Evaluation of Shoot Day X2

Evaluation of Shoot Day X2

Having already filmed the performance element of our band, we set about arranging the shoot for the narrative element of the video. This involved creating a rough story boards of key shots that we wanted, but as wanted the footage to be mainly hand held and jumpy, we did not need to plan rigorously. Therefore, our main purpose was to ensure that the actors looked realistic in shooting the guns, in an attempt to remove any potential comic elements.

We had prepared for the shoot quite well, as we had made sure that the actors were familiar with each other and the guns, so that their interactions would look more fluid and realistic. Before we started shooting, we dressed the actors in their outfits and made sure that they looked how we wanted them too. After this, we walked around the woods we had chosen to film out, in order to get an idea of the key locations we would use. As we had already researched the woods (as it was at my house), it was easy to find the best areas to use thus the preparation before the shoot did not take long. The main thing we did was to check how slippery the ground was, as we did not want the actors to trip and fall, thus we had to re-think some of our shots as the ground was just too wet to have the actors running. However, this was only a minor set back and we began to film reasonably quickly after arriving at the location.

We had divided the roles on the previous shoot, therefore we re-divided them, so that we all got to do something different. I mainly worked on the camera, which was great fun, as the majority of the shots were running tracking shots. The improvisation of the actors actions was fun to work with, as it gave me freedom to use a variety of shots to capture different elements. As we already had a strong performance element, we only needed a minute or so of footage to edit in, thus we did not shoot in specific sequences but more general actions. Thus, we got numerous tracking shots from different positions of the two actors running at each other with guns, as this could be cut in anywhere. The main element we wanted to convey through the narrative, was an escalation of anger as the song progressed, thus we wanted to incorporate the actors changing their gun, for an even bigger, fiercer one. As a resulted, we constructed mini sequences that we would be able to easily add to the performance video, thus showed the two actors becoming more aggressive. This worked really well on the day, as each actor sold their anger well and made the action look more realistic. The only area I wish had gone better, was when the girl actor changed her small pistol for a larger gun. As the ground was really wet, we had her changing the gun behind a tree, yet it did not look that realistic and began to look more comical. Hopefully though, we will be able to cut between these shots in order to present the best part of the action. The most successful part of the shoot, was the use of the smoke grenades. They really added to the atmosphere of the piece and provided another alternative form of weaponry. The smoke looked really good against the autumnal background, and heightened the sense of warfare.

Overall, the shoot was a great success as we quickly and efficiently filmed what we needed, as each member of the group new what role they had to do. We worked well as a team and as a result the footage we acquired was good, and should hopefully work well with the performance element.