MV Shoot #1

 

[13/1/23]

Finally the day had come, we were able to start the first half of our music video. As planned, we went to Azka's house right after a Friday day of college. On the way, we stopped at Layer's Bake Shop, a popular bakery here in Islamabad. We initially wanted a red velvet cake, since it would match our music videos color palette, however it wasn't quite how we pictured it to be so instead we opted for a classic chocolate cake where the expense would be shared by all of us, and complimentary to Aimen.

View of cakes at Layer's 

After a short drive, everyone arrived to our location and immediately started prepping as we didn't want to run late on time. Aimen started getting ready and doing her makeup as to what we discussed, she was more comfortable with doing her own makeup and we didn't want to pressure her either. 

After getting everything ready and prepped and Aimen was good to go as well, we started filming the vanity scene, zooming into her makeup at first and then eyes. I was the one who positioned the camera at an angle that would portray her eyes clearly as she applies mascara while looking into the mirror. 

Since we wanted to shoot the newspaper scene while there was still daylight, I suggested we go to the roof and shoot that scene first so that we won't be late, and the others agreed. Time sensitivity was a priority of ours since we couldn't afford reshoots. 

As we reach the roof, we explore ideas on how we wanted to light the newspaper on fire. Since there was quite a bit of wind and we didn't want anyone to get hurt, we went to the side where the wind was blocked and only burnt the edges so that the vibe was still there. We didn't decide to make Aimen hold the newspaper while it was still burning since that was too risky and we wanted to keep her safety at our best interest. 

Here's me lighting the newspaper with a long nose lighter, for our safety. 

After giving it the patchy burnt effect we wanted, we gave it to Aimen to get comfortable with so she could practice her lines and what she needed to do. As the newspaper prop matched the lyrics, we wanted to her aggressive while handling the newspaper, and she delivered. I bought multiple sheets so we could experiment on the spot and we took a couple shoots of her tearing them up as soon as she delivers her lyrics. 

This is where I'm showing Aimen her performance and reviewing what could be better

We cleaned up all the newspaper after we were done with the shoot. Next came the bathroom scene where we needed Aimen to smear lipstick around her mouth, in a way of rebelling against the norm and in a small defiance to show she won't adhere to what is considered right. We were trying to use the same small vanity Azka owned however, the shots weren't as intimidating as we wanted them to be. I felt the need to improvise and checked the bathroom mirror and saw the overhead lighting was perfect paired with a wide mirror and countertop so we decided to migrate there to shoot the scene. 

We then moved on to the bedroom scene where Aimen was in a sense of rage that makes her throw her belongings everywhere and make a mess of things. Since we hadn't been to Azka's house before, many more ideas started popping into my head about various shoots we could do just for the sake of having multiple options to chose from. That is when I gave the idea if we could film Aimen throwing clothes out of her closet, since the pink and blue lighting would be enhanced by her hair and it would still provide us with a chaotic clip. 

When we were done with that, the only scene left for the day was the birthday scene. I hung up these birthday banners as decoration alongside the few balloons we were able to use. We made sure they'd follow the color theme since we didn't want them to look odd. Next we decorated the birthday cake with colorful candles and put a cup of sprinkles near so Aimen could decorate the cake as she pleases during film. 

 After taking these necessary scenes, we concluded our first shoot!