Truffles – an Exercise in Cinematography and Taste-buds

The adage goes that practice makes perfect, and a soon as I heard that my little sister was making truffles, it was out with the whole set of gear. Not too many shoots taste this good…

Truffles – A Michael Firus video from Michael Firus on Vimeo.

My intention was simply to make a short documentary-like featurette on the subject of truffle making. With this small project, I really wanted to push the limits of coverage; getting as many engaging angles as I could.

The equipment I used was a Canon DSLR (70d) and two lenses; one a macro and a 50mm. Utilizing the large aperture of both the lenses to their widest extent was a deliberate choice; a choice made to create an extreme sense of emphasis in the focused areas of the frame. Production was a frantic process, since cooking is not a process wherein extended pauses can take place. This meant that the set-up of each shot had to be done swiftly; matching the pace of the cooking.

I see this shoot as valuable practice in production and cinematography. The fast pace that I was previously unused to has now been done and dusted (so to speak) and thus proven to be viable for me; a skill that I can bring to my future media endeavors.