Day 3: Thursday 04/03/2010
Heidi and i planned to experiment further with props today, so last night after work i managed to get some beautiful white tulips but sadly no roses as all the nice ones had been bought up and bruised ones were left! White tulips would have to do for the day experimenting. We hoped the flowers would add another dimension to the concept of melancholy especially roses as they are associated with love. We want to over lap them and fade them with other footage such as the letters ultimately. Unfortunately the tulips would not absorb the ink as they were very waxy and the ink ran off them in droplets. The ink dripping like this however worked with the ash and setting we created.
We started questioning what would this look like in reverse i.e. the ink running back up from the flowers; the flowers being put back together and everything sped up???
Below is an experimental clip:
We planned also today to shoot the section of the character in the sand dunes starting in the large black dress number 1. The aim was to have Heidi capture footage of me from many angles including above an
d circling me in the sand dunes. Metaphorically this shows the character at her lowest saddest point and the shot from above makes me as the model look small how the character would be feeling. The next sequence involved me rising out of this heavy weighted long black dress emerging in the short dominatrix corseted one with lace up stockings evoking a little more power that the designer has., yet in a melancholic way, not a tacky one. (When reviewing the footage however section of this footage didn't work as we caught snap shots of bra straps padding and tags flying around from the out fit, things we could not see inside whilst styling that blew around and were apparent in the elements. The footage was not professional enough.)The shots below me worked beautifully to capture the layers of the fabric. The net covered the lens from this angle which looked 'avante-guard' and evoked the feeling of Marko's editorials. We want to re-shoot the white dress from below with the white net filling the lens. By chance the ripped letters thrown, landed on the net and looked interesting and original, which was another 'happy mistake.'
Below is a section of this happy mistake:
Heidi's filming technique had improved by now she was a lot faster with the camera when shooting me which meant we could get more done with multiple re tries. I myself had relaxed a little and as we had planned what to do each day i knew exactly what we wanted to capture on film and tried to get as close to it a possible. The more we did the more we could see the outcome in our heads!
Day 4: Friday 05/03/2010
Yesterday night i was able to get roses after work that were not to battered and several of them so we could have a few goes at destroying and inking them on film. We returned to our location on the sand dunes where we had played with tulips and ink and lighting letters to experiment with fabric and roses. The set we had created from BBQ remains of wood and ash had not been touched. We repeated what we had done the day before with the roses dripping ink and pulling them apart
The goal today was to re shoot the white dress on the beach so we started this first thing at 8.30 am to capture the same atmospheric conditions as the tiny sections of film we could use from yesterday. I was pleased to find the weather a lot more bearable than yesterday the conditions we appropriate for our film first thing yet the wind was not to strong that it would ruin the styling. Tiny sections of yesterday could be used that were not seen today like the wind blowing the sand across the beach and the intensity of the clouds. I used the tripod today to get some smooth panoramic landscape visuals on the camera it was tricky to get the tripod straight on the sand, getting sky lines straight is something i often find difficult in my own personal work. It was important we got the smoothness with the tripod as it added another quality to the film that was professional. (note to self get a small spirit level for cameras!) We found a strong potential ending shot at this time in the morning with the wind blowing lightly and the fabric on the dress moving, plus the atmospheric clouds it all found the feeling of peace and closure that the character is going through.
Below is a bit of footage toady we got of our location with the 'perfect' clouds and coastline to give off a true romantic, melancholic feeling:
We want tomorrow to be our last filming day, due to the fact our money is drying up to get here and we are so close to seeing the film finished as closely to our story board as we can get. We wanted to get all the fiddly bits filmed today that needed re shooting and concentrate on perfect the sell of Marko's clothes in the last day. We didn't want to end up with to much abstract prop films over clothing. We experimented dropping ink onto the flowers with a paint brush from above, we had to be careful to make sure the sun light when it did come out was not in the shot we had to sit close together to block the light out. By the focus on the letters themselves it visually looks like tears falling on the letters (which is exactly what we was aiming for.)
The written ink began to run, but using this as our 'ink runing off the letters' shot was not powerful enough. Being early with the tide out, little pools are created in the sand. They were located with chanels of water, looking like veins in the sand which allow water to step through them to the sea and with the current the ink ran beautifully across the surface of the letters. It created an overlapping effect that was not staged and looked dynamic and original, it was powerful footage-similar to Markos' actual promo. which featured ink running from the mouth of a model, and an editorial done with his clothing. We let the camera roll for a long time while as every moment the water did something new to the ink. It was amazing to watch we got side tracked and had to run as the tide was coming in!!! This footage is a definite scene for our film. Below is a tiny section of the twenty minutes filming we got today for this scene, we got so much footage as it was ever changing and the ink was creating new shapes evey time new water trickled through:
During the evening we realised it was important to make a list of what scenes were needed to be done, and produce a new storyboard as unexpected moments happened; for example the fire footage on the beach. New places have been discovered and as we have been filming our idea has been expanding, getting more creative, and the storyboard needs to be adapted to this and problems we have faced over the last few days with weather conditions needs to be considered. We need to establish all the links between the scenes to visualise the final film, and ensure they are all filmed tomorrow.
'To do list:'
· Re-shoot the long black dress in the sand dunes, when the letters are being thrown: there is giggling on the film, therefore a re-shoot is required looking fierce and more melancholic
· Film the letters burning in our 'new set' avoiding shadows which look unprofessional and make the footage invalid
· Film the little black dress emerging from the net
· Close-up fashion shots
· Close-up of blinking eyes
·
Day 5: Saturday 06-03-10
When driving down to Camber I noticed the amazing cloud formation at 7am, the clouds were gloomy and overcast and we knew this was key footage to get fast before the clouds changed, it was stunning. Therefore whilst I was driving Heidi filmed on my camera phone the sky. We felt it looked beautiful as it has movement of the traveling car as well as the stunning clouds. It was not part of our storyboard but will definitely be used in our film.
Below is the footage we took of the clouds:
What do you mean we need a permit??!!!
Today we encountered an unforeseen problem in that the Coastal Officer Robert class of Rother District Council came up to us and asked for permit? We had no idea what he was talking about as Uni had not mentioned it and we had not even considered it. Lesson learnt, for any future project-that a permit is required for health and safety when filming in a public place.
Being students we did not have to pay a fee, and luckily was let off as long as our footage was not to be used for commercial use to make money otherwise the cost would have amounted to £800 plus to produce our film. To add a another problem to the equation, my poor car had an injury, whilst driving at Camber at half 7am today I had to drive through a huge pot hole with no space to move either side. My options were ditch pot hole of big huge speeding oncoming lorry, so i chose pot hole resulting in a lost hub-cab and a very bent wheels axis :( the wheel was luckily not punctured so getting home was okay.
Day 5: Saturday 06/03/2010
Today was hopefully our last filming day, and with our list we were detirmined to finish the filming. Having shot the white dress successfully yesterday, the two black outfits remained. In the morning we re-shot the black dress and added footage 'off-the-cuff' of the outfit on the beach away from the sand dunes capturing the moment we had yesterday in the white dress. We aim to have the composition and framing exact to what it was yesterday, to have a cut point and jump from black to white in the same pose. We were lucky the clouds and weather allowed this, as it remained overcast most of the day.
We then filmed on the beach to give the same background setting up-close of myself blinking my eyes, as a visual devide to show a transition from one scene to the next, it worked as a 5 second moment that will be crucial in our final film. For this the make-up had to be perfect. We decided that i would perfect my make up at home as i was well practiced in exactly how to do it now. I Dried my eyeliner and eyelash glue with the hair dryer and the drive to camber left time for it to set even further, meaning there was a smaller chance of eyelash issues during the day.
This was the first time we shot the little black dress emerging from the net. We needed two amazing shots with the heels coming out from the net as it drops, then the camera traveling to capture details of the clothing and look in one portraiture style footage. These were key scenes as this particular outfit was extremely close to the work of our designer, down to the ridiculously high shoes, lace dress, corseted shape with the hips extenuated and the lace-up the front black tight leggings. It was successfully done first time, due to a combination of factors that it was our last day filming and both Heidi and myself by today were physically drained and i found myself getting increasingly annoyed with the continuous cold, this did however put natural attitude in the filming. I managed to get the mood and strong, domineering side of Markos clothing yet still keeping a softness and melancholic edge that worked on camera. The headpieces, despite taking good care of it had been beaten by the wind, and naturally formed antler shapes-perfect replica to our designer who uses this shape in his hairstyles when promoting his collection.
Our final scene of the day was a re-shoot of burning the letters, but this time with our designers business card in the composition, we kept the filming tight and in sharp focus which looks stunning with the vibrant flames acting as a collage over the letters-with our designer visually in the frame it had impact as footage for a promo for his work. The composition was carefully thought about and with all the elements in frame, e.g. the inked rose, it brought all our footage together to make a solid concept. Below are some stills from this footage to show the difference between this footage and the staged fire scene (shown on Day 1):
The continuous day of filming had paid off, as when looking through the footage today we have captured Marko's vision and promoted his work in a dynamic and visual way inspired by our melancholic setting and mood!!
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