Filming the Commercial

Today the 24th we filmed our commercial after planning it for a few days. The main character was Sean from my group, I was one of the runners in the commercial. Tim was another runner, and Jake was acting as the coach. Our equipment was a tripod and a camera with an SD card. We took a while to find a place to start filming because it was crowded at the track that day. There were people from other clubs running around it! As we got our spot, we changed a few angles from the storyboard but did not stray too far off the path. For the first scene, I had to stretch as Sean walked up to the starting area for the race. We did 3 or 4 takes of this scene. For the second scene, I held the camera because we went to one of the last scenes. This scene was where the coach hands Sean a Gatorade to drink. We used the tripod for this one so it did not shake and ruin the scene. For the next scene I helped Jake record a closeup of the Gatorade splashing on the ground, for effect at the end of the commercial. We were running out of time, and the camera battery ran out so we had to act fast. We borrowed a battery from another group, for a few shots to finish the film. I ran ahead of Sean for a shot because it has to look like he is losing in the beginning. The next shot, Sean poured water on himself to act as sweat and we got a closeup of him running. For that take, I helped place the actor to set the angle. The last take we needed was all of us running, and Sean barely winning. I feel like I slowed down a bit early but it still worked out as Tim almost beat Sean. I think the clips are not very good by themselves. But they will be really good when I edit it. I am planning to do the majority of the editing as I am experienced. We used a bigger Gatorade bottle then planned, and decided to move the whistle to edit in post. However, for the shot where Sean is handed the Gatorade; he is also handed a medal. This helps the viewer understand that he won. This is because there is no definitive finish line on the track at the time. I feel like I did a good job acting. I wish I was able to use the camera more, however, I was in a lot of shots. I am excited to finish up this project!