Building The Story
First comes the concept, the idea, the story line. Then you start to build. How do you jump into the first scene so that it immediately draws the audience in? Is the camera rigged to the handlebars to catch the face of the boy as he reaches into the bag and pulls out the paper, glancing over to the lawn on his right as he makes the throw? And does the girl open the front door almost simultaneously as it hits the thresh-hold? Shoot it wide and medium and tight before jumping onto dolly track inside, traveling left to right. “Marshall, can we get it through those doors so we can run with her as she slams the door, goes through the foyer and into the breakfast room where mom and grandma wait, perfectly dressed, lingering over morning coffee as Dad cooks in the kitchen?”
Oh, and the shoes… We always need to get a beauty shot of the shoes. What possible logical reason can we have to suddenly be under-slung and looking low across the room and under the table? Show the dress, show the shirt, show the bracelet including the writing on the charm, but don’t slow the story, because they have to prepare the meal and get to their best friends’ house for dinner. And all the while build in the nuances of family connections between father and son and three generations of women, even though they are strangers who first met yesterday at the fitting.
This is the stuff I love. It takes great practice to build a perfect story in thirty seconds in a beautiful world. Sunlight gleams through windows, even though it is raining outside. The pie that just came out of the oven is still steaming through plastic tubes and by the genius of the art department hidden behind the counter. And we must make you believe the toddler is still sitting in Grandma’s lap stringing Cheerio garland, though he really had the ‘fall-a-parts’ an hour ago and is currently upstairs taking a much needed nap.
It’s all in the pieces. The perfect slice of seconds. One good take is all you need. Well, two, for safety. Quiet on set and watch hard as everything moves. The timing of the phone coming into frame as the camera pushes in and “Was that in focus?” “Come on ladies, I didn’t believe you for one moment when you glanced at each other – where’s that knowing look?” And “How cute was that when pretend dad actually took a bite of ice cream when his pretend son offered it?!”
Seconds. Blink and you miss them. The story unfolds quickly. Keep your eyes open and sometimes you get to see magic happen on your screen.
