First Draft of Music Video

This is the first draft of my music video. I like how some sections have turned out but there are a lot of changes I need to make in my next draft. Firstly, I need to re-film some of the footage, such as the lip-sync sequences, due to them being out of time, and some of the scenes of Emily in the green room because there is a really noticeable reflection of the lighting in Emily's glasses. These things take away from the professional look I want my video to have so I will ensure they are amended. In addition, I have not filmed about half of the shots for the video so there are many blank spaces in this draft, which will be filled by the next draft.

Lip-sync Practice

This is video of Emily practicing some of the lip-sync sections that will be incorporated in my video. I wanted to make sure she knows all the lyrics she will have to lip-sync and be comfortable with the timings for each section.

Test Shots

These are a series of test/practice shots I put together before starting my proper filming. I did some pans, zooms, tilts, etc. to help me get to grips with the equipment and be confident I could get the correct framing for the different shot types.

Demographics

Demographics = ' Studies of a population based on factors such as age, race, sex, economic status, level of education, income level and employment, among others. Demographics are used by governments, corporations and non-government organizations to learn more about a population's characteristics for many purposes, including policy development and economic market research. Demographic trends are also important, as the size of different demographic groups will change over time as a result of economic, cultural and political circumstances.'

(Source: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/demographics.asp)

It is important to know the demographics of your target audience so you can market to that specific group of people and make your product more accessible to them. For example, depending on the chosen audience demographic, the price of the product will differ, as an upper middle class audience can afford to pay much more than a student in the casual/lowest grade workers.This will mean that the quality of the products will also differ slightly, so if an audience is paying a lot for a product, they will expect much better/higher quality than someone who is paying much less

The table below illustrates the different grades in relation to demographics:

My target audience will most likely be students, as I am aiming my products at 16-19 year olds. This means they will fall into the 'casual/lowest grade worker' category. Therefore, I will ensure my products are appealing to and accessible for them. As my earlier example outlined, to make the products accessible for this group, they would have to be quite cheap in price, but as my video will be published on YouTube, it will be free anyway. This platform is the best to use for my target audience because it is free and easy to access, and stereotypically, this age group are the most avid user of social media so this platform is appealing to them. Additionally, I created a target audience profile (see separate blog post) which gives a generalised idea of what my target audience are interested in, so I will be incorporating these things into my products, so it is attractive/appealing to them.

Behind The Scenes Pictures (Green Room Shoot)

Filming Diary (9/12/14)

The filming in the green room today went relatively well. I got all the shots I wanted to film done in time so that was really good and most of the shots turned out well. One of the issues I had was with the song on my phone. For some reason the song wouldn't play no matter how many times I tried, despite it usually working, which meant I had to improvise a bit with the timings of the lip-sync and some of the dance movements to the beat. Therefore, these scenes did not look that effective due to slightly incorrect timing, etc. so as I want them to be perfect, I will have to re-film these shots after Christmas and put them in my second draft (I don't have time to re-film before putting together my first draft). Another issue I had was with there being a noticeable reflection of the lighting (and the camera in some shots) in Emily's glasses. This was even more noticeable in close-ups, which the majority of shots were. No matter where I moved the lighting, there was always a reflection, so I couldn't think of any other solution during that filming session and had to just continue filming so I had enough footage for the first draft. Due to this, I will have to also re-film these shots after Christmas because it will take far too long to try and edit the reflection out of the frame for every single shot. The only solution I can think of is that Emily doesn't wear her glasses in these scenes, so she only has them on in the flashbacks, not in the green room, which could just show she is in a informal/laid-back setting in the flashback scenes. If I was to do this I will have to re-shoot all the scenes in the green room, but this shouldn't be too much of an issue because I know where I went wrong this time and will be able to prepare for any issues beforehand, allowing the filming session to be quick and easy. Apart from these issues, everything else went smoothly so I have some decent footage for my first draft, and hopefully it will turn out okay.

First Green Room Shoot - Outfit

This is the look I decided to use for the scenes shot in the green room in which Emily is alone. The hair and make-up is 'look one' (see post from last month), but with her hair down and wavy and two little buns on either side of her head rather than her hair fully pinned up. I made this change because I felt this look suited Emily more and also went better with certain scenes, such as the close-up of Emily twizzling her hair, which obviously wouldn't have worked if she had her hair up. The outfit I chose was a high neck striped top, black leather skirt, black tights and a chunky belt, which is quite simple but stylish. The overall look makes Emily appear to be typically 'indie' and quirky, which is how I want my artist to be represented. 

Filming Diary (5/12/14)

Today's filming went surprisingly well. The weather, although absolutely freezing, was on our side and it stayed sunny and dry throughout the filming session. I also managed to get all the park scenes done so that is all the filming outside in the cold done (as long as nothing needs re-shooting), as well as getting time to play on the swings and zip wire...The only issues I really had were making sure the tripod was equal so the frames weren't wonky, which was sometimes awkward due to bark where the swings were, etc, and ensuring we had someone watching our bags, whilst we moved around the park to film in different areas. However, these issues were easy to overcome, and hopefully the footage will be good and look effective.

Filming Park Scenes: Behind The Scenes Pictures

Park Scene Outfits

The looks my actors had in the park scenes are very casual due to the equally casual setting. Emily had 'make-up look two' which is very simple and natural. She wore a black velvet playsuit with a white peter pan style collar, black tights, black cutout boots and a coat (due to the ridiculously cold weather). Jack wore black skinny jeans, trainers, a black hoodie and a coat. Both the outfits are very laid-back and 'everyday' style, but they still have quite an 'indie' look to them. This creates a sense of verisimilitude and matches the general style of my video.

Filming Session: Park Scenes

I am going to film the scenes set on Cropton Park tomorrow afternoon. I have booked a camera and tripod out and organised with my actors, Emily and Jack, to meet and get all of the shots needed at the park done. As this is all set outside, I am very reliant on the weather. Luckily, the forecast is that it will be sunny and dry all day (shown in the screenshots below) so that is great conditions to film in. I also need the natural sunlight for my filming in order to get the correct lighting effect in my frames, so I will need to make sure all filming is done before it starts getting dark (sunset is at 15:43).

Shot Plan:

Friday 5th December

Shots = 27, 28, 37, 38, 46, 79, 80, 81, 84, 85, 89

Location = Cropton park

People Needed = Emily & Jack

Props = None

Costume & Makeup = Make-up look two, black velvet playsuit, black tights & boots (Emily)/skinny jeans, black t-shirt, jacket & trainers (Jack)

Below is a screenshot of some of the messages between me and my actors in our Facebook group inbox organising this filming session:

Rearranging 'Second Filming Session'

On Wednesday, we ran out of time and unfortunately I did not manage to get any of my filming done. This was due to Emily having complications whilst doing her shots which meant that it took longer than we both expected. However, I have booked the green room for Tuesday last period, when we both have a free, and I will do the shots I planned to do on Wednesday then instead, so we can both get back on track.

Further Inspiration

Videos/narratives that link to the concept of broken relationships:



I randomly came across this video whilst listening to a YouTube playlist the other day and I'm so glad I found it because it is so unique in style and very effective at presenting a dysfunctional and complicated relationship. I would like to follow this kind of style and message in my video so I want to incorporate some aspects from this video in the narrative elements of mine.



This is one of my favourite film scenes from one of my favourite films of all time. I love how harshly realistic it is and I think a lot of people find they can relate to the 'expectations/reality' conflict in their lives or will have done at some point. The whole film is based around the concept of love and relationships, and how it does not always go to plan, with different people wanting different things. Therefore, this links well to the message I want to get across in my video. I already have flashback narrative elements planned for my video which show a conflict between 'then vs now' or 'expectations vs reality' (depending on how the audience want to interpret it). I had this scene in mind when I thought up these scenes, and I want audiences to be able to relate in a similar way to my video as they found they could to this scene.

Second Filming Session

Today Emily booked the green room for us to film in on Wednesday during one of our free periods. Later on I will book a camera and tripod out again from Ben. I will use this filming session to get as many of the scenes of Emily in the green room done as possible. However, time may be limited because Emily, being a fellow media student, has to film for her video too and I agreed to be in her's because she's doing me a massive favour by being in mine. Therefore, we will be splitting the time equally and taking it in turns to do some filming. I will then book the green room again either for later this week or the beginning of next week to film whatever scenes I didn't manage to complete on Wednesday.

Shot Plan:

Wednesday 3rd December
Shots = 1 (3, 5, 7, 40, 69), 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 17, 21, 24, 29, 33, 36, 41, 48, 55, 60, 62, 67, 76, 77, 87
Location = Green room
People Needed = Emily
Props = heart shaped glasses, lemons, fan, party popper
Costume & Make-up = look one hair & make-up (but hair down with two buns at back of head instead of hair fully pinned up), high neck stripy top, black leather skirt, black belt & tights

(Below is a text message screenshot of further organisation/preparation for filming tomorrow with Emily)

Behind The Scenes Pictures

These are a few 'behind the scenes' pictures from my first filming session over the weekend: