Props That We Used

Here is a list of props that we used and they were used by Ashriel for his character at the beginning and end of the video:

• A hammer

• A television

• A stool

• A pair of sunglasses

• A keffiyeh

• A pair of black cotton gloves

Almost all of these props were provided by Reuben Gill, which is why we call him our producer.

Production Stage (Fifth Shoot)

In this shoot we all went to my house with the intention of filming the destruction of a small 15” TV, caused by Ashriel's character, but because of certain circumstances the destruction was cancelled. In the TV’s place we destroyed two heavy Subwoofer speakers which should have made a big sound, big spark and loads of smoke. I had these speakers lying about in my cellar. We wanted to show things being destroyed and damaged in order to show elements of chaos and anarchy. Ironically we didn't even use the footage of the speakers blowing up in our actual video.
(picture of Reuben's cellar)

The opening and closing shots of our finished video was filmed in one long take (actually it took three takes but you know what I mean). Ashriel (dressed as the Grim Reaper) had to turn on the TV and then the screen would display static, then I zoomed in on the TV screen until it took up the whole of the camera's field of vision. Whilst the camera was zoomed in, Ashriel had get into position behind the TV and stand with his head bowed. Once I zoomed out, then panned upwards to view Ashriel and then his apperance is finally revealed to the audience. This scene was heavily inspired by the 'Come to Daddy' video by the Aphex Twin.

Production Stage (Fourth Shoot)

We filmed in the cementary in Chorlton and one of the subways in Mosside late at night as we didn't have enough good footage for our video timeline. We got some footage on Wilmslow Road as well.

Shooting on Wilmslow road took quite a while, as we filmed the shots with the intention of speeding them up on the Mac to create that sped up background effect. Poor Mohammed was stood stock still for about three-five minutes in during three different takes.

(picture of us filming at subway)

Post Production Stage - Editing (Part 1)

We are now at the post production stage and already our video is starting to look decent. We've captured all our footage and put most of it on to the timeline. It's amazing how editing can make raw footage look good, all just by cutting shots together, adding some video filters, and putting in some interesting transitions.

(picture of me editing on the Mac)

However, we are going to have to shoot some more good footage, as the footage we have now (despite there being a lot) isn't good enough to make it into this video.

Production Stage (Third Shoot)

We met up at 11pm on Market street to film the sequences we needed to film. First of all we decided that we should film on the outskirts first that way by the time we finished filming on the outskirts, market street would be completely empty, or at least fairly empty.

On the outskirts of town we tried to film a tracking shot with the camera man (Ashriel King) on one side of the street and the protagonist (Mohammed Adel) on the other side, but we ran into some problems. Firstly, on the first take, Ashriel was running with the camera, but as he was filming Mohammed sideways, he couldn't see what was in front of him, and he almost ran into a car which was pulling out on a side street. Funny but dangerous, so we discontinued to film like that, plus the camera kept shifting in and out of focus anyway because the wasn't enough light and so much movement.

After a series of tracking shots on the outskirts of town, it was 12am and we headed back to market street, which was then empty. Once there we filmed what would be part of the opening scene. We set the tripod up so Mohammed was framed by the surrounded buildings. Ashriel came up with the idea of editing the footage to make it look like it was on a bad TV, as if to imply that someone is watching the protagonist, and we hope that it gives the impression that whoever or whatever is looking at him on the TV is what he is running from.

Afterwards we did that we decided not to have a tracking shots that were too long because of the unwanted blurry effect. We started with Mohammed just walking as Ashriel followed him with the camera, it was good because we used the camera in a hand held position so it created a shaky camera effect which makes it better when we edit it, because the plan is too speed the footage up.

It was then when we bumped into a couple of police officers. Using my excellent powers of persuasion, I managed to get them to act in our video, so we had yet another tracking shot of Mohammed, but this time he is actually being visibly followed by someone, and it was the police!

That was probably our finest stroke of fortune throughout the whole production. Thankfully the area of town where we filmed them was well-lit and so there wasn't any focus shifts on the camera. The police are another bad omen for Mohammed's character.

We then decided to go to the Piccadilly gardens, this way we can get a scene of the protagonist on his own in town, illustrating his loneliness. To do this we used a combination of tripod footage and hand held footage to hopefully create a surreal feeling to it. However, instead of the protagonist running away from unseen characters, we had Mohammed dance in Picadilly fountains. We then cut between him dancing around, and him sprinting to show a contrast.

Market Street (Main Location)

Production Stage (Second Shoot)

Part 1

The second shoot was done in underneath Chorlton Bridge. The walls here were covered in Graffiti, because of this reason we thought that this place would suit the song we would be doing because the lyrics in the chorus of the song states, “the writings on the wall.” The protagonist (Mohammed Adel) is supposed to be getting chased by his own inner demon. So this location would have really suited our idea of what the theme is going to be behind the video of this song, the reason for this was that the place was dirty, dark and scary, where demons are thought to be the strongest at.

(picture of us fliming in Chorlton)

The many different shots we did of the protagonist (Mohammed) running underneath the bridge, to show facial expression and body language which would initially state that Mohammed is scared himself and is not really sure what is happening.

Part 2

The location of the alleyway was originally chosen by Ashriel King, the corner’s and the state of the actually alleyway fitted exactly into the criteria of location we had for our video, it was a tight squeeze passage where hardly anyone would go through, again the place for a demon to be at. We initially thought of Mohammed going through there as his inner Demon is guiding him into there to maybe cause harm to him or do something evil. In the end, these shots didn't make the final cut.

(Picture of us filming in the alleyway)