Okay, let’s talk about this little project I did, the ‘zo short film’. It wasn’t anything grand, really just me wanting to try out an idea I had knocking around.
Getting Started
It all began pretty simply. I had this visual concept in my head, mostly playing with perspective and, yeah, some zoom effects, which is kinda how the ‘zo’ name stuck as a placeholder. Didn’t have a script, more like a sequence of shots I imagined. So, first thing I did was dig out my old camera. Found it in the back of a closet, covered in dust. Typical.
- Checked the camera still worked. Thankfully, yes.
- Charged up like, three sets of batteries. Always need backups, learned that the hard way before.
- Formatted an SD card. Gotta start fresh.
Then I tried to ‘plan’. I say ‘plan’ because it was mostly scribbles on the back of an envelope. A rough shot list, some stick figure drawings. Nothing fancy. I knew the location had to be simple, somewhere I could control easily. Ended up being my own living room, cleared out a corner.
The Actual Doing Bit
Shooting was… an experience. I decided to do it all myself. Setting up the camera, trying to get the framing right, then running in front of it to be the ‘actor’ – if you can call it that. It was mostly just hands and objects, thank god.
Getting the zooms smooth was a pain. My camera’s lens wasn’t exactly cinema quality. The zoom ring was stiff. Lots of jerky movements at first. I must have done fifty takes for one simple ten-second shot, just trying to get a steady pull. My cheap tripod wasn’t helping much either, kept wobbling if I breathed too hard near it.
Lighting was another headache. Just used whatever lamps I had around the house. Moved them about a hundred times trying to get something that didn’t look completely flat or cast weird shadows everywhere. Took ages. Spent a whole afternoon just on lighting for maybe three shots.
Putting It Together
After finally getting footage I thought was usable (mostly settling for ‘good enough’), it was time for editing. I just used some basic software I already had on my computer. Nothing pro.
- Dumped all the clips onto the timeline.
- Started chopping away the bad takes. So many bad takes.
- Tried to stitch the good bits together to match my envelope scribbles.
- Played around with the timing of the zooms to get the effect I wanted.
- Added some simple background music I found that was royalty-free. Didn’t want any trouble there.
The sound design was super basic. Just the music and a few Foley sounds I recorded myself, like tapping things or rustling paper. Honestly, it sounds pretty amateurish.
The End Result
So, after all that messing about, I had a finished short film. ‘zo’. It’s maybe two minutes long. Is it a masterpiece? Absolutely not. It’s rough, the lighting is kinda weird in places, and the zooms aren’t perfectly smooth. But you know what? I actually made the thing. Went from a vague idea and some scribbles to a completed video. Learned a ton about how much patience you need, how hard simple shots can be, and that ‘good enough’ is sometimes the only way to finish a personal project. And next time? I’m definitely getting a better tripod.