Lighting…my constant frustration. If I could find someone to do it for me I’d never touch the things again. The only time I’ve ever been almost satisfied with it I was shooting a confined area where the angles would never change and spent four hours getting it right.

This silly short featuring a 50-something and almost-50-something was my plan D, if I remember correctly. (And before any of you ask, my sister is the 50-something, not me.) ;) Hope you don't mind the "no faces" framing but as you may notice by the lines bc (before champagne) I was nervous enough as it was. Being in front of a camera is not my gig. But then neither is lighting so I’m starting to question just what my gig is here.

We had a fun time shooting this, which is a good thing, because we had to do all the hand held stuff again the next day. I forgot to hit the record button before handing over the camera to Julie. Can’t imagine what caused that…

I am still giggling. Started off laughing about the reason for making the show in the first place, to try to pay for all this "@$%&" we buy... Obviously had to shoot this in sequence, and I noted that later in the film, some of the shots seemed a bit wobbly. Not sure if that was "rolling shutter" or what. :) Thanks for another fun film..

This is hilarious! I liked that it was semi-documentary style. It really makes me want to get to know the characters more. They seem fun and funny. The last shot is the best too. We also put a shot (in the credits of Dessert Island) showing us addressing the camera which I think is always fun for the the audience because it sort of let's the cat out of the bag (the movie-magic bag that is).
I've done the totally-didnt-hit-the-record-button before too. I actually know somebody who did that at their brother's wedding so don't feel too badly. The lighting was interesting. I like the use of shadows on the counter though sometimes it felt unintentional and then other times it was really interestingly composed.
Very entertaining!

I am a firm believer in montages and yours was excellent. Rock out, have fun, and get loopy. Excellent.

Laughed hard at the line "and the guy who runs that..." to the oven buzz.

Some of the audio seemed like it might have had some interference in it though.

Nice piece.

Yeah, what's up with that audio hum? The first day I had to replace the mic I was using because the hum got even louder than that. I was trying an old stereo mic and thought the cable had gone bad. Hope it's not my camera.

Thanks so much for the fun feedback, guys. Like most people, if something in my videos makes somebody laugh I'm happy.

And Chris....um....yeah....it was a rolling shutter issue...that's it. ;)

what camera do you use... nice video

I use a Canon XH A1. And lest anyone think Chris and I are completely daft, we do know that the XH A1 would not have an issue with rolling shutter... :)

One of several things that didn't fit was the dialog where Julie thinks she may have "bumped something," which in this case would have been my shutter setting. I purposely slowed it to 1/15. We hoped motion blur would obliterate wrinkles.

I did the same thing recording some last minute sound effects for my entry; walked through the motions, got all the different elements I needed, then realized I never hit record after setting the levels. Luckily I realized that right away, and could just do everything over again.

"Eat this"? Lorinda, I didn't think you had a comment like that in you. Well done! The lighting seemed fine to me. The big window was blown out at the end, but that's really it. I share your frustration, though, I have nothing but problems trying to do even a functional, utilitarian lighting design when I shoot these things.

You say this was only the last idea in a series of potential stories. If you don't mind me asking, what were plans A through C?

I really liked this one.... los of fun things in it too. My girlfriend has a cartoon on her refrigerator - it shows a woman in te kitchen cooking contendedly and her husband is standing nearby and she says "I just love cooking with wine" to which he replies "Does this have wine in it (referring to the dish she is cooking)... in the next cartoon frame she replies with a smile "No, but I do." This film was the live re-enactment of that cartoon to me.

The first scene after opening the bottle of champagne (I liked the orphaned sound of the cork hitting the floor too) made me laugh out loud. I wonder how many folks picked up the fact that at the end there were TWO bottles on the table?

Fun entry. Had me smiling on and off all day.

Ha ha! Yep, two bottles. Except the one was consumed the day before. When I realized I didn’t have any of the hand held footage I had to go back to the store for more pie-making supplies…and champagne. :)

So glad you liked it, Chris.

Gosh, Robert, I sure hope I didn’t inadvertently write something really bad on that pie! I’m not up on lots of things…

As for plans A-C, the first one was going to be a drama! Like a Twilight Zone episode! I thought it was a cool idea but would have needed to call on you to do some more Combustion magic for me (a car half-submerged in a river) and I knew you were busy with your own. Besides that, Mason wasn’t completely sold on it.

I can't tell you about Plan B because it’s going to be shot sometime in the future. But I can say that the prop was a banana.

Plan C was going to be a skateboarding flick that incorporated a bunch of food phrases. Unfortunately, the boy I had in mind for this recently snapped his board in two. Besides that, as you noticed at the first of this one it was raining like crazy that day.

It rained and was cloudy like that until time for the last shot at the table. Isn’t that the way it goes…

We hoped motion blur would obliterate wrinkles.

LOL. Got to try that next time I step in front of the camera! I thought you and your sister were pretty HOT! And it looks like a cooking show I would watch. Was there really a cooking show where the host would get drunk? Maybe I should start watching T.V. more, it sounds like fun.

I am partial to seeing the eyes, so I wanted footage of you and your sister enjoying being drunk together. Wait a minute, that sounds a little creepy... You look like you had a lot of fun putting this together. How was that pie?

My mom watched the Galloping Gourmet with Graham Kerr whenever she could. We'd pop in near the end to see who he'd pick from the audience to share the dish he'd prepared. We thought he was hilarious, and often acted pretty sauced himself from drinking wine throughout the show.

Of all things I'm not a half-bad cook. Though you'd never know by this, I'm the family pie maker who gets dubbed for that job at every holiday. My sister-in-law gets mad because she's the one who gave me the crust recipe yet hers doesn't turn out the same. Maybe I should make her a video.

I'm usually partial to seeing the eyes too, Dick, but no one was going to get a lens close to this old face. Twenty years ago, maybe... :)

Gosh, Robert, I sure hope I didn’t inadvertently write something really bad on that pie! I’m not up on lots of things…

Well, it wasn't "really" bad, but the more I think about it the more I think maybe you didn't mean what I thought you meant. Forget I said anything!

If Mason had been more excited about the first idea I would gladly have helped out; don't ever hesitate to ask, if I really am too busy I'll just be honest about it.

I'm all anxious to see your other idea now. You plan to shoot it in the future, do you mean as its own project, or that you'll wait for another DVC where the theme fits?

The way the story is I have a hunch a theme will roll around one of these days that fits. As with most of my stuff it's barely three minutes, if that, so about right for a DVC. It will be incredibly demanding on Mason and tough on me, as well, so we decided to wait and do it right if we can.

Thanks for the standing offer to help with effects when you can. I'd still like to do the one with the river one day. It could easily happen without the food prop and I kind of liked the concept. I got an offer from another guy yesterday who looks like he'd be great for the part, so I may be calling on you! I had a blast working with you last time and would love to do it again. :)

I went in the kitchen to start dinner and happened to look up at the light. Guess who should have used her Cool Light INDOORS and had the 1K OUTDOORS shining in...

:)

I've done this at work in the hospital with the drop ceilings and lights...

Haha, what a creative piece, Lorinda! I'm really glad we made the agreement to finish our films. If you hadn't told us about all your trials and tribulations, I would've thought this was your Plan A film. In fact, I honestly did NOT notice any technical difficulties previously mentioned (like the audio hum), because I was so into the storyline!

Now I read that you're either supposed to use fake alcohol, or spit the alcohol out after the take. I wonder if your friend and you did that, hmmmm? ;)

I do have to admit that not seeing your face was a bit of a tease, Lor. I've read your reasoning behind it, but I think we as the audience have been deprived here! Heheh, there's already enough wonder here on the boards on what our fellow filmmakers look like!

Like others, I enjoyed watching your film. Even when it's a desperate attempt to get something in, you manage to give us something "warm" to watch.

Now...About you're not comfortable with your face having a lens pointed at it, I have some suggestions. First off, from past videos where you appear, and from the images I've seen on your website I think you are a very attractive person. In my studio days I did portraits of women from 2 to in their 90's and always managed to portray them in a way that pleased (sometimes surprised) them and their families.

1. Soft lighting. In the studio I used "beauty dish" reflectors, soft white umbrellas, and soft boxes mostly with Photogenic StudioMaster units. What I use now on video is even softer...100watt equivalent CFL bulbs in Smith Victor A100 and PL-10 (modified to allow standard bulbs to be used) units with 10 and 11 inch reflectors. I buy the "bright white" ones and find for me they have adequate output (I tend to light fairly close in) and their light is just soft enough to help folks look good. No harshness.

This is also a lower cost setup than most others. About $79 for the A100 and $59 or so for the PL-10 (which is really for a longer bulb. I had to open it up and move the socket up to the back of the reflector, drilled a few holes to allow securing it with screws). You have almost no heat, very low current drain.

2. Diffusion at the lens. Subtle and used only in closeup. The Cokin diffusion filters are inexpensive and just about perfect for this, but they do vary in strength. I have 3 #1's and 2 #2's that wind up giving me a set of 5 graduated strengths. Ranging from so subtle you can't even see that diffusion was used yet skin tones came alive a bit more, 3 increasing degrees of diffusion, to the fifth "don't even TRY to focus through this one".

But I think softer lighting would do the trick.