Performance Filming 2

So eventually we finished filming, changing the location to Canbury Gardens, which was the prefect location as it was a lot prettier and looked a lot better for that type of footage we wanted. We used Grace's SLR to film the footage as there are still no cameras this gave us really great quality footage, even though it means it is going to take longer to upload because the files are larger. Last time we tried to film one of the issues that the group faced was that the main character didn't know the lyrics to the song which was fine but it meant that he had to read it form a sheet which meant that he didn't have eye contact with the camera, so the next time we filmed we gave him enough time to learn the lyrics. The other issue we had was that we didn't have a tripod or a dolly to film the tracking shots and because this was the central part of the footage we had to use it handheld which does meant that we have the risk of the footage being a bit shaky, however this potentially could be a look that would fit with the storyline. To sum up mine and the whole groups feelings of today is that we are all very pleased and that it went really well, although it took although it took a lot of planning, it showed that the worked well as a group and we are hoping that the planning and effort that we put in pays off and the footage is great! 

Performance filming 1

After an unfortunate illness & the robbery we have finally got round to starting our performance filming! In freezing conditions we ventured our onto a common to attempt to shoot our protagonist (Bing) & create the lyrics performance of 'If ya wanna'. It was starting to grate on us all that this hadn't been completed yet, we knew that we had to have around a 60/40 or 50/50 breakdown of the narrative & performance and thus our lack of the latter was worrying! However when we began filming we realised that though the other productions had taken weeks of extensive planning & preparation & costume sourcing as supposed to this relatively gentle shoot with little pre-prep in relation to mis en scene & costume, we did however have to intimately work with our one actor more than with the masses on other shoots. We did several forward tracking shots ( mainly using close up as this length of shot was one which we had neglected in our other shoots and we desperately needed more of, in order for our audience to buy in our band -'Suburban Typo' and connect to our artist -'Bing'), of Bing singing along to the lyrics, although his lack of confidence in knowing the words really made our jobs a lot harder. We held up the lyrics for him to see, however this really effected his eye contact and this lack of passionate communication really showed up on camera. It was so hard for him to ease up, mainly because of the context - cold field, winter, alone singing, with no warm up. Of course if one was to train him properly for a piece of acting or singing vocal & physical exercises would need to be undergone, however seeing as he was voluntarily helping us out, we felt that coming down to hard on him may intimidate the ability we knew he had. Therefore we all tried to be personally active, sing along to the lyrics, and give positive praise in order to spur on his ego & abilities. We got several shots in this first location, though we knew we would have to reschedule another day (hopefully a warmer one) to film more of the external shots. We then went on to a new location to photograph Bing & shots some of him looking depressed and slobbish surrounded by messy objects and a lack of coherence without our female lead. Overall the shoot was a mixed experience but we have booked friday the 1st of March to continue with our performance filming - giving us more time to look through the footage from today & decide which shots we are missing or need to create a polished finish.