Shoot Board

Putting together the shoot schedules for our group was a difficult task in some cases. With the studio shoot schedule it was relatively easy, as we knew exactly what shots we were doing, and the fact that we were just going to shoot every type of framing we intended to use for the video then cut between them made ordering the shoot board really straight forward.

Using the studio time allocated to our group (Group 5's colour is green) we were able to arrange a shoot schedule for the dates we were using the studio for a long period of time. 

 All the shots were the full length of the track to avoid continuity errors when editing. All props and costumes were the same and so nothing changed all shoot, apart from background and the lighting for some scenes but even they weren't dramatic changes.

The main problems were with creating shoot schedules for the London locations using the VHS camera as the group wanted to retain the authentic look of archive footage by not planning the exact shots. Instead, we included shot influences and decided that we would try and get as many angles and types of framing as possible on the day in order to have a wide variety of choice for the edit.

 There was also the issue of renting out and transporting the equipment, along with train and bus times affecting travel times between locations. The most obvious problem is also the unpredictability of the weather.

Call Sheet

[ Click to enlarge image ]

For each shoot we created a call sheet, which was essentially a master page of when everything was needed for the shoot and what time everyone working on it needed to be there for. It contained information such as the equipment, lighting and costumes for each shot being taken that day. This was based off of the shootboard, which we had completed previously, along with all the other information such as costume and props. 

Studio And Location Shot List

The shot list we designed as a general reference for when planning any detailed shoot boards or call sheets. It contained a shot list of both the shots we needed for the studio and the ones we needed to shoot on VHS, along with the shoot dates for both and where the shoots were situated. 

It was basically a guide to the 4 week shoot period that everyone could relate to, although no detailed information was available, such as timings, which were organised later on. It was good to put it all out on paper, seeing as there were quite a few locations for us to shoot in so a rough plan was needed so that we knew exactly what we needed to do and by when. 

Kit List

For the shoot days and also for just general organisation, we compiled a kit list of all the equipment needed to film the music video. The studio kit was easy to use, although we had to be shown how to use it by the technician as it was quite complicated technically. The on-location filming for the VHS footage was done using an actual VHS camera. This piece of equipment was quite old and we had worries that it would break during the time we were shooting, and so we also bought along another canon HD camera to the set as well. The promo shots were pretty much taken with the same equipment used in the studio.

Lighting And Set Design

Inspired by the music videos for Talana's 'Gemini' and AlunaGeroge's 'Just A Touch', during our technical demonstration we tried to replicate some of the lighting from scenes in these videos.

Using the school's studio facilities, the Leap Frog lighting desk and a Canon video recorder, we captured some test footage of our attempts to imitate the lighting layouts.

We went through a few designs, testing whether the subjects looked when best back lit, flooded with light or in a variation of colour combinations. Below are a couple of stills for when we were trying different things.

To give an example of how the footage turned out on camera here is a short video of clips captured during the testing

We decided not to use the coloured lighting for the white backdrop scenes as the infinity effect we were going for was lost because the light weren't bright enough. The black and white scenes however worked really well and so we decided to use them for our backdrops. The only issues with lighting was that Vivian and I had such different skin tones, if we made it too bright I was white washed and if we made it too dark Vivian was too dark although I think our group found a good balance. 

Costume, Hair And Make-up

Studio

Costume
For the studio costumes, we have decided to go with a black and white colour scheme to contrast the black and white studio setups, inspired by the likes of FKA Twigs and AlunaGeorge.

Using their costume as a guideline for how to make plain block colour studio shots look interesting, we designed a quirky and interesting costume that we thought reflected our artist's genre, personality and style. For the male artist, his costume will be a collarless shirt, skinny jeans and Adidas trainers with and necklace for both the black and white setups. For the female artists outfit, she will be wearing a baggy light top, fish net tights, platform shoes and a necklace. Both artist will have face paint across their eyes, either in a solid block line or dots in a pattern (black for the male artist and white for the female artist, to contrast their skin tones). 

 These costumes would be replicated exactly and inverted to white for the white on black scenes

Makeup
As our artists are not really over the top and the song is quite slow paced, we decided that having naturalistic and simple makeup for the artists would be better, also seeing as the costume is unique but not over the top. Luckily one of my friend's parents is a professional make up artist, and so gave me a tutorial as to how to do male makeup for a studio. Also, the makeup artist for the media department's girls shoot came in to tell Vivian how she should alter her makeup for studio lights, although she already had a good knowledge of natural and simplistic makeup. In addition to Vivian's makeup, she will be wearing fake eyelashes, in order for her image to look more interesting.

Hair
For hair, we will be using our own hairstyles altered slightly with gel and hairspray.
                                                                                                                                                                                                       

After shooting in the studio for the first time and reviewing the footage, we decided that the costumes for the artists were way too simplistic for the effect we were going for.

When reevaluating, we ordered some accessories that would make the artist's image more unique and interesting, drawing the audience's attention more.

The final costumes ended up looking like this:

On location
When on location, rather than plan every costume that Louis and Gina wear, we have asked them to wear their normal clothes. The way they dress normally is that of a typical teenager so there are no issues with style, and it's more convenient this way as we don't have rummage through their wardrobes. Here are a few examples of what they have worn on set so far:

Casting

For the casting of roles we were looking for a white male and black female as the band NTLS and a male and female similar to those cast for the NTLS roles. The casting of our video was done with the knowledge that we would have to rely on the person to give up a large amount of their spare time and to be prompt for shoots.

Louis Caldwell

Age: 17

Gender: Male

Height: 6 ft 2"

Role: Boyfriend

Louis was cast as the part of the boyfriend because of he is part of our media group and fits the role really well. He is in a relationship with Gina, the girl cast for the role of the Girlfriend, as we decided that the relationship would look more authentic than actors pretending to be in one.

Gina Corrieri

Age: 18

Gender: Female

Height: 5 ft 6"

Role: Girlfriend

Gina's role as the girlfriend was cast mainly because she is Louis actually girlfriend. She also has experience acting due to studying GCSE drama. Gina is not busy when we are planning to film for the music video and has agreed to the dates we have proposed to film on. 

Vivian Oparah

Age: 17

Gender: Female

Height: 5 ft 8"

Role: NTLS female band member

Vivian is a member of our media group, cast as the role due to her experience with music videos and lip syncing in 'The 1975 - Girls' A2 prelim remake. As she is part of our media group she her availability for shoot days is reliable. 

Joshua Brooks
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Height: 6ft 1"
Role: NTLS male band member

Joshua is an tall, handsome male. He is an astounding actor with prior on screen experience, including his role in 'Quantum', in which he gave an outstanding performance. He is perfect for the role in the band NTLS as he is able to adapt to any part thrown his way. He is a chameleonic actor and a rising British star of 2014.