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Music video account

So I want to shoot a documentary soon, but I'm not entirely sure what to do it about. I'm not interested in doing something that covers a big subject and sticks mainly to the history and facts. I'm more interested in human lives, individual acomplishments and suchlike. Example: WWII in general = I don't care. Stories of survivors = I care. Anyone got any suggestions, people you wanna recommend, stories or activities you think might be interesting to cover.

I'm sort of trying to feel around for a subject that I can care about. I have a few things in mind, but they have all been extensively covered I think. I would like to do something with Africa or the Somali experience, but not exclusively, I'm open to all suggestions. Anything related to or based in the UK is a plus.

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I meant to talk about the Jay Harvey shoot at some point and the video in general. It was my first music video shoot, and I wasn't so much as nervous, but more like, I didn't know what to expect. I had been talking with Jay and his manager for months, originally we were supposed to start filming in November, but something usually would come up from both sides that would push the schedule back even further. I thought of filming on Mini-DV, but eventually they wanted something with a better resolution and a glossier look, so we went for High Definition.

My DP had cancelled at the last minute, but luckily Jay's management arranged someone else. But on the day of shoot I found out that he was booked for another production. That meant that he could work with us but he had to be out of there by 2pm, since filming for the La La La video wouldn't begin until 4pm, he could only work on some shots of the second video. This had me worried, but it turns out that it was for the best. Because without a DP, my crew and I had to improvise the lighting and I can tell you that that little experience has taught more than three years of studying filmmaking ever could. I was just thrust into it and I knew the shoot would be in trouble if we didn't come up with something. Sure it took us longer to set up, but we ended up having fun with it. It was meant to be a club scene, so we could be a little funky with the lights if we wanted to, which made things easier.

Managing the extras was more difficult, the trouble was I never knew how many people were going to be in it, so a lot of the time it was just a matter of waiting for enough people to arrive. Then some people got a bit drunk and wouldn't listen, and you know since I'm not paying them, I couldn't really fire them or you know, hit them with a whip. So I put them into teams and that seemed to work a little, some got a bit competitive, calling out to the other teams. It was fun, and it kept them in front of the camera, which is always a good thing.

But it was hectic, and shooting two different videos in the same day is never a good idea, and sure there are lots of things I'd do differently now, but you know, I could have done a lot worse and considering all the things that threatened to disrupt the shoot and the strict time limits of the venue we were filming in, I'm pretty happy with the video that came out of it.

Best part of being a director? Yelling "It's a wrap".

masterfully reported by Xu Said @ 1:48 PM