Entertainment Production Basics

Overeasy was an exercise in trying to do more with less. Initially, I was an editor and an assistant director to a different film project. This project would have been with production-quality equipment and a full team of students. The pandemic radically altered our plans; consequently, each student was then responsible for their own individual short film. We had to make our films from scratch using whatever materials we happened to have on-hand.

Like any creative process, I had to begin with a bit of brainstorming. Since I was the only actor available for this film, I had to come up with a premise that would allow for a story with minimal dialogue. I came up with the idea of a lonely guy in an abusive relationship with an inanimate object, which in this case turned out to be an egg with a face drawn on it. I felt that this would be a nice tongue-and-cheek reference to the loneliness people felt in the isolation of the pandemic.

Once my pitch was approved, I storyboarded the project using photographed models of the scenes. I revised the story from there, and then I began to shoot my film. I used my phone as the camera with the “Filmic Pro” app to simulate an appropriate film shooting speed. The phone also had to function as a makeshift microphone, which was definitely not ideal even for the little amount of dialogue there was.

By far the two greatest challenges for the shooting of this film were the lighting and the continuity. I had to use an area of the house that was both frequently occupied and next to a giant window. I also had to film at a time when people had no reason to be there and when the lighting could be consistent; therefore, I scheduled filming at the same time of night across multiple days. I also planned to film certain scenes in a single session so that continuity could be accurately maintained.

Once I had my filming done, I created a cut of the film using Premiere Pro 8. This is an area I felt I particularly excelled at, and I think it was probably the most vital aspect to this film. Without dialogue to supply it, the humor was very dependent on the timing of the shots. I also needed to convey a sense of progression and space without redundancy. I felt I was very successful in this regard, and it is this aspect that makes me proud of the film.