Shoot day reflection

Setting up

On the day before the shoot, my group and i went into the studio to start setting up. We were so excited because we could finally see all of the set coming together, and we were getting so close to the shoot day. We started by moving the huge flats that were made earlier, and positioned them on either side of the room, making sure to secure them with hooks and sand bags.

Here is a time lapse of us setting up 

We then had to go up to the theatre block to collect the platforms for the drums and the dancers, and wheel them down to the studio 

Next, we spent a few hours setting up the platforms, painting the tops white, and adding white vinyl to the front and sides. 

This is how the set looked just before we finished setting up. 

When i woke up on the shoot day, i was so excited to get to school and start getting everyone ready for the shoot day. We couldn't believe that the day we had been planning for for months had finally arrived. 

I think i group was really prepared for this shoot. We'd been very on top of everything from research to planning, throughout the term, and all this hard work definitely paid off. 

Before we could start shooting, we had to get everyone into costume and makeup...

 and set up the lights, and the camera. Then we set up the drums and mic stands, and bought the guitars in

We also had to check there was enough space on the set for the dancers and band. 

When we started shooting, all the cameras and lights were set up, lighting the stage a brilliant orange. There were also orange LEDS on the floor of the set behind white boards. It looked exactly like a 60s set for 'Top Of The Pops' or 'Ready Steady Go'. 

I was so thrilled with how it looked - it was so authentic looking, and was exactly how we pictured.

We all took up separate roles on the day of the shoot. Gabi was on camera...

Chloe was director

and i did the clapper and art direction.

I'm super proud of the costumes and the girls hair and makeup - i think they all look really good together, and again, contributes to the whole aesthetic really well.  I think i was very good at being ready with the clapper for each scene, and coming up with ideas on where each of the members should stand, to keep the shots interesting and working with levels. 

Luckily, the shoot day ran very smoothly, however, there was one problem which was with the projections. The projection video was on youtube and hadn't been downloaded, and since there was such a poor wifi connection in the studio, the video kept pausing. We had to find someone on campus with an adapter so we could plug in Chloe's laptop. It was quite stressful and we were running out of time, but we managed to find one and finish all the shots. They ended up looking so groovy!

Apart from that little problem near the end, i think the whole shoot was very successful. The dances looked great and their routine looked brilliant, and the band had so much energy so i'm so proud of all of them and how hard they worked! They had to stay very charismatic for many hours in a row, so we made sure to give them breaks whenever we could, and bring them water throughout the day. They were all very well behaved and quiet on and around set, and were very encouraging. 

I think my production group worked so well together- we were all really concentrated and wanted the shoot to go as good as possible, and that definitely paid off.

My favourite part of the shoot was watching the first run through of the band and the artists. It was our first time seeing them on the set and with the lighting, and it made me so happy to see that it looked brilliant. I also loved the part where the dancers walk on, because they flirt a little with the band members, and we used a track to achieve a really cool moving shot. 

I'm really looking forward to see the finished edit, especially with a vintage filter and/or grain added, just so it can look even more retro. I'm also very excited to see the liquid light show projections in the edit because they looked so brilliant and psychedelic on camera. 

In terms of lessons that we learnt, i learnt that it's very important to have any kind of videos you need, to be downloaded or on a memory stick, because you can never trust wifi or computers. 

I'm also very please that i don't think there are any changes we would have to make to our website or artwork because they already fit in so well with the video we shot. I think thats the benefit of creating a campaign based on a very iconic decade and genre, because it's easier to achieve a certain look.