The Boy Who Was Too Old To Go Trick or Treating

This is a dramatic video that I did for my Field Production and Editing class. I did a Christmas themed video before, and I wanted to do another holiday video - and Halloween was around the corner so it was a perfect fit. The idea behind the video was about a boy who wanted to go trick or treating, but he was just too old. I recruited my 13 year old brother to play the role, and he did a good job! My Dad also has a cameo as the masked parent in the last scene.

I shot the majority of the video on Halloween. I followed my brother and his friends around, and pulled my brother or his friends aside whenever I could to shoot scenes for the video. I hadn't gone trick or treating in years, so it was fun to be in the neighborhood when the kids were out.

WATCH "THE BOY WHO WAS TOO OLD TO GO TRICK OR TREATING" ON YOUTUBE

But, being that my brother was 13, he didn't like me tagging along the entire time so I went out alone and shot b-roll that I would use as cutaways and transitions in the video. I went up to some of the houses and  politely asked if I could shoot on the front lawn, and all of them were more than happy to allow me to.

I had no lighting in the video, so I had to use a flashlight in the last scene to give some light on my brother. But, I wanted to keep with the dark tones since it was Halloween.

Clayman Casting

Another video that I did for my Capstone Film Class at Madonna University. I filmed our casting directors and talked to them about the casting procedure involved with our film. I went with my reoccurring theme of 8-Bit with the music and graphics.

I used b-roll footage from prior in the day when we had actors visit and read for parts. I also had the casting directors "act" during the b-roll to give me the dramatic elements I wanted.

WATCH "CLAYMAN CASTING" ON YOUTUBE

If I could redo this video, I would remove the repeated uses of "uhs" from the interview. I worked on it when I was editing the piece, but I just couldn't take out the words without hurting the pacing of the speech. I used with what I learned from this video, and applied to a future video (The Positive Train) when I went between two cameras to make the speech flow better.

Clayman Storyboards

This is a video that I did for my Capstone Film Class at Madonna University. It is about the storyboard sessions between the director of our student film and our storyboard artist, as well as our production designer. All the students featured in the video were from the Capstone Film Class.

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Trying to make a storyboard video interesting, I strived for creative shots, such as the pencil sharper shot. Unlike my "What does Clayman mean to us?" video, I went for more of a news piece and went for what the Sony AX-2000 camera does best - news pieces.

What Does Clayman Mean to Us?

This is a video that I did for my Capstone Film Class at Madonna University. We started a funding campaign on IndieGoGo, and this was the introduction video to the team from the class.

I wanted to do a theme of "8-bit", so I did a combination of funky camera angles and music to introduce each person of the team.

WATCH "WHAT DOES CLAYMAN MEAN TO US?" ON YOUTUBE

I filmed this video with a Sony AX-2000, and I did extreme closeups during the interviews to get a shallow depth of field with the camera. I love the camera, but a drawback is the camera is primarily for news, and it's hard to achieve a shallow depth of field with the given sensor in the camera.

A Timely Meeting

This was a film that I need for the PAHFest Motown 2011 competition. The purpose of the contest was to create a film that embraced local culture and educated people. My partner, Caitlin, and I decided to make a short film that told the story of a boy who was moving from the historical town of Northville, and couldn't wait to get out. We researched our idea quite heavily, meeting with local historians to gather as much information that we could about Northville. After we got our research, we collaborated on an idea that encompassed education plus a supernatural-like theme to it. Our idea was the boy got visited by another boy who was passing through, and the visiting boy told of the places in Northville and its history - history that would be fun to hear about. The film ended with the reveal that the visiting boy was the grandfather, helping his grandson appreciate where he came from.

We shot and edited the film over the course of five days. We location scouted before, so we knew what areas we wanted to shoot in. For example, the day we were at the Northville Downs racetrack, we asked for permission to shoot there, and the owner was more than willing to allow us on the track.

WATCH "A TIMELY MEETING" ON YOUTUBE

The most creative shot we had in the video was that of the camera following the ball as it rolled down the street. We used gaffer's tape and taped the camera to a scooter and pushed the scooter along the ball, trying our best to keep the ball in frame. After a number of takes, we got a few that worked pretty well.

The major drawback during the week was the equipment given to us. We shot "A Timely Meeting" on a Canon T3i DSLR, and it's a great camera for taking video, but not the best for recording audio. Caitlin and I worked tirelessly in Soundtrack Pro to make the audio sound the best with what was given to us.

Caitlin and I won Most Artistic Achievement Award for this film at the closing ceremonies of PAHFest Motown 2011.

BCA 3750 - News - Next Chapter Bookstore and Bistro (Scream 4)

As one of my last news pieces for this class, I decided to check out a bookstore in nearby downtown Northville that was used as a location in Scream 4. Scream 4 was filmed primarily in Northville and Plymouth, so I was very exciting to watch the movie and pick out locations that I saw in the movie.

I took a camera and tripod inside the bookstore and I told the owner that I was a Madonna student and wanted to shoot footage inside of the store for my news piece. She was more than happy to let me do so. I was thankful the store was decorated with Scream memorabilia because it made getting shots pretty easy! To repay the owner for her kindness, I purchased lunch there. And I must say, they have a delicious grilled cheese and ham sandwich!

WATCH "BCA 3750 - NEWS - NEXT CHAPTER BOOKSTORE AND BISTRO (SCREAM 4)" ON YOUTUBE

It was pretty exciting to have such a big Hollywood movie shot right in the neck of the woods. I can't wait to check out Scream 4 again for more moments of landmarks.

BCA 3750 - News - Stiggy's Dogs

Stiggy's Dogs is an organization in Livonia that provides service dogs to veterans who return from war with post traumatic stress disorder and similar disorders. The service dogs help them cope with issues like being in crowded area. The dogs give the veterans a feeling of comfortable, and the dogs can help them plan routes if they want to go around a crowded area.

When I did my interviews there, I did not plan to include my questions or myself on camera. It wasn't needed. So, I prepared my interviewees that I wanted complete answers. I shot with editing in my mind the entire time, and I like how the piece turned out.

WATCH "BCA 3750 - NEWS - STIGGY'S DOGS" ON YOUTUBE

The dogs were pretty excited when I was there, but they eventually calmed down so I got some pretty good b-roll of them. I came with tripod, which is definitely my new best friend on shoots. Having steady and balanced shots definitely makes a new piece have more of a professional look and feel.

I did shoot more than I had in my news piece. I filmed Donna talking about the dogs being trained to alert their owners when to take their pills. I wasn't completely thrilled with how the footage turned out, and decided to cut it. For the next time I do a piece, I will plan the shot a little better and watch it the playback on the camera to decide if it's good enough, or time for a redo.