Research for Music Video... The Trip; Test shots of performer & locations!

What a long and hard day it's been but at least now we know exactly where we are filming. This Wednesday has been a massively productive day towards our project. It started at around 13:00 when we all met up just outside college and took the bus straight to Camden Town. This is going to be one of our main filming locations. We just want some random shots of passers by and the atmosphere of the area fits in with our dark theme. As it turns out not only did Camden Town provide us with inspiration for our filming location we also went to a costume shop where we bought our 'angel' some wings, a clothes shop where we were provided with the costume - the black dress we were looking for, and for lunch some very nice Chewits whilst we related on a chat of childhood memories of how we used to love these sweets! Cucumbers (that Erika had taken care of before leaving the house) and Chinese chicken - others settled for KFC. We'd decided we will do a few shots in front of Camden Lock so that everyone can clearly see the location and find it easy to familiarise with the idea of where the video will be carried out and maybe try to guess the genre/idea. We were also really interested in doing some shots for water reflections which we found a beautiful location for - The Camden Canal. Valeza also tried on the dress to make sure that it fits and that she is comfortable to wear it for the video, the shop assistant also helped us out with giving us an idea that we could put some ribbon around it, which will make the dress look more curvy and pretty. In the end we'd decided that it was the right choice and moved on to our next location.

We were going to the skate park on south bank. It was great! Along the way we enjoyed some lunch and once there we bumped into a lot of interesting figures, Mickey mouse, Chucky, two silver people, and a young musician who lured us in to sing us romantic songs in exchange for money. How flattering. Once at the skate park we took lots of pictures to experiment with the angles that we could use in our actual music video. The idea of the shot is deeply thoughtful, we wanted to have the angel with the wings sit in the middle of the skater space and have them circle around her without even noticing the fact she exists, we ran that as a practice today, just taking pictures to see what will come of our idea and whether the bikers etc would complain, turns out not. In fact, they did a few jumps and flicks for us to show off - we hadn't even asked yet!

As we walked past some very beautiful sights, the London Eye, The London Sea-life, Valeza couldn't help but hug the giant penguin. I have to apologise for the blurriness of this photograph, it turns out when you get a new DSLR it's probably best to read the manual so the know that that round thingy that you were playing with not really knowing what it does... for future reference, it's most likely the focus. We were travelling down to Big Ben. The reason for this was that we wanted to use the sundial for one of our shots, when we got there, it was such a pleasant place to film and we'd been inspired to come up with so many ideas that we decided we were going to use the sundial as our base track shot. The idea behind this was that we were looking for a beautiful location to release our bird. No, no, don't worry, I know what you're thinking. The bird plays a major part in our video, the song is about falling and being trapped in something that isn't for you. We will have re-occurring shots within the video of the bird being trapped in it's cage (it's ok, I have a cage... It's just the birds that may take a while to get hold of, no worries I'm not going hunting, actually I'm pretty sure that's even illegal, I will purchase the bird). Towards the end of the video as we symbolise the main singer detaching herself with whatever is taking hold of her, we will release the bird into the sky to fly. (I may also have to buy a net to catch it so that it doesn't fly into the wild and die because of the cold winds). I know.. imagination running wild, perhaps not always such a good thing?

Here is an example of the close up releasing the bird. Unfortunately, today, it was hard catching pigeons - we didn't have any bread (seriously, just kidding) so we left it up to our imaginations. Whilst my camera skills in this shot aren't exactly perfect that just remind me that it's a good thing we went out today and got some practice. Whist reflecting upon today, I think that maybe the this angle of the shot may not be the best to have, whilst it is so beautiful live, I don't think it lives up to what it should look like, looking now at the shot, remembering that on the other side there is a church which is much more linked to our theme of love and attachment that maybe for the mise en scene it would be more relevant for our project. Also with it being such a peaceful shot and possibly even our last - closing shot, I think the quietness to the atmosphere is extremely important whilst the video is coming to a conclusion, so is the song, so we don't exactly want traffic in the background.

TIP! DO NOT EAT BANANA'S IN CENTRAL LONDON. THERE ARE NO BINS FOR THE SKIN!
As ridiculous as it may seem, I am willing to argue that this is a danger hazard. Even having asked a police officer where I could find a bin, he PRESUMED there would be one near Tesco's which was completely out of our way. So for the next 10mins I had been walking around with a banana skin in my hand until it started falling into pieces and Stav may or may not have slipped on it, as she lost her balance (but luckily never reached the floor). Whist it was incredibly funny, it was brought to my attention that one of the banana skin parts was missing and that was probably the mysterious case that explained the events. Shortly after, we moved on to our next location. 'Dalston Eastern Curve Garden'. We had planned to see out little wall man for a few weeks now, and I am pleased to say that our efforts did us justice. It was lucky that we went to see the location, as some of the shots that we had been planning would be impossible to film as there is something along the lines of a vegetable patch in front of it. Nevertheless, we put our thinking caps on and looked for a solution to our disappointment trying out different shots to see if we can work with the place. We also met the very nice people who own it or work there, had a little chat - what pleasant people they are - and let them know that we'll be e-mailing them for permission soon (if Jess hasn't already done so).

The high angle shot seemed to work best and that is the one that I have included on the blog. The wood near which Valeza was, was a little bit damp so sitting on it may have not been such a good idea (mental note: when going there to film, make sure to bring a blanket of just something small to sit on, also make sure Valeza's head is looking down - just for a more effective shot - how the little man is looking over the angel). We also decided to try out a few shots with the wings on. This proved itself also a difficulty as one of the wing straps broke within the first 2mins (we assisted to this with a hair clip) and shortly after realised that we attached the wings upside down, so went through the process again - all of which was very hilarious. At around half past six, we took all our stuff and decided to head home. Eventful, yet productive and fun day.