Commission: Shoot Day
It came to the day I had been waiting for since the start of this project, filming. It was something I wasn't sure I would be able to do due to the restrictions of filming there and I had planned ahead in the event of not being able to film. However, now being able to film it meant I had a great opportunity for the video to really look good. I was a little worried about filming in 4K to begin with because of all the issues that come with it:
This could really slow down the post production process for me, especially if its so slow to work with in the edit. Also, there are some vey specific cuts to the beat of the music, which would require a lot of time in the edit to get right if it doesn't render properly, because it wont playback the specific cuts in 'real time'.
However, I felt in the end it was worth it to get the outstanding quality of footage that I did. Whilst it has its issues, the look and feel of 4K is stunning. It would've been a shame to have put so much effort into everything else in the tanning, graphics and filming equipment (track slide) and then lose out on quality (though very minor) because it would take longer. I also used 4K images in the rest of the video so having lower quality video would really stand out.
On my shoot, I needed a crew; I had so much equipment to carry around:
Much of this was heavy and awkward to carry, especially the track. Luckily, I had one of my peers, Jack on hand to help. It took us two journeys each to carry equipment place to place; ideally I would've had a bigger crew, but managed to make do with what I had. it would've been even more of a struggle had I been on my own.
I first started off in the reception; because it was early in the morning, the sun was beaming inside which made really good natural lighting with the big windows, so there was no better time to capture this section. I used the track to film a really smooth tracking shot into the reception to the front desk. This meant Jack would push the tripod and I would pan the camera around. At first I did a 360 degree shot which worked but didn't look very natural, which is because it broke the 180degree rule.
"The 180 degree rule is a cinematography guideline that states that two characters in a scene should maintain the same left/right relationship to one another. When the camera passes over the invisible axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line and the shot becomes what is called a reverse angle"
(Ferrari, 2017)
Luckily in one of the attempts of doing the 180degree rule version someone entered the studios to go to the reception so the camera almost followed them which was great for actuality. I then attempted to re-shoot this under the 180 degree rule, which worked a lot better. I then filmed attacking shot of the desk and the back of the desk was a bit darker so I needed to use the LED lights here to brighten up the background. I also kindly asked the receptionist if she would ride being filmed for this part so you can see actuality in some form. "There is the extremely important role that actuality film plays in early film production." (T.Gunning, 1986)
I then went onto filming the restaurant, and I was met with another issue. The restaurant was empty and I needed some actuality here. After watching the BBC studios promotional video (competitor), they showed the restaurant but it was empty and felt quite cold and inactive. I was then resourceful and went to see if any students on my course (which was based not too far from the restaurant) if they would mind sitting in the cafe for a few minutes whilst I film. This worked very well, and alongside this I was able to get some shots of a barrister making a coffee.
My next location was filming in the gallery, which was actually a lot more difficult to get right given it was poorly lit, a bit untidy and inactive. This therefore didn't show it off in its best light; had it been filmed during production with people working and the screens all on then it would've been a lot cleaner to film. There was no use dwelling, and so I had to try and overcome this issue there and then. There was one man doing work in there on the computers which is fairly standard. I asked him nicely if he would mind laying around with a few buttons etc. whilst I quickly film him and he was kind enough to help. This meant I could use the LED lights to give better colour and film close ups of actuality."If lighting isn’t done properly, a video production can go from top quality to a cheap video"
('Importance of Lighting in Video Production', 2014). Thus, I would need this to be well lit in order to not bring the quality of the rest of the video down. I then trued to film on the track an entrance shot of the gallery.
I was then surprisingly allowed to film inside the studios, which I wasn't expecting nor had I planned for. However, I thought the more coverage the better and considering I had been previously trying so hard to get access to film inside the studio I would've been silly to turn it down. When I went inside it was empty, with little to know features that I could focus on and the lighting was very minimal, which would've affected the quality. I tried using the LED lights but they too weren't strong enough to show the studios off. I attempted several shots in order to make the most of the lighting by filming shot of the LED light etc as I didn't want it to be a waste of time.
The next stage was to film ht dock and luckily it was active at the time but not for a studio production, but an event. This meant I could film some good actuality whilst the studio looking busy with some decent lighting. The olive green room was next door so it was easier to transport equipment there. Because the room has nothing going on it could look boring so i did a quick pan around to give the piece movement and bring it to life a bit more.
Overall the day was a great success and the studios even posted some pictures on their twitter page of me filming for their promotional video.
- There are very few places that you can actually see a 4K image.
- 4K footage requires much more media storage, which gets expensive fast.
- 4K footage requires much more computer power to edit and render
(http://www.masteringfilm.com/the-problem-with-4k/)
This could really slow down the post production process for me, especially if its so slow to work with in the edit. Also, there are some vey specific cuts to the beat of the music, which would require a lot of time in the edit to get right if it doesn't render properly, because it wont playback the specific cuts in 'real time'.
However, I felt in the end it was worth it to get the outstanding quality of footage that I did. Whilst it has its issues, the look and feel of 4K is stunning. It would've been a shame to have put so much effort into everything else in the tanning, graphics and filming equipment (track slide) and then lose out on quality (though very minor) because it would take longer. I also used 4K images in the rest of the video so having lower quality video would really stand out.
On my shoot, I needed a crew; I had so much equipment to carry around:
Much of this was heavy and awkward to carry, especially the track. Luckily, I had one of my peers, Jack on hand to help. It took us two journeys each to carry equipment place to place; ideally I would've had a bigger crew, but managed to make do with what I had. it would've been even more of a struggle had I been on my own.
I first started off in the reception; because it was early in the morning, the sun was beaming inside which made really good natural lighting with the big windows, so there was no better time to capture this section. I used the track to film a really smooth tracking shot into the reception to the front desk. This meant Jack would push the tripod and I would pan the camera around. At first I did a 360 degree shot which worked but didn't look very natural, which is because it broke the 180degree rule.
(Ferrari, 2017)
Luckily in one of the attempts of doing the 180degree rule version someone entered the studios to go to the reception so the camera almost followed them which was great for actuality. I then attempted to re-shoot this under the 180 degree rule, which worked a lot better. I then filmed attacking shot of the desk and the back of the desk was a bit darker so I needed to use the LED lights here to brighten up the background. I also kindly asked the receptionist if she would ride being filmed for this part so you can see actuality in some form. "There is the extremely important role that actuality film plays in early film production." (T.Gunning, 1986)
I then went onto filming the restaurant, and I was met with another issue. The restaurant was empty and I needed some actuality here. After watching the BBC studios promotional video (competitor), they showed the restaurant but it was empty and felt quite cold and inactive. I was then resourceful and went to see if any students on my course (which was based not too far from the restaurant) if they would mind sitting in the cafe for a few minutes whilst I film. This worked very well, and alongside this I was able to get some shots of a barrister making a coffee.My next location was filming in the gallery, which was actually a lot more difficult to get right given it was poorly lit, a bit untidy and inactive. This therefore didn't show it off in its best light; had it been filmed during production with people working and the screens all on then it would've been a lot cleaner to film. There was no use dwelling, and so I had to try and overcome this issue there and then. There was one man doing work in there on the computers which is fairly standard. I asked him nicely if he would mind laying around with a few buttons etc. whilst I quickly film him and he was kind enough to help. This meant I could use the LED lights to give better colour and film close ups of actuality."If lighting isn’t done properly, a video production can go from top quality to a cheap video"
('Importance of Lighting in Video Production', 2014). Thus, I would need this to be well lit in order to not bring the quality of the rest of the video down. I then trued to film on the track an entrance shot of the gallery.
I was then surprisingly allowed to film inside the studios, which I wasn't expecting nor had I planned for. However, I thought the more coverage the better and considering I had been previously trying so hard to get access to film inside the studio I would've been silly to turn it down. When I went inside it was empty, with little to know features that I could focus on and the lighting was very minimal, which would've affected the quality. I tried using the LED lights but they too weren't strong enough to show the studios off. I attempted several shots in order to make the most of the lighting by filming shot of the LED light etc as I didn't want it to be a waste of time.
The next stage was to film ht dock and luckily it was active at the time but not for a studio production, but an event. This meant I could film some good actuality whilst the studio looking busy with some decent lighting. The olive green room was next door so it was easier to transport equipment there. Because the room has nothing going on it could look boring so i did a quick pan around to give the piece movement and bring it to life a bit more.
Overall the day was a great success and the studios even posted some pictures on their twitter page of me filming for their promotional video.
References:
(By Alex Ferrari | March 29, 2017 |https://indiefilmhustle.com/180-degree-rule/)
T Gunning - 1986, The Cinema of Attraction[s]: Early Film, Its Spectator and the Avant-Garde
Importance of Lighting in Video Production
POSTED ON JUNE 3, 2014 BY ADMIN IN BLOG
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