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The Underwood family turned the record of their trip to Africa into a short scripted movie, Lippity Loppity Lane, worthy of a children's film festival. The kids wrote the script; Dad shot and directed; and everybody along the way—even three Samburu warriors who delivered their lines in Swahili—got to perform. Here, Blair's tips for a memorable vacation flick:
A digital video camcorder lets you edit on your home computer. I used a Canon XL2, a "prosumer" camera that got all the shots I needed.
An adventure/mystery story—ours is about the search for a rare diamond—allows you to shoot the sights as you discover clues along the way. We watched the Spy Kids movies for inspiration.
Don't expect the kids to perform more than 30 minutes at a stretch—this should be fun, not work—and try to film in the morning, when energy levels are high. I wanted the cast to enjoy themselves, so I basically limited my directions to "Quiet on the set" and "Stop laughing!"
Let the kids gather props from around the house and choose their own wardrobe. We always carried a few essential pieces in a backpack in case we stumbled upon a good location.
I edited the footage with Final Cut Pro, an advanced program, but both iMovie and iDVD, which come in Mac's basic software package and are easy to learn and use, will do the trick. I cut the 600 minutes I shot into a 25-minute film and a 10-minute blooper reel. Then I made a montage of leftover images and added a soundtrack—our very own music video.
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