I have edited about 35 seconds or so of my music video, which can be seen above. At this point I have footage at 0:29-0:56,1:07, 1:09 and 2:10-2:18 I'm not happy with certain parts of it as a result of bad footage or due to a shot not looking right. However it was good to get the footage together and experiment on the software to get an insight into what the final product will look like. I haven't added all of the editing effects that I am planning to use but this is due to the limited time I had to edit in the end. At this stage the edit is mainly about getting the clips in the right position and seeing whether such positioning works. Obviously it is unfinished and I have a lot to do but I am now feeling a lot more confident about the final product.
Monday 15 December 2014
Music Video - First Edit
I have edited about 35 seconds or so of my music video, which can be seen above. At this point I have footage at 0:29-0:56,1:07, 1:09 and 2:10-2:18 I'm not happy with certain parts of it as a result of bad footage or due to a shot not looking right. However it was good to get the footage together and experiment on the software to get an insight into what the final product will look like. I haven't added all of the editing effects that I am planning to use but this is due to the limited time I had to edit in the end. At this stage the edit is mainly about getting the clips in the right position and seeing whether such positioning works. Obviously it is unfinished and I have a lot to do but I am now feeling a lot more confident about the final product.
Problems With Editing
During mock week we were allocated a 2hr editing slot so that we could finish our first edit before the Christmas break however when I turned up for mine the MAC which I had previously been using was displaying a problem and so I was unable to use it in this way. Ordinarily I would have changed MACs however the footage I had already edited was saved specifically to that MAC and so I would have had to start completely again. I Instead got the IT technician to come and sort out the problem however this took longer than first expected and so it was an hour before I actually began editing. This consequently only gave me an hour to edit so I was unable to edit as much as I had planned to and only got around 35 seconds done.
Friday 12 December 2014
Filming Diary (12/12/2014)
DAY TWO
12/12/2014
Street/Jacks house
Shots filmed: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21
Today I filmed all of the shots set in the street setting and although there was the odd problem it went quite well. This means that we should have some good footage to use in my video, at least for the first draft anyway. If after reviewing the footage I find minor faults then I may have to go back after the Christmas break and film some of the shots again.
The first problem that we had was that the bus to our shooting location was late and so we did not get there for the time we had hoped, meaning we unfortunately had limited time to film and so were unable to shoot the shots inside Jacks house which I had planned to film previously. I did however get all of the street scene done and so we will not have to film in the cold again.
I filmed the shots in order because I thought that if I were unable to film it all it would be better to have a sequence of shots to edit together. I instructed both Kate and Jack of there character profiles and told them what I wanted from them for each shot. This allowed me to get the look I envisioned. I didn't experience many problems with the acting however some of the more serious shots were hard to achieve and took a few goes because my cast often broke out into laughter. Due to the lack of time a few of these shots may not have the most professional acting in but that was expected from the start. One problem I did find was that due to the weather my cast (wearing the costumes I had planned) got quite cold and so we frequently had to go inside to warm up as they were unable to concentrate. This may have prolonged the shoot. The wind also often resulted in the casts (mainly Kates) hair being blown around a bit but this just added to the look, making it appear authentic. The only other issue I experienced was trying to make sure the tripod was on equal ground as the pavement was quite bumpy in places.
All of these issues were fairly easy to overcome and didn't disturb filming too much so hopefully when I review the footage properly on a computer I will have some good footage.
12/12/2014
Street/Jacks house
Shots filmed: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21
Today I filmed all of the shots set in the street setting and although there was the odd problem it went quite well. This means that we should have some good footage to use in my video, at least for the first draft anyway. If after reviewing the footage I find minor faults then I may have to go back after the Christmas break and film some of the shots again.
The first problem that we had was that the bus to our shooting location was late and so we did not get there for the time we had hoped, meaning we unfortunately had limited time to film and so were unable to shoot the shots inside Jacks house which I had planned to film previously. I did however get all of the street scene done and so we will not have to film in the cold again.
I filmed the shots in order because I thought that if I were unable to film it all it would be better to have a sequence of shots to edit together. I instructed both Kate and Jack of there character profiles and told them what I wanted from them for each shot. This allowed me to get the look I envisioned. I didn't experience many problems with the acting however some of the more serious shots were hard to achieve and took a few goes because my cast often broke out into laughter. Due to the lack of time a few of these shots may not have the most professional acting in but that was expected from the start. One problem I did find was that due to the weather my cast (wearing the costumes I had planned) got quite cold and so we frequently had to go inside to warm up as they were unable to concentrate. This may have prolonged the shoot. The wind also often resulted in the casts (mainly Kates) hair being blown around a bit but this just added to the look, making it appear authentic. The only other issue I experienced was trying to make sure the tripod was on equal ground as the pavement was quite bumpy in places.
All of these issues were fairly easy to overcome and didn't disturb filming too much so hopefully when I review the footage properly on a computer I will have some good footage.
Wednesday 10 December 2014
Organising Second Filming Session
Location: Street, Jacks house
Shots to be filmed:
Street - 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21
Jacks house - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 22, 23(a,b,c), 24(a,b), 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44
Equipment needed:
Shots to be filmed:
Street - 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21
Jacks house - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 22, 23(a,b,c), 24(a,b), 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44
Equipment needed:
- Filming Camera
- Tripod
Cast needed:
Kate:
- Kate Maxey (main female character)
- Jack Blanchard (main male character)
Kate:
- Ripped Jeans
- Plain T-Shirt
- Necklace and several bracelets
- Casual Black Boots
- Leather Jacket (removed after shot 44)
- Woolly hat (removed after shot 44)
- Dark Jeans
- Black T-Shirt
- Black Converse
- Winter Jacket (removed after shot 44)
- Knife
- Full length mirror
Organising Actors
Travel Arrangements
As me and Kate have to travel from college to our filming location and then back to college again I have checked the bus times to make sure we can get there and back in time, with enough time to film in between.
I used the stage coach bus website to research the timetable for the 110 bus which I know goes down Bricknell avenue (where my college is) and goes into Cottingham. Looking at the timetable I was unsure of where we would be getting the bus from and so I used Google maps to locate St Mary's Ave which I found was only a bit further up from my college. We are therefore going to catch the bus from near Hotham road which is just before St Mary's ave. We are going to try and get the 11:25 bus (approximately- I will check the official bus stop schedule when I next pass it) so we get to St Margarets Ave (Cottingham) for about 11:44. This will only be possible however if I ask my teacher if I can leave class 10 minutes early, if this isn't possible we will have to catch a later bus.
We then have to walk from the bus stop to our location so I used Google maps to work out an approximate time for how long this will take us. It came up with 13 minutes so hopefully we should get to our location to start filming by 12:00.
As Kate and I both have a lesson which starts at 14:50 we need to be back to college in time so I have also had to consider the bus we're getting back. Unfortunately the bus times back from Cottingham are every hour from 13:50 onwards and so if we plan to get the bus back we will have to get the 13:52 bus from St Margarets Ave which will arrive back near college at about 14:10. This means that we will only have about 1 hour and 40 minutes to film. Hopefully this will be enough time but if it's not and we need longer to film we will instead get a taxi back to college.
Friday 5 December 2014
Test Shots
These are some test shots I did before filming the main body of my music video. I did a series of pans, tilts and zooms some of which using a subject. This helped me to familiarise myself with the equipment so that when it came to filming shots for my actual video I would be able to do this easily and quickly.
I also did a practice lip sync using some of the lyrics which Kate will actually be lip syncing in my video. This was just to make sure Kate could remember the words and sing them in time to the song but also so I could practice editing it in time to the music.
Wednesday 3 December 2014
Behind the Scenes - Green Room
Whilst I was doing my first filming session I got my friend Jodie to take a couple of behind the scenes pictures to show the set up and working space.
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Filming Diary (03/12/2014)
I've decided to keep both a written and video diary of the filming process, recording any problems which occur at the time. This will be updated as I go along.
DAY ONE
03/12/2014
Green room
Shots filmed: 25, 26(a,b,c), 27(a,b), 28, 53, 55(a,b), 56, 58
Today I filmed some of the shots set in the green room and overall it went quite well, however there were a few problems which may have effected the quality of some of the shots. This means (depending on the footage) we may have to go back and re film certain shots.
I asked my friend Jodie to come to the green room with us because she is a film student and so is familiar with the equipment, having used it before. She quickly went through basic things such as setting up the tripod and framing the shot correctly before we started actual filming. This really helped me to conserve time as without her guidance I would probably have wasted a lot of time figuring things out.
I started off by filming the lip sync shots because I thought these would be quite simple to do. I got Kate to stand against a black curtain and set the camera up in line with her. I then tried to adjust the lighting in the room because it was affecting the shot however this proved difficult. The lighting equipment tended to cause Kate's face to appear really bright on the camera and even after numerous adjustments it was still causing problems in the shot. Due to the lack of time I adjusted it to the best of my ability and began filming. However when viewing the shots on the camera the image didn't seem to be affected greatly, therefore the shots may be usable. When I have the opportunity I will review the footage on a computer and see whether I am happy with the quality, if not I will schedule to re shoot the shots.
Also causing a minor problem was the fact Kate was quite quiet when lip syncing which could possibly make editing difficult, particularly pairing the lyrics with her mouth movement.
Once the lip sync shots were complete I went on to film the other shots. I started with the pan/movement around the girls head however this also was quite problematic due to lack of suitable equipment. For this shot to work well I would have needed a camera dolly or something similar but this isn't available at college, therefore I had to improvise. I tried 3 different methods to see which worked the best. To start with I tried attaching the camera to the tripod and keeping it still whilst Kate turned, however the effect created was not how I had imagined and I didn't really like the look of the shot. I then decided to try doing a hand held shot with the original intended movement which worked quite well however the shot was slightly shaky (which is to be expected). This decreased the quality of the shot and so I tried a third method. Finally I tried attaching the camera to a dolly track and holding it at head level whilst moving around Kates head, which worked surprisingly well but often resulted in things from the background appearing in the shot. Overall I found this shot very difficult to film and although I haven't been able to view the footage properly yet, I think it might need to be shot again. However I do believe that now I have experimented with different methods I have an idea of the best way to film the shot and it is just a case of getting the right technique. Therefore I will schedule to film in the green room again in the near future and if I am still unable to capture the shot I will change it to something else. Despite these problems the rest of the filming went fairly well and I am excited to review the footage and begin to edit it.
With the limited time we had allocated (1 hour) we were unable to do test shots in preparation for our next filming session so in my next media lesson I plan to borrow a camera and do some practice shots with a class mate. I will practice panning, tilting and zooming in particular and if I have time I may also do a practice lip sync.
DAY ONE
03/12/2014
Green room
Shots filmed: 25, 26(a,b,c), 27(a,b), 28, 53, 55(a,b), 56, 58
Today I filmed some of the shots set in the green room and overall it went quite well, however there were a few problems which may have effected the quality of some of the shots. This means (depending on the footage) we may have to go back and re film certain shots.
I asked my friend Jodie to come to the green room with us because she is a film student and so is familiar with the equipment, having used it before. She quickly went through basic things such as setting up the tripod and framing the shot correctly before we started actual filming. This really helped me to conserve time as without her guidance I would probably have wasted a lot of time figuring things out.
I started off by filming the lip sync shots because I thought these would be quite simple to do. I got Kate to stand against a black curtain and set the camera up in line with her. I then tried to adjust the lighting in the room because it was affecting the shot however this proved difficult. The lighting equipment tended to cause Kate's face to appear really bright on the camera and even after numerous adjustments it was still causing problems in the shot. Due to the lack of time I adjusted it to the best of my ability and began filming. However when viewing the shots on the camera the image didn't seem to be affected greatly, therefore the shots may be usable. When I have the opportunity I will review the footage on a computer and see whether I am happy with the quality, if not I will schedule to re shoot the shots.
Also causing a minor problem was the fact Kate was quite quiet when lip syncing which could possibly make editing difficult, particularly pairing the lyrics with her mouth movement.
Once the lip sync shots were complete I went on to film the other shots. I started with the pan/movement around the girls head however this also was quite problematic due to lack of suitable equipment. For this shot to work well I would have needed a camera dolly or something similar but this isn't available at college, therefore I had to improvise. I tried 3 different methods to see which worked the best. To start with I tried attaching the camera to the tripod and keeping it still whilst Kate turned, however the effect created was not how I had imagined and I didn't really like the look of the shot. I then decided to try doing a hand held shot with the original intended movement which worked quite well however the shot was slightly shaky (which is to be expected). This decreased the quality of the shot and so I tried a third method. Finally I tried attaching the camera to a dolly track and holding it at head level whilst moving around Kates head, which worked surprisingly well but often resulted in things from the background appearing in the shot. Overall I found this shot very difficult to film and although I haven't been able to view the footage properly yet, I think it might need to be shot again. However I do believe that now I have experimented with different methods I have an idea of the best way to film the shot and it is just a case of getting the right technique. Therefore I will schedule to film in the green room again in the near future and if I am still unable to capture the shot I will change it to something else. Despite these problems the rest of the filming went fairly well and I am excited to review the footage and begin to edit it.
With the limited time we had allocated (1 hour) we were unable to do test shots in preparation for our next filming session so in my next media lesson I plan to borrow a camera and do some practice shots with a class mate. I will practice panning, tilting and zooming in particular and if I have time I may also do a practice lip sync.
Tuesday 2 December 2014
Organising First Filming Session
Location: Green Room
Shots to be filmed: 25, 26(a,b,c), 27(a,b), 28, 53, 55(a,b), 56, 58
Equipment needed:
Shots to be filmed: 25, 26(a,b,c), 27(a,b), 28, 53, 55(a,b), 56, 58
Equipment needed:
- Filming Camera
- Tripod
- Lighting
- Possibly a Track
Cast needed:
Organising Actors
- Kate Maxey (main female character)
- Black/Grey Jumper
- Dark Red Lipstick
Props needed:
- Black Curtain (provided)
Organising Actors
This morning (3rd December) before our filming session I text my actress Kate asking her to bring a plain black or grey jumper as part of her costume. Everything else was provided for her and so was my responsibility to bring other costume and make up items. This helped the filming session to run smoothly as we had all of the required items for the shots being filmed.
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