ENTRY NUMBER TEN: THE CHARACTER SHOOT

There may be such a thing as serendipity. When my first volunteer actress had to bow out of the project due to illness I had a momentary flash of panic. But I went back to my list of applicants and contacted Monique Amarion who, quite amazingly, was willing to shoot with me the next day

It worked out perfectly. Monique not only had the perfect look for the character but she has improv experience and therefore was able to work without a proper script and think on her feet. And she was more than willing to follow me all around the city, ducking rain drops, jumping on and off subway trains and dealing with overly self important transit officials "You do have a permit to shoot here don't you?" Yes sir, I do, it's right here beside my platinum card

It has been a long time since I've worked with actors and I have never before worked with an actor who wasn't a friend or relative doing me a favour. I've worked with "talent" doing on screen presentations for instance but that is a different matter. In that case, you are working with a salesperson more than an actor

As a director, when working with talent, you better have your ducks in a row. You need to be organized, you better know your shots (the shot list again) and you better know what you want out of the scene. The actor needs direction; everything from the emotional tone of the scene to "hands in pockets or out of them"

Monique was experienced enough to ask these questions and I was enough in control to give her answers. I also had a good enough vision of my shots to be able to describe to her what I wanted, where to position her etc. An actor needs that. They need to know that the director has a clear vision, it gives them confidence and establishes trust.

Although a director needs a vision and needs to demonstrate that he has a firm grip on the situation, I feel that this kind of production is a cooperative arrangement. I want the actor to be fully involved and to participate. Monique was wonderful. She was thinking about her part, asked me pertinent questions about her character but also knew enough to suggest certain shots such as "If I look that way will that affect the previous shot?"

She was thinking about more than her role, she was thinking about the shoot in general. That was wonderful. It gave me energy and kept me on toes which is a good thing

I've reviewed the footage and I'm very happy with it. I got the shots I needed, Monique looks exactly right for what I want and having this character footage is helping the whole video gell in my mind.

Next up, editing begins

ENTRY NUMBER NINE: RESET

Yes, you should plan every shoot and every production. But you should also plan that that plan will go awry ...

Today I was supposed to shoot downtown with Anna. It was the only day she could give me. Unfortunately she called me this morning and I didn't have to be a doctor to know that she was ill. And she will be leaving the province by Friday. The shoot was off

So ..

This is the shit that happens when you are in to a production. YES should plan as much as possible but you must be able to bounce to the knees to the groin that the Production Gods love to throw at you.

I still had the contact info for Moniquea, another actress who had responded to my ad. I called her and quite remarkably, she is willing to work with me tomorrow.

But that wasn't the only reset. I was looking at the rules for the video contest once more and noticed something that I had missed; I was so thrilled to be able to edit to a Moby song and so inspired by the After track that I forgot that there was a theme for this competition, upon which 1/3rd of the judging will be based. The video will have to speak to the them of Hello Future ...

My response was, hell what? If you asked me to make a video based on that phrase I'd probably laugh and grab a beer. But I have a video started, I like my concept, I think it matches the song. But hell, I'm a writer and and editor so I edited .. my "script" a bit. It didn't take much to come up a way, by adding some new shots, to point my video in the direction of Hello Future.

Quite frankly, I wasn't going to go back to scratch; I'm not in this to win, I'm in this because I got inspired. But thinking about the theme made me think more about the video and in actuality it gave me a bit more concrete direction

My concept for the video is that of human isolation in the city so there you go .. that's the future .. ok it's the present but it's the future that we built for ourselves

I have a lot of B Roll of traffic, of crowds, of throngs of people shot from high angles, of the city. So I drive up the 400 to King City and about 10 minutes away from my big city I found country roads, old barns, rusted fences. I'm going to cut them with my city shots, one after another for contrast; the fancy snotty word is juxtaposition.

How will I fit my actress in this? I had envisioned shots of her sort of alone and lost in the city. I admit it was a vague idea but the theme of the contest actually gave me some focus. I'm going to put my character on a journey. As she walks downtown and takes the subway she will be lost, she will be seeking. As she progresses on her journey the city will grow around her, there will be images of what we've left behind. Her journey through the city will take her to Union City.

Most importantly the theme gave me something I did not have before: A final shot. As we keep moving, as the city keeps growing our actress stands inside Union Station staring up at a sign that says, at the same time, Arriving .. Departing.

ENTRY NUMBER EIGHT: PREPPING FOR A SHOOT

Tomorrow I'm going downtown to shoot scenes with my amazing volunteer actress, Anna Ross. While a lot of the footage I've already done have been half planned, half on-the-fly inspiration, this shoot is a bit of a different beast

We have a limited window of time in which to get the shoot done so this is very much like an actual TV/movie/commercial shoot. My intent is match shots with Anna to some of the B roll I've already shot, so we need to hit not only certain locations, but specific areas within those locations; for example, I have a long shot shooting down into the Eaton Centre from one of the interior bridges. What I want now is a shot from below, shooting up at Anna on that very same bridge

In order to accomplish this, in a limited time window, the best tool to use is a Shot List. Now, there are other alternatives of course. Storyboarding is very popular but probably a bit of overkill for my needs here.

I'm organizing the list by location. This is how the big boys do it. In a movie, you could have a scene at the beginning where the actor arrives at Union Station, halfway thru, he picks up his snuggly bear love interest at Union Station and the last shot of him is standing at Union Station looking confused as snuggly bear leaves on a train with his sister ...

You don't go to the train station three separate times. You go once, with all the actors, wardrobe changes etc and shoot all three scenes back to back. That's an efficient way of using your time and for movies it may save them money in fees to use a location.

For me, it's strictly a time issue. I know I want Anna in at least three shots in the Eaton Centre so I will take all three shots while we're there although the scenes will be split up in the movie. So for my Shot List will be organized by location; Eaton Centre, the subway, Dundas Square, Yonge & Bloor etc, again matching shots I've already taken

I want to be fairly specific with the shots too, like putting Anna on the bridge, noting which way I want her to cross a street to match those shots. I always will be specific about "original" shots, such as I want her riding the subway reading a book or listening to music, this is essential to my theme. I will write all this down because I know in the moment of taking these shots, I may forget details. And for this project, this is the only chance I'm getting.

Shot Lists or Stoyrboards are also handy during pre-production to help build your story. Sometimes by visualizing a shot, be it with pictures or photo's or descriptions, it will help you decide if the shot is going to work, if it needs to be altered or thrown out all together.

The other paperwork I need for tomorrow is a props list; pretty short for this endeavour but I want to bring a book, an iPod etc. And although I'll have only one day to shoot with Anna I will bring my digital cam and take pics of her, concentrating on her wardrobe, hair style, make up .. this is just a habit I have for continuity. If I did need to do more shots, all that stuff will have to match if I want the story to appear to be happening during a single day

Whether you are making a video for profit or because you are an Idiot with a Camera, time is always your enemy and anything that makes you more efficient is your buddy

ENTRY NUMBER SEVEN: A SOLUTION

As time is going on it is increasingly clear to me that my original concept for this video is the one I have to pursue. Namely, using a character to help tell my story of urban dissolution.

So that means I needed an actress. As part of my profession I've worked with "talent" before but usually in the form of an on screen narrator or presenter. I don't make movies for a living.

The only actors with whom I've worked were my friends and families in the student movies I made back in college. I have never worked with a professional actor in my life

The first hurtle is: Where to start? Lucky for me I live in Toronto, a city with of course a very active scene for actors, from stage to movies to TV to webcasts and everything in between. We have several colleges here that focus on acting and the city attracts aspiring actors from all over the country

I decided to begin my search on Craigslist. I have gotten editing jobs from the list in the past and I've seen people asking for acting help for their projects. Of course, I had to have a volunteer, I am not getting paid for this and there is no monetary prize. I felt a bit weird asking a stranger to work for free but I got a dozen responses in a matter of hours

Some of the responses were clearly inappropriate; models with sexy poses were not what I was looking for. I was looking for someone who can convey emotion without dialogue and who had some enthusiasm for the project.

Casting from emails is an interesting exercise. Most of the ladies sent a head shot and I won't say looks are not important to the project but not essential. Still, I do have a certain image in my mind so some were too young or too old and one I very much liked her letter but she came across as too confident and assertive. I know, actors can be what you want them to be but I am talking about a few shots without dialogue so look does factor into it

There were three women in particular who caught my interest but Collette saw a certain girl's head shot and said "Oh pick her, she looks perfect for the part"

Anna Ross will therefore be my actress, we're going to meet up Wed and do the shoot. My plan is to match shots with her to the B Roll I've already taken, putting her in some of the same locations and contrasting her alone with the shots of busy traffic and large crowds

I am quite impressed that someone would give up their time to help me and I feel that she has a stake in this video turning out well as it will reflect well on her and give her something for her reel. It will be posted on Vimeo and go at least through a judging process so I hope she get some positive exposure

Working with a pro actress (irregardless of what she is or is not getting paid) will be a new experience for me. Making movies and videos is definitely a corroborative effort and since I've been doing this entirely on my own I welcome some input and I look forward to what Anna can bring to the project

ENTRY NUMBER SIX: THE PUNCTUATION OF A SHOT AND SOME DOUBTS

Last night I went down to do some night shooting. I wanted to do some guerilla run and gun style shooting so I didn't want to haul along my Slik tripod; while it is not exactly heavy it's a sold piece of gear, it takes a few seconds to set up for each shot and it has a certain intimidation factor when you are shooting in public.

Instead, I took my aluminum monopod. Much lighter, much smaller; you can tuck it into your back pack or, in its collapsed state, keep the camera clamped to it and just carry it in you hand. Yet it still provides you with stability for shots where you are tightly zoomed in or long shots that you want to time lapse

I'm liking the footage that I'm getting but as I go through it, I'm not sure it's going to be capable of carrying an entire video. It's filler or, more correctly, punctuation

I believe in the power of the shot. Every shot should convey information. When you take the shot you need to ask yourself "What is this saying, how is it adding to the story" The kind of footage I'm getting, of subway trains and traffic at night, of people moving like ants in a huge mall, they are like punctuation in the language of the story. They all say something

Here are two shots of anonymous crowds. The way I framed them, they should illicit different feelings

This is a shot in the Eaton Centre. This high angle wide shot should convey a sense of insignificance and remoteness for those dots that are people. From camera perspective I guess it could you a sense of power but the idea here is to make you think about how lost and insignificant we have become in our own man built environments.

Here is another shot of a crowd of people

This shot should give you a different kind of feeling. Here, admist the crowd perhaps you feel lost, claustrophobic, surrounded but because they are all strangers, also alone. This is a kind of forced perspective. I've zoomed in from about 20 feet away. That makes the shot even tighter, harder, more constrained

Here's a couple of shots of traffic

The concept here is to again convey a sense of remoteness; the cars and the pavement, even the grass verge and the hills don't seem quite real. You don't seem connected. It's a landscape and you forget that there are actually people in this shot, in the cars
Another shot of traffic. But far less remote. Now you are aware of the true presence of the cars and perhaps even the people inside them. Perhaps you feel a little unnerved; damn those cars are coming right at me ... But there is still that remoteness. There may be a person driving that car but you can't make an instant connection with him

So I have my punctuation but I am certain that I have my sentence to which it belongs. Looking at all my footage, hearing the music track in my head, I'm not sure if this footage is enough to tell my story.

My original story involved using a character, an actor, to cut in and around and through this footage. I dismissed that for logistical reasons but I'm coming back to it. Not sure if that's possible but this video has to evolve .. quickly

ENTRY NUMBER FIVE: DAY TIME SHOOT

Managed to get out today for about 3 hours of shooting

My main objective was to do some time lapse shots, very high angle and long, of traffic, subway trains and people.

I live right by the Allen Expressway and the subway tracks run along it at street level so I just walked over to a nearby overpass. For the timelapse I need to shoot a long sustained shot and then probably speed it up in Final Cut Pro. A tripod is essential for this; frame you shot the way you like, lock off the tripod and walk away from it. It was windy as hell up on the bridge but hopefully I'll get a long enough steady shot to do the effect.

Although I am kind of making this up as I go along, I do have certain shots in mind, I want some of the footage to be blurred and strobey and I would like other shots to have a distressed look. The weather today was fickle; clouds and sun and almost rain.

I was not totally happy with the very sunny shots. They will not suit the theme of the video very well. You have a few options to deal with this. While shooting you can adjust your iris and your exposure; the Sony does have manual exposure settings but they are not very sophisticated. My XL1 has terrific manual focus controls but that goes with having a kick ass lens. So my options here will be to do the effect in post.

Generally I am not a fan of in camera effects. That's what I have Final Cut for. I would rather get the best quality video I have than build any effects I need in post. While shooting I would rather concentrated on the essentials: Rule of thirds, head room, lead room etc. If you have a properly composed shot you have a world of possibilities

I'm thinking a lot about trains, subway trains for this video. Toronto has a subway of course but it actually took me a while to realize the true inspiration: On the home page for Hello Future contest there is a picture of Moby .. with a subway train in the background. Duh

So I have exterior shots of trains and I recorded some footage while riding the subway into the downtown core. More to come I'm sure

One of the other shots I knew I wanted was going to be at the Eaton Centre. My theme here is one of urban isolation, of being lost in the crowd (not terribly original but I have to start somewhere) and I thought Canada's largest mall (I think) would be a great place to get that footage. I went to the highest level in the mall, mounted the Sony on the tripod and took some very long shots down through the various floors and levels. Lots of people in the mall of course, and I got the whole "they look like ants" thing going on

I took similar shots outside from Varsity Stadium and at the intersection of Yonge and Bloor. I couldn't get an elevated shot on Yonge St, I had to shoot from street level but it's a busy intersection, lots of traffic both vehicle and pedestrian. I think it will work for me.

The next series of shots I want to try to capture will be night shots; high angle trains and hiway shots again and the lights of the city.

ENTRY NUMBER FOUR: TEST DRIVE

I've been thinking of the footage I want to take for the video and how I want to acquire it. I want to take advantage of the compact nature of my Sony. I've been thinking of the perspective of shooting out a windshield of the car while driving, In particular I'm thinking of night shots while moving through the city; the city is going to me a character in this video and I want lights, lights at night

Now, there are a whole host of tools available for this kind of shot, glide cams etc but I can't justify the expense. So I took my Slik tripod and jammed it against my passenger seat and mounted the handycam on top of that.

Here is a quick test of that footage. It's shot in HD but rendered out as SD (standard definition). It's not half bad. Now if only I could get the mayor to patch up all the potholes on any route I wish to drive on ...

Video Test for Car Cam from Victor Kellar on Vimeo.

ENTRY NUMBER THREE:ACQUIRING FOOTAGE

With the deadline of the competition quickly approaching, I have to start getting footage. I thought I'd write about the gear I'm going to use and how I come to those selections

Without picking up the phone and begging for favours, I have a choice of gear in my closet from which to choose: A Cannon XL1 mini DV high end 3 chip camcorder, a Sony HD HDR-XR350 handycam Hard Drive camcorder, fluid head tripod, monopod, external mic, couple of lights etc

Some choices are easily made. I love the XL1, I really do. It's an old cam, mini DV tapes are pretty much a dinosaur technology now and it's standard def but I love the image quality. It has three big fat sensors and an absolutely killer lens. Lenses are important, no matter what your recording format, if your "eyes" aren't good, it doesn't matter how fast your brain is. Also, the XL1 has a high end shotgun mic plus XLR audio inputs so it can record very high end audio.

But for this project it has a few issues: It's a big old beast and it is obvious, you really can't so a lot of gonzo guerilla shooting with the thing, you can't catch people unawares. Ambient audio will not be a concern for this project, I'm not recording sound. The soundtrack is provided, I'm not using dialogue etc. Any ambient audio I may want to use, like street sounds, traffic sound etc does can be captured by any mic I have. Finally, the dictates of the competition state that your final output must be in Hi Def. Yes, I could export any footage from the XL1 into an HD project but it still won't be HD

So the Sony it is. I'm actually pretty happy with the quality of this cam though I purchased it mostly for its convenience. It does record in full 1080 HD and it does have three sensors though of course they are teeney tiny. And over all, the lens is pretty good.

It is a handycam and that size works perfectly for me. I can carry it in my pocket, it's ninja-like in it's size and it has a big fat hard drive so I can record a ton of footage in one go. The onboard mic is adequate but as stated, adequate will suffice for my needs.

I have a plan to do some time lapse style images so the tripod will be essential. I have a Slik that is a bit bulky but rock solid with a fluid head. I have a monopod which is light but for time lapse shots not as solid as a tripod. I may consider purchasing a smaller, lighter tripod; if I'm using the Sony and not my beloved beast of a Canon, a light tripod will suffice and Collette and I planning a big trip overseas this summer so a small tripod would suit us in the future

I also have available Collette's Nikon D-90 SLR camera. It does not shoot video but it does shoot extremely high quality stills. I can use it to take stills so big I can bang them into my editing timeline and manipulate them with motion tracking in a way that can replicate motion

I want to do a light of night shooting. I won't be using artificial lighting. I love love love the quality of the city lights at night. I haven't done a town of this kind of shooting with the Sony but it has a lot of manual exposure and focus controls so I think it should work. And I, for one, am not scared of a bit of grain. This is a gonzo project, sort of cinema verite (which is a fancy way to justify handheld camera shake) and I want to use natural light as much as possible. The Sony also has manual white balance controls which is good. I can correct white balance with my editing software but I am an advocate of "getting it right" on the shoot and not relying on it on "fixing it in post" I am the godfather of "fixing" other people's shoots and I know that is really a second best option at best

So my plan (sure Vic like you have a plan) is to carry the Sony with me wherever I go. I actually do have shots I want to capture but I equally like the idea of just having the cam there if some shot presents myself. In this video, the city itself will be my main character and I am more than happy to permit her to ad lib.

ENTRY NUMBER TWO

Every video project has to begin somewhere and the Hello Future competition has given me the starting point. Or rather Moby has given me the jumping off point.

For the sake of this competition Moby has made available three tracks from his upcoming CD Destroyed. Competitors are permitted to pick one of these three songs and use it to create a video. The point is to interpret the music any way you see fit.

This is the bit that appealed to me; I love working with music. I love matching video to music and music to video. I love TV shows and movies that build a scene around a piece of music or, conversely, choose a song that perfectly compliments a pre-cut scene. These are some very basic video editing concepts, choices made my directors and editors.

I also love cutting to music, cutting to the beat, letting the rhythm of the song help me decide when to use slow mo, or stop motion, transitions and effects.

This is a movie making competition, not a music video competition; I for one will not be finding people to lip sync to a Moby song. I still can't watch a music video where someone is pretending to sing, even if it is their own song, without giggling.

Here are the three songs from which I had to choose. Take a listen to them all and see which one inspires you. Do you see images when you hear the music? Does a particular song evoke an emotion? Which song changes your heart rate and make your breathing change to match the tempo .. that's what happens to me.

For me, the clear "winner" was the last song on the list, After. Of the three it seemed to me the most cinematic. It quickly set a mood. I loved the tempo changes. I loved how it built. The tempo and pace changes evoked drama.

I also liked how the lyrics were spare. I didn't want to be bogged down where a lot of lyrics would lead me to a literal interpretation. I wanted some freedom.

The song, to me, sounded very urban but very urban. I think it's about dissatisfaction, I think it's about our lives being constricted by the world we live in. I think it's about two worlds: The world inside ourselves and the world outside of us and how one is often suppressed by the other. It's about lonliness and remoteness and feeling isolated while surrounded by millions of people.

As soon as I heard the song I made the movie in my mind. But it's a movie I cannot back. I don't have unlimited time or budget or resources. My movie involved actors and locations and would have required a lot time and planning. I have none of the above.

This is where you have to become creative. You have to always bring yourself back to the point which you want to express; if I can't have actors perhaps the city itself will be the actor. How do I express isolation without being able to focus on one or two people. Perhaps lots of people, the anonymous crowds of my city would serve in stead.

I'm not really sure, I'm making this up as I go along.

But I have my song, I have my inspiration, I have my concept, my message. My intent all along was to go gonzo with this video, to go as low tech as possible.

Making a movie is generally comprised of three periods: Pre production, production, post production. Pre production usually takes the longest time; it involves writing and fine tuning the script, getting together producers and directors, casting, location scouting ... A lot of my pre production is already down.

Damn good thing. One day down. Twenty more to go

ENTRY NUMBER ONE

OK, here's the deal

If anyone follows my other blog The Hairy Edge, you have watched, or perhaps run from, the many videos I have posted there. The site to which I upload those videos is Vimeo. Vimeo is not only a free place that will host your videos, it is a very active online video making community. From casual videomakers like myself who regale the world with endless videos of my dogs, to aspiring film makers, to bona fide movie creators, Vimeo attracts and encourages idiots with cameras from all over the world.

One of the things Vimeo does is to host contests. All kinds of contests, inspiring video makers to create movies on a variety of themes, genres and topics. Inspiration is how I view contests. I don't really have a good psyche for contests, I've learned that about myself, or at any rate I should not take them too seriously

I shouldn't ever enter a contest trying to win. I'm a bad loser. Waa waa. Like that.

But contests can be inspirational. I have a variety of video making tools at my disposal, both concrete (cameras, video decks, editing computers) and ephemeral (training, experience, delusions) but I sometimes do lack inspiration. Making videos for a living as many years as I have, I've become very concerned with producing product; I enjoy making product, I enjoy the challenge of making something for a client, something that satisfies their bottom line as well as my creative side

I really enjoy shooting and editing videos on the events that Collette and I attend, videos of the festivals, videos with the girls. But it's been a while since I've made a video ... for no reason. I don't think I'm good at it. The more I think of it, I don't think I've made a video without something driving it, be it a contest, a class assignment or wanting to make a record of some experience Collette and I have shared.

So, along comes a new Vimeo contest. The first one that actually got my juices (excuse me, I may need a bib) flowing.

Moby is a musician. If you think you haven't heard his music, you probably have. I have actually edited video to his music, but for clients (um, did I just confess to some kind of crime? I plead the fifth, and I'll take a fifth of Jose Cuervo). I like his music. It has a cinematic quality that lends itself to soundtrack applications. Moby himself has utilized video along with samples, electronica etc.

Not surprising that he would team up with Vimeo to create a contest to inspire videomakers. What was surprising is that he has made available three tracks from his upcoming CD, making them public realm, that us Idiots With Cameras can use to create a video to

Oh, cool

The winner of this contest will have their work at Cannes. Yeh, right. I ain't going to Cannes, any video I make will not be shown at Cannes and I'm quite comfortable with that. I really am. There will be film crews entering this contest, shooting with Red cameras and lights and digital audio, they will have grips and Production Assitants and Directors of Photography ... oh my!

That isn't me. I think I'm going gonzo on this one. I think. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do but I want to do something.

The date of this posting is April 29, the deadline for the contest is May 9 ... what the fuck. What the hell am I doing

Well, I'm not sure but me being the Idiot With a Camera that I am .. and an Idiot with a Blog .. I decided I'd chronicle this little debacle ..er .. I mean adventure.

I have been asked in the past to describe my creative process as well as my production processes ... yes, when people are drunk they will ask you anything

So I guess with this blog, we'll find out. And I do mean we because as if this point, I really don't have any clue how I'm going to do this.

This blog will be entirely devoted to me creating a video for this contest. All my other bullshit will be hosted on The Hairy Edge as usual

No promises here. I may not get this thing done. It may be a total piece of shit. But I'm an Idiot With a Camera ... and my idiocy will not be stopped

Trust me, people have tried