Shoot day reflection

Before the shoot day, my group started by spray painting some flats with black and white spray paint. We put random symbols on the flats like a smiley face, a love heart, some words like rock etc… After this I spray painted a mirror frame white and helped Adrianna dress the vanity with a cloth and lamp. After the bed had been assembled, I helped lift it onto the set and brought the mattress down. We them moved the rest of the furniture like the ottoman and the vanity. Next, 

we moved some pre-wallpapered pink flats onto the set to be the background of the bedroom and fixed them in place. We realized that we did not have enough room for the drum kit to fit on the set as well, so we moved the set outwards by two flats which created a lot more room. After sorting out this issue, we put the teddy bears and make up props on the vanity and bed as well as putting a bed sheet, duvet cover, and blanket on the bed, with a fluffy rug at the foot of it.

When I woke up on the morning of the shoot day, I felt nervous. This is because I really wanted everything to go smoothly, and I had a big responsibility seeing as I was directing the video. I made sure that I had packed all the props needed that I didn’t have at school the night before to make it easier. I believe my group was very well prepared when we arrived for the shoot. This is because I had everyone’s costumes ready to go with their accessories ready. I laid all the costumes out on the table we were given, and Adrianna helped give the right costumes to each band member and made sure they were wearing the correct jewellery. 

As well as this, we had to make sure that if people were bringing in clothes, they had given them to me so I could sort them into the correct pile. As well as this, I needed to make sure that everything was in the right place on set which it was. Once the band members had the correct costumes on, as well as make up, we started shooting.

I was the role of director on the shoot day, meaning I would say when to cut, when to start playback and when to role camera. I also directed the actors on what their attitude should be like in each section. As well as this I also spent most of the time behind a monitor to make sure it looked like how I had envisioned it to look. Bashy was Producer and playback, Adrianna was Art director and Georgie was Camera Operator.

I think that I was good at keeping everything organized and making sure that if there was an issue it was easily fixable. I was also good at making sure our actors felt comfortable and were energized as it was a long shoot day, so this is crucial. For example, I brought them water, and kept their energy high by being energetic myself when the cameras are rolling. I also think that with all the setbacks that happened, my stress levels were kept fairly low.

We started to shoot using the barbie set, which we had set up the day earlier, and used lots of warm and pink lighting to create an atmosphere that reflected the aesthetic of our opening set. I believe that we managed to create the look of our concept well.

We initially had a few problems on set. The first one being the flats like mentioned previously. The second one being that one of the teachers could not come in, due to the fact they had covid and tested on only that day, so the other teachers had to test. As well as this we had some lighting difficulties and did not start until around 10:00 when we were supposed to start at 09:00 so we were set back around an hour. This did not hinder us however because we finished at 16:00 due to being organized and knowing what shots need to be done. As well as this, we took advantage of the fact that only certain people were needed at certain times, so whilst the others were not being filmed, they could get changed into their next costumes. 

We did make up from some lost time by deciding that rather than bringing in the flats we had spray-painted the day before, which would take half an hour at least, we should just spray paint the pink flats we have up, seeing as one of the band members knew how to spray paint.

However, I think the most successful part of the shoot day was being able to film three set ups in around 6 hours and get three individual costume changes in there with the actors still performing with high energy levels until the very end of the shoot. 

There were a few shots we had to cut from filming as we had run out of time for example, I wish we were able to have included a scene where one of the actors drew lipstick on the vanity mirror, I think this would have looked really cool which is why I wish we could have included it. If I could re shoot the video again in the future, I would have tried to include this.

I think I managed the actors pretty well as director, because they took my direction to look at the camera more, and to be moody in the first set up which was the barbie set. Also, when they were destroying the set, they followed my instructions very carefully and I believe they pulled a tricky task off, because if it was done wrong, the footage may have looked cringy. I am looking forward to seeing how the trashing of the set is going to look most in the final edit.

I really enjoyed watching how the different camera angles looked from behind the monitor because they all looked really professional. I also liked the energy that my other group member had on set who were encouraging each other to do their job to the best of their ability, and just overall having fun with them.

I believe that for the most part my group worked well as a team, there were some moments where some group members clashed with an idea I had and spoke over me, but overall, most of us worked well together.

From the shoot day I have learnt how to deal with making a music video under stress as a result of lost time, which will help me cope with the pressure more in future.