On Location - Filming Shoot

On Saturday 13^th November, we re-filmed the wood scenes. Fortunatly for us, we used another tape to record the garage scenes so this saved us a lot of time. We had to rescedule priorities to  film on that day. We wanted to film as early as possible so that we could leave enough time to edit. It proved difficult finding a common day when all the actors and ourselves were free. Due to the fact that the actors playing the animals had other commitments such as their part time jobs, we had to find different actors to find the animals less than a week prior to the shooting date. Although it was hectic knowing that half our footage had to be re-filmed, It turned out to be a positive outcome because we were able to put ‘what we would have done if we shooted again’ into action so that we could make the filming better.

It took us 4 hours to shoot in the woods. Alice was the director and I was filming the scenes. Dean could not make it last minute. We made a few adjustments to the storyboard on the day. We decided not to make the main performer Harriet draw a triangle on her face. The reason being is because when we were editing the scenes in where she is in the garage, she doesn’t appear to have the drawing on.

We also felt the need to film more angles when the badger sees Harriet. When we previously filmes, we did a master shot and a few close ups. This time we filmed from both perspectives, one of which includes twitching of the camera from the badger’s view.

Overall, we filmed this scene many times ftom different angles so in the editing suite we can take our pick as to which one’s we will use for the final product.  We also decided not to record harriet lip syncing in the woods. The reason being is because Harriet is moving throughout and it wouldn’t be realistic to be singing whilst running through the woods. We are going to find a dark room either in Alice’s house or at college and film her lip syncing. Overall we filmed more shots (more close ups, point of views and long shots) from different angles.  Earlier in the week when we were editing the garage scenes, we had variety of shots to choose from but it would have been more useful if we had more choice from different perspectives and better framing. 

We did encounter a few problems on the day. I got to Alice's house at 8am but unfortunatly the actors couldn't make it until 11am. This gave us plenty of time to set up, go through the storyboard to see if we should make any adjustments and check everything was in order. For example, that we had the box, pink wig, clean costumem masks and correct make-up. When the actors turned up, Alice did hair and make-up and costume. I checked that the camera was in focus and that the white balance and exposure has been set.

We filmed in the morning when it was daylight so  we didn't have not well lit footage. The sunlight was quite bright on that day and in some parts we filmed, there was a beam of light in the background. This was unavoidable because the lights shone between the gaps between the leaves. Especially in the garage scene, the room is well lit to establish mood and atmosphere. The audience will see bright flamboyant lights flashing. When 'harriet' steps out of the wardrobe, you see constant flashing lights. This is mysterious and crazy in a weird way. It gives the video a conseptual feel.

In the woods scene, we did pay close attention to framing. Especially because the woods were muddy and hilly, it was hard to position the camera in a stable i.e. not canted position. I believe the location we chose fits the conceptualness of the video. It's a good base to narrate the story. Everything combined and this includes the mood established, the costume, make-up and props are all used purposefully to sell the artist.

The outcome from filming today was very positive. I feel that I’ve learnt much more and from recent experiences from filming. I believe that this footage is better than what we previously filmed because we have learnt from the mistakes we made last time.

Ashleigh

Third Shoot... Black Room

Last tuesday we finished our filming with our performer Harriet in the drama studio. we chose this location because it has black thick curtains all around and can fits our specification for our lip synching shots. we had her sitting in front of the camera yet this was fine as we only framed her from the neck up. She sang the song exaggerating the lip movements from a few different angles including side on and extreme close up of her lips. 

she had learnt all the words and acted in front of the camera well as it was subtlety and intrigue we wanted to achieve.

Although we did not need harriet to be in the full costume i had to do her make-up the same as on our woods shoot and also put the wig on her. The make-up takes a few minutes as i have to apply white face-paint evenly shaped to her eyelid then add glitter gloop and blue glitter along with silver which links her eyebrows to her lids. 

This image shows me filming and directing Harriet from behind the camera. we were shooting a high angle side close up which turned out to be very effective footage.

We used a torch to light her face in the dark which gave the material a mysterious quite mystical feel. you wonder where she is because it is completely dark all around her which ties into our theme of Escapism as she has escaped reality.
The filming wet really well and now we have shots of her lips singing to synchronize with the words in the song.



ALICE