Day 2 Filming - Glenn

On 19th January, the group went up to London for the first time with Glenn. Glenn informed us that he had been trying to learn the lyrics as best as he could the previous evening and said he knew them well enough to sing along to. There was a slight problem that we had to deal with when up in London, and that was time Due to other commitments in the morning, Glenn was only available from 1230, meaning that we didn't get to London until 2 which in turn meant we were fighting to use as much daylight as possible seeing as it gets dark very quickly over the winter months.

London Bridge

When got off the train at London Bridge as we were going to go the the tunnel that I had showed Adam the first time we went filming. As we were walking to the location, we were walking over London Bridge (the bridge that goes over the Thames) and Glenn thought it was a nice location to begin filming. This was not an original location that we had thought of, but when we stopped and looked at it, we realised that he was right. We were been able to have get a number of different shots here that included, looking over the river whilst performing the song, walking over the bridge whilst performing and also just general pan shots of London as well as some establishing shots. The picture on the right is one of London Bridge. As you can see, it has quite a large pavement so there was plenty of space to film. Another idea that the storyboard shows, is how our model is to walk across the road towards the camera. Although a very busy road at times, we feel that this could be the ideal location as you have the river as a backdrop, and also, the road as a central reservation so Glenn could easily make it to the middle without having to dodge traffic!

Jay Filming On London Bridge

So, when we were at location, we decided quickly that we would all take it in turns to operate the camera so as 1) we were all seen to be doing something and not just standing around, and 2) to see who the best camera person was. 
People adapt differently to different things and it may have been that Jay or Adam was better at using the camera, utilising the variety of shots better than I would be able to. The picture on the left shows Jay using the camera with the tripod at the London Bridge location. The idea was to film glen leaning on the bridge wall and we would have the camera moving around his body (so start filming on one side of his face, and end on the other side). Although this possible would have been a good idea and looked effective in the video, it proved difficult to keep the camera steady and the final product was a shaky picture. It would have been better if we had a dolly with us which would have held the camera for us and moved it without the wobbly effect.

Glenn Performing On Southbank

The next location that we filmed at on this day  was on Southbank, just outside the Mayor's office. I thought of this location when we were on the train as I had recently seen it in another iconic music video. The video is one by JLS and how they used this location can be found in this link. We thought it would be a good idea at this point to have Glenn in the position that he is in in the picture, whilst singing the song. The backdrop is effective with the iconic Tower Bridge and we also liked the ground with the laminate like flooring.

After we had done some filming in this location, we thought that because the Tower Bridge was so close to us, why not take advantage of it and do some filming there too.

Adam Filming Glenn Along Tower Bridge

The picture above shows Adam filming Glenn performing the song whilst walking along the bridge. Apart from getting a few funny looks and people getting in the way of the camera because they thought they were on TV, the only problem was trying to set the right speed that both Adam and Glenn could stick too. It was hardest for Adam who had to try and walk backwards whilst trying to keep the camera steady. To do this and ensure that the pathway was clear for him, Jay and I walked ahead of him a few feet. The end result looked good with only minor wobbles that cannot be helped.

Me Filming Glenn In Tunnel

By this time, it was well into 1500, and we were all hungry so decided to get somthing to eat. By the time we found somewhere to get some food, get the food and eat it, it was dark. We still wanted to do so many more different location shots with Glenn, but it just wasn't possible with the light that was available to us.

All we could do with the light available was to go to the tunnel that was going to be the focus of the video and begin filming. The light did not really affect us here as it was lit with bright overhead lights. As you can see from the picture on the left, I am using the camera filming glen against the wall, singing whilst playing the guitar. Someof the shots came out really well, but otheres not so well. When we brought the footage back to the class, we realised that the location looked a bit dull and dreary.