Final Judgment of Nerd Mom: Not Too Shabby
The response to our Lady Gaga parody video My Muffintop has been so unbelievably positive. I really never dreamed I’d have such a great reception with with my first project. On our first day here on Photocinenews, we had over 9000 HD views. In our first week on YouTube we’ve had over 15,000 views, and our Funny Or Die rating is at 89%. NOT TOO SHABBY.
Lady Mama Gaga and her Muffinettes
So, what did I learn? Besides EVERYTHING? Starting from zero with the 5Dmkii and Final Cut Pro, to shooting and editing my own footage, was a sometimes, harrowing, sometimes obsessive endeavor. I learned that I could spend 4 hours of nanny time editing 15 seconds of footage. I learned that trying to shoot freehand without the Redrock Micro Eyespy is kind of a waste of time. Even if you think you’re being ninja still…you’re not. I did one shoot day with it, and one shoot day without. On the day without, I ended up putting the camera on a tripod, and faking my push-ins with FCP in the editing process. I had originally planned to make an el cheapo dolly track, but ended up not having an assistant on the day we shot exteriors. Yay me. After looking at the original Lady Gaga video with an editor friend of mine, she wondered if that wasn’t how they got some of their push-ins as well.
Nerd Mom puts the 5Dmkii on the Redrock Micro Eyespy while rocking toddlers to sleep
I had no idea how many things were possible to get in the editing process, because you know, I had never used it before a month ago. I was going to shoot some of the exteriors as stills, and use them to make the action seem like stop motion in some parts. But I didn’t because I learned that I could get the same basic effect in FCP by dropping frames, and looping back to previous frames. Genius. A friend of mine told me yesterday that her 82 year old dad taught himself FCP, so I’m not going to gloat too much. But still, if I can figure it out in between making rice krispy treats, and changing poopy diapers, anyone can.
The dreaded loupe
I think my biggest complaint about shooting with the 5Dmkii was the whole loupe/external monitor debate. I tried both, and sort of hated both. I really like to move when I shoot, and let the actors be comfortable moving too. Not being able to quickly ascertain if I was in focus was pretty grating. I found using the loupe that comes with the Redrock, to be awkward, and difficult to manage. The Ikan external monitor was great when we were shooting indoors, and it allowed me to playback and make sure I was getting what I needed. But for me as the director AND d.p. it was impossible to watch the external monitor while shooting with the redrock. SO here is what I did. I’m sure there will be experienced d.p.’s out there rolling there eyes, and spitting on the salty ground at my feet, but they can just stuff it, because it worked for me. I didn’t use the loupe, and got focus in camera mode, using the regular eyepiece, and then switched to film mode and said “action”. Sue me. I’m sure there is a loupe out there that really suctions tightly to the camera and doesn’t make your eye go all willy wonka when you look through it, but I didn’t have it on this project.
Our hard working cast and crew
Another thing I learned is, while shooting with no crew can make some things move a lot quicker, it really would have been nice to have an extra pair of hands, and an extra set of eyes. Once into the editing process, there were things that I realized, I’d missed, or takes where I called cut too soon, thusly rendering the take totally unusable. There were verses where I didn’t get our actress singing the second verse, or the chorus, because I didn’t think we’d ever use that shot in the second verse or the chorus. Then I kicked myself for not getting coverage of EVERYTHING in every set-up. I learned that there is a reason that directors sometimes make you do something over and over over from 52 different angles. Because that guy has probably had the experience of getting into the editing room and wishing he had more to work with. Still I think I made a pretty pretty silk purse out of a few sow’s ears. Not that any of my actresses have sows ears.
I'm an no budget lighting wizard just ask my mom
I had no budget, so my lighting situation was kind of tricky. I learned that I know more than I think I do, and can make a lot of things look pretty without all the right equipment. Don’t get me wrong. I would have loved to have had a big crew of sweaty teamsters hauling cables and lights that weigh more than my car around. I really could have used one or two of those 20×20 silks to block and bounce the sunlight on the exterior shoot day. But I think we made it work. In the Lady Gaga video that we parodied they used these really hot 9 lights. I’ve worked with those before as an actor and I remember them almost burning my face off they get so hot. I considered renting one, but with the kids running around on set, and having no extra hands to wrangle, I settled on making my own. I figured that also was in good keeping with ou “Be Kind Rewind meets Lady Gaga” theme anyway. I made the 9 light out of work lights I bought at Home Depot. I make a little frame for them, and spray painted it silver. All of the interior shots were lit with the modeling light from one of my calumet strobes, and a little light I have for my make-up artists if we are ever in a location where they don’t have sufficient light to apply make-up. How’s that for crafty. Oh and yes, that is a reflector hanging behind our Lady Gaga. I’m pretty sure in the real video they used one of those giant reflector lights that you see on every Peggy Sirota job. But the sheer size of it made me guess it was $500 a day rental, which was $500 over our budget.
People keep asking me what my next project is going to be. I think I’m going to shoot a PSA on Homelessness. Not very hilarious. Sorry.
