It’s 4:15 in the morning. My zombie self staggers out to the garage and jumps into my SUV. With a pop tart in one hand, the steering wheel in the other, and a car full of camera gear I head north to Mercer County (Missouri). Why? Because real gangsters capture horses in the best lighting at sunrise.
The Miss Calamity Jane Pageant has been a Mercer County staple event since 1963. As the years have gone on, the number of contestants participating in the pageant have dwindled from 40 to single digits. They say the definition of insanity is repeating the same actions over and over again and expecting different results. Amanda Mitchell, director and photographer of the pageant, wanted to honor the long history of Miss Calamity Jane but, increase the participation of the pageant by modernizing the marketing. This is where we come into the picture. I created a hype video in 2017 for the Princeton Tigers football team. This short film accumulated thousands of views and was the talk of the community. Amanda thought there was a way to utilize video in a similar way for the pageant.
We created a cinematic highlight video of the overall pageant and one highlighting the 2018 Miss Calamity Jane winner, Raven Moreno. These videos had positive engagement, but we wanted to go even bigger. We decided to build “hype” for the 2019 Miss Calamity Jane Pageant by creating a cinematic film for each contestant and posting them to social media every few days leading up to the event. We filmed twelve short stories in one day. We filmed twelve short stories in one day. We… filmed… twelve… short… stories… in… one… day.
Amanda and I met bright and early at Casey’s in Princeton before sunrise. Our first stop was near Mercer to highlight Jaysa and Becca. The lighting was absolutely beautiful and any doubt of starting this early was immediately thrown out. We went back and forth gathering shots of Jaysa and Becca interacting with horses in the field and in the barn. The lighting coming through the barn door made for amazing silhouettes of the girls working with the horses. I felt extremely confident with the amount of footage we gathered in the short amount of time we allotted to this location. We did mic up the girls to capture some audio on location. Our itinerary had time dedicated for a more formal interview setting later in the day for Jaysa and Becca; we weren’t worried about capturing 100% of the audio needed to tell a story at this location.
I record RAW video directly to a solid state hard drive when I film. These uncompressed files are huge! A few second recording at 4K 120fps will take 10 gigabytes of space. As mentioned before, we were filming twelve short films in one day. I have two 1 terabyte I use to record and one 1 terabyte drive as a backup. All three 1TB drive would be full by day’s end. I wanted to utilize the 25 minute drive from Mercer to our next location by transferring the footage to the backup drive, so Amanda took the wheel.
We arrived on time to our next location which was a beautiful open field with a small pond. This location was picked by Kyla and a perfect setting to capture footage of her interacting with her horse. We chased Kyla riding her horse with our drone which made the perfect opening shot to her film. Kyla told an emotional story paying tribute to her late grandfather. She was able to connect her love for her horse, learning to play the guitar, her grandfather, and family traditions into a comprehensive and heartwarming story. We were super efficient with this shoot and finished as scheduled!
Our next stop was the Princeton Country Club golf course to film Jaden and Jarica. The sun was still semi-low and the sky was partly cloudy – perfect shooting conditions! Cloud cover is ideal for keeping harsh shadows to a minimum. Jaden and Jarica are on the first ever Princeton High School’s Girls Golf team. I captured slow-motion shots with my main camera, then busted out the drone to capture aerial shots. This is where we started to get behind on our itinerary. I had a little setback with the GPS connecting to my drone, but eventually it was ready to fly. I might take some credit on the girls’ future golf success after gathering these shots. I put them through the stress of having to hit the golf ball at a specific time. No other shot this day was as difficult as what I made them do.
We were at our next location for a good chunk of the day. We arrived at the Cow Palace to film Livi, Melody, and Cailynn, as well as all the girls’ formal interviews. We warmed up the fog machine, setup our spotlights, and captured cinematic shots of Livi showcasing her dancing abilities. Everything looks cooler in slow-motion but Livi’s jumps and spins were extra epic.
The Cow Palace is a community theater with seating, lighting, and a stage. This was a perfect location to highlight Melody’s story which was her passion for acting. Her friend and fellow contestant, Raynah, helped set the scene for Melody’s shots. Melody and Raynah improvised a short skit. The storyline was definitely out there – something about a baby, wife, soldier, and a gun. Their personalities and creativity were definitely made for drama club.
Next up was Cailynn and her self-taught talent of sewing. Her views on today’s fashion – meh. Her views on 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s fashion – that’s it chief. Cailynn sews her own dresses and even sewed one for the 2018 Miss Calamity Jane Pageant. The plan was to capture cinematic footage of her sewing fabric using her electric sewing machine. Cailynn brought everything she needed… except for the power cable! The shots of her using her sewing turned into her manually cranking the machine. It worked. She brought two beautiful, custom dresses that we were able to highlight in her film.
We gained a little ground on the itinerary by the time we started our interviews. I wanted these interviews to be on the dramatic side so I created a Rembrandt lighting setup. This technique casts a lighted triangle on the shadow side of the girls’ faces. My B camera was on a slow moving slider rail on the shadow side of the talent while my A camera was directly in front of the talent on a tripod. Amanda did a fantastic job helping guide the stories and making the girls feel comfortable.
My setup in the Cow Palace wasn’t necessarily “run-and-gun.” My well-organized, pre-sunrise, SUV turned into tripods, lighting, and Pelican boxes randomly thrown in. We were headed off to Princeton High School to capture Raynah on the track, Hannah painting, and Livi, Jaden, Jaysa, and Cailynn’s cheer practice.
I had some shot ideas for Raynah’s track film. The shot list consisted of her walking to the starting blocks, slow-motion shots of her in the blocks, and me running with her at the takeoff. My overconfident self thought I was still in my college football shape and that I could keep up with her with my camera and stabilizer. That wasn’t happening. Raynah is fast…. Real fast.
Hannah was waiting in the art room for us to capture footage of her painting and audio of her short story. Hannah was able to relate her love for art with her strong relationship to her mom and aunt. Hannah helps with their art business.
We then worked our way back out to the track to capture four of the girls on the cheer team. Princeton’s cheer coach was very accommodating by letting the entire team participate in gathering footage. The girls showcased their stunts, tumbling, and routines. Jaden’s adorable lab puppy made an appearance – I couldn’t pass up filming the puppy.
Amanda and I being the logistic professionals that we are scheduled Jillian’s shoot to happen on our way to Cainsville. Jillian’s family farm was the halfway point between Princeton and Cainsville. The family’s rolling hills and pond were the perfect backdrop for Jillian’s country living film. Horses, hammock, and dogs… what more could someone ask for?
Cainsville was our final location where we highlighted Alyssa. I’d like to think I’m a tough guy, but Alyssa’s story was a tearjerker and inspiring. She has surrounded herself with amazing people who want Alyssa to reach her full potential. She opened up to the camera and told her a story about a previous situation and how much she appreciates her guardians and friends. I’m pretty sure she’s involved in every club the school offers. She’s making the most out of the opportunity she was presented with. We finished her shoot on the baseball field as the sun was setting in the outfield. That’s a wrap!
My camera stabilizer is this exoskeleton looking thing that I wore the entire day. It weighs an estimated 485lbs… or thats what it felt like by the end of the day. Amanda went above and beyond for these girls and was also drained by the end. I’m pretty sure we sounded like cavemen talking to each other by the time it was all done. I headed back to Liberty exhausted but excited to tell these stories. Each girl pushed themselves in telling their stories in front of a camera. The Miss Calamity Jane Pageant is an excellent way to get the girls used to an interview process for future employment. Employers are also wanting people that can present themselves on camera to get a message out. These short films were a unique way to advertise the event, but they also helped push the girls to learn a skill most people are uncomfortable doing. Check out everything the pageant has to offer on their Facebook page and give the videos a view. Good luck to all the contestants and thank you to the Mercer County Parks and Rec for supporting this endeavor!
