The Finished Poster and Digi Pack

album editing on photoshop

Shoot Day

The shoot’s set preparations started the day before where we wished to create a green screen, we painted the walls and floor green. This was done to allow us to use  ‘Chroma Key Compositing’ which is a technique that enables us to have two images or frames to appear as one by superimposing one image over another. The green is removed (or made transparent) in after effects and another image is placed behind it. To make this appear as effective as possible had to be careful that none of the band members were wearing green, as this would become invisible in after effects and appear unrealistic. The green screen also had to be lit in a minimal way so that there were no shadows on the back wall. This is because the shadows would affect the green screen and make it appear unprofessional. we used four overhead flood lights and four side lights. The band were bringing in all their own instruments so we had made sure that the platform was big enough to support all of them at the same time.

To save time on the morning of the shoot day the whole team met early to have a final dicussion and briefing in order to make sure everyone knew exactly what they would be doing that day so that there were no delays or wasted time. We then went to the media suite to get the camera and equipment that we would be using. Francesca then went out to greet and then take the band to the studio, whilst the rest of the group went to the studio to set up the camera and monitor. The camera had to be “bubbled” which means getting it at exactly the right angle so that we could get the best and most professional looking shots. The monitor is linked to the camera so we can automaticly see how good the shots look on screen and giving an indication of how they would appear in post production. this also allowed the whole crew to see what was going on on screen and not have to crowd round the camera to see how the shots looked. When the band got to the studio we briefed them on the plans for the day. We then helped them set up the instruments and gave them their positions on the stage. After the band members were settled we rehearsed to enable them to feel more calm and get used to performing naturally with a camera in their face and a crew surrounding them. This rehearsal was also good for the crew as this gave us a chance to try out different angles with the camera without actually recording or wasting time as well as making any needed changes. After this we started straight away with the takes. The first takes were wideshots of the whole band as it built their confidence more than asking them to perform solo, it also provided us with an establishing shot of the band. We also had the track playing through speakers to maintain the syncing when it came to editing in post production. This is called playback. We took four takes of the whole song of the band in establishing wide angle shots, then we moved on to the mid-shots and close-ups. There was some problems with the lighting and in order to restore the lights and lighting we had to let them cool first and as soon as possible we quickly reset the shot and began filming again right away, trying to keep the amount of time lost to a absolute minimum as there was lots to be done. We then continued to film for the rest of the morning providing us with a wide variety of shots of the band (e.g. over the shoulder shots of the drum kit, extreme close-ups on the guitar strings and fingers playing the keyboard) until 1:10. At this point we packed up the camera and locked it back into the media suite and helped the band pack up their kit. We then went to lunch with the band during which we briefed them on what the filming objectives would be that afternoon. After lunch we collected the camera, extra battery pack, new memory card and a large piece of green card which was to be used as a portable green screen. We then travelled into central Guilford. When we got into Guilford we set up for shots in some of the more recognisable town areas. At first we where trying to get establishing shots without people in them, however after a while we realised that for one it was taking along time waiting for there to be no passers by and also that by having them in the shot this would add to it's realism of the situation and provide an edgy feel to the promo. Other shots which we filmed were of the band members walking though puddles which ties in with the theme of the promo. Our original idea was to use the piece of green board to reflect into the water in order to be able to use the technique of chroma-keying to superimpose the band playing into the puddles. This ended up not working as we found that the board was not big enough and also the puddles where too dirty to properly reflect the green.

The next part of shooting was when we were trying to film the entire band meeting together outside the “Boiler Room”. This was to create further realism to the shoot. To do this we all the members entering from different sides of the shot. This took a few rehearsals to get right as it was difficult to judge when we needed to queue each one of the band to come into the shot. We were also lucky with the fact that as we where filming, the owner of the Boiler Room turned up and allowed us to get the band walking into the location and also turned the lights on in the venue for us. This further added to the realism of the shot. After we finished filming at the Boiler Room we called it a wrap, packed up the equipment, said goodbye to the band and then went back to Hurtwood to upload our raw footage onto the computer.

The Prop List

• Keyboard
• Bass
• Guitar
• Drums/drumsticks
• Mic
• Guitar piks
• Ink – red, blue, green, purple, orange, black, pink
• Paint – red, blue, green, purple, orange, pink
• Wax Spray
• Water
• Buckets
• Hosepipes
• Empty Coke Cans
• Hat for money
• Money –coins
• Plastic cup / cup
• Bed
• Cupboard / wardrobe
• Wallpaper

account of editing week 4

Now that I have finished cutting the shots together, we are beginning to add the after-effects. Because we shot the band onto green screen we are going to use the technique of chroma-keying in order input in the wallpaper and the floor. This is done by first masking out the band members, and making the green “invisible”. This keying was done using the software “key light” which is part of after-effects. I then changed the saturation of this layer in order to make the band appear as if they are in black and white. Then I added in the floor and wallpaper to the shot as a different layer, the wallpaper was found by searching on an online home-wear store and then copying a screen shot of some wallpapers and then seeing which one worked best. The wallpaper screen shot was then made into a tile format in order for it to look more realistic. The floor tiles where found and made in the same way, expect this time when they where keyed into the shot they had to put at a specific angle in order to make sure that it looked like the band was standing on them. To also make the room look more realistic I added an omnilight to the middle of the shot in order to light the wallpaper and flooring layer. The next step was to add the layer of coloured rain in front of the shot. The rain was shot at night so the background is black with the rain being lit by coloured gel’s over lighting. To make the colours better and brighter I changed the hue. In order to place the rain over the shot I used the blending tool linier doge so that the black would become transparent. This sequence had to be repeated for every shot. The effect when wanted to use was to have colours start coming back into the shot at the end promo, this meant having to another two layers. I got the rain water splatter effect from the animation library called “riot gear”. I then placed this over the shot and used a blending tool to make the white in the middle of the splatter transparent showing the band in colour underneath, I then used another blending tool in order to make the black around the splatter transparent this time however revealing the black and grey layer.