Shoot Two

Date: 26/02/2014
Actors: Jamie Steenoven
Equipment: DSLR camera, Video camera, Tripod, Lamp, Laptop (to refer to lyrics)
Props: Guitar

In the second shoot, I used Jamie to act out the shots throughout the music video which featured the vocalist/guitarist (Thom Yorke) playing the song in sync with the music. This included shots 12, 13, 31, 32, 33, 44 & 51 from the storyboard. Most of these shots follow a similar style in which it is a medium to extreme close-up of the vocalist/guitarist playing along with the song in a dark atmosphere with accurate lip-syncing used. This made it fairly easy to film once the actor was familiar with the lyrics of the song. Jamie is an avid guitarist who has previously played in miscellaneous bands which made it a lot easier to gain a realistic appearance whilst he is shown playing guitar.

The first thing which needed to be done was finding the best area in my house to film the shots in; I already had an idea of where would have the least domestic appearance with appropriate lighting. I decided on doing this in my front lounge which has a bland cream wallpaper which would not draw any attention away from Jamie as he is shown playing guitar and singing. With this location, I decided to use a lamp for lighting as well as the wall lights as this way there would be presence of shadows in his face. This would allow mise-en-scene to convey the negative connotations within the narrative and song. Following this, I used the laptop to show Jamie the lyrics for the song (mainly the lines that he had to lip-sync). Fortunately, Jamie was already familiar with the song and quickly picked up the guitar strumming patterns ready for filming. 

Before beginning the filming, we went through the lines that he had to lip-sync so that his timing was correct. Once this was done properly, we started filming from shot 12. This shot only featured him playing the guitar from a medium close-up shot (only showing the top half of his body), the shadows covered some of his face intentionally so that his entrance was similar to that of a performer keeping mysterious. The following shot was an extreme close-up of his head as he sang along the lyrics "Before your father hears us". We noticed that some of the notes are held for a long time which made it harder to get the timing correct, this took several attempts at shooting. 

The next shots were 31 to 33; the first showing a medium close-up of Jamie lip-syncing the lyrics "such a chill". This is filmed with the shadows still present for familiarity and an angle which is slightly panned to the left to give a sense of disorientation. With this in mind, I aimed to maintain a consistent filming style where it is not shot excessively or so minor that it would look like the angle is an accident. The shot that follows is an extreme close-up of Jamie's hand whilst he plays along with the guitar. This took several attempts at filming as his rhythm sometimes dropped towards the end of the shots, yet the music was playing in the background to assist him with the timing. 

Shot 44 was filmed with the intention to be edited towards the end of the music video with the climax of the narrative. This showed Jamie singing the lyrics "Now we are one" with an aggressive appearance; this is because the line is one of the main lyrics in the song when the tempo rises and the guitars become a lot more present. This shot is an extreme close-up to emphasize the intensity of both the narrative and the song playing in the background with it. The final shot which I did in this shoot was the 51st, the penultimate shot in the entire music video. In this, Jamie is shown playing guitar along with the song once it starts to get quieter with the most well-known lyrics "We hope that you choke". This is with a medium-close up which allows the shot to be longer than those that he is shown in previously. Because of the slower tempo than the previous part of the song, this allows the shot speed to slow down in convergence. Jamie's body language in this shot shows a piercing gaze and lethargic guitar strumming which gives emphasis on the depressing, almost draining, climax of the song. This posture is used by Thom Yorke in Radiohead's music video for Street Spirit (Fade Out), I intended to recreate this style.