The nature of this short film is to convey a sense of determination; the kind of determination and drive that an 11 year old boy has. It was Super Bowl Sunday and the sun was shining bright. With a house full of relatives, Brock and his cousin, decided to go outside to play. You might think they’d get their snow gear on and play football or make a snow fort, possibly even shovel the driveway. But what they did, shows just how exactly an 11 year old thinks. It isn’t until I glance out the kitchen window, into the backyard, to see that they are shoveling off the basketball court. They are determined to get the snow off of it so that they can shoot baskets and work on “their game.” The second half of the video is something that I created to show how this determination might pay off. It is a look at the competitive nature in sports. It has been my experience, raising three boys that they often go from one thing to the next. I thought it would be a great idea to go from Basketball and a Hoop Shoot Contest into the next season’s sport of Baseball…leading into the idea of a Homerun Derby Contest.
The desired effect I was going for was to show the hard work and practice that goes into playing basketball. I wanted to let the viewer inside the day of an 11 year old, who dreams about playing in the NBA. Without crushing his innocent dreams, the opportunity for a Hoop Shoot Contest was aimed to provide a small victory and give encouragement to sustain the determination and hard work. I introduced a time element with the Hoop Shoot Contest to provide some immediate explanation for why kids practice sports all the time.
The reality of two boys shooting baskets means that many shots are missed. The tricky part of my photography was that they were outside in the freezing cold and I didn’t want to stay outside forever. The boys would come inside to warm up and then go back out. The sun was out and the natural lighting was beautiful. However, this created a bit of a challenge for me, as an editor, because I took many photos and then piecing them together was tougher if the sun was in a different spot or if someone no longer had a hat on. I tried to make sure my shots were consistent but it wasn’t easy.
The readings from Rabiger tell us that there is an emotional investment in film. We should think small or local and that we should be able to “sell it” without sound or speech. As I created this film, I wanted to show the faces of the boys, so that viewers would get a personal feeling. It was sometimes difficult because they were constantly shooting the ball and their arms would be up in front of their faces. I also took a few photos from behind the shooter, hoping to look through their eyes and capture the same moments that they were having. A few of my still shots are farther away and then I zoom in closer to show their determination or concentration on their face. While I think that the idea behind my film could certainly sell itself, I’m not sure if my filming and editing skills proved worthy.
While I was in the editing process, I first weeded through my photos. I had a video that was almost 3 minutes long. It was difficult to decide which photos felt more compelling than others and which were necessary to tell the story. I needed to walk away several times to gain perspective in order to not put EVERYTHING in the video. I needed to show enough pictures to create the sense that there was a lot of practice but wasn’t sure how to do that with my limited technology skills. It would have been nice to show some video in fast forward, with shot after shot after shot. I decided to keep my transitions slower, hoping that the viewer would understand that practice takes time.
I put all of the photos together first. Then, added a few slides with words, to subtly express the idea I wanted the viewer to have…Determination. I also felt that I needed to have the Hoop Shoot Contest slide to help transition the next set of pictures taken inside the gym.
Groh said that storytelling is interactive. She also mentions that it shouldn’t go in chronological order. The practice came first and then I introduced the idea of the contest, leading to more practice.
Larry Prusak suggests that the sooner the audience responds and feels something, the better. I think the music ends up getting the viewer involved with the video right away…getting you fired up!
Overall, I wanted to create an emotional investment into the film. I took the idea of practicing a sport, leading up to finding success to eventually applying that same determination to the next thing in life. It is my hope that people can apply this to their own lives; “Runnin’ Down A Dream.”
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