Location planning
As I am planning to do a test day during this week, I will be featuring both the test day and the main day planning in this section. I'm also going to put my experiences during the Stamford test day here as I count them as part of my research for London. I will still put the experiences during the Main shoot for London in the more appropriate London Filming tab under the Journal section.
Stamford test day plan
Temperature: 2'C - 11'C
Weather: Most likely Cloudy with a little bit of rain
As this is going to be a test day, I mainly focused on the preparations and any shortcomings during the day so I felt I needn't cover the whole of the city and covered the different parts of it instead as an example of each type of location I could be filming.
Arrival - [2:00]
Because I will be driven by car I will need to plan ahead to accommodate how long it's going to take to get there. A drive to Stamford will take around 25-30mins so I will have to prep everything before 1:30 before heading to the location by 2:00
High Street
This area was chosen to simulate a busy atmosphere so that I can test out what settings I will need to use and if I can navigate in the atmosphere well and still be able to shoot the footage needed. Having focus on the audio levels will be important as being in a bustling area may cause difficulties travellings close to others so may accidentally bump into them and also possibly audio recordings ruined by copyrighted music playing in public
Sensory Garden
This area was chosen to simulate a small scenic atmosphere and I will be primarily focusing on showcasing how I could use different angles to enlarge the amount of footage I can get from a smaller area, of course, there will most likely not be many people around so the issues aforementioned on highstreet will most likely not apply here.
Town Meadow
This area was chosen to simulate a large scenic atmosphere so I can focus on the composition of the scenery but because of this being a bigger area wind will most likely be a larger issue compared to the smaller scenic area so like High Street I will be monitoring the audio a bit more attentively.
Departure - [5:00]
Because the sun will set around this time I have chosen this as the ending time of my shoot so throughout the journey I will need to apply time management skills in so I can get all the shots needed.
Equipment prep Video (Stamford)
I plan to make a summary video just like the one above with everything I will need to bring and a short explanation as a reflection of all the research I have done for the past week. This also serves as a vlog to remind me what I have brought visually alongside the detailed list of equipment in case I have forgotten anything that I've used.
Stamford Test day
As said before, because this is technically part of the research for the main shooting day in London I will include the voice recordings below here on the research tab.
The recordings for London will be on the London filming tab to keep organised.
1st Recording - DJI Controls
"Upon using the controls of the DJI I found that it was pretty unnatural as unlike Joystick controls in video games, I am used to the camera angle going up when pushing the joystick down. So I have since changed this setting to be inverted"
4th Recording - Test day summury & Cold hands
"I have just finished the test day and I think it went pretty well. I feel more confident about shooting in London now. One thing I want to mention is that it was pretty cold and even though I've worn enough clothing to feel warm, my hands were freezing holding out the gimble so I will definitely be considering bring gloves depending on the temperature "
2nd Recording - Field recording mounting
"I have taken a pitstop at a nearby cafe to evaluate on the footage and the audio recordings and I have realised that even though putting the Field recorder in bag created a significant amount of rustle noise at home, it wasn't noticeable at all in practice because of the noise of the outdoors so I will be definitely using this on my other shoots"
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"Though arming the audio recorder still proves as a hastle as I will have to take off my bag to begin and end the recording every time I want to shoot footage so I will try and find a way to mount the audio recorder on the gimbal grip so I can record on both the gimbal and the recorder quicker"
3rd Recording - Gimbal case mount
"At the 2/3 mark of the shoot, we thought to stop to evaluate the footage again and also rebalance the gimbal a bit better as it was drifting a little bit during the shoot. I have realised how inconvenient it was to take off the bag with the gimbal case attached to the bottom of it as it doesn't sit well on the floor. I have decided that next time I will not bring the gimbal case to the shoot as I'm already holding the gimbal out most of the time; armed to shoot as fast as possible. Furthermore Putting the gimbal back into its case proved to also be a hassle as I will have to revert the gimbal adjustments back to its original settings re-adjusting it every time I take it back out"
London Day Plan
Temperature: 1'C (4-5am) - 9'C (1-2pm)
Weather: Most likely Cloudy
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As I got a friend that also needed to do their FMP getting pictures that is related to London, we planned a route that covered both of our needs during our time there.
Arrival -
[10:24 - 11:44]
This time has already been decided when we bought the tickets and it's strictly because of trying to get the best pricing at the earliest time we could get there.
Camden Town -
[12:00 - 1:00]
(Bustling atmosphere)
Camden Town has a stretch of road that is filled with unique little shops and wide walk paths that I think highlights how busy and unique the shops of London could be if you were to stray a little bit from the centre.
Barbican -
[1:00 - 3:00]
(Brutalist Atmosphere)
The Barbican seems more like an anomaly looking at the landscape of London. With never-ending glass monoliths reaching tens of meters high, The Barbican looks misplaced and almost run down compared to its surrounding architecture as its created out of a brownish brick-like texture spanning across its floors, ceiling and walls. I thought to show this area as this isn't a place that is usually seen by the average London traveller.
The Shard -
[3:00 - 4:00]
(Bustling atmosphere)
Of course, London will not be the capital city without its famous architecture so I have taken some time to capture segments of this to include in the collage of other shots to still be able to give a sense of familiarity to the viewer.
Green Park -
[4:00 - 5:00]
(Calm atmosphere)
To add another element of London to give contrast with its busy streets and crowded places, I thought to feature some greenery from one of the many parks in London that surround Buckingham Pallece to show the grand scale of these large fields of serenity and calmness.
Departure -
[Open return]
Because we have booked Open-return tickets, We have some flexibility in overrunning in case we spend too long filming in a location or trying to figure out a problem along the way. But even though this is the case we aim to shoot all the scenery shots during daylight
Equipment prep Video (London)
To summarise:
Included - Extra Pop filter, Closed back headphones, ND Filter, Gloves
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Excluded - Gimbal case.