Rogue Canon · Production
The Shirt-Swap Series — shot list
One filming session → six "From the Studio" episodes. Each episode = a different vintage shirt = a different unnamed member of the collective. Nobody says it. Everyone clocks it. That's the trick.
The one rule that protects everything: the face is never in frame. Shoot from behind, crop at the shoulders, or block with the hat brim. Check every clip before sending — if a mirror, window, phone screen or the oscilloscope glass catches a face, reshoot it. No children in frame, ever.
Setup — do once (15 min)
Camera. iPhone, landscape, 4K 30fps (Settings → Camera → Record Video → 4K/30 — matches the pipeline). Wipe the lens. Lock exposure on the rack (press-hold on the gear until AE/AF LOCK shows) so colours don't pump.
Framing. Keep the action in the middle third of the frame — the vertical Short is cropped out of the centre, so anything at the edges dies.
Light. Same as EP.003 worked fine. For a moodier episode: kill the ceiling light, one lamp behind you — silhouette + LEDs.
Sound doesn't matter. All audio is replaced with the anthem — machines can be silent, hands can fake it.
Wardrobe on a chair: 4 shirts, 2 bucket hats. Hat stays ON for every operator shot — it's the mask.
The 5-shot block — repeat per shirt
Each shirt needs only ~4 minutes of filming. Shoot the block, swap shirts, go again. Order below is shooting order, not edit order.
1The reveal (cold open). Start on the machines, then step INTO frame from the side and take position at the rack — back to camera, shirt filling the frame.
~15s · wide, whole rack + operator · this is the "most striking moment" that opens the episode
2Hands on the machine. Reach past the camera to the RD-9 / TD-3 / Poly D — tap pads, twist a filter knob slowly, punch a sequence in. Shirt sleeve visible in shot.
~20s · phone close to the gear, 45° down · the craft shot
3Over the shoulder. Phone just behind your shoulder looking down the rack — hat brim in the corner of frame, hands working below.
~15s · the "you are the operator" POV — the best angle in EP.003
4The nod. Wide from behind: stand at the rack and just nod / rock to an imaginary beat. Slow push-in if you can walk the phone forward smoothly.
~15s · the loop-closer — energy without a face
5Detail flourish (pick one per shirt). Oscilloscope waveform dancing · patch cable going in · VU meters · sequencer LEDs chasing · a fader ride.
~10s · macro, as close as focus allows · gives each episode one unique texture
Shirt → anthem map
| Episode | Shirt | Anthem |
|---|
| EP. 004 | Shirt 1 (your call) | Welcome To The Crest |
| EP. 005 | Shirt 2 | Underdog (Hardcore Remix) |
| EP. 006 | Shirt 3 | Loose Cannons |
| EP. 007 | Helen's shirt | Pressure Makes Warriors |
EP. 007 is the quiet masterstroke: different build, different shirt, second hat — visibly a different member, still no faces. The comments will do the counting for us. (Built Different and We Don't Break already have episodes — the rotation restarts after 007.)
The signature shot — once, worth it
Two operators. You AND Helen at the rack together, both in shirts + bucket hats, shot from behind — one on drums, one on keys, both nodding. 20 seconds. This becomes the channel's identity image: the collective made visible. If it works, it's the EP. 007 cold open and the next X post.
When you're done
Drop everything into roguecanon/footage/studio/shirts/ (make the folder, AirDrop straight in). Then tell Claude "shirt footage is in" — each episode gets cut to the 19s formula proven by EP.003: hook in the first second, re-hook beat mid-way, "WATCH THE FULL FILM" card at the end, one per week through to the Coventry opener on 21 Aug.
Rogue Canon internal production doc · shirts + hats + hands + machines, never a face · North London, 2026