Filming/Editing - Take 1

For my video, I booked one of the Sony EX cameras out for my filming as I wanted the filming to be of good quality and these are the cameras that were in most demand. To play the character of Natalie, I asked my friend Lauren who fitted the criteria for the part. As a crew member, I asked my friend Mitchell to come up to London with me and Lauren in order to help me carry the equipment and ensure I wasn't getting in the way of the public. For my shoot, I filmed in several different locations in Central London including Angel tube station and St Pancras International station. However, I set the first sequence in Maidstone at Lauren's house which isn't ideal as the script is set in a flat but I needed the interior of the house in order to show her collecting her things before leaving for the train. I intended on editing this into the film so that it appeared that she lived in Angel. The first stage of filming was quite simple and easy to carry out as I could do each shot several times without being pressured for time. I set up the microphone before leaving so I could just attach it straight away when I got to London. Shooting in London was incredibly stressful and busy because of the amount of people and the buzzing atmosphere. However, we kept moving and I did quite a few natural shots of her walking around to get a sense of the environment. In order to get enough shots of each scene, we carried out the same journey that the character would so we walked through Angel to the station and got the tube to St Pancras International. I wanted to incorporate as many of the shots in my storyboard as possible as well as a few extra ones, using a variety of angles so that I would have more footage to choose from in the editing process. Overall, the filming took about 3 hours because each time we left a location, I had to pack the camera away completely to keep it safe when moving through stations. Filming on the tube was particularly difficult because it is a very confined space with lots of people which made travelling with the camera bag quite difficult.
When editing, I found it quite difficult locating all of the clips as I didn't shoot everything in the correct order. This was because I wanted to get a wide amount of coverage to give me more to work with when editing. I tried to use as many shots as possible and think I managed to get a good range. When editing, I found that the clips edited together quite smoothly, however, when the location changed, the cut was much less smooth and continuous. I wanted the vibe of the video to give the impression that she was rushing because she wants to make her train to Nottingham. In the script, there are a few interruptions including a queue at the station which push her for time, creating suspense so that the audience isn't sure whether she will make the train in time. However, looking back at my shots, she doesn't look like she's rushing at all, this was quite difficult to capture which means that it doesn't reflect my script. I decided to use Adobe Premiere to edit the video as we have had our editing workshops with Fergus and I felt confident enough with what I learnt to be able to use this software for my video. I found it relatively easy to use when editing the video as each aspect of the editing process is divided into sections with your sequence at the bottom. This makes it easy to see with the monitor just above, allowing me to view each section I edit straight away. I experimented with different audio but have not chosen anything final.

Today, I had a viewing with Simon so he could see a rough cut of how we were getting on with editing. Looking at it now, the footage I had shot with Lauren in London did not match up with the opening two minutes of my script as Natalie is supposed to be rushing to make her train in time. However, in the video, she looks quite calm and casual, therefore taking away from the theme and mood of the piece entirely. The best thing for me to do is to reshoot the footage, choosing a different actor and location that will allow me to get the idea of my character rushing to make her train across to the audience. I have learnt that London was too daring as my location as there are far too many interruptions as well as a fast paced and busy atmosphere which is difficult to work with.