Evaluation of shoot day

The day before the shoot me, Gabriel and Carla were able to move our set in at about 3 o'clock when the group who were shooting that day moved out. We have to move the steel deck from the theatre to the studio, that we were using for the runway, into the studio which was surprisingly extremely heavy. We also had to paint it! so we had absolutely no time to sit back and relax, but we were so excited because we love to do practical activities. Painting the steel deck was the last thing on our list to do as we had to set up the lights and clothing rail before we got something as dangerous as paint out. The group before us had also used the board that we intended to use, but they used wallpaper that they had stapled on so we had to pick them out before we could sand paper down the walls and paint over. After finishing these tasks, we had a quick talk with George about lights and he tried some colour washes for us. We made sure all the props we had were in the studio and tidy so that when we came in the next day we were ready to go so that we didn't have faff around the next day.

I was excited when i woke up on the shoot day, i had so much adrenaline to just get in and do it that nerves weren't on my mind. We knew we had everything ready... the only thing that could go wrong was is if the girls didn't bring in the outfits they asked them too. Which they did do so we were so so happy!! Before we could start the shoot i had to run to Loz (the wardrobe mistress) and ask for some props she had promised to get (pillows, bubbles, glitter) she had obviously got them all because she's a star! i went back to the shoot and picked out the first outfits for each of the girls for the first set. Then we set up a make-up station outside the studio where me and carla got the girls looking fabulous. We had a quick rehearsal of the choreography that we had made or the girls to do on the runway which chimed with the lyrics of the song; and also to shake any of the nerves they might have had out of them. George was spot on with the lighting so we didn't need him to do any different. Luke and me set up the camera and we were ready to shoot!

The picture on the left shows what the studio looked like when we started to film. We had a haze machine which was perfect for getting the studio to look like a real pop music video. The bright lights that we chose worked great as they made the crisp black and white costumes and set pop on camera; it also made the girls look beautiful. 

I think we all had very equal roles to play on the shoot, each as important as the other. We all did each other jobs as well because there was so much going on. We all had to motivate the cast and keep them happy, film, playback the song, sort out each set and every transition. My job on the set was to make sure the girls had each outfit sorted for each different set. That the props were on stage when i knew they were needed and also to get the sets ready when we were doing change overs.  Me and Gabs also took turns on the camera. And taking stills for our blogs.

What went really well on the day i think was the last minute ideas that turned out to be gold dust. Like when we decided to film shots of the girls in silhouettes in front of the coloured backgrounds with a wind machine blowing at them which looks amazing on camera; especially because all the girls we picked were dancers so they moved really well.

A big problem we had on the shoot was that we ran out of time very quickly, purely because we has so much to do! So it would've been better if we had strictly stuck to our schedule but to be honest i don't think that would have ever happened as you always come up with new ideas on the spot. Also the sets with the coloured backgrounds, you could see the seam where to fabric joined in the middle which was getting on all of our nerves but we managed to slightly mask it with lights so hopefully it won't come up on the rushes as it would look extremely amateur. 

I think the rollerskating was the most successful as we were able to get close up feet shots which looked so good along with the fast pace track! and also Hannah is just so talented so she gave so much to the camera which made our job very easy.

I wish we had been able to have more time as i am sure there were more shots we wanted to as we were coming up with more and more on the spot. But we needed to let the other group move there set into the studio so there just wasn't time. Also i wish Maria had sung louder to make the lip-synch more real and to pump up the rest of the cast for the dance breaks- but i guess that was all down to rehearsals and we didn't do enough. But the cast were very happy throughout the shoot as they all have things to do and when they were sitting down they had snacks so they had a five star experience. 

What i enjoyed most about the shoot was probably setting up the different sets then looking at them on camera with the lights and the talents and seeing what we had created, it was very exciting. Also just watching the girls perform because they were just so fab.

Im looking forward most to in the editing seeing the slow motion shots that we did with some of the girls doing hair flicks and body ripples so it'll be fun to see how they came out and how exactly we can use them.

My team worked great together like i knew we would, we get on so well and we all had our own parts to play so it wasn't like anyone was left out. 

From the shoot i defiantly learned that rehearsals and preparation is key! as it saves so much time and it means as soon as you come in on the shoot day you can just get straight to it instead of getting everything and everyone ready on the spot.

As we made some new decisions with lighting and things on the day we might need to make some changes to our digipak and website, maybe to make it a bit brighter with colour as our video is very light and poppy due to colour scheme, where as our digipak and website is mostly black so we have some adjusting to do.