DVC22 - "The Age Old Question" by Jeremy Doyle

[Jeremy Doyle]

I knew I wasn't going to have much time this past month, but I'm glad I was able to get something done.

My first idea was to do a glass blowing doc (so glad to see someone did) but, I didn't think I'd have time to both shot and edit it. With only a couple days left I had the idea for this came to my head. Is the glass half full or is it half empty?

It was really a simple project based on an old shooting challenge I had learned when starting my career in production. Take a static object and get as many different shots of it as you can and make a coherent edit of it without jump cuts and fill a straight :30 (standard commercial run time) with those shots.

It's a really good exercise for anyone learning to shoot.

For addressing "Is the glass half empty or half full?" I thought about adding words to screen to help emphasis the question, but decided against it based on time and not beating the viewer over the head, although without it, the question is probably lost on some and maybe it's more of a cultural saying.

Going with the half theme, I tried to keep the shots pretty center heavy to keep the balance. I used a variety of 3/4 face down shots to make it look more empty and 3/4 face up shots to make it look more full.
Where the shots aren't straight on, I tried to make the edits cut between shots that reinforced either more full or more empty.

I shot it with a Canon T3i using a Nikon 1.8 55mm and a Canon 4-5.6 55-250mm. The music was from the digital juice collection and the 3D title was done in AE6 with raytracing and edit was done in FCP7. All in all shoot and edit took around 2 hours.

age old question on Vimeo

[Simon Wood]

Nice video Jeremy! I'm glad you didn't write any text on screen as the clip works best when the realization dawns on you. Nice selection of shots really, very professionally done.

What was the fluid in the glass; beer I hope? If so then the age old question is not whether the glass is half empty or half full, but rather: 'Who's getting the next round'!

[Dick Mays]

Jeremy,

Very perplexing. From some angles it looked mostly full, then from other's mostly empty. It made me thirsty, so I went an popped open a Yuengling Black & Tan before viewing the others.

BTW, I know I owe you a Uncle Tom's Cabin DVD. It will be put in the mail, someday. I think.

[Mat Thompson]

Simple and short but striking! - The premise is indeed age old and an interesting one you made me think about once more. Thanks for showing!

[Dick Mays]

Beautifully shot BTW. Love to hear a bit about your lighting.

[Mark Hartopp]

Very nice shots of the glass. What flavor is your drink?

[Ruth Happel]

Interesting take on the old question. And it seems to have made us all thirsty! Nice lighting throughout.

[Andris Krastins]

I guess culturally we're close enough, because I got the idea with no problems. And I agree that any additional text or explanation would not do any favour. Beautiful shots, very professionally looking!

[Toni Dolce]

Jeremy,

Very professional video. Interested in how you lit the shots- I saw one softbox- were you just using one or two? Was there a backlight? What about for the top-shots?

Loved the intro credits and titling.

Toni

[Andrew Bove]

Wait- I was thinking the question was: "Tastes great? Or less filling?"

My favorite shots were the ones from below, with the large white reflections in the glass! Nice clean seamless background- What did you have the glass sitting on? Was it a black table?

[Adam Snow]

I will admit that it took me a second viewing before I had the epiphany of what the question was. Once I realized what it was it certainly seemed obvious but I wish I had picked up on it earlier on. I love the shooting challenge you employed. Perhaps I will try it myself! And the rich black background does a great job at isolating your subject.

If you had more time it would have been interesting to take your concept further by adding other glasses, scenes and so forth. However, for the amount of time that you did have at your disposal you did a great job!

[Michael Rodriguez-Torrent]

I'm embarrassed to say that I struggled to think of the question. The best I could come up with was "another?" I think I got hung up on the beer.

As others said, though, it looked great. That was certainly a lot of variety for a single, static object. How did you achieve the deep black background?

[Frank Moody]

Mine is half full! Just saying!

Very nice work short but very well done!

Thank you

[Joseph Tran]

Hey Jeremy,

It also took me a moment before I put it together - but I liked that. The way I saw it, we as the audience had to work a little bit to appreciate the true nature of the piece; and I believe that we're better served by you not spelling it out for us.

Your lighting and cinematography are also superb. From my own experience with this DVC, I learned that keeping any kind of glassware in focus is a pain! It looked even harder with that black background and that thin glass, but I could clearly distinguish the subject from the bg in every shot. Nicely done!

[Chris Barcellos]

Yeah I was trying to put it all together for a bit into the piece too, but finally came to understand the concept. Well shot !