"So, What Do You Do?" June Update

Yep, that's me. I bet you're wondering how I got myself into this situation. Well, that's a bit of a long story. So get your reading glasses and sit tight.

Remember what I said in my post when I first started at Fortuna? About each day being wildly different? I'll snip out the important bit:

See, I didn't know at the time that I'd actually be participating in a "promo video shoot" within two weeks of writing that post. When I heard that we'd be filming a product highlight video, I distinctly remember feeling that it was a gross exaggeration of daily activities. I thought it was a sarcastic throwaway comment, something like, "oh yeah, today you'll be posting a picture on Facebook and tomorrow you'll be leading a mission to the moon." *cue laugh track and everyone walking away, chuckling at my gullibility.*

Nope, they were completely serious. And yet, when I soon found myself helping to set up lighting, cameras, and sound equipment, I still had trouble believing what was going on. I fully expected my supervisor to jump out from behind the staging area yelling, "GOTCHA" and sending me back to work at my desk. 

It was real though, and the amount of attention that went into the project was absolutely incredible to see. Having come to grips with the fact that this was actually happening, I had assumed, again incorrectly, that this video would be something of an amateur affair. Perhaps we'd take a few shots on a cheap, old camcorder and head home. I should really stop making assumptions. I watched in awe as serious, professional equipment was unpacked and set up. Boom mics on reaching stands, fluid tripods that eliminate video stutter/shake, voice-focused audio equipment (please pardon my lack of technical knowledge here)... everything that my colleagues, Alex and John, pulled out and put into place seemed like it could've been taken from Steven Spielberg himself. 

Being almost completely unfamiliar with the technical details of film-making, I offered minimal help in this phase of set-up. I did, however, get to set up a pretty display of fruit that would serve as a backdrop for our scene. Being a fruit-based video, this was pretty important. That's what I told myself, anyways.

Having developed a script with some basic stage direction, my main contribution to the project, I was excited to see and hear the immediate results of my work. It's the little things, you know? Once everything was in place and our star had time to memorize her lines, we got to work. 

I'm just going to stop here for a second and give you a small glimpse into my childhood. I grew up watching movies like Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Back to the Future... big cinematic events that shaped everything I know and love today. I remember my parents showing me how to navigate to the special features menus, where I started to become obsessed with behind-the-scenes footage. And, as young children often do, I latched onto a very specific role that I found absolutely fascinating: the clapperboard operator.

You know, the person that stands in front of everyone and goes, "SCENE ONE, TAKE ONE, ACCCTTIONNNN!!!!!!" and slams one half of the clapper board into the other?

I GOT TO DO THAT. It's the little things, you know?

Anyways, we went through our script, scene by scene, our star doing a wonderful job of repeating each line until everyone was satisfied. Props were involved, and thankfully were fully cooperative throughout the process. I was impressed with how smoothly everything went, and I have Alex and John to thank for that.

This week will be spent piecing together the video. I do have some experience in video editing, so I can actually be of some assistance in this area. Yay! 

I never expected to be a part of a video shoot like this. If this is what happens in my fourth week at Fortuna, who knows what could happen after a bit longer? I might be referencing this line in my future post about a trip to make coffee on the moon. Who knows?