Storyboard and Shooting Schedule

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B8hUVBlvod8vYWY3YmM5ZmQtYjc0OC00MThjLTlmODAtMDhiZjQ0NGMzMzhh&hl=en

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B8hUVBlvod8vNDU1OWIwMzktM2FkZC00YWZjLWJlMzEtZjM4ZDQ5N2Y0MWE5&hl=en

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B8hUVBlvod8vMThlNTQzMGMtNjE4Mi00YTcyLThhYTMtZDFkODA2MzcyZTE2&hl=en

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B8hUVBlvod8vODFkNWIzMzAtYTU1YS00YTJmLTg5NTMtNTNjYjEwMmU3OTY0&hl=en

Creative Camera Use

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L41ZsAIxwn8&feature=channel_video_title

On my video we used a number of visual effects to create an atmosphere of the paranormal in the video. Whenever a strange occurrence is present, I added a visual effect to emphasis the point. For example at 0:27 when the cupboards and fridges have all mysteriously opened I used a compound and a radial blur to look as though everything has been slurred and obscured. Another effect we used was more to do with editing rather than with visual effects is on 0:58 when the female character disappears which was done by filming her sitting and then getting her to move off the seat. Then when I edited it I just cut out the part of the shot where is she is moving so it just looks like she has vanished. By having the female character in focus with a high angle long shot it adds emphasis to the fact that she has disappeared. At 1:18 the walking through the wall shot, I used some of the blurring tools to make the actor looked more blurred and disfigured and having the camera out of focus. I used a similar tactic here to the previous disappearing trick by just cutting out the part of the shot where the character is walking out of view. For the appearing drummer at 2:07 I used the same tactic as the disappearing just the other way round.

Evaluation

Doing the music video was a good experience for me, allowing me to practice skills with the video cameras, editing software and other computer software. I had never used most of the things we used in the process of this video so admittedly I found it a bit tricky at the start, using things like Final Cut Pro but I've progressed quickly allowing me to feel more confident in using the software. Using the other computer software like InDesign and Photoshop I feel has improved my presentation overall and made me care more about the little details in design. What the whole experience has taught me is about how much effort goes into these sort of things. Even for a three minute video that amount of planning that is necessary is astonishing for someone who had no experience in this sort of thing 6 months ago but I can now see why these things take so long. Also the amount that can go wrong is ridiculous and it does get stressful but it was a good feeling after I had finished to see what months of toil has come out with.

As my video is based on Paranormal Activity, which is one of the most successful horror films ever, with one of the lowest budgets out of any film does mean we have challenged the typical music video convention by having a film with a low budget. Also by having a music video that has its own genre in a film sense not just musically does challenge the way people will view music videos, showing that they are not just to promote a band musically but also an opportunity to show how music can be directly linked with other genres of film to create something that works really well together. The fact that the band are in the video is almost essential when it comes to indie-rock bands, as with other bands such as Biffy Clyro or Artic Monkeys there hasn't been a single music video released by them that hasn't got the band in it so in this sense we are using traditional media conventions for our genre but this only helps to promote the band themselves.

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B8hUVBlvod8vOTI1NzI3ZmMtZjkwMi00ZjBlLWIwM2YtNWJiMTgzNTU2NTli&hl=en

When I created a digi-pack and advert I looked at artists of a similar genre for inspiration for designing my own. I took what I believe to be the positive aspects from them and used them to my advantage creating a striking advert that contains all the necessary information that any advert needs to. I also managed to create them in a way that they can be linked in with the music video as well, creating an intertextuality that will only benefit the bond between the video and the promotional packages. For example with the Biffy Clyro advert I analysed, I saw that using the album cover on the advert and by having as little writing as possible creates something artistic and straight to the point. I used this information and put my digi-pack cover on my advert and only wrote as short as sentences as I could. The Foo Fighters advert showed me the importance of having a brand logo and a bold title. This assisted me by having the same "The Montagues" title font on both my digi-pack and advert creating a further link between them and having the band name as striking and more obvious than anything else on the page will make it easier to remember the bands name as that would be the thing you would have looked at most. With all my ancillary texts I used dull colours with bright whites on top of them to give it both a feeling of eeriness and then have the text shine above like The Montagues music does. The narrative parts of the music video are shot in relatively low light to give the same dull look visually making a coherent package throughout the main product and promotional pack.

The film cameras we used were a step above the traditional household video camera and gave you complete control over the footage you were taking allowing you to bring things in and out of focus, adjust the white balance etc. Even after you filmed you can still pretty much change the visual experience of your footage by using Final Cut Pro on the Apple Macs. Without Final Cut Pro I would not been able to do any of the visual effects and editing tricks that would have been my video feel as though there was a haunting going on. Using Photoshop to edit my photos to give an eerie and mysterious look was equally important coupled with InDesign it made it easy and simple to get the effects I wanted to have on my advert and digi-pack. Before doing media A2 I had no understanding over to change the visual colours on Photoshop, what white balance was on cameras or any of the editing stuff on Final Cut Pro. Even things like Facebook to get feedback from people easily and Google to quickly search for adverts and Digi-packs from artists of a similar genre.

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B8hUVBlvod8vOWQyMGRkY2EtMzExYy00ODk1LWI5ODgtYjEzNjU2MWJhNWIy&hl=en

Rejected Footage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uvcpHRfHnY&feature=channel_video_title

The footage here we had to reject because for the first few seconds we didn't manage to film anything properly so it has just come out as a black screen which is not really appropriate for the final cut. The second part where the camera is directed into the mirror, the actors are not positioned accordingly and it's not how we planned it to come out on our storyboard. We got around this by just doing more takes into we got the footage that we wanted for the final video. The third shot is just of a wall and in its current form could not be used as we wanted editing on the shot to make it seem more surreal and out of the ordinary. You can also hear people talking on set which wouldn't work for when it came to the actual video.

Shooting Diary

The dates my group did our filming for the music video were on sunday the 27th of February and the 6th of March for the narrative part in the house location. and the 1st of March and the 8th of March for the band part of the video set in the abandoned school. For the narrative part me and my partner alternated between the use of the camera and acting and even at some points did both at the same time. For the directing part the camera operator would double up as a director to make filming run more efficiently and smoothly. This gave us an oppurtunity to show off acting and camera work skills at the same time. Generally the parts with Eve in the shot I was doing the filming and vice-versa. For the band section, Eve did the filming on the 1st of March and I did the filming on the 8th. Who ever wasn't doing the filming at the time of these dates would be the director so for example I was doing the directing and in control of the clapperboard on the 1st of March. The majority of problems came with the band section as members acting out the musician roles would perform unrealisically to how they supposed to. We got around this issue by the director taking more control over what the actors are supposed to be doing and taking more takes until we felt what we had shot was adequate.

Finished Music Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L41ZsAIxwn8&feature=channel_video_title

Health and Safety

When we came to filming our music video there were a number of precautions we had to take in the way of Health and Safety to avoid damage to any persons involved in the video and any of the equipment. We made sure to not do any filiming outside when it was raining and when transporting the camera and other equipment made sure it was well covered in case of rain. Most of our filiming was done on location, inside buildings that are still in use for example when we were filming in the home we put extra precautions in to making sure the set was completely free of unnesessary clutter on the floor as it is a trip hazard which becomes all the more dangerous when actors are focusing on acting and the camera operator is focusing on filming as you are less aware of any objects on the floor. Whenever the camera was transported any long distance is was always put in its case to minimise any damage if it was dropped. Even for short movements, from shot to shot the camera was always taken off its tripod to be moved to a new locations. For the band part of the music video to make it look more realistic we had leads and wires plugged into the guitars so the camera operator was made to stay well away from trailing leads as they are trip hazard. We also made sure that there was leads used as props without an important cause to minimize any trip hazards. It was also important that we had contact information of everyone taking part in the music video so that we can properly organise film dates. Here is the contact information sheet that was present at all filming sessions.

Planning to Film

Before I started filming my own music video as a class we worked to re-create the music video for "Teenage Dirt-bag" by Wheatus in order to practice the techniques needed for camera work and directing on the set. The Wheatus video also allowed us to practice editing on Final Cut Pro on the Apple Mac laptops at college. It was a useful exercise as I gained experience using the software with cutting, syncing the video to the music so the vocals on the song match that of the singer in the video. It also gave me an opportunity to practice with visual effects using the video filter and adding cuts, fades and slides between shots and how different camera angles look were there being put together with mid shots and long shots affecting how the pace of the music video is. Here is the storyboard and shooting schedule used for the Wheatus video. Before we did any of the test filming we were shown how to use a shooting script to assist us with the filming. It allowed us to pragmatically choose which shots were in the same location and shoot them in an order to make the process as efficient as possible. The shooting script is a lot more detailed than a storyboard is allowing us to write more precise notes on a shot by shot basis. In can also allow us to write about how each take went making it easier for when we come to edit, which shot we want to use. The clapperboard was also an in important tool in filming as it allowed to label each shot and take, again making it easier for us when it came to editing. The director in each shot was just as important as any of the actors or the person who is doing the filming as it is them who keeps the whole production running smoothly, clearly instructing everyone involved where the camera should be and what they should be doing or in the case of the actors what they were supposed to be doing. In our filming the director and the camera operator worked together to make sure the camera set up is as good as it possibly can be. When they were both happy with the camera position the director made sure all the actors were positioned correctly. When all is adequate the director shouted "ready" causing the camera operator to begin filming. The clapperboard with the shot information is presented clearly in front of the camera allowing the director to call "action" causing the actors to begin their roles, and finally shouting "cut" when the shot is over. Before any of the filming can take place there is a number of camera settings that need to be set to make sure the quality of the footage is the best it can be. Setting up a tripod allows for a really stable shot especially when it comes to techniques like zooming, panning and tilts. The tripods even have a spirit level so the camera can be positioned to an exact horizontal. The white balance setting on the camera needs to be changed depending on your surroundings and light conditions. For example when you are outside the white balance should be set on to "Daytime Filming" to not give the footage a blue tinge, conversely when filming inside the white balance should be set to one more adequate to artificial light. This allows the camera to know what white is in different conditions allowing it to calibrate that to the rest of the colours giving you more of an even footage wherever you film. The cameras we were using to film were of an Canon XM2 model meaning it was even more important as to manually change the exposure which would give us control over how light or dark the footage is. This is down by using a mix of the shutter speed, aperture and gain controls. The cameras also gave us a choice of what the frame size was. When I filmed some of the Wheatus music video I used the standard setting of 4:3 but I did have a practice with the wide screen setting of 16:9. The settings were simple to use and I gained good experience from that as the rule of thirds made them both easy to compose. One of my favourite parts of the camera settings was using the depth of field as it allowed me to centre the audiences attention on certain parts of the frame by having the object of choice in focus and the rest of the shot being blurred. This is called "a shallow depth of field". For most of the Wheatus film I shot it with a "wide depth of Field". Here is the test film for the Wheatus music video. https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B0DnGj06WOfoNGUyYjRmYTUtZGFmZC00NGJiLWIzM2MtNGYxODBhOTJjNDE3&hl=en&pli=1

Advert

This is the advert for Biffy Clyro's latest album. It uses intertextuality by having the album front cover covering all of it. There is very little in the way of writing on it and only contains information like release dates, views and songs. Uses the album cover as the advert cover is good because its easier for people to find the album in shops if they just walk past and see it in a rack of CD's. For adverts like this it's far more accessible for people to read if any of the information it is short and snappy as people don't want to stand there and read long paragraphs. I would say this is quite an effective advert. However I would say that it doesn't suggest too much about their genre apart from maybe the type of magazines that have reviewed it but most people know who Biffy Clyro are anyway.

This advert is for the Foo Fighter's greatest hits. It's a lot more clear and striking than the more artistic advert for Biffy Clyro. The metal and bolts does denote rock music with the red in the bands logo signifying how passionate Foo Fighters are. The fact there is the logo there will make it a lot more easily recognisable to people that this is an advert for Foo Fighters. The large print writing with track listings, release date and formatting is a lot more easily than the other advert at just a glance like most adverts are looked at. It also does the same technique of putting the album cover as the majority of the advert. I would have to say that this is a more effective advert than the Biffy Clyros advert.

Here are some of the feedback I have recieved for my digi-pack.

For this advert I have tried to go for simplicity like the Foo Fighters advert and an artistic picture like the Biffy Clyro advert. The title would be bold, black and in Broadway for the same reasons as with my digi-pack. The advert title would be in italics to create an intertextuality between advert and digi-pack. The photo of the ghost in the mirror will reflect a shot that's in the music video creating a link between those two. The ghost also keeps with the paranormal theme. It's unlikely I will use this flat plan as it doesn't really show what type of music the band play at all.

For this flat plan it goes into more detail about gig times and contains more colours and shapes than the previous flat plan. It also creates intertextuality with the band name and digi-pack title like the last flat-plan but it also contains the digi-packs image similarly to how the adverts I analysed did. The shapes are supposed to represent a fluency about the band. The digi-pack cover is a lot easier to see what genre the band is. The digi-pack would be black to keep with the theme as well as having the digi-pack cover in black and white so it looks more in tone with the rest of the advert.

This flat-plan contains the picture of the inside cover of the digi-pack about the discarded bass guitar which keeps with the paranormal theme. It would make more sense to have the front cover picture as the advert though because it would be easier to recognise in a shop.

During this task I got used to using InDesign and Photoshop more which was good especially using the colour filters which can change the whole effect of a photo when you look at it as the drum kit after being put in black and white makes it look a lot more creepy and spectral. I wanted to make sure the name of the band was as big as possible as that way even if people just remember one thing from the advert the band name should be that given the striking white on the ominous black. I included the digi-pack cover on it because as I've previously written the band adverts that I analysed that were of a similar genre did it to. It also means if someone sees it in somewhere like HMV on the racks after seeing the advert they will be more likely to pick it up. Even on things like iTunes you could just see the digi-pak cover on the list of recommended albums and check it out because you've seen the advert or just seeing The Montagues written on iTunes will make you want to click on it. The list of tour dates will make you more likely want to check them out in case there playing somewhere near you and might want to go see them in the end. The shapes represent something understandable that you yourself could be a part of.

Digi-pak

Here is some feedback for my digi-pak.

This is the middle section for one of my flat plans for my did-pak. I want to keep it fairly basic but still quite eerie. A mix of the two digi-paks I have analysed. The font I will use is Broadway for the title to give a bold but sensible and mature look reflecting the song's sensibility. By doing this it keeps with the theme for the rest of the digi-pak and music video as if I used a more wacky or zany font it would be juxtaposed with the seriousness of the hauntings and become less horror related and it would undermined the supposed love song. I will also write about the band using Arial this will give fans information how the digi-pak was recorded and a little bit of history about the band. I decided to use Arial as it is the clearest to read and fits in with the rest of the digi-pak and advert. The dusty guitar amp is there to look mysterious and left for years without being used to create an eeriness that will work well with the faint outline of a ghost on a black background which will create a link in the audiences mind between the digi-pak and the music video.

This is the front and back for my digi-pak. Again The Montagues is going to be written in Broadway for the same reasons plus in bold it will looking striking on the white background. Different to most digi-paks, I'm going to put the song listings on the front to be a bit different and breakaway from the norm giving it a different feel like how something paranormal is different to the norm. The bass guitar and amp will be dusty to look like they've been just left there for years making you wonder what has happened to the owner keeping with the paranormal philosophy of the music video, digi-pak and advert triplet. On the back will have a mid-shot photo of 3 of the band members holding there instruments which is similar to some of the photos on the Nirvana digi-pak as if you seem someone you can recognise you are more implied to get something.

Here is the second flat-plan I have created again for the title have used Broadway and Arial for the rest of the writing for similar reasons. The digi-pak here shows the couple standing in a mirror filming each themselves. A similar shot is used in the music video which for the audience will create a link between the two making them either more inclined to buy the digi-pak if they see it around after watching the music video or if they buy it watching the video after. The clothes they would be wearing would be skinny jeans and a checked shirt for the boy and a flowery dress for the girl so that the indie/rock audience can relate to it more and it fits in with the style of music that The Montagues play. The back shows all the song listings and The Montagues title which is still in Broadway which if used enough will make it seem like a brand logo. The digi-pak title is also on the back as well. The ghostly figure also links in with the music video and continues the eeriness about it.

For the finished digi-pak I decided to make a number of changes to my initial flat plans in order to make the digi-pak more genre specific so potential buyers will only need to take a brief look to know that this is a rock band by the drum kit that is there. They will also be able to tell that the band is most likely a soft/ indie rock band due to the standard size of the drum kit as, if the band were more of a metal outfit the kit would be a lot larger. The dark blue tinge was something I learned to use on photoshop during the task. The tinge gives it a more eerie look and a slightly old fashioned feel as well the use of dull colours like in the Moonstone digi-pack. The drum kit is also the same one that is used in the music video giving it intertexuality. I decided to use a colour scheme that reflects a mini storyline within the digi-pak with the photo of Ben on the back page being in black & white suggests that picture was taken a long time ago. The discarded drum kit and bass guitar look slightly grainy denoting that still were taken a long time ago but not as much as the first one and finally the third page shows the band standing with instruments with a white light coming behind them giving the impression that their now ghosts which fits into the whole paranormal music video plot. The title is in Broadway giving it a serious yet vintage look showing a maturity to the way Montagues play. The digi-pak title in italics along with the quote from the song which provides intertexuality is coupled with the love song that the title song and the song to the music video is. The second and third pages I decided to use one of my flat plans for this as it worked with the whole inner sub plot idea and it allows the musicians to be personalised and relate-able with the audience wearing similar clothes to how they would dress. The task also allowed me to practice my camera work something I have never really done before and it was quite enjoyable setting everything up in to specific positions and taking the shots until I have a selection I'm happy with. The effects I used were things like changing the shadow settings and modifying the black and white filter where I pretty much had a mess around with things and getting adequate results. I'm happy with the way my digi-pak has come out and I've got positive comments on facebook. I'm especially pleased with the way the white writing looks so bold compared to the black bass and amp on the second page. The font on the last page makes it look both mysterious but also romantic giving it a really nice look to it.

This digi-pak cover is for a band called moonstone. They are a similar genre and have also gone for a similar horror theme for their digi-pak. The imagery is artistic but but not exactly striking. However it is clearly connotes what genre the band is, as the dark and dull colouring coupled with the eerie blacks show the artist is a rock band clearly allowing music fans interested in the genre that they might like this. The bright lights inside the home are really eye catching compared to the rest of the digi-pak really drawing your eyes towards it. The writing on the back about the band is also clear which is important as people are going to be less interested in something if they can't read what it says. The font used for the band name and album title works well the rest of the cover as the jagged edges are synchronised in with the sharp edges of the house giving the whole digi-pak a sort of flow across the image with nothing being juxtaposed.

The digi-pak for Nirvana unplugged in New York is extremely basic on the front but that works really well with the music as it was a stripped down acoustic gig. The writing in bright red on the front is really striking on the red background maybe denoting how striking Kurt Cobain's voice is over the relaxed acoustic melodies at the gig. The font is obscure as it is not completely level, it's slightly disjointed but this only further represents how Nirvana's music is on here. In terms of a digi-pak reflecting the artists music they have got it pretty much spot on here.