Images taken from First Shoot

Below are the images taken from the first shoot. Ii took these images as a 'behind the scenes' style for the ancillary products.

Overall I feel that these images don't work very well. I don't think I will use them in my ancillary products. Yet I need to start visioning how I want them to look so I can take better images in the future that can be used. I don't think the behind the scenes style works as there is only one person.

Camera Rushes Log

Below is the log for the most recent shoot. The shots starred are ones that are good enough to be used.

Overall the shoot was very successful and there is lots of footage that can be used for editing and in my music video.

After Effects Layout

Weather Forecasts and Tidal Times

Although I am not reliant on the weather and neither need sunny or rainy weather, I will keep an eye on the weather to know what to expect and to be able to prepare.

15th October 2014

Here was a forecast from 29th October and is a summery of the weather. It goes up to the 12th November, which is three days before I start filming, but this gives me a general idea for the weather.

Below is the calender for November's weather, although it isn't as accurate as getting it nearer the date I will check back closer to the filming date. 

Friday 14th 2014

I have checked back a day before the main film date and looked at various different forecasts. This has given me an idea of what to expect tomorrow. I plan to arrive at 8am while it's meant to be misty. I will still arrive at this time and could maybe film in the town where it will be less misty or take some establishing shots of the mist. The mist is meant to rise at 9am so according to the schedule I will only miss out for 30 mins after the equipment set up. I also gathered more weather forecasts for the next upcoming month in case I need to film again.

I plan to film over the following weekend (22nd and 23rd November) to add more footage of the 'finding the bottle scenes' and 'lip syncing at Southwold' so I looked at the future outlooks. Although I don't intend to film any more I have looked at the later forecast in case I need to organise more shoots.

Above are tomorrow's tidal times, although the beach is large enough so there will always be places to film present, I will need to be aware on when to position myself close to the sea so that the sea doesn't invade on my filming. 

20th November 2014

Above is the weather for Sunday 23rd November for filming, it isn't as accurate as it could be so I will check back closer to the time. At the moment is looks like filming can go ahead between 8am and 12pm which is enough time to complete.

Above are the tidal times for Sunday 23rd November. I am happy with these times as according to the current predicted weather my filming will take place between 8am and 12pm, so the majority of the time the tide will be going out and then for a short amount of time the sea will be coming in, but this is unlikely to affect my filming.

Above is the weather for Friday 21st November. I will be using this time to film lip syncing within locations in Norwich when the lights will be on creating different effects. It will start to get dark at 15:54 but I will check when it will reach the right kind of light to film in, I will check the times tomorrow but I have a film slot of from 3:30 - 6pm. 

21st November 2014

Above is the light chart for tonight. It will probably be the best if I take advantage of Nautical Twilight, which is probably dark enough that it won't get picked up by the camera sensor and give the appearance that it is dark, it will also mean that the street lights will be on and I can take advantage of this. Overall my filming slot will last around 43 minutes between 16:33 and 17:15.

To ensure accurate weather I have checked back to see if there are any changes, the forecast is rain but the description suggests a drier outlook later in the day, this suggests that maybe I should move my filming time to later during the day. I will keep checking back to keep an accurate forecast and plan of times.

Here I have checked the tidal times again for Sunday 22nd November. They have changed by about an hour meaning that the high tide is going to be more obtrusive. I will only have an hour until the tide comes in, for this reason I will position myself further back to buy some time and so the sea doesn't intrude.

22nd November 2014

Above is the weather for tomorrow for where I plan to film. The weather is outlined to be rain and a yellow weather warning has been issued for this. For this reason I have regrettably had to cancel filming, but to reschedule for Monday 24th November. 

Above is the weather for Monday 24th November. I will be able to have a film slot from 8am to 3:50pm so the weather will alter but this will be alright if the weather alters as we will have enough time to get shelter and wait for the bad weather to pass. Filming will go ahead if there is no forecast of rain.

In preparation for filming I have looked at the tidal times. The tide will slowly be coming in during the filming slot of 8am to 11:23am, for this reason I will shoot the scenes away from the beach during these times and after 11:23 I will film the parts that take place on the beach due to the tide being less obtrusive and won't intrude filming spaces.

 

Sunday 23rd November

 

Above is the weather for tomorrows filming, I plan to film between 8am to 3:50pm where the weather is meant to be fine and dry. For this reason filming will take place on Monday 24th November and will go ahead.

 

Above are the tidal times for Monday 24th November. To ensure that the tide won't get in the way I will film the scenes away from the beach from 8am - 11am and then film on the beach between 11am - 3:50pm while the tide is going out, therefore not being an impediment.



Adobe After Effects Basics

After attending an After Effects workshop I have learnt the basics of the software, as demonstrated below.

Moodboard for Music Video Styling

Follow Charlotte Barnard's board Matthew P - On Top; Music Video Styling on Pinterest.
Here is a mood board for certain aspects and styling of my music video, to see the full board click the widget and all annotations are my own.

Mood Board for Costumes

Female

Above I have planned the styling of the my female protagonist. I want the viewer to see that the girl looks out of place and doesn't belong to the seaside town but also doesn't belong to the homeless stereotype of ripped clothes and being dirty. I want the viewers to question her reason of being there without actually giving anything away in the music video, thus making the viewer intrigued of looking so elegant (even though her hair will be messy and make- up slightly smudged). The handbag is a vital prop as it will contain other props such as the pen and scrap of paper for the bottle and will also contain the loose change for the chips, as well as identifying herself as a female as this is a common accessory for a female, hence conforming the the viewers and societies expectations. The girl will also fit the societies standards by wearing a feminine dress and will also wear jewelry, the way she takes pride in her looks, which fits to the stereotypes of being female but doesn't fit to the expectations of being homeless, thus causing the viewer to rule out this kind of lifestyle for the protagonist.

Male 

Above is the styling I want for my male busker in my music video. Overall I will be conforming to the audiences expectations of a typical busker of one around the age of 18, the outfit I have chosen is also quite casual and stylish for males of this age, while remaining true to the artist, Matthew P's relaxed fashion, as the busker will perform a short amount of the song, which will mean the viewer will refer to the busker as the artist Matthew P, thus meaning that there will have to be some similarities between the performer in the video and the real artist. 

Call Sheets

I produced call sheets to give to my cast members, this would ensure that they would understand the process of the day and where to be at what time. Overall this will assist in a fluent day of filming where all shots will be recorded.

Things Needed for Filming Music Video/Props

Risk Assessments

 

Participant Release Form

Location Scout

With all pictures just click on the desired one to see a full view. For some galleries there are more than the photos on the first display, to see more click the arrow that comes up when hovering the mouse over the galleries.

Lowestoft

 Above are the images I took for my first location at Lowestoft. The beach was sandy and shingle but the only part I could access was shingle as a lot of the beach was shut off due to damage and repairs which could restrict our use and create a little bit of an eyesore in the background, it also narrows down places for the public to go, meaning that it is more likely that people will walk past, which could ruin the effect. Another part that could ruin the video is the wind turbine, although pretty it could distract and mean that I could only film from one side of the person, therefore limiting different shots. There is also a lack of seagulls which could be a problem for the frames that involve the character running to the seagulls. The promenade was very effective and would be very effective for the busker and the backdrop, but along this walk there is a cycle path in the centre of the walkway which could not just be dangerous for us but for the people on the bikes, as well as putting my footage in danger of poor quality. For this reason I conclude that Lowestoft will not be used for neither parts of the video due to being unsuitable surroundings, repairs and lack of seagulls.

Southwold


 Above are the images I took for Southwold. I found that the fish and chip location and set out were ideal and I could video the protagonist walking in and out of the chip shot effectively, although the camera would have to be positioned on the other side of the road which could mean that uncontrollably cars could drive through and interfere with the shot. Southwold also is home to narrow streets and paths, making it hard to film and navigate around public while filming is something that could reduce the quality of filming as well as being dangerous to the public. The beach is mixed shingle and sand but home to a low amount of seagulls, meaning it would be difficult to film the seagull scene. While on my location scout I really liked the texture of the sand and the waves, I started to appreciate the shapes and curves, giving me inspiration for not just shots during the music video but for the digi-pak.  Beach huts are very scenic and picturesque, giving the video positive connotations, yet this could all depend on the light, gradient or filter that is added in post-production, overall these huts are huge connotations of the beach and are possibly considered convention so it would be an effective subject for an establishing shot. The lighthouse is also a nice landmark strongly associated with the seaside but shots would be harder to include down to a built up area not allowing me to get a distance that would create an effective shot. Other considerations for establishing shots are the street art, the view from the pier and the novelty clock. After investigating the pier I find that there is a whole groups of plaques with different inscriptions, this would add a whole new emotional depth and create a new atmosphere. The high amount of cars ruins the high street and overall I feel that Southwold would be inappropriate for the first main part of the music video, but it would be very suitable for the second part, yet during this section I desire to keep the location as anonymous as possible so therefore the distinctive body of the pier couldn't be seen but I could use the end and even film towards the horizon to create the mysterious and give the audience the feel that they are 'looking at infinity'.

Aldeburgh


 Aldeburgh has a long shoreline, shingle beach with varying heights which could be difficult due to uneven ground but the spirit level on the tripod should keep my shots even as well as could create interesting shots where I could experiment with my height compared to the subject I'm filming. There are a high amount of seagulls making it ideal for the first section of the video. Again, I found the steps and tall houses interesting and could be used to create establishing shots allowing me to capture the atmosphere of the town and the texture of the sea/beach allowing me to capture the true style of the beach. There are two chip shops, one has a increasingly high amount of rubbish by the side and ruins the professional style of the shot but at the other shop there are lots of cars which also ruins the style and professional tone of the shots, so I will have to revise the angle I take or position my camera at. There are wide paths which gives me a good opportunity to get angles of the protagonist from all sides without becoming an obstruction to the public. The art sculpture 'The Scallop' is also good for establishing shots as well as good to explore with the camera to give the audience a feel of the sense of adventure. Overall I will use Aldeburgh for the first part of the video.

Green Screen Experiments

I hired the TV studio to experiment with different possibilities for my music video. I really liked the formal setting and I picked up lots of techniques (i.e camera work and chroma key). Despite this I disliked the effect it had and felt like it looked too fake. In some places the proportions were wrong. I feel it would be more successful to film on location as you don't get the authenticity that you would on location. My genre singer/songwriter is an honest genre and I should set this tone with my demographic.

Recce Checklist

I plan to use only two locations but I have completed a Recce Checklist for three locations. I also plan to complete a location scout to conclude on the most convenient and effective location for my music video. 

How to Compress Time and Space of One Clip

To produce a music video there must be a compression of time and space. I shot one clip of a person walking from outside to inside and imported it into Premiere Pro to experiment with different ways that I could edit it.




So the first section is the original clip.

Jump Cuts:  I felt that the jump cuts worked really well and that this was the best out of all of them. I felt that there was a rhythm to the edit. This would go really well with Matthew P's track due to the pace of the song and the emphasis of note every time the bar changes.

Speeded Up: Despite being effective I disliked this edit due to the comical approach that it has and reminds me of Benny Hill. For this reason I will not speed up any clips as drastically (x400) as this, but I may use this slightly and subtly to shorten shots and progress the narrative.

Cutaways:  I only had one shot so I had to use the crop and zoom tool on Premiere Pro so the quality isn't at what it is desired so this informs me if I want to use cutaways then I will have to combine two different shots, one being a long shot and the other being a close-up. Although I found this effective I don't think it would suit the pace of the song as much as the jump cuts.

Time Lapse Experiments

Above I experimented with Time Lapse. I set up a JVC camera in the corner of the kitchen and filmed for 13 minutes. I then proceeded to upload this to Adobe Premier Pro and then sped it up to around 2500%, which was similar to the technique I used during the Door sequence, where I altered the speed through the speed/duration tool.

I really like this technique of time passing as in the video it depicts 13 minutes within thirty seconds and if I want to show any major time movements as I only have two minutes and to truly be able to depict a narrative some elements might have to be time-lapsed to depict progression, especially if I want to fit a day within such a short period of time. As this time depiction is quite vital within being able to fit the narrative in I will explore other techniques which could emphasise a day or hour passing more obviously, as the use of a kitchen doesn't give the viewer any clues in the amount of time that has passed, only sped up an action.

I really like the style of the 'jolty' movement as little movements are abandoned meaning that things move randomly and are considered unimportant to the process, in some ways I like this but overall I feel for my music video that I want to pay more attention to detail so I could slow this down so the movements are there, but I still think that there should be a meaning to every detail to produce an effective composition.

Above is another time lapse taken on my phone. It records for 1 hour and 15 minutes and documents a bus journey. I definitely feel that this needed a tripod and even though I used the stabilizing tool on YouTube there is still movement of the camera which really effects the image. This reminds me of the importance of a tripod. 

Above is a time lapse more conventional of one in a music video. I really like this but feel that I got the balance between night sections and day sections wrong. (The original video was around 8 hours).

Matthew P - Artist Consent

Below is my request and reply for the artist consent for Matthew P's track On Top, which will allow me to use it for my music video and post it onto YouTube.

 

My contingency track Fragile Meadow is copyright free, which means that I am also free to put it on YouTube without the need for permission.