Construction Post 2: Week 2 Production

Our second week of production consisted of our main shoot week. This took place in school in the studio and also on location for one day.

We had a schedule for our group to show who would be in the studio during the week at each time. This helped us to create a call sheet, shoot-board and shoot schedule so that we all knew what was happening each day and who would be required in terms of our extra actors. It also meant we had a goal for each day to make sure all the footage would be filmed.

Below is a copy of our group schedule.

Monday

Monday's Shoot Schedule

On Monday we had planned to film some of our lip-syncs, my dancing shots, Sian's dancing shots and also some of the boys group dance shots. However we spent most of the morning trying to set up an infinite white background so you can't see the join between the floor and the cyclorama. However we tried A4 and A3 sized paper and neither worked effectively. It was clear that it was paper being used and as a group we decided that it was best we didn't have it. Below are some photos of the cyclorama and the paper we tried to set up.

After this setback we had gotten to lunch time and we decided to spend it rehearsing with the boys for their dance shots. This was productive as it meant that during the after-school session we knew exactly which moves we were filming and all the boys had been reminded of the choreography and so no time was wasted. We were able to film the dance scenes from a variety of different angles with different framing so that when editing we could cut between them in order to make it more interesting. Sian and I took turns filming and directing this section.

Me filming one of the group dance shots

Tuesday
On Tuesday we planned to film our lip-syncs and also get the shadow shots and talking at shots done, all of which required different lighting and the talking at shots required a different lens.

Below are some screenshots of each of the set-ups

Tuesday's Set Ups

We started with the flicker lipsyncs as that required all three of us to be there. For these shots, Laith was acting, Sian was using the reflector and I was filming and directing Laith's performance.

Laith performing, Sian using the reflector and myself filming the flicker shots

Next we filmed the shadow shots which required Adam, one of our extra actors. This took a while to set up as the floor lights had to be in the correct place in order for the shadows to appear the right size and colour. As Laith, Sian and Adam were all on camera, I was responsible for filming and directing the shots. One thing I had to make sure to keep an eye on was that Adam himself stayed out of frame and that only his shadow was seen. Once we were all set up, the lip-syncs themselves ran smoothly and we got many good takes. 

This was one of my favourite shots to film as we found that it worked really well and looked really good on camera.

We spent the afternoon filming our handheld shots. Whilst I was there I helped Sian to film by cable bashing behind her to ensure she didn't trip over the wires whilst she was walking around.

After school we focused on the Laith talking at Sian sequence. We made sure to film it on both sides so that we could cut between them during editing. I was responsible for filming and directing again for these shots. I had to make sure that Laith stayed in frame and that they both varied there movements so we could get a range of shots. We had been inspired by Skylar Grey's song 'Back From the Dead'.

Sian and Laith Performing

Inspired by 'Back From the Dead' by Skylar Grey

In order to make up for the missed time on Monday we also did some more flicker lighting lip-syncs in a range of framing.

Wednesday

On Wednesday we were faced with another problem. When setting up the equipment in the morning we found that the camera we had been using wasn't working and so we were unable to film with it. However we were fortunate enough to be able to get it to a repair shop and have it fixed by the start of the next day.

Me helping Laith with his dance performance

We were given a replacement camera (the Canon Legria HFG30 Camera) to continue our filming however as the two cameras are so different in quality and design, our lighting didn't appear the same on the replacement camera and decided to adapt and use our time differently instead of filming as we didn't want some of our footage to look incredibly different to the rest we had so far.

As we were unable to continue filming, we used our time productively and planned out the next three days in detail so that we could still finish on time and to make sure we still managed to get all of our shots. We also rehearse and choreograph Laith's solo dance shots as we needed to make sure we had a set of moves he could perform and so we could film them straight away without wasting time the next day.

Thursday
By Thursday, the camera had been fixed and we could resume filming. We focused on dancing as we hadn't had a chance to film it so far. We managed to get Sian and my own solo dancing filmed and aslo some of our duet dancing filmed. This said optional in our schedule as we thought we might have got those shots by Thursday however we had to use it to film as we missed out on Monday and Wednesday.

Filming my dance shots

We also filmed the majority of Laith's solo dancing after practicing for most of Wednesday. We did this using both the silhouette lighting and also the spotlight. We did multiple takes of each move so that we had a selection to choose from. I filmed and directed Laith's dancing and made sure to be encouraging and supportive as Laith had learnt to dance for this shoot and I didn't want him to feel uncomfortable.

Laith's solo dance set ups

After school we filmed some more flicker lighting lip-syncs, however the camera's ISO setting must have changed as the footage appeared very bright on camera. We also filmed the reverse of the talking at shots and this time had Sian talking at Laith. In the same way as before, I was responsible for filming and directing these shots as I wasn't acting in them.

Sian and Laith performing the reverse talking at shots

In addition to this we filmed the shot of Laith walking into frame from out of focus to in focus. To do this, along with the talking at shots, we had to use a different camera lens. This lens had a much shorter depth of field and so we could really experiment with the focus in our shots. This worked really well for when Laith was walking forward. In terms of the talking at shots it meant we could focus on the person on the outside who was talking.

Friday
On Friday we continued filming Laith's dance shots in the morning as well as adding some more flicker lip-sync shots as we felt we needed to re-do them after watching the footage back from Thursday as Laith appeared really bright in the footage and it didn't match our other takes.

Sian and Laith also filmed their dance shots together on this day, using the same silhouette lighting as the group dance.

Sian and Laith's back lit dance

Sian and I doing the guys dance

At lunch we had another session with our dancers and so we continued filming their sequence from a range of angles. Sian and I also filmed our version of the boys dance so we could cut between it in the dance break

In the afternoon, as Sian and I had filmed all of the dance shots, we decided to use the time to look through all of the footage we had filmed and make a note of anything we didn't like or wanted to change as we still had an after-school session and Saturday morning. Below is our list of changes.

Saturday

On Saturday we continued to re-film the shots we need to improve in the morning, including Laith's solo dance scenes and some of the hand held lip-syncs and also flicker lighting lip-syncs.

As we didn't need to redo any of the screen shadow shots we used the time to continue filming a range of hand held lipsyncs. 

The final studio session was with the boys in the afternoon to film the remaining dance shots. This consisted of their choreography for the dance break and also the smaller moves in between, such as this leaning back shot which can be seen below.

Sunday

Our priority on Sunday was to film all of our narrative shots as we had filmed the lip-sync the weekend before. Below is a sample from our Narrative shoot-board.

We decided that we would film all of the shots which required Adam, our extra actor first. These shots consisted of a serious of different shots both in my neighbour's house and in the park. Laith and I took turns directing and filming these shots as he hadn't had a chance to film anything throughout the week.

Whilst in the park we also took the opportunity to take some of our location promo shots using my digital camera (a Canon EOS 100D).

Once we returned back to my house we filmed all of the outdoor shots first. This consisted of the narrative shots of both Sian and Laith by the wall outside. I was responsible for filming and directing this. In addition to this shot, I took some more promo shots of Laith outside in the alley way as can be seen below.

Our final part of filming took place inside, where we filmed the rest of the narrative shots between Laith and Sian. This consisted of the argument sequence, the sofa shots, the phone shot and the mirror shot. As Laith and Sian were acting in both, I was filming and directing these most of these shots but Sian also filmed the ones she wasn't acting in.

Some of the shots I filmed

Overall I feel that our studio shoot, despite being quite eventful, was really enjoyable. By the end of the shoot I can definitely say I was very comfortable and confident using the lighting desk and changing the position and colour of the lights. In addition to this I have gained confidence filming hand-held shots as I had never done so before. I would say that the week was successful and we managed to film all of our shots even with the issues we faced. All three of us worked really well together and had a fun and memorable experience.

Behind the Scenes Group Photo