Music Video: Filming Process (new)

Riversley Park:

With good weather on my side, I decided to shoot my outside shots before the studio ones to take advantage. Beginning with my first location, it quickly became apparent that I would have to find an isolated location due to then having to blur anyone who walked in the background; I also wanted to include as little references to man made structures as possible (paths, schools, vehicles) to better suit the narrative of my video. In regards to health and safety, I also wanted to make sure the ground wasn't too slippery or 'awkward' to film on; this is because for a couple of the tracking shots, my cameraman would have to be walking backwards. To further ensure this, I brought along another helper to direct the cameraman.

shots taken (highlighted)

Studio:

My projection shooting went smoother than I anticipated, and I ended up with significantly more footage than I actually required; but this was good because I included a lot of motion when shooting, so I have a lot of options to choose from.

shots taken (highlighted)

When shooting this time around, I ensured the projector was an adequate height which involved stacking books on top of a step ladder, then angling the projector down; though sounds like I ignored health and safety, I had two people to hold the step ladder and projector. The images on the white background were slightly warped from the angle, but it didn't effect the overall image once framing was set up. 

Ensor's Pool & Bermuda Park:

As anticipated, the shoot was a bit more difficult to complete due to the weather which had caused the hill to completely turn to mud. Health & Safety wise it wasn't too detrimental, I just made sure both me and the cameraman were careful when walking up/down and decided not to do any tracking back shots just further be mindful of this. 

shots taken (highlighted)

I took a decent amount fo shots, but for the majority only did one take of each which was my fault. I think I was more eager to finish because it looks like it was going to rain, and I had nothing to protect the camera with; for future reference I should plan my day out better to prevent rushing like this. My shots were also a little underexposed than I would have liked, but I think it looked nice when contrasted against my other sections of the video.

My House (Bedroom & Bathroom):

For these shots I debated whether or not I wanted to have it in daylight or night but I thought it would be best to shoot at night because of the amount of day shoots I did. I also think it set a better tone for the introduction of the video; the dark light gives connotations of a dark lifestyle or area.

shots taken (highlighted)

Music Video: Filming Process (old)

13/03:

Set Up:

Filming:

All my subjects failed to turn up to film, to which I made a precaution to book multiple days for the studio to be used. This of course will put more stress on my behalf to finish everything within the time frame, but I am hopeful I will be able to do it.

To make my time somewhat productive i filmed some filler shots for the subject that did turn up, and tested some of my final projections on them:

One of the first obstacles I encountered was that the projections had made lines appear when filmed, this was an easy fix however as I just changed the shutter speed to a higher one. I then accordingly changed my ISO and aperture. I filmed once again:

The take came out much better, however I did want to test zooming out when shooting; unfortunately at the time, I was still struggling to get the height i needed for the projector. So instead I settled on testing the projections and having to zoom post edit, even though the camera was set at a lower angle. This is extremely apparent in the close ups filmed with the projectors:

The angle generally is unflattering for (almost) anyone, and this shot also shows more shadow than I was hoping for behind my subject too; Yet i had to put it this low to prevent the camera from covering the projections, so i will ask for a taller step ladder when filming next time. The butterfly lit shots though however turned out exactly like I wanted to because I was able to use the studio lighting instead of the projector, though I will have to colour correct it to make it look more white post edit:

Music Video: Test Projections & Equipment

27/02:

Due to a number of inconveniences and problems, I was unable to test projections properly; So I decided to make a layout/plan of what equipment I will need and where to place it. 

05/03:

The adapter I bought for the projector arrived Saturday so I was able to test out some of my inspiration videos against a white background properly.

- Set up example -

-White Background & White Video Background -

- White Background & Black Video Background -

I originally set up the projector up in our classroom initially just to check the adapter actually worked. However it came apparent to me that I would need a vastly darker space than i anticipated. I also would need a very high stand for the projector to sit upon to be able to film directly in front of the subject. I also noticed how difficult it was to place the projector without casting a strong shadow beside or behind the subject.

After this initial test, I decided to move into the studio to again see how it would look against a white backdrop. Whilst I found a drastic improvement when compared to the natural lighting, I also found the subject's face to still be quite dark so when it comes to shooting I think I will somehow still have to have another light source which could make the projections harder to see. 

The main outcome however, which i was more eager to see was the fact it did look visually interesting and i think with some more effects could make it very meaningful and even moving. I think it also allows more personalisation and personification when it comes to the projections, because I can show the subject's emotions or the lyrics with a more dynamic method.

Media Basics: Lighting Examples

Butterfly lighting is essentially having the whole face evenly distributed in light. This can be done by having either one light straight ahead of the subject or having two lights at a 45 degree angle from the subject. Sometimes when using this type of lighting outdoors it can be better to use a diffuser to evenly spread the light across. In my example I used two lights, and you can clearly see even with motion her face is always covered.



Rembrandt is the goal of having half of the face lit whilst having small triangle present under the unlit halves eye. This is done by having the light at roughly a 45 degree angle from the subject, at a high angle whilst slightly tilted down; the subject may even be positioned to face slightly away from the camera. In my example, the rembrandt is very faint; i could have fixed this by changing the brightness of the light (to make a stronger contrast) or moved the model to have a more distinct triangle/separation.



Split Lighting is what I find to be the easiest light to manipulate as it literally means splitting the distribution of light; having half the subject in light and the other dark. This is done by having a singular light on one side of the subject with (usually) having the subject facing forwards straight into the camera. In my example the contrast isn't as strong as I would have prefered it, but you can see a line straight down the subjects face diving the light.



For my last example I wanted to show an alternative way to use lighting; for this I attempted to light up just the bottom of the subject's face by having the light source directly under the subject's face. Visually it makes the top portion the the subject's face darker (like their hair) and their shoulders/features deeper into her face darker. If done correctly it can make the subject look very menacing, however mine is slightly over exposed as a strong contrast isn't very prominent.

Four Hour Film Challenge - Unusual Pespectives

As a class we watched the sequence twice, to which (thankfully) everyone found funny. As a general, we primarily got praise on the variety of shots and pacing used which enabled us to create a character out of an inanimate object without the use of mass props; Though we were asked if there was opportunity to use more props or different backdrops. However, in my opinion, I think using little to no official props makes the video as a whole funnier because it looks more like a parody that making a backdrop which could have distracted attention from the eggs.
In terms of editing, the only critic we got given was that more titles could have been used to make it more punny and look more like a movie trailer than just a sequence of shots. Similarly, the sequence was very short so it left me personally more to be desired; I wish we had filmed more to be able to create a longer trailer and possibly even more references to the movie our inspiration came from. Although one of our critics was that we could have been more original and created a narrative from scratch rather base it on a preexisting trailer dialogue; but because it was intended to be a parody I don't fully think this comment was relevant.

Four Hour Film Challenge - Birmingham

For this assignment, I chose the theme of 'unusual perspectives', but I also included 'citylife' to add some almost understanding/background to my protagonist; whilst my video doesn't have a narrative per say, I think there is some defining characteristics presented.

I wanted the main idea from this to be the feeling of curiosity or even challenging the human 'agenda', so my protagonist goes to numerous locations (as shown with her walking and looking around) but only finds satisfaction in animals. This is the main reason why the only shot of her smiling is at the aquarium, and more so that the shots at the aquarium are much slower than those of the ones outdoors/places with heavy artistic influence. Even the contrast in colours with the strong blue against the reds and greys on the buildings I think are even more intriguing.

My main issues when filming were the inability to use a tripod and the weather. Locations like the sea life centre or museums do not permit the use of tripods for safety reasons, so I found it difficult to shoot steady shots which increased the amount of time I spent in Birmingham shooting; this creates another series of problems as the natural lighting becomes slightly darker due to the day passing. The stabilization issue also had more effect when adding a warp stabilizer to my clips which (as seen) makes the shots very 'choppy', even when I altered the amount and type of stabilization.

However, besides that I did not have any issues when it came to editing. I increased and decreased the speed on some clips to represent the world passing the subject by in shots like the shark (0:51) becoming slightly slower to show how infatuated she is, but not so much that it becomes unnatural to watch.

Media Basics: Shutter Speed

"Shutter Speed is the length of time your camera shutter is open, exposing light onto the camera sensor. Essentially, it's how long your camera spends taking a photo" (Photography Life, 2018). So in theory, you would need to use a higher shutter speed when shooting in a high lit area, and a lower one in a more low light area. This also means you would have to change your ISO to suit your shutter speed to correctly expose the image.

As exampled below, the different shutter speeds specifically refers to the amount of time an individual frame is exposed for; this is not the same as frame rate which is the number of individual frames that create each second of video you record (aka FPS). As a general however, when choosing settings to film in, the denominator of the shutter speed should be roughly double the amount of frames per second.

As we can see, there is a noticeable difference in the overall definition of the water. With the first video (slower shutter speed) the water is more smooth and harsh with the way it comes out; whereas with the second video we can see the the droplets come out as well as the general flow of the water clearer.

Reference list:

Photography Life (2018) [online] Available from: https://photographylife.com (Accessed 17/09/2018)

Media Basics: ISO

"ISO is simply a camera setting that will brighten or darken a photo" (Photography Life, 2018); Basically the level of sensitivity of your camera to available light. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive to light. So in theory, at night you would use a higher ISO than daytime; however, the main visual fault from using a high ISO at night is the inclusion of grain.

In this video I tried to exemplify this with correctly exposing my images with using an ISO of 100 - 200. I think to be able to get coloured details like the trees or brick it is important to be correctly exposed, or the colours won't be as prominent; similarly im glad I kept my white balance on auto because the green could have looked almost abnormal had I tampered with it.
In the last couple of clips I purposefully over and under exposed; in moderation, this technique can manipulate natural light without physically tampering the environment. I wanted a more heavenly appearance so i made the light around my subject over exposed by setting my ISO to slightly higher than the shot previously. I also focused my camera on the surrounding behind her to make sure it was that area that would be over exposed.

During my filming, probably due to other factors (like my Aperture), my ISO wasn't that varied. A minimal difference is noticeable with the amount of grain and even the mild 'hum lines' that can be seen on a larger screen. You can also see less colour in/on the subject's hair or the brick wall besides them because it is so dark with a lower ISO.

Having less light coming in when filming can also relate problems in correlation to focus because as suggested it's harder to see; it also removes detail from surrounding areas as seen with the brick wall because of the mass amount of grain. A standard way to fix this would be using external light, but alternatively I could have also perhaps used a wider Aperture.

Reference list:

Photography Life (2018) [online] Available from: https://photographylife.com (Accessed 17/09/2018)