Stuck at home, but still want to make movies? Here are some ideas for shooting, editing and VFX on your own.
You can always be your own film crew:
Cabin fever may be setting in. Maybe it’s something you’re trying to fight off – or maybe it’s something you’re inspired by to have some fun – here’s a range of video creations and challenges.
Film Yourself
Tips from cinematographer Danny Gevirtz and the Straight 8 festival show how, even shooting with just the camera in your phone, good visual storytelling is about planning:
Take inspiration from TikTok, play with in-camera transitions and lighting:
Recreating shots from your favourite movies and TV shows is a fun, hands-on way of developing your craft:
Film Things
Documentarian Mark Bone, nomadic filmmaker Brandon Li, and the creative crew at Cinecom.net have a bunch of fun, easy-to-try ideas with things lying around the house:
Daniel Schiffer is all about commercial-style B-roll and dynamic visuals – try replicating his challenge, and other Ways To Shoot A Commercial, At Home:
Light Things
DIY filmmakers Philip Bloom and Brady Bessette suggests using your time at home to practice your lighting on the most patient subject possible:
Project Things
A roundup of lighting effects using a projector:
Rear Project Things
Experiment with using a projector, or even your TV, as both backdrop and lighting source. Here are a couple of explainer-and-tutorial roundups:
Sound Things
Why not build your own sound library, which you can use forever? You could begin with capturing and manipulating realistic or hyper-real sounds…
… or avoid naturalism altogether, and experiment with completely unexpected or otherworldly sounds:
Edit Things
A great way to learn (and improve your own) film-making is to recreate scenes from movies you love, or create stories using only stock footage – and have some fun with it:
Colour Things
Take a cue from Colour Palette Cinema and others, by freeze-framing your favourite movies and breaking down the colours they use…
… or analyze their colour grading, and apply it to your own footage:
VFX with Things
Ordinary objects can be made to look extraordinary with careful polishing in post-production:
A guide to recreating space battles from Star Wars – at home, and with no CGI:
How To Get Started
Here’s a roundup of tutorials on how to get set up to shoot narrative or talking-head videos by yourself:
Remember: have fun!
Related Posts:
Film School: Self-Filmed Sci-Fi Short, ‘The Volunteer’ A short film shot by and starring only one person - and a detailed look at how it was done.
Film School: 3D Holograms An intro to incorporating holograms into your film
Isolation Challenges: Lighting A roundup of ways to work on and improve you lighting in isolation.
Film School: Filming Alone Since long before lockdowns, quarantines and isolation, film-makers have had to be as independent as imaginable. Here's a roundup of tutorials to show you how:
Isolation Challenges: Minimal VFX Careful polishing in post-production can make the ordinary look extraordinary...
Film School: Ways To Shoot A Commercial, At Home Insightful, inspiring tutorials - and a challenge to create your own product advertisement.
Film School: Practical Lighting Placing light sources within shots - and how it can improve them.
Film School: Working with Natural Light A roundup of tutorials about working with only natural or available light.