Filming in the theatre

This image shows my friends setting up the sound whilst I was up in the lighting box setting that up. Eventaully the sound couldn't be set up so I had to use my iPod and one of my friends had to hold it in a way that would project the sound so Hannah could hear it whilst she was trying to lip sync.

This is an image of me filming Hannah while she is perfoming. As the camera was on the tripod, I was able to leave the camera and encourage Hannah in her performance. She couldn't see me and my other friends as she was looking straight into the spotlight so this helped her confidence a bit.

This image shows me standing with the camera as I was filming.

At this point I was holding the iPod to project the sound. The box to the left of me was our initial plan to project the sound but it didn't work as well as we had hoped.

This is a close up on me filming. At this point I decided to close the tripod legs so there was more movement in the shot but it was still steadier than if I was using steadicam.

Theatre outfits

 

This is the first outfit that Hannah wore in the theatre shoot. This is similar to outfits that Beyonce wears whilst performing her slow songs like the one below:

 



The second scenes we shot were of Hannah practicing a dance routine in her joggers and a hoodie

 

 

Technical theatre and media

When we got to the theatre to film for my music video, Andy Feetom the theatre technician had to leave to go to a meeting. This allowed me to use the skills I had learnt on my technical theatre course in my media work. I went up to tghe lighting box and got my friends to stand in the middle of the stage with the mic stand so I could set the lighting to where it needed to be. I decided to use the ain spotlight with a bit of very faint lighting from the side of the stage.

 

The image below shows me in the lighting box setting everything up:

 

Email to ask if I can film in the theatre

Tonight I finally managed to book the theatre out an I filmed in there with Hannah, her friend Laura who helped us by holding the lyrics and encouraging Hannah to perform and our friend Lydia who also helped by reading the lyrics out the line before they came up in the song.

Firstly I went to see Andy Feetom, the theatre manager who showed me the timetable of the theatre and when it was booked out. I had previously spoken to Hannah to ask her a few dates of when she was free to film. We decided it would be best to film after college so we had more time so Thursday 17th January was perfect.

This is a copy of the email I then sent Andy on the day of the filming to make sure the theatre was still free for me:

On the day of the filming me and Hannah organised the outfit I wanted her to wear and her make-up and then went into the theatre to set up. When Andy arrived I went up to the sound and light booth so I could set up the lighting to how I wanted it. I used the information and techniques I had learnt on my Technical Theatre course to make the theatre lighting how I wanted it and eventually I ended up using a spotlight which gave the effect that she was on stage performing to a large audience rather than in an empty room. I carried down the mic and stand and adjusted the mic stand to the height of Hannah in her heels.

I filmed Hannah singing the whole song through numerous times in different carera positions. I shot a long shot, a mid shot, two medium close ups and a close up. I shot three of them from the front and then two from the side.

I used my docking station and my iPod so that Hannah could sing along to the song. I asked her to sing along to the song so that I had the proper movements of the mouth that I would hopefully be able to lip sync better. As Hannah wasn't 100% on the song lyrics, my friend Lydia sat to the side of Hannah out of shot and told her the words just befor she had to sing them. This was the best thing that I could do in this situation as Hannah had had months (since she agreed to participating) to learn the lyrics to the song.

Work done over the Christmas holidays

The main thing that is missing from my video is all lip syncing.

 

1st lip sync scene:

• I will film in the theatre next week. Before the holidays I went to Andy Feetom to see when the space was free and he pencilled me in for next Thursday. I need to check with Hannah that that is okay with her so we can get filming.

2nd lip syncing scene:

• I have decided to make a collage of all of Hannah's favourite things that I will pin to the wall and get her to perform in fron of with a spotlight on her. I want her to have "cool" makeup done so it looks edgy.

Bike riding scene

• Hannah lives down quite a quiet street and it is very quaint so she will be able to cycle down the edge of the road while I film her from the path doing this. I will use a tracking shot.

Work over the Christmas holidays

Over the Christmas holidays I am going to have to sit down and look at what filming I have done and what I still need to do. My main focus needs to be on lip syncing. I also need to ask Hannah if she can give me any time to film and plan out when we are going to make progress by.

First draft of my music video - incomplete

 

This is the first bit of editing I have done on my music video. I haven't done much due to lack of lip syncing, that is the main thing that is missing which is a huge problem.