Group: Reflection on Shoot 3

On Wednesday 25th November  we did our final shoot, filming the main protagonist, Tiffany, lip singing. We filmed in the drama studio at school against a blue screen. We used the jib as a tripod to film multiple angles and distances. We also used the studio lights to brighten the shots and help with post production.
Katie: My role during the shoot was to set up the camera and film the shots, choosing which angles looked best.
Mel: My role was to organise the cast and her costume, hair and makeup. I was in charge of playing the music and making sure Tiffany knew how she needed to be performing.
Our storyboard was not useful during the shoot as this final shoot was not planned; as the footage in Brighton was slightly disappointing due to weather conditions, we decided to make the video more performance based. Our best shots are of Tiffany lip singing, close up, then her dancing as a long shot.

What was problematic about our shoot was that the blue screen we used had a line down the middle where the two boards had been put together. This means that when it comes to editing the blue screen out, it is likely that line will continue to be there due to it not being blue. However this is only a minor issue and we will be able to work around it.

We also took some still photos as the original picture we chose for the digipak does not match the other photos we are using from Brighton. We plan to edit these using after effect to make the background a light, sky blue.

Group: Concept Development

We have found some music videos that other schools have made that we have drawn inspiration from. The coloured backgrounds with the artist singing to the camera we found very effective and visually interesting; we are going to try and reciprocate this through our own video by filming in front of a blue screen with the artist lip singing and dancing.

Group: Feedback on Rough Cut

We screened the rough cut for our music video to our class and received some feeback:

Positive:

• Protagonists lip singing looked realistic and gave effect of verisimilitude
• Projections of Brighton over protagonists face gave an interesting visual effect
• Montage based editing was effective and fun to watch

Improvements:

• Less internal shots of the car/include external shots with movement to make more interesting
• Need more shots of the friends and close up's to establish bond with audience
• Make more performance based as the 'meat shots' are of protagonist singing
• Shots of friends in the car
• Movement of camera in performance shots using the rig to intercut and provide extra angles

Group: Reflection on Shoot 2

On Saturday 7th November, we went down to Brighton with 3 other cast members in order to shoot the narrative part of our music video. We used Katie's DSLR camera and her tripod, as well as using Mel's SJ4000 to take some POV shots.

Katie's role during the shoot was be in charge of her part of the equipment. She had the main role behind the camera when filming and taking photographs. She also managed to find people to be our cast for that particular day.
Mel's role was to direct the cast as to what they should be doing in the shot, as well as assisting with the filming and doing some shots herself. She also helped decide what locations in Brighton we should film at.

Our storyboard was quite useful during our shoot as it helped us to be able to work out when to go to what location so it all made sense. We did have to make some changes to the storyboard as we were not able to film the friends arriving together as we arrived in separate cars, and we also couldn't get a POV shot on one of the rides we wanted due to it being shut. However, we did stick to the basic storyline shown on our storyboard.

Our best shots include the POV shot on the ride, as well as the shots in the photo-booth.
The shots that proved problematic were the shots on the beach. This is because it was horrific windy and rainy weather which was not what we wanted. Therefore filming on the beach proved very difficult.

Our biggest challenge of the day was dealing with the weather. Ideally, we would have preferred it to be a brighter day, however the unpredictable British weather chose to rain constantly all day. This therefore dramatically changed the look of our shots, as well as making it extremely difficult to film. We had to cover the camera in a plastic bag so it didn't get wet and break. We are hopefully going to try and improve these shots by including a filter over the top of them so they look a bit happier.

Whilst in Brighton, we took photos for our digipak. We knew we wanted to include Brighton in the digipak so we tried to take as many photographs as we could so we could choose the best ones to use. Due to the bad weather, we were not able to get the shots we had originally planned so we had to do some quick thinking on the day of what photographs we could include.

Our next steps in terms of filming and photography is to re-film with our lead singer, Tiff, in front of a blue screen. This is because our Brighton footage did not come out the way we had hoped so we are going to have more performance than narrative in our music video now. This therefore means we have to make our shots of the lead singer more interesting which we will try to do in front of the blue screen. We also plan to take some more photographs of our lead singer for the digipak of her looking more happy as it's quite an upbeat song so we would like to show that on the digipak.

Group: Concept Development

Our original concept idea was to create a music video which was more based around a narrative story that was intercut with parts of performance. However, due to difficulties filming with our cast for the narrative section, we have had to change our idea slightly. Our music video is going to be more based around the performer now and she will be the main focus. We will still include the narrative sequence, however instead of having it in a sequential order we are going to make it into a narrative fuzz montage sequence to represent the theme of happiness. It will still show the friends doing fun activities together however it will no longer be based around the theme of a breakup and friends being there for you. It will just be about friends making each other happy which the underlying theme of promoting girl power.

We also decided our footage in front of a black background and using projections didn't work as well as we hoped so instead we are planning to use a blue screen and change it to different coloured backgrounds that are bright and colourful so be a visual signifier of the theme of happiness shown throughout.

Group: Photos Taken On Shoot

These are our most effective photos we have taken on our first shoot.

 

MC: Editing The Digipak 2

On Monday 9th November, I chose a different image to edit for our digipak front cover. I have taken inspiration from Ella Henderson's front cover for her album 'Chapter One'. The reason I have chosen this picture is because it emphasizes the natural beauty of our singer. Having her looking to the side gives her a feminine look whilst showing emotion that is shown in the song. Here is the image I have chosen to edit:

I then felt I wanted the edges of the image to feel less sharp so therefore I decided to put in a gradient adjustment layer. I made it into a radial style and took away the black so it was a soft white effect coming in round the edges.

I wanted to keep the photo quite simple and not make the post production effects very obvious. To start with I added a curve adjustment layer. On the RBG channel, I enhanced the whiter areas by moving a dot near to the top of the diagonal line slightly upwards. I then made the black areas darker by moving a dot near to the bottom of the diagonal line slightly downwards. This brighten up her face and made it sand out more.

  

Then I wanted to give the picture a warm effect. To do this I added another adjustment layer. I chose the photo filter option and on this I chose the Warm Filter (85) as it didn't make the picture look overly orange. I then altered the density of it to 35% so it wasn't too strong.



Next I used the crop tool to create the image into a square shape. This is so I was able to see what it will look like when its in a square shape like the front cover so I was able to fit the text in.

Then I used the text tool and chose PosterBodoni It BT as our text style as it gives a bold yet feminine effect to her name.

After I was happy with how the digipak looked I placed it onto a template of a six pane digipak and made it fit. This is how our digipak looks so far.

KT: Editing The Magazine Cover & Mock up

We took inspiration from Ella Henderson's previous album covers and magazine ads to create our own mock up one using images we took on our first shoot. We then added in social media logo's using png format's to create a clear background. We used the website dafont to get a number of different font's to use for the magazine cover, I then used the magic wand tool to edit out the background as we saved them as jpegs.

Group: Artist Metanarrative Print Work

In Ella Henderson's print work, she is presented as a naturally beautiful artist. Her digipaks and magazine adverts are all about the composition of the photograph and the lighting. They have been clearly manipulated to emphasize her beauty.

• The composition of this photo is really effective in creating this digipak front cover. She is placed covering half of the digipak, looking off to the right. This helps to emphasize her facial features and how well structured her face is. This further enforces her natural beauty which is what makes her appealing to audiences.
• The left of her is kept interesting by creating different effects using the lighting. When looking closely at it, you are able to see they have slightly copied her face next to her but in a low opacity. This therefore helps to link in with the name of the song which is 'Mirror Man'.
• It seems as if the saturation on her face has been enhanced to brighten it up compared to the darker areas of the digipak. A warming effect then seems to be used to give the whole image a warm feel to it.
• The text used for her first name is white and swirly which makes it quite feminine. This stands out on the page just like her face does to show that these two parts are the most important. Her last name and the song title are both in the same font which differs to the font used for her first name. It has the aesthetic of type writer writing which fits in with the mise-en-scene of her costume as the laced collar and checked top look quite school girl like. 

• 'Chapter One' is Ella Henderson's only album. This image really emphasizes her natural beauty. It is a close up of her face where she is looking slightly to the left so is not breaking the wall between the audience and the singer.
• This image also uses a warm effect. The lighting of this image lights up the upper side of her face to brighten up the image whilst still having the warm feel to the image.
• There has been a white/peach gradient effect added to the bottom left hand corner to decrease the harshness of the image. It blends well with the colour of her top. This digipak front cover is very warm and peachy toned which increases her femininity.
• The text font is the same as on the above digipak cover.

• This is a the back pane of the digipak for 'Chapter One'. It incorporates the same warm tones however it is slightly more dark due to the it being the back pane. This means the song list is  added so that is the main feature.
• It still includes an image of Ella Henderson, however she is placed on the third and is facing towards the shot list. This helps to make the shot list seem important as well as keeping the focus on the artist.
• The font used is the same type writer font used on the front cover. This helps to link the whole digipak together as well as link it to other song album covers she has.

• This digipak includes a lot of bright colours all over her face. This most probably will have been created through enhancing lighting that would have been projecting on her when the photograph was taken. Although there is a lot going on with the lighting it still manages to make her look naturally beautiful.
• It involves a lot of blue, red and orange colours which all blend in nicely together. These colours have been used as they relate to her music video for this track. These colours are often seen in the music video and a similar effect is created.
• The font, again, is the same as on the rest of her digipaks so they all link together.

• This magazine advert for Ella Henderson's album includes a photo of her in the centre. She is the main focus and is once again shown looking off to the side and not at the camera. This helps to add mystery to her metanarrative as well as showing off her defined facial features.
• The lighting on her face is quite bright so makes her appear naturally airbrushed to enhance her beauty.
• The wall behind her is quite simple yet the warm, brown colours keep the advert quite neutral to relate to her natural beauty. The browns match the colour of her hair which helps tie the whole thing in together. It's her bright blue top which causes Ella Henderson to stand out.
• The font used is slightly different to the rest of her digipaks, however it is still quite a simple, not too bold, feminine font.

From analysing our artists metanarrative and her print work, we have concluded that we will include a photo of the artist on the digipak front cover and the magazine advert due to the fact Ella Henderson is shown in every aspect of her promotional campaign. She is also looking off to the side and never straight on to the camera so we will also try to include this into our work. We will try to use as many techniques as possible to enhance the natural beauty of our singer so it relates to how Ella Henderson is represented.

Group: Call Sheet and Risk Assessment

This is our call sheet and risk assessment we completed for Brighton.

MC: Editing The Digipak

On Tuesday 3rd November, I started to look through the photos we took of our singer and tried to work out which photos we would like to use for our digipak front pane.

This is a photo we particularly liked because of the projections as we feel it gives a nice effect. However, a problem with using projections is that it can cause there to be unwanted marks on her face. This therefore takes away the stunning beauty of the singer so I tried to minimise this as much as possible. I used to stamp tool to locate a colour on her face that I was able to duplicate to remove the unwanted red mark by her nose. This smoothed her sink out and make her look more like a beautiful singer.

I then used an adjustment layer tool and placed on a colour filter to slightly alter the overall colour of the image. I chose to use a sepia colour and reduced its density to 17% so it wasn't too strong.

This is how the overall image looked after today's editing.




Although we really like this image, the projection still causes her to have a slight red nose. This therefore takes away from her beauty so next lesson I will use another picture to edit to see if it is more effective in showing her natural beauty.

Group: Reflection of Shoot 1

This shoot was on Saturday 31st October.
Katie's role on this shoot was to organise the location and make sure we had access to the buildings and classrooms we needed, alongside driving us to the locations. Katie also set up the camera and tripod and positioned the camera at different angles for multiple shots.

Mel's role was to organise the cast (lead singer) for this shoot and to organise props, costume, hair/makeup. Mel also did camera work and took charge of technical organisation such as monitoring and working the projection video's.

During our shoot, our storyboard was not overly useful. This is because on our storyboard, we didn't include the different angles of the artist that we wanted, we only placed in pictures on the artist where we wanted them to be intercutted into the narrative. We already had an idea of what angles we wanted to include so therefore it was not a problem when we were on set.

The only problem with some of our shots is when we used to projections onto the singers face, some of them were too dark so therefore were not very effective. This means during the editing process, we will only be able to use the shots in which the projections aren't too dark.

We experienced some difficulties with casting while trying to shoot as we tried to film at Brighton the previous Monday but the cast who promised to attend dropped out last minute so we had to rearrange, hoping again to film at Brighton on Saturday, but once again the cast for this dropped out the evening before so we had to improvise by changing the date and filming at our second location of Benenden.

Katie also took some still photos for the digipak front cover:

We feel that the shot shown above will be a good one to use for our magazine advert as it is very similar to the type of shot we had in mind for our magazine cover. It will have a relation to the photo we chose to have on the digipak as it will show the same singer.

 

Our next steps in terms of filming and photography are to go to Brighton on Saturday 14th November to film our narrative part of our music video and get the rest of the photographs for the digipak. Until then we will continue editing the footage we have already got and try to get most of the magazine cover completed.