Planning the Third Shoot

Planning the Third Shoot

On 2nd January we will be shooting the third lot of footage for our music video. We will be filming the bonfire scene in Coral's Nan's garden and plan to shoot from about 15.00 until 19.00. Since we will be using fire, it is very important that we risk assess the shoot properly and make sure everyone is sensible and aware. Below is our shooting schedule and risk assessment for the day.

Shooting - Day 2

Shooting - Day 2

We shot the second lot of footage for our video on 21st December. We were shooting 2 key scenes in our video - the scene where Olivia-Mae finds the letter and the party/gathering scene where we see Ruth flirting with Jenny. Unfortunately Anica could not join us on the day, but we still managed to get everything done fairly smoothly.

The day was quite long, with us arriving at about 9AM and not leaving until about 4PM. For this reason we brought several snacks and drinks to keep us going throughout the day, taking breaks when we needed them. We were all exhausted when we first arrived due to the early hour (especially during the holidays) but quickly got into the process, setting up and preparing for the day. We filmed the scenes with just Coral and Crystal in the morning, stopping at midday for lunch. Our extras began to arrive around then and after a quick pizza lunch we were ready to shoot. One of our extras dropped out at the last minute, but fortunately the friend whose house we were borrowing was willing to be in the video. The extras all got along really well, both with us and each other, and the filming was remarkably smooth. The only problem we encountered was a broken guitar string which looked bad in the shot, but we just removed the string and carried on filming.

Overall, the day passed smoothly, with us shooting everything we needed to despite having to work with a larger group of people. The extras were all very helpful and listened to us well, which definitely contributed to the successful shoot we had. All in all, it was a very good and productive day.

Choosing Extras

Choosing Extras

On 21st December we will be needing extras for a party/gathering scene. We therefore need to choose a good group of people to be extras as the outcome of our shoot depends on them behaving well and not causing us too much strain. As there is no dialogue in our video and the acting is not particularly hard we do not need to look for amazing actors. Instead, we have focused on finding people with the right 'indie' aesthetic we are aiming for in our music video, choosing people who will concentrate, get along well and not be too camera shy. We will need 4 extras and have decided on 3 of our friends and Sam's younger brother. The friends we have chosen all have an indie aesthetic, are sensible and know each other so will get on quite well. Sam's brother is also quite friendly, so will hopefully get on well with everyone else, plus has an indie aesthetic for us to work with.

Planning the Second Shoot

Planning the Second Shoot

On 21st December we will be filming the second lot of film for our video. We will be shooting the letter scene in the morning and group scene in the afternoon at one of our friend's house. This will be an interesting day as we will be filming with other actors than ourselves, meaning that organisation will be key. We have chosen a good, reliable group of people, however, so we hope that the day will run smoothly. We will be filming from about 9.00 until 16.30, so it could be quite a tiring day. Below is our shooting schedule and risk assessment.

Shooting - Day 1

Shooting - Day 1

The 10th December was the first day of shooting our music video. We planned to shoot several sequences, including the opening with Olivia-Mae and Ruth walking together, the scenes of them walking through the woods, and the found footage scenes with the dog. Due to cynophobia (fear of dogs) Anica did not join us on the shoot, although my mum came along to act as the dog handler.

When we got to the location, we found the weather to be a little different than what we had hoped. We had initially pictured sunlit fields and light shining through the woods; we arrived to find the day overcast and foggy with a light rain. However, instead of returning home and rescheduling the shoot for another day, we decided to carry on filming, as the fog made the fields seem atmospheric and indie, creating a beautiful effect in the camera. So, we pulled on our raincoats and started shooting our video. Of course, there were some downsides to the weather. Firstly, we had to make sure that our cast and camera all stayed dry, which included getting a certain person (me) to hold an umbrella over the camera. We also found our time with the dog cut short, as he gets wet very quickly and we didn't want to keep him in the rain for too long. We made up for this by shooting shots with him at the very beginning and filming shots of just Olivia-Mae and Ruth later. We also decided not to have them climb trees, as this could be very dangerous and we didn't want to spoil the shoot with a trip to A&E. One advantage of the weather (other than it's beauty) was that our location was basically empty, so we got our pick of places to film without having to worry about other people ruining our shots. One later disadvantage of the weather, however, was that we didn't manage to catch golden hour as we had aimed to, as the clouds stopped the sunlight from getting through. At this point the fog had mostly cleared, removing that effect, but fortunately Sam had brought a canister of fake fog along with us so we could still make it look indie. We managed to finish our shoot just as the sky was beginning to get dark, reaching the car park just as night was beginning to fall.

In the end, we managed to film everything we needed to. Although the weather wasn't what we had initially hoped for we actually think that it might make our video look better and more indie as fog and rain is a convention of the genre, plus it reflects the mood of our piece. All in all, it was quite a successful day, if a very damp one.

Planning the First Shoot

Planning the First Shoot

On the 10th December (tomorrow), we will be shooting the first lot of footage for our piece. We will be filming the opening in the field, the close-ups of Olivia-Mae and Ruth walking, and the 'found footage' parts of our video. We plan to film in the fields and woods of Shotover (as seen in our locations post) and will be filming from 13.30 to about 16.00. Below is our shooting schedule and risk assessment for the day:

Biffy Clyro's Rearrange

Biffy Clyro's Rearrange

Biffy Clyro recently released a music video for 'Rearrange', the song we are using for our coursework, so I decided to watch it to see how they had interpreted the song and how their video differed from ours.

Biffy Clyro's video leans more towards the disjuncture end of the video narrative scale. Although both our idea and theirs are examples of amplification, with both focusing on the idea of losing a loved one, our idea is much more rooted in a real life narrative  than theirs, which is more focused on visuals and aesthetics. For example, in their video there are lots of shots of the lead singer behind some blurred glass, which are visually beautiful and evoke a feeling of sadness without presenting it in a narrative form. The only storytelling in their video comes near the end, when we see the singer with a woman. The only other evidence of her presence comes in shots of a pair of female hands stroking and manipulating his face. This makes us build our own story about what happened, creating a sense of mystery surrounding the events. This contrasts strongly with our idea for the video, where we clearly present a narrative to the audience.

It was interesting seeing the difference between the two interpretations of the song and the different ways that we are presenting somewhat similar messages. The aesthetics of their video are very beautiful and emotive, whereas ours conveys these feelings through narrative and story.

Ancillary Designs

Ancillary Designs

We started the designing process by thinking of some images/ideas that we thought could be used in our digipak and advert. We decided that there would be synergy between our digipak & advert and also that they would somewhat correspond with our video. We therefore began thinking of ideas relating to our storyboard. The words are listed below:

• Orangey colours
• Mysterious person looking at projection
• Projection of Cryss looking at Cryss
• Cryss with fire in her eyes
• Burning guitar - Cryss/person in background?
• Broken pocket watch
• Fire
• Projection room - rearranging
• Puzzle with image (from music video?)
• Burning trees
• Fields and trees

Using these words, we then started designing our digipak and advert, starting with the digipaks as the advert is trying to sell these. We came up with 3 designs for both tasks:

     Digipaks

Digipak 1

Digipak 2

Digipak 3

     Adverts

Advert 1

Advert 2

 

Advert 3

Advert 4

Locations

Locations

This music video has several locations which could be a challenge. We went location scouting in Shotover woods which is accessible but also offers a variety of locations.

Field 1:

Possible issues:

Getting there might be difficult. It requires a 20 minute walk through the woods which in itself isn't strenuous, but we might be carrying quite a lot of equipment with us.

The weather is also something to be taken into account. Because this field is wide and open and we will be standing still when filming this, we could get quite cold. This means we will need to wear warm clothing and prepare for wet weather. There is plenty of tree cover nearby if it does rain heavily, but we will need to be able to keep the equipment dry.

If we want to film at sunset or sunrise (golden hour) we will have a short window of time in which we can film because of the dramatically changing light qualities during golden hour. In addition to this, we will need to get home quickly after filming if we film in the evening because it gets dark quickly, and this location is a 20 minute walk from streetlamps.

If it rains heavily before we film, the ground will be very muddy. We will need to wear appropriate footwear.

Notes on location:

This field is the busiest of the three fields I looked at, so we may need to wait for people to walk out of frame if we are filming towards the path (not in the photo above). However, it shouldn't be hard to frame the path out, and so we shouldn't have to worry about that.

Field 2:

Possible issues:

Same as field 1 as it's right next to it

Notes on location:

This is our favourite of the fields because the grass is longer and unkempt. Sam has filmed here in the past and says the grass gives a really nice look on camera. The grass has always been long when he's been here in the past, so we doubt it will be cut between now and when we film, plus it's winter time. It's a quieter field, so we're unlikely to have to stop and wait for walkers.

Field 3:

Possible issues:

Same as field 1 and 2 - they're all adjacent fields

Notes on location:

The biggest field of the three. Shorter grass like the first field, but also has a path that goes through the field, so framing people out will be harder. It is busier than the second field, but not as busy as the first.

Forest path:

Possible issues:

All the generic issues outlined for field 1. This is slightly easier to access than the fields, but will also be busier as it is a path.

Notes on location:

This could be cool because it's very symmetrical. If the subject was standing in the middle, it would create a beautiful effect.

Forested area 1:

Possible issues:

In addition to already established issues when filming in the woods there is quite an abundance of thorns. However they should be surmountable.

Notes on location:

While it doesn't come out well in the photo this location could work really well because it is an accessible thicket of long grass and shrubbery. With a subject, movement and haze, this location will really show its depth.

Forested area 2:

Possible issues:

In addition to the already established issues when filming in the woods, it is also right next to a path.

Notes on location: Really good location if it doesn't bother the actors that it is right next to a path. The trees create a really desolate and lonely feel which would be good for parts of the video.

Campfire:

Possible issues: Transport, traffic noise, it will be shot and night, so everything will be very dark

Notes on location: This is in Coral's (who will play Ruth) grandparent's back garden. Easily accessible with a house nearby in case of emergency