Drink outside the Box

     Today was the first day of filming. Two days prior, I spent time creating and developing a computer generated voice over to narrate the commercial as well as downloading the music and sounds effects that I would add in editing. Anyways, I went to my planned setting, which was the courtyard outside the cafeteria. However, the sun casted a large shadow over, so I had to move west to offset the sunlight and create a clear, bright set. I started by taking my fruits, which included one nectarine, since they are larger and shine more than a peach, one kiwi, and two strawberries. I set them down for the planned medium shot and got good footage of them. This was the most straightforward and simple scene. I used automatic presets installed to zoom out with the tap of one button. It was here that I realized I did not have a stabilizer for my phone, and that it would be best to shoot in landscape mode to allow for easy automatic zooms. Regardless, I tried to keep my hand as steady as possible and kept filming. As I moved on to the high angle, down tilting shots, it became more of a challenge to keep my phone steady. During this shot, I even managed to capture the condensation on the bottle. However, this was most prominent on the peach tea flavor due to the dark color and since it was at the colder side of my refrigerator. I also had fake ice for a cool, refreshing effect. For the next shot, I needed an extreme close up shot that pans from left to right, capturing the entire logo lettering. This was one of the most difficult not only because of stabilizing the camera, but moving it at a consistent speed to keep the video as smooth as possible. I even tried a take that I had not scripted. This included flipping the camera 180 degrees to the right while panning to the right for a moving canted angled. I continued filming until the sun made intermittent stops during overcast, which blocked some of my light. For the final shot, I had to tilt up from the bottles and fade out to the bright sky. This proved to be challenging since the wind would keep blowing light things (leaves, hair, papers) from the set in front of the camera facing the clear sky. I had to try and plan an axis of rotation for the camera that would give me the clearest fade into the sun and clouds, avoiding any other building and structures. Although I could have been better prepared, I am confident for the next day of filming where I may hopefully have a clearer plan and better equipment.




Pictured above: The location for the first day of filming, note how at the time of filming. the sun is directly behind me and casts shadows west.

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