Evaluation of the Shoot day

On the  day before the shoot day, we arrived in the studio at 3.00 to set up the scene for our first shoot, this is because out set is big and complicated so we needed extra time to fit all the filming into the day. We began by arranging three elevated bases next to each other in the studio to create a raised effect in order to enable us to pan from one shot to the next using a crane in order to give the impression of being in a dolls house.  We then put up temporary walls around the edge of the Base, and clamped them to the sides to ensure they are stable. We then deiced that we needed to split the room into two half's, so that one room would be the bedroom and the other would be the bathroom, to enable us to pan between each room to indicate that we are in a dolls house. so we put down a wall in the centre of the room, making sure there was a gap in the wall to give the appearance of a door in the wall, making sure the gap was close was on the section of the wall closest to the camera to enable our actors to easily walk across one room to the next.  

We then started with building the set for the bedroom. we put down the carpet to create a realistic appearance of a bedroom as well as flowery wallpaper on the walls to create the look of a sickly sweet "perfect" world. we then placed a large double bed in the middle of the room and bed side tables. We then moved to building the set of the bathroom, we also but down bathroom flooring and placed a bath and a sink in the room to create a realistic looking bathroom. I woke up in the morning on Wednesday the 20th November excited about the day ahead, yet nervous about weather we would have all the correct props and neccesary equipment, my main worry was that we would not shoot everything in time as we have a very tight shooting schedule. We all (with our narrative actors, Finbar and Gigi ) at 8.30 in the morning and we distributed the relevant outfits. Whilst they were getting changed we made the final touches to the set of the bedroom and bathroom by putting down alarm clocks on the bedside as well as putting his and hers slippers either side of the bed as well as putting Francesca's yellow spotted duvet on the bed which created a very successful look helping to  maintain our star image. as well as putting a towel next to the bath and putting cosmetic products on the side in the sink to create a more realistic (perfect) room. 

Once our actors were changed we did Gigi's hair and makeup and tried o create a typical 1950s "look" by curling her hair into ringlets . We sat around and make a conscious decision about how we wanted her hair and makeup and we came to the conclusion that we wanted Gigi to wear a sparkly hairband as well as bring lipstick and rosy cheeks to create a curtsy and sickly sweet doll like appearance. We decoded that we wanted Finbr to wear combed through gelled hair to create the look of a perfect boy. Eventually I think we successfully sustained the look of our dolls house, perfect world concept that we were aiming whilst maintaining a star image. soon we were ready to start filming and we soon established our roles in the making of the video, and I personally was drawn to being involved with the visuals of set and the acting, as i personally think that thee are the key ingredients to create a rich and professional looking product. before each scene was shot, I made sure that the props were all in place, for example in the bedroom shots i made sure that the lights were turned off and the alarm clocks read the right time. 

When we began shooing my role was to call out to the actors what they had to do at the times that they had to do it and the actions they had to make, for example in the bedroom scene, i shouted to Gigi, to open her eyes, sit up, turn the light on, put her slippers on, walk out of the room etc in order to make sure she didn't forget anything as well as taking the pressure off her to learn the sequences so that she can put more energy into looking and playing the part. I also helped display the layout of the cosmetic products on the edge of the sink and filmed most of the bathroom cutaway shots. Through out the day as a whole I feel I mostly helped int he creation of the sets and overseeing the whole shoot, making sure we had the necessary shots as i feel in this shoot its very important that we don't miss any shots. After filming the bedroom and bathroom shots we then took down the set and built the kitchen and living room set. we ha some trouble in sourcing a kitchen, we initially decided that a kitchen would be too difficult to create as we dot have a cooker or kitchen work tops to use as a set, as a result we walked around the school and asked members of staff if we would be able to use the kitchen to film the set. However we could not find a kitchen appropriate so we deiced to do our best to create a kitchen in the studio as we decided that then we would be able to pan across from the kitchen to the living room as we initially decided. It would also be in keeping with our theme and combine well with the living room and bedroom set better if we crated it in the studio. we eventually found a camping stove which we deiced to put on top of a work surface to give the appearance that we are in a kitchen.

 This, as well as the fact that we were rushed for time so we didn't have enough time to film all of out intended shots, where the main problems of the day. In the end we had to come up with alternative shots on the spot. for example we planned on filming eating bacon and eggs and then filming up the shots to show a seeded up montage of the food on the plate disappearing however at 5oclock, with one hour of filming left we decided that our time would be better spent filming shots that would take up more time. Overall I think that if we were going to film this shoot again i would take time management more into consideration as i think that our plans are too advanced for our short time frame. However I do think that we managed our actors very well and our actors in the narrative particularly looked perfect for the shoot and perfectly conformed with the star image we were creating, and the bit i most enjoyed was definitely working out the visuals of the videos and making condos decisions about the set and the clothing, hair and makeup of the actors in the narrative. I am very much looking froward to looking at the narrative shots and compiling them together to show the story int he editing process. I also feel that my grouped worked really well as a team and we soon established our individual roles to play in order to create hopefully a very successful professional looking music video.

Here are some more images from the shoot day: