RSS Media Studies Group 202

We are currently having some difficulties with arranging a suitable time to film. Our dancers are proving increasingly difficult to work with, as they all have out of school commitments and so can only do certain dates. The Max in the school is currently been used most lunchtimes and after school with practice sessions for a school performance. So we have managed to squeeze 2 sessions of filming with everyone there. One this Friday (21/11/08) after school and the other next Monday (24/11/08).

These will be our final sessions of filming hopefully as we have successfully filmed all the other footage that we need for our music video. Editing is going well with all shots fitting with the beat and/or the lyrics.

These final shots that we film next week should be the last session of filming, then we will begin fine tuning our video to make it look beautiful!

As planned the filming went ahead. it was very succesful. After the poor quality of the previous shooting of the introductory section of film, we reshot it in twilight. This was much more effective and efficiently done aswell as we had already practiced what needed to be done. The footage however, due to the length of time does sometimes flick in between light and dark due to the time period.

The next section of the ‘geek dance’ was difficult to shoot as the lighting when editing needed to be logical but during the editing process this can be compensated for. Using alot of light variations (such as; spotlight(above), Red filter, Blue filter, Green Filter and Orange filter,) really attributed to the dance/disco theme and works really well as a contrast compared to the quite eery start sequence. The whole lighint of the section was brilliant in my opinion. The process seems to evolve from the dark reds of streetlights to the white light of hall ways to the rainbow effect of the dance really just seems to develope with the song and narrative.

I suggested a low angle shot from ground level that was particluary effective as the light was blocked out by the character giving him a sort of power and added to the quite etheral feel to the start sequence. I also personally think symmetry is quite powerful and suggested a shot having the doors central and pillars either side as the character walked up as well as another shot walking in front of lit windows which looked great. I enjoyed Ryan’s use of panning when walking as it was almost prejudging the movement which gave the shot a polite feel as you knew where the character was going.

We are currently organising a group dancing session but due to availability it is proving difficult although this should be done soon.

The next sections of filming are:

The Classroom section, Group Dancing, Singer performance, Character running home(short)(possible home shot),

Today we got a good section of our editing done, and have completed at least the first minute of our music video. We edited together the footage we had of Aaron walking up to school and through the corridor. We edited well to the beat and got some good bits in it. Whilst editing we discovered that flashing up different images looks really good and works extremely effectively. We all got very excited when we started to do this more and more, and we think that it works well as it makes the video more entertaining.

On Friday (7/11/08) we did some more filming. We filmed the outside scenes where Aaron is walking up to and through school, as our previous footage was a bit rubbish. We also filmed the inside scenes with the main geek dancing. This was a huge success as, once again, the school technician had kindly given up his time to help us with the lighting, we used different colour filters on spotlights to create different looks. One successful discovery was that we could create ‘colour’ shadows. This looked great as the geek was dancing and so we filmed some specific shadow shots, these should look really good when put onto the computers.

Here are some pictures from our filming session:

The first picture shows the lighting equipment, this is where we controlled our lights from. The second picture shows Aaron in the middle of all the spotlights turned on. And the third picture shows Aaron looking at one of the floor lights that we used.

After filming the band for our video, i think we should observe more music video with the bands playing and see what shots they really include. I feel that some of the shooting was clumsy and not very useful.

I watched a Mcfly Video where all they do is perform, no narrative, this will enable us to get a better idea of what conventions to include.

I did have loads of photos from our planning but i broke my phoneeeeeeeee……

Additionally, with the filming, at the beginning of the song, we filmed the action at night. Not accounting for any light, we couldn’t see anything on the screen. I think it would be a good idea to film in the day light maybe around 4 so around dusk. I know this would be challenging because it get dark quickly but it would probably be best for us.

Yesterday we did our first section of filming. We recorded the majority of the band sequences in our main school hall. This went incredibly well as we now have over 30 minutes of footage to use in our performance sections of the final video.

We also began to film the narrative section with Aaron walking up to school at night. We had difficulties with this as the school sign was not lit up and so we could not see it. We used Ryan’s mums car headlights to light up the sign; but when looking at this on iMovie it does not look as good as we had hoped. We are thinking about re-filming this section at an earlier time, so that you can tell it is at night but not in the middle of the day.

We are planning to film more of the narrative this Friday (7/11/08), this includes the dancing section and Aaron in the corridors.

Using the school hall and lighting rig we filmed the performance section of our Music Video. It was a success as we attained over 30 minutes of footage which can be ordered and cut into vital pieces of the music. We filmed sections of drumming and keyboarding as well as a full run through from the audiences point of view.

We also filmed the beggining section of the narrative, although this was only a partial success as we found all the shots work but the level of light was a disadvantage. Using twilight next time or a camera filter could solve this if we think a reshoot is needed.

The next session is planned for 7/11/08.

As lighting is a very important factor in most film productions, we are keen to use it to full effect. As our narrative involves a dance, a disco-esk type scene must be created. We have spoken to our school technition and he is keen to help us with light rigging etc.

We have already filmed a small section of the dance with some floor lights and a flood, which looks effective, especially with the flood light behind the character as he stands and blocks out the light to the camera so he comes from silhouette to being a person giving him a heroic quality. The use of the coloured lights are slightly too bright to see detail of the face so we will possible have to aim them differently but give the appearence of a disco.

We are planning a lighting rig at the moment for the studio we wish to use and plan to start filming as soon as everything is prepared.