How to Shoot this Film?

G

garylloyd

A few months ago I saw the 1998 film "Thursday" and was completely blown away by it. Loved everything about it. Read later Ebert hated it and remain puzzled as to why.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMV3jtVygOE

Anyway, since I'll be shooting my first feature next month, I want to know how to set-up shoots the way Thursday does. I've studied the first 20 minutes of the film and made some notes:

1. Shallow depth of field for all extreme close-ups and close-ups.

2. No Over-the-shoulder shots.

3. A rotation of medium, close-ups, and extreme close-up.

4. Sound effects -- doors opening, eggs sizzling in the pan, etc.

5. Close-ups of key inanimate objects.

6. Jib-crane shots.

etc,

In other words, there's a variety to the cinematography I see, but don't understand the logic and application of -- when to apply what.

Any books out there that will help?
 
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garylloyd said:
In other words, there's a variety to the cinematography I see, but don't understand the logic and application of -- when to apply what.
Click to expand...
Some of us will suggest this is called "the learning process". You can
read a dozen books and you can watch a thousand movies yet until
YOU make twenty movies you may never understand the logic. I'm
going to say there is no logic to it. Each director with the DP develops
their "logic" by doing. I tend to call it "style" and not "logic - but I'm
more of the creative type - I don't understand logic. Where to place
the camera, when to use shallow DOF, when to move the camera,
comes with practice. How to cut, what to cut to, what to cut away
from comes with practice.

Many (see below) will offer excellent books you can read. Some people
learn better by reading what others do.
 
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directorik said:
Some of us will suggest this is called "the learning process". You can
read a dozen books and you can watch a thousand movies yet until
YOU make twenty movies you may never understand the logic. I'm
going to say there is no logic to it. Each director with the DP develops
their "logic" by doing. I tend to call it "style" and not "logic - but I'm
more of the creative type - I don't understand logic. Where to place
the camera, when to use shallow DOF, when to move the camera,
comes with practice. How to cut, what to cut to, what to cut away
from comes with practice.

Many (see below) will offer excellent books you can read. Some people
learn better by reading what others do.
Click to expand...


Thanks ... What books below?

This is for someone who has a lot of time on their hands... How was the first five minutes of this movie done?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMV3jtVygOE

How would you list the shots, determine lenses needed, do the shooting. For example, I'm thinking that the lenses were changed each time there was a close-up and extreme closeup. If this is true, I'm thinking the first five minutes may have taken more than 30 minutes to shoot.

Then again, if he did all of the close-ups first, it wouldn't have taken that long.
 
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garylloyd said:
How would you list the shots, determine lenses needed, do the shooting. For example, I'm thinking that the lenses were changed each time there was a close-up and extreme closeup. If this is true, I'm thinking the first five minutes may have taken more than 30 minutes to shoot.

Then again, if he did all of the close-ups first, it wouldn't have taken that long.
Click to expand...

Ha, I haven't seen that movie since it first came out. Got to side with Ebert on this one, very derivative and the forced pop culture references are awkward as hell and really date this as one of those post Pulp Fiction Tarantino rip offs that we were overrun with in the late 90s.

But as to how those first five minutes were shot: At this level ithe director may very well have come in with a story board detailing all the shots so it was pre cut in his head. Not even unlikely really. Doesn't look like anything was shot too wide. Close ups maybe a 20mm, mediums maybe a 50mm.

As to how long it took to shoot all I can say for sure is it took a hell of a lot longer than 30 minutes! 30 minutes is hopefully long enough for a crew to move into the location and start complaining about the coffee but no more than that. I'm guessing a full day or two were scheduled for this. To shoot that in one day you'd be moving fast.
 
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There's quite a lot of shots in that one scene, though the lighting setups are relatively similar. Assuming you were able to get access to the location before sundown to rig lighting, and assuming a completely professional crew, you may make that scene in one night (assuming a 12 hour day/night).
Also, looks like you've got blanks firing, and squibs etc. so that's going to eat up a good amount of time.

I can see a mix of lenses, not just close-ups. Looks to me like a combination of 35mm, 50mm and 85mm, perhaps a 100mm.

My suggestion to you would be to get out onto other people's sets (ie real filmmakers, not kids playing in the backyard) and observe how they make films, and also practice doing your own films.

None of the creative decisions in that scene are arbitrary, and you couldn't expect to go in and shoot an identical scene with little to no experience.
 
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"Film Directing Shot by Shot" is a good primer for understanding the process of planning out how to shoot sequences, it focuses a lot on the storyboarding and pre-planning process:

http://www.amazon.com/Film-Directing-Shot-Visualizing-Productions/dp/0941188108

After reading something like that it really comes down to practice. There's a lot of ways to go about the process; you'll only find the one that works best for you by doing it, keeping what works and discarding the stuff you don't need.
 
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