I am really happy with how my performance turned out. Having the facilities too film such a profesional looking promotional mix is amazing and I feel the track selection I chose really caputres the style of music I enjoy playing and includes some of my best blends. I was really happy I was able to use my own DJ Controller, as it limits things that could go wrong as I knew how to use it properly and it was what I had been practising on all the time leading up to the performance. My camera operators and director were amazing, they really captured the vibe I was feeling and were very compientnt in what they were doing, even thuough they had never done anything like it before, they were taught well and were egar to learn by Greg. We also had the perfect amount of time to peform. When I booked it I thought four hours would be too long and that it would only take an hour or two. Having four hours allowed us to practise before, properly learn how to opperate the cameras, and gave us the opperyunites to do two run throughs.
What was not so good about the peforance was the time frame and the decorations of the scenenery. As this mix was being used to be a promtional tool, it would have been nice to get it done earlier, due to festivals already booking people for this summer. If I was too do this again, I would definilty book the TV studios a lot earlier. This would give me a relastic and achievable time frame to record the mix, as I had already planned the set way in advance, so would need any more prep time. Another thing I would change would be the decoration and back drop. The only decorations I had was a table cloth and a projector with some trippy visuals, this did not look too exciting. If I was to do it again, I would think harder about how I wanted it too look. Maybe a jungle theme, with some table decorations, trees and something different projected on the screen behind me would look really good. An idea that we came up with a bit too late was during the double of "Do It To It" by Sub Focus and "Nightmares" by Hedex to switch the cameras with the lead synth. It was sort of executed but not very cleanly, if I was to do it again I would of practised this before.
I think I did plan well for my performance. I pracised my blends loads to get them sounding tight, as well as trying them out at clubs and with fellow DJs to get their reactions to know the best ones to use. I had all the right equipment booked and set it all up on the day without any problems. I organised getting my decks dropped off without a hassel and had the visuals all ready to go on a prepared USB stick.
When planning for the performance, I had too:
Plan and practise my set list
Book the TV studios and equipment (projector and speakers)
Setting up all the equipment on the day: speakers, decks, projector, tables
Explaining to the camera operators the shots I want and how I want it too run
Actually perfroming
Packing away
Uploading the footage to YouTube
Yes, although in hindight it would have been nicer if it was completed earlier.
Every performance requires a balance of techniqual and creative individuals. In this performance, I was the creative pionner. I had to foucs on how to put together the best transitions and doubles. The other people in the room had more of a technical role. They were in charge of moving and operating the cameras, live editing in the gallary and running the audio. However, the director had some creative input with deciding which camera shots to use, when live editing. For example, if during the peformance, one of the cameras stopped working it would be the responsiblitity of the camera operaotrs and technical dircettors to fix it. Although, if I messed up a blend or tranasitions, it would be my responsibilty to overcome it and keep going.
All of the people that I worked with, Taylor, Joe, Same and Greg, were amazing. They all learnt how to use the cameras for the first time and use them wonderfully. They all acted professionally, as the knew how important it was for me, for it too look good. Taylor's directoring skills were excuted perfectly, he thought that he had messed it up, but honestly when watching back the footage I did not see a single mistake. Joe took the inaitiave during the shoot to do a moving camera shot. This worked really well and I praise him for of that on the spot. Sam was focussed and concentrated on getting the best shots, with zoom ins and a vairty of differnet angles. Greg helpe us learn the ropes and how everything worked, getting the sound to be recorded escpially. Although, once we started filming he left us too run it. I am really happy he did this as it allowed for us to be indepenedtnt and work things out ourself, which makes me even more proud of what we accomplished. Overall, I am overjoyed with how it all worked out, it ran so smoothly.