To give back story to this project, I have been looking for employment for a year and a half when I began working on 'Street Lights'. I can not recount the late nights, twelve hour long days, and weekends I spent crafting my composing, motion graphics, and visual effects abilities. My financials have been dwindling for the past few months, and the pressure had been at its all-time high. In my mind, it is the ultimate do or die situation.
Pre-Production
The ethos of this production stemmed from the idea of regression and recognizing the pattern of retrograding, and wanting to change, but indecisive with the methodology. Personally, I have identified my relapse back to my prior mindset from a couple years ago. Some good, and some bad, but I ultimately find my predisposition toward relationships poisoning.
The original concept encompassed three separate scenes. Each scene would have a specific audio track that pertains to the proper emotional expression. The first scene resembles what the final product ultimately became. The first scene was to establish the emotional tone of the video. The viewer is to experience a feeling of loneliness and questionability based off the stimulus being presented to them.
The original concept encompassed three separate scenes. Each scene would have a specific audio track that pertains to the proper emotional expression. The first scene resembles what the final product ultimately became. The first scene was to establish the emotional tone of the video. The viewer is to experience a feeling of loneliness and questionability based off the stimulus being presented to them.
The second scene would break into a musical style performance. The actor would begin dancing to the beat of the song. The dance would represent a raw, natural, almost tribal movement matching the audio's dominant bass. The frustrations of daily life challenges, monetary issues, love life struggles, and career stagnation built up and to evoke this primal dance was the only way to dissolve the negative plaque in surrounding life.
And finally, the third scene was a pivot point to a positive headspace: essentially through tone and visual representation. The third scene is the opportunity for the character to truly adjust their mentality. Throughout the project the moon is present, and it is a crescent moon. The crescent moon symbolizes the Greek goddess Artemis. Artemis is the goddess of the hunt, nature, and birth. The last shot has the actor reaching toward the crescent moon. The actor is seeking guidance and requesting assistance from the feminine energy.
Production
The production of 'Street Lights' took place over the course of four-five hours on one very cold night. It was a one camera shoot, and the camera was a Canon EOS 60D with three lenses (50mm, 18-135mm, and 70-300mm). The majority of the shoot required the 70-300mm lens because of the depth of field quality. The lens provided natural lens flares, and allowed for most of the frame to be filled with positive space. The 18-135mm lens was strictly used for the entire second scene. That lens was more portable and allowed for greater stabilization in more intensive kinetic sequences.One immediate roadblock was the lack of natural light. I underestimated the presence of the ambiance of the street lights. I was educated to always have additional lights at the shoot. Also, include diffuse material for the lights to soften the shadows cast by the lights if needed. To make due with the poor lighting, lights from cellphones and a flashlight were inevitably used, but the lumen intensity did not provide much of a visible difference.
Post-Production
After editing, color-correcting, and analyzing the footage, the project had too many issues. First, the majority of the footage was underexposed, and the final product still features underexposed footage. As you can see in the final video, there is a vastness of noise present. I had to choose between keeping underexposed footage, or to increase the exposure and in return settle for noise. I chose the later.
The second scene had to be eradicated because of underexposure. On top of that, the transitions between scenes was poorly planned, and I did not allow enough time for each scene to captivate the viewer's emotional response. I now had footage from the beginning and end of the shoot. I ultimately consolidated the footage and ran with only one audio track instead of three. I did my best to retain the prior theme of recognizing change and the desire to overcome the struggles associated with that journey. Did I achieve that? I did as well as I could with what I had.
Closing Comments
I had a harmonious time committing myself to this project. I keep learning more about proper ways to shoot footage. Becoming conscious of how to manipulate the depth of field in my favor, and grasping which lens to use for a particular situation. Lighting is arguably the most important asset to executing a scene, and overcoming challenges requires a different way of thinking, and often times those challenges can make the end product better because of the adversity. I have gained a new respect and admiration for the masters of film making. I applaud all entities involved in the creative process, and I hope one day, I will be as fortunate as those who currently or those who have been an element to the world of movie magic.
