Filming-Day 1

I have completed my first day of filming, this was originally planned to be the only day of filming but there is a large chance I may have to film some more footage to fill some gaps that are left in the video. I found the day very enjoyable but very challenging. I booked out two video cameras from college for the day to ensure that I can produce the best video I possibly can. My artist, Rhiannon, arrived at 10:30 am and we began preparing immediately. This started with her changing into her first costume and applying the necessary makeup required. We then began filming scenes indoors-her running up the stairs. For this scene I went for a shot in front of the staircase so it is in full view in the frame and another on the side of the staircase looking through the bars.

After this, we then drove to our first location-the abandoned house. We spent around three hours here working on a number of different shots and angles. It began with Rhiannon stood in front of the abandoned house and singing the lyrics to the song whilst I played it back from my mobile phone. For this shot I set up the two cameras in the same spot but one zoomed in to create a close up shot and another not zoomed in to create a mid shot-this was a successful outcome when watching back this footage. We then used the surrounding areas (the River Humber bank) to film some more footage. For this part of the filming, I went for an extreme close up shot and a long shot.
   We then drove home and after a quick tea break we began filming an indoor scene-the transition from real girl to fake girl. Only the make up section of this transition was filmed, I used I put on camera directly behind Rhiannon so I could get the back of her head and the mirror in the frame (it was difficult to not catch the camera in the mirror during the frame) another camera was placed on top of the bed which was to the left of her so I could get a side view of her doing her make up. After she had changed her costume and finalised the make up procedure we began filming her running down the stairs as the new her, I used the same camera angles for this scene as I did for the one of her running up the stairs. We then filmed her walking out of the door, for this I had a camera on the right side of the door and another on the left, with one a little more zoomed in than the other.
   We then went to a local garden (my village's Millennium Green) and began filming her on a hill that is in that garden. It involved her dancing around on top of it and doing crazy things. The mise-en-scene for this hill was ideal as it was extremely high so it excellently showed her higher status as a new person, it was also visually pleasing. For this I again had my cameras positioned in the same area, one with an extreme long shot and another with a close up. I attempted to film a shot with a handheld camera whilst she walked at a fast speed down the hill, however this didn't work out upon watching it back as the footage was too wobbly and the lighting wasn't ideal, so I will not be using that piece of footage in my video. Overall at this location I think we got a variety of decent, powerful shots that will be useful in post-production and will be used greatly in the final product.
    After this, we progressed to a nearby field. This was where a lot of the danced scenes was going to occur. I liked this location as it was practically symmetrical both sides of the public footpath that went through the centre of it, it was this on which Rhiannon danced and sang upon. I both cameras next to each other, with one not being touched, simply filming the action, whilst the other I controlled throughout the filming, I took advantage of the zoom controls quite often to get a variety of shots. I think this went rather well as Rhiannon displayed a lot of choreography, a lot of which was very use-able and was perfect for what I wanted to achieve. We then progressed to a nearby road, in which she did similar acts in the middle of it, similar to the field this was visually pleasing due to the symmetry it had.

 We then made our way back home and began filming in the character's bedroom (actually my parent's) in which she began throwing items around the room and trashing it as much as she could, this was  to show her wild attitude and display her as a free spirit. We had to do a few takes for this scene because of health and safety reasons, of course a lot of furniture was being thrown around and/or pushed over which of course causes a safety risk, so those shots had to be done gradually and safely to avoid injury to myself or Rhiannon.

After this, I made my way outside and and positioned my cameras facing up towards the window of the room we had just been filming in. I then asked Rhiannon to begin throwing clothes out of the window (in reality, my clothes!) This had to be done over a number of takes to ensure that I could get a variety of shots (i.e. close up, medium shots and long shots.) I feel this was a successfully shot scene as Rhiannon impressively gave many looks that was specific to the character that I wanted to create in this video.
   Finally, once we had completed filming that scene, I invited Rhiannon to film the car shots. This was a fast process, it involved her walking up to the car that we would be using (a gold Rover) and pretending to smash in the windscreen with a hammer, and then dancing around it. The smashing shots were filmed in a number of takes so I could be specific and get a variety of angles. However, the dancing aspect of the scene was filmed in one take and was a very short process.
  Overall, the filming day was a very successful and productive one indeed and I feel that we got a lot done and am happy with the outcome. Looking back now, I do think that it will be necessary to do another day's filming as I have since had new ideas for scene or shots that could be filmed on another day. Also watching back footage during post-production I have realised that some of the shots were a little grainy, I think this is due to the low lighting that was used during the day, so I feel that re-filming those shots will be necessary and I aim to do that in the second day of shooting.