Filming the Commercial

We began to film our commercial today, mostly following our story board. We did the important parts first, like the scenes with the skateboard and all the apparel we brought in, since it was the only day we could use it. We first shot our scene with me walking down the stairs wearing my black high top vans. We did about 7 takes since we were unsure if we wanted to do a flash pan or not. Next, we went to the covered walkway where we brought my partner Macy’s skateboards to shoot a scene. In the scene, my other partner Mariapaula jumps on the skateboard. We did about 4 takes since we then changed the shoes she wore to match the scene that came after. Then, we went over to the cafeteria where we shot our next scene. In this scene, Mariapaula is supposed to appear that she arrived at the cafeteria to meet me. We practiced how we would interact, as well as Macy crossing the camera, showing her apparel. This took about 5 shots since it took us a while to keep a straight face and make the interaction look natural.

After Macy walks by, it goes to the next scene showing her walking up some stairs. This scene took about 3 takes since we were unsure how fast she should go, and shot three takes with different speeds. The next scene was a compilation of all the shoes we had used. Our friend, Emily, had let us borrow her pairs of shoes, since she owns quite a lot of them. In this scene, we shoes a low angle shot of us individually doing different movement with our feet. First, Macy wore red high tops and walked into the frame and did few movements with her feet. This then cuts to Mariapaula in her same position wearing different pairs of shoes. Mariapaula then walks off the frame and we switch Macy’s shoot to show her doing a different motion with her walking in and walking out in one motion. Both Mariapaula and I shuffle our feet into the frame and across the screen, which then leads to her sliding in and covering the camera with her foot. This took many takes, around 12, because we had to retake if anything was off. Such as any shadows, off-lighting, un-centered shots, and more. 

This was all the shooting we had done for the first day. Then, in the next day, we took our time to shoot our final scene, with me walking up the stairs. We shot it so that it would pick up from when Mariapaula first covered the camera with her shoe. The camera was under my shoe, and then I start walking up the stairs and the camera moves back. This scene was not so difficult to shoot and only took about 3 takes. Then, we shot our first scene in the commercial, which is when 3 students are sitting at their desk at school as someone walks by. As the person walks by, the bell is supposed to “ring” and that is when the three students get up from their chair and walk away. This scene was very easy to shoot and took simply only two takes. In the end, our footage and takes came out better than expected and the process was made way more simplified because of our planning and storyboarding.