Filming- Retakes

Today at lunchtime, the plan is to re-shoot all the shots that Jack and Paul are wearing the incorrect clothes in, and to do the flower sequence as well. Everyone has the clothes with them required, we have a camera booked out from the library, and we all (bar Alison) have a free the lesson before hand, so we may get an extra start before then.

This is our last chance to film before the deadline, so its vital we get it right. We have learnt from our previous mistakes though, and we should be fine. The deadline is on friday, so after this filming its just all about editing.

Filming Evaluation

 These are of Mark and I filming the performance shots.

When everyone got to my house Mark and I decided that we should do all the band members together shots. Then we did individual shots of each band member. As you can see in one of the above pictures the window is open so that I am able to get my head behind the camera to see what I am filming, to make sure everyone was in the shot.

When we were filming the performance shots we had the music 'Accidentally in Love' on in the background so the band members could make their performances look realistic. I used my phone for this, which was loud enough for the small room we were in and the sound quality was good enough for our purposes.

It was dark outside when we were filming so we had to use an artificial light. Then we decided to have extra lighting in the room to make the band members stand out more. We found two desk lights We put one behind Paul, (drummer), and one behind Jack and Mark (guitarist and vocalist). When we used different camera angles we had to move the lighting around to keep everybody lit consistently.

On the whole, we were very pleased with how successfully the filming went this evening. We got through all of the performance shots quite quickly, thanks to the idea of using two cameras at once, to get two shots in one go, which sped up the process. We had one camera on a tripod, and one camera without, so we had a mix of shots types, and we made sure there were plenty of angles, and focusing on different aspects of the performance. Also we thankfully didn't make any continuity mistakes like the last time.

One problem we did have was Jacks guitar strap came undone when we were filming which meant we filmed the shot several times.

Filming Plan

The final deadline is on friday for our finished music video. At the moment, it looks rather tight for time, so we are going to have to resort to filming at lunchtimes, because by the time we get home after school its almost dark.

The weather looks alright for tomorrow and wednesday, but today isn't an option. Catherine is currently making a list of shots we need to redo (see later post), and we will book 2 cameras to make it so we can film from 2 angles at once, to speed up the process. 

Plan For Today

From an earlier post I said I was busy all this week but things changed. So today at 4.20pm, Mark, Jack and Paul are coming round my house to refilm all the performance scenes for our music video. We have drums, guitar and lip syncing shots to film, and we need to do more than we did last time we filmed. We are having all of the members of the band in the same location as well, unlike our previous edit where everyone was in  different places.

Filming- Retakes

On Saturday I refilmed the waving scene and the ice cream scene because the last time Jack and Paul weren't wearing the appropriate clothes but this time they were wearing jumpers like Marks. We couldn't do any more filming because Mark was in London and most of the music video has him in it.
I am busy all this week so Mark is going to have to try to do the filming without me.

Our Filming Equipment

This is the camera that we are using to film our music video. Rather than take one from the school, when someone else might need it more desperately, I borrowed this from a friend to use. It's actually very similar to the school cameras anyway, so its not a massive adaption to use it. Our only issue is we couldn't scure the use of tripod for the camera, which was obviously a blow, but not the end of the world, as the vast majority of our shots require a hand-held appearance, or for my lip syncing require moving, and you can't do that with a tripod. We may go back and refilm bits when we have a tripod in the future for the final draft.

Filming- Day Three Evaluation

Todays filming was a massive success thankfully, compared to our previous amounts of filming. We have managed to do the vast majority of the outdoor footage, with the exception of the giving the flowers sequence near the start of the video, as ran out of time. The last bit of filming we need to complete is the closing sequence, as in when the band have finally won over the girl.

We filmed in locations through Narborough and Littlethorpe today, and tried to keep each location in a well lit area, and tried to keep some blue sky showing in the shots to add to our mise-en-scene. This wasn't always possible however, due to obstructions, be it trees or walls. We also did our best to keep the shots as mid or close ups, to stick with the conventions of music videos. Our shots in general I'm quite pleased with, but there are certain bits I'd like to refilm though. My own part of the performance for example, I'd like to redo before the final draft, but for a first draft, its more than sufficent.

When Jack and Alison had gone, we decided to do some extra footage to waht we had planned, and quickly did some planning to include some performance shots of Paul on the drums. We had already filmed Jack on the guitar, but we didn't have any drums until Catherine managed to get some for us to use. This was quite a challenge for Paul, as he has no drumming experience, so we found a video on YouTube for him to get an idea off, and then we just did short 5 second bursts of him doing certain bits of the song, as it was too hard to do it all in one go.

Filming- Day Three

The weather today is way better than we expected it to be, so we've decided to make up for the washout of rain we had the other day and film as much as we can of our outdoor shots. We don't expect to do all of them, as Jack and Alison are both busy from 1.30 pm onwards.

The plan is to meet up here at my house at 11 am, and then go out as fast as we can. We will first head over to Littlethorpe park, as the best swings around are at that park, and there are some other good locations nearby (see later post). We shall also be taking the guitar we have with us to film Jacks performance part of the video. We need the weather to stay good today, as its vital we make progress.

Filming- Day Two Evaluation

Today, whilst the weather was decent and only Catherine and I were free, we figured it would be best to do the performance shots for our video. After much debate, we decided collectively that it would be best to one continuous shot of myself walking slowly fowards lip syncing the song. Then we can just cut the bits out of that shot thst we actually want.

We found a spot where the sunlight was fairly prominent, so we weren't in the shade (which wouldn't match our mise-en-scene). Then it was simply a case of filming it. After watching the footage back a couple of times, we have a lot of useable footage, but on reflection there are parts I'd like to retry, where the camera was slightly off-centre. In fairness to Catherine, it was very difficult for her to walk backwards without guidance and focus on keeping the camera in the right place.

Filming- Day Two

Today, two of the band members could not make it and we needed them for the girls shots so we decided to film the performance shots. Mark and I went to a place called Whistle Way and filmed there.

Filming- Day One Evaluation

Yesterday, the Met Office weather forecast site said it was supposed to be mianly sunny, but actually it was cloudy and it kept raining, so we were forced to do some of the indoor shots instead of those we had originally planned. The shots that we decided to do were basically the opening sequence of the video, which consisted of the three male characters waking up and then getting ready to leave their respective houses.

Filming- Day One

Today, the weather is bright and sunny, so we have decided to go out and film as much if the outdoor shots as we can. We have chosen to use Paul, Jack and myself as the male band members, and Alison as the female character.

Obviously a slight issue with this is that our plan was to have four band members, not three. However, we have struggled to get hold of another suitable person in time, so for today we are going to stick with three people, and see if we can work it this way. If it works, then we shall edit all the relevant storyboard bits and keep it that way (like a sort of Blink 182/ Green Day band style). If it doesn't work, then we shall add a fourth person in for our final edit, and re-shoot all the shots that require four people.

For the actual act of filming, Catherine will be mostly on the camera whilst I am acting, and I shall do filming when I'm not required in the shot. We plan to build on our experiences from last years filming and this years planning and focus on these key points-

• Close ups are very important, the shot looks busier and its a music video conventional regardless.
• We need plenty of short fast shots, to keep the pace of the editing quick and relative to the music.
• Consider the mise-en-scene of each shot carefully. Does the location and lighting match, are the characters in the right clothes, etc?
• Need to keep plenty of cross-cutting between locations, performance and narrative.

With this in mind, there is no reason why would should have any problems today whilst filming. Just have to hope the good weather holds out for the day.

Plan For Half Term

After this week, we have a week off for half term, and in this time, we are hoping to get the majority of the filming out of the way and done for our first draft. Before we can do that, we need to have our actors sorted and our locations chosen, which will be done by friday.

In terms of when we are actually free to film, both Catherine and I are both busy over the weekend, and she can't do Monday either. I am free from  Monday onwards though.

A lot of our filming schedule will depend on when our chosen actors (see other post) are free during the week. We know from last years coursework though that it can take hours to film a mere 2 minutes, so we need to plan accordingly. Also a factor is the weather, as a lot of the shots are going to be outside, and we need it to be sunny weather.