Originality - First Filming

I went out to film the public at different places in London. I knew it was going to be quite difficult and if not awkward trying to get people, because randomly asking strangers if they could stand in front of the camera for 10 seconds could end up very badly. However I took the risk and it paid off. I wanted to film a number of different people, all ages and styles from goth to upper class if I had the chance. I shot in a number of different locations to try and get several different backdrops to keep the background visual aspect of the video still slightly appealing, even though I was shooting in a very narrow depth of field. 

Example of produce

Originality - Initial Ideas

So earlier in the week we visited a number of different exhibitions which would then give us some inspiration for a piece of work to be presented next week. We could either produce a minute long video of choice or two photos which were inspired by some aspect we came across in one of the exhibitions. Of all the exhibitions the only one that really appealed to me to want to explore it further was the "May the Circle Remain Unbroken" by Corinne Day.

This was a photography exhibition which presented a number of photos of herself, friends and family over her lifetime. I really enjoyed this exhibition because of the raw emotion showed in each photo. None of them were staged, they were all shots captured as the event was taken place in the present so show completely natural and instinctive reactions unlike a lot of the stage photography we see now-a-days.

The exhibition doesn't it doesn't try to show a particular style, it isn't trying to be artistic instead remains natural and makes you wonder what it would be like to be there at each individual moment. It gives us an incite into the lifestyle they have. (Photos Below)

However when reading some reviews of the exhibition I came across one that deeply disagreed, and harshly had ago at the exhibition for not being very original. This annoyed me, and more importantly made me think what is originality?

Originally (ironic) I was thinking of taking some photos of my family at unexpected situations to try and capture different reactions (laughter, anger, happiness etc) however reading the article inspired me to make a video questioning the importance of originality and what actually is it. This sent me into a brainstorm of all the different things that are effected by this idea of originality and how its such a a modernistic idea. 

From this I started to experiment with writing a narrative piece I could record over a short video, in which I could film different people of the street looking at the camera (giving it a dramatic edge). 

Summary of Rotation Stage

The Rotation stage has been good because it has forced me to take part in things I would have never even think about doing. Out of the four subjects and stages, I definitely enjoyed the Photography and Broadcasting stages more than the others mainly because I was previously interested in them and had more of a grounding on each of these topics. I therefore found it easier to come up with realistic and completable ideas unlike during the Sound design and Animation stages. 

I least enjoyed the animation stage out of all of them, which was too my surprise because I was expecting to not enjoy the Sound Design. This was mainly because how long it takes to create such a little segment in the animation, and during that week a lot of time was spent sat in front of a computer screen key framing movements and transitions which is something that doesn't automatically appeal to me. The Sound Design stage enlightened me to the complexity of sound and how much it can influence a piece of work. I learned the most this stage and am grateful that we did this before the broadcasting stage because it made me think about how to record the sound properly in a high quality instead of using the microphones from the cameras (which when watching the footage back mainly just pick up the wind resistance). 

The rotation stage has also helped me with my time management and planning skills. Before I didn't really understand and value the point of planning out all projects in as much depth before construction took places so that everyone knew what they were doing and when it would have to be done for. Instead I would let projects go and try and make the best of the situation as I was presented with them. However this usually ended up with me or other individuals being forced to have a far higher work load which was un fair when working in groups. 

Overall I think the rotation was a great idea, as it lets us ease in to the subjects we can potentially expand further. It definitely made me rethink about what I could then go on to do as a bigger project in the pathways.  

Final Chase - RIMMEL

Editing

The video was edited using mainly Adobe Premier Pro. This was because both me and Ryan had previously used this program in the past and plus the easy work flow it offers with the other adobe programs, such as Adobe After effects and Adobe Speedgrade. This saved us having to render the video over and over again when transferring the file between programs which we would have to do if we were using a program such as Final Cut Pro X. This saved us both time and memory, two things we needed to use wisely. 

Premier pro is a really good piece of software for editing. It allows us to easily sort and arrange the footage/files into "bins" to clarify the source so we know which camera we are looking at and where to find the audio etc. Using dual monitors it allowed us too watch either the source image or the output on a larger screen to determine whether it was right for the sequence (In focus, right colours etc). We then linked this with an after effects project, so that if we wanted to edit any one of the individual clips then we could send it into the after effects project and render directly back into the timeline. This was helpful was filmed some footage upside down using the steadi-cam so we could get closer to the floor. We then just reversed this in after effects and put it back into the timeline. 

The sound was edited mainly in logic pro, once pieced together it was then exported back into the timeline in premier pro. 

Filming

On the day of filming we made sure we arrived early so we had plenty of time for filming in the daylight, especially as we are entering the winter seasons so the days are shorter. We had made a list of equipment that we needed, some involved being signed out of the CLR, to bring down. 

Once arrived at the location we set up all the equipment and took some test shots of the scene, I brought my laptop so that we could view the image on a bigger screen to make sure the picture was all right and working before we filmed the whole scene. 

Everyone had been set there jobs and it was perfect that we had six people in our group because it allowed all the actors to focus on their jobs and then we could have one person per camera and a set person for the sound.

Me, Louis and Eliz were acting in the video. Ryan was the main tracking camera, using my Canon 60D and a steadi-cam. Imogen was on the the second camera (Ryan's Canon 550D) while being attached to a Video Heavy duty tri-pod. Miranda had a Seinheizer 416 mic attached on boom into a Zoom recorder which we then were going to use to replace all the sound recorded on the camera. Me and Ryan mainly directed the shots and overall video. 

We already had a story board drawn out between us and had previously been to the location the day before so everyone had a more than rough idea of the what was being shot and where. We started to shoot in chronological order so it would be easy in finding clips and videos when in post production. The name of the soundtrack was announced on camera when filming to allow us to easily synchronise these later. 

The majority of the video was filmed on my Canon 60D with the steadi-cam. This was because we wanted the majority of the shots to be moving, to try and add to the dynamic attitude of the video. With the purposely shaking footage it made the scene look a lot more intense and realistic than when comparing to the footage of the stand still camera. This exaggerated the speed of the chase as well. Despite it being a steadicam we were quite rough with the piece so that it still gave a significant amount of shake to the footage. A steady glide to the image would have not help establish the energetic and frantic atmosphere we were looking for in the chase scene. 

We also used my Go pro hero 3 Black edition attached to my ski helmet to give a stable first person point of view camera. I used this to get some shots of me spray painted on the wall to running down one of the pathways.  We still made sure we linked the audio from the main microphone to the go pro footage because the sound was not at all good enough in comparison. Especially from what we learned during the sound design week that sound has a huge role on the effect on the overall feeling and atmosphere of the piece. 













Our main problem that we occurred during the day was the lack of light in the actual warehouses. With no access to electricity or no generator we were't able to provide any extra lighting. This meant we would have to try and make the most of daylight hours and shoot as much into the light as possible to reduce the grain. We did have reflectors with us which we were planning on using for stand still still shots however nearly all of the footage included some sort of movement which basically rendered the reflectors useless. 

I also had my on top spot light which i use for portrait photography however this created a very small artificial light which only was shown on where the camera was pointing. This made it very noticeable to the viewers and wasn't suitable for the actual video. 

We did try to place it on the floor in places but the light wasn't powerful enough to make a significant distance when placed in an area far enough away that it wouldn't be picked up on camera. This meant we had to stick with the warehouses where a lot of light was available for use. 


Overall I think filming went very well. If I was going to change anything about the shoot I'd probably look into possibilities on getting hands on a generator to be able to possible work some flash lights. 

I also would maybe think of filming over two days because as the day began to stretch on people were getting stressed on whether we were going to be able to finish filming before it actually got dark. I didn't want to have to rush filming and miss something however we didn't have the time in terms of our deadline to be able to come back a second day and film again. 

Location and Video Planning

The Location for the chase scene was supposed to be an abandoned building which was easily accessible and large so there are broad places to run across and film at wide angles. There was an abandoned building that Miranda and I knew of called "the Klinger" perviously owned by Richard Klinger Limited. 

This is a few warehouses all linked together just outside of Bexley and Sidcup quite close to where we live. Me and ryan first went and explored the place to make sure it was safe and that there was easily was to get in safely and big enough to take a load of equipment with us when we were going to film. 

Once we were happy we then went back with the whole group to plan out the actual chase sequence and see the path route of what happens and where.

I brought chalk with me could mark out the route of whats going to happen and where people are going to run on the floor. This could help us visually see how the video was going to pan out and so that we could easily explain situations to each other in the group. These could easily be washed off with water if needed and also can help the actors with which directions they need tog when actually running in the scene.

The main problem with location was the amount of broken glass and other material on the floor. This could be a health and safety problem so when we were planning the route of the chase scene we made sure we stayed away from all potential hazards. We also removed all loose objects from the ceiling and made sure the ground was stable in all of the buildings so that we wouldn't have to worry about this on the day of filming.