5 Tips for Making your Micro Budget HD projects Look Like Film

Here are a few tips, if I may and if you are interested, for making your micro budget projects look a little bigger, or at least very close to the film format. I know its very generic, but these are just general tips:

1) D.O.F
Shallow depth of field, shallow depth of field!, even if you are a fan of deep focus, when shooting digital shallow depth of field is a way to make actors pop more on screen, to direct the audience's eyes towards them and it simply looks very cinematic.

-Try to shoot with your iris WIDE OPEN
-SEPARATE talent from backgrounds (walls, set).
-use longer lenses, it helps.

You'll discover that the lens your camera has is more than enough. I see kids getting all these extra lenses, for what?, you want a 50mm?, then move back 10 feet and zoom in some more. yes, the D.O.F in digital is a tad different than a real film lens but its really very close.

2) 24 frames per second is truly 24 frames per second if your SHUTTER IS RUNNING AT 1/48th of a second!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
Most digital cameras need to have the shutter placed at 1/48th of a second!!!!!!!!!!!. that's the aproximate amount of time the film gate/ shutter stays open when the negative gets exposed at 24fps on a film cameras...

yes! HD is motion picture, pictures ARE moving, you want to avoid the cheesy motion "blur" that you see in digital?, want this thing to look like film?, then switch shutter to 1/48 second.

3) Lighting, lighting lighting. I don't mean expensive gear....most indies can only afford a crappy light kit or work lights ,,,THEN start directing the lights the right way. If the light source comes from where the camera is, then its going to be FLAT!, what you see most of the time is what you get. Light as things look in real life.

-If you are outside, don't let SUN LIGHT fall on actor's faces frontally, place the actors so the sun is backlighting them.

-Windows are great, they can be the main source of light, no need to fill anything.

-I remember a group of filmmakers blasting a living room set with tons of light, it looked like a freaking Alien Abduction, I asked..."does a living room look this bright during the day?"...that's all it took. LIGHT FOR REALITY, AS THINGS LOOK IN REAL LIFE, WHAT YOU SEE MOST OF THE TIME IS WHAT YOU GET.

4) I've said this so many times I am sick of it....
WATCH OLDER FILMS, WATCH OLDER FILMS, YES, THEY ARE NOT BORING, YES WATCH STUFF THAT HAPPENED BEFORE 1995, YES THEY ARE NOT BORING, BE DARING, DISCOVER STUFF. WHAT IS THE ONE THING THAT MOST AMAZING DIRECTORS HAVE IN COMMON???? (drum roll please...)....THEIR SENSE OF HISTORY AND A HUGE BAG OF TRICKS THAT THEY TOOK FROM OLDER FILMS!!!!!!!!

CRAP IN= CRAP OUT
you are what you consume, vary your diet of films. It will help you be at least a productive filmmaker.

5) here is a silly one....if you are shooting in 16x9, try cropping the frame to 2:35/1 aspect ratio. its better ( at least for me), to frame with a rectangle than a square. Also, it adds a sense of "bigness" to the whole thing...



I am not a god at what I do, but I am more than capable in a pinch to provide a Director or Producer with a lovely, right for the moment - shot or image....and this is because of little silly tips like the ones above.

Anyway, these are simple thoughts, I'll add some more later on.