Editing - beinning to upload and edit

We've recently put some of the footage we filmed into final cut express, to experiment how effective our footage would look with our song. An example of our editing is below:

We realised as the footage was placed with the song, it appeared to be more emotional. This was good as we were intending on creating this image. Also, we now know the footage we are taking appropriate footage displaying emotion well. 

Below is an image of two clips we are hoping to use in our footage. We have realised that at the moment are footage is not as eye catching as we would have hope for due to the poor weather. Therefore, we would like to use the boost option on final cut express to enhance the colour and contrast. Furthermore, we are planning on experimenting with photoshop to see if we can edit it effectively this way. 

Overall, we are pleased with the footage we have taken and are sure it will be even better once it has been edited! 

SurveyMonkey

Today in lesson I created a Survey Monkey in order to gain further audience research into possible audience of our genre and people's preferences of music genre's and the video itself. I have published this onto Facebook in order to gain more responses. Below are some pictures of me creating the Survey:

Below is an image of my survey uploaded to my Facebook page:

Below is a link to my survey:

Click here to take survey

Research - product placement

Product placement is when advertising is used throughout the video by placing a certain product or products within the music video. As a group we decided that product placement creates a tacky effect to the music video and distracts the audience from the real meaning of the video. Because of this we agreed not to use product placement in our music video as we wanted to engage the audience and create an emotional effect totally on the main character.


One example of product placement being used within a music video is in Lady Gaga's song; 'Telephone'. Throughout the video there are constant references to product placement, this was in order to gain money. 
An image of some of the product placement used in the "telephone" video is shown below:

Filming in London

Today we went to London to film. We first went to Temple in order to film in a small park like area. As soon as we arrived we started to experience problems with this decision of location, the park was not open until 12 and we arrived at around 11:20. We decided to walk round to see if we could find somewhere else to film, we were able to find a small secluded area which we thought looked quite cute with plants and benches. A picture of this area is shown below:

After filming here, we went back to the original park we planned to film in, we set up out camera on the tripod and began to plan where and what we wanted to film in what areas until we were asked by someone who worked there if we had a permit to film. We explained we were filming for our media project with Robert Clack although, we were still unable to film unless we had a permit. None of us had planned on this happening and did not take enough money out for a permit. Therefore, we were unable to film here which was a setback.

We then went to Oxford Circus which we found successful, we took many shots of the female character and were able to film her singing the while song through many times at different angles and parts of Oxford street. Some pictures of this are shown below:

After this we then went on to film at Hanover square, we were unable to find this as it is hard to find. Although, on the way there we were able to find a small park which we also thought to be cute therefore, we filmed here too. Some photo's of this are shown below:

Research

Our original choice of song was "Rough cut" by Amber Ruth. An example of a past students work using this song is shown below.




Although, after searching for more songs we were able to find "Corner" by Allie Moss and preferred it to Rough Cut. 
I have analysed this past students work into strengths and weaknesses, this is shown below.
Strengths:

• Had good ideas, although not carried out to high standards
• Some good shots
• The location they used was good as it seemed very surreal

Weaknesses:

• Idea wasn't carried out well
• Some shots wonky
• Shots to long in sense
• Didn't really understand the storyline
• Lip syncing looked effortless, making it boring
• Shots of lip syncing were all straight on, no variety of shots; Making the lip syncing appear boring.

Preparation for filming in London

Tomorrow we have decided to go into London to film the opening section of our music video. We will then upload this onto the computer to see if we need to re-film any parts on Thursday and then hopefully our filming will be complete. Due to the season, we will have less time to film as it gets darker quicker. Therefore, we have planned the route we wish to take in order to get as much filming completed as possible. Below is a copy of the plans we made:

ROUTE;

As we meeting at Dagenham East to start our journey we will be getting the District Line straight to Temple. Once we arrive at temple, we will take a short week to a small park a member of our group discovered whilst on a photography trip. Below are a few images this member took as example's of how we would like to portray the park:

After filming here, we will be travelling to Oxford Circus where we are hoping to film in both oxford street and a part of Hanover Square a member of a group also discovered. 

We are hoping to use a variety of shots in order to make the music video more eye catching and keep the audience interested. We are planning on including long-shots, extreme close - ups and pan shots. 

Change of plan: Our new storyboard

As we have decided to change our plan, we also decided to change our storyboard to make it easier to follow and relevant as the current storyboard included the content for the previous plan/ideas. 
The new storyboard is shown below:

Change of plan

Today we sat down and discussed as a group issues we may have with our original idea for our sroyboard. We have recently realised it is getting colder and darker earlier in the day and none of us really have the money or travel to get to the beach. Furthermore, I work on a saturday, meaning we only have limited time to film over the weekend. Therefore, we have decided to change our storyboard slightly. Instead of going to the beach near the start we are now including shots at london of the female character alone and also, over central park and the chase in order to replace these. The ones over the chase will also include some footage of the boy and the girl to replace that of which would have originally been filmed at the beach of the boy and girl. We hope to get this filming done quickly and that this change will not effect our overall music video's quality negatively.


A list of our new ideas is shown below:

Our new locations include:

• London as it is easy to get to by train and fairly cheap.
• A Local country park as it is very quick and easy to get to.
• A play area in a local park which is equally as easy to get to.
• Perhaps a forest as it would be a secluded area and make her appear isolated.
• The characters house, this was to include 'home made videos' which the characters had created to make the flash backs look more realistic and dream like.

Expanding and increasing sales and audiences

A music video is made for many different music videos. Mainly it is made to sell the song, although it is also made to broaden the audience and sales of the song it features. Therefore, looking at examples of this will benefit us. 
Nicole Scherzinger is an example of an artist who is constantly changing, yet keeps her fans. Nicole started off as a backing vocalist for the late 1990's rock group. 'Days of the new', then went on to become a member of the reality group Eden's Crush. Although, she is best know for her lead role in the band, 'The pussycat dolls' which she joined after Eden's Crush split up. 
Moreover, Scherzinger changed again become a solo artist. She constantly changes her style of music to suit her fans. 
Below are some images of Nicole from the pussycat dolls into her solo artist career;

The above images show the different images Nicole has tried to portray, appealing to different audiences. Some of which are sexual images, for example the Doll Domination album cover and her own poison album cover. Although, others seem more innocent and to attract a more younger audience for example her killer love album cover and the pussycat dolls PCD album cover.I have discovered from doing this research that image is important to the audience ad sells the song.

Our own work linked with my findings;

We believe due to Allie Moss' 'Indie' vibe she would attract young adults. Particularly females as she herself is a female and recent research shows this. We would also like to incorporate these audiences, although we would also like to gain a wider variety audience. In order to do so we feel as though the use of stereotypes is needed. We would like to use an attractive female and a relatable male, both of which we feel we have. This would therefore potentially increase the fan base of Allie moss and consequently sales

Attractive and retable female character.

relatable male character

Montage of our storyboard

Below is the montage of our storyboard which I created, we have not analysed it yet as we will be changing it and reproducing a new one. 
Below is the completed montage of our storyboard;

The use of photoshop to edit our music video - Positives and negatives

One of our group members are particularly good with the use of photoshop to edit images due to their photography lesson and experience in the use of photoshop. We thought it may be a good idea to use photoshop to edit our footage in order to make it more visually appealing. Although, before using this for our whole music video, he decided to analyse the effects of using photoshop. Their were positives and negatives to the approach:


Positives:

• We have a photography student in our group - therefore, he is experienced and able to use the software's many functions. 
• editing in regards to colour, contrast and effects rather than cuts, will be more flexible, and we would hope the results would, be of a higher quality.

Below is one image he edited:

He was able to create an image which he photo grabbed in order to be a possibility for our digipak. This is shown below:

Negatives:

• after exporting the video from final cut express into photoshop we realised the image had been pixelated
• This would increase when exported back into final cut express
• this method is time consuming
• may run out of time

Filming the montage section

We were particularly lucky with our montage section as the weather varied a lot throughout the filming. This gave us our desired effect as we hoping to create the effect that it was filmed over a period of time. Furthermore, the characters changed their clothes on many occasions emphasising more the difference in time and scenery. 
We hope after now uploading this footage to the computer, this section is completed in order to get the rest of our footage complete.

Filming landscapes

Over the weekend, a member of our group went over Eastbrook End Country Park and filmed some of the landscapes we hope to use in our footage. He done this in order to set the scene of our music video and we could perhaps printscreen the footage for a part of our digipak. Furthermore, they could change the focus from one part of the footage to the next. The inspiration for this came from the song 'Your song' by Ellie Goulding.
Although, due to the rainy weather he did not have long to film and was not able to gain a great deal of footage.
Below is a picture of Connor filming;


Over the next week or so, we would like to film most of our footage and bring it together on finalcutexpress. We would like to have some sunshine for the montage section.

Research and planning; what music channel would our video be on?

We chose to look at what music channel our video might be aired on in order to target our audience more successfully. 


MTV would be the most evident choice, although it poses many different channels of genres for different music.
We have decided that MTV rocks would probably be the most suitable channel as it is not limited to only rock music and plays other types of music such as Ed Sheeran.

 

There are a few other music channels in which our song could be featured on including; Viva, 4Music and perhaps Chart Show TV. 
Although, these music channels mainly show music which has featured in the UK's top 40 of the week, therefore the appearance of our video on these channels would rely on this.

Research - Possible changes

Due to the current weather conditions, we have realised we may not be able to do the filming we have planned at the beach as te ays are shortening and it's getting colder. Below is a brainstorm of diferent ideas we could consider:

A deserted vintage-looking house/room;

This was inspired by Birdy in her song 'Skinny love'. This would create the feeling of loneliness and great loss which we would like to represent in our video. Although, this location may be  hard to find in our area, therefore we are unlikely to include a vintage area.


Public transport - bus/train/station;
This idea would also create isolation as when on public transport as there are a lot of other people. We believe this contrast will highlight the song and create a powerful effect on the audience. We are considering using this idea for a part of the lip syncing. 


Grassy field - windy;
We found this idea from Rihanna's music video: 'we found love' where she is shown in a field and it is windy. This video is effective as it is as if the character gets lost within the film. Further create the feeling of isolation we would like to create. We would be able to recreate this as there is a field nearby.

A secluded, forest area;
One member of our group currently studies photography and was able to visit a forest like area during a photography outing. He thought this would be a good area to use as it had a beautiful scenery and was surrounded by trees. A picture he took is shown below:

A busy urban area - London;

London is an area we are likely to use as their are many surroundings we can be galvanised by and use within the video. Furthermore, the area will be very busy further reinforcing the feel of isolation. 

Planning; Costume, Hair and Make-up

We have decided to plan aspects of the mise-en-scene before beginning our music video in order to ensure we are in control of how we would like the characters to appear. Below I have included some images and why we have chosen to use them. 


Costumes:
We would like for our female character to wear a few different dresses in order to exaggerate her feminine role. We would ideally like to use a floral dress in order to emphasize this feminine side further. In order for this character to stand out, we would prefer for her to be wearing perhaps a dark blue dress. We believe the flowers on the dress will make Sarah appear more vulnerable and delicate. An image of an ideal floral dress is shown below:

We would also like it for Sarah to appear in a white, lace dress in order to give off the impression that she is pure and also, delicate. We would like to use this as we feel as though it represents our song well; 




However, as we are also featuring a male character in our music video, we will also need to consider and plan his outfit. We have agreed on casual, every-day clothes for the male. This is in order to make the male character not appear out of place. We have all agreed on a casual t-shirt, featuring perhaps a skull or a skeletal design. This is because this will suit his role in the music video. An image of potential clothing is shown below:

Hair

We are hoping that because of the windy weather at the time of filming, we will be able to create an image of Sarah;s hair flowing in the wind. We like to mirror such emotion from images such as this pocahontas gif a member of the group found, shown below;

Make-up:

We would prefer for the female character to be wearing natural make-up to carry on the pure, innocent look. This will also, ensure the emotion is not detracted from the female character too. This picture of Zooey Deschanel portrays this type of pure effect. both her eyes and lips are the most emphasised features. We would like to mirror this on our female character, using mascara and eye-liner and a natural glossy, lip gloss. 

Research and Planning; Filming schedule

To make our filming more easier and scheduled, we have decide to come together as a group and form a filming schedule. This will enable us to know what clothes and props we will need where and when as well as knowing where and what time. This table is shown below:




As you can see from our table, we are only able to film on a maximum of 4 out of the 7 possible days of the week. Although this is good as it will mean we will be able to film constantly on these days, and by prioritizing, we will be able to complete the filming quicker. We have decided to discuss each outfit at the beginning of the week, so that we do not forget and also, so we do not mix any outfits up. We will also be constantly checking the weather forecast throughout the weeks to ensure we are prepared if the weather suddenly alters.