Monday, 21 February 2011
How effective is the combination of your main product and your ancillary texts?
I believe that the visual links found between the website, digi-pak and music video are a key element in our project. We wanted to make the connection clear between all of the products so that our target audience could easily associate them at first glance. To achieve this, we decided a common theme would be necessary throughout the ancillary texts. For example using similar imagery to that used in the video, the front and back design of the digi-pak as well as on the background of the website we were able to add consistency.
We felt that it was most important to create a visual link or theme between our three ancillary products. This way, our audience would connect with all three and would be able to categorize them (as well as the video itself) as a whole unit of products. We were encouraged to achieve this, not only from researching artists and their products, but from our focus groups during our primary research. A lot of people who we asked said that a successful artist or band should create a clear yet stylish link between all of their products.
Although a poster was not created, we believed that the music video would be sufficient enough to penetrate directly into it's target audience. This is why we decided to follow the theme with imagery directly taken out of our music video. The images featuring the horse and master, make up a relatively large segment of the overall music video and therefore will easily be seen as a key part of the product in the minds of the audiences. The idea is that through seeing the music video on television on mainstream channels such as MTV, consumers will be able to make a clear link when they see the digi-pak. Where the music video will target new fans as well as loyal fans, the reason behind the website containing the image of the horse are to promote the new album to already existing fans in case they miss the music video and simply investigate the website.
We based our digi-pak design not only on the footage from the music video but we were also inspired by the research we conducted into Snow Patrol's real album designs. We found out that none of their album covers actually showed the band themselves which made our process easier as we only showed the 'lead singer' in our production and did not equate for a band to be created. By taking a still picture and spending time in IPhoto (a programme ran through Mac computers) editing and adjusting the contrast, light intensity and colour density, we were able to create the perfect picture for our media ancillary texts.
Overall I believe the combination of our main product and ancillary tasks was very successful. The reason for this being due to the fact we made a strong visual link which would enable instant recognition to any fans interesting in the band and it's products, as well as looking professional and appealing to the eye.
We felt that it was most important to create a visual link or theme between our three ancillary products. This way, our audience would connect with all three and would be able to categorize them (as well as the video itself) as a whole unit of products. We were encouraged to achieve this, not only from researching artists and their products, but from our focus groups during our primary research. A lot of people who we asked said that a successful artist or band should create a clear yet stylish link between all of their products.
Although a poster was not created, we believed that the music video would be sufficient enough to penetrate directly into it's target audience. This is why we decided to follow the theme with imagery directly taken out of our music video. The images featuring the horse and master, make up a relatively large segment of the overall music video and therefore will easily be seen as a key part of the product in the minds of the audiences. The idea is that through seeing the music video on television on mainstream channels such as MTV, consumers will be able to make a clear link when they see the digi-pak. Where the music video will target new fans as well as loyal fans, the reason behind the website containing the image of the horse are to promote the new album to already existing fans in case they miss the music video and simply investigate the website.
We based our digi-pak design not only on the footage from the music video but we were also inspired by the research we conducted into Snow Patrol's real album designs. We found out that none of their album covers actually showed the band themselves which made our process easier as we only showed the 'lead singer' in our production and did not equate for a band to be created. By taking a still picture and spending time in IPhoto (a programme ran through Mac computers) editing and adjusting the contrast, light intensity and colour density, we were able to create the perfect picture for our media ancillary texts.
Overall I believe the combination of our main product and ancillary tasks was very successful. The reason for this being due to the fact we made a strong visual link which would enable instant recognition to any fans interesting in the band and it's products, as well as looking professional and appealing to the eye.
In what ways does your media product, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I feel that our music video, from the research and planning to the finished product, both challenges and develops the conventions that are used in real media products today. When starting this project, we had studied media theorist, Andrew Goodwin. According to him, there are seven key features that a music video must try to achieve. Through careful consideration we adapted nearly each of the conventions and included aspects of them in our music video. Firstly there is genre characteristics. This, I believe, is clearly demonstrated throughout the design, our chosen themes and our actual music video. The alternative indie productions produced by Snow Patrol, and similar bands such as The Wombats, The Kooks and Arctic Monkeys, are often made through visually artistic concept combined with performance imagery which is what we felt was important to achieve.
The link between the music and the visuals we found was far more important for our production. The slow pace of the music meant that cuts had to be perfectly timed and changes in clips had to be carefully selected, selecting a creative range, so that the audience did not get bored whilst watching the video. I believe that the editing and shot length and arrangement was well suited to the song that we chose, and that it was much harder to achieve than it would be with a fast paced song.
The notion of looking put forward by Goodwin is a convention that is massively exploited over many genres in the music industry, especially the R&B and Rap genres. However we questioned weather this was necessary in our production, as we did not intend to represent the women as a sex object. Laura Mulvey, media theorist has explored and developed the Male Gaze theory. She believes women in the media are seen strongly, through the eyes of men, as sex objects. We did not want to reflect this image of the females used in our music video as it did not suit the context of the lyrics or themes of the song. We used symbolic references to replace what would be the woman role in our video. The black horse shown being led through a field and eventually running freely is there to resemble the woman in the failed relationship. We felt a horse was appropriate because they are strong, elegant and proud creatures which represented the new found strength and freedom of the female.
Intertextual content, the last of Goodwins points we conformed to, consists of a media product linking to several other media types (internet, film, radio etc). Although this was not a main focus point of our finished product we have included some inter-textual content which is also symbolic to our chosen song. We have included a scene where a ring on a gold chain is thrown into a pond, which of course is meant to mimic the scene from Titanic, where Rose throws the Jewel into the ocean. The use of the burning letters is also a clear link to the romance film The Notebook where Allie’s mother keeps letters sent to her from her partner because she believes he is not suitable for her.
By conducting both primary and secondary research on specifically chosen audiences, we were able to follows the conventions of the genre and style of song we chose. Not only researching the band themselves, but by conducting focus groups with various age groups revealed who Snow Patrol's main audiences were and because of this, we were able to select some ideas that the groups put forward. This was a key into the development of the video as it allowed us to combine conventions and styles that Snow Patrol use, with what the audience wanted to see.
Overall, using Goodwin's theory as an indicator of a real media music videos, it is clear that whilst our production does meet the majority of conventions commonly found in our chosen genre, we have also developed certain conventions to suit the demands required by our particular song. We also challenged some conventions which are often seen in real life media productions. For example by de-sexualising the women in our video, instead of showing her in a provocative light.
The link between the music and the visuals we found was far more important for our production. The slow pace of the music meant that cuts had to be perfectly timed and changes in clips had to be carefully selected, selecting a creative range, so that the audience did not get bored whilst watching the video. I believe that the editing and shot length and arrangement was well suited to the song that we chose, and that it was much harder to achieve than it would be with a fast paced song.
The notion of looking put forward by Goodwin is a convention that is massively exploited over many genres in the music industry, especially the R&B and Rap genres. However we questioned weather this was necessary in our production, as we did not intend to represent the women as a sex object. Laura Mulvey, media theorist has explored and developed the Male Gaze theory. She believes women in the media are seen strongly, through the eyes of men, as sex objects. We did not want to reflect this image of the females used in our music video as it did not suit the context of the lyrics or themes of the song. We used symbolic references to replace what would be the woman role in our video. The black horse shown being led through a field and eventually running freely is there to resemble the woman in the failed relationship. We felt a horse was appropriate because they are strong, elegant and proud creatures which represented the new found strength and freedom of the female.
Intertextual content, the last of Goodwins points we conformed to, consists of a media product linking to several other media types (internet, film, radio etc). Although this was not a main focus point of our finished product we have included some inter-textual content which is also symbolic to our chosen song. We have included a scene where a ring on a gold chain is thrown into a pond, which of course is meant to mimic the scene from Titanic, where Rose throws the Jewel into the ocean. The use of the burning letters is also a clear link to the romance film The Notebook where Allie’s mother keeps letters sent to her from her partner because she believes he is not suitable for her.
By conducting both primary and secondary research on specifically chosen audiences, we were able to follows the conventions of the genre and style of song we chose. Not only researching the band themselves, but by conducting focus groups with various age groups revealed who Snow Patrol's main audiences were and because of this, we were able to select some ideas that the groups put forward. This was a key into the development of the video as it allowed us to combine conventions and styles that Snow Patrol use, with what the audience wanted to see.
Overall, using Goodwin's theory as an indicator of a real media music videos, it is clear that whilst our production does meet the majority of conventions commonly found in our chosen genre, we have also developed certain conventions to suit the demands required by our particular song. We also challenged some conventions which are often seen in real life media productions. For example by de-sexualising the women in our video, instead of showing her in a provocative light.
Sunday, 20 February 2011
What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
Audience feedback has played a vital part throughout the construction and development of our entire project, and has enabled us to editing and make small but important changes to our music video. As soon as we had chosen our song to do our music video on, we selected focus group from around our school and asked them to fill in a questionnaire on what images and themes came to mind when listening to our song. We were surprises that many candidates put forward many of the same ideas which were almost all symbolic or concept.
This first stage was important as we learnt what the audience wanted, and who the audiences were.
Secondly we created our video to what we believed would satisfy our target audiences as we had merged their ideas which would fit with the song, with the conventions that are commonly associated with Snow Patrol's music.
Another way we used audience feedback was after we had finished editing for the first time. We showed our music video to a small group of people to gain some feedback on where we could improve on. One of the most common pieces of feedback was that our editing was slightly to slow in pace, even though we used a slow song, they suggest we interject more short artistic shots. As well as that, they said to make sure our lip sinking was completely in time. Using this feedback, we took increased the pace slightly and scrupulously analysed the lip-syncing. After these changes had been made we took advantage of various platforms such as Facebook and YouTube, but also confronted the same focus group as well as a few more. We learnt from this that the changes had made a great difference to the video as the majority of the audience no longer found the footage boring or generic but instead enjoyed watching the whole thing. We also learnt that the deep level of symbolism used in our concepts may have been to complex for some of the audience as we received various comments asking things like 'what was the horse for' and 'why was it in a barn'. We learnt that although the footage was not bad quality, some of the implied meanings within were hard to decode without the summary provided on the blog, and next time we would make them slightly less intense.
Some of the feedback included how well the lip-syncing was as some people mistook Ben for the singing and the more artistic shots. The more negative comments were ‘What was the horse for?’ and ‘Why was it in a barn?’ This showed us maybe our symbols were slightly too deep without the explanation of the blog and we should have made them more explicit with there connotations in the film. Next time, we would make the meanings more outspoken and obviously to the younger target audiences.
Mrs K Moore, (a teacher at Hannah's mum's work said: "I thoroughly enjoyed watching the video. The theme was clearly evident throughout and the hcoice of the two locations successfully represented the emotional turmoil of the two characters. The open space suggested a long ing for freedom,whilst the enclosed, grey dance space gave the illusion of being trapped. The tethered horse used in the first frame gave the impression of being trapped whilst the shot used later when the horse is loose, represents freedom. The choice of a dark, miserable, rainy day also helped to symbolise the breakdown of the relationship as the raindrops represented tears shed. I suggest that you use a few additional close up artistic, to reiterate and emphasise the symbols you have already used."
This first stage was important as we learnt what the audience wanted, and who the audiences were.
Secondly we created our video to what we believed would satisfy our target audiences as we had merged their ideas which would fit with the song, with the conventions that are commonly associated with Snow Patrol's music.
Another way we used audience feedback was after we had finished editing for the first time. We showed our music video to a small group of people to gain some feedback on where we could improve on. One of the most common pieces of feedback was that our editing was slightly to slow in pace, even though we used a slow song, they suggest we interject more short artistic shots. As well as that, they said to make sure our lip sinking was completely in time. Using this feedback, we took increased the pace slightly and scrupulously analysed the lip-syncing. After these changes had been made we took advantage of various platforms such as Facebook and YouTube, but also confronted the same focus group as well as a few more. We learnt from this that the changes had made a great difference to the video as the majority of the audience no longer found the footage boring or generic but instead enjoyed watching the whole thing. We also learnt that the deep level of symbolism used in our concepts may have been to complex for some of the audience as we received various comments asking things like 'what was the horse for' and 'why was it in a barn'. We learnt that although the footage was not bad quality, some of the implied meanings within were hard to decode without the summary provided on the blog, and next time we would make them slightly less intense.
Some of the feedback included how well the lip-syncing was as some people mistook Ben for the singing and the more artistic shots. The more negative comments were ‘What was the horse for?’ and ‘Why was it in a barn?’ This showed us maybe our symbols were slightly too deep without the explanation of the blog and we should have made them more explicit with there connotations in the film. Next time, we would make the meanings more outspoken and obviously to the younger target audiences.
Mrs K Moore, (a teacher at Hannah's mum's work said: "I thoroughly enjoyed watching the video. The theme was clearly evident throughout and the hcoice of the two locations successfully represented the emotional turmoil of the two characters. The open space suggested a long ing for freedom,whilst the enclosed, grey dance space gave the illusion of being trapped. The tethered horse used in the first frame gave the impression of being trapped whilst the shot used later when the horse is loose, represents freedom. The choice of a dark, miserable, rainy day also helped to symbolise the breakdown of the relationship as the raindrops represented tears shed. I suggest that you use a few additional close up artistic, to reiterate and emphasise the symbols you have already used."
How did you use media technologies in your construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?
During the construction of my music video and my ancillary tasks, I used many different media technologies to achieve the finished products.
When researching and planning, I used several different media platforms to gain the research I needed to gain a deeper understanding about our target audiences and the industry on the whole. The first media technology we used, was the Internet. Using various websites such as Wikipedia, news sites and record companies sites I was able to discover more about Snow Patrol. Analysing the band's real website and others from a similar genre allowed me to discover specific criteria that makes a successful site! Wikipedia was extremely useful when trying to find out information about the music industry and how it has changed and developed over the years.
The other media technology we used was word programs combined with printing devices. This was so that we could mass produce questionnaires to give to several focus groups of different ages. This primary research was the most important as it outlined trends in demographics and helped us to establish who our target market were, which then allowed us to filter out the relevant ideas put forward by these individuals.
Once we had captured the footage we needed we used I-movie which was can be found on any apple mac laptop. Having access to I-movie meant we had a much wider range of editing choices than if we used a similar competitor such as windows movie maker or others. We were able to add various transitions which made our production flow smoothly and look realistic.
Since we used Macs on our project last year, we were aware on how to use the programming. However, for our ancillary tasks editing the photo was a new experience. Using IPhoto to edit the photo for our album cover and website, allowed us to do so with such precision meaning we got the outcome that we had longed for.
Social networking sites were valuable ways of including media technologies into the construction and receiving feedback of our music video. Yahoo Answers was very useful in gathering answers and advice on topics during the production of our music video. Facebook, today’s biggest and most interactive networking site played a vital role in getting feedback from viewers of our video. We found that the majority of comments we gained from uploading our video onto Facebook were from people who fitted the expected demographic.
When researching and planning, I used several different media platforms to gain the research I needed to gain a deeper understanding about our target audiences and the industry on the whole. The first media technology we used, was the Internet. Using various websites such as Wikipedia, news sites and record companies sites I was able to discover more about Snow Patrol. Analysing the band's real website and others from a similar genre allowed me to discover specific criteria that makes a successful site! Wikipedia was extremely useful when trying to find out information about the music industry and how it has changed and developed over the years.
The other media technology we used was word programs combined with printing devices. This was so that we could mass produce questionnaires to give to several focus groups of different ages. This primary research was the most important as it outlined trends in demographics and helped us to establish who our target market were, which then allowed us to filter out the relevant ideas put forward by these individuals.
Once we had captured the footage we needed we used I-movie which was can be found on any apple mac laptop. Having access to I-movie meant we had a much wider range of editing choices than if we used a similar competitor such as windows movie maker or others. We were able to add various transitions which made our production flow smoothly and look realistic.
Since we used Macs on our project last year, we were aware on how to use the programming. However, for our ancillary tasks editing the photo was a new experience. Using IPhoto to edit the photo for our album cover and website, allowed us to do so with such precision meaning we got the outcome that we had longed for.
Social networking sites were valuable ways of including media technologies into the construction and receiving feedback of our music video. Yahoo Answers was very useful in gathering answers and advice on topics during the production of our music video. Facebook, today’s biggest and most interactive networking site played a vital role in getting feedback from viewers of our video. We found that the majority of comments we gained from uploading our video onto Facebook were from people who fitted the expected demographic.
Friday, 18 February 2011
Connotations Within Our Music Video
Connotation: An idea or meaning suggested by or associated with a word or a thing.
Within our music video there are several intertexual references to films etc, and also a lot of connotations or 'hidden' meanings which may not be clear or obvious at first but when explained, hopefully brings the whole video to life and give it deeper meaning. Whilst planning and actually making our music video, nothing was done at random or by 'coincidence' - everything was specifically chosen, decided upon and put into place.
After deciding on our concept idea and what we hoped to portray from our music video, we chose the location to film on. Again, this was not random or the convenient place out of our options, we chose our location based on what would fit our concepts accordingly. The symbolism of having our dancers performing in a barn was to emphasise the 'destruction' or 'unkempt' situation the failing relationship made the female feel like she was in. There was no life or anything vibrant or inviting about the barn therefore it represented the dying and eventually dead relationship which is being sung about. Although the relationship is over and there are no pleasant feelings in the matter, we did not interpret the song to be at all filled with anger or resentment. The barn also helps to get this vital point across. If we wanted to reflect emotions of severe pain, anger or hatred, we would have re thought our choice of location and gone for something a little more aggressive looking or include features such as fire or weapons.
The next connotation or subtle meaning created and included in our music video was the choice of make-up and costume for the dancers. The most noticeable aspect of the make-up was the white face which contrasted against the black clothing. The pale, almost hidden, face represented how drained the relationship had left the female. It also creates a clear link to mimes because of the similar white faces. A mime could be said to be 'acting', 'faking emotion' or even 'lifeless'. This was appropriate in portraying the female within the song as it could be suggested that she was 'acting' out happiness towards the end of the relationship until she couldn't pretend any longer. The costume choice was specifically picked to emphasise the concepts within our music video as well as being inspired by the clothing in HURTS' video - Wonderful Life. The black clothing was a symbolism for the bleak and gloomy feelings reflected in the song. The netting included on the head decoration which, when positioned correctly, covered part of the face was showing how the female was hidden and felt 'trapped' behind her relationship.
The decision to use a horse was to represent the woman in stead of using a female actress. A horse is associated with beauty, elegance, pride and independent - all qualities which can be said about a woman. The way in which the horse is being 'led' around the field shows how the female was 'trapped' and possibly 'controlled' in her relationship and eventually the horse is set free to run to her future which is a symbol of her new found freedom and independence being broken away from her partner. The fact that the horse is not shown in light of harm, distress or punishment re visits the idea that the relationship is not depicted as violent or nasty.
Our 'filler' shots consisted of letters being burned, a ring being discarded of and a dried dead rose being crushed. Each of these represent memories the couple in the song had together and having them being 'gotten rid of' emphasises that the bond between them is over and gone and both partners are able to move on and create new memories with new people.
Within our music video there are several intertexual references to films etc, and also a lot of connotations or 'hidden' meanings which may not be clear or obvious at first but when explained, hopefully brings the whole video to life and give it deeper meaning. Whilst planning and actually making our music video, nothing was done at random or by 'coincidence' - everything was specifically chosen, decided upon and put into place.
After deciding on our concept idea and what we hoped to portray from our music video, we chose the location to film on. Again, this was not random or the convenient place out of our options, we chose our location based on what would fit our concepts accordingly. The symbolism of having our dancers performing in a barn was to emphasise the 'destruction' or 'unkempt' situation the failing relationship made the female feel like she was in. There was no life or anything vibrant or inviting about the barn therefore it represented the dying and eventually dead relationship which is being sung about. Although the relationship is over and there are no pleasant feelings in the matter, we did not interpret the song to be at all filled with anger or resentment. The barn also helps to get this vital point across. If we wanted to reflect emotions of severe pain, anger or hatred, we would have re thought our choice of location and gone for something a little more aggressive looking or include features such as fire or weapons.
The next connotation or subtle meaning created and included in our music video was the choice of make-up and costume for the dancers. The most noticeable aspect of the make-up was the white face which contrasted against the black clothing. The pale, almost hidden, face represented how drained the relationship had left the female. It also creates a clear link to mimes because of the similar white faces. A mime could be said to be 'acting', 'faking emotion' or even 'lifeless'. This was appropriate in portraying the female within the song as it could be suggested that she was 'acting' out happiness towards the end of the relationship until she couldn't pretend any longer. The costume choice was specifically picked to emphasise the concepts within our music video as well as being inspired by the clothing in HURTS' video - Wonderful Life. The black clothing was a symbolism for the bleak and gloomy feelings reflected in the song. The netting included on the head decoration which, when positioned correctly, covered part of the face was showing how the female was hidden and felt 'trapped' behind her relationship.
The decision to use a horse was to represent the woman in stead of using a female actress. A horse is associated with beauty, elegance, pride and independent - all qualities which can be said about a woman. The way in which the horse is being 'led' around the field shows how the female was 'trapped' and possibly 'controlled' in her relationship and eventually the horse is set free to run to her future which is a symbol of her new found freedom and independence being broken away from her partner. The fact that the horse is not shown in light of harm, distress or punishment re visits the idea that the relationship is not depicted as violent or nasty.
Our 'filler' shots consisted of letters being burned, a ring being discarded of and a dried dead rose being crushed. Each of these represent memories the couple in the song had together and having them being 'gotten rid of' emphasises that the bond between them is over and gone and both partners are able to move on and create new memories with new people.
Thursday, 17 February 2011
Filming Day 3
Today's shoot was to primarily to film the horse (filler) shots. I collected the horse we chose to work with from the field and we groomed her for around half an hour. This not only made her appear clean and smarter for camera but it also got her used to our voices and kept her calm. I feel like today was a great success, especially since the weather was perfect. Not only did we film the horse, but we also managed to get the album cover photo
Filming the horse took time and patience but we began be following a similar filming pattern to the previous two days. Therefore we set up a range of shots where the horse would by led in a continuous 'S' letter shape in front of the camera, this would create angle range and different perspectives on the horse. We continued this, walking the horse from a distance up close to the camera, and filmed each sequence so it was accompanied by a different back ground view. This gave us range when it came to editing.
From previous planning, we has established that shots of the horse being 'led' around the field by a person (me) and finally shots of her galloping through a filed would look great and would fit into our concept style and meanings that had been implemented in the rest of the video. The reason for picking a horse, firstly walking around and finally running freely, was to symbolise the woman being 'trapped' in her relationship and eventually 'breaking free' from the relationship.
Obviously when working with any animal additional safety precautions had to be taken. The sheer size of the horse alone was a danger in itself meaning we needed someone who knew something about the animals and someone who the horse was comfortable to work with.
Taking the still shots, which we would use for our digipak cover, we decided that the main feature should be the leader and a horse. We took many shots from different distances and with various scenery to review and pick the best at a later date. The imagery again was linked to our video as the same female is shown walking the horse as on the images. This not only gives the audience the impression that the single which would be on the album is a more well known song, and would create recognition when buying or watching the video as the two products can be linked easily.
Monday, 14 February 2011
Filming Day 2
We had arranged at the end of our first filming day that we would meet again to film the other main section of our music video on the following weekend (12th February). We arrived at the farm about 12:30pm, again a dull, wet day with very strong wind. Hannah and Beth (our two dancers) stayed in the car to put on their make up and finishing touches to the costumes, this was to mainly avoid the weather. Matt Lauren and myself set up the barn by moving the gates, to create enough space for Hannah and Beth to dance in, and sweeping the area of hay and removing any unwanted objects.
An important element of the day was providing 'warming' breaks for the dancers. As we filmed in February, the temperature was not pleasant to be exposed in, and with the thin outfits we chose to use, it was important that the dancers did not become too cold and risk their own health. To counter this effect we provided blankets and additional layers, which we gave to them after every completed shot of the dance sequence.
As with the other half of the filming we decided to film the dance from many different angles to ensure footage was not scarce and we have a choice of what to edit, where to cut and to allow the desired outcome to be as closely achieved as possible.The dance was choreographed well in advance to ensure the day ran as smooth as possible. We began by shooting the dance from a standard mid length straight on angle and soon moved on more creative shots such as having the dance going on 'around' the camera and extreme close ups of particular body parts (to exaggerate certain dance moves)
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
Filming Day 1
From producing our filming time schedule sheet, we began the first bit of our filming of the 5th February 2011. We had decided that it would be best to focus on both elements of the music video individually so that we could focus on each one separately to ensure quality was as good as possible. The other reason for doing this was to make sure that our actors and helpers were not wasting their kindly donated time by standing around aimlessly, and becoming de-motivated.
On the first day (5th Feb) we focused heavily on filming the miming, or 'singing', section of the video. The weather was not good in the morning at about 9:00am so we agreed to wait until 11:00am to see if the weather had improved or at least the rain had stopped. The weather conditions had not changed by 11:15am but we still arranged to meet at 11:30am (our set time) at our location - Acton Trussell farm. When we arrived at our location, we double checked our required equipment list (this allowed one of us to drive home to get anything if we'd forgotten it) and began to carry the equipment (camera, tripod and lighting) to the Oak tree where we would be filming this section of the music video.
In order to get enough footage, we filmed Ben (our male lead), miming the entire song, in sections, from many different angles: straight on (mid, close ups and extreme close up), from above and below, over the shoulder etc). By doing this it gave us a wide range of footage to play around with and use when we came to edit our project. As well as giving us a variety of creative shots to consider, it also meant that if any shots were not suitable (out of time lip syncing, objects in shots, marks on the camera lens) we had enough footage of each shot so we could ensure that at least one of the shots was usable when editing.
We shared duty's throughout the day and tried to rotate and be fair when allocating. The main jobs we divided out where of course filming, along with lighting, lighting aids (reflectors, filters) and 'water control', which meant keeping equipment dry, as well as the actor and lens of the camera so that the footage was not ruined with unwanted rain marks on the lens.
On the first day (5th Feb) we focused heavily on filming the miming, or 'singing', section of the video. The weather was not good in the morning at about 9:00am so we agreed to wait until 11:00am to see if the weather had improved or at least the rain had stopped. The weather conditions had not changed by 11:15am but we still arranged to meet at 11:30am (our set time) at our location - Acton Trussell farm. When we arrived at our location, we double checked our required equipment list (this allowed one of us to drive home to get anything if we'd forgotten it) and began to carry the equipment (camera, tripod and lighting) to the Oak tree where we would be filming this section of the music video.
In order to get enough footage, we filmed Ben (our male lead), miming the entire song, in sections, from many different angles: straight on (mid, close ups and extreme close up), from above and below, over the shoulder etc). By doing this it gave us a wide range of footage to play around with and use when we came to edit our project. As well as giving us a variety of creative shots to consider, it also meant that if any shots were not suitable (out of time lip syncing, objects in shots, marks on the camera lens) we had enough footage of each shot so we could ensure that at least one of the shots was usable when editing.
We shared duty's throughout the day and tried to rotate and be fair when allocating. The main jobs we divided out where of course filming, along with lighting, lighting aids (reflectors, filters) and 'water control', which meant keeping equipment dry, as well as the actor and lens of the camera so that the footage was not ruined with unwanted rain marks on the lens.
Sunday, 23 January 2011
Call Sheet
What Is A Call Sheet?
A call sheet is a chart issued to the cast and crew of a theatrical or film production, listing the production schedule (times, dates, places etc). Typically, in addition to including a schedule, the call sheet also includes a list of contact information for other members of the cast and crew, this would benefit the whole production in case of an emergency because it would save time trying to find people - the call sheet would provide the whereabouts of everybody involved and the times.
Our Call Sheet
We decided a call sheet for filming was going to be extremely useful for the days we were planning to film on. The sheet we prepared and distributed to everybody involved in our project is shown to the right.
We also knew from our AS production that call sheets also contain other useful information such as contact details such as mobile numbers, emails, as well as script pages. We also found out that advanced call sheets often contain details on weather, locations of local hospitals, sunset/sunrise times and locations of local hardware stores! They commonly have information on transport details, which is vital to ensure everyone is were they need to be.
A call sheet is a chart issued to the cast and crew of a theatrical or film production, listing the production schedule (times, dates, places etc). Typically, in addition to including a schedule, the call sheet also includes a list of contact information for other members of the cast and crew, this would benefit the whole production in case of an emergency because it would save time trying to find people - the call sheet would provide the whereabouts of everybody involved and the times.
Our Call Sheet
We decided a call sheet for filming was going to be extremely useful for the days we were planning to film on. The sheet we prepared and distributed to everybody involved in our project is shown to the right.
We also knew from our AS production that call sheets also contain other useful information such as contact details such as mobile numbers, emails, as well as script pages. We also found out that advanced call sheets often contain details on weather, locations of local hospitals, sunset/sunrise times and locations of local hardware stores! They commonly have information on transport details, which is vital to ensure everyone is were they need to be.
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