On Monday 11th March, we finally got round to filming. This was a week before the deadline and made me quite anxious that we would get it done on time. We found another singer/songwriter named Max (mid 20's) in Sheffield City Centre, who gladly agreed to be a contributor. Although he was not my ideal choice of busker, he was easy to work with and took direction well. Initially, we noticed that he was stood in front of a window, so asked him to alter his placement to ensure that our reflection was not visible. We then asked him to play a selection of his own music, to provide us with a variety of new work that an audience will have not heard before.
We chose not to interview the busker in the 2 minute piece, as we wanted to focus more on the public's perception of him. We found, that when filming Max, not one person gave him any money, or barely noticed him, apart from one little boy at the end. I think that this was sad in a way, and demonstrated to me how hard his 'proffession' is - something that I wanted to portray in our film.
Leon was more focused on the camera work and I recorded the sound. I used a Marantz 661, Rifle Mic and Boom Pole to record the sound. I am quite happy with how it turned out, although it did sound a little too 'pure'. It sounded as though it had been recorded in a studio, so I planned to alter this in the edit.
Different shots that we gained, included all those in the brief storyboard. For example, images of the busker's feet tapping on the floor and his hands on the strings of the guitar. A lot of close ups were used, and I think maybe we should have gained more long shots to form more of a variety.
Other footage that we gained on the 11th, included people walking past the camera - something that could have been a nice establishing shot. We also made our way to the steps behind the train station where we were able to shoot a time lapse of the city. Unfortunately, it was not the best weather (cloudy and snowy at times), so the footage did not show the motion of clouds, something that is always visually pleasing in a time lapse. However, cars and people moving was caught, and I think that this successfully demonstrated the passing of time. In the end film, the purpose of this time lapse is to show how long the busker has been stood there, and be a metaphor for the people that pass him by and carry on with their day to day lives without noticing.
Overall, I was disappointed with what we had in the end, and I think this was because I had my heart set on our original idea. I have previously stated in this blog the way that I feel a conventional busker will not be of much interest to an audience, and I am worried that this will be the case in our film. I think that having a week to both film and edit the piece was hard enough, as well as only being a two-person group. We have had a lot of disadvantages throughout this filming process, however, we have not allowed it to let us become stressed, and instead focused on what we did have and how to make it the best possible film it can be.
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