Filming Day 2 - Beadles Garage Dartford - Luke

For our music video we needed an official office looking area for Dan to steal the CD from. Luckily, we were able to get access to the Beadles Garage in Dartford which had a large amount of offices above the showroom that we could use. Within this location we wanted to create shots that would look like real CCTV footage so that the two anonymous characters could watch Dan breaking in and stealing the CD from one of the rooms. After researching what you would typically expect to find in CCTV footage, we knew exactly what sort of shots we needed to get and how they should be set up.

The first shot that we filmed in the garage was of Dan entering one of the doors on the ground floor and of him making his way up the stairs towards the offices. In order to get the footage for this shot to look like it was recorded from a real CCTV camera we had to make sure that the camera was perfectly still when we were recording, and we had to make sure that we filmed from two different places of the same event happening. This meant that Dan would have to do the same steps twice, while we move the camera to a different location in between shots. The first shot we took was of Dan running up the first set of stairs, and the second being him running up the second set of stairs.

We got plenty of footage of this just to make sure that we had filmed it correctly and we even filmed some shots of Dan running up the stairs that could be used as normal footage instead of CCTV footage just to quicken up the cuts and give us more of an option when we are editing. Here you can see one of the shots we filmed that we intended to use as a normal camera shot.


Some other normal footage that we got in the garage was of Dan entering the code of the door, him entering one of the offices to look for the CD, him grabbing the CD and leaving the room, and one final shot of him running across a walkway above the showroom. These shots would allow us to break up the shots of CCTV and the anonymous characters in their office, and allow for better continuity.

After filming all of the normal shots that we needed we proceeded on to filming the last two of our CCTV shots, which were of Dan walking though the door that he had entered the code on an along a large corridor, and of him running out of the building and out to another location.









Overall we felt that this was a very successful day of filming as we got it done in such a short amount of time. There are however shots we will need to go back and film such as the shot of the CD where the writing isn't legible. Overall we were happy with the shots that we got and are now looking forward to editing them into real CCTV footage to include in our music video.

Filming Day 1 - Dartford - Luke

The first day of filming for our music video took place on Sunday 25th November in Dartford, a decision made based around weather reports for the weekend which showed that there was a high chance of rain. We didn't want to go up to London on this day if there was a chance of rain ruining our plans of filming, and so decided to stay closer to home making it easier for both us and our actors to get together for filming. This was also the first time using the camera we had been lucky enough to get and filming closer to home would make it easier and make us feel more comfortable when using it.

Seeing as we were in Dartford for the first day of filming, we had to start off by filming a small part of the chase scene and the ending of the video as this location is where we had planned for this to take place.

Here you can see Josh, me and James filming one of the chase scenes in Dartford High Street.

The first location that we filmed in was Dartford High Street. This shot consisted of Dan, Ryan and Phil running out of an alley and along the highstreet, and was filmed by tracking our actors using a pan shot. Within this location there were quite a lot of people which turned out to be a slight problem as we kept getting people accidentally walking in front of the camera when we were trying to film some of our shots and others who were purposely getting in the way as soon as we started each shot. There was however one benefit that having the public near when we were taking our shots brought, and this was that when our actors ran past large groups of people they would naturally turn around and look at what they were doing. This natural reaction helps to enhance the sense of realism and intensity that we wanted to create in our music video.

Still on the highstreet, we decided that we needed to get a shot of the actors running straight past the camera, with absolutely no camera movement to make the shot quick and them look like they were running as fast as they could. The short length of this clip also allows us to cut quickly to the beat of the music, helping us with our editing.

The next location that we filmed in was an alleyway just off of the high street. In this alley we wanted to get shots of the actors' feet as they were running. To take these shots we ended up taking the camera off of the tripod and using it handheld. Using this alley carried the same problem of people getting in the way of some of our shots so we had to be patient and wait for the way to be clear before we started filming each shot.

Below on the left you can see me, James and Josh setting up ready to film the shot and below on the right us filming the actors running past.



The last set of shots that we took were in the underground walkway in Dartford. We had to change from the original alley that I wrote about in my location post. As you can see below, the original walkway that we had planned to film in was flooded and had rubbish everywhere.

Therefore we decided that this couldn't be used, even if it did add to the urban look, and decided to look for another location to film in. We ended up finding another walkway in Home Gardens that was very similar to the one we had originally chosen.

In the picture below you can see all of us planning and working out what shots we were going to film in the underground walkway. This is the location in which we were going to be filming the last scene of our music video, and being the final concluding part, we wanted it to look as good as possible so took a lot of time and effort to make sure that the footage was perfect. If any detail was slightly wrong we would film it again. For example, in one shot James noticed that Ryan's tie wasn't straight so we filmed it again.We went over these shots in great detail due to the fact that they were more focused on the end of the story than the faster paced shots throughout the rest of the video We decided on using eye line shots, over the shoulder shots and shots from either end of the walkway as the action takes place in the middle. These types of shots would be much more suitable for filming in the tight space and woulld emphasise the sense of the theif being trapped in the walkway.



Here you can see one of the shots being filmed in the walkway. Ryan is slowly walking round the corner and into the walkway to block off the path of dan who is trying to escape.



The next shot we filmed was the last shot of the video. Within this shot we planned to have Ryan and Phil stand in front of Dan as he surrenders the CD, they would then remove their masks and the video would fade out to black. This shot took particularly long to film as I had to shoot from a very low angle and film dans face as he walked backwards, whilst also making sure that I had framed it correctly so that the masks would be seen at Phil and Ryan's sides after they were taken off.



The shot below is of Ryan walking past Dan, bumping into him slightly. I was filming this shot, josh is using the clapperboard and directing the actors, and james is filming the 'Making-of Video'. We have decided to film this shot again after our rough cut as we noticed that Dan smiled slightly as Ryan bumped into him, ruining the effect that we wanted to create with this shot.



The next shot that we did was a point of view shot from Dan's perspective of Ryan and Phil as they close in on him.



Following on from the shot of the actors running through the alley, we set up this shot to capture them coming out of the alley and heading into underground walkway. This shot took the most planning out of them all as we had to figure out a point where Phil and Ryan would split up and head off to cut Dan off as he enters the walkway. In order to get this shot right we spent a long time filming Phil and Ryan stopping and splitting up at different points so that the split looked as effective as possible. We made many changes to the point where they would stop, look at each other, and split up, and the speed that they run.



The final shot that we filmed was of our actors running along the bank of a river in Dartford. Seeing as the path was quite narrow, and due to the variety of shots we wanted to get for our chase scene, I decided to film a panning shot from the other side of the river. In the picture below you can see that I actually had to place the camera on the tripod into the river to allow me to film the shot from the best possible angle. Whilst I was filming the shot James and Josh were over on the other side of the river directing our actors.

Call Sheet - James

Before we started filming we created a call sheet so that we would know who needed to be at each day of filming.

We also created a pie chart to show how our time was going to be split between the different locations and filming days. The areas in which we spent the longest filming was where we recorded the most footage so we could see in editing where we had to be selective in choosing the best clips and not including any test shots etc.

Risk Assessment - Group

Before we could start filming we needed to create a risk assessment for each of the locations that we planned to film in. We had to include the possible hazards, who would be involved at each location, what measures we will need to put in place to reduce the risks and when this action will be completed by.

Below is the finished risk assessment form.

Filming Schedule - Luke

Below is the filming schedule that we created so that we know what dates we will be filming at each of our locations.

    

Equipment/Kit - Luke

There is a large variety of different equipment that we needed for out music video. Here are the key pieces of equipment that we are going to use.

The first, and most important piece of kit that we will need to film our music video is a camera. Luckily, a friend of my dad has allowed us to borrow his camera, a Sony HDR-FX1 HDV Handycam. This camera will allow us to get clear, crisp footage that will fully compliment the shots in our music video. Although we'd are excited to use this camera to film or music video, we are also quite nervous as we are going to be running all over London and Dartford with it, and also because it is very expensive!

Another important piece of equipment that we will be using to help us film or music video is my tripod and the steadycam that James, Josh and I made out of a cheap tripod that we purchased off of Amazon. These will allow us to get steady shots when we are doing pans and single body shots, and smooth and stay shots when we are running alongside our actors with the camera to film the chase shots.

As well as needing the main camera for filming our music video, we also used three other cameras to film the making of video. The cameras that we used were the Panasonic HDC-SD10, Sony A57 and Nikon D200. Filming a making of video and taking pictures of us filming and organising our shots will allow us to watch back on ourselves and use the footage to evaluate our work in the final evaluation questions.

To edit our music video we used both final cut express and adobe after effects. Final cut express was used for the basic editing and adding in the MTV logo and name banner of the song and adobe after effects was used by me to create the four CCTV camera feeds and edit them into one multi camera feed ready for the anonymous security guards to be watching in their security office.

The Steadicam - Group

Whilst trying to come up with ideas for our music video, me and my partners came up with the idea of a chase scene, as it linked well with the lyrics of the song we had chosen and conformed to the style of other music videos for songs within the house/dance genre of music. We did however now have a problem on our hand. In order to film a chase scene we would need to be running with the actors to convey the sense of urgency within the video. The problem we were facing was that running with a camera resulted in unsteady footage that would end up making our video look amateurish.

This is when we started brainstorming for ideas to help us keep the camera steady when running with it. We came up with the idea of using a steadicam or a glidecam (see right) which is used to reduce the vibrations from running or walking when holding a camera. The problem was that these steadicams are intended for professional filming and  we didn't have the hundreds of pounds needed to buy one. Despite this we decided not to give up on the idea of using one and started looking into the idea of building our own one.

After searching through youtube and many other websites we ended up finding this video that showed you how to make your very own steadicam for almost no money. All that we needed was a tripod and a screwdriver.


After watching this video my partner James bought a cheap tripod from Amazon to convert into our very own steadicam. Me and James then created this video to show us constructing the steadicam.



As you can see in the video, we were not able to fully follow the guide as the tripod didn't allow us to unclip the support legs or fully rotate the leg past 90 degrees. This meant that we were forced to cut the support leg and then remove the tripod leg only to reattach it using duct tape so that it rotated the way we needed it to. Unfortunately the tape wasn't as durable as we would have liked and the day after filming the steadicam fell apart. We couldn't risk putting a camera on it if it was going to fall apart again.

The next day we went into one of the school DT rooms to see if we could think of some ideas of what we could use to secure leg instead of duct tape. There were a few ideas that we came up with but by far the best one was to remove the support bar that was on the tripod and to then drill through the leg itself. We would then drill through the main part of the tripod where we would then attach the leg with a screw.

You can see that the first step we took was to remove the support bar on the tripod with a hacksaw.

This is how it looked afterwards. With the support bar now gone we would be able to rotate the leg as far around as we needed, meaning that we would be able to get the steadicam working as smoothly as possible.

Now that we had removed the grip on the leg and the support bar on the tripod we needed to make sure that it still fitted into the slot where it was to be connected. At first it didn't so we ended up compressing the leg in a vice to make it small enough to fit.

Knowing that the leg would now fit, we started to measure and mark out the points that we were going to drill through. Here you can see the part of the grip on the tripod that we drilled through.

Here you can see the two lined up after they had been drilled. Thankfully they lined up perfectly, meaning that the motion when the leg is rotated would be smooth.

We then proceeded to fit them together using a screw.

Before we could test the device with a camera on it we needed to fix the head of the tripod, which we noticed to be loose the previous day and could easily be pulled off. Not something we want to happen with an expensive camera on it! We ended up using a hot glue gun to connect the head on, and to make sure it was as sturdy as possible, liquid cement. With the leg and the head now securely attached to the tripod we were ready to test it out.

The video below shows a comparison of walking around the DT room before and after we used the steadicam on it. As you can see there is a clear difference between the two clips. The vibrations from the footsteps in the first clip have been completely removed by the steadicam and unsteady hands or running will now barely affect the filming. The steadicam also gives us the ability to film from a variety of different angles such as feet shots, which we would have have previously been able to do.


Here you can see the final pictures of our completed steadicam:



Overall the creation of this steadicam will allow us to get a greater variety of shots for our music video and will allow us to keep up with the actors who are running without affecting the filming. It will allow us to have an almost professional final quality to our video.

Storyboard/Animatic - Group

Here is the first draft of the storyboard/animatic for our music video. As you can see, this version is very brief, with only a few images to illustrate each section of the music video. We will be adding more pictures to a second copy of the animatic to give a more in depth description of our plans for the music video and how each part of the video plan will fit in with the music.



Here is the finished version of the animatic for our music video. We have included a lot more drawings within this version, showing our ideas in greater detail, which will help us when filming the video.

Location - Luke

Location can be one of the most important features to the music video, and can heavily influence the theme and feel of the video. Based on previous research on Music videos and the types of locations used in these, me an my group have come up with a large variety of locations that we intend to use to film our music video, whilst ensuring that they match the style of the video that we intend to create and being coherent to the styles of other similar videos we have taken influence from.

Below are a list of the locations that we intend to use:

Volkswagen Showroom and Garage in Dartford

The Volkswagen garage is where we intend on filming the beginning scene of the video where the thief is seen moving slyly around before stealing the briefcase from a shelf. We felt that this would be a good location to start the music video as it conveys a sense of mystery in the warehouse, the idea of not knowing what might be around the corner.

Bluewater/Westfield Carpark

There is the possibility of filming in the carpark of either Bluewater or Westfield shopping centres. This location would be used to film the initial fleeing of the theif as he runs from the scene of the theft to hide behind a pillar in one of the car parks, thinking he has got away without being seen. This is when there will be a slow motion pan around the pillar to see the two anonymous characters standing either side. This will be the location of the starting point of the chase, and a carpark seems to feature regularly in chase scenes, another reason for our choice of these locations.

Deluxe 142 Wardour Street

We have been lucky enough to get permission and access to a private cinema screening room at Deluxe 142, a post production company in Soho. This is where we intend to film the scene involving the two anonymous characters watching the theif on CCTV as he walks through the warehouse looking for the item to steal. We first intended to film the actors in front of a blank cinema screen, only to super impose the CCTV footage onto the film during editing, but we have been allowed project onto the screen. We will now create the CCTV footage before filming this scene and play it out on the screen, allowing us to create as realistic of a CCTV security office as possible.

Southbank + Southbank Skatepark

Along Southbank and through Southbank Skatepark is where we are planning to do some of the filming for the chase scene of our music video. We thought this location would be good due to the size of the area and the lack of tight corners and bends. This therefore allows our actors to run as fast as possible, helping us create an intense action scene that doesn't look like compromises have been made with the speed of the running.

The skatepark is another area along Southbank that we thought would look good for our music video due to the urban feel created by the large amounts of graffiti surrounding the area. The pillars throughout the skatepark will also help us keep up the intensity of the chase as we will be able to have the actors dodging in and out between them. This will, however, only take up a small part of the chase scene due to the small size of the location, and the amount of filming we will be doing at other locations.

Soho

Soho is another area that we thought would look great in our music video. The area is full of small alleyways and tight streets that would help us to get shots where the actors are not in the way of any members of the public. This could also help to increase the sense of urgency in the video as there will be nobody in the way of the actors allowing us to use the whole street/alley for our shots.

Stratford



Southmere Lake (Thamesmead)

I suggested this location to my other partners, remembering that I had seen it in a tv show called Misfits. I thought that this location would be suited to our video. The very urban location and the way the tv show is filmed assured me that this location would work well

Below you can see the location filmed in a way in which we intend to film for our video. It is from a section of the trailer.




Temple Hill

Temple Hill is a location that I am very familiar with, living in Dartford. The area looks quite run down and would fit in well with our video idea and the other locations that we have chosen. There might however be a problem with using this location and this is that there may be a lot of people walking around when we are filming, a similar problem that we may face in london.



Dartford Town Centre

Similarly to Temple Hill, Dartford is another location local to us that we feel would work well within our music video. The fact that we know Dartford very well means that we will be able to find some great locations for our filming. The town centre of Dartford is basically a long cobbled path. It looks very much like the other locations we have chosen, which will help with continuity from shot to shot. The bridge that connects the town up to the railway station could also be a possible place that we could shoot.



Dartford Underground Walkway

The underground walkway in dartford is what we intend to use for the final scene of the msic video where the theif is caught by the two anonymous characters. We think this is the perfect location for the final shot with the pools of water on the floor, and the general low light in the walkway. The size of the walkway is quite small aswell, allowing us to emphasise the fact that the theif has been trapped. It is however still big enough for us to be able to film in without it looking like the characters are being cramped in with us filming next to them.


Overall we feel that these lcations will be great to use in our music video and will help us create a feel and look that links well with the music and lyrics.

Pitch - Group

This is the pitch we did to our teacher detailing the song choice, the initial idea for the video/storyline, the two possible endings of our video, the actors that will be used in the video, the different locations we intend to film the video at, the costumes/outfits the artists will be wearing and the props/aides we will be using to help us film the video.

Music Video Pitch

Below you can see pictures of us presenting our ideas.

The main feedback that we received was that our overall idea for the video was good, and the locations and costumes would work well in the style of video that we wanted to create. There was however one problem that was suggested by students and the teacher in the room, being that the original song that we had chosen was too slow and downbeat to be linked with a chase scene. When looking back over our ideas and listening to the track again we could understand what our peers and teacher were saying, but felt the types of editing we were intending to use would still work well.



Me and the rest of my group did take some time out to think about the comments we had received and started to think of some other ways that we could make our music fit to the video, but the only plausible option that we could come up with was to try and speed up the track ourselves. My partner James used the program 'Audacity' to try and speed up the tempo of the song, but all ended up sound unnatural and unprofessionally done and we didn't feel this would work well for our music video.



In the end we decided to start looking for a new song with the hope of using Madeon's 'Finale' nearly all gone. Fortunately for us and the work we had done on analysing the lyrics of the song and working them into the plan of our video, we came across a drum and bass remix of Finale by the belgian drum and bass artist Netsky. This was effectively the same song, only with an increased tempo and bassline and a longer duration, exactly what we needed for our video.



We then discussed the possibility of using this song for our music video and our media teacher seemed to prefer this version of the song. We did however worry that this would bee too long as the duration has increased from 3:24 long in the original to 4:54 in the remix. We now need to consider the possibilitis of cutting this down to make our video shorter, or just leaving the song at it's current length and filming more content for the video.

Below you can listen to the remixed version of Finale that we have now chosen to use: