Tuesday 22 October 2013

MS: Video inspiration

When looking at other producers videos in my free time I came across this O'Neill promotion video which follows a very similar visual course to our music video concept except it is about snowboarders and skiers. This production  excellently represents the camaraderie and friendship bonds that  most if not all people share with the people that also are passionate about the same sports which is why I think it is a very good example to include on our blog to act as an example of how our production is to be based narrative wise.


O'Neill #ridemore – Who needs a mountain from O'Neill on Vimeo.

Group: concept development shot ideas

 At the weekend Tyla and I had planned to shoot our first part of our production but due to weather changes we decided to cancel as when shooting the riders and skateboarders we need the grounds surface to be dry due to the increased risk of loosing control in the wet.


Due to the wet weather I decided to try out some possible shots that would increase the production values of our music video such as the POV shot of one of our main characters riding with the handle bars and controls situated within the shot. This actual photo I took whilst riding along on my Iphone, it has produced a high quality image but I plan on testing the same shot in video mode and then comparing the resolution and quality with other shots that we have captured on our Cannon 550D as if used in continuity editing it may look out of place and lower the production values of the production.



An alternative to using an Iphone to shoot this segment is to use a Gopro which is designed specifically to shoot POV footage  of riders, skaters and other first person action sports like the video I captured below and the picture above. My friend Oliver has a camera that Tyla and I can both use for this purpose which I have had allot of use with in the past so it will be a very useful recourse that we have access to as he said that he is happy to let us use it.


The video below is a practice video that I took using a GoPro Hd hero 2 at one of our locations, due to the fact that I am one of the riders it will mean that we will only have to find one more rider to feature in our production.

Monday 21 October 2013

Location reccie: Sun rise


The beginning of our music video production features a time lapse of the sun rising to act as a sign that the day has just begun. This is a key part of our narrative as it follows the key characters throughout the day from beginning to end so it needs to be framed well with all the possible variables taken into consideration as it will be one of the first major opening shots of the production.


The second photograph is where our opening sunrise shot will be shot,at around 6 am the sun rises directly at the end of this road producing a gold and red haze much like the photo i took above which is from a different angle at the end of the day. The other key reason for shooting in this location is because my house is situated in the middle of the road and thus it is a perfect location to film the time lapse sunrise and then have the rider exiting the house to ensure that the footage looks continuous to the audience.

Monday 14 October 2013

Group: Concept Development

Today we spent time deciding where we going to cut the track and broke down the track down into sections to organise our shots and scenes within the video. As well as this we developed some of our ideas for the track  by responding to feedback from our pitch.
The decisions we made were

  • We will start the track from 1:45 and fade the end from around 5:20
  • To add another short scene depicting our ideological discourse of the teenagers doing 'good' which we will place as the lyrics "making up for teenage crime" are heard
  • Our idea for this is showing a boy slipping an object into his pocket from and having our group of friends confront him about it, in turn making him give back the item.
  • Also we have decided on individual shots we want to use such as the split screen into 4 at the beginning with each characters action framed in the same way.
  • In the faster sections we are going to use more action shots of the riders from the skateparks and other locations
Here are the splits for our sections with some basic ideas for shots
  • 1:45 - beginning and 1st slow section - sunrise time lapse, early morning, leaving houses, split screens, friends apart
  • 2:07 - 1st fast section - as beat drops character lands on skateboard, still apart, travelling to meet
  • 2:38 - 2nd slow section - meet up together, riding through town, camaraderie shown through 360 pans and blocking of shots, group shown stopping theft
  • 3:15 - 2nd fast section - skatepark scenes
  • 4:00 - 3rd slow section - helping stranger with shopping, slow motion showing friendship
  • 4:30 - 3rd fast section - action scenes, fancy dress, Porc
  • 5:20 - ending - sunset at Porc, group shots, ending with voice over emphasising discourse

Group: Filming Planning

Due to our difficulties with needing bright sunny weather for filming we have decided to plan for numerous days to film to allow for contingency time if the weather turns.
We are planning to film on Tuesday 15th October from about 2:30 onwards as we have a media lesson last period and we have asked for permission to leave at this time to film. The weather report shows that at the time we are planning to film there will be sunny intervals so we are going to try and film as much as we can weather permitting. The location for this shoot will be at grosvenor skatepark

In addition we are planning to take advantage of the day off due to the teachers strike on Thursday 17th October. We are planning to do the early morning shots near Max's house with the sunrise as the weather report suggest this will be possible.



Sunday 13 October 2013

Group:Pitch feedback

 
 
 
 
 
Tyla and I pitched our concept and ideas to the class and Ms Johnson on Thursday the 10th of October. This was the first time that our peers had seen our almost fully developed concept so we decided to include a wide range of secondary and primary research clips that we had taken from previous productions that i had made as well as short clips and screen shots from other professional productions to act as visual aids to our pitch when describing ideas.
 
From the class and teacher reaction we both feel that this method had worked very well as peers from our class had said that the extencive research that we had carried out helped them to visualise ideas that otherwise would have been hard to describe such as one of our post production ideas called RGB split.
 
After we had pitched to the class we recieved very good comments from our teachers and peers who said that there were not many grey areas that we had failed to incude and explain clearly. We then asked for feedback concerning our concept on how our ideas could be improved or adapted  and what ideas other members of the class had.
 
Some of the possible improvements that we recieved included:

  • Developing the ideological discourse through including similar shots of teenagers helping strangers in the community.
  • Developing the style of the production e.g. Slow motion, HIght production values and the use of post production effects.
 

Overall we both feel that our pitch to the class was successful and that after recieving positive feedback from almost all members of the class it has given us more confidence in our idea to develop it to become as good as possible.
     
 
 
 
 


Thursday 3 October 2013

Group: Treatment

Treatment draft
 A short film that emphasises the connection that friends have with each other and the bond that forms when they share a love for the same thing for example Skating, BMXing, Roller blading at  dirt jumping . It is meant to show that people are happier and achieve more in life when they are with friends and people that spur them on to succeed and to push themselves. They go to secret spots which they and their friends consider as theirs as well as public skate parks and other designated areas.( Brighton, Eastbourne, PORC, Grosvenor, Mayfield) . At the beginning of the production there is a time lapse of the sun rising which shows the audience that it is the beginning of a new day, slow motion shots of the group members on their own getting ready for the day ahead, elaborate long panning shots which move around the characters a full 360 degrees, extreme slow motion shots of the characters leaving their houses with main focus on the mode of transport that they ride or do. (skateboard etc) Steady cam shots also follow them through the house but from a fly on the wall perspective and in some cases from the outside using widows.
  • Slow motion shots
  • Panning shots
  • Exteme slow motion
  • Shots showing the characters leaving simultaneously
  • Tracking shots

Middle
As the boy riding his bmx is shown leaving the house the location of the camera changes to a wide angled panorama shot of the boy leaving the house early in the morning, the footage then speeds up into a time lapse of the sun rising through the trees in the background with the other houses surrounding slightly out of focus. After the time lapse has finished with the titles appeared in the style displayed in the naked and famous video we have analysed the footage will focus and slow down to normal speed showing the main character jumping out into and crossing the road on a BMX (possibility to use twixtor)
Shot in wide frame, quick panning and tracking shots follow the boy as he rides through the empty streets as the song is building up. Cross cuts to other characters in the production (must be shot in the same weather conditions and daylight) as to display continuity and establish the fact that the friends are all getting ready at the same time and have all left to meet for the day.
 The characters are all filmed on their own for this part of the production. The characters who skate board are filmed trying  the same trick which when edited will cross cut between the two or three characters doing the same trick at the same time. The beginning of one shot will be cropped and paired to the middle of another shot which is them paired to the end of a third shots
  • Film burn
  • Continuity editing
  • Twixtor
  • Track used to follow fast objects smoothly
  • Timelapse




    After the boy is shown to move from the outskirts of the town into the town center we will use the track to film tacking shots that track across side roads with the camera at one end of the cut through road and the bmx'er riding across at the other end, at this point some of the frames could be slown down dramatically to increase the intensity of the footage. When edited the footage will be cropped and will be in sync with the soundtrack to create an effective and high production value look.

    After this point the friends will all start to near their meeting place, the soundtrack begins to pick up and become more happy as they get closer signifying strength and friendship. The cutting rate will increase as the visuals cross cut between the faces of the individuals which will briefly be shown for 1-2 seconds as they start to smile.(twixtor used to show only minute e movements on their faces rather that a full smile developing which can look fake)

    When they all meet a 360 pan moves around the whole group, the shot is temporarily sped up and then slowed down using ramped slow motion to show them high-fiving and 'bro' fisting'. This carries on until the camera has smoothly panned around the whole group using the key slow motion placements to amplify the connection that the friends have.

    Examples of this'bro fist' are at 1:03 in the following video.
    We are also going to include shots of the individuals laughing together and having fun when they all meet up such as at 1:24 in the following video.
    Finally the 360 degree panning technique with the ramped slow motion can be seen at 1:34 with the only difference being that we would like to do a full 360 degree rotation with intervals that are slowed down.







Group: Today's progress

Today Tyla and i have both been working towards out pitch which is on next Wednesday.We have started making the pitch using prezi and have almost completed our survey on survey monkey. We will be able to start distributing tomorrow to potential audience members if ms Johnson agrees with the questions that we have asked in order for us  to get an idea of what qualities people feel are important within a music video.

 We have further discussed ideas for our production in an attempt to increase our possible production values as much as possible. A technique that we thought of and discussed today was to film identical shots of the different people moving the same way and doing the same things but in different locations. We would then crop the 2 or 3 shots of the individuals and use the beginning,middle and end from each to make one entire clip that cross cuts from each location in a continuous way.

The only drawback to this idea is that we will need to invest allot of time into creating this shot as everything will need to be simplified in order to make replicating the shot in a different location possible. The things that will be key are :

  • Camera angle 
  • Distance from  the lens to the subject
  • Subject positioning 
  • Movement 
  • Height 
  • Exposure 
All of the above points will be key to making this concept work but  in the worst case scenario we can use just two characters and two locations or one character and two locations where the character could cross cut from being alone early in the morning in town to a busy skate park.

MS:Deconstruction of didgipak

• The genre of this album cover is not clear with the only hint as to what genre it is being the word “rave” and the use of laser beam which is normally associated with night club lighting. The white overall is an outfit that some ravers wear to large underground raves and suggests that the genre on the music on the disc will be dance,club or a drum and bass hybrid. This is also reinforced somewhat by the Hospital record label shown in the bottom left hand corner, Hospital Records is a relatively large UK independent record label which specializes in drum & bass and junglist music that supports underground artists that produce this type of music. Because of this anyone who knows about the artist or label should be able to deduct that the music is of a drum and bass origin.

• The name of the artist and name of the album shown very clearly in a thick and simple white font which stands out clearly on the dark background.  The text isn’t unique in any way and has a  sharp and easy to read shape which makes it relatively uncreative. The font used is used in nearly every Hospital records advertisement and promotion as to draw a connection that fans will recognise if they were to see the font. The visuals aren't very exciting but it is modern and focuses on modern activities and music, there appears to be no parody involved in the album cover and the identity of the artist isn’t really on display seeing as you can hardly identify the man. 

Rule of thirds is used in the image to portray the artist and provide an equilibrium. The image has a dark tone which has clearly been shot at night.The beams of pink laser may actually be an added effect to make them stand out more as apposed to just having the pink/red lasers on their own. The picture looks mysterious and elusive which suits the name of the album he actual raves that take place tend to be secretive events which take place only at night in abandoned houses and warehouses. The picture also helps reinforce the album name almost suggesting that Danny Byrd is digging up a rave as the album is called 'rave digger' which is also amplified by the pile of dirt next to him with the shovel and overalls

• The artist isn’t represented in any particular way apart from the fact that he is the only character on the album.His identity is concealed and is left unclear which doesn't create a meta-narrative. This could be a kind of message or representation which the artist is trying to reveal almost saying that  the cover or the content of the image on the album cover is irrelevant and that the only thing that matters is how the music sounds and how it makes people feel. Danny Byrd being one of the most reputable drum and bass artists in the industry almost uses the lack of branding and promotion on his album cover to support this fact.

• This print text would be consumed via advertising in the form of posters, magazine adverts and through social media and forums . websites such as the Hospital Records site would advertise this album to all their followers and consumers. The item itself can be bought from most music stores as it is popular,the copy i bought being from an airport dealership as well as online in the form of an mp3 download. 

Group: Brighton Footage



We wanted to practice editing the same kind of footage that we will have for our actual music video and try out some editing techniques to see if they would work for our final piece. So we decided to use a song that we had previously wanted to use for our music video but it already has a video. using the footage from Brighton and about 5 hours of editing this is the short practice video we created.

TW: Digipak deconstruction

C2C - Tetra


Genre

  • This digipak is for an artist of the dance genre, a convention which this example follows is the absence of the artist on the cover.
  • In addition the cover has party atmosphere which is links with the dance genre. 
Media Language
  • Bright vivid colours are used in combination with high key lighting to signify positivity and happiness
  • Although the artist and album title are centred due to the rule of thirds the audiences view is directed towards one of the four girls who are all positioned in the composition according to the rule of thirds.
  • The costume of the girls creates a sense of voyeurism as they are unclothed but covered by a range of eccentric props. The props also add to the positive party atmosphere.
  • The use of the women in this cover creates iconography as it could be seen as controversial as it includes some of the conventions of women in media recognised by Goffman et al. Primarily the technique of commodification.  

Representation
  • The joyous merrymaking atmosphere that is created represents the style of music of this artist. Its creates an image of optimism cheerfulness, adding to the meta narrative of this artist that they want to have a good time and create happiness.
  • In addition Dyers star image can be applied as this digipak conforms to both paradox's. For example the artist is absent from the cover however they appear inside the digipak.
  • Likewise they appear ordinary yet extraordinary as there are quotes of each member thanking family and friends which is juxtaposed by a picture containing a member surrounded by balloons, records, mixing decks and other musical instruments whilst sitting or standing on something up off the floor (eg. shelf). 
Institution and Audience

Tuesday 1 October 2013

Group: Evaluation of Music Video

How did your creative process develop, improve from film opening to music video?
  • The music video allows us to be more experimental with our shots
  • We can with ease come up with shots after our practice in the film opening
What cinematography skills / experimentation did you develop further during this project?
  • We experimented with unusual and different framings that we tried in our film opening because we didn't have to clearly show everything in the frame like we needed to in the film opening to make the narrative clear.
  • Likewise we could try angles of shots that were not appropriate for the brief of the film opening
List editing techniques and effects that you used in post-production. Be very specific and include detail.
  • Slow motion
  • Matching visuals with sound
  • Increased colour saturation
To what extent did you conform to the codes and conventions of music videos you have studied in your coursework productions?
  • Use of narrative fuzz
  • Editing to create pace
  • Visuals cutting with soundtrack

How does your production conform or challenge the artist’s style and representation? Refer to the band’s other work.



  • In all the bands music videos the artist has been absent so we didn't include any singing and lip syncing.
  • Likewise in videos such as 'Not Giving In' there is a lot of slow motion to mirror the pace of the track, therefore we tried to do the same and when the track is slow we created pace through slow motion

Group: Concept Development

Today after finishing the editing of our Brighton reccie footage we developed our concept in these ways
  • We have decided to use the post production effect of 'RGB Split' in super slow motion after seeing a sample of one of our clips with this effect on.
  • We think that the use of a short prelude of a character before they go out with a news report on teenagers or 'youths' causing trouble will help add some context and develop our narrative.
  • After researching music videos we decided that the idea of having someone riding in some sort of fancy dress costume e.g. suit, superhero costume. This will add an abstract element to our video, whilst adding to the message within in our narrative that teenagers can have fun without causing trouble. 
  • We have decided on a few of our locations to shoot at and will commence location reccies shortly. These include 'Porc' which is a dirt biking location and 'Grosvenor Skatepark' which is a small friendly skatepark which has lots of colour which will allow a good composition of shots.
  • In addition Max has found a spot near his house that we can use for a our early morning shots as it has a good sunrise we can use for a time lapse and to film with the early morning colours.
  • There is a possibility that we can produce some panoramic shots of extremely high quality as we may be able to get our hands on a RED 4k camera.
  • We also know that our filming is extremely dependent on weather so we are going to try and film as soon as possible.
  • We also going to use the track for shots at 'Porc' as there is lots of open space to set it up and use tracking shots to their full potential.

This is our sample clip of RGB Split with time warp and motion blur.