• Guildford in various places
(Possibly near flower market in Guildford)
- Outside the boiler room (a gig venue in Guilford)
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
Locations
• Studio – blue/ green screen and set
• Guildford in various places
(Possibly near flower market in Guildford)
• Guildford in various places
(Possibly near flower market in Guildford)
Costume and Make up
• Studio – Green screen (In puddle) and performance in relaxed yet fashionable clothing eg. Jackets/blazer/ Jumpers, black skinny jeans, men's shoes or plimsolls (no trainers) This is so that they look similar to there target audience, this is because they are a new band and need to be easily recognisable what genre they are in. • Guildford – Casual tops (shows individuality), black skinny jeans, men's shoes or plimsoles (no trainers)
Props List
• Keyboard
• Bass
• Guitar
• Drums/drumsticks
• Mic
• Guitar piks
• Ink – red, blue, green, purple, orange, black, pink
• Paint – red, blue, green, purple, orange, pink
• Wax Spray
• Water
• Buckets
• Hosepipes
• Empty Coke Cans
• Hat for money
• Money –coins
• Plastic cup / cup
• Bed
• Cupboard / wardrobe
• Wallpaper
• Bass
• Guitar
• Drums/drumsticks
• Mic
• Guitar piks
• Ink – red, blue, green, purple, orange, black, pink
• Paint – red, blue, green, purple, orange, pink
• Wax Spray
• Water
• Buckets
• Hosepipes
• Empty Coke Cans
• Hat for money
• Money –coins
• Plastic cup / cup
• Bed
• Cupboard / wardrobe
• Wallpaper
keith Negus
Negus said “what I’m looking for is the working act. The real act. The act that can get up on stage and do it. That act will give you a career. I signed black Sabbath umpteen years ago; they are still making records. These are acts that are career acts. Two years ago I started a dance label, now that’s not a career orientated label. I mean those records are one-off situations and every now and again maybe you’ll get an artist come out of it”.
“When I first started it was more about going out and finding bands. That method is becoming more and more redundant. More and more these days I find it’s as much about: I sit here and think ‘there’s really a gap in the market for this kind of project…’. I don’t go out to gigs. That’s not how I find my stuff. It comes through various writers and producers. So if a writer comes in he may have some great songs and maybe is looking for a front person. Or maybe I have the front person who I want to launch into the market but I haven’t got the songs. So you put the two together.”
Ideologies of Creativity
• Keith Negus – Producing pop
• Identifies two distinct ways of thinking about potential artists from within the music industry.
• These ideologies shape the way in which the artists’ images and careers are developed, and the way that they are marketed towards specific target audiences.
• The organic ideology of creativity and…
• The synthetic ideology of creativity.
The organic ideology of creativity 1
•A “naturalistic” approach to artists
•the seeds of success are within the artists, who have been to be “nurtured” by the record company
•The image of the artist is “enhanced” by the record company
•The artist is given time to evolve and progress through their career
The organic ideology of creativity 2
•Emphasis is given to album sales and the construction of a successful back catalogue
•Often aimed at older or more sophisticated consumers
•Profits generated by this kind of act tend to be part of a long term strategy by the record company
The synthetic ideology of creativity 1
•A combinational approuach to artists and material
•Executives attempt to construct successful acts out of the artists and the songs at their disposal
•The image of the artist is often constructed by the record company
•The arisst will be given a short time to prove their success before other combinations will be tried out
The Synthetic Ideology of Creativity 2
• Emphasis is given to single sales and to promoting first albums.
• Often aimed at younger, less sophisticated audiences.
• Profits generated by this kind of artist tend to be part of an immediate, short term strategy by the record company.
Balancing the Two
• In practice, the success of synthetic acts will fund the development and investment in organic acts.
• Most big record labels will look to balance their roster with a combination of successful synthetic and organic acts to ensure that there are funds available for the day-to-day running of the company as well as long term profit making potential.
Promoting Organic and Synthetic Acts
• There are clear distinctions between the ways in which different types of artist are represented to ensure short term or long term success.
• Organic acts are often sold on their ‘authenticity’, both musically and socially.
• The image of the artist appears ‘unconstructed’ (although, of course, this is in itself a carefully constructed look)
• Synthetic acts are often sold on their ‘look’ or personalities
• The image of the artist is carefully and unashamedly constructed.
“When I first started it was more about going out and finding bands. That method is becoming more and more redundant. More and more these days I find it’s as much about: I sit here and think ‘there’s really a gap in the market for this kind of project…’. I don’t go out to gigs. That’s not how I find my stuff. It comes through various writers and producers. So if a writer comes in he may have some great songs and maybe is looking for a front person. Or maybe I have the front person who I want to launch into the market but I haven’t got the songs. So you put the two together.”
Ideologies of Creativity
• Keith Negus – Producing pop
• Identifies two distinct ways of thinking about potential artists from within the music industry.
• These ideologies shape the way in which the artists’ images and careers are developed, and the way that they are marketed towards specific target audiences.
• The organic ideology of creativity and…
• The synthetic ideology of creativity.
The organic ideology of creativity 1
•A “naturalistic” approach to artists
•the seeds of success are within the artists, who have been to be “nurtured” by the record company
•The image of the artist is “enhanced” by the record company
•The artist is given time to evolve and progress through their career
The organic ideology of creativity 2
•Emphasis is given to album sales and the construction of a successful back catalogue
•Often aimed at older or more sophisticated consumers
•Profits generated by this kind of act tend to be part of a long term strategy by the record company
The synthetic ideology of creativity 1
•A combinational approuach to artists and material
•Executives attempt to construct successful acts out of the artists and the songs at their disposal
•The image of the artist is often constructed by the record company
•The arisst will be given a short time to prove their success before other combinations will be tried out
The Synthetic Ideology of Creativity 2
• Emphasis is given to single sales and to promoting first albums.
• Often aimed at younger, less sophisticated audiences.
• Profits generated by this kind of artist tend to be part of an immediate, short term strategy by the record company.
Balancing the Two
• In practice, the success of synthetic acts will fund the development and investment in organic acts.
• Most big record labels will look to balance their roster with a combination of successful synthetic and organic acts to ensure that there are funds available for the day-to-day running of the company as well as long term profit making potential.
Promoting Organic and Synthetic Acts
• There are clear distinctions between the ways in which different types of artist are represented to ensure short term or long term success.
• Organic acts are often sold on their ‘authenticity’, both musically and socially.
• The image of the artist appears ‘unconstructed’ (although, of course, this is in itself a carefully constructed look)
• Synthetic acts are often sold on their ‘look’ or personalities
• The image of the artist is carefully and unashamedly constructed.
Creating an anematic
After we had finished sorting the final story bored we pined it to the wall and had one member of the group film the storyboard in order. To do this we used a Sony Mpeg2 SD NXcam with tripod. They filmed each individual picture for 10 seconds, this is so that we would have enough time in which to edit/cut them later. The filming took just under one lesson.
We then uploaded all the shots onto final cut server and we then had to save the file to the desktop and change the footage to edit proxy so that we could edit it. We then tried to also upload the song onto final cut pro, but because it was in the wrong format (wav) first we had to change to the format to wmp before added it.
We then uploaded all the shots onto final cut server and we then had to save the file to the desktop and change the footage to edit proxy so that we could edit it. We then tried to also upload the song onto final cut pro, but because it was in the wrong format (wav) first we had to change to the format to wmp before added it.
Normally when editing footage on final cut pro I would store the shots into a log bin, however when uploaded they had already gone into a log bin so all we had to do was rename this log bin so that we could easily find our shots.
When placing the music onto the final cut pro we dragged it across to the timeline, we then locked it so that it would not be ruined or moved during the editing process.
When placing shots onto the timeline first we had to drag the shot from the log bin to the video window to first check it was the right one, if it was we would then drag it from there onto the timeline.
When placing the music onto the final cut pro we dragged it across to the timeline, we then locked it so that it would not be ruined or moved during the editing process.
When placing shots onto the timeline first we had to drag the shot from the log bin to the video window to first check it was the right one, if it was we would then drag it from there onto the timeline.
When editing a music video it is important for each cut to be on beat otherwise the video becomes akward to watch and becomes less effective. So to this we listen though the song and put a marker on each place where a cut from one shot to the other could happen. To do this we when on final cut pro you press m to place a mark above the timeline.
Monday, 15 November 2010
Building the storyboard 4
The next step was to talk with the band about the ideas which we had come up with, and hear any ideas' or feedback they had. We all seemed to like the idea of the colourd rain, shots in a basement, performance shots, black and white and the genrel outline of a storyline. Each member form out group then went away and stared to draw up rough verisons of part of the story boreds. We split this between us by having two of doing storyboards of performance shots and the other two doing the concept shots. Some of concept shots included shots of the coloured rain, puddles and the band in and around Guildford. The puddle shots will hopefully include images of the band as if they where inside the puddle (like looking through a weird type of window), this would be a unique and fun way in which to intoduce this new band.
During the video it would constainly keep cutting back from performance to concept. This is to keep the video intresting to watch. As the video is for a new band it is important to have lots of perfromance shots so that the audiance can see more of the group themselves and find out who they are. This is why in this video we are going to put in performance shots with alot of mid-shots and close ups.
We then came back together with our diffrent storyboards and as a group picked through which parts from each we liked the most and thought would be the most effective. We then cut them out and stuck them down onto a new storybored, added more when needs be.
During the video it would constainly keep cutting back from performance to concept. This is to keep the video intresting to watch. As the video is for a new band it is important to have lots of perfromance shots so that the audiance can see more of the group themselves and find out who they are. This is why in this video we are going to put in performance shots with alot of mid-shots and close ups.
We then came back together with our diffrent storyboards and as a group picked through which parts from each we liked the most and thought would be the most effective. We then cut them out and stuck them down onto a new storybored, added more when needs be.
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Building the storyboard 3
This lesson we listened to the song on repeat again. This time we also put images to the song, so that we would have a visual aid when presenting our ideas to the rest of the group. These are my images:
Building the storyboard 2
We have now started creating our storyboard for the “Now is everyone” music video. The song is called “what we see”. We decided to use this group and song at the eng of the last lesson. As a group we sat down a listen to the song over and over just writing down things that came into our minds when listing to it. Here are my ideas:
• Lots of people with there heads down raising there heads slowly and opening there closed eyes
• Girl running across in front of the band, care free there heads raise as she passes
• Black and white with only certain objects in colour as the song goes on more objects in colour till its all in colour.
• Lying down on your back looking up
• Moving when lying on back as if standing up
• Very broken movements in the background but the band moving normally then swap over
• In the drumming break colours and words flying from drum kit and guitars.
• Close ups on guitar strings
• Shots of just the leads singers mouth when he is singing
• Shots of there eyes opening slowly with very bright eye colours in-contrast with there face which would be in black and white.
• Starts off with raindrops falling which turn into bright colours by the end of the song.
• Walking down the street which is in black and white, after the band passes the street turns to colour.
• Band standing in street performing at normal speed, the background everything is in fast forward.
• Following a guys day in stop motion ( getting up, brushing teeth, getting changed…) the band keeps appearing in the shot (on the TV screen, on the front of the newspaper, in the mirror)
• Lead singer singing directly into the camera, looking right at it (therefore looking like he is watching the person watching him) then offering his hand out as if to pull us into the screen.
• Tear rolling down someone’s face then in rewind the tear rolling back up into the eye and the camera tracks back to show they are now smiling.
• Some people running around posting up and handing out flyers, flyer says “open your eyes” or something to that nature on it. In the picture part of the poster is a moving image of the band playing. The posters are bright colours the rest is in black and white, when people look at the poster they come into colour also.
My initial idea of skiing no longer works with this piece as it would not be possible to actually film it in the Alps. So to do it , it would require a lot of blue screen which would be very time consuming and may end up not looking that good. We also thought it would not fit in with the star image of the band who are a local rock/indi group from Guildford.
• Lots of people with there heads down raising there heads slowly and opening there closed eyes
• Girl running across in front of the band, care free there heads raise as she passes
• Black and white with only certain objects in colour as the song goes on more objects in colour till its all in colour.
• Lying down on your back looking up
• Moving when lying on back as if standing up
• Very broken movements in the background but the band moving normally then swap over
• In the drumming break colours and words flying from drum kit and guitars.
• Close ups on guitar strings
• Shots of just the leads singers mouth when he is singing
• Shots of there eyes opening slowly with very bright eye colours in-contrast with there face which would be in black and white.
• Starts off with raindrops falling which turn into bright colours by the end of the song.
• Walking down the street which is in black and white, after the band passes the street turns to colour.
• Band standing in street performing at normal speed, the background everything is in fast forward.
• Following a guys day in stop motion ( getting up, brushing teeth, getting changed…) the band keeps appearing in the shot (on the TV screen, on the front of the newspaper, in the mirror)
• Lead singer singing directly into the camera, looking right at it (therefore looking like he is watching the person watching him) then offering his hand out as if to pull us into the screen.
• Tear rolling down someone’s face then in rewind the tear rolling back up into the eye and the camera tracks back to show they are now smiling.
• Some people running around posting up and handing out flyers, flyer says “open your eyes” or something to that nature on it. In the picture part of the poster is a moving image of the band playing. The posters are bright colours the rest is in black and white, when people look at the poster they come into colour also.
My initial idea of skiing no longer works with this piece as it would not be possible to actually film it in the Alps. So to do it , it would require a lot of blue screen which would be very time consuming and may end up not looking that good. We also thought it would not fit in with the star image of the band who are a local rock/indi group from Guildford.
Building the storyboard 1
This lesson we have been presenting our original ideas to the rest of the class. My music video idea was to start with an extreme wide-shot of a clean white mountain. Helicopters then fly to the top of the mountain and drop off heliskiers. The skiers are wearing big black hoodies with the hoods up. Each of the skiers has spray paints of different colours coming off the backs of there skies leaving a trail behind them. As they ski down they are doing tricks and jumps. Some jumps are put into slow motion so that you can see the paint in the air as they are flipping. The Band would appear in some shots in the middle of the peist with the skiers going down around them, also standing under jumps with the skiers coming over there heads. Skiers cross paths and do formations so the colours mix and cross over each other. End shot of an extreme wide shot of the mountain again this time covered in coloured pattern. 
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
Saturday, 9 October 2010
Richard Dyer-star image
In order to understand the relationship between the music industry and its audiences it is important to consider the roles of music stars. The term “star” refers to the semi-mythological set of meanings constructed around music performers in order to sell the performer to a large and loyal audience. Some common values of music stardom include youthfulness, rebellion, sexual magnetism, anti-authoritarian attitude, originality, creativity/talent, aggression and disregard for social values relating to drugs, sex and polite behaviour. Dyer has written about the role of stars in film, TV and music.
Stars have some key features in common such as a star is an image not a real person that is constructed out of a range of materials. Stars depend upon a range of subsidiary media e.g magazines, TV, radio and the internet in order to construct an image for themselves which can be marketed to their target audiences. The star image is made up of a range of meanings which are attractive to the target audience. Fundamentally, the star image is incoherent; Dyer says that this is because it is biased upon two key paradoxes. The first is the star must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer and the second is that the star must be simultaneously present and absent for the consumer. The incoherence of the star image ensures that audiences continually strive to complete the image, this is achieved by continued consumption of the star through his or her products.
In the music industry, performance seems to promise the completion of the image. This means that fans will go away determined to continue consuming the star in order to carry on attempting to complete their image. Finally, the star image can be used to position the consumer in relation to dominant social values. Depending upon the artist, this may mean that the audience are positioned against the mainstream or within the mainstream or between. Richard Dyer made a star image quote which is: “In these terms it can be argued that stars are representations of persons which reinforce, legitimate or occasionally alter the prevalent preconceptions of what it is to be a human being in this society. There is a good deal at stake in such conceptions. On one hand our society stresses what makes them like others in the social group to which they belong. This individualising stress involved a separation of the person’s self from his/her social roles and hence posses the individual against society. On the other hand society suggests that certain norms of behaviour are appropriate to given groups of people, which many people in such groups would now wish to contest. Stars are one of the ways in which conceptions of such persons are promulgated.
Stars have some key features in common such as a star is an image not a real person that is constructed out of a range of materials. Stars depend upon a range of subsidiary media e.g magazines, TV, radio and the internet in order to construct an image for themselves which can be marketed to their target audiences. The star image is made up of a range of meanings which are attractive to the target audience. Fundamentally, the star image is incoherent; Dyer says that this is because it is biased upon two key paradoxes. The first is the star must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer and the second is that the star must be simultaneously present and absent for the consumer. The incoherence of the star image ensures that audiences continually strive to complete the image, this is achieved by continued consumption of the star through his or her products.
In the music industry, performance seems to promise the completion of the image. This means that fans will go away determined to continue consuming the star in order to carry on attempting to complete their image. Finally, the star image can be used to position the consumer in relation to dominant social values. Depending upon the artist, this may mean that the audience are positioned against the mainstream or within the mainstream or between. Richard Dyer made a star image quote which is: “In these terms it can be argued that stars are representations of persons which reinforce, legitimate or occasionally alter the prevalent preconceptions of what it is to be a human being in this society. There is a good deal at stake in such conceptions. On one hand our society stresses what makes them like others in the social group to which they belong. This individualising stress involved a separation of the person’s self from his/her social roles and hence posses the individual against society. On the other hand society suggests that certain norms of behaviour are appropriate to given groups of people, which many people in such groups would now wish to contest. Stars are one of the ways in which conceptions of such persons are promulgated.
Friday, 10 September 2010
Copyright letter to Label
To the copyright holder We are a group of A Level students working on an A Level project for a qualification in Media Studies. We are writing to request permission to use the following track as part of this project: What we see by Now is Everyone With your permission the track would be used as the accompaniment to a short form video that is made purely for assessment purposes and will have no commercial usage. The video will be viewed only by members of the school community and the assessor of the examination board. The artist and the copyright holder will of course be fully recognised in the pre-production and evaluation material that accompanies the project. We can also include a full copyright notice if required both in the planning material and on the video itself. Yours sincerely Davina Thorne Hurtwood House School
Chosen cover track
As we are doing a real band, they will be performing a track of there own and not a cover track. The song is called "What we see". The song has no exact translatable meaning however the general feeling of the song is sober. The most common translation of the song is that as a child we don't really understand the world around us, but as we get older now we understand more about what we see. This a common theme in many young artists as the youth of today feel as if a lot is hidden from them. This makes it a good topic to sing about as it will appeal to the target audience.
Artist Profile
Artist Profile!
Here is some initial information on them...
Members:
Elliot Henson - Vocals + Keyboard
Joe Colley - Bass
Kris Bell - Guitar
Will Phipps - Drums
Genre:
Rock/Alternative
Hometown:
Farnham
They are a very new band and haven't quite worked out their image which makes this project exciting for us because we are going to have to work from scratch and create and promote this band for REAL instead of pretend.
Here is some initial information on them...
Members:
Elliot Henson - Vocals + Keyboard
Joe Colley - Bass
Kris Bell - Guitar
Will Phipps - Drums
Genre:
Rock/Alternative
Hometown:
Farnham
They are a very new band and haven't quite worked out their image which makes this project exciting for us because we are going to have to work from scratch and create and promote this band for REAL instead of pretend.
Our Target Audience
The genre is indie rock and the Band is made up of quite young arists which commenly has younger target audience of around 14-18 and with this video as with the song we hope to satisfy this audience but also cultivate a broader audience of university students. The imagery promotes there local roots and also the subtle emotional themes of there song writing.
Our Record label
Now is everyone is currently unsigned, however they have aspirations to being singed to the recorded company 14th floor. Artist's who are currently signed to 14th floor include Biffy Clyro, The wombats, Marmaduke Duke, Sneaky Sound System and Joshua Radin.
Biffy Clyro are one of the bands which Now is everyone look up to and inspire to be like.
Institutional Context
The Band is called “Now Is Everyone”. They are a teenage group from Guilford.
The four band members are Elliot the lead singer, Will the drummer, Joe the bass guitar player and Chris the Guitarist.
Here is a link to an Eagle Radio pod-cast of “Now is everyone”. This along with some phone conversations is where I got the information about the band from.
http://www.964eagle.co.uk/podcasts/eagle-radio-live-sessions/9-8-10.mp3
Institutional context questions:
1. What is the history of the band you have used?
The Band “Now Is Everyone” was formed in 2006 when all the Band members met at school, there have been a few members that have joined and left since the beginning but the band now is set. They are an unsigned rock/ indie band, who all come from the Guildford area. There ages range from 17/18.
“Now Is Everyone” has been playing gigs in local Guildford venues such as “The Boiler room”, “The Winchester” and “The Railway”. They also performed at the Guildford music festival “Guilfest” this year on the Rock sound stage.
The Bands star image at the moment the highly popular but very unoriginal indie rock grunge/stylized look.
“Now Is Everyone” say that there group has been influenced by bands such as “Muse” and “Biffy Clyro”, this is because of there performance style and star image. They have also been influenced by another local band called “Enjoy Destroy”, who has a very similar genre to “Now Is Everyone”.
The four band members are Elliot the lead singer, Will the drummer, Joe the bass guitar player and Chris the Guitarist.
Here is a link to an Eagle Radio pod-cast of “Now is everyone”. This along with some phone conversations is where I got the information about the band from.
http://www.964eagle.co.uk/podcasts/eagle-radio-live-sessions/9-8-10.mp3
Institutional context questions:
1. What is the history of the band you have used?
The Band “Now Is Everyone” was formed in 2006 when all the Band members met at school, there have been a few members that have joined and left since the beginning but the band now is set. They are an unsigned rock/ indie band, who all come from the Guildford area. There ages range from 17/18.
“Now Is Everyone” has been playing gigs in local Guildford venues such as “The Boiler room”, “The Winchester” and “The Railway”. They also performed at the Guildford music festival “Guilfest” this year on the Rock sound stage.
The Bands star image at the moment the highly popular but very unoriginal indie rock grunge/stylized look.
“Now Is Everyone” say that there group has been influenced by bands such as “Muse” and “Biffy Clyro”, this is because of there performance style and star image. They have also been influenced by another local band called “Enjoy Destroy”, who has a very similar genre to “Now Is Everyone”.
A record label that would be likely choice to sign “Now Is Everyone” is ‘14th floor Record’. This is because they have already signed “Biffy Clyro” and other bands that are of a similar genre to “Now Is Everyone”. So they would already be familiar to the type of audience who would in interested in “Now Is Everyone’s” music so would know how to successfully promote the band.
We are hoping that our video will be eye-catching enough to give “Now Is Everyone” a good possibility to be noticed and to stand out against the millions of other upcoming indie rock bands.
We are hoping that our video will be eye-catching enough to give “Now Is Everyone” a good possibility to be noticed and to stand out against the millions of other upcoming indie rock bands.
2. What genre of music does the band fit into?
“Now Is Everyone” fits into an indie rock genre of music. The current local competitors are “Enjoy Destroy” and “Play Dead sister”. We are hoping that by working with this group we can help give them more of an edge by getting them move slightly out of this genre and to try mixing in other genre elements.
The genre indie already has a very set and unoriginal image which is now commonly worn by lots people, even those who are not fans of this music genre. The only positive is this does give us a starting point from which to create a new star image, as we can take elements from this genre but add in other elements. This way the style would still be recognisable but make “Now Is Everyone” stand out.
This is a very saturated genre so to be a new upcoming band competing against hundreds of other bands the percentage of successful new bands is very low. Which is why to be successful “Now Is Everyone” has to bring something new, fresh and exciting to the table.
3. What record label is the band signed to?
“Now Is Everyone” are currently an unsigned, however there are interested in being sighed to the record label “14th floor records”. “14 floor records” are a reasonably big but are not a super large label such as EMI. Some of the acts signed to “14th floor records” are Joshua Reading, Biffy Clyro, Marmaduke Duke, and the Wombats.
This label seems right for “Now Is Everyone” as they have already signed artist like them. So would know how to best promote them. A good way for this label to promote the group so that get well know by people who are into that genre of music is by letting them be the opening act on someone else’s show in there music genre who is also signed to that label.
4. Who are the bands audience?
“Now Is Everyone” band members are aged between 17/18, there music however I think would appeal to a very large age rage between 16-30 years. The type of audience which stereotypically listens most to this type of music are males but I think that “Now Is Everyone” would also appeal to a secondary audience of females aged between 15-25.
The stereotypical lifestyle of a fan of this genre of music is most likely student/young adult. So studying, working, partying and spending lots of time with friends. They would most likely be also listening to indie, rock, punk rock, metal etc… They would also be likely to own an ipod, download films and music, have a TV and own a mobile phone.
5. What kind of visual image has the band created for themselves.
On there Myspace page they use an emblem for the band with is a drawing of a the top half of a naked lady with long hair wearing a gas mask with dear antlers pointing out of it. They have not made any music videos before the one our group is making for them, so we have no previous video style to try to stick to. Which is quite good for us as it gives us more freedom when creating this video. There music video is likely to only be showed on Youtube, facebook and myspace at the time being because they are a pretty unknown, unsigned band.
Initial Ideas
Dub step- Eastern jam (chase and status)- A clash video between Traditional Indian culture and modern western culture e.g. Bollywood dancing vs. B-boying, Taj Mahal vs. Big Ben, Sari’s vs. Hoddies. The Pop promo video would show clips of each culture being portrayed cut quickly in-between each other.
Emocore-The Kill (30 seconds to Mars) - Starts with an extreme wide-shot of a clean white mountain. Helicopters then fly to the top of the mountain and drop off heliskiers. The skiers are wearing big black hoodies with the hoods up. Each of the skiers has spray paints of different colours coming off the backs of there skies leaving a trail behind them. As they ski down they are doing tricks and jumps. Some jumps are put into slow motion so that you can see the paint in the air as they are flipping. The Band would appear in some shots in the middle of the peist with the skiers going down around them, also standing under jumps with the skiers coming over there heads. Skiers cross paths and do formations so the colours mix and cross over each other. End shot of an extreme wide shot of the mountain again this time covered in coloured pattern.
Drum and bass- watercolour (pendulum)- Band play from inside a white box of a room wearing white, the room turns slowly with the lead singer looking up to sing into the camera. Cuts between shots of that and shots of free runners, running around a town but with every step they take they leave a path of coloured footprints behind them, also when they trail their hands across something it leave a strip of colour, they do this across shop windows, fronts of peoples clothing, over cars and across peoples faces etc… Towards the end of the song paint begins to fall into the white box room covering the musicians, splashing off the drums and dripping down the guitar and microphone.
Rock/Alternative - What we see by "Now is everyone"- This is a real new upcoming band and so therefore will not be performing a cover but one of there own songs. They as yet do not have a set image so the video we are planning to do for them will be a starting point on there star image. Our idea is to use sections of stop motion with photographs and also with the band playing. We got some of inspiration from the videos below.
Our productuion group
Our production group is:
Davina Thorne
Francesca Dowle
Jo Harrison
Oscar Mitchell-Heggs
Davina Thorne
Francesca Dowle
Jo Harrison
Oscar Mitchell-Heggs
A background to the music industy
The music industry is dominated by four trans-national corporations: Universal/AOL-Time, Warner, Sony/BMG, Warner Bros and EMI. These music corporations are know as the Majors (just like in the film industry they have "the big 6") Most majors also own, or licence, a few smaller subsidiary companies in order to reach different kinds of audiences in different kinds of genre. These genre's may be sub-genres of popular music styles or have a completely different niece audience. These companies are known as ‘Major-Independents’. There are also a lot of small companies with little or no financial connection to the majors at all. These companies often only have a small number of artists who they concentrate on, within specialised niches in the industry. These are known as ‘true independents’
Most of the record companies are organized into several key areas these are:
For an Artist to be succeful in the competitve music industy they must receive exposure via Radio, TV, Magisenes, News papers, Film and other forms of new New media. The coordinated simulatenous use of these media forms are known in the industry as a 'cross-Media marketing camagin'. The relationship is known as a 'symbiotic'
Most of the record companies are organized into several key areas these are:
- Artists and Repertoire (A&R)
- Marketing/Artist Development
- Promotions
- Legal
- Financial
For an Artist to be succeful in the competitve music industy they must receive exposure via Radio, TV, Magisenes, News papers, Film and other forms of new New media. The coordinated simulatenous use of these media forms are known in the industry as a 'cross-Media marketing camagin'. The relationship is known as a 'symbiotic'
Monday, 29 March 2010
Task 1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and coventions of real media products?
The tittles in our film conform to most real media products by having the production team first. This is a feature of Hollywood films.
We also show the directors name as is the norm in Hollywood films. But unlike Hollywood films, these are the only opening credits as we wanted to keep the wording to a minimum so as to keep the audiences attention.
Our sequence challenges most real media products as ours are just one continue tracking shot. Whereas most films now use an edgy and fast cutting style when editing. The main point of focus in the sequence is the diary so the camera stays on the diary for a number of seconds before moving on; this shows its importance to the audience so it becomes an Enigma code for the film.
In this part of the sequence it conforms to most real media products openings as it shows some of who the character is (the pictures on the wall) but does not give it all away. The mise-en-scene of the room conforms to that of a horror film.
We have tried to subvert what the audience think is going to happen, as the camera tilts down the rope then comes onto the head of a doll rather than the head of a person.
At this point of the sequence there is a long tracking shot across the floor which conforms to most horror films with blood and gore. The way ours challenges most media products is our film uses dolls rather than people. This was an artistic choice as well as the fact that we had a limited budget.
This point subverts most Hollywood films by technically giving away the story at the start of the film. But we feel that this will still build tension throughout the rest of the film because the audience will not know who or why this person has killed themselves. This is called an Enigma code as it makes the audience want to know more about why that has happened, which builds interest and tension.
The title of the film comes up at the end of the opening sequence conforms to most media products. As it is the name of the film and the style of the font conforms to most horror films.Task 2- How does your product represent particular social groups?
“Elisabeth’s Diary” is about a teenage girl with some mental and social issues. She uses her diary as a way to release pain and anger. Although the film strongly realise on the horror aspect of the youth being murdered, it will also look into the stress and strains placed on teenagers everyday and how close some of them come to snapping and what happens to those who do. Another film that shows when a teenager snaps is in “the ring”, when a girl “goes crazy” and ends up killing her mothers horses and then is killed herself but comes back to life to kill more. In ours the girls’ diary kills people, she goes crazy, kills herself but the murders continue. Therefore both products represent mental health issues effecting teenage girls. In “final destination” there is a sense of audience anticipation, we as an audience know that when we are introduced to a character they are more than likely going to be killed off. We want to try and achieve that same level of audience anticipation in our film. Therefore we represented our characters death in the first scene because we wanted to build up the suspense and tension in the same way as “final destination”.
The “difficult of a teenager” is a popular theme for TV shows and movies. Television shows like “skins” and “sugar rush” also look in into the struggles of teenage life, with episodes that include themes like: sex, weight, popularity, sexuality, race, intelligence, money, drugs, drink, suicide, death, dysfunctional families and metal health. “Elisabeth’s Diary” will mainly cover popularity and mental health and how one impact on the each other. Teenagers in media are often portrayed in a bad light; our film will try to show all sides of the story to show that not all teenagers deserve the label they get stamped with. When I was coming up with the film I choose the protagonist to be a teenager because I am and therefore am going through some of the things which the character would. I also chose it to be based around teenagers as it makes the storyline more interesting and the cast would mostly be around the same age as the target audience. The protagonist in “Elisabeth’s diary” would be autistic. I did some research into Autism and its effects on teenagers, I thought the symptoms and how it makes people act fitted perfectly with the way we wanted to portray Elisabeth. Here is a few sections I found on autism which I thought explained why Elisabeth would act the way she does in our film.
· It is difficult for autistic children at any age, but the teenage years can be especially challenging. Autism is a disorder that manifests itself with the individual having trouble commun
icating and managing a variety of social situations. Coupled with this, there are the repetitive behaviours and difficulty with emotional control. The teen years are perhaps the most social time of our lives. It is a time where teenagers are learning about them selves, and are moving rapidly toward adulthood. This is an incredibly social time where what you say and how you act are very important in the eyes of your peers. This is also precisely the time where autistic teens face some of the most stressful situations of their young lives.
· It can be at this age that most teenagers become aware how different they are from their peers. They may notice that they don’t have many or any friends
· Autism causes a problem in communication; most autistic teens do not learn how to behave according to sociological norms through experience.
· The inability to fit into proper social situations can be traumatic and lead to a tendency to disengage from a certain situation, whether it is related to play, school, or work
Sourced from http://answers-about-autism.info/
The “difficult of a teenager” is a popular theme for TV shows and movies. Television shows like “skins” and “sugar rush” also look in into the struggles of teenage life, with episodes that include themes like: sex, weight, popularity, sexuality, race, intelligence, money, drugs, drink, suicide, death, dysfunctional families and metal health. “Elisabeth’s Diary” will mainly cover popularity and mental health and how one impact on the each other. Teenagers in media are often portrayed in a bad light; our film will try to show all sides of the story to show that not all teenagers deserve the label they get stamped with. When I was coming up with the film I choose the protagonist to be a teenager because I am and therefore am going through some of the things which the character would. I also chose it to be based around teenagers as it makes the storyline more interesting and the cast would mostly be around the same age as the target audience. The protagonist in “Elisabeth’s diary” would be autistic. I did some research into Autism and its effects on teenagers, I thought the symptoms and how it makes people act fitted perfectly with the way we wanted to portray Elisabeth. Here is a few sections I found on autism which I thought explained why Elisabeth would act the way she does in our film.
· It is difficult for autistic children at any age, but the teenage years can be especially challenging. Autism is a disorder that manifests itself with the individual having trouble commun
icating and managing a variety of social situations. Coupled with this, there are the repetitive behaviours and difficulty with emotional control. The teen years are perhaps the most social time of our lives. It is a time where teenagers are learning about them selves, and are moving rapidly toward adulthood. This is an incredibly social time where what you say and how you act are very important in the eyes of your peers. This is also precisely the time where autistic teens face some of the most stressful situations of their young lives.· It can be at this age that most teenagers become aware how different they are from their peers. They may notice that they don’t have many or any friends
· Autism causes a problem in communication; most autistic teens do not learn how to behave according to sociological norms through experience.
· The inability to fit into proper social situations can be traumatic and lead to a tendency to disengage from a certain situation, whether it is related to play, school, or work
Sourced from http://answers-about-autism.info/
Task 3- What kind of Media institution might distribute your media product?
I think our film “Elizabeth's Diary” should be distributed by a major Hollywood film studio as this way we would have access to better funding and more A list actors. By having A list actors the film will get more interest as the actors will have there own fans who will go to see them in any film. I think a good institute to distribute our film would be ‘Go Fish Pictures’. ‘Go fish Pictures’ is the specialty film division of the DreamWorks SKG film studio. They have distributed films such as “Casshern” and “The Chumscrubber”. This division is good be
cause it has made films with both action and a good storyline. I want this because although I want to have access to the special effects and action I also want there to be a strong and interesting story line which is not the norm in “high concept films”. Another institute which may be good would be “Twisted Pictures”. Twisted Pictures is a production company which is part of “Lionsgate”, mainly creating films of the horror genre. It gained wide attention through the production of the Saw series. They would have the most expertise in the horror side of “Elizabeth’s Diary”
This of course would be the best case scenario, as I making this film I would be a new fil
m maker it is very unlikely that a Hollywood film studio would make my film. So I also looked into the English independent film industry. I think that Warp would also be a good option to make “Elizabeth’s Diary”. They have also made popular English teen horror film “donkey punch” and “This is England”. Although the film would not have access to a large amount of funding, we would still have access to high levels of expertise. Warp also have connections to 'Film 4' (an example of this is 'this is England which was co-funded by 'fim 4')it would also be advertised and shown on their television network. Also this is improve "Elizabeth's diary"'s distribution possibilities as 'film 4' have links to production, distribution and exhibition in Europe through their affiliates..
cause it has made films with both action and a good storyline. I want this because although I want to have access to the special effects and action I also want there to be a strong and interesting story line which is not the norm in “high concept films”. Another institute which may be good would be “Twisted Pictures”. Twisted Pictures is a production company which is part of “Lionsgate”, mainly creating films of the horror genre. It gained wide attention through the production of the Saw series. They would have the most expertise in the horror side of “Elizabeth’s Diary”This of course would be the best case scenario, as I making this film I would be a new fil
m maker it is very unlikely that a Hollywood film studio would make my film. So I also looked into the English independent film industry. I think that Warp would also be a good option to make “Elizabeth’s Diary”. They have also made popular English teen horror film “donkey punch” and “This is England”. Although the film would not have access to a large amount of funding, we would still have access to high levels of expertise. Warp also have connections to 'Film 4' (an example of this is 'this is England which was co-funded by 'fim 4')it would also be advertised and shown on their television network. Also this is improve "Elizabeth's diary"'s distribution possibilities as 'film 4' have links to production, distribution and exhibition in Europe through their affiliates.. Task 4- who would be the audiance for your media product?
For our thriller “Elizabeth’s Diary” we decided to aim our film at the largest target audience as that would bring in the most profit. This group is males, aged in their late teens and early to mid twenties, they are the group that spend the most money on going to the cinema and buying /renting films; so we thought it would be a good idea to aim our film at them. Our film is aimed at very masculine orientated audience. The audience for our film are most likely still in education whether it be school, collage or university or at the start of a new job. So there outgoings will be less so there for having more disposable income and free ti
me. Although typically horror films are aimed at just males we wanted to make the secondary audience females. This is another reason why our protagonist is female. As the female audience would be able to relate to her better. This is also because a lot of the time couples watch horror films together. Horror films are often linked to the emo and gothic scene.
This is because it is a gory/slasher genre, with a lot of killing, mind games and twisted story plot and ending. In some ways it will be similar to the horror/ thriller “saw” but with more of a story line to it. It will be aimed and advertised at all social classes but it is most likely to appeal the most to people of a “lower” social class, again due to the gore and violence involved. So it will be shown in bigger cinemas like Vue and Odeon and not cinemas smaller and more expensive cinemas like the everyman and the electric cinema.
me. Although typically horror films are aimed at just males we wanted to make the secondary audience females. This is another reason why our protagonist is female. As the female audience would be able to relate to her better. This is also because a lot of the time couples watch horror films together. Horror films are often linked to the emo and gothic scene.This is because it is a gory/slasher genre, with a lot of killing, mind games and twisted story plot and ending. In some ways it will be similar to the horror/ thriller “saw” but with more of a story line to it. It will be aimed and advertised at all social classes but it is most likely to appeal the most to people of a “lower” social class, again due to the gore and violence involved. So it will be shown in bigger cinemas like Vue and Odeon and not cinemas smaller and more expensive cinemas like the everyman and the electric cinema.
Task 7- Looking back at prelimary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
Looking back on the preliminary I feel as if my media skills have progressed when now looking at the full final product of “Elizabeth’s Diary”. In “Elizabeth’s Diary” I worked with the same people as those who I worked with in the preliminary task, as a group it is clear that in the time between them our media skills have improved a great deal.
In the prelimary task we where given the storyboard, the text, the exact shots we should do and told where to shoot. Whereas in the horror task we came up with all these factors ourselves over a number of weeks, putting together a project file. We also thought more about the cast for “Elizabeth’s Diary”. We wanted a typical female horror look; dark hair, pale skin and big eyes. We wanted her to have a reasonable level of acting ability and we also needed to make sure she was free the whole shoot day. Casting in the preliminary task was non-existent, we grabbed two people who where free in that hour session without though of gender, look or acting ability. When coming up with the story for “Elizabeth’s diary” I was influenced by other horror films such as “the ring” and “the grudge” but I wanted the main protagonist to be a female and I wanted her to be portrayed in a better light then the stereotype of teenage girls.
When shooting and setting the preliminary we just found a room which was not being used at that time, which was not very good for lighting or space. The room was very small and there was one window which even when we light the room still cast a shadow of the camera onto the set. We used the table and chair that where already in the room and the camera box as a prop. When choosing the location and set for “Elizabeth’s Diary”. We had lots of different ideas which included shooting in a barn, but finally we decided to shoot the whole thing inside the film studio as this way would have full control of the lighting and the mise-en-scene of the whole set. This took a lot of time and careful planning as we had to provide everything that would be needed to build a believable and effective set. We took weeks deciding the props that would be needed and who would be able to get them in advance. We also spent the day before shooting setting up the dolls. We also had to set the diary a long time in advance as this was the main point of our film and we wanted it to be perfect, we had an art teacher at our school do it for us off the ideas we gave him.
There was no planning done into the costume and makeup worn by the actors in preliminary task, they just kept on whatever they had put on that day. In “Elizabeth’s Diary” we already knew we wanted a typical ‘sweet but deadly’ horror look. So we chose a simple black dress, bought hair gel to give her hair a damp look and bought white foundation. As it would happen we only used a shot if her shadow and her feet but we felt it was better to be prepared.
In the filming of “Elizabeth’s Diary” we took a long time to set up the shot as it was one continues shot. This meant planning what we wanted to happen in advance, what we wanted the audience to see and at what angle we wanted them to see it. So to do this we drew up numerous storyboards before we came up with the one we thought would be the most effective. On the day of shooting it took a long time to set up the tracks for the camera to go on as we wanted it to run smoothly and to be effective. We decided to go with one shot because we wanted to get everything in the room in one shot, as if a person is walking around the room looking at everything. We felt that this would build tension as the audience would feel like they are in the room. In the preliminary task we where given the storyboard did that and only doing a few ideas of our own.
Comparing the two tasks it is clear that our ability to use sound and sound effects has improved. In the preliminary task we only used the diegetic sound that we had recorded using the small mic on the camera. We just recorded the dialogue between the two characters, dropping the case and the door opening and closing and none of this was altered when editing. These sounds where not bad quality but did not give much us most scope to be creative in editing. When creating the soundtrack for “Elizabeth’s diary” we sourced sounds and music from ‘sound cut pro’ and used sounds we had recorded on the day using a boom mic. A boom mic picks up a clearer and crisper sound than the small mic on the front of the camera. When creating “Elizabeth’s diary” we wanted the sound to build tension and convey a creepy atmosphere. We wanted there to be a realistic ambient sound for the room so we recorded the sound in the room for a few minuets after we had finished filming making sure everyone stayed silent. We also recorded the sound of the door opening, Petrie walking then climbing onto the stool, the rope being tightened, the stool rocking and falling and her feet twitching. We only used a few of these sounds but we wanted to make sure we had everything we might need available. When editing “Elizabeth’s diary” on final cut pro we removed all the sound to start from scratch so it could portray exactly what sound we wanted and create more profession feeling to the sequence. We found a piece of music that we thought would fit perfectly to our piece as it sounded creepy yet when listing to it, it built tension and suspense. When putting in sounds like the sound of a door opening and took time to make sure it fitting perfectly to the image so it looked and sounded realistic. We wanted to build more tension with sounds like the door opening, the chair rocking and finally the stool falling and the neck breaking. To do this we emphasized the sound and made it louder the music and ambient sound.
My skills on final cut pro have improved a great deal from the time when we edited the preliminary task. In the preliminary task we used very basic cutting and no after effects and even then we regularly needed help. Whereas when we where editing “Elizabeth’s diary” I have become a lot more confident and more tech savvy. We used some after effects, put in many sounds and changed sound levels. As our product was just one continues tracking shot there was no cutting needed but we had many different versions filmed to choose from to find the perfect one. We did use fading at the beginning and at the end of the sequence for an effective and more professional look. This was also so that the audience’s attention was drawn to the diary (the most important stimulus) as it is the first thing that comes into focus. At the end we fading into and out the title of “Elizabeth’s diary” this is so
that the audience get the feeling that the opening sequence is tied onto the rest of the film.
Friday, 19 March 2010
Audience feedback
We posted out video on youtube and our facebook pages. Here our some of the comments we got on "Elizabeth's diary".
stephaniemareen: i really like the pace of editing and the titles. Great thriller.
LegasyOleg: Very creepy opening. I've jumped on the chair when heard this knock-knock sound! Awesome and really thrilling piece
hurtwoodhousemedia: that's so creepy!! I really like it!!
hurtwoodhousemedia: the doll hanging is my favorite part...well planned and thought out video love it!
Frankie Rooney: Babesss this video is soooo goooood!! it should be made into a real film....loved it!
DT896: my fave part of the video is when the diary pages turn over themselves! Really effective title sequence....the neck breaking sound makes me jump every time XD
Chris Murphy: wish my school could make a media video as good as this, it's really scary haha, but you probably could have lit the beginning track better to make it less dark. But overall really sick vid :)
Poppy Perrin: The picture of the doll on the wall creeped me out so much lmao! LOVE IT!
By these comments it is clear that we targeted the right audience as this is the peer group that left comments on the video.
stephaniemareen: i really like the pace of editing and the titles. Great thriller.
LegasyOleg: Very creepy opening. I've jumped on the chair when heard this knock-knock sound! Awesome and really thrilling piece
hurtwoodhousemedia: that's so creepy!! I really like it!!
hurtwoodhousemedia: the doll hanging is my favorite part...well planned and thought out video love it!
Frankie Rooney: Babesss this video is soooo goooood!! it should be made into a real film....loved it!
DT896: my fave part of the video is when the diary pages turn over themselves! Really effective title sequence....the neck breaking sound makes me jump every time XD
Chris Murphy: wish my school could make a media video as good as this, it's really scary haha, but you probably could have lit the beginning track better to make it less dark. But overall really sick vid :)
Poppy Perrin: The picture of the doll on the wall creeped me out so much lmao! LOVE IT!
By these comments it is clear that we targeted the right audience as this is the peer group that left comments on the video.
Account of shoot day
The setting up for the shoot location started the day before. We were using the studio and wanted the Mise-en-scène to look like a twisted child’s den with props such as cut, burnt and covered in blood children’s toys. We chose to use the studio as our location because we could have complete control of everything and would not be effective not natural light or the weather. The only real problem was the amount of time it took to set the set because we had to start completely from scratch. Although it was time consuming we had the ability to build the environment exactly how we wanted it. We started to make these props the night before filming. On the day of shooting we took four and a half hours to set up the location. This included laying out the tracks for the camera, the strategic placing of the props including the toys and diary, the panting of the pictures on the wall and the setting up of the swing (which was used to give the illusion of hanging) we feel this created an effective Mise-en-scène for the shoot. The same way that the Mise-en-scène in “the ring” when the girl is sat in stool with her long black hair in the middle of a white room.
. The set was quite similar to our last one-shot story board, but in the story board we had only diary pages and in our shoot we thought it would be more effective to use toys and pictures as well as this gave it more dimension. We did this by having some props on the floor, some flat on the wall and one hanging from the ceiling. I feel as if we were very well prepared for are shooting day, every one knew what they had to do and got on with it, also that we did our props the day before so that we did not waste time.
We had decided to do our thriller in a one shot style. We used a continuous tracking shot that tilted up and down as if someone was looking around the room. We decided this because we thought it would help for continuity and build tension. One of the main problems we encountered was that it was hard to keep the camera movements fluid as it moved across the tracks, we managed to overcome this by rehearsing it and moving the tracks slightly to make it easier for the camera to move along them. My favourite part of the shot is when the camera tracks over the pictures on the wall and then the rope comes into the shot, the camera then tilts down the rope till a hanging baby toy which has bright red blood over its head, which is a effective juxtaposition between the darkness of the rest of the room and colours. At first we placed are props on the wall to high up on the wall, when doing a test run with the camera we saw that this did not look right so we moved them further down to make it easier for the camera to pick them up.
We had a very basic costume for our actress; a simple black dress as it would turn out we never saw the actress’s body but it was good to be prepared. We chose a simple black dress because it was unobtrusive yet slightly creepy. The destroyed children’s toys gave the set more depth then are original idea of just the diary pages. The toys were used to portray the torched mind of the girl and the people we will die later on in the film.
We only had one cast member in our film. We needed a youngish girl, with pale skin and long dark hair. We wanted her to look a little bit like the girl from “the ring” with a creepy edge. There where a few girls in the school who fit the mould of what we were looking for. In the end we choose I girl called Petri Kimber, as she not only had the look but was a strong actress as well. We also wanted are main actress to be a teenager young adult as this is the age of the target audience and by this they would relate to her better. As it ended up on the shoot day we only saw her shadow and at the end her feet. Both of these did look effective as she has a slight frame which was clear in the shadow and small feet which made her look like a child when she was hanging.
We used quite basic lighting as we thought it would be more realistic and therefore more effective. We had a softer spot light over the area where he hanging was going to take place and we used a bare light bulb hanging over the room so the lighting looked like a loft. We also used backlights behind the girl to cast her shadow on the wall when she opens the door and walks through the room.
There were a few certain sounds that we needed to record so that we could use them in post production. We first recorded the ambiance of the room which is always important to make as realistic as possible, we did this by just recording the sounds of the room for a short amount of time. We also wanted to get the sound of the stool rocking, the rope tightening, chocking and feet twitching. We recorded these in the same way, making sure the room was completely silent. The other sounds we are going to use we will source from sound effects files.
My role on the shoot day was director; I made sure everyone knew what they were meant to be doing and when they should be doing it. I helped in the setting up of the set and had the final say on what I thought worked and what I thought did not. I also was watching the monitor to have an idea how everything would translate onto camera and then onto screen. Every helped out in different ways; every one helped in the setting up of the set, Ross was in control of the fan which turned the pages of the diary, Alex was operating the camera and TK was making sure the cables didn’t get tangled. We all worked well as a team because everyone knew what they were meant to be doing and did not get in each others way. Every one also was willing to help out when needed.
I was very pleased with the shot that we ended up getting at the end of the day. It was exactly as we had pictured it if not better. It was a slight veneration to the storyboard as I mentioned earlier but this made for a more dynamic sequence. The day went without a hitch due to good planning and excellent team work.
. The set was quite similar to our last one-shot story board, but in the story board we had only diary pages and in our shoot we thought it would be more effective to use toys and pictures as well as this gave it more dimension. We did this by having some props on the floor, some flat on the wall and one hanging from the ceiling. I feel as if we were very well prepared for are shooting day, every one knew what they had to do and got on with it, also that we did our props the day before so that we did not waste time.
We had decided to do our thriller in a one shot style. We used a continuous tracking shot that tilted up and down as if someone was looking around the room. We decided this because we thought it would help for continuity and build tension. One of the main problems we encountered was that it was hard to keep the camera movements fluid as it moved across the tracks, we managed to overcome this by rehearsing it and moving the tracks slightly to make it easier for the camera to move along them. My favourite part of the shot is when the camera tracks over the pictures on the wall and then the rope comes into the shot, the camera then tilts down the rope till a hanging baby toy which has bright red blood over its head, which is a effective juxtaposition between the darkness of the rest of the room and colours. At first we placed are props on the wall to high up on the wall, when doing a test run with the camera we saw that this did not look right so we moved them further down to make it easier for the camera to pick them up.
We had a very basic costume for our actress; a simple black dress as it would turn out we never saw the actress’s body but it was good to be prepared. We chose a simple black dress because it was unobtrusive yet slightly creepy. The destroyed children’s toys gave the set more depth then are original idea of just the diary pages. The toys were used to portray the torched mind of the girl and the people we will die later on in the film.
We only had one cast member in our film. We needed a youngish girl, with pale skin and long dark hair. We wanted her to look a little bit like the girl from “the ring” with a creepy edge. There where a few girls in the school who fit the mould of what we were looking for. In the end we choose I girl called Petri Kimber, as she not only had the look but was a strong actress as well. We also wanted are main actress to be a teenager young adult as this is the age of the target audience and by this they would relate to her better. As it ended up on the shoot day we only saw her shadow and at the end her feet. Both of these did look effective as she has a slight frame which was clear in the shadow and small feet which made her look like a child when she was hanging.
We used quite basic lighting as we thought it would be more realistic and therefore more effective. We had a softer spot light over the area where he hanging was going to take place and we used a bare light bulb hanging over the room so the lighting looked like a loft. We also used backlights behind the girl to cast her shadow on the wall when she opens the door and walks through the room.
There were a few certain sounds that we needed to record so that we could use them in post production. We first recorded the ambiance of the room which is always important to make as realistic as possible, we did this by just recording the sounds of the room for a short amount of time. We also wanted to get the sound of the stool rocking, the rope tightening, chocking and feet twitching. We recorded these in the same way, making sure the room was completely silent. The other sounds we are going to use we will source from sound effects files.
My role on the shoot day was director; I made sure everyone knew what they were meant to be doing and when they should be doing it. I helped in the setting up of the set and had the final say on what I thought worked and what I thought did not. I also was watching the monitor to have an idea how everything would translate onto camera and then onto screen. Every helped out in different ways; every one helped in the setting up of the set, Ross was in control of the fan which turned the pages of the diary, Alex was operating the camera and TK was making sure the cables didn’t get tangled. We all worked well as a team because everyone knew what they were meant to be doing and did not get in each others way. Every one also was willing to help out when needed.
I was very pleased with the shot that we ended up getting at the end of the day. It was exactly as we had pictured it if not better. It was a slight veneration to the storyboard as I mentioned earlier but this made for a more dynamic sequence. The day went without a hitch due to good planning and excellent team work.
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Shooting Schedule
Alex in our group put together the shooting schedule. She did this by putting all shots from the same angle together then putting then into time slots next to each other. As our one actor was free all day we did not need to build our schedule around it. It is important to have a shooting schedule so that everyone knows whats happening during the day and when. This also enables us to use are time efficiently and not take to long on any one thing.
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