Hayden Brenen Shoot

Hayden Brenen Shoot

Yesterday, Hayden came into Ravensbourne so I could record him singing to the camera.

I’ll admit, I do regret the fact that I’ve only recorded him four times. I’m starting to think I should’ve tried even more lighting setups, maybe introduce the light at different parts of the song.

Below is the lighting diagram, I had to use LED Sola’s instead of litepanels so had to use orange gels to get the colour temperature.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The biggest challenge of the shoot was emulating candlelight, a couple of days ago, I came across this video on Youtube. Candlelight was achieved by firing very narrow LED [through narrow barn doors] onto a golden reflector which was bounced onto the subject. The reflector was tilted from time to time to achieve the flickering.

However my assistant Tiana had another idea. Instead, she changed the power of the key light. I think this gave a very good effect.

Does my CD image work?

Does my CD image work?

On the advice of Julian, I’ve decided to print the CD Book image and put it in a CD case so I can ask myself the question, does it work.

Looking at the print, I’m wishing that the word No More on Sarah was straight because that is currently serving as the title of the image and it doesn’t seem that clear. I’m also not a fan of the skin tones but I need to remember that these have been printed on an ordinary printer so the colours aren’t going to look that good anyway.

My billboard in Situ

My billboard in Situ

Below is my billboard in situ as if it was a real 48, 96 sheet and Adshel campaign.

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Shooting the candles for my music video

Shooting the candles for my music video

Yesterday I shot my candles for my music video. This was a very tough process as I was shooting every candle individually, so I really had to plan when each candle ignites, when it flickers, when they extinguish.

You can see that there are two MP4 files. These were created in Photoshop and this is how I created the candle sequences. I layered the images in Photoshop and used layer masks. This would’ve been a very long process if I didn’t have a shot list. The shot list means I simply open the video, I don’t have to take the time to preview it.

Permission from London Rowing Club

Permission from London Rowing Club

Test for Music Video

Test for Music Video

Yesterday I had my first test shoot for my music video project. This was very simply a test of getting the candles to ignite.

The first thing I feel after doing this test is that I need to animate the candles a bit more. In this test, they are very static. They feel like a photograph. They need to move more.

I also need to slow down the ignition because it is pretty much instant.

With the motion of the candles. This is going to be a bit tougher because this video is a composite. Every candle is recorded separately and masked together in Photoshop. So I will have to get the movement in sync otherwise it will look very fake and this is going to be near amount impossible by waving a sheet of paper. I need something consistent like an open window or even a wind machine.

Matt Pritchard also feels I need to have a fill LED light on the ceiling to add a bit more atmosphere.

Final Invoice for Billboard

Final Invoice for Billboard

Below is my final invoice for my Billboard Assignment with the AoP Terms & Conditions.

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Final Invoice for River Thames

Final Invoice for River Thames

Below is my final invoice for my River Thames Assignment with the AoP Terms & Conditions.

Final Invoice for Music Industry

Final Invoice for Music Industry

Below is my final invoice for my Music Industry Assignment with the AoP Terms & Conditions.

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Leica: The Hunt

Leica: The Hunt

I feel the above video is going to have a big part in my dissertation.

Firstly this advert/short film is “dedicated to those who lend their eyes to make us see” It shows Leica as being the tools of the trade for informing the world about world affairs. Whether it be an indigenous tribe in Africa, a war in the Middle East or protests in China. These are the tools and these are the people who give their lives to making sure we are made aware of the truth.

However, that final point led to loads of controversy. The climax of the advert is of Jeff Widener of the Associated Press rushing through an apartment complex away from Chinese soldiers so he can snap the famous Tank Man image.

Still, to this day, the Communist Party in China hasn’t revealed the full figures of just how many people were killed during the Tiananmen Square protests and they probably never will. The inclusion of this incident led to a massive backlash in China and apparently even backlash from the Chinese government. The word Leica was censored in China. So we are seeing politics not allowing the truth to come out.

Lecia even distanced themselves from the advert when they got the backlash. They said “the video was not commissioned, financed or approved by any company in the Leica Group” however a spokeswoman for Leica “was quoted by Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post as saying the video was approved by Leica” So we’re also potentially looking at companies and photographers that are afraid of telling the truth because they are worried at how people will respond.

But we do need to remember that this quote came from a Chinese publication so it could very well be state-controlled or at least state influenced.