On the 14th of November, George and I filmed the kitchen sequences of our music video.
First of all we collected all of our props, sorted out costumes used by our cast, and collected the cast together to brief them on what they would be doing. This meant organising the kitchen so that it was tidy, and modern electronics were out of sight, due to this being set further in the past. We told 'the parents' that they should wear a suit, and a light dress. We also dressed 'the boy' in a suit that was to big for him, as discussed.
The first shot we took was of 'the housewife' and 'the unnamed man' sitting next to each other at the table, expressionless. We took shots both from the side and front on. We then did the same with 'the parents', but made to look like they were facing each other on either side of the table.
We then took a shot of 'the boy' walking in and 'the parents' then putting thier hands on either shoulder. We took numerous shots of this to make sure the shot was symetrical. We took many low angel shots of this also, as it provided a better visual style.
We then extended this shot by having 'the parents' look down at 'the boy' to then smile. This gave a very creepy feel to the low angel shot, and we were very pleased with it.
We then took some lip-synced shots of 'the mother' talking to 'the boy' saying 'too many summers you've enjoyed'. We had to take this shot many times, so that we were sure the timing was correct. We played the song while we took this to make sure.
After that, we drew a barcode onto 'the boy's' hand and took bird's eye shots to make it look like 'the mother' had stamped the barcode onto his hand from hers. After that we drew a black circle covering the barcode, and took a shot of 'the boy' rubbing the barcode, to then take his hand away, revealing a black circle. We had to take a POV shot of this as we thought it was appropriate, and it made it look like the barcode had become a black circle.
Next we took a shot of 'the boy' wearing the orange jumpsuit. Here we used a tripod fixed shot that then tracked around him. This was done low angled, and looks very good in editing.
Finally we toook a 360 panning shot as an establishing shot.
Overall this shoot went successfully without anything going too wrong at all. We are particularly pleased with the smiling and tripod fixed shots.
Monday 23 November 2009
Thursday 19 November 2009
CW - Treehouse Shoot Evaluation
On the 13th of November George drove Tom Powell ( the guitarist ) and I to the location where we were going to be filming, which happened to be a treehouse, as we thought this to be a good location to get a variety of odd and interesting performance based shots.
First of all we set up the drum kit up into the treehouse, which took a while, as we tried to see how the framing of the shot would be, with the kit in different situations.We finally settled on a place, and began filming.
For the first shot we just let the cast get used to what they would be doing by playing the track, so they could get the rythm of the music correct. This would make the shots look better once edited.
Our first shot was just a low angle of Tim Drake-Brockman playing the drums, which would then pan to show Tom Powell playing the guitar.
Near all our shots were took the same general form, as we experimented with various framing and camera movement.
Other shots we took were experimenting with shot size, then moving the cast into other interesting locations, as well as trying the occaisional high angel shot to give variation.
Overall our shoot went successful, despite the rain, and we look forward to being able to edit the footage to give our video a narrative fuzz.
First of all we set up the drum kit up into the treehouse, which took a while, as we tried to see how the framing of the shot would be, with the kit in different situations.We finally settled on a place, and began filming.
For the first shot we just let the cast get used to what they would be doing by playing the track, so they could get the rythm of the music correct. This would make the shots look better once edited.
Our first shot was just a low angle of Tim Drake-Brockman playing the drums, which would then pan to show Tom Powell playing the guitar.
Near all our shots were took the same general form, as we experimented with various framing and camera movement.
Other shots we took were experimenting with shot size, then moving the cast into other interesting locations, as well as trying the occaisional high angel shot to give variation.
Overall our shoot went successful, despite the rain, and we look forward to being able to edit the footage to give our video a narrative fuzz.
Wednesday 18 November 2009
CW - Kings Hill Shoot Evaluation
On the 14th of November, George and I went to film at King’s Hill. Here we were trying to get shots of a ‘housewife’ and the unnamed man coming home from work. First off we picked up Emily Burns from Tunbridge Wells, due to her going to be acting as the ‘housewife’ for our shoot.
When we got to Kings Hill we had to drive around for a small while, whilst we found the place we had decided to shoot, because there weren’t many street names and everywhere looked the same (which was advantageous for the effect we wanted to create) that it took time to find the same place we had decided on shooting at.
After we found the location of our shoot, we began to set up.
First we shot the section where the ‘housewife’ was to be beckoning her husband to come home. This shot went very successfully, as we have seen when editing. We tried a huge variety of angles and sizes for this. Mostly of low angle shots coming in from the side, and getting some of the white picket fence in the foreground. These tended to look the best.
We then got a shot of the ‘housewife’ jumping up and down due to her husband returning home. We tried quite a few angles and distances here also, but found a closer up shot was better for this, than in the previous shot. We also tried various types of jumping up and down, varying leg position whilst in the air, e.g. legs tucked behind or not.
We then started to shoot the ECU of the ‘housewife’s’ lips saying ‘with all their pearly snapping’ in time to the music as lip syncing. We had to try this a few times as the position of the lips didn’t stay completely in frame every time.
After that, we started to shoot me as the unnamed man. Firstly, we shot a MCU of the unnamed man walking through the white picket gate. We got many angles of this shot, and were pretty satisfied with the result.
After that we got a shot of the unnamed man walking towards the door, or camera and grimacing as he got close. We only tried one angle and size for this, as we found others didn’t give the right effect. We took many different takes however, so we have a majority of shots to pick from.
Lastly we took our establishing shot. This was a simple 360 pan, which we took a few takes of from different areas.
Overall the shoot day went according to plan, and we are very satisfied when looking back on the shots, on the composition of the framing and colour.
When we got to Kings Hill we had to drive around for a small while, whilst we found the place we had decided to shoot, because there weren’t many street names and everywhere looked the same (which was advantageous for the effect we wanted to create) that it took time to find the same place we had decided on shooting at.
After we found the location of our shoot, we began to set up.
First we shot the section where the ‘housewife’ was to be beckoning her husband to come home. This shot went very successfully, as we have seen when editing. We tried a huge variety of angles and sizes for this. Mostly of low angle shots coming in from the side, and getting some of the white picket fence in the foreground. These tended to look the best.
We then got a shot of the ‘housewife’ jumping up and down due to her husband returning home. We tried quite a few angles and distances here also, but found a closer up shot was better for this, than in the previous shot. We also tried various types of jumping up and down, varying leg position whilst in the air, e.g. legs tucked behind or not.
We then started to shoot the ECU of the ‘housewife’s’ lips saying ‘with all their pearly snapping’ in time to the music as lip syncing. We had to try this a few times as the position of the lips didn’t stay completely in frame every time.
After that, we started to shoot me as the unnamed man. Firstly, we shot a MCU of the unnamed man walking through the white picket gate. We got many angles of this shot, and were pretty satisfied with the result.
After that we got a shot of the unnamed man walking towards the door, or camera and grimacing as he got close. We only tried one angle and size for this, as we found others didn’t give the right effect. We took many different takes however, so we have a majority of shots to pick from.
Lastly we took our establishing shot. This was a simple 360 pan, which we took a few takes of from different areas.
Overall the shoot day went according to plan, and we are very satisfied when looking back on the shots, on the composition of the framing and colour.
Tuesday 17 November 2009
GCT – Office Shoot Evaluation
Cameron and I recently to a trip to an Office block in Windsor where we filmed for the music video. The purpose of the location is to show the main character of the narrative working at a desk where he is dressed in a prisoner outfit with a ball and chain around his foot, this connotes that he is a prisoner to his job.
The shoot went very successfully as the location was exactly what we had been looking for. It had many rows of identical workstations all with computers and small divides between the rows. We filmed our panning establishing shots, close ups of Cameron sitting at the desk working, including a shot which peds up from the ball and chain to his hand where he is typing at the computer.
I also developed one of the shots after we had arrived at the location, I noticed that there were fish tanks around the office, this gave me the idea that the fish could be shown to be looking at Cameron as if he were the one in the cage and the fish were actually the free ones.
I positioned the camera behind the tank and filmed Cameron through it, this gave the illusion that the viewer is in the tank with the fish and watching Cameron working at the desk.
Overall, this shoot day has been the most successful so far, with everything going according to plan. We shot all of the footage we had intended to and it came out to be a good standard.
The shoot went very successfully as the location was exactly what we had been looking for. It had many rows of identical workstations all with computers and small divides between the rows. We filmed our panning establishing shots, close ups of Cameron sitting at the desk working, including a shot which peds up from the ball and chain to his hand where he is typing at the computer.
I also developed one of the shots after we had arrived at the location, I noticed that there were fish tanks around the office, this gave me the idea that the fish could be shown to be looking at Cameron as if he were the one in the cage and the fish were actually the free ones.
I positioned the camera behind the tank and filmed Cameron through it, this gave the illusion that the viewer is in the tank with the fish and watching Cameron working at the desk.
Overall, this shoot day has been the most successful so far, with everything going according to plan. We shot all of the footage we had intended to and it came out to be a good standard.
GCT - London Shoot Evaluation
On Thursday the 12th of November, Cameron and I went to shoot a section of our music video in London. The section we would be shooting included a time lapse which relied on the rush of business men in London in the evening, establishing shots and close ups of Cameron who stars and the main character of the narrative in our video.
The first issue we faced was holding one of the shots steady. The shot tracked in from an extra long shot to a medium close up, this meant that I had to walk forwards to track in, the pavement which I had to walk across was made from cobble stones making it very hard to keep balance and the shot steady.
To get around this we realised that if you hold the camera by the end of the tripod and extend it out in front of you, you can actually create a primitive steady cam. This technique paid off when we watched our footage back and realised that it was steady.
The next issue that we ran into was the weather, unfortunately after shooting the majority of our close ups it started pouring with rain. We had to cover the camera with a plastic bag but this did not stop water from reaching then lens, we made sure we wiped the lens between shots to prevent water blobs showing up in our footage.
We then waited for the 5:30 rush of business men but despite asking many commuters who all said there would be a huge surge of business men, only a small amount appeared, this was disappointing especially as it had now become dark but luckily there were just enough to create our time lapse successfully.
Overall, on this shoot we ran into many issues which were all due to the weather. But we feel our footage is what we were trying to achieve and therefore a reshoot is not necessary.
The first issue we faced was holding one of the shots steady. The shot tracked in from an extra long shot to a medium close up, this meant that I had to walk forwards to track in, the pavement which I had to walk across was made from cobble stones making it very hard to keep balance and the shot steady.
To get around this we realised that if you hold the camera by the end of the tripod and extend it out in front of you, you can actually create a primitive steady cam. This technique paid off when we watched our footage back and realised that it was steady.
The next issue that we ran into was the weather, unfortunately after shooting the majority of our close ups it started pouring with rain. We had to cover the camera with a plastic bag but this did not stop water from reaching then lens, we made sure we wiped the lens between shots to prevent water blobs showing up in our footage.
We then waited for the 5:30 rush of business men but despite asking many commuters who all said there would be a huge surge of business men, only a small amount appeared, this was disappointing especially as it had now become dark but luckily there were just enough to create our time lapse successfully.
Overall, on this shoot we ran into many issues which were all due to the weather. But we feel our footage is what we were trying to achieve and therefore a reshoot is not necessary.
Wednesday 11 November 2009
CW - Callsheet and Risk Assessment
Here is an example of the callsheets and risk assessments that we use to plan out our shoots before going on location.
CALLSHEET
RISK ASSESSMENT
These were useful when planning out each shot, to have with us a detailed plan of which props and shot sizes we were doing, with any other technical notes we may consider.
CALLSHEET
RISK ASSESSMENT
These were useful when planning out each shot, to have with us a detailed plan of which props and shot sizes we were doing, with any other technical notes we may consider.
Tuesday 10 November 2009
CW - Song Sheet
Here is the sheet with the song lyrics that we used to develop the concept for our music video.
PG.1
PG.2
This was very useful, and we take this sheet with us on shoots, as it refreshed our minds of what the concept as a whole should be like, and to take that into account when filming a whole scene.
PG.1
PG.2
This was very useful, and we take this sheet with us on shoots, as it refreshed our minds of what the concept as a whole should be like, and to take that into account when filming a whole scene.
Wednesday 4 November 2009
GCT - Digipak Ideas
Below are some possible designs for the Digipak which we will be creating, the band who's track we chose to create the digipak for are called 'The Shins', Cameron and I have both created a Digipak design.
This is my Digipak design, although I think the Digipak looks good it is not in keeping with the image of our band and does not fit in with the genre of music. I tried to show a rebellious attitude which is stereotypical of indie bands through the use of the colour splats. Although this worked successfully the vibrant colours are more fitting of the electronic genre.
This is Cameron's Digipak design. This idea is much more fitting for 'The Shins' and therefore we will be working around this idea for the final Digipak. The businessmen queuing at the heavenly gates represents key ideological values which the Shins represent therefore make it a perfect scene for the Digipak.
This is my Digipak design, although I think the Digipak looks good it is not in keeping with the image of our band and does not fit in with the genre of music. I tried to show a rebellious attitude which is stereotypical of indie bands through the use of the colour splats. Although this worked successfully the vibrant colours are more fitting of the electronic genre.
This is Cameron's Digipak design. This idea is much more fitting for 'The Shins' and therefore we will be working around this idea for the final Digipak. The businessmen queuing at the heavenly gates represents key ideological values which the Shins represent therefore make it a perfect scene for the Digipak.
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