Inside of a Coffin...
- Thread starter mus
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Put a bullet in the bastard, throw the camera in, bury him 6 feet under.
I also know a couple of russian friends if your trigger finger is a bit on a weak side..
Just kidding.
But seriously,
For ghetto coffin, get some 2x4, wrap it around an actor, shoot with super wide lens. You just need the head shot, of him looking up. Wouldn't cost more that 20 bucks to build 3 short walls, 2 feet tall, 3'5 feet wide.
For a fancy coffin, you've got to decorate it a bit. but shoot the same way, from bellow super wide lens. Use 60watt light, super defused.
Make him look at his feet, cut the scene, where you flip the dude other way around, and shoot his feet the same way.
Make sure your audio is super dry and non echo'y. Audio will sell the effect.
I also know a couple of russian friends if your trigger finger is a bit on a weak side..
Just kidding.
But seriously,
For ghetto coffin, get some 2x4, wrap it around an actor, shoot with super wide lens. You just need the head shot, of him looking up. Wouldn't cost more that 20 bucks to build 3 short walls, 2 feet tall, 3'5 feet wide.
For a fancy coffin, you've got to decorate it a bit. but shoot the same way, from bellow super wide lens. Use 60watt light, super defused.
Make him look at his feet, cut the scene, where you flip the dude other way around, and shoot his feet the same way.
Make sure your audio is super dry and non echo'y. Audio will sell the effect.
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Worked well enough in that Kill Bill movie (forgot which one).
While I agree that audio will sell the effect, I wouldn't advise using super dry audio. Nothing in the real world is super dry, unless you're in an anechoic chamber and I don't see many scenes in films set in an anechoic chamber! The only place you find super dry audio in TV/Film is on voice overs or narration, which will not really sell the effect required by the OP. A more realistic effect could be created by the clever use of some EQ and other processing but the simplest way for someone less experienced in audio post would be to worldize it. Record or source the sound FX you want for the scene as you would normally, balance them and create a mix, then play this mix out of a speaker placed inside your coffin (or other wooden box) and record what comes of of the speaker with one or two (preferably omni directional) mics also placed in the box. Ideally you would seal the box (with a small hole or two drilled for the mic and speaker cables). Play around with the position of the mics in the box and the direction the speaker is facing, until it sounds perfect!
As a general audio rule, a smaller space does not mean less reverb, if anything there's often more reverb in a smaller space than in a bigger room (depending on the absorption coefficient of the reflective surfaces). It's the duration of the reverb (Reverb Time) which is usually less as the room size decreases. For the technically minded; almost all reverb parameters change in a small space relative to a large space but many parameters, such as Pre-delay and Early Reflections, have their timing reduced but not necessarily their level and in some cases, like density and reverb tail EQ, the relative levels or amounts are often higher in a smaller space.
G
http://www.theasc.com/ac_magazine/podcasts.php #18 is a 38 minute podcast with Eduard Grau, the cinematographer of Buried discussing the challenges of a film set entirely in a coffin. DirectorRik might be able to tell you what issue had the article on the film. I might still have that issue in my bathroom, but I'm not sure. It was an interesting read.
Not a bad idea. You can angle the camera for the initial shot to show the lid over him, then cut to a different angle and replace the board with one drilled with holes and some dirt sprinkled over the top that will fall in as he hits it. Just make sure to secure the lid well enough that his banging won't visibly lift it.
(I haven't listened yet) but it looks like a decent podcast. I'm surprised I haven't found it yet
Not to my eye, because exactly whose POV is it looking in from the *side?* Some other good ideas in the thread; I always like the character POV looking up at the backside of the lid for that claustrophobic and trapped feel, so maybe the camera is mounted next to his/her forehead?
(just got a laugh remembering the coffin scene at the beginning of Young Frankenstein-- lord, what a great movie)