Actual Video

Time-lapse of Production Day

Audience Feedback of Rough Cut

During the past 2 weeks my group has been editing our music video. As the deadline is approaching, my group and I are keen to get some feedback as we know we will need to change some things.

The audience really liked the fast past quick editing as they felt it really matched the song. Our audience felt that our strongest concepts was the indoor neon scenes as it was really powerful and looked very interesting.

One of the weaknesses was that they were slightly confused to what the actual concept was. Another weakness was that they felt the boy in the cage was quite confusing as he was not seen to be singing throughout most of the video.

They knew Carlotta was the main star but they said that it would be more effective if in the beginning we got more glimpses of her before the 3 singers as it is introduced like Phoebe is the lead. Some people were also slightly questionable about the 'Space' scenes as they felt it lacked some props/lighting to give evidence of what it was.

They also spotted some things which none of us had noticed, like the statue at the beginning was seen as a bit random and that we should either get rid of it or keep repeating it.

Rough Cut of our Video

Update on Editing

Throughout the last few days Santi and I have been editing the footage for our music video. At first it was quite intimidating seeing how much footage we had and how we were going to start editing. We first put our footage in rushes and then named each clip so that we would find it easier to edited and put together.

I defiantly think Santi and I have excelled during this period as we have so far edited over 90seconds of the footage and it's looking good. At first it did take a long time to sync everything and we did have a little trouble as it quit and we hadn't saved it. However, once we got started we have been rather quick in the process.

Evaluation of Shoot Day

Before our shoot day we had to make sure that all our sets were sorted and that everybody was ready for the coming day. As we only had two studio sets which mostly just involved different lighting it was fairly quick and simple to organise it. My group and I tested out many different lightings with George in order to choose what would look bet especially for our neon/UV scene. Once we had decided that set we had to get our other one sorted. We knew we just wanted a simple white flood light that would create silhouettes with our dancers, it took a little time but after a while we were able to create what we were looking for.

As we had set up our lighting for the sets the day before, all we had to do spend some time dressing our cast and putting makeup on them. Santi and I took on roles as the makeup artists and we decided to paint the two dancers using the red/orange/pink UV paint whilst Carlotta (the lead) was painted in blue/green/yellow as we wanted to highlight that she was the lead singer. Once the makeup was done we sprayed UV hairspray onto the girls and had them all wear plain black leotards, along with Carlotta wearing UV contact lenses.

The neon/UV studio shoot went extremely well as it looked very professional and cool and our cast really performed well as Carlotta knew the lyrics and was able to focus on performing rather than trying to remember the words. My group and I worked especially hard making sure our cast and crew were happy and we provided lots of food and encouragement! During the shoot we made sure we were getting all the right shots and we also came up with a few more ideas which we previously hadn't come up with. Our concept was most defiantly achieved and I feel that this was one of the strongest looks of our whole shoot. 

For our second studio shoot, we had three dancers (Gen, Leila and Phoebe) who had created a choreographed three-minute dance to accompany the song. We dressed them in black leotards and simple makeup as we mostly wanted to create a bold sequence highlighting their bodies and dance moves. During shooting we had some white smoke in order to add more of an atmosphere which I felt really worked however sometimes too much was sprayed meaning we had to take a few minutes out to let it pass which occasionally held us up, but overall it was very successful as the girls all looked great dancing and the bright light really looked good. 

After the morning studio shoot we had the outdoor filming. For this we had 14 extras, a lead male and female along with three main dancers, so organisation was key as there were so many people. We set off around 2pm and arrived at our location at 2:45pm, however disaster struck, as when we got there the paintball site was all locked up and no one in sight. After a few phone calls we had established that there had been some miss communication and it wouldn't be able to be unlocked till 4pm. With us having so many people to look after, we decided that the best option would be to wait in a nearby cafe in order to keep our cast and crew happy and since my group had bought lots of snacks and drinks it meant the hour went quite quick.

Once it had been open, it meant we could crack on with the shoot. Luke and Henry set up the equipment whilst Santi and I dressed all our extras and cast along with putting makeup on everybody. For the extras we had them dress in all camouflage and we thought it would link to apocalyptic concept and female dominance theme. For the London Bus set, Carlotta was dressed in a red soldier jacket whilst our dancers were dressed in black leather and we had red and green smoke. For the space scene, Carlotta and the dancers were all dressed in silver and nebula style clothing as it was very fitting with our space ship theme. For the pyramid scene, we had Carlotta in a long white gown whilst the dancers wore brown leopard clothes and George (the boy in the cage) wore beige shorts. I really think we nailed these scenes as our costumes and makeup were spot on. However, as the light quickly faded it became quite cold and our cast and crew did an excellent job remaining focused.

Throughout the day, I defiantly think Santi and I took more of a forward approach towards directing and shooting. Luke and Henry did an excellent job during the day making sure we got all the correct shots and helped with moving all the equipment from each outdoor shoot. I really enjoyed spending time filming as I think I'm very much a person that enjoys to be in control although I did let my fellow group members film as well! Henry and I also spent some time letting off smoke bombs during the outdoor shoots which was actually quite difficult and a big responsibility as the weather was quite windy meaning we had to run around the sets making sure there was enough.

I think I worked really well during the shoot, as I feel I remained encouraging and brought a lot of energy to the shoot and I think people felt my enthusiasm. I really enjoyed dressing our cast and putting my ideas into place. I feel I was a big part of the day and offered a lot of knowledge and fun to the day!

During the day we had a few problems that arose. In the morning of the shoot, one of our lead dancers cancelled last minute meaning we had to find another dancer luckily we had a reserve so it was quickly resolved. During the day the weather was a constant worry and I feel that we were very fortunate to only come across a small bit of rain that lasted 10 minutes at around 9pm. It became very cold during the evening shoot and it was a bit of a struggle making sure everyone was feeling alright, however we ordered pizza for everyone and kept them in the warm which helped spirits and made them remain positive. Additionally, as I mentioned earlier, the site was closed when we got there which meant we did lose a bit of time and sunlight but once we did get in it just made us more determined to start filming. Regardless of the problems that arose I really felt like it was a successful day as we had organised brilliantly and felt prepared for the day. I think we all did a great job putting all our cast together and making sure they were all looked after during the day. 

The only bit I wish had gone better was the space scene. During, the lighting was very dim due to all the shadows and we just couldn't get the exposure right and the space ship washed our cast out a little bit. However, I'm confident that we will be able to use aspects of the footage from that scene. One thing that I regret is how the cage looked. As we ran out of time we didn't trim the cable tires meaning they are visible in some shots. Along with this George was sitting on some bubble wrap in order to remain warm and comfortable which may look a little weird on camera.

I really loved filming with my group as we are all really good friends and we all saw the same vision when it came to this music video! We all understood each other strengths and weaknesses towards roles within the day and all worked extreme hard to create some excellent footage.

Previously, we had decided to use a disposable picture for our album cover, however we decided that we would use a normal camera and use a filter/effect to give it the look. I think we will really enhance on the neon aspects and add some more colour to the website. However, I defiantly think we will have to tone down how 'grungy' she is as we have realised that Carlotta is more of a natural beauty than edgy girl and this was portrayed in the music video so we will have to adjust her bio a bit!

Overall it was a great day and I'm very excited to edit the footage and create an EPIC MUSIC VIDEO!

Set Designs

In order to have a greater idea of what our set would look like, we spoke to a set designer to help establish what we wanted to create and how we would do this.


Within our indoor shot, we knew we would have two different sets with different lighting and materials. Here are some images of how we want it to look like:

We really like the idea of having a main spotlight, highlighting our dancers silhouettes to give our shots a more atmospheric look. This will be achieved with a main spotlight and blain black three- wall set.

For our fisheye scene, we wanted to incorporate neon with fast paced lighting from above. This also requires a plain black three-wall, with an enclosed space.

Costumes and Makeup: Preproduction

It's a few days before our shoot and our costumes have arrived! We are very excited for the shoot day and feel very prepared for the upcoming day.

We have also done a final practise with our cast in front of the camera and luckily the two leads know the words and they work well together. We have also got all our extras costumes together as we were able to borrow 14 outfits from our Drama department which is great.

We have practised the makeup and what it will look like in the lighting and it's looks really cool and I'm excited to shoot.

Here is a list of all the costumes and makeup we will be using.

Costumes:

-3 black leotards
-1 white leotard
-royal guard jacket
-4 black leather trousers
-emperoress dress
-army print/camo outfits
-silver leggings
-silver bomber jacket
-2 galaxy leggings
-silver headband
-galaxy shirt
-silver chiffon shirt

Makeup:

-UV face paint
-UV mascara
-UV hairspray
-UV contact lenses
-gold eyeshadow + glitter
-black eyeliner
-red lipstick

Drawings of the Album and Homepage

For the ancillary part of our project we need to produce a front and back album cover as well as a website. 

We really like the idea of using a disposable camera photograph as our album cover. Our idea is that we have a disposable picture of our lead singer Effy, most likely with a pyramid or some sort of nature background with smoke surrounding her. This picture will then be placed on the floor with debris/ leaves/dirt partly covering it. Then the main cover will be a picture of what I've just explained, so basically a photo of a photo.

Below is a few disposable photos I found online mostly of nature and then of grunge girls. As you can see I have tried to incorporate both elements from the pictures I found.

Here is the sketched ideas of the album cover:

For our website design, we really want it to stand out and represent our artists individuality as well as showing her star image.

Looking at similar artists, we have noticed they have blogs along with photos, news and tour information. We defiantly want Effy to be connected in the social media world including twitter, Instagram, tumblr and Facebook. She will also have a sound cloud account along with youtube videos with her performing.

Here is the sketched idea for our website:

Shooting Schedule

Shooting Schedule of our Music Video Day

8.50am - Arrive at the studio to set up and get set prepared 

8:55-9:55am - Apply UV make up to the cast as well as other make up

10.00am - Start shooting studio set up 1

11.15am - Set up for studio set up 2

11.30am - Start shooting studio set up 2

1.00pm - Lunch break 

1.45pm - Depart to The paintball site , including extras and main cast 

2.30pm - Arrive and set up for London scene including applying costume and make up

3.00pm - Start shooting derelict London scenes

4.00pm - Pack up equipment and set up for space ship scenes including applying costume and make up 

4.30pm - Start shooting space ship scenes

5.30pm - Pack up equipment and set up for the Pyramids scenes including applying costume &make up

5:30-6:00pm - Eat dinner

6.15pm - Start shooting Pyramids scenes

7.00pm - Pack up equipment and load onto bus 

7.30pm - Depart paintball site 

8.00pm - Arrive at school

Screen-testing Our Cast

Today we screen-tested our cast. It was vital to do this as we needed to see how natural they were in front of the camera and how well they would work as a group together. Unfortunately we weren't able to get George or Gen but we did get one of our dancers Phoebe and our lead singer Carlotta. Overall I thought it went well and with a bit of practise and choreography it should look great!

Asking our Cast

My group and I decided that we should add an extra element to our music video. We have decided that we want between 10-14 girls for the last 30 seconds of the song as we think it will highlight the female dominance and will look really cool and visual. Here is the email we sent. We wanted it to be fun so that the people would be persuaded to be in our video!

Props List

Here are the props for our video. As you can see we only need a few objects as most of the things we need are costumes and makeup. 

UV paint/makeup

Neon paint/ makeup

Cage

Smoke Bombs

Flares

5 Examples of Artists and their websites

Evaluation of Animatic Storyboard

This week we have been editing our animatic storyboards in order to get a better visual of what our final product will look like. 

Storyboarding (in my opinion) is essential in any type of media related filming project as I believe it is an important stepping stone towards the finished product as it can give a better idea of what it should look like and can raise unknown factors/problems that previously haven't been brought up. By adding the extra layer on animation to it, it can really highlight what the product will like and is useful to see whether it looks good, if it's too receptive and whether you have enough shots.

The process was very helpful for my group and I as we were able to work together and edit which meant we each established a role and it showed us what it's going to be like in a few weeks.

I think we have done very well with the editing as a whole as I feel most parts are well edited and cut clearly with the beat. We worked well as a team and our final animatic storyboard is good. I especially like the parts were the beat drops for around a second and then it cuts to a closer shot within the shot. This was a new editing trick that we all learnt along the process and I feel it gives our animatic an edge and we can put forth this in our real product. 

However, there is one weakness myself, my group and Luke/Paul/Matt/James noticed and that was in most of the animatic we revealed too much of our set too quickly meaning that for the audience they may of seen too much by the first 60 seconds. We discussed that we will obviously change this in our real product by leaving some of the 'big, main' shots towards the 90 second mark.

We really liked most of our shots we put into the storyboard, however as I've mentioned previously, we will defiantly be revealing some of the more extravagant shots of our outside locations later on in the video in order for the audience to remain interested in our video.

I think we did well representing our star image and most of our classmates really enjoyed the song and video. They especially like the female lead and the relationship towards the male.

In conclusion, I would say that overall I really enjoyed editing the storyboard and it was so helpful to compare as it has given me a greater insight towards what our final product is going to be like when editing it. I have learnt a few new techniques for editing and am defiantly looking forward to the next couple of weeks.

Finished Animatic Storyboard

Cast List

Here is the cast list for our music video. All together we have one female lead singer, three female dancers and one male.

Lead Singer: Carlotta Ba

Dancer: Phoebe Delikoura

Dancer: Reagan Muir

Dancer: Genevieve Skyes

Lead Male: George Gordon

Seeking Permission for Copyright

In order to continue with the music video process, we need to contact the copyright holder to the song  so that we are allowed to use it. My other group member Santi emailed Ministry of Sound the other day and we are waiting to hear back from them.

Editing the Sotryboard Animatic

Editing the story board footage started out to be quite tedious. This was because we were introduced to an entire new software that was different from final cut pro. Therefore we had to be taught whole new techniques and basic things e.g. how to cut. 

However we were able to get the hang of it quite quickly. After this we cracked on with editing. The editing process was very lengthly, as we had to cut to different beats, seeing as our beats were very fast based a lot of cutting was involved. But seeing it come together was satisfying and therefore motivated us. 

After we were finished we were able to a see a very vague idea of our music video will end up looking like and this was very helpful in terms of changes we wanted to make e.g. we realised that we were using to many medium and medium close up shots.

Looking at our Location

Today my group and I went to the paintball site in order to look at our location and work out any problems that may occur during the actual shoot.

I took the role as the lead singer and my group members took photos in order to see how the possible shots would look like.

During, we realised that there no longer was a bunker zone which actually suited us fine as we soon realised that there was a small distance between each zone, and carrying all the equipment would be quite timely so our final decision on what zones we are using are: the Pyramids, London and Star Wars.

We also found out about the energy supply as we know we will have to use other light sources. Luckily the paintball site provides many generators that we will be able to use.

Along with this, we have come up with other solutions towards keeping the actors/models warm and fed etc.

We are going to hire a patio warmer and we are able to order pizzas when needed as well as snacks and warm drinks being provided throughout the day.


The only issue that we have to really watch out for is the weather as this could really effect our overall product.

Overall it was a very successful day and my group and I feel very confident regarding our music video.

Shooting our Storyboards

Today Luke, Santi and I shot our storyboards as we will put these together along with our song so that we have a greater idea of what our final product should look like.

Our Storyboards