Written by Andy Lambert Some years ago I was directing a TV commercial in Barcelona. There were a few last minute problems which caused the schedule to get jumbled around and it soon dawned on me that we were going to finish unexpectedly early on the last day.As it was a musical, dance-based ad, it was all very tightly choreographed and storyboarded, so there was really nothing else we could shoot as ‘bonus’ cutaways. The last shot would be completed by around 4 PM, with the crew on the clock for at least another hour. “Hey, guys, looks like we’re going to have some time left over,” I said to the producer and DoP. “Why don’t we… er… make a short film? Haha!” I’m sure they were looking forward to getting to the bar early, but luckily they humoured me for a few minutes. And that was enough for my half-joke to morph, there and then, into decisive action.I started looking around at what we had that I could use. The ad had featured a marching band so the most striking prop at my disposal was a sousaphone tuba. “There must be something I can think of using this funny instrument,” I thought.We didn’t have any sound recording that day, just play-back (because it was a musical ad), so I knew I couldn’t include any dialogue. We’d also already wrapped the dolly grip because he had started earlier than the rest of the crew, so I knew I couldn’t move...
Published By: NoFilmSchool - 2 days ago