link to Annaliese's blog

www.annalieselaw.blogspot.com

Our individual blogs

http://www.alexandraosben.blogspot.com/

http://zaracallow.blogspot.com/

http://matthewtierneymusic.blogspot.com/

www.annalieselaw.blogspot.com

Album Work Analysis

Pose- camp, notable of Freddie Mercury.

Bold font

Dark colours contrasts Freddie in white.

  

 

Pink and girly appeals to target audience also quite provocative reflecting her,

Name is larger and stands out the most,

She is the main focus,

Shows light heartedness and reflects her music.

  

 

 

Big bold name – stands out.

Background – blurry makes Coolio the focus.

Parental advisory- makes it seem naughty!

White background makes text and colours stand out also white provokes innocence reflecting their image and music,

Different colours reflect their image i.e. being individuals

Album Covers Analysis.

CD cover research

We did a powerpoint presentation on CD covers and what subliminal meanings and messages they could represent based on the images, colours, layout and text used in preparation for our ancillary task.

Filming - Monday 14th November

We planned to re-film many of the skateboarding shots that we previously had because we felt that they didn't fit the narrative. The shots we had were too unstructured and we had planned to film more shots to fill in some gaps we had, and give more structure to this section. We also felt that it was necessary because the weather in the previous skateboarding shots didn't fit with the wather in the rest of the sequences. For example the shots in the woods were a lot darker, and the skateboarding shots were extremely sunny. Therefore we had to re-film in order to make this scene fit.
However, we encountered a few problems on this day of filming. Other members of the group could not make it to film, and that left just two members of the group available, we went to Dartford anyway to see what we could get done. When we arrived the skate-park was desserted, meaning it would be hard to film any shots that would fit with the previous footage, as well as this, the poeple that we thought would come and skate for us had other commitments and then couldn't come. Therefore we thought it unlikely that we could get any of the footage that we wanted.
To overcome this problem we decided to film as much footage as we could in a childrens play park. We thouht of some ideas and how it oculd fit the previous narrative, we have now decided to use this play park footage instead of the skatepark because as a group we felt this would fit in much easier and it gives the whole video a lot more structure. We now have all the footage we need and we will continue editing to get the finished music video.

Editing so far...

Up until now we have completed a lot of editing of the video.
The whole beginning of the music video is completed:
-Matt walking down the stairs and entering the kitchen
-Matt seeing the masked head in the fridge, dropping the orange juice
-Matt running (scared) out of his house, on his journey to Oxleas woods.

The next scene is a work in progress, we have all of the footage of Oxleas woods and are currently editing it together for our narrative in order to have an effective and consistent plot in our music video.

We did film and edit the following scene at Dartford Skatepark but we felt that it didn't have concept or co-ordination so we have decided to use some of the shots of the skating tricks but re-film the majority of it in order for it to tell some sort of story and fit in with the rest of the video, rather than just being a series of good shots.

The supermarket scene is also completed and fits in with the narrative. Our main focus at the moment is editing the performance at the end of the video. This was the first sequence we filmed and edited, but it is the last set of clips in the video, therefore the editing which we did do has now been put out of time because of the clips before.

Then all we have to do is the skateboard shots and final editing to the beat to make it perfect.

Our progress so far... 2

We managed to film the Oxleas Wood scene, and it didn't take long as we storyboarded it in detail and it is a short scene. We found no major difficulties as it began to rain afterwards and some of the general public got in the way.

Our progress so far...

So far, we have filmed the kitchen scene, performance, and skate park scene but we will re-shoot this. Today, we plan on filming in the woods, and we have storyboarded this scene in detail so that every shot is perfect, but the weather might get in the way. We wanted to film in Dartford at the weekend, but again, it is supposed to rain all day.
We have edited the first part of our music video up until the point where Matt runs out of the house, and we are really pleased with it. The performance shots are proving to be harder to edit as we want it to match the beat, and we have a lot of shots to choose from.

Filming 03/11/2011

Today we went to Oxleas woods to film part of the narrative section for our music video.  Unfortunately the weather wasn't sunny so it was dissimilar to our previous filming, however we over came this by filming this scene in a well covered area so that the audience would be under the influence that the dark lighting were caused by the surrounding trees and overgrowth, rather than the poor winter weather.
We felt we were much more efficient compared to previous filming experiences as we created a separate storyboard so that we could have a detailed plan and a clear focus on exactly what we should film.
We brought along the masks for Annaliese and Alex to wear, along with the 'indie' clothes that we've worn throughout the filming that we've already done for continuity and consistency.
Because we were filming in Oxleas woods there are a number of people who walk their dogs, therefore we had to make sure our shots weren't interrupted by dog walkers. There was one occasion where dogs ran in to our shot, so we had we had to re shoot that scene again.
We used a wide shot to match the running from the first scene at the house as a transition to the woods, along with other wide shots of the masked characters which Matt couldn't see to convey dramatic irony. There are also close ups of the masked people along with others of Matt's confused face and an extreme close up of Alex stepping on a twig which triggers Matt's confusion.
We decided to include POV's from the perspective of both Matt and the masked characters; from Matt it was a simple POV done by him holding the camera, whereas with the masked characters we decided to get a piece of cardboard and hole-punching two holes in it to represent how they are observing Matt through a mask, giving an obscured view of him.

26/10/2011

On Wednesday, me and Annaliese went to Matt's house to shoot the fridge scene. We began by filling our 'fridge' with food such as bacon and eggs in order to make it look as realistic as possible, and at first glance it looked very amateur, but then we realised it look a lot better through the camera lens and we're pleased with the way it has turned out. We then filmed Matt walking to his fridge from various angles, such as mid shots and close ups of his hand opening the door. One issue we had was that we wanted a shot from inside the fridge so that Matt could be seen opening the fridge and taking out some orange juice, but the camera kept having a blurry picture, probably due to the cold or darkness in the fridge. However, we tried the shot multiple times and it finally worked out.

Lighting ideas for performance scene

After looking at the locations, we decided to use lights for the performance section to create a better atmosphere. Therefore, we need to buy these props:

-fairy lights

-tealights

We think this is important as we want the mise en scene to be a key part of the performance, and lighting is a big part of that.

In preparation for the filming at Matt's house, we are also going to get spare orange juice.

15/10/11

On Saturday we went to Dartford skate park to film the skate scene of our music video. We all went and initially thought it would be packed and slightly awkward as other people would be there and may not participate, however as soon as we got the masks out a lot of people come over and got involved and we found that people were more then happy to help. A lot of the time we just filmed anything we felt would be good and not shots that were necessarily on the storyboard. In particular we thought of a shot where Matt would hold the tripod around him and it would film his face as he ran down the hill, this was not an original shot however we felt that it would really work.
We hope that we have got the right shots that we need however we as we have started early we are able to re shot anything, we are going to film the Oxleas wood and fridge seen on saturday.

8/10/2011

Today me, Alex and Zara went to Matt's house to do some filming.
We each took an instrument -with Zara filming- and played 'My Little Haunting' on repeat in order to get a wide variation of shots, doing it with the masks on and off, doing close-ups of band members and instruments and we think that we have got all of the performance shots that we need.
We weren't able to make a back drop for the performance area to cover Matt's "inappropriate curtains" but instead took them off to reveal some velvet curtains and hung some fairy lights from the curtain pole which we think looked nice and matched the light-hearted mood whilst also adding to the 'low-budget- indie music video effect.
We also lit lots of tea candles and positioned them around the performance area and though they weren't really seen in the wide shots of the performance, they were clearly visible in the low angle close ups and also when we filmed Matt getting up from the floor (a shot we plan to use at the beginning of the music video) and they also added a really nice light to the shots.
Another thing we managed to film was the last shot when me and Alex have our masks on and throw the sheet over Matt in order to turn him into a ghost. We experiemented with these shots, doing handheld shots, ones from behind, infront and also from the side so that when we edit, we have a lot to work from.
When we do the four way split screen we plan on having one of the quarters of the screen to be a shot of Matt walking down the stairs with the others being close ups of instruments but we managed to get shots of Matt on the stairs from lots of different and interesting angles and thought that maybe we could have alternate angles of Matt walking down the stairs appearing in time with the beat to the song and following the close ups of the instruments could replace these shots.
We were going to do the fridge shots today, with the head inside the cardboard box but we painted it and left it for a few hours to dry but unfortunately it didn't dry in time so we're going to do that another time.

Costume

We are all going to wear the same costume throughout shooting as we want continuity. Also, Alex and Annaliese and Matt will wear the same costume as we want the audience to be able to connect our masked characters to the band members at the end of the video.

As the band, we will wear clothes that are similar to that of the target audience which can be categorised as 'indie'.

These are the possible costume choices for Alex:

 

This is the possible costume for Annaliese: a plain white shirt with an indie bow-tie, a moleskin skirt along with black brogues.

Matt will wear a checked shirt with the top button done up and some rolled up skinny jeans.

Running Shot Idea

When he is running and the camera is always on his face, it shows the running motion and the facial expressions. This camera angle and shot we feel would make our music video more exciting when the lead character is running away from the "hauntings". We have tested this out and we found a way that we can achieve this shot. I will have to hold the tripod close to my waist with the camera on the tripod focused on my face, and i have to run away steadily looking scared. We are going to try and put this in our video after the skatepark shots. It is very effective as it gives the audience a claustrophobic out of control feel. The audience are confused and slightly disorientated as all you can see is the face and movement.

Fish and chips and vinegar!

At the beginning of our music video we plan to have a 4 way split screen of the instruments building up during the introduction to the song. We decided to attempt something similar by recreating a 'Fish and Chips and Vinegar' song that we found on YouTube. We decided to try this out as it's something we definitely want to do but we think it could also be the most challenging part of the music video. As you can see it isn't perfect, the lip synching isn't great and there are lots of timing issues with parts of the split screen disappearing at times but we think with a bit more time with the editing, we could tighten it up and make it perfect.

Fridge idea

We decided that instead of green screening which can look amateur and is quite time-consuming and complex, we would re-create the inside of a fridge for the 'masked head in fridge' scene. We researched how we could achieve this and found this link:

http://www.coolest-homemade-costumes.com/coolest-frozen-head-in-fridge-costume-1.html

Taking reference from this, we plan on getting a cardboard box and spray painting it. To look as realistic as possible, we researched fridges to make sure that ours looked as real as possible:

In this case, we will need to make sure we have:

-a cardboard box

-an orange juice carton

-empty egg carton

-empty butter container

-white paint/spray paint

-a lamp

Test shot video

This week we decided to try out a few test shots so that we could have some experience and know what shots will and won't work. We have yet to make a fridge and do test shots of that but we did the POV of the ghost, the 4-way split-screen of Matthew and tried out some shots that we'd like to use with the skateboards (though we weren't able to get an actual skateboard at the time so had to use a dolly from the media classes track and dolly).
We found out that some shots just didn't work so had to try alternatives, whilst discovering that other's did work and that we could use them in our music video.

Green screen

Green screen is an example of chroma key compositing, which is a way of layering two images together. Blue screens are also used, but green is popular as it requires less light and image sensors in digital cameras are more sensitive to green, creating a clearer image with less 'noise'.

None of us have ever used green screen before so we have had to research the technique. 

The following are examples of music videos that use green screen:

Tony Christie ft. Peter Kay- Is This The Way To Amarillo

After some discussion, we decided that instead of using green screen, we will try to re-create a fridge as it should make the shot look more realistic.

Our Ghost Costume!!!

Ghost sheet before we have cut out the eyes - Annaliese

Ghost sheet before we have cut out the eyes - Matt

First problem we encountered - when drawing the outline of the eyes it left a stain on the back of the sheet...

After learning from our mistake the second sheet was done better, with no stains on the other side

Zara cutting out the holes

Teamwork of cutting the holes to finish quicker!

One eye successfully done!

The finished sheets! Matt and Annaliese

Close up of Annaliese's ghost costume



Close up of Matt's costume!

 To create the ghost costumes, we firstly put the sheet over the person who was playing the ghost and we leveled the sheet out so that it looked as good as we could get it. We then put a purple dot where the persons eyes were. After this, we laid the sheet down and put a bottle of water over the dot and drew a circle around the bottle. We then cut out the circles to have our eye holes and our final ghost costumes.
We encountered a couple of problems when creating our ghost costumes. The first problem was the purple stain which was left on the back of Matt's ghost costume, in the shape of circles. This is because the sheet was folded over when we started drawing the holes. It will cause problems in our music video because there would be some over the shoulder shots of the ghost, in which case the marks would be visible. To sort out this problem we are going to try bleaching the stain, or washing the sheet, if this doesn't work, we will just have to change and play around with some of the angles that were supposed to be in the video so that the mark isn't visible.
Secondly as you can tell from the pictures, the eye holes of the ghosts are a little too big. There is a lot more of the persons face visible than we had hoped. It isn't a major problem as there aren't too many close ups of the ghost so we can hide the fact that the holes are big when shooting the video. We also thought that we should colour in our eyes black so that the circles look dark and the skin and the eyes are not as visible. We will use face paint, and paint around our eyes black to give the ghost costume a better effect. We will test this out in test shot week, next week.

Our Target Audience

Our target audience is an audience who listens to 'Indie' music. 'Indie' music is mainly followed by teens, and it is very popular amongst them. This means our target audience is boys and girls aged thirteen upwards. Obviously there is no age limit on the people that enjoy the 'indie' genre but it is mainly enjoyed by the younger generation of males and females.
The characteristics of the 'indie' genre are quirky ideas, bright colours, funny concepts, and a retro feel. We feel we can live up to these characteristics in our video. This is why the music is mainly targeted at the younger generation. They enjoy the unique ways in which 'indie' bands work, with their 'strange' videos that don't always make sense.

What we have done:
To appeal to the target audience, we have tried to include as many of the characteristics as possible. Firstly we have the quirky idea of the lead singer being chased by lots of masked people, including a ghost dressed in a bed sheet. Secondly, we have tried to tackle the bright colours characteristic by filming in the sun light, so the whole video will be bright and sunny, even though the lyrics of the song are horror related. This gives a contrast which also adds to the quirkiness of the video. We have a funny/strange concept through the idea of the ghost and the fact that they will appear in everyday places e.g. the supermarket. Finally, we have a retro feel through that of the ghost who will be dressed in a very retro costume, where we'll just be using a bed-sheet, it is the old style view of a ghost costume.
As well as these characteristics, 'indie' fans do enjoy the performance aspect of the music. Many fans enjoy seeing their favorite bands playing live so we are going to capture this in the video by having some performance based shots.

Skateboarding shots.

Skateboarding video
For our music video we want to have a scene in a skatepark where there are some people skating and the ghosts and masked people take over and convert them. We want to add lots of interesting shots of the wheels and movement to add an abstract effect to the video and to make it more of an interesting piece to watch. In this skateboarding video there are lots of interesting shots such as a low angle shot watching the skaters coming over the camera and then a match on action cut to the skaters landing on the ground from the view of a camera placed on the round.
Following that there is a shot that we are definitely going to use in our video which is a POV from the skater which sees him picking up the camera, mounting the skateboard and then skating off after the other skaters. There is then a cut with the continuation of the POV of him skating after the others; the handheld shot giving the shot a sense of movement.
Another good shot in this video is later on when the camera is again placed on the floor but this time at the side of a half pipe and you get to see the skater riding past it with a good close up on the wheels.

The lighting in this video is also good as there is some glare from the sun but it is slightly overcast and cloudy like it usually is in Britain. I think the glare would be good on the camera as it can make a shot better by blocking parts out, highlighting some things and adding movement when moving the camera from the glare to normal lighting.

Test shot ideas

There are a few shots that we would like to practice shooting before we shoot the real video, as we need to practice the techniques in order to make them look effective.

We will do test shots for the following shots:

P.O.V from the eyes of the ghost as we need to make sure that we can see the outline of the eyes as well as what the ghost is looking at: we will need to make sure that Matt can be seen in the frame.

The 4-way split screen of the lead singer walking in various locations as although we have already practiced this technique, we need to make each frame equal in size and time the shots in sequence.

Green screen of the masked head in the fridge as we have never used a green screen before. We need to make sure that it looks realistic.

P.O.V from the skateboarder as we need to get the masked person in the frame, and also try to keep it as steady as possible so that it does not look amateur.

Dropping the orange juice as we want to be able to time the spilling of the juice with the shot of Matt's feet running away in the background, whilst making sure it is an artistically effective shot.

Supermarket Inspiration

This is the video that we got our inspiration from for the supermarket scene. The difference will be that the person who is being chased (in this video pac man) will be the lead singer of the video. Similar to pac man, he will be chased by a ghost, however the ghost will be dressed up in a white sheet. We want the people in the super market to have genuine confused and possibly scared reactions to what is going on around them. We will have to inform the authorities at the supermarket just to check that they are alright with it and that we wont get arrested like Remi Gaillard does in this video.
This video uses amateur handheld shots so obviously doesn't look as professional, we wouldn't want to have this style as our video wouldn't look the best quality it could. We plan to have a rapid succession of different angles and still shots of us running through the supermarket. We feel this would look better and more professional, and fit well in our video.
We want this scene to convey the quirky aspect of our music video. The reaction of the teen audience should be laughter.
We are going to use the ghost costume and someone will also be dressed up in a parrot costume as those two are full body costumes and we feel they will get the best reaction. We may use other masked people but we don't want to push our luck at the supermarket.

Location list

This is a list of all the places we will be filming our music video at.

Matt's house- the kitchen scene

Matt's Kitchen

The fridge where the head will appear which we will use green screens for.

Matt's garage- the band performance scene



This is where the performance scenes will be held. We will decorate this area to make it fit the video a bit more, maybe have it darker with candles, we are also ceating a back drop to go over the curtains or plain wall.



Oxleas woods- the wood scene

Dartford skate park- the skate park scene

Dartford Sainsbury's- the supermarket scene