Filming snapshots 20/12/13

What improvements we can do

We went through our music video together and looked at what we could improve and what we need to do. By doing this, it will help us be more organised when we film next, this is because we can visusally see what we are missing, and help us plan what we can do next. This will then help us to constantly better our music video, and ensure it is up to a professional standard.

Filming snapshots 16/12/13

Editing

We began editing our music video today. Throughout this process we have realised how much more we need to film, and have had inspiration for different ideas that we could use. We discovered that some of of original ideas might not look as good. We are happy with what we currently have, but need much more for it to flow and look professional. The editing process taught us that we might have elaborate ideas but putting them in practice isn't as simple.

As we are getting used to the software and camera, we have discovered that some of our clips didn't match the way they should on the mac. To film a medium long shot we turned the camera on its side. 

When we rotated it, we found it had black edges around it, we decided this would look unprofessional and needed redoing. This is something we have learned to avoid and will find alternate ways to film shots like these.

Changes

After our first lot of filming we started editing to see what we were missing and what needs improving or doing again. We found that our original idea might not fit in with what we had already filmed, and may look abstract if we have a singer, and two characters. Instead of using Grace and Alex, we thought using me and someone would flow better and look better on screen.  For one of our shoots we used my boyfriend Charlie, as this we hope it will look like there is chemistry between us. 

 

 

Filming snapshots 4/12/13

This is our second session of filming
 

Filming schedule and ideas 2

We put our ideas in form of  Prezi so we was organised with what we was planning on doing for our second video shoot. We found it beneficial to have a schedule last time, as we managed to get a lot done. Therefore we drafted another to help us again with our second set of filming.

First photo shoot - Possible images

These are some of the possible photos that will be used for my digipak and website. As I am involved in the video as the main singer, I am unable to take the photographs myself for these, as I am in them., therefore, for these particular shots I am using photos that Grace and Charlee have taken. Although we may be sharing photos, the lay-outs and ideas for our websites and digipaks are completely our own. We took them whilst filming some of our content for the music video, so I was wearing similar outfits and had similar makeup. This will therefore make the connection between the video and the promotion of the video in the digipak and on the website.
As we continue filming, I hope to get more images in different outfits, to have more of a variety.

Image 1:
I like this image, as it gives off a sense of mystery, but also vulnerability as I am looking away from the camera. However, because there is no direct gaze, I feel it cannot connect to the audience or grab their attention.

Image 2: This isn't an image I will use in my digipak as my back is to the camera. This may be seen as treating the audience as an enigma, whereas the aim is to make them feel included and as if they can relate and form a relationship with the artist.

 

Image 3: Although this is a natural picture, as I am laughing, it doesn't fit the mood of the song we have chosen, which reflects the mood of the album.

Image 4&5: I like this photo as starting straight into the camera, also my body is turned inwards to face the audience. In this pose I am not in a closed position, implying I am open to the audience, and allowing them to see my vulnerability as I'm not protected. I feel this links with the theme of the song, video and essentially the album.

 

 

Images 6&7: I also like these two as they are closer shots, I use direct gaze and a subtle smile, which is directed at the audience.

 

 

 Images 8&9: These are medium shots and are from a standing pose. I don't like these as much, as I feel my facial expressions look as if I'm uninterested.

 

 

Evidence of blogging

Here is a short clip of me using the macbook when blogging. It shows I am getting used to the equipment, as this is important. It also gives an idea of how much time I spend doing my blog, and shows me dicussing what I need and looking back on old posts to improve.

Lily Allen analysis - Research

Here is a brief video of research into Lily Allen's Smile video.

She is of a similar genre to Ellie Goulding, and the conventions will be similar to the ones we will need in our music video. When researching into Lily Allen, we learned she often uses a sarcastic, realistic approach in her songs and videos. She often follows a narrative and is always involved within it. This was significant in our research because it implies that she is unique and not one of the same, which is what we feel is key in the indie pop genre, therefore this is something that we should use to influence our video. By researching into other music videos, it helps us trigger ideas and teaches us what we should look for when trying to appeal to our audience, this is due to the readings we are trying to present.

Research - Kate Nash Analysis

Kate Nash - Foundations

Here is a link to the website we used to make our mind map analysis on Kate Nash's music video Foundations. As a group we chose to analyse this video, as it is in the same genre as the song and artist we chose. By doing this, we found aspects such as a running narrative throughout the video is a common feature in Female indie pop artists, therefore we will use this in ours. We learned a lot about locations and settings by analysing videos, as they are mainly used to become relatable to the audience. I found this research helpful in triggering ideas and aspects we could use in our music video.

Photo's from Video Shoot 1.

Our camera takes snapshots when filming our scenes. By doing this it allows us to gain real time images of the video. Some of these may be used on my website or digipak. I might use a few as a 'Gallery' for the 'Behind the scenes' shots of filming to video. Due to the genre of music I feel this would be a good drop down or page for a website, as it will interest the audience. I think the images look natural and the audience will be able to form a personal relationship with the artist. They are useful as they're unposed and natural.

Filming schedule and ideas 1

These were some of the ideas we discussed for our first video shoot. This is used to help us, as we do not want to waste time unsure of what we wanted to film. We are hoping to get most of it done in our first session, as we will then have more time to focus on our post-production and get a clear idea of what we are missing, to then go back and refilm parts. We will ensure that we use filming schedules in every session of filming we do.

I used Lucid chart to present some of the main ideas.

Planning - Storyboard

We began developing our storyboard, as we have lots of ideas we are taking our time in planning it scene by scene. We began virtually entering our storyboard, however, we also have it written on paper. By using Pixton; although it is a comic strip, it makes it more life like and closer to the video. By using this site we were able to be creative, by choosing different features and positions and locations and get to know and understand a new software. As it took a lot of our time to create this online, we chose to only show the first few scenes, as we need to make sure we use our time more wisely. Planning a storyboard benefits us in our coursework, as it means we have a clear strcuture and idea on what we want our final production to look like. We have a guideline to follow rather than wasting time not knowng what we are aiming to achieve.

Using the equipment

Here is a few photos of me using the MacBook.

In this photo I was working on the finishing touches of the music video pitch. This was where we could experiment with using and getting to know the iMovie software. I feel more comfortable with the software, which will benefit me when editing our final music video. I'm glad we got to use the mac as a it gave me a chance to understand what features we have, how to trim clips and fit things together, which is something I have little experience in.

In this video I was working on the storyboard on The Pixton website. We got to create our own characters and scenes which match the ideas we have for our music video. I enjoyed using a new site, as I got to learn new techniques and discover a different form of media to use. It taught me how to express my creative ideas and present them in a different way than just writing them down.

Pitch

Here is a link to our Music Video pitch, by putting this all together it allowed us to structure and plan our work and how we will go about making our music video. This was beneficial because we was able to organise our ideas, and have them to refer back to, as in some cases we would forget what we wanted to portray. However, we do understand that we may sway away from our orginal ideas.

Research - anaylsing music videos

 

These are some of the questions we have to considered when researching other music videos.

By using these questions in our research it benefits us as it allows us to gain a deeper insight into similar music products, this will help us with making our narrative clearer and understand the conventions needed for our music video.

 

Planning - Video ideas

In today's lesson, we have a clear decision on which song we have chosen

'Ellie Goulding - Everytime you go' 

We like this song because when listening to it, we felt the lyrics portaryed a clear narrative and storyline. This benefits us, as it gives us a variety of ideas that we could use in our video, which means we will have a structure when we go to film.

 this is the song we chose.

Planning - Narrowing down songs

We decided to listen to the songs we previously picked out and chose a few and give them pros and cons, until we reached our final decision

Planning - Discussion of song choices

Here is a discussion we had when choosing song choices

This shows our ideas and variety of song choices we had and our elimination process.
From this we were able to do the pros and cons of each song and eventually narrow it down to our final song choice.

Planning - Possible song choices

This was our final mind map, there is a variety of different songs from different artists on there.

We sat and went through different CDs and went on YouTube to listen to different songs. We found which songs already have videos, and went along a similar theme of female artists but also explored some male as well. Exploring different song choices beneifts us, as it means we can chose the one most suited to our ideas.

Planning - Song choices

We started looking at songs today, we gathered a couple of CDs and looked online, this was just a general idea of what sort of music we would be interested in perusing with our music video. By doing this we are allowing ourselves to have lot of options, as we want to be open minded before we make a final decision.

 

Lip Sync Practice

Lip Syncing is an important part of music videos, so we was asked to do a practice video using a song of our choice. We chose Nelly and Kelly Dilemma, we found this was harder to lip sync as it is a fast rapping song, therefore we know what to avoid in our real production. This task is beneficial to our real music production, as it shows the difficulty and the precision needed when syncing to a song. Lip-sycning is an important aspect of music videos, so by having practice, we have learned how to do it in our final coursework piece.

Evaluation of Preliminary Task

Here is a video evaluation of our preliminary task. Evaluating our work is always beneficial as by going back and analysing this, we was able to see a variety of changes and improvements that could be made. We understand what areas we need to avoid and what we need to focus more on. This will help us in the final music video, as it allowed us to be critical of our own work.

Preliminary Task

We was asked to make a practice video, so we had a chance to get an idea of how our coursework will be this year. It gave us a chance to use the software and get to know what features it had. Our preliminary video will act as a comparison to our real thing, as it shows where was go wrong and what we can do better. This task will benefit us when doing our real music video, as it acts as a clear guideline of what went wrong and what we can include and remember. It gave us the opportunity to practice, and not go in blind, meaning our final video should be of a better standard. It will act as a way of showing how much we will progess.

We chose Hot and Cold by Katy Perry as it is a fun upbeat video, and we had lots of ideas for it