Sup, blendermen! I am in the process of making something like a blacksmith/enchanter shop. One room full of ready weapons and shields, another room with magical weapons and gems, runes, mystic symbols without windows and a third room with an anvil and a forge with weapons in the process of making. I am about half ready with all the weapons I have planned. I am recreating some weapons from a favourite game of mine, so they are a bit extraordinary. Not your typical medieval bows/staves/swords… They are… colourful. (If you know the game Dekaron, you know what I mean). But nevertheless I want to make it a tad medieval. What I am asking is for an advice on how the walls of the rooms should look like - stone or wood. Should I put some windows in the rooms or try to make it with light coming from the forge and/or torches hanging from the walls? I am imaginig the front door to the merchant room to be opened and to have light rays coming from outside. I’ll try to add dust particles as well there.
Personally, I think it’s entirely up to “you, the theatrical designer.” A workshop might have stone walls as well as those made of timber. (But period timbers would have been hewn, say with an adze.) It seems reasonable to me that the building would have windows as well as other sources of light.
Remember, though, that these are so-called “practical lights.” In other words, they are objects within the scene which – in human experience – we know to be “sources of light.” There is nothing(!), however, which says that these things must in fact be(!) where the illumination is actually coming from, “sufficient to properly-expose the film.”
I suggest that you begin, very early on, to consider “your movie, shot by shot by shot.” Think about camera angles. Think about the intended flow of the action. Set a bunch of cameras and “shoot film” from each one, then take the film to the video editor and start rough-cutting the movie together. (It doesn’t matter whether you’ve finished the props yet: a cube or a cylinder of appropriate size will do nicely.)
If page-6 of your script says: [b]“BORG shoves the door open. SMITHY cowers.”, you might visualize something like:
- CU of a boot striking the door.
- MS of the smith floor, as a yellow light from the opening door spreads across it.
- ECU of SMITHY’s terrified face, high-contrast lit by the sunlight in an otherwise-dark place.
- REVERSE ANGLE of the outline of BORG, framed by the door, nothing visible but his glowing eyes.
(CU= close-up; MS = medium-shot; ECU = extreme close-up)
Four shots, each only a few seconds long. Four camera setups, and quite-possibly four entirely different lighting situations. Yet, all part of the same show, demanding visual continuity throughout.
“OpenGL Preview” renders to the rescue! With these, you can shoot the necessary film quickly, so that you can begin to cut the show together in order to determine what you actually need. You can, as real cinematographers do, shoot “more film than you need, on the stage,” in order to facilitate future decisions “in the cutting room … where ‘the movie’ is actually made.”
BORG and SMITHY are both “Mister Potato-Head,” albeit of correct proportion and size. But the positions on the stage, the lens choices, the framing of the shots, and so on are correct, such that one day the “real” shots will be dropped in place and they will coincide exactly.
Concerns for “dust particles” should at this point be way down the list. You can decide at some future time whether they are needed, and if so, in exactly which shots.
Wow… That’s an extensive director’s answer! Thank you! The thing is - I don’t plan on making it a movie… But the idea of 4-5 cameras around really appealed to me! I was thinking of something around a couple of renders in one room, a couple in the other, a couple in the third… stationary… some of the renders showing the doors (maybe opened) to the other rooms as to point out the connection between the three rooms. I wanna make it a bit more photorealistic, that’s why I asked about the lights. I believe mixing some daylight with the fire from a couple of torches and the forge, would be quite cool. But that will come around when I actually start setting up the scene with all the props.
“Rule of cool”, as always. Here’s a couple of practical things to think about as well:
When forging there is potential for sparks, dropped hot iron, and so on. Any builder worth their salt won’t have anything flammable anywhere close to that. Wooden walls, thatched roof, probably not - at least in the vicinity of the forge. Stone walls, much better; any wood would be limited to large-size framing and blackened from exposure.
Air flow and heating retention can be a problem with open windows/doorways; assuming a temperate climate, in winter those would be closed to keep things from cooling too quickly, while in summer they would be opened so the smith doesn’t cook like a roast beef.
If the contents are anywhere near valuable, there’s going to be at least a sturdy door up front and perhaps bars on any windows. Probably a few lockboxes to store particularly valuable odds’n’sods.
Awesome! I love those ideas! I’ll keep them in mind! Thank you very much, good sir!
A blacksmith’s shop can very easily be a wooden structure, with the smithy probably set in the center of the room. Sparks will fly but they won’t fly far. They won’t set a wooden timber – or even a board – on fire. A smith generally stands “in front of” his forge but may access it from any side.
What sort of products does this craftsperson produce? And, for whom? The community? The King’s Army? How would you write this person’s story?
I’d consider carefully how you do want to present your smithy, and place a number of appropriately-named cameras in there permanently. If you want to do moving-camera effects such as boom shots or dolly shots, construct these camera-rigs, place curves (tracks) for the dollies, and actually animate their movements with the camera … possibly causing the camera to “follow” a strategically-placed and possibly also-animated “empty.”
Put cameras in there lavishly: you don’t have to use 'em all, and, the very best thing is, you can’t see 'em. Drop “empties” to mark significant points. Give everything, right then and there, a name.
Then, let the show be your guide as to what you do, where you place things, where you lavish attention and where you skimp. You should have a “master scene” which contains a model of the set (to scale), along with at least stand-ins for every object (also to scale), so that you know where everything is! (But you’ll only model the things which, as you have by then determined, will actually appear on-screen.)
Is there a blacksmith’s association near you? Visit some shops! Talk to some smiths. Many of these ladies and gentlemen are very knowledgeable about the history of their ancient but practical craft. They can give you suggestions for authenticity that you simply wouldn’t know of otherwise, and these will help your show to “ring true.”
I love the details you put in your posts, good sir! The ideas are very appreciated! I definately consider every point you’ve made in both of your posts here! Thank you very much!