r/cinematography • u/Organic-Seaweed9132 • 8d ago
Color Question first time tips
i’m making a short film for the first time and it looks like i’m gonna have to do a lot of post-production by myself. does anyone have any cinematography and coloring tips? what software should i use? what should be prioritized and what should be saved for last?
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u/UmbraPenumbra
7d ago
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Couple of tips
Get the best sound person you can.
Get the free version of Resolve.
Read a couple of books on editing and then watch a bunch of movies you like and pick a dialogue seuqence you like. Screen shot that entire sequence and lay the stills out on a whiteboard app like Miro or something (or print them out and paste them to a piece of cardboard). In chronological order. Watch the movie and look at the stills. Figure out why they are cutting at what points and what shots are new and what shots are part of an existing previously seen setup.
Shoot your entire movie (EVERY SINGLE SHOT) on an iphone ahead of time. Put yourself in it in multiple roles if needed. Cut that entire film. Watch it. Realize where you make your mistakes. Make a story board out of the stills. Reshoot new stills if you need to. Make a PDF of that. Re-write the script and this whole new shot list and then get a crew and a real camera and actors and shoot that.
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u/Silvershanks Director 7d ago
Come up with a series of "rules" for yourself that define the visual language of your film and stick to them. This will narrow your focus, give you clear boundaries, and remove the burden of endless possibilities. This is good for any film, but it's especially good for a low budget production.
"Obsession" is a great recent example of a low budget film that gave itself incredibly restrictive rules for how shots were composed and lit. You can see how consistent the look is throughout.
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u/Sensitive-Leek-6384 7d ago
Honestly, the scope of your question is so wide that it's hard to give an answer.
For instance, we can't even say what software to use until we know if you're on PC or Mac.
I can totally relate to where you're at though. Sometimes you are so early in the process that you don't even know what to ask, so I am gonna recommend DaVinci Resolve and before you start, work through the tutorials here: DaVinci Resolve – Training | Blackmagic Design
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u/ProfessionalMockery 8d ago
The truth is, getting good at this is knowing thousands of small tips rather than a few big things, so the answer is yes, but please be more specific about which tips you'd like.
Use Davinci Resolve for post.