Shoot Three

Date: 04/03/2014
Actors: Sam Potter, Jonny Brown
Equipment: Video Camera, Tripod, DSLR Camera
Props: Fake drugs, Money, E-Cig, Phone, Bag 
Shots: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 34, 35, 36, 37, 

The third shoot covered some gaps which were missing in the first and second shoots as we did not have time to do them. In preparation for the shoot, I had told both of the actors that they need to stay in the same clothes that they came in the first shoot. In addition to this, I told Jonny that he needed to bring an E-Cig as I knew that he was trying to quit smoking at the time. The rest of the props were in my possession without any planning needed so everything was ready for the shoot once I borrowed the video camera. 

After assessing which shots from the storyboard needed filming on this date, I proceeded to film them in the order they would feature in the video.  This started with shot five which featured Jonny staring in the mirror at himself as a self-reflective shot. This was filmed in a darker setting so that it created an eery feeling to those watching the video; it was also shot without a tripod so that it had a creepy handheld camera feel to it (similar to Blair Witch Project). Shot six showed Jonny sat on the bed whilst smoking an E-Cig; this was used to mimic the appearance of a joint (marijuana cigarette). Initially I had planned on using a bong for this shot, yet I found it hard to acquire one and the E-Cig seemed like an appropriate substitute whilst maintaining the purposes of character development. 

After both of these shots were filmed, I brought out the prop of cut salt that I had used in previous shots to create the illusion of hard drugs. These were arranged into 'lines' which are often used as a way of taking cocaine from drug abusers and placed bags of the mixture around it to show the appearance of drug dealers. Shot seven showed an extreme close-up of this mixture to show that it was in his house and that he partakes in this drug abuse as well as the other main character who is shown snorting it in his own house in shot eight. I decided that this would be appropriate as a longer shot to reflect the brutality of taking these drugs and how it is not something which can be done to 'chill out'. We effectively showed this through the mise-en-scene where he had a lot of books surrounding him to reflect his stressed mentality. He also leaned back once it looked like he had taken in the line and drops the note after (through adrenaline). In terms of cinematography, the camera pans backward with him as he leans back; this is all performed in a dark setting to show the attitudes of both drug abusers.

Shot nine cuts to Sam sat in another room counting money as if he is almost ready to pay his half of the money back to the drug dealers of which they owe. This maintains the dark atmosphere, showing that their time spent at home alone is a miserable atmosphere whilst they are addicted to and selling these drugs. This leads to shot ten where there is slightly better lighting with Sam putting his shoes on ready to leave the house. This is a quick shot as it does not have much importance to the narrative other than progressing the story line to where Sam is shown walking out of the front door. As Jamie was not available to do any filming on this day, the scene which followed could not be filmed as it features the antagonist; I proceeded to film some of the shots which featured later in the music video.

As there were several shots from shoot two which we did not manage to finish because of time, we finished shots 34 through to 37. In shot 34, it carries on from the filming that we did in shoot one where Jonny has overdosed on drugs and Sam is in a state of emergency trying to deal with him. This shot shows Sam going through a bag in an attempt to find Jonny's phone to call an ambulance. I framed this shot so that Jonny is still in the picture to remind the audience of the story as it has a shot of Jamie playing guitar with the song before-hand as a subplot. Shot 35 emphasizes Sams actions with an extreme close-up of the phone as he begins to dial 999 for emergency services. I believe that the shot of the phone also reinforces the idea that this is filmed in the modern day (as it is shown on an iPhone 5), dealing with relative matters for the audience. 

As Sam is about to leave the room, there was another shot of the drugs laid out on Jonny's desk to show that he has taken an overdose again. The amount of powder shown in this shot is less than what is shown in those previous in his room which makes it apparent to the audience that he has overdosed. Following this, and the final shot which we had done in this shooting, there is a shot of Sam leaving his house as he has just dialled for an ambulance. This is at a medium close-up as it shows the setting in more depth creating familiarity within the narrative from earlier shots near his house.