Time to find my “Focus” - 30 Stories in 30 Days

This is the very first of 30 same-day edits I will be producing over the next thirty days. The theme for today's video was not my first or even second choice. Originally I had hoped to film my favorite local chef, Jenn Purkey, but responsibilities I have outside of this project required my attention most of the day and prevented me from pursuing my original theme; but fear not, as the stars have aligned for her story to be Day 02 of the project and I couldn't be more excited to film her tomorrow.
PROJECT:
I am a storyteller, filmmaker, entrepreneur and I recently challenged myself to create 30 videos in 30 days, each one unique with a strong story to tell or a specific film technique to explore. I will share the impetus for each day's story as well as the thought process behind each video and the production challenges I faced.
CHALLENGES:
Today's largest challenge was myself. I went to sleep last night more excited for this creative challenge than any in recent memory and woke up this morning scared of implications of how difficult it is going to be to implement this challenge. There is no doubt that I would be a much more prolific filmmaker if I didn't allow my perfectionist nature to enter in the brainstorming and conceptualization phase of project creation, and this project is no exception. In fact, the time constraints could be the best byproduct of the challenge. It is put up or shut up every day (and learn to live with work that could always be better.) It is the living with mediocrity that will challenge me most, but I am ready for it.
You should know that I have several other businesses, each of which currently demand a great deal of attention and today was no exception. So at 6:15 this evening I could avoid today's piece no more regardless of the fact that I had to scrap my first three ideas and was forced to find a simple subject that could be completed in just a couple of hours so as to avoid failing in the challenge before I even began. So here it is… a long form soft sell commercial for Ford Focus. I am currently driving a rental car, (long-story) and recently purchased a GoPro Hero and suction cup mount which I had never used. So I thought it would be fun to play with a new piece of equipment while exploring sharing simple emotion through a non-narrative long-form commercial, something that a company might use in an online environment or post to social media platforms. Very subtle, soft.
I have found the GoPro to be every bit as much fun to use as all of the internet hype would leave you to believe and anticipate pushing the limits on where and how this camera can be used creatively. Some of the footage is a bit shaky for my taste and I did not run any of it through stabilizing software, though I would desire to do so in the future. I would also caution that the GoPro performs very poorly in low light. You can see the graininess of several of the clips and they were all shot hours before sunset though not in the height of the afternoon. If you are going to shoot with the GoPro you had better do so in the middle of the day or bring lots of light with you.
DISAPPOINTMENTS:
I am disappointed in the storytelling nature of this video, but I have historically struggled to tell engaging stories when I am both filmmaker and the talent. I look forward to a better showing tomorrow.
SUCCESSES:
Put Day 01 in the books, baby! There were several moments today when I thought I would fail at my own challenge before it had ever begun, but a mediocre showing is better than no showing at all… I am only getting started. Here's to tomorrow!
EQUIPMENT:
GoPro Hero
GoPro suction-cup mount
MUSIC:
Fountains of Wayne
Little Red Light
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