The second shoot took place on the 28th October at Tom's house, it was far easier than the first shoot since it was just us two, and we did not have much equipment compared to before. We took a video camera and tripod, a normal camera, the track and dolly, and a guitar, as well as several photos we had taken at the previous shoot of the band.
Again, my role was to direct and film, we filmed the narrative parts and because continuity is important to these, the storyboard was very useful and I followed it closely.
One of the challenges was space, specifically, the tracking shot of the door. The doorway here was just slightly too small for the track to pass through, so I took one side of the dolly's `H` frame off, we discovered that this actually gave us a much smoother shot, as there was more resistance when pushing the camera. Another issue was lighting, because as we filmed it got darker, because the narrative sections take place over some time, I simply had to make sure we took shots in order, however we may need to brighten or darken some shots in post production so they match.
We had not planned any digipak shots for the shoot however we discovered that the reflection in Tom's guitar created a very interesting subject, we took several versions and we think we would like to put this as one of the digipak frames.
The next step is to review the footage at school to check for any gaps in our piece as well as finish taking the digipak photos.
For our second shoot we filmed at my house, in particular my bedroom and garden. The only character present was myself, with Dan filming everything bar one or two shots such as the POV shot of me picking up a photo.
Filming in the afternoon/evening provided us with similar lighting to that in the performance section of the video. This was important because we want the two separate lines of action to connote they take place in different time periods (the performance in the present and the narrative in the past).
This shoot only involved using the camera, tripod and track and dolly. My two guitars were already at home, as were some other props used, so this made time management easier.
My role during the second shoot was almost identical to that in the first shoot. As the protagonist, I am present in a considerable amount of the shots during the narrative. I did help with logistics, such as setting up the locations, directing, and working on cinematography in the locations we filmed in.
The storyboard was more important in this shoot than it was in the first, because the narrative is quite a linear sequence of events, in a continuity sequence. This is unlike the performance shoot where we filmed random shots to form the montage sequence at the theatre. Very few changes were made to the shot list for this reason.
My favourite shot has got to be the tracking shot that moves from outside my bedroom to inside it, showing the protagonist on the bed. This establishing shot is the first we see of the location and for this reason I think it compliments our video a great deal, looking very professional.
I also like the high angle shot in the garden of the protagonist sitting down on the bench.
I think the least successful shot was probably the shot in my room where I was practicing the guitar. It is not very important and does not exhibit any special filming techniques. The most problematic shot was the tracking shot outside where there was not a lot of light and not a lot of room to film, so the tracking appears quite slow; we may not have room in the video to incorporate it.
There were not many other challenges. One thing that we did have to deal with though was the track and dolly. Last year this was our biggest set-back and it has been difficult to master again this year. This time, the track would not fit in my bedroom door; the space was too narrow so both wheels could not fit between. We overcame this through unscrewing one of the wheels off and laying the dolly on the track. It allowed us to track through the door and, perhaps more importantly, it actually provided us with a smoother shot.
We did not intend on taking any photos for our digipak during this shoot and in the end did not need to, we have a few photos from the first shoot and will most likely take some more in the coming weeks.
We had initially planned to embark on two shoots. These have taken place, and we certainly have more than enough footage to work with. We may have to go on one more shoot at the theatre if some footage is not as good as planned, whether that be because of lighting problems or not enough close-ups, we will conclude upon during editing. The only task outstanding at present is to collect a number of photos for the digipak. First and foremost however, we will begin editing.
The first shoot we did was at the Oast Theatre for the performance element of the film.
All of the band members were present - Altu, Jack, Paul and myself - so filming involved shooting from the audience, with the stage and band in frame. Filming was carried out by Jeremy and Dan was in charge of lighting.
The shoot itself took about three/four hours to complete as we had to set-up not only the stage but also the drumkit. Moreover, directing everyone was a little time consuming and keeping accurate to the storyboard was too.
We used the camera, tripod, track and dolly, and Dan's DSLR camera for some photography for the digipak. All other equipment were used as props; the three guitars, leads, amps, microphones, drums and sticks.
My role during the shoot was to perform as the lead singer/protagonist. I was present in most shots, singing and playing rhythm guitar. I had to act in the earlier shots where I enter the stage and meet other band members, but other than that I just had to lip-sync accurately and appear as a convincing, confident artist.I did film a little; some close up handicam shots of the other band members' instruments and facials were filmed by myself.
The storyboard was certainly very useful. It allowed us to place every actor correctly on the stage, as well as the location of the drumkit. We filmed in chronological order, too; this was possible because of the storyboard.
As with our AS piece, we did have to stray from the storyboard a little. This was not for any particular reason but more because of practicality. Some parts of the location were not the same as they were during the recce, as a play had been on recently. We did not make any major changes to the shot list; we did some tracking, some long shots from the audience and close ups of the band members.
My personal favourite shot from the first shoot is the first shot in this montage; a handicam shot following the protagonist entering the stage area. I really like the smoothness of the actions in the shot, and the lighting. It could have been nicer as a tracking shot perhaps, but this may have made it less significant.
We filmed the whole song as performed by the band while tracking, but a fair amount of this footage is quite shaky and so cannot be used. There are small parts that appear quite professional though, at a low angle just in front of the stage.
The lighting of the theatre made some of the shots appear grainy. This is to be expected with low lighting and so there is not a lot that can be done about this.
Some CUs of the band members' instruments were problematic to film because the cameraman's shadow can be seen; a production of the lights in front of the stage. We overcame this problem by filming at a slightly different angle.
Another challenge was the set-up of the whole stage. This occupied at least an hour of our time there. There was nothing we could do about this but as soon as everyone was at the location, we managed to work quickly and efficiently as a group.
The size of the stage was not ideal; more space would have meant we could shoot more CUs and a greater variety of camera angles/movements. We adapted to this by filming all shots of instruments from a higher angle and spacing the band members further apart from each other so that the cameraman could access more places.
As Dan had already been to the location a lot - and had carried out a thorough location recce - we knew where we would take photos. There are a few photos we actually took to be used elsewhere in the film, but these have turned out to look really good and so we will probably use one or two for the album digipak too.
One problem we encountered in this department is not having enough time to get a photo of all the band on stage together. A similar problem occured in Brighton, where we only left with one photo. This was not such a problem there, as we only needed one pane for the album. However, here, we need at least four photos for the panes.
As I have just mentioned, we definitely need to plan how we will get more photos of the band for the digipak. We left with a few shots for the internal panes, and possibly the back pane. Nevertheless, the front pane is vitally important so capturing that is a priority on the list of tasks yet to be completed.
In relation to filming, the next step is filming the narrative section of our music video. This will be taking place at my house on Wednesday 28th October.
Our first shoot was on the 26th October at the Oast Theatre, it will probably be the most challenging shoot, since we had a long setup time, had to use lighting, and we had to direct four other people. We took the video camera and tripod, a normal camera, and the track and dolly, in order to get a range of shot types and start getting images for our digipak. We also transported a drumkit, two guitars, a bass guitar, two microphones, and a speaker, all to set the scene and play the song.
My job was directing and camera and also to control the lighting as I had experience with the equipment, while I did this one of our friends was in charge of the camera but we made sure to restrict the amount of shots out of Tom or mine's control.
The storyboard was useful to a degree as there are multiple shots we had planned thoroughly such as the beginning, end, and argument scene, however the rest of the time I decided to focus on getting a range of interesting shots.
One issue we had was the location since the set for the next play was already under construction, however we solved this by putting up a black curtain, although this restricted the stage space, it actually gave a very nice backdrop. This lack of space made it difficult to get close-ups however by moving people and equipment out of shot we were able to create room for me to stand, we also used the tripod so I could stand off stage and still get the correct level.
We took several photos for our digipak, however time constraints and location differences meant we did not get them all, and meant they were slightly different to as planned.
The next step is therefore to plan our next shoot, as well as take the rest of these photos.
We have edited our storyboard together into an animatic to give us a visualisation of our music video.
In terms of our individual contributions Dan focused on the storyboard, drawing it out and fitting it to the music, meanwhile Tom took photos of the storyboard frames and edited them together into the animatic.
The process has been very beneficial for development as it has shown us how much content we need to fill the song length. It also was very useful to help us visualise the shots we hope to use, while they are bound to change a certain degree it helped to show whether there were too many planned shots of certain kinds too close to one another. One thing we found was that some of our ideas did not quite fit with the music and we either had to move sections around or add new ideas (such as showing the band's breakup). Another thing we were interested in was transitions, this was something we had not really thought about before unfortunately it is difficult to judge their effectiveness from just the animatic.
The whole task was a little more complicated than our AS piece. This was partly due to length, while our AS piece was a little over 2 minutes, our current coursework will end up just under 4 minutes. As well as this, we had to constantly listen to the song and highlight key sections in order for the shots to exactly fit the tone and lyrics of the music.
Cast and crew
-Tom (Guitarist and lead singer)
-Daniel (Filming)
-Jeremy (Drums)
-Altu (Guitar)
Props
-Guitar
-Drums
-Microphone and stand (we will be borrowing this from the music department)
-Costume (smart casual clothing in performance, normal clothes for narrative)
-Lyrics on paper
-Photos of band members (we'll take these before shooting)
Kit
-Camera (with SD card and two batteries)
-Stills camera for promotional photos
-Tripod
-Track
Today I started to construct the animatic for our music video. I have made some changes to times that are not stated on the actual frame. Here are some screenshots of frames we have done and progress I have made in the project so far...
Because we changed our track from Short Change Hero to What Happened To Your Band, our concept has changed slightly.
Our new treatment substitutes the idea of a lost love with the main character mourning his disbanded band.
-The beginning of the video will show the Protagonist going into a theatre and on to a stage where he begins to perform.
-While this goes on the video will intercut with narrative flashbacks, expressing how depressed he feels after his band disbanded.
-For example the protagonist will be in his room looking at photos of them together.
-The depressed Protagonist will be shown in his room and sitting in a park, before he has an epiphany and begins to write a song as therapy.
-There will be a selection of shots showing him composing this song, with guitar and singing before calling the band members.
-Eventually this will lead back to the present scenes of performance in the theatre, where it is revealed that there is no audience, implying that the main character was deluding himself with ideas of their many fans.
Our digipak has also changed, as we will be including other members of the band in the advert. Also we have decided to include visual signifiers for each band member in the macro image panes, for example a bandanna which will be worn by one of the band members, in order to give subtle references to the artists.
26th October - We plan to film the performance side of the film at the Oast Theatre. We have most of the day to do this and have help from other people so we should be able to get this done in time.
28th October - On this day we plan to film the narrative aspects at and near Tom's house. This will be just the two of us.
1st November - We will keep this date free for any extra filming should we fail to get all shots recorded on the other dates.
7th November - If we find during editing we are missing a shot and cannot replace it with existing footage, we will use this date.
After our pitch, we have decided to change the track for which we will be producing a promotional campaign. The concept is similar but the song is different; we will still be using the same locations and roughly the same treatment. All we have to change now is the breakdown of lyrics and the band image throughout the promotional package.
Our new track choice is 'What Happened To Your Band'by McBusted. This song was initially on Tom's song shortlist and he also analysed the metanarrative of the band during the moodboard task. So, we are not un-prepared for the change in track, nor are we struggling to storyboard - there is a similar storyline through this song.
Observations of the track
-There is one lead singer and back-up vocals that can be heard throughout the song.
-The song is quite upbeat and fast-paced.
-There are different sections of the song; a short intro followed by the riff, three main choruses, two separate verses, a bridge and a long outro.
-There are four instruments involved; rhythm guitar, bass guitar, drums and piano.
-The story of the song involves the protagonist (lead guitarist) singing about his band breaking up and fans wanting them to re-group.
Initial track ideas
-The song is quite fast-paced so a faster cutting rate will be used during the choruses where the tempo increases.
-The song requires all band members to be shown performing, we would need at least four band members.
-The performance will take up most of the video.
-The narrative will involve the main protagonist shown in flashbacks where he is writing the song and enjoying being in a band. The band get together to perform in the other line of action.
We had some very informative feedback from our pitch:
In terms of strengths, we were praised on our interesting location, specifically the theatre, which was agreed to potentially be a powerful setting. Also our themes were very clear in terms of style, and clear links between the music video, advert, and digipak. Our digipak and advert were well received because of the detailed planning and visualisation, something some other groups were lacking. The shot examples were also interesting to the audience, for example our suggestion for the titles being in a puddle, then stepped on by the artist was believed to be an intriguing concept, although we may decide to either test, or at least check the reality of this effect being created. However from our use of Adobe After Effects in our AS work we are confident of success.
However there were some concerns expressed over our track, while they liked the lyrics and the song itself, it did not lend itself particularly well to our ideas. There were several reasons for this, for example as we pointed out in the presentation the artist's grain of voice would be difficult to convincingly portray, which is an important issue since much of the film will be performance based. Another potential issue is the band, our song Short Change Hero is performed by a band, but we were considering just one or two performers, which obviously may not be compatible with the actual band's metanarrative.
Therefore we have decided to look at other songs, while Short Change Hero is not ruled out, we both feel we want a song which is more easily performed by someone of our age-group. As well as this we are looking into getting other friends to help us create a band for the piece (if our new song requires it). Despite this, we will try to keep as much of our initial ideas and designs the same as these were looked upon favourably in our discussions. Whether these two combine, and the kind of conventions people expect of the music are some of the issues we want answered by our questionnaire.
My contribution to the locations we will be using in our music video is a park/forest near my house where we were considering filming last year forour AS piece. The location is relatively quiet during the day and so filming shouldn't be a problem. There are a few nice areas where we can capture some long shots and elements of mise-en-scene in the location are quite iconographic, such as the dense woodland being associated with retreat for many, as our protagonist will be doing.
My second location recce will take place in my bedroom where we will show the protagonist's flashbacks. There are a few props in this location such as musical instruments that will help with the meta-narrative of our promotional campaign; an artist who did not become as famous as he intended.
This LS portrays the artist in front of a large audience. We had planned to film a similar shot, with an audience appearing to be there but in reality it is just the artist's imagination.
From Helena which I included in my artists moodboard.
This is a nice MLS featuring a silhouette of a person in the narrative part of the music video. We intend to use low-key lighting for both lines of action. Moreover, we believe that this sort of silhouette lighting could be incorporated in our digipak. Dark colours will maintain the meta-narrative of the promotional campaign while the artist will be shown as the focal point being the silhouette figure.
From The Heart Never Lies which I studied as one of my inspirational music videos.
The performance section of our video is very important and so shots like this CU of a guitar would be very useful as filler shots. The framing of this shot in particular is very professional, with the eye being drawn to the light at the bottom of the neck thanks to the perspective from a high angle.
From It's My Life,also from my inspirational music videos task.
Similar to earlier shots, silhouettes and lighting in particular in this shot are very significant. The whole band is shown and the high power lights in the background are a little like the lights we have access to at the stage venue.
From Air Guitar which I used as an example of the meta-narrative of McBusted in my moodboard.
The filter used throughout this music video is similar to what we might use for our video. The MLS is at waist height here and so we have the capability to replicate this with minimal effort. The shot is not very imaginative yet still appears effective somehow.
From I Don't Love You which I studied in my moodboard.
-The beginning of the video will show the Protagonist going into a theatre and on to a stage where he begins to perform.
-While this goes on the video will intercut with narrative flashbacks, expressing how he has just left a relationship gone bad due to lies and betrayal.
-For example the protagonist will be in his room looking at notes and photos, some will be positive but the more recent ones will be negative conveying these lies and deceit, and some will refer to the protagonist as `My Hero`.
-The depressed Protagonist will be shown in various locations however he realises he has done wrong and begins to write a song as therapy.
-There will be a selection of shots showing him composing this song, with guitar and singing.
-Eventually this will lead back to the present scenes of performance in the theatre, where it is revealed that the other people performing are in his imagination and there is no audience, implying his feelings are being ignored.
