This is the second project that I have ever filmed (much excite)! Deciding on the theme to this shoot was very simple. In my lighting class I had to choose a still image to recreate as near as possible to the original, the image I chose was this cocktail beverage. When I was later assigned this video project for MUL 101, I figured I could just get someone to make the drink for me and video that and make it a tutorial. Here is the still image that inspired this whole thing, and me re-creation of it:

To start off, I sketched out thumb nails and put together a storyboard of how I envisioned certain scenes, the steps necessary, and most importantly- what I expected of my talent, so I could convey my ideas to them and get the shots I was looking for. Then I wrote out a list of materials or supplies that would be required, which of those I already had, and which I still needed to acquire.

This film shoot was my first time checking out the Arri kit to use by myself. We were in a very cramped little kitchen. I had the 650 with a chimera for keylight aimed at talent’s face from the left. The 150 to the right of the talent to light the table and props. I needed a little bit of fill light on the right side of talent. The 300 was too bright, and there were no diffusers or anything left at equipment checkout. I looked around the place and found a semi opaque shower curtain that I put into the doorway and set the light behind it. It was just bright enough to add some fill, not create hotspots on his face, and eliminated the harsh cast shadow of the talent against the background wall. Hiding cords was extremely difficult, for the 150 light that I had aimed to the table top, the only plug in available was on the backsplash of the kitchen wall immediately behind the talent. We used one of the bendy ties to tie the light plug to the cabinet knob and ran it under and along the counter top to keep it out of scene.

The one thing that was quite problematic was that I had intended to shoot the individual scene of the oranges in unity with the rest of the ingredients, but I only had a few oranges and we cannot un-cut an orange. The plan was to wait until the very end to get that scene last. That way, we could have the scene of the oranges being sliced, then one of them already sliced and posed for the ingredients shot. Seeing as how I somehow forgot this, I found a clip that had all of the ingredients and zoomed in on the oranges. All in all, a very fun project. I have learned to pay a little closer attention when I am checking off my thumbnails on the storyboard. Without further ado, I hope you enjoy this video.