30th of November 2011 - Day 4 of Filming

Today was a very productive day as we shot many scenes: 3A,3B,3C,3D,3E,3F,3G,3H.

3A- This is the scene of Zein chasing Sandhya however she is walking in front crying. When we shot this, the camera was in a fixed position however we had some lighting problems therefore we switched to another side of a road and this was helpful because where was not houses in the background and there was enough spacing. 

3B- Originally we were going to do this as a medium shot where Zein reaches out for her shoulder but the shrugs her shoulder. When shooting this, we didn't raise any problems apart from getting both of them in the frame therefore we put markers on the floor to make it clear for Zein and Sandhya where they had to stop and where she had to shrug her shoulder. We also changed positions of the camera to an angle to achieve this.

3C- We then changed the camera to an angle where we see both the male and female arguing in order for the audience to get an insight into facial expressions. When we shot this, we had to help them argue because it was hard to put them on the spot and tell them to argue therefore our group helped them out on focusing on a topic to argue about. 

3D- We positioned the camera over the shoulder of Zein where we see the female character in tears. It was hard making Sandhya cry therefore we changed the idea to her to act as if she is not bothered and is fed up. Here we shot them both arguing but at another angle. This was very successful as we didn't have to shoot this many times. Then Sandhya walks off screen. 

3E- This was a very easy shot to shoot, as we placed the camera outside and we see Sandhya slam the door when she says "care". Here we had to position the camera inside aswell to show both of the characters reactions from each side. 

3F & 3G- These shots were quite time consuming however their acting was excellent. This was a split screen effect and because we did not have two cameras we shot each side many times. In 3F, Sandhya is indoors and leans her door against the door because she is upset. And she turns around and slides down the door slowly. This was effective because from the reflection of the door we could see Zein's reflection through the door and him looking frustrated and banging against the door. In 3G, we see Zein walking off screen and Sandhya is still indoors upset on the floor. We shot the indoor scenes all together and placed the camera inside then we went outside and done the parts which shows Zein's part of the split screen. This way it was easier instead of moving the camera each time. 

3H- The camera was placed outside showing a long shot of Zein coming back into the scene and tries knocking on the door however he is angry and fed up therefore walks away. This was simple to shoot as there was not many movements in terms of the camera. 

25th of November 2011 - Day 3 of Filming

Today my group and myself filmed Shot 4B- Scene where Sandhya is singing whilst walking on a local high street. We shot this on Wembley Highroad however there were some problems that occurred:

Many other people would look directly into the camera which would not give it a natural look to the scene. Also many people would walk directly in front of the camera. Maybe to improve we could have shot this in a less busy place but in the end it did work out.
It was a very windy day therefore was quite difficult to film.
Our original idea was to film keeping the camera in a fixed position and follow her whilst she walks however this had problems in terms of balancing the tripod. Therefore I tracked backwards whilst she was singing and this was successful and completed this scene after a few takes.

2A and 2B which are the two scenes where our Artist Sandhya is writing on the mirror in lipstick. These shots raised some problems. The spacing in the persons house we use was limited however we moved the mirror so we could film effectively. However some problems that occurred was:

Our idea was for Sandhya to write the exact lyrics when being sung in the song however this was very time consuming and was hard for our Artist to write in time with the lyrics. Therefore we changed the storyboard and we wrote the lyrics on the mirror and our Artist wrote the last few words of each line.
We ran out of lipstick in shot 2B therefore we used another type which was quite similar.
We changed the shot type. It was originally a medium shot for 2A and a medium close up for 2B however due to spacing we kept them both over the shoulder medium shots where the artist is singing.
At the end of this day, we successfully filmed the 3 scenes we had planned out, to the best of our ability.

Editing with Adobe After Effects - CCTV Effect

As per storyboard, we discussed the methods we could use to create the CCTV effect. We decided that Adobe After Effects would be our best bet since I had experience with it beforehand. The video above shows how we created the effect.

20th of November 2011 - Converting and Editing the Footage

After 3 days of trying to copy the footage from the mini DVD disk to a high quality common format, we finally succeeded. We used a software called "Any DVD Converter" to convert the DVD into an '.avi' file. However we did notice loss of quality so decided to research further into other softwares that could provide us with footage under an editable format. After looking for quite some time, we found our solution: Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum. This piece of software allowed us to export our footage into the '.mpg file' format without loss of quality. Another advantage that we found whilst using this program was that it converted our DVD into fragments which made it easier for us to edit and remove the bits we did not want. However we did have some problem decoding the audio from the MPG files that we were using in Adobe Premiere Pro. So we went online and downloaded the codec for audio of our footage (AAC format). We then started to edit the footage, including the addition of the CCTV effect. At the end of the day, we managed to complete the first 18 seconds of our music video.

12th of November 2011 - Day 2 of Filming

On this day we came prepared. I brought a spare battery and told my peers to come earlier, in the morning. I met them at Wembley Arena to film the actors/actresses with break dancers as part of our music video. We plan to use this as a memory (refer to storyboard). We then made our way to Harrow, where we shot discreetly in St.Ann's Shopping Centre and the local vicinity.

It seems to be that even students need permission to shoot video. We find that getting permission will become hassleful and time will be wasted however it is a necessity to avoid trouble.

11th of November 2011 - Day 1 of Filming

**Changes to equipment - skateboards were to be used as a DIY dolly**

We went to Brent Cross Shopping Centre after school to film the beginning/end scene of our music video. However we were stopped by security guards and were asked to delete all footage. After this, we were left quite disheartened as this would change our storyboard ideas significantly.

After leaving the shopping centre, we decided to visit a retail park which was across the road. This time we did seek permission from a Next store by the security guard. The light conditions were not ideal - it had become night and quite dark and we were afraid the footage would not come out right. However we did shoot regardless. Before finishing the shoot, we decided to film one more take. However the battery ran out. I also dropped the camera and when I ejected the disk tray to check whether the disk was damaged or not. We found that the disk had been moved from the holder. When we switched the video camcorder we found that the footage had been wiped.

At the end of this day we concluded that despite the fact that we lost the footage, we had learned valuable lessons - we learnt that we were to ask permission from the centre beforehand. Another lesson that we learnt is that we should have carried a spare battery. We now knew how to film the footage with practice that we had on this day.

**Changes to equipment - skateboard-as-dolly idea to be discontinued due to shaky footage**

Experimental Footage - Moving Picture Test

Shortly after creating the storyboard, we thought that it would be wise to excercise our skills. So by using images found on the internet and a copy of the video 'Just The Way You Are' by Bruno Mars, we created a test of how the moving picture test would look like in our music video.