Brick Lane Shoots on 17th and 24th of November

We had two on location shoots in Brick Lane, in which we filmed all of the fantasy/flashbacks involving Arianna and Kai (the dancer). We felt like this could work well as we did not want all of our shoots to be in the studio. Our first shoot was very tiring and we managed to film the vast majority of shots to a high standard. However, there were some that we were not happy with and that we realised did not work, and so we had a second shoot on the 24th of November. This shoot was very efficient, and we got everything done in three different locations within an hour and a half! 

Here are some photos of the highlights from both days:

Brick Lane Location Plans

These show the different locations that we decided to shoot at following our location reccie. This corresponds to the shoot schedule made in which locations are quoted with the same numbers. 

Shoot Schedule For Brick Lane Shoot 1

We made a shoot schedule for the On-Location shoot in brick lane with our dancer, which took place on Sunday 17th November. We took into account the diminishing sunlight hours we would have, and for this reason planned to start our shoot at 9. 

This meant that we would arrive at 8.30 to set up and do make-up, and could leave our houses at 7.30, giving our actors as much sleep as possible!

We did not plan the times of individual shots in Brick Lane as many were flexible with location, instead we planned out the possible locations for each shot, and whenever we ran ahead of schedule, we could shoot the more flexible shots. 

To see the map with images of these locations, click here. 

Costume List

Grunge:
Ella: Light Denim Shorts, Black Sparkly top, black boots
Rakhi: Medium Denim Shorts, Black top with lace, black boots
Alice: Denim shorts, black crop top, black boots
Arianna: Black high-waisted shorts, bright orange crop top, black heels

Hospital:
Ella: Scrubs
Rakhi: Scrubs
Alice: Scrubs
Arianna: Straight Jacket and White Nightie

Projection:
Ella: Black sparkly dress, black boots
Rakhi: Black rainbow band dress, black boots
Alice: Black geometric cut-out dress, black boots
Arianna: Red lacy dress, black heels
 

Props List

Props List

Grunge:
Microphone stands x4
Microphones x4
Guitar
Bass
Amps x 2
Wires for Amps x 2
Drum Kit
Chains!!!!
Smoke Machine IS LOST
Scaffolding
Ladders

Hospital:
Syringes
Needle heads
Trolley/table
Straight Jacket
Chains
Bed
Mattress
Bed sheets
Blanket
Pillow
Pillow Cover
Pills
Pill Cups

Projection:
Guitar
Bass
Amps x2
Drum Kit
Projection Reel
Lights for lens flares

Test Shoot

We had our test shoot on the 7th November, in the studio, to test out our lighting and the whole mise en scene of our studio shots. We focused on the mental hospital scenes, to test out the cyclorama and because the hospital scenes have the most complicated shots.

We did a test shoot and after completing it we learnt:

- The lighting that worked - in our hospital scenes, the infinite white really works on the camera we are using, and in our band scenes the lighting looks good, but we need to adjust the spotlights on each band member because there was too many shadows and the spotlights were slightly too dark.

- It took us 3 hours to set up the studio before we started filming, however it will be quicker when we do it for the real shoot, because we have had practise but we have to make sure we are efficient in setting up the studio to ensure we have enough time for shooting all 3 studio set ups.

- During our test shoot for the projection set up, we have lens flares either side of the projector, and we have to change the position of the bass and guitar players in the band because they were getting in the way of the lens flares, so we have had to rethink the set up of our band when they are performing.


Our group was really pleased we did a test shoot, because we now feel more positive about the real shoot and are happy with the mise en scene and lighting for most shots. We also got practise on the camera we will be using, so got ready for working with that and learning all the settings as well as practising using the dolly for moving shots, to make sure we get a lot of variety in our shots.

Logo Development

When creating the logo, we had a clear idea of a rough image: we wanted graffiti style text for an edgy urban feel, warped into the shape of a circle, however, details and additions to this design came along the way. The following pictures demonstrate the process we went through in the making of our logo:

This is the initial font with only a text warp; this was not round enough for the effect we were trying to achieve.

We used a free transform warp to create a slicker, circular text which was still legible, having reached the initial idea however, we decided this was too plain.

Since our band name is derived from an adapted movie quote not an affection for the extinct creatures, we did not want to affiliate ourselves too much with their image, however, to give the logo more depth we thought we would add the shadow and outline of a dinosaur, using a clipping mask, to just the text not the space in between. This makes our logo more eye-catching as it is not immediately obvious what the overlaid image is.

The final logo
To  reinforce the edgy urban feel, we erased the edges of the font slightly so it looked more like graffiti and added a black circle outline for a slick finish and so it looked like the font was bursting out of somewhere instead of just being round which reflects the larger than life attitude of our lead singer.

Grunge Costume

We have tried out lots of outfits for the grunge set-up, such as those below.

We liked these outfits individually, however we agree with feedback that we do not look like we have been stylised as a band. For this reason we will change the grunge costume to create unity among the band, such as everyone wearing denim shorts to create a unified, grunge look.

Projection Set-Up Costume

We decided that we wanted strong unity for this set up. Initially we decided that we would all wear black dresses, and so we all bought in what we had.

 However, after trying Arianna in all of these dresses, we decided that the best way to make her stand out would be with a different colour dress. We chose red because it is extremely bold and dramatic, connotations the audience will immediately recognise.

We eventually decided on the dress on the left because we felt it suited her more and because the connotations were less sexual.

This is our final costume for the projection set-up. Arianna is clearly the lead; this is connoted by her stance at the front as well as her red dress which draws attention to her.
Ella, Alice and Rakhi (left to right) are all in black dresses, creating unity amongst the band.

Projection Brainstorm

After realising that the amount of clips we had planned for our projection was no where near enough, we decided to have another discussion about what we could potentially include. This is a list of what we came up with:

• Labyrinth
• Marilyn Monroe - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slfkiWZ7ozI
• Shawshank Redemption - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRBl0GPBm4o
• The Crucible - courtroom -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUPpP2khS9g
• Inception - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bsGUOVTA84&safe=active
• Mulan - face wipe - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A_Rl8aQxII
• Rocky Horror science fiction http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5MHNvOVl8Y&list=PL53B7B603E0C0F4A3 timewarp http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rtkdo7bOmJc
• Young people using mobiles 
• Candy
• The Simpsons
• Breaking Bad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjWBm1T9MHY&safe=active
• Luther
• Alice in Wonderland - falling down the rabbit hole? - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHte24GGHD4
• Wizard of Oz - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzAJT18VB_k&safe=active
• Mary Poppins - Chalk Drawing - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy7XEMeBROQ
• Kill Bill - snow fight http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTFJPfQ4rLc
• Dollhouse - Pod bit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW9vtJDzsM0
• Gattaca - swimming http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll5qiWa6YDk Irene http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEOPA4dzK2s
• Life of Pi - tiger bits - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aee2cbOh5kk&safe=active

Meeting 31/10/2013 (and some album art research)

After meeting with our actor we had a media meeting in which we made the following to do list for the near future:

• Finish visual references
• Order chains
• Finalise grunge outfits
• Choose and download projection clips
• Order needle tips
• Develop key shots
• Chose Brick Lane locations
• Brainstorm album art further
• Arrange a second studio planning meeting
• Create social media accounts (twitter, instagram, facebook)
• Decide on and find visual references for make up and hair

We also went to HMV to look at album art and decided we thought it would be better to have a CU  of Arianna on the front cover. This is because the image would be more striking, and it is too small to have four figures with enough detail to be seen to still attract the audience. An example of a cover we really liked was Jessie J's new album. We found ourselves drawn to this much more than the others on display. We also liked Union J's marketing strategy of selling the same album but with four different covers, one for each band member, as well as a deluxe album with a group photo. This encourages fans to buy the album in order to support their favourite member.

We came up with several new ideas for album art. The first was a CU of Arianna holding a needle syringe to her head like a gun. We liked this idea because it is a very striking image but we realised this may have connotations of suicide, something we very clearly want to avoid so we ruled out this idea. 

We then thought we could change one side of her face, maybe disfigure it, or make one side perfected and leave the other side natural looking. This idea is still in development. We also noted that we wanted to keep the chains iconography if possible.