DBCV12: VCAM Shoot
Seth had a great idea to make a VCAM (Vermont Community Access Media) commercial that will eventually air on local channels. So they asked some of their producers to come down and shoot some bits at the VCAM studios. Bill even blogged about it here and here (the second is a post about THIS post! PGUON).
Saturday was rainy and the sky was dark and overcast. Inside the cozy VCAM studios, Seth, Bill and Brad were working like busy bees to get each shot set up to perfection. My bit was pretty simple. I sat at an IMac and uploaded videos to YouTube. What, no lines?
The funny thing was, doing nothing was really hard to do! When you have a face like a clown and energy pouring out of your eyeballs, sitting still at a computer without making any faces is really tough! So if I make it into the final cut of the commercial, I will probably have an awkward pained expression which is what happens to me when I try to appear "normal" (just how does one do that anyways)?
The other amusing thing about this shoot was how professional it was. Each shot took much time to light and set up. This was especially humorous when compared to the final installment of The Offasty that we were shooting haphazardly at work last week.
Because we were in the process of moving offices, attending Xmas parties and "working," we had to shoot little bits here and there on the DL. In my head was a vague rough draft of the plot and I tried really hard to check off shots mentally and keep continuity roughly in check. Each of us took turns holding the camera, including my mom who happened to be there.
So the final scene has awful coverage, crappy ass lighting and is being held by a 72 year old hand. Still, we never would have managed to get this thing done if we had played by all the rules, lit properly, locked off shots and set things up perfectly.
I guess in the long run, I am more of a guerrilla filmmaker than a fancy professional. Granted, I know I need to learn the "right" way to shoot things so then I can actively choose to do things as I please. I hope to learn the "right" way to do things in school this year!
In the meantime, here is a vlog displaying this funny juxtaposition of shooting styles:
8 comments:
If you watch this without sound (which I just did because I'm at work. No! I didn't say that! I mean Tabitha ate my speakers at home! Because I would never watch your vids at work, what with the sensitive server and all). ...Anyhow, if you watch it without sound (for whatever reason) you, Eva Gabor, are kind of reminiscent of Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean -- all waving arms and smoldering sexiness. Much fun. We loves Johnny Depp.
Lani luvs Johnny Depp 4-eva
that's funny -- i had to watch it without sound too -- because my sister was sleeping next to me. still very good, and i'm practicing how to read lips!
i am laughing so hard that tea is gonna spurt outta my nose! johnny depp!? waving arms and smoldering sexiness? ok,that is what goes on my tombstone, seriously, make a note of it! far better than what i originally had planned, "She did the best that she could." although maybe i could combine them...
at my public speaking class, the teacher unsuccessfully tried to get me to stop waving my arms around like a baboon - it would take a straitjacket to pull that one off (don't get any ideas now...).
tell tabitha to lay off the speakers! they give heartburn!
Despite looming deadline,s I was curious about Capt'n Jack Sparrow (me true love) and unearthed the following:
... And Jack Sparrow, a fairly straightforward pirate on the page, had blown up into one of Depp's wildest comic creations, an inspired mishmash of Keith Richards and Pepé Le Pew, with glam-rock eye shadow, a hip-swiveling walk, and a slurry, boozy way of speaking through a mouthful of gold and silver teeth.
As Depp remembers it now, Captain Jack as we know him was born in the sauna: "I imagined those pirates out in the open sea in extreme heat, no escape from the sun and humidity, so I thought it would be interesting to jack up the sauna pretty good and see how long I could take it. I cranked it up to, like, 240 degrees. I was cooking. That degree of heat makes you sort of move involuntarily. That's where all of Captain Jack's jerky movements came from."
Initially, Depp had other odd ideas for the character as well. His most far-out proposal was that, at some point, the pirate had gotten his nose sliced off in a sword fight and that it was badly stitched back on, scarred, and slightly blue. "My idea was that his worst fears wouldn't be coming up against another swordsman or going into battle — they'd be things like the common cold or pepper or allergies," Depp says. "When I ran that by Gore, he burst into hysterical laughter and said, 'Okay, how do you reckon we're going to get this by Jerry and the studio?'"
Even without the blue-nose bit, the eccentricity of Depp's approach sent ripples of panic through Disney's executive suites. Frantic phone calls were placed to Verbinski, Bruckheimer, and Depp's agent: Why is he walking funny? Why is he talking like that? Is he gay? Is he drunk? And it wasn't only the suits who were concerned: "The first scene I did with Johnny, I was like, What the f--- are you doing?" [Keira] Knightley says. "None of us knew if it was going to work."
Depp was not to be deterred. "It was just fuel to go further," he says. "Not because I wanted to piss Disney off, but because I believed it was the right thing to do. Finally, I said, 'Look, you hired me to do the gig. If you can't trust me, you can fire me. But I can't change it.' It was a hard thing to say, but f--- it." ...
Straight from a pirate's mouth: Words to live by.
Whoops... giving credit where it is due, the quoted text is from Josh Rottenberg's "The Piracy Debate: the rough seas of the upcoming 'Pirates of the Caribbean' films in Entertainment Weekly, July 07, 2006
Jeez, could I love Mr Depp any damn more? what a drunken, flaming, sauna-soaking, gold-toothed stud! i do not think anyone could have come up with such a brilliant pirate nor had the balls to pull it off.
that man (or is he a GOD???) deserves huge props for sticking to his guns and teetering out on the plank with his madcap character. damn. seems like no one in hollywood has balls these days. oh, that's right, he lives in France now. no wonder!
Depp 4EVA!
aaargh!
if you had not told me you were being a pirate, i would think you had stubbed your toe or something! hee hee!
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