Friday 29 June 2012

FotL Recreation - Raw Takes


THIS WAS FUN. This video features each of our takes when staging a recreation of the Sheena Is A T-shirt Salesman video. Apologies for the lengthly delay at the beginning and end of each shot; because the camera was placed up high on a stand on a table I had to climb up each time to turn record on/off (HEALTH AND SAFETY: I didn't die).

First (0:00) - This didn't really work, but it was useful for giving everyone an idea of what we were going to be doing. We had a problem near the start where Mr. E had mis-judged when to start (this was unavoidable the first time - as he had to face away from the screen at this point it was a case of guesstimating when his part would come in). Also, mine and Sarah's banner got ripped a bit too early this round.

Second (2:55) - Not as many obvious errors, but we can still see a little uncertainty as to direction; again, it was just a case of everyone getting used to what was going on, so a few little mistakes are unavoidable.

Third (5:53) - Seemed to go much better! It's clear that me and Sarah had needed to start repairing signs by this point, but oh well.

Fourth (8:46) - I feel really confident about this take - I have to say during the first banner part I am looking particularly awkward not sure what part of the sign to hold, but that probably won't be as noticeable when at full speed.

Fifth (11:33) - Not as confident as with the fourth but this still went pretty well.

I'll have a go at putting these at double speed later on to see which looks best to decide which take to use. Couple of problems I've noticed:

a) Camera angle - the room we were filming in is significantly smaller than the one in the original video, so we had to improvise in regards to where the camera went.

b) Writing on the signs - it's pretty difficult to read the writing on the signs me and Sarah are holding up; this is something I hadn't thought through when making them. Had I not been such a cheapskate and actually printed them this wouldn't have been an issue (or at least bought a felt pen of some kind), but yeah.

c) Cast's eyes - We had the Slowpoke Remix playing on the laptop, which was positioned on the table underneath the camera/tripod, and I think every one of us is guilty of making it apparent we're looking at the screen at some point in each shot (I know I definitely did, especially when I was holding the second sign up each time because I needed to time that little duck thing). This was because we were unfamiliar with the directions beyond "copy what they're doing", so in the future it will be necessary to ensure everyone knows what they need to do from memory, rather than using a video reference.

d) I am lip-syncing when I shouldn't be. This is a habit because I know the song. An annoying habit I need to kill.

-HM.

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