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.