R&P Post 28: My Kit List

 

The camera that we used to film our music video was a Canon 5D Mark II. The quality of footage was incredible and it was not too heavy. I really enjoyed using this. We were able to easily attach it to a tripod for static shots or transfer it to the dolly for freer movement. As it was not too heavy, we could also hold it by hand and do handheld shots. Finally, we were able to change the lens of the camera depending on what we wanted to achieve. We flicked between two - a slow-mo lens and a regular one. The slow-mo one allowed us to distort images and was better at capturing light. 

Lighting desk

This was extremely helpful throughout the process. We could control all the lights in the studio and even the blinds which was beneficial for 99% of our shots. It was also extremely helpful as we could choose different colours which was essential as the majority of scenes in our video does not have normal light in order to fit in with the red themes.

Turret light (centre) and floor light (far right)

Two very useful lights that we used can be seen above; the Turret light and the floor light.
Turret light: this allowed us to create our spotlights, which we could spot or flood to our satisfaction. By clipping half a red filter sheet to the front, we were further able to get the half-red effect that we wanted. We could also loosen the light and move it, which enabled us to film the spotlight moving.
Floor light: this was very useful in adding light to the set when the studio lights were not able to do the job. It was very useful to adjust the height as it meant we could get the best lighting for each shot. For example, for Angela's shot it needed to be high and tilted but from a distance so that all of her could be lit.

Music desk 

This was so useful throughout our shoot. The Macbook had iTunes on it and so we were able to play our song on it. The sound was great thanks to the studio sound system being connected to it. This was good in different ways. It meant we could adjust the sound to a greater level than any computer could. It also meant that we could hear the song while we performed and finally, in case we were shy it meant that no one would hear our terrible singing if it was on really loud.

Television

We were able to connect the camera to the TV which was helpful as it meant everyone on set could see how we looked on the camera and so we could have a say too, not just the camera operator. However, at times it was distracting as we looked at the television rather than the camera.