Making Better Movies with Moviestorm Vol 3: Sound and Light

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HANDHELD LIGHTS Start in a dark set. Have a character enter with the light and move through it, illuminating various parts of the set. Review What part does this lighting play in the story: is it necessary or a stylistic choice? How easy is it for the audience to understand the space? How are you revealing the space? What do you show, and what do you hide? Does this create the atmosphere you want? How is this amplified by music or background sound? What sort of shots work best? Close shots on characters, close shots on illuminated areas, or wide shots showing mostly darkness with some bright spots? How do these cut together? How do you illuminate faces so the audience can read the actors’ expressions? What other lights do you need to add to the actual prop lights? Followup exercises Experiment with having several characters so you have many light sources. Experiment with using shadows for an extreme effect. Shoot an action sequence with this lighting. Conceal things (e.g. enemies or monsters) in the darkness, and shoot a scene so that the audience sees them but the characters are unaware of them. 38
SILHOUETTES Technique Film an object in silhouette, for a dramatic effect. A silhouette can create a powerful visual composition. It can be used for shock or mystery. It can also be used as part of a reveal, where the audience initially sees only a shape, but then as the shot develops, more details can be made out. It is often used in horror or thrillers, but can have applications in other genres. It is of course a key element in many over the shoulder shots, where the front character is silhouetted. However, this effect needs to be used sparingly for best effect. Filming a silhouette is not the same as filming a shadow (covered in the next exercise). You are still filming the actual object, but with no front light (or very little front light) on it. Left: the silhouette through the doorway makes a strong image by compressing the visible screen area with blackness. This would make a powerful opening or closing shot. Right: a very similar image filling the screen creates a completely different composition. Faint details are visible on the character, so it's not simply black. Take a scene in a single location – either interior or exterior. A very short scene is adequate for this: 30 seconds or less is sufficient. Dialog is not necessary. However, the scene must have some dramatic moment with someone or something appearing or a key prop such as a tombstone. 39
Page 2 and 3: CONTENTS FOREWORD .................
Page 4 and 5: This excellent series of books will
Page 6 and 7: EXERCISES How to use this book The
Page 8 and 9: Once you start thinking about the s
Page 10 and 11: FOLEY OR NOT? Film the scene, and r
Page 12 and 13: AMBIENT NOISE Film and edit the sce
Page 14 and 15: REALISTIC AMBIENCE Go to a busy loc
Page 16 and 17: EMPHATIC SOUND Shoot the scene base
Page 18 and 19: USING MUSIC AS LEITMOTIF Shoot the
Page 20 and 21: USING SOUND TO BRIDGE A SCENE Shoot
Page 22 and 23: CUTTING & DIRECTING TO MUSIC Film a
Page 24 and 25: MUSIC VIDEO Film the piece in five
Page 26 and 27: Lighting a virtual movie scene is a
Page 28 and 29: REALISTIC VS UNREALISTIC LIGHTING F
Page 30 and 31: FAKING LIGHTING CONTINUITY Shoot th
Page 32 and 33: MOSTLY DARK SHOTS Shoot the scene a
Page 34 and 35: DAY VS NIGHT Film the scene in dayt
Page 36 and 37: MOVING LIGHTS Shoot the scene with
Page 40 and 41: SILHOUETTES Shoot the scene convent
Page 42 and 43: FILMING SHADOWS Shoot the scene con
Page 44: Matt Kelland is one of the founders

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