First Draft Feedback

We had our first draft of our music video checked today. We got various improvements for our final submission. Below are the notes we took, whilst we got feedback...

The part in which was the most notably successful according to feedback was the prostitute bit, where we panned down the body of her prostitute, to reveal her character and representation. This inspired us to do the same with the homeless scene, by panning down the tramp sleeping on the bench, for the same similar successful affect.

Bits that were felt that needed improvements were the lip syncing, in many areas apparently the lip syncing was not in time, and did not appear as if the singer was actually singing the correct words. This inspired us to re film these bits and get them spot on.

Another improvement was to re arrange the structure of our narrative slightly. By the placement of the unfortunate scenarios unravelled in order of severity. For example originally we had the homeless situation first, then prostitute scene then the anti social behaviour scene. We then decided to change the structure so that the anti social scene appeared first, then the prostitute scene and finally the homeless scene. We felt this would convey the message through the video better.

Chav filming

Today the last of our filming was done!

We filmed in the location planned = the sports centre car park on school site.
We used the actors we planned = Tash and Lydia
And we used the costumes we planned =

Amelia - Flat cap hat, leggings, trainers, hoop earrings, hair up, puffy jacket.
 Lydia - hoody, trackie bottoms, trainers, hair up
Tash - Tight jeans, Top, trainers, hair up.

Here are some stills of the filming that took place...

Chav Research

Anti social behaviour scene aka chav scene. We began by researching the typical anti social behaviour/ chav representation, we had a pretty clear idea. But typed into google  'typical chav representions' to see what images came up and would clarify our decision. These are some of the images...

After this we had a pretty clear indication of what style custome we were going to use for our actors. We defantly thought a cap, hoop earings, trackie bottoms, hoodies, puffy coat and hair up. And primary colours dark blue, black and white. We felt especially white as some of its connotations are tacky and cheap.

Now we have our customes decided we had to get actors. Obviously Amelia would be the main one, and then we needed two extras, one to provoke a fight with Amelia and the other to try and restrain her.

Amelia set about finding our actors, she sent this message to the potential actors...

Editing progress

In between filming we have been constantly editing our raw footage in and out of lessons, and creating our timeline and adding all kinds of various effects working on top gradually. Here is an example of our stages and what raw, original footage we started are editing process with;

We started by  cropping the sections in the raw footage that we wanted to used, and dragged them onto a different level of the time line once done. This allowed us to see which bits were useful, and would save us much time in the future.

The first part of our video we edited was the white room footage, overlaying, de saturation, here are some of the process:

Above is example of overlaying techniques being used, we particularly did this with the combining of the sign filming with the white room scene, to emphasis the fast cuts and help construct meaning in the video.

A further example of the same technique being used. We are particularly proud of our white room parts so far, especially the fast cuts and energy reflected in the editing.

Secondly we moved on to editing the band footage, lip syncing was no doubt going to be a challenge.

The band shots were are first shots in our timeline, i felt this worked well as the lyrics are abrupt, the opening singing scene also needed to be, we felt the opening shot does reflect this energy and abrupt entrance. One of our first steps with the band footage was to de saturate the footage and correct the contrast, we did by using the colour corrector tools, shown above.

We also went further and experiment different techniques we could add with the band footage. Above is an overlay of drumming close up footage, with the added affect of 'multiply' which makes the overlayed objects darker parts very darker and the lighter part see through, this adds a more surreal affect, then i adjusted the positioning of the frame to position the lead signer face in the middle.

Also when we were editing the band footage in some places we felt it was appropriate to put the footage in slow motion to go with the pace and tempo of the song, to create the correct visual atmosphere to the song. For this we experimented with the speed levels, as shown above.

We began editing the homeless footage next, when editing this, we discovered the effects of cropping footage and inserting other frames and cropping them all to fit in a single well composed shot. For example below we decided to divide the frames into horizontal panels.

Similarly with the prostitute footage i experimented with cropping and inserting numerous frames into one composition. However for the prostitute scene i experimented into using four squares to make up one composition, each square different footage; same as the homeless cropping edit. i found this provided a link between the two situations, to help the audience recognise they were similar in both being unfortunate situations.

Band Filming

The big day arrived, the filming went really well. Our band members were surprisingly really lively and did a great job. The lead singer throw himself into it superbly, and really adopted the role as a lead rock/pop/alternative singer really well.

In the morning we made one more final preparation, we burned searching for song in the dark song onto a disk, so i could play it through my car at the location and the band could get the rhythm and match the lyrics.

We then packed up my car with the instruments and drove the 2 seconds to the location and started setting. Here's images of my car full of instruments.

Here are some more pictures of me and Amelia setting up before the actors arrived...

We also set up the camera and got the positioning and distance correct so we could quickly shoot without messing about.


Here are some pictures of in between and during filming with actors.

 

We thought it also be a great opportunity to take some band photos, that we could potentially use for our digi pak, as part of our promotional package.

Some better than others, but overall we thought the pictures were successful. They successfully reflected the friendly nature between the band members, so it look very realistic in terms of them actually being a close band. Also their rock/pop/ alternative dress sense is clearing shown, by having a combination of blazers, shirts, hoodies, jackets, T shirts with skinny jeans. All also all of a non colourful colour scheme, for example, black, blues, purples, greys, white and the denim colour look. We decided this as from our previous research in the rough band footage and from new research this was the style that was commonly suggested through similar text's videos. Especially in lost in colour's music video, with the dark colour scheme and jackets.

Make Out Kids - Room Sixteen.  Also wore skinny jeans, cardigans, jackets and T shirts.

 Similar story in  All Time Low's Dear Maria, music video. Especially emphasising T shirts and skinny jeans. Even an advert for 'punk' T shirts appeared at the bottom of the video when we were researching rock pop band dress sense.

Offical Band Filming Research

Okay next step is to film the band, okay from our draft filming we established how important it is we get this right, so we need better location, somewhere with good light and can be filmed in the day time. Also we need lively actors, people that actually look like the could be in a band and our up for it.

First on my list was finding a location. I needed a location that was large enough to fit all actors and instruments on screen. A location that was easy to transport all the instruments too. A location that has a relatively pleasant backdrop and preferably outside and abandoned as it portrays reality, freedom which will help construct the meaning of our text.

Perfect location was at the bottom of my road, it's a dead end in a shape of a curve, and around it is bushes which would be the pleasant backdrop, and most importantly it was seconds away which meant transporting instruments and people would not be too time consuming or back breaking.

I have taken too visits to the location, to see if everything will fit etc, and too take a photo and show Amelia. This is the photo...

Next was getting the instruments, this was probably the hardest task as me and Amelia's family and relations are rather limited in the musical department, and neither knew of very many people who owned and played the drums, guitar and base. Therefore i managed to think of people that owned  instruments whether they could play them or not did not matter, we could improvise.
My friend Olivia owns a guitar
My cousin owns a drum set and his friend a guitar
My brother owns a microphone

= sorted.

I messaged and texted my instrument suppliers to make sure we had all the right equipment in time for the official filming.

Since then i have collected most of the instruments, the drums i picked up from my cousins house this evening and are now taking up a lot of my bedroom floor. Also picked up my friends guitar, i have also arranged with my cousin for him to bring the second guitar on the morning of filming.

Next step was to finalise the actors/ band members

We also had to overcome another issue of seating up the drum kit correctly on the day, therefore we found various pictures and instruction of the Internet to put it together. We also had a practice run through of putting the drum kit up, so we don't waste too much time on the day.

With all the preparations done, we are now ready to start filming tomorrow.

Sign Filming

Next stage of the filming process was the making and shooting of the signs. Originally we thought of the idea to try and construct meaning through our video, helping the audience to understand the bigger themes and messages we wanted to portray. This was then further heightened when we saw that lost in colour themselves incorporated similar black and white signs in their newly released video to similarly construct meaning within their video...

This defiantly encouraged us to go ahead with this idea in our video, and inspired us how to use our signs effectively within our video. For example the use of black bold marker or paint onto plain white medium sized board, appeared to be a perfect size and form to grab the audiences attention but still act relatively subtle amongst its surrounding settings; so in effect it becomes apart of the image or shot we are creating and defining that shot or representation.

Also the i really wanted to pursue the idea of capital letters, as it represents a stronger message, as if it's being shouted out, as that's what capital letters signify.

So below  are some images of us creating the signs.

And our outcomes...

We decided to film the signs on their own, so they could be footage, overlaying some of our white room dancing footage in particular. The rest of the sign filming will be filmed when we are filming each character, for example, we already previously used the freedom signs a few days  ago in our prostitute scene, and filmed Amelia holding the sign.

Filming Prositute Scene

We filmed the prostitute scene today and it turned out to be a rather eventful. As it was dark, we needed to think about lighting in particular, so we decided to use my car battery lights, this allowed enough light to make amelia stand out and so the audience could depict what she was wearing, however also not too much light, so the atmosphere of the night time was still kept.  Also conviently it was rainign, which added to the desperate, hopeless look we were hoping to portray in our character, the weather acted as pathetic fallacy, reflecting the mood of the character. The rain also proved helpful in improving amelia's custome, for example it made her make run and smudge more, also made her hair wet, this further added to the look we were hoping for, and proved very effective.

We got the footage we wanted, and then crisis struck. To my stupidity i had left my car lights on, without the igition on, therefore my battery went dead. Me and amelia had to push my car so we could let amelia's neighbours out of their parking space. Then a whole variety of Amelia's neighbouts offered a helping hand in jump starting my car, eventually we had success. And this is us after a very long and wet evening.

Prositutue research

Next to make sure we clearly portray are characters to the audience, we needed to do some research, especially for the prostitute scene as it would be dark and needed specific shapes and types of clothes to give the indications rather than colours.

We knew that prostitutes are a symbol of sex and therefore this needed to be portrayed within their dress. Therefore we started looking at typical costumes that symbolised sex, we came across the obvious, short skirt, high heels or knee high boots, low top structure for the costume.

Now we knew the basic structure we had to make the outfit look less fancy dress and more realistic and stylised so it was more believable.
We did this by looking at a specific successful film who had approached the theme of prostitution very seriously, realistically and effectively. this film was Taken.
We particularly looked at the kerb crawl scene in the film where the main character approaches a row of prostitutes looking for customers in cars.
We particularly looked at the outfit of the main prostitute, and why and how the director choose to dress her, as she was adopting the prime role as a prostitute.

         


In looking into the prostitutes outfits we noted the colouring the beige, golds and pink, being the prime colours. We particularly thought the idea of having a short pink dress with a jacket over the top, we had a more realistic approach than the fancy dress typical short skirt low top representation.
Amelia very conveniently had a similar type of dress in her wardrobe that would be perfect

Next another we noticed in our research was the use of fur in prostitute outfits. Especially fur coats, we found out that fur coats are common and realistic in prostitute dress, as the fur coat costs a lot of money, which means they most make a lot of money, get alot of money and must be good at what they do. Fur is also particularly scene around the hood of the prostitutes jackets in the film taken. We thought this must be a vital item in our costume
              

Amelia also very conveniently had a cropped fur jacket in her wardrobe. (INSERT PICTURE)

We topped of the look with a long thin handbag, fishnets and black heels. Overall we were very impressed with the outfit.

However we also had to approach the hairstyle, make up and accessories of our look. From taken's influence we decided to similarly use gold hoop earrings and the idea of having some of her hair up. Which we felt particularly has a strong message as it's although the prostitute is trying to better herself, by wearing her hair up, a posh and sosphisicated hair style not normally associated with prostitution. We felt this would promote the message of people being trapped in society very successfully. We also felt that having dark smudged make up would work very well, as it shows how run down the characters life is, the trappedness and corruptness of society.

Filming Homeless scene

Today we filmed the homeless scene in our frees. We went to amelia's house and collected a number of clothing that would fit our homeless stereotype to make clear to the audience what we were aiming for. We choose, amelia's dad's work trousers, splashed with paint and god knows what else. Then wellies, a worn and faded navy jumper, a bright blue, red and white puffa coat and topped off white a blue and white beany hat.

We even  found a newspaper, can of lager, and a packet of crisps, to top of the ultimate homeless look.

As for location, amelia knew of a very good location, where there was bench (typical of homeless nature) outside a church which would show the hope the character was clinging onto, trying to get some relief and aid for his situation.

New Story Board

Next we created a new storng storyboard, which would help us visualise putting our new ideas into practice to see if they would work; obviously to avoid complications of last idea and storyboard.

In our story board we set out the order and rough structuring of our video, wihtin realistic locations and content, also wrote in some shots what time they will specifically occur in the video. For example the lip syncing, we also wrote what type of shot we hope to achieve aswell.