Account of the first shoot day

Last Thursday we began shooting the music video for KOAN Sound’s “Trouble in the West”. We began setting up the equipment and moving around our props at 8:50.  As we realized later

 later that morning, some of the props we were planning on using were unavailable, for example the old TV and the fur for Mr. Fox was hard to get hold of. By 10 o’clock we were ready to shoot our Cave Rave scene with Brandon and Zander. For the first hour of shooting, the crew concentrated on getting the shots of D.J decks and the “Kid foxes” which was very successful. In my point of view, the deejaying looked very real as Gil taught them the basic technique which definitely helped. Then under the direction of our set designer Scott, we filmed the scenes under variety of lights and smokes making the location look like a real party scene. By 11.30 we brought in some extras, dancers to fill in the rave. We dressed them up in hipster, grunge looking clothes to give the audience a more stylized feel. This was effective as it targets our potential audience and projects the artist’s image better. By 1 p.m. our crew was done with the location number 1. It took us about an hour to set up location 2 as we had to bring in completely different props and make that space look homey and cozy as it was the “Foxes house” scene. This location was essentially meant to be filmed outside in the forest to give it a “wild, rural” effect but due to poor weather conditions it had to be changed.  As we found out later during an editing session, using green-screen is way easier than shooting outside so this decision was for the better. For the location number 2 we had to bring in new characters like Mr. Fox (Hendrick) and Mrs. Fox  (Arabella). Shooting our establishing shot on that location was extremely difficult due to the lack of big shooting space and so that needed to be changed from a full wide shot to mid-shots of the kid foxes, Arabella standing by the fridge and Hendrick reading his newspaper. At the end, it looked alright and made sense when cutting it in the editing suite. I especially liked the light coming from the fridge once Arabella opens it and her reaction shot to it being empty. This location took us some time as that time more main characters were involved and directing them and framing the shots was getting more complex. By 16:00 we were done completely with location 2 and were ready to move on to the table scene. The table scene was especially fun to film as we got to use the tracking technique for the camera to which I wasn’t introduced before and our props were also very “yummy”. The last shot we got of the “never-ending table”, the bosses head and Mr. Fox lighting up a cigar was particularly well-made as it truly captured the mischievous and dark atmosphere of the music video. That day we finished shooting by 18:30 p.m. and even though we were exhausted, the results are worth all this hard work!  

Shooting Schedule

Trouble in the West – Shooting Schedule

Tuesday – Filming in the studio

8:50 - Unpacking and setting up the necessary equipment

10:00 – Shooting scenes: 18,19,20,21 (Location I)

11:30 – Looking for extras

11:50- 13:00 Shooting scenes: 15,16,17 (Location I)

13:00 -14:00 Lunch break

14:00 – Setting up location II, unpacking props

15:00-16:30 Shooting scenes: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 (Location II)

16:30-17:00 Setting up the table and unpacking the food (Location III)

17:00-18:00 Shooting scenes: 22,23,24 (Location III)

18:00 Pack up the equipment

Wednesday- Filming the Office scenes (Cornhill)

15:00 – Unpacking and setting up the equipment

15:30 – Shooting scenes: 8,9,10,11 (Location IV)

17:00 - Pack up the equipment

 Thursday – Pick up shots (Guildford)

16:00- Setting up the equipment

16:30-18:00 Shooting scenes: 12,13,14 (Location V)

18:00 Pack up the equipment and leave

Casting List

Costume List

Prop List For Trouble In The West

Permission

During today's lesson we were writing a letter to the "Inspected" label to ask for the permission of using KOAN Sound's Trouble in the West in our A2 Music Video. Fortunately Gil works for that company so they were happy for us to use the song. 

Storyboard Animatic - Trouble in the West

On Friday we presented our animatic to James, Luke, Mat and the whole class.  Animatic was a necessary process as this way the whole group has a clear idea of the action sequence and it will just be simpler when the shooting day arrives as you wont need to spend hours planning the location and the shots. It is also a great way to see what elements do/ don't work well and need changing. One of the positive comments we received was the fact that the editing of shots was well incorporated with the music and that the drawings were clear but Luke’s main worry is that our storyline in the video is too narrative and he suggested that some scenes like the delivery should be cut out. This weakness is definitely something that should be taken into consideration and maybe in order for our music video to not be as fictive, we  need to cross-cut the scenes more mixing the cave moments with Mr Fox running for his revenge.The performance in the cave and Mr. Fox’s home will definitely be kept in our final product as it plays a key role in constructing the star image. In terms of target audience, I believe that our images were self-explanatory and drawn very clearly by Bee. It will make more sense once we film it. One of the most useful lessons I learned was how important it is to cut the shots right where the music drops as it will make a difference in a storyline.