Filmmaker's Blog
For a recent project I was working on, I needed to have planks of wood barricading windows and doors. Because nailing planks of wood across a window would be lots of work (and pretty dangerous...), I decided I had to create some props.
Overall, I was really happy with my end result. They we're super lightweight and easy stuck to the wall using just scotch tape. ![]() Check out this time lapse I made while doing this DYI project!
0 Comments
For my storyboard, I did the scene from Night of the Living Dead. In the film, that scene takes place in what looks like a living room. Judging by the molding and walls, the house looks to be pretty old. In my version of the scene, I filmed in my bedroom loft space, because it was the only location I really had access to. Different from the much older house in the film, my room is much more modern, being built in the early 2000’s. The film version of the house, outside of immovable elements, like the molding and doors everything is pretty empty.
The only real apparent set dressing that I noticed was all the boards across the doors and windows. I tried to recreate this for my scene using cardboard and styrofoam. (On a side note, styrofoam, painted with acrylic paint and water, is a great way to make lightweight fake wood planks.) For lighting in my scene, I used the lights in the room and took off any lamp shades (this also worked well as a prop). I also use reflectors to keep the shadows in my dramatic lighting from being so harsh. Outside of the wood planks, I also made any paintings on the wall crooked. For the keys the script called for, I used an old car key set (without a key FOB) and put black duct tape on it. The blankets on the bed in my scene are a white, almost lacy fabric because I thought this would fit well in an older abandoned house. I really wanted to find an old TV for this scene, but was unable to do this. I knew the TV would be a huge part of the props and way the scene feels, so I used to cardboard boxes in place of a TV stand. As well, the characters would have likely use the wood of the TV stand to board up the windows and doors. To further block the doors, I pushed a dresser in front of the door to “the outside.” An element of art that I used a lot in this project was space. An example of this is shot 23. I was trying for an almost symmetrical look, with lots of empty space. Color was another element I decided to use. I had all the characters wear various shades of red. Because Harry is a more aggressive, skeptical character, I wanted his shirt to be a the darkest, all red color. Finally, Ben had the most complicated background. Of all the characters, he has the most interesting stuff behind him. As he is the main character, it seemed fitting. I tried to use contrasting color to add value to the image. When you make the image black and white, value can be seen in the 2 wood pieces and the door versus the dresser. SpaceColorValue |
Archives
March 2020
Instagram FeedCategories |