PRODUCTION - Skills Development 2

Producing the project this year was a lot different to the project we did in AS. We ignored factors that would've been essential last year such as continuity and we had to more filming  and have more frequent edits, and also adding factors such as Mise en Scene,shot types and the biggest factor sound we had a lot to do. The main plan was to film in settings that fitted with the mood of the song, and we did that. And while producing our rough cut, we cut from one location to another as we were trying to follow a specific part of Andrew Goodwin's theory, Disjuncture. But after  showing the rough cut we learnt that songs that follow a disjuncture style must also have some sort of structure to it in order for it to make sense, something we learnt following the feedback from our peers and the teachers.
Another thing I learnt from the production of this project was that the communication had to be more frequent between my group, we  communicated alot more than my group last year. This factor allowed us to present our ideas in more detail to each other before filming so we could quickly make any changes to the plan we were following. ( we mainly communicated on smartphones)
I learnt a lot from editing this year too, such as matching the base tracks we filmed to the song.Most of the base tracks were too fast for the song so we had to slow the footage down.
I also learnt some new tricks this year such as using the Colour Correction 3-way filter this year, so we could  adjust the settings of the saturation filter we also placed on the music video.
Overall the production process this year has taught me a lot and it will help us with our planning for the digi packs.

Editing

FINISHED THE PRODUCTION OF THE MUSIC VIDEO

Our group has finally finished the production of the music video. It was a long and slow process  and we have learnt a lot from it, now our group is moving on to the production of the digipacks.

Final Stages of editing

Today we reached the final stages of editing, we added some more filters to our videos such as the Light Ray filter, and we also added some text at the beginning of the song, saying the name of the song as the artist doesn't mention Mad Meditations.

editing

Editing
by: aa42075

Rough cut

The rough cut for the music video we are making.

editing

animated gif maker

editing

In today's lesson, we carried on from where we left off,we added more base tracks to our current selection.
The hard parts of editing today was that our artist started to rap faster during the song, so it was difficult to align it correctly to the song. We managed align most of them and we begun cutting them. There will be a cut every beat, and for some sections, the cut comes after two beats.

Unable to film in the recording studio

Unfortunately we were unable to book the recording studio in time in order for us to film with the artist I there. And this was a prominent part of our storyboard and now we have to scrap the idea, so as a group we have decided to stick with the rest of the storyboard and to miss out the shots of the artist in the recording studio.

Thoughts on editing

We have begun the editing process and there are good points and some bad points of the process. 

• The pros are our group have a significant amount of footage, so we'll have a lot of base tracks and it would give the music video more movement as there'll be a variety of locations and angles.Within the first 10-20 seconds, we have used more than 5 base tracks and a number of scene shots. 
• We are editing to the beat, after every beat the camera cuts to a new shot so that is going well. 
• The music is in sync with most of the base tracks.
• One disadvantage is that some of the base tracks are going to fast so its difficult to line it up with the MP3  our group has countered this by slowing down the footage so its perfect. 
• Another disadvantage is the transitions we were using for the opening shots went to fast so we've had to slow down the opening shots too to get the effect we were looking for. 

Overall, I think we have done well for the opening stages of the music video, and we hope to add filters and effects once we have completed the rough cut. 

location changes

We had to limit the number of locations we were supposed to film in because we had problems with getting permission to film in certain locations such as Alexandra Palace. And due to the weather we had to cancel some of our planned filming sessions, which was as Carneby Street and China Town. This was a big problem for us as a group as we all decided to film at these locations. But we had filmed nearly 15 base tracks at the location we were able to film at and so we had more than enough footage to start editing.

editing rough cut 1

In this picture, we were checking to see if the video was in sync with the song. 

Going through the footage, we labelled the footage we would use for our base track,.

random editing shot

We also looked at the footage we wouldn't use as base tracks to see if we could add any other shots of the artist.

Viewing the base tracks

3rd day of filming

FILM LOCATION UPDATE

We were unable to film at a number of locations because of certain reasons.
We were unable to film at Alexander Palace because we didn't have permission and there was a form we had to fill in, it is too late to film there now as the rough cut and final cut deadline approaches.
We were unable to film at  Carnaby Street due to time constraints. and we couldn't get to Chinatown in time so we filmed extra base tracks at the locations we managed to film

Filming in Camden

We shot in Camden Market on the 12/11/12; we shot base tracks with the artist on the street. We wanted to do some shot in a really fun quirky comic store but we did not get the permission to film there. We shot at Regents Canal so we had to make sure that no one fell in or damaged any of the equipment. And so we had considered our risk assessment filming in this location. We also had a lot of pedestrian where we were filming and had to be mindful that we didn’t disturb or film in places where people did not want to be filmed.

Filming in Hampstead Heath

We have already filmed at this location twice once we went to film scene shots to incorporate into the music video and more recently to film our base tracks with the artist. We shot a lot of different base tracks of him sitting on a bench, an extreme close up of his lips rapping to the track and him siting and climbing on a tree. Fortunately the weather was good so it was ok for us to go out and film in a forest, however it was really muddy and we kept on slipping and struggled to travel, so we had to be extra cautious on keeping the equipment safe and not to damage it when we were walking around filming with the camera. The whole group worked well with as a team and everybody had a role such as the camera man, the stylist making sure that the artist looked the way we wanted him in the shot and then one of us made to look after all the equipment and take pictures documenting on the whole filming process. We all rotated to make sure everyone has a go.

Summary of base-track filming in Hampstead Heath

Today we also filmed the base-tracks at Hampstead heath, here we managed to get more shots of the camera tracking the artist so the video has more movement to it. We also filmed the artist in his mask climbing a tree, which could potentially be used in our music video. We also filmed an extreme close up of the artist, and some more shots of the artist in one place. The weather was good today so it didn't effect the lighting, however, in the low angle shots, the shade from the trees has made the footage darker.

Summary of filming base tracks in Camden

In Camden, we filmed the base-tracks for the music video, on a street and next to the canal. We also filmed shots of the artist doing various stuff such as climbing a gate or jumping onto a postbox. We got some good tracking shots which would give our video some movement and the settings we chose go well with the mood of the song. We were unable to film in the marketplace because the area was busier than usual and we were attracting too much attention with the camera.

website analysis

As our artist, Annoyin Wanderer has just started to make music, he lacks resources that bigger artists would have, so he utilises the resources he can access to promote his music. He has created a blog where he has uploaded 3 of his songs and on each song, the audience can leave feedback which is essential for a new artist as they can see areas in which they can improve on.

The masthead for the blog is suitable for the target audience, people aged 17-25 who like to listen to independent music rather than mainstream music because the colour scheme of the letters is just right as if the letters of the masthead had a brighter colour scheme, it could attract a more younger audience and as the music isn't appropriate for a younger audience, the blog would not be very successful. The masthead also contains a little character that's replacing the D in wanderer, this is helps generate more interest in the artist and the blog. 

masthead of the blog

Little guy featured on the masthead

The background of the website features a notepad with a swearword and an illustration. This is also useful in attracting the right target audience because it the swear word shows that he is a bit immature which would suit our target audience very well because if there was a polite word written there, it would not intrigue our target audience therefore they may choose not to view the rest of the website. 

The website features little buttons that connect to various social networking sites so he could promote his music to a more wider audience. 

Here is a link to the blog of Annoyin Wanderer

http://theannoyingwanderer.blogspot.co.uk/

filming in Camen

I shot base tracks with the artist at Camden Market. This was a really important location for us because it fits in perfectly with the whole theme of the track and image of the Annoying Wanderer. We have not officially started to edit on FinalCut yet, but most the footage has been filmed out of focus. So our teacher Mary has shown us specifically on the filming camera on how to check the camera is set on automatic focus. This has been a learning curve for me because now I know that when filming there are major factors to check before you actually start to film.

Unfocussed footage

During my filming session with our artist to film base tracks in Camden town I had problems with focussing the camera. I did not know about the manual focus and the autofocus button. When I took out the camera it was set on manual focus and therefore most of the shots are blurry and we have to reshoot some of these shots again.  But now we are aware that we need to check the camera to see if it is set correctly before we start filming.

Here is an example of our unfocussed footage,  where the subject is not really visible. 

This is an example of a shot in Brick Lane that is clearly focussed. 

Skills development

The planning for the music video is completely different form the preparation we did for the thriller, because we had to be very specific about where we will film what we will film and when. For the music video we chose to shoot lots of base track in different location.  We chose to film in about nine different locations which is Mile end skate park, Camden Lock, China town, Carnaby street, regents canal, recording studio and Hampstead heath. Whereas last year we shot in only one location with very basic shots and  a simple story board. So this time round we really had to focus on booking date and be specific about what we will be filming and where.

Another issue we had to think about is using obvious edits and see how it will work in the music video and if it will match the theme and mood of the track. Planning the music video for A2 is very different we have to plan the storyboard clearly and follow what we plan

Thoughts on filming scene shots at Hampstead Heath

Today, our artist could not make it to filming so we had to film scene shots at Hampstead Heath, we got lots of cool shots, such as one of the city standing behind a bunch of trees, and we got a nice shot of the sun shining through a tree. I think the scene shots here really reflect the mood of the song. In conclusion, Hampstead Heath was one of the right locations to shoot part of this music video. The weather was also good, it didn't rain however it did get cloudy at one point so the lighting may be a bit dodgy for some of the shots.