Journal 8 Shoot day for music video

Today, on the 26th of October, myself and my performer Georgina filmed for my music video. We went to Dunham park at 11:00 so we had enough time to shoot and so it wasn't as busy with the public in the morning. First, we discussed the idea of the music video to my performer and reiterate the concept of the video's basic themes and structure. This is so she could understand what we were going to do and know about the different scenes and shots I wanted her to perform in. Since this is about a girl contemplating her relationship, even within the non singing scenes, her expressions needed to look as if she was thinking and just a little saddened when wandering around the woodland. Plus, as part of continuity with the magazine advert and digipak, she wore the same top but with a jacket, ripped jeans and boots as we were going to wander around the park. We used the storyboard as a guideline in order to pitch my ideas throughout the day. 

NOTE: At most points I wanted to create a camera filming effect (not always in one fixed position) to link into the casual, relaxed ambience of the location (as highlighted with the scenery shots), so that the girl character could contemplate and think in a calm atmosphere. Plus, since I was going to film the scenery and wildlife, it would of been difficult to capture momentary scenes if it was always fixed. I was influenced by the slight movement of the camera effect in  Lana Del Rey's Summertime Sadness song of which I liked and did, but kept the camera in a steady motion with the tripod in some parts (due to the wind at times it looks a little unsteady but has not made a massive impact to the footage).

NOTE: Changed intro - Since it was a little busy with other people and us trying to film the part where she walks down the road and climbs over the steps, I decided to change the intro slightly.The necklace's red heart hanged off a branch at the very start, helped to contemplate the heart beat sound at the very beginning before the song starts. Then showing her sat on a tree trunk within the woodland and checking her phone was the main change. As said, since we were filming in a public area I knew that it would be an issue to film the actual entrance into the woodland, so I decided to have her already in the woodland and checking her phone. I used a mid shot to establish she was sitting down looking at her phone, then an over the shoulder shot to show that she was looking down at it, before having an extreme close up of the phones message. The problem with this shot was that the extreme close up made the text look blurred and out of focus, so Georgina said the text out loud. Within editing, the sound of her speaking (not the video), could be placed over the OSS (over the shoulder shot), then cut it to the mid shot of her huffing in annoyance. After this, to express this anger even further, I had a shot where she threw her phone on the ground. This is to help further highlight that she is stressed with the situation. 

Next, I decided to film the chorus part of the song, since recording the singing parts first would be best to to so that when filming the extra scenes, it wouldn't be too much trouble with people passing by. Managing to find a isolated spot, Georgina sat down under a tent made of branches and played the song on her phone in order to lip sync the lyrics. I found her lip syncing great and she managed to do it very well in learning the words. I did want to try to do different shots with her singing, but it became an issue in trying to start back at the point of the song we paused. So, I had to keep filming the same shot as she was singing. Of course in editing, the singing parts can be cut back to after or before showing the extra scenes. 

NOTE: The extra scenes with the scenery and her walking around the woodland, will be slotted into different parts of the song/video as well as mixed in with the singing parts and not wholly showing her singing. 

Then filming the chorus again, only this time by a tree and I did a close up shot as she sang. Even when singing, she put on different expressions when certain lyrics came up, to match her feelings with the girl's character. For example, the lyrics 'I don't know what to believe' she puts her head back and looks up, added to the effect of her singing and emphasised the emotions of her questioning her relationship and feeling confused. 
Finally I noticed that with filming a mid shot of the last chorus part and the song's ending, I could possibly switch back and forth with the extra scenes, the close up chorus and last chorus scene. But this will have to be experimented in editing. Overall, the singing parts were well done in her lip syncing and can easily be placed at certain points of the video. However, I would of like to do different shots of her singing for the three chorus's within their locations, but due to the difficulty of getting back to the right point in the song was time consuming and not possible.

After finally filming the singing parts, I could focus on getting the extra scenes done. I managed to get a lot of the scenery footage of what we mainly saw as we walked around.    
I did a low angle shot of her walking over the camera to make the shot more interesting rather than pass by the camera in a mid shot. 
I also had scenes where the camera was at in front of Georgina and went backwards as she walked towards it. This was especially good for highlighting that the character had no set answer to her situation and direction that she wants to take. Another scene filmed in linking to my side idea, I used the prop of the necklace in her finding it on the floor, then in editing a flash forward of the heart hanging again and cutting back to a close up of her holding it, and then a point of view shot in her looking at it. This heart necklace will be cut back to within the video, symbolising she still cares for her boyfriend. 
Other shots were mainly establishing shots or long shots of the character surrounded by the scenery and looking around the places she comes across. I managed to get some great scenes, where a flock of ducks as she walks by fly away into the nearby lake and Georgina looking at a white stag in the distance, of which I will use in the video and would be visually appealing to the audience in showing off the scenery.

NOTE: The different places she walks around and see's may not be in continuity. This to not only to relate to existing music videos that I have observed, where there are many different cut back and forth's of different locations. But, in relation to my own video's and song's themes - The struggle of her relationship and confusion of emotions - she is wandering around different places to mimic that confusion and distortion of her love life, finding no set answer.

At the end of the day, I finally finished filming with the scene of the necklace being placed on the branch. Luckily, the memory space on the camera had just finished after filming that last scene. But I am glad that I took it as it would now refer back to the beginning of the video and help the audience establish the necklace's origins throughout the video.

In conclusion, I believe my shooting day was a success. I managed to direct Georgina in her performance and she did very well in accurately lip syncing the song and expressing the emotions behind the songs themes and lyrics. The amazing establishing and long shots of the scenery as extra scenes I was pleased in recording and will greatly compliment the music video in it's visual appearance. The storyboard was helpful in guiding my filming as well as developing my ideas in how the visuals match the song and video's themes that I wanted to create.  Plus, throughout filming it made me think on ahead about editing and how the different shots could be used. Although there were a few issues in wanting to use different shots whilst singing, issue with the extreme close up of the message on the phone and (looking back at the footage) the camera quality wasn't as sharp compared to some (but I could only use what resources I had) I am overall happy with my work.

Journal 7 Day for filming music video

After discussing with my performer we decided to film the music video on the Sunday 26th. This is because the weather is meant to be good and hopefully bright which will add to the video. I initially wanted to do it this Saturday coming, but it would be too soon to prepare for filming and my performer wouldn't be prepared for it either just after finishing school for half term. I realise if this day is no good, I will decide to film another day during the week or during 8th - 9th of November weekend as said in my production schedule. But I will hopefully get my filming done this Sunday coming.

Filming Schedule

Journal 6 class disscussion

In today's class, we all discussed and presented about our main idea for our chosen tasks. For myself, I shared with everyone about my main idea for my music video, talking about locations, cast, song, themes or narrative within it. This helped us realise what each other's plans were for their own tasks and give feedback on any issues or advice about our plans. After discussing my chosen idea, I realised an issue with people being in the shot since it is a public location. 
I begun to take notice of this before and knew that in certain parts of filming I may need to take a few shots for the scenes to look right. But, in certain scenes I will not mind people being in shot as long as there not in focus with what is being filmed too much. However, since the park is big and wide finding isolated locations shouldn't be a problem if we go more into the woodland rather than stay around the main public walkways and places.

Magazine drafts 1 and 2

Audience survey of Digipak and Magazine photos

As part of my production, I need to include my audience and their feedback in influencing my decisions . This will also establish what my audience like visually when being attracted to a digipak or magazine advert selling a particular product, in my case music. I have already taken pictures for the digipak and the magazine advert, and will ask people which image they like for the front, back, extra and CD insert panels as well as which photo they like for the magazine advert. I will hopefully collect the results soon but since I am focusing more on preparing my music video I might have to gather up the results at a later date.

Journal 5 - photo shoot

Today I took photographs of my performer for the digipak and the magazine advert. I managed to get a lot of photos that I could use to make my digipak and advert, which will help me decide which photo's are best to use. I will also ask my target audience the following week about the different photo's to gain their opinions too and help me form the final looks for my ancillary tasks.

These are a few photo's I took out of many:

Location: This is my performer's (friend's) back garden I used for the shoot, which provided many photo opportunities to use.

IDEA: Linking to my digipak drafts I was aware changes may be made on the photo shoot day, concerning panel images. I made a slight change with using the prop of the decorations/lights. I could only manage to get LED lights and decided to wrap the lights around the branches of the tree, with  my friend sitting in the tree. It would make the concept more interesting and appealing to the viewer. 

 As shown, my performer was placed in the tree, surrounded by the lights, whilst doing different poses. I still kept my digipak concept in mind, and using the tree with the lights is still my continued idea for the front cover, which turned out great. NOTE: I did not take a picture of my performer with the question mark, which is included in the third draft of my digipak. This was because the paper was not straight due to the wind and I could place one in editing regardless if I wanted to.

 These are a few extra images of my performer, that I have left room at the sides when photographing for text to be placed in editing. I really like these images and could potentially be used for the back cover of the digipak where the songs are listed.

 With these images, I managed to keep the idea from my digipak drafts ideas, of showing my performer with a flower, a picture of a flower and my performer beside her garden waterfall. I like how these pictures turned out and would defiantly like to incorporate at least one of these images for my final digipak.

This is a photo I took when I when location scouting and included it onto my third digipak draft idea. I think this image is visually nice and could be used to mainly link in with my setting for both the digipak and advert, as well as the music video. Hopefully I would like to use this image in my final digipak.

For the magazine advert, I really like these two images as they both clearly show a link between the digipak images, which is key as I have noticed from researching existing products. It contains the same costume, make up and setting so they would look continuous and professional. 

Journal 4 - photo shoots for digipak

Tomorrow on the 18th October, I plan to start taking pictures of the different shots and panels from my digipak drafts and take extra pictures too. This is so I have at least taken the pictures needed, with the different shot types or angles that I have included in my drafts. And with extra pictures, I could potentially use them for either my digipak or my magazine advert so I can use the opportunity to shoot as much as possible. During the week coming, I will bring in the pictures and do an audience survey into which photo's and digipak they like. This will help me choose what is best in appealing to my audience and make a digipak fitting for my music video and advert. 

Digipak draft 3

Digipak draft 2

Storyboard progression 5 page 3

Storyboard progression 4 page 2 with annotations

Production schedule update 2

Digipak draft 1

NOTE: Drafts will be used as a concept guideline for when I start taking photos. Changes may be made within the photo shoot process! (with different photos). Plus with other drafts I might mix panels from all when creating the final product. And if I choose to use more than four panels the digipak will have more images/panels.

Storyboard progression 3 Page 1 with annotations

Storyboard progression 2 Page 2

Storyboard progression 1 Page 1

NOTICE: Storyboards are mainly used as a guideline for music video and may be changed when filming with extra scenes!

Main idea for music video

Linking to my initial idea, I wish to proceed with a similar thematic/symbolic music video that is about struggling with a relationship and struggling with love.

Song: Ready to Question by Gabrielle Aplin
Structure:
A girl is having issues with her boyfriend and as she walks down the road she checks her phone to see that her boyfriend has sent her a message to say 'I miss you. Lets talk.' However, she ignores it and comes across a passage leading into the woodland. To get her mind off her struggles, she decides to climb over steps within a wall and walks through the woods. Throughout the video it cuts to parts of her singing, her walking around the woodland, contemplating and scenery footage is shown too. 
Side idea: At one point, she comes across an abandoned necklace and decides to put it on herself, symbolising she still is in love with her boyfriend. The video will have a lot of visual scenes (establishing shots, long shots and close ups) in it, since I want to show off the scenery of the woodland. But I still want to keep some sort of balance with the visuals and performance of the artist too. By the end of the video, she decides to contact her boyfriend back and the video ends with the necklace being put on a branch of a tree as she walks away.

Note: The main idea is used for the whole basic concept I want for the video. I understand that changes may be made along with the process of filming and editing.

Costume mood board - Indie style clothing

In order to help gain ideas for what my performer can wear within the music video and the ancillary tasks, I have created a mood board of pictures to see the Indie style clothing that not only the artists wear but also the audience too. The iconic style of their favourite Indie artists within the target audience appeal, shows the connection between the genre and it's fans to have a similar taste in fashion.

This is from the website Steal her Style which allows fans for different artist's to get the clothing style and actually buy the clothes that the artist wears. This highlights how the audience are influenced by the style of the artist and can have a connection with their favourite singer or band. This is Indie artist Lana Del Rey that I have studied previously and shows the kind of clothes she wears and what the audience can buy. From the images on my mood board and the clothing from Lana Del Rey, I have noticed similar looks to fit in with the genre. The clothing mainly contains boots, with retro style tops, jumpers and denim jackets or jeans. Colour wise they are mainly earthly colours such as brown, blue, black, red, white and green. Colour will be important for myself, especially in the ancillary tasks to make the artist sell their product they need to have an interesting image. The look is very casual which helps promote the Indie genre's songs as natural or original, and for audience appeal, what teenagers and young adults casually wear too. This is helpful for me as it gives me ideas of what professional artist's of the genre wear and what similar style I could use to place in my video and ancillary tasks. 

Music video lighting research

Lighting in music videos can vary in colour, brightness and density however this depends on the kind of look a music video is required to obtain, the setting, the genre and what the artist or director wants to portray. Lighting is quite important for setting the mood of the video, whether it be sad, happy or dark. This strongly connects to the mise en scene of the video in portraying a certain atmosphere that the audience will recognise visually.

For the Indie genre, due to it being quite low in budget natural lighting such as sun rays, lighting coming through windows of rooms or buildings and even artificial spot lighting can be used. This is especially for performance aspects in order to enhance the artist's look and make the setting more visually appealing. For example in Indie Rock when the band is shown playing, usually spotlights/artificial lighting is used in the background to make them stand out. Through my own genre of Indie folk/Pop, since I have chosen a local and natural location that I would like to film my music video in, I can use the lighting from the outside of the park. This will have to be done hopefully on a sunny day of which I can take into consideration for my filming schedule.

Location

 Since observing the style of the music, I believed it would be best to film in a wide environment and have a mixture of performance and visuals. I mainly want to film somewhere like a park or woodland as it is one of the characteristics of an Indie music video being low on budget, easily accessible and links to the target audiences everyday setting. The pictures I have taken are from the surrounding areas of Dunham Park and can be used for background scenery, tracking or moving scenes and visuals.

List for planning

This is a list of key tasks I need to do in order to complete my planning and know what is required for the main music video and the ancillary tasks:

-Location for music video (ancillary tasks shoot maybe the same location or same concept)
-Idea for music video (It's style/look, narrative, visuals and in advance for editing the special effects I could want to enhance the video)
- Storyboard for music video (mainly it's structure or how it will look)
-Digipak draft/idea } Audience feedback             
-Magazine advert draft/idea } Audience feedback
- Shot list (different shot types, angels or movements I could use for my music video)
-Equipment list
-Clothing (what will my performer wear?)
-Date for shooting (This can include ancillary tasks as well as music video)
-In advance make sure I have the song recorded already for my performer to lip sync on the day filming in case we forget the pace or tempo of the lyrics and song

Production schedule update 1

Extra research - Music Factsheet - Music Video

This is another helpful factsheet that I have researched, in finding extra information on music videos. I have mainly looked at what the purpose of a music video is and how music as a whole is impacted by it's audience and the modern digital age.

Media Studies
www.curriculum-press.co.uk

Music video

This section describes the purpose of music videos and how the video sells the music through a visual aspect. They can be sometimes used as a feature on a film  or soundtrack for a different brand or product selling. Hence, showing how synergy is used in the music industry, in advertising and marketing artists in association with other companies.  This again heightens and promotes the artists music with other campaigns not just music campaigns.

It also explains how the digital age has affected music not just for the artist but the audience too. With developments in media technologies, technological convergence can happen and make music videos more accessible to a mass and niche audience. For my music video, I understand that through blogging and creating my video it can be available through different mediums and technologies. 

Although new technologies can be advantageous for the artist, company and audience it can have disadvantages as I have found out. Due to the rising use of the internet, people are less inclined to buy physical copies of the music such as a CD. This shows the developments of technology has impacted industries because of the ease of access and availability, especially for selling music. Website's such as Youtube have dominated the internet for watching the latest videos and has again allowed the audience to listen to music freely, without charge.