This weekend, we took some time to shoot new b-roll for The Worst of the Worst. We’ve been reusing a lot of imagery, and now that the cut is getting closer to being complete, we took a chance to get creative and shoot some new stuff to augment our existing footage.
We surreptitiously filmed in a diner, then in a mall (where we were told to scram, but we already had enough stuff so it was fine). I even used my phone‘s 720p video camera for some HD footage that is actually usable, to use alongside the HVX200‘s.
Then we headed back to our editing suite at 40 Ashmun – which is a building that is both a dorm for Yale undergrads and the fourth floor is law school offices, including ours. And let me tell you the building has some terrifying corridors, hallways, and basement space that we used to its fullest. (A horror film can definitely be shot within 40 Ashmun alone.)
We then do some creative work filming glorified product shots of cans of blueprints, pepper spray, a battery, an extracted razor blade from a safety shaving razor, and a busted plastic spork handle. It all relates to the film, I swear!
Also, did you realize that pepper spray and mace are two different things? Mace is illegal in the state unless you’re law enforcement. We found this out at an army surplus store where we got two cans of the spray. The Visual Law Project is now totally protected from potential assault.
We also took images of the prison that’s the subject of the film, exported it to Vimeo, then played it on a computer to a projector, projected it on the wall, and then filmed that. It’s a cool effect, gives the images some dimension and distortion. We also projected it into blueprints, and as a background for the dismantled battery we shot.
Then we filmed my feet as I ran down terrifying corridors. All of these are things mentioned by people in the film, but put together in one shoot it totally seems arbitrary.
Oh, I also cut my thumb (accidentally), but I shot the blood so that might end up in the film as well. No one can say I didn’t bleed for this project.
Now, we’ll see how it looks spliced into the film. I think it’ll look good.
Sharat Raju 