Main Task - Production - Shoot 2 (Narrative)

For the narrative shoot, things were perhaps more simple. Again, we were lucky to have good weather since we go up so early. In fact, we were a little too early since the National Trust ground was not even open when we arrived. Finding a date to film this section was a little easier than it had been organising with the band since, firstly, our cast and production live locally and secondly, there was only three of us. In reality, we did not initially plan to film a second shoot since we though that just the performance would be enough. However, as we came to start editing we realised that there was something missing and the video was becoming a bit repetitive with just the performance. In particular, there is a particular bit in the song where the tempo drops, which nothing seemed to fit. Funnily, in our initial stages of planning we thought abounding an entirely narrative music video however, we though it would be too much. In this way, we already had a narrative we wanted to construct and so planning a second shoot was much easier in short notice.

Once we arrived at the 'Woodland Walk', we walked for a good hour until we were happy with the spot to shoot. I think the reason this took so long was because we walked the long was around, since on our walk back, it seemed to take only 15-20 minutes. As we had visualised, we found a set of wooden stairs which we thought would be the perfect romantic setting for the narrative we were trying to contract, of a young happy couple. Shooting overall was rather easy, the location really just spoke for itself. The only really annoying thing was the fact that the sun decided to go in half way through shooting and in turn cast a gloom over the yellow, fallen leaves. Luckily by this time we had got most of the key shots that we wanted to use.

Main Task - Production - Shoot 1 (Performance)

After the difficulties ranging a date which the whole band and our group could make, we finally settled on (luckily) a sunny day in September. Unfortunately only I could make the day to be able to shoot however, we managed to grab another pair of hands to be in control of the second camera. 

We were extremely lucky with the weather being so nice since the whole feel of the music video would have been off. If it had been raining our upbeat song 'Wasting Time' would have seemed like somewhat of a tragedy. Firstly, we began filming in the band's practise area in the drummer's back garden. In order to give the space a more 'exciting' feel we added bright coloured back drops, one in particular which had a lot of blues, yellow and greens to hopefully match with the whole video since we aimed to make sure that the video contained lively colours in order to reflect the song perfectly. After we had filmed a few set ups following our 1 hour in practise studio and 1 hour in woods schedule, we went onto the woods. Overall, shooting in the practise area went rather smoothly, the only real problem lay in the fact that the space was quite small and so I was unable to capture any wide/mid shots. However, this was mostly fine since really the most important shots were the ones of the lead singer which worked out well. What we struggled with the most was fitting the whole drum kit in shot, which proved impossible even if we were outside the window looking in.

After our first hour spent in the practise 'cabin' we walked across the road, with instruments and camera kits in hand, until we found a nice spot in the woods which display the right the amount of light. Initially, we set up in a nice clearing in the woods however, after doing a few test shots I realised the it was too light and the shots would come out over-exposed. In the end we found a nice spot and continued to shoot. Overall, the shoot went rather smoothy with only a few people walking past us with their dogs with confused faces. 

Looking back, we were very lucky to have had such good weather and a very co-operative band to work with. They even brought along their own bluetooth speakers to play the song over and over (and over) with. The only problem with this is that signal and particularly wifi is not great in the middle of a forest and so it would decide to cut out half way through the song. Also, the speakers were not that loud and so we had to come up with the solution of putting the speaker in one of the jars we had for decoration in order for it to bounce of the glass sides and sound louder. This did work surprisingly well.

Main Task - 'Wasting Time' - Storyboards - Shoot 2 (Narrative)

Main Task - Storyboards - Shoot 1 (Performance)

Main Task - Props List

Main Task - Shot Lists

Main Task - Artist Correspondance

Luckily, the artist themselves were easy to access. Since I found the band through a friend of a friend, contacting them was simple. Most importantly, the band themselves seems very keen to be apart of our media piece.  In fact, they were grateful to have somebody produce a music video for free for them. I think what made this easier was the fact that the band are still small, they were more likely and certainly more keen to participate in the video itself, something which we found particulalry enticing.  

Luckily, the whole band were willing to be involved and in turn were fairly easy to create our own ideas without to many restrictions from the band themselves. This is ideal since we did not to be too restricted in our thinking and image we had in mind for the music and lyrics. 

What remained the problem, and most concerning problem, was arranging a date to film. As well as this, finding a place to film was difficult since we needed to make sure that the location would not be a problem for the band. 

In the end after many problems with the whole bands availability, as well as my production group. We set a date for me to film and for the whole band to attend. We decided to film in their small practise room, which ideally would be decorated with a nice backdrop and fairy lights, also filming in a nearby wood. All that was left to risk was the weather...

Research & Planning - Lighting and Colour

As our chosen track is quite upbeat we thought that high key lighting would help to reflect upon the song and therefore represent visually what the audio is portraying.

For the colours, we wished to use a lot of greens and yellows in order to display the new and happy relationship of the couple within the narrative. Usually, yellow has connotations of being happy and summer, just what king of feeling we wished to create in our music video.