I made my first attempt at shooting the big dance routine that will feature in my music video. Here is a short preview of the footage showing my mistakes: (it takes a few seconds to load)
There were many errors I made that meant the footage was unusable, and that I have learnt from.
Error 1.. Colour
The colour of the back wall that the routine was performed against was a light colour; cream. This was a major error that I made because of the dancers' costumes. I told the dancers to wear white tops; a big mistake. This would mean that the dancers' tops would dissappear when I went to edit the cream background, which is not the effect I wanted. Also, because the dancers' skin tone is a similar colour to the colour of the wall, it means they would dissappear too.
How to fix this..
In order to fix this, I need to use a background that uses a colour that isn't used within the costume, hair colour, makeup, or skin colour. A perfect place to shoot the routine on my next attempt would be the college green room, as green is not a colour used within costume etc.
Error 2.. Framing
The framing of the dance routine was difficult, as they're moving, they're not still. This meant that in my footage the dancers kept moving out of the frame, which meant I had to move the camera during the shot, making it look untidy and not smooth, and I was capturing parts of the room that again were uneditable.
Also, the camera was not straight, it was unlevel. This meant that the picture was slanted, making it look unproffessional and messy.
How to fix this..
In order to get round this, I need to put the camera in shot, then mark out were the dancers can perform, with tape. This will prevent the dancers from moving out of frame and would make sure I wouldn't have to move the camera during the shot.
Error 3.. Background
The background in this part of the footage was a cream background, that had plugs, fire alarm buttons, big brown doors at either side, stained glass windows, and blue curtains. This meant that the background was not able to be edited as it wasn't plain. Also, it meant if I was capturing a good shot that was usable, and then the dancers moved out of the frame, the camera had to be moved and I ended up getting parts of the background; like the windows and curtains, which ruined the shots and made them unusable.
Also, the wooden floor meant I couldn't edit the background either. It didn't match the colour of the background, and had too much detail, preventing me from editing it.
How to fix this..
I could fix this by again, a change in location. I need to use somewhere that uses a totally plain background; no doors, no windows or curtains, no plugs, and the floor needs to match the colour of the background. Again, I could use the green room as it is suitable to work with, and edit.
My intentions for the dance routine to begin with, were to film it in the college theatre, against a totally plain black background. This would allow me to get a wide variety of shots, as well as give me the opportunity to use the lights for special effects. It would also allow me to use the CD player so that the dancers were able to use the music in order to keep in perfect time. I wanted to use my main artist, as the main dancer, and then use six other back up dancers. During the half term holidays I was only able to use the theatre on a thursday, which to start with was perfect. Until my dancers began coming up with exuses and reasons for not being able to make it that day. This meant my beginning intentions were just not going to happen. I ended up cancelling my theatre use because I didn't have enough dancers. I then thought it would be easier to use a venue that was closer to home, encouraging more people to take part in my video. I booked the village hall in Welwick, and had all the chairs and tables cleared inside in order for the dancers to perform properly. I sent a reminder to all my six dancers the night before we were due to shoot, and three of them, again, made an excuse for not turning up. I ended up shooting my video in a local village hall, with three dancers (nothing like how I intended).
CAST LIST:
Becki McKinley
Sophy Wardman
Laura Derbyshire
Stacey Hartly
Next time...
I will shoot the dance routine in the green room at college, with 5 background dancers, a long with the main artist. Because of the size of the green room, it means that I cannot have all dancers performing at the same time. I came up with the idea of videoing the first three dancers at one time, then filming another two, and then the artist on her own, seperately. I will then super impose each clip on to the other so that the artist is at the front. In editing, this is called double exposure. I will dress the dancers in all black so that they're all uniform, but dress the artist differently to make her stand out.
I tried this idea with another video to whether it would work, and it did.
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