Lara McEvoy - 319311
Unit 13: Final Major Project
Production - 4.1
The production stage for my project spanned over 4 days of shooting b-roll and actuality and 2 days of filming interviews. Here I have written down a detailed account of what happened each day, evaluating the successes and failures of the production stage. It is important for me to explore these days as I can see where I went wrong and what I should do next time in order to make sure that everything runs smoothly. As usual nothing goes exactly how you planned, which is what these write ups are for.
Dance Show Filming
(25 - 28/3/24)
Monday: 25/3/24
The dress rehearsal was a very very long day for the production as we were tied to the schedule of the dance school and their rehearsal schedule. We arrived at the Bacon theatre around 9:30 where we helped the dance school with setting up, I hadn’t planned to start shooting until 12:30 which is when the first run through was (I will mention there were two run throughs of the show with different casts so only some areas could be filmed in the first run through) so the time from 9:30 – 12:30 was spent helping the dance school and ensuring that the camera kit was all set up ready for myself to use. As I was filming under the stage, I used a Canon 90D and Rode Microphone because this would be the best way for me to capture the more behind the scenes elements, giving them a sense of authenticity. For Jon, I originally gave him a Canon 90D and the telephoto lens to use as I thought this would be best due to him filming from the auditorium. Before starting to film I made sure that the cameras were both set up correctly, filming in 1/50 frame rate, as shown in the image below. It was important for me to ensure both the cameras were filming in the same frame rate as in post-production I may want to slow down some of the clips so filming in a higher frame rate gives me the chance to do so.
As Jon wasn’t familiar with the show and the dances he was allowed to film, so to help him from the running order of the dances I had been given I took a photo and ticked the ones he was allowed to film in black, and ticked the ones for the second run through in pink so he knew which dances he was allowed to film in which run through. This is mainly because there are younger pupils at the dance school who aren’t allowed to be filmed and haven’t given consent for my documentary, so it was important for Jon to understand what he was and wasn’t allowed to film. These sheets are shown below, while they are basic it just helped Jon understand what he was and wasn’t allowed to shoot ensuring it was all done correctly.
Before the first run through even started I had a text from Jon asking for the normal camera lens as the telephoto one was too zoomed in. This isn’t something I had anticipated happening because I thought that due to where the auditorium was in reference to the stage was quite far, but I was wrong, so the telephoto lens was too zoomed in meaning Jon wouldn’t be able to get any
wider shots or any shot other than a close up for that matter. However, this was easily resolved as I was able to bring the other lens up to him quickly before they started the run through of the first show.
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After I had given the lens to Jon, I was then unable to go up to the auditorium for the rest of the show until the break, so I had to trust he knew what he was doing, though I could still message him, and he could message me if he had any questions. On my end, I was focused on getting more behind the scenes content from the dressing room, as I was also in the show I had to time when I filmed the content while fitting with me coming on and off stage. Mostly for the first run through, I was able to get shots of people getting ready doing their hair and makeup, which can be used as b-roll and actuality.
At this time, I wasn’t planning on filming any external interviews, so I was trying to get footage of the three talking to camera and explaining what was happening, however due to myself being busy and the three also being just as busy and stressed I was only able to get 1 clip of each introducing themselves. Because of this as I am writing this, I am making the decision that it would be best and more beneficial to do in home interviews with the three after the show, likely to be filmed next week. This is something I need to check over with the three to see if its possible and something they would be happy to do.
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The first run through ended up taking a lot longer than anticipated, due to technical issues, meaning that we didn’t have a break until 15:30 and only for half an hour, so in that time I ran some lunch up to Jon, because obviously he needs to eat. With this I explained what was happening and that in the next run through is when the three people are the main characters so to focus on them as much as possible, while following the guidelines given at the start of the day. For me giving him the reminder just allowed me to be at ease, as I know he has been told what is allowed to be filmed and not, meaning I won’t cross any boundaries set down by Sally due to miscommunication.
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In the break I took this is a valued opportunity to get some more candid/authentic footage as I noticed Chloe and Emily practicing together. I was only able to get a couple of clips, but they show the more authentic moments of the two in the moment, focusing on the show at hand. But unfortunately, due to me also being stressed about the rehearsal it meant I didn’t get much more, this is something I expected to happen, especially due to the situation presented to myself yesterday (explored in problem solving).
Once the break was over the second run through started and I was reliant on Jon here to be getting the footage from the audience of the three. While I could get footage of them preparing under the stage, I also had to be ready for my own dances meaning there was less footage shot in this run through compared to the first one/before the first one. I feel as though this was still successful because the footage, I got allows me to create the montage style sections and use it for actuality/b-roll when the three are talking in their interviews.
Due to the first show running over there were dances missed within the second half of the second run through, but luckily none of the dances the three are in were missed so Jon was still able to get footage of the solos and duets. When it came to the finale though, we were all doing it in our own clothes rather than costume so there may be some bits of footage that can be used, but in terms of me using the footage for other days within the documentary isn’t doable for the finale. This was the only chance I got for footage from the auditorium which is why I got Jon to be there for most of the dress rehearsal to get this footage.
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Overall, I would say that this day was successful as I have been able to film both behind the scenes/getting ready footage as well as footage of the actual show. Tomorrow Jon is going to be in the wings with myself helping to film content from the wings, while I film both content from the wings and in the dressing room.
Tuesday: 26/3/24
When we arrived at the theatre, as Jon hadn’t been into the wings before I showed him around explaining where he can and can’t go, essentially where to go to stay out of the way but still get decent footage. This also gave me the chance to assess where I could also be to get footage. The video below is me showing Jon where to go.
Once I had shown Jon where he could film, I went down and made a start on shooting content of the three getting ready and prepared for the opening night. It’s safe to say the atmosphere was very tense so I wanted to try and capture it as best I can, when I say tense, I mean everyone was on edge and stressed because it was opening night. From this I was able to capture some moments such as Chloe having her hair done, Ella preparing for the show, people practicing/stretching etc. I really like these shots as they show moments where the three aren’t directly doing anything I’ve told them to, I have been able to capture them in the moment which is something I love to do.
After the show had started, I ended up not being able to get much more footage from under the stage because I was doing quick changes myself, so I decided to join Jon in the wings when I could to get footage of the show. I found this a lot more difficult than anticipated, however I knew this was my only chance to get a lot of footage from the wings because on the next two nights of the show I wouldn’t be able to. The main issue Jon and I ran into was how dark it was because in the wings there is limited visibility so getting shots of the three waiting in the wings was a lot more difficult than anticipated, looking back I really should’ve looked at filming in the dark during the research stage, but this is something I can reflect on.
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Because both Jon and I had been able to capture a lot of footage from the wings, I made the decision to not have myself positioned in the wings filming for the next two shows. While I had originally planned for Jon to be in the wings for at least another night, I realised that actually the one night of filming was more than enough. All in all, this shoot was a good one, I was able to get raw and authentic footage, which captures the emotions of the three pretty well, as well as footage from the wings which will require a lot of sorting.
Simply put, on Wednesday I didn’t film anything. While I had planned to, the three people weren’t actually main characters so the only footage I could capture would’ve been people getting ready. There was a completely different atmosphere in the dressing room which I wasn’t sure I wanted portrayed in the documentary. I don’t see this as a missed opportunity as there weren’t any chances for me to get footage which would be relevant to the narrative of the documentary.
Thursday: 28/3/24
Thursday was quite similar to Wednesday, but I was able to get some footage before the show started, as well as in the second half. They are mainly ones which focus on the three getting ready and sitting with others and chatting. This allowed me to capture them more relaxed but still getting ready. With this show, looking back I wish that I had someone in the wings to capture the final speeches that the senior girls gave, because I was one of them, I wasn’t able to. Potentially if the production company who filmed the dance show for Sally Prout release the videos in time, then I may be able to get this footage from there, but this is purely on chance that they release it sooner rather than later.
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With all of the production days I would say that they were successful, though there are some areas which I feel I could’ve done better with or filmed more, while looking through the footage I can confidently say I have more than enough footage to use within the documentary. As I made the decision on Monday to film in home interviews, I need to organise these ready for next week, but I can safely say that filming and the dance show have wiped me out so need this weekend to recover!
Interview Filming
(1 - 4/4/24)
Monday: 1/4/24
Due to the decision made last week, on Monday I messaged the three asking if they were around this week for the in-home interviews. I had mentioned the interviews at the dance show where the three said they were happy to take part in them so today (Monday 1/4/24) I messaged them asking when would best suit them. I felt letting the decision be made by them was the best decision because I was around all weeks so could organise my plans around filming with them.
​As shown in the image on the left, I sent the same initial message to all three and awaited on their responses. Chloe was the first to get back to me, asking if Wednesday would work, which it did, so I mentioned that I would sort timings later as I was wanting to wait for the others to get back to me first. However, as no one else had gotten back to me by 4ish so I asked Chloe whether she would prefer morning or afternoon just so I could gauge if I could fit another interview in within that day. Luckily, she said the morning so we decided to go for 10/10:30ish as I knew it wouldn’t take too long, which worked for both of us.
Ella took a little over a day to respond, as she was busy. But when she did it was a relief to see that she wondered if I was free on Wednesday still, which as I had planned Chloes in the morning it meant I was able to ask if the afternoon was okay with her. As I know Ella quite well, I knew she would be happy for me to let her know when I would come over rather than having a set distinct time the day before. Thankfully this was easy to plan meaning I knew what pre-production work I needed to get done today + Tuesday before filming on Wednesday.
Emily was very flexible with her days that she’s free, which was really useful for me as I knew the others may be tighter. From this I decided that Thursday is likely to be the better day for us to film, as I had already planned in Chloes and was awaiting a response from Ella. You can also see in the image to the right that I asked for a picture of their bedrooms because I needed to complete the risk assessments, it felt quite weird asking but all of them were happy with it, so it made my life very easy. Similarly to Chloe, Emily opted for 10ish to film which worked for me. This means I need to plan in travel time to get to hers and plan in for any issues that may occur while travelling.
Tuesday: 2/4/24
As I had now organized the interviews, it is essential that I complete all of the required pre-production work. So that is what Tuesday was dedicated too, as I had a whole day to work on it. There was one piece of paperwork which was more difficult to do which was the location release form, this is because I had to send them off and even though I know I will ask for them back asap, they won’t get back until a week later. But I know all three have already asked their parents if they are okay to have me filming in their houses and they have said yes, the location release form is just written consent I can see and show as proof.
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Once I had completed the pre-production work, I decided to wipe the SD cards and format them to make sure that I had enough storage for the interviews I am going to be filming. Along with this I checked that I had enough charge on the cameras and the microphone packs. Doing this just makes sure that for the next day of filming I have enough charge and that nothing will die when filming tomorrow.
Also, I sent over to all three the questions which I would be asking in the interview. Doing this just gives them a heads up and a chance to think through their answers as otherwise I would just be turning up and them having no idea of what is happening, so I would rather than have some sort of idea of what to say/do.
Wednesday: 3/4/24
Today I have two shoots to do, Chloes interview and Ellas’s interview. Chloes is in this morning and Ellas is in the afternoon, so once I was up, I got all the kit together and travelled to Chloes. When I arrived at Chloes I spent 15 minutes setting up the equipment, making sure that the lighting and camera placement was correct. While I was doing this, I gave Chloe the radio microphone and asked her to put it up her jumper and to clip it at the top, which I then went and adjusted to make sure there was no interference from her jumper and jewellery. The final setup can be seen below.
The image to the right is the settings I had for the shoot, however there is one big mistake on there which I didn’t even realise until after I had shot, and I was shocked at how I didn’t notice it. If you look in the middle of the screen at the bottom of the screen the exposure is set to -2/3 which I didn’t intend on at all. This means that the final shot is slightly too dark on the left of the frame, which I think can be fixed in post-production, but I’m not impressed that I did it in the first place. Other than that, the rest of the shoot went really well. I was able to get some second angle shots with a handheld camera as I didn’t want a set second angle because for my documentary, I felt it would be too formal whereas I want it to be more comfortable and relaxed.
When setting up the main shot, shown below, I was wanting the camera to be positioned so that it isn’t either look up at her or down on her as those both give off the wrong feeling and look, I was wanting to achieve. I was able to set it up so that she is centred, with equal space either side of her, allowing for the audience to see a little bit about who she is as a person rather than just having her defined by what I had filmed at the dance show. Due to the mistake with the exposure the left side of the frame is significantly darker than the right, I used a light to try and highlight her face more which has worked, but the left side of frame is still darker than I would like it to be. Then headspace of the shot is comfortable as Chloe moved around when she was talking so the headspace needed to not be too close but close enough so that it doesn’t look weird. As a whole I do like how this shot turned out compositionally and it gives off the feel that I want it to, it’s not set so it seems formal because she can be seen in it entirely and not just half her body and face, like a typical documentary interview would be.
Chloe's interview only took an hour to do, not the hour and a half I expected it to be, so once I was done, I double checked the footage and then packed up. As Chloe's was done in the morning, I had time to then download the footage from the SD cards onto my PC and then wipe them so that they had enough storage for the second interview which I was going to be doing with Ella in the afternoon.
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​Once I had wiped the SD cards and had some lunch, I headed on over to Ellas. When I arrived, I followed the same steps as I did for Chloe's, because now I knew how long it would take. The setup can be seen in the images below.
With the setup for Ella's interview, I decided to use her window as natural light and as the fill light for the it, as I only had one light to use. From this I placed the light to the right of her on a warmer setting to eliminate the shadows and create a softer feeling. To make it slightly darker I set the ISO to 640 as auto wasn’t working and kept on making it either too bright or too dark. Again, I have filmed it in 1/50 frame rate in case I was wanting to slow it down and it keeps it consistent throughout the shoot, so in post-production I can set up the timeline to that frame rate and not have to modify it. As I did with Chloe's, I have positioned Ella in the centre of the frame with some of her bedroom in the background, showing the audience a little bit about this person.
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Midway through filming I hadn’t put the headphones on for a while (other than checking at the start) when I noticed that the screen on the receiver wasn’t on, therefore meaning that sound hadn’t been recording. Essentially a very very big problem. Once I had noticed I immediately put the headphones on and realised that there was no sound recording, so turned it back on where the audio kicked in. Because of this I then went through the footage to see how many shots I had done without there being any audio and it turned out there were 3, 3 of which Ella had spoken a lot in but luckily as I noticed this, we were able to re-shoot them there and then. As I explained the issue to Ella she said if that when I got home and noticed any major issues, if she needed me to, we could reshoot it. Though that wasn’t my main worry, I was more worried that Chloe's interview wouldn’t have sound on some clips as I don’t remember if the receiver turned off or not. But this was an issue for future me. Back to talking about the shot.
The shot, shown above, is my favourite one I was able to get as it really captures the light and airy aesthetic/vibe that Ella gives off and the lighting looks natural it doesn’t look as though I have just chucked a light into it because I was told to. I have been able to carefully adjust the lighting to the correct settings to create the calm and light aesthetic, eliminating the shadows without it being too harsh. I feel I was successful in the placement of the lighting as in the shot, it looks natural it doesn’t look as though there is a standing light there which is what I was wanting to achieve. The camera placement was also done so that it wasn’t too low as I was struggling with getting it so that I got most of her in the frame without it looking down/up at her so where I was able to position the camera to attain the shot above worked in my favour. Also, it is worth me mentioning that with Ella and Chloe, I got them to look at the corner of the viewfinder/the flat area at the top as it meant they weren’t directly looking into the camera, as this would be intimidating for the audience, so through them looking at the corner it seems as though they are speaking to someone.
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After we had finished shooting, I packed up and headed on home to download the footage and prepare the SD cards for tomorrows shoot. While I was doing this I realised that one of the questions I asked Ella where the audio was non-existent we didn’t repeat as I thought we had it because when I went back to check which question we got to, it turned out that Ella had asked to re-do the question as she didn’t know what to say and when we re-shot it there was no audio. This is just very annoying as I know she said so much here which was so good and detailed, but for now I will see if Emily says similar stuff and can use that instead, if not then I will have to contact Ella to re-shoot her interview. The batteries still had enough charge on both cameras and the radio mics so I decided not to recharge them as I knew they would have enough for me to film tomorrow. Hopefully this issue won’t happen tomorrow as I will wear my headphones the whole time and keep an eye on the receiver between shots.
Thursday: 4/4/24
Thursday morning I ensured I had all of the necessary kit, packed my car and headed off to Emily's, aiming to get there for 10:00 – 10:15 (allowing the 15 minutes for traffic). As I didn’t really know how Emily’s room was set up, I was unsure on where I could sit her and have the camera/light so when I got there, I decided to do the same style setup, as I had Emily sit on her bed in a similar way to Chloe and Emily. Due to where her bed was placed and the height of it, I struggled to get the camera placement correct as I couldn’t put the tripod up too high because the lack of space. With this I then moved on the light and placed it to the right of the bed, as this is where the shadows were, and used the window to act as a fill light. This setup can be seen on the image to the right.
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As I did with Ellas, I adjusted the ISO to ensure that it let more light in as her room was quite dark, but I wanted it to have a lighter feel. Making this decision allowed me to have a lighter shot with a softer aesthetic, with the standing light aiding it to help achieve this.
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Once I had set up the camera, lighting and audio I then went through the questions with Emily and unlike Ella and Chloe, Emily actually spoke a lot about every question asked and gave great detail. This isn’t what I expected but it gives me a lot to cut to and will work very well as narration, also she got really into her emotions which was good to see. Specifically in the last few questions when talking about the last show, she started to sound as though she was going to cry as she spoke about it being her last show and the last dance, which I can use to end the documentary due to the emotional nature of it. As Emily spoke so much it did mean that the shoot lasted longer than I thought, but Emily was more than happy to continue speaking so Iet her, and neither of us were on a time limit.
​The image below is the main shot for Emily’s interview. While it is similar to the other two, I don’t like it as much I’m not sure what it is about it, but it just doesn’t have the same feel to me. However she is centred, there is natural light coming in from the left and limited shadows from the right due to the standing light. White balance was done but Emily still looks a little yellow which is annoying but an issue which can be fixed in post-production. Though technically I’m not as keen on the shot, it works for the documentary and will fill its purpose. If I re-shot it, I doubt I would be able to shoot something that I do like, it’s not bad there’s just something about this shot I don’t like and cannot pinpoint it.
I would say today when well as I got a lot of footage and clear audio which can work well as narration over the top of footage from the other shoots. Generally, I would say that the whole week/days of shooting went really well, apart from the microphone issue, and I have been able to complete my shooting for the documentary.