Filming hope in water 2

Simran and Abbie tried filming the paper in water shot in a small stream at the back of Simran's house although these were probably the best shots we have managed to get for this section so far it is still not exactly what we want as the paper got tangled in the pebbles and rocks towards the end and it was very dark. So we have done some digging around in our clips of our actor singing and found some shots that work really well where he is sitting on a bench singing the words and doing actions. We think this works just as well int terms of matching lyrics and visuals and also keeps the focus on our actor/singer who is the main element to our video.

Filming hope in water

Simran and I have tried to film the word hope written on a piece of a paper and see what it looks like floating in a bath tub, although this was a long shot we thought we should give it a try. Unfortunately it is quite obvious it is a bath tub and so as a shot it doesn't work very well in what we were trying to achieve.

Filming day 3

Today we filmed the extra shots that didn't need Mossy in. We filmed in Gerrards Cross after school, we were hoping to use the small pond to float the piece of paper with the word hope on, to match lyrics and visuals as the lyrics are "down this river every turn, hope is a four letter word", unfortunately we could not use the pond in the end as when we got there we found there was a specific algae that was poisonous so we couldn't actually go near the pond to film. So we moved onto Abbie's house because we wanted to use her fire pit so that we could get shots that we reflect the lyrics  "make that money watch it burn" but will also add difference and excitement into the video and so we could film our shots of food colouring in water.

We filmed the shots of food colouring in water first which turned out to be fantastic and a very effective shot. We think it will be a very interesting shot to have to break up the shots of walking but I also think it will mirror the progression and journey we are overall trying to show throughout the video. This is because as the food colouring hits the water strands of the colouring develop and extend from the main body of colouring and grow and develop which is like the different paths he could take.

Then we filmed the fire pit which again was a really exciting shot, we had to print out pictures of money to actually burn to fit with the line and the meaning of song. It took us a while to actually get the fire started but once we had we got some great shots of the fake money burning, we had different camera angles, simran filmed above the fire pit, I filmed a closer shot at about the same height as the pit and we had Abbie throwing the pictures into the fire. Abbie practised a few times throwing in blank pieces of paper to make sure we would actually get them in shot and to see how quickly they burned and if then it was actually a good enough shot to use. They indeed were as the money didn't burn too quickly and so should be great to use in the video.

In terms of filming the paper in water I think we are going to have to explore more options such as perhaps going to Marlow and using the river Thames as there is a path just by it or somewhere else. Simran and I are going to try and use a bath tub filled with water and see if we can get the paper moving in that and whether maybe we could work with a shot like that. But this may be too obvious and cheapen the look of the video.

Filming Day 2

Today was our second day of filming and as we managed to do a lot of filming on the first day we only had the office shots and the hall/auditions shot left to do.

We started a bit later at 10:00 this time round and Mossy (our actor) met us at school. We started off by filming in one of our teachers offices where we had Mossy in a suit sitting at the desk acting very bored. We tried different shots, one from the corner of the room using the tripod so Mossy is centre of the shot and the office can be seen around him, we also used a birds eye shot which we did handheld and as far up as we could reach. The reason for the first shot was because we wanted the storyline to have Mossy walk around the table and push open the door in anger and frustration at his job and unfulfilling life so we wanted it to be smooth pan round the room. This was slightly difficult as the room was quite small so we filmed a pan where he walked round the desk in anger a few times and then also one shot of him getting up from the desk and then walking past the camera and another shot where he walks past the camera and kicks the door open.

We then filmed him throwing the papers down in another. This we had to film around 3 times to get the dramatic effect which we achieved by making the shot narrower and closer to the paper actually falling.

Moving on the hall shots, we filmed on the stage as we could then use the different types of lighting and because it gave more of a sense of an audition, which we were trying to achieve. We cleared the stage, set out a table and chairs and to make it more realistic got some mugs and paper so that our actors for our judges could have some props to use. We also decided to close the curtains so that there were no distractions in the back of the shots. We shot from the side of both the judges and singer as well as in front of both, as we were able to use the tripod and dolly in this case we had some fun trying out different shots like moving the camera up to mossy whilst he was performing and spinning the camera around whilst it focuses on the lights.

Filming Day 1

We started filming today! we started at school at 9:00 without our actor because we needed to set up the common room to look like a flat. This involved putting up a lot of posters that Simran and I had brought from home to cover school photos for team building and things like that. We moved the chairs to look like two sofas and put a blanket and cushions over them to make it look a little bit more homely, we also had to change the items that were on the shelves that can be seen when Mossy walks out of the room, as there were originally folders and sheets. We changed this to mugs and books as well as an ipod dock. 

As we wanted to make it look a bit disordered and messy we put some plates and mugs out and packets of crisps on the tables. I had also noticed that we could see through to the room next to the common room in the practise shots which is full of desks and computers which would ruin the illusion of a flat, to combat this I found a large black sheet and hung this up on the other side of the door frame, hiding the room and its contents. To make the room look a bit darker and not very nice we also pulled down the blinds. 

Mossy met us at school at 10:00 and we went out to film in the woods first as we did not want to loose the light because, it being winter, it starts to get dark at around four. We started with the shots where he is walking and then swings the guitar which should go with the line "I see this life like a swinging vine
Swing my heart across the line". We filmed this whole verse with him playing the guitar and performing and walking with different shots, such as wide and close up. We had close ups of him playing guitar and of him lip syncing as well as him walking. 

We also did this for the chorus and second verse for security in shots. Whilst we were filming we tried to think of different shots that would make the video different and interesting, some of these were having Mossy kick leaves toward the camera, this was quite a close shot focusing on his feet walking towards the camera. We thought this would be interesting if we slowed the clip down when the leaves are kicked so the full effect of the movement of the leaves is captured. We also had Mossy stand and perform and then at a low angle (so the camera is facing up towards him) Simran filmed him and moved round him, whilst I pulled her along making sure the pace was steady and she didn't fall, allowing her to focus on the shot. We then filmed mossy lip syncing on a bench and where he moves to the camera and pushes it away; we had to do this shot quite a few times as it made the camera shake more than I had previously thought.

We then moved to the high street to do the busking shots, we used the steps leading to a church because we thought this fit with him losing faith and we felt it was a good setting. We tried two different shots one being quite wide so the setting would bee seen as well as Mossy and the hat (with money being thrown in to the hat) and we did a close up of the hat with money being thrown in to it. This time we filmed with two cameras so we could get two angles and switch between the two. All the shots we filmed outside such as in the woods and the busking shots we filmed with out a tripod and dolly because it made the shots flow more and was more practical as the ground was uneven. All the shots we filmed outside such as in the woods and the busking shots we filmed with out a tripod and dolly because it made the shots flow more and was more practical as the ground was uneven. 

After lunch we went back to school to film the shots in the common room, stairs and chapel. Although we had practised the common room shots quite a lot I found it quite difficult to film as actually filming as I found I was not fast enough moving the camera to match his walking and then in speeding that up it became a little bit more difficult to direct the camera with Mossy when he went to pick up the guitar off the sofa. But the more we did it the better it got and we ended up having one person looking and directing the camera and another directing them and the pace. We also were very aware of the tennis courts just outside the door that could be seen when the door was opened and through the window which would contradict our aim of having an unpleasant flat. To hide this we put black paper over the window on the outside, which actually added to the "rough" flat look and thought that to hide the tennis court when he opens the door would edit the shot and cut it where it is no longer seen. Through out these shots we used a tripod and dolly, the only exception being the shots going up the stairs. 

Throughout the day we made sure that we all swapped round roles so that everyone filmed and directed some shots. 

Filming opportunity..

Unfortunately we are unable to film at Mossy's Performance at the Beck theatre because of restrictions on filming of the performance as set out by the organisers but also we have difficulty with the dates and how we were going to be able to get there. Although this is a shame it won't cause any problems to our filming and our overall project as it was a possibility not a necessity.

Filming Opportunity

As mentioned previously in my post about filming in Ruislip, Mossy has informed us that he will be performing this sunday in Hayes at the Beck Theatre we thought that as the shots we filmed in ruislip (due to the weather and him being in a group) did not work as well as we had hoped this would be a fantastic opportunity to get the shots we need for the end of our music video and some general performance shots. It also means we will have first hand experience of Mossy performing which will be useful for when we are working with him.

Another change of filming dates!

Mossy has just told us that he is no longer available on the 16th, so we are going to continue to film on the 23rd and then will also film on the 30th. Hopefully this is the final time we will have to change our filming dates!

The benefit though of having the filming on two weekends, we hope, will be that we can start editing our shots and see if we need to re-film anything in the week gap we have.

Filming in Ruislip

Abbie and I just got back from Ruislip filming Mossy perform. He was performing with his singing group the Penny Lane Singers, they were fantastic but obviously we needed shots of Mossy performing on his own and were lucky enough to film him singing a solo. Our main aim was to get him performing to a crowd, which although we did get in these shots it was sadly raining and as it was outside most people had umbrellas up, so we did not get the full effect that we initially wanted. However, he is doing a performance on his own soon and he invited us to come to this event, which we are very excited to attend.

We will put the clips up soon!

Turning on the lights in Ruislip

Our actor, Mossy Mckenna, will be with his singing group switching on the lights in Ruislip and then performing this saturday (9/11/2013). We thought that this would be an ideal opportunity to film him performing to a crowd and would be useful shots to use for the end of our music video where we want him to have achieved his dream of being a performing musician. Unfortunately, Simran can't make it so Abbie and I will travel to Ruislip and film him! This will also be our first time meeting him in person so we are quite excited!

Change of filming dates

So we have had to change one of the dates for filming as our actor had some problems with getting to Gerrards Cross on the 17th, so we have now got the 16th and 23rd to film and will hopefully be filming in school on the 16th and around Gerrards Cross on the 23rd, for example in the forest by the common and along the high street.

Props

1. Acoustic guitar
2. Bowl/guitar case to collect money whilst on street, busking
3. Laptop (for him to be working on at the beginning of the song) 
4. Audition sheet x2 (1 for chapel shot, 1 to stick on door)
5. Black sheet to cover up a doorway 
6. Bowl with a colour dye (to make the effect in water)
7. Fire-pitt 
8. Sheets of paper with deadlines on (to be slammed down on his desk at work, at the beginning of the song)
9. Pillows 
10. Posters 

Costume

After multiple discussions, we have decided that costume wise we would like Mossy to seem effortlessly cool. Similar to that of groups like, Lawson, OneRepublic and Connor Maynard. Therefore, we concluded that he would wear a simple white t-shirt, leather jacket or waistcoat with skinny black jeans and either boots or brogues.

Risk Assessment

We have done a risk assessment to make sure we took all necessary safety precautions.

Filming Dates

We have settled upon a date to film our music video they are the 16th and 17th of November. We will be filming in multiple locations: our school, black park, Gerrards Cross highstreet and Abbie's house.