Evaluation of Shoot Day

The day before our shoot day we made sure that all our props were ready and there so that they would be easy to use and get hold of the next day. We then went to start building the main frame of our performance set. We had a meeting with a set designer and told him the supplies that we would need which included wallpaper and back boards to make it look like a living room. we made sure that our backboards were covered in wallpaper and designed how the posters would fit onto them the next day. We also got our VHS player ready to put on set and also tested it before the shoot day so that we could make sure that it was functional. Subsequent to this, we made sure that all the instruments were accounted for as well as building a drum set. We put a carpet floor down and inserted a fridge into our set. We could do no more work from there as we had to wait for the glue to dry on our back boards.

 

Before we started shooting we didn’t have much to do as we had checked of all our props before we started work the day before. We put all of the posters on the wall, making sure that we placed them so that they would still be in sight when the band was on set. We placed a TV on the set which was one of the main features of our video. We then started putting discreet extra props to make it look like a living room. we put beers in the fridge that we had designed before the shoot day. We also put different VHS videos on the top of our video player as well as the four main ones that we were using during the day. We decided on the spot that the guitar cases would look nice in the back ground as it gave more of a band practice feeling to it. We made sure that every particular was accounted for, even a light coming out of the fridge. We then put the people in our band in their costume and started to set the camera up.

 

I believe that our studio genuinely looked like a living room. we had put the video player in back left of our set with the screen on. On top of that were the four videos with empty beer bottles and other VHS video and cassette tapes. We had fridge on the right hand wall of our set to make it look more like a ‘lads’ hang out area. The drums were placed at the back of the room with guitarists either side and the singer at the front of our set. All of the posters that we put on the walls linked with 90s culture with created a retro atmosphere on our music video. I could not have designed a better set, I believe that it did in keep with our concept and certainly provided our audience with something else to look at and gain a meaning from.

 

All of us started with different roles at the beginning of the day and rotated these roles as the day went on. As the day progressed we realised that some of us were very good at doing particular things at a certain time. For example, we sighted that Richard was very good at filming the narrative section of our video whereas Theo was responsible for the camera role during the performance set. At the beginning of the day I was responsible for directing. I really enjoyed this job as I was responsible for making sure that everyone was ready to start rolling and also make sure that the continuity was correct from the previous shot. When directing I also had to constantly watch the monitor which projected the shot and make sure that there was nothing wrong with the shot. If there was something wrong with the shot I would adjust the shot and then start again so that when editing I could have numerous good shots to work with.

 

I believe that when I was directing I did a good job. I cut numerous times because the shot wasn’t good enough. This proved to be very useful as it transpired that it helped a lot during the editing process. I also made sure that the continuity was correct in between each shot. Moreover after lunch I was heavily involved in preparing the next set which was the living room scene. This was difficult to set up as we had to make sure that we were able to have a decent amount of shots so that the editing process would actually be viable. Moreover I operated the clapper which was an easy task however you have to know when to move out of the shot so that the footage is fully recorded.

 

We encountered a few problems in our music video however they were all resolved very quickly. One of the main problems that we encountered was the fact that a costume had not been arranged for Alice for the pizza delivery role that closes the entire music video. We debated for a long time about what we were going to do about this situation however we resolved it by putting a baseball cap on Alice and telling her to wear what she was wearing at the time. She looked very elegant and in turn it gave an added effect to the video. We made it apparent that it was her love for the lead singer that made her deliver the pizza and it was fate. She is not a stereotypical pizza girl at all.  Moreover we did not know what to do when building a set for the titanic sweeded scene so we simply filmed all of the footage for the sweeded scenes against green.

 

The most successful part of our music video was by far shooting the performance scenes. We produced some amazing footage. This was by far the best footage when filming. The reason it was extremely successful was the amount of time and effort put into the building of the set and also the attention to every detail. For example we made sure that the cassettes on top of the television linked with 1990s culture. Moreover the living room scene was amazingly shot with some professional looking clips. The other scenes that we shot were also very good however due to the fact that we were so rushed for time meant that they weren’t at the same standard of our performance clips. However sweeding means a watered down version which links to the shots we filmed and the clips that were produced.

I wish that the performance set and also the living room set had gone a lot faster as this would have given us more time to focus on the sweeded scenes which was the main concept of the music video. I also wish that the performance set had started an hour earlier so that we could have got some more advanced shots such as using a crane to go over the drum set and also so that we could perfect our final tracking shot which is featured at the end of performance set. I also wish that the props that were used for the Dr No scene were better so that we could have included a broader variety of shots.  

 

Our group worked extremely well as a group. We all new all of our roles and operated them very well. We also told each other how certain things can be improved and how we can add things to the idea which turned out to be a prevalent idea in our newly revised concept. We operated different things at different times of the day and realised that some people are better than others at certain roles during different times during the day. By doing this we realised that we produced outstanding footage.

 

We had a photographer on set at all times during our shoot which meant that we have a whole new photo album that can be added to our website. Moreover we can add sneak peeks of our music video while we are editing the video. I also want to make sure that our audience is constantly updated with news about what our band is doing and at what time. Furthermore I want to change the front cover of our website to only a picture of the band. This would make our audience focus on the band as it presently it is a picture of Alice. Other than that I would not like to change anything to our site as I like the simplicity of our site.