Filming For Super Gr8
Posted: November 9, 2012
Rural Pen
The excitement leading up to the Super Gr8 Film festival is contagious. Nearly everyone I work with is talking about timing and sound, plots and posters, actors and costumes.
How could I not make a film?
Now in its third year, Super Gr8 is a community event that originated right here in the ’Burg. Local filmmakers submit films, which are screened over two nights, followed by an after-party and awards ceremony. This year, the festival will be held Nov. 13-14 at Court Square Theater.
Many of the 56 films are first attempts for the filmmakers, yet many are amazing. Some tell stories, some are music videos, and some are documentaries.
Each film is 3 minutes and 20 seconds long, edited in-camera and shot without sound. Filmmakers create a soundtrack to accompany their film.
They don’t get to see their finished film until the festival screening.
Gulp.
For me, I write film scripts. On set, I do script supervision. I mark the script for post-production. I’ve run audio, taken care of props and costumes and even filled in with cameos and speaking parts.
But making a film myself?
On my computer, I have taped this quote from Eleanor Roosevelt: “Do one thing every day that scares you.”
I entered the festival with a partner, my son Daniel. My daughter, Heidi, suggested using the talents of a gentleman, we’ll call him Mr. Fox, who, she pointed out, had already done some acting. Dan and I began writing the script, using a Google doc to share it back and forth. With only three minutes to tell the story, we noted the time for each shot.
Then we recorded the soundtrack. On a quiet Sunday afternoon at the end of September, we went to my back pond to record some nature sounds. The pond, by the way, is on the flight path of the Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport.
We waited for the plane noise to stop. As soon as one faded, another came along. Finally, the sky was clear.
Then, some bird in the cedar thicket began whining. It sounded like a child who wanted attention. When it received none, it got louder. Then louder. After about five minutes, it ceased.
Then the bull next door began moaning, in high decibels, like he’d just been hit by a truck. This also went on for several minutes.
We sat at the side of the pond, enjoying the warm afternoon. Finally, it became quiet and we recorded our ambient sounds: crickets chirping, hawk wings swooshing, crows cawing.
The next day we recorded the music, provided by the husband playing his guitar. Over the two days, we spent seven to eight hours recording our 3-minute soundtrack.
The following weekend, we got our Super 8 camera to record the video. Tim and Paul, the Super Gr8 organizers, lend the cameras to festival filmmakers.
Here’s my journal entry: “Oct. 5: Picked up the camera from Paul today. We’re using a Canon 416XL something. Paul was busy today, as was I, meeting him sandwiched between other appointments. He pulled up in front of our designated meeting place. Curbside, taking the equipment from his passenger’s seat, there wasn’t much time to ask about the intricacies of using the camera. He gave me two cameras, because something sticks on the one and we may want to use the other if we’re only shooting 18 frames per second.”
The next day, Dan and I prepared to film. We blocked our shots, posing our star in the different locations: the woods, next to the back pond, the grassy hill, beside the chicken coop. We played with the focus and framing. We decided on the angle and distance of the camera. Scarlett, Dan’s 6-year-old daughter, became our script girl as we had our hands full with Mr. Fox, the props and the camera equipment.
This is the most time I’ve spent with Dan in probably 10 years. He has a wife and family, so of course Mom is in the background of his life’s picture.
He does do some father-and-son things with the husband, like baseball games and construction projects. He was full of ideas, putting thought into the camera shots and sound— so focused. And funny.
On the first day of shooting, we headed to our first location. The first shot was to be eight seconds long. When I said, “Roll,” Dan pressed the camera trigger as I pressed the button on my stopwatch.
“1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 … 10,” I looked over at Dan. He was banging on the camera.
Turns out it was the trigger that sticks. So our first shot has a few seconds of pandemonium.
We switched our film into the other camera and resumed filming. We followed our script exactly as written and timed. Over two days, it took about 10 hours to shoot a 3-minute film.
What will our film look like? Will we feel excited while watching it? Or embarrassed?
We’ll find out Wednesday.
How could I not make a film?
Now in its third year, Super Gr8 is a community event that originated right here in the ’Burg. Local filmmakers submit films, which are screened over two nights, followed by an after-party and awards ceremony. This year, the festival will be held Nov. 13-14 at Court Square Theater.
Many of the 56 films are first attempts for the filmmakers, yet many are amazing. Some tell stories, some are music videos, and some are documentaries.
Each film is 3 minutes and 20 seconds long, edited in-camera and shot without sound. Filmmakers create a soundtrack to accompany their film.
They don’t get to see their finished film until the festival screening.
Gulp.
For me, I write film scripts. On set, I do script supervision. I mark the script for post-production. I’ve run audio, taken care of props and costumes and even filled in with cameos and speaking parts.
But making a film myself?
On my computer, I have taped this quote from Eleanor Roosevelt: “Do one thing every day that scares you.”
I entered the festival with a partner, my son Daniel. My daughter, Heidi, suggested using the talents of a gentleman, we’ll call him Mr. Fox, who, she pointed out, had already done some acting. Dan and I began writing the script, using a Google doc to share it back and forth. With only three minutes to tell the story, we noted the time for each shot.
Then we recorded the soundtrack. On a quiet Sunday afternoon at the end of September, we went to my back pond to record some nature sounds. The pond, by the way, is on the flight path of the Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport.
We waited for the plane noise to stop. As soon as one faded, another came along. Finally, the sky was clear.
Then, some bird in the cedar thicket began whining. It sounded like a child who wanted attention. When it received none, it got louder. Then louder. After about five minutes, it ceased.
Then the bull next door began moaning, in high decibels, like he’d just been hit by a truck. This also went on for several minutes.
We sat at the side of the pond, enjoying the warm afternoon. Finally, it became quiet and we recorded our ambient sounds: crickets chirping, hawk wings swooshing, crows cawing.
The next day we recorded the music, provided by the husband playing his guitar. Over the two days, we spent seven to eight hours recording our 3-minute soundtrack.
The following weekend, we got our Super 8 camera to record the video. Tim and Paul, the Super Gr8 organizers, lend the cameras to festival filmmakers.
Here’s my journal entry: “Oct. 5: Picked up the camera from Paul today. We’re using a Canon 416XL something. Paul was busy today, as was I, meeting him sandwiched between other appointments. He pulled up in front of our designated meeting place. Curbside, taking the equipment from his passenger’s seat, there wasn’t much time to ask about the intricacies of using the camera. He gave me two cameras, because something sticks on the one and we may want to use the other if we’re only shooting 18 frames per second.”
The next day, Dan and I prepared to film. We blocked our shots, posing our star in the different locations: the woods, next to the back pond, the grassy hill, beside the chicken coop. We played with the focus and framing. We decided on the angle and distance of the camera. Scarlett, Dan’s 6-year-old daughter, became our script girl as we had our hands full with Mr. Fox, the props and the camera equipment.
This is the most time I’ve spent with Dan in probably 10 years. He has a wife and family, so of course Mom is in the background of his life’s picture.
He does do some father-and-son things with the husband, like baseball games and construction projects. He was full of ideas, putting thought into the camera shots and sound— so focused. And funny.
On the first day of shooting, we headed to our first location. The first shot was to be eight seconds long. When I said, “Roll,” Dan pressed the camera trigger as I pressed the button on my stopwatch.
“1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 … 10,” I looked over at Dan. He was banging on the camera.
Turns out it was the trigger that sticks. So our first shot has a few seconds of pandemonium.
We switched our film into the other camera and resumed filming. We followed our script exactly as written and timed. Over two days, it took about 10 hours to shoot a 3-minute film.
What will our film look like? Will we feel excited while watching it? Or embarrassed?
We’ll find out Wednesday.
Luanne Austin lives in Mount Sidney. Contact her at RuralPen@aol.com, www.facebook.com/rural pen or care of the DN-R.