I use several tools to help flush out the vision from the client and from my mind on how best to capture the attention of our target audience. Recently, AR teamed up with Jhonathan Florez to create a promotional video and to tell his story as a skydiving wing-suit-flying maniac.
The first step was to figure out “who” we would be speaking to. Jhonathan is attempting to set three Guinness world records in the coming months and he is seeking sponsorship and promotion of the jumps he will be making from 32,000 ft. To capture that audience we need to express his passion for what he does, his drive and give him some credibility as he goes out and attempts something that has never been done before.
Find videos that work. Jhonathan sent me several videos that he thought captured the environment that we would be shooting in. Airplanes, parachutes and wingsuits, all these would be new to me as far as shooting and we needed to get a baseline for what we would be trying to accomplish.
Secondly, I always need to visualize how the story might play out when we deliver it. For this I use the classic storyboard method. This is nothing new but it works wonders for getting the ideas for shots down on paper and to show the client what you are thinking visually. Here is a basic time lapse of the storyboard that I did for JF.
As the production went on I created another storyboard to help organize the production into sections with bookends to help categorize our scenes and too create transitions. With this specific project we needed to shoot plenty of b-roll footage because the interviews of JF where not scripted so ultimately it would be told documentary style with the voice over leading the editing. Considering that we had three production days to complete the shooting we needed to be shooting any chance we had to get the quality of shots we were going for. Those shots included time lapses of the airstrip, the clouds and people, while at the same time capturing shots from the air on Go Pro cameras and with DSLR’s from the plane and on the ground.
We were fortunate to have Brian Drake, JF’s wingman, to shoot the footage of JF from the air. We used the new GoPro HD2 for this shooting and the shots turned out to have great color and resolution especially compared to the older Go Pro Hero HD camera.
While having access to the airstrip was great we had scripted a base jump into our storyboard and we needed to shoot that in very low light as to not attract attention. This was unique for the AR crew and we decided to bring Isaac Joslin in with an RC quad copter to fly up next to JF while he was on the tower. This provided an angle of view that helped tell the story of commitment and establish JF as a professional flyer.
While on the ground we used a 5ft Kessler CineSlider to give movement to the shots and help emphasize the environment while on the ground. We ended up using the slider inside of an old airplane in the “bone yard” with a great effect. Having a monitor for these shot was essential. We used a 7” Marshal that helped me frame shots and check focus which was important for the racking shots.
Overall, we had a great time and the last few days have been working on the editing process and creating a rhythm that will keep the audience engaged and connected to JF because he is, most definitely a worthy entertainer and athlete with great promise.
We had excellent help with our staff, Matthew Donaldson, Patrick Egan, Isaac Joslin, Ryan Hudson and all the other folks at the drop zone that made this thing happen. I can't wait to show off what we did.
Stay tuned for the release of our short on Adventure Refugee TV.
James
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