AMEN: STUDIO SHOOT

The studio shoot went pretty well. I had the talent from 5:00-7:00 and luckily I found the time to research, storyboard and plan the shoot to maximise the time that I had with the drummer. I used the TV studio at the college I teach at as it was free and had the space, green-screen and lighting rig that I needed. I set up the studio for his arrival at 5:00 by getting the green screen ready, lighting it, installing the drum kit and also making sure the light was good on this too. A minor issue was tracking down a drum kit as the one I had been allocated by our music department was a deep green! This would obviously have been problematic trying to chromakey the green out in post production.

Once the talent arrived I was ready. as well as setting up the studio ready I made sure I had the Amen Break available to play on a lap top as a refresher for the drummer. Also a metronome on the same laptop to keep him in time. The drummer had been briefed on what to wear to try and capture a flavour of the era. Suit trousers, waist-coat, shirt,  tie and shoes. I brought a couple of shirts too just in case but we went for his mid-tone shirt and tie which were very in keeping with the era I was trying to capture. He did forget shoes though which put minor limitations on some of the shots and discounted one.

The shoot went pretty well and the planning proved to be a necessity as time was tight. The drummer was fantastic and did actually bare a close resemblance to G.C. Coleman the original drummer so was an excellent choice. He was also really helpful and up for it and a joy to direct. As far as setting up the shots went I filmed him straight on from a variety of shot sizes and angles. Then moved him ninety degrees and did another variety of shots. Lastly moved him around another ninety degrees and filmed him from behind and did the same again. This was to always keep the green in the background top key out.

In total I managed to get 24 shots. I need 16 for each of the the 16 different songs that have used the break and another 5 for the title screens and Amen Break reprises throughout the piece so I will have just enough. There is also the potential to flip shots in the software later to increase the options. I shot on a Canon T3i Rebel HD DSLR camera with a standard 18-55mm lens and a 14mm wide angle lens. I did do some tests with a 50mm 1.8 lens to give a shallow depth of field but decided against it as I did not think it would work


Issues and things I would consider for next time.

• Consider shooting some ready for Slo-mo. More research as could have researched more. Should be OK though.
• Even more footage for safety and possibly longer bits of footage.
• Studio with a bigger green screen. The size of the green in the studio did limit options a little.
• Be careful with keying. The drums have a lot of reflective surfaces that were on occasion picking up the green. post-prod will tell. I did pour light onto the subject to eliminate some of the green but impossible to avoid it all the time. Matt stands and matt cymbals would be a possbility but none available where I work.
• An extra set of hands as being lighting, camera, director and producer/production assistant was a little bit stressful. This would have allowed more focus to the job in hand.
• Looking back at the rushes a few ECU shots of drums hitting cymbals of drums, hands and sticks and his face may have been good. But nit picking here really.
• Little more variety of composition to make sure i had the shots I needed to put text on the screen alongside the visual too.
• Make sure he brought shoes and also possibly take out the ear studs for period authenticity which I missed during the shoot.