Smile Campaign recording diary

Day 1 -

I have began recording for my video and am recording inside of the house. When recording during the early morning, clips were too dark and were not working well. Detail was not being captured well in the shadows which left a very unflattering and grainy image. To counter this I would have to shoot during the  day. I spoke to the owner and they allowed me to stay for the whole day and record. This means I will be able to do the correct recording. to know how to properly expose my image I would need do to a test. 

The video below shows my test footage and allows me to see how the final look will be.  Over the next few days, and today, I will allow the camera to roll a few seconds before I do the action that is needed in the scene. This will make editing easier as I will be able to cut where I want the actions to take place and will make sure I capture the full action. During recording I ran into a major issue. Due to the fact that the time between there being enough light in the sky to record to the sunrise itself. I wasn't able to record much footage as I was alone. This project has taught me about time management and will help me understand in the future about how long it takes to record footage alone. However, for now I need to think of how to change my video. I could try stretch footage out and reuse clips. But that would be unprofessional and a sign of poor planning. By reusing footage the story can become confusing due to the fact footage is being shown more than once... I am deciding to shorten the amount of time that is taken on the physical journey to the coast itself. Therefore the videos main focus will be on the waking up and the coast. This could work in my favour as now there will be two clear purposes to the video.

After recording some footage I have came to the decision that i will change my LUT. Instead of using a DAY4NITE LUT I will be using the matrix blue LUT which will give me the color grade I want will slight greens. DAY4NITE gave a very dark deep blue color which is suited towards a more midnight look. This I believe gives a more natural look to the image and less artificial. The inside of the house segment has been fully recorded as well as being edited. For my recording I used my Canon M50 which I used to record in FHD 24fps. I used these setting for a decent image quality. I didn't want to shoot in 4K as this would give too big of a file size. I shot in 24fps as it replicates the human eyesight very well for motion blur. It also again reduces the file size. The file size must be kept small in order for editing to be streamline and quicker. I also used a 15mm-45mm lens in order to gain the wide angle that I wanted. As said in the Comic relief subject research, having a still camera gives a very serious tone and focuses the audience on what is happening. By using a tripod on all of my shots, the audience see a juxtaposition between the stillness of the video against the movement in the frame. This brings focus towards the subject and makes him seem alone. 

Above is a few of the RAW clips out of camera. They are here in order to show the fact that the footage was recorded by me and that I allowed pauses before movements in order to make clean cuts. The footage has been exposed for highlights and then slightly darker in order to edit the footage to look like night time. All shots today were shot at 2000K in order to make sure that the images were cool enough in camera. By shooting at a lower temperature in camera, the footage is already more cool. This means that less colors will become distorted in post production when I begin to edit for night.

Day 2 - 

Today I have recorded the journey process towards the sunrise. I have recorded a short amount of footage that is meant to show the walk towards the coast. When I am outside tomorrow I only need to record the priory and and sunrise itself. I let a clip run quite long towards the end. The shot has the sun rise appearing. This shot represents the change in mood. The colors in the sky represent the happiness in the characters life. He has gone from a dark blue toned house, into a bright pink sky. This marks the turning point in his mental health. My shots consist of flat shots at around waist height or head height. This is relates the audience to the story due to the fact that they are around head height. This gives the impression that we are with the character and watching his story. By making sure all shots are the same level, the audience do not get confused as to weather the character has any other emotions. The shots types keep consistency and reinforce the emotions.

Again these are a few of the clips used in my video the clips originally were shot darker than a shot would normally be. This is to make sure highlights are not blown out and to make sure that shadows are realistic within the video. The video settings are back to 5600K to make sure that the colors in camera are realistic and to make sure that the temperature of the image matches the time of day.

Day 3  - 

Today I went to the coast to gain the last bit of footage for the video. By following my storyboard, I was able to record shots quickly and effectively. The shots have been shot at a longer rate. By shooting longer clips the audience now see the character relaxing and not rushing in previous clips. In my second last shot, I made the subject take his headphones off. This implies to the audience that the subject has reached his destination and is "taking in" the world around him. He has been listening to music on his journey but now he has reached his place of happiness and calmness. The final shot is a sunrise and the character. This shot will be powerful in the final video. The video has gone from a dark blue tone, into a warm bright tone. This video will aim to show the transition from sadness to happiness in the subjects life via color and shot time. The shots stay the same as the other days however the colors are different which means color grading will need to be done in order to have a successful blend. The shot types stay the same all the way throughout and I used the same equipment.

Above are a few original files. In the final video some clips may not be as long as they are out of camera. This is due to the fact of trying to think ahead. By making sure that the video runs for longer than is thought to be needed, I have the flexibility in post production to let a clip run longer incase the story or audio requires it so.

Overall production was very streamline due to the fact I was only replying on myself. All footage was recorded within the allowed time frames and dates stated inside of the forms which means that the production was all filmed legally and that the discussed times were long enough. However, in the future if transportation is not an option, I will need to factor time taken to walk into my time allowed and dates needed. In my forms I only took two days in the surrounding area which wasn't enough time to capture everything I needed. Therefore clips were sacrificed. However, as already explained, this could benefit the overall storyline and emotions of the video depending on how it is edited. By following all of the risk assessments, no one was hurt or injured during production.