Poster Development and Research

We wanted to research posters of similar bands, which are alternative, but still quite popular, still putting an emphasis in their album's promotion on talent and being together as a group. We looked at Nickelback'sposter of "Someday" and really liked the simplicity of it and the clear fonts, them just being together as a band. We also looked at a poster of the Verve and we chose to use the layout of teh poster indicating the name of the album, of the band and the website of the band. We decided to promote our single, "Not Like Everybody Else" by creating synergy in terms of mentioning that the soundtrack is from the film "The Agent" because in the Verve's poster of Urban Hymns they mention the most famous tracks, such  as "Bitter Sweet Symphony" and "The Drugs Don't Work", which makes it more likely for people to buy the CD if the recognise the titles of the songs included, exactly what we planned to do.

 

Underneath, there is a brief sketch of our planning of how to create the poster. We decided to include the website of Parlophone and the institution logo, and where the CD would be available for purchase in order to emphasize that it is easily accessible for purchase.

After Effects

After we finished the cut of the new narrative idea it was time to transfer the video from proxy files into HD in order to make it look more professional and have a clear and better quality picture. In order to  transfer the files one has to be very careful because every single file needs to be changed and there is a specific procedure to be followed, which takes a lot of precision.

Our next step was to edit the green screen into each performance shot. This also was quite time-consuming due to the amount of shots we had to individually work on, but very interesting as well. However, once we have edited most of the shots, it was easier because if the same type shot would come up then we could copy the changes we have made from the previous one, so this saved time. Nevertheless, there are quite a few steps one needs to follow in order to achieve a maximum believable effect of the green screen. I started with choosing a shot, then one clicks on effects and chooses "key lighting". Then on screen colour - black (it recognises the green screen colour). Then adjusting the levels to make sure that just where the green screen was, we are going to apply the shots suitable. Then we have to choose a background. Then we go to colour correction in order to adjust the contrast and the brightness. I also experimented with saturation levels in order to make the green screen fit with the lighting in the studio as much as possible. In addition, we also blurred the background a little. Not only did we change the saturation levels in the background, but also in the shot as a whole. The screen recording underneath demonstrates in practice how we edited the green screen into the shot.

In addition, we also used after effects where we chose from varieties of muzzle flashes and decided that the James Bond character should have a bigger flash than Matt in order to signify who is going to win at the end and who is the bad guy in the narrative sequence. We also put the so called "mask" so that all windows break at the same time and we chose extra footage of glass breaking - the effect was enhanced of the action scene. The bullet holes on the windows we also added additionally and timed them so that they appear at the same time with window breaking. These additional features add more precision and detail to the work.

 

Post-production 2 - Narrative

Our aim this week was to cut the performance and after we realized that need to stop concentrating on single shots and stop obssessing over if a shot is cut exactly on the beat or not , but actually getting the right shots on the time line in order to finish the rough cut, everything was much easier. We managed to finish the rough cut and we were ready for the narrative to be filled in. We had to log the narrative shots. We realized that we have over 100 takes that had to be marked and this took us some time to sort out the best takes. We had to be very careful with using the right shots in order to follow up the story. I changed the order a few times because the first time we started editing from the wrong point with the "Bond" character finding me too early and therefore we ended up with not enough shots. It was not a big problem because I just dragged the shots further away and put others of him approaching the bus where I was kidnapped in order to create tension. Putting in the narrative was more challenging then we thought and very time consuming. Nina and I spent a lot of time editing and learning from our mistakes and fixing, pollishing and even redoing a number of times what we spent hours on before, but this is the nature of editing you have to create in order to see if it has the effect that you want and then re-make again. I found on the internet some useful quotes of famous editors:


http://en.proverbia.net/citastema.asp?tematica=376

New take on the video:


You can see in the picture below a shot of one of the James Bond films when he is saving the girl, exactly what we wanted to portray:
We got some feedback from our editing experts and they suggested that the video would be better if we concentrate on the actual narrative more rather than the performance. This meant that we needed more shots to play with for example reaction shots of me to Merlin or struggling shots, more shots of him walking, creating tension towards the saving act. We wanted to portray him as the hero by using a revealing shot of him when coming on the bus. Nevertheless, we had to go back to our original footage and cut bits in order to have a more variety of additonal shots if needed. The way of creating a more film based video was to have sequences of narrative rather than just single shots followed by performance shots. We used the same skills when editing our thriller in AS as for the cutting of the narrative one uses a similar technique - thinking of continuity, builting up tension, portraying the characters in the right way (Merlin - hero, me - victim, then typical portrayal of the Bond girl) by using low angle shots, close-ups.  So, we had to go through the video again and think of possible sequences of shots that would fit together. Nina and I decided to cut the song down by 30 sec in order not to be too repetitive and long. Additionally, it would be easier for us to market the song if promoting the typical 60s and 70s James Bond wave being also very British and famous. Therefore it fits with the song well. We had a several sequences starting with him approaching the bus, you can see me struggling, next was him coming on the bus, releasing - short happy moment, then the tension increases because the bad guy comes and tries shooting us - we run, fourth final sequence is when the Bond character shoots him.

An example of a film soundtrack is Pearl Harbor - There You'll Be where you can see how the music video cuts from the narrative to performance shots, but still keeps sequences. You can also notice that the lyrics match the narrative sometimes as we tried to do in our video as well.

Beginning Editing - First Steps

After having completed both shoots in the studio and in the scrap yard, now is time for post-production. Our first job was to start logging the shots and chose the best ones from the performing. We first decided to create a performance video without the narrative, so later when we are ready to put it in, we can always play around with the performance shots, which are already in place throughout the whole song. We had a variety of performance shots and therefore we chose the best ones by marking them with  "Best Take" as you will be able to see below in the screen video I took while editing. Some of the shots for example a shot of just the guitarist had additional ones within it, such as a close-up of his hand playing and the strings, his face, mid-shot. Therefore we put a marker in each shot so we can use them later easier and we would now where to find what if we need a certain shot. We learnt from the preliminary task how to do this and look for the beat in order to cut in the right places, so we knew what we were doing and we manages to finish quite quick. Next step was to drag all the shots which were marked as "best takes" on the time line on top of each other and synch them. This is very important because once finished with that we could simply concentrate on cutting because every shot is in time with the song. 

However, we realized that ones started editing properly there were more complications to come. Nina and I were the ones doing all the editing and were are not very experienced with Final Cut Pro because the last time we used it was when we did our thriller and the editing technique with the music videos is slightly different and you need time to get the hang of it. We spent hours and hours in the edit suit trying to choose the right shots, making sure that we use variety of shots and angles.We learnt new editing tools. We learnt how to use the razor tool in order to cut shots easily - you press B and press where you want to cut then A for arrow in order to make the shot as long as we wish. We also had to be careful in terms of continuity e.g. avoid jumpy cuts and shots. We also had a few problems with the lead singer not knowing some of the words of the songs and because of that we always had to choose a different shot intead. The drummer was also not always in time and we had trouble with making sure that she plays the drums according to the music. We also had some problems with cutting on the beat because for some reason we were cutting off-beat sometimes and on the beat other times. So, we had to be careful with that as well.

This is a clip of me editing:

Feedback

An excellent of posts which provides plenty of detailed comments and reflection.  Impressive in places, love the video diary and beeclip.com - good creative use of online tools.  My only recommendation is to consider wether you should use different colour fonts.  Well done.

Audience's Feedback - Digipak

In order to b able to improve our ideas and our first draft I asked some of my friends (our target audience) what they think about our digipak:

Did you understand the concept of recycling and regenetation? How would you improve it?

"Yes, I definitely understood the concept looking at the front and back cover, but I did not make the connection between the celebrities and the scrap yard idea. Therefore I would suggest to continue the re-occuring theme (the recycling sign) and put it on top of the celebrities the recycling sign by changing the contrast on the celebrities and making the sign transparent." - 18 years old girl

"Personally, I think the celebrities are too vibrant at the moment. I would use brownish colours as from the front cover for continuity and make them look a little bit more "dirty". I would also change the contrast of the back cover, colour burn it as the front cover" - 18 years old boy

Do you like the concept? Is it intriguing you?

"Once you understand the concept, you realize how clever it actually is because you need to pay attention to the detail - who are the faces? You need to make the connection between mainstream artists and endependent in order to get the message" - 17 years old girl

Evaluation:

The audience's feedback was very useful and I sought quite interesting ideas which inspired me further. I think that the reoccuring theme should definitely be used and the colour burn for continuity.

Overall, the feedback was very useful for me and for the group.

Digipak Evaluation - DigitalTechnologies

From developing our concept and ideas on paper we mainly used Photoshop CS4 in order to create the product digitally.

I took a screengrab in order to show our Photoshop process of working. In the middle you can see how we created new windows in order to work on the specific covers, we always had to use the same sizes - 1500 pixels - width and hight in order to have a square.

Here I took a further screengrab of how we created our front cover. First we used Google pictures in order to find the right size and look of a recycling sign. Then we cut each item and cropped it into a new window. Then painted the arrows into the mod colours. Once finished we thought about the background which we took from a scrap yard picture we took. I cut the picture and inserted it into the template. Using the "Move Tool" we chose the bit from the picture we liked most. Then we played around with contrast, but realized that it does not look right because the colours we too strong and the background too busy. So, we decided on experimenting changing the opacity in order to make the arrows more transparent. Once we had done that we wanted to make the colours more moody. I suggested using the paintbrush and "colour burn" the picture in brown. We liked the special effects which contrasted nicely with our arrows. We wanted to emphasize the simplicity of it and therefore we used a simple font.

We were given ready templates and once we have finished with the product we put them over the templates.

Nevertheless, except from digital technologies we used our blog, photographs, design art work and other creative skills on the way to create our digipak.

Digipak - First Draft Evaluation

This is our first draft of our digipak which is going to be refined (we will add bar codes, the record company they are signed to and the song list + extra special effects in order to present it as professional as possible). As you can see we created four different panels - inside right, back cover, front cover and inside left.

With the front cover we wanted to put an emphasis on our main theme - regeneration and recycling of the old to the new. We used a recycling sign in the mod colours  and as a background we chose one of the scrap yard pictures I took last Sunday. In order to sustain continuity of our digipak we chose another picture as the back cover in the scrap yard in order to reinforce our concept, which is supported by Keith Negus' theory of embracing a "naturalistic approach", being part of the "Organic Ideology of Creativity". We imposed this idea further by developing our inside cover - on the left we thought of having a bin full of stars representing "Synthetic Idelogy of Creativity", such as Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and Rihanna and therefore we are putting a lid on them, right cover, giving a chance to the more organic artists.

In terms of being influenced by already existing media products, we were till the point we changed our concept partially. We were planning on having on our front cover the face of Simon Cowell being recycled - we were inspired by the Sex Pistols as I explain in a previous blog. However, we thought that our concept would be more sound if it is simple and clear - expressing what we want to say rather than including him, it is all abour our artist's star image.

When discussing the star image of our band and we portrayed that we thought of Richard Dyer's theory. We constructed our image by putting an emphasis on mod cool contemporary portrayal being rebellious and different so the target audience could identify themselves with it. We portrayed by the scrap yard images and the fact that they are brave enough to try and change something. We are also provocative by using world-known stars and criticising their art, so in that way we are achieving Paradox 1 of Richard Dyer's Stardom Theories - they are ordinary because the audience can identify with them, they are also extraordinary because they are "heroes" - are going to make the change. We are also putting an emphasis on their creativity by the use of design work rather than highlighting their good looks. So, I think that we have successfully achieved the creation of our brand image.

Our product fits as a promoting campaign as well because it markets the right image for our band - "Infernal" are organic, natural and different. A digipak is a very important part of the creation of an image and not only - the success of the album relies on it as well.

I found a web-site that explains how creative you can be with your digipak design:

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/Chrysostome/creative_cd_packaging

I also looked at a power-point presentation on slideshare that explains the role of a digipak:

http://www.slideshare.net/ksimmons29/digipak-research-3047383

In terms of institutional context we agreeed on the subsidiary of EMI to be our record company because as I explain in a previous post - we want to try and give "Infernal" more creative freedom, but also have the financial help in terms of marketing.

Next Steps - Video Diary

Shooting (Scrap Yard) - Part 2 - Filming

Once we were there, we looked around and chose a setting for me to be kidnapped. Surprisingly, there was a big old bus that was not there last time when Luke came, so this was the perfect place for us because otherwise it would have been a car which is quite stereotypical. We set up the cameras and found some rugs for me to lie on (we were told that there were a lot of rats so we needed to be careful). My hands were tied up with a black rope and my mouth was covered with some black cloth. The first shot was a wide of me lying on the floor in the bus. I had to adopt the character and therefore cried and begged for somebody to let me out. We took some shots of me struggling, one from hehind, close-up of my face. It was quite interesting for me because my experience as an actress was mostly on stage, being able to stay in character throughout the whole play or multi-role, but in the video, I had to continuously cry which was difficult and the coldness was not helping as well. However, I did the best I could in order to get all the shots we needed. We continued with hand-held shot pov of me, looking up to Merlin coming in the bus, not knowing if he is going to kill me or not. We took a variety of shots, from different perspectives of him putting the gun down and cutting the rope. Next shot was of me taking off the mouth piece and embracing him, my saver. Next shot we took was of Matt driving fast into the scrap yard and getting out a gun. We see that and start running. We took a shot from behind and a long shot through the bus. The idea was that Merlin was body-guarding me from the bullets. I acted a little hurt, but ran as fast as I could. We took a shot from behind of us running and from the side. Then the next step was what to do next?

I thought of an "ending", which did not need to be logical because we were taking bits and pieces of the film. So, we thought that if they run and see that it is a dead-end street. Merlin needed to think fast. He throws me into a car and faces the chaser who is shot and dies. Afterwards I was not needed any more so I changed into something warmer and had to be behind the camera now and take pictures for my blog as well. We shot a variety of shots of Merlin walking around the scrap yard, approaching me, choosing different locations and angles. Later I filmed the green screen shots we needed behind the performance bits. We worked from around 10am till 4pm and I must say that was happy with the result. Taking the fact how difficult it was to deal with all the problems we had and the cold, I was pleased with the result and our organisation of taking quickly decisions.

Below I created a scrapbook with all photos I took on the day with descriptions:

Scrap Yard Shooting - Part 1 - Preparation

It was finalised that the crew will be just Luke and Matt (media staff), Merlin and me. We had to meet at 10am in front of the media block and make sure that we have everything - the cameras, extra batteries, guns and ropes ready. I was already done with my make-up including torn tights and bruises, wearing my costume. Merlin was meeting us there as well and he was wearing his costume too, so we were all set to drive away to "Aldershot" Scrap Yard. It was a misty day, so we were worried that we might not be able to see any cars in the scrap yard, but once we arrived we positively surprised and it was just the coldness that was an obvious problem. However, Merlin and I had extra jackets and I had extra clothes to change into once we are done with my scenes. Next step was finalising my make-up - I put some extra black eye-shadow underneath my eyes in order to look as if I have not slept and was kept there for at least the last 24h there. I made sure that my bruises (knee/neck) were as real as possible using a special make-up.           

                                                                                                             

Problems - Scrap Yard Shooting

On Monday we had a group discussion. Charlotte has tried contacting a Surrey mod club and signed up to be a member. However, she wrote on one of the young mod members if he would be interested to take part in our video or at least provide a scooter. Nevertheless, we never heard of him so we had to rely on Niell's scooter. On Wednesday he told me that his scooter is broken and will try and fix it till Sunday. We tried everything, contacting other mod people, but did not work. On Friday, it was for sure that Niell's scooter will not be fixed on time and Nina and I had to come up with a whole new concept. Ed was still not feeling well and Charlotte was sick for the rest of the week as well. So, Nina and I had to think quick, work efficiantly and come up with new good ideas because obviously without the scooter and the people that were supposed to represent the mod community we could not achieve this. Nina could not attend and Charlotte said that she would not be able to come, so we did not have enough actors or members of the group. Knowing that she will not be there, Nina and I evaluated the situation. Merlin and I were the only actors we had available, so we had to change our concept from six people to just two. On Friday morning we brainstormed ideas - love story, chase etc. We finally agreed on shooting a film in the scrap yard. A girl has been kidnapped for money and Matt (media teacher) would be guarding her. She is tied up in a car. We planned to portray a chase with Matt and Merlin, trying to save me. Our concept was that "Infernal" would play the song for the film, which will be a classis British action film. Therefore it fits with the mod concept. We still kept the recycling idea, but modified the original concept. In addition, this reinforces the idea of synergy and cross-promotion between the product.  We all live in the online media age. Therefore through using film in our music video our target audience will be wider and easier to access.

We were inspired by the film "Stormbreaker" and decided on using some of the shots in this scene:

Feedback

Excellent detailed posts.  Well done.  I like the way theroy has been incorporated into practice. You fully reflect on your work and have accounted for the process of constructing your CD cover well done. 

Album Song Titles

In today's media lesson I came up with the song titles of the album. I researched songs by the Kinks and was inspired by their titles, such as "I Took My Baby Home"; just words like "Revenge" or descriptive like "Stop Your Sobbing", statements "I Don't Want You Anymore". I intentionally mostly concentrated on their debut album: "The Kinks"

1. I’m not like everybody else

                                                                            

2. Long Story


3. Go home


4. Stop Moving Around


5. Leaving me alone


6. Beautiful Day


7. Taking Risks


8. All day


9. Love Lies


10. Not your business


11. Left with nothing


12. Stop Moaning

Creating a Digipak - Progress

Today, I worked on our digipak and used Photoshop in order to create our front cover. As you can see in the images below I used a recycling image, which I cut and painted in the mod colours. Then I looked for a shot of Simon Cowell and cut just his face and pasted in the middle of the recycling sign. We still need the scrap yard shots which I am going to take on Sunday for the background.

Shooting Day (Studio) - 3 Our Roles

We all had different roles and although we did rotate, most of the time I was filming, Nina was in charge of notating the best takes in order to make our editing process easier later. Charlotte was responsible for the playback and was taking many pictures, which we essential in order to document the set changes and the final set design. We shooted for half a day which was quite a good timing as we will be shooting on the 20th Nov in the scrap yard as well. So, we finished in time and we pleased with the result.
As improvement suggestions I think that taking the fact how many problems we had to deal with even one day before the shoot, the cast was our main issue. The idea which we had at the beginning, but never managed to fulfil - to get a real band, would have been so much better because in such busy community as Hurtwood, everybody is reluctant to miss lessons, especially the teachers. Luckily, everything turned out positively at the end. We were delighted with the cast and how they worked together; their image even was similar and suited the theme. They all put the effort into performing as best they could - our lead singer really enjoyed himself and therefore this helped to take better shots. We were also positively surprised how photogenic they all were, which is a key to music videos. So, I am guessing that our casting decisions paid off after all.

Here you can see Nina writing down good shots.

 Here you can see me directing a shot.

There again Nina observing the screen in order to make sure that the shot is on focus and check that we are taking all the needed shots.

Shooting Day (Studio) - 2 The Shoot

Around 9:30 I took the first wide shot. As a director as well, I noticed that the lighting is too dark and creates unwanted shadows. Therefore we lit the set differently and changed the position of the bigger props, such as the drums, the car and tires. I took a variety of shots, starting with the basic ones - wide, close-ups on all the instruments and band members (from different angles as well). Once I have taken the basic shots I thought that we should move on to the more interesting ones. I suggested taking a mid shot of the lead singing on the car. Then we started to move the set around putting the ideas we had into action. We experimented with different positioning of the props and the band as well. Sometimes we had to add more lights when moving the set around. In every shot we had to make sure that the right look is created - fixed tires, instruments. As a group we thought of more mod-like shots e.g. lead singer in foreground and guitarist facing the other side playing or lead sitting in the car, but still seeing bassist and guitarist through the frame of the car windows. We did take the majority of the shots we expected to, but we got additional ideas on the day and therefore improvised with more spontaneous and different shots. I think organisation and creativity go hand in hand.

I have created a collage with some of the pictures we took. I have tried to include the most evident set changes and shots:

Shooting Day (Studio) - 1 The Beginning

As planned we were all in the studio at 8:30. We had to make sure that all the props and instruments are on their right places. We set up the camera and connected the screen to it in order to be ready to shoot. We played the song constantly once the cast has arrived, so they feel more confident with it. Although we knew what costumes we wanted, the band had brought one of two options to choose from. Once we agreed on their costumes, make-up and hair was the next step. The three of us - Nina, Charlotte and me devided the tasks between us, for Laura we chose stronger make-up in order to portray the right star image - we wanted her to represent a tough girl, but  still be feminine as well. For the boys just basic foundation was needed. Once the boys were ready, we thought it useful if they warm-up - pick up their instruments and play/sing to the track, so we could make sure that they will be synched with the playback as we were about to start shooting soon. Merlin had an internal assessment to go to in second period, therefore we were under time pressure to set everything, so we could take at least the wide shot and some close-ups of him. However, due to our organisation the day before, we were quicker and once the boys were ready, we were prepared to start. We also had to think about the green screen and that all the props are within the green frame because later we will have the scrap yard as a background.

Here I provided a link to Flickr with some photos including the preparation:

Thea696's photostream on Flickr.

One Day Before the Shoot (Studio)

Today was quite a stressful day, but also very productive. We had to solve many problems in order to make sure that everything will be sorted for tomorrow. One of our problems was that our drummer - Will Bodnar got sick and said that he could not do the shoot. We had to think about any other drummers in the school. So, I was asking people who would cover for him, but the problem was that for any student it would be too hard to miss lessons with such a short notice. However, we thought of a girl - Laura Cheese who is an A2 student, but has just two subjects, so it was not a big problem. Nevertheless, we had to change our concept of having four boys. However, I think that having a girl as a drummer breaks the stereotype and makes their star image more versatile and interesting for the audience. The fact that she could also play the instrument helped as well.

One more problem that arised was that our bassist - Merlin Talard, had two Internal Assessments on that day. So, he had to go out of the shoot in the second period. Therefore we had to make sure that the set is built and ready the day before, so we could start with the shoot straight after breakfast in order to take the wide shots of the band while he is still there. Additional problem was that his Media teacher refused to let him miss his lesson tomorrow. This meant that we could have lost him completely for the day. So, I pursuaded him and the Media teacher to give him an additional lesson out of class, so he is not behind. With that everything was resolved. We reminded them of the costumes they had to bring and make-up.

Nina, Charlotte and me helped with builting up the set, which you can see below: You can see the mini we have used. Matt was also helping us builting up the set, making sure that the instruments work. In the middle you can see the finished set.

Progress Diary

I spoke to Luke, the one who is responsible for our shooting, and finally found out that we will be able to shoot in the scrap yard which is good news because otherwise we had to change the location, consequently this would have made things more complicated for us in the last days before the day. Nevertheless, we had to make a compromise and shoot on a Sunday in the junk yard and one more additional day in the studio; this meant that we had to negotiate when exactly the scrap yard is going to be free for us to shoot there. Due to the fact that we still need to figure out the exact date and it might turn out to be this Sunday, we need to make sure that we have all the props and costumes sorted out. It is of an advantage that the band members have their own suits. However, we need to provide the props. Dan, the person responsible for the lighting and the set, Charlotte and me went to see him in order to make sure that we have the bigger props needed, such as the old Mini, which we are going to use in our performance part of the video. It all worked out well and we were happy with the metal bits, tires etc. he has provided for us.  Next step was to see Al, he is the one securing e.g. the stools, hammer, pack of cards - the more detailed props. I made a list, which I gave him to make sure that we will have the needed on the day. So far so good.
However, Ed, one of our group members has chicken pox and we might have to shoot without him. He was providing some of the props. Nevertheless, now we found a compromise and will divide his tasks between the three of us. So, we need to be clearer on who is doing what in order to make sure that we  will have evrything on both shooting days. At the moment, we are also sorting out blue cards for the band members (a permission that allows them to take part in our music video).
So, we are still in process, but most of the things are organized.

Timeline

Preparing an efficient timeline is part of the pre-production proces of our music video. Nina and I were responsible for it and we devided the task between us. So, during the last week we have been working on finishing it on time for our shooting day on 10th November. The timeline is a guide-line for us, as it is the storyboard. Nevetheless, the timeline makes clear when exactly we shoot each shot, which will make it easier for us later on when we are actually shooting and when editing.

Permission Letter to Universal Music Group

In order to be allowed to use the track, we had to write a letter to Universal Music Group in order to ask for permission.

To Universal Music Group,

We are a group of A Level students working on an A level project for a qualification in Media Studies. We are writing to request permission to use the following track as a part of this project:

I’m Not Like Everybody Else by The Kinks.

With your permission the track would be used as the accompaniment to a short form video that is made purely for assessment purposes and will have no commercial usage. The video will be viewed only by members of the school community and the assessor of the examination board.

The artist and the copyright holder will of course be fully recognised in the pre-production and evaluation material that accompanies the project. We can also include a full copyright notice if required both in the planning material and on the video itself.

Yours sincerely,

Charlotte Morgan, Nina Jakobsen, Edward Nightingale, Teodora Nguyen

Hurtwood House School.

Feedback

This is excellent work - there are evident clear accounts of your planning and research for your music video production day after half term.  Your efforts are sustained and 1st class!
I like the way in which decision making is evident along with reflection and revisions. 
Your cast list has been agreed and you need to be working on the set design and organisation of production. 
There are one or two ways to develop the blog:

First to begin using a wider range of blogging tools - there are lots of well presented images, but use of Flickr or powerpoint will increase the creativity that is shown on your blog. 
Second, and you do this already to an extent,  the valid, detailed and reflective comments that you make need to be developed further.  Do this with  with  key media concepts and theoretical ideas;  for example, link the planning to star image,  or how set design and lighting link to mise en scene and/ or what model's of lighting you are using in relation to your set - key, fill, directional, discuss the intensity and colour and what you are trying to represent about your artist.

 This will help make a more thorough evaluation of your work. 
Well done.

The importance of Research and Planning

Last week was a very essential one for our overall planning and progress on our music video. We took some very important decisions which will affect greatly our project. I think that the planning will make our it easier for us once it comes to the shooting of the music video after half term. In my opinion that we had done research and looked for influences and even theorists who are behind the concept we are after, such as Richard Dyer, our  understanding is deepened in that way and we are enabled to develop a greater comprehension of the product we are about to create.

So, I think that this week was a quite productive one in terms of where we are standing and what we still need to do in terms of planning and research.

Cast List

In my opinion, the cast list is quite an essential part of the preparation process. Therefore we needed to think throughly who we would like to have in our music video. We had to take the decision as a group and that is why each of us came up with suggestions and argumentation. It was of a great importance to choose the people that not only have the right look for our mod/indie image, but also playing musicians/singers. The problem was that most of the A2 students in our year have a limited number of videos to take part in, which makes it harder for us because our options are narrowed down. Therefore we thought of asking AS students whose teachers would be more willing to let them miss classes on the shooting day. At the end we decided that we will have two A2 and two AS students.

The look we were looking for was relaxed, easy-going, modern and good-looking because taking the fact that our theme is mod, the people in the video had to appeal to our target audience. On the other hand, we wanted them not to look too young, which made it harder for us to choose. Taking the experience from last year with the thrillers, I realized that it will be better if the people we choose are actors and musicians as well. However, the number of people in the school that have the right look, act and are musicians is not very high. Thus we thought that we obviously cannot have everything and we had to make a compromise. We agreed on four boys:

Phillip von Drechsel - Lead Singer

      Merlin Talard - Bassist

Tom Evans - Guitarist    

                             

                          

           



                                                               Will Bodnar-Horvath - Drummer

Will and Tom are A2, which makes it more complicated because they are busier, but he compromise is that Tom can play the guitar, so we are relying on the fact that he will learn the chords and the live performance will look real and believable as possible. Will has taken part in two music videos last year, also playing the drums, which means that he already has experience. Philip who is the lead singer, is given the song to learn and Merlin as well.

Feedback from our teacher:

We needed to discuss the cast list with our teacher Jason who gave us the green light under under the condition that Will would be allowed by his teachers to take part in our music video:

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Set/Lighting Designs

In order to be more prepared for the actual day of shooting and have the opportunity to portray what we wanted in the music video, it was important to have our minds set on set/lighting design, which we developed first on paper then discussed with Dan will be helping us with the lighting. We thought that it would be nice to re-present the scrap yard and therefore we decided on using natural lighting. We will have a key light in order to make the light more theatrical and strong. We want to have high light as well, lighting straight on the band playing. Back lighting will not be harsh but gentle in order to avoid creating any unwanted shadows, but the band members stand out against the background because we are concentrating on their image as indie/mod artists. Fill lighting will be used again to avoid sharp areas of contrast. The natural lighting will create a normal atmosphere, close to the audience rather than artificial (as most mainstream producers use), In terms of colours we wanted to use grey/metal, dark blue. We would like to have a smashed car, which will be lit in bright colours, smashed metal, junk and wires in order to re-create the junk yard.

 

We presented our ideas to Dan and had some feedback. He agreed with that that it would be better if we actually recreate the scrap yard rather than simply performance lit it. Dan thought that natural lighting will reinforce the day light we will have in the scrap yard. Nevertheless, we will still use back and key lighting. He liked the colours we suggested which will be metal, grey-blue and he thought effective if using a bright light on the vehicle in order to stand out from the rest of the set.

Here is a short video-diary I shot of Dan's feedback.

Shooting Schedule

In order to be more organized and be able to save time on the day, we prepared a shooting schedule. It will help us to be focused and know how much time we have left on every location.

8:30 – Meeting at the studio with crew and cast



8:45 – Costumes and make-up


9:00 – Set up the props


9:30 – Set up cameras and lighting


10:00 – Shoot starts – live performance shots
Wide Shot of band
Close-up on lead all the different band members
High-angle shot of the band/lead singer
Low angle shot on drummer
Shot of drummer from behind
Mid shot on bassist and guitarist
Tracking shot around lead singer


13:00 – Lunch Time


13:30 – Depart from school to scrap yard


13:45- Arrive at scrap yard


14:00 – Shots of scooter driving outside scrap yard and arriving there
Tracking shot on scooter
Mid Shot on driver
Shot from behind and the side of the scooter
Shot from above of scooter
Close-up on mirror
Close-up on driver's face
Mid shot of him arriving

15:00 – Scooter in the scrap yard
Tracking shot of him driving
Shots of different perspectives of him driving
Close up on driver
Close-up on pedal, he goes off scooter15:30 – Narrative shots – playing cards, shots in car, playing around
Close-up on table with cards
Mid-shot of band members
Pan - them playing
Reaction shots of scooter arriving

17:30 – Girls screaming
Point of view seeing girls approaching
Close-up on girls - excited
Mid shot of girls starting to run
Reaction of boys


18:00 – Back at school

These are two pictures of the actual scrap yard we would like to shoot in.

Costume List

As we are going down the mod route, we clearly had an image for the artist we wanted to create in order to fulfill the mise-en-scene.

           


We wanted the main artists to wear bowler hats, not all the time, but sometimes in order to have shots with a different perspective. We were influences by "Orange Clockwork" as you can see in the picture where he is looking up, but the hat gives the look a slightly mysterious look.

We wanted the artist to look smart and elegant, even neat because that is how people were dressed when the mod style was in trend. Therefore we decided that we would like them to wear black Chino trousers, collared shirts, black ties and Chelsea boots. We put the emphasis on the fact that the artists need to feel comfortable in their skin, but still be elegant. Mod fashion required people to look good, take of their appearance. So, we thought it will be a nice contrast and irony if have the artists looking neat etc. with the idea of the scrab yard.

  

For the girls, we looked through some of the female mod fashion and we thought it suitable if they will be wearing mini dresses with white boots or sandels.