CONSTRUCTION STAGE
CAMERA //
This year I used a Nikon D3300 as my camera for filming. It is a lightweight 24.2-megapixel D-SLR, which allows me to shoot high definition photographs and videos.
Before shooting my music video, I began testing the camera for filming. I found that, whilst filming my dog, on the Auto Focus, the camera struggled to gain focus on the main image. With research, I found that this noise was the lens focusing (it can be heard in the video below). This would have been unsuitable to film with, since it would be a constant noise, however since I am creating a music video, there is the possibility of removing the audio by splitting it from the moving image.
To overcome this issue, I concluded that this was due to the Camera being set in Auto Focus mode. Therefore, I switched it to Manual, which would allow me to manually change the focus, moreover reducing/eliminating the lens focus noise.
Next, I tested this on my dog once again. The improvements were significant. The focus is much sharper and exact, due to it being manually operated and the overall quality of the film was better. Therefore, I continued to film in this setting, to be able to achieve a more professional outcome I would like to achieve.
I was able to adjust the aperture and shutter speed in accordance to the light and shadows in the different locations outside, to achieve the optimum definition I could.
Also, in order to keep balanced and stabilised camera shots, I used my Tripod.
FILM DAY //
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Our first shoot was Sunday 5th November 2017. Alex arrived at my house approximately 1;30pm, where we began sorting out the costume for her character, after she brought along a big pile of clothes.
Next, we shot the scenes behind the garage, where Alex was 'tied up' with some old electric cable I found in the garage. Since I have a terraced garden, I was able to shoot down onto Alex with high angles on the tripod to change the composition, as well as the close ups. Luckily, as I am doing a music video, I will be able to detach and delete the audio, since my dog was consistently barking from within the house and Alex kept talking throughout all the cuts!
Then we took 2 bikes down to the Green, where we were able to shoot the scenes I wanted for the bike scenes. This was harder to film then I imagined, since I was unable to capture a steady shoot when I was on the bike as well - multiple times this ended with me falling off. I resulted to walking behind her on the bike, as this allowed me to get a steadier shot, however I was not able to completely keep up with her. The lighting here was alluring, as it shone through the leaves in the woods. This allowed me to take some great composition shots for the ancillary products.
Once we completed the footage here, we went up to the woods, where we were able to shoot the running scenes and a few scenes of her acting out in the dip of the forest.
After this, we drove down to the beach in order to film more footage. We parked then walked down a footpath to get to the harbour. We took some filming in this area, since it was very aesthetic in nature - the overgrowing garden extending into the empty house. This led me to realising I could add this into my music video. I also took many photographs to be able to use in the ancillary products to help promote. Next, we went down another footpath, which led to a jetty overlooking the harbour and Brownsea Island. At this point it was around 4pm and the sun was starting to set, which created a beautiful cinematic landscape to film against, as the sky was reflecting upon the glistening sand, where the tide was out.
FILM DIARY // BLOOPERS
As a result of the difficulties I first experienced with conveying my story whilst editing, I found that I had to do a lot of re-filming in order to fill in the gaps I was envisioning. Therefore, I unfortunately had to keep asking Alex, my actress, to keep coming out into the cold to re-shoot to add extra scenes. During the Christmas holidays though, Alex was away on holiday until January. Therefore, I was unfortunately not able to film the end scene I needed to complete the video during this time. Furthermore, I had to reschedule to do the end once she was home - the end consisted of the burning of the poster, which was filmed in my back garden to reduce time and costs.
On Monday 4th December, I also received help from a friend, Izzy Lidgey who was in our AS project, to help set up props and film. That day, we were able to film the shots, which would end up being those in which signified that the character was living alone, hiding from those looking for her - and hiding from what she has done. Izzy and I began filming after school before Alex arrived, so we were able to shoot a selection of mise-en-scene shots in different angles and compositions. Shortly after Alex had arrived, Izzy had to leave. However, as it turned out, my own DSLR camera ran out of battery to be able to shoot any more footage, so I had to borrow Izzy's own DSLR camera, a Canon 750D as she left, to finish off the shots that day. As. a result, a few clips of the mise-en-scene in the house were filmed on this, whereas the rest of the film was recorded on the Nikon, which was actually better video quality.
