Filming: Green Screen

Today after school we filmed Terminal Moraine's shots with the green screen. Overall it was an exciting and unexpected experience as this was not planned while we were storyboarding. Me and Jam had a free lesson last, so we used this time to help Ian Johnson (media technician) carry the lighting equipment (extension cords, tripods, screens, frames) and set them up. Jack arrived later with Moby (Jemma's dad's camera that we used last year) and started setting the shutter speeds etc.

Setting the scene

We adjusted the frame to its highest, knowing that it would be better if we wanted to do low angled shots (it would be bad if you could see out of the edge of the green screen). After that, we threw the green screen fabric over the frame and began taping it to the frame with duct tape, pulling it tightly over to create tension. This way, we did not have to iron the fabric (it was a polyester, so it was resistant to creasing anyway). Safety issues arose when me and Jemma were standing on chairs to tape the top sides of the green screen to the frame, so Ian insisted he'd do it himself.

Lighting

From last year I had learnt how to set up and pack away the redheads that belonged to Jemma's dad (who works in film). However, this time we used the lighter and safer studio photography lights. In terms of assembling them on a stand, it is similar to the redheads. But these do not have bandoleers to control the concentration of light, and instead uses a screen that you cup over the lights. The screen itself is a frame with synthetic black netting and dampens the light. The frames of the actual light could not be bended into different shapes, but could be turned portrait/landscape, depending on the area you want to light up. It was rather hectic during this time, as we lacked extension cords so we had to find the janitors and other media technicians for more. It turned out that there was an event happening in the other hall which was using the majority of spare extension cords, so Ian just unplugged his computer and took the cords form his room.

The Band

At roughly 3:30, the band arrived and we hurried them to go get changed. I left the rest of the setting up to Jack and Jam (this was basically taping down lose cords and adjusting the lighting according to the shadows when someone is stood on the green screen) to find Ms Hancock in the music department. We had emailed her beforehand that we found an indoor location to use in school for filming, and she agreed we could use the drum kit. However, she accidentally double booked the old drum kit, but said that if the people who were planning to use it did not show up, we could find her to ask for it. So, it turned out the drum kit was free, so with the help of the band members we carried the drum kit carefully to the hall.

The band members were new to Feeder's Just A Day, and the lead singer did not learn the lyrics like we suggested. So I ran to find some large pieces of paper/card and wrote the lyrics down for him (meanwhile a print-out was given to him to read over). Jemma also had to run out to find another extension cord as the camera was starting to run out of batteries. In the hall, there was a laptop plugged into the speakers, so we went onto Groove shark and played the song three times before we began filming. (At this point, we were stressed because many problems had arisen, and we needed time to relax and get into the creative-filming mood!)

Filming

With shot list in hand, we started filming. First we went through the song three times, filming a standard close up with all three band member son the green screen. More difficulties rose when we realised there was very little space on the green screen floor and at times the bass guitar would almost hit the lead singer, and the drummer Ben would sometimes be masked by Alex.

(As you can see from the image above, it was difficult to frame the guitars without showing the edges of the green screen - though we did do this on the camera successfully)

Next we filmed all three members with the steady cam twice and moved on to filming each member on his own, using steady cam also (which included close ups and pans of the instruments). It was important to film lots of footage of the drummer, as there was no way to transport the drum kit to locations. This was the main point of filming green screen, as we can create the look of many different locations. During filming Ben (drummer) we had the speakers on maximum, playing the song so he could play similar beats, giving us the most realistic footage to sync with the song. However, the drumming itself was so loud it drowned out the song and Ben couldn't hear it. Therefore, we gave him my ipod with the song on it to listen, which proved most effective.

Below are images of Jack, filming the drummer-solo shots with steady cam. We also made sure to film more of Dylan, the lead singer because we only had two singers for our music video, despite planning to have more. We wanted the music video to look like a tribute video where there was multiple bands, singing to the song, showing they love it. But with only two singers it meant we needed more footage of them to distribute throughout the clips when editing.