Filming Session - Improved Footage 2

That night after further editing to our music video we went back to Lewis' to film more Lip syncing to add for the music video. This would complete our objective list for improving our music video to create a more realistic one. We filmed Lewis' friend as he was the lead singer in the performance we had previously filmed so it would only make sense we video him. We gathered a mix of mid shots and low angle shots which represent the lead singer is important in the video as well as the song. This adds variety to the music video meaning it isn't boring in a way using the same shots all of the time, adding quirkiness. We had finally completed the filming for the music video and all there was to do to now was to finish the editing. I felt that this was needed in order to add more performance to our music video as this wa one of our criticisms in our audience feedback. Overall today was successful as it meant we could now mix up our performance with our narrative.

Filming Session - Improved Footage

The day after our discussion (2nd April) we decided we would film the footage that we would use to improve our music video this included two different shots. One filming two of us in different colored morph suits performing robotic movements so we perform repetitive reverse edits used to cut up some of the shots in the narrative to create continuity and fluency in the music video. I felt that this was a great idea as it will allow the audience to stay engaged in the music video. This footage would include mid shots of both people in morph suits as well as low angle shots capturing the feet and legs of the person in each morph suit this would give us plenty of footage to play with in terms of breaking up the long shots used in the narrative. The other shot would be used in the narrative to indicate where the narrative goes to the audience, this being the main character waking up to the narrative being a nightmare. We would capture this identically as we did in the first scene of the music video being a mid shot positioned at the end of the main characters bed, but this time capturing him waking up with a relieved face after facing a nightmare. Overall a successful day of filming ticking one of our objectives off of our improvement list.

Film Session - 'Performance'

A week later (29th January) after discussing what were going to use in terms of performance, we were going to film. We decided to change our idea of filming inside Lewis' house and instead decide to film inside his garden where I thought it would give more of an outstanding effect to the lighting as well as the smoke from the smoke machine in the darkness. We also had the help from some of Lewis' friends who volunteered to take part in our music video such as the performance. So we waited for an hour whilst setting up the performance in terms of positioning the instruments, lighting and the smoke machine. We also identified where we could capture different shots within the video.
Then we had a major drawback being that it had started to rain which meant we couldn't film outside as the equipment would have been ruined. So we went back inside trying to think of a solution. We were determined to get the filming done today so decided that we should go back to our initial plan of filming inside Lewis' house. This way it wouldn't postpone any progress we were making in the development of our music video.
So we tried to replicate the layout of the setup outside inside Lewis' living room. Eventually we were ready to start filming. We all got dressed up in Morphsuits which has an example of one in a previous post. This should add to the anonymous theme of the band. I felt that this helped contribute to the bands anonymous nature and add to the convention of an electronic music video being vibrant colours. Morph suits add vibrant colours to the shot which is also a convention of an Electronic music video coding for fun and excitement as well as mysterious. We decided to assign each person in the performance a role of an instrument and then swap them at different stages of the footage with the same camera shot so when we edit it looks like each member of the band are swapping stations. I felt this added to the theme of repetitiveness. We also gathered panning shots of the performance capturing it in motion which I added continuity and fluency of the footage. After 2 hours of filming capturing around one and a half hours of footage we called it a day and decided that we would start the editing process of the music video on Monday back at school. Overall I felt that this was the best footage we had gathered as we could introduce a variety of shots and had tonnes of footage to play with allowing quirky edits to be heavily involved (a convenion of an electronic music video).

Film Session - 'Gym' Scene

The next day after discussing the Gym scene we decided to head down to the school gym and get filming. Firstly we had to go to the P.E Office and ask for permission to use the Gym otherwise it wouldn't be possible to film. Once we had access to the gym we went down and set up the camera for the first being a High angle shot of the main character (Lewis) performing sit-ups, and then gathered footage of other shots such as low angle shots of the main character performing other exercises on other machines. I felt that these were the most appropriate shots to consider as we could use these shots to provide quirkiness later on in the editing stages of the video adding to the convention of an electronic music video being quirky. Within 30 minutes we had finished the filming of this scene and was ready to transfer the footage from the memory card to the Apple Mac and ready to start editing along with the other footage we had gathered so far. This was helpful as it mean that we were timing ourselves well creating the music chronologically.Some of the shots I disagreed with as the lighting wasn't suitable meaning it it looked unprofessional so in the end we decided to get rid of them shots but overall successful.

Film Session - 'Office' Scene

Today during our media lesson we decided we would film our office scene. We as a group all contributed when setting up the scene, finally creating an office environment. Once we had finished this we decided to use a mid-shot of the main character (Lewis) working by taking telephone calls and stamping papers. This bit of footage had to be played with the audio in the background to help us envisage what it would look like in music video. We tried not to capture any of the classroom background as it would give an unprofessional and inconsistent look to the music video. When the chorus is introduced into the song where the lyrics 'Over and Over' are heard is where the stamping would take place as it keeps in with the theme of repetitiveness.
Once we had finished filming the office scene we tidied away all of the props and put them back into their proper place and then uploaded the footage of the office scene onto Final Cut Express where we could get ready to edit the footage the next day.

Film Session - 'Journey to work' Scene

For our second piece of footage Me and Lewis travelled to Canary Wharf to film the journey to work. In order for the audience to understand this was a journey we needed to incorporate some means of transport so we captured a shot of the main character walking into Woodford station so the audience can identify this footage to be a journey. This I thought was essential and meaningful. We went to film the main character on the platform so we could introduce some quirky edits later in the editing stage but unfortunately it was too difficult as people were always interrupting the footage which was a Little annoying but we understood. Once at Canary Wharf we had some trouble in filming outside some of the buildings as they required a permit from us to allow us to film. So instead of using the tripod we used hand held shots to bring less attention to ourselves. We tried to capture shots that code for repetitiveness and so we gathered footage of the main character walking through revolving doors and walking up escalators at Canary Wharf which we felt we could use effectively in our music video. Overall I felt today went well apart from the slight interruption from filming outside some of the buildings but at least we had some footage which we both were happy with.

Film Session - Opening Scene

Today we filmed our first bit of footage for our music video and overall it was successful apart from one of our group members not being able to attend as he was ill. We gathered footage that would show the main characters daily wake up routine where we captured lots of different shots so we had more footage to play with when editing as well as incorporate more shots into the video so it isn't slow and boring instead allowing us to use rhythmic editing in our music video. This came to mind after researching Carol Vernallis who suggested that every cut or edit in a music video needs to be in sync with the music so that there is a rhythmic basis closely connected to the song. So we decided that we would use this theory to make our music video more interesting by cutting to the beat and this is why we gathered a lot of different shots.
Overall I found that our first taste of filming for our music video was successful and happy to have gathered our first bit of footage.