POV: a short film by me

One thing that really churns my butter is film students that don't make films outside of class. If students love filmmaking as much as they claim they do, how come most of them only having made 2-3 short films over the entire course of their academic career? Sorry, just venting.

Over the summer (outside of school), I did short series of tests that ended up turning into a short film. All the shots were taken from my point of view, hence the film's title "POV." The subject matter is rather elementary, but this was a test for me to see if I could pull something like this off and make it look decent.

So with a Canon 5D and belt in hand, i set to work. I tightened the neck strap so that the camera was pressed up against my neck. I then proceeded to use the belt to attach the camera grip to the bottom of my face. The camera sat a bit lower than eye level, but honestly it had the same effect. The great thing about these HDSLRs is their small size and weight. With the addition of a wide-angle lens, in this case a Canon 16-35mm, I was able to shoot extremely wide.

I started out by just trying out some everyday activities with the camera: waking up, brushing teeth, pouring cereal etc. I dumped the footage onto my computer to check it out. The footage was awesome, and was exactly what I was going for. The gears began spinning and I figured I could turn this concept into a short film. Twenty-four hours later I had a finished piece!

I often get asked if I have any pictures of the rig on my head. The answer is no. I cannot even begin to imagine how ridiculous I looked walking around and driving with the rig on. People probably thought I was trying to commit suicide via camera straps and belts. Whatever works for ya right? If I ever decide to tackle this style of film again (which I intend to do), I will figure out a better method of attaching the camera to my face.

Without further adieu, here's my short experiment turned short film...