Filming - 30/10/12

We carried out some more filming again today. This time, we done some shots in the bed, down the byes again, in the woods and a bit in Exmouth. The filiming today was more succesful than yesterday and we got some decent footage to use. The lighting on the camera seemed slightly better, but the initial problem we had was not totally resolved. When we arrived at Exmouth, the camera battery was running low and unfortunately we couldn't get much footage of the couple on the beach. Therefore, we are going to have to go back to Exmouth another time.

Filming - 29/10/12

Today we started filming some real footage for our music video. We managed to do some shots of the couple in the car, down the byes and in town. The filming went okay and we plan to use some shots within our video. However, we did encounter a problem with the camera. If the sky was at all light, it would make the actors faces appear quite white, meaning you cannot see their facial features. We didn't like this and needed to resolve the problem for next time.

Filming Schedule For Half Term...

During the half term we planned to carry out 2 days of filming. We made some rough time plans to ensure that we carried out the our planned shots and to help make our filming more time effective. The table below shows are rough plans for each of the days...

Day	Time	Shots to Film
Monday 29th October	11:00	Couple in the car
	12:00	Couple down the byes
	13:00	Couple in town eating ice-cream
Tuesday 30th October	13:00	My house - bed shots
	14:00	Couple on the bridge
	15:00	At woodbury - couple in the forest
	16:00	At Exmouth - couple sat on sand dunes

Discussing filming plans with actors

Before filming our music video, it is important that we discuss our plans with our actors. This ensures that they know what they have to do and gives them more of an idea as to the role they are playing in the video. We listened to the song and got a basic idea of the guitar rhythm that Jonny should play during filming. We also talked about the lyrics that we wanted him to lip sync during our music video. As well as this, we discussed days when he would be free and clothing he would wear.

Talking with our actors

We decided that it would be a good idea to catch up with our actors and show them our ideas. In the picture, I am discussing our storyboard with Tom, who is playing the new boyfriend. We were able to talk about their roles and briefly explain to them what they will have to be doing. It was useful to do as it gave our actors more of an idea about the storyline of our video, so when we come to shotting they have a brief idea as to what positions and facial expressions we require them to do.

Inspirational Shots

I have had a look at some shots from existing love movies in order to help us gain more ideas for our filming. It is important that our video keeps the viewers attention throughout so I had a look at how some popular love films have managed to achieve this. Here are some of the shots that stood our most to me...

In the image to the left, the couple are cuddling up together. This helps to show their closeness and the way he is looking down on her connote how he is protective and cares for her. I like the location of the shot, I like the grass in the foreground and the beach in the background.

I like the eye contact in this shot, they are looking directly into eachothers eyes which connotes intimacy and shows their love for eachother. Also the fact they are smiling shows that they are happy to have eachother. The framing of the shot is also good, I like how their faces fill the frame and that they are the main focus.

I really like this shot, I like how close they are with their arms wrapped around eachother hugging. I think the fact he is kissing her forehead works well and it strongly connotes his love and admiration for her. The location is also good, I like the tree on the left, and think it helps to make the atmosphere of the setting nice.

In this shot, the couple have their heads and noses touching and are looking directly into eachothers eyes. They are smiling which connotes they are happy and in a loving, enjoyable relationship. I like how the background of this shot is out of focus, it helps to really make the people stand out.

I like how the location of this shot and how their are people walking about yet the couple are in the centre not paying attention to anything but eachother. I like the use of the picknic blanket and books, helping to show that they are just living their everyday lives. Also, I like the closeness of the characters and how they look happy to be together.

Prelim Filming

Evaluation of prelim filming
In order to practise filming we have carried out some preliminary filming which has allowed us to experiment with aspects such as shot type, lighting, and timing. In addition it helped us get used to the camera in terms of where buttons are, how to change the settings and how to hold/position the camera. In order to relate it to the theme of our planned music video, we chose to film a couple of people together interacting as if they were in love; however the setting is very different to the settings we are going to include in our music video.

There are clearly many issues with our practise shots, however we can learn from these mistakes so that our final music video is of better quality. One of the most obvious things we have learnt is that using a tripod is essential in order to achieve a steady shot in which the camera is at the right height and angle and the actors are in the right place, as our filming was hand held and was therefore quite unsteady. In addition it is clear that we will need our actors to be comfortable around one another and be sure of what they're doing; it is clear within the video that they feel awkward around one another and are not comfortable embracing in public, also when we got feedback from our prelim filming actors they said that they didn't feel comfortable together because they didn't know each other very well and they had not known they were doing it until the day before we filmed. We have taken this into account when choosing our actors for our music video; we decided to use two people who are friends and will hopefully feel comfortable holding hand, embracing and acting as a couple; we have also planned what we are going to tell the actors to do and we have confirmed that they will both be in the video so that they can consider the role they will be playing and get to know one another even better. In order to avoid laughing which cannot be included in the video, we will ask them to 'get into character' and will use instructions such as 'quiet on set' to ensure that they know we are about to film and we need them to act appropriately so that time and footage is not wasted. 

Another problem that we came across was other objects/shadows/people being included in the shot when they are not planned and they ruin the shot; and example of this in our prelim filming is when a plastic bag was blown into the shot and it makes the scene look untidy, this is not suitable for our video because it connotes negative emotions and situations whereas we aim to create a loving and happy situation during the parts of our video which focus on the couple, and although we could use items such as rubbish to show the sadness of the ex--boyfriend, we do not feel that this will be suitable because we want our video to focus on nature. Therefore we must be sure that our filming will not be interrupted by passers by, rubbish, our shadows, the shadows of the equipment, the shadows of others, insects, etc. 

We feel that the lighting within our prelim filming is suitable for the shots which focus on the couple and are the 'happier' aspects of our music video. However we plan on shooting during slightly duller weather when we are filming our actor who is playing the ex-boyfriend as this is a use of pathetic fallacy as the weather will show how the character is feeling. We will also need to learn how to change the settings based on the weather, for example if it is sunny sometimes facial features are less visible and the shot can be too light, therefore our teacher will assist us in learning more about the camera settings.

At the very beginning of the footage one of the actors makes a noise which may seem like an issue, however we have considered this and we feel that, as there will be no noise in our video other than the song itself, we should allow actors to make as much noise as is necessary because this will hopefully allow them to seem more natural and comfortable within the music video because in reality a couple would not be silent when spending time together; they would talk and laugh, etc, for this reason we have asked our actors to talk and react naturally in order to make the situation seem more real to viewers of the video.

Overall our prelim filming has been very useful and we have learnt a lot which will help us create a good quality and interesting final piece.

Audience Theories...

It is important that I explore the different audience theories as I need to consider who my target audience are and how the audience will respond/read my video.

Hypodermic Needle Theory is the idea that media can easily influence a large group of people without any opposition. It was believed that mass media can ‘inject’ messages directly into its audience, who will immediately be influenced by it. However this dates back to the 1920’s, and in contrast to this, Halloran stated ‘We must get away from the habit of thinking in terms of what the media do to people and substitute for it the idea of what people do to the media’.

This is suggesting that people nowadays get a lot more involved as to what they want in the media. It tells us that instead of just passively accepting the media we are now more involved and can interact with it. Nowadays, we have a choice as to what media we want to experience, whereas before people had no choice, we can be more selective about types of media, and people nowadays influence the media more, rather than before when the media was massively influencing us. 

The Two Step Flow Theory is the idea that media starts off with individuals (opinion leaders) who pass on their interpretations/ personal influences of the media to others. It states that the majority of people are influenced by the media second-hand, through the beliefs and personal experiences of the opinion leaders.

The Uses and Gratification Theory states that a mass audience is made up of individuals, who consume media for different reasons and in different ways. C.Wright Mills came up with four functions of the media for its audience:

- give individuals identity

- give people goals and aspiration

- give instructions on how to achieve these goals

- give people an alternative if they failed (escapism)

Bulmer and Katz then expanded this theory and stated that individuals might choose and use a text for the following purposes:

- diversion - escape from everyday problems and routine

- personal relationships - using the media for emotional and other interaction

- personal identity - finding yourself reflected in text (learning behaviour and values)

- surveillance - information that could be useful for living

Reception Theory is based on Stuart Halls encoding/decoding of a text. It is the idea that the text is encoded by the producer and decoder by the audience, and there may be differences between peoples reading of the same text. This is due to people’s individual circumstances such as gender, class, age etc. By using recognised codes and conventions, and relating to audiences expectations of the genre, the producer is able to ‘position’ the audience and create an agreement on what the code means, this is known as preferred reading.

When creating my video, I have to take the different audience theories into consideration. It is clear from this that the target audience are not all going to passively consume the media, they will bring their own opinions and experience to the video, so will interpret the video in different ways I want my video to suit people’s genre expectation but to also stand out from other existing videos. I aim for the video to make viewers reflect in their past relationships, as well as create a sense of sympathy for the ex boyfriend, Jonny. It may encourage people to have a goal to possibly get into a new relationship or to reflect in relationships that they may be involved in.

Using the equipment

Before going out and filming the real footage for our video we did some preliminary filming. Whilst doing the prelim filming, we were able to experiment with using the camera and setting up the tripod. This was useful as when we come to shotting the real thing, we will know how to set everything up correctly. Here are some images of me experimenting with using the equipment:

Animatic

Above is an animatic that we have created, in order to visually show our ideas for our music video. By doing this, it allows us to clealry see whether our shots will work well in the video and also the timings of each of the shots.

Storyboard

Here is our storyboard for our music video. It is important to have created a stroyboard as when filming we don't have to spend ages trying to decide what to do. We will be able to use our filming time more efficiently, to hopefully create lots of successful shots. In our storyboard, we have included details about: shot length, shot type, weather, setting, type of edit, lyric that runs along with the shot, and the positions and emotions of our actors...

Audience Profile

This is Rebecca, she is an example of our target audience for our video. She is 17 years old and is in 6th form, studying english, media and art at A-level. She really enjoys listening to music and loves watching new videos on youtube. She likes both pop music and alternative rock music, and loves attending lots of concerts to see all her favourite bands/artists. She is a particulary a big fan of Lawson and The Script. Shopping is another one of her hobbies, she loves going to town with her friends and likes shops such as: new look, republic, river island and h&m. She has a part-time job in a cafe earning around £100 a month, she regularly buys music from iTunes and is always seen plugged into her iPod. She enjoys reading and gets a monthly magazine; she likes reading about new celeb gossip, music and fashion.

Tips for our project

Presentation nov 4 from petefrasers

Above is a presentation from Pete Fraser's Media Blog, it provides me with some useful tips for our practical project. By looking through the slideshare presentation, I have learnt more about how to create a successful blog and final product. I am going to take the 9 key words into account and ensure that examples of each are clearly shown in my blog. I have already done some posts on some of the key words, but the main thing I have learnt from this is to do lots of personal reflection along the way. 

Scripting

As we are creating a music video we will not be including any speech within it as this would draw attention away from the song and the final product would probably not be as successful. However there will be some points in the video where the couple are talking to one another as this is important within a relationship, however there will be no sound of them talking as speech does not usually sound good and flow within a music video because it would break up the song. We plan on letting the actors talk about whatever feels natural and fits with the scene around them as this will seem more natural and will not look as though they are just reading a script; it is important for the couple to look comfortable around each other, look like they're having fun and communicate well.
In addition we have asked Jonny (playing the ex-boyfriend) to learn some of the lyrics and the basis guitar rhythm so that he can play/sing some parts for when we want to film him in the field. We have given him a copy of the song and highlighted the parts he needs to learn so that it will be easier to sync his lips with the song.

Filming Tips

Before going straight out and starting our pre-filming, we were given a few tips. These tips were given to the school by Mince, who is a film director for The Saturdays music videos. The tips were:
1- STABILITY (keep elbow in and ensure no shakey movements)
2- SUPPORT (use other people to support you when filming)
3- PRACTICE (practice shot before filming for the real video)
4- DIRECT ACTORS (use markers and ensure they know what they are doing at all times)
5- COUNT DOWN (start from 10)
6- "QUIET ON SET" (use sentences like these to ensure everyone is ready)
7- ACTION ( "camera turning" - 3,2,1 action....)
8- FILM MORE (always film more footage than you need as it is easy to edit/cut down)

By going through these tips, it ensures that we know how and what is required to do when filming, and it also will help to make our final product better. We have to ensure that before going out and filming we check all the equipment to see if there is: a memory card/film, battery, and a top plate on the tripod.

Narrative

The storyline within our music video is partially chronological as we see the first couple together, then we see that the girl is with a new person. However the video itself is made up of shots of the new couple together and then the ex-boyfriend singing and playing guitar. It is implied that these two things are happening at the same time; the new couple are enjoying themselves whilst the ex is upset. However as it is made up of a montage of shots it is not actually chronological like a story, therefore our narrative is known as 'fragmented' as it is made up of separate shots of different activities.

Media Language

The main theme that our music video is based upon is love and relationships. It focuses on both a happy couple and a lonely ex boyfriend. It shows audience how the guy is dealing with the break up and how their life's have now completely changed. The audience will know our video is based on relationships due to the shots we plan to include, such as a couple: holding hands, hugging and enjoying themselves. They will also know about the break up as at the beginning it is going to be Jonny and Jess together and then it will be focussing on Jess in her new relationship with Tom, and Jonny being left all lonely and sad.

To sum up the narrative, basically a couple break up, the girl moves on but the guy is left wanting her back. Our unique selling point of our video is that the cast are good looking; they are all friends and get on well. Also, most of the shots are going to be shot in Sidmouth, making the video local. Furthermore, the music is a mixed genre of pop rock; therefore we are going to have some of the pop conventions and some of the rock conventions, which will make our video more different and unique.

All music videos take viewers on a 'journey', and we aim that our music video makes the audience feel very sympathetic to the ex-boyfriend. But on the other hand we want them to also feel happy towards the cute couple. It could inspire them to possibly want to be in a relationship or could make them personally reflect on their own experiences they have had and relationships they may have been in.

Lighting and Equipment List

In our music video, we are going to use natural ambient lighting from outdoors. We decided not to use artificial lighting as we want to make our video look realistic and natural. We are planning on shooting our video in different weathers: both rain and in slightly sunny weather if possible. The equipment we will be using include: a film camera and a tripod, both of which are available for us to use from school.

Costume

Above is a presentation which we put together to show how we plan on dressing and styling our actors. This planning has allowed us to imagine how the actors will look and make decisions about the connotations we want the clothing and make up to have. Planning costume and make-up are essential within a music video as the looks of the people included and the clothes they are wearing will effect how appealing the video is and how popular it would become.

Jess, one of the actors within our music video, is currently training to be a make-up artist, therefore we will be giving her details about how we want her make-up to look (natural and simple), and she will then be doing her own make-up as she can use this experience to support and practise what she has learnt at college. We feel that the make-up will be most successful if she does it herself as she knows what looks good on her skin and the techniques which work best for her; therefore ensuring that she feels confident and attractive.

Location shots...

Here are some images, showing the various different locations where we are planning to shot out video. The locations we plan to include are: a bedroom, house, fields, bridge, beach, town and woods. We decided to have lots of different locations in order to make our video more varied and interesting. Our choice of locations link to our genre of pop rock; as it is common for pop videos to be based on the beach and in fields, and woods are a fairly common locations for rock videos. Most of our video will be shot in Sidmouth, so we can easily access all the different locations.

Risk Assessment

Location	Risk	Solution
Bedroom/House	1-tripping over items In the bedroom 2-tripping up the stairs 3-falling out of the bed 4-dog could get in the shot 5-siblings could get in the way	1-make sure the bedroom is tidy and the floor is clear 2-ensure the cast use the banister and walk up the stairs carefully 3-make sure cast are safe 4-ensure my dog is out of the way when shooting 5-ensure everyone is out so we won’t get disrupted
Byes	1-tripping over when walking 2-falling in the river 3-other people may be walking down the byes	1- make sure the cast look where they are going 2-ensure that cast can swim and avoid going near the water 3-look around before shooting to see where the other pedestrians may be
Field	1-tripping over something in the field 2-getting muddy from sitting on the floor	1-ensure that cast look where they are walking and wear sensible footwear 2-find out whether the grass is muddy/wet before getting cast to sit down
Beach	1-drowning in the sea 2-tripping over stones 3-seaguls stealing food	1-make sure that actors can swim and avoid going in the sea 2-ensure that cast are careful when walking on the stones 3-make sure food is out of sight when seagulls are near
Town	1-getting run over 2-other pedestrians getting in the way	1-make sure cast are always walking along the path and are careful when crossing roads 2-look around before shooting to see who is about and whether it would be okay to shot or not
Woods	1-tripping over tree roots 2-slipping on leaves	1-ensure that cast are careful and look where they are going 2-make sure suitable footwear is worn and ensure that they are safe

Above is our risk assessment for when we come to shooting our music video. We have thought about the possible risks we may encounter in each of our different locations and have come up with solutions in order to help prevent the risks from occurring. It is important that we have a risk assessment so all our cast are safe and not at any possible risk during our music video. 

Casting...

Here is our chosen cast for our music video. We have images showing who are cast are and have justified our reason of choice below:

This Jess, she is 18 and will be playing the main girl in our music video. We chose her because we both get on well with her and therefore we will feel comfortable asking her to adapt her acting and she will hopefully feel comfortable as she won't be embarrassed to act in front of us. She is confident and will fit the role well as she is average height, so she will be shorter than both boys; this is not particularly important in real life however we hope to make our music video as balanced and appealing as possible and the couple will look best together if the boy is taller than the girl. Jess will also be good at this role because she is pretty and this is important, despite how wrong it could be seen as, as people prefer to watch a video with attractive actors/actresses in it; she will also attract the male gaze as the music genre we have chosen is listened to by both male and female audiences. We also want viewers to be able to relate to Jess, maybe even aspire to be like her and therefore it is important we represent her as a normal, fun, pretty girl.

This is Tom, he is 17 and will be playing the new boyfriend in our music video. We chose him because he is a bit taller than Jess and as mentioned above this will make our video as appealing as possible. In addition he is attractive and fits the role of a cute boyfriend and will therefore appeal to the female audience. Also, viewers will be able to relate to him too, we are representing him as just an ordinary teenage guy who has now got into a nice relationship. People may aspire to be like him and it possibly may make them personally refelect on their life, like their past realtionships for example. Furthermore, because we are showing users the fun times Jess and Tom have had together, it may make viewers want to get into a relationship so they can experience times like the copuple have. He and Jess get on well and should feel comfortable acting like a couple around and being close, this is important within a music video because if the actors are laughing or look awkward then it will not look believable.


This is Jonny, he is 18 and will be playing the ex-boyfriend (who will also be the singer / guitarist). Similarly to the other actors we chose him because he gets on well with everyone and will feel comfortable.  He also used to play guitar so he will be best at pretending to play along with the song, he can play a couple of notes and would be best in making it look realistsic to viewers. He too is taller than Jess and is also in good shape and will appeal to a female audience  Also, he is just an ordinary typical teenage boy, he enjoys sports such as cycling and surfing, listening to rock music including Foo Fighters, Kasier Chiefs, AVA, and playing xbox. Jonny and Tom both dress in fashionable casual clothing such as Superdry and Hollister, this shows to viewers that they are just ordinary people like them. Because Jonny is a relationship, he knows what it would feel like to loose someone who is that close to you and therefore his emotion could be portrayed better in the video. People may feel sorry for Jonny, they may have experienced a similar thing in their life, so can connect with him and know how he is feeling. 

Lawson's New Video Deconstruction

Lawson's new song called Standing in the Dark has been recently released. The narrative of the video is very similar to ours; a guy breaks up with his girlfriend, the girl gets with someone else and he is left wanting her back. I have got some screen grabs of the shots that stood out most to me...

Similarily to our plans for our music video, in this shot we see the guy in the bed singing. I think that this shot really emphasises his loneliness and this is through the use of the long shot. It makes the guy look 'small' and the way he is looking down at the floor helps to really show is emotion. The dull lighting also creates a sad, lonely mood.

This close-up of his face really helps to portray his emotion, you can see that he looks sad and lonely. I like the fact you can see all the building in the background, giving viewers a sense of location. I also like the fact he is wearing quite dull clothing, which helps to fit his mood.

Here is a close-up of one of the band members playing the guitar. In our music video, we plan on having close-ups of someone playing the guitar similar to this, but an acoustic not electric. It helps to make the video more varied and interesting.

This is a shot of the guys feet as he is walking towards the girlfriends house. I like the shot, it is different, yet still interesting. In our video, we plan on having a shot focussing on the couples feet. I think they work well and will make the video more varied.

Here we can see the guy looking through the window at his ex-girlfriend with her new partner. I like this shot, it really helps to portray their emotions and feeling. We can see that the guy is very shocked to see hix ex-girlfriend with someone else. On the other hand, we can see that the girl has moved on and is intimate with another guy.

In this shot, the guy in singing in the rain. I like how they have used the dull weather to fit with his dull, depressed mood. In our video, we plan to hav the ex-boyfriend stood in the rain at some point. I think using the weather is a good way to help create a certain mood/atmosphere.