Day 1 of our Final Filming : Southend

For our final filming we have researched a number of settings that we can go to. One of these settings was Southend beach. Frankie and Karina are acting in our final piece, therefore I am filming it and we are all going to edit it together to ensure that we are all happy with the end result. As I study ICT I am aware of how to use certain software's: alike to Karina and Frankie who have their own skills that are proving to be useful for our group in this project. 

We took a number of photo's whilst at the location so that we could reflect upon how the day went in our production diaries and in an evaluation post. As this was the first day of our final filming I feel that it is important to reflect back and analyse how the day went to ensure that the upcoming days of filming, at London and so on, are just as good or even better. I think that Frankie and Karina did really well to look so relaxed and comfortable on camera considering that the weather was so cold. Frankie was wearing a thin coat with ripped tights and Karina was wearing a skirt that showed her legs and a thin jumper. Being at the beach made the conditions worse as we was exposed to coastal winds: however the girls did really well and our shots are good. We are all pleased and are very excited to begin editing them. 

We completed this filming on Wednesday the 20th of November 2013 and therefore it was a school day. Me, Karina and Frankie all went to our lessons and then when we had double media, 4th and 5th periods, we signed out of school (with permission) and headed to Karina's house so that the girls could get ready. As Karina only lives around the corner from our school, it was not time consuming to get to her house. When we got there Karina began to do her makeup based upon the research that we all had done on makeup styles itself and the influences of existing artists such as Rita Ora. Alike to her makeup in the practice filming she did her makeup dark and bold again. Another reason as to why we did her makeup in this way is because in our feedback for our practice filming a member of our target audience said that they liked the makeup look. This member was a male as well which is really important as conventionally it would be females who notice mise-en-scene such as makeup. Karina also did Frankie's makeup: however it was more subtle as Frankie is not the artist and the artist needs to be the main focus of the video. Whilst this was happening, I was charging the camera to make sure that we had enough battery to film for a long period of time. Along with me I took a bag full of costume including clothing a jewelry. Frankie has previously done costume research and she had a specific idea of the coat that she wanted her character to wear and both me and Karina agreed with her. Luckily, I had a similar looking coat at home which Frankie wore on the day. I bought with me a tie-dye bat-winged jumper which is really cool and modern and adds patterns to our music video which we all liked. Karina also wore statement necklaces and studded bracelets to show that she is powerful and to fit in with the conventions of our genre. 

Karina then used her laptop to Google directions. We all roughly knew how to get there but we wanted to double check because getting lost would be too time consuming. If we had gotten lost then it would have meant that the darkness that occurred in our practice filming would happen again due to us arriving at our location late. Fortunately we did not get lost and made it there in approximately 45 minutes. This meant that we got there at around half 2 so it was still daylight. Previously when we was at school it was raining heavily and the sky was grey. We thought that this would be useful because the miserable whether would reflect our song lyrics. The weather actually turned sunny, although still cold, and the sun was beaming down on to the sea making it look very pretty. This made us think that we could use this for the slow paced sections of our song to show how things were once good for the actress who as been heartbroken. We also thought that it could shed new light on her situation and make it appear as if she is reminiscing on her happier days. The shots that we got on the sea shore looked very serene and dream like which could connect with the narrative of the actress taking a drug at the beginning of the video that we practiced filmed beforehand. We also got shots underneath the pier. This looked amazing as the rustic wooden panels and the damage to the wood from the sea gave it an edgy effect that we all loved. 

We filmed footage of both Karina and Frankie under the pier and when we edit we will choose whether to use both or just one. For a long time I have had the idea of symmetrically filming both Frankie and Karina and using an editing technique to have them quickly fading in and out of each other. This will match the fast pace parts of the song and will also show the stereotype of how girls always get heartbroken: relating to our lyrics. As we was walking along to get food we came across a lift that took you up high to save people from taking the hefty stairs up to the town. I filmed Frankie going up in the lift as I thought that this looked very cool. When we got to the top the sunset looked beautiful. Frankie and Karina took pictures and I filmed a close up of the birds flying in front of the sun. I think that this will look really effective with the slow paced parts of the song if it is in slow motion. I like the idea that nature is vulnerable and this is why we have filmed shots like this using settings that are outdoors. 

We also found a long pathway that was surrounded by overgrown dead grass. It looked really effective and we filmed the artist strutting down the pathway in a strong and powering manner. We also filmed her lip singing there too. Overall we spent 3 hours down Southend and it was definitely worth it. For improvements I would say that next time we should have a clearer copy of our shot list with us as sometimes it did get confusing as to which shots we needed. Once we got the shots that we did need we began to film random things just in case other shots did not work out. For example, the shot to the right was not planned as we did not know that there would be a chain hanging from under the pier. This fits our genre as a chain has connotations of torture and a sense of being trapped.