Construction post 2: Week 2 production

We have decided to use this week for capturing our performance shots. This week is going to be quite difficult because of our locations and the hours that we will be shooting.

In preparation for this shoot, we made a list of all the alterations and considerations that we needed to make. Below is a picture of our original list that I wrote.

As can be seen from the long list, we had a variety of different issues, however most of which are minor. They are mainly precautions because of the fact that we didn't have the drummer nor the drum kit for the test shoot. We have used this list as reference to adapt our shoot board and schedule in preparation for this week and we have worked in the various different changes.

On the day of the main shoot, we were all very organized and on time, which help everything run smoothly and we managed to reach the building in Soho at 6pm, the time we had aimed for. 

During the lighting tests

In order to stay on schedule, Shayam and myself focus on the costume, hair, makeup and props, whilst Alistair made sure the lighting and camera was set-up correctly. This worked very well and we were all ready to start filming just a short while later. 

Our Group Meeting

Before shooting we had a group meeting to discuss all the potential safety hazards and all the issues that needed to be dealt with before the shoot could commence. As it had been raining for much of the the day, the ground was quite wet and due to the glass floor, it was very slippery. We all worked on drying the floor and moving any large objects out of the way to setup our scene. Due to really good team work and communication we were able to tidy up the set without much delay.

The large table that needed to be moved

Drying the glass

During most of the shoot I was concentrated on the performance (myself included), which was quite demanding, yet really enjoyable and the same time. Despite this, after having finished my shots on screen, I was able to get behind the camera and film various different solo shots, primarily Shayam's but also some of Luke's. This was extremely rewarding and due the unpredictable nature of filming on location, it offered a different challenge from film in the studio. 

One of the experimental shots I took

We then started to set-up for the Bokeh scenes. Alistair and Shayam focus mostly on the actors and lighting whilst I attached the lens and altered the camera settings. After the practice in the studio, this was quite easy and quick for me, so I began to do some small test on the city lights. The result were really successful and have the potential to be used in our project.

Overall, this shoot went very smoothly and we
were successful in the footage we captured. There were some minor issues with focus and lighting in a very small number of shots, but that will not effect the overall video as we have enough good quality footage to just ignore those specific rushes.

This is our wrap video: