FUCK YOU, I’M MAKING MY MOVIE : 5 Ways to Make Films Despite the Global Pandemic
FUCK YOU, I’M MAKING MY MOVIE
5 Ways to Make Films Despite the Global Pandemic
by Stephen Scott Day
Stoked to finally have time to write your screenplay but hate that Covid is standing between you and production?
It’s terrible that Covid has gotten the entire film industry in a scramble, especially when assembling cast and crew can be so difficult even without a worldwide pandemic.
Below are 3 ways you can (safely) say “Fuck you” to Covid and begin production on your next project today. Let me show you how even a global pandemic isn’t going to stop you from putting your dreams into picture and sound and then screening it in front of thousands of people at a festival.
First, let's get down the problems. What exactly is standing between you and starting production on your next film? These problems can be summed up by the idea that making a film is usually a social distancing nightmare.
Here are 10 examples of how social distancing can make making a film not just difficult, but dangerous.
For the most part, movies need more than one character, so you’re already saying there will be two people interacting with each other.
Good drama usually calls for getting physical; two lovers kiss and maybe one is unfaithful so they turn around and kiss someone else. The hero wrestles the villain. A father and son are reunited, they hug.
Even when things aren’t getting physical, they sure do get close. People will get right up in each other's face when they are passionate, sometimes it’s yelling with spit flying in someone's face, sometimes it’s a whisper in the ear.
And if your actors aren’t getting close to each other, sometimes your camera is, and that means so is the camera operator, and maybe you have someone pulling focus right next to them, too.
Make-up and hair’s job is literally touching the talents face, usually before and during the entire shoot.
If your talent is mic’d up with lavs, that usually means your sound operator is running a cable through your talents clothes and using tape on skin to hold it down.
Crafty. Need I say more?
Now put all these people in one location and don’t forget to add your friends you got to help as miscellaneous crew. Have fun shooting that scene in your little LA apartment.
Not shooting in your little LA apartment? Oh, you’re shooting outside. Well you better be wearing a mask as California law currently says they are mandatory when in public.
Sitting a bunch of people next to each other to watch a movie while sharing popcorn and candy is usually the ideal premiere experience, but right now it’s reckless endangerment.
So all hope is lost. Get a refund for your film degree and your fancy camera package. Or consider the options below:
The power of editing.
You can shoot your actors at completely separate times and then cut the footage up to make it look like they were in the same scene together.
One actor to play all the roles.
Simple editing can make it look like one actor is playing multiple roles in the same scene. You could even make a whole film by yourself, starring yourself. You could even be in the same shot together with compositing-- which brings us to the next method:
Embrace VFX.
Made famous by Sin City, used by blockbusters like Avengers, and available to indie filmmakers just the same is the power of a green screen and simple compositing. Shoot actors separately and stitch them together in post to really sell that they’re interacting with each other. If there is some distance between them you don’t even need a green screen, just have them at opposite ends and put the stitch in the middle. Hell, you could even play all the roles yourself.
Make it animated.
You can make an entire film remotely, with talent sending in audio clips they record from the safety and comfort of their own home.
Write your story with Covid in mind.
Maybe it’s a story about a stalker who is always watching from a distance, maybe the story takes place over a phone call or video call, maybe it’s about characters in the middle of a global pandemic. I can tell you from experience a global pandemic is ripe with drama.
As I’m sure you’ve heard before, the best art is made under imposed constraints.
There’s already filmmakers out there who figured this out and are pushing forward and creating awesome work. This pandemic is your challenge; it’s what will decide whether you look back at this time with regret or pride. There’s no telling how long your life will be like this, so you better start figuring out how you’re going to start shooting your film today.