Shooting a crowd scene on a budget can be both a difficult and frustrating task, especially when you have NO EXTRAS! It’s a problem that has plagued indie filmmakers for years, and it’s one that reveals to the audience that they are watching a “Low-Budget Movie”, until NOW…
This post is designed to share with you a few tips and tricks that we’ve picked up along the way to help make sure that your small group of people look like the BIG party that you’ve always imagined and avoid looking like a “Low-Budget” cliché.
1. START WIDE THEN MOVE IN CLOSE
Start Wide?! I know it sounds crazy but if you don’t show at least a brief establishing shot of your party, high school dance, bar, etc. then the audience will become suspicious, not to mention they’ll have no reference of the space and surroundings. The Wide Shot also tricks the audience into thinking that you have more money and people than you really do, even if you have only 15 extras for your “Big” Party. Don’t worry though we will cover how to make your Wide Shot look FULL later on in the post.
Next, you want to move in Close and get coverage of the various extras. For Example: If you are shooting a party scene outside by a swimming pool you would want to get different shots of small groups (2-3) conversing, drinking, eating, or whatever else you do at a pool party. This gives the audience the perception that there is a lot of energy and people at the party.
2. HAVE FOREGROUND OBJECTS
Placing objects or having people
walk pass the foreground helps disguise the fact that you don’t have a lot of extras while at the same time making your viewers think you have either a lot of people or more money than you really do because you keep placing larger set pieces in front of the camera. Having people move in the foreground and background of your Closer Shots or Dialogue will also give the effect that there is a lot going on even if you use the same extras over and over again for foreground and background decoration; essentially it fills in the gaps both visually and mentally for the audience.
3. SHOOT WITH A LONG LENS
Shooting with a Long Lens will squish everything together, and will especially help out during those Wide Shots. By squishing your foreground, mid-ground, and background together it clutters your frame making 15 people look more like 30 or 40 people .
4. USE STREAMERS, BANNERS, CHRISTMAS LIGHTS, ETC.
Using streamers, banners, Christmas lights, and other production design elements will make your small group look larger for TWO reasons:
1. They make your party scene actually feel like and look like a party. Even though in reality you don’t always see these kinds of items hanging from the ceiling or balcony at a party, you do always see these items at parties in movies. It for some reason makes the scene more believable and real in the eyes and minds of the spectator, which is what movie making is all about anyway; creating a world that your audience can both believe and get lost in.
2. It hides dead space and makes your scene appear fuller. Great Examples of this technique being used
can be seen in the big budget movie ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO. Now while they had more money to spend on larger and more elaborate props this rule is still really effective in the low-budget arena, you just have to be a bit more creative and money conscious in your prop making or buying.
5. THE ALL PURPOSE CREW
On a low-budget movie, or any movie for that matter, remember that your crew can bail you out in a pinch and make great extras! In super desperate times you can even use your main cast, just make sure you put them in different clothes and hide their faces either by having them turn away from the camera or hide their faces behind other extras or caps. While this is not the ideal situation, I have done this before when we were running short on extras for a barn party scene and it turned out great!
6. TURN THE MUSIC UP!
So you’re in post-production and even with all the tips and tricks above your party scene still appears lacking in energy and people, what should you do? Turn The Music Up! Music and Sound Design can create the stimulated environment that you need to capture your audience and pull them into your crowd scene. Remember, the visuals are only half the movie going experience, the other half is music and sounds and without them all your scenes, not just crowd scenes, will appear lacking no matter how good the visuals.
Well that’s all for this post! I hope these tips will help you out next time you’re filming a crowd scene without any extras. As always if you have any other moviemaking tricks on how to film a crowd scene with no extras be sure to share them and leave a comment, we’d love to hear what you have to say!
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