MEDIA COURSEWORK : December 2015

What did you do the day before, to set up for your shoot day?

The day before our shoot day my group and myself set up the studio. As our set in the studio was very simple it made this task easy. Our set in the studio consisted of using a black back drop, with 5 red light sticks that were held up against a black plank of wood on the floor. We used black curtains to cover the entire room so the red lights would become very bright/luminous. As our shoot day was the next day once we set everything up we tested it to make sure everything was working, which is was so we unplugged all the plugs and went home.

When I got home I arranged for our dancer, Hannah to come to my house at 4.00pm so I could help her get ready for the next day and I could go through the choreography with her one more time. In doing this it really helped as any last questions she wanted to ask me I could answer which helped her stay relaxed on the day.

Even though I was already with our dancer, Hannah my group member Lucas sent a last minute message to everyone explaining what they needed to remember to bring which was very helpful. My task was to remember to bring makeup for Hannah, her costume and a bathrobe that she could put on in-between filming.

Below is a copy of the message:

Hey group members!

This is just a message to remind you guys what you have to bring tommorow for our music video shoot 🏽
Group Members:
Kai: You have to bring the Acne Studios jumper for Hannah 🏽

Hannah: You have to bring in the makeup for Hannah, as well as her main costume and a bath robe.

Actors:
Joe: You have to bring in your costume, which includes the black t-shirt we discussed, the Palace black hoodie, the Black North Face puffer Jacket, the black Carhart pants and the adidas shelltoe shoes.

Hannah:
You need to bring in your hair straigtener and some of your own make up!

Dont forget! See you tommorow 🏽

As my group member Kai booked the hotel, where most of our filming took place she rang them to confirm that it was still definitely ok for us to come at 1.00pm which they said was fine and they were delighted to be having us.

How did you feel when you woke up on the morning of your shoot day?

On the morning of our shoot day I felt very excited, I woke up with our dancer, Hannah as she stayed at my house and we got ready together. Whilst getting ready we discussed how we thought the day would plan out which made us more relaxed as we then felt more organised. I was of course nervous as I wanted everything to run perfectly and I was particularly worried about fitting all of our filming into one day. However once I got to school and our actors were ready and dressed I couldn't wait to start.

How well prepared were you when you arrived for the shoot, what did you have to do before you started shooting?

Thankfully, everyone involved in our shoot arrived on time which meant that we could start straight away. Although I had already rehearsed the dance with Hannah plenty of times the night before, when we got to school I asked our artist if he could meet us in the studio to run the dance through a few times as I did not want it to look awkward/silly on camera if they did not know what they were doing. As we set up everything the day before it meant we did not have to do anything on the morning of the shoot. We plugged all of the lights in and set up the camera making this process very simple and stress free.

Describe what the studio looked like when you started to shoot, how well do you feel you managed to create the look of your concept?

As we set up five red light sticks which were attached to a black plank of wood on the floor it meant that we could film in two different ways. For example I positioned the artist and our dancer behind the red light sticks which made them look as if they were trapped which would of created a very mysterious atmosphere to our video and we also shot our dancer and artist to left hand side of the light sticks so the light reflected onto their faces and bodies which meant we could not see that they were light sticks.

When filming these shots my group and myself preferred the shots of our dancer and artist to the left of the lights where you could not see them as we felt this would make our video seem minimalistic which is what we intended to do. However we felt if we shot two styles then we wouldn't be left short of shots, incase we ran out of footage when it came to editing.

When we got to the hotel, none of us knew what it was going to look like; so we were all pretty nervous. However when we got there my group and myself were really pleased as it was just what we imagined. The hotel room was very big which meant that we each had enough room to move around in and there was enough room for our dance section to take place.

As we wanted our hotel room to be flooded with red lights we took six red light sticks with us and plotted them around the room, we then turned the main lights off which meant the whole room was lit red which is exactly what we wanted.

Overall I was really pleased with what both the studio and the hotel room looked like as they were exactly what I had in mind and matched our concept.

How did you divide the role(s) on your shoot day, what role(s) did you play?

Before our shoot day my group and myself decided to give ourselves each specific roles so we knew exactly what we were doing on the shoot day and everything would get done. I chose to be the art director, however once our set was finished I became more of the director. As I choreographed the dance I knew it back to front so I would call out movements to our dancer which we could then filmm making filming a lot easier. I also helped my group member Kai call movements out to our artist. For example hand gestures that connected to the lyrics of the song. As I spent most of the day directing towards the end I wanted to have a go on the camera and the playback so I shot a few of the last scenes and I took over from my group member Gustavo and did the playback. I particularly liked doing this as I felt I did as much as I could and helped out with everything.

What do you think that you personally did particularly well?

I believe out of all the jobs I contributed too, I did particularly well when directing. I felt that I made my directions clear and as I am a dancer myself I was able to do the movements I wanted and then our dancer Hannah was able to copy me, which she felt was easier then me shouting the movements.

Overall one of my main objectives for the day was to make sure the actors created a bond with each other which looked real on camera. As our actors are only young I was worried they may laugh when I told them I would like them to kiss, however I feel because I stayed calm throughout the day it meant they stayed calm.

What problems did you have on the shoot day, how did you solve them?

Generally there were only two problems on the day of our shoot which I was really impressed with as we managed to solve them both.

Our first problem was our dancers outfit. Our dancers outfit consisted of a red vest top and a red pair of shorts, which the media department thought was too provocative. This meant that us as a group had to think fast. As we were prepared we did bring a spare outfit for our dancer which was a small dress in the colour green. However didn't particular like it, so I went up to the dance department and bought some black tights that our dancer could wear underneath her shorts. The media department thought this was a great idea and were really pleased with how we solved the problem quickly.

Our second problem was that as we only had one day to film we had no time to get the footage of our artist in the hotel or in guildford. This was disappointing as we felt these shots would look really good. However once we start editing we are going to see what shots we want to use as we may already have enough.

Which part of the shoot do you think was the most successful and why?

Overall our shoot day went incredibly well. Although the most successful moment I would have to say was when we decided to use the slow motion sequence on the camera. For example I would tell our dancer, Hannah to lean back in to a back bend, we would film it and it would then show in slow motion. These shots looked amazing when we filmed them so I can't wait to see them in the editing suite. I was also really pleased with how mature our actors were with each other, they realised we only had one day to film so they were sensible and did everything we asked. I feel it also helped that my group and myself get on really well; team work I believe is crucial in a project like this. We all respect each other hugely and try our best to do whatever we can in order to make our music video the best it can be.

Which part of the shoot do you wish went better and why?

When we first got into the hotel, we set up the red light sticks around the room and we shot the scene of our artist walking into the hotel room. We shot this scene many times however there was something about it that I wasn't pleased with but I couldn't work it out at the time. In the later scenes we changed where we put the light sticks in the room, so this may have been why I did like like it as at this point the red was not that luminous. If we were to have more time I would most definitely shoot this scene again as I feel we could of done more with it. I would of also liked to of shot the scenes of our artist and dancer walking through guildford as this is what we imaged our music video to begin and end with.

How well do you think you managed your talent? (Actors)

As Hannah is a dancer we played to her strengths as she was the dancer, dancing around our artist Joe. However our artist Joe had never done anything like this before as he is use to just modelling. I believe where I encouraged many rehearsals before our shoot day both our actors were very comfortable performing in front of each other and in front of us which made them more relaxed on the day.

As our dancer Hannah was wearing a very little outfit in between shots my group and myself made sure she was wrapped up warm in a dressing gown.

Throughout the day my group and myself continuously asked our actors if they were ok and if they wanted/needed anything i.e. drink or food.

What was the part of the shoot you enjoyed the most?

Overall I had a really good day and enjoyed myself a lot. The moment that I enjoyed the most was directing our dancer in the studio as we did not create any set choreography for this part which meant it was partly her own improvisation and partly my input giving her instructions. I really enjoyed this as I felt it looked great on camera as the movements our dancer was doing were not pre set, which meant it was all very naturalistic and flowed really beautifully.

What are you looking forward to seeing the most in the edit?

I am mostly looking forward to seeing the slow motion shots of our dancer as I felt these looked beautiful when we shot them. I am also looking forward to seeing the dance performance section in the hotel. When filming these shots I thought they looked great so I am hoping they do as this the dance section is one of our main concepts.

How well do you think your production group worked as a team?

Excellent. From the day we got put together we have always got a long and worked hard, so I knew we would have no problems on the shoot day. We all realise team work is key in order to make our music video the best it can possibly be so we listen to each of our ideas and develop them. We also have a group chat on the messaging app 'wattsapp' which means when we are not in school we can send each other ideas or pictures of things that may inspire us; this particularly helped for the shoot day as we had already discussed as a group the kind of the shots we wanted to achieve.

Are their any lessons you have learned today that could help you make your next shoot even more successful?

I belive listening on a shoot day is vital and today made this even more clearer to me. If everyone on set listens to each other it means the shoot runs smoothly and everyone knows where they are meant to be. It also means that you can achieve the best shots because when one person voices an idea another person then elaborates onto the idea making bigger and better.

Are there any changes you may need to make to the website and artwork, in order for them to fit in with the video that you have shot?

As our music video shows elements of the colour red throughout I believe in order to get the best marks possible on our album artwork and website design we should follow these conventions. Even if it is as little as making the font 'red'.