filming schedule

A filming schedule is important to have it is a way of effectively organizing yourself in order to create a more successful music video. Having a schedule means that you can set yourself targets to achieve by a specific date and therefore you will get a lot more done. These targets can be set for the group as a whole as well as individually as different members of the group can be allocated different responsibilities as to what they are filming. In my own group, we shared out the role of filming specific scenes as we recognized the practicality and efficiency of doing so. As Molly lives in Debden, very close to Theydon Bois, one of our filming locations, she took on the role of filming the scenes in this area, such as when the couple first meet. Similarly, Claire was given the responsibility of the performance aspect of the music video as she actually owns a piano in her house. My own duty was directed towards filming the shots of London which will be edited to be placed in a time-lapse. As you can see, sharing out responsibility according to a specific schedule is a far more effective approach than everyone doing each task together when not everyone is actually needed to do this. Furthermore, the filming schedule will help us when we film as we will remember exactly needs to be included in the specific scene we are going to film on a specific day; this is crucial as it is a headache and time-wasting to forget things. In addition, having the filming schedule there ensures that you take precautions in checking for the weather forecast or any other factors which may affect the filming on a specific day you have scheduled.

Ultimately, my group and I did closely follow the filming schedule as much as possible; all the locations mentioned above were used, alongside all the correct shots and iconography. Molly shot the scenes in Theydon Bois with Amy and Morgan - the two characters - on the day we planned, as this is one of the first shots of the video and was quite easy to film in regards to the nearby location, the availability of the two characters and the weather. As this was the first meeting of the two characters that would be seen in the video, we wanted to ensure the weather would fit the scene; we did have a back-up plan in case of a downpour, however if it were sunny - even if mildly - it would be preferable as it would match the happy and innocent mood we desired for a first encounter. The date we put for filming the performance aspect of the video also stayed the same as Claire was available at this day; availability was our only concern as we did not have to worry about other factors such as weather. However, despite our efficiency of keeping to schedule, we actually realized that these scenes would be needed to be re-filmed as due to the darkness of the room, the shot came out looking grainy and of low-quality. Therefore, instead of shooting the scene in low-key lighting, we decided to shoot it at a brighter period of the day; it is easier to shoot a scene in high-key lighting and then just reduce the lighting brightness when we get onto editing. We set a date to re-film these scenes for the 13th of November. My own responsibility was for shooting the scenes of London and I was actually able to go ahead of schedule and film them on the day before we planned out as I was going up to London with a friend and therefore was able to use this opportunity to film the sights. However, we did run a little off schedule; one example is when we had to change the day of filming the scene of Amy running as the weather conditions meant that it was extremely muddy and therefore it was too unsafe for Amy to run in. Even if we tried to be cautious in filming, there was still the danger of Amy falling and therefore we did not want this to happen. In addition, as it was still raining, Amy would have preferred to run when she would not get wet. Furthermore, the camera lens would have gotten rain-drops on it and this would have obscured the visuals produced from the camera. Therefore, Molly re-filmed these scenes on the following day when the weather conditions were much more suitable. However we also had the issue of trying to fit in our filming schedule with Amy's filming schedule as she has to participate in her own group's music video production. There were one or two occasions where our schedule clashed and we actually had to re-schedule for the following week which hindered on our own schedule. Overall, I think my group and I did a very proficient job of keeping to schedule, and if there were times when we drifted away from it due to external factors, we managed to quickly use our back-up plans to get us back on track.

However, if I had the chance to plan and record the production of the music video again, I think I would have planned out more narrative scenes, to cut between the performance scenes. From watching indie music videos for inspiration and research, I liked how a lot of them use quick cuts between performance and narrative scenes; whereas in specific parts of my group and I's music video, we used quick cuts between performance shots, making the performance aspect seem more dominant than the narrative. The reason for this is that we actually filmed a lot more shots than we needed. As we wanted to ensure we had backup footage we actually over-compensated the amount of filming. During the filming of the performance aspect of the video, we filmed chunks of the song but from different angles and positions in order to cut between them in the editing, so the video would be far more interesting than if it was all from one angle. Overall, having a filming schedule has been exceedingly beneficial for my group and I as we were able to be organized and precise in our production. If we did not have a schedule we would be wasting a lot of time deliberating over what to actually film and then what we have already filmed and what is left to film.