Everyone has some sort of imagination. Deciding to use my own, I managed to write a script and story board of sorts. Not sure whom was gona act what part at first, I believed what I wrote as my first draft would do for whomever would want to act. Going over it with with Natalia, she then tells me to use her nephew, Jayden (age 7), as the protagonist . I was secretly hesitant; kids can be hard to control, I thought. But then kids can be cute and I realize it would be an interesting experience.
In preparation, we figured it would be dark at night and where we would be shooting, Natalia's kitchen. To deal with poor lighting conditions, we borrowed an Arriflex light kit from NJCU, mainly using a 300 watt light to light up the kitchen. Took out a "silk" to lower the brightness of the light, just in case it was too bright, which in some cases, it was. A tripod and using Paige's Canon T3I, we were off.
Now, having all the equipment and having a blue print of how the shoot would go down, I felt safe. However, with life, jobs interfere. Originally, I was hoping to use some sunlight for a scene, and luckily we had Saturday to do it, we had more time, earlier together. Friday, we shot in the dark of Natalia's kitchen, the light being necessary.
Now as for child actor, Jayden, he didn't do exactly as I thought he would pertaining to the script. He was still great. Sure, as a kid, he does what he wants and can't be exactly controlled. But he was agreeable, after I promised to play with him some Xbox a few times. Complaining about being bored once, we gave him a phone to play with. He wanted to add a cute song he made up at the top of his head.
Sometimes he didn't understand what to do. I joked, "You know how actors can be". We had to make him comfortable and happy. Jayden wasn't trouble to control, but early I learned that we had to improvise, change up some scenes a bit, since lines of dialogue I wrote didn't sound correct when coming out of Jayden.
The dialogue didn't fit the personality of a child and I should had adjusted it sooner. Yet, we followed the structure of what I planned and Jayden "acted" like the kid he is. It was fun and luckily we all fixed up scenes on the spot to follow the continuity of what we filmed. The script, shot list was necessary to set us on the path. But, nothing is written on stone. We managed, we over came, and we filmed. Now it is time to edit. Planning is imperative and make your actors happy.
Now as for child actor, Jayden, he didn't do exactly as I thought he would pertaining to the script. He was still great. Sure, as a kid, he does what he wants and can't be exactly controlled. But he was agreeable, after I promised to play with him some Xbox a few times. Complaining about being bored once, we gave him a phone to play with. He wanted to add a cute song he made up at the top of his head.
Sometimes he didn't understand what to do. I joked, "You know how actors can be". We had to make him comfortable and happy. Jayden wasn't trouble to control, but early I learned that we had to improvise, change up some scenes a bit, since lines of dialogue I wrote didn't sound correct when coming out of Jayden.
The dialogue didn't fit the personality of a child and I should had adjusted it sooner. Yet, we followed the structure of what I planned and Jayden "acted" like the kid he is. It was fun and luckily we all fixed up scenes on the spot to follow the continuity of what we filmed. The script, shot list was necessary to set us on the path. But, nothing is written on stone. We managed, we over came, and we filmed. Now it is time to edit. Planning is imperative and make your actors happy.
So. Freaking. Adorable.
ReplyDelete