VHS Development

Our second location was planned with the intention of filming in iconic central london locations in order to achieve eye catching, engaging and believable narrative footage- and we certainly achieved this, We had previously planned ahead to ensure the shoot would be on a day of nice weather, to prevent any filing issues with the outside locations, and we also created a brief map of the route which we would take, and all met at the decided location before the shoot (Liverpool Street Station).

Filming the couple's shopping trip in Shoreditch, we had planned the specific shots- close ups of the couple, rear shots of them walking together, as well as long and establishing shots to reflect the iconic locations. In order to ensure we captured enough 'happy' footage, we shot scenes with both natural laughter and acting, and then the same shots again with over-exaggerated laughter and affection, to ensure this was visible in the narrative.

We the  moved on to China Town, where we firstly changed costumes, to create the effect of a second date, we then picked up on shots we had not achieved in Shoreditch, before capturing the planned location shots: the couple running, laughing, interacting, and browsing the tourist gift shops. However, as this location was a lot more busy, although we achieved the shots desired, in review at school, we were forced to discard many takes due to the fact that they were obstructed by members of the public, however, as we had shot each shot multiple times, we had at least 2 good takes for each one. Furthermore, we left the location shoot with over 12 minutes of footage, which was satisfying as we had managed to capture a large part of the narrative section

In reflection, we should not have captured so much footage of the couple from behind, as it does not give a realistic perspective of the happy 'date' trip. To combat this, the next shoot would be focused on the couples reactions to one another.  Also, due to the busy locations and our occasional use of handheld shooting, some of the footage appeared shaky, but not as bad as the first shoot- with most of the footage still usable, but we decided that we should use the tri-pod consistently in future to completely avoid any issues with filming.

Camera footage - shot on 16/11