After an initial mix up with the cameras, we finally got around to shooting our video. It took us all by surprise just how much effort was needed in order for us to begin filming, but after setting out goals for each day of filming, we eventually accomplished our video.
The first day of filming took us to Jack's house, where we would capture the group of boys hanging out and then getting ready for a night out. In total it took us about two and a half hours to get literally two minutes of film. At the beginning we struggled in assigning everyone different jobs to do. Obviously Jacks task was to act, so that left me, Vickie and Becca to arrange the camera work and setting and extra things like the clapper board.
Once we were organised, everything began to fall into place!
After filming our initial shots, we decided to take extra shots that we could possibly use as establishing shots. This way the audience would get a feel for the environment and things would become clearer. As we were based in a boys bedroom, we opted to take shots of alcohol and did one big pan shot from right to left, so that the whole bedroom would be included. To do this shot we placed the camera on a tripod, eliminating any jolts in the camera movement. We made sure the camera was securely positioned on the tripod before we began to film and adjusted the height of the stand, so that we had a better view of what it was we were filming. We tried to include several different shots, this included a close up shot of shot glasses, a zoom into a display of alcohol and numerous others. Some of these shots featured in our video, whilst others didn't due to running out of time to fit them in with the song.
Some of the shots took 2-3 times to get right. This is why it was really handy that we used a clapper board we had made. The clapper board allowed us to jot down which of the shots were good and which ones could be discarded. As Jack's room was fairly small, we had to compromise when filming, as for the amount of people in the room, there wasn't really enough space for everyone to move around. Becca was first to use the camera, whilst I used the clapper board. When it came to my turn to film, I was quite hesitant due to the lack of the room we had. After discussing where I should be positioned, we decided that it would be best for me to sit up against a wall on Jack's bed and place the camera on top of my knees in order to keep the camera steady. This seemed to work and we were able to gets some good shots.
However, before I could begin filming, I needed to make sure the settings on the camera were correct. This involved me changing the 'White Balance' from outdoors settings to indoors. This allowed us to achieve consistency of colour in our footage. And also the manual focus. This allowed us to set the focus precisely before we begun filming the shot. Without paying attention to these two important settings, many of our videos shots would consist of poor camera work and would not be good enough to include in a music video!
4th February 2010:
This day we captured back what footage we currently had and begun editing. To edit, we used the Mac programme "Final Cut Pro". At first I found this programme really hard to use, but after practising, it slowly became clearer. In order to edit our film, we had to use the 'razor' tool in order to cut the parts we did not want to use. As we were limited to how much we could edit, due to us not having a lot of film, there was not a lot we could do here, but it gave us a really good chance to get use to the programme and understand what exactly we could do with our footage. I enjoyed the editing part, as it allowed me to learn many new skills and provided me with an insight into how I could help improve our video.
12th February 2010:
On this day I was unable to help out with the filming due to work commitments. So the other members of our group went to Becca's house to film the exact same as what was filmed at Jacks, however this time, the girls.
16th and 18th February 2010:
We planned to film on these two days, but due to poor weather conditions, we did not want to risk damaging the cameras, so we decided against filming.
23rd February 2010:
This day we captured back the footage the group had recorded at Becca's house and began our assembly edit. At this point we were yet to upload our song to the timeline, so it was hard to sync the footage with the song, as we were unsure what parts would go with what parts of the song.
Another problem we were having was getting everyone together to continue filming. Becca's friends were unable to make certain days we had set out to film due to work commitments, etc. This became difficult as it set us back quite a while with our filming. Had this not been a problem, our filming would have been done a lot quicker.
2nd March 2010:
On this day we managed to get all the boys together and headed down to Brighton to film the main sections of our video. The boys were really professional and helped us out a lot. We were given a slightly different camera to use this time and at first it was a bit daunting as we were not sure how to use it. However, after having a good look, we soon figured it out. As we were filming outdoors this time, we made sure the "White Balance" was set to outdoors. This camera was quite a bit bigger than the previous one we used and we found it far easier to keep steady when we were doing handheld shots, as we could rest it on our shoulders.
One of the shots involved the boys driving past Brighton Pavilion (we only used part of this long shot in our video). Because we only came down to Brighton in two cars, Jack had to drive his, so was unable to be in the video for this shot. To overcome this, I dressed up in Jack's hoody, put the hood up and pretended to be him in the other car. Fortunately the shot worked and you are unable to tell that it was in fact me in the car and not Jack.
(I am the left hand person in the back).
We tried to stick to our storyboards as best we could when filming in Brighton, however it became hard in certain circumstances, so we took extra footage to use just in case we were unable to capture what our storyboards entail. One of these shots included an establishing shot of Brighton Pier. This way our audience would be aware of where our video is set.
(print screen from the video)
After we had finished filming in Brighton, Becca went home and filmed the next stages of her and friends going out. Unfortunately one of Becca's friends dropped out at the last minute, so the footage only contained two girls at this point. What was even more annoying was the darkness outside. When we shot the boys footage it was still light, we did this around 4:00pm. Yet when Becca got back to her house, its was really dark outside. However, it was decided to go ahead with filming as we knew we were not going to get another chance to film these particular scenes and we would rather have the footage to put into our video, then to have none. One problem with this however is the continuity of our video. To go from light to dark to light again will look very unprofessional, however like I said before, we were not able to get these shots again, so we had to make do with what we had.
9th March 2010:
This lesson we continued editing. In an hours lesson we got roughly 10 seconds complete. It took us such a long time as we were deciding on what exact bits we wanted to incorporate into our video. One particular piece that took us quite a while to film was when it shows the boys getting up off the bed. This is approximately seven seconds into the video. At this point in the song, a repetition of the sound "B" is used and we thought it would be a good idea to reverse the shot of the boys getting off the bed for it to fit with the music. We are really happy with how this has turned out.
24th March 2010:
This was our last day to film and we still had quite a lot to do. Unfortunately, Becca's friends were not able to make it, so we had no other choice but for me and Vickie to play the roles of the other females. Luckily our previous footage doesn't really show Becca's friend, so this worked out well for us. Another complication that arose was what are ending would be. Initially we wanted to end at a club, but as we were filming around 5:00pm, none of the clubs were open. To compromise, we decided to use the Pier as our end. This worked out really well, and we got some really good point of view shots. We were not able to film inside the Pier, as a security guard told us we need permission to do so, but evidently we got some great footage from the outside of the Pier.
9th March 2010:
This lesson we continued editing. In an hours lesson we got roughly 10 seconds complete. It took us such a long time as we were deciding on what exact bits we wanted to incorporate into our video. One particular piece that took us quite a while to film was when it shows the boys getting up off the bed. This is approximately seven seconds into the video. At this point in the song, a repetition of the sound "B" is used and we thought it would be a good idea to reverse the shot of the boys getting off the bed for it to fit with the music. We are really happy with how this has turned out.
24th March 2010:
This was our last day to film and we still had quite a lot to do. Unfortunately, Becca's friends were not able to make it, so we had no other choice but for me and Vickie to play the roles of the other females. Luckily our previous footage doesn't really show Becca's friend, so this worked out well for us. Another complication that arose was what are ending would be. Initially we wanted to end at a club, but as we were filming around 5:00pm, none of the clubs were open. To compromise, we decided to use the Pier as our end. This worked out really well, and we got some really good point of view shots. We were not able to film inside the Pier, as a security guard told us we need permission to do so, but evidently we got some great footage from the outside of the Pier.
(Both groups at the entrance to the pier)
We then went back and finished editing our video. This took a while, but we feel we did the best we could and are happy with the end result.
Preparation:
When filming we made sure we had our clapper board. We used a small white board and board marker for this. It worked really well! Not only did it allow us to note which take we would be using, but it also gave us a better insight as to how we should be prepared in such circumstances.
Along with the clapperboard, we used a shooting script. This enabled us to see what shots we would use for our video and in what order. At first we followed the shooting script, but after we began editing, we found it would take us far longer to complete our video had we stuck exactly to what the shooting script said.
When we captured our film back, I found it easier to actually name the different shots. This allowed us to be far more organised and ultimately made things a lot easier when it came to finding particular shots that were needed.
When it was my turn to film, I made sure that I recorded an extra couple of seconds before our actors begun and after the initial scene had taken place. By doing this, I hoped to capture some good footage (especially after the scene had taken place) as our actors would then be out of character and their actions would be more natural, which could possibly provide us with some good/real emotion for our video. My other group members also did this step and we managed to capture some fairly good footage by doing it.
Techniques:
When filming we made sure we had our clapper board. We used a small white board and board marker for this. It worked really well! Not only did it allow us to note which take we would be using, but it also gave us a better insight as to how we should be prepared in such circumstances.
Along with the clapperboard, we used a shooting script. This enabled us to see what shots we would use for our video and in what order. At first we followed the shooting script, but after we began editing, we found it would take us far longer to complete our video had we stuck exactly to what the shooting script said.
When we captured our film back, I found it easier to actually name the different shots. This allowed us to be far more organised and ultimately made things a lot easier when it came to finding particular shots that were needed.
When it was my turn to film, I made sure that I recorded an extra couple of seconds before our actors begun and after the initial scene had taken place. By doing this, I hoped to capture some good footage (especially after the scene had taken place) as our actors would then be out of character and their actions would be more natural, which could possibly provide us with some good/real emotion for our video. My other group members also did this step and we managed to capture some fairly good footage by doing it.
Techniques:
- One of the most important factors we had to consider when using the camera was the automatic focus. Without changing this, the camera is able to focus on anything that came into the frame. To overcome this problem we changed the setting to Manual focus. This allowed the camera person to choose what they wanted to focus on, which provided us with clearer and more professional shots.
- Another important aspect we needed to take into consideration was the White Balance. The white balance allows you to achieve consistency in your footage and it was vital that we achieved this. When we filmed indoors we made sure that a lightbulb symbol appeared on the screen, this indicated that it was set to the right balance. In contrast, when we filmed outdoors, we made sure a sun symbol appeared, this obviously highlighting that it was the correct setting for filming outside.
Things not achieved:
Unfortunately, we were unable to get the shots of the girls on the bus. We were really annoyed that we couldn't capture these as it would have not only made our video more visually exciting, but we also could have got some great shots, i.e. the CCTV footage! We attempted to film on a bus, but due to complications, the bus driver would not allow it. This is why during the video you will see the girls making their journey by foot.
Also as stated above, our ending was different. We really wanted it to end with the two groups meeting at a club, but due to the time of day that we were filming, all of the clubs in Brighton were shut. Luckily we had a plan B and used the Pier as our end point. This worked really well and we are all happy with the outcome.
Unfortunately, we were unable to get the shots of the girls on the bus. We were really annoyed that we couldn't capture these as it would have not only made our video more visually exciting, but we also could have got some great shots, i.e. the CCTV footage! We attempted to film on a bus, but due to complications, the bus driver would not allow it. This is why during the video you will see the girls making their journey by foot.
Also as stated above, our ending was different. We really wanted it to end with the two groups meeting at a club, but due to the time of day that we were filming, all of the clubs in Brighton were shut. Luckily we had a plan B and used the Pier as our end point. This worked really well and we are all happy with the outcome.
As a group we decided not to use more complex shots such as depths of field and pull focus. Although with time these shots can easily be accomplished and can enhance the visual effects of the footage, we thought considering the genre of music and speed to which our chosen song fits to, these shots wouldn't be necessary, as our video consists of a lot of quick, fast shots. Which ultimately wouldn't allow the full effect of these shots to be noticed.
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