SIBLINGS STUDIO SHOOTS 2 & 3

STUDIO SHOOT 2: 5/5/16
Heading back to the studio for the second shoot I was looking to put right all of the things that did not work too well on the first shoot and to pick up and try out some new things, techniques and approaches that came out of the first shoot. Getting the studio set up was far easier as I had the plans from the last shoot so staging it and setting up all of the lighting the same as the last shoot took far less time but still took about an hour. The family once again came over albeit with a little more trepidation following the issues from the last shoot. I had skinnied down the questions, discussed things through with the boys beofre the shoot and had planned all that needed doing down to a realistic hour and a half. They arrived at the same time but this time we were ready to shoot by 5:15.

HOWEVER disaster struck. Bands had been noisily rehearsing as normal in the Film theatre opposite the TV studio but they always finished by 5:00 on a Thursday and their was no noise from the film theatre so I assumed they had.  The first recording of the boys initial pieces to camera went well BUT then a band struck up. We managed to record another short piece and then the band sparked up again. When I checked the sound it was evident all over my recording was their performance and there was no technical way to avoid it. Visiting the Film theatre where the bands were and speaking to the lecturer I was informed that they were sound checking until 6:00 and then they were putting on a performance until 9:00. They had an audience coming in and there was no way to stop their bands! I stressed that it would have been good to be notified as they were NEVER in after 5:00 but they said they did not think to. I begged for any quiet time and they did say that I could have 10 minutes from 5:50-6:00 as after that the audience were arriving and the performance would begin.

All this was far from ideal but was better than nothing and would be the last time I could get the boys into the TV studio and meet my deadline so I would have to roll with it. Returning to the TV studio and briefing the boys we would need 100% focus for 10 minutes. I edited the questions and statements I needed to record of the boys down to an absolute minimum and focussed solely on the ones where I needed all three boys interacting off each other at the same time. We managed to just about get this footage as there was no way it could be done anywhere but the TV studio due to kit and set up. I then resolved myself and the boys to having to create a mini one camera set up at home to record the other bits. They received a well overdue trip to the lego section of Toys R Us and a KFC as their reward on the way home.

HOME STUDIO SHOOT: 7/5/16

There were a few of the elements still left to record most importantly the parents comments and the idea of having all 3 images of one of the boys on all the screens at the same time so it would look like they were chatting to themselves but as other people also if you like. To do this I had to create a home studio set up.

The kit for this was the same camera and sound setup Canon 600D with mains power, TASCAM DR-70D audio recorder, Senheisser rifle mic, mic stand and leads etc. HOWEVER the tricky bit was squeezing it all into one room. I chose the largest (our bedroom) and had to black out the windows with foil and set dress with a large black curtain I had "borrowed" from the TV studio. I also had to get hold of 3 lights (3X 300W Ianarro's) as there was obviously no lighting rig available. Space was at an absolute premium and kit was everywhere as you can see from the photos but as a "makeshift" studio it worked.

The image on screen looked great BUT whilst trying to match the lighting and white balance as best as I could and the boys hair and appearance with the studio shoot it was really hard. This is likely to create issues down the line but there was simply no avoiding it due to the fact of a different time, location and lighting sources. the sound will also feel very different which will be OK if the footage of the shoots appears in the same section. BUT if clips from different shoots appear side by side they will look different. This may be incorporated into the overall feel though perhaps as it does add an interesting texture and dynamic.

The shoots went fairly well and the boys were more relaxed and as I have mentioned before filming is a lot smoother when they are filmed individually. I recorded the pieces where they are voicing their parents views on their personalities and this went well. Following this I did manage to stage the boys shots where they would be individually on all three screens at the same time and interacting. I did a dummy test for this directing them as to where they would need to look and pretending the other screens were and guesstimating how long they would have been speaking for therefore how long to keep their gaze there. It was not an exact science but it went OK so I got all of these filmed too.