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Production Log Day 2

Free from our classes for the day, we waited for Fatima's class to end after which we all carpooled to my house which would be used as the shooting site for the scenes with the blue backdrop. Mahnoor and I had set up the blue backdrop the day before, in order to save time on the second day.


Lighting and Equipment

The shooting site for the scenes with the blue backdrop was well lit up due to there being two windows in the room. We made use of the sunlight, no rim light required as the colours of the actress' outfit were prominent and stood out against the backdrop. For the residence scenes we used the warm lighting already available in the room we used to shoot the scenes. We used a Sony HX300 camera and a tripod, for stable and standardised footage.

Camera Angles and Shots

High angle, low angle and eye-level angles were used, the latter one being used predominantly. Shots ranged from full shots, mid shots, mid long shots, close ups and mid-close ups.

Experience

Mahnoor and I set up the equipment while Mahum set up the shooting site for the first few scenes.


The red yarn was in a ball rather than around a wooden cylinder as we imagined which made it significantly harder to shoot the scenes where we had to show the yarn unravel.



We manged to successfully shoot it in a series of shots since they're to be later used as jump cuts. We did, however, end up spending more time than anticipated to shoot these shots because of the time it took to unravel the yarn to make it smaller. At some point all three of us were occupied with the unraveling.



Whilst we were shooting, Fatima, our actress got dressed, had her hair straightened and her make up done. All the looks in the music video follow a chic casual style. Compared to the red cloth, the blue was a deeper richer shade, which is why we decided to have her wear colours which did not clash with the backdrop but went with the chic casual theme we had going on.


By then she was ready to be shot. We progressed shooting the scenes with the red yarn first since it had already been set up and because it is perhaps the most significant symbolic element of the music video.



Upon its completion the performance elements were shot in the same fashion as the first day of production, giving us ample footage to choose from, picking various points out of various clips.





Unfortunately we're all prone to human error. In the rush and excitement of the shoot, we forgot to either make or get the smiley and 'fool in love' printed on paper we could put on Fatima's back, a key symbolic part of the music video. I provided plain paper and markers which Mahnoor used to quickly sketch and colour the smiley.



We decided to forgo one shot mentioned in the shot list, the one where she's covering her hands with cracked hearts on it. The reason behind this was because we had to continue shooting at the residence and it would introduce continuity errors. We did, however, record extra footage with the relevant mood and expressions, sadness, to make up for the missing shot.






Once all the scenes were shot against the blue backdrop we decided to take a short break in which we ate and shared companionable banter. My mum then dropped us off at Mahum's house so we could finish filming the residence scenes in the same light as the day before. The lighting was not exactly the same as the day before, something we should have expected. We can, however, play it off as earlier in the day while editing the footage, especially since it occurs earlier in the music video.







We were quick to set up and Mahnoor handled the camera while I directed, helping her out with some hand-held shots since I have a comparatively steady hand.



Mahum helped set up and provide the props we had used yesterday, props which had been placed under her care. We managed to finish all that we planned for the day and unraveled with some delicious cold coffee and Fatima's affinity for Snapchat stories. We headed home, tired but pleased with ourselves for meeting our shooting schedule. It was only later as I was lounging around on the couch, going over the shot list that I realised we forgot to shoot the heels against the blue backdrop.

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