Group: Shoot Reflection

Group: Digipak Development

Digipak Development

• We have spent some time developing the digipak using the photos we have so far
• We are yet to put in text but we intend on experiment with this tomorrow in photoshop
• We have altered the colour on these pictures slightly using the warmth tool to try and create a more orange aesthetic
• There is a further photo we need to take and we have also considered having more detail on the disc whereas previously we were intending to have this rather simple

CK: Concept Development

In the last week, I have:

• Finalised the animatic, which I have now uploaded to the blog, this included drawing some final frames and then editing them on the blog.
• Hannah and I have been through the footage from our previous three shoots, renaming the shots we want and deleting anything that has no use.
• I have also begun putting the shots on the timeline for our final production and editing them in time.
• I have also come up with an idea for adding a shot with diegetic sound at the beginning of the video before the music comes in, as this is used by mumford and sons in the music video to Ditmas. My idea was to have a close up of the tap, which will then turn on, setting up the theme of water in the video.

HB: Concept Development

• Last week Callum and I have spent time editing the footage we have gained from our first 3 shoots together on the timeline 
• This was useful as we were able to see where our biggest gaps were and decided what footage we therefore needed to collect on our weekend shoot
• I have spent time developing the digipak using the photos we have taken at shoots, and where necessary stills from our footage if we are yet to take a particular photo in order to continue developing ideas for this and see what the whole thing looks like pieced together
• I think it is important to begin looking at filters this week so that we have a strong idea on what we want the outcome to be when we come to apply it to our final production, I am going to make this a focus for this week and experiment with some stills in after effects. I intend on getting a still which shows the type of aesthetic I am aiming to emulate and then compare stills I edit to this until I achieve the same/ similar outcome.

Group: Call Sheet

Call Sheet/ Shot List - Shoot 15/11/2015

Group: Digipak Mock Up

A2 Media - Digipak Mock Up from hannahbennett98

Group: Animatic

 

 



• We created this storyboard animatic as part of our planning process in order to get a better idea of what we intended to shoot and check we had a strong enough concept to fill our chosen track
• However, when doing the process we struggled as both of us find it far easier to visualise our ideas, shot types an angle while we are on location with the entire cast
• We found that while having a storyboard was helpful to come up with our concept and start off our filming process we never stuck to this 100%
• We have instead decided it will be far more helpful is we were to take stills of ideas at the start of our shoot and map it out while we are there and use this as our shoot plan alongside out call sheet 

CK: Concept Development

• This week I have been editing the end of our animatic and reviewing footage from our shoots during the half term break
• The animatic is now in the final stages of completion with only a handful of shots left to draw out
• Hannah and I have also compiled a list of improvements we need to make to our footage, and we have planned another shoot for Saturday the 7th with the band in order to get some more performance shots, as last time we had to call it off half way through due to bad weather
• We have also planned out some shots for our digipak which we will take tomorrow

Group: Call Sheet and Risk Assessment

HB: Concept Development

• This week we have been reviewing the footage we took over the half term and deciding what were and weren't effective shots.
• This has been useful as we have developed a list of things which we need to either reconsider or just re-film. We will post this list in a separate post.
• We have arranged a shoot for Saturday 7th November with the band to get more performance shots. I have done a call sheet and risk assessment for this shoot to ensure we remain organised throughout.
• We will also ensure we take photos for the digipak,we have considered how we would like to stage these photos this week. They are similar to our initial digipak sketched ideas.

Group: Shoot Reflection

Shoot Reflection - 27th October 2015

Shot list for this shoot

• Narrative - Doorstep - Mid shot of Callum's feet stepping out of door
• Narrative - Doorstep - Long shot of Callum stepping out of door
• Narrative - Steal - Over the shoulder (Callum) long shot of Lauryn by tree
• Narrative - Innocence - Close up of Lauryn - track in
• Narrative - Substance - Close up of Callum - track in
• Narrative - Instrumental - Mid shot  - Lauryn walking away
• Narrative - Instrumental - Over the shoulder river reflection - Callum and Lauryn
• Narrative - Instrumental - Low angle two shot
• Narrative - Instrumental - Over the shoulder river reflection - Callum
• Narrative - Chorus - Long shot of running up hill from behind
• Narrative - Chorus - Close up of feet running up hill
• Narrative - Chorus - Long shot of running up hill from in front
• Narrative - Chorus - Long shot of Lauryn and Callum appearing over the hill
• Narrative - Chorus - Medium long shot of bench
• Photos - Bench from in front
• Photos - Bench from behind

Reflection - Hannah

• My role within the shoot was the main cinematographer. I was in charge of ensuring that we got all the shots we had intended to and several of each so that we have a selection to choose from when we come to the editing process.
• We used our storyboard to see which shots we needed to complete, this was helpful as it meant we could start filming straight away and didn't waste time thinking about it. However, although we found this useful for our initial shots we became more creative when we started actually filming and ended up taking quite a few shots we had not initially intended to as we felt they were more effective than the ones we had previously planned.
• An example of a narrative shot we decided to change was the running up hill shots. We still did this but from far more angles than just one to increase our cutting rate when it comes to post production.
• We considered character blocking throughout, we got an effective over the shoulder shot of Callum looking out of Lauryn and often considered rule of thirds as this was a key technical aspect we noticed when researching other videos.
• Although we filmed a good amount of narrative shots, it was difficult to check to footage as we went along as it was so bright there was a large amount of glare on the camera screen. Because of this focusing was difficult as it was hard to see. After reviewing our footage we have found that the shots taken in manual focus worked far better than auto so we have decided we will use only this from now on.
• We also encountered an problem that the stream we had intended to use for our reflection shot had dried up. We instead decided to use a passage way in the park which was covered in autumn leaves as we felt this created a folky atmosphere and filmed a running shot instead when we followed the protagonists using a stedicam technique.
• For our next shoot we have created a list of the shots which did not turn out so well from this shoot which we will need to re film and have also created a list of further shots to take.
• As we mostly have narrative shots at present we are intending on making the full focus of the next shoot performance and will take any other narrative shots required the following weekend in our final shoot.
• From reviewing our footage it is clear that within our performance aspect we need some more close ups and varying angles so we will make this a priority.
• We also need to make more use of the tripod for the shots which do not need to be handicam, for example, we had an effective low angle long shot of the whole band but it was ever so slightly shaky where a tripod could have been used.

Reflection - Callum

• Overall I would say the two shoots that we carried out in the holiday went reasonably well overall quite well. On Tuesday our main aim was to shoot the shots for the narrative of our video, and on Thursday our target was to film the performance shots with the band.
• My role in both shoots was both as a director and an actor, which was challenging as it is often useful as a director to step away from the shot to take it in, however I couldn't do this because I was actually in it, so therefore we had to film before I watched the footage back to check I was happy with it.
• I would say our best shot from Tuesday was a shot of Lauryn and I running through the woods together, all we see is a closeup of our feet, however this forms a link between the characters as our feet fall in the same place one after the other. The reds and browns of the fallen leaves contribute greatly to the mise en scene and add to the folky and rural atmosphere of the production.
• My favourite shot from our shoot on Thursday would be a close up of my guitar, which tracks down the neck towards where my fingers are plucking the strings. This clearly shows talent and musicianship which are important parts of mumford and sons’ metanarrative, as well as contributing to the folky image with an acoustic guitar.
• A few of our shots were effected because of the rain getting in the camera lens which we will avoid next time by holding an umbrella over it, as well as this we didn't have a steadicam, which means that many of our shots were too shaky to be used. To overcome this next time we will be using a steadying lens for the camera, and we will be relying on the tripod for shots which don't require a lot of movement. Finally we noticed when reviewing the footage that the autofocus on the camera isn't very effective, a few of our shots were out of focus, for the next shoot we will use a manual focus.