Questions tagged [film-techniques]
Questions about styles used through films and shows.
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How do they film the mirror scenes in movies?
It always makes me wonder how do they place the cameras and crew members while filming a scene which is opposite to a reflecting object, such as mirror. Because, when filming the reflected objects we ...
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How are dual-role films shot?
How are dual/double role films shot in which the actor is shown on the screen at the same time in the same or different z-index planes and are in a fight scene in which one actor is punching the other,...
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What kind of blood do they use in movies for bloody scenes?
I always wondered what kind of blood is used in movies. I thought it could be from animals or color or least possibly human blood which I am sure will not be legal. I ask because in a lot of movies ...
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What exactly is 70mm print and why does anyone care?
There has been a bit of controversy lately over the release of Tarantino's Hateful Eight movie. As I understand it, the movie was scheduled to play in a particular theater in Los Angeles that plays ...
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How are head shots and deep throat gashes filmed?
I was watching a movie the other night and the main character slits the throat of another person. The camera stayed on the victim the whole time this happened. I'm wondering how this is achieved.
...
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How do they prevent animal cruelty in movies?
According to a number of sources, cruelty to animals is an offence and it is punishable in most countries. But in historical film it's inevitable, because if a film is looking to be historically ...
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Are real guns used in movies?
For example, in "Matrix Reloaded", we see that the agents fire on the car driven by Morpheus. We see that the bullets penetrating the body of the car.
If the gun is not real, how did it happen?
If ...
user1215
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What techniques are used by directors to make an actor cry?
I have always wondered what techniques directors use to get amateur actors, especially young ones, to cry. How can someone surrounded with so many film crew and cameras can concentrate enough and feel ...
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How was this shot in Contact (1997) really made? [duplicate]
There was this tricky mirror scene in Contact
The effect is: the camera is moving backwards, always facing a character running towards something and keeping the same distance from that character (...
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Sound of a next scene starts one moment earlier than video
I saw this several times in different movies, but I don't understand what is this supposed to mean. The main idea is when the scene is about to change, for one second or so we still see the picture ...
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What is this "colour template/effect"?
I don't know if "colour template" is the word for that. What I mean is the colour of the movies, especially Globet of Fire and the ones after it, seemed to be very dark but also with so much depth to ...
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Do movie actors/actresses dub their scenes after shooting or do they use the audio that is in the scene?
Do they record the audio separately? Or is it all taken in one shot?
I think I remember watching some cheap indie films whose audio and video, particularly the speaking of the actors, are not very ...
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How was the opening scene with the fly made?
This may sound like a bit of an odd question, but I was wondering how the opening scene in Once Upon A Time in The West was made and more specifically, how they made the fly do what it did. It must ...
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How to make a film in black and white and add color to some objects?
How is a movie made to show selective colors. For instance, in Pleasantville a sister and brother are transported to the universe of an old black and white TV show, and the movie switches to being B&...
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How do they shoot Dual-Roles where camera is moving or both characters interact?
I was wondering how they shoot dual-roles in movies and after searching found an answer; I knew some of this before, but I have seen movies where:
The Camera is moving.
The actor is shaking hands or ...
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Why all the fancy technology in most movies?
In most of the movies and TV-series I have watched, whenever there is some kind of "technology" involved (say, like a tracking device or hacking something important), there is a lot of unnecessary, ...
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Do the actors really go nude in the shooting of the movies?
I often wonder if actors really go nude for certain scenes in films.
I am not talking about those movies where we can see the sexual body-parts or genitals of the actors/actresses, but instead less ...
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How do they film minors smoking?
Many movies depict children and minors (and non smoking actors) actively smoking a cigarette and blowing actual smoke. How is that done?
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How is dialog between two people filmed?
I was always wondering how dialog between two people is filmed.
Suppose there are two people talking. The screen is switching between faces of the characters while they talk.
How it is done in reality?...
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How did Mongo "punch" the horse?
One of the most iconic and memorable scenes from Blazing Saddles is the scene in which Mongo punches a horse after the horse's owner informs him that he cannot park his animal in a particular area.
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Is this mask really possible?
Sometimes we see a mask is used by an actor of a film by which he drastically changes his face. I was under the impression that only after plastic surgery one can change his face. I stumbled upon this ...
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What is the longest, single take, tracking shot in cinema/TV?
In episode four of True Detective, there was a 6-minute long, single take, tracking shot sequence.
What is the longest, scripted, single take (no cuts) sequence in movies / television?
I am not ...
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How do they make horses fall down in war movies?
I have seen horses falling down many times in war movies while running. How do they make horses fall down in war movies? Are they highly trained to know fall down at some place or some barriers are ...
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How were the opening credits to Superman created?
The opening credits sequence for Superman is one of the most famous and recognizable in the history of cinema. How, exactly, was it produced? (I am speaking specifically about the animated, ...
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Do they really have sex in movies?
Many times in movies (especially Hollywood), actors and actresses are shown having intercourse (not talking about pornographic films). Do they really do this? Or fake it?
That's really up to the ...
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How do they make a huge crowd in a movie?
We usually see a huge crowd in a movie:
In scenes in war movies having a huge crowd, where you'll have an army force with costumes
In musical shows set in a movie, games like football, cricket, or ...
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How do they show a tooth-less mouth?
So today I was watching Grown-up again and saw the tooth of Lenny's daughter fell and we can see she had no teeth. Similarly, I remembered a scene with a missing tooth in the Hangover part 1. So I ...
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Did Spider-Man filming halt so Tobey Maguire could bulk up?
Spider-Man 1 with Tobey Maguire tells the story of how Peter Parker acquired his abilities.
Most of the time he is fully clothed. However, we are privy to at least one scene (the day he gets bit) ...
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How was this scene with a zombie getting its head cut off by helicopter rotors filmed?
I saw this scene from the movie Dawn of the Dead (1978)
How was this scene shot with the helicopter rotors? How did they ensure the actor's safety?
user50688
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Why the very different release formats for Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?
Alright. The first time I saw the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), it was... believe it or not... 4:3. I even obtained a copy of this. Later, I discovered that it was supposedly released in ...
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Is that a real baby?
Many shows nowadays have birth scenes with newborn babies right after. It seems pretty crazy, risky and unreliable to me to use a real newborn. So what do shows use for scenes with that deal with ...
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Why do punches sound like a "slap" in older movies?
Almost all of the of the older movies (from 25-40 years ago) that feature fighting scenes seem to have a very common depiction of a punch that sounds like a slap. I could never understand why did they ...
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Why are movie scenes shot with green background?
I remember reading that green colour makes the best contrast with colour of human skin so in post editing it is easier to remove it.
Is that the only reason why they use green backgrounds when ...
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Why do some movies originally shot on film have notably vivid reds and skin tones?
Many older movies seem to have vivid reds and particularly realistic or noticeable skin tones (they certainly seem to stand out from typical skin tones on TV or the majority of movies). This applies ...
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Camera shot with close-up next to farther away standing person
While watching Final Destination 3 I noticed a very characteristic camera shot. At a scene where the main character, Wendy, sits in her room at the computer (watching the supposedly foretelling fotos),...
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How do they film continuous blood pooling?
I have seen in American Sniper, Dead-7 and Carrie that when someone is killed, they are laying on the ground with blood leaking out of their back or somewhere else on the body.
The puddle ...
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What is the Resolution of 35mm film?
There is a lot of talk about 6k resolution from the Epic Dragon by RED, and of course there are 4k TVs now, but I'm wondering what actual film, 35mm particularly has a resolution equivalency of, if it ...
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What's usually the effective visual resolution of typical Hollywood Movies?
I'm really surprised by the quality of the visuals in some new movies this year (2018). I'm curious to know in what resolution these cameras typically record to experience this quality on a cinema ...
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Is the introduction of Snake Eyes a reference to Rope?
While I guess it isn't a big secret that Alfred Hitchcock has always been a huge inspiration for Brian De Palma, one possible connection between both of them has only occurred to me recently. The ...
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What techniques are used to film the twins in Quantico?
In Quantico, there are a pair of recruited agents. Raina and Nimah Amin, both played majestically by actress Yasmine Al Massri. The two characters are shown side by side in almost every episode. They ...
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How do actors wear winter clothing in LA during outdoor simulated snow scenes?
When a scene is set in a northern climate winter, how do actors wear winter clothing in LA during simulated snow scenes?
An example is "The Office" in the parking lot.
They don't appear like they're ...
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Why use foreign accents in English language movies when unnecessary?
I've recently watched the movie Child 44, which is set in the 1950's Soviet Union during the Stalin regime. Apart from the fact that the movie itself is not memorable in my opinion, the thing that has ...
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What is a seamless cross-cutting transition called?
Although I don't have a clear example, I'm looking for a transition which is somehow a mix of:
Cross-cutting: where two scenes in different locations happen at the same time
Graphic match : where "...
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What is the name of the effect for showing past days in movies?
In Rogue One, Jyn Erso remembers her childhood days.
Her childhood/past days were shown with some effects like characters talking with a low voice with echo, with high background music, slow motion (...
user48232
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How do actors stop breathing when playing "dead"?
I saw many movies when the actor/actress (in the movie) dies.
In some movies you can tell that the picture is paused when it is on the dead character.
But in other movies the actor is laying still ...
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Why were movies shot on film shot at 24 frames per second?
Title says it all!
Nowadays, everything is digital, frame rates vary and are displayed properly by media playback devices depending on need, requirement or desire.
But back before quality digital ...
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How was the deserted London scene in the movie '28 Days Later' filmed?
I saw this question about real-world filming locations and it reminded me of an excellent zombie movie I saw few years ago called '28 Days Later'. In this movie, on waking up the protagonist finds ...
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Kill Bill colour changes to Black and White
In the movie Kill Bill, why does the colour keep shifting from standard colour to black and white? Is it to keep the gross levels down?
user96
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How do they film movies that take place in a single season?
Usually it takes more than a year to film a good movie. Some movies take place in only one season. For example, Home Alone takes place in winter.
How do they manage to film a two-hour movie in three ...
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How were Opening Titles and End Credits created before Computers?
I've always wondered how Opening Titles and End Credits in the movies were created before Computers existed?
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