A couple weeks ago I had my own experience with film. Hot Lunch Improv Troupe leads off every show with a video. Homeade. This was the first video that Andrew and I were in charge of making.
The key to making a successful video at a highschool level is knowing its place. The Improv Video is designed to warm up the crowd. Like John Belushi and the blues brothers prepped crowds for Saturday Night Live, the Improv video gets crowds excited and ensures that they'll laugh at anything.
How do we do it? Upbeat music, fast cuts, excited faces, and short scenes. The more riddiculous the better.
Last year one video followed each troupe members life the day leading up to the show. Another showed the life of each member after 10 years had past. Improv videos rarely make sense. While one person stayed in bed for 10 years after being stood up for a prom date, another had surgery to become a chair.
While filming the Improv video I gained experience in the true art of film. I checked each frame to make sure shots were clear and always considered the way they would look as a final piece.
The key to making a successful video at a highschool level is knowing its place. The Improv Video is designed to warm up the crowd. Like John Belushi and the blues brothers prepped crowds for Saturday Night Live, the Improv video gets crowds excited and ensures that they'll laugh at anything.
How do we do it? Upbeat music, fast cuts, excited faces, and short scenes. The more riddiculous the better.
Last year one video followed each troupe members life the day leading up to the show. Another showed the life of each member after 10 years had past. Improv videos rarely make sense. While one person stayed in bed for 10 years after being stood up for a prom date, another had surgery to become a chair.
While filming the Improv video I gained experience in the true art of film. I checked each frame to make sure shots were clear and always considered the way they would look as a final piece.
We used long shots for the rap battles, and close ups for the rappers deaths. Mid range shots for dialogue and high canted shots to show Andrew's frantics. The Improv video is never difficult enough to require tracking shots, but it was fun to make none the less.
I don't want to spoil the Improv video for anyone, and people should all come see it and the Improv show sometime towards the end of february.
I don't want to spoil the Improv video for anyone, and people should all come see it and the Improv show sometime towards the end of february.
1 comment:
Hey . . . that's us! Indeed, it was an interesting experience making a video ourselves. Thank God for Ben Ratner. If it weren't for him, our abilities to craft an effective movie would be shot to sh*t. =)
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