Test shots, plans, and edits

1. Breakdown
a. 1
b. 7
c. 1
d. Unknown at this point
e. None
f. Plate, Food, Meatball, Glass, place mat, Milk, Fork, Hands

2. Location
The location is going to take place in the living room of my father’s house. No one is currently living there and there is plenty of room to work. A large coffee table that sits low but resembles the look of a kitchen table will be the setting of the film.

10. Rehearsal and Test Shot Response

As I set up the tripod and camera I tried to picture how my shot would be set up by the previous plans I made earlier in the week. Reading over them and looking around my apartment I kept eyeing my kitchen table and thinking how perfect it would be for my short film. With my film having a over head shot I adjusted the legs on the tripod to make it stand up as tall as it possibly could. I was amazed with the height it produced so I fixed the camera in place and turned it on. The camera sat about a foot over my head and discovering that I could bend down the screen for me to view what I was filming made me feel a little better about what I was doing.
I don’t have a lot of experience with using a video camera. I haven’t even owned a digital video camera let alone worked one. This was truly a new art form that I feel completely stupid with. No matter I feel this is a challenge and something I should try and stick with, if not for my grade but for my love of art in general. I really want to be as versatile as I can in my career as an artist.
I soon as I changed my battery out and learned how to fix the bad battery to my camera with tape, I started taking my test shots. I first did a white balance test, which I learned in class. Pleased with knowing how to do it I got it set and started looking at my scene under the normal lighting that the kitchen and living room naturally provided me. The lighting isn’t horribly awful, I thought, when looking into the camera, but I cant help but to imagine the effects I will get when I use better lights that are made for filming effects. I filmed a few things so I could see how they looked on camera. First I shot the different looks of bowls and the colors I had on hand. Then I placed actually food into one of the bowls and studied the shot. The first lesson I learned was not to use my own actual dinner. The next step I did was tried to experiment with pausing and starting the record button to look at the effects. I liked some of the effects but feel a lot of editing is really needed for stop animation. I also tried using a glass of milk and with a straw was able to suck out little bits at a time, using the camera to just take short shots of the milk as I drank it. During my test shots I couldn’t stop the sounds coming from my room mate and other people walking through the space. I waited till everyone was asleep before doing the sound tests, which are noted with my paper that states: Sound Test.
When I finished all my shots I couldn’t help but feel like the idea of my film was all wrong. I wasn’t 100% sure of how it would work and look in the end. I know realize that shooting the film in that tiny room might not work as well as I had hoped. Also the idea of how the food would look might not be as nice as I had planed either. As I was reviewing what I had on my small tape, I was able to come up with some new ideas on the spot. Ideas of including my hands into the story that interested with the food in front of me. I think I want to re-plan my film and try something a little bit different.

11. My entire movie has been basically redone. I wasn’t happy with my responses I got when doing my test shot. If I’m not happy with the film then no one is expected to enjoy it either. So the entire film has been rethought. One thing I need to fix now is my lighting in the living room I’m working in.