Shoot Day

Out shoot was on monday the 8th of November and so we got chance to set up most of the first set on the friday afternoon before the shoot. This meant that on monday we got in the studio at 9 am and we didn't have to spend much time at all making sure that the set was perfect. That morning because I am the only day student in my house I was able to bring bags of my clothing and my brothers clothing for the band, the vines and flowers for the swing and my mother who used to be a make up artist to do the make-up. When we got in all spilt up into little groups and a few tended to the singer of the band making sure that the dress that she was going to wear was defiantly okay and seeing to my mother to make sure that she was okay doing the make-up on shoot. The other group the put up the vines and the flowers on the swing and made it as thematic, dramatic and beautiful as possible. After this was done we could then set up the camera on the tripod and got the track ready for playback. Again se spilt up into little groups one ensured that the singer Karris was okay in the bird cage and any tracking or dollying that may be needed were there. After checking that the camera was ready checking things such as battery, memory cards and colour baring was done then we could more on to the next phase. First of all we all took time out to playback the song with Karris to ensure that she knew what she was doing and we told her how to act in certain parts of the song and where to be standing. We all knew what we wanted her to be doing in out heads so it was no problem going through it together. We were also jumping and dancing around on the outside of the cage to help her feel really comfortable as possible. We also found that we had to turn up the music a bit because she may have felt a little uncomfortable sining it for real with everyone could hear her. We then spilt up for a little again. We first of all talked to the lighting guys about what lighting we wanted and faced a few problems about the shadows of the cage on her face and also the lights were at different colour temperature at the back of the cage compared to the colour at the front which caused a problem for white balancing. On the other hand it gave us a chance for our main actor to practice it a few more times and get into the role of her character. On top of this we found out that we didn't have any dry ice which we hoped for. we tried out doing a smoke machine but it looked really bad on screen. All of this in consideration we ended up filming at about half past 11 am. With only a few more hours until lunch and with the amount that we had to shoot we had to get a move on. We started with the statics of the close up, mid shots and long shots. Long shots also posed a problem, because we didn't have a dry ice the floor was not covered how we would have liked it to be and the floor gave it a studio like feel and it didn't look so effective so ended up getting a huge black sheet to cover the studio floor which looked so much better. After completing all of the statics when then moved on to tracking. We quickly put the tracks down a did a little practice shots before we shot some really nice shots. We then moved on to the track out shot which I don't thing was as effective as we first hoped because of the focus being problem. We then had the idea of shooting Karris on the cherry picker over the top of the bird cage. This we shot in slow motion and turned out to be a really beautiful shot. For this we also had to show her how to act for this because she wasn't singing. We were very lucky that our actress was so patient and co-operative. After this we felt that it was about time for a good lunch break for all of the team. When we returned we felt refreshed and ready to get back into action. The moral and energy was still very high thoughout the group. We when straight into shooting with the feathers. We got the cherry pickers, ladders and fans of the floor to throw the feathers from. When play back was played the entered team was on set throwing 2000 goose feather at Karris. It was loads of fun to shoot and the entire production team agreed. What wasn't so fun was picking up the 2000 goose feathers from the floor. Everyone including the whole team and AS and A2 photographers all had to help with picking them up which meant that even though it was annoying it was done much quicker. In this we experimented with a few slow-motion shots which looked absolutely beautiful. For this part of the video we could only do statics because there was the cherry picker and ladder that were too close to the set to be able to do any panning or tracking. This didn't matter though because we knew we were going to do some fast cutting to make it more exciting. The next part of the filming didn't go so swimmingly. We had to get the band in there costumes and get them ready. We set them up against a black background for the feathers because doing green screen like we originally planned, would have been a nightmare to edit. We only did the feather part of the song with the band and after a few minuets of filming we found out that even though we had done a good job on choosing our leading lady our band casting wasn't so good. The band didn't know how to play their instruments very well and because we were running out on time they didn't really get a chance to get into it properly. Possibly if w spent more time on it them it would have been really great but I just don't think that it worked at all. After shooting each band member together and the individually we decided not ot carry on with the band on the green screen. This was a disappointment but the cage shooting went so well I didn't mind to much and was still feeling positive bout it. We called it a wrap and started packing up.

In some productions it is important for each member of our group to have a role so everyone can get on with what they are doing and everything will be organised. On the other hand because there were so little of us we thought that we would all work together taking turn on each role during the so that it was fair. On the day we did have our set team, lighting team and camera ream helping us but we were completely in control of what each group was doing. I think as a team we worked really well together because we all has the same idea of what we wanted to do in our heads and because each one of us is able to step back for a bit and let someone else direct for a bit or be on the camera for a bit I couldn't see this causing any problems, and it didn't. We each had a go doing each job and a few others that weren't so obvious. All in all I think we three girls all had the same amount of authority and jobs to do and it worked really well and I am very glad that we decided to do it like that.

I myself did many things on set. first f all I help create, build and decorate the set before the shoot. On the day I went though the moves and the acting with our main girl Karris before the filming begun. When the shooting began I started off doing the play back. Even though I would like more to be completely involved I did enjoy dancing on the set helping the actor get into it and to help lively up the spirits of the crew who by the end of the song were joining in with the dancing themselves. Also if I saw the screen in which the video was being played back on I could give little tips to the camera man saying what I thought worked and didn't work so even though I was at the back doing my job I was still helping out anywhere that I could during the song. I then went on camera for a bit which was the part that I enjoyed the most. I really love being behind the camera and felt confident in what I was doing and trying to make beautiful scenes. I thought that I did quite a good job as camera man because I have had quite a bit of experience of being behind the camera. I then started doing little jobs around the set that needed to be done. For example I was cable basher for the panning shots which is one of my least favourite jobs because I found it quite dull but I still enjoyed watching the performer dancing in her cage. I then might take a little itme out so that I could get some photos for when we do the digital pack and make the front cover so I was also photographer for the day in-between al of this so I was always always kept busy. In the second half of the day I became director shouting orders and demanding quite! I found this really fun and I really love looking at the screen and deciding for myself what works and what doesn't and if it doesn't what not and who needs to be where ect. When you are playing director you very much feel like this is your creation and even though there may be other people filming or making the set or lighting look good you still fell like it is your creative art work that is being played back to you on screen. I loved this role and really delve in whole heartily.

The set was one of the things that I am most proud of in this music video. The set was a huge 12 foot golden bird cage with a swing in the middle. We connected the set with the title of the song beige 'Bird Song' although we had no intensions of dressing her as a bird. The character in song fells trapped and encaged with the guilt that she has committed a desperately embarrassing or/and sinful act. This guilt she cannot shake not matter how ouch she tries to talk her self out of it. So I thought that it would be really appropriate to have her in this huge cage. We tried to make it look really classic and classy so and as real as possible. to build this we had Dan help us build the set and then our group printed it in first white base coat then browse and the sprayed it gold. This took a long couple of days to get ready but I think the end product was amazing. We also wanted a garden like swing to but in the ache so that it made it visually a bit more exciting. We hung the rope down from the ceiling and made the swing quite wide to give it that old look we were looking for. Over the weekends I myself went out and brought the decoration for it which included the fake flowers form Notcutts which I think gave it a really fairy tale like pretty innocent touch to it. I then got two really long pretty vines which were from Santa Fur a shop which actually sells christmas decorations. When they were all put on the sing and light up they look absolutely stunning and it looked really atmospheric and thematic.


This year for filming we used the few and improved cameras from last year which are the Sony NX5 HD. This is a much higher quality picture because instead of using film like we did last year it is now digital and on a card format. This means that it is a lot faster and easier to transfer onto a computer. These cameras are really easy to use and can be used by anyone because it is easy to find where the white balance is and how to colour bar. I find these cameras so much better to use then the cameras last year. Also this camera gave us the real huge opportunity to shoot in slow-motion which was a real benefit with out video because she was full of energy and jumping around with the feathers falling it all looked so effective on camera. This was really exciting for us and I am so pleased about how some of these shots have worked out. We never used hand held camera because we didn't want that sense of realism that the hand held give it because of our fairy tale like atmosphere. So we put it on Nibten tripod which made sure that it was steady all the time and makes it easy to pan or tilt and zoom at the same time

Through out the video we had loads of different light everywhere but as a photography once said to me the more lights you have the more trouble your creating for yourself. I think this was defiantly the case in out case we had to have loads of different lights to make it look right but because there were so many different ones it caused a problem. We used the movers on the ceiling which where controlled by a panel on a desk below which are called movers. They allow spot light to be anywhere in the studio from above. We then also used red heads and blondes to fill in the shadows of the bars on her face. All the lights were really useful and it was really important for me to be able to see how all the different filters and light works to help create a mood because in photography I only really like to use one point lighting so using a lot of lights was sort of new to me. LAst year in the thriller I didn't really pay much attention to the lights as I did this year.

We wanted to get some tracking in our shots to create more of a sense of depth and excitement in the video. We did a 180 degree track around the front of the cage which looked really effecting and the big bars created some really good cutting points for when we come to editing the video. This also allowed the audience to get more up close and personal with the artist and connect to her. We also did a track out at the beginning of the song so that we can slowly revile the bird cage to create high impact in the beginning couple of seconds. We did this by taking off the tripod that the camera was on put it on a dolly which has 3 wheels like a shopping trolly so can move in all directions, however we wanted it to look more smooth and accurate and easier so we put it on tracks. This allows us just to walk with the camera without having to worry about what we are going to walk into.

Though out the course of the day we came across loads of difficult problems that we had to over come and some of them were more serious then others. Out first problem was the lighting on the set. At first we were just using the movers on the ceiling but as well started filming and told her to move around the stage we realised that this long wasn't good enough because there were shadows on her face from the bars of the bird cage. This didn't look good at all so we tried moving around the movers but that still didn't work because there would still be bars on her face. We then opted to use some red heads and blonde heads and put them just below eye level to council out the bars and this worked really well however it did pose noter problem. Because all the lights were different the colour balance was different at the back of the cage to the font of the cage. These means that we had to spend ages putting different types of blue jells on the blondes and reds and the movers. Eventually we got it right and could carry on filming.

The next problem we had was the floor. Unfortunately there was no dry ice liked we asked and so the floor was bare. This meant that there were loads of impurities on the floor and it didn't look good on camera. We tried using the smoke machine to give it a little atmosphere and coverage for the floor but it didn't work and just looked a bit silly. We had the idea of putting a huge sheet on the ground that we the same material os the one used for the backdrop. This made the floor look so much better and more professional.

The major problem that we had that was was the band. Even though out casting for the main girl was inspired and a very good choose because she was patient, friendly and co-operative the band was a different story. The band that we originally wanted were unable to do it because even though the students said they could do it the teachers told us otherwise so we had to get a back up band. It turned out that none of them can actually play their instruments and even though they were all really up for it they didn't have the stage presents like we wanted and it all looked really fake and uncomfortable. We did the first couple of shots and a few closes ups but we didn't get onto the second part of the song with them with the green screen because we thought that we probably wouldn't use them in out final cut which is a shame but I think it would have made the video look really bad.

In all the shoots that we took there were a few which I really really loved. Most of them were the slow-motion shots because with the feathers and her long hair moving around it looked really effective. One shot in particular that I liked was the very end shot. We got her in a close up against the bars with the feather floating by her face. this looked really good because the framing wasn't applying to the rule of thirds which made her look quite edgy and rebellious. Another shot treat I liked was another slow-motion where she turned and jump and it was so effective and she went from the right to the left so even though she had quite an aggressive face on she still looked like a good person. One more that got me excited was the one from above her turning around on the swing. It was so smooth and peaceful it look beautiful.

Shots that I thought didn't work were the long shots. I think that they don't have much atmosphere and don't offer much to the video. It stuck to the composition rules with the cage being put on the left of the frame but still didn't look quite right. I also thought that loads of the band shots just didn't work because of the actors not look very good and some of the camera work was quite awkward and it didn't look 'cool' like how we imagined it. The track out wasn't very good either because as you track out and she starts swing she gets of of focus and it looks really odd and not very professional in my opinion and I don't think we will use it in our final edit.

Over all I think that the shoot went half well and half bad I walked away knowing that we had loads of shots to work with and that will look really effective yet I was really disappointed about how the band shooting went. I thought that we worked really well together as a team and the moral of the team stayed high for the entire day. I really enjoyed myself and I love playing all the roles that I did and I think it was a really good experience and one that I could learn a lot from.