A scene plays out live in front of the director’s eyes, with the lens of the camera separating the film from the action. From behind the lens of the Canon 70D camera they use to produce the majority of their bigger films, REX production members watch their written scripts performed aloud as they record their visuals.
Co-president of REX Production junior Yash Goyal speaks out about the basic process of being immersed in video production.
Scroll down to read more about video production and REX productions.
El Estoque: How has REX changed over the years?
Yash Goyal: We had a big shift last year when the founder of the club graduated and so it was just [senior Henry Wang] and me and we took a different approach. [Our founder] liked to be very dramatic in his films and we chose to kind of go away from dramatic stuff and go to do more comedy. That’s why we chose to do Jones Clones and do a sequel to it. In the beginning of the year, we were both kind of confused because it was the first time we were both in the big leadership roles for REX so it was a bit of a learning curve, so for a while, the club was kind of super disorganized. But, we got it together and this year, we’re starting to push out more films and it’s really mostly just activity for the club.
Jones Clones 2
EE: When you shoot films, how do you figure out the concepts?
YG: Usually, when we’re figuring out concepts, it’s either something like during the club meetings, something random that came up like the Jones Clones 2.
EE: What kind of equipment is used for filming?
YG: So we do have a few tripods. Our main camera is either a Canon70D or a Canon Rebel, which we use to film the majority of our films for the main footage that you see. [Behind the Scenes footage] is usually done on whatever cameras the members have.
EE: What’s behind the scenes of REX filmmaking?
YG: So once we have an idea, we figure out a concept through a writer’s meeting. Usually we would have a few people start writing that script and [senior Henry Wang] will go through that script and start looking at the story progression, and then we’ll start thinking about locations that we need to shoot.
EE: How do you choose the actors for the REX films?
YG: Usually, actors are club members if it’s a minor role. If it’s usually a bigger role, then we usually ask drama students if they’re interested in that. So then, we have to work out a shooting schedule based on the actors’ schedule and when we could film. And then [we] put all those stuff together, and then we have our shoot. Usually, our shoots last three to four hours long if it’s a big shoot. We usually get there 30 minutes to an hour before and we set up and do shot settings and screenshot. And then we have our editing. For editing, we usually use Adobe Premier Pro and depending on whether it’s a heavy VHX film it takes longer.
EE: How long does that take?
YG: It can take anywhere from, depending on how fast we want to finish it, a month to four months.
EE: If someone was interested in video making, what advice would you give them?
YG: I would say just think of something you want to film and film it. Don’t get too worked up about what you want it to look like because it’s going to take a while to get to where you want to be, so if you just want to grab a camera, start filming some stuff, editing that together.
