Filming Mr. Split Commercial: My Brother Steals the Show and my Pocket Money

 

Today (October 29, 2020) I decided to film the first 3 scenes of my commercial (storyboard boxes 1 through 3). After much begging, and a unreasonable payment, I finally got my brother to join me in filming and to play a few characters. I bribed him into being the banana stealer and Mr. Split, but once the later scenes like the fighting scene occurs, my youngest brother will remain as Mr. Split while my oldest brother will take over the role of banana stealer. Since the scenes were simple, I did not encounter many problems, but there were a few problems with the props. Since I had free time and my brother was in a good mood, I wanted to get the filming done today, but by the time I chose to film the bananas began to rot. It's not as noticeable in the video but I was still disappointed about it. I also fell through with the banana stealer’s costume, as he was supposed to be wearing all black including black sunglasses. I couldn't find any black glasses, so I had to go to an alternative which were not as suspicious looking. The first scene included me and my brother, him playing the banana stealer and me as the innocent victim (I wore casual clothes: jeans, T-shirt, etc.). We recorded 3 to 4 runs on one camera recording. I decided to just trim the recording when I start to edit to make the filming process easier. We filmed the action of stealing the banana from a far distance and then close up. We also recorded cut scenes to shrink down the time of the videos. When the banana stealer stole the banana and headed for the door instead of recording him run the full way, I cut to him coming out the door (The same goes for Mr. Split as well). When recording I noticed my acting skills were not the best, but that my brother had a hidden talent for the camera. Before starting anything, I set up the area of where we would record, which was our living room. There was a bowl of fruit (mainly apples and one banana), an artificial plant I had to drag down a hallway, next to a couch and table. I placed a Yankee candle on the table to advertise, as the Yankee Candle was one of the commercials in my genre interview video. The day was very bright, but the window did not allow enough light into the room, so I used a 10-inch LED Ring Light, to brighten the room. I placed my camera inside the light and recorded the scenes through the ring. The camera I used to record was a Canon Power Shot ELPH 180, as small but efficient camera. The filming process only took a little more than an hour. Everything went smooth just as I expected it to, but with the later scenes that include more physical movement and camera shots, I expect it to be a little harder than today.