Filming Diary-28/11/16

This filming session went very well with lots of footage that needed filming completed. We were a little bit pushed for time as we only had a couple of hours till we had to be back at school. We managed to get all the footage we needed with all scenes recorded multiple times so that we wouldn't be limited or have to re-shoot something again. I brought a new SD card for the occasion which had 32GB - so plenty of storage room. This means that we wouldn't have the problem of running out of room again. The majority of the narrative elements of our video have now been filmed, with only two left to do, which we are now considering not filming as we think we may have enough footage without it. The editing of our video is also going quite well despite the challenge posed by having to work around the gaps which our performance parts will fill.

Digipak Practice - 23/11/16

This is my first attempt at creating a photo for my digipak, I've played around with exposure levels and done an overlay of one photo over the other. I did this quite quickly and haven't finished yet as I may go back and make some other changes. I quite like the way it turned out but I don't think this is the one I will eventually use. However, it has been good practice and has made me familiar with photoshop again as it has been awhile since i've used it.

Digipak Initial Photos

These are the initial photos I have taken of my model for my digipak and digipak poster. I was unable to use a professional photo studio but I feel where I did film had enough natural lighting. The background isn't white as I wanted but I am most likely using these photos in black and white so I think it should be ok.  I took a large number and variety of different angled photos so that I can try out lots of different ideas and play around with what looks good.

Filming Diary-22/11/16

Yesterday was our second bout of filming. Our actress only had a few hours available and so we decided to film the small pub scene that we knew wouldn't take long. It went very well with us recording lots of footage that we were then able to pick the best shots from. Unfortunately we had to use a different camera to last time but we think the quality seems to be just as good and the camera we are now using is a lot more accessible and available for us to use whenever we want. 

Digipak Photography Inspiration

These photos I have found online provide inspiration for what I am hoping to do for my own artists digipak and digipak poster. I am planning on doing some kind of double exposure with either a face and a landscape or two faces over each other which would link with my music video of dual personalities.                

Filming Diary-14/11/16

We had our first shot at filming today and it was semi-successful. It was good that we made a start on all the filming that needed doing but we weren't as prepared as we could have been and came across several challenges. Firstly, we brought with us only one 4GB SD card which got full up very quickly and thus cut our filming very short. We had a couple of technical issues with the camera we used and we hadn't set aside enough time to get all the filming we wanted to do get done. We have uploaded the footage we do have and have tried editing it to the music. The problem is that the parts we filmed are around the middle and not at the start of the song meaning we have to block out bits of the song with blank screens so we can get it in time. This has been done fairly successfully and now we just need to film a significant amount more so that we can be well on the way to editing the majority of our video.

Initial Pitch Ideas

Pitching our music video ideas to the class was a very good and informative experience. Hearing audience feedback and their views and opinions of what we were saying was useful as it let us see it through their eyes and from another angle. People brought up questions that we hadn't even considered before and thus has made us think more carefully about how we're going to pull certain aspects of the video off. Having to actually pitch our ideas, create a powerpoint and formulate into words our  plans for the video was also very useful as it forced us to think about all the little details in depth and discuss what exactly it was we wanted to create.

Creating my Artists Brand/Logo

The first thing I set about doing was researching and finding different fonts for my artists name to be written in which is what consists of my logo. These are the initial fonts that I found which matched my genre and artist.

Cloning

We feel one of the most important parts of a video is it's ending, thus we want to do something dramatic and effective. We came up with the idea of using a cloning method to include both personas of our actress in the same frame. Despite thinking this was a good idea, we were unsure whether it was possible or easy to do, especially on a more basic editing software such as iMovie. However we  researched it and via a youtube video have discovered how to do it.

We did a practice of the cloning process so that we could feel confident doing it in our music video, we feel we have done it quite successfully. The only problem we faced was there was a slight colour inconsistency between the two sides of the frame which must have happened due to a change in the lighting. We may have moved the camera sightly which is something we must ensure we do not do when filming the actual thing. We will bear in mind these issues and try and avoid them in the future.

Digipak Poster Mockup

Doing this task has helped me plan and visualise what my finalised Digipack poster will look like. Creating a mock up such as this is very useful as it acts as a framework and guide for when I come to designing.  Despite it sharing many similarities with most Digipack poster designs, it provides me with the opportunity to consider important aspects such as the type of font I'll use, what the photograph may entail and the positioning of everything.

Digipak Mockup

 

Creating this mockup has been very useful as it has made me think about the layout and the design of my digipak. Creating a layout like this helps me visualise what I want the final digipak to look like and labelling it with potential designs I may want to include causes me to think creatively about how to make it engaging and aesthetically pleasing. Having this mockup also means that, when it comes to making my real digipak, I have a head start and something to go off regarding the layout.

Shot List

 

Creating both the storyboard and the shot list has been extremely helpful in planning out each step of our music video. This makes it a lot easier when we come to film as we will have a set plan to follow rather than just making it up on the spot which may actually end up taking longer and causing us to miss out on crucial parts. The storyboard allows us to be creative and visually see and decide how we want it to look and the shot list is helpful as it allows us to record lots of important information and go into more detail than in the storyboard. We initially found it quite difficult to plan each, individual shot and frame as often it would only be a tiny little different such as an adjustment of the camera but we did get used to it and ended up with nearly 100 shots. We will need to make sure that we bring both the storyboard and the shot list with us when filming so that we stick to it however also bear in mind that we are allowed to deviate from it and play around with different angles and positioning.

Storyboard

Creating this storyboard has been extremely useful as it has forced us to think in very fine detail about each shot and scene in our music video. We had to consider sound, camera angle, mise en scene, props etc. Having the finished storyboard means we can visualise and have some sort of idea about what our final music video will look like. We can also bring the storyboard with us when filming to keep us on track and remind us which scenes need filming.

Filming Schedule - Weather

                                                        Purton: Sunday 13/11/16

Planning for the day when we are filming is very important as we need to be sure of the conditions so that it doesn't effect our filming. Currently rain is being predicted which isn't particularly ideal, however we could make this work and incorporate it int the sad parts. Despite this, we don't want this kind of weather for all of the performance filming, thus we may have to change our plans. Instead of filming the performance element of our video on Sunday in Purton, we could instead film parts of our narrative which take place inside in Stone where the weather has been predicted to be Sunny. This means we will have plenty of natural light coming into the house which will give us good filming conditions.

Stone: Sunday 13/11/16

Filming Schedule

Having a filming and editing schedule will keep us organised and on track so that we don't fall behind and start procrastinating. It also allows us to know when and where we are doing something which means we are able to contact our actors regarding whether they're free for the allotted filming time. Despite having this schedule, we will still remain flexible and if an opportunity comes up for filming or something similar we will take it and then just rearrange what's been planned prior.