The Film Shoot

I was going to write this as a blog of some description, but chose to make it a bit of a fictionalised version of my account working on the latest music video.

Source

"Got a job for you." Was the only thing the text said, it was brief and I knew this was going to be a big one. How much work it would entail I didn't know, couldn't know, not until speaking with the client further.

By this stage, I had worked with the lads before and above all else, I knew they were great to work with, and usually easy going when it came to their projects. "Cool, I'm up for it. What's the plan?" I replied, more than anything, I needed the money and wasn't in a position to turn down any extra work, even though the plate was becoming full enough for the excess food to spill from the sides of it - although, hopefully I would be able to manage the other projects with this new addition.

"Here's the track, we'll talk soon." Upon receiving the tune I threw on a pair of headphones. It was another blinder; something that always made working on a music video easy. Not that the job would be any less stressful, it would just make it that little bit less dull.

"Space!" I let out a flurry of laughs. The idea they had for the song was to shoot the entire thing on greenscreen; something I have never done... not that I was completeley honest about that fact. I had dabbled with them and understood some of the basic concepts. "Yeah, every shot will have us with some trippy backgrounds, it'll be great." He responded.

The first nights shoot was okay, but there was one problem. "We're gonna need a bigger greenscreen." I evaluated the nights shoot in a deflated tone. "Is any of it usuable?"

I thought about the whole shoot, and nodded my head. "It's usuable. But, for the sake of the video, we'll need a bigger one." I finally replied, as I silently prayed that I wouldn't loose the job. "Okay, how long will it take to arrive?" A glimmer of hope that there wouldn't be a culling in the crew department, of which, was me. "It'll take a few days. Lets say we shoot again in seven days." After some carefull consideration the client shrugged.

"Okay, you get the screen and I'll organise the lads."

It was great, 20ft x 10ft for 56 Euros. A pretty good deal, and the wheels were in motion for our re-shoot, now, I just had to convince the boss. On hands and knees I slunk back home and asked my partner if we would be allowed to relocate ourselves and the baby for another night in my hometown in seven days. Relucently she agreed, and we were set for another holiday.

Within a few days, we were back under the heat of redheads, with one giant green wall. The only problem with the set up was that it arrived with no frame, luckily, ducktape is a mans bestfriend. Sure, it wasn't the best setup, but it'll do. I thought as I looked up at the magnificant set I constructed. Turning my kitchen into hollywood was a tiring job, but that was only the start of it.

The whole shoot was great and this time we had some fun with the shots we could do. The lads left with smiles and I managed to packaway the equipment in record time and slumped onto my chair staring at two SD cards containing the hardest part of the job.

Sadly, I don't have an SD reader on my pc, but I do on my laptop. One at a time I transfered the files, not before clearing up enough space for the footage, then I had to transfer it to my external harddrive, not before clearing space - I didn't think I'd see the day I used up another 2TB's, these things aren't cheap afterall. With that done, I plugged the harddrive into my pc, aptly named, the beast. While my laptop can edit, the pc I built during lockdown is a workhorse that can handle such endevours. Before I could transfer the files though, you guessed it, I had to clear some space.

Now I sit here, in front of Davinci Resolve with all of the footage organised into bins and not a clue how to start.

Wish me luck.