1 minute instructional video

So I filmed it at my house kitchen back in North London, using my mum as the chef/actor. The plan was not to really show her have the main subject on the camera focused on the ingredients or food accessories and her hands. I recorded the footage with a Canon EOS 550D and was extremely impressed with the quality of the results. I was very pleasantly surprised the picture was much better than i had hoped for.


I wanted the surroundings of the kitchen to be as homey as possible without looking too much like a perfect done up kitchen set. I cleaned up before hand but didn't hide away other food or cutlery, just make it look clean and presentable. Outside it had started to get dark so our kitchen lights were on the whole time to keep a consistent soft yellow light, which when watching back on it gives me a warm homey feeling of eating a meal. But then again it is my kitchen so i suppose its natural to feel like that.


I must have been filming for about 2 - 2 and a half hours and recorded about 25 minutes worth of footage. I always had shots in mind but i wanted to experiment with other angels and aim for the more interesting 'crack of the egg' or if theres more going on in the 'egg yolk mix'.


The editing and post production took me 2 days in total, and 10 minutes to find the song. I used Final Cut Pro to upload the footage and edit it down to 1 minute. I slowed down one scene to almost replicate what Martin Krejci directed in his Lurpak advert when the butter was slowed down, but that was a lot more advanced and shot more professionally. 


I had my doubts about how bad this could potentially be whilst filming, but then I remembered why i decided to pursue this idea, because it was a good one and i had a vision for it. So when i get my mind to things i can produce good outcomes. I'm not saying this is a great outcome, but for what i wanted to achieve here is the audience to enjoy my instructional video on how to make matza brei, and how to make turning on a gas fire on a hob interesting.


I used a couple of different shots throughout the film. The first shot was a medium close up on the fridge, changed into a close up, then fell into a low angle on the butter. I then have the egg crack on a medium close up and zoom out from a close up whilst mixing the egg. Taking out the pan its focused on the 'wide angle' fetching in the pan and the matza ingredients, both on either side of the lens. Watering the matza actually is made to look fairly interesting with the high angle over the shoulder shot.  The camera shoots right back down from a low angel again tearing the ingredients, then up into a high angle shot again very briefly before a mid-close up on the in focus/out of focus gas fire. I wanted the audience to engage into cooking it themselves and i think the high angle shots puts it almost as a point of view. Which is where the Peep Show on BBC - my favourite comedy perhaps because of the point of view shots create a first person atmosphere they live very funny lives. This was could get the viewers  hopefully get a craving for it.


I used Paulo Nutini's song for my soundtrack, and enhanced the cracking of the egg, the sizzling and kept the maximum decibles at just under 12. The rest was a lot less. This with the slowing down effect on the butter will make what could be a simple boring instructional video has edged it that little bit, and i feel rather pleased about that. I felt it has come together and the soundtrack brings it to life and find myself quite enjoying it to watch. As a first video, to improve it, i could perhaps use dialogue to describe the ingredients. Have filmed it during a sunny day so more of a summer vibe towards it. Used more effects to make the camera shots look even more impressive and interesting, with perhaps more sounds to create some tension. I want to keep improving on my camera skills and build up the belief and confidence in myself to be able to put a good video together.