Media Studies With Maggie

The evening before our shoot day, Anna and I were busy with building the set. We used textured wallpaper that I had ordered to cover the back drop in order to create texture and interest in the video. Using wallpaper glue, we attached the wallpaper to thin wooden boards which would form the back wall of the band performance set. With help from the set building team, we raised the walls and secured them with weighted pillars at the back.

I had gathered most of the props beforehand, including the projector, fabric for the dancer, video for the projector, as well as the call list, shooting schedule and sheets with lyrics for the band members. The instruments were ready to be played in the studio, with the drummer bringing in his own kit.

I held separate meetings with the band members to discuss what each of them would be wearing. I told the band members in other boarding houses to bring extra clothes in case of a costume change and so we could have different options to try. The band members in my house and I chose exactly what they would be wearing for the shoot after a short fashion show.

The dancer, Delphine, brought in her own black leotard and tights, as she is a semi-professional dancer. She and Anna had already choreographed the dance moves, while Maksym, who would have projections on his torso in the video, did not require any costume or choreography.

On the morning of the shoot day, I felt apprehensive, but also excited to finally film our music video. After double-checking that everything was in order, I was ready to shoot. All the preparation and planning would finally be put in motion, and the final product on the way to becoming realised.

I felt very prepared before the shoot, putting up the lyrics, shooting schedule, and call list and organising the band members while we put the finishing touches on the set. While Anna showed the band members photos of the style we were going for one last time, I set up the camera and made sure that everyone was confident in what they were doing. Once we were all on the same page and everything was ready, the band played through the song to warm up.

Our first set was curved wallpapered walls. The wallpaper was textured jacquard pattern in white, but we painted the sides black and would end up painting the entire back black to create contrast in the shots. As our video will be in black and white as a convention of the indie rock genre, colour was not particularly important. To better envision the end product, we dressed the cast in neutral colours that would show a range of tone and texture in our video. The wallpaper, especially with the lights, helped to enhance the look. We went for a simple, clean look but made it our own with the use of texture.

For the dancer and projections, we furthered the idea of the clean-cut concept by shooting on a plain black curtained background and keeping the costume minimal. The dancer wore a black leotard, made edgier to fit with our genre with cut out sides, while the projection body (Max) did not have a costume. We wanted the lights and textures to play the most important roles rather than characterising the cast, as is frequently a convention of the indie rock music video.

On the shoot day, we split the roles and changed them after a certain amount of time (usually after a break) so that we could each find our rhythm in filming, directing and working with the timecoded song. I mainly split my time between filming, including doing the tracking shots, and directing, which meant I was giving the cast recommendations in reference to how they were moving on stage or dancing.

My strength during the shoot lay in filming and organising the cast. The cast was very cooperative and I found a solid rhythm in filming, particularly towards the end of the shoot. I also acted as an appeaser, compromising for everyone's different ideas and preferences in debates surrounding what we should film or if we should consider cutting something out.

The time frames that the band were available for were problematic, but we had already solved this in the shooting schedule/call list. We did not expect to run out of time with them, but inevitably wanted extra shots of them once new ideas developed, for example the tracking shots on the band. We managed to finish the shots in time, doing the whole band shots and then moving on to the bassist's close-ups since he had to leave first. Working in this way was an effective use of our time.

I think that our very specific idea of what we wanted the shots to look like was the most successful, as we could clearly communicate it to the band members and had a lot of extra sources (photoshoots, videos) to show them. Another successful aspect was the organisation on my part, as getting an entire band together with instruments plus the dancers was integral to the success of the shoot.

I had hoped that the production group would have listened to each other more, as we were sometimes not on the same page, or disagreed in reference to what we wanted to shoot. Some members were more directors rather than being part of the group, which was, upon reflection, inevitable considering that people who are more 'leaders' usually take charge in group situations.

The actors were managed very well, the call list being clear, however some had not informed me that they had not filled out the blue card I had given them and might have been missing a lesson. Despite this, we managed the talent successfully, stemming from our very precise idea of what the video should look like, encouraging and giving feedback to them as we went on.

I most enjoyed filming the tracking shots and learning to use slow motion filming. It was fascinating to see a three-second shot end up being twelve seconds when slowed down. I had also never done a tracking shot before, so setting up the rubber tracks and sitting on the dolly was a fun experience.

Painting the wallpaper black was enjoyable - a nice break from filming in the dim lighting. In the edit, I am most looking forward to seeing the shots of the dancer, as she was incredible!

Although we are all different types of people, our production team managed to get the job done effectively. We found a way of dividing the work, and were conscious of others preferences, for example Anna really enjoyed filming, so Raf and I gave her the majority of the time filming. We were organised and had many ideas, so worked creatively together.

I learned about focussing on the Sony NX5 and FS100 cameras that we were using. There was a multitude of different lenses to be used, and we needed to measure with a special tape measure from the lens to the point of focus to see which one we would need to use. It was very confusing but nonetheless good to know for the next shoot.

I also learned that a group that works well together is essential to the overall success of a shoot, not only people who have good technical skills, but can communicate effectively to complete the shoot successfully.

We took many pictures throughout the shoot which will be useful for our website, a sort of 'behind the scenes' peek page to connect with our target audiences. Our video has stayed true to the planning we have done for the website and album artwork.