Evaluation of Shoot Day

The day before our shoot we were allocated a few hours to set up for our production day. We started this out by talking between us and the staff who overlooked us to set up a plan of what we were going to do. Fran, our set builder, had just painted the fridge so that couldn't be put together prior to our shoot day. Instead we went to the band room that I had booked for both days to set up all of our props to dress the set. Initially we had to clean the room because it had dirt from outside all over it. To do this we carefully removed everything that was inside the room (except for the drum kit) and I swept the floor - I took a photo of the room before we did anything to it so we knew where to put everything back after our shoot. We then chose which amps we wanted to keep inside the room and which cables we would need for our shoot. I tried hanging up the tapestry with Ben on the inside of the room but we didn't like that it cut out the circle window and that the corners looked all scrunched because of the shape of the room. Fran suggested we hang it up on the outside to see the mandala through the circle window, we agreed it would look much better and would prevent continuity issues of things moving outside the window on our shoot day. We left it in the room to hang the next day. As I am quite short I couldn't hang much from the ceiling so Ben and Daisy hung the vines and fairylights from the ceiling while I looked from afar to see what looked better where. Daisy and I then set up the potted plants over the amps. This day helped us to ensure we had everything we needed and meant we could get anything last minute that evening. We wanted a few more dangling plants and we clarified what we needed to fill the fridge. 

When I woke up on the day of the shoot I was slightly uncertain on how the day would go but I channeled that into excitement as I had prepared everything the night before and now I just had to focus on making a fun video. This helped me put as much energy as I could into the production day so that it circulated between the group and the actors. 

I was very well prepared for the shoot when we arrived as I had brought all of my props as well as extra clothes in case we needed any new or emergency outfit changes. Alternatively, if we had time we could change their outfits and get extra instagram photos - we did not have time but it was there if we did. Before we started we had to set up the fridge, I carried in parts of the fridge and drilled some screws before going to the band room with Daisy to hang up the tapestry. While we did that the boys dressed the fridge with all the food we had brought. To take one thing off the to-do list in the morning, Luke came in-costume as we confirmed his first costume (for the fridge) the night before. This also helped as he became an extra hand when hanging up the tapestry so we would know if it was wonky or not. 

In my opinion we managed to create the concept of being inside a fridge quite well. It was definitely supported by the use of on-screen blue lighting to create a sense of realism. The studio itself looked bare as it only had a white box in it, but from the camera's perspective it was the back of a fridge's point of view. All of the props filled the fridge nicely and added visual interest to the shots. We also used these props to reflect the song as we put in as many peach references as we could through tinned peaches, real peaches and juice. 

As a group, deciding upon shoot day roles was a smooth process. Ben is a photography student and wanted to work on camera, Gite volunteered to do lights and Daisy and I swapped between managing shot composition and managing the performers. I really enjoyed working with the actors, making sure they were happy and helping to bring out their energy during the shoot, bouncing back from one another. In terms of looking at the shots, Daisy took on the artistic side of it and I watched from the monitors after starting the playback to ensure whether or not the shot was good enough to use or if we needed to re-take it. This was very important when doing movement shots such as going up and down the fridge levels, focusing on Luke as he danced around the band room and the freestyle movement. I also worked on the camera during the band room section as I had watched from the monitor previously and understood how important it was to move the camera and focus it on Luke. 

Personally, I think I remained organised and relaxed throughout the shoot day. I ensured that we were reaching our targets on our schedule so that we finished on time and didn't fall behind. I feel as though the energy I gave to our performers behind camera made sure they gave a similar energy to the camera which is reflected in our video. Keeping it fun and light-hearted helped the actors to relax and feel more comfortable which is something we really needed to help the video look like a real product with a real band. 

In terms of improving out shoot day, if I could do it again I would've spent more time getting variations of shots that looked really good rather than spending a long time trying to get a certain angle that wasn't really working right. For example, we spent a while working on the lower angle when we all ended up really liking the high-angle shot. If we had more time I think it would've been cool to swap the positioning of the band and edit between them, however, it would've been time consuming to get these extra shots on the day and something we hadn't considered before the shoot day itself. 

The part of the shoot I enjoyed most was seeing the shell of the room transform with the actors, lighting, props, costume, makeup and camera movement. It was really satisfying and rewarding to see our ideas come to life. My favourite part of the day was when we were filming with the band as everyone's energy came together and they looked really good as an actual band. At that point I was also very comfortable with shooting and what needed to be done to get a good shot each time as we had spent the morning learning with the fridge section of the shoot. 

In the edit I am looking forward to seeing the combination of performance and narrative shots and how they look in contrast to one another while communicating the same vibe and energy to the audience. I am also curious to see how the freestyle shots come across in the video. I think we got some really fun shots incorporating the food in the fridge and I think they could be quite funny in the final edit. 

As a group I feel as though we worked well together on the production day. We all communicated well between the different jobs and were happy to alternate what we were doing to learn new skills and try something new. We were able to work on the sets separately and when we came together before shooting they looked cohesive, meaning we communicated the idea well between us and had a similar end product in mind - which is always important. 

For future shoots I have definitely learnt that being relaxed while on-task helps the shoot to flow more and creates an easy-going atmosphere that makes everyone comfortable and excited to work in. 

From what we filmed on the shoot day, I think it remains similar to how our other products in our campaign will be. Both the social media and digipak are still developing and of the two I feel as though the digipak reflects the video less than the social media. However, I think this is easily fixed and now that we have done the shoot, the bands energy is much easier to see and reflect through images and graphics.