making a 5 second video

I took a cinematography workshop at the Baltimore Creative alliance, run by Jeffrey Gangwisch. The CA is located in the Patterson Theater, on Eastern Avenue.

It was a lot of fun and gave me the chance to work with lighting and equipment I haven't handled before. The last class was to film a "5 second video", which we could write ourself. I of course love writing so thought about several ideas. I went through old Non Sequitor comic ideas. The first 5 of the following came from Non Sequitor. The last was motivated by an ad I saw many many years ago, for a college that taught painting. It had the model at an easel painting the painters sitting in front of her.

1. Deer dressed as St Peter at the gates of heaven.
   Camera on Hunter with shotgun waiting to be admitted.
   Camera pulls back to reveal Deer as he says to Hunter:
   ``Let's just call it karma.''
   
   props: deer outfit, white robe, hunting rifle, hunters jacket,
   pedital with white and gold cloth draped over it.
   
   
2. Doctor in an office holding an x-ray, patient in gown on examining room table. Doctor says to patient: "You have a severe blockage of your credit rating."
   
   props: x-ray, patient's gown, doctors lab coat, doctors stethescope, examining table
   
   
3. A panel of people at a table marked "Reality Show Casting", with piles of papers in front of each panelist, marked "Psychos", "Bigots," etc. One panelist reads out loud an application from a normal person (eg, "I work at the family business and like to play scrabble and sing in the church choir ...") and his horrified.
   
   props: table, signs, lots of papers and manilla folders
   
   
4. Camera shots CU of Dog is lying down on a couch in a psychiatrists office: "bark, yap, bark, yap, ..." Camera pulls back to reveal that the psychiatrist is a Cat.
   
   props: coach, chair, office furniture, dog outfit, cat outfit
   
   
5. Crowd in art gallery staring and taking about a painting: "I like the artists' use of color." "Reminds me or Picasso." etc. Young Nerd says ``I wonder what software they used for the brush strokes?''
   
   props: art museum, young nerdy looking actor, crowd of extras
   
   
6. Have scene of actors performing a scene in Romeo and Juliet.
   Juliet: "Romeo, oh Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?"
   The person handling Camera A is zooming in and out saying "Zoom" under his breath.
   Director (standing next to Camera A): Camera A. CAMERA A!
   Camera A: Who? Me? What?
   Director: Let's try a medium shot on this one, instead of a zoom. Does everyone agree?
   All: Yes!
   
   This is caught by Camera B, which shoots the entire scene, cast and crew.
   
   props: cameras and lighting gear, actors, extras
   
   

Jeffrey selected the last one and allowed me to be director. Although I had no idea what I was doing, and Jeffrey had to help out a lot, this was tremendous fun. Here it is (edited by Jeffrey):

Workshop Skit from Jeffrey L. Gangwisch on Vimeo.