Shoot 7

 

Shoot 7- Performance Part 2

 

 

The 7th shoot that we did was more band footage of us performing. As a group we knew we needed more performance as a whole band as most of the footage we had so far was close-ups and shots of me, the main singer, therefore we needed more of the guitarists and drummer. We again used the equipment supplied by the music department and the room supplied by the drama department. We definitely needed footage of the whole band as it is a key convention of an Indie rock band to show the band performing. As this was the second shoot we all knew what we was doing and got straight into it unlike the first shoot which we were unsure. Therefore, we developed our knowledge and knew what we wanted to capture.

In this shoot we decided to get more camera movements so the audience is more engaged. we used a trolley found in the drama department and a dolly and conducted a pan shot. Also I feel one of the most successful shots we did was the handheld camera as it gave the scene a different feel and gave the right affect of a band performance. also we felt that it was appropriate to get a shot of each member of the band performing just for editing purposes as you can hear certain instruments at certain times in the song and we want to use the Goodwin convention of relationship between music and visuals.

Overall, this shooting session was a success as it was a much quicker session and we accomplished a lot more in a shorter time period. Also I feel that we got a lot more interesting shots due to different  movements such as panning and tracking. This gave the music video a different dimension which keeps the audience engaged.

Shoot 6

Shoot 6

Shoot 6 was the final fighting scene when the main character sees his childhood bully in an alley way and turns into a fight. this scene will feature at the end of the music video as a result of all the training the main character has done throughout his life. The location that we chose had positive and negative aspects to it. The positive points were that it looked very genuine and fitted in nicely with the theme of our music video. However, we had an issue with the lighting as it was under a bridge and from some shots we found it hard to see the characters faces which was important for us as we wanted to focus on the scar of the bully to show continuity. However, sometimes this worked in our favour as from the image above you can see that the lighting complimented the scene and made the main character stand out as the protagonist.

The fight scene that we shot was choreographed beforehand so the actors knew what they were doing rather than improvised. It was better this way as we found that improvising a fight scene the person getting hit was reacting fast enough as they didn't know what the other person was going to do. Also to make the fight scene more realistic we decided to use fake blood which was a mixture of golden syrup, red food colouring and water to get the right consistency. We also added a scar using Rigid Collodion to the antagonist to show it was the same person from the beginning of the music video. Both  pieces of makeup we used came out well on camera and improved the video.

When filming the fight scene we made sure that we got a variety of shots to make the video more interesting. This was very helpful as when this was in editing we came up with the idea of putting some of the fighting in slow motion which looked better in different shots than others. We will have to come back to this location again as we was running out of light and the battery went on the camera therefore we still have to shoot the CCTV scene which we are planning to do. The CCTV scene will show the same fight scene but just from a different angle and perspective which will show voyeurism which is part of Andrew Goodwin's theory.



Shoot 5

Shoot 5

Shoot number 5 was the performance scene where we had different takes of the band singing or playing their instrument. From researching other bands in the same genre we found that nearly always that quite a lot of the video is performance based therefore we felt that it was essential that we included scenes of the band performing.

There was a lot of planning going into this shoot for example as the lead singer I had to learn the lines of the song which wasn't too hard considering that there are not many verses. Also a big part of planning was thinking of the location. Firstly we thought of filming it in the studio however we felt that our school studio doesn't look professional enough for an Indie Rock band therefore we had to look elsewhere. We found a drama room with all black walls and a small stage for our drum kit and when we played around with the lighting it looked perfect for what we wanted.

Also when planning we needed to think of how to get instruments as none of the group owned any. We asked the music department if we could borrow some equipment from them which included:

- Drum Kit
- Guitar
- Bass Guitar
- Microphone

This helped us out tremendously as without the instruments we would be unable to shoot the whole performance scene. However, none of us in the group can play an instrument therefore filming someone playing the drums when he can't actually play the drums is difficult. Therefore, we have to make sure we do quick cuts in the editing stage to make sure it looks convincing.

Overall, this session was successful as it was our first try at the performance and we didn't know what we were doing at the start but towards the end we overcome the problems and difficulties and next time we shoot this scene we should be able to start straight away without encountering problems.

Shoot 4

Shoot 4

Above are some photos take from our fourth shoot which was the scene which shows our main character training. The location in which this section was filmed was at Charlie's Grandparents shed in their garden. This location was effective as it already had the equipment that was needed and it shows the main character didn't have a fancy gym to train in had to do it the hard way. Also in this scene we plan to have a fade shot which it turns from a shot of the main character training and then turning into an older and more trained version of himself. Some of the shots that we took was Freddie (youngest actor) on the punch bag and working out doing press ups.  

When filming we attempted numerous amount of ways to portray that Freddie was going to turn into Charlie. For example, we tried to have Freddie punching the bag then pan across so he was out of the shot and when we pan back it was Charlie on the punch bag instead. Even though this came out successful when shooting when editing, the transition was far too long therefore we felt it was best to do a fade into Charlie. We felt that it was important to include this because we wanted to let the audience know that Freddie and Charlie are the same character but at a different age. 

Overall, this shooting session was a success as we got plenty of different shots and takes and we don't feel like we need to revisit this scene.Before, arriving upon location we had our doubts about what it was going to look like as we didn't know how much space we had to work with inside the shed. However, even though it was tight we managed to shoot some good takes and I feel like this will look good in our music video. 

Shoot 3

Above are the photos taken from our shoot at our location in Crystal Palace park. After researching different parks and steps that we could use, as a group we felt that the Crystal Palace park steps were ideal for what we wanted to create. The idea for this scene was first instigated by the Rocky scene where he is running up the steps for training and it represents him getting to the top having been training for a while. We decided to shoot it very similar to the way Rocky shot the scene as it makes it an intertextual reference which is included in Andrew Goodwin's music video theory.The location that we chose was perfect as the steps were very wide which is important as it wouldn't look right with narrow steps.

However, when we arrived at the location we encountered some problems. Firstly, as we do not have access to the correct equipment we had to improvise for example when Rocky is running up the steps from a high angle it is from a very high vantage point and must have been a crane shot whereas we could only use a tripod. However, the scene was a success overall as we got all of it shot in one day and when edited it came together nicely and will look good in our music video.

2nd Shoot

  These are some images from our most recent shoot which i believe was very successful as the footage that we got was to a high standard as we were able to include things like a lens flare which creates an interesting look. When we started to shoot the sky was very cloudy therefore the fist few shots wasn't very well lighted however when the sun came out the footage we captured was fascinating. Also we were able to go to a few different locations as Charlie can now drive which has helped us greatly as we used his car to keep the camera steady and track backwards at a high angle whilst the main character was jogging. Also from going to different locations it keeps the audience more interested throughout the music video as if we shot in one location with the main character just jogging it would be boring for the viewers.

again, we attempted to get interesting shots and shoot it in a different way and we came up of an idea to shoot the character through the wing mirror of the car which is part of Goodwin Analysis as it is voyeurism/notion of looking. This was also where the lens flare was creating as the sun bounced off the camera and the mirror which gave it a good effect.

Overall, the footage that we captured on that day was very interesting and I am exciting to start editing the Music video as I think from the shots we have taken so far it is going to be interesting.

First Shoot

First Shoot

Last week we shot the running scene which involves the main character jogging around the streets and training to improve his fighting skills to be able to fight at the end of the Music video. The takes that we shot were very successful because I felt we organised ourselves and planned which shots were need to be taken. Nevertheless, whilst at the location i thought of some interesting shots which included using the camera to focus on an object blurring the character and then focusing on the character half way through then take. I feel this was successful as it added a different dimension to the scene making it more interesting for the viewers.

Also to help us in the editing side of the Music video we shot longer shots so we had more room to cut and play with which is important as it may force you to retake some scenes. Also we also shot the scenes numerous of times and in different locations so we had more shots than necessary for insurance as not all the footage may look good in the editing stage.




Above is a short video of what the location we shot the footage at looked like. As a group we thought about which location would best suit this scene as we could have shot it at a gym however we decided to shoot it on the streets in a working class area to show that the character isn't wealthy and is trying to do the best he can do with the resources he has. The location we chose to shoot at was Lovel Avenue as we decided we wanted the surrounding houses to be attached as detached houses seem to be in more of a wealthy area.