Monday, 29 November 2010

ACCOUNT OF SHOOT DAY

We shot for one day in our school studio. We had the previous afternoon to build the set. We had two hours after shooting to strike the set.

At the start of the day we were preparing the props for the set. We drew the black curtain around 360 degrees to that the camera could rotate within the circle. We then set up a make-up area for the band to prepare. When the Toy Hearts arrived we helped carry out their instruments and made them feel comfortable within the environment. We ran through our idea to the band and explained what was going to happen and what the finished product would hopefully look like. We then positioned the band within the circle to the marked out places for them to stand. We then lit them from above, trying to create as little shadow as possible. Then one of us had to go inside the curtain and film by rotating the camera on a dolly. Only one of us could go in at a time, so we took it in turns to go in, while we were not on set we would as a group take it in turns to control the sound and keep the offset band members happy. We would also be preparing the other props and ensuring that they were ready for later.






For the set of the bar we used a jukebox, a couple of chairs and we stacked up some boxes to create a bar. The band where then playing in the bar. After building the set of the bar and shooting the scene we set up close ups and mid shots of all the band playing their individual parts and the solo’s that are in the song. After this we shot the band bowing and the two girls saying ‘meaow’ to the camera. After shooting in the black circle we set up a stage in the studio with some theatre seats in them. We then had a crowd of people watching them perform on stage and again did a sweeping pan to the right. After this we did a series of close ups of each of the band members on the stage.






During the whole day we rotated the roles that we had to play so that we had a go at doing everything. This included the camerawork, the sound, the directing, organising the band and arranging the props. When preparing for our shoot we had to clean out a jukebox and glue some of the parts back together. As our set was very minimalistic this would have been one of the main things that stood out so it needed to be properly fixed. We only used mini blonde lights to spotlight the musicians to try and create as little shadows as possible. A cherry picker was used to move the mini blondes about and place them on the frames that overhang the studio.






The shots we were taking were 360 pans of the black circle with the band performing the whole way through. We did this a couple of times on wide shot, mid shot, and some close ups of the instruments all at a sweeping pan to the right. After lunch we had to quickly prepare the set so that it looked like a bar and for this we enlisted some actors.We kept to the same style of filming and camera work to keep the continuity of the video We used the camera so that it was in the middle of the band on a dolly and when we were filming we would turn it on a dolly. We used a different variety of shots using this style of filming. All of the tracks we used were clockwise to keep continuity.
As a group we faced a series of problems. At first we struggled to get any location for our band to play in. We wanted an old theatre or a run down building that looked old and authentic. Eventually our lighting designer Dan found as a location called ‘The Grange’ which was a massive derelict house which used to owned by a lord. This was the perfect location for our video. Another group were filming on the same location before us and half way through the shoot a man walked in and complained about the vibrations caused by the music as it was disturbing the bats which lived in the roof. Our group could therefore not shoot on that location and so we had to find another location on very short notice. We could not find anything which was within our price range or distance that was suitable so this meant we had to shoot in the studio.

Our idea therefore had to change as well as we were shooting in the studio and had not set. As a group we sat down and decided upon a new idea. We came up with concept of filming within a black circle with the band on the outside. We used a black curtain so that with the spaces between the band members we could cut more easily when editing. We encountered more problems when trying to do this as the camera was on a dolly and was always rotating, but the ground was uneven which meant on playback it looked like there was a jump. We dealt with this by laying down some flat pieces of wood, which made the ground more even. Because our idea changed at the last minute this meant that all the pre-planning we had done, including the storyboard, shoot schedule and timeline could not be used so this meant that on the day we had to be much more aware and active to make sure that everything ran on time. We did however over run our shoot past dinner and carried on filming later than all of the other groups. Another problem we encountered was that the song that the ‘Toy Hearts’ had chosen to play was actually really difficult as it was at a very high tempo. This meant that on the day, there are quite a few errors musically and this will be difficult to edit. Overall it turned out ok though.
One of the main problems on the actual shoot day was that the only person who could see what was being filmed were the two people manning the cameras, so the rest of the group could not see as they were behind the black curtain. This was because we could not have a cable from the camera to the TV screen as a live feed as we were filming the whole song at once and we were moving in a 360 movement so the cable would have got twisted in it.We therefore just had to film it without live playback.
I felt that a shot that really worked was the tracking of the pub which then stopped on the band playing. I felt it gave real atmosphere to the overall video and gave a sense of authenticity to the video.It also work really well within the context of the video and creates more variety among the choices of shots we can use in editing which will make the overall video better.

I feel our shots worked really well as we used the dolly to full effect on the day of filming. Because our video is always moving (360 track to the right) I felt the wide shot of a continuous track throughout the whole song worked really well and it was different to a lot of other music videos that I have seen before. This means that it has a sense of originality and therefore can create more of an interest among an audience.
A shot that I felt did not work was a mid-shot of the band playing in the black circle. For some reason I felt that without seeing the band members faces the shots did not work. However they make look better during editing if they are cut with shots of their faces. Other shots that I felt did not work were the close ups of the band performing on the stage. This was because the rest of the video was tracking to the right continuously and this would disrupt the flow if that happened.

Overall I thought that our shoot day went really well and even though there were problems we faced them and dealt with them quickly. Considering our idea changed at the last minute we were very organised on the day despite running over time a little bit. Most of the shots we filmed looked good and our group was happy with them.

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