Filming Today

Today we took the opportunity to film part of the music video, we filmed at the Grand Pier. The weather was glum, but we pulled through!

Mis en scene (Gadgets)

In our treatment we mentioned a few things that will represent time and place

A Clock to tell time(OBVIOUSLY) but most importanly tell the audience the beggining of the tourists advantures

a MAP to show that they are new to the place. (empasis on the fact that they are tourists)

Mis en scene (Clothes)

As the concerpt of our music video has changed, there will two girls who will be tourists. They will be wearing props such as



Fashionable Coat

 A Coat as it is currently freezing cold but most importanly they are torrist and so they are stereotyped to be well prepared for whatever weather  the place they visit is.



Regular jeans



Jeans to suit the outfit, but also to show simple young and cool teenagers who are just looking around



POPULAR UGG BOOTS



Boots for the wintery feel and also to show how comfortable and layed back these teens are as they will be movinf around site seeing!

Overall, the mise en scene will represent cool , relateble, vibrant teenagers who are touring the city!

Filming Dilema

It's time to start filming now and we are currently having problems with times when we are all free. We will discuss next lesson on when we can make it . A maximum of 3days of filming is needed to collect a lot of footage.

TIME FLIES !!

Media AS and A2 post it reveiw

Here is a video, we made reveiwing AS & A2 year :

In the news (Media Magazine Advise)

It is important for us at this moment in time to produce our best work yet, We have had the past AS  year practicing and improving our creativity but we now have no room for mistakes, WE WANT PERFECTION. The following is an extract from the Media Magazine that caught my eye: 

" Writing about video production in the first ever issue of MediaMag..Chief Examiner Pete Fraser pointed up the importance of planning the minute details of each shoot to avoid wasting time on location;testing batteries, lighting amd microphones before setting off; and planning to improvise when group members are absent:

 " Treat your project with professionalism and organisation and you will not go far wrong. Being creative is brilliant- but you can't beat being organised."

......planning is vital to achieving succeful results in your production work, it's also important to realise that failing, making mistakes or just plain getting stuff wrong is not such a bad thing. IN fact we should be encouraging failure as an important step on the way to success!"

This simply advises us to leavbe room for mistakes and encourages some creative risk taking. It was okay in the past AS year to keep it safe , but now we should showcase all radical creative ideas even if we make mistakes we can learnt from them and create a master piece !

Font Selection for digipack

We would like to use similar fonts as the one's used by Jack Johnson , as we are using one of his songs.

This Font Looks Similar to FRENCH SCRIPT font with a little bit of definition 

The font here is similar to Calibri and is appropriate 

However, we do not want our digi-pack to just copy the same style , BUT we want something similar and appropriate to what we have planned our artist to represent.

Last Lesson

In our previous lesson, we experimented with Photoshop to edit all our pictures for our digi-park. After we did some filming , to test our angles and also did some lip syncing.

Lessons to be learnt (in prep for next filming)

We have learned quite a lot after yesterday's filming :

Fun

This is a good example of a music video that portrays young people having a good time.
This fits in well with our target audience.

Music Video Ideas

iN THIS ADVERT, IT INCORPORATES STILLS INTO A STORY , AND I THINK IT WOULD BE A GREAT IDEA TO INCLUDE THIS INTO OUT CONCEPT BUT HOPEFULLY MIX WITH VIDEO ASWELL

Changes of ideas

Change is needed :)

When it comes to actors , we couldn't really find anyone  to act out the couples scene we had planned to do in our original idea, BUT we now have decided to make the music video, more about young people having fun , tourist kind of feel to it . This way, we can all be involved in it and have a good time doing it . Infusing amature videos with staged ones will make our work very appealing and relatable to the AUDIENCE , However, with tht in mind, we also want to be clever in our camera angles and movement and also the way we edit our work !

The Carnival (filming)

Yesterday, was the Weston Carnival 2010 and this marked our first day of filming. We wanted to capture the bit in our sequence of friends out and about having fun.  We had a big problem as Fhahima had trouble with charging the camera as it is new improved equipment but that did not stop us from getting as much footage as we can . We ended up using her camera to capture videos and photos to add to the music video.

Carnival Night(We took various shots that will feature on the blog)

Preparation

As we are soon about to start with our recording for our final music video, we really need to start thinking about how we are going to achieve this successfully and as planned initially. We have to also organise the props, actors, equipment and manage our time within a reasonable schedule and not be of track nor left behind.

So far I have created a timetable, within my personal diary of what we should be achieving and covering within the next few weeks, and so next week the carnival is due to run on the 15th of November 2010 at 7pm, this is a starting point of our filming and then should go along with our initial plan as well as our storyboard in which we will take along with us.

Lip Sync Practice

Today in our lesson we practicsed how to capture different angles and shots of lip synching using the new HD video cameras we have recently ordered and received. As we have not experienced lip syncing before, we found it very difficult at first and a struggle to capture this, along with the timed soundtrack.

After a few attempts we managed to capture a few clips of George, playing as our 'Busker' which we have included for our music video. We also had problems with the new HD video camera, as instead of videoing, we accidentally pressed on the camera function and with many practise and retakes, we eventually managed to do this properly.

As the HD video cameras are new, we had to experiment and play around with how we have to convert the clips from the device to the MAC PC's, and then edit the soundtrack along with the clips in good time, using Final Cut Pro. This is what we have achieved and are hoping to convert these skills when we actually record our music video in a few weeks time!

Animatic

During the half term we converted our storyboard in which we first hand drawn, then scanned onto the PC and converted it into ReelClever, a media technology website which can edit media products into a more professional standard.

We then used the images from the storyboard to create our animatic, an animation version of our music video, in which we can use to help stop errors before we film our original music video. We used final cut pro to import all the images from the storyboard, and edit it along with the soundtrack.

We faced many problems and noticed that we have had less footage or images in our animatic so we decided in order to extend the footage, we should include jack jhonsons face in every chores. This idea worked very successful, so we then exported it into quicktime movie and then uploaded it onto youtube, and copied the link to insert into this post.

Below is the video of our animatic ..

Treatment Discussion

This is a discussion we made for our treatment, Janice Mutema and Fhahima Hussain produced the vocals while I (George McCallum) produced the video and the mix of images. In the video we talk about what we would like to achieve and some ideas we have come up with.

Checklist On Digi- Packs

As for our digi-packs , we have to finalise which ones we are going to be using based on Fhahima's sketches. 

Check List (what still needs to be done before filming?)

• Look for actors, maybe about 5 

• Decide on mise-en-scene 

• Number of days, we will film 

• Location Shots 

Progress so far

So Far we have,

• Got together in a group 
• Chosen a Track
• Researched into Similar Products 
• Digi-pack research & ideas
• Target Audience 
• & Peer Feedback

As time is definately not on our side , We have done a draft of our storyboard, and in tomorrow's lesson, i will take the copy of it and write up a shot list. We have so many ideas leading to us over filming which is great , as learning from George's and I's experience we have to make sure we have a lot to work with in the editing room as in our AS year projects, we encounted so many problems to do with less footage or missing important footage to link scenes.

Lyrics

Sweepin the floors, open up the doors
Yeah turn on the lights, getting ready for the night
Nobody's romancing, 'cause its too early for dancing
But here comes the music ...
Bright lights flashing
They cover up your lack of so many people
So many problems
So many reason to buy another round
Drink it down
Just another night on the town
With the big man, money man, better then the other man
He got the plan, with the million dollar give a damn
What nobody understands
Become a smaller man, the bright lights keep flashin,
Women keep on dancing with the clowns,
Yeah, yeah, yeah,
They pick me up when I'm down,
Yeah, yeah,
The rodeo clowns
Yeah, yeah, yeah, they pick me up when I'm down
The disco ball's spinnin', all the music and the women

And the shots of tequila,
Man they say that they need ya
What they really need, is just a little room to breath
Teeny bopping disco queen
She barely understands her dreams of belly button rings
And other kinds of things
Symbolic of change, but the thing that is strange
Is that the changes occur
And now she's just a part of the herd, yeah, yeah, yeah
Man i thought that you heard
Yeah, yeah
The changes occurred
Yeah, yeah, yeah, just a part of the herd
Lights out, shut down, late night, wet ground
You walk by look at him, but he can't look at you
Yeah, you might feel pity, but he only feels the ground
You understand moves, but he only knows let down
By the corner, there's another one
Reaching out a hand, coming from a broken man
Well he tried to live, but he's done trying
Not dead, but definitely dying
With the rest of the clowns
Yeah, yeah
mmm mmm mmmm mmmm
With the rest of the clowns
Sweepin the floors, open up the doors,
Yeah turn on the lights, getting ready for the night
Nobody's romancing, 'cause its too early for dancing
But here comes the music


We are not exacly going to follow , the lyrics and base our whole project on lyrical ideas but rather we are going to  use a bit of what the music is saying as well as our own ideas and hopefully infuse them well.

   

Close Analysis of Jack Johnson Videos

Keeping in mind, Jack Johnson videos are all about

• Sun
• Sea
• Surf
• & of course the guitar !!

We DO NOT want to copy how he structures his videos BUT we would like to be inspired and copy camera shots, angles and movements that we can incoporate on our level ofcourse.

To start is this video called Taylor , filmed in his home town Hawaii !                                                                                                        



Error ... to be continued

GRAND PIER OPENING !

It has been confirmed that the grand pier will be opening on the 23rd of October 2010. This is great news for us , as we could take footage from it with the bright lights, games and fun feel to it. We would have to ensure the costs as apparently , people would have to pay about £5 to get in!! Will confirm.



This a computerized simulation of  what it will look like.. Ofcourse this means we shall have effective lighting and the audience shall experience the modern, fun and cool outlook.
                                                      In our music video, we shall see if we can just add glimse of friends having fun on any of these rides

mid shots of them laughing and screaming

  the blurred effect will also work perfectly 

 These scenes maybe great to show when we are lowering the sound.

Target Audience Enhanced

Target Audience for the new ideas on Prezi

Storyboard Draft

From combining our initial ideas, into our final detailed treatment. We then need to consider creating a detailed, analytical and narrative storyboard, which includes images, diagrams and a brief description of what is going to happen in each shot or scene, along with the types of shots that will be needed within each frames. Here i have created a rough storyboard, and our next step will be to create a movie using these images along with Jack Johnson's 'Rodeo Clowns' soundtrack, to see whether we can match the moving images along with the music etc and have a rough look, before our final Music Video, Click on each image to enlarge there is no anottaion as the document is under narrative script each bullet point being each frame.

Narrative Script

Here is our Narrative script of our treatment, mended and altered to the final product;

Scene 1 - Bedroom
Face is hidden under hat

§  Shot of basker tapping his guitar, then plays gently on the strings –mid shot

§  Close up of birds/seagulls flying in the sky together

§  Camera pans into a window and zooms into the room

§  Girl in her bed wakes up, yawing

§  Her phone goes off – Text message from Jack ‘See you in 5, Love You xx’

§  Mid shot of the Girl smiling, but realises she’s late by looking at the clock

§  Grabs the duvet and sways it in a clockwise direction

Scene 2 – Bathroom

§  Opens the bathroom door – Shot reverse shot

§  Turns on the light – Close up shot

§  Shot of just her eyes, applying mascara, then her lips applying gloss (close ups)

§  She poses in the mirror – Mid shot

§  Lights go off in time with the song, shuts the door – shot reverse shot

§  

Scene 3 – Outside
Then immediately cuts to the front door opening

§  The guy is waiting in front of the door – Mid shot

§  Over the shoulder shot of the girl surprised and happy, as she hugs him

§  Both are then in the shot, as he strokes her face/hair

§  Random close ups of her outfit, shoes etc

§  Mid shot – the couple walking off, holding hands

§  Flirting and dancing as the walk down the beach/park

§  Zooms and cuts to other couples in the same scene

§  Crane shot into the sun, cuts instantly to the lights of the carnival floats

Scene 4 – Carnival Night, Club and Arcade

§  As its getting darker the bright lights of the festival are seen everywhere

§  Soundtrack fades – People screaming in excitement ‘Hey guys! Woohoo tonight is the night’

§  Amateur footage of the festival, people and the crowd, pictures taken and shown on the screen

§  Random shots of the Donut and candyfloss stalls

§  Group of friends enter the club, have a few drinks – Mid shot + close ups

§  Dancing on the dance floor – cuts

§  Walking into the Arcades – more lights flashing, laughter and fun

Scene 5 – Ending; Town

§  The same group of friends apart and say their goodbyes to the couple –shot reverse shot

§  The couple then walk back home together – long shot

§  Both walk pass the same basker playing on his guitar joyfully, as seen at the start, smiles

§  Takes pictures with the basker, still frames

§  Basker reveals his face, smiles and winks at the camera –close up

§  Packs his belongings i.e. guitar and walks into the distance –long shot

Fades into dark.

Image of a busker >>>>  

More research into Festivals

Here we have looked at a perfectly exampled footage in which involves a similar target audience, actors and location to our thoughts and ideas, as well as our final treatment.This is similarly what we as a group wish to achieve,including the amateur footage of capturing the WSM Carnival Festival to give more of a warm, realistic view of the festival itself. The video is posted below;

Carnival Festival 2010

WESTON-SUPER-MARE CARNIVAL IS….

C is for carnival clubs. Which spend 11 months working on their entries in secret. 

A is for annual event. Somerset has been commemorating Guy Fawkes attempt in 1605 to blow up The Houses of Parliament since 1881.

R is for route. Arrive early and bring a chair or book a grandstand seat, to ensure a good viewing position. Most processions are over two miles long and can take up to two hours to pass any given point on route.

N is for November. The season of Bonfires, Fireworks and carnival!. Make November 2007 the year you visit Somerset for one of our spectacular carnivals.

I is for illuminated. Guy Fawkes carnivals are the world’s largest illuminated winter carnivals.

V is value for money! A street collection for 15 local charities - please give generously. Programmes are produced for every procession and contain a wealth of information on the history of carnival, the entries and local clubs.

A is for All singing, All dancing. There are many different types of entries including action – packed feature carts, the waxwork like Tableaux, as well as individual and group walking entries.

L is for lights! Carnival carts can contain up to 25,000 light bulbs and can be up to 100ft long, 11 ft wide ans 17ft 6in high

Poster Draft

I have also produced a draft of the poster in which will include Jack Johnson, the artist himself holding a guitar in a beach location Weston-Super-Mare with a similar theme and colour scheme along with it:

Album Cover Draft

Here I have produced a draft of the album cover for our Media Product which include the main conventions as mentioned before in which represent the artist, Jack Johnson:

Inlay Cover 1

Front Cover

Inlay Cover 2 and CD

Back Cover

Theme - Aesthetics

Throughout our blog, we have mentioned the basic conventions of our idea, which were LOVE and ROMANCE, the themes we then added onto LOVE and ROMANCE were discovered when we had found Jack Johnson our Artist for our Music Video and will be promoting his song ' Rodeo Clowns' via, the Music Video itself, Album Cover and Poster. As researched we have found out that Jack Johnson previous themes and conventions used to represent him including the three main parts; NATURE, MUSICAL INSTRUMENT, and Jack Johnson himself. Therefore we must include his core identity within our media products and work within them, enhancing our themes of LOVE and ROMANCE into the INDIE and ACOUSTIC.

We shall also be including the theme of festivals and events for instance the Carnival Festival 2010 in Weston-super-mare, the arcades, clubs and so on, these will be more specifically aimed towards our target audience and will draw in many audiences as well as keep them entertained and engaged throughout.

So the colour theme we have thought of, looking at Jack Johnson's previous musical products included, a huge nature theme as in the colour theme being the colours of nature and earth, these include; Brown, Peach, Orange, Yellow. These are very earthy and pastel colours and so shall be using these colours as the base of our Media Products and have started doing this for instance our blog is within the theme of nature also including the Autumn colour and leaves. The images we shall be include within our media product (Album Cover and Poster) will include images of instrument, most likely a guitar, along with a symbol of an image representing nature, for instance a leaf, tree and the ocean etc.

Most importantly will we have to consider whether we should include an picture of Jack Johnson himself as a full portrait or keep him under the dark. But our main purpose is to promote and represent him so it is best to reveal him within our media products, so that our target audience is aware of his identity.

The are many other conventions which must be included within our media product, for instance company logo, text, layout of these amongst and within the products which are listed a few samples below, we tried a few fonts including the flowy angelic font known as the French Script MT and Monotype Corsiva which we thought would go along with the theme of nature.

Monotype Corsiva - Monotype Corsiva

French Script MT - French Script MT

Location and Shots

As we have finalized our treatment, we have to also finalize the location as well as the shots which we shall take along with the scenery for our music video. As mentioned previously we have briefly stated  the main and core locations in which we desired for our music video these included;

• The beach - Knightstone (Weston-super-Mare)
• Park - Grove Park (WSM)
• Garden - Jills (WSM)
• Bedroom - Colleagues (WSM)
• Street - High Street (WSM)
• Arcade -(WSM)
• Cub/Restaurant - Hussain's Indian Cuisine (WSM)
• Carnival Festival - (WSM)

These are our main locations which we are certainly going to visit for our particular shots, from high to low, mid to close up and establishing to pan, we need a variety of these shots to keep the video ongoing as well as entertaining for our target audience. Below are a few images of our designated locations to show you the exact scenery we are going to be using.

We have recently decided as the Carnival Festival is taking place in WSM on the 15th of November 2010, we should take this opportunity and capture the crowd, bright lights, public in our Music Video, this relates to most parts of Jack Johnson's 'Rodeo Clown' lyrics and will be a very unique Music Video as we shall include amateur footage within this festival, in which we can easily achieve.

As our theme is mainly based on ACOUSTIC and INDIE we need to incorporate these conventions into our media products, keeping a consistent theme throughout.

Treatment Alteration

As we have previously noted in our last post, our pitch had went very well and successful, we informed our colleagues and lecturer of what our initial ideas were, how they had adapted, changed and influenced around us as it developed into our final agreed pitch for our Media products.

In our pitch we had discussed about Georges idea, in which consists of a male whom plays a guitar on the street out in the public, watching, assessing and admiring the beautiful nature we have in this world, as well as the people in it being the couples of all age ranges. This man will remain as a disguise to the viewers, preventing them to see his true and physical identity. We are going to achieve this by not showing his facial features within the shots of our music video and may reveal him at the end of the last few seconds were there is a close up of him and he then switches the light off, along with the soundtrack fading to an end.

And so at the start of the music can consist of the same man sat on the pavement with his guitar as a person walks by and drops a few coins, this will then lead onto the soundtrack starting, continuing to our original idea of a young teenage girl getting dressed in her room, applying make-up, trying various number of outfits collided with fast pace editing to speed the narrative as she is to impress her date. Also there will be many random and quick shots, including establishing, mid shot, long shot and many close ups, as well as the crane, dolly and track which will be more of a challenge for us to achieve.

Pitching Of Ideas In Class

Our teacher arranged us to do pitch our ideas to the class so far. We had very good feedback ;

What are the strengths of the group's pitch ?

• Detailed research into the theme, similar real media products 
• Intepretation of both ideas 
• Easy to follow blog 
• Timelined well
• Good amount of research 
• Good target audience research 
• Good details about song choice and video ideas 

What else do you think they could do/what are the areas for improvement?

• Good blog design but is it appropriate ? 
• Balance text with images esp Target Audience 
• Finalise treatment - needed o be clearer 
• Use variety of presentations 
• Sketch Storyboard / Album art / Magazine
• Investigate more location

Overall , we got given a level 3!!!

Poster Research

As you can clearly see, the exact same theme and identity of Jack Johnson is carried all the way through all types of the media, from Album Cover to the Posters. It also includes the key conventions and elements discussed on the previous posts on this blog such as; nature,guitar and so on. And so before we even start thinking about how we are going to produce and create our Media Products, we must carefully analyse and use these key elements and apply them to our final products such as the colour theme etc.