Personal Project: Shoot Day 2

“THATS A WRAP!”

Last night was my second day of filming for my personal project,and it turned out to be my final one to! (Explanation will follow)

We arrived at the Bradford-on-Avon venue at 8pm, with the intention of filming:

• More voxpops with dancers from all levels, beginners to advanced
• An interview with Richard and his partner Zoe
• A routine performed by Richard and Zoe

The idea was I would film the class being taught at Bath tonight, rather than film any of last nights lesson, however it turns out I wont need to film tonight!

The lighting was really quite good over at Bradford’s venue, and after discovering a few issues with this at Bath on Saturday, I thought it would not hurt to get a bit of Rich teaching Monday nights class in case I faced similar issues again at Bath on Tuesday. As I started filming the lesson, I realised I may as well film it all now, as my camera position was good, as was lighting and sound, and besides I had nothing else to film until the class was over!

Once the beginners class came to an end, the freestyle session started. During this time I captured a few more shots of people dancing and enjoying themselves, but my main priority was voxpops. I had already established the best place for filming these was in the entrance way, with the door dividing here and the dance room closed as it provided a quiet enough atmosphere for interviews, but also allowed a little bit of music to be heard coming from inside the dance room, which was the background ambiance I wanted to try and achieve. I went and gathered a few people I knew were willing to do an interview, as I had spoken to them before, and then set about wandering around the dance hall and asking others if they minded getting involved. Not one person turned me down so I got plenty of voxpops, all of which provided great answers!

The intermediate class then started, so again I filmed this being taught to show the contrast in dance levels. Once this came to an end, Richard and Zoe were ready for their interview. We did this in a small side room to the right of the stage, which was soundproof and more cosy than the entrance way where I did the voxpops. Their interview went brilliantly and it was so interesting hearing what they had to say. I have been dancing with them for over a year but even I did not realise some of the facts about Ceroc history they had to share, nor did I realise their personal achievements!

And my final filming of the night was Rich and Zoe’s routine, which was just incredible. They performed it on stage so everyone watched them and they got a great cheer at the end!

So my reasons for not filming tonight are as follows:

• I have got every bit of footage I need, and more! I have used 1 full tape and part of another, and I also have Steve’s tape, so I already have hours worth of editing to do. It’s going to be a long, process!
• The lighting at Bath is not fantastic, and I had managed to get everything I would of shot there at Bradford last night anyway.

So thats my done on the filming front! I am returning the equipment this afternoon and I have arranged to meet with Leila on Thursday morning to go through logging and capturing. Then its on to editing!

I just hope the footage and sound turn out ok and as expected – so at least useable!

Overall I really enjoyed the filming process. It was a great experience and I loved the hands on element of doing everything myself. And of course Rich and the other dancers made my job a lot easier as they were so versatile. I better not forget to mention how thankful I am to Steve and John too….