PRODUCTION: Filming Day 1

On Friday 21st October during our 3 hour lesson, we began production on our music video. As we were in college and only had a short amount of time to record, we decided to begin recording the projection shots. This involved projecting an image relevant to the mise en scene of the music, onto the artists face (Poppy). Below is a short clip showing the preparation, production and afterthoughts of the shots we conducted.

This is an image showing one shot we recorded using the projector. As you can see, the camera is focused directly onto Poppy's face making sure the edges of the projector are not in shot. We made sure that Poppy can see herself while we were recording so she can make sure she consistently stays in shot and can adjust her positioning if she needs to.

We recorded many different base tracks to ensure we had enough footage to choose from when be began editing. As you can see, there are two different projections in both the images. The top image has a projection of a wolf relating to the mise en scene of the music and the lyrics as we are doing the song Howl, by Florence and the Machines. The second image shows a projection of a video we recorded in Queens Wood Park, and projected that video onto Poppy's face. On camera, this projection looked well as it looked as if the audience was seeing Poppy's imagination in the background while she performs.

During production, we recorded all of the shots using the tripod. This was because we attempted to record a shot without using the tripod, however while the projection was being shown in the background, the final outcome looked unprofessional. The lighting and image quality of the projection compromised the overall shot if we used handheld shots which is why the tripod was used throughout. Also, when we attempted to record freehand, we kept on getting the edges of the projected image in shot and again, it looked unprofessional.

The tripod was used throughout in various different camera angles of Poppy herself. Our shots varied from extreme close ups of her eyes to medium shots. This allowed us to choose what clips we want to use when it comes to editing. During the base tracks, we made sure that each shot was shot correctly without errors first time round. If there were mistakes, we made sure we recorded the track again.

While recording, Nick had a brilliant idea to record the song in half the speed. The purpose of this was to make Poppys movements look abnormal when the clip was played at double speed, which would make the song play at its normal tempo. The song is initially about 3:30 minutes long, however, it took us over 7 minutes to record the base track where we halfed the speed of the song. Poppy had to adapt to singing at half the speed so when the speed of the clip was doubled, Poppys lips matched the song lyrics, but her movements were abnormal.