Filming Test BB2

This is our second bathbomb test which Imogen filmed, after reviewing the footage we have decided that it would be best to film the bathbomb in a smaller container so it is more pigmented. Also to have a tripod to get steady and non-shaky footage. When editing I will also turn the saturation up higher to colour with the rest of the video.

Filming Test BB1

Here is the first video in the tests for our bathbombs shots, Imogen filmed this, we tested the saturation of the video and the different focuses of the footage. We saw which shots look better and how to edit them to get the best looking footage out of them. 

By doing this we now understand that we need to focus on points when re-filming the footage and it gives us footage to fall back on if we aren't happy with later bathbomb footage.

Macklemore - Drug Dealer ft. Ariana Deboo

Macklemore's song 'Drug Dealer' is incredibly emotive as he sings about not being able to quit and the dealer's who make him addicted. Jason Koenig is the director, writer and the director of photography for this video. Macklemore's video shows emotion, with dark harrowing shots of the artist sitting in a shower and in a dark room trying to survive going 'cold turkey' against these drugs. The featuring singer on this track is Ariana Deboo, the audience sees her slowly drowning in the pills around her with extreme close-ups on her lips and face. 

The video opens with a close-up on Macklemore sitting in a shower, however the audience does not know this yet because of the tight frame and shadows hiding aspects of the scene. This creates enigmas so the audience pays closer attention to the footage. The footage is also unsteady because it is a handheld shot, this is purposefully done since the camera follows the timings of the singer's breathing causing the audience to become more involved in the scene.

The shot then matches off action swiftly to show him sitting in a shower with steam surrounding him, this answers the enigma of the audience not knowing where he is. I really like the steam surrounding him since it gives the shot a more intimate atmosphere.

The shot then changes again to another handheld close-up of a dark room where Macklemore begins to lip sync to the lyrics, the dark background of the shot with low key lighting causes his face to only be in focus - bringing attention to the sweat upon his nose and forehead. Also the audience focuses more intently on the lyrics, bringing more meaning them. 

The audience then sees Ariana Deboo for the first time in a close-up shot where she is left centre frame, the editor has used a similar effect to the previous shot with Macklemore - having half of the frame blurred. By doing this Koenig has caused the viewer to imagine themselves going 'cold turkey' and as a consequence of this having blurred vision. White and red pills are slowly filling the shot with Deboo becoming more surrounded by them, this shows how pills and drugs sometimes swallow a person whole and they can't get out.

Half way through the chorus the shot changes to a bird's eye view of Macklemore lying on a mattress, the mise-en-scene in this shot is very important as it shows the quality of life the artist's character is living in. There is a bare mattress which is quite clear to the viewer giving them the idea that the character has a lower class life with not much income for him to afford a bed and sheets. The walls are also dirty showing that he lives in a run down accommodation, because of the fact that he is singing about drug addicts the audience assumes that he may be living in a drug den or he has sold everything to pay for these drugs. In the left side of the shot the viewer can see an ash tray filled with cigarette butts, this causes us to believe that the character does not care about keeping his home clean. On the right side of the frame there is a silver bowl which we presume is for sick because as a side effect of going 'cold turkey' you vomit. Overall this shot provides the audience with information on the characters life and their personality. 

After this Deboo is shown again in low key lighting in a mid shot, the warm but dark lighting gives the ambience of being by a fire and with the light glare by her head causing me to first thing of it as a feather and therefore feeling like the scene reflects a native american vibe however I do not think that is the intended purpose of the shot. 

I really enjoy the aesthetics of this shot with an extreme close up of her lip syncing to the lyrics, the shadows at the top of this shot causes the audience to fully focus on her lips.

We see the previous shot before but from a different angle where we see the depth of the pills, this is also quite psychedelic because the camera has a transparent divide between the pills and the camera. The blurred effect is again used here adding to the psychedelic effect.

This shot is a mid shot with low key lighting, the aesthetics of the footage are really nice with what seems to be sunlight hitting upon the background of the shot, this causes the smoke from the cigarette to become easily visible and the audience become entranced as a dances away from Macklemore. 

The shot then switches back to Deboo now near completely covered by pills and as the song draws to an end we see her become swallowed by them. This shows the more negative ending of becoming a drug addict as she is overpowered by them.

However at the end of the video we see Macklemore's character at an 'AA' meeting where he has overcome his addiction, the room has high key lighting - this is contrasting to the previous shots which had heavy shadows in them. The lighting in the scene suggests that this is a calm and peaceful atmosphere. This shows that his character has 'learnt his lesson' which provides the audience with a happy outlook on life at the end of the video because 'all is well' with his life.

I think that this video is very good with an expertise shown in keeping the audience engaged even though there is no dramatic storyline running through it, because the beauty of the shots and the interesting editing effects the audience become entranced by it and they fully listen to the lyrics - therefore bringing more meaning to the piece.

Risk Assessment - Sidmouth

To complete a risk assessment is important because it highlights the dangers and potential hazards that we may face during filming. To do this I am creating a table to view the risks easier so we can prevent them.

Music Video - Location Photos

We have several locations in our music video for the different scenes:

Canaan Park, Ottery St. Mary:

It's a local park, we plan to film some walking shots in this location.

Sidmouth Beach:

We are just filming the sea at this location so the beach is the most important part of this location.

Footpath, Tipton St. John:

Choice of Actors

For our actors we have chosen to only feature two, one girl and one boy - to show a relationship. We decided this because during the song they can lip sync to the music. We are also using the boy as the singer of the band, with two other band members.

NARRATIVE CHARACTERS

FEMALE CHARACTER
For the girl we are using Ingrid McNeilage, she is a good friend of ours and is happy to be filmed. Also because we go to the same school she will be assessable to film whenever we want.

MALE CHARACTER & FRONTMAN

The frontman of the band and also the main actor in the music video, is Isaac Penney. He is a good friend also and is happy to be filmed. He is also part of our sixth form Media Studies class so we can discuss what scenes we need of him and his accessibility during class.

BAND

LEAD GUITARIST

Jack Simmons is also in our media studies class, so we can discuss the shots and dates where we need to film. He has also learnt the chorus on the guitar so we can film close up shots of him playing and time it with the music.

RHYTHM GUITARIST

The rhythm guitarist will be played by our friend Thomas Godfrey, he has featured in our past projects as the main star however this time he will take on a minor role. The reason why we use him is because he is very happy to be on camera and lives close by so he is very assessable if we need to film on short notice.

All our of actors fit the conventions of an indie-pop music video because they are all the same age and will be wearing indie-pop inspired clothing.

Hey Violet - Guys My Age

This music video was uploaded two days ago, and as I was searching today I found it. I love the colour and lighting scheme of the video, I've heard of the band before: 'Hey Violet' however I've never watched their videos - only listened to the audio. However I hadn't heard of their song 'Guys My Age', I enjoyed the song as well as the video however the video is simply incredible for the lighting aspect.

Here are a few screenshots of the music video:

The footage has a filter over it to replicate dust and marks on actual physical film, I like this idea and may use it in our own video for the beginning and end of it because it gives a weathered look to the footage.

They have also included light flares over the footage whilst changing the colours of the lighting scheme. I also like how the have positioned the singer over centre and have out of focus behind her.

They also have many band shots showing them playing the instruments and singing along. They have set it in front of a dinner and followed the lighting scheme of pinks, purples and blues. 

The footage also showcases shots of the band members playing their instruments, we can include similar shots to this in our own video. 

The footage of the whole band vary in shots and length of them, this is nice because it gives some variation to the video.

The video also includes some cut away footage, not showing a particular scene but giving the viewer different shots to become interested by.

The singer also looks in the mirror during the video, this is something we plan our actress to do in our video we can follow a similar look with her hair being out of focus in a deep shot. 

She also writes on the mirror we could edit our original plan to follow the idea and film it in an almost psychotic way with lots of jump cuts and distortion.

The footage shows all of the band members we can also use this idea.

I like the close up on the members with only their hands or faces showing it creates a more intimate feel to the video.

Overall I feel that this video was very well executed with the lip syncing and playing instruments on point, and that the lighting scheme has given me more ideas about our own lighting.

By watching this video I feel that I know more about how we are going film our band scenes and how we are going to light our sets, this has helped because before we were going to fix the camera in one position and not move it for the band shots apart from close ups. I feel inspired and influenced by this video.

Here is the full video: 

Animatic for our Music Video

Here is the animatic for our media product, by producing this it has caused me to realise that we needed to change our storyboard so that there are no gaps and it is a flowing piece. It has also helped me to gain back my editing skills because I hadn't used Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 in a while. Because of this when we create our actual media piece it will be easier because we know what shots need to go where and can help us plan our shots.

Sadly our video was blocked by YouTube because of copyright reasons, for the time being I have uploaded the animatic without the audio. 

Creating the Animatic

I created the animatic whilst Imogen edited the audience feedback, we used the shots off our storyboard to create the animatic, as you can see below.

This screenshot is from 19/10/16

I included the crackle of the vinyl which we want in our final product so we can determine how loud and how long the duration of the sound effect should be.

This screenshot is from 20/10/16

However I found that whilst creating the animatic that it was extremely difficult to keep to our original thoughts and ideas because we didn't think about the timing of the lyrics so much and how we would edit onto the beat whilst keeping the audience entertained. Because of this I have had to edit our original idea and place filler shots in certain areas where the shots don't complete the time frame until a certain lyric.

In this screenshot, you can see that I have put an overlay
over the footage so that it gradually darkens

Also I have had to cut out shots because of the time constraints between each verse and chorus. As well as this I have realised that we need more shots to actually complete the product because I have complete the animatic with the shots from the storyboard and it only lasted for two and a half minutes out of a four minute song. Me and Imogen need to go back to our storyboard and consider more shots to include in our piece so it contains a thicker storyline.


Creating an animatic has helped us to see which areas need improvement in and how to address them, so for example - we need more footage so to combat this problem we will brainstorm more ideas and possibly create a stronger storyline between the actors.

The Weeknd - False Alarm

Recently I have been searching on Youtube on their 'Trending Music' page finding music videos which can inspire me further, whilst searching I have found several videos which I really enjoy and are modern - they may not directly influence our media product, however I will gain more background knowledge on music videos and will know what is popular currently.

Whilst searching I found a video by The Weeknd which already had gained millions of views. After watching I found that I really enjoyed the music video called 'False Alarm', it was emotive and intriguing and it looks incredible. I really enjoyed how the guns shots and the beat match, and the first person narrative. The lighting scheme was also great which is surprising because I believe they filmed the video in only a few shots because the footage is all continuous except from the end.

Here are some screenshots of the video:

This is the opening shot, the viewer doesn't first realise that the footage is being filmed in first person narrative so we think that this is just an establishing shot, which sets the scene of a bank robbery.

It is only when the actor begins to move that we realise it is first person, as they move around we see more of the set and the action that it going on. 

I really like the colour scheme for this section of footage, it has an green/yellow glow that is cast over the set. 

The location then changes to a getaway van, during this the video reminds me of a video game one like: GTA 5 or Pay Day 2.

The lighting scheme is really incredible throughout the whole piece, the light glares and flares really put a cinematic feel to it.

It is only at the end when we find out the identity of the robber, which is the actual singer - it's a nice a twist to the end of the video.

By watching this video it has inspired me for our video and for future projects, the premise of a music video which looks more like an opening for film or a trailer for a video game is incredible especially the amount of popularity it has gained in such a small time.

The full video down below:

My Target Audience

It is important to profile our target audience because it can tell us what they like and whether or not they would approve our work, if not we need to change it drastically because our target audience in the real world would be our main source of income.

This is a profile of the stereotypical target audience member:

Name: Emily Dougal
Age: 17

Studying:
English Literature
Photography
Sociology

Likes: 
Music (Prefers R&B, Rock and Pop)
Watching films (Romantic comedies and drama but also likes watching popular action and horror movies)
Reading (Romance novels and fiction)
Playing Netball & Badminton
Socializing with friends

Reaction to our Pitch:
She liked the pitch and was excited to see the video come together, she can also be seen in my post "Feedback from Audience" posted on 15/09/16.


It is important to know your target audience because you can refer back to them in the future and get their opinion on your work.

Feedback from Audience

We asked our target audience questions relating to the genre of music we are filming our media product for. Through doing this it has outlines key features we need to include in the piece, and what our target audience wants from a music video. 

Overall they said like the genre of indie-pop, and some even said that although they don't like the genre of indie-pop they would watch a music video of the same genre if it was of high quality. This is qualitative research where we gain individual feedback and analyse their responses individually. 

By gaining this qualitative data, we can edit our plans for the video so that it appeals to a wider audience.

English and Media Centre

For help with our music video, I went onto the English and Media Centre to find inspiration and tips from professionals about how to create a piece of work that is visually appealing and how we need to plan our project. Through the website I found the article "Music Video - Ten Tips" and considering that we are producing a music video for our media product, it will really help.

On the website it stated several steps:

Step 1: Choose a track
Step 2: Write a treatment
Step 3: Plan for everything
Step 4: Set up a blog
Step 5: Know your equipment
Step 6: The shoot
Step 7: Capture your footage
Step 8: The edit
Step 9: Screening
Step 10: Analysis

These steps will help us to plan our media product and keep us on track since the page is very detailed and helpful.

The link to the English and Media Centre is: https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/media-magazine/articles/16151

Footage locations

Me and Imogen have discussed locations for our music video, from looking at our brainstorm that surround the lyrics we have decided to base it by the coast, include shots that are staged and planned, as well as possibly including animals, fish or water (taking inspiration from Daniela Andrade's music video) so we need to find several locations where we can film, in case something unexpected happens.

Footage locations, for coastal shots:

• Sidmouth, Devon - very close by and easy to access however is very popular for tourists so gaining footage that only includes our actors may be a struggle
• Beer Beach, Devon - includes boats so we could get some nice shots there however if we don't boats in our footage it will be difficult
• Branscombe Beach, Devon - very quite there and has a grassy area so we could film there if needed.

Footage locations, for animals or fish:

• National Marine Aquarium - has variety of fish which we can film, however is very popular so it will be difficult filming and also we would need to film through glass which may make our footage lesser quality compare to other shots.
• Buckfast Butterflies & Dartmoor Otter Sanctuary - we would be filming the butterflies since otters would not follow the codes and conventions of an indie pop video, the butterflies are kept in an enclosure - this would be visually stunning if we included shots of them. 

Staged shots:

• The King's School - at our school there is a dark room where we can use different styles of lighting and is very accessible, however for the mirror scenes it is set in a bedroom so the dark room wouldn't fit that ideal.
• At our homes - since we need a bedroom we could use one of ours for it, there we have easy access to props and costumes.

Daniela Andrade's Visual EP

For about 3 months now I have been subscribed to Daniela Andrade on YouTube, I originally found her through the music streaming site, Spotify, on a playlist. Recently she has uploaded the music videos for her visual EP; Shore, it has 4 chapters with the second being my favourite because of the lighting scheme of blue and the shadows.

The opening shot is beautiful, I really like the font of the title because the simplicity of it - the sunrise in the background also really styles the footage giving normally a boring/common image a new look, which is amazing. This shot also begins to set the video, the houses in the foreground are white with colourful sides to them, this is a style that isn't typically used in the UK or USA, it is more common in latin countries - so the audience can depict from this that it is a foreign country possibly Mexico or Spain. 

I also really like the warm filter on the footage which again gives the audience the impression that the country where they have filmed this is warm, supporting my earlier thought of it being a latin country which are warm.

During the editing process I will turn the temperature of the footage up to give the impression that the video has been shot in summer.

The shot then pans around to show the protagonist walking through the shot. I really like the colour scheme of the shot with pinks, purples and blues being the main colours. The shot is also hand-held which is shown by the shakes of the camera however the crew have a steady-cam to combat this.

The shot then pans round again following the actress and shows a establishing shot to gather that she is somewhere foreign like I previously thought.

It then quickly changes to a follow shot of the actress again, this is hand-held also with a steady cam is this obvious due to not having tracking rails in the shot. I also really like the blue walls, which the editor has made more saturated so it is more vibrant and striking.

The next important shot is a close up of her face as she is walking, this again is a hand-held steady-cam follow shot. This shot is important because the audience can view the actresses emotions, we will include similar shots within our media product also.

I really enjoy this shot, the shadows and contrasts between the houses is very appealing to the eye, I hope to have similar visually appealing shots in our media product.

In this long shot we see the protagonist walking through the shot, this is another camera angle which we could use easily during the filming process

Another visually appealing shot. In which we could use something similar.

I really like the video's transitions where the directors have the protagonist falling to the side and then rising back up in another setting.

We can use similar shots of the protagonists in our video walking across a beach.

This is a establishing shot which is strikingly attractive, the flowing shots melt into each other as we see the actress walking towards a stream.

Within our product we could include artistic and abstract shots of trees. alike Daniela Andrade's video.

By being based by the sea I feel that it would be detrimental to not include shots of the sea because it is such a big aspect of our lives.

I like the ripples shown in the footage and I think we could use similar shots in our own product.

The previous stills are extremely attractive with their colour scheme and the layout of the footage, I think that I could incorporate the colour scheme of the desert setting into our footage because it would compliment the footage of the beach and sea.

The match on action of her mouth, is a technique that we will include in our product for when the band is lip-syncing - which is a typical convention for indie pop music videos.

I like the shadow effects because they are enigmas when you first see the image however your eye recognizes the shapes solving the enigma. Enigmas are important to products because it causes the viewer to carry on watching.

I feel we could use a similar lighting scheme in our product with a dark scene and red lighting highlighting certain parts of the actors face or objects in the shot.

I love this colour scheme used in these two shots, I feel that they're are so visually appealing to the viewer that they can't help but be intrigued.

The use of shadows within this video is key, the striking contrasts between the well lit shots and the dark shadows causes the eye to focus on the two figures.

I like the ending shot of this how the footage slowly zooms out to give a view of the scenery, therefore anchoring the story and shot.