Wednesday 30th November

Even though last weeks filming wasn't as successful as I had hoped, I am going to leave the re-shooting till after i've done the rest of my filming and have edited it all together.

Once again I am travelling to north cave to get the shots of the fields/lake/forest, however as I don't have to worry about only having one shot to do these, I can re-do them again with ease.

However I will need to plan my time more carefully as it is gradually getting darker quicker and therefore i'll need to start my filming earlier so that I can be finished sooner before it gets dark.

2nd filming

I decided to get the balloons blown up at a shop rather than buy a helium tank as I thought it would be more cost efficient. To do this however wasted time, As the cost of blowing up the balloon's was more than I thought and the price for the amount of balloon's was too much as it went over my £20 budget, however after looking at a few different shops, I was able to get them blown up and then travel to north cave.

Here we had problems with the balloons as I bought 30 balloons, 10 for each different shot. However, as we were walking to the field the wind tangled the strings up so badly it wasted even more time trying to seperate them - Losing a few in the process.

Once we had untangled them, I took my shots - However once again I had more problems.
Due to the wind, each individual bunch of 10 also tangled together which wasn't ideal as I had imagined them all to fly up in different directions, instead they flew to the side in a bunch. The wind also made the speed increase and therefore the shot of the balloon's flying was cut down to 2 seconds, rather than 8 in which i had planned. Therefore when editing I had to speed this right down.

Also the 3rd shot of the close-up of the balloons in the sky was also unsuccessful as there is a telephone wire in view of the shot; This ruins the whole effect however I didnt realise the balloons were going to travel this way until they had already gone, in which it was too late.

After I had edited all this together and messed about with the speed/duration; my shots began to improve. However, I am still unsure as to wether to re-shoot this as there are quite of lot of things in which I don't like about it, however this means having to find another £20, and take the risk as to wether the same thing will happen again with the wind.

First Edit

After putting my first footage of the cottage onto the edit suite; I have realised that I will need to re-shoot this was the lighting wasn't strong enough and therefore when put onto a larger screen pixilates. I have also taken some of my shots portrait and if I rotate these shots there will be a black border down each side, therefore I will need to re-shoot this and make sure that I shoot it all the same way.

First Filming

Yesterday I did my first part of filming. This went exactly to plan as I intended.
We firstly went to the boat yard and were given permission to use the yard for filming/study purposes.
I then filmed the shots off my storyboards a few times, this was needed as even though I filmed all my shots using a tripod they were a bit shaky, So I filmed a few times just incase and can then pick the most successful when editing it.
Even though I got the shots necessary, I discovered a different location on the site in which I could get a better view of the boats. This was unplanned, and I had to decide there and then where I wanted the character placed and how long the shot was, however this may not necessarily be used in my music video - I filmed this just incase my previous footage wasn't as I hoped or in case I needed some filler shots later on in my video.

We then drove to the cottage in which I picked up some furniture from my house on the way to place in the room. As the cottage is currently a construction site, we had to be careful as to where we stepped and before filming had to spend some time moving all the building tools such as a cement mixer out of the chosen room.

However, once this was done we had a clear room to shoot, and I then set up the chair, a suitcase and a lamp in the middle of a room. From here I stood in the doorway to enable that I could get a pan of the whole room. Once I did this I then did the same shot but without the person sat in the chair for a later shot.

I then attempted to do the pan from behind, however the furniture was too close to the camera to get a full pan from the back. Therefore I had to re-adjust the setting and move the furniture forwards to get it all in the shot - Hopefully this will not be noticeable when I put all the shots together.

I then got Elliot to stand in the doorway in which I was filming from, and got an over the shoulder shot of him observing the room, and then a close-up from the front - This took several shots as he kept laughing when I asked him to look obervant, however I was able to get this shot done before it got dark and whilst I still had good lighting.

Now I have done part of my footage I am excited to get it done again next wednesday, Hopefully my next shoot will go to plan like this one!

Wednesday 22nd

The following Wednesday, I am hoping to get all of the footage in North Cave. This includes the chrous in the fields with the balloons, the shots by the lake, the shots of the the boy walking through the forest, and the pan shot of fields.

For this I will need to have:
Cololured balloons (Approx 30)
Confetti to throw in the lake (Will need to buy)
Fairy lights and elephants for the tree in the forest
Washing line (Need to buy)
Sheets and pegs

Wednesday 16th

This is going to be my first filming. I will begin filming in the boat yard, for this I will need to remember to take some paper, a pen and some cellotape in order to create my sign.
I will also need to ask for permission to use this location as it is private property, however I am hopeful as I recently went there to take some photographs for a different subject and was given permission for a short period of time to get my studies done. However, if I am not allowed this time I will have to think of another suitable location.

Once I have got these shots I am hoping to drive to the cottage to get the beginning and end footage, For this I will have to collect the old vintage furniture and place it in the living room, allowing room at the front and the back to get the pan shots.

Audience Research

I have gathered my audience research by creating polls and asking friends and peers to fill these in for me.
I have created 4, each of these studies helped me when deciding on my music video as I am aiming to produce something in which entertains the audience, but also fit in with the chosen genre 'Indie' and it's conventions.

My first poll was the age group of those which are participating in my audience research, out of 12 chosen candidates, only 1 of these was ages 20 or above, the rest were 16-19 which was helpful as I knew the majority of which age group I was working with.

My next question was to ask how often the candidates updated their music. This question sounds irrelevant, however out of 12 people that voted, 50% said that they updated their music every few weeks - This means that they get bored of the same thing, and therefore my video will have to introduce new qualities and ideas to keep the specific age group.

I then asked which was the preferred style of music video; Both narrative and performance had the same most popular votes, I also realised this when looking at existing music videos - However, even though they both have the same amount of votes I have chosen to do just a narrative video as I think this is more interesting than a performance video.

Finally, my last question was what the chosen age group thought the album cover of Radical Face's was, this poll is currently still open, however all the votes so far have selected 'Indie' which shows that the chosen art work was successful and follows the genre, therefore I need to use the same conventions when creating my own album cover.

Filming Schedule

Luckily, Both me and the chosen person I am filming are free on Wednesdays, therefore I am hoping to get my filming done on a weekly basis on a Wednesday.


I am hoping to start this week on the Wednesday (16th November).
I am aiming to get the footage in the cottage and the boat yard.

The week commencing, Tuesday 22nd November I am aiming to get the footage of the fields out the car window as I am free in the afternoon and will be able to get some footage before it gets dark.

Wednesday 23rd November, I am hoping to drive to North Cave and get the shots in the fields of the balloons. However this will include having to travel into town in the morning to get the balloons blown up in the shop before driving to the fields.

Representation of album covers

This is the album cover from Radical Face's album 'Ghost', in which my chosen song 'Welcome Home' is off.

This is the tracklist for this album:

1. Asleep On A Train

2. Welcome Home

3. Let The River In

4. Glory                 

5. Strangest things   

6. Wrapped In Piano Strings

7. Along The Road

8. Haunted

9. Winter Is Coming

10. Sleepwalking

11. Homesick

I have chosen to analyse this as not only will I have to create my own album cover later on to this song, but also because I wanted to know if the content of the album cover could determine the song genre, therefore I am going to create a poll to see if people can identify the genre from the layout, photography and typography displayed on the cover.

The colours used on this album cover are neutral and very basic. This is because unlike a stereotypical 'pop' genre, bright colours to capture people's attention aren't necessary, as the photo alone determines this. There is also a 'sepia' tint to it, which makes it look vintage, this style is used a lot with indie/alternative music, hence why when editing I am going to try apply this sepia tint myself to my video and to my own album cover.

Also unlike other genre's which are mainly based on image, the artist is rarely displayed on the front of Indie genre's album covers. In this one, there is a man displayed sitting on the wall; whether this is the artist or not, I am unsure. As the use of editing and techniques used to make the album cover look interesting is more important than the artists identity.

The border around the album is a broken black line which looks like the edge of a Polaroid, not only does this once again impact on the idea of 'old', but it also makes the cover look more interesting rather than a solid black line, this is another quality in which I am going to try incorporate into my music video.
Like the genre of music, I don't think the album cover is directed at either a male or female audience, however I do think it follows the conventions of it being for teenagers/young adults.
This album work is creative, a quality in which is usually associated with a young age as they are experiencing new influences and ideas.
When looking at reviews for this album I came across some information about this specific album and it's influences 'Ghost is a concept album based on the idea of houses retaining stories of things that have happened in them. Each song is a story and some of the stories are told from the house's point of view. Cooper cited an old house he lived in as one of the inspirations for Ghost'. This is interesting as when creating my story board, I decided I wanted to use an old cottage for the main part of my filming, this is because the lyrics for the song 'Welcome Home' spoke out to me and gave me the idea to use this, therefore Cooper has achieved what he intended with his lyrics as his influence gave me my own.

1. Names
2. A Pound Of Flesh
3. Family Portrait
4. Black Eyes
5. Severus And Stone
6. The Moon Is Down
7. Ghost Towns
8. Kin
9. The Dead Waltz
10. Always Gold
11. Mountains

This is also an album cover by 'Radical Face' called 'The Roots'. This doesn't include photography as the previous album, but basic typography to display the artists name and the name of the album. This relates to my previous point as identity is not important, and even though only typography is being used, they have still managed to make this look 'old' and 'vintage' by the use of editing to create a texture. This effect has made it look as though this is an old cover as some of the colour has been rubbed away, the type of text aswell is also necessary as it is aligned by gold decorative borders, this is an old style as nowadays basic black borders are used.

Even though this album cover with the use of typography is effective, when creating mine I think I am going to use photography as it makes the album cover that little bit more eye-catching.

Even though this is by the same artist as the album in which I have analysed above, this album seems to appeal to an older audience. My reason for this is this cover seems to represent an old book, something which would be more of an interest to an older audience - This could suggest that this album is more mature and is trying to aim at an older audience, either this or the cover artist decided a new approach to the style of the work would be more interesting.

Checklist

Male and Female Actors to choose from.

Richard Botham.
Amy Smailes.
Elliot Mann

Props.

Furniture
Balloons
Washing line
Rucksack
Diary
Calender
Car
Fairy lights
Decorations for tree
Sign for boat yard scene (need to make).

Locations.

Brough Boat yard
Fields (North Cave)
Bridge in North Cave
Cottage
In car
Lake in North Cave

Script/Screenplay

The first image of my story board is of a young boy sat on a chair in an old vintage room. I already have the location as my dad owns an old cottage in which he is refurbishing, however for now the vintage wallpaper and old furniture are still there which I can use in my video. I have chosen to use a young person as it will relate more to the audience, however whether I am definitely going to use a male is undecided, as I may find that a female may work better – However both options for this is possible and I have willing candidates to participate in my video. In this shot I am going to place the furniture in a cemi-circle formation so that when I do a pan of the room it will get the whole mise-en-scene in.

The next shot after this is in the same room, and using the same pan and long/mid shot camera angles, just from a behind angle. I am still going to have the young person sitting in the chair in the same place, however all we will see of them is the back of the head (perhaps shoulders) over the back of the chair. This allows the viewers to see the room from all different angles and also emphasizes the fact that the figure is all alone in the room.

After this I am going to use a dissolve to get to my next shot which is of the figure from behind, I am undecided as to whether this will be an over the shoulder shot or just a mid shot from behind, but I am going to place the figure in the doorway holding a suitcase (Which will be shown in previous shots on the floor) and looking around at the room as though giving one last glance.

There is then a jump cut to my next scene, which is a close-up of the figure looking around the room. The use of the close-up not only allows the audience to see emotion but also will follows the figure’s eye movement so we can see that they are surveying the room.

As the instrumental starts at 0:16, there is a jump cut to a motion shot out of a car window. This is going to be of a busy street in daytime. The use of the motion shot out the car makes the audience feel as though we are seeing it from the figures perspective and we presume they are sat in the car watching. This is effective as the scene before is of the boy leaving, therefore I have included aspects of continuity.

In my animatic and story board, I have drawn that the next shot will also be out the car window but of a field/trees. However by reviewing this I realised that this lacks continuity and therefore will continue the use of the ‘street’ but change the shot/setting to have a variety.

The shot after this is of the figure sat in the car, however using a close-up of putting objects into a rucksack, this will include props such as toothbrush, clothes, hairbrush, ect.. This follows the illusion that the figure is packing and moving away.

As the first line starts, the shot changes to an extreme close-up of the figure’s eyes as they are asleep in the car, this will be taken from the right hand side as though the driver is watching them sleep, this shot is relevant as it links in with the first line to the song ‘Sleep don’t visit, so I choke on sun’. When I am editing I am going to attempt to include a lens flare in this shot as I will not be able to determine what the weather will be like on that day in which I’m filming this shot.

I will then use a jump cut to my next shot of a close-up of the figures hands on their laps. I may choose to make the figure hold their hands as though a sign of reassurance or comfort. This is effective as the positioning of the hands can show the emotion or how the figure is feeling, for example, scared, relaxed, ect..

This then goes into a dissolve for the next line ‘And the days blur into one’. Here I am going to create a short animation but getting someone to go through a calendar. I could either film this and speed it up, or using photographs. However, making this go fast plays on the lyrics of the days blurring together. This also demonstrates a range of filming techniques.

As the line says ‘And the backs of my eyes hum with things I’ve never done’, I am going to use an extreme close-up similar to the previous one of the face, however this time of the eyes slowly opening which is once again relevant to the lyrics, this then dissolves into another animation of an empty diary flicking through the pages, this links in with the ‘things ive never done’.

After this I will use another jump cut as the line changes to ‘Sheets are swaying from an old clothesline’. Here I am going to film a long shot of either some clothes or bed sheets on a clothesline, however I need think of a location in which I can do this as if I shoot this in a basic garden it will ruin the ‘vintage’ theme, therefore I need to find a garden in which has long grass and doesn’t include a lot of planted flowers and statues, ect. Or on a building site which gives the extraordinary contrast.

This should then hopefully link in with my next shot of the figure walking through a field of long grass with a bunch of balloons, this will be a long/tracking shot, and I am going to edit the colours so that the balloons don’t look too vibrant.

This then goes to an extreme close-up of the figure’s hand brushing in the grass, this is the same location, however the variety of shots make it look interesting and avoids repetition.

This then cuts to another two shots in the same location, the first a mid-shot of the figure walking away from the camera, and then the second the same shot but a close-up.

As the chorus starts and the instrumental builds up there is a long shot of the figure letting go of the bunch of balloons, which is then followed by a similar shot but with an establishing shot, and then by a close-up of the balloons. This is going to be difficult to get all these different shots using the same set of balloons, therefore I am going to have to get a lot of balloons blown up and do each shot separately, however here I have to think about the cost, and therefore it may be cheaper to buy a helium tank and blow these up myself, therefore I can do it as many times as needed. After the various shots of the balloons, there is a 360 degrees pan around the figure as they look up at the balloons. This is the chorus which I will take the shots of the balloons and use them in the chorus’s afterwards.

There is then a jump cut as the video switches to a different surrounding – For this I am using the boat yard in Brough as the song is referring to this ‘Ships are launching from my chest’ At this point I am going to have a pan of the boat yard, as this captures the surrounding, and shows the audience where the figure is. After this, in the same setting I am going to have a long shot of the figure walking towards one of the boats, and then writing on a piece of paper and sticking it up against it, this then dissolves into an extreme close-up of the sign saying ‘Welcome Home’, this is the name of the song but it also links in with the lyric ‘Some have names but most do not, If you find one, please let me know what piece I’ve lost’. This scene ends with a tilt up from the boats into the sky, and once again in my editing I hope to incorporate a lens flare as the camera tilts up into the sun.

Once this scene has ended, I have another motion shot of people rushing about in the town centre, to do this I am going to set up a camera in the town centre and film for at least 10 minutes, and then cut it down to the right amount of time needed and speed it up. This then dissolves into another motion shot, out the car once again but this time of fields, when editing I am going to change the saturation so that the colours look dull and ‘vintage’.

After this the chorus is once again repeated with the balloon scene, however rather than the 360 pan at the end, there is a tilt up of the figure looking up at the sky, this is similar to the previous chorus however has a slight variety.

At 2:37, there is a soft instrumental, this reminded me of a fairground, therefore before I even finished my storyboarding I went to Hull Fair and got some footage of a carousel as I thought it fitted perfectly with the tone of the music.

The scene after this has finished is an old TV playing back previous footage but backwards. I am going to do this by putting some of my previous footage onto a dvd, and then playing it back on the TV, and I will then film it playing on there. This is effective as when this plays the line is ‘All the nightmares escaped my head’, the fact that the previous footage is being played backwards suggests that the nightmares are re-living the past.

As the line says ‘Bar the door, please don’t let them in’, the same shot of the pan of the furniture in the cottage is replayed, however this time without the figure sat in the shot. And this then cuts to the figure walking through a forest, this varies from long/tracking shots of the figure walking, to close-up/tracking shots of the figure’s feet, as the figure stops, this then goes to a pan of the forest. Here I have found a location In North cave where there is a small bridge which overlooks a stream, surrounded my trees. I’m going to get the figure to stop at this location, and I am going to hang things off the tree’s such as fair lights, ect..

After this, there is a variety of shots such as through fields, the different shots of the figure sat at the lake and repetition of shots in the fields, and then ending the video with the very first shot of the video with a pan of the figure sat in the room.

Anamatic

Storyboard