BLOG OF THE SHOOT DAY

We arrived at the film studio at 9am- it being the first scene to shoot. There we met the set which we had finalised the night before along with our punctual actors. We allowed the band to practice to the song once more for them to regain familiarity allowing them to stay efficient; not having to worry about whether they are playing the appropriate chords etc. We placed them on the set with a sense of special awareness and with one last practice in there posts, we began to shoot. The studio was used to shoot the performance elements of the video and was used to shoot first because our next location was Shepards Bush- London. We started with the establishing shots and chronologically moved smaller. After the last extreme close-ups, we experimented with a few unplanned shots because we were in good time. Once this was ‘done and dusted’ we began filming some of the narrative shots that needed to be shot on studio location due to there nature; for example: The ‘backstage party’ scene was filmed in the studio with no built set in order to capture a sense of realism in the video. We also staged a mock photo-shoot in the studio to add to the narrative elements during editing if deemed appropriate. During the trip to London we filmed the bus scenes so that we could work with the actors internal feelings that may correlate with that of the ‘bands’. I.E; the actors were tired on the road, so we even shot some of the actors actually sleeping for maximum realism, also capturing the moving world outside the window. Once in London, we shot some of the streets near and on the Location while also shooting outside the Shepards Bush Empire and the Hammersmith Apollo. We captured the band walking in and around the locations.

The roles my partner and I assigned one and other were designed to emphasize our strengths and minimise our weaknesses. We assigned my partner to handle the camera on the shoot due to his experience as a cameraman in the Hurtwood Film Academy and also to assume the role as ‘main editor’ for the same reasons. I on the other hand, was labelled director of the shoot due to my experience in co-directing plays because of my experience in the Hurtwood Acting Company, having a primitive sense of being able to direct the actors. Another reason for this was that the themes were primarily my invention. These roles were not completely dictating the shoot for there were instances where Tom would direct or I would handle the camera.

We used a JCV500 camera on the shoot, since its HD quality was the suitable candidate for capturing ‘gritty realism’. The fact that everything we filmed was kept on a card rather than a tape meant that we could stop, start and rewind as we pleased without sabotaging our footage, making it more efficient in terms of knowing what we needed to do next and in post-production.

Our first and most disturbing problem concerning the shoot was the loss of our group’s third member: Ross. Since shortly before the shoot he left school due to decisions concerning the powers that be, we were, for a short period of time, left in a state of disarray; since he had various key jobs that we were finding hard to do between us on top of everything else. One of these jobs that ended up never happening was to get in touch with a company that distributes large amounts of posters for a good price. Thankfully this didn’t have a detrimental effect on the shoot since I decided we could work with the sets sense of minimalism. The second problem was that two of our original acting choices dropped out just days before the shoot leaving us to pick up the pieces. Though replacements were found in the nick of time, we weren’t able to camera-test them. Thankfully they ended up possessing screen presence. There was a moment in time when we thought we would have to have Tom take the position of drummer which would leave me to handle the camera for the whole day also, which WOULD have been detrimental! A problem we faced in London was quite simply the rain. Tom and I had to stand in the rain for up to twenty minutes at a time while I help my only jacket over to camera to protect it; establishing our priorities!

The actor playing the lead singer was a delightful success after many spectators of the shoot commenting on the fact that his face matched the original front-mans voice to an outstanding level. He was also very easy to work with along with the rest of the band making the day a much more pleasant experience then if not.

Overall, the shoot day was a great success despite some of the problems we encountered. The replacements for the actors worked better then we had initially foreseen which was incredibly reassuring. The studio scenes worked and the London scenes were spectacular; making the day a wonderful and successful experience.

STRUCTURE OF POP MUSIC INDUSTRY - AND THE PLACE OF OUR POP VIDEO IN IT

Musical taste is a controversial topic due to conflicting views between fans, known to verge on ‘tribalism’; due to the peculiarities or characteristics that music contains, enforcing peoples sense of individualism. It can define and signify people’s lifestyle, influencing the way that you dress, speak and even act; a notion that has caused uproar towards acts such as Marilyn Manson and Eminem, who are often being blamed for violent acts committed by young people all over the western world. Because it is of popular belief that music and its trends sit at the epicentre of popular culture: it is our ambition to create a timeless star, one that surpasses changing fashions so that we can exploit it’s popularity to create and sell merchandise or in other words; create a product!
The dynamic tension between the organic (musicians that are in the game for the love of music only) and the synthetic who are, essentially; corporate puppets, underpins the success of the gargantuan media business. Our aim is to create a band that appears organic so they appeal to wide range of demographics, not only the ‘x-factor culture’. We want their personalities to shine through in the pop-promo. Synergetic connections with other media forms; which is already displayed through the music video, is also something to consider. This co-dependency with other types of media can be extremely productive but also risky due to the fact that this could possibly fragment the bands organic image and decrease popularity drastically. The pop-promo is only a single strand of a wider scale multimedia campaign! We plan to incorporate media technologies such as radio, newspapers/magazines, the internet and even advertisements in popular public areas such as shopping malls to captivate interest from as much of our target audience as possible. This is partly due to the structure of the music industry which is dominated by only three major conglomerates (Sony/BMG, Universal and EMI) who own a string of smaller companies known as subsidiaries. To compete with their internally funded multimedia launches; we must do the same, mainly to keep up with ‘modern day’ standards.

There are three types of company dominating the music industry are known as ‘Majors, Independents and Minis’. Because there are only three successful ‘Majors’, the industry is subsequently full of ‘Minis and Independents’. These companies often concentrate on a small number of artists within specialised niches in the industry. An example of one of these cases is “Assorted Records” who give unsigned talent a chance to ‘get out there’ and showcase their talents. A realistic notion is that our company is a Mini, but this doesn’t necessarily mean we can not turn a profit due to the increasingly popularity of niche acts subsumed with the fact that the industry is not a ‘hierarchy’ dominated by Majors but rather a “web of companies” who’s connection and synergetic relationship allow smaller companies to gain access to bigger markets; A factor that can make our position in the industry highly profitable.



Our music video has been created to serve a number of different functions: It promotes the single specifically and normally an album, hopefully giving audiences an insight into the organic nature of the band and conveying our carefully designed ‘rebel’ image. It also creates, adapts or feeds into a ‘star-image’, something we can play with in terms of the bands overall image and lastly: reinforces, adapts or undermines the meanings of the song to the most successful extent possible.

Current threats the pop video are highlighted by the fact that in many respects music videos are becoming defunct and irrelevant due to illegal downloading from the internet, manufactured programmes with live feeds, the ‘Vidvert’ or ‘I Video’ and the fact that music television is becoming more mainstream due to channels such as MTV. These factors undermine the suitable intentions of our pop video which is primarily; to make money. Though the notion highlighted above is worrying, this can present us with huge opportunities also such as the fact this makes our video more widely available. Though in the short term, this might render us helpless to video piracy, in the long term the video will be viewed by wider audience demographics!

Call Sheet.

We spent several weeks preparing our call sheet. This is vital as it contains all the information that may be useful on the day of the shoot, including cast list, production team, contact details, shooting schedule, directions etc.

Another Girl Another Planet

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12TH 2010

Tom Warhurst
Benjamin Marks

CONTENTS1.
PRODUCTION TEAM2.
CAST LIST3.
STUDIO SET PLAN4.
LIGHTING PLAN5.
EQUIPMENT LIST6.
PROPS AND WARDROBE7.
SCHEDULE8.
STORYBOARD9.
SHOOTING ORDER
PRODUCTION TEAM

Ben Marks(Creative Director, Camera, Co-Producer)
Tom Warhurst(Editor, Camera, Co-Producer)MAIN ACTORS

Band members:

Charlie Lindsey
Oscar Jackson
Hector McAllister
Chaz Hyatt

STUDIO SET PLAN
LIGHTING PLAN

PROPS

Vodka bottles
Tequila Bottles
Cigarettes and packs
Shot glasses
Beer cans
Band equipment (amps and tech included);
Guitar x2
Base guitar
Drum-kit
Zippo lighter
Red and blue cups plastic
Playing cards
mobile phones
ping pong balls x6
Red Bull cans

WARDROBE
Boys: Rock star attire. (Their own clothes or purchases)
Girls: Groupie attire I.E short skirts etc.

SET REQUIREMENTS

Set Itself:
Corrugated iron look-a-like.
Pavement look-a-like.

Locations:
Film studio.
Cranleigh.
Round House, Camden.
Barfly, Camden
Underworld, Camden


Wants:

Smoke Machine

Dry Ice Machine

Strobe Lights

SCHEDULE9-12.30

STUDIO12.30-1.15

LUNCH1.15-3.30

STUDIO3.30-4

BREAK4 Onwards

London Locations

STORYBOARD
SHOT LIST

Lighting Design.

After being given a lighting design sheet, we spent some time trying to figure out what colours and movement we would want to use to communicate a powerful, drug fuelled craze for the performance side and a gritty realistic feel to the narrative side. After our primary decisions, we had a meeting with Dan, Luke and John to decide what would be best in terms of exactly what lights and colours to use. Lights crudely labelled ‘Blondes and Redheads’ would be dominant throughout the video, especially in the performance side, for in the narrative side, minimal lighting would be required to create realism especially on locations such as the tour bus and at the venues. The meeting proved to be successful since decisions were made and we were ready to move on.

Set Design.

A documented set design establishes the sets elements and helps plan camera positions and alerts us of any furniture or other extras we may need to acquire. We drafted and redrafted our set design to an extent that was eventually finalised. The design also alerts us as to where we are going to stage the actors and larger instruments such as the drum set.
Our design for the performance side to the video consists of a large wall constructed to look like corrugated iron with attachments such as large rundown posters of the band themselves or other bands of the same genre. They are most likely to be influences such as The Sex Pistols. The floor is going to resemble london paving in order to, along with the corrugated iron; resemble the gritty urban surroundings that the band members each originated from.
The narrative side to the video will be filmed mainly on an external location except for the dressing room scenes. We hope for the dressing room to look like a typical, run down back-stage area that would be found in any of the smaller music venues. This setting will hopefully add the the image that the band have not sold out and they still play for the same type of audiences they grew up with.

Camera test.

A camera test is an important part of the search for the appropriate actors recruited to play the characters in our pop promo. The test consists of filming each of our actors performing actions relating to their assigned roles. It is only necessary to film them individually for a short amount of time; time enough to instigate the point of a camera test which is to see if the chosen actor works well on camera. Working well on camera does not necessarily mean that they are attractive but rather they have presence such as successful screen actors like Jack Nicholson or Benicio Del Toro.

We did do a camera test with three potential characters for each of the four members of our band. We had them talking to the camera, playing their instruments and just chilling out as we filmed for the test. Unfortunatly the media dep. at our school has lost the material otherwise it would be here...

Storyboards.

A storyboard is essentially a comic in which each particular animation correlates with the pre-arranged timeline. The storyboard should also incorporate details informing the director and crew on which camera angles and action to take on each appropriate shot. The purpose of a storyboard is primarily for efficiency on the shoot-day of the pop promo, where in film a storyboard will often serve a far higher purpose; often being used as a tool to pitch a film or to detect any problems a producer or director may run into on the day of the shoot. Other useful qualities a storyboard contains is that its a guide to the direction of the actors, it may be an influence on the set design and the an influence on the lighting plan.

TIMELINE.

The creation of a timeline is a necessary part of the pre-production process. A timeline, fundamentally; is a plan that links words and times to images and music riffs, allowing the production team to be pedantic with the pre-production process.

Using the timeline we have planned various different close-up shots of the lead guitar in different angles, during the main solo. We will conduct these shots to hopefully exemplify and convey the skill needed to perform such a solo; to the viewer.

We have also planned a two second close up of the front-man consuming a shot of alcohol. This shot is designed to expose the band for the party-animals they are, appealing to many audience demographics including teenagers and men ranging from 18 to 25.

Once the timeline is created; we transfer the ideas into the form of a storyboard which is fundamentally its visual counterpart. We will also create an animatic story board, to ensure maximum efficiency in the pre-production process.

COMPOSITION RULES

Film, TV and more relevantly; pop videos- subsume a visual language that confers directly with our sub-consciousness. We hope to incorporate main aspects of this visual language in our pop promotional videos through these ten composition rules. The rules are stated in the following:

1. Different types of shot size will convey a wide variety of messages purposefully relating to the selected media’s conventions. Our sub-consciousness picks up these rules from an early age, allowing the director to signify chosen points through shot sizes. Examples:
Wide shots establish surroundings, long shots are used to reveal everything going on in the scene which can exacerbate the action in fight scenes etc; close-ups are used as a door way into a characters emotive personality and more specifically in pop videos: to sell the band.










2. Different camera positions and angles are incorporated as a film-makers technique to insinuate certain points about the actor and/or film subject. It is common for reporters to change the camera angles and positions to either favour or reject the film subject. The camera positioned flat on the subject tells our sub-consciousness that they are boring where shooting from high could mean they are humble and down to earth, and from low could mean they represent power. Placing the camera 32 degrees to either the right of left; makes the subject attractive and inviting.




3. Camera movement is divided into three main styles: Tracking, panning or the crane. The tracking shot (also known as a dolly shot or trucking shot) is a segment in which the camera is mounted on a wheeled platform that is pushed on rails while the picture is being taken. This is done to build emphasis or allow the audience to follow the subject while it moves. The pan (taken from the word panorama) is one of the most common movements in film. The shot means to turn, or pan the camera horizontally so that it sweeps around the scene. The crane shot is something taken from a special device called a crane which resembles a huge mechanical arm. The crane carries the camera and cameraman, and can move in virtually any direction.

4. Lighting is commonly used in pop videos to enhance aesthetic pleasure. At Hurtwood, we have in our possession two types of lighting: redheads and blondes. These are standardized lights ranging between 1000 to 2000 pounds. These provide artificial lighting which is more commonly known as “tungsten”.

5. The rule of thirds is a concept in video and film production in which the frame is divided into nine imaginary sections. This creates reference points which act as guides for framing the image. It is not uncommon to break this rule, but always to convey a certain message.



6. Film makers commonly “lead the eye” for various reasons but above all; to put over a meaning. An example of this would be in the 1969 cult classic “The Wild Bunch”. The editing suggests that a squad of policemen on horseback are the hero’s while a group of bandits residing on a rooftop are the villains. This turns out to not be the case when the bandits kill innocent citizens and the police rob a bank. This technique subverts our expectations to create dramatic effect.


















7. Colours can portray an assembly of emotions to the audience; mainly by incorporating lighting and effects. Colours also notify the audience on the physiology behind certain characters. If a character wears all black; generically, he or she is considered sinister whilst if a character wears all blue; he or she is considered caring and thoughtful. The themes of a film can also often be expressed through colour for example in The Wild Bunch, the lens appears to be dirty, which gives the film a dark, seedy, pasty and gritty feel, correlating with the excessive violence and effectively sinister narrative.















8. Shapes and lines either in the foreground or background can influence many atmospheric possibilities. In a pop video, jagged lines running through the background could convey feelings of chaos and fragmentation while smooth circular shapes can instigate a sense of calm in the audience.

9. The arrangement of detail in the frame is an issue of much importance when creating atmosphere, for example: a shot with not much detail will sway the audience into focusing more on the intended subject, where as a lot of detail can either create chaos or a sense of sophisticated intricacy.

10. There are many styles of editing to choose from in the post-production phase of a project. The choice in style will completely affect the outcome of the film by how it attracts viewers or repels them. An example of this would be a style named “Balletic Editing”. This style calms the viewer due to the fact that it cuts around in a circle. The sub-consciousness is attracted to and eased by the fluid, eternal motion of a circle. Editors and directors may choose to use this style for subversive effect. A violent battle edited in this style will not seem as shocking so therefore can be used to attract a larger audience; one that may not generally enjoy violence in film.

FIRST PITCH.

The eight conventions of a pop music video are the following:
• The explicit and unashamed promotion of the artist’s “image” (aesthetic/generic/ideological) as a specific product with a brand identity, ready for mass consumption

• The featuring of the artist (almost without exception)

• A wide and extensive use of shot types, camera angles and movement

• Repetition of reoccurring thematic elements and generically specific iconography (one key element often being dominant and providing the skeletal structure for the promo)

• A possible narrative structure

• A possible performance element

• The flexibility to disregard Realism!

• Shots cut tightly to the beat of the track

• Use of special effects (lighting, annimation, CGIs, in-camera effects)

• A carefully constructed Mise en Scene appropriate to the content and tone of the track

• High impact instantly! (Don’t forget that competition for airplay on the main music channel outlets is intense)

The idea was not to subvert, but imitate these conventions due to the similarity between the image we are creating and the image of the original band. In the pitch to Luke; I explained that we were going to give the band a rebellious image and explained the setting for performance and what the narrative would entail. We came to the conclusion that the performance must take place in the studio and not in London, in order to save time on the shoot day and in case the local council did not approve of our endeavours. We are going to recreate the urban setting in the studio to a (hopefully) maximum level of realism. It was also decided that for the performance; we would incorporate a “behind the scenes” feel to video and instead of shooting the bar scene, we would shoot similar activities in a dressing room, shot hand held, convincing the target audience that they are up close and personal with the band.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT-FIRST IDEAS.

I began looking for inspiration in various films and pop videos that related to the image I wanted to create in a band; rebellious. I found some of the styles incorporated through Guy Ritchie’s work
(http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005363/) were something that if simulated in the video; could add the necessary edge needed when creating that rebellious look. I also looked over a wide range of music videos that I felt successfully created that image, stemming from The Rolling Stones to The Insane Clown Posse (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dnv1OKqxzaU). After this research I created three ideas that I would present to my group.

The first idea was a song called Another Girl Another Planet by a new wave band called The Only Ones. The video would switch between performance and narrative where in which the band (dressed as super heroines) would be pursued by two policemen through urban London streets. The performance would be shot in the studio, kept simple allowing the audience to focus on the apparent insane behaviour and mannerisms of the front man. My second idea was the song “Only When I’m Drunk by Crazy Town (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoroTFH6Iv4). The video would be completely narrative driven set in a London bar, where in which the two rappers would find themselves in various situations where they would need to escape. The reason this would not need to cut back from performance to narrative is that the two rappers, wouldn’t need to be accompanied by a band, just like the majority of other rap videos.

My third and final idea was to use the song “Satellite Of Love” by Lou Reed. This video would incorporate styles from certain David Bowie videos from the 1980’s, hopefully paying obvious homage. Unlike the first two ideas, this video would not create the image of the loud, dangerous front man, but the dark and “tortured soul” image, a type of rebelliousness that has worked with other such artists as Kurt Cobain.

THE FIVE STAGES OF PRODUCTION.

Film theorist Richard Maltby details that any film production has five key stages. These are:
-Research and develoment
-Pre-production
-Shoot
-Post-production
-Distribution


The first stage of the production of my pop video will entail carrying out much research and development. In the research stage; it is necessary to make a decision on what audience we are targeting based on their age, gender and social class. This choice will have a total impact on how a certain message is conveyed through the video and what decisions are made around the generic forms of entertainment we will be creating. I have viewed many music videos and films that I believe will lead to inspiration due to their relevance and similarities to the idea. The development of this research will consist of casting actors and applying camera tests to them all, creating an animatic story board and a detailed time line. The next stage is the pre-production process where in which we will create a call sheet which is often referred to as “the bible of the day” due to its immense importance when hoping to stay productive and organised. Locating props and an appropriate wardrobe for the cast is essential and once the cast is confirmed and we are given permission to use chosen locations, we are ready to commence the next stage: the shoot! Once the shoot is completed we instantly begin editing and adding after effects (if needed) to the video.

POP VIDEO AND MARKETING CAMPAIGN

THE BRIEF

You have to create:
- THREE MULTI MEDIA PRODUCTS
- TO ESTABLISH THE IMAGE AND BRAND OF YOUR SINGER AND GROUP and
- HELP SELL THE SONG FROM THEIR FIRST ALBUM.

The group or singer must be a NEW GROUP (even if they are doing a copy of an existing song).

The song is a SINGLE from their FIRST ALBUM.

The actual products to be produced are:
- THE POP VIDEO
- A DIGIPAK for the ALBUM
- A MAGAZINE ADVERT for the ALBUM.

Feedback

Here are a group of comments made by viewers on the Youtube post of our thriller:

hermionecameron (13 hours ago) Show Hide
0

Reply
i like the pov shots and the titles. good choice of names
hurtwoodhousemedia (18 hours ago) Show Hide

Reply
screams and punching dont sound very realistic
hurtwoodhousemedia (20 hours ago) Show Hide

Reply
the sound is a bit strange sometimes but in general i really really like it
hurtwoodhousemedia (21 hours ago) Show Hide

Reply
good use of sound during the beating. good job
miterxx (21 hours ago) Show Hide
0

Reply
I like the special effects and the way you managed to make the torture look so realistic. I dont like the music in the background it doesn't suit it for me.
fatboy22222222222222 (22 hours ago) Show Hide
0

Reply
Adam and Edward are proper hardmen in this nice stuff! Propa Nawty!
stephaniemareen (23 hours ago) Show Hide
0

Reply
nce use of violence, makes it really effective, also perfect choice of actors.




I am happy with the positive nature of the comments made by people that have viewed the thriller. The comments made about the violence/ torture are uplifting because that was the area we worked most on and where a lot of our creative input was used. There were mixed reviews on the sound effects which is strange because we felt we did a good job on them, but this may be because the exaggerated punch noises may not have appealed to certain viewers. The soundtrack was also a controversial issue which is perfect because we aimed to break normal conventions in that area and create irony.

7) What do you feel you have learnt in the progression for preliminary to full product

Ben 3

View more presentations from hurtwoodhousemedia.

6) What have you learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing this product?

5) How did you attract/adress your audience?

Ben 2

View more presentations from hurtwoodhousemedia.

4)

Name: Magnus R.
Age: 19
Nationality: English
Ethnicity: Caucasian

Magnus fit the criteria for a candidate to generalise movie goers. Research suggested Magnus was the perfect person for the job due to his age, nationality and ethnicity.

What is your favourite genre of film?

Dark comedy.

Are you a loyal cinema goer?

Absolutely. I tend to always see new films that I see advertised that interest me.

Would you normally just go to the cinema for the latest Hollywood blockbuster? For example: Spiderman or Avatar.

No way! I’m more into Indie films. Films that focus more on the plot and aren’t all about the money!

Hypothetically. Do you think it’s realistic to say that you probably saw films rated 18 before you reached the appropriate age?

Hypothetically? Yes.

Magnus’ answers were very interesting because he seemed to be the perfect movie fan for our product.

3) What kind of institution would distribute your film and why?

When planning our video, we agreed that we wanted to create something that even though there were aspects of dark humour and stylised violence, it would incorporate the sense of gritty realism that comes with crime and obscene violence. Never when discussing the film, did anyone expect or want it to come across as a large budget Hollywood blockbuster. Glamorising organised crime was never our aim; rather it was to make a filmed comedic perspective and insight into the minds of two psychopathic mobsters using influences from Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs and Robert Rodriguez’ Sin City.A large budget would not be necessary to fulfil our aim. We feel that a small American studio such as Miramax who funded Reservoir Dogs would be perfect to fund and distribute our film. Advertisement would be vital to get the film noticed but good promotion could easily come from film festivals if the film was raw enough. An excessively large budget is not needed but in order for certain action sequences to work, we would need suitable funding. Focusing more on the dialogue and performance would enable us to create some powerful and thrilling rather then relying on special effects.

2) How Does Your Product Represent A Particular Social Groups

Ben

View more presentations from hurtwoodhousemedia.

1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products

Ben 1

View more presentations from hurtwoodhousemedia.

Account of shoot day.

The hectic week before the shoot day was filled with excitement, nerves, drawbacks and re-scheduling- but when I finally arrived to the night before, I was charged with a sense of eager anticipation for my first ever chance to direct a video of any kind.
The morning of the shoot day started with a large breakfast and gathering up all the props and our three actors. We also had to collect the keys to the car we had been promised and once we had them, Adam moved the car slightly to a more appropriate location for the boot scene. Once we started filming I had the pleasure of positioning myself in the boot of the car to film the protagonist POV shots. After a successful first part, we were ready to pack the kit into a mini-bus we were using and relocate to a nearby suburban road we previously decided to use for our jogging shots.

When filming the jogging sequence we remained almost completely faithful to the story boards, where we only changed one shot to include both antagonists, instead of just a close-up. My favourite part of filming the jogging was setting up the camera in the bus and then driving alongside the protagonist actor whilst tilting the camera up and down to create an effective pan shot. We took several takes of each shot to ensure we had the best quality film we could produce. We then packed up our kit once again and moved to Adams house to set up for the torture scene which would take up the rest of the day, before going back to school and having lunch with the actors; which was all on our shooting schedule.

After a large meal we were ready to take on the most challenging shot sequence so far, and after checking that there were no extra props we needed from school: we headed back to Adams’ to finish the shoot.
The position we had previously set the lights up in, gave the room a musky warm feeling, and along with the sandy red bricks which were part of the location, I was happy with the atmosphere we had built the shoot in.
We shot the torture sequence in near chronological order due to the fact that as the scene goes on, more fake blood is used, so it was more efficient opposed to then cleaning up the blood after every after every shot. We again remained fairly faithful to the story boards, changing several things if any one in the group had sudden inspiration. One thing we decided to do on the day was a torture method which included the use of fake nails. We then realised the potential of the method, but due to the fact that it had not been pre-planned, it looked to fake to use in the video.
Other torture methods we used included the use of a hammer, a metal bar, a Stanley knife and a power drill. We shot each different torture from various different angels to attain the fact that we would have choices in the edit suite. After hours of hard work we had a good amount of film to begin editing and we were all happy with what had taken place.

Overall I am very happy with what transpired on the shoot day and while I learnt many lessons in the importance of pre-planning and organisation, I thoroughly enjoyed directing my first ever video.

The Pre-production process was a long one, in which my group and I worked hard to ensure that things ran smoothly on the day of shooting and the chaotic week leading up to it. I believe that because we assigned an equal measure of tasks to everyone to fit their strengths, it was overall: an effective process. Danielle (being very organised) was our producer so she was in charge of the overall organisation of the folder and was a key part of discussions where we decided what props, costumes and make-up we would need. Leo had a direct interest of the technicalities of sound in film so was head of make-up and sound. Millie: being very focused, was made assistant director and assistant producer where she proved to be very useful and a key part of discussions. I was director, where though a lot of my work would be on the shooting day, i also had the privilege of being the story board artist, while also constructing the shot sequence, timing and writing the script . I believe that points in which we struggled were that because everything relied on all four of us being efficient, if one person was ill or had not been able to do the work, then it was effectively incomplete and would possibly delay the work in the lesson.