It's a Hit! - MAKING OF

Roles: writer, storyboardist, lighting director, director, editor, actor

It took some time to get that film done. The pre production went according to plan. When the time came to actually shoot the film, I had trouble with the cast (lateness, no show, can’t work late...) and I had to reschedule. Then, adverse weather came in the way and the college was closed to students. Finally, I set on a later date, asked a few friends if they were up for it, and shot the film one late afternoon in Nescol’s TV studio because I couldn’t get one of the music studios, and they were too small. It’s the reason we can see curtains and projectors. I then spent a few mornings editing the film at college, using Adobe Premiere Pro.

The theme for this second project was “Three Minute Wonder”. Students had to make a 3 min film about something they loved. As I love music – and you can see me playing the guitar badly (on purpose!) - I decided to do it about music. My lecturer showed me a forum on which musicians posted the stupidest things they’d heard during rehearsals or recording sessions.

The interview scenes are almost improvised. Thomas, who plays the drummer, had only a few minutes to read the lines before filming and I think he did a pretty good job. Peter, playing the bass, also did well. I was lucky to have them both onboard.

The main problem came from the lights. I decided to use the projectors, but as you can see, sometimes they went off, and sometimes they were in the way. If I had to do it all over again, I’d forget about those projectors and use Rotolights instead (and I’d film in a proper music studio).

For something that was filmed in a hurry, I am happy with the result. I had to cheat with the light and angles post-prod, but it was a good learning experience about planning and organising the shoot.