Madison’s Movie Project – Completed

April 5, 2011 Madison’s Movie Project – Completed

One of the main goals for my Spring Stay-cay was to make a movie with Madison. She was inspired by a video she found on the Barbie.com website one morning. We talked about it on the drive to school and I told her that if she wrote a script I would film and edit it into a final project during our Spring Break.

Sure enough, that afternoon she brought me one of her composition notebooks with a three page script.  Mads counted three scenes but it turned out to be nine.  I went so far as to type it all out prior to filming. I wanted to make this seem as “professional” as possible.

I printed the script Saturday morning.  In bright red ink.  Mads was pretty giddy once it was in her hands. However, little Miss Re-Write kept trying to add pyrotechnics. No exaggeration. “Daddy, why can’t we do fireworks in the background?” “Well sweetheart, the script is already printed so we can’t make any major changes.” Surprisingly that worked.

There were parts for everyone in the family. I did insist on keeping Ken’s involvement minimal so that I wouldn’t have to mess with a tripod to film.  Clearly, I was the obvious choice for this timeless plastic “hunk.”

During Izzy’s nap time Melissa, Madison and I sat and sifted through a pile of Barbie clothes and accessories. Melissa worked with Mads on wardrobe while I select some props. You know, the stuff nobody is going to notice. I even ducked out of sight to make a quick “Apple” laptop for Ken to be holding during the first scene.

We filmed the “movie” (sans explosions) at dusk on Saturday. The light was pouring in through our back windows and lit up our “set” quite well. I was using our new Zumi digital camera on the Vivid Color 1 setting. It was an artistic liberty that the director / cinematographer is allowed to take.

Last night, on my final day of vacation, I finished editing the movie on our Mac. I did give myself some leeway on the titles and transitions. I wanted to keep it fun. Madison was asleep so I didn’t get to teach her about the editing process. I will probably walk her through that later.

It’s been uploaded on Vimeo so the world can witness the birth of our brilliant little filmmaker. Check it out here: Barbie’s Day Out And please leave a comment. Mads would absolutely love that.

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Tags: Barbie, Home Movie, Isabelle, Madison, Melissa, Spring Stay-cay, Vimeo, Zumi Triple Plus

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