Filming Update No.6

So! Yesterday I woke up at 10 am and did not stop doing media preparation/filming until 6 pm.
 The first thing that I did was finish off the remaining backgrounds that I needed to start and some that I needed to finish off or change. For example I drew out the table tennis background with the table in it, which was wrong the shot of Ben consists of him behind the table, meaning that the table needed to be a prop. I had to redo the background with only the wall and the sofa. I then drew out the two backgrounds that I needed to film Rachel making, and then just got her to paint over the water colour with water so that it looked like she was actually finishing them of herself and that it was her making them the whole time. I also had to finish off making the props out of cardboard and other materials. On the day, I decided to make the scarf prop out of red felt to give the props a bit of diversity. I also decided to do this because it meant that the scarf could be easily wrapped around the doll and look a lot like a real scarf. I used black felt tip pen to create the patterns on the scarf to match the one that Ben is wearing.
I also wanted to get Rachel to physically draw one of the props, and this meant that the prop was not exactly what i wanted it to look like. It is slightly out of proportion to the shot of Ben with the ironing board which means that I might have to re-film that shot using my own hands and take out the shot of her drawing the ironing board.

Setting

Quite spontaneously, I decided to turn my dining room into an art studio for the shots of Rachel at the start of the video making the backgrounds and props. At first I decided that I would get out a tiny yellow table from my garage and fill that with art supplies that I could find. However after looking around my house for places to film this in, i then thought that my dining room table had not been used for any of my other footage, so it would be wise to film in there. I chose to film here because it had a lot of space around the table for me to move around and get different angled shots and reach all angles of Rachel. I also decided to film here because the blank walls allowed me to be able to turn the whole room into an art studio with a few canvases of my own artwork, and a few from around my house, along with other pieces I had done on paper. I want to create the look that Rachel is accustomed to manipulating boys, like she is some kind of manipulating artist full of style and charisma. After deciding on the room, I covered the table with newspaper to give it a more rugged creative look as opposed to the table which was glass and very straight and tidy. I then collected all of my art supplies that I could find from around the house, then emptied them all onto the table in quite a random and disorderly fashion to extenuate the idea of Rachel being creative and artistic. I stuck the artwork randomly on the window to give it yet more of a rugged look. I really like how colourful the table looks and I think the bright range of colours will give my video an extremely uplifting attitude.

As for the shots in my bedroom, I completely tidied it and hoovered, took out a few bold items that would draw too much attention to themselves like my Batman rug and poster, and put all the lamps and lights on that I could find, in order to create the best lighting possible. The purple lamp and my purple carpet created a bit of a purple/pink glow to the footage which I really like because it gives the shots a bit of a warm hearted feeling.

Filming

As for the actual filming of the piece, we filmed everything that I had planned on my shot list, which I depended on a lot. The shot list is something that I haven't properly used before in my previous projects in AS. This was because I used my storyboards as reference to what shots I needed to film, but for this project, because my storyboard was so long, I needed to create a shot lost that I would be able to use on the day for reference to what I would need to shoot.

The camera was very good fort he handheld footage, which there was a lot of. You can't actually tell that it is handheld a lot of the time because I found that there is some kind of stabilising feature on the camera which made the shots look very professional.
The lighting meant that all the footage has really good quality, which I am very pleased about.

Andrew Goodwin - Music Video Theory

I have put together a Prezi slide talking about Goodwin's music video theory and how it applies to my music video.

View it here:

http://prezi.com/-qkc3eql3qnc/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Shot List for Saturday

So, I will be filming the scenes with Rachel this Saturday in my house. We don't have much time on that day to do it but this only means we will have to be efficient and good at time keeping. I will spend the day getting the set and props ready. 

I have completed a shot list after going through my storyboard and writing down all the shots including Rachel. There is a LOT to do, but I have faith! 

I have put stars next to the certain shots I need to pay extra attention to regarding matching them up with the shots of Ben. 

Trialling Background material

I have just done some quick sketches of what my backgrounds might look like. I used the first shot of Ben landing in the 'forest' scene. Using my water colour pencils and water colour pallet I create one and using felt tip pens I created the other. I did both to see which would look better, and after looking at it myself, I think that the water colour looks a lot more effective than the felt tips. I have done some further research into what my target audience feel is the better method via social media.

Everyone of the 17-18 year old teenagers that replied all said that the water colour is the most effective medium. Taking this research/data I will now begin to collect a4 card and start to paint all the backgrounds. I need to print off screenshots of each of the backgrounds so that I can get them exactly matching each other. I also need to think about which ones I need to film myself making, as I have put some of these shots in my storyboard.

Filming Update No.5

Yesterday we filmed pretty much the rest of the shots we needed for the different location scenes. A highly successful day lead to three new locations filmed, and a reshoot of the dog scene, kitchen scene, and the start scene.

Football

The first location was outside my house. For this one I had planned to find a football field or shoot in the school, however convenience meant that we filmed here. I chose to do this because I only really needed a location that was clearly outside so that it seemed appropriate that he is playing with a ball. I got him to wear a blue Brazil football top so that it stood out against the rather dull tones of the background. He was also wearing blue jeans which again stood out against the brown and cream colours. The football we used was just a basic ball that will be easy for my to replicate in 2D cardboard when making the props for these scene.
Regarding the quality of the shots, the bright light from the sun and clouds meant that the quality of the image is very good with high resolution. The brightness also means that I can play around with the contrast to make the colours more harsh and fun.
We encountered no problems shooting this, and my dog also decided to join in with the shots, which was not planned, but it does look quite effective when he comes bounding in among the two balls being thrown at Ben. I hope to be able to squeeze those shots in somewhere in my video, probably towards the end.

Table Tennis

This was a completely improved location as the table tennis table had only been put up in my house recently. It provides a completely different look to the other shots, and the table gives the shots a new sort of depth as it comes off the bottom of the frame, as if it was protruding through the viewers screen. Since my target audience is 16-20 year olds, the sight of sports will hopefully be a reason for them to like it as they are youthful and more likely to be able to associate themselves to sports than an older audience, especially football and table tennis.
Shooting for this also went very smoothly, I had to open the curtains as wide as I could so that as much light was let in as possible. I chose to film with the window behind the camera so that the sun would light up the colours in his costume and the environment around him. Again, this means that I will be able to enhance the contrast and the colours.
These shots will replace the theme park slot in my video.

Ironing

I decided to film in my utility room, and have Ben iron some clothes and play around with the iron. Again this was pretty much improvised on the day. I chose this to provide a complete contrast to some of the stereotypically teenage and fun things that are happening in the other locations in order to create a slightly comical effect. At first, he just appears there and starts to iron, but then I filmed some shots where he starts to get bored and decides to climb underneath the ironing board, play with the steam button on the iron and dance around. I think that teenagers will be able to relate to this idea quite well, because being a teenager normally means that you have to do chores around the house, and these shots directly appeal to the teenagers who get annoyed and fed up with the countless chores around the house. This is referred to completely comically and there is no deeper meaning to it.
The quality of the shots is pretty good, again I opened the blinds as much as I could to let as much light in as possible in order for Ben to be lit up properly, along with the other objects in the room. This again means I can play with the contrast and brightness in editing stages.
The only slight problem I encountered here was fitting the tripod in the room. Since it is quite big and the room was quite compact, it was tricky finding a place for the tripod to go so that it was still a long shot. After a lot of squeezing I finally find a perfect spot.
Since Ben appears here and the ironing board is already in front of him, I will have to make sure that when I film with Rachel I put the ironing board prop down first, then put the mannequin down behind it, then cut to the live action.

Reshooting

Reshooting also went pretty much perfectly. First we redid the dog scene outside before it got dark, which was the main problem with my last shots. Since it wasn't raining, my dog was in a very playful mood and was willing to stay outside. The shots are so much better this time around because the lighting is brighter and happier. I managed to get lots of shots of Conan playing with a stick and Ben giving him cuddles and playing with him, which will be going in the ending montage of the video. This will appeal to teenagers because, like I said in my Pitch presentation, animals are used a lot in pop music videos and they are adored by many teenagers.

The first thing we did when setting up for the kitchen seven was close the blinds to the window that you could see me and the camera in in the last shots. I then moved a lamp, turned all the lights on and turned the tv on so that as much light was being produced in Ben's direction as possible. After someone's didn't know what Ben was wearing on his head, I decided to use a different chef hat with black and white checkers around the rim so that t was clearly a chefs hat. Other than this, the shots were pretty much the same, just without any camera reflection in the window.

Then finally, we reshot the starting montage but filmed on a sofa instead of my brothers room. His room had really bad lightning so for this very reason, I decided that shooting on the sofa with a lot of lighting would be a lot better. We did pretty much the same thing with Ben lifting each of his limbs up as if they're being pulled up from above. I also tried to do a bit of a pan when Ben stands up so bring another dimension to these shots. I will see what this looks like when I come to editing.

Rough Cut 1

Mini Rough Cut 1 from Elleah Stanton on Vimeo.

This is my mini rough cut that I made for my music video so that I can put together my ideas and showcase them to you. This video outlines the kind of aesthetic of what my final video will look like. Considering I haven't filmed the parts with Rachel that are supposed to link together the different locations, the final cut will look quite different to this. This rough cut only really displays the way I will be cutting the shots so that it looks like he has been put there by the girl.
Soon I will be finishing off a different rough cut where I will put black screens where the shots of Rachel would be so that there is a better gist of how the video will flow.

Planning for Production Design

I have screenshotted all the different locations that I have shot so far so that I can start creating the backgrounds for the shots with Rachel.
I am going to use A4 card so that it is the right size in proportion to the manaquinne. I will be drawing the backgrounds in quite a sketchy fashion so that it is obvious that they have been handmade by the girl character. I will use either coloured penicls/watercolour or coloured felt tip to give it an artsy feel.
This is not all the backgrounds as I still have some left to film, but I will make those once I have filmed them.

 

 

As for the 2D props, I will be making these out of cardboard and colouiring them in with felt tip and outlined in black.

 

Shot Decisions for Shoot No.4

By screenshotting each of the shots to then give a brief analysis of, it allows me and you, the examiner, to get  larger grasp of what my video will look like in the long run. I did not do this kind of shot decision for my AS final piece, in fact I did not show any kind of decisions behind which shot I chose and why. I certainly feel that doing it this year has given me a lot more knowledge about my own shots, meaning I am more aware of what happens in each one and which ones will fit better when it comes to the editing stages.

"Know your shots!"

Shot Decisons for Shoot No.3

After sorting out the shots from my third day of filming into completely unusable and useable, I then looked through my useable folder again and sorted them out in to a selection or rejection table.

Going through this process has been very useful for me because it allowed me to properly judge the shots against each other with a stern eye, ensuring that I choose the best shots to create the best music video I can manage.

After looking though these, it became clear that I need to reshoot the kitchen scene and the starting scene in the bedroom. I will film these next Monday when I film the rest of the shots of the different locations. After that I need to make the props and backgrounds then film with Rachel.

Filming Update No. 4

Just a quick update:
Today we filmed the school scene for my video. We filmed in a classroom with multiple wall displays so that it looked very typically classroom-like, which I have been trying to do with all of the scenes. It only took a few minutes and it went very well. Next week in lesson I will be uploading the footage onto the computer then sorting it out in shot decision lists. I would have done this tonight at home but for some reason they wont upload onto my laptop.
The camera was very efficient, there was no problem with the general usage of it. Compared to last year this is a bit of a miracle. Last year for my The Art of Madness final piece, the camera and tripod were something to be desired. I had to borrow Laura's own camera very last minute, and I found that I did not know how to use it, which took some getting used to. It was the tripod that caused the most problems because I didn't have one that was tall enough, meaning I had to change some of the shots into hand held shots. This year I was a lot more organised and made sure that I chose a good tripod that was tall enough for my long shots of Ben.
I really like the quality of the shots, the lighting is very bright so I will be able to play around with the contrast and brightness to make the  colours even more vibrant adding to the star quality of the video.

DISASTER

After looking at my footage I have realised I've made a huge rookie mistake - you can see me filming in the window! This is really annoying because in the bathroom scene I consciously closed the blinds so you couldn't see me but I completely didn't realise in the kitchen. This will have to be reshot at a later date. So that this doesn't hinder the production design stage of my project, I will take a photo of the exact scene that will need to be drawn onto card and start making these as soon as I have gotten all of my location scenes shot to some extent.

 I also need to start thinking about making the cardboard props. I can start making the ones I have already shot now, which will take the weight off the task when I come to making all of them. I have chosen to include homemade props because I want to be able to show off my creative talents and use them in my media work as much as possible. I am also looking at a Production Design for Film and Television degree so this will work nicely with preparing me for university work.

As for the style of the props, I want to make them look obviously homemade. I am not going to make them completely realistic as I want to accentuate the idea of her being crafty, detailed and creative with her manipulation, but in a fun and light hearted way. For some of the props, I need to actually film myself making them as I have included shots in my storyboard where she is making the props.

I am taking inspiration from things like this (taken from google):

Now to do:

-Shoot School and Football scene at Sixth Form on Friday

-Reshoot the kitchen scene and film shot with Rachel and Ben

-Film two different locations to replace theme park and maybe Swimming Pool in Durham on Sunday

-Make the props and backgrounds

-Film Rachel's scenes

-Shot decision list and Edit list

-EDIT!!!

-(maybe reshoot, hopefully not)

Brightness Changing

After looking through the shots we took outside the house, thry seem to be quite dark. However I have changed the contrast and brightness to make the colours seem brighter. I think that this will be fine to use in my video. It would be great if I don't have to re film, I will use these shots in my first few rough cuts and if it just does not look right then I will reshoot.

Filming Update No.3

Today's filming went absolutely perfectly!!

Park/Outdoors Dog Scene

The first scene we did was the scene outside my house. We had gotten outside when it was still bright so we filmed the first few shots, however my family had taken the dog on a walk, and before we knew it, it had gotten a lot darker than the shots we had already done. This meant that we had to film at a lower lighting, meaning the first few shots may be useless if I cant find another way of using them. The shots we did manage to get were done quite quickly, however looking back through them they are just what I wanted. It had started to rain quite heavily so we were hindered with having to cover the camera with a sandwich bag. It was also very cold and rainy so my dog did not want to be outside, nor did we, but we got the shots done.

Bathroom

The next scene I shot was the bathroom scene, which might actually be one of my favourite scenes of the whole filming. I really liked the lighting and the mise en scene and the comical elements of Ben's dancing and the shower cap. We improvised quite a lot which I think is part of the reason I like it so much as it was quite natural. I have got a lot of footage to look through and sort into useful and useless because there are a few shots where he is looking directly at me.

Kitchen

Next we filmed the kitchen scene, this was probably my favourite scene because we made pancakes which was quite fun. Ben also managed to film some home video footage at the same time for his media music video. The warm colours from the main lights and the lamp I added in behind the camera really lit up the scene. I also think the fact there was a lot of metal in the shot reflecting the light created quite a glamorous and fun atmosphere. I filmed all of my planned shots and even managed to take some improvised ones of Ben flipping the pancake successfully and unsuccessfully.

 

Start Scene

For this, I decided to use my brothers room as it looks very stereo-typically teenage and masculine. It has Call Of Duty posters and grey and blue linens and carpets, making it very typical of a 17 year old boy. I wanted this to look stereotypical because it would emphasise to the audience the naivety and youthfulness to their lives and relationship. My target audience are able to relate to this location, making them connect to the video, and therefore the artist.

On Tuesday I will be uploading the shots to the computer and sorting though them.

Until then!

Elleah

Producation Schedule For Today

 I have, again, put together a sheet which outlines the different shots that I need to film today.

The weather was forecast to be horrific, and it is currently horrifically pouring down with rain so I will be unable to film in South Shields. I chose not to film here because the shots would not look very good at  all if the character it a beach in the pouring rain, It will also hinder the playful and light hearted tone of my music video. I have now decided that I will need to think of different places for the beach and theme park location. One of these will be a bathroom once, which I will use in replace of the beach scene. I think that I can make this quite comical with props such as shower caps and towels. I chose to use a bathroom because it is an easy place to film, since it will be my bathroom, and it is a complete scene change to the other locations, which will give the video a bit more depth.

I have chosen to include my dog in the video as a reference back to my Pitch and initial ideas power point about how teenagers (my target audience) tend to be attracted to things with animals in. Using my dog may encourage and please the viewers.

Shot Decisions of Filming 1 + 2

I have gone through my shots from all the filming I have already done and sorted them into usable and useless folders. I have created a table of the reasons why I chose to not use the shots and what I like about the ones I can use.

Useless Shots

 

Useful Shots