When I first presented my pitch I needed to decide what was going on and whether the opposite of my actress was dead or if the couple had just broken up. I decided to go with the scenario that he passed away from ALS (to explain the wheelchair) and ditched the idea of two people getting closer on a bench.
I first shot on Friday the 20th throughout Boston to get coverage of the couple being together in multiple locations for flashbacks as well as photographs for the mantelpiece. Due to time I decided not to have the actors change their clothes and make the photos all from the same day (this ended up being a factor in the edit after my rough cut).
The second day, Sat. the 21st, was on location for the mantelpiece shots and the shots of the boyfriend in the wheelchair. This was the longest day shooting from around 11:00 to 6:00. Looking back I lit everything poorly with an elemental kit, flat light intentional on the mantelpiece, unintentional on the wheelchair scenes.
I had planned to have a night shoot with the actress walking under streetlamps and looking back I'm glad that I did not get that coverage as it may have changed the meaning and thus the critiques from the class.
While editing the project and while presenting it in class I felt like the edit was out of place, unorganized, and missing something. When I proposed the streetlamp night shots I got a single positive reaction, but Rob interjected stating not to take the song so literally.
In being so specific with the narrative, as Rob pointed out, the song lost it's "oomph". I think the combination of the out of place wheelchair shots and the broadness and immensity of the song contrasted poorly and made the video underwhelming. There also wasn't a lot of dynamic range, either bright daylight, or flat lighting only. Rob's suggestion of following the actress around doing day to day tasks ended up paying off for both the meaning of the piece and to allow for dynamic shots to contrast the already existing flat shots of the flashbacks and the mantelpiece.
That Wednesday and Tuesday I shot for 2-3 hours a day with my actress, Samantha Buntich, walking to and around the prudential on day 1, and sitting in my apartment on day 2.
When editing I decided to cut the wheelchair shots, because they were shot poorly and because a break up was more believable with the 1 day Boston photographs. The photos only showed a window into this couple's time together, it wasn't plausible for a couple so in love, living together, to only have pictures from one day, but it was somewhat plausible for a couple who broke up after an undisclosed time.
Having more dynamic shots allowed for more impact with cuts to the song, adding much needed contrast. As well, following Rob's advice, the shots of Sam looking thoughtful opened up how the audience could feel. The close ups (inspired by the shot from the genre scene in the dystopia setting with the pregnant girlfriend/wife) added much more broadness than I was planning, and I'm proud that I was able to get a few good ones on the forth and last day of shooting.
Things that I really appreciated about this shoot...
- the critiques and advice that I was given by Rob and the class paid off extremely well, the film would not be complete or effective without the suggestion of falling back on the feeling of the song, not necessarily its meaning or taking it literally, and cutting to make it less narrow
- that everyone agreed the wheelchair shots were rubbish (I should have never put someone so gangly in such a small sweater)
- that nearly 30 students could film music videos, whether they had additional photography or not, in only 3 weeks
- that what I planned, for the most part, turned out way better than what I got on a whim (ex. the more I shot and knew what I wanted to frame and capture the better it was - I had no idea what to do for the wheelchair shots and they turned out terribly - by the third and forth day I had shots more planned out - I also got coverage at the same time, but the shots I planned [her in Barnes & Noble, window behind her in kitchen, sitting in bedroom looking out the window] turned out much better than what I decided not to put in the final cut)
- again, following the suggestions of the room paid off immensely and having such a resource is making me very excited and nervous for the following two shoots (I know that if what I shoot first is mediocre, the class's advice can help to improve it, but I also don't want to fall back on it like a crutch and hope that what I present initially will be more thought out and fine tuned so that the final cut will have room to be that much better - to be able to go from good to great is more satisfying than than going from mediocre/bad to good)
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