Mood:  on fire

It's been an intense week. I wanted to shoot a viewer created ad for a contest. I misjudged the deadline, and couldn't do it. But it was a great idea. So, I looked up more contests. Found one that I could adapt the idea to....and I needed a very specific actor--who was not available. So, along with Don--my partner in the crazy business we call filmmaking--we tried to pull the shoot together. I probably ran 60 scenarios of the situation in my head--trying to figure a way to make it work.  We couldn't. So if that was plan A, then on to plan B. I need 2 actors (any will do), a new location and a new idea. Grrr...hate losing the old idea, but if I want this done, then I must adapt. Plan B didn't come together. On to plan C? Okay...for plan C, one actor, one location. A very kind businessperson in the community allowed me to film at her place of business. I have one actor available--ME. And no crew. So, I shot Plan C by remote control. By then, I'd about decided sound was a major issue, so I decided to shoot MOS  (without sound). Then it occurred to me--why not play old-timey piano music and make the scene silent, with placards, and make it like an old time movie?

So, Monday I had the idea for the shoot, and got permission Tuesday morning to film at the lady's place of business. Then I filmed it Tuesday afternoon, and started writing the music, and figuring out how to time the musical cues to the video footage.

Wednesday morning about 5 am, I started editing video footage. Then on to the recording studio to record music. I'm in the process of converting the studio from analog to digital, and this is the first time I've utilized digitally recorded music from my own studio--so of course there are bugs to work out.

Get the music footage inserted in the video footage, and edit and edit and edit some more. Whew! I'm exhausted already. Then the jitters hit, which could be all the unknowns of the situation and not having enough time to plan and fully think things thru--or it could be the coffee I had trying to get jump started. I called Don and begged for 5 minutes of his time, so he could go over things and see what I missed.

He said he liked it, and he thought it was ready to go.

So, I follow the rules, and upload the commercial to YouTube.

It's available for viewing at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBKnynovw70

Here is a still from the event:

So, it was about 48 hours from conception of the idea to finished project.

It's fun, but it's exhausting! Whew!