Production Update

Last week we started filming for our production. We decided to choose one of the locations I discussed previously which was the Ware Priory.  We have managed to use a kaleidoscope case and film experimenting with the different effects the case can create.We filmed the memory scenes between Ellie & Max (the first of many) the scene included the two romantically sitting by the river talking. So far we have taken the footage and added a number of light leaks to create similar styles of cinematography as compared to Lana Del Rey's National Anthem. However after looking at the quality of these shots we are going to reshoot them on a camera with HD recording capability as the quality of the footage isn't very good.

Once again the completion date was delayed, to make up for lost time we began to edit straight away to develop our editing skills to give the music video a high presentation.

Characters

Ellie - Lead Roll

Ellie has taken on the roll to act in our production.. We thought it was better to have someone within the group to act as it is much more reliable and it is easier to set dates to film. We also think her appearence and fashion sense is very simniliar to the character we was hoping to create. Our music video will be all about her and her memories.

Max - Supporting Role

 

 

Max is a student in our media class who we asked to act in our music video. He is going to feature in mainly the memories part of the music video. We didnt't choose to make him a main character as he is doing his own production so we understand that he can't film most of the times we would want to.

 



Location

Before we start to film for our production of our music video we had to decide on what location we would film. Our group talked about what places we would film and we came up with a range of locations. Having a vary of locations keeps our music video interesting and would appeal to the videos I looked at previously. In them videos they have a various of locations with the singers in different outfits. Our locations we want to film in are:

• Maldon Beach
• Field/country places
• Drame studio in Chauncy School
• Ware Priory
• Fanshawe Swimming Pool
 

My group and I feel these are good locations to show memories and be able to show our own style through the camera work as well as the editing. We also have decided to go through with the idea of filming under water shots and have got permission to film in Fanshaw swimming pool. Our date to film under water shots is the 3rd October.

 

 

Costuming

For the costuming of our characters, we plan to base the style of Ellie in the music video around Lana Del Rey. This is because we have taken influences from her music videos and her image as a person over all. We are going to continue the same style and follow it through the production of our music video so that It links with our own style of filming and editing. We plan to have similar jewellery and casual wear, as Ellie’s character within our music video isn’t flashy or over the top. Most of Lana Del Rey's music videos have a naturalistic feel with an urban social realist atmosphere as seen in Ride; we plan to re-create these styles with the use of costume throughout out music video. As the narrative of our video is about a normal teenage girl, we don't want to have clothes that will make her look 'special' similar to what is don't in We Found love - Rihanna.
Most of the clothes Ellie will wear will be her own clothes, as we have noticed Ellie has a similar style to Lana Del Rey and Rihanna. As we want Ellie to have an ordinary look to make it relatable to our target audience she will be wearing her own clothes.

 

Here you can see the actual complete date was delayed by 6 days due to more contemplation over what style we wanted Ellie to have to allow her to have a similar style to the genre of music.

Production Timetable

This is our production timetable, it includes the dates of when we plan to film and edit. We have also included columns with added details to remind us later on what we filmed/edited and when it was completed of if it needs to be completed.

Shot List

• Fade from black
• Medium long shot of waves crashing onto rocks
• Dissolve to shot of Ellie walking bare footed along wet sand
• Dissolve to extreme close up of hair in wind
• Dissolve to over the shoulder shot of Ellie looking out to sea
• Music stars
• Close up of water
• Close up of water dripping into water
•  Close up shot of Ellie jumping into water
• Medium close up shot of Ellie underwater
• Extreme close up of Ellie’s feet swimming underwater
• Extreme close up of Ellie’s hands underwater creating bubbles
• Extreme close up of bubbles
• Close up shot of Ellie and hair underwater
• Medium close up of Ellie in studio lip synching
• Shots vary from above shot (medium close up, close up different angles)
• Fade to white, Ellie and Max are seen running through a field with light leaks
•  Medium close up Ellie and max are seen from behind sitting in a field
•  Fade to white
•  Kaleidoscope effect medium close up of Ellie with studio lights
• Fade to white home footage of Ellie as a child with light leaks
• Ellie and max seen walking hand in hand by river with light leaks
• Fade to white Ellie is lip synching in drama studio
•  Close up of Ellie underwater overlaid with shots of Ellie lip synching
• Fade to white Ellie catching Max doing drugs on toilet seat light leaks
•  Ellie and max seen arguing light leaks
• Ellie seen storming off light leaks
•  Ellie seen lip synching with kaleidoscope
• Ellie seen underwater 30.  Fade to black

 Here you can see the actual complete date was delayed by 6 days due to more contemplation over what style we wanted Ellie to have to allow her to have a similar style to the genre of music.

Music Video Research

The three music videos I will be looking at are: Rihanna - We Found Love, Lana Del Ray - Blue Jeans and Kanye West - All Of The Lights.

Rihanna - We Found Love

The music video was directed by Melina Matsoukas. It shows a complicated love story between a couple who are deeply in love but at the same time they always argue. The techniques in this video are what inspired me for my own ideas of what we could to for our own music video. All of the group liked the video, especially the scene with the projector shining over her. As you can see it in one of the photo's above. I like the lighting in the video as well because sometimes it's using natural lighting from outside making it bright and light and other times its using quite dark lighting. This juxtaposition also links with the story line as the couple are always up and down. I like the idea of using the same lighting techniques to make sure we create our own style to our music video.

Lana Del Ray - Blue Jeans

This music video was released in 2012 was to promote her new album 'The paradise Edition'. This song was released before the album to create awareness. The video was directed by Woolkid, who is a successful director. I like the style of this video as it's similar to what I pictured my music video to look like. Although this video and Rihanna's video are very different, I like both of the styles of these. The shots from this video are the most inspiring as there are under water shots, which myself and my group are going to do under water shots. Woolkid has a very distinct style with his work as you can see in this video it looks very much like Film Noir style, especially with the lighting and the chiaroscuro. The beginning of the video is my favorite part as the way Woolkid as filmed and edited looks really unique and interesting which is what I want to achieve. 

Kanye West - All Of The Lights

This music video is different in it's own way from all the others as the video is mainly about the hidden meanings of the song and how the music video is relating to this. The director of this music video is Hype Williams. I really like the style of this music video as it's all about bright, bold, eye catching colors. I also like the way he also included the lyrics to the music video, making it unique as not many directors did this. The reason why I chose to this music video as well was because i wanted three music videos which inspired me in all different ways to make sure mine and my groups music video will be the best to our ability as we are looking and researching things to help us with our ideas.

Animatic & Storyboard

Here is our groups animatic to At Home - Crystal Fighters. It includes our story board plan to our idea for our music video. It shows the effects we are hoping to achieve as well as transitions. We have also included a short opening scene which won't have the song of our choice playing in the background as we will have recorded our own sound effects at the beach. We are also going to the beach for a school trip which links in with what we want to do in our music video which will give us the opportunity to take the shots we need and go ahead and start with the project already. As you can see my group and I have included shots such as:waves, sea gulls, the sand ect. 

Here is our storyboard:

Practical Planning

For our A2 coursework we had the choice to do several projects: Music video, A movie trailer or a documentary. My group who includes: Myself, Billy Turner and Ellie Mcgregor-Davis. We all decided to do a music video as we all did the previous task at Knebworth house so we learnt from our mistake and as I previously worked with Ellie on that task we know where we went wrong within that task previously. We made a PowerPoint to show all our ideas into one, which means we wont forget good ideas we have come up with. This slideshow shows our music choices, cinematography, music video directors and planned shots. 

After we completed the slide show, we had to show it to the class to get feed back on our ideas to make sure it was achievable and to see if other opinions to make this idea better. The class said they liked the choice of songs as they were different which is what we was hoping to come across. Our teacher mentioned she liked the fact we were focusing on stylistic features as no other groups are really focusing on that. However, we did receive some criticism such as our idea on the under water shots we were planning to do as they thought it would be quite risky due to restriction. However, we have spoken to our teacher and to 'Fanshawe' a near by leisure center who have given us permission to record under water shots.

Here is our presentation:

Target Audience

To be able to fully understanding my target audience for our media product, I have created a target audience mood board. It is built from images of items and things I believe my target audience would also be fans of. I have included alternative music choices of a similar genre to the song of our music video, I have also include the logos of music festivals that Crystal Fighters would most likely play at, as well as this, to think of a more personal denotation of my demographic I have included personal items such as brands, shops, phones, computers and fashion styles.

Audience Demographics

The Music Video I will be creating will have a slight rock genre edge. With the styles I have previously introduced into what I want to include will have that genre feel. To be able to create a media product i must be able to understand the audience demographic and know who I am targeting my product at. Therefore I have created a target audience for my media product, below is my concluding demographic.

Genre
The music video myself and my group will be creating will be of the indie, alternative rock genre. This is a genre with a niche target audience, but proves popular amongst the fans and followers of this music. The popularity of this niche music genre is something I believe will prove successful when creating a media product. The song At Home is by Crystal Fighters, Crystal Fighters are a British alternative dance band, formed in London, United Kingdom in 2007.

Social Class  
The social class of my demographic is white British skilled working/lower middle class/in education. On the demographic scale this would be classed asC1/C2. it would not be classed as E as there is only a small collection of people in that criteria. This is due to the amount of merchandise and other commercial products the band could possibly market making it more likely for the target audience to purchase their merchandise. The ethnicity of the genre of music is also stereotypically white British.

Gender 
The gender of my target audience will not be specified as there is no specific stereotypical tastes of alternative rock. By classifying a gender on this already niche target audience it will make it hard to gain collectors {people who are fans and collect merchandise of the bands}. By having no specified target gender it allows both female collectors and male collectors to become fans of the band and our media product.

Age
The targeted age of my demographic would be estimated at 14-25 a young adult/teenager. Someone who has the time to find alternative music through the use of social media such as Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube etc. the music is also satisfied at this age groups taste due to the involvement in many music festivals around the country such as Reading, Glastonbury, Isle
of White etc. which target the same demographic as out media product.

Knebworth Music Video

For preparation for next year, my class went to Knebworth house in order for us to create a music video. We were allowed to choose our own groups which meant we could include a various of skills to create a project to the best of our ability. In my group there was Myself, Dan Greenall, Ellie Mcgregor and Beth Gray. 

The first preparation we did was in class a few days before the trip and this was to choose a song we would use for our music video. We all decided on a group decision was the song 'Heat wave' by Wiley. This was a current summer song in the charts which linked with the scenery as it was surrounded by plants and outdoor objects. Once we had chosen the song we decided on what rolls we were going to do individually and as a group. Myself, Ellie and Dan were going to be in the music video while Beth recorded with the video camera. We all put in our own ideas such as framing shots, Editing styles and costuming. Ellie had her own camera which was much more technically better which meant our shots would be a better quality. 

We were only allowed an hour at Knebworth house which meant that timing was extremely important in order to get everything we needed to finish this project. I feel that the shots we included show a good example of team work and I feel the lip sinking we did was also good quality. However, some of the shots are quite repeptitive, which is the only negative thing I feel there is about our project. But, saying this, when we looked at other music videos they tend to repeat shots to link with how they repeat the chorus of the song.

Start of A2!