Production - Reflection week 8

Reflection week 8 -

This week was the October half term, my partner and I knew that this was the week we would be able to complete most of our filming without having to worry about when our actors were free and also we did not have to worry about attending school. 

Firstly one of my tasks was to change the tracking list. The reason this needed to be changed was because my partner and I looked at other tracking lists from different artists and noticed that the main song which is advertised on the front of the album/digipak is usually in the middle of the tracking list so for example number four. Our first tracking list had the main song advertised on the front at number one, we then changed this to number four. The second main task this week was to film the performance part of our music video. 

We created call sheets for the filming and we as a partnership was looking forward to finally filming a major piece of our video. However two of our performers cancelled at the last minuet, this left us confused and we struggled to find someone to take over their place, at the last moment one of our friends agreed to stand in for us and also my partner agreed to be in the video also. As the original cast for the band was all male we worried about including a female as a member but we discussed it as partners and decided this could work really well for us, it could help us relate to a wider range audience. We made a video about our problem and how we overcame it. 

We prepared for our filming, we gathered different props such as microphones and hand made speakers and guitars, we also arranged a style of clothes we would like our band members to dress in, this ranged from skinny jeans to Dr Marten's. However filming to my partner and I was something serious and something we knew we had to complete, our actors enjoyed themselves and we believe when looking at the footage this will come across really well and will make the video look less like it was filmed by students and more real. We then made some changes to our props after listening to our song closely, we believed that these changes of props would go with the diverse sounds in the song.

After filming we made decided to create a Blog post about what we did that day, what location's we used, why we used them, the actors we used and also why we used them and also the problems we faced during the day and how we over came them. Also after filming I looked at some of the photos taken and my partner and I both agreed these would work perfectly for our digipak and magazine advert. When returning to school we will add them in.

Next week - 

Next week my partner and I will complete some more of our filming, we will complete the scenes where the main character (Elise Phillips) is at home and her parents are arguing and also the scenes where she is at school being bullied. As we are returning to school next week we will also put all of the footage taken onto the iMac and look over it to decided if we need to re-shoot anything. We will also try to complete our final initial edit of the digipak and also the magazine advert. 

Production - Filming part 2.

Filming part 2 - 

My partner and I completed our filming of the band members in the forest performing the song 'Man in fire'.

Actor's -

 For the members of the band as we had trouble with certain members of the band cancelling on us at last notice, we decided that we were going to include a girl member in the band to make up the numbers and we also thought that this would help us bring in a larger target audience. These here are the members of our band, played by Gemma Doherty, Patrick Rawlins and Thomas Dadswell. 

Setting up - 

Setting up filming once again was reasonably easy as we have done it on several occasion and are now used to setting up the camera and tripod. Also as we could set up quickly it meant that we had a lot more time for filming different shots.

Location -

For the location we filmed in Hainault Forest, finding a part in the forest that we liked and a part where the light was right, and where there was space for the different shots we wanted to take. This location was something we believed would look perfect for our music video, the tree's, the lighting all worked in our favour.

Problems that occurred while filming - 

During this filming there were not many problems that we faced compared to the last time we filmed. However there were a few, as it was a public forest there were other people in the section we was in, for a while it was empty but towards then end there were some children which kept getting in the shot and this meant that we had to re-shoot over and over again. 

Another problem was the lyrics, our lead singer remembered most of the lyrics but found it difficult under pressure, also my iPod wasn't loud enough for him to hear when the song was played out loud, we used the headphones and had them going up his top and then around his ear like an ear piece, this worked well as you could not see it in the shot and it meant that the lead singer could keep up with the music so when it comes to editing it will be word for word. 
Another small problem was that when filming my partner and I found it difficult to set up the camera so it was straight, as we were in a forest and the ground was uneven and we tried to set up the camera in a way in which we believed it was the best shot and would look the best on the final edit of our video.

One main problem for us was the fact two of our actors who were going to play band members cancelled at the last moment, this meant that we had to find two people fast! We found one person who was easy to convince to be in the video, then we knew we needed a third member, we discussed it as a pair and decided a girl member may be a good idea, this means our music video will relate to a female audience as well as a male audience. Although this was our main problem my partner and I feel it has worked our advantage and may make our music video even more of a success.

Images taken for digipak and magazine advert - 

My partner and I decided this would be the best time to take some images for our digipak and magazine advert. We knew that we wanted images of the band and these were easy to take whilst we were filming as we didn't want it to look as if we had made them get into a position and then taken the photo. We are going to edit the magazine advert and digipak once we go back to school after half term and see how these images look, and to see what one we like best on either our digipak or magazine advert. My personal favourite our of all of these images is the one where the actors backs are facing the camera.

Production - Video explaining problems.

Video explaining problems -
This is a video of why we had to change band members within our music video. 

Production - Props change.

Props change -

My partner and I had a discussion about props. We listened to the song and decided that it would be better off to use and acoustic guitar and also an electric one. We believed this would go with the diverse sounds in the song. This acoustic guitar we were originally going to use then we changed it to the electric guitar.

Production - Call Sheet 3

Call sheet 3 -

Production - Preparing for filming.

Preparing for filming - 

To prepare for the filming we will be doing on Monday, my partner and I have planned some certain things and arranged certain props. 

Lyrics -
We have written out the lyrics for the song 'Man on fire' by 50 Leaves, onto a word document to give to our cast on the say in case they forget any of the words as well as sending them the document via Facebook. 

Props - 

For the props we have gathered some and also made some look alike ones as we could not find anyone willing to give us the real thing. 

These 'speakers' were made by placing a bin bag over an old shoe box and sticking it together, we have planned to take these to the location and if they look to fake or if they do not fit the set up we will not use them.

Then my partner and I asked people around the neighbourhood if they had any microphones we could borrow for the shooting of the video, for example toy microphones children use. My partners neighbour gave us these Wii sing microphones, my partner and I believe these look are perfect for our video, they look like the real thing and there is not too much writing on them that may make them look fake or as they don't belong in a music video.

This is my partners guitar, we have planned to use this as well as another guitar which will be borrowed from a friend who will also attend the video shoot to take photos whilst we are filming. As you can see from this second photo the guitar is a bit old and broken, to get around this small problem my partner and I have planned to only shoot the whole guitar if you cannot see the broken parts within the shot, and if you can we have planned to have small shots of that band member borrowing the other guitar which is in good condition.

Clothing - 

To connote the indie style of our band we have asked the actors playing the part to were clothing like; 

a checkered shirt, black skinny jeans and converse trainers. 

We want all the band members to dress in a similar way to show that they are in a band and they are not three random people who have met up. We also want to show our look in a simple way, we don't want too many bright colours or clothing that is too vibrant and in the audiences face.

Production - New tracking list

New tracking list - 

My Partner and I have been looking at a few tracking lists, we have noticed how the main song that is promoted on the front of the album/digipak is usually in the middle of the tracking list so for example number four. This made us decided to change the order of our tracking list and but the song 'Man on fire' to number four even though we originally had it at number one. 

Production - Reflection week 7

Reflection week 7 -

This week my partner and I have began our filming. As we don't have long till our deadline we have decided we would like to get most of our filming completed within a few weeks which gives us time to re-shoot anything if needed. We began the week by making a second initial idea for our magazine advert, as we haven't filmed the forest scenes yet we have not been able to take a picture of the band all together, this is something we will need to do before making our final edit of both the magazine advert and also the digipak. For both of these products we would like a picture of the band on them and this picture will be taken next week as this is when we are filming the forest scenes. After we had made this second initial idea for the magazine advert we decided we would like to get some filming done. We planned to film most of the shots where the main character is walking to school, and then if we had time we planned to film most of the toilet scenes. We created a call sheet, with some reminders that we needed to know when filming and also so we can keep track of where we have filmed and when we have filmed different parts of the music video. 
During filming we made a short video of what we were filming and some problems we faced. After this my partner and I believed it would be a good idea to create a post with some information about out first day filming, we included things like information on why we chose our actor, information on the location we filmed in and also some information on problems we faced and how we overcame them.
Next week - 
Next week as it is half term my partner and I have planned to do most of our filming. On the first few days we have arranged to film the forest scenes where the band will be playing guitars and singing. We have also planned to film the scenes where the main character is at home and her parents are arguing. As it is half term this is our main objective.

Production - The start of filming.

The start of filming -

What we planned to do -

Today my partner and I began our filming, we planned to do all the shots of the main character walking to school and where she is the last to leave the classroom running to the toilet and also we planned if we had enough time to film where she is upset in the toilet.
Actress - 
The actor for our music video is Elise Phillips, we have worked with her before on some of our other media products and we know she is a trustworthy actor, and takes direction very well. Also we believe that she has the right look we are going for, for the main character in our music video.
Filming - 
Setting up the equipment my partner and I found this rather easy, we have used a camera and a tripod before on other media products and as this was the case we could set up quickly and therefore have more time for filming out shots.
Location -
We chose to film outside of our school, Chadwell Heath academy, as this was a place where we knew it would be possible to connote the age of the main character and also help us relate to our audience.  
Problems with filming and how we overcame them -

As we were filming outside one main difficulty was the weather. It was a very windy day there was certain things that we could not control, for example the actors hair blowing in her face, which frustrated us as you couldn't see her face which we wanted for many of the shots. 
We tried our best to work with this and we took several different shots of each shot we had planned to do, therefore we will have one we can use.

There was also another problem with the fact that we would not be able to get all of the filming completed in that one day, we have decided that we will film another day, we have most of the outdoor scenes filmed this will not be a major problem. 

When filming also the light was reflecting of the camera and we found this difficult to see what we was actually filming. This meant we had to film in the shade, in a way this was helpful as this helped us connote a darker side to the music video that we wanted to portray.
One final problem was, we were filming at a school, in lesson times, this meant that we had to be careful that other students would not be walking out of lessons past the camera and also that we would not disrupt anyone. We overcame this by making sure we filmed where we knew other pupils would not be and were we knew we would be able to get all of our shots perfect.
Video -
This is a video of my partner and I and also our actress discussing what we were filming and also some problems that we came across.

Production - Call sheet 2

Call sheet 2 - 

Production - Second initial idea for magazine advert.

Second initial idea for magazine advert -

My partner and I have been working on our ideas for our magazine advert, we have been looking at different pictures of which we may include on our final copy of the magazine advert. As we have not taken pictures of the band yet we have left the background white. The text we made on Dafont.com and is the same font that will be on the digipak, we also chose to include a blackberry bar code as it is something more modern and the audience can scan this on their blackberry and follow information about the band, this will relate to our younger audience. 
For the image, we will include a individual pictures of each member of the band covered in leaves, we fell this will have add a fun feel to the advert and show how not every song is going to be as sad as man on fire. This image here is an idea of what it may look like, yet we would like to have the back ground of just leaves too.

Production - Reflection week 6

Reflection week 6 -

This week my partner and I have been working on our production stage of our project. We have been working on our ideas for our digipak and magazine advert, we have also been decided on when we would like to start filming footage for our video. We have decided that we will be filming most of our video during the October half term. From destination hunting we have found the exact location of where we would like to film out scenes of the band playing and messing around. We will also be filming on the weekend and during school days, our plan is to get most of our filming completed by the end of October half term as this will give us time to organise what else we need to film and when we will need to film. 
Our ideas for the digipak and magazine advert have changed after making the first plan and looking at what we wanted to include and what we thought would look more appealing for our audience. We have decided as a pair that we would like to include an image of the band as just having pictures of the forest and leaves will look too simple and not very interesting, also the audience will be getting nothing from the images. 
Then my partner and I decided we wanted to take some more pictures of leaves with different colours in a pile as this would look good on the disk or on the 'thank you' park of our digipak. We have also been adding more to our beach combing to give use ideas to look back at when filming and editing the music video. When looking for magazine adverts and digipak's we could gather ideas from we found two that we liked and decided we would take aspects from both when making our individual projects. Then my partner and I started to make our final version of the magazine advert, we are currently working on it and hope for it to be finished in the following weeks, yet we may have to make a few more changes to the final one to have it how we both imagine it.

Next Week - 

Next week my partner and I will be starting filming the scenes where the main character is at home and her parents are arguing, we will also be trying to film the part where the main character is at school and is being bullied by her peers. If we manage to get most of these scenes filmed we will have most of our shooting script completed and therefore will only need to film scenes where the band are in the forest. Also by filming all of these scenes we will have time to look through and film any more footage that is needed.

Production - Filming destination hunting.

Filming destination hunting -

My partner and I have visited several locations within the past week and other weeks to search for the best location for our scenes of the band. We have visited several different forest's and taken pictures of the different locations in which we can film. 

We have decided that we will be filming in Hainault forest. The reason we chose to film here was due to the colour of the leaves, the positioning of the trees and the amount of space there was for us to use. Here are some images of the different locations we visited. 

My partner and I felt that visiting these different locations would help give us a choice on where we would like to film the scenes of the band. Due to our decision we have chosen which days we would like to film and as the forest is not too far away, there is always if needed availability to go and film again.

Production - Creating the magazine advert.

Creating the magazine advert -

My partner and I have started creating our final edition of our magazine advert. 

This image shows how we are going to have our text and where we are positioning it on the page for example we have the; Bands name, album title, action line and body copy.

Here we added a picture to see if a large image would look well behind the text and if it would draw attention away from the text. We changed the size and position of the image to see what looked better and what would attract the audience more.

Talking with eachother and to our teacher about what main image we would like to include gave us some more ideas, we deicded that we would like a picture of the band as having just images of nature wouldnt ve giving anything to our audience as much. In our discussion we looked at some more examples of magazine adverts to see which we liked more and where we could gat our inspiration from. Here are a few examples of what magazine adverts we looked at.

 

My partner and I liked the album cover by Corinne Bailey Rae, and have decided this is something we would like to include in our magazine advert, with the tree and the image of the artist in the middle. We have the idea of covering our artists in leaves, to show a fun side to the band but also to connect them to the naturalist locations.