The Piano Man- Day One

 Day One Shooting- The Piano Man

So the first day of shooting for the Piano Man has quickly come by- getting up at nine in the morning to pick up my massive amount of equipment was at first not fun, but then very rewarding once I had gathered it all. Thankfully I had been given an equipment trolley for the day to cart the entirety of my equipment around for the day. Today's schedule was to record all my shots inside Bonington building, so then I could spend the next couple of days shooting at other places to create a scene of where the Piano Man plays.

 My equipment bag of the day today was:

• Tracks and Dolly
• Heavy, hard wearing, video tripod
• Edirol R09
• Rode microphone
• Canon 60D
• 24mm Canon Lens
• 50mm Canon Lens

So naturally my kitbag has been quite heavy today! 

My first video shots were very simplistic; using the dolly and tracks I used panning shots to set the scene; these are slow pulling actions along the tracks while keeping the camera still to produce a smooth transition. Shots I included within these types of shots were of the inside of Bonington, including the creep up to the piano where the piano man is usually found playing. With pans you have to be very steady and keep the exact pace everytime you move, which can be tedious but once the effect is achieved it is very effective. As you can see in the third picture there is the set up of the track, dolly and camera on tripod; the tubes were laid out at about 12 foot long along the floor to make sure I got a nice steady pan inwards towards the doors.

 Another set of shots I took today also included close ups of the piano keys; of my own fingers pressing the piano keys, focusing of the piano keys and many other shots of the actual piano. This is to almost personify the piano itself since we do not see the piano man at all, that he is a mere myth within the building. I also included shots of the inside of the piano, like the inner workings of the piano to show the inner layers of the otherwise silent piano man. The fifth, sixth and tenth pictures to the left are how I recorded the inner workings of the piano, I used a closer lens (50mm) to get closer into the movements of the keys.

I also started to record the interviews with people talking about what they know about the piano man; I recorded three interviews today. The students, most interestingly had the most to say about the piano man- possibly because of the more one to one constant exposure to him. The tutor I interviewed, Ian Reynolds, had very little to say about him, possibly because he wasn't as exposed to him, however, he was very excitable about the interview and was very energetic about it. I have reservations about using the footage as I want an overall calm feeling to the video however I will make those sort of decisions at a later date when I have more footage collected. As it then depends on what the rest of the interview footage turns out like.

 Amazingly on this day as well I finally caught the piano man! In fact he was very friendly today; I spent a good half an hour with him, recording his actions and him playing the piano. Throughout the recordings I however never got his face in, or never got him in focus, to keep the mystery of who the piano man is. I also set the recorder onto the piano to record him completely on the piano for possible background sound of him playing.

Tommorow I do not have the tracks or dolly anymore so therefore will be shooting just static shots instead of dynamic ones; however I am taking the camera outside again to take some shots of possible "where is he from" shots. I will also try to get some more interviews and talking done for the overlay on the

 interview- maybe even record myself talking.