October 30th 2010
This was my first day of filming, and i thought that I had planned my shots, and filming in a very detailed fashion, however I did not anticipate how much work and effort would need to be put into the filming, and how draining it can be when things start to go wrong.
In my film I used my foster brother Elias, this made it easier for me than some of my classmates, as I did not have to rely on people outside my household, which I feel saved me a lot of organisation problems, and made my actor easily accessible and easy to work around.
When I began filming I started in order of my storyboard which was the beginning of my film, I used the green outside my house, which I felt created an appropriate scene, and helped me to create the isolated area I wanted to portray in my music video. I had planned for my actor to mime the first few lyrics the music, however when I started to film, it was very hard work to keep the 11 year old boy interested, and I then realised that I should have introduced him to the song that he wasn't familiar with a lot earlier, and given him time to learn the lyrics, and understand the speed of the song. So therefore I had to bring my laptop out to the green and play the song whilst he sang a long to it. This however did not work too well, and it was difficult to hear the song over the loud environment with cars going past and bad weather. So I then had to sing the lyrics along with my actor, and I felt reasonably pleased with the footage that I had captured. I was impressed at how well my foster brother acted for me in the video, he took it very seriously, and although he did lose interest a couple of times, he did work well with me.
Furthermore, the other scenes went reasonably smoothy, apart from not having a tripod at access, it was very tiring at time holding the heavy camera, and trying to capture a steady shot. I found it difficult to do the range of shots I wanted to create without having a tripod.
October 31 2010
The second day of filming, was easier in some ways, as I had at least a little experience in working the camera, and I had planned what I need to do. However when I started to film I started to realise that some of my scenes were not realistic to what I could create, and therefore I had to think of how I could adapt my scenes and story to ensure that I was capable of creating something I was happy with. After taking a break I started to recreate the scenes on my storyboard that I was not happy with, and went back on the green and filmed my new scenes, I was reasonably happy with what I had changed my story too, but learnt that when planning I should have considered every little detail to a deeper extent.
6th November 2010
After going into school, I looked at my footage and realised that some of my shots were not steady, and that the cloning I had tried to create definitely needed a tripod to be effective. Therefore I took the cameras out again, with a tripod and did my cloning scenes again. This went well, and I was satisfied with the scenes I got. I also redid some of the unsteady scenes and the myming ones again as now my foster brother was more familiar with the lyrics in the song and the speed.
Overall I think my filming went quite well, I did come across some problems, but I learnt that planning is essential to make the filming day run smoothly.
Friday 12 November 2010
Saturday 30 October 2010
Shot List
Below is a shot list of all of the shots that I have included in my final video, and why I used them.
- The first two clips of the video will consist of data that I have collected to give some background information on the care system. I did this because I wanted to ensure that my audience had an idea what my video was about, and had some background information to start my film off.
- The next shot in my video will be a medium close up of my actor, introducing himself and talking about his life.I included this because I wanted to introduce the little boy, in a personal and direct way, before the audience were shown his story.
- The following two scenes will show my actor in a close up shot miming the lyrics to the song. I wanted to do this because I want to draw the audience in very quickly and early on in the song. Which I think this direct mode of address will do.
- The next scene will be of my actor walking, in a high angle shot focusing on his feet. I am planning to add a slow motion effect to this scene, as I feel it will intensify the mood and idea.
- This shot will be a high angle shot of my actor looking directly into the camera, I want to do this as I feel that it will make the video intense, and will show the innocence and age of the little boy acting in my video.
- Another shot of the little boys feet, adding to the effect already spoken about above.
- Medium close up of the little boy standing looking directly at the camera, to add to direct mode of address feeling already spoken about.
- Another clip of little boy speaking about his life, high angle shot.
- Long shot of shadow of the little boy spinning, I want to do this as I feel it will add uniqueness and originality into my video.
- Establishing shot of little boy walking in front of trees, I want to do this as I want the audience to feel the isolation my character my actor is trying to create.
- Medium close up, following the little boy side on. I want to show different angles of the little boy to diversify my shots.
- Extreme close up of the little boy closing his eyes, adding a 'replicate' effect. Want to keep intensity going.
- Cloning shot, the little boy walking across the screen, and spinning in the corner. Want to add effects that show isolation and intensity. I also want to create the idea that his 'mind' is in many different places and show a confusion in his thoughts.
-Long shot of the little boy running away from the camera- wanted to show different angles, and show isolation.
-Another shot of the little boy talking about his, have discussed above.
-Little boy popping out from behind tree- long shot. Want to diversify shots and show 'childlike' movements.
- Little boy running out of doorway- long shot.
- Medium close up- little boy slamming door.
- Extreme close up of actors face in bedroom.
-Shot of actor talking again.
- Medium close up of actor walking.
- Hand held shot of actor spinning.
- Long shot of actors back- with actor walking.
- Another shot of actor talking about his life.
- Hand held shot of camera moving around, and then focusing on actor walking away.
- Next two shots of actor miming the lyrics to the song.
-Actor of actor talking.
- Hand held camera running up the stairs.
- Shot of actor talking.
- Shot of actor spinning in shadow.
- Actor spinning around tree looking directly into the camera.
- High angle shot repeated.
- Video of actor talking- story to change to positive.
- Shot of two hands coming together.
- High angle shot of child at the park smiling looking into the camera.
- Actor throwing leaves and laughing- long shot.
- Long shot of woman and child walking through doorway together.
- Actor talking about life again.
- Child running towards camera and laughing- long shot.
- Child sitting on swing- medium close up looking into the camera.
- Child running towards camera and laughing- medium close up.
- Actor talking into camera about life.
- Little boy laughing into camera- long shot.
- Little boy sitting on the grass looking into camera- high angle
- Actor laying on the floor in leaves whilst camera circles- medium close up.
- Medium close up of actor laughing into the camera.
- The first two clips of the video will consist of data that I have collected to give some background information on the care system. I did this because I wanted to ensure that my audience had an idea what my video was about, and had some background information to start my film off.
- The next shot in my video will be a medium close up of my actor, introducing himself and talking about his life.I included this because I wanted to introduce the little boy, in a personal and direct way, before the audience were shown his story.
- The following two scenes will show my actor in a close up shot miming the lyrics to the song. I wanted to do this because I want to draw the audience in very quickly and early on in the song. Which I think this direct mode of address will do.
- The next scene will be of my actor walking, in a high angle shot focusing on his feet. I am planning to add a slow motion effect to this scene, as I feel it will intensify the mood and idea.
- This shot will be a high angle shot of my actor looking directly into the camera, I want to do this as I feel that it will make the video intense, and will show the innocence and age of the little boy acting in my video.
- Another shot of the little boys feet, adding to the effect already spoken about above.
- Medium close up of the little boy standing looking directly at the camera, to add to direct mode of address feeling already spoken about.
- Another clip of little boy speaking about his life, high angle shot.
- Long shot of shadow of the little boy spinning, I want to do this as I feel it will add uniqueness and originality into my video.
- Establishing shot of little boy walking in front of trees, I want to do this as I want the audience to feel the isolation my character my actor is trying to create.
- Medium close up, following the little boy side on. I want to show different angles of the little boy to diversify my shots.
- Extreme close up of the little boy closing his eyes, adding a 'replicate' effect. Want to keep intensity going.
- Cloning shot, the little boy walking across the screen, and spinning in the corner. Want to add effects that show isolation and intensity. I also want to create the idea that his 'mind' is in many different places and show a confusion in his thoughts.
-Long shot of the little boy running away from the camera- wanted to show different angles, and show isolation.
-Another shot of the little boy talking about his, have discussed above.
-Little boy popping out from behind tree- long shot. Want to diversify shots and show 'childlike' movements.
- Little boy running out of doorway- long shot.
- Medium close up- little boy slamming door.
- Extreme close up of actors face in bedroom.
-Shot of actor talking again.
- Medium close up of actor walking.
- Hand held shot of actor spinning.
- Long shot of actors back- with actor walking.
- Another shot of actor talking about his life.
- Hand held shot of camera moving around, and then focusing on actor walking away.
- Next two shots of actor miming the lyrics to the song.
-Actor of actor talking.
- Hand held camera running up the stairs.
- Shot of actor talking.
- Shot of actor spinning in shadow.
- Actor spinning around tree looking directly into the camera.
- High angle shot repeated.
- Video of actor talking- story to change to positive.
- Shot of two hands coming together.
- High angle shot of child at the park smiling looking into the camera.
- Actor throwing leaves and laughing- long shot.
- Long shot of woman and child walking through doorway together.
- Actor talking about life again.
- Child running towards camera and laughing- long shot.
- Child sitting on swing- medium close up looking into the camera.
- Child running towards camera and laughing- medium close up.
- Actor talking into camera about life.
- Little boy laughing into camera- long shot.
- Little boy sitting on the grass looking into camera- high angle
- Actor laying on the floor in leaves whilst camera circles- medium close up.
- Medium close up of actor laughing into the camera.
Saturday 23 October 2010
Wednesday 13 October 2010
Music Video Analysis. 'The Foo Fighters-The Pretender'
I decided to analyse the music video 'The Foo Fighters-The Pretender' . I chose to use this video, as I think it relates to the video I hope to create, it presents a strong message, and is about a serious subject.
Monday 11 October 2010
The Editing of my animatic storyboard.
When I had completed my animatic storyboard, and was happy with all the scenes,cuts, and timings, I had to film it, to enable me to upload it to Premiere Pro, and then to cut it to the times of my music video. I found the videoing of my storyboard, reasonably easy, however the tripod proved to be slightly more complicated then I had imagined. It was quite a sturdy, yet a tricky piece of equipment, and it did take me a while to get used to using it. However after a while I got the hang of it. I then had to upload what I had video onto Premiere Pro, I learnt how to capture it through Premiere Pro, and then to add it to my timeline along with my music track. Once I had done this I was able to edit together, all of the timings I had planned on my storyboard. I found using Premier Pro a lot easier this time than last time, as I had already equipped some skills, so didn't feel so daunted. Again though it was a time consuming task, and does become draining after a while.
When I was editing my video, to the track, I got more practice in using, the cutting tool, as well as the stretch tool, which I used to stretch clips longer to tie them in with the music. I also began to use the Video Effects toolbar, in which I made some of my clips black and white which was something I wanted to include in my final video.
When I had finished editing my video clips, I exported my video.
Sunday 10 October 2010
Still Images of Animatic Storyboard.
These are still images of my Animatic Storyboard, when creating this, initially I felt the task to be very big, and because I wasn't exactly sure of everything I had proposed for my music video, I felt under pressure to decide and sort out what I was doing. However I feel that this task was good for me, and allowed to picture my ideas to more of an extent, and to also get straight in my head what I wanted my music video to look like.
This is an image of my timeline, that I Printed from Premiere Pro to aid me when completing my post notes, I had imported my music track into the timeline on Premiere Pro, and then stretched it out, so that I was able to write exactly what I wanted to do at each second in the music, track. It continues to the back page (below).This helped me a lot, and also added to the feeling that I had planned every little bit of my music video.
This is an image of my timeline, that I Printed from Premiere Pro to aid me when completing my post notes, I had imported my music track into the timeline on Premiere Pro, and then stretched it out, so that I was able to write exactly what I wanted to do at each second in the music, track. It continues to the back page (below).This helped me a lot, and also added to the feeling that I had planned every little bit of my music video.
Friday 24 September 2010
Tuesday 21 September 2010
Developed Music Viedo Proposal.
The music track I have decided to do my music video on is Moby- Natural blues, My music video will be narrated by text at the bottom of the screen with facts and statistics about the care system, whilst the video tells the story of one child in care.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3YMxM1_S48&ob=av2e
The camera would follow the main character showing his story of being in care, the film would start with the main character standing still in an isolated area, and when the song begins and a series of opening statistics/facts will show at the bottom of the screen whilst a close up of the actor is the shot.
At 18 seconds in when a beat comes into the song the main character will begin to mime the lyrics of the song, I got this idea from the music video Temper Trap-Love lost, it presents children miming the lyrics to a song. I liked the feel that it produced and it made the song feel like it was something important and related to the child, this is why I want to use this technique in parts of my music video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLTPKKt-pMs
This is when the character will begin cloning and walking around in different directions this will last for 18 seconds whilst more stats and facts appear on the bottom of the screen, these are there to inform the watcher of what the actor is part of, and to set the scene, allowing them to imagine what they have gone through, which I will be reflecting through the film. The inspiration for me to use the cloning idea came from the Justin Timberlake- Rock your body video, I like how it creates a confusion and I just generally like the effect that it creates.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9qzk3Zm2UM&ob=av2e
The film will then continue to a different scene which will be filmed as a following shot , following the character through different situations such as why he is in care, showing a bad family situation in a variety of different camera angles, close up reaction shots of the child, then meeting the social worker, then turning up at a foster home, I wanted to use a zido shot at this point in my video to present the panic. I want to present the overwhelming feelings that a child would feel in this sort of situation. I would do this by using reaction shots and a quick switch from different camera angles to create a feeling of panic and bewilderment.
Zido examples
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANfb6dGIUqw
One of the scenes in my film, will be where my actor is in a room with arguments this is where I will use the technique of the argument going fast while the boy just stand there still. I have seen this technique in Alanis Morissette-Thank You.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOgpT5rEKIU&p=2F0C365447C447A3&playnext=1&index=74
Throughout this whole thing I will have a variety of different facts and stats coming up.
At 2.07 mins into the song the tempo and tune slightly changes in the track, I plan to use this part of the song to begin a positive story to the video, of how the child has accepted the change, and is now helping it to work, and how well he is doing. I wanted to show the contrast of this through a split screen. I would show the boys new life and good, postive things, and then show his previous life.
Inspiration for Split screen.
I intend to end the video, in the same place as I started it, in the same way. But with the actor smiling as the music stops.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3YMxM1_S48&ob=av2e
The camera would follow the main character showing his story of being in care, the film would start with the main character standing still in an isolated area, and when the song begins and a series of opening statistics/facts will show at the bottom of the screen whilst a close up of the actor is the shot.
At 18 seconds in when a beat comes into the song the main character will begin to mime the lyrics of the song, I got this idea from the music video Temper Trap-Love lost, it presents children miming the lyrics to a song. I liked the feel that it produced and it made the song feel like it was something important and related to the child, this is why I want to use this technique in parts of my music video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLTPKKt-pMs
This is when the character will begin cloning and walking around in different directions this will last for 18 seconds whilst more stats and facts appear on the bottom of the screen, these are there to inform the watcher of what the actor is part of, and to set the scene, allowing them to imagine what they have gone through, which I will be reflecting through the film. The inspiration for me to use the cloning idea came from the Justin Timberlake- Rock your body video, I like how it creates a confusion and I just generally like the effect that it creates.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9qzk3Zm2UM&ob=av2e
The film will then continue to a different scene which will be filmed as a following shot , following the character through different situations such as why he is in care, showing a bad family situation in a variety of different camera angles, close up reaction shots of the child, then meeting the social worker, then turning up at a foster home, I wanted to use a zido shot at this point in my video to present the panic. I want to present the overwhelming feelings that a child would feel in this sort of situation. I would do this by using reaction shots and a quick switch from different camera angles to create a feeling of panic and bewilderment.
Zido examples
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANfb6dGIUqw
One of the scenes in my film, will be where my actor is in a room with arguments this is where I will use the technique of the argument going fast while the boy just stand there still. I have seen this technique in Alanis Morissette-Thank You.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOgpT5rEKIU&p=2F0C365447C447A3&playnext=1&index=74
Throughout this whole thing I will have a variety of different facts and stats coming up.
At 2.07 mins into the song the tempo and tune slightly changes in the track, I plan to use this part of the song to begin a positive story to the video, of how the child has accepted the change, and is now helping it to work, and how well he is doing. I wanted to show the contrast of this through a split screen. I would show the boys new life and good, postive things, and then show his previous life.
Inspiration for Split screen.
Stromae - Alors On Danse
I intend to end the video, in the same place as I started it, in the same way. But with the actor smiling as the music stops.
Evaluation of Prelim Task.
For my prelim task, me and my class had to create a copy as best we could of the music video Bad touch- Blood hound Gang. We had to go out and film the material and then from this all individually edit it to make it as similar to the original video as possible. We had to focus particularly on camera angles, framing, mise en scene, and lip syncing. The idea of the task was to give us some experience in using the cameras that we will be using for our main task of creating our own video. Also to give us some experience in using the program that we will be using to edit our film.
When creating my Prelim task there were many factors, and issues that could have been planned better, completed better, and some that I felt were done well and were positive. I have broken down my evaluation into two groups. The filming of the video, and then the editing.
However throughout filming I felt that as a class we worked as a team, by sharing the camera, all having a go at acting, as well as directing each other. I also think that we had good props, very similar to those in the video, as well as good costumes all on a low budget. I also think that by creating a prelim task, It put skills and techniques we learnt about last year for AS into practice. Overall I think that our filming of the bad touch video went reasonably well, but could have been planned slightly better by the students, as it would have gone smoother and not taken so long. However as a first time experience of filming and directing I think it was very helpful and has put the skills and techniques learnt at AS into practice.
When I initially began to edit the bad touch film, I felt really frustrated, as I didn't know how to use the tools, or the entire program. It was hard not to become very stressed, however after a little while of playing around with the tools, and the clips, it started to click, and I began to realize how everything worked, and begin to make progress with my editing. Adding to this I also learnt how time consuming the editing is, and how it can be very tricky and fiddly. From the editing I learnt many skills, these including, importing clips, and placing them correctly on the time line, cutting the clips to the correct position needed to match the music and lip syncing, moving and copying clips to different parts in the time line, resizing the window. I also learnt how to speed up clips,as well as slow them down, this assisted me in lip syncing at the right time, if the clip was too slow, or too fast for the music. Moreover reversing shots we very handy when in filming the shot has been filmed in the wrong direction, for example in the film when the girls were walking they were walking in the opposite direction to in the film, so therefore this tool allowed me to reverse the shot. I also cropped some of the clips to make the framing and camera angles more like the actual video, when the filming had not been tight enough, or was not framed correctly.
When creating my Prelim task there were many factors, and issues that could have been planned better, completed better, and some that I felt were done well and were positive. I have broken down my evaluation into two groups. The filming of the video, and then the editing.
FILMING
When I and my class started filming, I found that it was a lot harder then I thought it was going to be. We did not have enough time to rehearse before hand therefore, I felt that the whole class had a vague idea of what we were actually doing and I didn't feel that we were very organised. I think if I personally had watched the video more thoroughly I would have equipped myself with a better idea of the framing we needed to create as well as the camera angles.
Adding to this we could have also had a shot list which would have helped us a lot, ( which I now will ensure I have when creating my main task).
Moreover because of the costumes and surroundings, there were times when the people in the shot began laughing half way through or at the end of the shot, which slowed the whole process down, and knocked us of track. I think this could have been avoided if the class knew exactly what needed to be done in each shot. Subsequently as this was mine and many of my other classmates first time using a camera/filming some of the shots were not steady, however I do feel that after this prelim I have a better idea and some experience of keeping a camera steady and controlled. As well as using camera angles. I also think that if we had taken more notice of how fast the lip syncing needed to be it would have made it a lot easier to sync when editing.
EDITING
When I initially began to edit the bad touch film, I felt really frustrated, as I didn't know how to use the tools, or the entire program. It was hard not to become very stressed, however after a little while of playing around with the tools, and the clips, it started to click, and I began to realize how everything worked, and begin to make progress with my editing. Adding to this I also learnt how time consuming the editing is, and how it can be very tricky and fiddly. From the editing I learnt many skills, these including, importing clips, and placing them correctly on the time line, cutting the clips to the correct position needed to match the music and lip syncing, moving and copying clips to different parts in the time line, resizing the window. I also learnt how to speed up clips,as well as slow them down, this assisted me in lip syncing at the right time, if the clip was too slow, or too fast for the music. Moreover reversing shots we very handy when in filming the shot has been filmed in the wrong direction, for example in the film when the girls were walking they were walking in the opposite direction to in the film, so therefore this tool allowed me to reverse the shot. I also cropped some of the clips to make the framing and camera angles more like the actual video, when the filming had not been tight enough, or was not framed correctly. When editing the program we used in class, was having problems and kept shutting down expectedly, which sometimes meant that we lost work that we had forgotten to save, however some good has come from this and I know feel that I am trained in saving work regularly which prevents me from losing my work on a regular basis so I feel I have developed a good habit from this problem.
In conclusion I feel that my bad touch video is a pretty good copy of the original and I put in a lot of effort to get every little detail right. I feel that this prelim task has given me a lot of experience and has equipped me quite well for my main task. If I could have done anything again it would have been to analyse the video a lot more before actually going out to film it, as well as planning exactly every little thing that had to be done. Also I would have been more patient and calm when I started my editing as I think this would have saved me a lot of time at the beginning of the editing, and could have meant that I could have gone over the project and made it even tighter.
However I did enjoy the filming and editing and I feel equipped now to begin my own video.
In conclusion I feel that my bad touch video is a pretty good copy of the original and I put in a lot of effort to get every little detail right. I feel that this prelim task has given me a lot of experience and has equipped me quite well for my main task. If I could have done anything again it would have been to analyse the video a lot more before actually going out to film it, as well as planning exactly every little thing that had to be done. Also I would have been more patient and calm when I started my editing as I think this would have saved me a lot of time at the beginning of the editing, and could have meant that I could have gone over the project and made it even tighter.
However I did enjoy the filming and editing and I feel equipped now to begin my own video.
Friday 17 September 2010
Initial Music Video Proposal. Moby- Natural Blues
Music Video Choice 1- Moby –Natural Blues.
Performers- I was thinking of having a young most likely under 15 year old male or female to perform as a child in care for my video.
Costume- The costume for my video would be everyday clothing, nothing-particularly fashionable or particularly un- fashionable just like a normal child.
Locations- I would like to film my music video initially in and around my house, and in its surrounding areas like a local park, and the street.
Narrative Idea- For my video, and as it is about a subject that some people aren’t really aware of or do not know much about, throughout my video I intend to have narrative words, short statements and sentences explaining the life of a child in care.
Editing styles- For editing styles for my video, I wanted to show contrast of different children life’s, by including a split screen of the Childs real life, and what the child would love their life to be, or I might show a completely different child, that could be seen as a pier.
Friday 10 September 2010
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