Who can help me make a (relatively simple) film?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Hey all, thought I’d turn to the treasure trove of info that is this board for some advice.

I’d like to create a small independent film… okay, who am I kidding, it’s actually a porn film. I’ve not made a film before and would like to do something of a decent quality, so rather than going on a film making course thought I would check whether there was any advice to be had. Things that I think I need so far but would appreciate tips on or additions to are:

[ul]
[li]actors - not a problem to source that[/li][li]Cameras, was thinking of renting something, preferably a digital camera. I don’t really know anything about specs though so no idea what I’m looking for.[/li][li]Lighting - I always see the lighting umbrellas and lights in the background on porn shoots and wonder how that works. Is it just to create a certain amount of light? Do you absolutely need them or can you get the same level with sunlight?[/li][li]Film editing software - I would have thought that the simple software that you can buy online would be enough. I don’t have a mac so would be using a pc program.[/li][li]Sound - I’m assuing this is bundled into the camera and film editing, but then maybe it’s not. Do I need to be asking specifically for something that can handle sound?[/li][li]Cameraman - OR should I just skip the process of learning to film and hire a camera guy? It’ll be more expensive but gives me the chance to make something good, and means I don’t have to worry about the lighting and filming and can focus on the directing.[/li][li]Location - I’ve read advice that says check with the local ordinance laws to ensure you don’t need any special permissions to do an adult film, plus the venue. I wanted something with a sports theme so will need to find a sports centre or somewhere with a changing room.[/li][/ul]

I’m pretty clear what I want to do in the film, and there isn’t going to be much in the way of plot or acting bullshit, just some stage setting and sex. So, advise away dopers. Let’s make this the best amateur porn film ever! :slight_smile:

2

First of all, stop using the term “film”. You are not going to film anything, you are not going to edit film, and you are not going to have a film at the end of the line.

What kind of money do you have to put into this? What is the purpose – why is it not sufficient that you put a camera on a tripod and film you and your SO going at it?

3

Let me step back and apologize for an overly harsh tone in my previous post.

The reason I asked about budget and purpose is that there is no practical limit to what you can spend to produce a movie. Obviously if you want to sell it and make money, you’re going to need to spend more on better equipment and some professionals. OTOH, if you want to do it for fun – well, then, I imagine sex is a lot less fun with a cameraman and sound guy standing around, and going cheap is IMO a far better option. If for a learning experience – again, cheap is probably better, and the more you do yourself rather than hire a pro, the more you learn.

4

I am intending to sell it and make money out of it - and I know how I’m going to do it as well (via an intermediary studio that specialises in taking pre-created films and then adding them to its banner so they can be distributed through an existing online service). The production values of the films that this studio has in its catalogue are extremely variable, from near professional all the way down to the tripod-cam pointed at two people that you mention.

To be clear, I’m not going to be in this video, I’m solely going to be directing and (if I forego anyone else’s help) a cameraman. Just been looking at some short courses in introduction to cinematography, might try one of those.

5

Ok. One of the first things to decide is whether you want to go with one camera, or more. A lot of porn uses POV (point of view) camera shots, often hand held by one of the actors for extreme closeups. So you might have one camera covering a larger general area, a second camera in the hands of an actor or other mobile camera person to move around a get shots of particular interest. Maybe even a third camera, if for some reason real-time continuity is important to you.

So you have to start thinking about what shots you want well ahead of time. Do you want your actors to just have hot sex while you film it live, or do you want many takes, where there’s a few seconds of action and then everything stops while the cameras and lights are rearranged for the next shot? There are advantages and disadvantages to both. The first is cheaper and simpler, and it looks cheaper and simpler. And clearly, the more cameras you use, the more time you’ll spend editing it all together later. Synching up the video and sound also becomes an issue with more than one camera and microphone.

Should we assume you want to do this as dirt cheap as possible? That means you being both camera and sound guy. Hey, if you can find an isolated outdoor space on a sunny day, you can pretty much skip the lighting, but you might need some lens filters.

Do you care if the audience “knows” you are in the room, moving around with camera, mike and lights? I’ve seen porn where you can see lights being moved around, you can see the camera going in and out of focus, and you can even hear the director giving instructions to the actors. Again this is a cheaper and more direct route, but if you’re trying to sell some kind of fantasy, it’s probably not the best choice.

6

Thanks for the suggestions, but it’s not the “how to direct porn” bit that I’m needing help with, more the actual technical side of filming. For example in looking at cameras that I could hire I don’t really know what the pros or cons are of any particular make or spec. It is just the highest mega pixel I can get for the money? What about lenses? In terms of lighting, how do I gauge what is the right amount? I know you can use lighting monitors to tell you how bright an area is, but I wouldn’t know if that’s enough for what I’m doing.

I’m quite clear I want this to be as professional as possible. As much as I’m going to be as light as possible on what I see as redundancies of plot, story etc (just using the props and costumes to set the scene, as it were) I essentially want the focus to be on hot people doing hot things and keep the fantasy as intact as I can. I’ve pretty much decided I’ll do multiple takes of different sets of action, otherwise I’m having to potentially run around and shoot more than one set of action and I risk losing good footage that way. As I see it editing it to make something really good will be part of the challenge, pointing a camera at a group of people doing stuff and hoping it looks good at the end would be a) no challenge at all and b) unlikely to give a quality output.

Thanks for the help so far Boyo Jim

7

I would start by talking to the distributor and getting their requirements for submission. There are different cameras and editing systems that use different digital formats. So you may as well find out what your supplier wants and then start looking at gear that uses that format.

Here is a Wiki page that lists half a dozen or so digital video formats.

8

Step ahead of you :slight_smile:

The company I’ll be using (amvc.com) has a comprehensive list of requirements for their fomat, but that ultimately covers the medium in which the film has to be (DVD format and must be NTSC or all-region coding). Stuff like the resolution and framerates they don’t get into, nor the format of the source file, so that would be down to me to decide what I want. I’ll have a look at the page you linked to though.

9

NTSC is the old (pre-digital) US broadcast standard. It’s pretty damn low quality. Which is fortunate for you as you as spending money on pricey high-resolution cameras isn’t going to be necessary.

10

Whenever we filmed something for abbywinters we used two roaming cameras, synced by a hand clap, so we could have a wide and a close-up as required. Our goal was to have a continuous non-broken scene (it would be edited, with cuts between the two cameras, but the output would be real time). This wasn’t absolutely necessary, and occasionally we were interrupted, but we thought it added a level of honesty and integrity.

You don’t have to do it that way. You can film and edit it any which way you want. Having two cameras is a really handy thing, though. It means you get both ends of the action during the exciting bits, and also have something to cut to when the camera wobbles or something inconvenient looms into shot.

You can hire HD cameras pretty cheaply, but you probably don’t need them because you can’t easily output to BluRay or anything, so you may as well stick with SD. Having said that, an HD camera has higher quality components, so makes even Standard Def footage look amazing, especially as it’s usually progressive.

Lighting should be natural, if possible. Film at daytime with a curtain-less window if available. If that’s not possible, then you can use basic, but bright, lights, but point them at the ceiling to bounce off, rather than directly at the action. You want soft shadows. But you also want every detail as clear as possible.

Edit on cheap PC software, like Sony Vegas. They’re all fully featured these days, in more ways than you’d possibly need.

As the Director, avoid talking during the shoot. It’s a bugger to have to edit out the audio of a direction when you want to keep the action. So try to keep all your vocal direction before and after rolling.

Don’t be afraid to tell them to get their hair or legs or arms out of the way, but definitely try to avoid them acknowledging the camera’s existence. It can be a delicate balance, but it makes a big difference to the end result.

Any other questions?

11

You mentioned sound in the OP. I’d plan on having a camera that will accept an outside sound source. Many low end cameras don’t and you may wish to use wireless microphones to catch all the dialog.

Any cameras you rent may have this capability.

12

Hire a producer who has some experience. You sound like you need it.

13

Only if this is an ongoing, regular, profit-making venture. But as this is the first time, and probably won’t make any money despite the intent to sell, no need to involve too many people just yet. Just dive in and figure things out at your own pace, unles it gets too overwhelming.

14

Do we have to be so literal? When you go to a theater that has digital projectors, do you say, “I watched a beautiful file tonight”? When was the last time you “dialed” a telephone, or “rewound” a movie for that matter? I could go on and on and on…

15

He already said sorry for that, but overzealous pedantry is par for the course in this place :smiley:

Guanolad - these are good tips. For the setting I’m thinking of daylight should be possible, but if not then as you say a couple of lamps aimed at the ceiling is probably fine. I’m not too worried that the edit isn’t entirely flawless, and having a change of vantage point with a jump in sound is a bit unfortunate but not the end of the world. Good tip on the wireless microphones, think I might pursue that. Can you explain how the synch-by-clap works? Does that mean you’d have two cameras recording and use the hand clap as a “marker” so that you’d know how far in to splice sound from different parts of the take? I’m assuming that’s what you mean.

I’ve thought quite a lot about how to direct the scene, and as you say it would be horrific to have someone stopping you every couple of minutes with suggestions or cues so want to avoid that (but the arm/leg pointer is critical - one of the biggest sins in porn from my perspective to see hot stuff occurring but you can’t actually see it because someone’s arm is exactly where the camera is!).

I think for my first film I’m going to attempt to stick to one camera, whether I film the footage myself or not, that way I don’t have to be concerned with complicating factors like all this. Plus I was talking to a friend about it last night and reckon that doing a scene with just two people in it to get experience of the process is probably no bad thing before I do the scene with multiple people.

16

Regarding having a producer, that is essentially the role amvc.com play so that’s covered. I just need to produce a good quality film that people are going to watch and all of the marketing, selling, mass production and distribution (including an established relationship with the web’s biggest online streaming vendor of porn) is covered. As long as I cover my production costs I’m entirely happy this first time, but who knows after that? :slight_smile:

17

Yes, that’s pretty much it. It causes such a spike in the audio that you can line up two tracks easily. Until one of the cameras switch off, in which case you have to clap again at each take. That was only for our own purposes. For your approach, it may not work. Especially if you only have one camera.

When we recorded audio, we originally had the on-board mics but they picked up every creak and click you make when you handle the camera. You could even hear the whirr of the tape rolling. So we got directional mics instead (just plug them into the XLR ports) and those were way better.

Radio mics/body mics/lapel mics have one significant flaw - they require clothing to be attached to. If you have no clothing then they will be easily visible. They’re for close up sounds, too, so hanging them off the furniture won’t work very successfully.