Our first test shoot went really well. We were organised enough from our test shoots to know exactly what trouble we would encounter like the strobing problems with the projector and the lighting set ups. We were lucky enough to be able to shoot on a Red Dragon which meant the we didn’t have the issues of strobing. We shot on a BCam as well for extra footage. This all was stained with the strobing even though it was very faint. We knew that theoretically it shouldn’t have still been a problem, but for whatever the reason, I think it has to do with the shutter speed something or other with the camera and the DSLRs not being specific enough with the settings. We were able to adjust the settings exactly on the red so that we didn’t have any problem what soever and thank god because we had a lot to shoot and really couldn’t afford to spend hours on this technical set up.
We had a make up artist come and and look after the artist. We were concerned that the bright light of the projector was going to show all blemishes but what actually happened was the make up artist applied the make up too thick and had to leave half way through the shoot so by the time we got to Ali’s close up shots against the white background (and the bright light), the foundation she was wearing started to cake accentuating her fine lines. It has been a problem for us when editing as well because the Artist doesn’t like these close up shots where she is singing the verse. I can’t help but agree with her. We did overcompensate with the make up, the only time it looks bad is in the brightly lit choruses but this turned out to be the only footage we had of the artist singing the verses! So in post it has been a problem because we have had to cut around these verses more than we would have liked too.
We were able to get through our different set ups reasonably quickly. It helped that we had a running sheet and a shot list for the shoot, which we really needed because it’s easy to get off track. At certain points people said it would have been good to get this, but we decided to stick to the shot list. Unfortunately in post we looked back and thought, ARGH! We should have gotten that shot that we said on the day but which wasn’t scheduled. It’s a fine line between going on your gut feeling about what you might need and getting off track and ultimately ending up flying blind. We decided to stay on track and use the 2nd shoot day for experimental footage and impulse footage. But yes, looking back we should have trusted our impulses. But maybe it was better practice to stay on track.
Our shoot ran from 3pm-11pm and we managed to finish and be packed up on time (we had to be in the TV studio. We probably could have run over had we not been kicked out). It’s important when people aren’t being paid and the artist is there to not go over and to stick to schedule. It’s a long day and people really do lose energy and concentration . We managed to stay really focused which was awesome because we had a lot to get through.
Overall happy with how the shoot went and looking forward to the final piece!!!
