Behind the Scenes

A video production is an enormous undertaking, especially when shooting a drama. For instance, if your story covers more than one day, then you likely have wardrobe items to keep track of, as videos are almost always shot out of sequence. If I fail to make good notes during production, I find myself asking, “Was her hair pulled to the left or the right, or was she wearing a headband two days ago?” When shooting the Worship Rally DVD for Amazing Wonders Aviation™, we had to shoot all the water scenes that are a part of the Day 5 story on day 1 of shooting. We knew if we were going to shoot at a recreational area that we didn’t want to be there on the weekend, and due to scheduling other locations, day 1 had to be our water day. The actors were just getting acquainted, but had to shoot their most emotional scene on their first day together.
The things that happen (and don’t happen) as we work to pull this project together can sometimes be amusing. Tim Cox, our video editor, always includes some of these bloopers in our credits. One of my favorite things from the Amazing Wonders shoot was our attempt to get THE BARREL (a central part of the story) to roll into the river.
It was on a slanted bank and didn’t have very far to roll. Seems easy enough, right? But, it would not roll into the river. It rolled into a tree several times, or the lid came off as it was rolling.

(Added to the challenge was the fact that this was happening between torrential downpours of rain. Each time the rain would stop, we’d set up and give it another try.) Finally, our central character, “Roscoe” (played by Dillon Waidyatilleka), came to the rescue! He rigged a twig and a long vine to place against the barrel. He would pull the vine on cue from our director, Bill.

It worked! There was great celebration! Unfortunately, because we all had gathered around the barrel to watch and see if this rigging was going to work, we couldn’t use the shot! So, the next time, everyone hid in the trees, out of sight, so the cameras could capture the action! Ta da! Success! (Thanks to Dillon’s parents, Nandi and Cate, for providing this video clip!)
[vimeo https://vimeo.com/31211265]
Be sure to take a look at the fun credits when you get your copy of the Worship Rally DVD!