Luma, Section 3: your phone shot list
Sitt, this is everything to film with the beta unit, in the order of your scene file (scenes 14B to 18). Under it are my notes on Section 1. Eli
The 8 rules for every shot
- Horizontal, 4K, 30 fps. Main 1x lens only. No zoom, no wide lens, no portrait mode.
- Phone on a tripod or leaning on something solid. The camera does not move. Only the hand and Luma move.
- Luma the same size in every shot: about one third of the frame width, in the middle. This is what makes your match cuts work.
- Lock focus and exposure (long press on Luma until AE/AF lock shows), then pull the exposure down a little so the lights are not a white blob.
- Night shots: film at dusk or in a dim room, not in full dark. A phone in full dark gives noise. I darken it afterwards, and the real light from Luma still reads.
- Hands and sleeves only, no faces. Plain clothes without logos. Clean hands, short nails. Wear the gloves where the shot says gloves.
- Roll 3 seconds before the action and 3 seconds after. Three good takes of each shot.
- Luma is never touched by AI. The people and the places get changed, the product stays your real footage. So the markings must be sharp and the lens clean.
The 15 shots
SHOT 1 · scene 14B / 15A · the hand-off from CGI
Luma in a man's hand, "Luma 1" logo in the middle of the frame
"...built for everyday life and unexpected moments." then "L for Light"
- Hand holds Luma tilted down, as if pointing at the ground ahead. Thumb on the switch, switch visible.
- Hold still 4 seconds with the logo dead centre (this is where the CGI cuts to your footage).
- Then press the switch with the real sequence: focused light on. Hold 4 seconds.
- End by lifting Luma up toward the chest.
SHOT 2 · scene 15B · music only
Clipped at the T-shirt neckline, both lights on
- Upper chest only, cropped below the chin. Plain dark T-shirt.
- Select focus + area with the real controls, clip Luma to the neckline, let go.
- Take one or two slow steps toward the camera side, then stand still 3 seconds.
- Luma upright and facing the camera. This exact pose comes back in shot 13.
SHOT 3 · scene 15C
Area light, magnet under a car hood
"Focused and area illumination"
- Find a bare steel spot under the hood first and test that the magnet holds.
- Hand brings Luma in with the area light already on, places it, lets go, hand leaves the frame.
- Hold 5 seconds on Luma lighting the engine bay.
SHOT 4 · scene 15D
Strobe, a woman's hand on a dark street
"when visibility matters."
- Hand and lower torso only. Strobe on.
- Film from the side, not into the light: I want the flashes on her jacket and the wall next to her, not straight into the lens.
- Hand almost still. 6 seconds. No other person needed, I add the far silhouette.
SHOT 5 · scene 15E · music only
SOS pattern, trekker's hand
- Bare hand and jacket sleeve, arm held outward.
- Film one full SOS cycle from start to end, plus 3 seconds. A small signalling move, then steady.
- End with Luma held still: shot 6 starts from this pose.
SHOT 6 · scene 16A
Cutting a cord on wood, outdoor gloves
"U for Utility"
- Light off. Start with the blade in, slide the carrier out on camera, one clean cut through the cord.
- Cord flat on a stable wooden surface, the other hand well away from the blade path.
SHOT 7 · scene 16B
Zip tie on a metal fence pole, a woman's hands
"A replaceable utility blade"
- Black zip tie holding a small item to the pole. Daylight, fence soft behind.
- Blade against the tie for 2 seconds, then one small cut. Let the tie fall. Hold 2 seconds.
SHOT 8 · scene 16C
Thin wire at a workbench, work gloves
"for everyday cutting tasks."
- Loose thin insulated wire, not connected to anything. Test the wire type off camera first.
- Left hand folds the wire, the fold sticks out past the grip. Right hand cuts through the fold, away from the left hand.
- Show the two cut ends for 2 seconds.
SHOT 9 · scene 16D
Opening a delivery box at home, a woman's hands
- Plain brown box, no brand, no shipping label in view.
- Cut along the top tape in the same direction as the wire cut. Lift one flap a little.
- Retract the blade fully on camera, then lift Luma up and out toward the fridge side.
SHOT 10 · scene 17A
Onto the fridge
"M for Magnetic. Stick it for easy storage"
- Same woman, same sleeve as shot 9. Blade in.
- Place Luma upright on the fridge, let go, hand out. Hold 4 seconds.
- Do not move the phone after this take: shot 11 is the same frame.
SHOT 11 · scene 17B, first half
A man's hand takes it off the fridge
- Same frame as shot 10. A different sleeve so he reads as a second person.
- Hand comes in, takes Luma with a small clean pull, leaves.
SHOT 12 · scene 17B, second half
Mounted on a steel shelf in a dark garage
"or mount it for hands-free illumination."
- Turn the area light on, place Luma upright on the shelf post, let go.
- Both hands then work on something small in the lit area for 4 seconds.
- Luma upright, facing the camera, same size and place as in shot 2 and shot 13.
SHOT 13 · scene 18A
Trekker unclips it and blows the whistle
"A for Alert. A dual-frequency emergency whistle"
- Upper chest, cropped below the chin, outdoor jacket, glove on. Luma clipped at the neckline, area light on. Hold 3 seconds.
- Gloved hand unclips it, light goes off during the move, lifts it to the mouth. Only chin and lips in frame.
- One strong whistle, about 2 seconds. I add the rescuers in the distance.
SHOT 14 · scene 18B
The football fan, from behind
"when getting attention matters."
- Camera behind and to one side: back of the head, a bit of cheek, one shoulder, Luma already at the mouth. Lights off.
- Outdoors in daylight with open sky above. A plain coloured top, no team name or logo.
- One short whistle, then hold 4 seconds. I build the stands around it.
SHOT 15 · safety net
Luma alone, 10 seconds each side
- On a plain table in soft daylight: front, back, both long sides, top cap, bottom cap. Blade in and blade out.
- If AI ever smears a marking in another shot, I repair it from these.
Sounds, recorded on their own
In a quiet room, phone 20 cm from Luma, 3 times each, with a second of silence between:
- Switch click (each mode change)
- Blade carrier sliding out, and sliding in until it seats
- Magnet snapping onto steel
- Whistle: one short, one long (this one outdoors or in a big room, it clips a phone mic up close, so hold the phone 2 m away)
My notes on Section 1
What works
- Luma floating in the first seconds, before the story starts. The viewer sees the product inside 10 seconds, which is the most important thing on a Kickstarter page.
- One forward journey from the lab, through the monitor, to the hospital and into the four people. The hidden cuts you wrote (window frame, dark column, darkness, the bag opening) are all doable in 2.5D.
- The four people coming back in scene 08 with the missing tool. It makes the point without a word.
Four things I would change or need your call on
- Length. The voiceover alone is 2 min 26 s. With the silent beats you wrote (logo, flyby, descent, the two music-only shots, whistle demos, blade flips, the URL hold, end logo) the film lands at about 3 min 5 s. If you want to stay at 3 minutes or under, the easiest trims are the descent (01D) and one of the two music-only shots in scene 15.
- Scenes 04 to 07 are very short on voice. Each line is about 1.5 seconds, but each picture needs about 3 seconds to read (she walks into the light, he bends to the tire). I will space those four lines out. That is already counted in the 3 min 5 s.
- The news article on the monitor. Showing the station's real page, headline and photo is their copyrighted material, and Kickstarter can pull a video for that. I suggest I redraw it as a news page in the same layout, with the real facts in my own headline and an illustrated hospital at night. Same story, no risk.
- No real marks. Police cars without a real department name, the stadium without a real team or league logo.
Small slips I found in the scene file
- Scene 02C says "over the right shoulder", 02A and 02B say left. I go with left.
- Scene 08C still quotes the old line "But not always within reach". The locked line is "But not always with us when we need them."
- Scene 24 ends with "beginning with VO 64". Scene 25 starts on VO 63.
- Blade counts: scene 21 shows four grids of four, so 16 designs, and the note says 13. Scene 24B says six JAX designs and the note says 4. Tell me the real numbers and send the artwork.
What I still need from you
- The Drive folder open to "Anyone with the link": Illustration_Theme, 01B, 10B, 23C, Inspiration_1.mp4 and all blade artwork.
- Photos of 3 or 4 of your real earlier prototypes for scene 11B, if you have them. If not, I draw them.
- Your date for filming these shots once the beta lands.