Overall filming process.

The majority of the filming process took place over two hours during school. This was so as to use fellow pupils as actors in the piece. Much of what they did was improvised, such as one pushing another off the tree stump, which was particularly annoying, as I was not expecting to film it, and I missed the actual push, without having the time to re-shoot. I do wish to include this, as is it perfect to demonstrate teenage behaviour, so I may need to do something to tidy this up in the editing process. There were certain issues with continuity, as pedestrians frequently would cross in front of the camera due to this being filmed in a public place. A simple problem, but still and annoying one, meaning I needed to film certain shots several times. Another issue was that some shots were more shaky than I was pleased with. For most shots I used my tripod, to keep the camera static, but to create pans, tracking and follow shots I needed to pic up the camera. This annoyed me to no end, but however I had no other equipment of use to me, so I will use effects in the editing process to hopefully make this less noticeable I did make the actors run for most of the filming, in order to use many angles for a fast pace running scene, much to the annoyance of the actors, but they seemed more than happy to comply.

However, in that time I ran out of things to film, as the things I’d planned to film in my storyboard, such as short clips of football, we couldn’t film (due to not having a football) and I couldn’t hold enough interest with what I have written. It was here that I decided to include performance. This I filmed in an evening in my house. This allowed a much more relaxing filming process, as the only time constraint I had was of the lack of light at night. I could not include a full band, as the people I had approached were not available on that evening, and that was the only one available. Filming myself was fairly simple with the use of a tripod, and I used a nearby speaker to play the music for me to mime to. The only issue was that I did not know how to play the music, but I improvised as best as possible, to make it seem I was playing the correct note, which I will edit to the music in the editing process.

Plan to include performance - additional props and costume

Since I have decided to include a performance aspect into my video, here are images of two of the guitars I will be using. I have been given permission to use the school drum kit, which I do not yet have an image of. I will be filming in my house, in various spots for each instrument, connoting a very relaxed and homely recording process the band may have taken for recording their music, as well as keeping true to the folk aspect of their music. However, I cannot use other people in place of the band for personal reasons, so I must film all guitar and vocal parts myself (however, since I am filming the drums in school I will use someone else to play the drums. For this I will need various changes of clothing, to make it seem like there are multiple different band members. This should be possible, as I have already planned not to include the faces of band members, so this will hopefully be possible to achieve.

Changes in filming - the decision to include performance

Through filming, I have decided that it would be better to include filming of a band, as keeping the video interesting is difficult when only showing the teenagers. I will film these at home with my instruments, except the drum kit, which I will film in school, as I do not own one myself. The band may most likely be my friends who live locally, and not the actors I have as the teenagers. I would still like them to represent the teenagers, so I may obscure the faces of not include them at all, and leave the vocals to be sung through close ups so only to show the bottom of the face (similarly to the technique used in Plain White T‘s “Hey There Delilah“, to keep the ambiguity, and the prospect of them being the teenagers but at a different time.

Props

Similarly to costume, there are very little props needed for this video. There are very little props that are needed, other than a bag, such as a schoolbag maybe, and an object to be stolen, perhaps a can of drink or a bag of sweets; something that would seem easily stolen from a local shop. I will need filming equiptment, such as the camera itself and a tripod, but that is all that I will use.

Costume - edit again!

As I want the video to be authentic and modern, I am not going to dictate costume to my actors, and use whatever they are wearing on the day. If I were to choose, I would use clothing most associated with indie rock at present, which can vary from skinny jeans and jackets to chino shorts and flannel shirts.

Knowing my actors, this will probably include colourful hoodies and jeans, or possibly tracksuit trousers. There are no other planned characters, so this is all the costume that is needed However, if I need to re-shoot and scenes they must wear the same clothing, purely for continuity.