Last Minute In Joshland - Short Film
Anyone that knows me well will know that throughout my life, I have been plagued with the criticism of living in 'Joshland', as I often found myself in sometimes humorous, 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'-esque situations.
For my first endeavor into film making and film editing, I decided to relive one such situation and create a video, depicting one such occurrence.
The short film serves as an homage to the expertly crafted montages of AMC's 'Breaking Bad' - the montage found in season one, episode six 'Crazy Handful of Nothin' in particular.
I am in love with the look, writing, direction and editing of each scene in this series. With this scene in particular, I specifically enjoy the juxtaposition of the upbeat, positive music and lively, fast paced editing with the depressive, dark nature of the onscreen actions.
Due to the nature of the plot, I knew that this would have to be a night shoot exclusively. Because I also work, this gave me a small window every day to capture footage. To ensure that the filming process was efficient, I created a shot list.
All the footage was captured using an iPhone 5s and Samsung s6. It was then edited using Final Cut Pro and a Macbook Pro.
To create the slow zoom opening, I experimented with a variety of options. I initially attempted to do this by hand but the footage was far too shaky. Next I tried to use a waist-high cabinet on wheels. Again this was far too shaky to use, even with the stabilizer function in Final Cut. Finally, I placed the cabinet on a skateboard. Although there were a small amount of unwanted movement, it provided the best results. It turns out skateboards are the amazing for moving the camera for shots.
Every shot from the laptop's perspective was captured by piling and balancing objects on my desk to get the perfect angle. To ensure that these were correct, I placed a small mirror behind the phone so that I wouldn't have to keep readjusting the layout.
For my first endeavor into film making and film editing, I decided to relive one such situation and create a video, depicting one such occurrence.
The short film serves as an homage to the expertly crafted montages of AMC's 'Breaking Bad' - the montage found in season one, episode six 'Crazy Handful of Nothin' in particular.
I am in love with the look, writing, direction and editing of each scene in this series. With this scene in particular, I specifically enjoy the juxtaposition of the upbeat, positive music and lively, fast paced editing with the depressive, dark nature of the onscreen actions.
Due to the nature of the plot, I knew that this would have to be a night shoot exclusively. Because I also work, this gave me a small window every day to capture footage. To ensure that the filming process was efficient, I created a shot list.
All the footage was captured using an iPhone 5s and Samsung s6. It was then edited using Final Cut Pro and a Macbook Pro.
To create the slow zoom opening, I experimented with a variety of options. I initially attempted to do this by hand but the footage was far too shaky. Next I tried to use a waist-high cabinet on wheels. Again this was far too shaky to use, even with the stabilizer function in Final Cut. Finally, I placed the cabinet on a skateboard. Although there were a small amount of unwanted movement, it provided the best results. It turns out skateboards are the amazing for moving the camera for shots.
Every shot from the laptop's perspective was captured by piling and balancing objects on my desk to get the perfect angle. To ensure that these were correct, I placed a small mirror behind the phone so that I wouldn't have to keep readjusting the layout.
Every other shot was captured by either my friend Aidan Jennings or my mother, the infamous Carol James.
The shoot took several days, so continuity proved to be problematic. The clock would often be the wrong time, forcing reshoots. I also had to type up an original 'Exam Brief' document.
I love how this video turned out and am extremely proud of the results.
I love how this video turned out and am extremely proud of the results.
The aforementioned montage.
