Launch day!

Photo by Leanne Kent

Photo by Leanne Kent

Photo by Leanne Kent

Today was Launch day! It was lovely as Theo and his mum came along too! We were really happy with our set up! It was the first thing anyone could see as they walked into the Pavilion and it was so bright, beautiful and colourful! A very proud moment for our group, all the hard work finally paid off!

Another great thing about today was seeing everyone else's final pieces! B2's especially stood out to me as theirs was fantastic. There was also a group who made a piece which was just out of this world, both of these were chosen to stay on at the Pavilion. Ours wasn't chosen.

We were pretty disappointed to be honest but we understood that not everyone's could be chosen and that our might not have reached the expectations of the 'hip-hop summit' as we really wanted to focus on the visuals of the two arts (painting and dancing).

It has been an incredible journey with an incredible group and I have enjoyed every minute of it! I hope to be able to do something again like this! It was a great challenge and an exciting brief. For now though, this is the end of the Proper Popper Lockerz. x

Set up (try-out)

Leanne, Lucy, Robin and myself went to Bournemouth Pavilion to see what our piece would look like set up. We borrowed a projector and brought along a canvas and my easel. It was relatively easy to set up however the projector simply wasn't working. After about an hour we gave up and went back to uni to get help from the tech guys. Even they couldn't seem to fix it. It was a problem with Lucy's laptops compatibility with the projector.

A few days later Lucy went back and they managed to set it up fine so the projection fits perfectly on the canvas and it looks brilliant!

We're really excited for launch day!

SHOOT DAY!

Saturday the 28th February 2015. The day that has taken weeks, and weeks of preparation and meetings, had arrived.

We were so organised. We met at Alex's house at 9am sharp and HOORAY the sheets stayed up! We all had a cuppa that Alex had so kindly prepared for the night before:

Photo by Alex Torrens

Louis and Kelly ran through the schedule for the day and reckoned we should finish about 5, cleaning and all. Alex and I walked to the shop to pick up some milk and in that time Theo, his mum, and Rachel (and Eli) had arrived!
Rachel who is Theo's dance teacher brought her 8 month old baby Eli along which was great entertainment for those of us who weren't so involved with the shoot. By this I mean the room was quite small so only camera operators, director and Theo could be present.

Theo got changed into the clothes Kelly had bought him and they fit! Hoorah! He also liked the shoes and we said he could keep them however they would be changing colour by the end of the shoot.

Theo began to warm up and had a chat to the camera operators. Within a couple of hours we were ready for the paint. We piled the placed into piles within the square in which we assigned him to dance and Louis directed him on what he wanted him to do. We were after big movements, lots of kicking, popping and generally having a blast.

Photo by Alex Torrens

Here are some photos of the shoot:

Photo by Harrison Twinn

Photo by Leanne Kent

Photo by Leanne Kent

See what I meant by the shoes changing colour?

The shoot went better than any of us could imagine. The paint lifted beautifully and spread incredibly. Best of all Theo had the best time! He loved the mess.
We were done by 3pm!
We gave Theo some coveralls to protect his mum's car as he was absolutely covered in paint! She was very grateful for this, and appreciated our preparation. Off they went and we were to begin operation clean up.

It was actually easier than we thought! We took the sheets and bin bags down which had protected the windows wonderfully. The others swept up as I helped out attacking the windowsills and walls with wet wipes. It was a lot easier than I had imagined!

So after a lot of stress and panicking- doubts about whether it is going to work or not, we completed our shoot day with ease and genuine enjoyment! It was amazing. We are so incredibly proud of the outcome and Theo was amazing at dancing and we were incredibly lucky to have him!

THAT'S A WRAP!

Set-up day.

Prior to the Saturday shoot we set up our 'studio' the afternoon before. Safe to say it did not go smoothly.

Actually, here is a picture which pretty much summarises the day:

Photo by Josh Pemberton

We started setting up about 12:30 and we began by covering the windows with bin bags... Actually, bin bags were forgotten so Leanne and I walked to Lidl to get some while the others (Louis, Robin, Harrison, Josh and Lucy) set up the cameras and covered them in cling film.

When we returned we then used gaffa tape to stick the bin bags to the windows after cutting them up to make the larger. We then used more tape to stick the sheets over the conservatory windows, and then we stuck a third flatsheet to the ceiling, creating an infinity-white studio space. Happy with our work, hot and exhausted, we sat down in Alex's conservatory and had a break. 

Photo by Josh Pemberton

Within about 5 minutes we heard a tearing noise and thought "Oh My God." We looked up as the sheet from the ceiling fell from three sides creating a 3 sided-sheet box. We were actually okay with this as it looked quite cool like this... Until the third side fell down. This was when I resorted to laying on top of it crying. 

Thinking that we'll just tear the bin bags from the ceiling and leave it out of shot it'll be fine. But oh no. Life is not that easy. Another sheet then fell down from the window so dramatically it deserves an Oscar. I think I was in hysterics by this point (laughing and crying.) 

It was FINE. Louis insisted. We would just tape it back up... oh no! Would you look at that... We're out of tape. WHAT ARE THE CHANCES.
Darling Leanne hopped into her car and drove to B&Q to pick up some more, while the rest of us moped and Lucy began dancing... pretty sure she had lost the plot.

Leanne arrived back half an hour later with not only more gaffa tape, but starburst, what an angel!

Full of sugar and finally calm, we took all the sheets down and replaced them again, this time, taking time with a lot of loss with faith. As miracles work, they stayed, and stayed and stayed!

It actually looked pretty decent!

Photo by Josh Pemberton

 After we left Alex's a gruelling 6 hours later, we were BUZZING to get the shoot underway the next day.

Catching up!

I have been really busy lately and have only just got chance to sit down and organise this blog!

The shoot day is 4 days away and we are all starting to get a bit nervous... So many negative thoughts are creeping into my head but the best way is too address them directly... More on that later.

We had a pitch yesterday and ours went very well! Myself, Leanne and Alex were working on a mood board (see below) to express our installation in one screen. We have had the idea of a painters suit to highlight the art of painting as well as dancing, however we're happy to change our minds about this if we do want. The protective goggles are for Theo's benefit, as we don't want him to get paint in his eyes. 

 Below is a picture from a test shot which was done by Louis and Lucy. As you can see the colours do show up nicely on the white sheet- our battle with this is making sure the sheets stay up! So...

Photo by Lucy Fitts

We have some white duct tape which we are not going to be stingy with when hanging up the sheets. This is also Kelly modelling the delightful painters suit!

Photo by Sophie Arnold

Photo by Sophie Arnold

Below is a picture of myself, Leanne and Alex really please with the mood board we just created... It's not posed at all... Promise!

Photo by Sophie Arnold

 We are very organised at the moment and this helps a lot with our nerves. Things that crept into my head last night were what if the mixing of the powder paints just creates a huge brown mess?! What if the sheets don't stay put?! What if we mess up our one and only take?! IT'S ALL TOO MUCH!

Our £30 budget is already gone and we've put our hands into our own pockets to get all of the props we need. The paint is really expensive which is why we only have one shot at this.

There will be ways to save the day if it does go to mayhem. Theo could always dance in the painted mess if the powder paint doesn't explode like we are hoping.
It will not be the end of the world but it always helps to have back up plans.

Plumbing problems.

So kind of an unrelated but related post....

My group performed a test shoot today with the powder paint and lighting etc, and I had to miss it due to the fact the boiler in our house is broken and I had to go home and wait for a plumber to come round.

It is really irritating but it just shows that the most random things can interrupt a project however it is part of Uni life.

So far I heard it went pretty well, if a little messy!

One issue we have faced is the powder paint, which Kelly ordered arrived with a split in it which just won't do, as moisture could have effected it. However this is relatively easy to sort out

 Photo's taken by Kelly Griffiths.

Queen of clean!

So today we had an hour and a half group meeting in which we discussed things that needs to be done now.

Fantastically, we have our contributor confirmed, and he is indeed Theo, known to YouTube as the 'The Mini King of Pop'- which is always a promising title.

I managed to dig up my old easel from my art days and we are using this to display the project on (obviously on a canvas on the easel... just to clarify!) This means we almost have our display as a massive CHECK!

Location is something we are struggling with however Alex has so kindly offered to allow us to destroy her conservatory with paint for the shoot- what a sweetheart. To avoid such mess we are investing in many, many, MANY white sheets to cover the room with and I have named myself the Queen of Clean and I am hoping to be in charge of the mess and making sure everything is cleaned up and covered during and after the shoot. It is going to be a messy one, which is unavoidable so we're going to have to be brave! We'll definitely protect the equipment to an extremely high standard. 

In todays meeting we split off into three groups where Harrison, Josh and Sophie explored sound ideas, Louis, Lucy, Alex and Robin designed camera angles and layout (see below) and myself, Leanne and Kelly were discussing production matters such as location and safety of Theo.

Below are some shots from our meeting and it's brilliant to know our project is one step further on!

Kelly's fabulous brain-storming sheet

Dream Team (+ Alex)

Working hard or hardly working?

The display design

Josh took some notes

Shoot layout

Harrison having storytime

All above photographs were taken by Alex Torrens.