Shoot Evaluation - Day One

This shoot was extremely successful for many reason:

• Massive range of shots due to unlimited time allowing us to use tripods, ladders and handheld cameras which then gave us a good range of low-angle, high-angle and close-up shots of the band performing.
• The performance looks professional as we didn't have to make each individual band member wear headphones in order to play along with the song as we were able to play the song out loud and just sing/play along with it in that way. This means that there was no need for music sheets or lyrics.
• Because we filmed it on the school stage, we were able to have full use of the curtains and the lighting systems in order to make our production look more professional and interesting.
• I brought in his my lights and laser systems to add to the production value of the performance shooting (we wanted to use our smoke machine but weren't allowed due to the smoke alarms in school)
• It was also successful because we did it during the half-term holidays, allowing us as much time as we wanted and no interruptions.
• We had a lot of help from people not in our group (Jack - drums, Matt - guitar and Dan - lighting and general help). All these people also brought helpful equipment like Matt's guitar and amplifier as well as Jack bringing his drumkit
• Good quality instruments made us look like an actual band and not like cheap copycats, even if we weren't actually producing the song ourselves.
• Multiple performances which meant that we were able to get as many shots as possible as well as to allow us to get to know the song properly and get comfortable with it. This also meant that we have a lot of footage which can only serve to assist us in the final production of our music video.
• Great song to perform as the lyrics are easy to understand and hear, meaning it was easy to perform to, as well as the music being quite audible, allowing Matt and Jack to improvise the music but still make it look and sound as if we were actually the ones performing the song, which will be very helpful for our actual video.
• Jack and Matt both wore white and I (lead-singer) wore a different colour which actually looked quite effective and made me stand out as the key performer, which is quite conventional generally in Indie-rock music videos.

This shoot would have been improved if:

• We planned all the different angles and shots we wanted of each band member or the band as a whole before we started, instead of just putting the camera in loads of different places and improvising a lot in movement and shot types.
• We had one more person to assist us, as when we were getting the high angle shots, I had to hold the ladder still for Dan so therefore James had to run to turn on the music and get back into position as quickly as he could.
• We had charged the camera instead of having to run it on mains which made the lead get in the way of the dolly, inadvertently interrupting our performance at one point.
• Would have been better if we had planned the lighting sequences before actually filming as only decided to start playing around with the lighting after we had already done about 10 performances of the song.
• Had the music playing louder from the beginning as sometimes it was a little too quiet for Jack on drums to copy it as he couldn't hear it too well over the noise from the drums that he was playing, meaning that occasionally he was a bit too fast or a little behind the actual music.
• We briefed Jack better before the shoot, as there are times when he is playing a different drum beat or rhythm to the track, or playing the symbol when there is no symbol in the track. This will make editing very difficult, and we may have to add synthesized drum beats onto the track to make the video seem more realistic.