OH - Reflection on shoot (Final scene)

Who, When and Where?

On the 17th November the school had a 6th form own clothes day so it was the perfect time to shoot our dance final sequence in the drama studio and invited around 20 of the sixth formers to get involved as extras for our music video. It was being shot in the drama studio and Brad and I got there an hour early to set up all of the appropriate lighting and to rearrange the set to make it as club like as possible, which included moving a lot of the chairs out of shot and playing around with the lights until they looked perfect. Not only this but Brad and I both went over to Asda to get balloons and plastic cups to enhance the realism of the post. After this, with help from both Mr Fiveash and Mr Pearce the room was ready and the camera was set with a higher amplitude level in order to black out the surrounding which made it look like a classroom, not only this but we also wanted to slow down the footage so we shot at 60 fps during the shoot so that when it was slowed down it didn't look blurry. After this we simply had to wait for the extras to arrive, which they did and we got on with the shoot. Then once it was all done Brad and I continued to clear up the room to its original state and we left to edit the rest of the footage onto the timeline.

Here were the lights that helped us create some lighting excellence

My Role in Production

My role was at first to set up the set and get all of the appropriate props to make the set look realistic. After this when they had all arrived I took a majority of the footage throughout the dancing and stayed back after to help clear up. After this I took the SD card and put all of the footage onto the timeline ready to be edited.

Some low angle shots were used to spot the balloons and feet movement

What were the best shots?

The best shots were probably the close ups of the faces during the dancing because it gave a real sense of the emotion during the shoot, also the all out best shot was probably when the camera went around Elliot's head and came in closer to Luca dancing as this really gave out the impression of a packed dance area.

Brad seen shuffling in the middle of the dance circle

How useful was the shot list?

The shot list was useful for the opening of the scene to get an idea for the framing of the first shot, however after this due to the great dancing of the actors then I basically used my own knowledge of other dance music videos to create the most suited shots. I tried to include as much movement as well throughout to create atmosphere in the piece.

Any problematic shots?

The only shots we really had trouble with was probably the shot which Freddie took of the over the shoulder at the crowd, because when looking back it was clear that the shot was shaky and the hand wasn't very visible going across the screen so this will need a lot of work done in after effects. However overall I'd say that the shoot was very successful due to the amount of people that we had to manage and the short space of time that we had.

The hand is seen going across the screen but is hard to see because of the lighting

FC: After effects editing progress.

For the past two lessons I have been using aftereffects to put effects on our footage.  The image below shows the format in which I have been working, the main tool I have been using is the Rotobrush.

The aim of my editing in aftereffects has been to change the background colour to black and white and keep Brad in colour. The Footage being used was shot last week along Southbank, some of the shots contain many people walking with our antagonist and the others are him walking on his own. I have found the process challenging and rewarding as at first it seemed extremely complicated but is now relatively simple.

I have been using the rotobrush tool to isolate Brad in the composition layer and then changing the colour scheme for the background to black and white. this is quite a drawn out process because each frame must first be checked to see if the rotobrush outline is accurate, as often it gets confused by people walking in front of it. This reflects that after effects revolves around the user educating the programme to give footage the desired effct.                                                                                       

 

Group - Editing update

Group - Print Progression (resources)

BWB - Reflection on drama studio shoot

Who, Where When?

• On the 17th November our sixth form had an own clothes day as part of a fundraiser for the sixth form charity. We decided to make the most of this and take the opportunity to shoot our "Party" scene at 12:30. I explained the concept of our video in an assembly earlier that day and asked for volunteers to come to the drama studio at lunch and be a part of our video. This proved successful as we managed to get a group of 20 people together at lunchtime which was the number we required. During my free period an hour before we filmed, me and Ollie we went to get some props including balloons and plastic cups in our efforts to transform the drama studio to a stereotypical party scene. When we came back from getting the props Mr Fiveash and Mr Pearce kindly helped us set the lights up in the drama studio and with the props added into to the room we managed to successfully emulate the look we were after. Everyone arrived at 12:30 and we had finished filming and clearing up at about 10 to 1.

My role in Production

• My role in the shot was to collect the props as previously mentioned and make the most of my free time before lunch to successfully transform the drama studio into a realistic party scene. Furthermore I played a significant role in getting a large group of people together so we had enough people to act in the dance scene and successfully briefed our concept before we began filming so everybody had a clear understanding on what we were looking for them to do. In addition to this I carried on my role of the main character when we started filming featuring in almost every scene.

What were your best shots?

• Our best shots where achieved when using the steadicam as Ollie went through the crowds of people dancing catching footage in 60 frames per second which have now been slowed down and look really effective. The majority of our footage was shot in this format and when put onto our editing software all looks very professional.

How useful was the shot list?

•  The shot list was only really used for our first two shots in the drama studio of me swiping my hand across the lens complying with our narrative and brought the party to life. Other than this we quite simply improvised as all the actors did an excellent job of dancing and representing youths at a stereotypical party. This enabled Oli to go round and film whatever footage he deemed necessary.

Any problematic shots?

• We had an issue when filming the swipe across the camera. This was due to the very high amplitude on the camera meaning that the background was very dark and it is quite hard to see the actors in the distance, however we believe this issue can be rectified by enhancing the lighting on our editing software. A further shot we weren't able to successfully achieve was the high angle shot. This was due to the incorrect framing, you can see to much of the background such as book cases and stacked up chairs, so we were unable to use that piece of footage. Overall it was a very successful shoot, considering the large amount of people involved and the short space of time we had.

FC - reflection on shoot 2.

On Friday the 13th of November Me, Ollie, Brad and Luca went to London to shoot the main part of our video. We progressed along the Southbank and ticked off every shot on the shot list as we filmed, when we got to London a storm was brewing so we made good use of our time and decided to venture into the Tate Modern. We used the colourful art expeditions in our footage, this was helpful as our main theme is colour, the footage also helps convey a positive message abut youth because it creates the illusion that young people spend their spare time at art expeditions. I feel we were able to make good use of our time because we had planned well before hand and managed to shoot a useable amount of quality footage.

My personal contribution was Directing people out of our shot as well as filming all the footage we collected with three characters in shot. If I had to describe my contribution in one one word, that word would be pivotal.

The shot list was extremely useful during filming because it saved us a lot of time due to the fact that it meant we already knew what shot we had to get next before we started filming it. This was very different from our practice shoot with the powder because we had a much clearer idea in our heads of the shots we needed.

Best shots: the best shot we filmed was the extreme longshot of Brad from a birds eye view which then panned towards the river Thames. although the shot was a thing of beauty it is quite a slow moving shot so its usability in our video is questionable because it may not fit with our rapid cutting rate.

Some shots were problematic to film not because they were to complex but because the weather was ghastly. whilst filming the shots of Luca being "brought to life" the rain was pouring down like no ones business so we went to the Tate modern seeking cover, we found this cover along with an abundance of Art.

BWB - Reflection on London shoot

When where and who?
On Friday 13th Me, Ollie, Freddie and Luca (Cast) travelled up to London to film the bulk of our footage which we wish to emulate in our final piece. We departed at London Bridge and made our way over to Southwark. When we arrived the weather was awful, the skies were grey and the rain was torrential. Instead of wasting time waiting for the rain to stop we decided to go to Tate modern and film some footage which was not originally on the shot list. After filming in here for about 45 minutes, the rain cleared up and we began to film throughout Southbank.

My role in Production
I was the main actor throughout the video. The task was relatively simple as I created a detailed shot list and we had the animatic up on youtube which I could follow. The main challenges I faced was working into big crowds to achieve the crowd shots and choreographing a dance routine in a built up area infront of a large audience.

How useful was the shot list?
I spent a lot of time in creating the shot list before we left to go to London. The time was proven to be well spent as it helped us organise and maintain clarity of our shots throughout the day, ticking off each shot as we completed it. We could constantly refer back to the call sheet at any point of the day to see how much more we had to film, what point we were at, and what acting/ camera position was required. However the shot list was not used at the beginning of the day when we improvised and filmed in an internal location due to the bad weather.

What where your best shots?
We managed to achieve an excellent panning shot whilst at Tate modern. Ollie, Freddie and Luca all stood on the balcony a good 20-30M high, whilst I was down below in a courtyard. The footage see's me walking away from the building and towards the river, as I get further away the camera pans upwards and slowly zooms really optimising the view of London and making full use of the clear blue skies. In addition to this other good shots included the action match shot of the camera panning down from the sky to an other the shoulder shot of me leaning over the bridge and the high angle shot of me walking with a large crowd of people.

 Any problematic shots?
We had some problems with some of the simple over the shoulder shots due to zoom on the camera. It meant for many of the shots the cameraman would have to stand a few metres further back to make sure the characters where in frame. However we dealt with this issue well and made full use of the day in London.