Filming

Date:
Time: 11:00am - 3:30am
Locations: Ware highstreet, Priory Park, Tudor Square
costumes: 70's Disco and Spanish Salsa

We were originally going to film the project 'Upstaged' over two days, but we ended up having enough time to film it all on the same morning which was better than we had planned. It meant that we had more time for editing and so on.

For the earlier parts of filming, it was tough trying to find a secluded spot in order to film the 'solo' scenes. These included the x-factor type shots and the dancing across the square. As we were doing this we realised how many shots we actually needed, and how much time it was going to cut and stitch them together at the right spot, with music and voiceovers. It seems quite daunting.

Whilst we were filming one of the whip pan's, a pair of rough looking gentlemen in a workers van thought it a good plan of action to verbally abuse us. So we filmed them. There is no law against filming the general public, so long as it isn't secretive and they don't object. They didn't object so we were able to film and make use of there befuddled expressions as a reaction shot. This shot will go to the lines 'I get looks from everybody!' We agreed that this will work well, and so it will be, hopefully, edited into the final cut

The sequences filmed dancing down the street were probably the easiest as they the less choreographed they were, the better. It fits the genre of comedy more if nither of us have the slightest idea of how to dance, which is very fitting as in reality we haven't got a sense of rythm either. We had some trouble with the camera angles, but nothing beyond irritating. There were lots of shop signs and cars parked on the curb, so it was tricky to get a 'blank' piece of pavement to strut along.

The weather was the major problem. With the drizzly sky and grey overcast, it meant that the was a danger that the camera lens could mist over from the inside, or if it rained then that really would have stopped us filimg. To prevent this we cut 2 holes in a plastic Texxco bag, and cellotaped it over the camera to keep it dry.

With the filming outside the lighting levels were uncontrollable, and so we had to minimize the amount of shots with a low angle point of view. This is because when faced against a pure grey sky, the character in shot will be a very dark sillouhette against the clouds. There was one shot that was essential to be filmed from this angle, and so we had to make do. We will be able to edit this to an estned in Adobe Premier Pro, so we have high hopes that we can fix the darkness, if not make the character at least more visible.

The main camera angle that I think worked well was when Jimmy Jazz walks past and is shown from the perspective of the dance poster. He then approaches it and rads off it's front. This worked to our advantage, and with the dance poster (curtesy of Alex Frances) the shot eventually worked well.

When we were filming in the park we were very fortunate as the area was completely free of other pedestrians, so we weren't creating a hassel for any parents or children. We were able to film the scenes freely without distracting anyone, or being distracted.

If we could have changed anything about the day we would have put more thought into Sam's costume. We were so focused on our own line of work that we forgot to work through certain aspects together. The day in general was a bit too unplanned, and so this was a good reminder to be more prepared in the future.

Apart from being unorganised n certain areas I think the filming went well as it was our first attempt at doing so. The voiceovers and such will be a bit tricky to pull off as none of us know where to start, but I'm confident that we can get them recorded and edited in with enough time.