Shooting Diaries

The first location that we shot at Lewes train station. We found a good location close to the car park on a small raised platform to shoot some of our video. We had to get permission to use the station in our video, but this was not a problem and so we were able to shoot there. One major problem that we did have whilst we were shooting was the lighting. It was dark by the station as the station cast a shadow over our location. We were able to move to different areas in order to make the most of the light that came through, however this did limit the amount of time we were able to spend shooting there. Another issue that we had while shooting at the station was the volume of people and cars coming through. We were able to overcome this by making sure that we shot away from pathways and the entrance to the station. We did get some good close up shots while we were there and it provided an ideal location for shooting a close up of Lady Gaga's feet in platforms walking towards the camera. We then went to a small forest in Lewes to shoot some of the wolf and Lady Gaga shots. We were careful to make sure that we had similar weather so that would have good continuity in the lighting of shots. As it was a large open space the lighting was good and the shadows cast by the trees created an eerie atmosphere, which was exactly what we wanted. As the ground was uneven we had some trouble leveling the tripod but this was easily overcome and the shoot was a success as we were able to get shots of Lady Gaga and the wolf for the beginning of the music video. We also did a couple of shoots at Briony's house. This was for the beginning section of the video to show her getting ready to go out and falling into the music video. We also used it to film a few of the dance sequences. A problem that arose from this was that some of the shots we did there came out much to dark. We used a different camera for this shoot and so it wasn't able to capture low level light footage as well. This will mean that we will have to edit some of the shots on final cut in order to make sure the footage can be seen. As the camera wasn't able to capture footage so well in low level light it produced a movement trail when the actors moved. However, we found that this worked really well with our video and so we decided to use the footage instead of re-shoot. There was another small forest area in Lewes that we decided would be a good location for one of our dance shoots. It was down a small hill and so enabled us to try shots form a few different angles. I shot a few sitting at the top of the hill and then re-shot at the same level as the actors to see what different effects we could create by doing this. I feel that this was a successful shoot as we didn't come across any problems and the shooting went smoothly. We also shot in a park in Eastbourne in order to get the shots of Lady Gaga and the werewolf on a date. We waited until the lighting conditions matched those of the previous shoots to ensure clear continuity. It was important to get the set up of this shot correct so that it was clear they were on a date and we needed the shot to flow smoothly. This resulted in a few takes to ensure that the shot looked how we wanted it too look. The close up shots took a while to perfect. We wanted a few different close up shots. This is because Lady Gaga often has close up shots of lips, eyes or full facial shots. We wanted to use them to intercut our video in a similar style to Lady Gaga's own videos. It was hard to get a shot that was from the right distance. We had a few that were too close or too far away, but we continued until we got the perfect shots. I contributed to the filming of the music video by helping to compose the shots and with the mise-en-scene. I also filmed and directed shots. We all took it in turn to do these jobs so that we each got a go at doing everything required to make a music video.