One Word Film: Love

https://youtu.be/jWjBAUIweFE

    The short film I created is revolving around the term Love. In this film, I follow my father's around in his usual visit to the record store he loves. To the eyes of others, he seems like a casual fan of vinyls and buy the most iconic albums such as albums from Bon Jovi, Queen, and Beatles. Once you see him in a comfort spot, it's a hobby. He loves collecting them, from rare singles to record store day exclusives to having the same copies of vinyls but in different color vinyls. It has been like this for the past 8 years and there is no sign of stopping. His love for vinyls are in-measurable.

    While in the record store, I was capturing the feel of the store. Me using the shot with the records inside the light was me to establish a feel to the audience to show the film is going to be related to vinyls or music in general. This is also where I began to use the instrumental to Bon Jovi's song, It's my Life. The reason I chose Bon Jovi was to show the types of music is played while people are shopping inside the store and emphasizing that majority is in the stores for the feels and vibes of related to the song. Next I chose to do an aerial shot. It shows that the store have a variety of records for anyone and everyone. Along with this aerial shot, I chose to do a master shot. Both the aerial shot and master shot worked together to create a feel of where my dad is shopping at and what place of the store he is at. Within the master shot, I added a cut that was an over the shoulder shot. It gives you a feel at what my dad was examining at and showing the store's variety. After the over the shoulder shot ended, it cut back to the same master shot previously used, but my dad is picking up a vinyl from the pile to add a dramatic effect. Next, I use a close-up shot, to show my dad's eyes focusing on the vinyl. Afterwards, a point-of-view shot was used for showing my dad's choice of his purchase and the vinyl he was entranced with, which was a Bon Jovi record. Afterwards, I show a shot of his newly purchased records. It didn't necessarily have a shot attached it. To end the scene at the store, I showed a black screen and also used the instrumental to stop on beat to show the audience the scene at the store is over and we are changing to a newer scene.

    With the transition with the black screen and the music stopping, I used a record player static to create a feel that there is no music playing and my dad is currently his normal self in the world. With a new scene, I used an establishing shot first to show exactly what is the new location, and where my dad was going within the scene. With this scene, you get the feel of my dad's love of vinyls through his many shelfs of records that are shown in the scene plus the set up he custom built himself on top of it. The next shot uses another point of view of my dad putting the record on the player. For those not knowledgeable in record collecting or playing records are able to see exactly how does it turn on and start spinning. This was the reason why I chose the shot so the audience are being interacted with the film. The record also have significance as well. Cynic is one of my dad's favorite bands and would constantly play the record any chance he gets. Once the record is placed, I tried to show a worm shot. I wanted to show how the record was being played at that angle, but I felt I was weak establishing this shot as it seems the shot was filled with too much. As the needle for the record touches the record, I began to play an instrumental of a song from the album my dad has an extreme attachment to which was, How Could I?. It establishes my dad's love for the album, but it also shows the audience if you have met my dad, the first thing he'll talk about his love for this particular song. Next I made an eye level shot of my dad's finger moving to the beat. This establishes that my dad is enjoying the music, while taking in the beats of the music coming from the player. Lastly, I tried to establish a wide shot of my dad still keeping the energy from the last shot, but at a different angle. I felt I needed to improve this area a bit more to excel establishing a wide shot in a film.

    In the end, establishing and creating the short film was a fun experience and I felt I'm getting the hang of it!