Filming

On Thursday the 28th October, we went around Kingston and looked at all of our locations that we had not yet filmed at. We walked to Bushy Park to look at the sights there were and  figured which areas we want to go and film in.

Naming Our Artist

During today's lesson, we decided that we should focus on actually naming our artist and what image she should have. Also we thought about how we could promote the song.
We feel that the name of the artist is important for how appealing they sound and look. This is obviously why some artists, in real life actually change their name (also known as their stage name); a lot of rappers do this for example Eminem's real name is Marshall Mathers, and even some country singers change their names for example Shania Twain's real name is Eilleen Edwards. Both of the names Eminem and Shania Twain sound more appropriate for 'show biz' and for the genre that there music is catorgorized as.
Some names we researched and came up with were Delilah, Summer Scotts and Jasmine however we have not decided on one for certain.
We also conisdered using just a forename and not a surname which works for some real life artists such as Gabrielle. The name is important, to create a 'star image,' it also can tell the audience what type of genre the music is, for example you wouldn't get a name like 50 Cent in the country genre. When we have decided the name we can continue to develop the album cover for example, choosing an appropriate font, an almost creating a brand for the artist.

Stop Motion

This was another one of the videos that inspired us. After thinking of ideas for our music video, we decided something that would be effective, would be to use stop motion. The effect they create in the background of this video is something we would like to try and re-create, where the background is moving faster than the singer. This would be filmed in the evening, in the centre of Kingston, or by the Rotunda, which is always lit up and full of people. There is also many passing cars and buses in this area which we would need to make our shot look more effective.

Lyrics

Having a copy of the lyrics helped us to plan what parts of the song was going to be filmed where, and it also helped us to interpret what the song meant and what we could include in our music video. Although we didn't understand the exact meaning of the song at first the tune and the words helped us to interpret what we thought should be included. It also meant that we could make our video completely accurate and have the singer singing exactly the right words, as she could learn it before filming.

Here are the lyrics and our planning:

Planning & Uploading

Today in our lesson, we planned what we were going to film next. This included sorting out our location and the costume that we would need. We also had to inform our singer what verses she would need to learn in order for us to film her. 
Also, during our lesson half of our group continued to upload what we had already filmed by the bridge, as we had one more tape to upload. 
This continued to show us what we needed to re-do and what we had to add. 

Album Cover

We also started the process of forming an album cover by researching similar artists. Most of the inspiring artists had album covers with the singer on the front, usually a mid-shot or close up, and possibly with a guitar. By looking at other examples it helped us to start to plan our cover, and it highlighted exactly what we needed to do to reach our aim.

Here are some of the inspiring album covers:

Uploading Take One

The next lesson after we had been filming we managed to upload one of the tapes that we had recorded. We did this so that we would know what went well and what we would need to re-film to improve. While uploading we came across some technical issues such as letterboxing, but we managed to overcome them. Most of the filming was very effective but there were some parts which would be easier to re-film than to edit. Something that we would definitely change would be to have the singer to sing in to both cameras at both angles instead of her just looking at one camera. Also, the part I think that would need to be re-done, would be with Treeva (singer), when she is singing on the steps. Additionally, we would want more footage of the couple on the bridge, for example a close up of them holding hands.

Filming Process!

Today we started to film our music video, we filmed in Kingston at the bridge by the river which was the perfect location for one of the parts of our music video. When we got to the location it was very easy to access the place which made it easier for us to film. Along that, the weather was perfect because it was just the way we expected to be, bright and sunny. We filmed our singer, Treeva Pasha, sitting by the river singing the third verse and chorus. Also we got shots of her walking with Ivan Ustenko, who is another character in our music video. We made sure we included close ups and footage from both angles to include in our video. We were filming in the evening, so we had to be aware of the time because it was getting dark very quickly and the lighting is an essential element of the mise-en-scene. We succeeded in filming the parts we planned to film today because we got the shots and the scenes that were necessary.  

Today Zaynah, Alia and myself, Gurleen, did most of the camera work. Gemma assisted very well in giving great ideas and took photos of the mise-en-scene and filming to upload for the blog to show the processes of us filming. Moreover, we all helped in directions and it was not just one person doing all the directions which contributed to improving our team work. As a whole, today went very well because everything worked out  well and our main actors acted very well.

Inspirational Videos

We researched videos that we felt would fit in well with our music video. One of the artists we looked at as inspiration was Taylor Swift.



This video, in particular was our main ideological music video because it fits in perfectly with the mise-en-scene and settings and narrative that we want for our music video. Also, the way we pictured our main artists style to be  was clearly set in this video of Taylor Swift. She is a Country Pop music artist and has done many videos which would be similar to the genre of our own song.



We looked at the video by Narina Pallot-Sophia mainly because we wanted to have this kind of background in our video as well. Looking at this video gave us the idea of having silhouettes in our music video as well. In this video, it clearly shows how it starts with the sun; fades into the night and back into the morning. From this video we want to take this idea but change it a little bit where our music video starts in day time with the sun and finishes at night with the moon which sets in well with our lyrics as well.

Storyboarding

Before we could start filming we made sure that we knew exactly what we were going to do, planning the locations, shots, costumes and cast. We did this by making a storyboard. At first when we started to do the storyboard we realized that we needed to go into more detail by planning more of the shots. We all took part in this process improving our team work, making sure everyone contributed in ideas, and the drawing of the shots. This process made it much easier for us to visualize filming as it highlighted exactly what we needed to do. Although we knew that our video would not turn out exactly the same as the storyboard as somethings may not work, and new ideas could arise.

Theory Lessons

Before starting our practical work, we had theory lessons with our teachers where we were taught about different iconography in different music videos. Along that, we were taught about videos such as 'Crazy in Love' by Beyonce, 'Just' by Radiohead and 'Stan' by Eminem. Through these videos we learnt about the narrative of a music video and how they can have completely different meanings to the actual song and how a narrative is not important at all in some music videos due to it's stars.
For example: Crazy in love- the video is mainly based on Jay-Z and Beyonce's stardom where there is a use of voyeurism as we watch Beyonce do a photo shoot in the video and due to her revealing clothes; Jay-Z is rapping about his life and the money he has and he is evidently wearing a lot of 'bling' and expensive clothes. They both are in one video but completely contrast each other, as in, Beyonce is showing her body and is acting like a pole dancer where as Jay-Z is completely covered in clothes and and doesn't even pay attention to her.



Another Example we looked was 'Just' by Radiohead; in their video there was a strong element of a narrative and the outstanding feature in it was the dialogue which was shown through subtitles as we couldn't hear the people talking; this made it more interesting to watch.

Preliminary Task- Fast slow videos

The Task
This was our Preliminary Task which was set to us to film a fast and a slow sequence usin the track given to us which was provided by the teacher.
To complete this task we had to film series of shots where a person had to pose and was not allowed to move. We had to use stop motion on iMovie to make it seem like it was moving yet the person was not allowed to move in the shot.
For our video, our main idea was that a girl, who loves sweets is eating them.

What we've learnt
This task taught us how to stay in the rhythm of the music and have shots to go along with it.
One of the important things we had to keep in mind, was to keep the music in time with the actions and how long the shot should be.
The editing taught us where to cut and which shots to keep, so it looks effective. Also through editing we used different effects and tranfomations which made our videos look more appealing and interesting to watch.
Also, while filming the video, it was hard to get the shot we needed especially to go with the rhythm of the music and the beat and with editing we had to cut at the right point to make sense of the video; to make it go along the beat of music.

Problems
it was difficult to find the right mise-en-scene which would fit in well with our storyline in a very shot amount of time.
Also, it was hard to get the right person to film it who would be comfortable with actions she had to make, such as stopping at each point.
Moreover, it was hard to film in the location we chose because it didnt have very good lighting in the room which was a down factor for our video.

Overall
At the end, we over came our problems and finished our task on time by working together as a team.
By doing this task, we have an idea now what kind of problems we can come over while filming our main music video. Also, it helped us to get and idea of how we need to film our music video in terms of editing, camera work and mise-en-scene.

Our Fast and Slow Sequence