2. Equipment
This was the equipment we used for our test shots.
Included was:
• A white card with black backing
• This was so we could test the paint explosion on 2 different
backgrounds.
• This was mainly for our digipak shots.
• A plate and a bowl
• We didn’t actually end up really using the plate.
• The bowl was to mix the flour and the paint powder to test
different formulas for our paint explosions.
• Paint powder
• The reason we were doing the test shots in the first place.
• Flour
• To mix with the paint powder so we could try out different
formulas.
• Dustpan and brush
• The dustpan ended up being our method of releasing the
powder.
• We also used it to clean up the paint powder to re-release it.
• Camera
• EOS 12OOD
• To shoot our material on.
• Tripod
• To hold our camera steady through the shots.
• Black sheets
• To protect the floor and surroundings from the powder.
• Lights
• We obviously had lights (which we used to light this shot).
3. ‘Props’
Here is an image of the two types of powder that
we tested.
Nadia did some research and found that flour is a
common component used in paint powder
explosions to not only increase the amount of
powder that is in a batch (so you have more
powder to use).
On the left is the pure paint powder. (For our test
shots we only used pink paint powder so we
could save the others for any other test shots we
had to do, and also so we didn’t use up too much
of the powder we had bought).
On the right is the paint powder mixed with some
flour. As you can see the colour is only slightly
lighter and it does increase the volume of powder
that we have.
We tested both of the formulas when we were
filming.
4. Setting up the lights
Here are 2 images of me setting up the
lights.
The light I am setting up is a white spot
light. This was 1 of the 3 lights we tested
out.
At the beginning of filming we tested out
all of our lights to ensure that they all
worked and they were the sort of lights
we were looking for.
5. Two of the lights/ set
up
Here you can see how we had our set up
for the test shots.
We had a the black sheet (borrowed from
the art department) on the floor, with the
lights (when we were actually filming we
only used one of the lights at a time)
pointing in the direction we wanted. We
then had the camera next to the light
facing (obviously) the wall.
The 2 lights shown here are a yellow-
toned light (which is a lot warmer) and a
white light (which shows the colours a lot
truer than the yellow one). They are both
spot-lights.
6. Soft-box light
Here is out soft-box light that we used.
This gave a white light that was a lot
softer and gave a wider light (rather than
a spot light).
7. Checking the shots
After every shot that we got of our paint
powder explosion, we checked the
footage to ensure it was of good quality
and just in case we had to re-film it if it
didn’t film quite correctly.
This ensured that we had good control
over what was being filmed so we got the
shots we wanted.
8. Setting up for the
shots with Nadia
Here I am putting up some black sheets
for the shots of the paint hitting Nadia.
We used the back of the stage that was
in the Tithe Barn and ensured that
everything was covered so it didn’t get
covered in paint powder.
In our test shots we obviously wanted to
gain shots of the paint hitting a person
because part of our music video will
include Chelsea covered in paint powder
(and our digipak will include the same).
9. In between shots
To ensure that we saved up our powder
paint, we swept up the powder that was
on the floor each time between shots.
We tried to ensure that we minimised the
mess that we made (as the paint powder
was everywhere!). This meant that Nadia
volunteered to do the sweeping as if I did
it, there would be no one free of powder
paint to film and walk around the ‘set’ that
we had set up.
