Fourth Day of Filming

Liverpool

We went to Liverpool to film the first and longest section of our video. The area was suitable for the filming, even more so than we thought, because it was rough. One side of the street was home to a tip and a fast food supply shop named Adam's so our filming space was limited to the other side where there was just a wall. Unfortunately, the wall had too many features that made it clear that it was modern (like graffiti) so we were limited to a small space of the wall. Thankfully that section of the wall was plain, there were no windows or anything, so we could just film from one end of the wall to the other, then stop the camera and reset to start the whole process over again. The main issues we ran into when we filmed were that of lip syncing, interruptions and a prop loss. We were interrupted regularly by cars driving down the road which meant we had to stop in the middle of shots and restart them. Our cane prop broke (it was quite cheap quality), thankfully it broke after we had completed filming so we, fortunately, already had all the shots we needed. The most significant issue we had was that of lip syncing. Ryan struggled to get the lip syncing correct while concentration on the choreography so we had to keep refilming shots that did not look quite right. As a result this was the longest and most difficult section to film.

Later in the day we went to the Echo Arena to film the final segment of our music video, the present day section.

This section was fairly simple to film, once we had sorted out how to achieve a smoother looking pan. We had to wait until 5 O'Clock for it to go dark and the wheel to light up. Once it had gone dark, the filming was done fairly quickly, with only about 3 or 4 takes to achieve the shot we wanted.

Second Day of Filming

Port Sunlight

Filming in Port Sunlight was a success. We managed to get all of the shots we needed and the light, angle, lip syncing etc. was as we needed it to be so there is n need to reshoot any of this footage.

We started filming at 9:00 AM so that we could get the mid morning sun that gave us the bright lighting we wanted. Thankfully, there were no people around where we ended up filming because it's Port Sunlight and no one leaves their homes. We didn't film exactly where we had planned though, we ended up filming a street or two down the road because there were some old women having a biker convention and a very loud ATM machine.

Difficult Props

We have two props that we want to feature in our video that we have to be clever with.

Firstly, we want at least one of our characters to be smoking since it fits the character(s). The issue is that our actor doesn't smoke and we don't expect him to (remember, smoking kills). Fortunately, we have devised a solution. Given the distance we are filming from we can use a rolled up white post it note cut down to size since it looks similar to the type of cigarette we are trying to mimic. The only issue is the lack of smoke, however, since you only see smoke when you exhale, we can just use different shots to avoid this. Thus, smoke is not present, so a rolled up piece of paper will do.

The other issue we have is that we would like to feature alcohol in the '77 section of our project. Unfortunately, our actor is under age, so we can not feature the actual consumption of alcohol in our video. Instead, we are going to use empty cans of beer since it is not important for them to contain liquid given that it won't be seen.

First Day of Filming

Moreton
1977

We have completed our first day of filming. We started in Moreton filming the 1977 section of our video. We started at 8:00 am to get early morning lighting and fewer people in the area.

Unfortunately, we didn't get less people, because people are nosey, so they kept coming to have a look. We did get the lighting we wanted though, so that was okay.

We filmed for about 3 and a half hours, gaining all the shots we needed. We had to reshoot a couple of shots due to Ryan's (our actor) camp nature which did not suit the character. Furthermore, we had an incident where we had to reshoot several shots as Ryan had left his jacket zipped up. Thankfully, we had perfected our timing, filming the unusable shots so we managed to do most of the reshoots first time.

1937

We then made our way to my house to film the 1937 section of our video. We had to clear a space for our setting as well as filming equipment. This was accomplished by pushing ALL the furniture over to one side of the room.

We then ran into the issue, when we started filming, that the colouration was wrong and the footage was far too dark. This we solved by closing the curtains and shining a light directly at Ryan.

(The curtains were shut later on)

Timeline

Now we have a good idea of what song we are doing, what music video we are making, what locations to film in and what costumes and props we need, we have put together a timeline of dates to film. We have decided, after some discussion, that it makes more sense to film during the Christmas holidays than on a Sunday since our locations will likely be quieter. This is the timeline of what we have done so far and what we have not yet done.

14th - 20th of November - Agree upon genre and song
21st - 27th of November - Initial storyboard ideas
28th - 30th of November - Final storyboard
1st - 9th of December - Planning location, props and costume

10th of December - Filming - 1937 and 1977 sections - Moreton
17th of December - Filming - 1957 section - Port Sunlight
19th of December - Filming - 1897 and 2017 sections - Liverpool
20th and 22nd of December - Back up days - spare day to complete anything we didn't get finished

Costume Research

1897

Our character during the Victorian era occupies a high-up gangster role. We are using Tommy Shelby from the TV show Peaky Blinders for reference since he occupies a similar role within his show. The outfit we are using basically boils down to:

A "delivery boy" style flat cap

A long, black chesterfield/trench style overcoat

And a grey suit


We are also featuring a Victorian policeman in this section. We have found our inspiration in the TV show Copper. We are changing elements of the costume for our purposes, for example we are elimination the jacket. We will include:

A brown top hat

A brown waistcoat with a white shirt

A special police badge (to identify him as a police man and explain the lack of uniform)

Brown slacks

1937

We have largely found inspiration for our "mob boss" style character in the '30s in images like this one. The overall look seems to be dignified gentlemanly suits. In order to suggest an air of confidence in our character, we are using:

A blue suit

1957

In the '50s, we are going for the "greaser" look. Inspired by biker gangs of the time, and, more specifically, the film Grease, we will use:

A black leather biker jacket

Blue jeans

We have another character in this period. A man who the criminal threatens. He is supposed to seem like an innocent man of the time. His outfit entails:

A colourful checked shirt

Beige chino style trousers

1977

In the '70s we are going for a loutish drug addict style look. We have found inspiration in the movie Train Spotting, specifically in the character of Mark Renton. we are making slight changes to the outfit, for example we will be using a completely different style of jacket. We will be using:

A flat cap - to cover up the fact that our actor will not shave his head


A beige Harrington bomber style jacket


A Magna T-shirt (We already own one and Magna was a cigarette company popular around that time so it fits the character perfectly)

Blue jeans

2017

In the modern day section, we are going for more of a subtle criminal, acknowledging the rising level of cyber-crime. Thusly, we have found ourselves inspired by Elliot Alderson in Mr Robot. The essentials of the outfit are:

A dark hoodie - we will be using a grey hoodie as we already have one so its saves costs

A dark rucksack

(Trousers are not important as it is unlikely that you will see them given our planned camera angle)

Props Research

Victorian
Pocket Watch

Our music video has a segment set in the late Victorian era. To show that the main character is actually a crook, we felt we needed to feature a crime. Since the song is called 'Cops and Robbers', we felt the crime should be theft. We decided it was best to have our protagonist steel a pocket watch. To save on costs, we decided to use a pocket watch already owed by a member of the group. Unfortunately, the watch is a Dr Who watch, but it is barely noticeable so we are just going to use it.

Cane?

We are thinking about maybe having a cane in our video, since it gives something else for the character to do. We were initially planning on having the character spinning around an old lamppost, however we do not appear to have any old lampposts at any of our locations so we may have our character spinning around a cane. He would also be able slam it on the floor in time with one of the sounds in the song.

1937
Gun


We would like to have our 'mob boss' character loading a gun in his scene. We have access to a prop based on an M1911 which looks similar to the pistols found at the time. The only issue is that the barrel is orange, but we can easily fix that by painting it black.

1957
Comb

For the '50s period of our production, we are going for the 'greaser' motif. Thusly, inspired by the film Grease, it made sense for our character to appear obsessed with his appearance. The best way to do this, as depicted in Grease, is to use a comb. Since we are saying this character is a criminal, we thought a flick comb was a good idea since it can appear thuggish (the audience will believe it is a knife) and then innocent, adding comic relief to the video, fitting the tone of the song.

Final Storyboard

We have completed our final storyboard. We have taken the changing time period narrative from our plan storyboards, but made minor changes, such as using different shots and camera angles and changes made based on our researched locations.