making a movie?

Question

am making a movie on my digital camera and using power producer and windows movie maker we are remaking the movie aquamarine (2 best friends find a mermaid and help her) and i wanted to no how to make it lookk more like a movie when i tape it, it just looks like a homemade video

Answer 1

First, read my response to this question.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=As0LO5lQ8_LOZRewDddODDrty6IX?qid=20070307203757AAbOgjJ&show=7#profile-info-AA11407839

I know that doesn't really answer your question, but it'll give you an idea of the prices associated with creating a film-look. Before I get into the film-look part, let's talk about your movie. Is it something that is going to be watched just among your friends and maybe family? If so, then a remake of a movie is okay. However, if you are planning to submit to a film festival or some other competition like that, then a remake is probably not the best idea, not just because it is unoriginal, but if you are using the original script as well, then it will be against the rules. However, I'm not saying that other aspects, such as directing, editing, and effects, can't be original; it's just the story that's already been done, but the movie is still up to you.

Now on to the film-look part. Since you are using your own camera, unless it has a cinema mode, you won't be able to achieve a progressive or faux-progressive look in-camera. If you read from the link, you'll know that Magic Bullet costs a lot of money. If that's not a problem, then it's a great program. But then again, most of us don't have $800 to throw around (I wish I did :-). The first thing you can do is, if your camera has a cinema mode, turn that on. If it doesn't, but you have shutter controls, put the shutter on 1/30 when and if possible. Also, shoot as much of your movie outside on cloudy days as possible. The clouds will naturally diffuse the light, and because you are outside, you don't have to light anything. Hold your camera steady, and it should already start to look less like video. If you are shooting inside, use as little light as needed to light a scene, and reflect all lights off a wall or reflector, or use something as a diffuser (tissues often work well if the light isn't too hot, and the tissue is placed 3-4 inches away). Basically, having shadows is okay; don't feel as if every object and person in the scene has to be brightly and evenly lit. Stay away from rooms that have fluorescent lights and always remember to white balance! (Unless you're looking for a cool or warm look). And of course, if a room or location already has good lighting, don't add more to it. It will make it less filmic, and will take you more time to set up when you could have started shooting without delay.

When shooting, don't go for locked off steady tripod shots per se, but steadier ones. So it's okay if your camera moves around, but don't go handheld, unless you have or need to. The best way I've found to getting steady shots without spending any money is to find a tripod, whether it's yours or it's a friend's, even if it's a crappy one. Attach your camera, extend the tripod, and lock off the heads. By holding the tripod instead of your camera, you'll get steadier shots. It can also help for low or high angle shots, and you can get craning shots with it as well. All without spending a dime.

Now for the editing part.
Try this link:

http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/Forums/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=92151

Copy the effect, paste it into notepad, save the file, but as an .xml extension (not .txt). Or you could change the extension after you save it. Then paste the effect into C:/Program Files/ Movie Maker/ADDonTFX (you have to make the folder). Then open up Movie Maker, and there should be an effect that says movie look 1. This is a basic effect that adjusts the gamma and color to make your footage more filmic. You can adjust the effect by changing the value in the gamma, red, and yellow in the xml. If I were you, I'd just stick to gamma. Anything between 0 and 1 will provide a more filmic picture, you can try it to fit your taste, or certain shots. Hope this helps!


In case you're wondering, how long did I spend typing this? A pretty long time. :-)

Answer 2

it's all about the lighting!!!

if I were you i'd switch your camera's setting to "available light" if that doesn't work out brighten it up using the menu listing

also make sure your camera shoots in window's format

mine only does quicktime and it's a real bummer that i can't use window's movie maker

Answer 3

Best place to go is Amateur Video Editing on Yahoo. Its the best forum on the net for Amateur video editors.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/amateurvideoediting/

Answer 4

Maybe you should try taking a digital photo class so that you can learn how cuz i'm in one and we're bout to learn dat now