Filming Session Two (19th October)

Location: Backstreets around Suffolk Lodge

Sequence: Second Chorus and Verse, plus Sections of Final Chorus

Today we returned to our friend Louise's house 'Suffolk Lodge' to continue filming, however today we used the streets around her house as our filming location. In the planning stage we decided some of our shots would consist of Sophie as the artist in the video walking down a street singing the song, walking to the beat of the music and getting more angry throughout the song, showing her change of personality and her journey to getting revenge on her boyfriend (even though we do not intend to show this as it could potentially be predictable and a bit of a cliche, so we will leave the video on a cliffhanger). The cold, wet and dirty looking street is contrast to the large house with the beautiful garden and symbolises the transition of the girl from vulnerable to a stonger, 'rockier' side. We decided to return to Louise's house to film the street scenes as she had informed us the streets near her were quiet with few cars or people to interrupt us in the afternoon time that we intended to film.

Arrival and Wall Dance Sequence When we arrived we walked a minute down the road from the house with the equipment to a quiet crossroad, we decided to film here as it meant we could film shots from different angles meaning a different side of the street was behind Sophie in each shot, creating the effect that she was walking to different locations without us actually having to (this saved a lot of time and avoided struggling to find multiple suitable locations). It was a great place to film as it was a crossroad on a back street/ housing area rather than a main road which would have been dangerous. On one of the roads leading off from the crossroad, there was a small street that came to a dead end and on it was a small section of a brick wall. In the planning stage we discussed filming some shots of Sophie singing against a wall as it is a easy shot to pull off but looks effective and suits the image of pop/rock song and the girl's stronger attitude. This was the first sequence we filmed today and is the scene placed to the second verse and chorus of the song. I filmed Sophie from the from the side leaning on the wall using a handheld close up shot, she then turned to look forward and I filmed her from the front with her back against the wall using a long shot. We will then place these two shots together to demonstrate our ability of placing shots together in sequence and making them flow, ensuring the continuity is correct (she turns in one shot and then it cuts to the direction she has turned to). Andrew and I continued to film in this location using mid-shots and long shots for the second chorus. Long shots allow the audience to see Sophie performing and moving to the music, showing her growing agression and anger and mid-shots give a closer view so you can see her emotions and that she is moving. We filmed these shots several times to make sure we had plenty of footage to choose from, we also had Sophie perform with and without a black coat on to experiment with different additions to her corset costume described in the previous session.

Handheld Walking Shot The next shot was a handheld shot filmed by Josh of Sophie walking down the street from the wall singing one of the final choruses near the end of the song. Although handheld can often be quite shaky the shot was filmed successfully. I aided Josh in saying that when Sophie moves forward he should move back so both of them move simultaneously. This would ensure the distance between them remained the same throughout the shot- which was a mid-shot. Obviously this would have been much easier with a track along the floor with the camera and tri-pod attached however we do not possess this technology so we had to make do with the handheld technique. These shots again add to the variety we already have and demonstrates our ability to create different angles and situations that link to the narratative and style of a music video.

Walking and Running Street Seqeunce The final shots we filmed were of Sophie walking and running down each of the streets in the crossroads which when cut between other shots will look like her progression down different streets. She progresses from walking to running as the song progresses to show her anger increasing. The running matches with the song becoming faster and building to climax. We first filmed her from a long shot perspective so the audience could see what was happening however we also filmed through a close up and mid- shot perspective because in the long shot you could not see her singing. In addition close ups allow emotion to be conveyed as well as creating a connection to the audience. Andrew and Josh filmed the long shots and I filmed the mid-shots. I found it particularly difficult to zoom out as she got closer smoothly as it kept jolting, particularly in the running shots as it had to be done quickly but in sync with Sophie running. Teamwork was crucial at this stage, whilst Sophie acted and some filmed the others were on traffic watch. This sequence took a long time because of interruptions from cars and pedestrians, meaning we had to keep restarting. Often we would be filming a really good shot and a car or in one case a large truck would turn into the street and the shot. However this is the nature of filming in a public location and we dealt with it effectively and kept carrying on. (Below is a collection of clips where Andrew filmed some of the shots being filmed whilst he was not filming... Remember the clips do not represent the shot types, angles and quality that will be present in the final video!)

During the walking and running shots we tried to experiment further with voyeurism by having Sophie remove her coat and corset as she walked or ran down the street in certain shots. This would show her anger and new found confidence coming to a conclusion and be appealing to a male audience. Furthermore, we also managed to film a great shot with Sophie walking in the rain but not singing and the rain is visible in the shot, this will be placed in the instrumental. The rain in certain shots really adds to the moody, darker and rockier image of the character and song. Overall another successful filming session which was frustrating at times because of the traffic interruptions which meant we spent a lot of time on one sequence but in all we still managed to film a lot of footage.