|
November 3rd, 2008
Shooting Film
By James Castwell
|
|
You most likely have not noticed yet but we are going to have
a lot more video's available on our web site. We have started
with a couple of our sponsors and will also add footage in other
places too. So, did you go fishing last week? Since we put a new
issue on line on Sunday at midnight we sort of consider Monday
and Tuesday are our weekend. So, when we have any time off to
go fishing, what do we do? Usually not fish. Usually something
related to the web site. Not this last Monday though. I had marked
it on the calendar, 1pm, photo-shoot.
And so it was. I had the evening before, that would be Sunday,
made up a list of the things I wanted to cover on film. Moving
stuff. Not actual film-film, but digitally recorded modern day stuff.
I have had a Sony camcorder for a couple of years but not really
used it much. This was going to be easy though. A shooting
sequence of various casting strokes by 'yours truly' with the
camera firmly fastened to the top of a sturdy tripod. Not much
could go wrong.
We are actually very fortunate to have a neighbor within about
half a mile from here who has a huge spring fed pond, mowed
lawn on three sides and trout planted. And they like us. So off
we went, Don Quixote armed with a fly rod and camera. The
weather forecast boasted that Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
would be clear and fair. No rain. We arrived at one and unloaded
the trunk after making nice with the owners. There were a few wild
ducks puddling about but no geese today.
I carefully selected the spot to do my casting and where my wife
should be with the camera. To try to get some sound from me as
I did some demonstrations, I put on a wide-angle lense which let
the camera get closer which made me closer to the microphone.
Brilliant idea which later would prove to be wrong. I did some
fantastic casting and she recorded each segment with out hardly
a hitch. A couple of hours later we were back home watching our
'daily's as the big boys call them. I dumped the camera into the
computer and took a look at what we had shot.
To say "the best laid plans of mice etc…" would only be a start.
Traffic noise from passing eighteen-wheelers, my fly line disappeared
on the water because even though I could see it well from the casting
position, she had the camera at a different angle. It was not a failure,
it was a 'learning experience'. I get a lot of those. Tomorrow would be
better. So we went back on Tuesday.
This time we would shoot the whole thing in one continuous run, well,
maybe in two. It seemed to go well. Our friends were a bit surprised
to see us two days in a row, but then again, so were we. Deanna even
spent a few minutes helping one of the owners fine tune her fly casting.
Great day, nice weather, fine time.
Until we got home and ran up the 'daily's. We had sun-spots, lots of
sun spots. Big orange, red and yellow ones. The close up lense had a
piece of glass right at the front, flush with the very front of the thing.
Of course there would be sun spots. Duh. So, Tuesday evening we
went to the mall where I bought the camera to get a lense hood,
sun-shade, whatever. They didn't have one. "Hit the specialty camera
shop, they might." So we did. They didn't have one either. Back home
I went to make one. I did make a poor version but decided not to use
the close-up lense at all but to use the one on the camera which was
well recessed into the body. Might not add sun-spots.
Wednesday dawned with solid banks of fog but it started lifting by noon
and we were ready to go. We knew just what we needed to do and
exactly how to do it. Should be a fast in and out. My wife was familiar
with the shooting script by now and I had my casting under control as
much as ever. I was not looking forward to having to explain to the
owners of the pond that we had screwed up on Tuesday too but,
what the heck. All part of the job.
When we arrived the sun was busting out from the fog and a couple
dozen Canada geese were lifting off from the dead-clam water. Wow,
what a sight. An even better sight, no one was home. We popped the
trunk lid, unloaded the camera and tripod and with 'practiced precision'
assembled our gear and got into position. Deanna would call off the type
of cast she wanted me to do and I would do it. All went smoothly. We
were out of there in under half an hour. After all, there is just so much
casting even I can do.
The daily's proved acceptable and you will soon be seeing some
snippets of them throughout FAOL. It was a fun time and we are
glad we did it. I think you will be too. ~ James Castwell
|
|
