This is What a Good Day Looks Like
A guy, his best friend, and a boat... Just add water
The StoryLet me first explain, this dog (Gunther) always gets the First Mate seat, the Caddie seat, whatever the vehicle, he always sits at the right hand of his dad. Gunther may be my dog, but he is truly a man's best friend.
My goal for this day's shoot was to ride along unnoticed so that the two subjects of the story would experience an authentic guys' day out together without "mom" interjecting herself in any way. Yes, it was a bright day, on a shiny white boat, with glare from the water. Balancing the conditions with a solid black dog and the features of the boat captain was a challenge. So I chose to use it to my advantage by tying together the opening and closing scenes. In the first scene, the blue sky was blown out during video capture. During the editing process, I exaggerated the look with a Lumetri lighting effect and vignette in the opening and closing scenes to draw focus to the heart of the story, the type of best friend relationship that requires few words. By contrast, the shots in between, with scenery movement and character action, were more saturated with color and finer details, representing the body of the story. I planned for a variety of cutaways, having a pretty good idea of the scenery no matter what the weather conditions would be that day. Stabilizers like sandbags and bean bags work better on a boat this size. Even a light monopod can inhibit the natural flow of passenger movement. I took a two sided reflector and clamps, but that turned out not to be a practical solution. An ND lens filter might have balanced the contrasting brightness and washed out colors while I was working at a fast pace to frame and capture the video and nat-sound. |
The JourneyIn the confines of a short story, the multiple bridge references were meant to portray a long journey.
The bright, late morning sunlight in the sky made for beautiful reflections of trees and foliage on the waves. Moving waves and boat wake were also symbols of traveling miles on a mysterious voyage. I like to lay down an audio bed in my shoots for peace of mind in the editing bay. The use of the radio in the background mixed with boat motor and water sounds also helped tell the story of a full day out on the water enjoyed by two best friends. I was able to unlink audio from video tracks in Premiere Pro. I pieced together two lengthy audio clips, starting with a prominent radio ID sound, ending with the first words of a recognizable song on the same radio station. Shot Sheet and PlanningThe images of my storyboard on this page do not include all of the tight shots (for cutaways), scenery, and character interaction that I planned for and captured.
Once the story came together in the timeline, I used the shots and angles that made sense and told a complete story tied in a bow. In retrospect, I could have given the storyline more room to breath and develop. ~See storyboard images and notes below. |
