Stunt Island: Movie Making Tips The purpose of this file is to offer the first time Stunt Island film maker a few tips on making their first film. It assumes you have tried the tutorial in chapter 9 of the instruction book and/or know something about things like "establishing shots". I got a lot of this type of information from the companion book : Stunt Island: The official Strategy Guide. The tips in this file were found by me while making my first film: Toxo-Zombies (Toxo.zip) and by downloading other peoples work. 1) Use Story Boards: Before you even hit the set editor, you should have a very clear view of what you are doing. A few minute short or a 16 min. Plus film can benefit from a story board. A story board can be detailed or very rough. In any event, it is a series of pictures that illustrates your intended film. I use stick figures and rough shapes; others may use more detailed pictures complete with props and liner notes about music and camera/prop movement. Use this as an instruction manual for your film. You can lay out rough camera angles and save time by moving "scenes" around on paper rather than on the editor. 2) Try to use sound, as much as, possible: Sound and music will add depth and set the tone of your film. If you have a truck going down the street, why not give it some sound. In the same case, the music you play in the background will be clues to whether your film is funny, dramatic, etc. One thing you have to be careful with is what I call "sound bleed". I encountered this while putting two sounds together for one scene and they bled into the next scene. If this happens to you, just mark both scenes in the editor and choose silence from the sound effects list. If you find the music a bit short for your scene, consider repeating it or combining it with another piece to round it out. If opting for the repeat trick, listen to it in the repeat mode before adding it to your film: some sounds and music don't sound well repeated. You may want to record your own sound effects and use those. 3) subtitling VS Dubbing: Some films have character interaction and thus dialogue. There are two ways to make people "talk" in stunt island. The first is subtitles which are created using the credits option. If these are used, give the reader at least 3 sec. Per screen of dialog. Sometimes, 4 sec. is better for longer lines. In Toxo, I used 3 sec per screen and later found it too fast for some viewers. Try not to have any real action going on at this time, the viewer will be more involved with the subbing. Dubbing is using a voice as a sound effect. This is OK if the voice is recorded well. The problem is when you want to give someone a copy of the .flm file. Since they don't have a copy of this sound effect, they will either get nothing or the film will use the sound effect(s) from their usersnd files. I have one film I downloaded that plays an air raid siren during a speech, because that is the sound I have in my usersnd file. My suggestion is that you keep a copy of the original .voc file and give that with the film. Just tell the person what to call it when they convert it in SI. 4) Shoot several scenes at once: I find this a real time saver when filming relatively static scenes. Once you have your story board, go through and find the static scenes like people talking or an establishing shot of a city. These are the minor scenes that need one camera or two at the most. You can then set these up and film them all at once. In TOXO, I filmed the chief of police, the end scene, the public address system, the soldiers talking, the Pentagon, and the zombie-in-the-window scene all at the same time. Each mini-scene was created and camera movement determined before shooting. Most of the shooting was around town with the Pentagon in the middle of the city. When doing this, always set the camera to invisible just to be sure it won't be filmed by another camera. 5) Continuity: This is where things match up from scene to scene. Here are some of the things you can do to make things match up: A) If you are using a custom built set, save it for future use, like reshooting a scene. B) Keep a list of your characters. I've seen films where characters change clothes from scene to scene. One exception to this is when the character ejects and turns into the parachutist....this can't be helped. C) Watch what you film. If you are filming in NY, angle your shots to avoid the Golden Gate bridge. 6) Use props for visual richness: Add little things to give an otherwise generic set some life. In TOXO, I added the highway 101 sign to break up the monotony of the scene. I also stuck in a neon hotel sign for color. These are very minor props and given very little screen time but they do add life to a scene. 7) Misc. Tips: A) The ruins props can be used to simulate interiors. One cool use is to increase the altitude and place it in the city to create a high rise office. B) Find new uses for props. I used the Satellite and telephone pole to simulate a public address system. C) Buildings make great generic backgrounds for static characters. For example, I placed the police chief in an alley and used a tight shot to get the background of that scene. The boombox was shot against the side of the ruin. D) Use the Adjust Spotter view (F6) to get limited moving shots. This is good when you want to film around something while it's moving. E) Use the speed adjust option on the destination deck for cool effects. One use is to fly slowly (or within your ability) and then speed the film up so it looks like you were flying Mach speed. It can also be used in editing to speed up slow moving shots. F) One of the best ways to get big explosions is to explode collision spheres. If you are not the best shot in the world or you have many spheres you could time the spheres to go off by themselves. I did this in the bombing run in TOXO (I never fired a shot or dropped a bomb). These are many of the things I learned from making my first film, I hope they are of use to you. David K. Plesic (70471,1610)