Greetings, All-
I'm working on a period piece that needs a huge number of extras, or at least *look* like that many... However, it's a proof-of-concept teaser running maybe 2 minutes and funded with our own money, so the budget needs to be around $5K.
The piece needs to *look* like we had more than a thousand extras. We really think it will be hard to put across the power of the film's narrative without the large number of extras, but fortunately they don't have to be in the same place at the same time. Think "The Alamo" (1960 J. Wayne version), but with several hundred on each side of "good" and "bad."
I'm stumped how to pull this off and afford it, and being not the most experienced filmmaker, my first ideas are:
- Tons of locals who want to be a part of the film (my God, think of the catering!).
- Get ONLY a few establishing shots of a large number of extras, with extras performing roles on both sides.
- Green screen with some footage (from somewhere) of the hundreds.
- Go with small numbers of extras, and come up with the money to CGI the throng.
Would love to hear of other ideas-- crazy, obvious, and in between...
I'm working on a period piece that needs a huge number of extras, or at least *look* like that many... However, it's a proof-of-concept teaser running maybe 2 minutes and funded with our own money, so the budget needs to be around $5K.
The piece needs to *look* like we had more than a thousand extras. We really think it will be hard to put across the power of the film's narrative without the large number of extras, but fortunately they don't have to be in the same place at the same time. Think "The Alamo" (1960 J. Wayne version), but with several hundred on each side of "good" and "bad."
I'm stumped how to pull this off and afford it, and being not the most experienced filmmaker, my first ideas are:
- Tons of locals who want to be a part of the film (my God, think of the catering!).
- Get ONLY a few establishing shots of a large number of extras, with extras performing roles on both sides.
- Green screen with some footage (from somewhere) of the hundreds.
- Go with small numbers of extras, and come up with the money to CGI the throng.
Would love to hear of other ideas-- crazy, obvious, and in between...
.