2. Practical Problems
I will most likely encounter a number of practical issues within this
project that will have to be sorted out prior to shooting during the
production stage. These problems include but aren’t limited to:
• Getting crew
• Acquiring cast
• Booking equipment
• Shooting with the C100 in C-Log
• Travelling/transporting cast & crew
• Shooting on location
• Colour grading/advanced editing within Premiere Pro
• Sound design/ADR
• Storage & power of tech
3. Practical Problems: Cast & Crew
Crew
It’s often hard to find fellow student who do not cancel on their commitment to help with a project and/or are
good enough to make a professional final product, in this case a music video. It is even more difficult to find
professionals who will work on an unpaid/micro budget college-student project.
In terms of crew, I plan on shooting solo. I already have confidence in my ability to use a camera, which will be
an important as determined by my audience research, set up interesting and visually interesting compositions
and using a variety of lenses (prime and zoom). As I won’t be recording any dialogue, the need for on-location
audio won’t be anywhere near as high other than wild sound, which can be done at any time and does not
have to be recorded as the shot is filmed. If there is any audio that I specifically need from the protagonist (any
sounds or improvised dialogue), I may be able to either schedule reshoots or acquire the necessary audio via
the means of ADR and/or sound design.
Cast
As mentioned above in the crew section, it is very difficult to find cast at college who are good enough to star
in a music video that intends to appear very professional, including a serious and believable performance. As
for professional actors, it’s easier to get away with minimal/no pay, but still hard in order to get an experienced
actor.
As far as cast goes, I plan on only using one actress. Said actress is someone I have worked with professionally
before and can attest to her good emotional and physical acting skills. Her stage name is Maia Beatrice (real
surname ‘Stroud’). I contacted her via messages, asking about her availability for the production period (24/03
– 12/05), to which she responded saying: “Yes definitely! Have you got exact dates yet? I need to schedule you
in.” Obviously this is good news and I plan on keeping in touch consistently throughout the pre-production
stage.
Maia has previously worked on a music video before, where she put on a great performance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHmsCv63QGY
4. Practical Problems: Booking Equipment and Shooting in C-Log
The only equipment that I will have to book through the college system is the Canon C100 Mk 1. I
can do this using the college booking system on blackboard.
I would use my own camera, however it is only a Canon 1300D DSLR, and does not have the same capabilities as the
C100 cinecam does. My camera is 1080p, which is HD but not particularly sharp when blown up to a larger screen,
whereas the C100 shoots 4K, then downsizes the footage 1080p. This sounds confusing, but it means that the footage
from the C100 is far sharper than that of the 1300D. My camera has a crop sensor, compared to the C100’s full frame
sensor. This means that when shooting, not only is the C100 clearer, but it fully utilises the lens mounted to the
camera. What I mean by this, is that when a crop sensor uses, for example, an 70mm prime it’s actually more like a
112mm lens as it is cropped in, in terms of the overall image. This means that the full frame has a wider field of view.
Additionally, full frame sensors mean that the camera has a broader dynamic range (which will help massively when it
comes to colour grading the footage in post), perform better in low light conditions and typically have a shallower
depth of field, meaning that the footage can be made to be “more cinematic” or sharper.
The C100 also allows me to shoot in C-Log, something I have not much experience with, which will help me with
creating a much more cinematic colour grade for the finished product. It’s a flatter image, meaning on face value it
looks desaturated, however is much easier to grade in post to get a more cinematic image at the end.
5. Practical Problems: Shooting on Location and Travel
Shooting on location comes with a number of issues that will have to be accounted
for before shooting commences.
First, the desired location must have enough space to facilitate all the shots that are
scheduled for that specific area and the scenes that take place there. This issue can
be avoided by going out for location recce long before production takes place.
This is usually followed by blocking out the shots the director has in mind at the
time, to make sure that each are possible with a much larger amount of equipment.
‘Blocking’ is essentially the rehearsal of how a scene physically plays out, often
which is assisted by coloured tape known as “marks” which tell the actors where to
go, where to stand or where to say a particular line or perform a specific action.
Then cast and crew can run through the scenes/shot list together with a better
knowledge of how it will look when shooting, finally shooting the scenes that have
been rehearsed during this segment of time prior to the shoot.
As for travel, the main issue is getting to the various locations that will be necessary
due to the script. For example, since I cannot drive, the cast and crew will have to
get to the various locations via public transport such as the train (from York out to
Malton/Scarborough etc.). I have told Maia, the actress I cast my protagonist to be,
that I will pay for all her travel, since she will be doing me a great favour and means
that she does not have to put money into a project that she isn’t directly invested
in/is not hers.
6. Practical Problems: Colour Grading and Editing in Premiere Pro
Since I have not done much advanced colour grading in Premiere before, it is
important that I practice before shooting my music video. This video is the
tutorial I plan on following to create my own cinematic look, however it is
also possible to follow this instead, trialling different luts on top of the
footage to make sure it is all consistently graded across all shots.
The only editing that I will have to learn before beginning production is the
various masks and tools needed in order to colour grade my footage.
As well as this, I will also need to find out how to shoot flat footage, using C-
Log on the Canon C-100, in order to get the optimal footage to grade.
7. Practical Problems: Recording Audio/Sound Design
The nature of a music video is to put visuals to audio that already
stands by itself. I intend to keep the singing the only dialogue
throughout the video but include other audio, such as environmental
sounds, e.g. crashing waves, chirping birds etc.
This means that I can record virtually all audio at a separate time to
shooting the visuals. If I’m unable to record a particular sound that I
need I can use Epidemic Sound instead, to find pre-existing clips that
other sound recordists have previously made for others to use. This
process is called sound design, something I have a reasonable amount
of experience with. If I do decide to use dialogue/humanlike noises
(e.g. crying, laughing, non-verbal sounds etc.), I have a LAV mic that
plugs into my phone that can be taped to the actor’s clothing/body to
capture the best audio possible, before being synchronised with the
footage in the edit.
8. Practical Problems: Storage and Battery Life
If I am going to shoot a whole music video I will need a large amount of
storage to accommodate the amount of footage that I will need to capture.
With the footage captured from a Canon C100 being of such high quality, the
file size will be rather large. I have invested in a 128gb SD card, which should
be able to hold all the footage from a 5 minute music video, however if it
isn’t I have numerous other SD cards of different sizes or could utilise the
college booking system yet again to acquire some SD cards. The C100 has
dual SD card slots that can either back up footage from one card directly to
the other (in case one corrupts and footage is lost) or once one has been
filled, continue shooting and saving footage onto the next card.
As for battery life, shooting over long periods of time can really drain camera
battery. With camera batteries, an outlet will be needed in order to charge
them on the go, and with many outdoor locations there most likely won’t be
many outlets. To get around this, I can book out an extra battery for the
C100, and bring my portable charger for any smaller devices that can be
charged via USB.
9. Theoretical Problems
Theoretical problems may also be an issue when it comes to producing
this project to the best of its potential. . These problems include but
aren’t limited to:
• Cast issues: e.g. sudden unavailability, refreshments etc.
• Weather/unsuitable location + unwanted audio
• Equipment failure/breaking
• Backing up save files
• Budget
• Health and Safety
10. Theoretical Problems: Cast Issues
A number of issues can arise with with cast on the shoot when it comes to it.
First, Maia may inform me that my project and another of hers clash, so I will
have to reschedule and book the C100 once again or recast my protagonist,
which hopefully should not be too difficult due to my many connections. If
the camera is not available, I will have to shoot with my own DSLR, sacrificing
quality, but possibly making up for it with manoeuvrability.
If the actress is late due to public transport, filming will have to commence
later. This may mean that weather conditions change or that I am waiting at
the train/bus station for a longer time than expected. To prevent this, I can
set the call times to be earlier in order to accommodate travel, if this still
fails, I can shoot some B-roll as filler-footage in case I cannot complete all
shots from the shot list on that particular day/if we cannot reschedule the
shoot day.
Often times, shoot days can be quite long. This means that I will have to
provide food and refreshments, not only for myself, but for the cast as well.
This will further eat into the budget and the time we have available to shoot.
This may mean that we must bring food with us to the shooting location or
leave the location and then return later on, costing the production even
more time.
11. Theoretical Problems: Location-Specific Issues
As I intend to shoot on location in an open environment, I may encounter some
issues that cannot be avoided.
The most likely of all is for the weather to be undesirable, or change while
shooting. For example, on each shoot day I will have to check the forecast of the
location I am shooting in and plan accordingly. If it’s forecast to rain, I can rework
the day’s outside shooting schedule, shooting those outdoor scenes when the
weather is suitable. In case the weather changes for the worst while shooting, I will
bring various umbrellas to protect kit and ask the cast to bring suitable
coats/clothing. If the weather does drastically change while shooting, this may
cause issues with continuity between shots and could mean that reshoots will have
to be accounted for within the overall schedule. I’d have to book out the necessary
equipment again, which will most likely prove difficult as other students will also be
wanting to use it.
Other issues that may arise could be unwanted audio during clips, such as talking,
traffic etc., or unwanted visuals, like people walking into frame or cars passing
through. I can avoid unwanted audio far easier by capturing audio at a separate
time to shooting, or even using free audio downloaded from the internet, from
renowned sites like Epidemic Sound. Unwanted visuals however are much harder
to hide and may force us to do multiple takes, which will eat into the day’s
schedule, but shouldn’t be too frequent.
12. Theoretical Problems: Equipment Failure
It is entirely possible that, while shooting, equipment may fail, break or
be lost. I can do a variety of things to prevent this hampering the shoot.
If the camera fails to record or breaks in some way (e.g. due to water
getting on the sensor) then I can bring a backup camera, which will dip
in quality, but allow me to continue the shoot regardless. If a specific
lens is blurry or has dirt on the sensor, I will bring other lenses that
cover the same focal lengths needed to capture the desired footage. If,
for some odd reason, the SD cards are full or they suddenly corrupt I
will immediately back up all footage after each shoot day as well as
utilising the back up function built into the C100. If both cards fail
during this shooting, I will have to fix them/buy new ones and schedule
quick reshoots and suck up any frustration. If something less
important, like a tripod for example, breaks, it will be much easier to
continue shooting without it by reverting to handheld, than if the
camera itself breaks.
13. Theoretical Problems: Budget
As a college student with a part time job, budget is going to be particularly
miniscule. It is something that will be stretched regardless of the original
size. As of right now, I know that I have to save up enough money for cast
and crew travel and refreshments, and possibly buying props, such as mirrors
that can be smashed for specific artistic shots. What can add to this is if the
cast expects to be paid for their services, replacing broken equipment,
cancellations of public transport causing another ticket to be purchased and
even reshoots needing more travel, refreshments etc.
To avoid this problem becoming larger and larger, the cast and I need to be
very efficient while shooting. This means finishing on time, getting all the
footage I need, being extremely careful not to break any equipment,
bargaining with cast prices (so far Maia has agreed to do it for free), and
backing up all footage, all in order to save money and avoid any reshoots.
In order to get the budget in the first place, I will save all the money from my
payday at work over the next two months and use it as my budget. If it is not
enough I will have to use some money from my savings, which I am willing to
do if needed.
14. Theoretical Problems: Health and Safety
Shooting on location often means there are far more issues with health and
safety than there are when shooting in a studio or controlled indoor
environment. Each location will be evaluated for its health and safety risks
when scouted during the pre-production stage. Each scene will also be
evaluated for any risks, for example if there are any props that are required
that may also pose a risk for each member of cast and crew involved.
A health and safety check and plan will be created for each scene. For
example, I plan on shooting two separate scenes that may pose risks for
those involved. One is set on a rooftop by the sea, obviously posing the risk
of falling off or slipping. The other includes smashing a mirror/glass against a
wall that obviously means glass will go everywhere, causing cuts or going
into eyes etc. and will also be scattered over the entire location, obviously
meaning that it will have to be cleaned up particularly if it is a publically
accessible location. Obvious safety measures for these two scenes will be
staying away from the edge of the roof, wearing eye protection and so on.
