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Welcome to my A2 media Blog, I'm Josh Stevenson (0796) and I'm in Group 2 with Harry Kettenis (0390), Matthew Romo (1660) and Ysabel Hudson-Searle (0331). Use the labels on the right to navigate through my blog, with the A2 labels relevant to my current course. You can access the main music video blog aswell using the link.

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Wednesday 29 October 2014

Shoot Day 29/10/14

Our second location shoot, this time using Harry’s house as the setting. We aimed to capture all of our remaining narrative shots, as well as the fire poi shots we intend to use as a concept shot.

The first shots we set up were the kitchen scenes with Matt and I setting up, while Harry and Yssy got into costume and make-up. We wanted this shot to add to the realism of Roza’s relationship showing the two in a home environment, doing something expected of a couple such as cooking together.

Production image from kitchen scene
Yssy and Harry required very little direction in this shot, because the situation was pretty much self-explanatory. Due to this, we were able to get straight on with the shots, with Matt on clapperboard and lighting and myself on camera. We manage to get some really nice moments in their relationship, that warm audiences to the couple, only making their relationship seem even more genuine; these being Harry getting fed a mushroom and Yssy being handed a cup of tea. The way the two acted our these moments came across as quite sweet and at times, made me forget that their relationship was in fact staged.
Moment in Narrative
Once we were all happy with the footage collected we began setting up for the two bedroom arguments. Again Yssy and Harry going off to change costumes, whilst Matt and I set up. Both of the arguments required the same set so once we were all happy with the set’s look on camera, we started thinking about how our camera movement would work in these shots.

Harry checking how the shot looked
Harry had no issue with costume and make-up, Yssy on the other hand had a henna tattoo on her arm which was very visible in the chosen costume. However, she wasn’t able to cover it herself with make-up without risk of it getting on her clothing; so I had to try my hand at applying make-up to the tattoo to cover it up. Luckily, I managed to make it so that it wasn’t visible on camera.

The two arguments are both quite different in nature; the first being about the boyfriend messaging other woman and the second being the boyfriend’s controlling nature. As such, they required different levels of intensity and emotion; which is something I believe was conveyed very well in our footage, especially with the aggression seen as Yssy attempts to leave the bedroom and she is prevented from doing so by Harry.


Two Argument scene comparison

The final narrative shot we decide to capture is the most explosive, in which the two are arguing furiously and Harry walks out of the house, putting an end to their relationship an ending the narrative there. Thinking ahead to what we planned on filming afterwards; while Harry and Yssy again changed costumes in preparation for the scene, Matt went to pick up Olivia, who we needed for our fire poi and I began setting up the camera and lighting required. In the final narrative shot, there are a lot of big and exaggerative movements; the key here was finding a good balance between their acting being emotional and being caricature. Just looking at the un-edited versions of the footage, I can already tell that the mix was perfect and effectively brings the narrative to a close.


In between the final narrative and fire poi shots, Harry and I set about to capture our timelapse sequence. Setting up the GoPro while the others were preparing for the fire poi. We managed to get a good sense of the progression of time in the timelapse shot, which quite stark changed in light.


Fire poi was a late addition to our storyboard, having to add these shots in because of the practicalities of using naked flames within the studio environment. As such, there was no time for rehearsing this shot until the camera was rolling. Olivia, who we had asked to be in the shot was fine with getting straight on with everything and choreographed all of her movements there and then as she heard the music.


 Fire poi clips

For this shot our group took on four main roles:
1- Operating the camera (For the static shots I was camera op and for the movement shots Yssy took charge)

2- Playback (Since we were filming outside and headphones wouldn't be the safest option, someone had to hold a portable speaker within hearing distance of Olivia. This was Harry throughout the shots)

3- Umbrella (While we were shooting the fire poi it was raining, so to prevent the cameras from getting wet, Matt stood with an umbrella above whoever was camera op at the time)

4- Fire watch (Olivia was handling naked flames while doing her fire poi, creating a major risk of setting fire to herself. To control this, we had someone stood to the side ready and waiting with a water hose to douse any flames. This was Yssy in the static shots and myself in the movement shots)

When we had a chance to review the footage, we noticed that there was quite a lot of grain. We weren't too deterred by this and tested out some grading to see what could be done. Once we'd gone and graded the footage, we were very happy with how it had turned out.


Graded (left), Ungraded (right)

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