Day 3 - Filming

Today, we did some filming on the party scene for the second chorus of the song. We have to gather Sixth Form students who can dance because we want it to look crowded and nice because if we some people who can't dance, then it might put the audiences off. The concept of having a party reflects on the audience because this is what teenagers mostly do on their spare time. The filming took some time to finish because our group didn't have time to pick some up beat songs beforehand so it took awhile to find the right song so the people have the mood to dance.

Overall, the filming was successful and we took a lot of footage that we could choose for putting in our music video.

Feedback from our current music video

This screenshot was taken during showing our current music video to the whole class.

Advantages:

• They said that we have picked the right actor for the female character as she was good at portraying her role. For example, the female was good at portraying melancholic and lonely throughout the music video and it made our audience to sympathies at her and identify themselves in the situation she is in.
• One of the audience said that we have picked the beach as the right location for isolating the female character.
• The narrative and performance based was clear.
• Good at picking different locations which matches to romance/ love theme of our music video and keeps it interesting. For example, the living room with red curtains and sofa connotes as love which matches the theme of our music video.
• Excellent use of mise-en-scene  and connotations such as the female character's clothing throughout the music video. We have used white top and gown because we wanted to portray her innocence and purity.  Also the black jacket implies that every one have two different sides. She is also wearing the latest fashion trends which makes the audience feel that they are the same.
• A wide range of different camera shots and techniques to keep the music video interesting. Also they are suitable for each scenes such as close up shots to focus on her melancholic expressions so the audience focuses on her more.
• Good use of editing and effects such as dissolves which matches the slow paced of the song. And also it implies that as time goes by the bad memories will fade away.

Disadvantages:

• One of the student said that we need to split one of the clips because it's long and it doesn't make it look boring to watch.
• We need to use fast cuts as well because the song has up beat tempo.
• There is a scene where we cut to early and we need to stretch it a little bit more.
• There was too much of showing the female character which would it look boring for the audience to watch. Therefore, we need to introduce the male character as well.

Conclusion:

Overall, I think that we had a good feedback from everyone in our class and we have decided as a group to do some changes in our current music video so it looks even better. My group and I needs to do more filming this weekend to fill in the gaps. We need to film the female getting ready and the beach scene were she is sat next to her ex jacket which is part of the narrative in our music video.

Additional Editing

2nd Editing

This is a screenshot of the amount that  we have been editing so far. These are the effects that we have used so far are in some clips:

• additive dissolve
• fade through transparent - so it matches the slow paced of the song and  it implies that all the bad things happened in her past will disappear slowly.  
• sepia - to show to the audience that it is old and it matches the lyrics of the song which is "And the night is young, but time is old".
• black and white effects - this is to reflect back to the female's emotion and it shows the time passes by.

We are going to film this weekend to finish off most of the scenes for our music video. 

3rd Editing 

This is a screenshot of editing that we have got so far.

We have nearly finished editing and putting small clips into whole music video. Also we changed some of the edits we have done before because it is one of the improvements we need to do. All we need to film is the narrative part where the female and her ex are on the beach and park. This is to show as part of her memories and we also needs to do the party scene as well with her friends and ex in the hall.

4th Editing

We have added more clips at the beginning of the song because we thought that it would be too long for putting the title in. At the start of the song, the tempo is fast so we thought we would use short clips that lasts for a second or so. Within that clips, we are going to use two different scenes and split it into smaller sections so it flashes back to one another. We also overlapped some of the clips so it creates an effect that would keep our target audience interested. There are some scenes that the effects have been deleted and changed it into something else because we thought that it would not look good and it doesn't match to the meaning of the song. We also want to keep the effects simple because we wanted to match it with the main character's attitude.

These are the effects we have used so far:

• Black and white - to portray that time passes by so quick.
• Fade through transparent - so it matches the slow paced of the song and it implies that all the bad things happened in her past will disappear slowly.
• Sepia - to show to the audience that it is old and it matches the lyrics of the song which is "And the night is young, but time is old".

Font Ideas for our Music Video

These are the examples of different fonts that we thought we could use for the title of our music video. We decided as a group to have a simple font and a little bit fancy so it does not look boring to the audience eyes. Also it emphasize the female's innocence and natural character. We are going to put the font title at the beginning of the song so the audience knows what is the name of the song. The software that we have used in order to find different types of fonts is "Font Image Creator" then we used "Snipping Tool" to copy the font and save it onto our blog.

These are the examples of the font we have found:

These are examples of music videos that uses fonts/titles:











Overall:
The typography of music videos depends on the mood, style or genre of the song. For example, in pop music videos such as Who's That Chick by Rihanna, they have used colourful fonts which is one of the generic conventions of Pop. Also, they have used fancy fonts which matches the happy and lively atmosphere. 

Day 2 - Filming

Today we are only filming the second verse of the song which will be filmed at Cleethorpes Beach. We have decided to do this place because it is the nearest location that we could go to and it would not be hard for transportation. We have the female singing in some parts and also just showing some actions of her such as walking towards the water.

We have used natural key lighting on this scene because we wanted to portray this part of her everyday life. Also it's kind of high key lighting which implies that there are more good things to come in her life and she should get over with the problems that she has got now.  

This photo is showing the scene that we have filmed at. Our first idea for the second verse of the music video was to have the female actor walking towards the beach. However, I have seen nice places that were near towards the beach which looks nice and suitable for our music video.

  

Additional Locations:

I have decided to add these locations because it looks nice and overlooking. It also reflects on the female's emotions because when you look at the place, it makes you think more about your life and also refreshes your mind.

By having these locations would keep our audience interested to watch because it is just not one location that they are seeing on that verse.

 This is a screenshot of the weather on my phone. The weather is good which is what we want for our music video which would not be hard for us to film.

Job Roles

Research: Job Roles in Music Video

Producer

A producer is someone who manages the production from start to finish.  They have the full control on every aspect of the production bringing together the screenwriters, director, cast, finances and production team.

Director

The director is the driving creative force in a music video's production, and acts as the crucial link between the production, technical and creative teams. They are assisted by assistant directors who ensure that the director’s ambitions and achieved.

 

Camera Operator

The camera operator or cameraman is a professional operator of a film or video camera. They are responsible for physically operating the camera and maintaining composition and camera angles throughout a given scene or shot.

Job Roles in our Music Video

Producer
The producer in our music video is Rachael Halstead and Me because we are good at coordinating, supervising and controlling matters.  I think we are perfect for the job and we will make sure that everything runs smoothly. We are good at making ideas and share each others opinion.

Camera Operator
We have decided that I am going to be the camera operator because I know a lot about all the camera shots and techniques that we have been taught. I think I am responsible well enough for all aspects of camera operation, like to focus on lighting and overall visual style. I can ensure that the camera and equipments are prepared for the required set–ups, I always keeping alert for any last–minute changes. I can multi–task, and to watch, listen and think on my feet while carrying out complex technical tasks. I can suggest some improvements or alternatives. 

Director
The director in our music video is going to be me because I am well organised, sensible, good memory and knows storyboarding well. I tell the actors what to do, ensures the sets are right, establishes the camera angles, controls the lighting and has a say in the editing. I am in total control outside administration things as well.

Mise-en-Scene

This presentation is about the things we want to put/use in our music video. We used CLAMPS (CLothing, Lighting, Actors, Make-up, Props and Settings) to analyse mise-en-scene.

Mise-en-Scene on Prezi

Editing process

This is a screenshot of the software that we used to edit our clips.

Today we have transferred some clips that I filmed for the past few weeks and finished off our storyboards. We used usb cable to connect the camcorder onto the hard drive so the video clips are being transferred. It took us a few minutes to transfer all the clips because it is mpeg file which is bigger than jpeg file and that is why it took a while to transfer it. Once it has finished transferring all the files, we have to create a folder so we can save it in there and we know where our files is located. We then used Movie Studio Platinum software to put the short clips and make it as a whole video. This software has got different features that we wanted to use for our music video. For example, we wanted to use fades and dissolves on some clips and it is available on the software. This is the first time that we will be using this software because we had Premiere Pro last year. However, it is quite similar from each other so it wouldn't be hard to manipulate this type of software.

This is a screensot after we have been putting some of the small clips where we want it to be.

Additional ideas for our music video

These are the ideas that we thought of:

The first scene of the music video is where the female singer walking down the small path which was surrounded by the trees and it will be taken during the daytime because we wanted to reflect it on the lyrics but in opposite way. When the female is sat on the chair looking through the photos on her photo album, the last picture on the page would be the same shot from the first scene. And this picture turns into a video but it will be taken during late afternoon/evening because we wanted to portray to the audience that it's like an every day life of the female character. 

Also we decided to use one of the photos from the photo album of her and ex-boyfriend because we wanted to keep on relationship  theme. She will the rips it in half and throws the male part onto the floor which portrays that she doesn't want to keep her past as it will affect her life and this is where she starts to move on.




Our first idea was to have the female character and her ex-boyfriend sat on the beach looking at the sunset because we wanted to show it as part her past memories. However, we thought that maybe use just the female sat on her own and ta jacket of him next to her to show that he's sat next to her but not in real life. We also thought that maybe use "green screen" to show the male on her side but it will be a little bit transparent so it looks like it's part of her imagination. This shows the flashbacks of her past memories and she cannot move on from him. 

Risk Assessments

We made a risk assessment on every location that we are going to film for our music video because we don't want to put the people's health in danger so we looked at the areas that could possibly cause injuries or damage. We have to try and find different ways on how to avoid it because we are responsible for it.
Risk Assessment Template Media - Beach Risk Assessment Template Media - Park

Shooting Schedule

These are the shooting schedules that we have made for our music video. We made them so we can plan on when to film our music video. This will also help our group to be prepared on everything we need for our filming. We decided to do it in non-chronological order as we wanted to film the outside first while the weather is still good for our music video. 

This is the first page of our shooting schedule

This is the last page of the shooting schedule

Problems:
We have got a problem of finding a male character because they kept backing out at the last minute. Therefore, we have to sort out this matter and find a person that would definitely do it. Also we need to find a few people that would act as friends of the female character and use them for party scene. We also need to ask permission to the teacher if we are allowed to use the drama studio. 

Storyboards

We have done storyboards so it gives us a vision of what our music video is going to look like. It will help us what to film in each scene, how long each scene is going to take, the camera movement and the shot type.

Auditions and the Final Artist

During the auditions, we have to consider different things such as meeting the standards or requirements we are expecting from them. We also have to think if they are suitable and would appeal more on our target audience. Also if they can give their best ability on performing for our music video. If the female actors can memories the lyrics of the song and she can mime at the same time as the song. We also have to consider if we can contact them any time we want to and they don't back out to the last minute.  


Female Artist

The character that we decided to play for the female singer is Alice Hare because she is very good at performing and singing. Alice is 17 yrs. old would appeal more for our target audience as we are mainly aiming for teenagers and she fits with the description of innocent and purity which is the type of character we wanted to portray.  She's doing acting and singing in college but outside school too. She have also won rewards for singing and acting. The advantage of having her is I can contact her easily and she lives the same town as me. 

This is taken where she is singing on the stage. 

This are the trophies that she got.

Shot List

We have done a presentation of our shot list in chronological order. This is essential for our filming because it will help us what shots we want for different location and what the characters has to do in our music video. 

Shot List on Prezi

Day 1 - Filming

We are filming the first verse and the first chorus of the song which would be taken outside the house and in the park.The female actress would be singing all the way through because we want our music video mainly on performance base. 

This was taken when she was getting ready for filming. She is wearing white top to show her purity and innocence. We have made here wear crop top and high waisted skinny jeans because we don't want her to look different from any other teenage girls. Also it implies that the teenagers will be able to identify themselves on the female character as they are mainly into the latest fashion which is the same as our artist.

This photo was taken when she was getting read for filming. As we can see she is wearing accessories such as rings which is what females would want to wear with their clothes as well when they go out.

These are the locations that we have filmed today:

We have used these locations because this is where they used to date with her ex boyfriend. We only have her for the first half of the music video because we want to show her going back through her past memories. These places are also part of the generic conventions of romance which makes it easier for the audience to identify the situation.



 

We have decided to do this location because we want to show her being isolated and lonely. Also we want it to reflect on the title "On My Own" because the path signifies as to where it's is going to lead her on being on her own. We was going to film on late afternoon but we decided to have it in the morning instead because we wanted to do the opposite of the lyrics. This location will be seen at the beginning of our music video because we want the audience to follow the story of her life. We are also going to use this at the end of our music video but turn it into black and white because we want to show that this is the place where the story started and also it will be the place when the story finishes as well.

This is a screenshot of the weather today and it's supposed to be raining. However, the filming went good because it was hot and sunny which is the weather that we want to have on  our music video.