After school we trekked to the quarry with the camera, tripod, and guitars to film our make-up band of non-musicians but equally enthusiastic volunteers, and the cut scene which we hopes will make the video funny and more enjoyable.
Mise-en-scene
There wasn't much to arrange in terms of setting for these shots, besides moving to the planned, most suitable place which had the least random boulders. However, as Jemma had brought a few outfits, and specific items I asked for, I just helped co-ordinate them. As for Simon and Luke, there wasn't much to style because both already had interesting and slightly rock-styled clothing on that day. Before hand I had shown them my sketches and asked for something similar, but I didn't want to stylise them too much, as our video was meant to be relate-able and fun, rather than symbolic and "artsy".
Lighting
We did some test shots for lighting, and at 3:40 it was perfect because the sun was just about setting, therefore giving us very bright and warm light, at the right direction as well. However, this also meant we had to be quick with our filming because the sun was facing behind the quarry cliff, it it went past that point, the section of the quarry we were at would be casted with shadow. We had no other light source, so if we wanted studio lights we would need to bring a portable battery, which would be difficult to get to the quarry as it includes walking through a forest area.
Filming
We started filming our fake band first, with a simple mid-shot through out the whole song (which was playing on ipod speakers so our non-musicians would know when to fake-play the guitar, and for our lead signer). For this shot, the camera was left on the tripod to make it steady. We then proceeded to steady cam around the band, while someone followed behind the camera man with the ipod speakers so they could hear it better. Again, it didn't matter if we (camera-man and ipod-holder-person) talked for filming this, as the dialogue would be cut out and the performers needed to be directed. Afterwards, Luke mentioned he had to leave early, so we set up the camera on the tripod again and did solo-performance shots of him. As we watched the filming of this, we also shouted things such as "Mosh! Head mosh NOW!" to hype up the performers and make them more enthusiastic. Solo-performance shots was also steady-cammed and done at different low angles. We then moved onto the cut scene which was especially fun to film. We set up the tripod as there was no one else to hold the camera and briefly went through what we had to do exactly. At this point, we also improvised slightly and added more actions in to make it funnier. For example, rather than just the two narrative characters storming in, arguing, then leaving, they would interact with the performers. The female character would pick up the mic stand in anger, and the lead singer would swipe it away. For this scene, dialogue would be heard, so although we did not script anything specific, we had a briefing on what to say roughly that would be funny and help make the narrative more logical. However, I must admit during ad-lib I did get carried away and swore, but the cut scene was taken several times, with exact dialogue changing slightly. After Luke left, we then filmed the solo-shots for Simon (the other guitarist) and Jemma, our lead singer. Following conventions for guitarist-shots, there was low-angled shots of Simon, high angled, and close ups of his face and guitar. As for Jemma, we made sure more was filmed so it would be easier to choose the best clips for lip-syncing. For all the solo-performances (including Luke) we also filmed them singing the repeated lines of the song, such as "Do you think its funny now" so when editing, we can have a variety of shots (it would be boring to watch one person sing the same line three times). Lines in the song that have pauses afterwards or emphasis put on them was also filmed more, such as "All by myself". Overall, it was a successful day of filming as we managed to get all the shots that were necessary. This is important, as it would only delay our schedule further if we had to do pick-up shots.
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