How To Film In Your Small Space
Film in your small space
So, you’ve got a tiny space and you’re feeling creatively drained from picking locations. Well, I’ve got just the solution for you, your very own space!
That’s right for the very low price of your own space (unless you’re spending your entire income on rent in this stupid economy) you can create amazing, dare I say it… cinematic scenes in the space that you live in. Alright, I’m done with the corny salesman bit. Let’s get into it.
Trust me, I’ve been there before. You look around your space and think, “What could possibly happen in this boring location?” And I think you’re dead wrong. TONS of movies and tv shows have beautiful scenes set in seemingly boring locations. Whether you’re filming a bro comedy where the main character is a down-on-his-luck loser with beer cans scattered everywhere or a sleek thriller where the hero has to make an important decision, I guarantee your space is not just good, but probably better than what a studio budget could give you.
Alright, so I gotta be honest… I am only going to be using my apartment for this example, and I recognize some people probably have way smaller spaces, but I believe this information will still be helpful. I live in a 1,180 sq. Ft. 2-bedroom apartment with my wife. It’s a decent place, but some would say it’s an unfair advantage and to that I say, come on bro work with me here.
1. The classic living room scene
So, for this scene, you’re gonna need one of my all-time favorite tools, practical lights. Use lamps at your disposal, the tv light, a street lamp from outside, a phone, the options are endless! Just be sure to motivate your light sources when you begin setting up your fancy lights (if you have some). To do this try to think about where the light is coming from, and let that be your guide to achieve the look you’re going for.
I’ll say this and it 100% applies to the rest of the article. CLEAN YOUR FREAKING SPACES MAN! You’ll thank me later. Unless you’re shooting a Big Lebowski-type scene, I doubt you’re going to want to see a half-drank beer can in the background. I’m not saying you need to be a neat freak in order to have a good-looking scene, but a good cinematographer knows that the goal is to direct the viewer to what is important. Anything else is a distraction, so clean your space and I promise it will make your shots better.
2. Balcony/ Porch scene
Not everyone has one of these, but I’m going to include it anyway. It’s the best of both worlds. Outside and inside. Let’s bring our friend the practical light back into play. Use a porch light or a lamp from inside to fit in the background. This will liven up your scene so much. If you have the lights to do it, make some moonlight! If it’s during the daytime, consider placing your actors in front of the sun and have your camera placed in front of the actor.
3. Change Up Your Apartment
There’s no rule that says you have to keep your apartment the exact same as it is in your daily life. This is film baby, move that couch, take your dining room table to your bedroom, and flip that picture on your wall of Aunt Patricia. Create the scene that’s in your head, and make it happen.
4. Lighting
Honestly, we could just cover this point and you would be completely fine. You could film the exact same scene 100 times and all you’d have to do to change it is light it differently. Filming a cozy nighttime scene with your main character sipping on some tea? Why not switch it up to a horror scene and make your lighting uncomfortable and unwelcoming?
I recreated the look of the matrix in my living room with my wife, and you can’t even tell we’re in our small two-bedroom apartment… I mean unless you look really hard, but uh…don’t do that, please.
5. Please Don’t Kill Me For This
Yeah, I’m gonna say it… Use A.I.
Bring out the pitchforks.
Look. I disagree with the use of A.I. for about 90% of things, but there are A.I. tools that make filmmaker’s lives a lot easier. So, for the Matrix scene we did, I took a clean plate of the wide shot, moved it into Photoshop, and then used generative fill to remove the tv and some of the other parts of the scene that didn’t look quite right.
WARNING: This only works with statics shots that are not moving in any way. Otherwise, have fun doing a bunch of masking.
Why is this a good thing? Well, this TV on the wall would have looked really really dumb in the scene and would have completely taken you out of the moment. So replacing it with a weird painting makes it a lot less distracting. That brings me to my next point.
6. Seriously, Clean Your Space
If you can help it, remove screens and monitors from your scene. They’re just boring black voids that can be weirdly distracting. Unless you’re going for a look that I think we achieved in my friend’s film that I had the pleasure of DP’ing. This space was messy and cluttered, so it made sense to just take up space in the frame. Feel it out. It could be a good match for your film.
So, in conclusion, your spaces are probably perfectly fine to fit your scenes in… unless you’re wanting to shoot your scene in space, but then why are you reading this? Anyway, get out there and film some daggum bangers my friends. Go out there and make art.
