Performance Reshoot

Today, we spent all morning re-re-shooting our performance, in spite of the absolutely atrocious weather which we were faced against. We managed to get a lot of great shots and we're very happy with what we managed to record. especially given the circumstances. We recorded many more extreme close-ups, particularly of Alex, which we were advised to do and should make our video seem that bit more up close and personal which adds a great deal to our music video

As we said we would, we used the weather (however awful it was) to our advantage to create a dark mood and fit the lyrics to our video perfectly. We did very well with this, especially given how difficult the weather had made this become, to the point where focusing cameras was becoming impossible as our hands were so cold at 4 degrees Celsius.

The use of the crane was something which we had never used in any of our previous shoots as none of us were able to work out how to set it up. However, this time, we used it to create an establishing shot of the band, showing the entire building and it's surroundings. This is a far better improvement than what we had done last time. We are confident that with the use of this piece of equipment, we have been able to create some really interesting shots of our band that will initially set the scene and keep the mood and ambience throughout.

We also had the heavy tripod with us on this shoot which helped us achieve some really smooth, good quality panning shots and also helped us keep each shot steady and straight. Another piece of equipment we took out with us on this shoot was the 50mm fixed lens. This was the first time we had ever used this and we fell in love with the overall effect as soon as we watched the footage back. This was particularly helpful when filming our close up shots of Alex and the close ups of the instruments a it gave a really clear shot and blurred out the background really nicely keeping everything in focus.

We will start to edit all of this new footage as soon as possible and see how it all looks then. Until then, here are some images from that shoot. As you can tell, everyone involved was absolutely freezing after the downpours which we had had to endure, having at one point hail hitting our instruments as we set up.

Weather Enforced Changes We May Need To Make For Our Performance

Unfortunately, due to having to filming in England. the weather was always going to make filming more difficult than it needed to be. With our video being filmed oudoors in Earsdon, the weather has decided that it will rain on Monday morning which is when we are filming.

There are only two main concerns with this. Firstly, whether our  equipment will be safe to use outdoors in the rain. After discussions, we came to the agreement that the cameras would be fine in the rain so long as we prevented them getting wet, possibly by using a sandwich bag to ensure that it stays dry.

Secondly, how would it affect the footage that we are going to film. We originally thought that it would ruin much of what we were going to film, however, after re-thinking, we decided that we could use the rain to add the mood of our video and that by showing the rain hitting the insruments and band members. This also links in really well to the lyrics "Stuck in the jet wash..." and "When it rains, it pours...", this adds a strong visual element to our video.

So to conclude, we are going to adapt our video to the weather and use it to our advantage whatever ends up happening.

Research: I Took A Pill In Ibiza Mike Posner Official Music Video

We have started to look at more specific areas of our narrative footage, and are trying to find ways to improve upon scenes that we struggled with. For example in our night club scene we are dealing with an empty club, but need to create the image that it is really busy and lively. For inspiration we have been watching music videos which include club scenes to see how they use camera work, editing and lighting to create the illustration of a busy club, when we will probably only have as much as 10 extras.

We particularly liked the Mike Posner 'I Took A Pill In Ibiza' music video. The use of lighting, shots, camera movement and editing in these areas of the video create lots of interesting effects. In particular we really liked the use of the slow motion editing as it created a really interesting atmosphere to the video and just generally made it more interesting to watch. This slow motion editing was sometimes followed by normal speed shots which then went back to slow motion. This created two effects. The first being it matched with the intoxicated, dancing, non-stop atmosphere of a club and the second being that it was syncopated with the music.
Very slow and smooth camera movement on zooms clearly done using a dolly etc. are also really effective here and this is all things that we can really easily replicate with the equipment we have available to us.
For camerawork, the way the video uses close ups creates the atmosphere that the club is busy. We can easily replicate this in our own video by using 2 or 3 extras who walk closely by the camera. If we use this technique throughout the club scene we will be sure to create the effect of a busy club, especially once paired with quick cuts in editing.

We asked our target audience how effective they thought the club scene in 'I took a pill in Ibiza' was and here are some of their answers that can help us in creating out perfect club scene -

'The use of the slow motion works really well, it creates an alcohol or drug induced environment.'

'The red lighting and huge amounts of people makes it really clear that it is a club, but I think there could possibly be even more strobe lighting included, still in slow motion, but just to communicate that club environment even better. I can see that there is some, but this is not as obvious as I think it could be.'

'I think it works really well, it is all really well shot and the combination of the editing and the shot types really helps to tell the story.'

'The dark environment creates a really eerie effect and works well with the contrasting red lighting'

Looking at these things that people in our target audience have said, we are really confident that including a club scene to show drug abuse is a really good idea, if we can be as successful as this video. We are going to take on board some of the things that we have seen here including the lighting and the slow motion editing in order to create a really effective scene that communicates the fact that our main character is a drug user and is having a "bad trip".

Changes For Our Performance Re-Shoot

So from our feedback, we would like to change a few things to help improve our footage from what we recorded just a week ago. Although our original footage wasn't bad, we think we can do a lot better with our equipment and filming techniques. Here are some key changes which we would like to make.

Firstly, our drummer was originally supposed to be Jamie and the guitarist was supposed to be Jacob, however, we made some decisions about using females in our band to subvert some stereotypes. We have now decided to go back to our original band members because we feel like this way we can represent the identity of our band better. Re-shooting this gives us a chance to film using our original choice of band members from the rough-cut but in the new setting rather than the drama hall.

Secondly, some of our shots came out unfocused and so this will allow us re-shoot these scenes and make them look as good as they can possibly be for the video. For example, the long shot of the band appeared slightly more focused on the left than on the right. This means that we can do it again and get it right.

Thirdly, our footage isn't as close up as we needed it to have been, much of what we had previously filmed appeared too far away from the performance. What we actually wanted was lots of close up shots, in particular to express the emotion on the band members faces. This time round, we will try to implement the crane in our video to get high-angled close ups and this should hopefully give us our desired effects.

Feedback From Our Performance Footage

Today, we received some feedback about our footage taken at Fenwick Colliery. It was made clear to us that contrary to what we originally thought, we need to re-shoot our band again. This is due to a few different reasons, mainly the fact that our shots weren't zoomed-in enough on our band members and the quality of the performance itself.

In terms of the shots we used, a lot of it was taken from far too low of an angles which made our singer in particular appear extremely tall whereas we should have adjusted our angle better to suit the stature of our band members.

Where the band members themselves are concerned, we have made more changes and are moving away from using the girls like we did for the rough cut. We thought this would work really nicely in the beginning however we have now decided that we would prefer to use two of the original band members.

We are now planning our performance again and we hope to be filming this coming Monday.

Performance: Before and After

Upon hearing our criticism and feedback of our rough cut, we have decided to significantly change our performance. This means changing some band members, location, lighting, costume and camera angles

For example, it was apparent that the bassist in the rough-cut had no idea what he was doing and so quite simply, he had to go. He will be replaced by someone else for the final cut without a doubt and the recruitment for a bassist is currently underway.

Next, the setting must be changed to somewhere else. Currently our main idea is to use something abandoned, which looks run down and is covered in graffiti. There is an old colliery in Earsdon which we think may be perfect for what we want to shoot. Our main focus is making sure the location matches the mood of the song and the persona we're trying to create of our band. A problem we may run into is the transporting of the instruments and camera equipment as it is a lot to move.

The outfits worn by our band need to create the correct image. In the rough cut there was no type of look which could be identified from what the band members were wearing and so we need to establish a clear style for the band. To decide this we have researched Fall Out Boy and looked at images of them. From this we have gotten a clearer idea of what our band should look like and will use this to ensure our band have a similar style.

So taking these factors (amongst others) into account, we should be able to build on what was a very basic performance in our rough cut to something which looks like it belongs in a music video.

New location

Rough cut location

We asked our target group what they thought about our new location vs. our old location for the band footage and this is the overall response we received:

This has really boosted our confidence as a group that we made the right choice when we decided to use an edgy, outdoor location for our band footage because everyone we asked thinks that so far it looks at least a little bit better, if not much better. We are going to work on this when we are editing through our footage and deciding if this shoot was good enough.

Looking Through What We've Filmed

After having returned our equipment and encoding our files, we were able to go through the footage which we had filmed at Fenwick Colliery. In general, we were very happy with the footage, having re-shot the rough-cut angles, changed some angles as well as adding new shots entirely.

Immediately, we noticed how much better our shots looked for being shot outdoors with bright light as opposed to filming in a drama studio which appeared very amateurish and too dark for what we were going for, this location looks far better on screen.

Unfortunately, in retrospect, some of our footage appears to be slightly out of focus which isn't the end of the world as much of what we have recorded is usable, however, there is the odd shot which we have found which we may have to leave out as a result of this.

Also, due to Alex being 6 foot 5, many of our shots of Alex appear to have been taken at a very low angle which makes him appear extremely tall. So to counteract this, James, took some high angled shots of him which lessen the effect of Alex appearing like a 'giant'.

All in all, we're all extremely happy with what we have recorded and the majority of our filming from this point onward should just be narrative rather than much more performance.