Keeping up with the production plan

Although I planned to film the 3 girls on Monday there have been problems with both transportation and illness, Steph has recently had a minor operation which has effected her dancing for 2 weeks, although these 2 weeks are nearly over now she is still unable to dance for a few more days. Hopefully all of the dancers l will be available in the upcoming week so that I can organise a trip to the set and start my filming

Problems when editing

I attempted to edit the clips taken of the beach, the camera I used was a Panasonic SDR-S50, when I played the clip it didn't take up the whole of the screen and was surrounded by a black border, to use the clip I have expanded the size of it, this had affected the quality slightly but after editing there shouldn't be any problems with this clip.

Animatic

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX7hBkTLfA8&feature=plcp

Casting and mise-en scene

Casting-
Philippa Branton
Stephanie Hartshorn
Emily Straker

Mise-en scene
Stephanie and Philippa will both be wearing leotards throughout the dance scenes, Philippa in a black on and Stephanie in a red one (I will add photos of these soon) I did not have to buy the leotards as both girls are dancers and already own these.
Emily is wearing a plain white t-shirt for the first few scenes. For the scenes in the wood I want emily to be in a black outfit, Because it will be really cold I will take extra clothing for the dancers and Emily to wear whilst they are not in the shot.

Production plan

Friday 7th december-
Film a focus group with a few different individuals
Show the 1.30 of the clip i have already put onto Youtube, ask questions about what the video to the song should look like and what music should be over the video when played without the music.

The weekend from the 8th of december to the 9th-
Try to film some parts in little switz, (this may have to be done during next week as some people already have plans)

Monday 10th of december-
If the filming hasn't been done over the weekend, i will do it in the afternoon as all of the people involved in the video do not have lessons in the afternoon. If the filming has been done I will edit the clips.

Tuesday 11th December-
Edit video

More planning to be done next week..

First Rough cut of music video

I could not upload the video to my Blog so here is the link to the Youtube video of my first rough cut draft.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnbOnS9HQrs&feature=plcp

Location List.

When filming the video I will visit a number of locations.

• In and around college
• Bridlington
• Hessle
• Embleton (Northumberland)

Risks

Audience research

Changing the story board. (Animatic)

When creating my animatic and put all of the images of the scenes together I realised that there wasnt enough, I have drawn out some more images for the story board and put them onto my animatic which I will upload soon.

Characters

Philippa on the left and Stephanie on the right both currently study A2 dance at Wyke college, they also both attend Phoenix dance school in Leeds during the week. Philippa also attends Northern school of contemporary dance. The dance in the video was choreographed by both Steph and Philippa for the song.

Both the dancers are friends of mine so I know that they will commit to the time slots agreed for filming the shots for my music video.

Emily is a friend of mine in college, like Steph and Philippa she also studies dance, In my video Emily will be the main character, miming the words and acting out the scenes. Emilys confidence will help to make this video seem more realistic as unlike some people she doesn't become shy when acting out the video infront of others.

Filming

Tuesday 30th October
Over the half term from college I visited my grandparents in Northumberland, this was a great opportunity for me to take some images and footage for my music video as there is a large beach about 5 minutes away from their house. As it is a small village there were not many people on the beach which was good for me as I wanted it to look empty, although there were a few people walking their dogs I was able to take my shots without them getting in the way.

Friday 23rd November
I started filming over lunch time on friday, the theatre was being used by other students so I had to imporvise with what I had by using the big curtains in the theatre to cut it into two large spaces, this meant that I was able to change the lighting specificly how I wanted it without effecting the other people that wanted to work in the hall. Although there was a lot of noise created by the other students I will be able to cut that out as I only need the footage in this scene and do not need any sound other than the music which will be played over it.

Images taken whilst filming the dance

 The dance shoot was done in the college theatre, these images were taken by Emily Straker on my mobile phone whilst I was filming Steph and Philippa during the dance routine, I booked the theatre for one hour during lunch, there were a few problems during filming as other people also wanted to use the theatre, to solve this problem I used the large curtains through the middle of the hall and was then able to adjust the lighting on the side I was filming to how I wanted it to be.

Costume and props

I have used different outfits for each shoot, in the video I do not use any props just the performers and their costumes.

In the first shoot of Stephanie and Philippa dancing, both of the girls are wearing leotards, Stephanies is red and Philippas' is black. Both of the dancers have their hair down and both are wearing no shoes.

The shoot showing emily in the studio singing close to the camera she is wearing hair hair down with a plain white t-shirt, before the shoot I did her hair and make up using different products. I used a 'Bare minerals' powder foundation and created a light smokey effect around her eyes using a benifit 'Big beautiful eyes' eyeshadow. I wanted to keep her make up quite natural and minimalistic but also wanted her to slightly glow with the light reflecting off of her face.



Shooting emily on the beach she will be wrapping up in a coat and scarf, I will be shooting these scenes at night so I think it will look a bit odd if she is in a dress.

Stephs dance solo will be shot just outside of Hull, she will be dancing around trees so she will be wearing a white dress, white is a natural colour and I want her to look natural when dancing in these scenes.

First draft of story board

Song analysis

When researching the song online I have found out that the song is about;

• feeling worried and anxious, being overwhelmed by your own thoughts. 
• self harming and calling out for help 
• loneliness 

In my video I want all  of these factors to be pointed out, by using two dancers I want to show loneliness as if the girl has a split personality and is fighting off the 'bad' side of her. 

Photographs taken whilst filming

Me filming Hannah

Mark filming

Jen filming whilst India, Philippa, Jasmine and I are in the background

Jen filming whilst India, Philippa, Jasmine and I are in the background

Me filming whilst Jasmine checks that we are making each scene look like the original video

Filming

Filming

Me filming whilst Ruby holds up the lyrics for Hannah

Me filming whilst Ruby holds up the lyrics for Hannah 

Filming

Everybody watching what we have filmed 

Everybody watching what we have filmed 

Practice video

For our practice video we chose to use Florence and the Machine- Rabbit Heart, the video for this song was quite simple and fun and seemed like an exciting choice to have done. The video story board was created by Philippa by print screening each shot in the video for the first minute.We decided to film the first 30 seconds of the video as we we're unable to get the props needed for anything after that. The group was originally; India, Ruby, Jen, Philippa and me but because of absence we decided to join another group so that we didn't have to rely on people being here making it harder to film, the group that we joined was Mark, Hanna and Jasmine giving us a group of 8. The fact that we had a larger group meant that we had to make sure that everybody had a role in creating the video, each of us would was involved in the filming of the video by being in it or being behind the camera; filming, helping with lyrics and directing the actors. When editing the video we tried to give everybody in the group a chance to edit a little part of the video so that everybody got to know the software a little bit when it comes to creating our own video's later on in the year. The costumes for the video were brought in by Jen and Philippa, using old clothing and a piece of lace to try and replicate the video as well as we could, because each individual in the group were quite low on money we tried to use things found in home and at college, the original video is filmed in a large field with quite natural lighting, we recorded our video at college using a field that nobody uses so that we didn't have to stop and let people past. We were all lucky with the weather on the day we decided to record as it was quite sunny which gave us good lighting in the video. When editing the video we changed the lighting to try and replicate the original as the lighting is quite orange. Because there are only four lessons of media studies a week we had to decide in a group when people were free to meet up and edit parts of the video, when editing the video we needed at least two people to use the software so that the person editing had some support and help when they felt they didn't really know what to do. Editing the video in smaller groups saved a lot of time because there weren't many times that each person in the group were all free at the same time. 

A-Level Media Practice Video

My audience

I cannot find the answers to the questionnaires set on my blog so I do not know how the audience has responded to my questions. 

I think that my audience for the music video is a niche audience as the song is quite slow and 'deep', the song isn't in the charts so it isn't popular with the majority of people that focus on pop/chart music. I think that the video would be watched by people that are studying dance and drama subjects in college as the dance in the video may be very interesting for them to watch. The main age group listening to the song and watching the video would probably be around 16-18 which is the age group of people in college and people that don't go to Wyke but have friends in Wyke that have told them about the video as they may have enjoyed it or found it interesting. 

The original video (sia-breathe me)

I have found the video for the song "Breathe me" and after watching it i like the idea of using a lot of different pictures throughout the video, I think that the video is a bit too fast for the song though so if I do use the photograph idea I will not do it through-out the whole video and instead may do it for a few seconds through-out the video. 

Existing media texts

For my A2 piece of work I have chosen to create a music video to the sound track “breathe me” by Sia. I don’t think that this song has one particular genre and instead shares similar conventions of a pop/dance song. This research will give me an insight into the typical codes and conventions following the genre of my chosen song. My chosen song is a ballad meaning that my video must tell a story to show the emotions in the song. For my video I have decided that I want my characters to be dancing in a room with black walls with harsh lighting in the center of the room. It is typical in a for a ballad to have the artist in the video singing and telling the story to the audience. 

Costume:

• Dance- Some makeup 'everyday clothing' 
• Pop- Makeup, bright abstract clothing

Location: 

• Dance- Abandoned areas (warehouses), houses, concerts
• Pop- Homes, clubs, streets, school, public locations 

Artist identity: 

• Dance- Normal 'everyday clothing' (no particular dress code)
• pop- Individual clothing (stands out) lots of makeup

Usually in pop, the music videos are very bright and show dancing, partying and other social events. The music usually contains a dance beat with a synthesizer melody. 

In the video for ‘listen’ by Beyoncé, the artist is stood in the center of the shot with a simple white or black back drop singing into the camera, the medium close up shot shows the singers face clearly to see her emotions as she sings the song to the audience. This song is a pop ballad and I would like to do similar things to this in my video. 

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In Katy Perry’s video ‘Thinking of you’ the video is more of a narrative piece which tells a story. The video has many different scenes which gives the images to the audience about what the song is about. In my video I think that my song will have a few different shots but rather than give a story like this video does I will be filming shots of the dancers/artist and scenery outside.  

This is another video for a song by the same artist I have chosen, Sia. This video she has created is like an animated puppet, most of the videos that have been created for her songs are a bit ‘strange’, I think that for the video I will create will be a lot more serious than her other videos because of the difference in the type of song. 

Cinematography- In a video for a ballad the shots used are usually close up shots showing the faces of the artist and the lyrics being sung. For my video I have decided to use a lot of close up shots to show the artists facial expressions, emotions. The use of long shots is usually to show the audience the setting and area around the artists, when filming my artists I may use long shots to show the emptiness around them as the setting around them will be a large black space. The camera movement is important in a music video; I do not want to create my video using one shot the whole way through and instead will use pans and view the artists from different angles. Zooming in and out in the video will be important as it will give the audience the opportunity to focus on one thing at a time. 

Editing- There are two main types of editing; Montage editing and continuity editing. Continuity editing shows the audience a neatly put together video, which is fluent and is created by using transitions linking the shots together. Montage editing shows the audience multiple things at once by using different shots to show many different things, this type of editing is sometimes used at the beginning of a video to give the audience an insight of what is about to happen. 

Mise en scene- I will be filming the majority of my video in a black studio; I will be using a spotlight on the artists so that the audience can only see the artists and nothing around them. Because the song is quite a slow ballad I think that I will also add a few shots of scenery outside; water, large open spaces and abandoned warehouses. To create a sense of loneliness showing the audience what the song is about. Costume and makeup is extremely important in a music video as these two things alone can tell a story about the artist, in my video the two dancers will be wearing completely opposite clothing, one in light costume and makeup and the other in a darker costume and makeup. 

Sound- The only sound in my music video will be the song itself, sometimes in a music video the artist chooses to speak to give an intro into the video, or to speak during the video to show something important. 

Planning schedule

28/09- Start filming in lesson, Jen and Toni edit in period 5
01/10- Lesson 4 after lunch, film during media lesson, half of us film and the other half edit.
02/10- Jen and Toni edit after lunch (period 4)
03/10- The whole group meet after dinner, decide on a plan close to the date as for what needs to be done (all filming should be done by here)
04/10- Jen and Toni both free 3rd
05/10- Lesson and 5th period
08/10- Deadline, 4o'clock. Add final adjustments in our lesson.

Deconstruction and reconstruction of a media text

The song chosen by our group is Florence and the Machine- Rabbit Heart, in the group is;

• Philippa Branton- Director
• Nadia Skalli- Producer
• India Whitely- Camera/Editing
• Jen Wilson- Camera/Editing
• Toni Hardcastle- Camera/Editing

Lyrics to Sia- Breathe me (second count)

(intro) 0-15 seconds

Help, I have done it again                                                                                   16-22 (6seconds)

I have been here many times before                                                                23-31 (8seconds)
Hurt myself again today                                                                                     32-37 (5seconds)
And, the worst part is there's no-one else to blame                                       40-48 (8seconds)

Be my friend                                                                                                         58-51 (3seconds)
Hold me, wrap me up                                                                                         54-59 (5seconds)
Unfold me                                                                                                     1.00-1.04 (4 seconds)
I am small                                                                                                      1.05-1.09 (4seconds)
And needy                                                                                                      1.10-1.12 (2seconds)
Warm me up                                                                                                  1.13-1.17 (4seconds)
And breathe me                                                                                            1.18-1.22 (4seconds)

Ouch I have lost myself again                                                                    1.25-1.30 (5seconds)
Lost myself and I am nowhere to be found,                                            1.33-1.40 (7seconds)
Yeah I think that I might break                                                                1.41-1.46 (5seconds)
I've lost myself again and I feel unsafe                                                    1.49-1.57 (8seconds) 

Be my friend                                                                                                   1.58-1.59 (1second)
Hold me, wrap me up                                                                                  2.03-2.08 (5seconds)
Unfold me                                                                                                      2.11-1.13 (2seconds)
I am small                                                                                                     2.14-2.18 (4seconds)
And needy                                                                                                    2.19- 2.21 (2seconds)
Warm me up                                                                                                2.22- 2.26 (4seconds)
And breathe me                                                                                           2.27-2.29 (2seconds)

Be my friend                                                                                                2.30-2.32 (2seconds)
Hold me, wrap me up                                                                                 2.35-2.40 (5seconds)
Unfold me                                                                                                    2.43-2.45 (2seconds)
I am small                                                                                                    2.45-2.50 (4seconds)
And needy                                                                                                   2.51-3.53 (2seconds)
Warm me up                                                                                               2.54-2.58 (4seconds)
And breathe me                                                                                          2.59-3.06 (7seconds)
                                                                                                 (Outro) 3.06-4.27 (121 seconds)

Skills development

When I started my foundation portfolio I already had a little experience using Photoshop and other editing software, I learnt media studies at school and gained 4 A grades from the subject by using the skills I had learnt in Photoshop. The knowledge I already had using the software helped a lot when I started the AS media course because I had to create a magazine cover, contents page and double page spread for my foundation portfolio. For this project I had to use my own original photographs, I had to take numerous photographs and a final one for the front cover; I then edited my photographs and created my magazine using Photoshop. Over the weeks creating the magazine I became more familiar with the tools on Photoshop which helped me to create better looking images as my skills became more advanced. My cover photograph had 3 models; the photograph had to be a medium close up and show a connection with the audience, I took a lot of images of the 3 girls and chose the one that I thought was best for the cover. I researched a lot of different magazines of the same genre to get information and ideas about the codes and conventions of this genre, the genre of the magazine I chose was ‘indie’ focusing on an audience who were fans of artists like ‘Ben Howard’ and ‘Lana Del Ray’. A big inspiration for my magazine was the ‘NME’ magazine as it also focuses on the same audience. I used the conventions of other magazines sold in shops like, barcodes, titles, photographs, mast heads, skylines etc. to make my magazine look like many of the other magazines sold in shops, the price of my magazine was £2.30, when researching other magazines I realised that this price was right for my target audience.  

As a group we were all shown different tools and editing techniques on Photoshop, this was really useful to me as I learnt a lot about using Photoshop in that one lesson and I used a lot of the things I learnt on my photographs throughout the whole of my AS year, we were shown how to get rid of blemishes on the models skin using tools like the ‘spot healing tool’ and also how to create more of a porcelain looking skin by using the layer tool. We were also shown how to create different effects on the text for the magazine; I created a shattered effect on a heading for the context page using different effects on Photoshop.

The first piece of work I created using Photoshop was a college magazine, looking back at the piece it didn’t look very good as I only knew a little about using Photoshop, as the year went on I developed more skills which made me a lot more confident when creating the music magazine, I think that if I was to do another task like this the media text would look a lot better as I would be able to put all of my skills together rather than add them as I had picked them up.

I hope that the skills I learnt last year will help me in creating my A2 portfolio; I have chosen to create a music video but when creating the cover for the album I will need to take appropriate pictures and edit them for my album cover.

Influences

  My music video will have two dancers, i each dancer to be very opposite, as if it was one person with two personalities. One girl will have very dark make-up and the other will have a more pale/fresh make-up style.

Qualitative data

Ways of collecting information that are concerned with understanding on conveying meanings or contexts, rather than making statistical inferences. Eg. Participant observation focus groups, in-depth interviews, etc.

Quantitative data

Information that is collected or represented numerically; typically focuses on counting characteristics or behavior rather than meanings; easy to analyse statistically. Eg. Surveys, experiments, questionnaires, Etc.

Psychographic data

Physcographic data is the study of personalities, values, attitudes and interests

Demographic data

Vital and social facts that describe a sample or a population

Chosen brief

For my A2 coursework I have chosen the music video brief.
My chosen song is "Sia- Breath me", I am not using this version of the song and instead am using an original acoustic version which I will be recording myself. I have chosen to create a narrative video