So about a month ago, Getty/iStock launched this short film competition with pretty limiting requirements, including a 30-second time limit, a theme, and stock footage which must be included.

The deadline was tonight, and I’m lazy, so last night I made this. Exactly 30 seconds (excluding end bumper). You can see my entry here, though you’re better off watching it on Vimeo, as Getty’s site compressed it like a boa.

As you can likely tell, I had no lighting. The entire film was lit by the computer monitors and a small desk lamp which barely reached my desk. An exposure boost and some colour grading resulted in a cool looking style, but massive amounts of noise. I thought I’d be stuck with that after failing to get my Denoiser to work, but finally figured it out and managed to clean up most of it. Still some fine grain, but definitely passable.

I need to get some lights.