Performance Scene Rehearsal/ Screen Test

The purpose of this performance rehearsal was for us to see Georgie in front of camera in the role of the lead singer and to help her feel more confident with her performance and lip sync before the shoot.



After this we felt confident in our choice of Georgie as our lead performer and she felt more prepared for the filming of performance scenes.

Performance scenes

11/11/14 (DJ Shots)

Actors: DJs

This was our first shoot for the performance scene and featured just the DJs. As this was our first time setting up for this scene we soon discovered that it would take longer then anticipated. The main time consumer was the lighting, it took a lot of fiddling about with in order to achieve the look we wanted- for the DJs to be in blue and Georgie in pink, without the actors being too dark and fading into the background. Although we had done this previously with us standing in for the DJs we are different heights to them and when we brought their decks in the composition changed. We ended up using the back lights to light them. We also had to light the playing cards individually as they hung at different levels. 

us setting up the playing cards for the shoot

However once issues with the set were over the shoot flowed smoothly, we played music which our actors reacted well to with high energy and movement. We even got around to using the glide cam, to get movement shots that are typical of music videos. 

me using the glide cam

14/11/14 (DJ and Georgie shots)

periods 2&3- DJ's

periods 4&5- Georgie

For this shoot we came in early to set up as we did not want a repeat of last time and wanted to maximise the time we had with our actors for filming. First we shot the DJ's which I think was more successful then previously as we had a clearer idea of what we wanted and our actors were more comfortable with their roles.

After break we shot Georgie for the first time. Her make up took about 10 minutes to do but we suspected this. The first take was not her strongest performance but she soon got into role and responded well to the feedback we gave her e.g. to enunciate the lyrics more. For this shoot we were just filming "beauty shots"another typicality of music videos, and mid close as we did not have the DJ's in the background, therefore a strong lip sync is key. We were very happy with our footage. 

16/11/14 (All of the Group) 

7:30am- 12pm

This was our Saturday shoot with all artist members and their first time to perform as a group. It was good that they all had previous experience as I think practice made them more comfortable and confident with their roles which showed in this scene.

We finished shooting early and got time to get some promotional shots.  

us on set

Powder Paint Fight

20/11/14

For this shoot we decided to film at lunch from 12:30-1:30, this was not ideal as it did not give us much time but it was the only time we could get the artist, actors and crew together. Even with this time slot we still found that there was one artist member that could not attend however due to lack of shooting time we decided we should shoot anyway and then do another shoot on the following Monday.

Equipment- 550 digital camera and Go Pro

all of crew on the set of the paint fight

Reflections

Positives

- When watching the footage back we were pleased with how the powder paint looks on camera and the choice of colours. Furthermore it was a prop that the actors could interact with playfully connoting the joyous festival feeling we were trying to create.
- We attached the go pro to a cast member and found it worked well in immersing the viewer in the paint fight.

Negatives and improvements for the next shoot

- To try and get a range of shots such as more camera movement where the camera follows the actors and natural close ups.

24/11/14

I felt that this shoot went better then previously as we organised time better and managed to get a wider variety of shots.

For this shoot Ellie, Masie and I all performed as extras, as a reflection from the balloon scene we realised it would be easier to use crew members as it is harder to organise time slots for more actors.

Online- Website and Social Media

Social Media Links

We tried to use the same user name- lucid_city_ as much as possible in order to create a sense on branding and familiarization for the audience
Instagram

http://instagram.com/lucid_city_

Twitter

https://twitter.com/lucid_city_

Sound Cloud

Sound cloud is a social media platform entirely based around users uploading, liking and sharing music. It works on a tagging system where users can listen to loads of songs under the same genre. It is great for discovering new music and it is used by artists under mainstream management from artists under independent institutions or no management at all.  For these reasons we thought it would be an essential platform for our artist.

https://soundcloud.com/lucidcity-1

17/11/14- Balloon Scene

For this shoot we had the studio from 3:45- 9 pm and wanted to get all the shots done for this scene, as it would be hard to find another date with all the same actors. This shoot had the biggest cast which made it quite a different experience to our previous shoots. For this scene we wanted really energetic dancing, and in order to get this we had to make a comfortable environment for our actors who are not professional dancers. For this we played music they liked and communicated specifically what we wanted with them. 

It was important that the lights were switched off as often as possible in order to prevent the balloons from popping therefore we split up the tasks to sound and light, camera, director and music/props (turning the music on and throwing balloons at actors) and altered between these roles. This photo was taken by Ellie while she was in sound and light and Maisie, Molly and I did camera and directing. 

Reflections

Positive
Splitting up the roles was a good way to organise it however it was often hard for us to communicate with each other and the actors over the music.
Our actors got into the mood of the scene and we got good footage of them dancing which is what we wanted.

Negative
It felt like quite a chaotic shoot with lots of actors to organise and we ended up not following the shoot board we had planned, therefore we are missing quite a few close ups.

First shoot 6/11/14 - White Scenes

This was our first shoot in which we filmed the opening sequence- the white room set up, where Georgie, the protagonist, enters a room, sees a cup cake on the table and eats it. 

filming the close up of the cupcake

After the shoot I felt really positive about it however on watching the footage back and putting it into our sequence we realised that the jump in framing between the shots from long to close up made it hard to follow. This was because when making our shoot board we did not visualise the scene to the detail of specified camera angles and some of the framing.

Location Recee

Originally we planned to shoot our powder paint fight in Epping Forest. This required finding a date that all members of our artist group could do and organise 7 extras. The only date everyone could do was Saturday 22nd, leaving no time for a re shoot and carrying all our powder paint to the forest which would have been very unpractical and risky. An alternative option was to film in the rec a couple minutes away from our school, we originally dismissed this idea as it is mainly a field with goal posts. However there is a small woodland area that we thought with tight framing could look like a forest. We did a test shoot to see how it looked:





We decided that this would work and plan to shoot next Thursday ( Thursday 20th). Another benefit of filming close to school is that it allows us to have a bit more control over the weather as we can retreat back to school if it starts raining, which is likely at this time of year.