fruits for your efforts.
-It's not the pain of the constant rejection, after rejection, after rejection, after rejection.
-It's not the fear of the seemingly insurmountable mountain that you've, for some insane reason, chosen to climb.

OMG, CF! You're living MY life! I'm so sorry - I wouldn't wish that on anyone!

[dlevanchuk]

Originally Posted by 2001 Productions

OMG, CF! You're living MY life! I'm so sorry - I wouldn't wish that on anyone!

CF got us both on this one.. everyday.. every weekend before the shoot. Ton of emails, trying to find people, and convince them why they should spend one weekend working on my project for free, rather than spending time with their families. Then i have to play pretend game like i know what im doing for 8 hours..

its like some sort of masochistic pleasure, to go through all of these issues, constant compromises, stress and lack of sleep to get a final product..

..but its totaly worth it!

[Kholi]

Originally Posted by Cracker Funk

Yes. That is the most difficult part of micro-budget filmmaking.

-It's not that you have to wear way more hats than you should.
-It's not that you often have to practically beg people to show up.
-It's not that you have to worry about whether or not they'll show up.
-It's not that you have to make major, on-the-fly adjustments after people haven't shown up.
-It's not that nobody takes it as seriously as you do.
-It's not that you have no money to spend.
-It's not that your screenwriting is severely hampered by the limitations of what you think you're capable of shooting.
-It's not that you're a total rookie, learning as you go along, while simultaneously trying to project a sense of confidence that everyone is volunteering their time for a worthwhile project.
-It's not that you're completely fucking sick of your day job, and you simply must find a way to turn this art into a career.
-It's not that you've been working at it, diligently, for years, investing huge amounts of both time and money, while seeing very little fruits for your efforts.
-It's not the pain of the constant rejection, after rejection, after rejection, after rejection.
-It's not the fear of the seemingly insurmountable mountain that you've, for some insane reason, chosen to climb.

It's the lack of set decoration. How dare those people, unwilling to let you re-decorate their house! I mean, all they did was take time out of their day, allowing you to film their private space. The nerve!

One'a those nights huh?

It's tough stuff, for sure.

[PaulGriffith]

In the future, it's a good idea to plan for only one day of shooting and get all your bare minimums at borrowed locations. People do change their mind!

Your house, your office, etc that you get final say on, write your long scenes for that.

[Uranium City]

EXCELLENT examples, Scoopic! That was great! Probably the simplest first lesson in art direction tutorial ever published.

[GuerrillaAngel]

Originally Posted by Uranium City

EXCELLENT examples, Scoopic! That was great! Probably the simplest first lesson in art direction tutorial ever published.

I agree.

[harmonica44]

Originally Posted by PaulGriffith

In the future, it's a good idea to plan for only one day of shooting and get all your bare minimums at borrowed locations. People do change their mind!

Your house, your office, etc that you get final say on, write your long scenes for that.

True, but I don't have a lot of good resources. However there is a place at my work, that looks kind of like a police interrogation room, that I want to use as one, for a script I have in mind. Not like a real good room, but the best any convenience store back room, with a window and table could be.

And as far as lighting goes, I will have to get better at that in time, to make up for the lack of control over art direction.

[trentvideostudios]

Well you can always put in bigger objects to block the boring objects, and then when you're done filming just take them out so that you never moved anything in the first place.
And, as others have said, use shallow depth of field to focus the attention on the actor, or an object, rather than a focus on the whole setting.