Filming Journal

Day 1: Saturday the 5th November 2016

Today we filmed the first part part of our music video at location 1 (Summers bedroom). Unfortunately the weather was not on our side as the sky was grey and dull with weather reports informing us that there would be a continuous downpour of rain throughout the day.

Imogen and I arrived at Summers house at 08:05 am. However, our actress Summer was not ready so we decided to make the most of our time by setting up the filming equipment.

Once Summer was ready we went through the lyrics of our chosen song 'Set Sail' to make sure she was confident with her lip syncing skills. Even though Summer knew all the words to the song we thought it would be a good idea to hold the lyrics up against the camera in case she forgets them. The trick to getting lip syncing on time is to sing out loud. Summer was a bit nervous with the idea of her singing alone so my partner and I decided to sing along with her as we are planning on editing out all the audio during post production.

We tried sticking to our shot list as much as possible however once we started filming we realised there wouldn't be enough footage to put into our music so we filmed extra head shots of Summer looking directly at the camera for potential fillers in our music video. 

As our actress Summer started to loose concentration after the first hour of filming we decided to have a shot 15 minute break to regain our energy. During the 15 minute break Imogen and I stuck photographs onto the wall. I originally thought the photographs would be a clever connecting prop of the couple. However, once they were on the wall they looked out of place with the mise-en-scene.


Day 2: Sunday 6th November 2016

My partner Imogen, actor Fraser and I arrived at Marlow train station half an hour before the train approaches the station to allow us time to get organised with setting up the filming equipment. Everything was going to plan until we spotted a woman who had previously collapsed on the platform with a paramedic. Out of courtesy we decided plan a different day to film Fraser boarding the train.

As we were unable to film on the train station platform we thought we'd make the most of our time with our actor, so we decided to film Fraser walking towards the train station.

Day 3: Tuesday 8th November 2016

 As filming was rescheduled last minute I was unable to turn up due to my contracted work hours. However, my partner Imogen was more than happy to film on her own as she knew exactly what to do from looking at the filming schedule I had previously made.

As the terms and conditions set by GWR were to avoid filming during peak time my partner Imogen decided to pick the 4:30 pm train. The only problem Imogen faced when filming at this time was that the lighting had changed drastically from the previous filming date. Unfortunately, as Imogen arrived at the train station the train was already at the platform. Which meant she couldn't film the train arriving.

Imogen and Fraser managed to get a carriage with six available seats so they had plenty of space to set up the filming equipment. Whilst Imogen was doing test shots of Fraser looking out the train window, Imogen said the ticket man asked if they had a licence to film. In response to the question Imogen showed our schools public liability insurance and permission to film email from James.

When filming Fraser Imogen had to be super quick and prepared as they were getting off at the next station, Bourne End. As there is a change over at Bourne End it allowed her extra time in filming him getting on and off the train.

Day 4: Saturday 12th November 2016

Imogen drove Summer and I to our final location, Higginson park. Due to traffic we arrived half an hour later than we had originally planned for so we texted our actor Fraser to let him know that we're behind schedule.

Filming our actress Summer was very challenging and time consuming as we faced many interference's such as change of weather, lighting and the public. As we were outside Summer wasn't confident with lip syncing so we decided to find an empty area of the park to film her. However, the majority of the shots we captured, Summer was either out of sync or wasn't looking directly at the camera. In the end we decided to focus on getting the establishing shots and Fraser's part done for the day, so we could then film Summer on another day at a location she feels more comfortable at.