Construction Post 2: Week 2 Production

Week 2 was our main shoot week, during this week we we're given the opportunity to film in the studio. In order to make sure that we completely maximised the time we had in the studio, we had a colour coded timetable that made use of all our individual free-periods. Even if we weren't filming a shot we would still spend time in the studio to make sure that everything was Setup for our next filming session. Planning what day to do each set-up ensured we managed to film all 6 different set-ups within 5 days,this time-table made sure that each day we had was planned out to make a efficient and smooth main shoot week. 

Our time-table for our shoot week

Each day was color coded according to set up, the color code is as follows

• Purple- Projection set-up
• Blue- Strobe light set-up
• Pink- Fairy light set-up 
• Orange- Microphone + Red and Blue light set up
• Green- Stool set-up
• White- Plain set-up/pick-ups
• Yellow- Not filming/Break 

Monday

To begin our shoot-week we started off with our projection set-up. From our test shoot we had learnt that this was by far the hardest set-up to do. This is because it involved the most amount of preparation and was quite fiddly. During our test shoot we used the same set up so getting the actual projector to play our video was done quite swiftly however a huge challenge of this set up was simply fiddling with the position of the projector till the video being projected covered the desired area behind our artist. After placing various objects underneath the projector, such as wooden panels, we managed to place the projector in the desired position.

Below is a video I filmed of a studio tour during this specific set up.

From our test-shoot we learned that our previous projection footage was far too dark, so we used our revised projection footage we had prepared in week 1 production. I was delighted to see that the new video worked really well when projected, it managed to light up the face of our artist and give us clear footage that wasn't grainy.

Dark grainy footage from our test shoot

Light clear footage from our main shoot using our revised projection footage

After receiving feedback from our teacher, we realized that most of our test footage was quite boring in the sense that it was entirely composed of static shots. In order to fix this issue I decided to take the camera off the tripod and film some hand-held shots . Hand-held shots in my opinion are extremely powerful as i feel they give the audience a more personal feel, due to my appreciation for this I took it upon myself to experiment with the handheld shots. You can see a video of me filming a handheld shot below in our projection setup.

After the shoot for the projection we filmed a short reflection video discussing how the first day of shooting went.

Tuesday

During our second day of shooting we filmed our strobe light shots. Set-up for this shot was quite easy in comparison to our projection set-up as the strobe light was not nearly as fiddly. We also used the same setup for our test shoot thus its familiarity made it efficient to film with. 

The main thing we changed abut this set up from the test shoot was lighting. A main issue regarding this set-up is it resulted in grainy footage as well as our artist was blacked out. After experimenting with lighting we managed to overcome this issue by lighting the only back of the set, doing this allowed us to see our artist whilst still achieving our strobe light effect. Below is a video I made comparing the strobe footage from our main and test shoot,

After the success of the yesterdays previous experimental hand held shots, I filmed some hand held shots in the same fashion in order to make our footage more varied and exciting. We also discovered the dolly during this day and simply had to experiment with it. I found that using the dolly had the manoeuvrability of the handheld shots whilst maintaining a smooth movement throughout. Although the footage looks less "gritty" than the handheld shots,  it added an entirely new professional feel to our music video.

There was a slight issue when I was moving the dolly as these set-ups included stands so at times the dolly would get trapped within the stand. However after a bit of practice I managed to keep the stands in mind when manoeuvring the dolly/walking with the camera. Using hand held camera for these shoots resulted in new varied footage which was a massive improvement from our previous static set-ups.

an example of the camera movement achieved from using the dolly 

Wednesday

During this shoot day we filmed our fairy light set-up and our Microphone + Red and Blue light set-up. Setting up fairy lights was fast and efficient as we we're really pleased with prior test footage we barely altered how we put together the shot. This set-up was extremely simple as it simply involved wrapping blue fairy lights onto a stand we had created, although simple it created a professional and minimalist look to our footage.

We also decided to experiment with different lenses, for example for our fairy lights shot we decided to use a 50mm prime lense instead of the 18-55 zoom lense we had previously been using. This allowed us to achieve a shallower depth of field and create an aesthetically pleasing bokeh shot with the fairy lights.

Bokeh effect achieved from the 50mm lense and the fairy lights

Whilst doing some hand-held shots I tried to solely film the fairy lights as I felt it could look aesthetically pleasing during editing. I filmed 6 different set ups of fairy lights which we ended up using as a montage in the very first seconds of our music video. I feel that as the shoot week progresses I am becoming more comfortable in experimenting with the camera as during our test shoot i was very confined with my ideas.

When setting up the microphone with Red + Blue lighting shot we decided to change the lighting as during our test shoot our artist ended up with a red tinge. This gave a unprofessional look which is definitely not what we we're looking for. I was mainly on the light desk so I had to learn which lights to turn on and off. I found this tricky at first but after a while I was able to manipulate the lights quite well. By turning a few of the lights directly facing our artist white, whilst the rest blue/red, depending on which we were shooting, I was able to light purely the background blue/red not the artist. I think this was a huge improvement from our test shoot and was hugely pleased with the outcome

Test shoot red lighting gave Olamide a red tinge

Main shoot red lighting solved this issue

Thursday

For our fourth day of shooting we did our stool set-up. Although our only prop was a single stool, setting up proved to be difficult. This is because some of the studio lights stopped responding to the light desk and we're stuck between a blue and red filter.

 Lighting became a huge issue as we could not achieve our desired look with the lights acting up, we wanted a clear red light set up or a clear blue light set up, however since the filters we're not responding our desired effect was not achievable. We spent the vast majority of time trying to fix the lights however it became clear that we required professional help.

Despite the majority of the lights we're not functional for this day we managed to use a small portion of the studio lights to achieve an acceptable set up. We also used colored filters on floor lights to help supplement this. By the end of the day we managed to film a few shots that we later graded to achieve our desired effect.

faint blue lighting we achieved despite the faulty lights

Friday

This day was designated for plain-lighting set-ups as well of any left over shots that spilled over from the past few days of production. Unfortunately we didn't have the option to re-do shots as the vast majority of lights were still unresponsive. 

For our first plain lighting set-up we decided to film an aesthetic shot of our artist blowing out a candle. This shot had to be done on this day as we had already agreed with the owners of the studio that we would be lighting a flame at this specific time. This had to be agreed in advance so we could get our technician to light the flame as well as have a fire extinguisher on hand if needed. The original idea I had in mind when thinking of this shot was the candle was meant to mirror a lighter from the male narrative section of music video. The lighter idea was scraped however we liked the aesthetic of the candle shot and thus it remained.

 An issue that came up with this set up is that the candle would not light properly and resulted in a small flame that went out before we could get the shot. This was a massive set-back as we thought that we might not be able to film this shot entirely. However I personally went to the Physics department in our school and explained the issue to the physics technician. Thankfully he was very understanding and gave us a candle to use. 

Below is a video of our attempts to light the original candle which provided a tiny flame and kept going out. 

Overall I feel that this was a very productive week in which I learnt a lot. I feel more comfortable with a camera and I'm more confident in putting forward my experimental ideas such as hand-held shots and using the dolly. I also feel more comfortable performing under-pressure as we had a very limited amount of time in the studio and the lights stopped working for a large section of that time. I learnt that in a shoot sometimes things don't go to plan and you have to think on your feet in order to combat the challenge or thrive with whats available.

 I feel extremely optimistic about our footage gained from this week and I feel it will result in a powerful end product