Second Shoot

For our second shoot we wanted to do close ups of the postcards rather than people holding them. This gives us more footage to work with. We also think this is a nice idea to really emphasise the images on the cards. Having more footage to work with is good as you are able to really experiment and play with the film more, you are less limited to what you can do

Organising filming shoot

So we are organising our third photo shoot, this photo shoot will be our main musical scene of the band actually playing and singing the song. 

We have already asked the actors and musicians who are going to be in our photo shoot and they are free when we want to shoot, we have also discussed the time and date with both the music department and drama department so we can use their space and equipment.


Shoot: 

• Time:  1:15pm - 3:00pm, This gives us plenty of time to set up before the shoot to get the set properly organised and readied.
• Date: 12/11/2014
• Location: The location is our drama studio as there is lots of light equipment and space to shoot the scene adequately and play around with some effects we like. 
• Actors Ready?: Actors are ready and know the song enough to film, we have also organised a time that works for both the location and the actors
• Equipment Ready?: The equipment is ready to be borrowed from the music department for our organised time and date. 
• Costume: The costumes we have organised with the actors as being T-shirt and Jeans we like this look as it is quite casual and makes it seem like a real shoot. 

Practising time-lapse using After Effects

For this project I really wanted to do a time lapse to show the skills we have in using camera equipment. I put forward my thoughts on this to the group and Max and Kyle both really liked the idea and decided that it would look good in the video. As the song is about dark blue we decided to do a time-lapse of the sky, either a sunrise, sunset or just a change in time from the clouds and sky. This is so it relates to the song. As I, or any of the group had done this kind of thing before I decided to go on YouTube to look at how-to videos. Here is the one I found most helpful. 

I decided to take a sequence of shots from out my bedroom window of the trees and sky, this was to give me some images to work with to practise my technique. 

So after i had imported my images into the program you firstly have to select all the images and drag them onto the film icon underneath the project menu. This compacts the images into one sequence in which you can determine the length of each still image. You then have to Right click on the source name, i called mine "Original" and select time and then enable time remapping, this enables you to change the length of time of the sequence. 

Asking For Permission

To use certain equipment from our music department we needed to ask for permission from the head of the music department in school. We had to do this to ensure that we had followed the correct procedures to borrow the equipment for our music shoot. Here is the letter we have created to ask for permission to use the music equipment.

Researching techniques

We researched into some techniques that we liked. One that really stood out was the "stop motion" use in Adam's Song by Blink 182, where you go into a picture and everything is slowed down and took with singular shots then put together to make a good effect.
Here is the video:

Equipment

We are going to need to borrow equipment in order to film our band music scene. To do this we have asked permission from our schools music teacher to borrow the equipment for our specific time and date of our shoot. Depending on availability it will either be Wednesday the 5th or Friday the 7th of November. 

Filming our first scene

Today we finished filming the first scene of our music video. This was the postcard scene. As Kyle was in a meeting me and max were in charge of the shoot. We filmed on the gardens outside of school, so we could get alot of natural light, we also filmed extra shots to ensure we would have enough film to play around with.

Costumes

For our music video we have decided that Kyle would be best to organise the costumes and props, as he is connected to the drama department and knows due to his drama skills how to properly pick and design a good set. We all discussed how we wanted our actors to look and what effect this brings. We final decided on a casual look as we want it to look very realistic. So, we chose a band tee a very casual look which many artists use in their videos. We also chose jeans and smart shoes, a common look which many people wear and can relate to. 

Our first shoot

Today we organised our first photoshoot, as we recently printed out the postcards to use in our video we decided to film the scenes of people holding our cards tomorrow. This is going to take place from 12:15 to 1:15. We have discussed renting the camera out for that hour and borrowing the tripod to use. We have also agreed with all our extras that are available during that time when they are going to film and where. 

Practising Time-Lapse

As in my earlier posts i had been practicing time-lapsing and watching revision videos to help improve my skills.

Here is the first version of the video i managed to create:

Obviously this video is not finished and i need to practice more using the software but i feel like this is a good start and i have learnt a lot in this process. I hopefully will take a time-lapse using my camera of the Liverpool skyline for sunset to use in our music video. 

Our first storyboard

We needed a storyboard to show what scenes we were going to do and what locations. We also needed a list of people who were willing to participate in our work as extras so we wrote a list of names and ticked them off as they agreed. 

Rule of Thirds

During our AS studies we researched the rule of thirds in relation to our music magazine photoshoot. But now we can apply our knowledge to filming.

Here is an example of how you could use rule of thirds for a shot. 

This keeps everything in proportion for the shot. It works as imaginary lines drawn into the shot which split the frame into thirds. 

Creating Postcards

For our music video we decided to create some postcards to get people to hold up as insert shots. We saw this on a video and we really liked the effect  as it felt more real. Here are some of the postcards we created. As i had the most experience in editing the group put me in charge of the project and they consulted me on what designs they thought were best.

Magazine Advertisements

For our brief we also have to produce a magazine advertisement for the bands digipak. Here are some examples i found:

As you can see all the ads feature the album cover, this is a good feature as they know what to look out for if they want to buy it. Also, most of the ads feature examples of the songs from the album, this is useful to show the audience some of the more well known songs from that artist. They also all feature the date the album comes out.

Our Logo

We wanted to make a brand for our company to really encompass it as a whole. 

Here is the logo we created. 

Digipak Sketch

As we have to do two more tasks to go with the music video I decided to draw up a sketch of what is like my digipak to look like

Looking at Digipak's

For the brief we also have to produce two other items from the bands promo package, this includes a digipak. I decided to do some further research into what different digipaks look like and how different bands design their logo's and album covers.

Firstly here is a template for a digipak. 

Here are some more digipaks i found:

I like these digipaks because they are quite inventive and creative.

Tasks for the coming week

This week we really want to start filming to keep up to date with our deadlines. This means we need to have atleast 2 scenes boxed off by Thursday. The first scenes we are going to shoot are the opening credit scene, the band music scene and hopefully the crowded room scene. Firstly we need to properly plan these shoots which we hope to do by Monday. 

Looking at camera angles

As i am the director of the music video, i really wanted to refresh my knowledge of the subject and what different camera angles and shooting styles you can use. Here is the prezi i created to show the research i conducted.

Organisation

Organisation is key for this brief, we need to ensure we manage our time effectively so we can complete the task. We need to set out clear deadlines so each member of the group know what should be completed by what date to ensure that we all as individuals complete our own tasks and that as a whole we achieve our goals.

Things that need to be decided:

• Ask our friends Henry (guitar), Will(singer) and Adam (guitar/bass) to be apart of the music video, and then ensure they learn the song well enough so they can perform it sufficiently. (Kyle is the drummer)
• Set a date for the first filming shoot, this will be the studio in our school, this is because we can easily set up a band scene and we can add lighting easily to make it more dark and dramatic.
• Complete our storyboard so we know exactly what scenes we are shooting
• Begin individual ideas for extra tasks

Assigning Roles

Production Roles on your Film Set

Essential Crew Members 

Director: responsible for making artistic decisions about the film
We decided that i would be the director as i have the most experience in media, although we would all input into the creative process

1st Assistant Director: assists the director and organises the film shoot

Camera Operator: responsible for recording the shots with the camera
We decided that Max would be the camera operator as he is good at the technical side of things

Grip: responsible for carrying heavy camera equipment or tripods 

Runners: responsible for any jobs or errands the director or 1st assistant director needs doing

Extra Crew Members Clapper Loader: responsible for logging completed shots and using the clapper board! 

We are all going to take on the responsibility of grips, runners and extra members.

Continuity: Responsible for any jobs or errands the Direstor or 1st Directorbneeds doing

We are all going to make sure the continuity is good and clear

Art Department: responsible for props and set design  We decided that me and kyle would be best suited to the art and design of the set as i do art and kyle does drama. 

2nd Assistant Director: responsible for looking after the actor. We would all take on this responsibility

Actors: responsible for performing or appearing in front of the camera 

Extras: responsible for appearing in crowd scenes

Wardrobe: responsible for costumes, hair and make-up. Kyle will be in charge of this role as he is connected to the drama department.

Security: responsible for keeping the set clear from passers-by or interruptions

Sparks: responsible for setting up extra lighting if you have it  and making sure it is safe!

Sound Recordist: responsible for monitoring the sound levels and recording on set if you have an external microphone

Boom Operator: Hold the external microphone si it can't be seen on shot.

Final Decision

After much deliberation we decided to choose the song Dark Blue by Jacks Mannequin. We decided that this song allowed us to do something quite creative with it as it is quite an unknown song and we liked the lyrics that we could relate to the video. Here is the song we have chosen. 

Notes on songs and ideas

I decided to make a few notes on some ideas i had for some songs to take forward to the group and see what they did and didn't like

Song choices

This week we had to decided on a few songs that we liked to put forward to our group meeting to make a final decision on what song we were going to make our music video for.


Dark Blue - Jacks Mannequin

The Mixed Tape - Jacks Mannequin

Concrete Bed - Nada Surf

Monday Meeting

Today we had our first scheduled meeting on a Monday. This ensures with discuss what we did and achieved last week and what our goals our for the coming week. We decided that we would each select two or three songs we liked and that weren't very popular so we weren't influenced by that video, and we would come together on Thursday and decide what song we thought was best. The decision was also made to find music videos we liked to see if we could adapt and improve on some ideas experimented with in their videos. We also decided that on Wednesday we would decide the roles for our group and who would be assigned to what, making sure we play to each other's strengths 

Final Research 2

Brief 2 - Film Trailer

A Website homepage for the fill

A film magazine front cover

 A poster for the film

Final Decision

After researching fully into all the briefs and extra tasks we have to choose from we have decided to do a music video. This decision was made after we had ruled out the computer video game one because we couldn't produce the kind of special effects it would require to make a good video game. So it came down to a film trailer or a music promo. After discussing pros and cons for each we finally decided upon the music video because it was something that played to all our strengths and something we could produce with quality and within the allotted time. The film trailer we decided would take too music preparation and would take a lot of time writing the script for the scenes as well as getting good actors, which didn't play to out strengths.

Final Research 3

Brief 3 -  Computer/Video Game

The cover of the games package

Two hyperlinked pages from the games website

A magazine advertisement

Final Research

For the briefs you also need to produce to extra products.

Brief 1 - Music Promo

A Website Homepage

A Digipak for the albums release

A Magazine advertisement for the digipak

Research into Music Video

The main thing we like about music videos is that we can combine both a storyline and music shots. We also thing we can represent a genre of music quite well through this brief.

These show a broad variety of music videos, the top one consists mainly of storyline and has a lot of dance scenes rather than music orientated scenes. The second has mainly music shots of the band over story lines and the last has a good balance of music shots and storyline. The third would be the closest to what we would want to reproduce as we would want a good mix of music scenes and storyline.