Filming through the Freeze

Today we started work on our performance sequence, currently we have an abundance of narrative and ZERO performance which is obviously a major flaw. So It felt really good to at least make a start on filming even if we didn't get that far! For our performance we decided that less is more - working with big cast & costume & makeup shoots for our previous sessions we decide that the juxtaposition of a colour crazy journey through the past would be most effectively contrasted with something extremely minimalistic and simple. We debated having our lead singer performing to a television & our lead female being trapped inside the television (using already filmed footage of her in different decades). Though as our school was very inconveniently robbed we now don't really have time to export all our footage onto quicktime files & put them onto a disk in order to film the scene, not to mention the tweaking in the edit suit to make the transitions work continuously. So unfortunately like our 'band performing' idea we had to tame our creativity in order to feed practicalities. We have been aware all along that our video would never be able to be at a standard to which we would be 100% proud because we don't have the time or the money. For example, though i came up with the idea, i find the polaroids in the beginning of our sequence a tad predictable and cheesy, however in order to paint an overt picture of this couples "intense" relationship we needed that graphic signifier to be included. 

Consequently we decided to film the lead male (Bing) wandering the streets attempting to find his "lost love" &  sat in a messy bedroom looking depressed and hopeless. We wanted to expand their emotional distance by making Rhianna (lead female) be stuck in a time warp, whilst he was looking in all the wrong places. We aimed to reiterate the themes of the video by cross cutting their distance and create a representative piece in relation to the song lyrics. We knew we had to include only extreme close up's, close up's & mid shots for our performance (mainly) as we were majorly lacking them in our narrative shots. We needed our audience to be fully connecting with bing in order to sell the product well, keeping in mind the fact that we are promoting 'Suburban Typo' (our chosen band name) lead singer, our band, their image, their music, and their ethos.

One of the key focuses of today was on eye contact, connection & acting abilities when working with our protagonist. It was extremely difficult for him in the middle of a freezing common (in the snow!) to stay focused and to feel at ease. As he was mainly concentrating on remembering the lyrics and not freezing to death, his performance became slightly stilted. As a drama student i suppose i am more picky about facial expression & body language when filming than the rest of GEAR, but we were all agreed that filming in a near by house may help us achieve a stronger image. Once inside we had the song blaring, lyrics up on a screen, (not to mention some warmth) and he really loosened up. Evidently when performing an actor/musician needs to warm up, partake in rehearsal techniques, vocal exercises and so on, so for our next filming session i hope to plan a warm up activity just to allow our lead male to feel at ease and not so coy about performing properly. Though when we were filming outside myself & Rhianna (Grace was filming) really tried to be extremely active, sing along, make our performer laugh & feel comfortable, because there is nothing worse than your actor feeling awkward & uneasy when your trying to produce a confident performance. 

Overall we got a fair few shots today & photographs for those using bing for their album art, but we are planning to shoot again of friday the 1st of March - when it's less cold, Amy can be present (she had to miss today's shoot due to work), and Bing feels more at ease with the song & the brief at hand.