SHOT DETAILS

School set-up
Rows need to be set up to accommodate 6 children. We don’t ever want to shoot too wide so that we see that there aren’t that many students. We pick a nice spot in the room and place the desks. We pick a couple of different interesting backdrops and shoot in those directions. I like the idea of silhouetting against the windows. We use the windows as the key. It looks like the sun is going to clock so that we could bounce sun using panels. I’d like to create some pools of hot light.

Shot 7
This is the widest we are going to go. We want to establish the classroom and the students. Teacher walks the rows and passes out quizzes to the kids. The shot reveals and lands on our hero kid as he receives his test. I want try to shoot through students to achieve foreground, to give a vouyeristic feel. We’ll block this out and grab the hero shot. Then we will get bits and pieces of the blocking... teacher passing out quizzes, kids taking quizzes. Teacher walking through rows watching kids.

Shot 11
This shot covers the teacher interacting with the kid when the kid is having a hard time taking the test. Same set up as shot 7 but later. Ten minutes left and kid has answered a question. He’s doodling, looking outside, frustrated. Camera tracks through students with focus on hero kid. Teacher arrives at kid, leans in. Catch the interaction. Cover from different angles.

Shot 11A
Grab a shot of the kids quiz with doodles and no questions answered.

Shot 16
different day. track through kids. Reveal hero kid. He’s taking a test very diligently. Cover from different angles, different distances. Super tight and as wide as we can go. Constant movement.

Shot 17
kid takes the test. same test as shot 16. the teacher notices kid doing a good job. She leans in and says, “nice job. Keep it up.” Cover from a couple of different angles and distances.

Shot 31
This is really a series of shots. Kid up at the board working on a math problem. Kid hanging out with kids looking at the fish tank. Kid on the computer working. This will be an all out free for all where we find as many things to do in the class and shoot it like a doc. I’ll make a list during the tech scout.

Basketball Court
This will be a day exterior shot. I’d like to use some bounce boards to shape the light a bit.

Shot 27
In this shot, the hero kid is playing basketball during recess but can’t get his head in the game. His friend passes him the ball, but he’s spacing out. He misses the ball and his teammates are bummed. Need to make sure that the kids are in their “day 1” clothes.

Shot 27A
Kids change clothes. This time the hero kid is in the game. Block it and shoot it form different angles. The kid will catch the ball this time and possibly go for the basket or pass it off again. He’s not necessarily better at the game, but at least he’s in the game.

Bus Stop
There are two streets to choose from depending on the sun. There is north / south street that might offer a nice back - lit situation for noon shooting. I’ll make that call during the scout. This is day exterior, all natural fun.

Shot 30
This shot shoes the kid missing the bus. I am going to try to set it up where he turns the corner, see the bus, runs after it and then misses it. Kids in the bus will be laughing at him. Camera will be OTS on the kid as the bus moves away into the distance. The camera moves around the kid to reveal his face. He’s frustrated. The camera pulls back. The kid recedes center frame.

More to come....

SHOT LIST

Shot List as of 02.15.08
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LOCATIONS

HOME











STREET (FOR BUS)



SCHOOL

SHOOT SCHEDULE

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Here's how its going to go down:

Start at the school.
Move to the house.
Shoot the bus scene near the house
move into the house
Shoot day stuff in house
shoot night stuff in house
wrap
go home

(more detail later)

LIGHTING

We are required to use natural light on this one and we are selecting locations accordingly.

Lighting References
The work of Jeff Preiss

BOARDS

Boards as of 02.15.08
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DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

We will be shooting the b-roll component to a green screen / talk driven piece about a drug (Focalin) that helps kids with ADHD. We'll be shooting the day in the life of a 10 - 12 year old boy who struggles with ADHD. Then, when he takes Focalin, he feels better and can stay on top of what he needs to do. 

We have one day to shoot and we have two locations... well two and one half. A home and a school. The half location is a school bus stop that we are looking to keep very close to the house or possibly the school. 

The number of locations, the number of shots we need to capture, and the limitation of a single 10 hour day will require us to work very quickly with minimal set up time. 

Here's how I am planning on making our day while making this video look great.

Beautiful locations with plenty of natural light. 

I want to find a house and school that has a plenty of natural, beautiful light. We'll be shooting with the very fast digi-primes so we'll have plenty of stop. I am also looking for locations that are plug and play. The house needs to have a kids room and looks good without any help from the art department (we don't have an art department). The school will need to be dressed or at least look somewhat like a school with a chalk board and some desks and plenty of natural light. A playground outside would be nice. 

My dream location for the home.

Steadicam

A steadicam will allow us to move quickly while capturing a bunch of dynamic shots. I will set up, for example, a homework scene. We'll get a bunch of coverage of this scene from different angles, tracking, overhead shot. Switch lenses and do it again. 

Minimal Lighting

We are simply not going to have time to light this show in a big way. I just happened to watch a "making of" doc for the Terrence Malick's  The New World. Malick shot all of the "new world" shots MOL (mit out lights). They relied only on the sun and fire. It looks great and its good to merely inspire what is possible. We do have a night scene at the end of the day, and we can't rely on fire for that so we will use a practical and possibly a china ball but it has to stay very simple. For the day work, if its cloudy, or we have indirect sun light, I might want to throw a source 4 to get some modeling on our subjects' face. I am seeing this as with equipment out of a van or possibly station wagon or SUV rather than a truck. Here's The New World trailer.