Filmmaking Stories

When Spielberg was little he experimented to make fake blood. He locked his sister in a closet and told them he was filming it for a movie. Like Spielberg's crazy movie stories, i also have my own. When I was making my first short film I wanted to have good shots to impress my tv production teacher. For one scene in my movie I thought a dolly shot would be appropriate. (A dolly shot is when the camera follows people as they are walking). Unfortunately, there wasn't an actual dolly to use. So, I went home and tried to make my own dolly. (Basically anything with wheels will work).I went in my dad's shed and took out his dolly that he uses to movie heavy boxes. I duct taped the tri-pod to the dolly to make it steady. I tried it out, but unfortunately the shot wasn't very smooth. I decided to come up with another idea. I tried to use my brother's skateboard and just pile books/boxes and anything with a smooth serface. When I was done I tried it out and fortunately it actually worked! My teacher was impressed with the finished product...(but I didn't tell him at first I duct taped the tri-pod to my dad's dolly). Another story is when I was making another short film...the characters very desperate to find something to eat...they made a reference to Paula Deen and how much they loved watching her cook (and her food)...(One of Paula's favorite ingredients is BUTTER), so one of the characters, (my younger brother) ate a stick of butter. Yes, he actually ate it. Since i needed a good shot, he actually had two sticks of butter.As disgusting as it was to watch, he was a really good sport. Now, everytime we watch the movie, he takes pride in his "butter eating abilities". Even as I began editing the movie, I would ask my friends and teacher for advice and all they could do was laugh and comment about my brother eating a stick of butter...it was even funnier while editing, because all you saw were re-accurring shots of my brother eating butter..( pop shots, close-ups & medium-shot). With the determination and enthusiasm I have for filmmaking, I can tell there are going to be many new and interesting stories to come.

Camera Angles

The first rule I learned in my tv production class was, "always watch the head room!" In a shot you always have to be aware of the head room and the camera angle. This is because you don't want your shot to be sloppy. Basically as long as your not cutting off the person's head in the shot and as long as you don't have so much room above the person's head that it looks like a "747 could fly above the person's head" your good. With filmmaking, there are a lot of shots to take note of. There are:

• Over the shoulder shot
• POV (point of view)
• close-up
• reaction
• dolly
• establishing shot
• cat in the window shot
• long shot
• medium-long shot
• exterme close-up shot
• crane shot
• blimp shot
• low angle shot

Using a variety of these shots will help make a good film, if you use them correctly. So always remember, "watch the headroom!"

A Love for Filmmaking

Have you ever been so inspired to do something...and you just had to do it?

Like watching the food network and saying to yourself, "Oo, that looks really good..I think I'll make that right now." Well, for me it's filmmaking. If I ever watch a good movie; see good shots and hear a good song that I think would work well in a scene, I get inspired. Even if i see people talking or see fog hovering over the river and the woods further in the distance I just think to myself, " Wow! that'd be great in a movie!...I want to film that!" I love making movies! After taking a tv production class in high school I have developed such a deep love and respect for movies. Everything that goes into movies like, acting, editing, directing, screen writing and producing are all vitally important in filmmaking. And I love them all! If i had a video camera with me half the time I would just wait for something worth filmmaking to come along. For example, when I was making a short film for my tv production class I needed a shot of horses in the field. I waited so long for that perfect shot. Once I saw the horses; they were exactly where I wanted them. So I ran for my video camera as fast as I could and got the shot I needed. People must have thought I was a nut for running frantically around the house and outside trying to get everything together quickly. Well, I've had and heard worse stories. But what it all comes down to is that I have become so inspired my filmmaking, I love it. Hopefully I will be fortunate enough to pursue a career in this field.