PROJECTS

Teleshopping Commercial

To begin the year - we were told to choose a product to sell and film a teleshopping commercial. In a group of six, we decided to sell cleaning products - more specifically whiteboard cleaner. We then determined each others roles - myself taking up the role of sound operator. After some brief planning of what we wanted to say and do - it was time to film.

Being the person holding the boom for the next 30 minutes - I felt pressured to keep the mic out of the camera's view and struggled to keep the thing from smacking the actors in the head. Since this was also my first time using a boom - I had no idea how to start recording and no clue when it came to all the little buttons covering the machine. Thankfully I had our tutor help me with most of the recording - but in future, I'd like to properly practice with the boom and be able to operate it on my own with confidence and skill.

While holding the boom - I also chipped in when it came to directing, advising the actors how they could make their performances really stand out. The specific idea of the money transition was mine along with a few others. There was one point that didn't go too well - we believed that the scene was going to be silent, but it wasn't. The actors went through a brilliant performance on their end and I didn't record any of it. Although, this wasn't my fault entirely - it is a shame that I could figure out how to start recording so I could have recorded their great performance. The second time they did it didn't feel as smooth.

Dolly Shots

Another project we started was recreating some of the most famous dolly shots in film history. However, due to the amount of time we had during the lesson - we could only recreate one; the dolly shot from the ___. Because we also didn't have a children's bicycle - we had the subject walk down the corridor. Not too interesting - or so I thought. Theres was also the problem with the dolly. We didn't have one. Nevermore, we were given a... good alternative method for shooting dolly shots. Using a wheelchair, we had the camera operator sit down and attach a shoulder rig to their body. The shoulder rig would get rid of most of the shakiness that comes with holding a camera - and the wheelchair gave the footage a nice gliding effect for aesthetic appeal. Whether or not you can see that in the final edit, now you know.

The filming process was all over the place. First, we started by filming outside the corridor, making a plan to wheel ourselves over to the elevators. Thankfully, we were stopped and like a turtle shuffling into on coming traffic - we were led back to the safety of our corridor. For the rest of the filming, 

During the editing process - I had to think to myself. The footage we had collected wasn't even similar to what we were basing our shots on, and so I couldn't take it seriously as a horror shot. I resorted to my back up; comedy. I began by searching through all the footage - taking things that looked good in quality, and things that humours to us during recording (such as Sam interrupting a shot). Putting it all together - In added a few fade in/out effects to make the transitions between the footage smoother. I now felt ready to add some music - and I had just the video. A song I had come across recently called Buttercup had a nice casual ring to it, but it also had good beats that made you feel pumped up and excited, which is clearly what our subject was feeling when filming. I then matched some of the footage to the beat of the music - short clips where the music cut out and used soundbridging to go from scene to scene.