"Making of" or Behind the Scenes or On the Sets...
- Thread starter tejas9999
- Start date
You need a second crew capturing everything the primary filmmakers are doing, and then condense all of that into an interesting story...so keep note of whatever unusual, exciting, enticing, dramatic, funny, etc things happened while making the feature and tell the story using those events.
There are two basic approaches to BEHIND THE SCENES/MAKING OF videos.
The INTERVIEW version, where cast and crew are formally interviewed in a somewhat staged fashion. You will still need a video guy (at least, if not more than one and sound) to shoot BEHIND THE SCENES footage to use as "B-Roll", which is the footage you put over top of the interview so you can make seamless cuts. You can also use still pics as B-Roll in either case.
There's also the FLY ON THE WALL approach, which is to tell the story almost entirely from the B-Roll and shoot interviews as the film is being shot and staying somewhat unobtrusive.
Great examples of this type of thing can be seen on the 2 different LORD OF THE RINGS dvd sets. On the incredible 4 DVD sets (12 total), the first approach is used. The cast & crew were interviewed after the shoot and regaled the viewer with their tales, and extensive use of photos and B-Roll made it all visually interesting. 2 years later, they released the 2 disc versions where the 2nd discs were documentaries by Costas Botes, each one 90 minutes for each movie where it was almost exclusively B-Roll with only a few interviews, all done on set during the shoot.
I combined both theories and did interview segments, but also long B-Roll Fly-On-The-Wall segments for IN THE TRENCHES OF AN INDIE FILM (http://amzn.com/B001PIHP0E) and you can see a sample of the Interview style here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIehEnqdV6M
The INTERVIEW version, where cast and crew are formally interviewed in a somewhat staged fashion. You will still need a video guy (at least, if not more than one and sound) to shoot BEHIND THE SCENES footage to use as "B-Roll", which is the footage you put over top of the interview so you can make seamless cuts. You can also use still pics as B-Roll in either case.
There's also the FLY ON THE WALL approach, which is to tell the story almost entirely from the B-Roll and shoot interviews as the film is being shot and staying somewhat unobtrusive.
Great examples of this type of thing can be seen on the 2 different LORD OF THE RINGS dvd sets. On the incredible 4 DVD sets (12 total), the first approach is used. The cast & crew were interviewed after the shoot and regaled the viewer with their tales, and extensive use of photos and B-Roll made it all visually interesting. 2 years later, they released the 2 disc versions where the 2nd discs were documentaries by Costas Botes, each one 90 minutes for each movie where it was almost exclusively B-Roll with only a few interviews, all done on set during the shoot.
I combined both theories and did interview segments, but also long B-Roll Fly-On-The-Wall segments for IN THE TRENCHES OF AN INDIE FILM (http://amzn.com/B001PIHP0E) and you can see a sample of the Interview style here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIehEnqdV6M
Just adding my own experience:
We shot a fair amount of BTS footage for my last film, but never did anything with it. ('cos I suck at mastering fancy DVDs with menus, etc) The film ended up getting a distributor, and they offered to assemble all the BTS stuff we had shot, to give some extra value to the disc. They also asked for all the stills we'd taken, too, and the Director's Commentary that we recorded.
They ended up dumping the commentary, but made use of the BTS video & stills.
Long-winded way of saying - even if you don't anticipate actually using it, shoot it anyway. Even a PA with a hand-cam and digital camera can shoot the most random stuff that may come in handy later.
That's all I got. I'm not a fan of BTS at all, though I know audiences will devour it.
We shot a fair amount of BTS footage for my last film, but never did anything with it. ('cos I suck at mastering fancy DVDs with menus, etc) The film ended up getting a distributor, and they offered to assemble all the BTS stuff we had shot, to give some extra value to the disc. They also asked for all the stills we'd taken, too, and the Director's Commentary that we recorded.
They ended up dumping the commentary, but made use of the BTS video & stills.
Long-winded way of saying - even if you don't anticipate actually using it, shoot it anyway. Even a PA with a hand-cam and digital camera can shoot the most random stuff that may come in handy later.
That's all I got. I'm not a fan of BTS at all, though I know audiences will devour it.
I tend to purchase DVDs based on the BTS content rather than the actual film/s contained thereupon. I like anything that shows actual on set work, mostly due to the fact that I'm a filmmaker and can look at the set and see what's being done and learn from that.
The interviews mostly contain the same information over and over after a while, so I like to search for any tips and tricks that aren't found anywhere else. I.E. - The director's comments on "Transylvania 6-5000" had a single comment about cutting from a moving master into another moving master to break up the shot without having to do another setup, that was cool - but took sifting through 90 minutes of commentary to get at.
The Making-of featurette on "Casanova" with Heath Ledger showed a 12'x12' scrim being used during a segment where they were talking about dealing with the italians to get the Piaza to shoot in, seeing the B-Roll footage allowed me to look at their lighting setups even though that wasn't the point of the interviews or showing the B-roll at that point.
Little vignettes are very helpful too, like 'Boo's stuff on "Horrors of War", the SFX features on "Broken" and "The Others" and the entirety of the box set of "Panic Room". I much prefer those as they help me target my learning.
The interviews mostly contain the same information over and over after a while, so I like to search for any tips and tricks that aren't found anywhere else. I.E. - The director's comments on "Transylvania 6-5000" had a single comment about cutting from a moving master into another moving master to break up the shot without having to do another setup, that was cool - but took sifting through 90 minutes of commentary to get at.
The Making-of featurette on "Casanova" with Heath Ledger showed a 12'x12' scrim being used during a segment where they were talking about dealing with the italians to get the Piaza to shoot in, seeing the B-Roll footage allowed me to look at their lighting setups even though that wasn't the point of the interviews or showing the B-roll at that point.
Little vignettes are very helpful too, like 'Boo's stuff on "Horrors of War", the SFX features on "Broken" and "The Others" and the entirety of the box set of "Panic Room". I much prefer those as they help me target my learning.
Me too. I tend not to buy a DVD without extras. To me, just as much as a consumer and as a filmmaker, if it's just the movie, then I know I won't watch the disc as much as one with a commentary and cool BEHIND THE SCENES bits. It truly is added value, as well as educational.
I do hate extras that are nothing more than fluff where actors and directors re-tell you the plot and their character motivations. Those make me sick because it's condescending and idiotic.
Simply put, ask someone to come on set who has decent camera skills and shoot a ton of footage. Also ask them to interview each actor and important crew member. Then edit it all together in an interesting manner.
Watch other behind the scenes to get an idea...
You don't need a second crew...below is an example of a behind the scenes of a recent feature I worked on (shot on RED) which only had one lonely dude shooting and editing all the footage on a tiny dv cam...and I think it's quite good.
http://vimeo.com/6033738
Our last released film NUN OF THAT had a ton of extras...two different commentaries, behind the scenes, trailer vault...I was so happy to see that. It really does make a film that much more appealing.
Watch other behind the scenes to get an idea...
You don't need a second crew...below is an example of a behind the scenes of a recent feature I worked on (shot on RED) which only had one lonely dude shooting and editing all the footage on a tiny dv cam...and I think it's quite good.
http://vimeo.com/6033738
Our last released film NUN OF THAT had a ton of extras...two different commentaries, behind the scenes, trailer vault...I was so happy to see that. It really does make a film that much more appealing.
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i do the same.
i also find myself watching the BTS discs more than the films themselves.