Filming Diary (28/11/14 - 30/11/14)

On Friday I was meant to get some test shots and do lip-sync practice with Emily, but unfortunately this didn't go to plan. To do this I would have needed access to the green room but, as I was silly and unorganised, I left booking the green room until last minute and when I went to do it, it was fully booked up for the day. However, when I took the camera and tripod home I had a little play around with them so I could get to grips with the equipment, which I have found to be very helpful.
When I got up on Saturday morning I set up the camera properly, putting my memory card in. At first it wasn't accepting my memory card, saying the memory was full even though it is completely brand new and unused. However, I was determined to get it working and with a little bit of time, it finally started working. First I got some test shots done around the house, practising panning, tilting and zooming. Then I got a couple of my real shots done, although not as many as I had hoped to get, due to the limited time I had because of having to go to work.
On Sunday morning I started filming quite early so I could ensure I could fit all the filming planned into one day, as well as getting some revision and work for my other subjects done. To start I did the scenes where objects are smashed. I set up the camera on the concrete part of my garden (this would make the objects easier to break - my dad's advice). Then my dad smashed the objects for me whilst I filmed. We only had one chance with these shots so the pressure was on to get it right the first time, and luckily it turned out great, which was almost unbelievable. These scenes were so fun to film, and my dad had a great time smashing things up...Later on in the day Emily came round to do some filming. I started off explaining the scenes I wanted to film to her, then we did some quick test shots and lip-sync practice before starting the real filming. My family were out for the majority of the day which was good because it allowed us to move around the house to film without having to keep annoying them and getting them to move to another room, etc. The majority of shots went to plan, the only real struggle I had was that I needed a dolly track for a couple of the scenes but had forgotten to book one out from college. However, I improvised and got my spinny computer chair, placed the tripod on top of it so the camera was stable and used that instead, so hopefully that worked well and the footage will still look professional. The other issue I had was the positioning of the table in my dining room because it meant I could use a tracking shot of Emily painting at one side but not the other as it was too close to the wall for the chair to fit and for the camera to not be too close to Emily's face. Therefore, I improvised again and did a pan & zoom shot instead.
Overall, I think the shooting session over the weekend went pretty well and I got the majority of the footage I planned to get done. I will be booking a camera and tripod out again a couple of times this week so I can get a few more scenes out of the way. Additionally, we started losing natural light a lot sooner than expected, which was due to the cloudy weather. This meant the footage was looking darker and the subject within the frame was not as visible as I wanted, so I had to turn on the lights in the room and use artificial lighting. This made the shots look much better.

(As well as doing written film diaries, I am filming video diaries whilst on set to give a greater insight into my filming process - once I have done all my filming sessions I will be editing these together into one video which I will post on my blog)

Organising Actors

Last night I just messaged Emily to check she was still okay to do filming today and to ask her what to bring, when to come, etc. This helped with organisation so I could plan out the day of filming.

Weather

This is a screenshot of today's weather forecast. As the majority of filming will be done inside, the weather is not a major issue, as it shouldn't really effect what I have planned. Due to the weather being best/brightest about 12-1 o'clock I will shoot the few shots I need in my garden then. I also need to make sure all filming is done before sunset because I need the natural light for my shots.

Health & Safety Grid

Target Audience Profile

This is a 'reader profile' style moodboard I made about my target audience. It is very stereotypical but is good to show what kind of interests and styles my target audience likes so I can try to link them to/incorporate them in my products. As my target audience are teenagers (about 16-19), mainly female (but it should hopefully appeal to boys too), with an interest in the indie genre, I want to ensure my products specifically attract this group so the more research into the audience, the more successful I should be with this.

Lighting Ideas

This is a prezi presentation of some inspiration and ideas I have for the lighting in my video. I have included 3 existing music videos that incorporate effective lighting styles that I really like and would love to use in my own video.

MES - Hair, Makeup & Outfit Looks 2 & 3

 

Hair & make-up look 2 (left):

This look is for the scenes in which Emily is painting at home. Therefore, I wanted her to look quite natural. This is why she has simple make-up, just a natural base and cat eye eye-liner, with wavy hair.

Hair & make-up look 3 (right):

This look is for the scenes where Emily is at home alone. The hair & make-up of this look is very similar to look 2 but I added some dark lipstick as this will be like her 'everyday look'.

Outfit look 2 (left):

Like the hair & make-up for this look, Emily's outfit is very simple. A plaid shirt, plain black t-shirt and comfy mom style shorts, make up this very laid-back/casual outfit, which is typical of what someone may wear if they are in a home setting.

Outfit look 3 (right):

This outfit is still quite casual due to it being for scenes in a home setting, but there is slightly more to it than look 2. Emily wears the same mom style shorts, but with a black belt, charm necklace, grey-shirt and an over-sized purple velvet shirt. This shows she has made more of an effort with her style in these scenes, and actually has quite a quirky, creative sense of style.