The exercise for this week was to produce a short film with no dialogue. The aim was to tell a story using just visual elements and sound effects, no dialogue allowed. What’s more, we had some limitations. First, a limitation on the story; it should be a Pickpocket, The chase or Late again. Other limitations were on the Location (allowed to film only in our department), Equipment (just camera, microphone with its kit and the tripod), and the duration of 2 minutes. We chose Late again; we needed a simple story that was NOT boring
In this week, I was the cinematographer, the role I much prefer. Once the script was ready, I started to work on the blueprint (figure 1) and discuss it with the director (Pettrus). Because we had just two hours to film, in according with the director, I decided to have a good variety of shots (coverage) to provide to the editor instead of working on creative shots that would probably require more time. In the end it turned out to be a wise choice due to a problem we had with the office on the production day.
On the filming day, once collected the equipment, we started to shoot a few scenes in the bathroom, but because we had the office from 10:00 to 11:00 we quickly moved to film in the office. Once we arrived in front of the office, the door was locked; the lecturer who use this office forgot that during those hours she had a lecture and to unlock the office for us. We quickly found another office, but we had to change some shots. Once finished to shot in the office we moved back to the bathroom and finished to film the last few scenes. My favourite shot in this short film is the one from above the stall (figure 2 and 3).
In Conclusion, I strictly worked with the director during this production. Even if we were a bit confused and in rush, we got the job done. However, I would personally change a few shots (the one with the “cocaine” and those in the office) but I will keep it “simple” and maybe do the colour correction in DaVinci resolve.
Diet Coke Productions 