FINAL FILMING

The last filming trial took place on the 14th December 2012; our deadline day. Unfortunately and shamefully me and Chris had been unable to complete our filming before now for many reasons although looking back on it now it seems more like excuses, so that we could avoid the task at hand and working together. These included work commitments, family arrangements etc. As you can see from the print screen below, taken from the official Met Office website, the weather on this particular day was far from brilliant and this made filming extremely difficult, especially seeing the extent of what we had to do and also the lack of clothing which Sam had to wear when filming. Throughout the whole process we had to ensure that Sam remain as warm as possible, providing him with a coat and other warming clothing between takes. This did make the process longer as we had to provide extra time for him to keep changing but safety was our main concern. Another thing which made it extremely hard was that we had to also film scenes with our second actor so it was difficult arranging to get her to the location aswell.

Our filming began at 9am when I had to go and pick Harriet up although Chris and Sam headed to the location and began refilming any scenes with Sam which he could. When I arrived with Harriet we cracked straight on with getting the film done so that we could return to the warn school. The main aim of this filming session was to ensure that we had lots of different angles of the chorus because we could easily edit them in where we felt necessary if it was needed. We managed to film 4 different versions of the chorus so that we had varying angles to edit. As we did not yet have any footage of Harriet and Sam together at the bridge we had to focus on this idea although me and Chris both had creative suggestions about how we wished to end the music video. As we were working as a group we decided to film both different endings, one which followed the original plan and the other which was more abstract which Chris wanted to try out. After watching what Chris’s idea was I really liked how it came together and felt it would be good because it would show our editing capabilities including having to do a split screen. It would also create a happier ending than the one we were going to carry out. For this idea to work we had to film both Sam and Harriet walking towards each other but seperately, filming Sam first and Harriet secondly.This then came together in a seperate shot where we filmed them both coming together and embracing. To make it fair to both of us, Chris also filmed my idea, choosing the angles while I directed himon what to do. One interesting angle that we came to film was using a very close up shot of Sam by asking him to hold the camera and rotating the camera screen so that we could watch what he was filming. Thankfully we filmed this original idea, as I will explain in a later blog post, Chris’s idea did not film properly meaning unfortunately we could not use it.

The new method which we took in this final filming session of Chris filming while I directed the goings on worked much better for us as it allowed us to both shine in what we do well. After all of the disagreements me and Chris had about filming it is clear to see that while Chris is better at achieving interesting angles, I am more useful directing what occurs. We also finally understood the necessity of taking many different shots/angles of the same part because we had been held back for so long by the lack of angles/shots we had previously taken. Me and Chris have had many setbacks throughout the project including a lack of ideas at the beginning which led to us carrying out many pointless filming sessions. When I first carried out the preliminary task of doing a lip-syncing task to a song of my choice, I did not really understand the extent which we would have to go to if we chose to include lip-syncing in our final piece. This is why it was so crucial for us to film so many different shots of the same thing: because we were unable to tell till we got to the editing suite how good or bad they really were. Without the help of our very patient actor Sam, who also provided us with some creative criticism about out ideas while we filmed, the final product would of been possible.

FILMING OUR MUSIC VIDEO [trial 5]

With deadline day creeping ever nearer the urgency for me and Chris to film was massive and with this we both planned to film on the afternoon of Thursday 6th December. Luckily for us, our main actor Sam was available to help. After watching the footage filmed of Sam and our other actor Alice arguing we came to an honest conclusion that the quality of filming was grainy and the lighting could be improved. Knowing what needed to be done I made a pre-plan to start filming at 1pm and film both shots of Sam at Nine bridges alone, Sam with Alice at Nine bridges and refilm the shots of the pair arguing at Chris’s house although we would use natural light, not artificial. It is rather unfortunate that this plan did not go to plan for many reasons, explained below, because if it had it would of put both me and Chris in a very good position as the majority of filming would have been complete.

After many disagreements between me and Chris that morning it was decided that I would collect Chris and Sam at around 1pm. My first problem occurred when our second actor pulled out of filming due to her own educational commitments which was a fair decision. A major concern was that this would be a perfect time for filming while parents were at work and we really needed to refilm such a major element of the narrative. It was there that I would make the decision that would change our whole music video. I made the independent decision to change our female actor. Luckily, a friend of mine, Harriet Mackie, was free from college and willingly agreed to star in our music video. This solved my dilemma of not having an actor, and as we were going to refilm all of the footage again we would not be losing any previous filming. Although this sorted one problem about how much we could film, another soon arose when Chris notified me that we would not be able to film at his house as he had relatives over. Unfortunately I also had reasons why we could not film at my house including we were currently in the process of decorating the majority of the house meaning it was not safe for us all to be round. As me and Harriet are very good friends and I am close with her family and she was seeing how stressed and frustrated I was getting about the situation, Harriet kindly suggested that we use her house for filming. After much consideration and apologies for being so intrusive on her day off, I agreed that using Harriet’s house would be a good idea and it would also be beneficial as there is a lot of natural light in the direction of her house.

As planned I picked Sam up at 1pm ready to film although when I arrived at Chris’s house I became aware that Chris had to pop out with family so therefore he would not be attending our filming until later. Once Harriet was also ready me, Sam and Harriet headed to nine bridges to wait for Chris to arrive. This took longer than anticipated and when he arrived we only actually had 30 minutes before Sam had to be home for his own personal commitments. The day only got worse when Chris informed me that he had in fact forgot forgotten the t-shirt which we needed for filming. Luckily, not all was lost and we decided that the best thing to do would be to make our way to Harriet’s house and begin re-filming the previous footage as nothing other than the actors, the tripod and the camera was required for this.By the time we arrived at Harriet’s house we had 20 minutes although this time around, probably because we had already experienced this particular scene, it seemed to go incredibly well. We managed to film many different angles of the argument including over the shoulder shots from both characters, side views and direct angles, made incredibly easy by Harriet’s large bedroom as it meant we were able to place the tripod wherever necessary instead of having to work our filming around the shape of the bedroom. After looking at the shape of Harriet’s stairs, I made an on the spot decision to film a backward shot of Sam running down the stairs and although I did not know if we would use this clip I felt while we had the spare time I might as well film some extra footage because were not aware if we would need it or not. Luckily the actors bonded really well and very quickly got in to character, arguing away like you would expect of a couple in their situation. This was surprising for me as Harriet has never studied drama as a subject unlike Sam so therefore I expected her to take some time to assess her character but she got straight into it which made our job much easier. We did have to change the storyline slightly as it would of looked strange if Harriet had walked out of the bedroom and left Sam in a female bedroom so we switch the storyline over.

Although this particular filming session did not go fully to plan, I feel it has been beneficial as compared to the previous footage in relation to the house scenes, the footage which we filmed on this particular day is of a much better quality. Whereas the footage in the previous shoot had been of a low quality because of lighting issues, although this was still not perfect and would not be what i would call ‘industry standard’ the lighting of the shot was much better. This was largely due to the large bay windows in Harriet’s bedroom letting a large amount of natural lighting in. I also feel the actors bonded more, making it easier for them to feel comfortable around each other, whereas when we used Alice as the actor she was very giggly and it was clear to see that she was not comfortable filming an argument  mainly due to her happy personality. If things had gone to plan earlier in the day then we would of achieved a lot more but it was unpreventable and I still feel we acted maturely about the situation and managed to film some footage which I feel will fit well with our already half edited music video.

FILMING OUR MUSIC VIDEO [trial 4]

Much preparation went into this filming session as it involved not one actor but two. It also took place within a house which meant we could not just film when we wanted, we had to pre-plan that the house would be free. After much discussion me and Chris decided to film at Chris’s house as it was much bigger than mine and I was more willing to travel. As we were filming inside it could be carried out at any point during the day as we would just use artificial lighting so we chose to film these particular scenes after school one Friday and as it was already dark outside we chose to turn the lights on within the house. As we were running out of time and also because i felt it rude to intervene in Chris’s house, I ensured we stuck to the plan as much as possible so we had some type of guideline to follow when filming. As the scene was supposed to happen in a room close to one of the actors, we chose to use Chris’s bedroom as this made it look very similar to Sam’s bedroom and it made it look like it was the bedroom of Sam’s character. Below is a basic birds eye view of Christopher’s bedroom:

One major problem we faced when filming was the lack of room for both actors, me and Chris and also the necessary equipment required for our filming. Although we did look at this as a negative thing, it did encourage us to use more exciting angles such as filming from outside of the bedroom and also using a selection of over the shoulder shots. Some of the shots which we needed to do, due to lack of room, meant that Chris had to hold the camera which was a very risky move as it meant some of our shots would be very shaky and therefore less professional than if we had used a tripod. As you can see from the image to the right of this blog post, Chris had to remove himself from the drama and sit on his window sill with the camera in his hand to try and film the angles which we wanted. This made it very hard and I felt very secluded as I was not able to witnessing the filming and removed myself from the room. So that we could get more interesting shots, we filmed from outside the room, placing the tripod on the landing. This caused many safety issues as I was filming very closely to the stairs meaning there was a possibility I could easily fall down them. Another problem was that the actors had to be very careful with there movement so as not to break anything in Chris’s room although this seemed easy enough.

We attempted to film all the scenes required to be filmed in the house in one sitting so that we did not need to return to this particular location and inconvenience Chris’s mum or family. This was very easy although when we began to try and film the over the shoulder shot of the text light it was extremely hard to gain the correct lighting, meaning we could not read the text when we watched the footage back. This meant that we had to re-film this particular scene many times over. Another shot that I chose to film while in such a direct setting was a single shot of Sam crying although it only involved him placing water under his eye and allowing a single ‘tear’ to fall. Another problem which we had to overcome was Sam being a very dominant actor while Alice took more time to concentrate and focus on her role. As both me and Chris  are both good friends with Alice it was much easier for us to calm her down and talk to her about how important it was for us to get this complete and to a high standard. She soon stopped her giggling and as you can see from the screenshot below, the footage turned out pretty good in the end. Another thing which you will notice from the images is that Sam’s outfit has changed from the one he wears when we film at nine bridges. This is because this is a different setting and therefore we felt it appropriate to change the outfit/costume.

This filming session was very different to the rest as it took a lot more planning and concentration as we had set guidelines on what targets we wanted to achieve, therefore we got a lot more work done. I also felt it was lot more relaxed with more than one actor, meaning they could both get along quite well. Although we faced some downfalls, we managed to work our way around things and in the end filmed enough for another session in the editing suite. It has also taken a lot of pressure off our shoulders at it means all scenes within the house are finally filmed and we can carry on filming and editing the remainder of the music video.

FILMING OUR MUSIC VIDEO [trial 3]

Similar to how I had to film on my own while Chris was busy, due to work commitments away from my education, Chris took it upon himself to go and film with Sam, once again at nine bridges, after school one evening. Previous to this filming session, we had asked a small group of a similar target audience to the one we were aiming our music video at to watch what there was of our music video and comment on what they felt we could improve. Although the majority of students chose to do this after completing their music video time was running out for our group so therefore I felt it would be a good idea to gain feedback throughout the editing process, meaning we could rectify any mistakes during current filming/editing sessions. One of the comments which we had received was that the music video would be improved with a selection of different angles as the angles we currently hade were all very similar. With this information in mind, I advised Chris to work on this fault instead of moving on with the rest of the song as were not yet sure of what was required of the filming.

After speaking with our actor about how this particular filming session went, I have learnt that although they did not stay long once again due to the cold temperatures, they did actually achieve their objectives, filming a completely new selection of original angles. One very interesting angle that Chris chose to film was a mid-shot, taken from the right side of Sam, showing the landscape of a church in the background. What made this scene even better was that a bird flew through the shot at the exact right moment. Sam was also very emotional with this singing this time, adding real emotion to the song, making us believe that it was real singing instead of lip-syncing – an exact convention of real music videos. Chris had learnt from our previous mistakes, this time ensuring that not only did he have the plan and lyrics for the song, but he had also pre-loaded a version of the song to his phone meaning he only had to press play and did not rely on gaining a signal before he could carry out any work. Once again, similar to my thoughts, he did not wish to carry out much filming without me present meaning that he stopped once we had taken some footage to correct our previous mis-judgements. As Sam and Chris are not usually friends and do not talk as much as me and Sam does, this was a major step for both of them as it involved working with someone they were not familiar with. Hopefully this will be the last filming session were only one of us is present so we can get more done and ensure that we meet the deadline.

FILMING OUR MUSIC VIDEO [trial 2]

As time was running out I decided to film a brief section of filming on a day off even though Chris was busy with other commitments. After discussing with Chris what needed to be carried out, me and Sam headed off to nine bridges, although due to the timing of our filming [late night] we failed to get much completed. When we arrived at nine bridges I realised I did not have a copy of the song on me so therefore we had to use YouTube on our phones to help Sam get the timing right as this time round I had remembered that Sam must be lip-syncing in the footage. Due to the location we had chosen, it was very hard for either me or Sam to get a decent signal on our mobile phones, therefore meaning we spent much longer than I would have hoped trying to get a suitable edition of the song to sing along to. Sam was also not fully aware of the lyrics meaning that we had to allow at least 10 minutes for him to run through the lyrics, trying to fit his own voice against the lyrics and pace of the song. In the end we were only able to get the beginning of the music video loaded, therefore meaning that if we wished to film later parts of the song, Sam would have to set his own tone and try remember the tune of the song from any past listening. I chose to film the same section of the song many different times using a selection of different angles, including a selection of close-ups to try to create the emotion me and Chris were trying to achieve. As it happened, me and Sam only managed to film early parts of the song, which we had the music for. As it was way to cold for Sam to be out in just a thin t-shirt I had to end filming early, meaning we only got the bare minimum done although this would be a great help to me and Chris as it allowed us to edit these clips in and see where we needed to go next. Another thing which made me not want to carry out too much filming on my own without Chris present was the different ideas we had about the music video, so wanting to please everyone and create something we are both happy with, I decided to leave the majority of filming till we were both together.

Compared to our previous filming session I felt this one went much better. Not only were me and Chris not distracted by our disagreements but I had remembered to take the filming plan and a copy of the lyrics with me, therefore encouraging me to not only follow the plan but clear up our big mistake from last time, making Sam lip-sync to the song. Although many things did go right, I believe the timing of filming could have been much better and I could have also had a copy of the song pre-loaded on my phone to save us time. One problem which is beginning to worry me slightly is the changing weather because the further we get into winter the colder it will be, therefore Sam will not be able to film for as long as we would like, increasing the amount of times we will have to film. I will ensure that some consideration is put in to this matter to see if there is any chance of us trying to keep Sam warm between shooting. As you can see from the process we have carried out so far, we are working our project out so that we film a little bit and then edit it. This is making it extremely hard to ensure match-on-action as the sky colour and weather keeps changing although if we do follow a plan this should not be a problem as we are changing the colour of all the clips. After leaving filming and writing this blog post, I have been made aware that the next best thing we can do when trying to film is filming the scenes within the house as this is what we will be required to edit next. This needs some sort of preparation as me and Chris need to decide where we are filming and when is best. If we follow the plan we have had from the beginning this will occur at Chris’s house. It will also involve using our other actor Alice as the scenes we will film will be the argument.

FILMING OUR MUSIC VIDEO [trial 1]

After much planning and disruption from previous ideas which have failed, me and Chris have began filming our music video – although not all has gone to plan. After filming a selection of different footage it has come to our attention that we have made a major mistake on the basis that in the footage, although we have many different angles, Sam is not lip syncing in the footage and therefore it is not suitable to be used in our music video. As a small selection of the footage is usable  including Sam walking towards the bridge where we do not require him to be lip syncing, I will discuss the filming process for trial 1.

After school me, Chris and Sam headed to nine bridges, our chosen location for filming. Due to the changing weather becoming much colder we decided we’d attempt to get as much filming done as possible so that we avoided any worse weather conditions. As a matter of fact, the weather conditions, slightly foggy, were perfect for the ideology of our music video.  The first problem we faced on this particular filming session was a faulty camera battery which meant we were only able to film 5 minutes before the camera ran out of battery. After spending much of the evening attempting to find a replacement battery at school, we only managed to get about 20 minutes of filming done before the sky began changing and it was too dark for us to carry on, not only for safety concerns but because of the falling temperatures and the lack of match on action this would create. The footage which we did manage to achieve today included Sam walking up the road towards the all important bridge and also many different shots/angles of Sam sitting on the bridge. As explained later on in my blog, this would have severe consequences as certain important aspects were missing from these particular shots and the camera was also taken away from us, providing us with a more suitable camera although this meant all footage from the first day was unusable.

As we had managed to do such little on the first day of filming, we carried out the same task on the next day, this time taking a fully working battery with us meaning we could film for much longer. As the footage we had taken the previous day had not saved due to many issues with the camera we chose to refilm the same footage once again and the plan was, if we had enough time, we would begin filming other important parts. As you can see from the image to the right, Chris was very involved in the filming which involved moving about with Sam, while the image to the left shows I was more involved in filming which involved standing still. This was largely due to Chris being a lot more sturdy with the camera than myself, meaning he was able to film high quality footage without using a tripod. The camera which we had to use today was very different to the one we had been using the previous day [we had to change due to the battery issue] meaning once again me and Chris had to figure out how the camera worked and how to get the best shots out of it. This did take some time although a small selection of our time was taken moving out of the way for passing cars. As me and Chris are both attempting to achieve the best grade we were willing to climb and enter very uncomfortable positions, including me climbing down a ditch, surrounded by stinging nettles, to film Sam from below, achieving a more exciting angle. Due to the bridge being in a very specific location it was particularly hard for us to get a large selection of different shots, especially the most basic [straight on mid-shot] as there was no where exactly in front of the bridge for us to stand ourselves or the tripod. This meant we had to use the zoom in feature a lot, although on this specific camera it was incredibly hard to get a good enough focus. As you can see from the image of Chris filming, a major part of this filming session was filming Sam walking towards the bridge and this was the main component of the start of our music video. To make the footage more interesting we chose to experiment with many different angles including filming on different levels, from the front and behind and also from a high and low level. This did take some time to match the footage so it did not require much editing although we felt it would be effective when finished. We also had to film Sam getting on the bridge to realise it looked really awkward, leading us to the conclusion that we would allow the reader to piece the story together, not showing the actor getting on the bridge as it would of looked to out of place. One idea which Chris did have when we were filming was for us to film Sam walking towards us in one long clip, roughly 3 minutes, and editing it later on in the process so that time jumped and it appeared Sam was walking towards the camera a lot quicker than he really was.

This particular filming trial was a large learning curve towards us completing our music video as it allowed us to learn about our camera, to look at the resources available to us and also make a massive dint in the high amount of footage we needed to film in such a short period of time. As I will explain later in my blog, when we watched the footage over again, especially the footage taken of Sam sitting on the bridge wall, we noticed a major issue. Throughout our plan for this particular idea, something which we failed to carry on us throughout this filming trial, we had stated that we wished for Sam to lip sync the lyrics of the song. Unnoticeable to us at the time, this had not happened, therefore meaning none of the footage was particularly suitable to us other than the footage where Sam walked towards the camera. To try and ease our annoyance at such an issue we decided we would still keep the footage as there was a possibility that we would be able to use it at later points in the video. Personally I feel this filming session was a great chance for me and Chris to bond and show that we could work as a team, especially after all the hard times we had been through. Although we may not of achieved as much as we could of, I feel it had been a great challenge, something which I would not of wanted to do alone, and we went away with a good selection of angles and knowledge of how to approach the next attempt at filming for our music video.

RISK ASSESSMENTS

Before we could carry out any filming we had to carry out a risk assessment for both of our chosen locations: a house and Nine Bridges. This task is put in place so that no problems occur including risks to persons or to equipment etc. As you can see from the tables below, i considered many risks, some more obvious than others, and considered how we could prevent such a risk. This was a lot more complicated for nine bridges than the house as not only are we open to more danger outside, but the hazards in the house are preventable.

RISK ASSESSMENT FOR ‘NINE BRIDGES’

POSSIBLE RISK	HOW TO PREVENT THIS RISK
Sam falling off the bridge	We have advised Sam to be very careful when manoeuvring himself across the bridge, especially as we require him to sit dead in the centre to show the audience, when we film long shots, that he is so upset that he wishes to jump. Luckily for us, Sam is not scared of heights so therefore is very cautious of his placing on his bridge and has ensured that he will remain as safe as possible. We have used the lowest point of the bridge so that if Sam was to accidently slip then he would have a gentle landing in the water below.
Passing cars causing obstruction to our filming	Although the area we have chosen to film is a very quiet area, we have to be aware that there may be some passing traffic. As we will require the camera to be in the middle of the road at some points during filming one of us will concentrate on filming while the other will keep watch to make people aware of the oncoming traffic. This will hopefully give us enough time to move all actors and equipment out of the way of any harm. It will also mean that we do not get any unwanted vehicles in our footage.
Passing cars are a possible hazard	Although the area we have chosen to film is a very quiet area, we have to be aware that there may be some passing traffic. Much of the filming we are going to carry out will be off the road and actually filmed in a field although there are parts which require our actor and camera person to walk up the road. For this particular piece of film we will have to be very particular with our senses as we need to prevent anyone getting injured by passing vehicles. Therefore we will take more people with us to film so they can work as spotters.
Damage to the equipment while outside in winter months	Much of our filming is going to occur in the winter months which will not bother us when filming inside but when we are outside will need to be very careful with our equipment so that we do not cause water damage or anything or the sort. This will not only cause damage to the camera but we would risk losing any footage we had already filmed. We will use the correct carrying equipment when transporting the camera and tripod and only remove the camera when we are due to film.
People stealing the equipment	To prevent this problem occurring either me or Chris will remain with the equipment at all times, especially the high value equipment such as the camera as this will be crucial in us completing the project.
Travelling between each location	As both I and Chris can drive we will be responsible for transporting ourselves, the equipment and our actors between each location. This is a big responsibility and we will need to keep a great amount of concentration so that everyone arrives safely. As I have been driving longer than Chris, it is very likely that I will do the majority of driving.
Not being seen by passing vehicles	If we are filming any of our footage late at night then all members of the team will be required to wear high visibility clothes as this will make us visible to any passing vehicles. This is exceptionally important in the winter months as it gets dark very early and much of our filming will have to take place after school, meaning we will have to do a lot of our filming just before dark.
Incidents with the stream	As we are working near water, although it is not that much water, we have to be careful that none of the equipment falls in and also none of the team members enter the stream as we do not know what is in the water. To keep the equipment from falling in we will use the hand strap on the camera, meaning we are able to keep the camera attached to us at all times. As we are all grown-ups, we will be aware of our own safety near the water.
Actors and aid being too cold	The winter months means that the weather will be very cold so therefore we will need to ensure that we are all wrapped up warm in however many layers we feel suitable. One issue we will have to overcome is Sam’s body temperature as we require him to wear a costume without a jacket, meaning that he will have his arms out to the cold weather and we do not want him getting ill so therefore we will have to try make time for filming in the warmer times of the day.

RISK ASSESSMENT FOR ‘HOUSE’

POSSIBLE RISK	HOW TO PREVENT THIS RISK
Any misplaced cables may cause people to trip up	If there are cables out of place then we must be sure not to trip over them. To prevent this particular risk occurring we will be sure to tidy away any cables or the items which the cables belong to. This will prevent any unnecessary injury occurring.
Someone could trip down the stairs	As we will be working upstairs, very close to the stairs, we will all need to be careful so that none of us fall down the stairs. As we are responsible adults this should not be a problem although it is something we should be aware of.
Tripping over any rubbish/mess on the floor	Before we begin filming, it is crucial that we clear the floor as this will prevent any accidents occurring. Stereotypically, many teenagers bedrooms are very messy, with stuff all over the floor so we need to ensure that this does not cause a hazard for us. If we are to clear the floor, it will also make it easier for us to manoeuvre the actors and equipment.
Breaking personal belongings	As some of the scenes we require to film are quite outgoing we will ask that all expensive personal items are moved so there is no possibility for us to break them. As we will be filming in one house we will have to respect people’s belongings as if they were our own.

Although we have carried out very thorough risk assessments, nothing is completely preventable. We are all very responsible and will support each other throughout the process and with this in mind I hope no major incidents occur and we all remain safe so that we are able to complete the task in the shortest amount of time.

FAIRGROUND IDEA

After a discussion with my subject teacher and due to the lack of ideas we had we wanted to use any resources which were available to us. At this particular time the fair was in Peterborough and therefore we felt this could possibly create an interesting concept based video. The idea that we formulated involved a couple (boy and girl) spending much of their time together at the fair and ending with the girl going missing – leaving the boy all alone. Obviously, due to the temp/genre of the song, we did not feel it right to use all footage and the fair and would infact integrate a singer (Josh) playing the piano in between the other footage. I and Chris decided to use the fair while it was still in town but due to us only coming to this terms with this idea on the Friday and the fair leaving on the Saturday we had to rush any planning. This meant that we headed to the fair with no real idea of what we wanted to film. This made it increasingly difficult for me and Chris to know what or how to film certain scenes as were thinking of it as we went.

Although we did at first feel that this idea would work well for us due to the large amount of effects we would be able to carry out with all the lights present at the fair, many different problems occurred in relation to ideas, timing and lack of support. One major problem that myself and Chris have faced throughout this project was the limited amount of time we both had free together. Surprisingly we did have time to film at the fair but it proved very difficult to obtain an actor who was also free and we were both happy with. We decided to use a close friend of us both – Alice Lait – and, as our chosen actor was not available that evening, Chris said that he would step in and we just use Josh as the actor playing the piano so as the story would be about another couple instead of the singer/band. We felt this would work increasingly well as Alice and Christopher have had a previous connection and get along really well which we thought would work in our favour as the actors need to make the pretend relationship believable. At first when we began filming at the fair, the pairing was going really well but when we began filming the scenes on each of the fair rides it became apparent to me that the ‘relationship’ looked very forced. I had a brief talk with Chris and Alice, asking them to relax and we headed onto a ride to try and see what effect this had. Unfortunately throughout the night the relationship did not look realistic and therefore this was my first reason for not using this particular idea.

Another problem which largely affected us was the time limits we had provided ourselves with. As we wanted the scenes at the fair to be at night time we did not head to the fair till late which meant we were extremely short on time for everything we had to do. This paired with the idea that we were not sure what we wanted to film, what types of camera angles we wanted or what rides/ideas to follow meant that it became impossible to film all that we needed. The added pressure on the basis that this was the only night we could use the fair was not helping with our worry. Our lack of planning was a major issue because while Chris was acting in the film I was not sure what type of angle or shot he wanted so therefore I had to keep asking him what he felt was acceptable. Another thing which I struggled with when filming at the fair was the carrying of such large equipment which was extremely hard with the business of the fair. I had brought along two friends who made it a lot easier as they were happy to help but it was hard to all keep together as a group and to film in certain locations without some random person invading the shot. One social problem that we both had to overcome was a disagreement between us about Chris leaving to go to a party. Although we were under tight time restrictions Chris was desperate to head to a party and this was becoming ever apparent when we still did not have much footage. Unfortunately, Chris headed to his party and as we did not have sufficient footage which was of a high enough quality to use it in our music video.

As you can see, we faced many problems with such an idea, and with such little planning it were impossible for us to achieve something which we were both happy with. It could have possibly been a great idea but the lack of time and planning we carried out prior to filming meant we were too clueless. With time growing short for us now and the need for us to get a first draft of a music video, Monday morning will consist of us speaking to our subject teacher in the hope of finding a suitable solution and arranging our group so that we can work together and each work to the best of our ability.

[IMAGES TAKEN FROM GOOGLE IMAGES]