This post follows my earlier movie posts:
I Heard Music Coming Out of a Deserted Hotel in the Misty Mountains , A Perfect Location for a Scary Movie and Back to Filmmaking Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 - A Fun Project with Audience Interaction
Today I was setting up a green screen, micro budget style, at the back of my sister's new house. I folded a bed sheet around a carton box ( that, only a week ago, contained a huge freezer ). My 4 year old nephew wondered what I was doing, curious as he always is. I asked him to give me some space. Whatever I was shooting, he would be able to see it at a later stage. Of course he didn't give me that space.
My sister walked by and asked if I needed any help. I said I didn't. Five or ten minutes later, I called her, to ask if she could help me out for a bit. I needed her to do the camera/ hold my iPhone for this green screen scene / rehearsal.
I'm talking about a clip of perhaps 30 seconds that will be part of the upcoming audience interaction based film project that is made up and written by my filmmaking buddy Ted. He asked me to act in it and I'm up for the challenge.
As is usually the case, where my sister goes, her two year old daughter shows up. So, a little later, I was trying to act with my nephew and niece playing behind the camera/ phone that my sister was pointing at me.
It wouldn't surprise you that it was hard for me to focus. But I also did not feel like kicking them out. It's their garden after all and they are just kids who do what they love to do most: playing.
I reminded myself that this project is also very much about playing. It's about enjoying the process and sharing that creative/ playful energy with an audience.
In this short video, you see my nephew breaking the fourth wall, walking into the frame. Afterwards, I went back to acting/ rehearsing, with my sister filming me.
When finished, I realized that - due to all the distraction - I had forgotten one thing my buddy asked me to do for this clip. Anyhow, the scene my nephew walks into is not even the actual scene itself. I really felt like sharing it with you all though. It shows you what kind of connection he and I have.
Let me tell you a little side story about the bed sheet that functions as green screen here
This bed sheet has gone through a lot. So many diapers have been changed on this, so many food has been spilled on it
Which reminds me... I once wrote a short story / movie idea called 'Diaper Dog'. It would have made for a pretty cool animated film. It must have been four years ago and was inspired by my sister's boyfriend's dog, who once cleaned out a shit diaper - filled by nephew Miko - with his tongue. He must have been very hungry that day.
The story was about a dog, that was training other canines to clean out diapers with their tongues. This way the diapers could be recycled. Anyone who has every changed diapers will be aware of the fact that young kids need a lot of ( diaper ) changes and that it can be a pretty costly thing. I pictured a huge room/ factory building with rows of dogs cleaning out dirty diapers and this one dog barking orders, walking around and making sure every single one of them is delivering. This canine called 'Diaper Dog' would wear some kind of superhero cape and make it onto the national news with his brigade of diaper cleaners. In the end, his dog brigade would start giving trainings to other dogs all over the world.
Back to The Green Screen
This story points to the same fact that the bed sheet green screen points to: It's an example of the multiple ways in which we can use everything around us.
And - as shown in this video ( that I edited from 5 videos that my sister shot while thinking she was taking pictures ) - it's all about having fun. Don't you agree with me that this kind of shoestring budget filmmaking process makes for a way more interesting story than the ( everything went well / was under control ) story behind most big budget productions?
Tomorrow I will probably do a little more filming with my sister. I will send some of the footage to Ted and then he and I will talk on Skype about this scene/ clip and the next step to take in this fun little project of us.
TO BE CONTINUED
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