The storyboard to start from
This project started off with a storyboard with some room for creative story elements. We were tasked to turn this storyboard into a short story that should take not much more than thirty seconds.
"Try-out" version
Since it was my first time using a professional camera and lights, I felt it neccesairy to make some test-shots. I tested out 3-point light setups, bokeh effect, colour temperatures, how to create a night feeling, how to use natural light and more!
Because thirty seconds was an incredibly short duration to fit all these shots in, I thought it would be smart to make a test version of the video to see what lighting conditions would work best and to get a feeling for the time I had for each shot.
I very quickly noticed that a lot of shots I wanted to include to tell a more compelling story just couldn't be included due to the time restriction. These darlings had to be killed even before exporting this try-out version.
Shotlist
With the things I learned from the try-out version, I adjusted my storyboard and decided to make a shotlist. This list included every shot with a description of how to set up the lights and camera, what props were needed and which sounds should be recorded. This would allow me to work much more quickly on filming day, a day where time is in short demand and my actors would't like waiting hours for me to get every scene set up.
SFX list
Continuing this organisation, I felt like I needed a list for the sounds I was going to use and where to record them from. This way, I was prepared and wouldn't have to go back and record sounds multiple times.
A rushed morning
The end result gives us a very well-rounded, high quality short story with a funny personal touch. Every aspect, from planning to color grading came together very well and helped deliver a result I could be proud of for years to come! Even the mediocre home-made music score serves it's purpose well enough to not stand out too much, especially since music score is a whole different challenge on its own!