film direction tips

Shooting in Slow Motion

You know those wonderful scenes where the actor is walking in slow-motion and his long coat is blowing dramatically in the wind. (Think of Nick Cage in Face Off when he gets out of the car at the airport.)

A trick to get the coat to billow like that is to have your costume designer either purchase a coat made of light-weight material, or they can creatively rip the lining out of the coat. This lightens up the material so it will move easier in the wind. And by the way – 60fps and 90fps are good frame rates for the effect

Shooting Comedy Scene

Nothing can kill a comedy scene quicker than the lack of pace. The pace of comedy needs to be faster than drama – but not so frantic that there is no time for reactions. And never over rehearse a comedy scene – use rehearsals to block out actor movement, then turn on the camera and see what happens!

page Count vs Camera Set-Ups

When you look at the 1st AD’s call sheet and see all those scenes and pages you have to shoot each day, remember: it’s not the page count that matters as much as the number of set-ups (shots) you
have each day.

Use Your Hand as the Foot for a Great Hit!

Want to get a great CU of Person B getting hit in the face/head by Person A’s foot?

Take the shoe, sock and pant leg of Person A and dress it on the stunt coordinator’s hand and arm.(re: fit the pant over the arm, put the sock and shoe on the hand). You can then move the camera in close and use the stunt coordinator to swing at Person B’s head right beside the camera. You get a great looking shot and you have more control of the “kick.” this technique in fight sequences looks great on camera.

 Screen Direction in an Fight Sequence

Which way an actor looks, or which side of the camera he exits or enters, is called Screen Direction (the “180 degree rule”). Maintaining proper screen direction is one of the jobs of the Script Supervisor and is very important to the uninterrupted flow of your story. But should the screen direction rule always be “obeyed?”

During fight scenes, “crossing the axis” adds a dramatic sense of confusion to the action – where punches and gunshots come from odd angles and characters enter and exit unexpectedly. And when
you add slow-motion, dutch tilts, hand-held cameras and jump-cutting techniques, you can create a ballet-like scene that is stylistic and dynamic