Reflection:
Talk about big groups! My group for this artefact was composed of 8 people. It took some time, but we all suggested songs to film a video for and then voted on one. The winner was ‘Make It Forever’ by George Clanton, which has a trippy, psychedelic feel to it. It isn’t something I’d generally choose to listen to but when we started discussing ideas for the video, it was easy for me to get on board because my group wanted to have cool visuals like lots of bokeh and overlays. The idea was to work with a very loose, nondescript narrative – vague like the lyrics in the video are. Therefore, we aimed to make it more of a visual experience that could compliment the music style. The most of a story we planned was: aloof guy walking through York, aloof girl also walking through York, and then they meet at the bridge.
We originally planned to have two of us as actors, two camera operators, and everyone else to help carry tripods and other gear. But while filming, we resorted to sticking as one group in the city and not splitting into two filming groups as originally planned. That worked better because then we could stay on the same page of what style to go for and what shots to film. I helped by carrying gear, scouting for possible interesting shots, and acting. Well, I say acting but all my character had to do was walk around looking moody and disconnected. We’re very fortunate that York decorates so nicely for Christmas, because it offered ample opportunities for bokeh in shallow depth of field shots. We also took advantage of the Millennium Bridge since it lights up and we thought it could serve as a satisfying final destination for our characters. The only filming that took place indoors was done the next day, in one of my group mate’s rooms, where two group members played instruments in front of the camera, bathed in colorful lights.
We had problems with scheduling since half our group was still trying to film other artefacts during the time the rest of us were available. There were times when it was only a few of us carrying all the gear, and that’s a lot go gear to go around. It was also cold and rainy during our outdoor night shoot and we had to walk everywhere we went. Still, that was better than the next day when four of us crammed into a tiny dorm room with a light and tripod set up for our second shoot. I was stuck sitting on the bed between a light stand and a slider for most of the shoot, except for when I was needed to help adjust the lights. It was a quick shoot though, and I was glad to lug the gear back to the equipment room for the last time that day. It’s too bad some of the shots are so dark it’s hard to see, but the group wanted them in the edit.
I learned during this shoot that it’s important to have an umbrella handy to protect the camera if it starts to rain. One of our group members had to buy one during the shoot since none of us owned one already. I also got practice keeping an eye out for cool reflections or other sights that could be good camera shots. Not to mention I got practice trying to stop walking at the spot the camera man wants me to stop without blatantly looking down to see where my feet are.