Construction Post 3: Week 3 production

The Schedule

Since we were able to successfully capture all of our footage for the music video in weeks 1+2, we are able to use week 3 exclusively for promo and album cover shots. This is extremely beneficial to our project as it has allowed us a lot of flexibility to experiment and test different ideas.

Over the course of the week we had 3 slots in the studio for our photo shoots:

• Monday 23rd November 9.30 -12.30
• Wednesday 25th November 11.10-12.30
• Friday 4th November 16.00-18.30

Monday 23rd November

Due to our timetables we have decided to split this session into two. From 9.30-10.50 Shayam and Alistair will work together to test various different positions and styles of lighting and then take some individual shots of Shayam for the website. Then from 11-12.30 I will work with Luke (lead singer) and take some test individual shots of him.

Splitting the session was a very good idea as it allowed us to get a large variety of shots in a short space of time. Looking back at the photos I think that we do have a lot of usable images, however I do think that Luke's outfit in particular need to be more stylized as the green jumper does not have vey edgy and cool connotations. In addition, we have decided as a group that we should try to tame his hair slightly as it looked a bit too messy in these photos.


Wednesday 25th November

A selection of the pair shots we took

We will use this session for our pair shots. First Luke and Seb and then Shayam and myself. We will also use this shoot to introduce the changes to looks costume and hair.

Our Make-Up Station

Thakshana (classmate) doing my make-up
prior to the shoot.

We met at 10.50 which allowed 20 mins before the start of the shoot to do the boys' hair and make-up. Although they didn't need much make-up, their hair was quite tricky, so I did Seb's hair while Shayam did Luke's. I concentrated on adding volume to Seb's hair as it was naturally quite flat, however I wanted to avoid his hair looking overly styled which would connote the wrong representations. After their costume was finished, Shayam and I went to get ready ourselves whilst Alistair took pictures of the boys.

We asked one of our classmates who is very experienced to help with our make-up and we showed her various different references to ensure she would achieve the right look. We then returned to the studio to take our pictures and due to working effectively we managed to finish with time to spare.

Friday 4th November

One of my individual shots

One of Seb's individual shots

We will use this session to shoot mine and Seb's individual shots, each of our profile shots and all of the band shots. We will have to work very quickly for this shoot as we have a lot to do and a short amount of time to do it in.

Harsh Shadow Test Shot

As expected we were very pressed for time, but we did manage to complete all the desired shots. All of the single shots were very fast and easy to take and it did not require any special lighting or positioning. However, the group shots took significantly longer because we were finding it difficult to eliminated unwanted shadows using just 3-point lighting for 4 different subjects.

The most difficult shot was the group with harsh shadows across each of our faces, due to the complicated lighting and a lack of appropriate equipment. As a result we decided to take these shots individually and if needed we could comp the shots together to create a group shot.

We took multiple different shots for our album cover, including some sitting down. However, the most successful were the standing staggered images. Initially we had planned to only have this photo with the balloons that juxtaposed with our expressions, in order to create sarcastic connotations that would compliment our album title 'The Honeymoon Is Over...'. Despite this, we decided to take the shot without the balloons as a precaution and in case we changed our album idea/title.