P4 Production Diary

Shoot number 1 - Ilkley Moor: 14th November 2020

Actors/ crew on site: Will Austin (actor) , Oliver Evans (production)

Raw footage (with some annotations): 

On this shoot I filmed all of the scenes which needed to be shot on the moors in my shooting script. This included the shots in the forest, on the moors and over the valley. As well as shooting some shots where special effects are to be added in post-production. 

There were a few health and safety issues which arose such as the slippery terrain and very powerful winds. To overcome the slippery terrain we decided to shoot on a day where it was not raining and hadn't rained for a few days as well as wearing suitable walking footwear when not on stable ground. The extreme winds posed more of a threat to the gear set-up than it did to the crew because we were able to sit down or keep stable. The camera set up was being shaken around a lot by the wind on the top of the moors which is noticeable in some of the footage and could've resulted in the set-up falling and breaking. I chose to bring the lightweight tripod as this made it easier to hike up the moors however it meant that it was not stable under the high pressure of the wind. In an attempt to minimise this issue I added as much weight to the tripod as possible using our backpacks, weighing it down into the ground - as well as standing very close to the set-up so that I could catch it if it did give into the wind. 

Also to reduce the risk of stranger danger and also spreading COVID we kept a great distance from strangers and tried to keep 2 metres apart from each other. 

To avoid getting lost or stuck we ensured that the actor and myself were always in sight of each other and had our mobile phones on us at times. Emergency number 999. 

I used two separate set-ups, with quite a bit of equipment to configure. The first set up which I used for the forest scene involved the DSLR (Canon 750d) being balanced on a motorised 3-axis gimbal (a2000). This took me about 10-15 painful minutes to set up and balance. It's quite fiddley to balance the gimbal as there are many plates and screws which you have to adjust until you've balanced the camera - then you can turn the motors on. 

Once set up and turned on you can control the pan and tilt of the camera or even combine these movements. With this shoot I was only using the gimbal for stable handheld angles and basic pan/tilt movements. I was using a 50mm lens at f/1.8 which meant that I had a very shallow and cinematic depth of field and allowed me to use lower ISOs (100-400) to reduce noise. However the wide aperture meant that the focus was very fine and that I couldn't rely on autofocus - which I would've preferred as it means I can operate the gimbal with 2 hands. My shutter speed was at around 1/200s, higher than I would've liked, as my ideal was at double the framerate (1/60s.) However 1/200s was needed as I don't have an ND filter for this 50mm lens. When shooting the scenes higher up on the moors (walking, time-lapses and statics,) I had the DSLR, with the 50mm lens on a travel tripod. This tripod was stable for most of the scenes until we got higher up where the wind started to affect it, but I overcame this issue by ways I mentioned in the health and safety portion of this diary.

I used a higher F-stop as the depth of field wasn't needed, keeping it at f/5.6 predominantly, which allowed for the slower shutter speed (keeping ISO at 100-400 still.) For a couple of the SFX scenes I had the aperture at f/11 because I needed a higher amount of the scene in focus (compensated with higher ISO/lower SS.) Manual focus was used for this scene as all of the shots were stable and therefore I wanted a reliable focus. For this whole shoot day I kept the white balance as auto and monitored it carefully because this seemed to be reliable when I was shooting and meant I could continue shooting with the light we had instead of stopping and changing the WB. 

I didn't use an external microphone for this shoot because I didn't intend to use any sourced audio.

I adhered to the codes and conventions of this genre in this shoot by using an abundance of EWS to represent loneliness and isolation as well as using long and slow moving shots to match the mood of the song. The special effects shots (which I collected on this shoot,) also adhere to conventions as we typically see many SFX used in 'Dream pop' videos. 

Overall I feel that this shoot and location were both appropriate and successful. The location had the desired amount of empty space which I wanted for the extreme wide shots as well as some moody skies which will fit the video well. As it is a public space with not many people around it meant that I wasn't under any sort of time constraints or pressure to set up the gear or rush the shots which meant the quality was a bit higher. In addition I didn't have to worry about featuring strangers in the shots by accident. I don't think I missed a shot that I needed from this location and I am fairly happy with how they came out although some shots were shaky. 

Shoot number 2 - Ilkley House: 18th November 2020

Actors/ crew on site: Will Austin (actor) , Oliver Evans (production)

Raw footage (with some annotations): 

On this shoot I filmed all of the scenes which were set in the actor's house besides one (didn't have the necessary equipment.) This included many tripod shots featuring; a chess board from a bird's eye view, jump cuts around the living room, the actor playing games at the table and entering the house. Alongside these stationary scenes I also used a monopod to get some moving shots of; chess pieces, a lighter, entering the house from outside, the kitchen and a couple more.  

There were a few health and safety issues which we had to overcome on the shoot day however due to the previous risk assessment it meant problems were easy to solve. The main risks were damages to property, this could either be in the form of gear falling and getting damaged or by equipment we were using damaging the house. Firstly to avoid gear falling I ensured that all set-ups were stable, with everything mounted tightly and tripods fully balanced, with one leg in-front of the lens (most weight.) There were risks of damaging property in the house, one of these was the glass chess board scratching the wooden table. To overcome this problem we put a table mat between the board and the table, this meant we could reposition the chess board without scratching the table with it still being unnoticeable to the viewer. The other main risk of damaging objects in he house was knocking something off of the cluttered counter top. This was easily resolved as we just de-cluttered the counter top, moving the objects to a room we weren't using. 

 (recreated stable set-up) 

Another risk to health and safety which I outlined in my prior risk assessment was burning or fire caused by a lighter. I wanted some B-Roll of a lighter but obviously this brings certain safety issues. To avoid any burning or fires we ensured that both the actor and camera man were at a reasonable distance from the lighter (can be seen from shot,) and that there were no flammable objects nearby. The final risk which we noticed was the possibility of the actor falling and injuring himself when sat on the arm of the sofa. To resolve this issue we ensured that the actor was sat in a safe, stable and comfortable position as well as moving objects from this sofa which can be seen in the raw cut video.

In this shoot I used a wide variety of equipment and set-ups. The first set-up had the DSLR (Canon 750d) mounted to the large Cullman tripod, elevated to a high angle so that you could see the whole scene. The scene was very wide which meant I was using a Canon 18-55mm lens (at 18mm) however this still wasn't wide enough so I attached a screw on fish eye filter which took the focal length down to around 14mm which made the whole room visible. This creates the little vignette in the corners and also distorts the edges of the frame however this look fits the genre conventions and the aspect ratio (4:3) will reduce this problem anyway. The aperture was f/3.5 as I needed as much light in the shot as possible, supported by the 1/30s shutterspeed (not much movement in the shot,) and the 3200 ISO (could create noise.) In addition to the alteration of these manual settings I also used a bright LED panel at a warm setting to add even more light to the scene. +manual focus and custom WB. 

For the scene where I was shooting the actor on his phone I used a retro 135mm M42 lens. The M42 mount was typically found in cameras around the time of the cold war and the lenses I used gave a beautiful bokeh and soft clarity to add the nostalgic feel. When using this 135mm f/2.8 lens I had to stand at quite a far distance from the subject and also use a M42 to EF mount adapter to make the lens useable on my DSLR. I didn't use the light panel for this shot and could get away with a higher shutterspeed (1/50s) and lower ISO: 1600 due to the wider aperture. 

The next set-up was used for a variety of shots and had to remain in exactly the same position it was mounted in otherwise the intended effect wouldn't work. I used exactly the same camera set-up as the first scene, using the heavy tripod and the 18mm lens (with fish-eye) as I needed a very wide shot. This time I didn't use the light panel as I decided the shot fit the mood better without it, paired with a higher shutterspeed (1/60s) and ISO:1600. The only lighting source was the centrally composed reading lamp in shot. 

(+ battery grip for extra stability and battery life)

Another set-up which I used to acquire moving shots had the camera mounted on the monopod with the 18mm lens and the same settings as the previous scene. When I was shooting the ECU shot of the chess pieces whilst moving the camera backwards I had attached a macro filter to the lens to get that soft and extremely shallow depth of field. The final and most difficult set-up I created from this shoot was to shoot the chess board from a birds-eye angle. As I don't have a crane or any special equipment designed to get this type of shot with my camera I had to use my tripod, the table and a chair to make a make-shift crane. This meant having two tripod legs which were stable on the table and one which stretched all the way to the floor. As there was clearly an imbalance in weight I used a chair and some weights to mount the longer leg to the ground. Creating a rigid set-up. So that I could actually see the shot I rotated the flip out LCD screen. The LED panel was creating many light hotspots on the table and chess board which I eradicated by putting some black fabric under the board, diffusing the light, and moving the light around. (1/30s, f/3.5, ISO: 800) 

(black fabric added after, can be seen in raw footage.)

Manual focus and custom white balance throughout the whole shoot. 
I made sure to use widely framed, dark shots to adhere to genre conventions. As well as some strange imagery which will be seen in the editing process (shots collected in this shoot.) 
I think this location was both successful and appropriate and I am fairly pleased with how the shots turned out. The lighting was maybe a bit too dark however I can make small colour and light adjustments in editing without having too large of an impact on the quality of the footage. 

I'm not going to be using much audio from this shoot and instead I'll either find free sound effects online if needed or recreate the sounds - such as moving chess pieces. Will show in editing log. 

Shoot number 3 - Ilkley House: 10th December 2020 

Actors/ crew on site: Will Austin (actor) , Oliver Evans (production)

Raw footage (with some annotations): 

On this shoot day I filmed two scenes which I had missed in the first (previous) shoot at this location. One of the scenes involves the actor (fake) smoking marijuana and the other is a panning shot of him leaving the house, which I forgot to shoot on the last day.  

Although this shoot was much smaller in scale and only one set-up was used there were still some health and safety issues which needed to be overcome. Perhaps the most clear problem was the risk created by smoking or inhaling harmful toxins. Personally I'm not into smoking or vaping but it worked very well with the shooting script and adhered to conventions so I decided to include it. To avoid consuming any illegal substances the 'joint' was filled with grass which we found in the garden. This was just to create the façade that the joint was full and also meant that it burnt. The actor avoided inhaling any fumes from the grass as this prop was only lit for appearance and wasn't actually used. Instead, to get the look of thicker smoke, the actor inhaled water vapour beforehand, then held it in whilst pretending to light the fake joint and exhale it. No harmful/illegal chemicals were in the vapour making the whole process safe. Other health and safety issues came from dropping the gear or damaging property which I avoided by making sure the shooting space was as clear of obstacles as possible and that my grip on the camera set-up was firm. 

For this small shoot I only used one equipment set-up. I wanted the camera to be versatile and flexible so that I could move the DSLR (750d) based on the direction of the smoke. I needed the right proportion of smoke for the intended transition in post production to work best which meant I needed to be able to adjust the camera's position easily. This meant designing a lightweight handheld set-up because I would be stood up for a while. I used a scorpion grip for added ease and stability with the camera mounted inside. On top I attached a RODE shotgun microphone which meant I could source high quality audio if necessary - I had to configure it's sensitivity manually in the camera menus so that 'peaking' was avoided. A 50mm f/1.8 Canon lens was used as this created a nice shallow depth of field, sharp focus and allowed for a lower ISO (200) to reduce noise. Shutterspeed between 1/60s and 1/200s depending on external light. WB custom manual. Autofocus was used at first but later switched to manual as scene got more clouded because AF was unreliable. 

To add continuity I tried to ensure that the actor was wearing the same clothes throughout each shoot. In addition I typically shot the left side of the actors face with looking room to the right throughout these shoots to add to that continuity. 

I think this mini shoot adhered to genre codes and conventions as it connotes to what is often associated with boredom/ feeling down. Also the intended transition fits the artist's innovative iconography.

Overall I feel that this location and shoot were both appropriate and successful. The location provided enough room and sufficient light for the shot, acting as natural back lighting. I was happy with how the shots turned out and they fit my original shoot plan composition and angle wise as well as making the intended transition possible (I think.) This second house location shoot seals off this location meaning I can move onto shooting elsewhere. 

Shoot number 4 - Leeds: 8th January 2021

Actors/ crew on site: Will Austin (actor) , Oliver Evans (production)

Raw footage (with some annotations): 

On this day I shot some B-Roll scenes where 1 seconds exerts would be used in the edit, in a very fast paced and disorienting manner. This means that I need one or two seconds from some clips to be useable as opposed to the whole clip. I needed to film some traffic, the actor walking, looking down the train and a time-lapse of the city from above (Only 1 min time-lapse.)

As the location for shooting was a much less controlled environment than in previous shoots there were health and safety issues which we had to overcome. Firstly we made sure to follow any health and safety advice and mandatory requirements which were signposted or announced, things such as; minding the gap, keeping 2m distance, wearing masks when required, sanitising etc. In addition, the huge increase in strangers meant we had to be vigilant - keeping close enough to each other, avoiding 'higher risk' areas and having phones on us at all times.  To avoid collisions with traffic we crossed the road when and where it was safe to do so. As the weather was quite wet at first I brought a camera rain cover to protect gear from damage however this wasn't needed in the end because the rain became lighter which meant I could just use my gloves to wipe off any droplets - this made the camera much easier to operate. I also used the neck strap so that the risk of dropping the camera was eradicated. 

Here are some pictures I took when filming: 

My set-up was mainly a simple handheld one on this shoot, using the Canon DSLR with a battery grip for extra stability and battery life. Instead of using my usual 50mm f/1.8 lens I used the Canon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens because I needed the wider focal length to exaggerate structures and give more context to each shot. I wanted to set-up to be light and easy to transport which is why I decided to shoot fully handheld for most of the shots instead of using a gimbal or monopod for moving shots. This means my shots weren't very stable however there are small portions which I can exert and use in the edit. For the majority of these shots I kept my ISO as low as possible (100-800) and my shutter-speed as high as I could whilst using an f/3.5 aperture, around 1/60s-120s. This was all because I wanted dark shots and harsh contrasts between the car lights and the surroundings. For the shot on the train (which I need to re-do for reasons I'll outline later,) I used the travel tripod to keep the camera stationary. For the time-lapse shot (shooting from the car park,) I used the tripod to keep the DSLR 100% stable and a 10 stop ND filter which allowed me to use much slower shutter-speeds which will make the effect work better in post. 

(had to recreate tripod set-up) 

I think I managed to adhere to some genre codes and conventions by using wide angles and dark scenes. I tried to collect a range of shot types from medium to EWS. The mis-en-scene was quite busy and hectic however this is what I desired as this footage is to be used in a fast paced part of the video. 

Overall I feel that whilst the location was appropriate and had everything I needed this shoot was the least successful one so far. The shots were quite unprofessional and random and whilst the majority have useable portions I feel I could've done a much better job if I would've taken the time to set up and film properly. I got enough material to not have to go back to this location and I'm quite certain I can make it work in context. There is one shot which is at the very end of the video looking down the train which I will have to re-shoot. This shot needed to be shot from a an eye-level angle and needed to be level. I'll re shoot this next time I am on the train. 

In terms of audio I don't think I'll be using any audio I sourced on this shoot and will instead be using a combination of sound effects I find on YouTube - I'll specify this in the editing log. 

Shoot number 5 - Church: 23rd January 2021

Actors/ crew on site: Will Austin (actor) , Oliver Evans (production)

Raw footage (with some annotations): 

On this date the church scene was filmed- this involved B-Roll pan, whip and tilt shots of the church exterior as well a few shots featuring the actor. Originally I planned to shoot inside of church, showing the powerful stained glass. However due to COVID restrictions we had to film outside. In my plan I looked at the option of shooting in a graveyard to keep the holy connotations and this may have created moodier shots, I just felt that this was too controversial and didn't want to warrant any negative opinions. I collected a tilt shot of the actor and a tripod shot with him in 3 different positions to be manipulated in editing, following the SFX theme to support the artist's iconography. 

There were not as many health and safety issues to overcome on this shoot as the terrain was stable, the weather was good and no risky set-ups were used. There was the usual risk of damage to gear however I overcame this by ensuring the camera and lenses were mounted tightly to the monopod/tripod. When using the monopod I made sure my grip was firm and I always had a hand on it. When the camera was mounted on the tripod I made sure it was set-up on stable and level ground with all the tripod legs at the same length to avoid imbalance. 

Obviously one huge health and safety risk is the contraction of the coronavirus however to avoid this we remained outdoors with a distance of 2m between us and I was the only one who touched the gear. The final risk wasn't as much about health or safety and more about respect. We made sure not to step on any memorials or to film when there was anyone else at the location. In addition we didn't stay any longer than needed so that anyone wanting to come to the church could. 

On this shoot I used two basic interchangeable set-ups. The first set up had the DSLR (750d) on the heavy dampened monopod with the 50mm prime lens attached. This allowed me to get some moving, tighter cropped, shots. With the 50mm lens I used an aperture of f/1.8 as this was sharp and got a shallow depth of field however I regret this because it meant my shutter speed had to go higher and less cinematic (1/400- 1/600s). To avoid the shutter speed going crazy high I used an ISO of 100 as this made the shot darker and meant less noise in the image. For the wider tilt shots featuring the actor I used an 18mm f/3.5 lens (still on the monopod) which meant I could use a slower shutter speed (1/150s) whilst keeping the low ISO. I kept this 18mm lens on for the tripod set-up (5ft tall) because I needed the wide framing still, with the settings the same as the previous set-up. For the majority of these shots manual focus was used as it meant more sharper and accurate focussing and higher quality shots. As I was confident the lighting conditions weren't going to change and I kept monitoring that they didn't, I left my white balance on auto. 

I didn't use an external mic because it was quite windy and I don't intend on using any sourced audio from this shoot. Instead, similar to all other shoots I may use 'Epidemic sound' for any ambience sound effects. 

I think whilst this shoot was brief it still involves the holy connotations I wanted which fits the plan and mood of the song. 

Overall this shoot was not how I wanted because the exterior looks no where near as stunning as the interior which meant the shots were much less dramatic. I'm happy with the choice of location and I think it was more appropriate than elsewhere however I don't think my camera work was very good as we were in a rush so that no one was disturbed. This can easily be overcome in post production and I think these shots could turn out well with some effort put in. I collected all the shots I needed to for my music video but obviously due to current circumstances I couldn't shoot where I wanted to. When I come to editing this video if I decide that the videos from today really don't fit the theme I may look into using some stock footage possibly from Storyblocks, Adobe Stock or Shutterstock. 

Shoot number 6 - B-Roll (various locations) : Various dates 

Crew on site: Oliver Evans (me)

Raw footage with some annotation: 

This is a raw footage log of all the shots I collected with the intention of using them for B-Roll, supporting the A-Roll and acting as filler footage whilst still following the theme and mood of the song as planned. I shot all sorts of things since around October 2020, in many different locations ranging from Cornwall to London. In these shots you can see the river, time-lapses, snow, the ocean, etc.

Obviously as I was shooting in many different locations there were health and safety issues which I came across and had to overcome mainly due to the poor weather conditions which I wanted to film in as it fits the mood of my song and therefore adheres to the genre codes and conventions of using the weather to tell a story (pathetic fallacy.) As I didn't have the appropriate footwear available (walking boots,) I made sure that I stayed on safe footpaths when walking down at the river and stayed away from cliff edges when in Cornwall. In the snow I walked very slowly and had a very firm grip on the camera at all times. In the heavy rain and snow I used a waterproof camera cover to avoid any damage to the gear whilst still getting a good quality shot. When travelling on the train (which was only done at times where it was legal,) I made sure to follow the government guidelines and restrictions to avoid spreading the virus. This included wearing a mask, keeping 2m distances from people outside your 'bubble', sitting on assigned seats and sanitising hands. Other classic health and safety issues such as minding the gap and stranger danger were also overcome by following the rules and further avoiding contact with strangers. As usual I made sure that some set-ups were safe and stable by using a tripod however when I wasn't using a tripod I made sure to have the camera strap round my neck at all times so I couldn't drop the set-up and damage it. 

 +picture of waterproof cover 

For every shot seen in this B-Roll raw footage dump I used similar set-ups. For all of the B-Roll footage shot around Ilkley, out of the window, on the train and down at the river I had the DSLR (Canon 750d) mounted on the travel tripod. This allowed me to  get stable shots, typically for time-lapses. When using this set-up I used a 18-55mm f/3.5 lens as this allowed me to get wider angles. With the fairly wide f/3.5 aperture (shallow DOF) I typically used manual focus as this allowed me to get a sharper and more reliable focus on my subject. To combat the increased amount of light let in through the wider aperture I used ISO 100 (also reduces noise.) Shutterspeed varied between 1/60s and 1/400s.

When shooting in the rain snow I used the same DSLR and lens with similar settings however I shot without the tripod - using a waterproof cover to protect my gear from water damage. This meant as there was no neck strap or tripod to secure the camera and protect it from falling I had to hold it very firmly and carefully, putting in my bag when I wasn't using it. INSERT PICTURE. The third and final set-up which I used mainly when shooting in Newquay, Cornwall was also a handheld set-up, although I used a strap to avoid dropping the camera in the high winds. Whilst still using the DSLR (750d), I used a 50mm f/1.8 lens. This tighter focal length meant that any camera movement was more noticeable which is why you can see some of the footage is quite unstable. The wider aperture meant a shallower depth of field but also that more light was being let into the censor. To combat this I increased the shutterspeed (1/800s) and decreased the ISO (100.) Auto white balance throughout except from when shooting in the snow (custom) because it tends to be reliable and accurate with my DSLR, I was monitoring it anyway in case it changed.

In terms of audio I didn't/don't intend on using any audio I sourced as typically the environments I filmed in were windy or busy which created muffled and unappealing audio. Instead I will be sourcing any ambience audio/ sound effects from 'Epidemic Sound' as it allows me to better customise and get the sound design exactly how I want it without external corruption. I got a free trial which expires on the 21st of February. 

I think that the locations and the shots were quite successful and appropriate. I feel like I got a lot of useable shots that fit the theme and adhere to the pathetic fallacy genre conventions. The lack of movement and fast passing of time really creates that sense of loneliness and emptiness I was going for and many of the shots feature miserable weather as I planned. Some of the shots were unusable due to the shakiness created by the wind and me not using a tripod/gimbal however I think I still have enough footage to make up for this. 

And that marks the end of filming, on to editing.