Unfortunately due to being sick with the flu I was unable to be a part of the class where we separated into groups and created a video prompt for the writers. Luckily Gaby also was not there for the exercise, so we were able to team up to film a video based around the premise of an ‘action’ of some sort. The only time we could find to meet up was Friday morning, so we met at AV Loans to grab some camera equipment. Only to be thwarted when all the DSLR’s had been booked from both there and the Tech Desk. We were going to resort to filming on our phones, when I decided just to check whether they had any cameras other than an SLR and we were able to use a Lumix camera. It was surprisingly effective and easy to shoot on.
We decided that we needed to shoot somewhere relatively quiet, so we decided to stick around in building 8 near the lifts. We hadn’t really had time to conceptualise our idea yet, when we saw the vending machine close to the lifts and just starting coming up with ideas. We wanted something somewhat comedic, as that seemed to be a theme for where the class and writers have been going towards with their ideas. Unfortunately Gaby and I like more serious, dramatic content – so we just had to come up with our own brand of comedy. So, we decided to have the protagonist of our video desperately searching for a drink, only for it to spill in the end. Gaby and I work really well together, so we were able to make decisions really quickly and decide what aesthetic we wanted to go for. We both wanted to aim for our framing to be very symmetrical and whether we achieved that is questionable due to my inexperience with the camera we were using. We wanted to capture her anxiety by filming her hands wringing nervously or her eyes darting nervously and build tension through filming her feet walking towards something mysterious – which we ultimately reveal is actually just a vending machine.
We both had similar visions for the editing process as well, we wanted to use music or SFX to play up the protagonists anxiety, we chose the heartbeat sound effect because it felt like the natural thing to turn to, although that sound effect may be a little played out at this point. We searched for a good sound effect for the water spilling and we were unable to find one that really matched what we were going for, so we had to settle for a water splashing sound which doesn’t quite work as well. We wanted to have the video cut to black signifying her desire finally being sated, only to be spilt and the text is there to add both comedy and clarity to the situation, whilst acting as a coda to the video.
I feel very happy with the finished video, I’m sure given more time, we could have come up with something better and more polished, but given the short time frame that we threw it together I think it’s a pretty snappy and effective video. Sometimes a short running time can convey more then running too long and showing too much. I feel as if our video would hopefully convey to the writers Gaby and I’s vision of twisting comedy around in such a way that it can be a serious topic with a comedic twist or that we can exaggerate situations and characters and then pull the rug out from under them, making it funny. I think this will confirm the direction that the writers are already going in – a more comedic and quirky direction.