shooting day 1 overview sunday 24th october 2010

Shooting Day 1- Sunday 24^th October 2010

Time: 10:30- 12:00     Duration 1h 30    Place: South Kilburn

Cast: Concept     Crew: Jordan Mena Daniel

On Sunday 24^th October Mena, Jordan and I first went to look at all the locations we wanted to shoot at on the day. We first tried out test shots focusing on camera angles, shots and movement so that the cameraman would feel comfortable in capturing footage when shooting the actual music video. As a group, we then went to meet our artist at Kilburn Park Station. As the director, I explained to the artist what we were going to do on the day and how long it would take. I had a general team briefing with the cast and crew to insure things were organised and on schedule. I then went through the risk sheet with the artist to make sure he was aware of the hazards involved at the location we were shooting at.

Jordan started shooting at location 6. As the director, I wanted to shoot verse 1 here with the chorus and at other different locations. I also took the role of cameraman as we used 2 cameras on the day as Mena was directing camera shots, angles and movement. We used very effective shots in making a very effective start to the video.

The music video started off with a slow pan shot of graffiti walls then a straight eye level shot and an extreme long shot of the artist.  There was a focus of a slow zoom in then a zoom out slowly when the instrumental/music started to begin. The cameraman started to track back quickly while the artist was rapping the first verse as I wanted the cameraman to capture more of the artist’s facial expressions, actions and body language so that we can focus on his emotions and feelings expressed in front of the camera. Also I played a role as 2^nd cameraman where I shot the artist from a high angle shot walking along a dead road following him along the tracks [sidetracking shot].

As the director, I got the 1^st cameraman to do a tilt shot on the artist focusing from feet to head where the artist’s identity is revealed. This is where we focused on the artist’s face where a big close up shot was performed. The artist started to rap the chorus at many different locations. We shot at 4 different locations for the chorus as we will use the editing to cut to different locations. This was everything we did on Sunday as we wanted to keep to schedule and shoot a good amount of footage.

Throughout this shooting day, we mostly did a lot of test/experimental shots as this helped us to get an overview of what type of shots, camera angles and camera movement we wanted to undertake in the music video. I made sure as the director I made adjustments to the use of camera techniques used on the shooting day.  The cameraman [Jordan] filmed a lot of test shots with me alongside him as I was 2^nd cameraman with Mena directing the artist in what to do. Jordan and I explored a couple of shots that were seen to be effective in creating suspense such as extreme close ups, big close ups, medium close ups, medium long shots, point of view shots, establishing shot, low angle shots, high angle shots and extreme long shots. All of these shots are effective in creating meaning in the diegesis as I wanted to relate the artist’s facial expressions through effective camera use. We also looked at panning shots, a lot of tracking shots, a few rolling camera movements, tilt and crane shots as I wanted to experiment on shots in pre-production so that we would have a set of ideas in making a detailed music video with a good representation which would meet the requirements of US codes and conventions.