We decided to schedule our first on location shot for an evening at a friends party so that we could both trial the beginning if the narrative idea and also to test whether the camera would provide suitable footage to meet the professional standard of the video.
As the camera was mine, I knew how to operate it, however, as I was performing in the narrative footage, I first showed the other group members how to operate the camera beforehand. We made a list of the specific shots we wanted to achieve from the animatic, and stuck this note to the camera to avoid losing the list, and so that we could tick off the shots as the shoot progressed. Furthermore, we decided that although there were specific shots which we wanted to achieve, as it was the first shoot, we would experiment with other shots in order to build an archive of footage to select when editing.
Overall, we achieved all necessary shots, as well as further footage which we could use if necessary- such as alternate angles of certain shots. We then returned to our edit suite, using video capture software to record the video from its analog camera into a digital, editable format. However, when reviewing the footage back on a digital screen, we noticed 3 issues:
1- The camera had no lighting or colour balance adjustment settings such as white balance, therefore as we shot in the evening, although we ensured that there was adequate lighting, some of the shots still came out grainy and unclear.
2- The camera did not have automatic image stabilisation, therefore as the footage was shot handheld, when the camera was not stable, the footage appeared unprofessional and too much like a home movie.
3- The VHS shot in 4:3, therefore in the video timeline, it produced large black bars of no video, contrasting with the widescreen studio footage
Overall, we realised that we had still managed to achieve good quality shots of those which we would use for the video, however, in order to prevent these risks next time, we would ensure to shoot in daytime/ high lighting, and use a tri-pod to ensure still, professional looking footage. We also took a second camera- a 1080p camcorder on the second shoot, as a back up for the VHS, with the intention of using after effects t apply a vhs-style filter.
Our second location shoot was the first time that we shot in multiple locations in one day- therefore we planned our day beforehand to prevent any issues. We created a shootboard and shot list to ensure that we achieved all shots, as it would not be easy to return for a reshoot in the same lighting and weather conditions.
Overall, the second shoot was a far greater success than the first- with better lighting and setting, we spent our allotted time at each location; Alexandra Palace, a chip shop, and at my house, with plenty of time left over to reshoot a few flawed shots. We also changed the perspective of the vhs from 4:3 to wide in order to lessen the black bar problem, however when reviewing the new HD footage on screen, we realised that due to the high quality, it would be much harder to make it appear old and damaged- raising issues which we decided to discuss in a group meeting. However, the footage which we did achieve was exactly what we had envisioned, therefore, we were able to placing the Studio and location footage alongside one another on the timeline.
Reviewed VHS footage - shot on 07/11
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