Production Diary 4th October Returning from the summer we are aware that Stacey is directing the forthcoming advert. She has two main ideas. The first one involves someone shopping, spending with his card in a number of boutiques. A beautiful woman follows him about and, when he spends seems to slip money into his back pocket. Idea number two is underdeveloped and based around shock tactics. Stacey has a vision of a skantly clad black man being used to sell our product. 11th October The second idea goes through several phases of development today and seems to become the one Stacey will pursue. A montage sequence is discussed, of him making several purchases from various retailers. In an abstract space (the background continuous shops) we revolve around an actor who wears just blue tight shorts. He has classical ‘geeky’ signifiers - tissue on his face, bold glasses and a childs lunchbox in his hand. We see him pick up an American express blue card and is changed into a strong character, with a englarged groinal capacity and cash in his . His lunchbox is now a book on advanced physics and he winks at the camera. There’s a wordplay on the idea  of a ‘larger financial package’. There are several items that need to be arranged for this idea to come together. Making him revolve on a stand (at a constant speed for half a minute), the vertical camera movement requires a the temporary acquisition of a jib arm, a lot of maths is involved for working out the rate of the pans in relation to him and we need a suitable actor. October 16th Today we are to assess the potential locations at Freeport. The advertisement will require a background of shops and it is decided that all the shop units are a similar size, which is a distinct advantage while facing the prospect of timed pans. The entire group is present both as committed members and casual shoppers. All the shops are assessed in terms of their potential visual contribution to our product. Those which make the grade, are targeted by our Producer and Director, smiling faces and polite inquires about the possibility of utilising their premises for our selfish benefits. The response is mainly positive. After the locations are selected and are clear in our collective artistic head, we depart back to Barnsley. Here we record a pan of a shop at several speeds. October 19th Today I found out that a sculpures turntable was aquired by Paul and Stace. Good news that we don’t have to make one ourselves, but can use this as a template at least. October 23rd Group disbands for reading week. 1st Nov 8th November Ian said he’d bring in a front of a wheelbarrow today to use as part of a pulley system. In the end he forgot, so we couldn’t take any practical steps towards the required achievement. 10th November Today we broke one of Alfs tripods. In trying to form a system in which the stand will revolve at a consistent rate the tripod head wasn’t up to the task and broke. More theories There is a lot of trial and error and theories about how to make it rotate consistantly. New found allies at woodwork are sought and there is assembled. Pinning green pieces of paper to boards and various lighting set ups. November 13th A dry run today. This time Paul is made up to be black, using a pair of tights and my black hat. This is to give us an accurate as possible image in terms of chroma key effectivness. However the simulation is not as precise as possible, due to the different texture of their skin.  Several more techniques as to how to get the pedastal to rotate at a constant pace are tried. It is disturbing that, even if we did know precisely the rate at which the table has to be turned, as yet we havn’t sucessfully managed to rotate it with any degree of consistancy. November 14th Today the complex maths discussions continue. The theory Stacey eludes to, neither Paul or myself thinks will work. The group as a whole is devoid of a general mathematical knowledge, and Stace suggests she sees her old maths teacher about it. We also simulated a shopface, by measuring out the exact dimensions of the ones we will be using, on a wall in Honeywell. The Gaffer tape, again being used to good effect. The tripod is set up with the DVcam and Adam does a number of pans (at various speeds). The mathematical debate still still smoulders on in the Avid suite later. November 15th The maths debate is at an end. A formula is produced that none of the group invividually could have come up with. Calling upon extra tuition was a wise and sensible move, as the main shot is ultimatly reliant on several factors, maths being one of them. November 16th More rehersals with Paul as a stand in. Everyone is focused on their own particuar jobs. I concentrate on the aspect I am involved in, taking up the slack from Andrew Green’s rope, and getting the pacing right. The same can be said for our assembled army of dressers who interchange props with the efficency of a formula one pitstop. We are building up to the arrival of the spinning subject. Then an unexpected (and stressful) occurrence. The wooden top of the that has long stood in the studio has buckled out of shape. Now there is an unacceptable gap between the floor and the green screen. Our woodwork advisers are called in and it is weighted down in part. At around seven at night the much awaited jib arm arrives. It has on the side of it ‘McJib’ which reminds us even more of food. It is roughly set up and Adam and Paul get used to it more. Eventually go home via Ryans to pick up a camera. Thursday 23rd November Arrive at 8. We realise that we have no battery and we have to get to Ryans. We check the flatness of our rotating surface and it . The position of our newly aquired job arm technology is measured by a stand with bits of Gaffer tape on it, indicating where the arm should be at three points of it’s travels. There is actually a light fixed to the jib arm, a clever way to ensure the main shadows were behind the figure who turns. The dressers are arriving and we run through many times. Mid afternoon our actor arrives. Test runs are gone through and the early indications are good. All components are working together and Stacey seems happy with what is coming through the monitor. After several succesful complete run throughs, we feel we are ready for the gigantic step up. Actually using film. The film camera is attached to the jib arm, the technique continues. More rehersals, before finally a take. We capture several seemingly usable takes. A couple collapsed for various reasons, one or other component not working. Once the time keeper lost count and it had to be aborted. There was an oversight as when the light reading was taken no one noticed the natural light seeping in from the windows. Obviously as this faded, our light reading became progressivly inaccurate. However, a second light reading was taken and the nessesary adjustments were made, and plenty of takes were captured afterwards. Friday 24th November We meet at 8 in college to collect our equiptment. Soon we are heading to our location, the whole group present. Upon our arrival we lug the 16 mil camera around and set up our first shot. Adam seems to be struggling with the tripod. It soon becomes apparent that there is some kind of problem, and that the plate to which the camera is attached fails to tesolate with the tripod we have. After much debate, it becomes apparent we have to go back to college. Theories are that it may have been left with Ryan on his shoot the prceeding day. There is no choice – Stace drives Adam back to college, the rest of us remain. Although the shops have naturally already been selected and contacted well in advance, one thing we had failed to account for was the Christmas displays. Paul, Michelle and myself use some of the time we are now faced with in assessing the dispays. We lay the foundations for a slight shuffle in our shop line up (assessing the Christmas displays and reminding those involved about our forthcoming activity). An hour or so later we are finally in business. All members of the group have their specific roles. Adam is charged with the responsibility of moving the camera, Paul has to count the size of the pan, I, on request plug the battery lead into the battery thus turning the camera on while Stace and Michelle fend off any people who may be passing. This happens after the shot has been set up. For each shop we measure the width and find the middle point. From here I hold the tapemeasure in place, then Paul (usually) paces out the correct distance and marks it with gaffer tape. A simple procedure, but one that is essential for the continuity and could seriously disrupt the edit process and continuity of the visual images going in the background. One by one the shops are crossed off our invisible list as we stampeded towards the conclusion of the location filming. We conclude the afternoon back in Barnsley, by the light of a lone redhead we take the final shot. An American express blue card has been blu taced to a white board in the media room. It is now the final task of the one remaining static shot. It is easily captured. Anti climatically, that is the end of our filming. We have just over half of the provided filmstock. Adam rolls on for a few feet, then the process of preparing the roll for being sent for processing (short ending etc) is carried out.Group activities are almost at a halt until it returns. December 1st Today I see the film for the first time. Our rushes are disappointing and bewildering.  Through our many stages of rehearsal we have become accustomed to seeing a rotating in harmony, often accompanied by wiped in images of Honeywell swirling around. However this was just the planned stages to build up to 27 seconds of film footage. And it’s the film footage that we have to work with in the edit stages. It is with a sense of unparalleled despair that we discover a misframing has taken place. The raw footage we have at our disposal has several flaws. The most blatant error is at the bottom of the tilt. We can clearly see the rotation of the canopy for several seconds at the cameras natural resting point. The return tilt is fine until it reaches its conclusion. The end of the frame has a part of our actor’s head outside of it. Theories are launched. Not an inquest. We decide that the latter part of misframing (the actors head being slightly out of the confines of the shot) may have been overlooked because it was positioned when he was in his ‘geeky pose’. There are a few takes that the light isn’t quite right, possibly because we took the light reading when a bit of daylight was seeping into the studio, and not then after. Such theories about what happened have no real purpose. We need a way forward. Paul has already selected the most usable take. This is what we have to work with. The cutting of the top of the actor’s head at the end of the shot is unavoidable, the main visual inadequacy is the base elements of the shot, where glaringly the method of turning is so apparent. One way around this is to fill in the offending area with the colour it was suppost to be (i.e the colour of the spinning base). This would be a collosal effort (involving frame by frame painting in PhotoShop) and would by no means guarentee success. We assessed how much footage this procedure would would have to be executed on and the result was about four hundred frames. Our editor would be willing to proceed if instructed, despite the tedious nature of the process. Then, alone in the edit suite, as everyone else has briefly drifted to the refectory in a distressed state, an idea forms in my brain. We only can work with what is in the frame, so if we zoom in slowly using the edit facilities then the horrendous revolving turntable corners will exist only in our crew’s nightmares. However I am cautious to wrap this as an idea rather than a solid solution upon their return, as it assumes a function on Avid that we haven’t experienced before. The technical help of Lee is enlisted. Lee and Paul discuss the technical aspects of the Avid as Stace and I look nervously at each other. It is with a sense of overbearing relief that we finally see a mocked version of the advert, in which there is a smooth enlargement of the legs. If anything it looks better. A clever solution to a stupid problem. I stay around and helping Paul select the takes of the filmstock, writing down numbers and takes. Moments before being ordered off the premises Paul has got the selected film material on the one reel. It is as far as we can go before telecine. Unless..of course…there’s sound!? December 4th Today I actually recorded the sound. I pick up instructions of the voice over which have been left by the absent Stacey who is dutybound to go to a funeral today. I have a rehearsal in the booth. It is a simple proceduce, disturbed by the odd doorslam which can clearly be heard dispite being in the booth. Although Stacey has left clear instructions, we decide (Michelle is also there) to play around with the words , switching emphasises slightly, in order to give her several viable options for selection. Very soon, my work is done. 12th January The telecine has arrived. Our footage is even darker than before. This gives Paul incredible difficulty with the Chroma key. Edit time today was shared with another group. 15th January In the lighter, DV recorded takes the background fitted in exactly, but this time there are problems. The wipes are fluent and well timed but the foreground section is much darker. This makes us consider whether the right film stock was selected. The director has limited options. There is a choice between really harsh green shadows by his legs or the card being invisible. The most feasible solution is to put a wipe of pure white at the bottom of the shops. This means the card is still transparent, but as the background its white, this is the colour it appears. 16th January I am worried that I haven’t heard the music we are going to use yet and, crutially, neither has Stacey. Last night I had a rummage through my CD collection and decided to come up with a back up option, should the music fail to appear. There’s reasurrence in contingency and it helps put me slightly at ease. 19th January Ancious to hear the music for the first time, there is a disturbing crackle sound on it. Upon closer inspection of it’s rythmic capacity, it appears to actually be part of the track. Stacey isn’t best happy with this part of the track, but decides to go with it. Considering the timescale we have to work with, this is the only decision. Some of the frequencies can be removed, but this is a delecate procedure and not our greatest priority. The voice over is digitised along with the music from minidisk. Then sound editing commences. Firstly by placing all elements on the timeline and making the relevant splices in the voice over (into it’s three parts). The next stage is to place them exactly where Stacey wants them on the timeline and seeing how it works in relation to the music. Soon, the experimentation is over and the places are set, with the final section of voice over coinsiding with the ‘package’ element of the shot. The voice over trails off at the end of the sentences, so a slight increace in volume is applied. The EQ adds more emphasis to the word ‘package’, enhancing the voice over at that point. Another tool was called upon to combat the scratch sound that runs through the track. This was minimised to better effect, but we couldn’t drop out the sound completely. It is finally mastered to tape as a complete advert.