Q2 Media Evaluation SLIDESHARE

This is the second question of the media analysis/evaluation, presented on slideshare:

Evaluative Analysis

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real media products?

      For my A2 media coursework product, we produced a music video rendition of 'Human' by The Killers. The video uses, but also challenges the conventions of real media products of the same genre; indie/alternative music video.

      I, and the rest of the group, produced the storyboards with the knowledge of a convention of music videos; three separate narratives, which mainly consist of two different stories that eventually connect, and then another narrative with the artist or the band performing. I storyboarded three narratives that correspond with that certain ideology of conventional music videos, incorporating two separate stories, one involving a man, and one a woman, who are both presented as visibly depressed due to their average human qualities. The video proceeds with these characters eventually becoming more optimistic and spontaneous; becoming the dancer. I annotated the lyrics beforehand and noticed certain lyrics that influenced my interpretation of the song meaning, in particular the line 'are we human... or are we dancer?' And 'pay my respects to grace and virtue' also, because it questions how we take advantage of our individual qualities, then paying respect to them as we become less worrying and much more optimistic and spontaneous. The two characters I have used in these two narratives both represent two different unusual factors: The woman becoming less concerned about the average and disadvantageous features of being human, instead opening herself up to the world and doing whatever she pleases because it's her prerogative; and the man representing curiosity as he follows the music of the band (third narrative), not concerned with anything else, just following his curiosity, doing what he wants. This is what connects these two characters; they aren't conforming to the conventions of being human, which is my main intention from how I interpreted the lyrics. Finally, these two characters journey towards the source of the band performing, which is the third narrative, where everything and everyone in the video come together. From this certain convention, I've learned how to follow and apply the idea of multiple narratives, able to film these narratives separately and then piece them together via iMovie, constructing the music video out of a story driven by metaphors and some literal visualisations. The problems that I could improve on are the visual interpretations of the lyrics; making the connection between the two characters more clearer for the spectator, possibly filming a scene where they both perform the exact same action.  

       I followed Andrew Goodwin's theory on music video types: illustration, amplification and disjuncture. One or two of these categories are used in many conventional music videos, like The Asteroids Galaxy Tour's 'Heart Attack' (disjuncture) or Adele's 'Chasing Pavements' (illustration & amplification).If I could improve on the video in accordance to Goodwin's theory, I would focus on only one category instead of multiple ones, because I feel that doing this may have driven the video to be quite obscure in places.

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Main Product- Music Video

Ancillary Text 1- Digipak

Ancillary Text 2- Magazine Advert

 

I feel that the combination of our main product and my 2 ancillary products are much more effective than the actual video, and also very effective as a whole. The metaphors, locations and the cast used in the video all connect to one or two of the ancillary products, such as the main feature involving the reoccurring tree background that the band perform around which is present on three separate images on the digipak artwork (ancillary text 1). The location of the band performing is also the same location in which I took the photo of Josh Hobson (one of the band mates), yet the positioning is to the far right of the tree from the video, and my intention between these three products, location-wise, was to follow certain criteria: shoot outside and have a wide open space for the background. This I believe is quite effective because of the indirect connection (regarding location) between the three products, and made further effective because not every image was planned, but improvised (see ancillary text 2). I also thought the spontaneity from the improvisation was effective because it paralleled the intended visualisation of the lyrics (being of average human qualities, and then transitioning into a more spontaneous character, like a dancer), which then influenced the shots of the instruments in the tree on the digipak artwork, as well as ancillary text 2's improvised flagging gesture as influenced by one of the band members walking up to the camera and forming a gesture reminiscent of the film Kes (which is what then influenced me to name one of the pseudo-songs in the digipak tracklist). Another connection between the video and any of the ancillary texts, besides location, are lyrics and metaphors. The lyrics 'pay my respects to grace and virtue' were included along with the image of a rusted footpath sign that metaphorically implies the line 'are we human, or are we dancer' (although not originally intended) because of the deeper implication that people are making their own path, as shown with the rust. I believe that the deeper meaning of that image also contributes to the overall effectiveness of the combination because of the chorus lyrics in the video and then one single image representing that narrative along with another line of lyrics. 

Altogether, I believe the indie/alternative genre of the video fits perfectly well with the sepia tone of the ancillary texts, due to the fact that the colours are simple, as is the palette for the music video because it's the indie/alternative genre, where the features are much more 'structured' and not all over the place. The intended odd nature of the video, with the spontaneous actions of the characters to reinforce the difference between human qualities and that of a dancer's, combines very effectively with the images in the ancillary texts. I intended to wipe out the eyes of every person in each image because I wanted to present the superficial fact that music isn't media for the eyes, but for the ears.

The music video promotes the ancillary texts, and vice versa. Our music video promotes my album Days Out In Sepia by The Project (fictional cover band name), and then the magazine advertisement promotes the album and the video, with features I added that made the advert seem much more authentic, such as reviews from music magazines, social networking links, a website address dedicated to the album, a QR code and also a screenshot of the album with details on its release, as I knew that every music promotion details the release date. The inclusion of an actual QR code that links to the music video on my YouTube channel is a completely new and very useful feature I have used, making the ancillary text seem as close to genuine as possible, which I am very pleased with. 

These three items combine very effectively through their contributions to one another, their connections in terms of what's in the video and what's on the ancillary texts, their simple yet attractive colour schemes, and the idea that they're ordered correctly in terms of the promotion; the video/single being released first as a taster, then the announcement of the album details, and then the further promotion of the album through a different media text. They all combine to create one big promotion of the same product, which is again very effective because it's multi-purposed. There aren't any improvements I would make to these ancillary products, because they correctly represent the factors discussed in the indie/alternative genre.

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

     From the feedback I was given from various audiences, the overall 'score' of the music video was fairly average, the overall score for the album art was fairly positive, and the magazine advert was very positive.

     For the music video, the most prominent and frequently discussed problem was the synchronization of the miming and the background music, 'especially at the end.'

     This is the main problem regarding the video that I would consider for improvement, as well as learning from this particular feedback that synchronization is one of the largest factors of how smoothly and well-edited music videos have to be.

     I have learnt from the 'does it match the intended genre' question that audience views are dynamic and their views on the indie genre differ. 

    Based on the above image, and because it's likely to be similar to other answers if more people were asked, I would improve on the representation of the symbolism, as I myself seemed to be confused on how I represented such allegory, like the transition between mood is only shown by the attitudes of the characters, yet the intention of the symbolism isn't reinforced by any literal representations, like I could've used sticky labels that the characters mysteriously have (I did shoot these scenes, but time was running short to edit them in), with the words 'human' and 'dancer' between two separate labels. 

       Finally, I have learnt from the improvements section of the questionnaire that audience's expectations differ as mentioned before, but these improvements are ones that could be applied quite easily.

    For the ancillary texts, because they're both the same in tone, font and image-wise, I will be viewing the reviews for both products.

    There has been a review regarding the presentation of the products, with the font and editing ("Better font and better editing needed") requested to be improved on, because the products, particularly the digipak album font, need to be clearer and more readable, which I understand fully because of the Braggadocio style font being block-styled letters may be unreadable to certain audiences. So to improve, I would change the font to another which has more spaced out letters and a different colour to make them prominent on the sepia backgrounds.

What I've learned from the audience feedback for the ancillary products is that they're more praised than the video, but it depends on who views them and how they review them. I've learnt that the ancillary products do adhere to the indie genre as well as the video.

      4. How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

      In the construction/research stage of the production, I used media technologies, but only certain technology that was new to me. Because it's the research stage, I researched 5 music videos of the indie genre and analysed them, with the media technology used being YouTube to view the videos and the blog to analyse them. I printed out the lyrics to Human and annotated them to generate an interpretation on what the semantics of them are. 

      Slideshare was a new media platform that I used, researching Andrew Goodwin's theory on music video categorisation, to gain knowledge on spotting differences between other videos and also applying categories to our music video.

       I also produced a music video presentation on Slideshare where I mentioned certain features of The Killers' music video, but upon viewing it the second time, I feel that the PowerPoint is much too short and not exactly interesting information-wise. If I could improve on it, I would follow the areas I mentioned that I said I would cover, therefore making the presentation longer and much more interesting.

     

        Another new technology, or platform, I used was a collage generator called Photovisi, where I drew knowledge from various indie music videos and presented the typical features of them, with focus on location, costume, regionality, subliminal messages ans surreal imagery. However, because the presentation is more image-focused than information-focused, I only noted these typical features and presented them as captions to the photos, yet I know that what I was intending was still clear, and the only improvement I could've made was to add a little more information to provide as clarification of what my intention for the collage was, despite the title 'What are the typical features of an indie music video?'

     For the planning stage, one of the new media technologies I were introduced to, for media studies in general, was YouTube, as we had not previously used the website before A2 to actually showcase our work, only linking our blogs with research information to YouTube and other sites. The main planning that was shared on my YouTube account was the storyboard drawing, which I presented and edited in accordance to the procession of lyrics, of which I used iMovie, an application used before for AS' 'Curiosity,' to create.

        Another new media technology used was green screen, which we planned to apply for certain forest scenes, but the filming of forestry and the subsequent pasting of the image into the video proved useless due to the incorrect mix of colour. If I could improve on this, I would instead film a different background with better lighting so that there would be a lesser chance of a mistake.

        I (and the rest of the group) was introduced, during planning and before filming, to HD Camcorders with SD Cards, replacing the DV tapes used in AS. I believe this new technology put us more to an advantage time-wise, but considering there were problems concerning the mix-up of memory cards and taking longer than anticipated to find them, a problem which I ended up solving by simply dotting our memory card with a marker. I was also introduced to a Gear-Pro camera which provided us with the liberty of incorporating sweeping and unbroken shots at whatever angles, with a particular example present in the finished video where the camera smoothly passes by the band. The introduction of new equipment called telescopes were the handles that attached to the Gear-Pros, helping us with whatever positioned we wanted the frame in.

      For the evaluation stage, there wasn't any particular media technology that I hadn't used before for the evaluation. I evaluated the video through iMovie, using the sound waves to make sure it was synchronised; using YouTube to share the video for some possible audience feedback, and then using Blogger to analyse the video.

      

                                                               Ancillary Texts

       For the construction and research of the digipak artwork, I searched images of genre-specific album art from different artists of the indie/alternative genre to give me ideas on recognising prominent and typical features of them, such as one specific tone of colour and a wide open background is what I noticed is applied to various album art. These helped in the sketches of my intended artwork, mostly sketching images that I had shot previously, using a DSLR camera for a range of them, which was a new media technology for me, as we hadn't used one in previous AS media studies.

         The planning of the album art consisted vastly of sketching and taking photos with DSLR's, then analysing them on Blogger, giving reasons why I wanted to incorporate certain images into the artwork. iPhoto was a media technology new to me that was used for the planning stages, using it to edit the chosen images into the finished product evident in the screenshot of the six-sided digipak album art.

        For the magazine advert, the same media platforms were used (Blogger, iPhoto, DSLR cameras) throughout the research, planning and evaluation stages. Here, the only improvement I would've done was to change the colour of the QR code to an orange tone, so that the magazine ad could be described by one simple tone, as many indie albums and promotions do.

What did I find wrong with the production (Music Video)?

     There was a certain problem throughout the production that decreased the time we had and the motivation to improve on the music video; the departure of three cast members (two actors, and the band's lead singer), which warranted replacements for the actors, but the band member had already shot many scenes, so I decided to carry on filming without the lead singer, focusing on other band members instead for the rest of the video.

MUSIC VIDEO

Here is the 'Human' music video by The Killers that we filmed.

I NEED FEEDBACK ON THIS VIDEO, IT WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED AND ALSO BE REALLY HONEST! CRITICISM IS ACCEPTED!

What was good about it?

What was bad about it?

Does the video meet the desired genre (indie/alternative)?

What improvements do you suggest I should make?

Give it an honest rating out of 10!

 Enjoy! Or don't...

The Killers 'Human' Music Video Analysis

This blog post was intended to be published before we begun filming our own take on the video.

 The first 6 seconds of the video consists of an obscure camera angle, which may be intentional despite it looking unintentional, because all we hear is the band getting ready to perform (we can't see them) on a sandy yellow setting (possibly a desert). This is proven when we hear one of the band members (most likely Brandon Flowers) saying "yeah, hang on," as though they're not ready yet. The whole meaning of this short section could be just to show a behind-the-scenes clip to set up the video, because the next shot is clearly signifying that the video has truly started. The mentioned shot is a possible mid-shot of the 'k' from the band's title suddenly lighting up in synchronisation with the first instance of music; the tune of a guitar. After, an establishing shot of a desert sets the scene for the video, with the golden and yellow palette implying a mostly positive and bright tone. In the same shot, Brandon Flowers (lead singer) is seen walking by and stopping, framed between two large boulders, which emits a slightly eccentric feel, such as the superficial question; why is he in the desert? Could it signify that because it's a vast landscape, there's the chance to be alone and expressive without any judgement from anybody else? And because the song could be implying a sort of 'transition' from being a normal, average human being to being a dancer; a spontaneous person, who could be idiosyncratic in nature, and with the band being in the desert, a very unusual setting, could emphasise that 'dancer.'
     Following this is a series of mid-shots of Flowers singing, with a stage light behind him to emphasise his presence, that we should be focusing on him. There's a dissolving transition in between these mid-shots that shows four self-portraits of the band on stands, from a long shot. I can't exactly interpret the meaning of this, even with the lyrics corresponding to this scene; "sometimes I get nervous, when I see an open door."It could be to do with the positioning of the portraits (two closer to the camera, and two further from the camera), but of that, I'm dubious. Next is a return to Brandon, this time shown from a more close-up shot and the camerawork is more loose, eventually panning up to catch a bird flying past, shot with a more steady angle and there's the familiar distinction of look between Flowers and the bird, as he is wearing a suit with golden feathers circling the collar. The bird is a black colour, yet there's a golden tail. Could it be that he wants to fly away like the bird does, which is implied with the line "cut the cord" as the bird is shown, which most likely means to cut yourself off from the world and be a 'dancer.' From this scene (0:43 seconds in) up to the 1:10 mark, there are multiple transitions between each band member performing, shown from mid and long shots as well as a slight close-up shot, with every shot circling the performer. Each guitar stroke corresponds with the transitions, creating a rhythmic and synchronised relationship between sound and vision. At the end of this scene, Brandon punches the air (from a possible long shot) as a sudden loud beat is heard, giving way for the instrumental.
     During the instrumentals, we're shown, from birds-eye shots, mid-shots and long shots, a Tiger and a Lion roaming the desert, with intercutting shots of the band, as though to  imply that we are the animals in the desert.
    As the singing returns, we are presented with a multiple Vignette style framing of different shots of the band playing, with the style of the appearance of these frames paralleling the rhythmic beat. Eventually, four of the frames are replaced by mosaic self-portraits of the band members (the YouTube thumbnail image above), obviously referring to the mosaic pattern of the 'Day & Age' album art, which is also an image of a desert (or an oasis), as well as the self-portraits being the single art for 'Human,' 'Spaceman,' 'The World we Live In' and 'A Dustland Fairytale.' The camera hovers around the set, putting instruments such as the cymbals into centre frame as well as Brandon also being framed in subsequent shots, with another appearance of the bird, circling the band. It's clear that this video focuses on the band performance more than anything, which is a rather frequently applied convention of indie/alternative music videos, like with Kyla la Grange's 'Walk Through Walls,' and Mika's 'Grace Kelly,' despite the vast majority of indie videos focusing on symbolic or plot-based scenes, hardly ever showing the artist's performance. Also, with the whole tone of the video awash in golds, browns and yellows, we know that it's a video expressing a positive coda. We see again the Lion walking for a few seconds, which seems to raise a question: is it walking towards the band?
    A wide shot (from a fair distance) of the band obscuring their faces with their mosaic self-portraits still reveals their identities, yet seems to distort them because the division between the darkness of their clothing and the more colourful portraits could be interpreted that they're more mindfully artistic. However, the line "are we human" at this point could be reflected by this scene, because it could even be interpreted that the band are hiding their faces with portraits so that we can't see their true faces, which may not be 'human,' so to speak.
   Then a high angle shot establishes the set on which they're performing, which is then followed by the band with the portraits again, however this time they're swapping with each other; taking on a new identity. Could this imply a swap (or transition) from being 'human' to being a 'dancer' because they're not themselves anymore, but somebody else. For around 7 seconds after this scene, the camera loosely (again) hovers around the set, capturing each band member performing, shown with some closing in shots, which possibly begins to imply that there's a bigger reason for why the video looms upon the performance and hardly any other scenes shot outside that area. It links to the Lion walking towards an undisclosed location. Is it the band? Can the animal hear the music?
  After this, the music builds up to a more faster pace, shown with 15 seconds of high angle shots of Flowers and the band, which could imply that because the music and the speed is building up, the high angle affectively emphasises that. The build-up is held with a sudden drop to the original, slower pace, with a long shot of the band which applies the contra-zoom effect (see Vertigo and Jaws) to make it seem that they're even further away, and they're without the stage setting. It seems expressionistic because of the setting: a desert; a vast open landscape where, if you were alone in it, the contra-zoom emphasises the distance of it (this reason may be insubstantial).
    The camera then returns to Flowers singing in a kneeled pose, holding the wire of the microphone with a tightness, making it taut, as though he's under tension and stressed (which I don't exactly know how to interpret it). Then, as we hear "looking for the answer," the same shot of the two boulders framing Flowers is revisited, this time with him walking, then stopping to look ahead, and then continuing to walk, which implies the "looking for the answer" despite us not entirely knowing what that is.
   The music builds again for around 8 seconds, then suddenly being met with a drop in beat which gives way to another chorus. The chorus consists of slow dissolving transitions between the band (shown from high and low angles, as well as continuous shots) and very high angles of a desert mountain/hill to emphasise the enormity of the setting.
   The chorus repeats and fades towards the end of the video, repeating the line "are we human, or are we dancer," along with a single shot of the Tiger that was introduced before the Lion was (I don't know why the Lion was shown more frequently, however), positioned in the same background with the self-portraits mounted on stands, which presents the Tiger in a close-up, taking up most of the frame from the left, with enough space on the right to define the familiar background. It could be viewed as an exodus of human qualities and being exchanged for qualities that metaphorically represent freedom (of the mind); the Tiger, because it's a wild animal, it's free, and spontaneous (we don't know how it'll act), like a dancer. The desert also reflects that possible interpretation of freedom, as well as the portraits turning off (lights), which could also be signifying the end of the video.
     The video ends with a low angle of the band standing and looking at a mosaic sun in an evening sky (the colour is too orange to be the moon), which is an odd, yet artistic image which mirrors the 'Day & Age' album art. The whole setting then transforms into a mosaic pattern, which proves that it mirrors the album art, as this final image is the end of the video.
    'Human' was 'Day & Age's most successful track, so this still shot of the mosaic desert landscape could be promoting the album by referring to the successful song through the album cover.
   

Changes Made

Here are the various changes we've made during the shooting:

•  Made alterations to the schedule list, including added days and more filming to fit in the schedule  before the deadline.
• The equipment book with additional dates for using it.
•  The first initial actors were both changed to two other people who we re-shot their scenes to include them in.
• A real hospital gown was unavailable at the time of shooting, so we instead changed it to a white jacket, which could still have an advantage as we could imply that the actor's character is almost insane due to certain negative factors of his life.
• We changed a few angles and camera shots for a few scenes involving the band performing in the woods, as establishing shots would reveal the borders of the green screen.
• There was considerate change in costume, as we no longer had the intended clothing at the beginning. They were changed to more informal clothing such as a bright orange football shirt and green trainers.
• We had to replace Ryan Hayden's role of the man with Leon Asgari taking his place.
• We didn't include the shot of Leon walking through the hospital corridor where we see the signs reading 'Sadness, Devotion and Dancer' because it was intended to be done in the actual hospital, but we would have needed to create our own signs. So, if there is time during the re-shooting stage, we could attempt to include it.
• We changed the beginning location of the woman's narrative after learning of Chelsey Willis' departure from the project. So after Nicole Denman agreed to replace her, we instead filmed her introduction in a consult room, where we could turn all of the lights off to give a darker tone.
• Josh Hobson replaced Joe Clark's position as a band member, as well as Connor Faulkner replacing Dan Howley as another band member.
• Some instruments were replaced with ones that were lighter in weight, but still resembling the intended instrument. We also excluded the microphone as we wanted just close-ups of the singer performing, as the more established and side shots with the microphone would reveal the borders of the green screen.
• We had the band perform on the school field in front of a single tree to give a simple look to the video.
• The band placed the instruments in the tree after finishing, which we used for the video.
• We filmed Nicole in an extra scene in a play park to give her miserable character a colourful perspective, intended to imply the play park as her transition from 'Human' to 'Dancer.'

Production Diary

29.11.13

      Today, we began filming the first couple of scenes for 'Human' by The Killers and used two distinct locations. Filming the part of the woman, we had our actress, Chelsey Willis, lay on a medical bed (in our school's medical room), start filming using a birds-eye view that pans to follow the woman wake up, sit up and then get off the bed to answer her phone. We had Chelsey mess her hair up to try and capture a dishevelled look along with the clothes that she wore when sleeping on the the bed. We wanted to give the impression that she didn't have a permanent residence; was homeless, or a runaway. We then filmed the beginning to the Man's narrative, played by Ryan Hayden. His first scene followed him as he plays a hospital patient (more of a metaphor than playing an actual patient) being pushed through a 'hospital corridor' (actually the school science corridor) by the orderly, played by Josh Hobson. We only filmed the man being pushed through the corridor, zooming in on his face as he passes by the camera, but due to some shaky movement, I'll have to reshoot this in the post-filming stage. All filming equipment was borrowed from school for this particular shoot.

3.12.13

        Today we had our band's lead singer, Jake Jones, lip sync the majority of the song 'Human' by The Killers so he could be able to lip sync during the filming of the music video, hopefully arranging the band members (Joe Clark, Jake Jones, Daniel Howley, Jack Charlesworth) in time for filming them and finish their parts along with the green screen setting in the forest clearing. We borrowed the equipment from school to do this practice.

6.12.13

        Today, we filmed Ryan Hayden's hospital scene again, but replacing him with Leon Asgari due to some difficulties. I recreated every shot I'd done, but with a few added ones, including the shot of the wheels rolling along with the orderly's feet behind it. Another added shot was of 'The Man' (Leon) noticing the music and getting out of the chair and walking down the hall to the entrance of the 'hospital.' After that, we did a couple of minutes of out takes, where Josh Hobson rolled around on the wheelchair pretending to be Professor Charles Xavier from 'X-Men.' All of the filming equipment was borrowed from school, as seen on the equipment booking form I will be posting soon.

7.12.13

       Today, I filmed Leon's scenes for his characters journey through his narrative, starting with the outside of the hospital (we have to film him coming out of the door on Monday), leading to the streets with occasional change in clothing to signify the spontaneous behaviour that he's expressing, and through a (as hopefully convincing as possible) small wooded area. We did a few of the same shots for back-up in case of problems with other shots. I used my own equipment for this shoot.

9.12.13

       Today, me and Leon was given permission from Montagu Hospital to film on their grounds. We shot Leon's character exiting the hospital (that began with the 'hospital' corridor shot in school) in the gown he was wearing, walking up the path from the entrance, which then leads to the shots we did on Friday the 7th, almost completing his narrative, which will be finished on Friday, the shooting deadline. I used my own camera for this shoot, with the hospital 'gown' and the tripod borrowed from school.

10.12.13

         Today we re-shot Chelsey Willis' scenes, with Nicole Denman replacing her as the lead woman. We used a different room to the original one used, this time a room that had lights that will actually stay switched off. We added another shot that comes before Nicole's character is introduced, where the camera pans in from a shot of an outside building then into the room. Josh Hobson also assisted me with difficult movements of the camera, which we borrowed from school as well as the tripod.

11.12.13

         This afternoon, I went out to Creighton Woods in Swinton to film a forest clearing that will be put onto the green screen on Friday the 13th *gasp*. I found a relatively spacious clearing, with enough space to 'hold' the band on the green screen, but having less of a crowd in this setting. I slowly panned and shot from different angles of the clearing to be able to have some accompanying shots incase something goes wrong. I used my own equipment for this shoot.

12.12.13

         Today, I filmed two separate shots of two different streets that were empty, so filming them at the right time was crucial as cars frequently drove past and people occasionally walked past. I used my own camera for these shots.

Note: I was going to film Nicole Denman's character scenes as well in the afternoon, however, problems for her arose today, so if given permission, I will film the scenes the week before the holidays.

13.12.13

        Today, we filmed the vast majority of the green screen clips for the video. There were certain problems however, with the size of the green screen not being large enough to contain more than three people before the walls behind the screen begin to appear. These shots will have the forest scenes I filmed pasted onto the green screen to give the illusion of the performers being in a wooded clearing. 

6.1.14

         Today, we began the editing for the video, despite having to re-shoot a part of the video that was filmed but went missing after the holidays. 

         We began positioning the clips in chronological order. However, problems became prominent: the process was slow as not everybody was present to help with the editing; the track wasn't on the desktop so it couldn't be added to iMovie for synchronising; the importing of the most recently filmed scenes heavily slowed the allowance of editing because of the Mac focusing on the import (which isn't strictly a problem).

7.1.14

           Today, editing became easier with the inclusion of the song so that we could start on the synchronisation between the music and the video.

          I started synchronising the first green screen section (with a member of the band miming the song), however there were two main problems: the clips had to be elongated and sometimes shortened to attempt to synchronise with the song as perfectly as possible; the instruments used in the video were also needed to synchronise with the instrumentals in the song, so the final product would be more genuine and infrequent on simple mistakes.

13.1.14

         Today, we continued editing, adding a few more clips to the project for cutting and prolonging sequences, however, with useful advice from the tutor, we decided to clip all of the scenes together to complete the video, and eventually re-synchronise the music again, which would prove to be the best time to become careful and identify the flow of the video and the music. We also began briefly focusing on the colour palette of a certain sequence; the hospital corridor, where Man (Leon Asgari) is being wheeled through the hall. We darkened the blue tone in this scene, so as to create a more cynical, dark and depressing atmosphere to suggest Man's life. There were'nt any mentionable problems within this session.

14.1.14

       Today, we continued the darkening of the blue tone in Leon's hospital scene. New clips were added, completing the majority of the beginning scenes, leading steadily into the mid-section of the video. There were certain problems: a scene featuring Leon 's character exiting the hospital through a door, then walking along a path towards the street, which was hit with an unexpected problem, a sign which read 'Ambulance Turning Point' outside where he was walking, revealing a mistake on his location, so the scene would require rather heavy cuts. However, there were many positive outcomes in this session: we transitioned clips correctly to avoid certain problems; the jump-cuts were clearly positioned to avoid abrupt cutting; we handled the editing of our Woman (Nicole Denman) opening the door from an inside perspective to an outside perspective.

20.1.14

     Today, we continued with the editing and found a couple of more affecting problems. We edited more clips together correctly, however, we needed to start re-filming two scenes: Nicole's narrative and the whole green screen section with the band performing because of the rejecting of proper pasting of the forest to the background due to colours not separating upon pasting it.

22.1.14

    Today, we continued editing the footage. We imported Josh Hobson's performance of miming the song outside and playing an electric (or bass) guitar (which we had permission from the music department to use). The performance was satisfying, furthermore satisfying as a flock of white birds unexpectedly entered the frame in a fitting way (aesthetic and well-timed). When we finally synced it with iMovie, we then decided that we would need the whole band to play, intending to use the same location (a field with a single tree) to film it at.

27.1.14

    Today, we filmed the band performing the entire song, from 4 different cameras; one angled from the left, one from the right, one directly facing the band, and a Gear Pro camera for portable use. However, problems such as the wind was present. Cameras blew over, the whistling overwhelmed a lot of the sound on the recording, even though we were able to edit out the sound. After filming and packing up, we filmed the singers performing the song again, using the Gear Pro to do close-ups and panning shots. The problem with this was that the camera hadn't recorded the footage; I must've not realised that the camera was recording the 'behind-the-scenes' part instead of the actual scene.

4.2.14

    Today, after importing the band scenes, we continued the editing process, adding in the new clips for the correct timing and importing previously lost clips to bring the video to its final minute of editing. There were problems such as scenes being difficult, but after improving them, it goes out of sync again. However, fortunately the process is going fine, so we hopefully won't take long for the completion of the video.

10.2.14

   Today, we re-shot the band scenes again, yet with more close-ups of one of the performers (Josh Hobson) so that I could create a variety of camera shots and angles. The wind proved to be a problem; blocking out the music so that it wasn't understood enough to be able to mime. After finishing the shoot, we began to import it, as well as doing some very brief editing.

17.2.14

      Today, we continued the editing; adding and taking away some scenes. The biggest problem was trying to sync the miming with the music, by lengthening, shortening, adding or deleting various clips. We're onto the 3 minute mark of the video, correctly syncing it, however we left the editing with a scene out of sync, so we will alter the rest of the video tomorrow when we have over 2 hours to finish and import it. We also added timed black screens that will be replaced with Nicole's scenes once we finish filming them.

18.2.14

        Today, with over two hours to finish the video, we finally got to the end, finishing at the 4:05 minutes mark just as the session ended. We altered the previous day's synchronization and it fit perfectly, as well as adding close-ups of drums, syncing more voice-overs, darkening a few bright scenes that don't match the rest of the video (which was mostly dark weather), turning brightness to -18%, the contrast to -48%, and the saturation to 70%. It was the closest to the intended surrounding weather, however it became a problem as the picture quality decreased because of the changes, but it was still very clear. We had a few more problems with it going out of sync, but because of the amount of time we had, it wasn't much of a problem to fix. We passed the singing stage, going onto the instrumentals that end the song. The end shots consisted of our drummer, Josh (also the person pushing Leon in the wheelchair) throwing his drumsticks into the air, subsequently putting them in the tree, then the camera slides up Connor Faulkner's guitar, signalling the eventual detachment from the band as the song draws to an end (we also changed the beginning scene of the video, where we instead used a shot of the camera sliding down the guitar as though to introduce us to the band), and finally, the image of the guitar and drumsticks in the tree, then panning upwards, fading to black. The song ends.

         We also manipulated Leon's end scene as he comes out from the bushes, making it look as though he's looking at the band with confusion (as well as Nicole), then turning his head (used from a previous shot) as though to face Nicole, who will also appear from the bushes (which is yet to be filmed). We won't be having both people in the same shot however, due to time constraints, instead trying to be creative and manipulate the scenes as though they are looking at each other.

         We started exporting the film just as the lesson ended.

CONTINUED: 

19.2.14

     Today, we filmed Nicole's final scenes where her character is passing through the trees (mainly bushes) and eventually appearing out onto the same field as Leon's character, so that the loose ends could be done and connect the video to what they are both seeing: the band. We had a few problems however: disagreements on how much inside the bush Nicole's character should be positioned in due to the bushes being potentially irritating; and the state of the bushes being without leaves, unlike the bush that Leon comes out of, despite them both being on the same field and us only realising later that we could have used another location that would've been easier for shooting. Another problem was Nicole's haircut, which was different to earlier shootings, so we decided to mostly show her through close-ups to avoid attention on the difference, as well as the difference in clothing, which we sorted because we acknowledged the theme of the video being about spontaneity, so the change in clothes (which happens to both characters in the video) was justifiable. 

21.2.14

      Today, we imported the final scene, and after editing it into the video, we exported it to meet the deadline. The problems we had were: as the clip was added onto iMovie, the last quarter of the video again went out of sync and we had to lengthen the end scene where the band is putting their instruments up in the tree, as well as lengthening the scenes where Leon and Nicole come out of the forest (bushes) and see each other; putting Nicole's quick glance at Leon in slow motion to lengthen it slightly, and eventually pit the video back in sync, where we could now leave the factors of length alone. We made a few alterations to colour so that the vast majority of the video would be in the same tone. As the lesson ended, we exported the video.

The Whole Preparation

This blog post will be the listing of everything that we have or we need for our music video. This will be updated a few times until it's completely prepared. The first set of lists is a screenshot from 'Kayleigh H's' Music Video blog, where you can visit at:

http://www.kayleighmusicvideoblogg324.blogspot.co.uk

UPDATED LISTS:

POST-PRODUCTION SCHEDULE- May be changed if anything unexpected happens.

SCHEDULE FOR PRODUCTION- Just a tidier version and slightly updated.

EQUIPMENT BOOKING FORM- Brief Planning for requesting equipment for the days of shooting.

Note:  Some days on these lists consist of me using my own camera, so I included these into the lists to correspond with the whole filming diary.

The Cast List

The Risk Assessment

The Schedule & Shooting List

                                          UPDATE ON SCHEDULE LIST

                                                 27th JANUARY 2014

                          CAMERA, TELESCOPE AND TRIPOD NEEDED

                                                  FURTHER UPDATE

                                                14th FEBRUARY 2014

      GEAR PRO, TELESCOPE AND INSTRUMENTS (MUSIC DEPARTMENT) NEEDED

 Location Ideas    

        The rest of the lists are on here, as well as the other members of the group. The location is a vital part of preparation, as we need permission to film in certain places, but first we would need to do some location scouting. So here are the ideas.

       The band are introduced in a forest clearing through the pre-lyrical section of the song, just instrumentals, where the lead singer begins singing for a few seconds until the camera cuts to introducing the actors in their roles.

                                                                 The Band...                                                        

                    

                      Connor Faulkner, the guitarist

                          

                        Josh Hobson, the drummer

                    Ryan Brown, the lead 'singer'

Jack Charlesworth, the keyboard player (THIS IMAGE IS JUST A REPLACEMENT FOR THE ORIGINAL IMAGE THAT WAS LOST)

For the location of the room that the woman wakes up in at the beginning of the video, we have chosen to use one of our school's medical rooms to make it look untidy with the lights off as though it's abandoned, and the woman is laid on the bed (a discarded mattress).

Nicole Denman as the woman:

Leon Asgari as the man:

Preferred clothes for the woman in the beginning.

       The man is introduced on a gurney being pushed along by the orderlies in a hospital corridor.

The orderly:

Josh Hobson

The Man is...

Leon Asgari

Vague idea of the corridor, to be filmed in school.

The Model Forms

      Through the middle section of the music video, the locations included abandoned streets, a forest entrance and pathway and basically quick uses of normal background settings. The props include sticky labels with frowns drawn on them, costumes changing into more lively attire to reflect the change in mood through the video.

Sticky labels to have frowns drawn on them.

Ideas for deserted streets:

Change in costumes:

These changes in attire are to reflect the more spontaneous nature of the two main people being released.

The final act of the video will be of the man and the woman approaching two separate entrances to a forest, where they walk through until they reach a clearing with a large crowd of people and the band playing. The forest clearing will be achieved by green screen inside the school gym. The crowd of people are all idiosyncratic, wearing all different costumes and random clothing.

The Forest Entrance

The Forest Pathway

The end of the video will be an elongated shot if possible.