DIRECTOR'S OVERVIEW

This is the story of a kid going in to get the standard vaccination shots. Before Kinrix a kid might need to get multiple shots, now with Kinrix the kid only needs to get one shot. The film inter-cuts moments leading up to the child's injection with interviews with the doctor, nurse and mom. Then we see the satisfaction on the kids face when he leaves the doctor's office only having to get one shot.

I would like to capture these moments with as much intimacy and authenticity as possible. I'd like to get into the child's space and feel the tension of what its like to go to the doctor's office and get shots. We've all been there. Its not fun. As much as possible, I'd like to tell the b-roll portion of this story from the child's perspective. We should think about this when we are choosing our angles. Maybe we shoot a bunch of this from child height.

I'd like to look for the subtle moments as the child enters the doctor's office and interacts with the mom and the nurse... the child holding the mom's hand, looks to mom, etc. We might try shooting some of these moments at 60fps since these shots will be MOS.

There are some big challenges on this shoot. First, our talent our non actors and our child is very young at four years old. I am going to expect the worst from a performance standpoint from the child. The good news is that for most of the story we are trying to sell that, for the child, going to the doctor's office and getting a bunch of shots is no fun. The truth is, we'll really be in a doctor's office so maybe we'll get some method acting from the child. I am going to take David Mamet's advice on directing actors and keep it simple. I am going to tell the mom to take her child to the doctor's office and most likely, worst case, we will have to be prepared to simply capture that action. We can't count talent hitting marks. That will only make them aware that they are working.

Overall, I want this piece to be authentic. So, I am going to be working with the talent to keep the comfortable and unaware of the camera. At the same time, I don't want this piece to come off with a jerky, reality TV feel. I'd like it to be smooth around the edges, leaning towards graceful and elegant. I am going to rely on the 35mm lens to give us the shallow depth of field that will make things interesting. John will be giving us smooth operation with the EZ rig. Part of the elegance would be to keep things moving in terms of pan and tilting compositions, rack focusing and little pushes.

Lighting is going to be tough. We have a lot of set-ups and not a lot time to light. Overall, I'd like this to be high-key. We'll have to rely on the office fluorescents and augment to add some elegance to the shots. I am imaging some lights that we can have ready and on standby to fly in and work for us.

As we receive location stills, I will be refining this treatment.