I'm planning on shooting a short film in the convenience store I work in. For a few days now, I've been doing test shots around the store, trying to figure out the best way to shoot it. In a couple of those tests, I set up the camera and then walked into the shot, to get an idea of how to frame things. When I looked at the tape later, I came to a pretty horrible conclusion. I am a fucking fat ass.
I knew I wasn't thin. I knew I needed to lose some weight. But based on how I looked in those shots, the situation is clearly a lot worse than I thought. So it's time to take action. I'm going to try a pretty extreme plan that I know is generally looked down upon in this country. Eat less and exercise more. Obviously this crazy idea is not well thought of by most but I've had good luck with it in the past. A few years ago I was able to drop 25 pounds in ten weeks doing it. I kept most of it off for a few years until I began working in this wretched store. It isn't easy to stay thin when surrounded with junk food.
Anyway, back to the short film. Two things are on my mind right now. One is content. Obviously, the movie Clerks has pretty much set the standard for movies set in a convenience store. Off the top of my head no other movie really leaps to mind for that setting. I need to keep from treading the same territory to avoid comparisons and charges of copying. While I love that movie, Kevin Smith's style is very different from my own so the last thing I want is to be thought of as a copycat. The main reason I'm shooting in the store is because like Smith, I have easy access to such a store.
The other thing on my mind is the look of the movie. Clerks was shot in black and white to simplify things and keep costs down. To avoid comparisons I won't shoot in black and white. But I'd like to. Have you ever really looked at a convenience store? The places are riots of color. They are full of hundreds of packages all designed to scream "HEY, LOOK AT ME!!!" People almost disappear against all those colors. So finding a way to deal with the color overload and still make it look good is a problem I need to work out. It may be a matter of desaturating the image during editing. I don't know right now.
More tommorrow.
- This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it is not eating right now. His stomach is really pissed off about this.
