Forth day of filming

Today is my last day of filming, I went through everything which I filmed yesterday to make sure that there was nothing else I needed to add. I needed to refilm the second chorus and newly film the third one. As mentioned in “A change in location”, I am changing the location from Banovallum school drive to Horncastle college.  The location provided me with a much quieter back ground however, the drive is a lot smaller so I didn’t have a huge amount of space to film. I had to refilm about 3 times as the first two went out of focus due to a small speed bump in the road, but the thrid time came out perfectly.

Next, we went back to my house to film the third chorus. This chorus was planned to be filmed against a green screen, which I shall black out when uploaded on Final Cut. I was unfortunate not to have a stand to hole the screen up, so I had to ‘make shift’ one. I stuck the corners to a blank wall in hallway with duck tape, then spread it along the floor so no shadows would be picked up. I planned on having the whole chorus filmed from a medium shot, including the whole of Phil’s body. However, from previous experiences, I thought I’d take different shots of the whole thing so I had them if I needed to incorporate them in.

Third day of filming

The third day of filming was possibly the most important, as it was the final day I was able to use Lisa. She had other acting requirements to prepare for her University interview, therefore I didn’t want to take up any more of her time. Today I needed to:

1. Refilm Phil’s face for the introduction; At home and the bus stop
2. Add shots to verse 1 making the whole clip for interesting for the audience
3. Refilm verse 2, add better lighting
4. Film verse 3

Rather than relying on just one shot of Phil’s face in each location, I repeated the shot 3-4 times just to make sure I had it perfect. Next, I took all cast; Phil, Lisa, Chloe and Adam to the bus stop and placed them in the same positions as before. I filmed from different close-ups, angles and positions so that there would be more shots to incorporate into my current footage. The whole aim of this was to make sure that the different shots kept the audience interested, and viewing the situation from different perspective, not just an establishing shot.

Next, I set up the bedroom so it was a lot more brighter. I installed artificial lighting around the walls of the room, and took the shade from the light bulb on the ceiling which also helped. I waited until about 2.30pm to film this scene as it was darker outside, so the light coming through the window wasn’t so powerful. Once I had set up the room, I began filming as usual from my story boards. Once I had completed that, I refilmed the whole thing, but from different angles. Of course, there was a risk as they weren’t planned and spontaneous. However, I realised that this could play to my advantage.

At about 4.00pm, I went to the location for verse 3. The lighting was just as I wanted so I filmed immediately, I was aware that it did appear slightly darker on the camera, but I knew that I could edit it once I got onto Final Cut. Again, I followed my instructions from the storyboards, but also went back to film from more interesting angles. I wasn’t certain that I was going to use these extra angle shots, but it was reassuring to know that I had them if I needed them.

Second day of filming

I am unsure how to film the Chorus. My idea is to have Phil running whilst singing, the only problem is how I can capture the footage smoothly and effectively. I needed the camera to be moving backwards whilst Phil ran towards it, to get an ever-moving effect. I drove to the first destination, Langton Hill drive. I brought with me a dolly and a pair of roller blades. For the first attempt, I attached the tripod and camera to the dolly, then the dolly to my car. I drove as slowly as possible, trying to keep the camera steady. However, the footage still turned out to be shaky and unprofessional. Next, I gave the camera to a friend of mine who was skilled at Roller blading, he insisted that this would work and that the camera would not shake. He was wrong. The footage was extremely shaky, he couldn’t pick up enough speed and the frame changed between a close up and mid-shot.

Now both of my ideas had failed, my last resort was to put the tripod and camera in the boot of my car and film from that. I made sure that the tripod was secure in my boot, so not to fall over or move around. My friend also sat in the boot to watch the footage whilst filming, so I filmed a steady and continuous frame. Next, I opened all the windows of the car and played the chorus so Phil could sing along to it, this made sure that the lip syncing would be correct. I drove at around 3mph, and once my friend was confident that he was close enough to the car for the framing, he began to sing.

Doing this was extremely effective. The footage was not shaky at all and the framing of Phil was continuous throughout. I carried this on at my next two locations; Banovallum School and Holly Close. I only needed to film once, as I was pleased with the footage.

First Day of Filming

Saturday October 10th 2009   

Firstly, I made sure that my camera was fully charged. The camera only supplied approximately 90 minutes of filming time, therefore I needed to ensure that I had a power supply nearby in order to charge the camera incase it ran low of battery.

10.00am – 11.00am   Phil (leading Male Character) arrived an hour before my other members of cast, I needed to film quite a few shots using only him. I began by filming the second verse scene, which was in my Brothers bedroom. I was aware that I was limited natural lighting from the window and the bedroom light, however I felt that it appeared lit up enough on the camera screen. When I followed the storyboards, I found that some of the shots weren’t complex enough, so I changed some and experimented with the camera. For one of the shots of Phil, I had to move the bed away from the wall so I could fit the tripod down to shoot him lying down. This was because I used a single bed, and there wasn’t enough room to fit the tripod and him on the same bed.

11.00am – 1.00pm   When Lisa (leading Female Character) arrived, I took her to film the parts which she is in the second verse scene. There was a mimic shot a close up of her face facing Phil laying on the bed, the two of them cuddling, a close up of her hand on Phil’s chest and finally the disappearance shot. The disappearance shot required me filming the shot with Lisa lying on the bed with Phil, then filming exactly the same shot but without Lisa in it. This resulted in re-filming 2-3 times, as Phil had moved the position of his arm when Lisa got up from the bed. The actor/actress remaining in a disappearance shot need to stay completely still and ensure he/she is in the same position as before for the transition to be effective.

Once I’d finished filming the scenes in the bed room, I took my cast to the bus shelter close to my home. Here, I filmed shots with Chloe and Adam. They were slightly inexperienced actors, therefore it took a few takes to get it perfect.The second disappearance shot took longer to film as it was windy, therefore the camera would move and ruin a smooth transition when Lisa stepped out of the shot.

Equipment

I am going to be using a Canon Video Camera, Tripod and Fujilm

                                                                     

I shall require the Canon and Tripod throughout filming, however I have scheduled to film for two weekends, therefore it is not a huge amount of time. I am using the Fujifilm for the stop-motion-animation. The camera is my own, therefore I can use it any time, so shall photograph this scene one evening.