Shoots

First video shoot 

Helena

On monday me and Noora met at The Bristolian on Picton Street to do our first shoot for the music video. Noora had scouted two women to play the lead roll, Helena & Pritta. Firstly we met with Helena she fitted the description we had decided on, medium height, medium build, fair skin and dark hair. Noora had met her in a bar a few days before so none of us knew each other very well, we felt it was important for her to feel comfortable and settled before we started which is why we met in the cafe. We bought Helena a coffee and explained what it was we could be doing and when we needed her to do. Once everyone was on the same page, happy with what they wanted to do and had warmed up we headed out to shoot. 

We were starting the shoot towards the end of Picton street, in a small housing mews called Picton Mews. We took a series of stills depicting Helena Locking her front door & walking down the steps. After this the filming began, we filmed her starting to walk from the bottom of the steps, out of the mews and onto Picton street, the half way up the street she crossed over the road and round a parked car onto the opposite pavement at this point the filming was cut. The angle was changed and the camera was positioned on the opposite pavement, she then walked round the parked car onto the pavemnet and was once again back in shot, she walked past the camera and continued walking down the street, the camera followed. She continued walking to the end of Picton street, the then took a right and stopped at the crossing. The camera followed and stopped, fixed on her side profile. As the lights changed she crossed, after crossing she walked straight on and into 'The Arts House cafe'. The camera stayed where it was but tracked her as she entered the cafe. This was the full run of the video.

We ran into a few problems at first with the pace at which we wanted her to be walking. The idea was to have her strolling, walking along as if she didn't have a care in the world, so speeding along wasn't an option. Walking at a slower pace was also useful as it brought down the chance of camera shake but we also didn't want her walking too slowly as it might have taken to long to shoot and then there wouldn't be enough music to cover the whole video. After a few tries we all got into the rhythm. As I was doing the filming I also had to take into account the speed and way in which I was walking as even with the shoulder brace there was still camera shake. Noora advised me that landing on the ball of my foot would reduce the shake, I also tried to take long strides as it made me more stable. These two techniques helped greatly. 

We shot for around 45 minutes with Helena and the footage we got was very good. We then had 30 minutes to wait for Pritta so we spent that time collections still images that we could later overlay. After that we retreated to The Bristolian to warm up as it was much colder than I thought it would be and I had forgotten gloves! I won't be making that mistake next shoot! 

Pritta

We then met Pritta, she was also very well casted. She was slightly smaller than Helena with light blond hair, fair skin and a sunny disposition. 

We went through the same procedure that we had gone through with Helena even though Noora knew her, we both thought it was still very important to make her feel at ease and comfortable. We talked through the shoot and once everyone was happy we headed out. We did the shoot in the same way and everything once again went very well. We also tried out a different angle, at the end of the video when Pritta was waiting at the crossing I crossed to the other side and videoed her crossing, I then walked backwards and followed her as she entered the shop. This shot worked really well, we will be using it in the next shoot. 

Although both women worked very well and barely put a foot wrong we have chosen to use Pritta as the actress to continue with. She fitted the part slightly better and acted that bit better. Her sunny disposition shone through and she really captured the essence of the track. Pritta is a musician herself so understood rhythm, she had the song playing through her earphones and walked in time to the music, doing made it so that each of her steps were in time with the song.   
We will be re shooting with Pritta this Thursday as this is the next day with similar weather. 

TO DO NEXT SHOOT

Next shoot we will be taking a bit more seriously I will be experimenting with a variety of different shots, such as the over the road shot. 

I will also be taking a lot more stills, I will be arriving at the location with enough time before to get a lot of shots while the sun is rising. I will also be taking videos to overlay. 

I want to experiment with videoing the shoot from different angles such was from in front or from the side to overlay at the same time. 

Second shoot 

After our first shoot we had decided to use Pritta as our actress so we arranged to shoot with her again a few days later.
In the previous shoot we had focused on capturing video footage. We were very happy with the footage and we weren't sure if we would need much more so for this shoot we focused on capturing stills. 
While editing/viewing the footage from the previous shoot me and Noora came to the conclusion that we were going to change the idea of the video slightly. Instead of it being just a video with a bit of overlapping video footage and a few stills from the surrounding area we wanted to do something a bit more challenging and emotive. 

This new idea was to have the video as the base footage and then have a multiple serieses of stop motion videos layered over the top. Each stopmotion would be the same as what was happening in the video but taken from a different angle E.g. having the base video of Pritta walking up the road shot from behind and then overlaying it with a stop motion of her walking up the road shot from the front.

We once again met Pritta at the Bristolian, had a coffee and discussed the new direction of the video. 
We then set off to start shooting. We were using the same route as before, walking from the front door, out of the mews, up the street, crossing the road, up past the Bristolian, round the corner and the end of picton street, up to the crossing, across the road and into the Bristolian. 

As we were focusing on capturing short sequences of stills, this shoot was much more broken up. Instead of trying to do everything in one take we moved through the videos trail slowly thinking of interesting angles and positions to shoot from. 

We wanted to make the sequences interesting and detailed, focusing on smaller things like Pritta's hand running along the fence as she leaves the mews or her gentle smile as she crosses the road. 

If there was a shot with more than one interesting angle we would shoot at the same time, this way we could add both sequences to the video at the same time and there would be continuity. 
As the aim was to have as many things happening in the shot at one time, this continuity and flow was paramount. 

We followed the trails of the video for the whole thing, trying to create sequences for every part of the video, thinking back to the initial footage and looking for another interesting angle to shoot it from. 

Although we made a lot of sequences I worry that we focused too much on the start and the end and that maybe we neglected the middle portion a little bit. 

We didn't run into many problems while shoot. One of the only issues was that while crossing the road in the middle of the video pritta passed a red van, this van was not there the second time so we had to think of a way of getting around this issue. We decide create sequences just before and just after, this was we wouldn't need to use the van footage and we wouldn't jump too much.

Below are contact sheets of each sequence. 

 Walking down steps 1

• Very pure and calm colour pallet
• Nice pop of colour and life from the shurbs
• Well farmed on the model (the strairs and rails focus the eye)

 Walking down steps 2 

• Too tight of a crop 
• Needs to be shot from further away, as it dosent follow the model properly 

 Walking down steps 3

• Although this follows the model better this shot could have been done better
• Could be more fluid 
• Needs to be shot from further away and follow the model insted of just turning while she walks

  Walking down steps + putting headphones in

• Wider angle 
• The wider angle makes the shot more fluid as the camera doesn't need to move or zoom 

Leaving Picton Mews

• The art on the wall adds to the hazy/dreamy aesthetic
• Could be closer to the subject as she is lost a little behind the fence 
• The sequence should have started earlier to show the model entering the frame

 Leaving Picton Mews 2

• Shows the subject entering the frame
• Good angle, not as flat as the previous one

Walking past red window 

• Really powerful collection of colour, the amount of different shades of red really makes an eye catching shot
• Interesting reflection in the bonnet 
• The images of different countries could relate to inner thoughts 
• Good angle, not flat on

Walking past red window 2

• All the same interesting features as the sequence above
• More straight on shot
• Even more tones of red (door,van)
• I really like the three bins lined up

Tracking up Picton street

• Different style of shot to the other sequences 
• Will be a very easily linked to the initial video 
• One of the longer shots 
• Actually not that wobbly seeing as it was done on the move 

Walking toward the end of Picton st

• Less stagnant than the other shots, taking more of a film-ic approach instead of a fixed approach 
• Really interesting/atmospheric background 
• Due to the fact the sequence was taken on the move it is quite wobbly 

Coming up to the end of Picton St

• Will contrast the video footage 
• Interesting art on the left 

End of Picton St, round corner

• Will also contrast the video 
• Will be a good link as the video moves round the corner 
• Will follow on well from the previous video

 Walking toward crossing

• Nice flowing shot
• Follows the model in and out without moving 
• I really like the central tree, nicely splits the shot

 Walking toward crossing 2

• Will once again follow on nicely
• Quite a lot of shadow
• Less interesting angle from the previous sequence

Pushing button

• Nicely composed 
• Very beneficial to the sequence of the video
• Nice close up/personal shot 

Crossing to Stokes Croft

• Not really the best shot 
• Quite a lot of distraction
• Could have been tracked better but we were trying to avoid using zoom for the sequences  

Next shoot

After this shoot we began editing and putting our film together, we soon realized that we had more than enough footage. All we then needed was a bit of non diegetic sound which Noora collected on her phone, the non diegetic sound that we needed was bird song. We had been advised to use a tascam but we found the quality of the sound that was captured was quite bad, on the way to work Noora heard some birds singing and used her phone to record it. This sound was much better and this is the bird song you can here at the beginning of the video.