Commercial Filming

We filmed today in AICE Media Studies for our commercial which is on the Nike Brand. When we entered the classroom we were allowed to begin filming immediately, but first we had to follow the classroom procedures for checking out the equipment. We took an equipment form and included information such as the item numbers, phone numbers, group members names, and other information. We then turned this form into our teacher and were able to get our equipment. The camera took a while to learn how to use, but soon we were able to access a lot of the features. The other piece of equipment that took a while to learn how to use was the tripod. Detaching the base and screwing it into the camera was easy, but then reattaching this to the tripod was tricky. We knew the legs could be extended, but did not know there was an adjustable crane to give the camera more height. Before we could leave the classroom we also had to grab an AICE Media hall pass. This ensured that we did not waste time being stopped by security for not having a hall pass.

For the first scene, we had planned to film the Nike shoes at the track. It was very helpful having our storyboard so that we could save time and continue filming other scenes. However, when walking out the track we ran into a complication, the amount of people on track. We were not anticipating other groups filming on the track first as well as other classes being on the track. Our solution to this problem was to film on the baseball field in the outfield. On the baseball field there was no classes and only one other group filming. Additionally, we were able to capture the feeling of athleticism without being on the track. The second scene was the Nike shorts and this was filmed on the patio outside of the media center. We had story boarded this scene to be a tracking shot as the actor walked, but we decided to change this as it was too complicated. Instead we had the camera fixed on the tripod and the actor walk the camera. Then after about 5 seconds we would have the actor turn 90 degrees so the Nike logo was visible on his shorts. The third scene we filmed was for the Nike shirt. During this scene we had the camera once again fixed on the tripod looking down on the actor, also known as a high angle. The actor would be talking to a classmate or working on homework at a table outside of the cafeteria. 

Continuing on, the 4th scene we filmed were filmed slightly different the rest of the scenes. On the storyboard we had planned for the actor, me, to walk up the media center stairs with a Nike backpack. The previous scenes I had been directing or adjusting the camera and enjoyed using the tripod as it gave stable footage that wasn't shaking. However, this time my group found that the tripod was not low enough for the low angle to be very apparent. Our solution to this problem was to have the person holding the camera sit on the floor and have the camera facing upward. After a few takes, we felt that we had taken at least one that wouldn't be shaky and good enough for our commercial. The last scene we had to film was all the Nike products together. This scene was tricky because we were not able to find the feature to add delay to when the take started. We wanted all of us to be in the scene but did not have another group member to be the camera man. Our solution was this was for me to start the video and me then go to where I was supposed to be. Then in the editing process we would crop the video to where we wanted it. Finally, for the last 15 minutes of class we dumped all of the footage we had onto a computer so we could begin editing next class.