Production Diary – Gabriel Floyd

 

Intial Meeting with Greg

Our first meeting with Greg went well. He came into Bhasvic and we discussed our ideas for his music video. His feedback was positive on the initial idea, so I presented the mirror element, to add an individual twist. I showed him our power-point pitch, to give him a broader understanding of what we had envisaged for his music video. After some poor tea and organisation of the dates to film, we said goodbye.

 

Rockery

After our dates of filming were pulled back because of illness, we decided to scout out the rockery (one of the locations for the shoot) and take some nature shots. I took a filming and directing role and filmed many of the shots. The weather was bright and sunny so the majority of the shots looked aesthetically pleasing which presented the improved mood in the second half of the video, following the narrative. It also gave us some insight into where to film when the talent was with us, which would prevent delays. Challenges we found however, was the road that the rockery looks onto restricted our shots. I wanted the shots to portray only nature as the urban road I felt ruined the mood, so we only filmed facing upwards away from the road.

 

Greg Rockery 22^nd of May

Filming with Greg at the rockery was the easiest of the four days. We had strong ideas which locations to use and only required Greg to play the song, which he dutifully did many times. I was especially pleased with the shots where he perched on a jutting out rock. The low angle I chose to film at gave an uplifting, thoughtful mood which was appropriate for the arch of the narrative. The weather proved to be challenging, as I wanted sun to enhance the mood, but the weather wasn’t on our side and we were pressed for time after illness and weather had previously delayed the shoot.

 

Metway 25^th of May

Our filming at the Metway got off to a rocky start; I was late and no filming was done when I was absent so we were consequently pressed for time. However this meant we were efficient when it came to choosing shots. Again I took a filming and directing role and to make up for my punctuality took a leading role. All three of us chipped in ideas and usually filmed our own, as the individual would have a vivid image of what the shot had to look like. Greg was very cooperative and the Metway gave us a good variation of shots and locations within the building. Grace responded to our direction well and gave us ideas. The challenge we found was the initial room we wanted to base the majority of the shots in, was too small , which led us to expanding out into different rooms.

 

Grace Rockery  29^th of May

Filming with Grace at the rockery was interesting and challenging. We explored how to advance the narrative in such a short space of time, in a small area. I wanted to diversify the shots which was difficult due to the size of the area, but its natural beauty gave us some good locations to work with. Grace herself had to act and did so well and responded to our direction. Again weather couldn’t be helped as the grey clouds were less than ideal, but to combat this I gave Grace exaggerated direction so the mood could be conveyed in her facial expressions and body language.

 

Editing

I found editing the most enjoyable part of the production of the music video. Filming had been challenging due to different factors, but when I could finally put the shots to the music I felt more confident. I did my editing during study break and the holiday in college. Therefore I had to revisit the editing experience gained from the documentary and experiment with effects as I felt the mood generated from Percipient couldn’t have a plain linear video. This experimenting was challenging and time consuming but I managed to (with no previous experience) create some interesting sequences. I found myself using transitions such as cross dissolve in a far greater quantity than the documentary, due to the need for a particular mood. I also enjoyed syncing the video in with the beat and quickly found this was one of the most effective techniques to use in the creation of the music video, as it linked the visuals and music. The main challenge was the limitations of the computer and Premiere Pro, which would always crash.

 

Evaluation

The feedback I got from the group was strong, with the majority of scores out of ten being eight. This was good as I felt Greg’s song was going to be the most challenging to visualise in a music video; it was going to require a clear narrative, executed with limited resources. On one card the editing rating was 6-7 and I understood this as parts of the video weren’t as tight as I would have liked. If I were to go back and improve it I would spend a few more hours polishing and perfecting. A major problem we had was that we didn’t film enough footage and didn’t film any shots with panned in or out. Therefore when it came to editing I would envisage I different shot where I would have to put another. Whilst repetition was always going to be used to follow the narrative of entrapment, I was forced to use it a bit too much due to lack of shots. However despite this I was pleased with the outcome as I could observe the narrative clearly and I felt the video evoked emotion and presented an interpretation of the music.