Last term was the schools production of Hairspray. After months of rehearsals the cast took to the stage and it was honestly incredible and the songs are still driving me mad.
As a memento of the night Sophie Smart and I offered to film the performances to piece together some of the best bits. Naturally this was a lot of stress (however no where near as stressful, I'm sure, for the cast of production team) we filmed on two out of three nights, the first with one camera as a little test as to what the footage, sound etc would be like and on the second night we used four cameras to try and capture as much as possible. The first night was quite relaxed, as it was more of a test we didn't feel some much pressure. We had the camera set up on a full extended tripod, on top of a table in order for it to reach above the audiences stand and get a full view of the stage. The filming went fairly ok although after a certain amount of time the camera would stop filming so we had to be quick to notice and start it filming again. Our other issue was just before the interval the battery died and unfortunately I have no spares for my camera so we had to try to ensure we were able to film the last half on the second night.
The second night we had the same set up set up of an over-view camera as well as one on each of the two side stages and one, controlled by me, at the front doing close up shots. This was definitely the most stressful night although we were more prepared. We managed to borrow several charges along with spare batteries to switch over in the interval, we also had an abundance of spare SD cards to switch round. However we still had a few hitches. As i was sat at the front I couldn't get back to Sophie (and Niamh who volunteered to help Sophie check on the three cameras she had) as so had no idea which sections of the musical they were able to capture and which I could relax on. We also had a major problem with on of the side stage cameras which kept cutting out, only recording for five seconds at a time. This was a major issue as I hadn't been as focused on covering the performances on the side stage and so there wasn't a lot of footage from that area. Luckily during the interval we managed to find Mr Welch who helped fix the issue for us to record the second half.
Editing me and Sophie had to tag team as going through all the footage to pick the best bits was pretty laborious but hey. Here's the result and I hope you like it.
As a memento of the night Sophie Smart and I offered to film the performances to piece together some of the best bits. Naturally this was a lot of stress (however no where near as stressful, I'm sure, for the cast of production team) we filmed on two out of three nights, the first with one camera as a little test as to what the footage, sound etc would be like and on the second night we used four cameras to try and capture as much as possible. The first night was quite relaxed, as it was more of a test we didn't feel some much pressure. We had the camera set up on a full extended tripod, on top of a table in order for it to reach above the audiences stand and get a full view of the stage. The filming went fairly ok although after a certain amount of time the camera would stop filming so we had to be quick to notice and start it filming again. Our other issue was just before the interval the battery died and unfortunately I have no spares for my camera so we had to try to ensure we were able to film the last half on the second night.
The second night we had the same set up set up of an over-view camera as well as one on each of the two side stages and one, controlled by me, at the front doing close up shots. This was definitely the most stressful night although we were more prepared. We managed to borrow several charges along with spare batteries to switch over in the interval, we also had an abundance of spare SD cards to switch round. However we still had a few hitches. As i was sat at the front I couldn't get back to Sophie (and Niamh who volunteered to help Sophie check on the three cameras she had) as so had no idea which sections of the musical they were able to capture and which I could relax on. We also had a major problem with on of the side stage cameras which kept cutting out, only recording for five seconds at a time. This was a major issue as I hadn't been as focused on covering the performances on the side stage and so there wasn't a lot of footage from that area. Luckily during the interval we managed to find Mr Welch who helped fix the issue for us to record the second half.
Editing me and Sophie had to tag team as going through all the footage to pick the best bits was pretty laborious but hey. Here's the result and I hope you like it.
While working on my music video I've also been asked to do another small project on behalf of the school. Last years sixth form leavers have been invited back into school for a presentation of their certificates and so the school wanted to create a video of their previous form tutors sending them good wishes, which I was asked to film and edit together. However Mr Welch wanted to create his own mastermind which included a green screen. I've not used a green screen before therefore took this as a learning point, who knows I may change my mind and choose to use it in my video. This was the finished project of Mr Welch's mastermind and the video I used to learn how to use green screen.
This is my plan for the filming equipment I'll need for which aspects of my work.
Music video
- For filming the music video I'll be using my Canon EOS 1200D with my EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 III lens
Mostly I'll be sticking to a standard tripod to stabilize my shots but at some points may use a shoulder mount as I quite like the handheld effect on some shots however worry it'll will make may shots look too shaky.
I'll be using natural lighting for the majority of my shots as I think this helpsgive a cleanerappearence to the image rather than a yellowed hue that comes with most bulb lighting.
Photoshoot
For the photos for the CD cover and website I'll be using my Canon EOS 1200D again and possibly a mix between 3 lenses EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 III, EF75-300mm f/4-5.6 or the EF 50 mm f/1.8 STM depending on the style photos I want E.g Close ups, portraits etc.
I'll most likely be using a tripod if I'm in the shot but if not,I'll hold the camera.
Again I'll be sticking to natural lighting.
Music video
- For filming the music video I'll be using my Canon EOS 1200D with my EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 III lens
Mostly I'll be sticking to a standard tripod to stabilize my shots but at some points may use a shoulder mount as I quite like the handheld effect on some shots however worry it'll will make may shots look too shaky.
I'll be using natural lighting for the majority of my shots as I think this helpsgive a cleanerappearence to the image rather than a yellowed hue that comes with most bulb lighting.
Photoshoot
For the photos for the CD cover and website I'll be using my Canon EOS 1200D again and possibly a mix between 3 lenses EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 III, EF75-300mm f/4-5.6 or the EF 50 mm f/1.8 STM depending on the style photos I want E.g Close ups, portraits etc.
I'll most likely be using a tripod if I'm in the shot but if not,I'll hold the camera.
Again I'll be sticking to natural lighting.
My failed attempt to film in the holidays due to the Kayla's illness has worried me a bit. So I've decided to devise a back up plan in case of further illness or timing. I know two other girls young enough that I could use as the child if needs be. They're my boyfriends, two years old. twin sisters, Jessica and Lucy. They're able to walk and have fairly developed speech however if I do need to use them with in my music video I can adapt the story line slightly to show the teenage mother teaching the teddy to walk and talk etc to justify this age and would also suit my concept that the mother did keep her child for quite a long time but just could no longer cope.
Over this half term I had intended to start filming for my music video, as the baby I'll be using, Kayla, is only getting older and she lives quite far away. She was visiting for new years and I was meant to help look after her for a few days so I had decided to film the last scene of my music video with her. However, the came the rather large hiccup. She had an ear infection, meaning she didn't come to visit and I couldn't film. This has caused me to panic a little bit as I don't get to see Kayla very often but hopefully I can reschedule to film with her again soon. But I've learnt from this that no matter how prepared you can be to film - we'd had this organised for quite a while - when it comes to the day of filming something as simple as illness can throw plans into the wind.