The Ivy Restaurant

The Ivy restaurant is a hot spot for paparazzi to be lurking due to the high amount of celebrities which dine there. After roaming the backstreets of Leicster Square we found the posh restaurant and a line o very expensive cars lined up outside. Sadly there were no photographers around at this time to interview or take footage of. Instead we decided to film some narration outside the Ivy, the problem then occured that we had been filming all day and the camera and back up camera had run out of battery!

As a substitute we used my camera phone which has a 8 mega pixel camera with video. This was just a practice to decide wether we wanted to add this footage/ topic into the documentary.

Once returning and reviewing the footage the quality is not as bad as we had expected but it is not up to scartch with the other footage filmed on previous occasions.

Therefore it is unlikely we will edit this footage in but if we do decide to include The Ivy Restaurant into our documentary we can easily return to film more.

A Christmas Carol Premiere

Whilst researching into the paparazzi and media world, film premieres are a good opportunity to see a different side to the paparazzi as the event is planned and photographers are notified, as the celebrities who attend want publicity unlike some other events. Looking at a calender of uncoming premieres, Sam and I noticed that there was a large scale film premiere on Tuesday 3rd of December at 7:30. We arrived early to get a good position in the crowd. Leicster square was blocked off with fake snow, red carpets and christmas tress. The blocked off part had a special section designated to photographers to take pictures of celebrities on the red carpet. Sam and I tried everything possible to acces this area but we were not allowed in. We waited outside and filmed celebrities arriving, this footage turned out to be great.

Celebrities we saw:

• The X Factor Finalists
  
• Peter Andre
• The Saturdays
• Brian May- Queen
  

The Dorchester Hotel

Whilst filming at the Dorchester and interviewing the Paparazzi we were told that Pamela Anderson was staying in the hotel and they were waiting for her. Sam and I then felt like real photographers as we decided to hang around, hiding behind a wall waiting to see her and the reaction to the paparazzi!
Half an hour later she appeared from a different exit of the building which the photographers were not expecting, therefore all ran to her. At this point Sam and I were not prepared to capture the footage and had missed her as she went back in the front entrance of the hotel. Immediately the photograhers looked at their cameras seeing if they had a good shot. Ten minutes later she appeared again, this time i was in the perfect place, behind the paparazzi, to get shots of Pamela Anderson walking out of the hotel and the Paparazzi crowding round.

This footage was complete luck as we just happend to be there at that moment in time. That is the difficulting we have noticed with trying to capture footage of celebrities and paparazzi, you have to be there at the right moment.

After Pamela Anderson has got in the car i left the camera rolling and noticed that after her car pulled away all the photographers had rushed to their cars and started to follow. This is how they can then get more photos at the next location or tip off others.
(caption from http://www.mrpaparazzi.com/)

Pamela Anderson

Looking slightly dishevelled Pamela Anderson left her London hotel earlier today and headed for a day out around the capital. The former Baywatch star is currently in Blightly on a short promotional tour, but will be returning to the UK again very soon as she’ll be staring in panto at the New Wimbledon theatre as of December.
Yesterday Pammie was spotted visiting the theatre where she’ll be appearing in Aladdin in a few months, then later that night she headed to Whisky Mist where she apparently stayed for ten minutes before going home.

Interview with Darryn Lyons

We approached the office door feeling very nervous, once inside we noticed the red velvet drapes, the silver throne, and the walls lined with frames full of celebrity gossip stories, we knew we were in the right place!

Meeting Mr Darryn Lyons was bery intimedating but turned out to be very beneficial in the end. We had a look round the office and waiting area and decided to set up the interview in his office as we thought the surrounders most suited him and this room had the best light. We added an extra spotlight to increase the light evenmore. We set up one camera on the tripod which would be our main camera, with Sam sitting next to it and asking him the questions. Whereas i had a handheld camera to move around during theinterview getting different angles and shots. This turned out to be a good idea as the footage has variations. Mr Lyons would talk and go off subject which was brilliant as it meant he kept on talking, giving us more footage. He did not have a problem with answering any of the questions and even included some information of a lawsuit against him which i would not expect him to talk about. Another topic he went into is how some paparazzi shots are actually set up between the photographer and celebrity, which I also didnt expect him to comment on.

I think the day was a brilliant start to filming the documentary and the next stage is to upload the footage we have and start editing whilst also planning more filming.

Interview with the Paparazzi

Whilst filming in London, outside the Dorchester, Sam and I came across two men who were lurking outside. After paying attention to the close details (camera hidden in bags!) we noticed they were photographers. I approached them and asked if they would mind being filmed, suprisingly they said that would not be possible. Instead of giving up on the two, i then continued to ask questions about their job.

Afew comments:

"not chasing but following"

"i work for an agency who then sells one photo mutiple times around the world"

"pictures can keep on selling"

"tip off's" (how they find out where to go)

Pamela Anderson was "followed back to the hotel last night and word spread around"

We are now waiting for her to come out and get into her car, "all of a sudden cars will appear from no where and follow, just watch"

This infromal interview has given us an inspiration to go and interview more paparazzi to find behind the scenes knowledge about what they go through on a regular basis. Even though we would like to do this, actually finding paparazzi we realise will be a struggle as we do not have any connections to them, and their locations are constantly changing.

Shots in Picadilly Circus, Leicester Square and outside Big Pictures

For the day of shooting, Sam and I went up to London before the interview to do some location shots and other shots in London. London was a perfect location as the paparazzi are known for stalking the streets in London. We filmed at a well known location first, Picadilly circus, this location was chosen as it was recgonisable and had an interesting background with the screens.

We walked down towards Leiscter square to film the chaotic environment in London. We experimented with camera angles and had the idea of fast foward the footage in the editing stages.

Finally we made our way to Big Pictures office and took footage, from presenting shots to panning shots. This we help us in the documentary as it can give an overview to the company.

Paparazzi Progress

Before the interview, we were discussing possible ideas for the content of the documentary and decided to practice our interview techniques.



This film is part of our planning preparation, which we recorded, analysed and presented to the class. We included the positive and negative factors and how we could improve.