P5 – Walk for Five Gallons

During this project I actually had a tough time coming up with a good idea. I knew I wanted something a little more cinematic, and that meant I needed some dialogue. I also needed some sound effects, and music tracks as well. I wanted to show a sort of opening to a story, just a walk cycle that hopefully tells a little about the character and the place they’re in. It was very challenging taking video in the dark, but I wanted to play with light a little bit. There was also a point where I tripped while getting video of my subject, thankfully the camera was okay!

I tried everything to gather ideas: Brainstorming, doodling, listening to music, banging my head against the wall. But of course it came to me while I was taking a shower. It was a simple idea too. Just a guy going out to get milk and coming back home. I thought that would be too easy so I decided to get video in the nighttime and found a very interesting dilemma. It became about seeking out places of light where we could get the shots we needed, and trying to keep the light looking somewhat consistent throughout. I wanted some shots that went alongside my subject so I made sure to keep him in the center of the frame, and not bounce the camera too much while walking. I used my strap and a gorilla mini-tripod to stabilize the camera on my neck and chest while moving to reduce shake. When we got to the mini-mart it occurred to me that I would have to ask the counter if we could use their location. Thankfully they said it was alright and we went in and out as fast as we could.

Luckily I had a bunch of pre-planning done so when it came time to shoot we got it done pretty quickly. Then it was on to the edit, which I have a lot of fun with. I thought it would be cool to showcase the tracks I used at the end with the credits. Plus I got to use the Easy Out technique I learned in Time Based Tools which was super neat. I made sure to track my audio levels, so I don’t think there will be a sound issue, at least hopefully.

I had a lot of fun putting this project together and feel like this is some good practice before our final project. I learned a lot about shooting in the dark, working with another person while shooting, and asking for permission to use a place to get video in.

Sound Effects:

Store Door-Chime: Mike Koenig

Water Churning: Mark DiAngelo

5 thoughts on “P5 – Walk for Five Gallons

  1. Chris Ortloff

    I really liked all your video sequences. The way you let your clips flow into each other were smooth. I think you did a great job even working with hard lighting. Very funny.

  2. Hoa Mai Nguyen

    Kyle,

    I really enjoyed your video. Your roommate looks like you, I think it’s the beard. Haha. What happened to the milk that was in the jug? There was only about half a cup left in there…did the two of you drink a whole bunch before filming the last part? Anyway, good luck and keep up the good work!

  3. Kyle Letsom

    Holy smokes, Kyle, I love this project! I was so sucked into the story that reading in your post that you used sound effects amazed me! I had to go through the video again just to make sure. I was so amazed because of how well you blended both the video and audio to where it seemed very realistic. Your storytelling and use of a variety of different FOVs and camera angles made for an engaging video! Watching this, you can really tell how you aspire to be a director; the talent and creativity is evident for sure! Editing can be really tough, but you seamlessly pieced bits of video together, especially when you change to different angles and still keeping the flow of action intact. Great job, man!

  4. Ashley Riles

    You did a great job with the music and you video was great. It really flowed well and was creative.

  5. Johnny Bruton

    Very creative idea. I had a super hard time finding ideas for this project as well. I came very close to banging my head against the wall. But yeah, great job! Props to you for getting your friend/roommate to help you.

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