SHOOT DAY

The timetable for our shoot involved half a day building and painting our set, one day actually shooting for seven hours, and then two hours to strike the set. This involved hard work following our call sheet but worked out well. We managed to shoot all that we had planned and more.

Unfortunately, we lost our location a few days before our shoot so had to devise a new concept that we could operate in the studio. We came up with quite an unusual idea that would challenge several conventions of ‘the pop video’. Our new idea is as follows; to hang a black curtain in a circle (360°) and position a camera fixed to a wheeled tripod in the middle and place the band members under pools of light in a ring around the camera. The camera moved in a circle, performing a 360° continuous Pan, capturing each band member consecutively and the order of band members, shot sizes and backgrounds were changed regularly to keep the video interesting. The 360° Pan was going to be our only camera movement. There had to be sufficient room between each band member so that we could fill the camera with black to give us a point to cut. The camera moved round in an anticlock wise motion (from left to right), so the band travel across the frame from right to left, suggesting a rebelious nature, fitting with the theme of the song and lyrics for 'This Little Kitty'.

• 
  Before the arrival of the band we prepared the studio, after the last minute change of idea. The front of the Juke Box prop that we had sourced for our video fell off, so we had to fix this for use. We cleared space and provided tables and chairs for which the band could use to get ready and to use when they were not needed for filming. We painted large wooden panelling (approximately 2m X 1m) white, to place beneath the camera to serve as a flat platform free from bumps to give the camera a smooth movement and to reflect further light on to the musicians, as due to the 360° nature of the video, we could not position standard redhead and blonde lighting in a 3 point set up, so we used overhead spot lights, which cast a downwards shadow occasionally but the white panels on the floor fixed this.
  
  We then made sure that the camera, a SONY NX5, was white balanced and ready to film. Following this we established optimal positions for the band members under the five pools (spots) of light surrounding the camera, and used electrical tape to mark these positions. We ran a brief test run with members of the crew standing in the markers to identify any problems with the camera and to test the spots we had established.

• Shot a wide of the whole band, whole song. We then repeated this but got the band members to move around behind the camera and switched positions so that when the camera had done a 360° rotation - there was someone else in the same position. This proved fairly difficult as sometimes people weren’t in position before the camera reached them again or they had not stuck to the markers and were not in sufficient light.



• Shot mid of whole band, whole song



• Shot CU of instruments whole band, whole song – problem was that due to variation in musicians heights and sizes of instruments and the constant 360° motion of the camera it was difficult to capture all the instruments with in the same frame, so we had to sit the fiddle player down and get the double bass player to stand slightly further back.



• Shot the fiddle player, playing the solo with wides, mids and close ups.



• Shot the guitarist, playing the solo with wides, mids and close ups.
  


• Shot the banjo player, playing the solo with wides, mids and close ups.



• We then shot the lead singer, singing several important lines such as the beginning of verses and choruses.



• We then introduced the jukebox and stools into the frame, and had two extras sat on the stools with drinks as if to suggest a bar and shot the band in wide with a few stationary close ups.



• After this we added a wooden bar stand painted black, with a drinks stand to expand the bar and a table with chairs and added more extras to the scene. We positioned the band next to this environment and stopped then camera on the band and healed until the end of the second chorus.



• For the final shot, we constructed a raised stage and hung stage like lights that flashed consecutively above, and positioned cinema like seats in front with extras sat in them to simulate a ‘gig’ atmosphere.

A shot that I felt really worked well was the one with the bar situation set up as there was movement between the extras, and someone reached out towards the bar to usher a drink just as the camera passed, so it ‘lead the eye’ through the bar to finally rest on the band and the camera stopped. It fitted very well with the music, as there is a feeling of movement through out the song, but this sense of movement stops at the point we paused the camera on the band.

Another shot or sequence that i felt worked well, was the close up shots of the various band members and instruments, as they are not conventional 'band' instruments, including a banjo, fiddle and a double bass. There is a lot of movement due to the fast musical nature of the song, for the close up the camera was framed quite tight around the musicians hands which made the image interesting.

I was happy with hown the day had gone, and it was free from any major set backs. Given the state of uncertainty we were in before filming due to the last minute change of ideas, the day could not have gone any better. We had ample footage to edit, keeping with Negus's convention of a music video that it is filmed with a high shot ratio. If we had more time, we could have perhaps shot a narrative element to which we could cut to regularily, however challenging this convention, may prove in the videos favour as described by Barthes' theory of Plaisir 'pleasure through the unexpected'.

Permissions Letter

Here is a copy of the permissions letter, sent to 'The Toy Hearts' seeking permission to use thier song as part of our music video. We were legally and morally obliged to obtain the permission of a copyright owner to enable us to not only shoot the pop video, but also be allowed t0 place it on the internet at various sites.



The Toy Hearts Band
Birmingham
09/11/10


Dear Sir or Madam

We are a group of A Level students working on an A Level project for a qualification in Media Studies. We are writing to request permission to use the following track as part of this project:

’This Little Kitty’ by ‘The Toy Hearts’

With your permission, the track would be used as the accompaniment to a short form video that is made purely for assessment purposes and will have no commercial usage. The video will be viewed only by members of the school community and the assessor of the examination board.The artist and the copyright holder will of course be fully recognised in the pre-production and evaluation material that accompanies the project. We can also include a full copyright notice if required both in the planning material and on the video itself.

Yours sincerely

Joshua Jackson,
Hurtwood House School

The Finished Call Sheet

Call Sheet

The call sheet is essentially 'the bible' for the shoot day. If a question or concern arises - we will refer to the call sheet . This said, it is important that the call sheet is done in significant detail, with any information that might be relevant to the video. It is vital that we have a record of all numbers of the members of the production team so that if one is missing, and we need them on set or need to get ahold of them - this can be done immediately and with ease. If the shot day is to be a success it is important that the call sheet contains the following information.

Title Page - Basic information RE; the production team, song name, date

Contents Page

Cast List

Equipment List

Studio Set Plan

Set Desin

Lighting

Props

Wardrobe

Lyrics

Schedule

Shot List

SET BUILD AND LIGHTING DESIGN

This is 'Wiltons Music Hall' in London, a location that we were particularily captivated by.

'Barn Theatre' in Oxted. We particularily liked the historic feel.

'Kings Theatre' Portsmouth, which we very much likes the red materials, and simple colours.

Disappointingly, non of these locations, amongst others that we scouted, were available or within our budget. A letter sent to the 'Barn Theatre' by a member of our group follows;

" To Whom It May Concern,

I am a student from a sixth form college in Surrey and am studying Media A2 level. For our coursework in the A2 year we are required to shoot a pop video, for our video we are shooting a band called They Toy Hearts who are an up and coming band who have just got home from touring in America. I am working in a production team of four people in total. I have visited the Barn Theatre recently to watch The Happiest Days Of Your Life and really liekd the look of the theatre and think it would look really good in our video. We would like to shoot the video on the 22nd November for a whole day. I would just like to know how much it would cost and what conditions you have. A quick response would be greatly appreciated so we can make alternative arrangements if necessary.

ThanksJosh Gorman "

Sadly, as with the others, this was to no avail.

We therefore discussed, with 'Dan' a professional set design technician, pottentially recreating a similar 'feel' with our studio. We played him the song so that he could get an idea of what the song was about and share his views. He offered us some advice on what we could do such as investing in to scale plastic moulds, cast in recogniseable theatre architecture such as columns, which we could paint and dress the set with. We then discussed buying some authentic deep red curtains. He agreed with our choice of lighting as we had previously devised, faithful to the mood of the song, but also suggested we considered 'yellow' filters, which give the image a 'yellowy' tint, to greater portray the idea of the theatre. It was suggested this could be done during post-production, using AfterEffects software but this would mean it went over the whole image, and we could not be selective, such as just lighing the band members. In conclusion, we decided a combination of filters combined would create the desired effect and also give some depth as would not be the case with a pure yellow filter or if it was done in post production.

Although we were making progress, and happy with our lighting design, and prepared to begin set building, we all knew we would not be able to achieve what we could with a location.

Luckily, Dan came back to us a few days later, with the news that he had the perfect loaction that we could use, free of charge. It is a big old stately home coimbined with an Opera theatre. The house is called 'The Grange' and is located just outside Winchester - internally it had the exact right character and arcitecture that we wanted to recreate in the studio.

STILL AWAITING IMAGES

As a result of the change in location, our story board has to also change. We have to wait until we have seen it before we can come up with further ideas of set design (if necessary) and changes to the treatment. Due to the distance of the location and it being privately owener, we cant go and visit the location as we please, therefore we have a planned 'recky' on the 5th November. After this, we will hopefully have more images and a further idea of treatment and set desigg. The plan is still to create a music video based primarily on performance as we feel this will allow us to capitalise on the fact that the band is a real, experienced band who have played, performed and made music videos together before. We anticipate that we will get a really good on screen presence from the band and are looking forward to working with them.

Lighting Plan

Lighting is essential when creating the mood of an environment, and if not thought through it can give the wrong effect or parts of the band or subject may be lit inappropriatelly. Khuleshove states that 70% of meaning is in the visual, only 30% is portrayed through sound, so it is important that all elements of the visuall image are intergrated.

It is important to have a plan ready, in particularily if working on location where equipment has to be transported and lighting my not be already available, to ensure that the director, cinematographer and gaffa (in charge of lighting on the day) know exactly what is required; such as varrying intensity lights like redheads and blondes and how the lighting will be used - three point lighting incorporating; a flood, a fill and a back light. A design will also ensure everyone knows where the lighting is to be possitioned, so the shoot day is as efficient as possible.

We have chosen to use low key lighting, as we like the silohete effect that it creates with the subject. We also want to use red filters on some or all of the lights to give the image a tint of red, this is because the song is about being reckless and has quite a promiscuous feel to it, and we believe that red reflects this well.

It is important that the two female singer's facers are luminated with a spot light to make thier faces the centre of attention when the shot is focused on them, and to make them very prominant. Instuments must be also well let for close ups for the same reasons. We are going to use a flood light on the lead male instumentallist aswel, as he has a very characteristic face which we feel will look good on screen and respond well to being lit.

Studio Design

A studio design is a vision for how the set will look on the day, and usually when working in a film studio you are tryint to conceal the fact that it is a studio, so it is important to have a sound design in place, ready for construction, in order for the set to look as authentic as possible.

Whilst drawing up a set design it is important to think of 'practicality', especially when working to a budget, as somethings may not be possible and othertimes it may just be best to shoot on location for a real authentic feel.

We had to consider where our band members would be placed and what we would position around them. Our plan for the bands performance element was originally to have them set in a rustic, homely yet studio environment, complete with pictures, mirrors and ornaments on the wall, as well as a large red rug in the centre. We wanted it to have a 'woody' feel like an old american, country house. Our original studio design, is shown bellow.

We then decided we want to have the band located with in an empty theatre, but not necessarily on stage, just within that environment - we were particularily attracted by the deep red colour of theatre chairs and curtains as well as the aged, timely feel associated with them. Locations were considered and apporoached for this to no avail, but we also felt that recreating a theatre feel with in the studio would not have the same affect.

Camera Test

A camera test is conducted well in advance of shoot day to give the director and producers clarification as to whether the video has been corectly cast in terms of how well the band look on screen - do they look like a band should which is together and fluid? It is also to give them confidence as to whether they will be able to work with them, because if they dont get on on shoot day, then the day could be a disaster. The footage - photos / film - obtained through a camera test may be consulted during story boarding.

For our pop video shoot, we are lucky enough to be filming a real band, 'The Toy Hearts', producing a video for one of their latest singles, 'This Little Kitty'. We are in contact with the band via email and telephone, but will not be able to meet them before the shoot for a camera test. Therefore we have found performance and promo, images and videos of the band.

The video and images reflect the band's camera compatibility, and shows that there is real chemistry between them. A lot of camera time will be focused on the two female singers. The large amount of instruments used by the band will give us alot to film in terms of performance and will make for an entertaining video.