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'.
