Meeting – 25/03/2013
What I did
I have arranged to make a music video for a local artist. Today I had the first meeting with the artist “Icey Stanley”, we discussed in lengthy detail about what we wanted from the video and how it would be relevant and fit into modern culture.
The meeting was a fairly standard and nothing special happened, but this is something I have never done before so to be honest I was completely out of my comfort zone. Stanley is an old friend so we started to meeting by just talking about things and we weren’t getting any work done, so there came a point where I decided to put our friendship aside and talk as professionals and get some work done.
After this meeting I had a really good understanding of what he wanted from the music video and we were able to discuss some good ideas for me to be able to go away and plan the following day.
What I learned from the Process
Since this was my first ever business meeting, there was a lot for me to learn. I learned how to properly talk to a client and take notes about good ideas we had as well as being confident enough to share my ideas and say where I don’t think something would work very well in order to give them a clear understanding of what it is I would be producing for them.
I learned that you can not leave a meeting until both parties have a great understanding of what the work that will be produced is going to be like. For example it would have been easy for me to take some notes and leave, but I had to go through everything with him twice in order to make sure we were on the same level, making the rest of the production process flow a lot easier.
Planning – 26/03/2013
What I did
The day after the meeting I got working on a plan, I mocked up some story boards of how the video is going to play out and made a shot list and shooting schedule. I discussed with Stanley when the possible dates we could film were in relation to his schedule, I then found a suitable date within the dates he had given me in which we could use the two locations. We were going to shoot the scenes in the first location, the house, on the 18th of April, and we were going to shoot the remaining scenes, in the studio, on the 10th of May. I also had to recruit a small crew to hep me on the shoots. I acquired Dan Biddle, James McCaughley and Joe Jepps to help me with the shoots.
I also had a list of things to research for the video. The first thing I had to research was Stanley’s musical and visual influences, and see if I could find a way to implement their styles into the video. Luckily a lot of the videos already had the same kind of style that we had planned to use. The next thing I had to research was how to shoot a music video, as I had not done it before. It seemed like something that I could do once I had found a few tips and tricks to ease the process.
A screen shot from the video. This was the result of planning and figuring out what we wanted this to look like.
What I learned from the Process
This was probably the most producing that I have ever done, and even though I can do the work really well and it doesn’t bother me doing it, I wouldn’t say this is where my future lies. Producing just seems like a boring job that has to be done before you can get to the fun parts for me. A lot of people genuinely really enjoy the producing side of film making, and that’s just fine, but I really don’t think it is for me. I am at my best and happiest when I am writing and directing, it just comes naturally to me and I love it. Although I have learned that producing isn’t really for me, I have also learned that I can do a pretty damn good job of it, and if needs be in the future I will be able to do it.
Shooting – 18/04/2013
What I did
The first shoot was in a house and was the first time I was working with my crew, before we started we had a quick meeting with everyone about what we’re going to shoot in what order and what I wanted from the shoot and how it should look, as well as running through some technicalities with some of the more complicated shots that we wanted to film. After this we were able to get straight to work.
I was working the main camera and directing Stanley and our other actress, where as James, Dan and Joe shared responsibilities with lighting, sound and the second camera.
What I learned from the Process
To be honest this wasn’t anything new to me, running through a meeting with the team and getting to work comes naturally now, I feel from past experience’s I know exactly what I am doing.
One thing I did learn from this experience was how to shoot a music video properly, as I had never done one before. It was in general terms a lot easier than shooting a short film because the style of video we were making included not a great deal of continuity. I have learned how to make things a lot easier when shooting music videos for future projects, such as having something to play the music to the artist when we are recording, so he is aware of time scales and what part of the song it is that we are recording made everything a lot easier, and would also make it a lot easier to sync up with the track when it comes to editing the video.
Shooting 10/05/2013
What I did
The second shoot was in a studio. This was a lot easier to plan in terms of what I wanted from it, as I knew where we were going and exactly what it looked like and what I needed to do to get the effects I was looking for. The set up was the same as last time to avoid confusion and to make the shoot go a lot easier, everyone was in the same roles they were doing before.
This part of the shoot felt even more organised than the last, and because of this we were able to get everything done a lot quicker, which gave us way more time after we had finished shooting everything we had planned to shoot on that day. Because of this we were given some freedom in additional shots, so I took a step back and gave only suggestions and directed Stanley on what to do, and let the others take a bit more control so they also had worthwhile input into the project, and a lot of the stuff they shot was great! It will all be used in the final edit.
A photo of the crew after the final day of shooting.
What I learned from the Process
From this process I have learned that planning really is key, we absolutely flew through all of this work and didn’t run into a single problem, this was down to great planning and great communication as well as a connection between the group, we all knew exactly what we were doing and didn’t need to mess around, we had everything under control.
I also learned the value of a competent crew. I feel as if sometimes there is a certain amount of angst within crews, as a lot of the time they also have aspirations to go further and become recognised directors or director of photography’s etc, so giving them the chance to put a bit more into the work made me feel as if it boosted the team’s happiness. It would have been easy to let them just do all the jobs that I didn’t want to do, but using their skills as well as mine to make the project better and give them a big contribution is always a good thing.
Editing – 11/05/2013
What I did
After the shoot, I put all the footage into my editing programme and made a rough cut, purely for the benefit of giving Stanley something to look at and make sure he was happy with the direction I was taking the video. After showing him the cut I had thrown together and the rushes, he was over all happy about the project, but we managed to work some things out that he wanted from the video and I am going to implement them into the final edit, which is still on going.
What I learned from the Process
What I learned from this is, that a client can never be too happy. I could have easily just sat down on my own and made a product that I am happy with and submitted it as finished, only to find that the client didn’t like it, forcing me to go back and re-edit the whole thing. Just a small and simple task allowed me to understand more of what he wanted from the video and I was able to adjust my work to this before I had done too much.
Peer Assessment
James McCaughley [Assistant Director, Camera Operator]:
“Thomas was (as usual) a pleasure to work with. He was well organized, hard working and had a clear vision towards how the final product would look. He led this project well and kept the rest of the crew motivated and working at there best.”
Thomas Longstaff - Year 2 Blog 