Final Shoot

After our first shoot was completed there were multiple things that needed fixing and improving upon in our next one.

To begin with, it had been a long time since we had used DSLR's when we took them out for the first shoot, and we wasted valuable time trying to remember where all the controls were and what all the right settings were for shooting in a studio. This time around we were able to set up the cameras a lot more quickly. We also changed the positioning of the table where the objects lay and incorporated the use of the step ladder which made it a lot easier when trying to film our birds eye view as we could place the camera further back and still keep it high up. 

We also spent a lot more time making sure we had as few shadows as possible in the shots this time, and to do this we were able to move the birds eye view camera further back to prevent this. This meant that instead of being positioned in front of the lights like last time we were able to pull it back a bit more, so it was less in the way of the lights and so the only shadows that were cast were from the actors themselves.

This did then raise another issue of the shadows of the actors on the white background, so we used softbox lighting which really helped.

This time around we decided to incorporate more actions into our film. 

When the actors arrived we talked them through our prepared list of actions we wanted to take place, and where we wanted them to place the items. Item placement was quite an important aspect of our work, and we worked hard to ensure that our shot was relatively balanced and we fit everything into the frame as much as possible. We made a conscious decision to leave the old fashioned phone in the frame through the whole piece as a nice little bit of consistency and a reminder that we still use some old fashioned technologies today. 

We had several practice run throughs of the piece before we began rolling to help the actors become familiar with the order of things. Once they began to get the hang of it, we started to film.

We did several takes, the first one or two we still had to edit where we were placing the items as the actors of course cannot see what is in the frame. We had place masking tape around the edge but it was only helpful in regards to what wouldn't be seen on camera, not how an item would look when it was in the frame.

 Once they got the hang of that we played around with timings, and how long each segment should last. We did multiple takes of different lengths, seeing what would work best.