Finger Up
I did this video while running my usual filmmaking class at Expat Learning center in Shanghai. This is the first time I took the risk to give a role to every student from the class.
By Franc Peret
I wrote down the script in a week after I met my students the first class. I needed to meet them once, before to write parts they might be able and willingly to play.
We also needed to order different accessories, clothe, props, backdrop and so on…
We shot this video in 3 classes of 5-6 hours.
We worked a lot on the background as we had to shoot everything in the school facilities and we needed to get the classroom looks different (card play, club scene…). We even used the toilet this time, We also did a complicated shot outside of the school as we had to light up all the building, while preserving the natural mood.
All students did great, especially IAN and MIRKO. Mirko is a designer but also a very talented compositor. He allowed me to use some of his creation for the music. As it is rare to get such quality music, I decided to give up on sound design and instead to rely on the music itself, matching the image.
I used a Panasonic AF103 for this shoot, with Nikon and voigtlander prime lenses.
This was the first time I used this camera for a professional project, and I was very surprised by the reliability of the image rendering (exposure, color, exposure..) compare to GH2 or GH1 which seem more changeable to me, always needing some tweak between different shot and lighting condition.
This video, is one of my favorite as everything turned out so well with student and we were on time. Hard to imagine this was shot mainly in a classroom, in 15 hours only. I was really amazed by how well all the student got into their character, despite the unusual story…
Former ELC Photography teacher, Franc Peret is teaching Essential Photography Classes, Advanced Photography Workshop and Film Making Classes in Shanghai, for the last 10 years.