DIARY OF OUR MUSIC VIDEO SHOOT - PETER AND THE WOLF - FOREGROUND

beautifully - danke dass du's gemacht hast sieht supi aus xx Paulchen

EVUALUATION OF SHOOT DAY

Studio

On our first shooting day we filmed in the studio, the performance space. For that we had simply built a white box, with a door in it. We used a piano and a see through perspect.

At 1:30 pm we all got together and started getting all the things we needed together, the last preparations. We got the piano and tried to figure out where we could set it, in order to shoot a lot of different angles. 

Then we run through the song with our main character, to see if he knows the words and to help him getting into it. We all sang with him, so that he musn‘t feel uncomfortable to perform in front of the whole shooting crew. 

We then started shooting close ups from different angles of the piano. We therefore asked another student to learn the song, in order that we could shoot it for the performance. In the final project we then see our actor and cheat it so that it seems that the hands are his. It was very difficult to shoot on this piano, because it was only a piano shell, because otherwise we couldn‘t have carried it into the studio, without having to STIMMEn it again. It was a challenge, because some of the keys on the piano were stuck together, that means that if you press one key, more keys would play. Another rather difficult task for the person, who played the piano was, that because it was only a piano shell and not a proper piano, he couldn‘t hear himself play, so he had to remember the whole song in his mind. I think in the end it worked quite well, and we can cheat it in the editing and just cut the bad rushes out, but if we would do it again, we probably would need to organise a real piano, so that it makes it easier for the artist to play it. 

As we then started with the real shoot, my group worked everywhere. I was the director, I was on the camera and I was on the sound. I learned a lot, because if you see a finished music video, you would never think that it takes so much effort, patience and detail in order to get something good out of it. Most of all I think I enjoyed being behind the camera, because you followed the DEVELOPMENT throughout. 

We separated our shoot in different sections. First, we got different angles, such as wide shots, close ups, medium shots, high and low angle shots, of the piano and our artist singing to it. I wouldn‘t say we had trouble, but it would have been better if we had made an exact shotlist, so that we knew what we were doing at what time. We now have all shots we needed, but it took a lot of time figuring out what we want and from which angle. 

Secondly, the part where he drew on the perspect. It was a huge glass wall in front of the camera, where the artist wrote onto, so that it seem that he is writing directly on the camera. He wrote the name of the song and the band backwards, so that the audience can read it, but the little bits and words of the lyrics he wrote in a normal way, so that the audience can‘t really read it. If we would do it again, I would probably sit down with the artist and make him write words backwards so that we can read it. But I guess it works really well as a visual. We had only planned, shooting him writing onto the wall, but then we got the idea to let him sing behind the wall. He wrote „Foreground“ big on the perspect and as he starts singing, we focus PULLED between him and the wall. It looks as if it fades   onto him, which worked really well. 

One of the things we really wanted to do, but we couldn‘t, because of time, is throwing colour on him. We bought purple colour, which we wanted to throw on him from two sides, and that the colour then drops of him and the perspect in front of him. Thank god, it wasn‘t one of our important things, but seen that our video is based on visuals, it would have probably looked good. 

Our set was very simple, and therefore during the shoot we got an idea, to turn the piano onto its side. He leaned onto it and sung next to it. 

One advantage, that we only had the shell of the piano, was that in the back it was open, so we could stand behind the piano and play the keys. One shot was, where we had a close up on the keys, and it seemed as if the keys played themselfes.

Another shot, which looked really great was when we had the artist lean over the camera and played the keys, so that we could only see his palms. We panned from left to right.

Seen that our set was very plain, we could have probably used more things surrounding it. We had the idea of a balloon, just floating from side to side. Just for the visual effect. Now, we decided to project words and maybe colour onto the walls with after effects, which could look amazing and more interesting to watch. 

Leith Hill - The House

One week, after our shoot in the studio, we then moved to a boarding house, which is now empty and not used. We there had different rooms, where we follow the artist around. We again, concentrated on visuals, and had only a few singing spaces. 

The idea of the house was that it was his mind. The studio, was more or less a cell where he was trapped in, and, everything what is going on in the house is his imagination. He escapes into this wonderful world, where he creates different things, and make things come „alive“ more or less. 

We had diffenrent things such as an old painting, where the colour comes back after he touches it or other things, he brings back to „life“ again. If we would do the shoot again, I would say that we should have been better prepared with this things. Our footage is very good, I believe, but we didn‘t think through everything in detail, in order to let the audience understand this metamorphose of different things.

Things that worked well, was for example the ballerinascene. We had an old music box standing on the floor. After he spun the BUTTON the ballerina in it started spinning, and we had a real ballerina „coming out“ of it and dancing. There again, he brought her back to life. In the editing process, we can cut this well together that it really seems, that the ballerina in the box is the ballerina dancing in front of the window. To make it seem real we, at first, shot an extreme close up of the music box and the foot of the real ballerina coming out. When we edit we would then probably cut to a medium or wide shot to show her dancing in front of the window. 

Another really nice shot is an over shoulder shot of him looking ou of  window, the right hand placed on a window. We also have a shot outside of him looking straight into the camera. The rather tricky bit here was to pay attentions to the reflections in the window. As we were shooting this medium shot of him looking out, we saw us and trees in the window, which distracts from the artist. We could cheat us and the camera out of the frame but we couldn‘t cheat the tress out. 

Something what worked really well, was the book scene, where he looks into a book nd a polaroid picture falls out. We have a lot of different shots and angles from it, such as high and low angle shots, a close up of the polaroid landing on the floor. A very nice shot there was when he was almost „hugging the camera“. He stood behind the camera, he picked the polaroid up and is looking at it. It is a very different shot and it seems as if the camera was attached to his neck, looking down on the book and picture. 

In the house we had a very beautiful staircase, which we wanted to use. We thought of fabrics or balloons falling down, while he is walking up. The final idea were, leaves falling down, but we couldn‘t use them because it was raining the night before and therefore we wouldn‘t have such a nice visual effect of the dropping. If we would shoot again, I think we would need to organise ourselves better, because we left it until the last moment and din‘t think of it. We now have him walking up the stairs, without nothing, which still looks good because we have different shots of that, but it would have been even better with leaves, balloons or any other action happening. 

The first shot when we arrived was the corridor shot. We wanted him to walk up to a door. The door is opening while he is walking up to it, and behind it, we can see bright light, which should be a metaphor for the studio, he is either drawn back to it or wants to escape from it. In the end of the song we have a choir, and we will match this „walking to the bright light“ to it. The only problem was, when we arrived, that the door at the end was closed, and so we had to use a different door, which made it more difficult to film. We had him walking towards the camera, and we will then cut to  the different side, where we see him walking away from the camera and towards the light, which were two red heads. I believe, if we would have to film again, that we should have tried opening the door, before the shooting day to make sure that it works. Bur now, looking back at the day and on this special scene, the shot looks much more interesting, because he is walking towards and away from the camera, which is very nice. 

SOmething, which is a big relief for us, is that our artist was much more relaxed on this day because he knew us more and this made it easier to shoot with him. 

Overall I think our music video shoot was a big success. We have gone through a lot of difficulties and we had to start from the beginning a few times. Thinking of it now although, I believe that it‘s very good. Obviously somethings could have gone better, but we always found a way to resolve the task. Also I‘m very pround of my group. We all worked very hard on it and we all helped where we could to make it possible. I‘m sure that if we continue to work on it, that the final project will be very good.