Production Log: Completing the project

This video consists of my overall opinions and thoughts about the project now that it is completed. I have discussed what I have enjoyed and what not so much so overall is a reflection of the creation of the music video and other tasks.

Production Log: Editing my Digipak & Poster

Production Log: Older lady filmshoot take 2

Production Log: Older lady filmshoot

I have recently conducted a film shoot to get the last bits of footage for my music video. This consisted of filming an older lady as if she were watching the television showing the end performance. For this particular section I had to think very carefully about the mise-en-scene and overall setting as this is what will inform the audience of what's going on. For this, I felt that using my Nan would be the most appropriate as arranging times to film and getting a location would not be difficult. I did not specify on costume/hair/makeup for this section unlike with the first as I did not feel this was vital. The most essential prop was the photograme with the picture of the actor and actress dressing in their 1950s outfits; this would be put in shot so that the audience will make the assumption and see the links between these tying the video together.

I used the Canon 600D camera with the aperture lens as I have for the rest of my music video which will give the same effect.

When it came to editing this footage I found that it was not entirely perfect quality and appeared slightly grainy due to the lack of lighting within the shots. To improve this, I intend to reshoot this section so it is of the same quality as the rest of the video.

Production Log: Image Editing

For the last section of my music video I needed a photo of both my actor and actress in costume which would then become the photoframe within the shot. On the last shoot I ensured I had this photo taken which I could then print A4 and put into a photoframe. I decided to edit this image used Photoshop CS6. This would give it an authentic, vintage look similarly to that within my music video. In order to do so, I adjusted and played around with the saturation, contrast and brightness. This took down the levels of all the colours and made it look almost black and white which would be seen in photographs during this time period. Adding this effect made it look much better and will now link in better with the house theme and style of my video, digipak and advertisement.

Original
                                                                                    Edited

Production Log: Audience Survey

Over the christmas break I decided to create a survey which I would then post to people within my intended target audience so I could get some formal, recorded feedback on my video. I created this survey on the website 'www.surveymonkey.com'. I found this website was the best suited for my intentions as I could create a free survey asking as many or as little questions as I wanted which I was then able to post around on any social media sites etc or embed within my blog.

I had to decide what sort of questions I planned to ask within my survey, qualitive or quantitive. I choose to do a mix of both so I can get feedback from the written answers in order to develop my video even further. However, the quantitive answers such as rating the micro-features on a scale of 1-5 were also very helpful as I could see specifically one features needed improving and which were fine.

I posted my video around using the social networking site Facebook which allowed me to post both the link of the video and the survey either on individual messages or to my profile. I sent it to those within my target audience being between the ages of 15-25 and those that the music would hopefully appeal to. One problem with this was that not a lot of people I asked did listen to Kodaline and therefore it may not have appealed directly to them.

Once I had collected all of my data, Survey Monkey puts all of the data into charts and tables so I could analyse it closely. This allowed me to distinguish the different results and get an overall feel of what people thought of the video both as a whole and also for individual aspects such as camera, lighting, mise-en-scene etc.

Other problems I found with my data was a lot of people I asked were media studies students themselves so this gave me a slightly biased opinion of the video as they were potentially looking at it from a different perspective that a non-media student would have. Also, I think I should have asked more people as I got 26 responses. This would've given me an overall clearer response.

Production Log - Digipak photoshoot

This evening I have been working on creating my digipak and poster- in order to do this, I decided to create images in the form of a polaroid- linking to the 50s theme- and then I can put these polaroids in different places. In began pegging them onto a tree in my garden once it had gotten dark which gave some really good effects. I then did some shots with two polaroids, one of the male and one of the female, on the grass from a very low angle. Again, this gave a completely different effect. Once completing this, I scattered the polaroids on a table and took a birds-eye-view shot of them. This will then be used for the back cover of my album and I will write the names of the songs on the bottom of each polaroid. To get the images for the polaroids, I simply took screen shots of different sections within my music video. Although they aren't good quality, it does not matter as the images aren't entirely clear and also adds to the old/authentic look.

Production Log - Editing footage

On Friday I receieved feedback about my music video so far and overall it was quite positive. My audience liked the whole idea of it and thinks it will work really effectively.

I was told to try and slow down some of the footage a bit more and some shots did not work. For example, one shot of the male did not look like it was in the right place so I decided to remove this shot entirely and move the rest of my footage along which created a much better effect.
I also found that some of the footage I tried to recreate had slightly different lighting. For example, the male's foot show was slightly lighter than the females and as they cut one into the other, the lighting needed to look as near to the same as possible otherwise it would look strange. I adjusted the lighting using the 'RGB Curves' effect on Premiere which allowed me to adjust the brightness/darkness of the footage and I could compare these until they were the same.

Although it's not perfect, once I add on the sepia colour over-lay, it will help to adjust out the colours.

Production Log - Editing & Other ideas

I am currently working on the editing process of my music video as I filmed more footage with my male actor. Both this and the female shoot need to look as if they are the same thing so in order to do this I focussed heavily on creating the same lighting, location, positioning of the actor etc. I then also recreated some previous shots I had made which audience's would be able to link together which will help them to understand that it is all together and they both tie in within eachother.

As with the female footage, any time I dropped in any footage to Premiere, I instantly slowed it down half speed to keep within the pace and style of the song but kept cutting quickly between all the shots. After editing this section, I realised I am nearing to the end of the song and the section I have left may not be enough to show the extent of the dance routine which will be at the end. After filming the dance routine and editing it, I will may have to delete some sections of footage to allow space otherwise it will not meet the full effect that it should.

I have also been considering adding in small clippets of other footage that will reinforce the idea of my music video of turning back time. For example, these may include an old fashioned stop watch going backwards, or 'I love you' being written on a piece of paper and then replayed backwards or a rose dropping a petal, played backwards. I think these may work really effectively as it would break up the footage I already have and create a clearer message.

Whilst editing, I have also been trying out different colours such as having all the footage in black and white, however, I found that I prefer the colour as for example as the female is doing her makeup, the brightness of the red lipstick is completely taken away and doesn't look as intriguing for an audience member.

Production Post - Editing first scene

As I have now filmed the first section of my music video, I am currently in the editing process. I have used Premiere many times during other class projects so this wasn't a problem learning to use the software.

The first draft of my music video wasn't the best as all of the shots were very long. After getting feedback I decided to make it much more choppy even though the actual footage is very slow which creates a nice contrast. This way I can change between shots and go back to different shots which looks more effective than it constantly running. In order to make it like this, I began dropping the footage into different layers allowing me to view the footage a lot easier.

I have also been playing around with the colours of the footage; firstly I changed it to black and white which I wasn't fond about because of the vibrant colours from the makeup, I didn't want to take this away from it. However, I think I will stick to adding a sepia colour over-lay to give it a vintage effect.

Production Post - First section of filming

I have recently started to film my music video and edit the footage using Adobe Premiere. As I am acting within the video, I got a fellow class mate to film for me. Whilst filming we used two red head lights, a steady-cam, two Canon 600D cameras and a tripod. All of this equipment allowed me to get the best possible footage.

We filmed the footage at a much quicker shutter speed which will allow me to slow down the footage during the editing process without it looking very jumpy rather than smooth. We then set the lights up and the lights we used allowed us to move them around; this was essential for the shoot as we needed different lighting for when the camera was infront of me, behind me and then during section where I was dancing. Lighting is extremely important and having access to this sort of equipment helped a lot. Also, the lights had a switch which allowed me to adjust the lights and channel the light either in a very small space or a wider space; again, this was extremely helpful as we could then specifically change the lighting to cater the needs of the camera.

Before beginning the filming process we had to ensure the mise-en-scene was perfect. In order to do this, Amy curled my hair using heated rollers  which gave a very big, luscious effect fitting with the styling of the time period. Although I did my makeup whilst filming, I also added just a base layer of foundation and mascara so the lighting did not wash me out.

After filming hair and makeup:  

Production Log - Digipaks

This week I have been working on my digipak and poster design and drafting this so it makes it easier when it comes to creating it. In order to do so, I have been looking at many different examples, the different number of CD's I can put in it, the designs etc. As I was used to the basic, front-back-with two CD's format of album covers, this allowed me to get a better understanding of the different forms I could possibly recreate.
After this, I had to begin thinking of a specific design. As my theme of the album, based upon my music video, is all about nostalgia and turning back time, reflection etc I wanted to keep this throughout. So, I decided to create my poster looking like a polaroid picture, linking to the inside of my cover as being lots of different polaroids pegged onto a line. This will instantly inform the audience's that this is what the album will be about and therefore would indicate the type of music involved, typically love/ballad type songs.

My first draft of the digipak was drawn on paper which I then transformed on the computer by using images from the internet as a basis so I have a rough idea of what I am doing. This will ensure that when I take my actual photos for the digipak, as soon as I am done, I can just drop the real, edited pictures into the already made digipak which will make it much easier.

Some of the digipaks below I really liked, especially the cream one as I felt it had quite an authentic look about it which is how I would like mine to look; also, the images and back cover where it tells you the song names, I feel look really effective.

Production Log - Feedback

In todays lesson I filmed five people from my class, all of which fit within the target audience of my music video, to give me some feedback on my idea. This way I will be able to get an understanding as to whether it would appeal to them, and if not, any changes I could make that would change their views. I found doing this extremely helpful as some people also gave me ideas on possible shots and editing techniques I could use that will enhance the video to the maximum. As they fall within my target audience it also gives a good opinion from someone it is aimed at rather than someone that isn't.

Production Log - Test Shoot Footage

I conducted a shoot for my music video which was solely 'test-shoots'. This allowed me to play around with the lighting to find out which ways looked best and also the settings on the camera; after editing the footage it also then taught me things I would have to change for my actual film shoot and things that looked good and things that didn't. After filming I edited it all together and used the song 'High Hopes' by Kodaline. Although it was not the actual song I am using for my music video, it is still by the same artist so fits with the theme. I experimented with the positioning of the lights which I found quite difficult to get it just how I wanted it to look. Doing this made me realise I need more of a black background in order to get the effect I would like. Also, I need to move the lights about behind the artist so her face isn't too bright which is what I found some of the shots came out like; also, this turned out to be a certain setting on the camera that made all the shots extremely bright- I now know this for my actual shoot so the shots are as good as they can be.


Whilst editing I found that some of the shots I did, I'd prefer them to be slowed down to fit more with the music so in order to do so I will have to change the camera settings to a faster shutter speed so when I slow it down on Premiere it would still have a good effect rather than looking quite jittery and jumpy. I then decided to create a black and white colour overlay once i'd finished editing so I exported both a colour and black and white copy; the black and white will create the authentic 50's style look that I am going for so when I create my actual music video I will be able to compare both of them and also compare a more sepia/vintage colour overlay as well to see which has the best effect.

Production Log - Presentations of Coursework so far

In class we were set a task to create a presentation of our progress within the course so far under 4 different headings:
1- Our blog
2- Concept of our video
3- Planning so far
4- Next steps
I did this within a powerpoint form so I can have images and some text on the screen and then I could present it and talk in deeper detail to the rest of the class rather than just reading off of a sheet of paper or the actual slides themself. In order to do this task I had to carefully go through my blog, the planning and research tasks required and see what I had left to do- this suprisingly made me realise I had done much more than I thought I had.





In one of our lessons I then presented to the class- I found this a very good oppertunity and was very beneficial. Firstly, I got a much wider range of feedback on my music video idea from a whole class compared to just a few people who I initially asked. Most people really liked the idea and thought that it could work as a music video. I found getting feedback in big masses very helpful so because of this I plan to do it more often- possibly get more people from my target audience age range to see what they think, whether it would appeal to them etc. However I'll do this in a more multi-media form such as filming people on one of the media department's cameras.

Production Log - Planning for video

This week I have mainly been focussing on any extra work I could do that will benefit me before filming but isn't within the specification of work we must complete. To start with, rather than creating my album cover straight away I decided to sketch out some possible ideas which I then scanned in. This also gives me a hard copy of ideas that I can always refer back to whilst creating the album cover. I find drawing and writing things out much better for me when doing a project like this however I always ensure that I can upload this somehow so in this case I could scan in my drawings.

I created four different possibilities and even still I am unsure whether I will use any of them; I decided to create two landscape and two portrait. This way it gives me lots of different formats and then I can get audience feedback on what they think will look best- even still, I could create two different versions of the same in my final product. One landscape and one portrait; I would do this because of all the different places you can actually put an advert nowadays such as busstop (portrait) compared to a large billboard down a busy road (landscape) so my advert would accomodate all purposes.

I then decided to create an 'essentials list' whilst filming which I did on Prezi. I split it off into four different sections:
Equipment
Props
Costume
Stylling
This way it is easy to read and see the different elements I will need- I can then refer back to this just before going to film to ensure I have everything as that would be one of the biggest problems for example if I went to film and had forgotten both of the actor's costumes and this would put a big back-lag onto the production of my music video.

Whilst creating my risk assessment this is then something I have considered that I need to make sure I am 100% prepared and ready to film and have everything sorted when I do film or it will not benefit me at all. Because of this chance, I will make checklists for different people such as myself, the crew and also the actors to ensure I have everything I need.

Production Log - Storyboarding

This week I decided to create a story board for my music video; this will help me whilst shooting. To start with I used a blank storyboard and began by drawing the pictures of each shot myself. In total I had around 40 shots, each with an individual picture and description of the shot e.g. close up high angle/establishing shot etc. I then went through and arrange the timings of each shot with the help of my shot list; I had to picture what the shot would look like and whether the timing was correct which I should hopefully get some feedback for soon.

Blank                                                Storyboard                                       Storyboard

After drawing all of the images for my storyboard I scanned these into the computer so I had all eight documents into a folder and dropped them into Photoshop. Photoshop then allowed me to cut out each individual image and save it as a separate image so I could then create an animatic. I created my animatic on Adobe Premier which was a good programme as I could then insert all my images and music at once and easily move them around and crop them to the exact timing of the song. I added each image in order to the sequence and changed the timing so it will stay on the screen for the real timing of the music video; this is something I can now always refer back to and then compare with my final music video.

Production Log - Album poster

This week I have finished creating my album poster; I am really happy with this final version but I still need to have my own photoshoot to take the pictures myself which I am planning to do very soon. In order to show my work and progress I have created a camstudio video.

I will then show other members of my class and those slightly older to fit with the target audience of my video and get their feedback. Based upon this feedback I will make any changes that are neccessary.

The first bit of feedback I got was to add something into the background as initially I did not have the image of the scattered polaroids and it was just white- this made it look quite empty and it needed something to fill out the space and a bit more colour. Although I wanted it to look very basic, authentic and vintage, I think the background of a vintage image will finish off the poster nicely and make it just what I want. I brought down the transparency of the image as I found the colours and images were too heavy and took away attention of the text and main image. During my feedback I might ask if I should bring it down even further so much so that you can barely, just about see it; this will make audiences look closer into the poster and a lot more intriguing.

Production Log - Shot list

I have mainly focused on my shot list this week- it took quite a long time due to getting the timing correct and thinking of all the different shots I will need. Whilst thinking of the shots to use I wanted to mainly use lots of close ups or extreme close ups; this way, the audience will be able to gain a greater relationship with the characters and therefore sympathise for the female towards the end of the video when they discover the overall message and narrative. 

To begin with, I listened to the song repeatedly and had to work out the specific timings; as the song is quite slow paced, calm and relaxing I am able to create slower, less frequent cuts to fit with the music and the lyrics. Some cuts I have included go up to 10 seconds however, whilst filming I will keep the camera off of the tripod so there are some slight movements so that these cuts don't look too still and rigid. Also, because of the movements of the actors themselves, it will keep the shots interesting and therefore the long shots will be a positive and effective aspect rather than a negative. 

We already had a template of the shot list that we could just fill in but I added in an extra column with I believe will help me whilst shooting of being 'gender'. Within this column I have written whether the shot is male or female or both- this will help me because if I were to do two separate film shoots, one male and one female, I can easily cross it off and make sure I get every shot I need to which may be accidentally missed if I hadn't done it. Also, it will help me to clarify which shot is which; I can easily scroll down and see the female shots and then just read that specific shot information rather than all of them which will save time which is vital whilst conducting a film shoot.

Production Log - Hair & Makeup Research

This week I have been watching some tutorials on 50s style makeup and hair; this will ensure that when I create my actual music video, I can always refer back to this so I know that it looks as close to typical 50s styling as possible. The specific video I watched and have posted I found really helpful because the styling actually looked like it was from the 50s unlike others I had watched and it also will look good and effective within my music video. After watching this video I decided to try out a hairstyle myself, again, so it is one less thing to worry about when it comes to filming. Another good reason about watching these tutorials so early  is that it gives me enough time to buy any props/makeup/hair products needed. For example, some red lipstick, a heavy black eyeliner, hair ties etc. 

Whilst considering the hair and makeup styling of my actors, I was also thinking about possible costumes whether it being anything I personally owned myself, any past costumes from dancing performances, anything any of my friends owned or material and patterns which would allow me to make something. In the end I think the easiest option will be for my actress to use her own 50s outfit she has as it is easily accessible and I know for definite that it would fit. The styling will be the main element of my music video I need to focus on to ensure it fits within the time period as this will be the main image style and help the audience establish the time it was set.