Phantom Moose Films » musical http://phantommoose.com The adventures of three filmmakers and their families Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:27:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Filming a Musical Number http://phantommoose.com/2008/10/18/filming-a-musical-number/ http://phantommoose.com/2008/10/18/filming-a-musical-number/#comments Sat, 18 Oct 2008 15:00:43 +0000 Rebekah http://phantommoose.com/?p=585 (This post references iSundae II: Attack of the Cones, part 8. You may want to view the movie before reading this post.)

Some people learn slower than others. That’s got to be the only explanation for why we decided to throw not one, but two musical numbers into our second movie. Wasn’t iSundae I hard enough? Maybe we’re gluttons for punishment. Or maybe the songs just begged to be written. But however it happened, we wound up with two scenes that involved singing. Singing in the middle of the woods, no less. Are we nuts or what?

I have it! We were lured into thinking it would be easier because the basics aren’t that hard. We create the music for the song first, then pre-record the vocals and burn them and the music to a CD. When we want to film the actor singing, we play the CD and the actor sings along. This lets the actor get really close to the original timing of the song and makes the lip syncing look even smoother. Once we have it all filmed, we erase the sound from the visual clips and replace it with the pre-recorded audio. How easy! But wait until you try to film it. Things can get out of hand really quick.

Although we are by no means competent (much less comfortable) with filming musical numbers, here area few tips we want to pass along to anyone who is . . . uh . . . (crazy, nuts, intrepid, confident . . . what do I say?) . . . bold enough to try it.

Make sure the actors can sing the song in their sleep

(And I’m not referring to dream sequences.)

They need to know the lyrics and the tune so well they can sing them backwards! Well, maybe not that well. (Yes, we can sing parts of Cheese Soufflé backwards.) They need to be able to sing the song at a moment’s notice and sing it well. Trust me on this one. As a director, it’s so frustrating when you lose every other take because the actor who is supposed to be lip-syncing can’t remember the words. As an actor, it’s very discouraging when you have to concentrate so hard on remembering the words that you forget little things like moving your mouth and singing to the other characters instead of the floor.

Double check everything, but especially the batteries in your portable boom box

We got caught with this one the day before we were going to film. No C batteries to be found in the house. And the adapter power cable for the cigarette lighter in the van wasn’t going to work.

Streamline your storyboards

If your number has been arranged as a whole song, and you’ve been practicing it as a whole song, try not to film it one verse at a time as you move the camera around. You lose your place very easily and get a lot of messed up entrances and exits. Things flow best if you do them the way they’ve been rehearsed. Set your actors up for success! Put the camera in position once and film the whole song. Move it to a secondary location and film the whole song. If you need an angle that’s weird enough . . . I mean, different enough that you only want one shot of it then it’s okay to just do a piece of the song. I’m not trying to force you into filming the whole song a gazillion times. Just keep your (and your actor’s) patience in mind.

Make lists and prioritize

Time constraints are not good friends of mine. In order to combat them efficiently we need two wonder weapons. Checklists and Plan Bs. Think about it. If you have a checklist that says:

Full Front Shot – entire song
Close up on MC – entire song
Close up on Secondary Character – verses 9, 10, and 12
Wide Angle – verses 2 and 7
Character reactions – entire song

You can hand it to virtually anyone and they can instantly become sub-directors for as long as you need! That will leave you free to think about other things. No worries about them missing an angle or a line. It’s all spelled out. The more detailed the better. Comprehensive lists are your friends. It takes prep work, but it’s totally worth it.

The other necessity is Plan B. Or Plan C. Or even clear through to Plan Z. (I have never personally gone that far.) If you think you’re going to run out of time to film all you had planned, what should you do? The actors and crew are waiting for you to suddenly tell them exactly what they need to be doing to make things work. Do you know what to tell them? Do you have the foggiest notion? Be prepared.
If you know an actor has to leave part of the way through, film everything with him in it first. If you’re getting ready to film for an hour and you look at the clock and almost faint because you realized it took you a half hour to set up, how will you best redeem the situation? Film all the basic shots first?
I think you get the idea. A little thinking ahead never hurt anyone. Just don’t turn your plans into a worst-case scenario survival kit. No need to flip out over something that might not happen.

]]> http://phantommoose.com/2008/10/18/filming-a-musical-number/feed/ 0 iSundae: The Way of the Wielders (Part 7 of 7) http://phantommoose.com/2008/05/05/isundae-the-way-of-the-wielders-part-7-of-7/ http://phantommoose.com/2008/05/05/isundae-the-way-of-the-wielders-part-7-of-7/#comments Mon, 05 May 2008 12:47:13 +0000 Jordan http://phantommoose.com/?p=302 It’s finally here! The last part of iSundae premiers online today. Be sure to see all of the other parts first. I’m sure you want to watch the video as soon as you can, so here it is.


iSundae: The Way of the Wielders (Part 7 of 7) from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

You can also watch it on YouTube.

Here are some posts on Phantom Moose that are related to part 7:

And some that are related to the whole film in general:

So, what did you think of iSundae? We’d love to hear from you. Just leave us a comment.

]]> http://phantommoose.com/2008/05/05/isundae-the-way-of-the-wielders-part-7-of-7/feed/ 1 iSundae: The Way of the Wielders (Part 6 of 7) http://phantommoose.com/2008/04/28/isundae-the-way-of-the-wielders-part-6-of-7/ http://phantommoose.com/2008/04/28/isundae-the-way-of-the-wielders-part-6-of-7/#comments Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:26:02 +0000 Jordan http://phantommoose.com/?p=300 Things are getting very exciting, as we post the second to last part of iSundae today. As promised, this one is longer than last week’s part. Be sure to see all of the other parts first.

 
iSundae: The Way of the Wielders (Part 6 of 7) from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

You can also watch it on YouTube.

We’ve broken the movie into seven parts for faster download, and we are posting a new part each week. So be sure to check back next week for part 7 and the exciting conclusion.

Here is a post on Phantom Moose that is related to part 6:

]]> http://phantommoose.com/2008/04/28/isundae-the-way-of-the-wielders-part-6-of-7/feed/ 1 iSundae: The Way of the Wielders (Part 5 of 7) http://phantommoose.com/2008/04/21/isundae-the-way-of-the-wielders-part-5-of-7/ http://phantommoose.com/2008/04/21/isundae-the-way-of-the-wielders-part-5-of-7/#comments Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:03:48 +0000 Jordan http://phantommoose.com/?p=297 Here’s part 5 of iSundae: The Way of the Wielders. This one is a little shorter, but the last two parts will be longer. Be sure to see part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4 first.

 
iSundae: The Way of the Wielders (Part 5 of 7) from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

You can also watch part 5 on YouTube.

We’ve broken the movie into seven parts for faster download, and we are posting a new part each week. So be sure to check back next week for part 6.

]]> http://phantommoose.com/2008/04/21/isundae-the-way-of-the-wielders-part-5-of-7/feed/ 1 iSundae: The Way of the Wielders (Part 4 of 7) http://phantommoose.com/2008/04/14/isundae-the-way-of-the-wielders-part-4-of-7/ http://phantommoose.com/2008/04/14/isundae-the-way-of-the-wielders-part-4-of-7/#comments Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:20:30 +0000 Jordan http://phantommoose.com/?p=289 Part 4 of iSundae is online now. Be sure to see part 1, part 2, and part 3 first.


iSundae: The Way of the Wielders (Part 4 of 7) from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

You can also watch part 4 on YouTube.

We’ve broken the movie into seven parts for faster download, and we are posting a new part each week. So be sure to check back next week for part 5.

Here are a few posts on Phantom Moose that are related to part 4:

]]> http://phantommoose.com/2008/04/14/isundae-the-way-of-the-wielders-part-4-of-7/feed/ 2 iSundae: The Way of the Wielders (Part 3 of 7) http://phantommoose.com/2008/04/07/isundae-the-way-of-the-wielders-part-3-of-7/ http://phantommoose.com/2008/04/07/isundae-the-way-of-the-wielders-part-3-of-7/#comments Mon, 07 Apr 2008 16:00:15 +0000 Jordan http://phantommoose.com/?p=288 Here’s part 3! Be sure to watch part 1 and part 2 before this one.


iSundae: The Way of the Wielders (Part 3 of 7) from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

You can also watch part 3 on YouTube.

We’ve broken the movie into seven parts for faster download, and we are posting a new part each week. So be sure to check back next week for part 4.

Here are a few posts on Phantom Moose that are related to part 3:

]]> http://phantommoose.com/2008/04/07/isundae-the-way-of-the-wielders-part-3-of-7/feed/ 1 iSundae: The Way of the Wielders (Part 2 of 7) http://phantommoose.com/2008/03/31/isundae-the-way-of-the-wielders-part-2-of-7/ http://phantommoose.com/2008/03/31/isundae-the-way-of-the-wielders-part-2-of-7/#comments Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:09:16 +0000 Jordan http://phantommoose.com/2008/03/31/isundae-the-way-of-the-wielders-part-2-of-7/ Here’s part 2 of iSundae. If you haven’t already, be sure to watch part 1 first. Otherwise, this will make no sense. :D


iSundae: The Way of the Wielders (Part 2 of 7) from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

You can also watch part 2 on YouTube.

We’ve broken the movie into seven parts for faster download, and we are posting a new part each week. So be sure to check back next week for part 3.

Here are a few posts on Phantom Moose that are related to part 2:

By the way, the arrows, sword wall, and phantom moose were created in Blender.

]]> http://phantommoose.com/2008/03/31/isundae-the-way-of-the-wielders-part-2-of-7/feed/ 1 iSundae: The Way of the Wielders (Part 1 of 7) http://phantommoose.com/2008/03/24/isundae-the-way-of-the-wielders-part-1-of-7/ http://phantommoose.com/2008/03/24/isundae-the-way-of-the-wielders-part-1-of-7/#comments Mon, 24 Mar 2008 13:00:10 +0000 Jordan http://phantommoose.com/2008/03/24/isundae-the-way-of-the-wielders-part-1-of-7/ Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for the first part of iSundae: The Way of the Wielders!

We’ve broken the movie into seven parts for faster download, and we will be posting these parts during the next several weeks. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel or our RSS feed so that you don’t miss anything.

Well, enough of me talking! Here’s the movie!
 

iSundae: The Way of the Wielders (Part 1 of 7) from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.
 

You can also watch part 1 on YouTube.

Here are some making of iSundae posts that are related to part one:

So, what did you think of part one? We’d love to hear your thoughts, so be sure to leave a comment.

]]> http://phantommoose.com/2008/03/24/isundae-the-way-of-the-wielders-part-1-of-7/feed/ 6