Given the task to make a short, 2-minute video that gives a tutorial on a product that shows off a certain lifestyle, I teamed up with my usual partner right away. Unfortunately, we found it hard to find others to work with on the project, and since we were unsure if we’d be able to find a group to join at all, we decided to start planning right away. I suggested we do the video on a Nikon FM2n film camera I have with me. My thinking was that film’s a relatively mysterious thing to this new, younger generation, as we’re now in the age of digital, so we’d most likely have a target audience in them. My partner agreed, and we sat down, wrote a script, and story boarded the whole thing. The video would explain the basics of loading film, operating the camera, and then how to get the film developed. Ideally, an experienced photographer who was curious about shooting on film could watch this video, pick up a camera like the one in the video, and be able to take pictures with it. I would be the talent on-screen as I knew how to use the camera well, and my partner would be the one operating the camera.
Most of the difficulties we had during production were due to the size of our group. We had to lug around a tripod, camera, a heavy lighting kit, wireless-lavaliere mics, and the film camera between the two of us. However, once we got everything set up, shooting went smooth. We managed to turn my partner’s dorm room into a pseudo-studio by shutting the curtains and setting up a simple three-point lighting setup on me, and we finished ahead of schedule! The editing room was where my main problem sprung up. My video was almost 30 seconds over the 2-minute length requirement. After some groaning and watching the cut through multiple times, I decided to cut out a chunk of the video that explains how to change the batteries; this video was going to be a bare-bones tutorial on the camera. I managed to shorten the video even more by tightening up most of the cuts, and eventually I reached the 2-minute mark. Success!
With this video, I tried to push down my urge to be a perfectionist and trust my group member to compose the shot however they thought looked best. Thankfully, she had a great eye for composition, and she made a good effort to check that all the camera’s settings — like shutter speed — were set correctly. I felt confident enough to focus on my own performance and let her handle the behind-the-camera stuff.
I think through this artefact, I managed to improve my on-camera acting skills. I’m usually the one behind the camera, so acting in front of it isn’t one of my strongest skills. I get all self-conscious about how I look and how I give my performance, so I can end up looking somewhat stiff and strange. However, I suppose that that’s one thing that’ll take much more practice for me to become better at.
Video:
Pre-production files:
