Reflections on Captured Footage

We've finally captured all of our footage from the Main Shoot and we've had some mixed reactions.  Matt and Simon both think we need a re-shoot but I'm determined that there is so much we can do with the footage.

From the looks of things we put the exposure way too low meaning that all of our footage is really dark.  However me and Ben have been experimenting with the Luma Curve tool on premiere and reckon with a bit of tweaking we can sort out the shots.

On the plus side, Simon's individuals looks fantastic and this is going to be a key visual hook throughout the video.

Main Shoot Reflections

We had our Main Shoot yesterday and I'm happy to say it went really well.

We managed to get all of our footage in the space of about 8 hours and even though it was an exhausting day I can tell that the performance will come across really well.
I'm really happy with how the set up came out with the huge amp stacks we created and it looks really realistic in terms of genre conventions, so helpful having everybody know how to play the song for that extra perfect convincing look.
Our actors were really good and didn't have any problem with such a long shoot because it was so much fun. We also got loads of opportunities to play around with the new camera, something I'd really been looking forward to doing.
All in all I thought the performance, lighting, angles and in general the way the shoot went was so well executed and I'm really proud of our group!

Filming at high frame rates and its advantages

I have been doing a bit of research looking into the advantages of shooting on a high speed camera. Most cameras that we will be using will be 25-29.7 fps. However, if we really do want to do some experimenting with speed and motion this will have to filmed at a much higher frame rate. For example;

If you film at 25fps, when you reduce it to 50% you will end up with a video that is 12.5fps, not particularly good quality and the slow mo will look not particularly good. However, if you were to film at 50fps, the slowed down footage would end up at 25fps, which is standard filming speed and look normal with the rest of your footage.

The picture above is of the Sony PMW-EX3, the camera used on Jasmine's music video shoot. Aside from being a particularly good camera, on the side there is a dial to change the frame rate so that you can film different frame rates depending on what you intend to do with it in post production.

If we were really serious about filming some slow-mo stuff we could look into hiring a camera like the one above.

Post Production Skills (Crazy fun with lights and zooms)

So, I may be a rubbish editor/director/camera man but this is sometimes great for blogging. I know the horrid moment of getting to the edit suite, looking at a shot and going "Holy Guacamole that shot looks like ____", as it has occurred in my household more times than I care to count.

So here is a simple, bad example of what you can do with a really boring still shot to make it look good in post production. Yes it's very rough and I didn't spend that long on keyframing as I just wanted to do a rough example.



On the first clip, I have just a still Mid Shot I filmed of me playing along to the track. On its own it looks really boring. However, with just a bit of lighting and movement it immediately livens up. I did this by keyframing in zooms and pans while also adding brightness and contrast flashes to do lighting.

Weird speed tricks in videos (You're Ever So Inviting - UnderOath)

This video by Florida band UnderOath is a perfect example of weird use of speeds in videos. The main wide shot is done double speed. To achieve this UnderOath show in their documentary "777" that they played the song at half speed and then sped it up post production. This gives a really jolty effect but still has everyone playing in time to the song.

In contrast most of the individual band member shots are done the opposite way in slow motion to give a really weird overall effect, confusing the viewer. The constant changes between slow and fast motion really show the potential of music video to muck about with general film rules and restrictions.

The Wombats Music Video Running Experience

As I know that Jasmine is coming into our lessons later in the term to talk more in depth about her music video and I'm sure we'll do some sort of case study on it I'll only briefly cover the events of last Thursday.

I got to be a runner on Jasmine Blackborow's music video shoot for "Let's Dance To Joy Division" by the Wombats. It was a really good experience, mainly getting to watch directors and crew at work from very close quarters. I may have spent the morning watching out for on coming cars but the rest of the day was a lot more eventful, filming the on set location in the apartment. It was really cool getting to see all the equipment and talking to the crew about their various experiences in the filming industry. Can't really thank Jasmine enough for the experience!

Can't wait to see the finished product

Always - PERFORMANCE

The Performance of Always (Architects, 2007)

The performance part of the video takes up around 60-70% of the video. There are 8 different shots throughout the performance and 220 cuts. Each band member gets one beauty shot and there is a second shot from a different angle of the drum kit. There is one wide shot of the whole band and a worms eye shot which is used only once at the very end of the video.

There is a black screen lasting 11 frames at 01:54:20 of the original video where there is silence in the music. I linked this with the Performance cuts.

The ratio of band members is very interesting. The vocalist got 97 cuts lasting 01;17;15,and the drummer got 54 lasting a total of 00;36;10. The guitarists have a very odd ratio as well. One guitarist and the bassist get about 5-7 seconds each whereas the other guitarist gets 15 seconds, basically double what they had. This may have been a choice from the band because one member did not want to be seen so much, or maybe that the other guitarist gave a much more interesting performance. The beauty shots are very interestingly done, all hand held from the looks of things and zooming in and out on important details of each member. The drummer's beauty shot is especially odd as it is at first an almost static high angle shot on the kit, but at 02;21 in the original video it changes to a beauty shot to get tighter angles on the drummer.

There are two shots in the performance which feel like they shouldn't be there, one at 01;42;16 and another at 02;19;04. My theory is that they needed to fill up space and these shots looked especially convincing. I think this as I doubt that they would have filmed a whole other take of the vocalist and only used it for a total of 25 frames!

Here is the shot list;

Always - NARRATIVE

The Narrative of Always (Architects, 2007)

Above is the Narrative as a short film. Obviously it is very badly cut due to the way it was in the music video but I think it illustrates very well the way to go about making a narrative. Make a short film! It needs as much care as a short film and should not be treated as just a space filler. The narrative of Always shows an architect struggling to design something, until he finds an unusual pattern on his neck which completes his sketch.

The narrative is made up of 21 different shots (video below) and 112 different cuts. It lasts around 01:25 in total which is around a third of the video, a fair proportion of music video to take up. It works well in contrast with the fast paced band performance as it is quite a slow paced story. The video starts with a plain black frame which makes up the 112th cut.



The roaming shots may look very different between each cut but it safe to assume this was all filmed as one big take where the cameraman went around the subject zooming in and out to get lots of different angles of the action.

Always - Architects, Video deconstruction

I have been deconstructing the Architects video for "Always" off of their 2007 album "Ruin" (Century Media). This deconstruction will be split into 3 separate posts. This one (general information), a post on Narrative and a post on Performance.

Here is the video;


Frame rate : 30fps
Length : 04;12;00
Narrative : 01;25;18 (around 30-35%)
Performance : 02;44;26 (around 65-70%)
Total Cuts : 335 of which 112 are Narrative and 223 are Performance

8 different performance shots
22 different narrative shots

1. There is never more than 1 narrative shot in a row.
   
2. The vocalist is shown for 01;40;13, which is more than the entire narrative put together.
   
3. The guitarists together don't even merit 30 seconds of video.
   
4. The drummer is the only band member with more than one shot of him adding up to a total of around 35 seconds of screen time.

Dethroned, The music video experience

Today I thought I should do some blogging, and the thing that has been on my mind constantly has been about different angles for shooting. So in my boredom and summer time I have made a guitar music video for Architects song Dethroned off of their 2009 album Hollow Crown. It is made up of 5 different angles of the guitar as well as some establishing shots. I tried to focus on these things while shooting and editing;

-Different distances and cants/slants on the shots, make them interesting
-Fast cutting, slow cutting, the whole deal.
-Cutting rhythmically with the music and using the pace of the song to determine my cuts.
-Focusing on what is most interesting to watch at a particular point.

Hope you enjoy!