Camera tests are used to check weather a person who may look pretty in real life, looks just as beautiful on camera. Usually it is not a problem but in some cases some people may be perceived differently due to the camera not reading their faces that well. Therefore is it always best to camera test your cast members before you start shooting.
For our camera test we met our lead singer Karis in the studio and put her in front of the camera. We were looking for somebody who suited the part of a pretty girl who looked beautiful yet unique; we were looking with somebody with long brown wavy hair that could potentially be curled more if necessary to give a more bohemian feel. So this is what we were looking for when we put Karis in front of the camera, not only that we were looking for all the regular things to see if her face looked alright on camera.
After we camera tested Karis and realised she worked on screen and also as well as that she would be easy to direct. This is because not only does she have a personality that is easy to get on with she is also in our house so therefore we can liaise with her easily. This is very useful as it is easy for us to keep her up to speed with what’s happening with the video as that way when she turns up to set on the shoot day she won’t be clueless and have to be completely filled in with what’s happening.
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
Tuesday, 19 October 2010
Storyboard
Storyboard is a plan you shoot to, if it works on paper then it is less expensive to do than to waste time on camera shooting for hours if not days. Story board work out the type of shot, angles, camera movements, mis en scene, colours and shapes and how the picture composition rules will be applied in the film.
Storyboards are used to build on the timeline so that you can visually see if your ideas will work, this also allows you to plot out what types of shots to use and why, for example during out tracking shot out from our singers face to her sitting on a swing we are planning on cutting to some close ups of people playing instruments in the band, this way it will break up a very long track but it will also allow the viewers to get a feel for the band and get to know them and be more aware of them. The storyboard can also be useful for planning how we will edit our video, for example our group was thinking about trying baletic editing, therefore when I drew the storyboard images I tried to see if that would work.
We will have several close ups of the lead singer and a few close ups of the other band members, this will help sell the brand and the band. The colours in the video will be kept quite light and summery as not only does it keep with the theme and nature of the song but it also keeps in with the nature of the band itself as they have quite a bohemian style.
As you can see in the story boards above they clearly illustrate what will happen in each shot, you can see in the storyboard on the left that there will be a wide shot of the girl swinging on the swing, an extreme close up to show her singing, a mid shot and then a shot of feathers falling to add in another element. This will hopefully be very useful for us when we come to edit as we can refer back to these storyboards to figure out our shot order and editing style.
You can see in the storyboard on the far left we use tracking shots to go along with the singer. These tracking shots would let the audience feel very intimate with our lead singer and therefore feel connected with her, also it is very aesthetically pleasing. It also allows the viewers to feel as if they are going along with our singer and feel more personal.
I researched into storyboarding and found this interesting tutorial on Shrek. This was very useful and interesting.
Storyboards are used to build on the timeline so that you can visually see if your ideas will work, this also allows you to plot out what types of shots to use and why, for example during out tracking shot out from our singers face to her sitting on a swing we are planning on cutting to some close ups of people playing instruments in the band, this way it will break up a very long track but it will also allow the viewers to get a feel for the band and get to know them and be more aware of them. The storyboard can also be useful for planning how we will edit our video, for example our group was thinking about trying baletic editing, therefore when I drew the storyboard images I tried to see if that would work.
We will have several close ups of the lead singer and a few close ups of the other band members, this will help sell the brand and the band. The colours in the video will be kept quite light and summery as not only does it keep with the theme and nature of the song but it also keeps in with the nature of the band itself as they have quite a bohemian style.
As you can see in the story boards above they clearly illustrate what will happen in each shot, you can see in the storyboard on the left that there will be a wide shot of the girl swinging on the swing, an extreme close up to show her singing, a mid shot and then a shot of feathers falling to add in another element. This will hopefully be very useful for us when we come to edit as we can refer back to these storyboards to figure out our shot order and editing style.
You can see in the storyboard on the far left we use tracking shots to go along with the singer. These tracking shots would let the audience feel very intimate with our lead singer and therefore feel connected with her, also it is very aesthetically pleasing. It also allows the viewers to feel as if they are going along with our singer and feel more personal.
I researched into storyboarding and found this interesting tutorial on Shrek. This was very useful and interesting.
Timeline
A Timeline is the first chance to look at whether or not your ideas will work with the song you have picked. Timelines allow you to see if the right shots will fit in at the right places and see if the lyrics will match up with the shots. It allows you to see what works and what doesn’t work. For example in our timeline we managed to figure out that our tracking shots will work well in the slow parts of the song, we managed to listen to the song and look at how long each section was and time each of our shots.
So we realised we can get one long tracking shot which will start as an extreme close up of our singers lips and track out to eventually reveal her sitting on a sing. Something that didn’t work for us was trying to timeline a stylised sequence in our video in the style of ‘OK GO’, due to the fact that we didn’t know the exact movements in the sequence made it very difficult to try and plot the different shots within the timeline therefore this didn’t work very well.
Getting in a mess while editing - a man who did not have a timeline or a storyboard!!
Sunday, 17 October 2010
Introduction to Music Industry
People’s music taste can be a controversial topic, almost to the point of tribalism. It is contentious because it defines and often signifies personalities and lifestyle. Musical taste is about the way you dress, speak and sometimes act. For example Punk, Goth, Indie, Mainstream and Techno.
However all commentators agree that music and all its trends sit at the epicenter of popular culture.Ideally with this pop video we hope to establish a band that will last for twenty to thirty years, but also to create a brand that will last and make money through various different multi-media areas.
It is this ‘dynamic tension’ that exists between the artist and commercial forces that underpins the success of this vast media business. However sometimes the lead singer becomes the star and can demand more money, as they believe they do all the work within the group and this can cause tension between the whole group and eventually lead to them breaking up.
Another type of tension that can arise is between the organic and synthetic groups. Organic groups put their music first, it is their music, clothes and their staging, everything the way they want it whereas synthetic groups are manufactured, created and made to fit the market. Our band is organic as their music is theirs and so is their style, they were not manufactured and if they establish themselves well they will hopefully be around for quite a while. We wanted the music video to show their organic quality and for the band to be themselves.
Another feature to consider is the music industry ‘synergetic connections’ with other media forms. This codependence with other media means that a ‘mutual reliance’ can be productive but also risky. This means that when we market the band if we have synergetic connections our band can be on TV, newspaper and magazine interviews that will all most likely be owned by the same company. We would also need to think about when the best time to show our band is. For example Britney spears was marketed toward children and therefore would appear on Saturday morning kids shows, or anywhere that kids would see. Our band would most likely appear on MTV as this markets itself to 15-25 year olds and that is the target audience for our band.
The pop video is only one stand of an often multimedia campaign. The campaign to sell our band will involve television, radio, newspapers, magazines, Internet and shopping malls.
Three main trans-national corporations dominate the music industry: Universal, Sony/BMG & EMI these are known as ‘The Majors’. Most majors own smaller subsidiaries companies in order to reach different audiences in different types of genre. These companies are known as ‘major-independents’ and finally there are a huge number of small companies with little or no connection to the majors, these are known as ‘independents’ and often concentrate of a small number of artist within a special niche in the industry.
The music video serves a number of different purposes, it promotes a single and normally an album as well as the band or artist. It creates or feeds into the ‘star image’ of the band, it entertains as a product in its own right and it reinforces or undermines the meaning of a song.
As a producer of a new band I recognize that not only are there many threats to me as a producer but also to the possibilities of my band. CDs are going out of fashion and people prefer to download instead, this poses a large problem as many people file share with friends for free and therefore thousands of sales are lost. However there are many ways we can market our band/brand through vidvert or I videos that we can play in shopping malls that include interviews with the band, the showing of the music video and then the conclusion of the interview. We can also do live feed interviews online to fans, where fans can ask the band questions live on the Internet.
That is the structure of the music video and that is the industry I am working in.
I researched into the music industry and found the link to a video that explains a bit about the industry. It doesn't properly start until around 0:50
Saturday, 16 October 2010
Copyright Letter
To make sure that we didn't break any copyright laws we e-mailed the company the produces our bands song. This is a link to their website:
http://www.islandrecords.co.uk/
This is the letter we sent to the head of legal affairs to ask for permission to use their song in our music video:
Head of Copyright and Legal Affairs
Universal Island Records Ltd.
22 St Peter Square
London
W6 9NW September 30th 2010
Dear Sir or Madam
We are a group of A Level students working on an A Level project for a qualification in Media Studies. We are writing to request permission to use the following track as part of this project:
‘Bird Song’ by Florence and the Machine
With your permission the track would be used as the accompaniment to a short form video that is made purely for assessment purposes and will have no commercial usage. Only members of the school community and the assessor of the examination board will view the video.
The artist and the copyright holder will of course be fully recognized in the pre-production and evaluation material that accompanies the project. We can also include a full copyright notice if required both in the planning material and on the video itself.
Yours sincerely
Heather Schreuder
Hurtwood House School
Head of Copyright and Legal Affairs
Universal Island Records Ltd.
22 St Peter Square
London
W6 9NW September 30th 2010
Dear Sir or Madam
We are a group of A Level students working on an A Level project for a qualification in Media Studies. We are writing to request permission to use the following track as part of this project:
‘Bird Song’ by Florence and the Machine
With your permission the track would be used as the accompaniment to a short form video that is made purely for assessment purposes and will have no commercial usage. Only members of the school community and the assessor of the examination board will view the video.
The artist and the copyright holder will of course be fully recognized in the pre-production and evaluation material that accompanies the project. We can also include a full copyright notice if required both in the planning material and on the video itself.
Yours sincerely
Heather Schreuder
Hurtwood House School
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
Composition Rules
Film, Pop Videos and Television work because they have a language of their own which is visual. Kuleshov says we get 70% of meaning from images and pictures. Therefor as film makers we need to understand and use that language. There are about 200+ composition rules and these are the grammar and vocabulary of the visual language. In this blog I will try and explain the most important composition rules that I will try and convey in my pop video.
-Mid Shot. Fairly close, not that close, perhaps includes a bit of the body.
-Extreme Long Shot. Shows surroundings.
-Wide Shot. Establishes surroundings.
2. Camera Position
1.Different Types of Shot Size
2.Camera Position and Angle
3.Camera Movement
4.Lighting
5.Rule of Thirds
6.Leading The Eye
7.Colours
8.Shape and Lines
9.Detail Arrangement in the Frame
10.Editing Styles
11.Entering and Leaving the Frame.
1. Different Types of Shot Size
-Extreme Close Up
2.Camera Position and Angle
3.Camera Movement
4.Lighting
5.Rule of Thirds
6.Leading The Eye
7.Colours
8.Shape and Lines
9.Detail Arrangement in the Frame
10.Editing Styles
11.Entering and Leaving the Frame.
1. Different Types of Shot Size
-Extreme Close Up
-Close Up. Used to convey emotion and detail, helps promote singer. Sells brand, as it is intimate and close to the band.
-Mid Shot. Fairly close, not that close, perhaps includes a bit of the body.
-Long Shot. Shows Action
-Extreme Long Shot. Shows surroundings. -Wide Shot. Establishes surroundings.2. Camera Position
- Straight On. Portrays the subject as flat and boring.
- 32˚ degrees round. Shows depth of field.
- Lower Height. Conveys subject as arrogant and powerful.
- Higher Angle. Conveys subject as humble.
3. Camera Movements
4. Lighting
Lighting in filmmaking is very important. To make the subjects look correct you usually need at least three separate lights, maybe even four. This is all to make sure that they don’t look to flat and have to many shadows. This is why you usually have your three key lights. The first light called the ‘Spot Light’ you direct straight at the subject your shooting, the purpose of this light is to initially light the subject. The downside of this light is that it will make your subject look very flat and give possible odd shadows, so this is where the second light comes in. The second light is usually placed on the 32˚ degree angle to get rid of shadows. It is known as the ‘Fill Light’. If there are still any shadows you may want to use a reflector. The third light is known as the ‘Back Light’ its purpose is to give a depth of field so the subject doesn’t look to flat and boring. It creates a 3D effect.
5. Rule of Thirds
Naturally the way we read a screen is from left to right at the top of the screen then left to right at the bottom of a screen. This creates four ‘hotspots’ in the frame when we scan a frame. This is why usually when we compose a shot it is good to get your main subject on one of those four hotspots.
6. Leading The Eye
Leading lines can help lead a viewer to what they are supposed to be looking at. For example if a road leads from the bottom left to the top right of the shot and your subject is standing in the top right of the shot, the viewers eyes will be lead to them through the lines.
7. Colours
Different colours effect the way we read things. For example red has connotations of anger or love. Therefore if you see the colour red we immediately make those connections. Therefore depending on the message you are trying to send in a scene depends on the colours you may use in wardrobe to reinforce your message.
8. Lines & Shape
Different lines and shapes can convey different things to an audience. There are many different types of lines and even the different thickness of lines can impact the way we read them. For example:
- Horizontal Lines are restful, calm or distant. It makes a viewer feel stable and peaceful.
- Perpendicular Lines convey height, dignity, impressiveness or aspiring qualities.
- Diagonal Lines express movement; they can be seen as artificial, bizarre or vital. Diagonals are often found in climaxes.
- Curved Lines express naturalness, femininity, intimacy and flexibility.
- Straight Lines convey strength, simplicity, severity and regularity.
Shapes also influence the way we read an image. We read different shapes in different ways this is why they can be a very important part of an image. For example:
- Circles. They have no beginning and no end, they represent the eternal whole. They are used to convey familiar objects like balls and wheels and they suggest completeness. Because they are less common in design they work well to attract attention, provide emphasis and set things apart.
- Squares and Rectangles. They are stable and familiar shapes and suggest honesty. Their right angels represent order and formality.
- Traingles. Triangles can represent stability with their solid base, or they can represent unreliability if turned on its head. They can direct movement depending on the direction they are facing and can be used to convey progression and purpose.
9. Detail Arrangement In The Frame
Detail Arrangement in the frame can include things like the dynamic triangle. This means that if a band is set up correctly and you have two guitarists at the front and a drummer at the back, the drummer can end up being the main point of focus in the dynamic triangle. Also the detail in the frame can include using suggestive objects in the frame to represent other things and make the viewer connect. For example in the picture above the woman is standing next to shelves of books, therefore the viewer connects that perhaps the woman is in a library or enjoys reading books.
10. Editing Styles 
There are many different styles of editing used within pop videos. One of which looks quite interesting is ‘Balletic Editing’. Balletic editing is when each cut picks up were your eye left off. Because our eyes are taken in a circle it makes a viewer feel safer. A good example of this is in ‘The Wild Bunch’ when the wild bunch is shooting against the soldiers and everybody gets massacred. Because balletic editing is used the viewer doesn’t feel as horrified by the mass murder going on so in a way it is quite unsettling for an audience.
11.Entering & Leaving the Frame 
- 32˚ degrees round. Shows depth of field.
- Lower Height. Conveys subject as arrogant and powerful.
- Higher Angle. Conveys subject as humble.
3. Camera Movements
- Tracking. You can have several different types of tracking shots, for example: left to right, right to left, in to out or out to in. The shots are aesthetically pleasing (they are nice to look at) they can also be very intimate as the viewer feels they are travelling along with the character.
- Crane Shot. This shots from above and can come down or round, these shots are very aesthetically pleasing.
4. Lighting
Lighting in filmmaking is very important. To make the subjects look correct you usually need at least three separate lights, maybe even four. This is all to make sure that they don’t look to flat and have to many shadows. This is why you usually have your three key lights. The first light called the ‘Spot Light’ you direct straight at the subject your shooting, the purpose of this light is to initially light the subject. The downside of this light is that it will make your subject look very flat and give possible odd shadows, so this is where the second light comes in. The second light is usually placed on the 32˚ degree angle to get rid of shadows. It is known as the ‘Fill Light’. If there are still any shadows you may want to use a reflector. The third light is known as the ‘Back Light’ its purpose is to give a depth of field so the subject doesn’t look to flat and boring. It creates a 3D effect.
5. Rule of Thirds
Naturally the way we read a screen is from left to right at the top of the screen then left to right at the bottom of a screen. This creates four ‘hotspots’ in the frame when we scan a frame. This is why usually when we compose a shot it is good to get your main subject on one of those four hotspots.
6. Leading The Eye
Leading lines can help lead a viewer to what they are supposed to be looking at. For example if a road leads from the bottom left to the top right of the shot and your subject is standing in the top right of the shot, the viewers eyes will be lead to them through the lines.
7. Colours
Different colours effect the way we read things. For example red has connotations of anger or love. Therefore if you see the colour red we immediately make those connections. Therefore depending on the message you are trying to send in a scene depends on the colours you may use in wardrobe to reinforce your message.8. Lines & Shape
Different lines and shapes can convey different things to an audience. There are many different types of lines and even the different thickness of lines can impact the way we read them. For example:
- Horizontal Lines are restful, calm or distant. It makes a viewer feel stable and peaceful.
- Perpendicular Lines convey height, dignity, impressiveness or aspiring qualities.
- Diagonal Lines express movement; they can be seen as artificial, bizarre or vital. Diagonals are often found in climaxes.
- Curved Lines express naturalness, femininity, intimacy and flexibility.
- Straight Lines convey strength, simplicity, severity and regularity.
Shapes also influence the way we read an image. We read different shapes in different ways this is why they can be a very important part of an image. For example:
- Circles. They have no beginning and no end, they represent the eternal whole. They are used to convey familiar objects like balls and wheels and they suggest completeness. Because they are less common in design they work well to attract attention, provide emphasis and set things apart.
- Squares and Rectangles. They are stable and familiar shapes and suggest honesty. Their right angels represent order and formality.
- Traingles. Triangles can represent stability with their solid base, or they can represent unreliability if turned on its head. They can direct movement depending on the direction they are facing and can be used to convey progression and purpose.
9. Detail Arrangement In The Frame
Detail Arrangement in the frame can include things like the dynamic triangle. This means that if a band is set up correctly and you have two guitarists at the front and a drummer at the back, the drummer can end up being the main point of focus in the dynamic triangle. Also the detail in the frame can include using suggestive objects in the frame to represent other things and make the viewer connect. For example in the picture above the woman is standing next to shelves of books, therefore the viewer connects that perhaps the woman is in a library or enjoys reading books.
10. Editing Styles
There are many different styles of editing used within pop videos. One of which looks quite interesting is ‘Balletic Editing’. Balletic editing is when each cut picks up were your eye left off. Because our eyes are taken in a circle it makes a viewer feel safer. A good example of this is in ‘The Wild Bunch’ when the wild bunch is shooting against the soldiers and everybody gets massacred. Because balletic editing is used the viewer doesn’t feel as horrified by the mass murder going on so in a way it is quite unsettling for an audience.
11.Entering & Leaving the Frame
People can enter and exit a frame from different sides. This can convey a lot of different meaning that viewers will subconsciously pick up on. For example:
- If they enter from the left, they are good
- If they enter from the right, they are bad
- If they enter from right but the camera tracks from the left then it will be undecided.
- Similarly if they enter from the left but track from the right then it will be undecided.
- If they enter from the left, they are good
- If they enter from the right, they are bad
- If they enter from right but the camera tracks from the left then it will be undecided.
- Similarly if they enter from the left but track from the right then it will be undecided.
First Pitch
To develop our idea we used the ideas of Maltby and the conventions that he lists for any film which are:-Represtentation
-Overall Narrative
-Narrative Events
-Setting
-Stars
-Iconography
-Themes & Myths
-Filmic Codes
On the Friday the 27th of September our group pitched our idea to Luke. We pitched all of our favourite ideas, but the one that seemed to get the best response from Luke was Gabby’s idea of “Bird Song” by Florence and the Machine. This probably had the most promise to do creatively, and I think as a group we can do quite a lot with the idea. The only down side about the idea is that currently we only really have a concept we don’t have a solid set idea of what we are doing scene by scene. So now that we are set on a song and a rough concept, we need to really plan the idea and storyboard so that we can really get going.
-Overall Narrative
-Narrative Events
-Setting
-Stars
-Iconography
-Themes & Myths
-Filmic Codes
On the Friday the 27th of September our group pitched our idea to Luke. We pitched all of our favourite ideas, but the one that seemed to get the best response from Luke was Gabby’s idea of “Bird Song” by Florence and the Machine. This probably had the most promise to do creatively, and I think as a group we can do quite a lot with the idea. The only down side about the idea is that currently we only really have a concept we don’t have a solid set idea of what we are doing scene by scene. So now that we are set on a song and a rough concept, we need to really plan the idea and storyboard so that we can really get going.
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