Shoot Day Part II

On our second day of shooting (the Thursday) we shot on location at the Dorking Stepping Stones.

On the Thursday morning we travelled down to Dorking, found the stepping stones and set up the camera for the first angle. 

Although i have to admit the first difficulty of the day was finding the stepping stones, seeing as I thought I knew where it was, and my memory deceived me, luckily we found with 10 minutes so, virtually no time was wasted. As I have said above we next set up the camera (Sony NX5 HD) checking white balance etc. I started to play around with some shots featuring the nature that surrounded us. 

During this day we tried many shots in slow motion to get the effect that this location was not reality.The worked very well when we tried to create a ripple in the water; for a transition we had planned in the ani-matic storyboard. 

We bought with us some shots from our original storyboard, which helped us structure the shots we took. Due to the beautiful location we chose; there was a tree which fitted the style of the piece and formed a perfect shot to both actors to be in. 

We thought it would be good to have her see him but, he never actually sees her; he just thinks he does. This would give the narrative more depth. To convey this we sat her in a tree looking down at him, but we wanted to see his reaction; as if he had seen her. Therefore we needed a POV shot from the tree. So, I volunteer to climb up and take the shot from the tree, this would help us later when we were concentrating on continuation.

On this shoot day we also spent a lot of time filming water. This would allow us later to build layers and give the film depth and create a further feeling of non-reality.


My main role on this shoot day was being the camerawoman. I felt that I had quite a specific vision for this shoot, and that my choice of composition was a key element. I kept to hand the list of shots and transitions needed, I was aware of what was needed so I did it as efficiently as I could; taking into consideration the frame and the lighting, etc.

Shoot Day Part I

We filmed our project on two separate days. We filmed in the Studio on Tuesday and on Thursday we shot on location at the Dorking Stepping Stones.

On the Tuesday morning we started prepping the lighting and checking the playback on the sound system. I then, started setting up the Sony NX5 HD camera, and experimented with a few shots and their composition.

With us, we had our original storyboard, which helped us create a shot list, to help frame our day. The list went something like this:

1. A wide shot of the entire song with Leo in the chair playing the song, nothing else.
2. An entire take of the strumming only in mid shot.
(So far this would enable us to use footage from these takes should any error occur in post production)
3. Foot tapping in synchronisation with the opening 20 seconds
4. Transition shots in wide of Leo moving from the chair to the wall of polaroids
5. Extreme close up of eyes and lips, to the words "Only Love Is All Maroon"
6. A location/polaroid match on action shot. (Intention - to dissolve into location)
7. Leo by the record player in high angle (almost bids eye view) picking up the pin and putting it on the vinyl
8. Focus pull mid shot of the Guitar and the volume knobs of the record player. (See screengrabs)

9. Tracking to the right shot of Leo singing downstage centre and fading into black
10. Mid Shot Leaves
11. Wide Shot Leaves
12: Close Up Leaves
13. Low angle Leaves

We used a "genie" machine to aid these leaf shots. Using a leaf spreader that consisted of two wooden poles and some thin felt material stretched between them that had several slits through it in order to let the leaves gradually fall through, we raised the genie over the set and shook the spreader so that the leaves would sprinkle over the lead singer.

If I were to go back and change anything about this, I would have used less leaves because lots of audience members constructively criticised the amount of leaves used and said that the product verges on comedy here. However, this could also be biased because if one was to see anyone they knew in person have leaves poured over them then they would most probably find it comical.

My main role on the shoot day was being the camerawoman. Although we alternated between the roles of directing and playback, I felt that I had quite a specific vision for this shoot, and that my choice of composition was a key element. I kept to hand the list of shots and transitions needed, I was aware of what was needed so I did it as efficiently as I could; taking into consideration the frame and the lighting, etc.

Set building/Construction (Pre-production)

Props/ Wardrobe :

I. Large leather, aged arm chair
II. Pen knife
III. Wooden Flooring
IV. Dirty white wall
V. Shelf on wall
VI. Lots of Leaves
VII. Side Table
VIII. Old books
IX. News papers
X. Old fashioned lamp
XI. Vinyls and Vinyl Player
XII. Manuscript sheets/Hand written Lyrics
XIII. Fake tree
XIV. Polarioids
XV. Over head earphones
XVI. Acoustic Guitar
XVII. Old band posters
XVIII. Retro style telephone
XIX. Vintage 1950’s Radio
XX. Old Wooden Coat Stand
XXI. Window on set
XXII. Venetian Blind
XXIII. Checkered Blanket (picnic style)

We spent three hours the previous afternoon; creating the set for the studio. We painted the walls and covered them ‘vintage’ posters, pictures and vinyl’s. Once we had finished, the room looked similar to the image drawn, only re-arranged. We wanted to convey a general style of 'vintage' and to portray Leo as an educated young man. The mise-en-scene would further aid the style of the song and the indie genre of the product.

Call Sheet

Bon Iver - Flume

Date of shoot : Morning of 2nd November [studio] , Afternoon of 4th November [location]

Leaya Hatzakis, Elly Sams, Lottie Avery

Team contact:

Leaya: 07912 498869
Elly: 07717 745450
Lottie: 07876 733658

Cast List
I. Lead Singer - Leo Faulks: 07878 163429 (Beatrice Webb House)
II. Lead Girl - Lottie Tolhurst: 07875 711990 (Cornhill Manor)
III. Lead Boy- Edward Nightingale: 07545 002563 (Peaslake House)

Pre-production Planning Set/Design/Lighting Plans

This a sketch of our set; they general design ideas were 'vintage' essence.

 
We decided that an antique style phone, and a record player created this effect. We wanted the room to look full; mainly of form of entertainment such as newspapers, books and photographs, etc.  

Storyboard

This is our ani-matic that we drew out on paper, filmed and then edited on Final Cut Pro. This give us an idea of the amount of shots we would need for the length of the track, and a rough idea of how we would create transitions between the studio and location. This helped us greatly, sue to the fact that it made later progressions more efficient.   

Copyright Letter

Head of Copyright and Legal Affairs

JAGJAGUWAR
1499 West 2nd Street
Bloomington, IN 47403
USA

17^th October 2010

Dear Sir/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: Flume by Bon Iver.

With your permission the track would be usedas 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,

Lottie Avery

Leaya Hatazakis

Elly Sams

Hurtwood House

Composition Rules

Photography brings a visual language that is universally understandable. We must then understand its vocabulary which consists of shapes, textures, patterns, lines, colours, shade of light to dark and sharp to blurry images. Just as we must learn to arrange words in a coherent order in order to make sense when we write or speak, so too must we put visual elements together in an organized manner if our photographs are to convey their meaning clearly and vividly.

Composition means arrangement: the order you put images/symbols/etc together to make a unified whole. However, there are basic principles that direct the way visual elements behave and interact when you combine them inside the four borders of a photograph. Once we have grasped these basic ideas of principles, then we will have the potential for making our photographs more exciting and give them something to say.
The most popular form of composition is called ‘The Rule of Thirds’. Imaginary lines are drawn dividing the image into thirds both horizontally and vertically, like this:



You place important elements of your composition where these lines intersect. As well as using the intersections you can arrange areas into bands occupying a third or place things along the imaginary lines.

First Pitch

Flume powerpoint

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Research and Development - First Ideas

We have begun our research by listening to an artist who isn’t too well known, and has “easy-listening” style music. From this ‘indie’ style of music we decided that we would follow the genre so that it would appeal to the right audience. We have therefore decided to have a romantic video; of every girl’s perfect beginning to a relationship. We selected a romantic setting and time of the year. We decided on The Dorking Stepping Stones and in the autumn where all the trees have rich colours. Our ideas then followed to the idea of fate. We had the idea that both characters would spend a lot of time there but never at the same time until finally fate brings them together. We have also decided to have a lead singer in the studio with a more mature look, which could make the video read as one of his memories.
As another aspect of research we looked at other videos from artist such as White Stripes, Bombay Bicycle Club and Foals. These artists are from the same genre, and hit the same type of audience and if we wanted to target the same audience we would have to develop an idea that had a similar feel to videos from these artists.