Production of music video: Wednesday 26th October Filming

On Wednesday we had a busy schedule because we were going film in two different locations with two different outfits so we again meet up in front of the college at 10:30 am so we had enough to film what we wanted to film on that day and again one person in our group deiced to not come but we first headed out to our first location Liverpool street.    

RESEARCH: Looking at a music video

This is the video to Beyonce's song countdown, the reason why i really like this video is the colours and edits used. Also the use of split screens in a shot which is something which we wanted to incorporate in to our music video.

RESEARCH: Digipacks

Looking on a music website, I've been looking at different digipacks. Most i notced had the artist face on it, which was mainly a close up. Also some artist had more than one digi pack as they had a normal album and a duluxe one featuring bonus tracks.

Here are some examples.

This is the duluxe edition of '+' by Ed Sheeran

This is the original edition with 12 tracks



Bruno Mars Doo wops & hooligans

Bruno mars album is one i found which doesnt feature any image of the artist on the front. I noticed that most bands choose to have a picture of something relating to the title of the album instead of having the wholel band on it.

Teacher feedback

Your blog is looking excellent - and I am really looking forward to seeing your footage from the half-term shoot.  Keep up the good work.

Production of music video: Tuesday 25th October Filming

Production of music video: Tuesday 25th October Filming

 

This was the first day filming with the group so it was exciting. We all meet up in front of the college at 10:30 am and set off to our base track location which was Hyde Park. Everyone except one person in our group didn't turn up while not knowing the exact reason we headed out to Hyde Park .We got on the 30 bus to the Park it didn't take to long to get there but i think because we knew how to get to the park it was quicker and the best thing we didn't get lost in the massive park. 

We had to walk all the way to the band stand after checking where it is first on the park map to get the exact location.

Preparation for the base track 

Production of Music Video: Wednesday 26th October Filming

On Wednesday, we filmed the second part of our music video. We arrived outside of College at 10:30am and set off to our locations, which was at Liverpool Street and Newington Green Park. Here are some scenes that we photographed to show what we did. We first went to Liverpool Street and found a great area where we could film. But we immediately had problems because as we were setting up the equipment, a security guard came over and told us that we were not allowed to film in this part of the area, as it was private area, which we were unaware of. Due to this obstacle, we had to find another area to film in Liverpool Street. We finally found a place that we thought would be perfect and decided shoot there.

We first wanted a close up shot of our artist singing the whole song as another base track, so that when we are editing, we can go back and forth from various base tracks. You cane see that we just wanted to focus from her chest and above so you can see her dress which is black based on an ‘emo’ outfit and her face that had her ‘emo’ look make up. We wanted to make sure that the camera focused perfectly level on her. We also had to position the camera perfectly because if we didn’t you were able to see the reflection of the camera and ourselves on the window.

We also focused the camera just on her lips as she sang the whole song because her lips had a shade of red on, in contrast from the other previous shots. 


We also recorded a scene where our artist – Yumi, is at the centre of an ally way where it’s very over crowded. We shot this scene for just over a minute and half because what our objective is for this scene is that when we are editing, we want Yumi to be standing still in real motion and have the people around her walking in fast motion. We want this effect because we want to show how our artist is feeling almost invisible, that nobody is noticing her, she almost feels an outsider who lost her identity. We were very wary of the fact that it was raining very heavily but we used this to our advantage as the dismal weather played onto her character of an ‘emo’ look. It was also very, very cold, so we prioritised in keeping Yumi warm by having her wear her jacket after each shot we recorded. 

Filming on the swings to emphasise
that she is alone in a happy
environment - contrast from location
her feelings

After filming in Liverpool Street for the ‘emo’ look, we had Yumi change again into the last look; the ‘party’ look in the fashion shop called ‘Monsoon’. We then went back to the sitting area at ‘Starbucks’ so that Fahmida can apply the ‘party’ look make up which consists of emphasising her lips by adding red lipstick, eyeliner and eye shadow onto Yumi. We headed off to our last location in Newington Green Park to shoot the ‘party’ look. This was because we felt that the park hindered the fact she was by herself with her thoughts, thinking things over in an environment that she feels that she has lost connection with. Here in this picture you will see that we have her sitting on a bench, we had the camera fixed on he spot where we would incorporate jump cuts of Yumi moving from position to position. This effect should hone into her current state of mind. All of this was to lead to the greatest impact to our music video when in the end, she finally finds herself, and she starts taking her make up off by wiping aggressively off her lip stick. 

Preparation for today (Wednesday’s) filming for music video: Transformation into the 'party' look

Preparation for today (Wednesday’s) filming for music video: Transformation into the 'emo' look

On Wednesday 26^th October, we met outside of college at 10:30am to go and film in our location at Liverpool Street. We wanted to focus on having different looks to our artist – Yumi. We planned that when we record in Liverpool street, that we wanted an ‘emo’ look for Yumi, playing on the idea of how she is going through different variations of styles, looking for her true self.

But before all this, we went somewhere where we can apply he make up onto Yumi for her transformation into the ‘emo’ look. We found a sitting area at ‘Starbucks’ and our make up artist – Fahmida, applied the make up onto Yumi. She added dark eyeliner, thick eyelashes and black eye shadow to create almost a Gothic look. All of this was to show how our artist was going through different variations of looks. It was very important that we wanted to almost create a fictional character out of our artist, that women can relate too – making them feel the need to change their image to fit in.

We also had a wardrobe change for Yumi as she wore black clothing. Again this was important as the clothes and the make up compliment each other, staying true to the ‘emo’ look. 

Weather Forecast for Wednesday's Filming

I have been onto the BBC website seeking information on Today's weather forecast to see if its possible and suitable to be filming, I saw that it was going to be "Cloudy and outbreaks of rain spreading North over England and Wales. Turning heavier over southwest England later. Chilly with clear spells in Britain with risk of fog. Showers will continue towards the northwest and and north east".

This means that we have to be very protective of the filing equipment and make sure that our artist - Yumi, does not suffer from being wet and cold so we have to haver her wearing her jacket to keep her warm and have an umbrella so she doesn't get wet and so that the filming equipment doesn't get wet. 

Wordle of the Song - Who You Are

Here is a Wordle of the song -Who You Are by Jessie J. I wanted to show the most common words that is mentioned in the lyrics of the song, just to emphasise how we want the music video to look by staying true to the message of the song - staying true to who you are.

Production of music video: Today’s Filming

Today we have successfully filmed in our location in Hyde Park. We specifically chose this as a venue for our central base track because we wanted to include the Gazebo/Bandstand in our music video where the artist was singing and playing the guitar. We wanted our artist who was Mika’s sister: Yumi to be in this Bandstand because we felt there was this isolation of her from the world and there was this intimacy with her and nature – Hyde Park. Also, it was because when we had Yumi in the middle playing her guitar and singing, the back drop of the grass and the different coloured trees added emphasis onto the mise en scene, making it more of a performance video, hindering on our interpretation of the lyrics to the song – Amplification from Andrew Goodwin’s theory. 

The great thing about today’s filming was that we managed to encapsulate the intensity of the song through our camera work. We achieved this by shooting a lot of “Tracking Shots” which is a common convention used in melodramatic music videos. We also made great use of our artist (even though Fahmida and I just met her) by informing Yumi what we wanted out of her, which was a lot of passion and a lot of performing, which she had to channel. Another great thing that we managed to do in today’s filming was the great usage of our location and our Bandstand because we had a lot of long shots, establishing shots, just to emphasise the mise en scene.

Some of the difficulty that we encountered during today’s filming was the bad weather. Even though it looked like a bright day, it was very cold and sadly, our artist suffered by being cold, but she persevered and managed to perform her heart out. Due to the weather, we did have to pack up filming and ‘call it a rap’ for today but I have made sure to check the weather forecast and see how the day will be. Another obstacle that we encountered was that we didn’t stay true to what we planned on the storyboard, where in some cases we did stay true like how we wanted our artist to be like in the Bandstand and what she should be doing like sitting down or leaning against one of the pillars of the Bandstand, but some aspects we didn’t stay true to the storyboard which was to focus on various parts of our artist so we can use these individuals parts as our split screen effect. 

So all in all, we managed to get a lot out of today. I am very happy of what we accomplished in today’s filming and very excited when we start editing each scene and shot together. 

Quick Influential Ideas from various Music Videos that will some way hopefully inspire our Filming


Before the day of filming, I was watching a lot of music videos from various artists from the music channels on TV. A couple of videos caught my eye because there were some shots, scenes, editing and mise en scene that I thought would look good for our video. These are just ideas that I thought I should blog about as they might be beneficial to the influence of what we are trying to achieve.

These shots are from the music video “Lego House” by ‘Ed Sheeran’. In this shot, we see the artist right in the middle of the scene, emphasising his isolation and his loneliness. I think this idea and how it’s done might be really good for our video by having our artist sitting in the middle of the Bandstand/Gazebo, showing her isolation and her loneliness.

I really like this shot of how the lighting from the sunlight shines over the artist, it gives a really warm feeling as an audience member watching this video. It makes me feel warmth for the artist by the softness of the lighting. I hope we are lucky when we are doing our filming, that we can use the sunlight to our advantage
. 
I like in this shot how the close up of the face almost fills the whole screen with such an emotive facial expression – passively channelling the lyrics of the song to the audience. 

I like the usage of the tracking shot because it captures his mood towards the song by slowly tracking around him accompanied by his passionate performance. The use of tracking shot just illustrates how emotionally moving this song is. 

From this music video called “I’m Yours” by ‘Jason Mraz’, I really like how in the beginning of the video, its accompanied by a solo of the guitar being played. The shots used to accompany this solo almost sets up who the artist is. I really like this idea because each shot is from a different base track. And when the lyrics of the song begins, we have a close up of the artist mouth singing the song.

I like the subtlety of this music by how there are shots that illustrate how the song feels and how the song isn’t just composed of the artist just singing but there are scenes where the artist is having fun and dancing without having to sing. I like this idea because we don’t have to make our artist sing all the time, she can be doing something else similar to this video.  

I really like how the base track is shot from different angles. But what I really like is that these shots aren’t used straight after each other but played separately during he video, giving it a variety of different scenes of the music video. This perfectly fits in with Fahmida’s idea of how we should be filming our artist when in the Bandstand.

I like how this video experiments with colour as they change the colour distortion to make it look more like a photographed picture.

From the music video “Warwick Avenue” by ‘Duffy’ I really love the whole drained out/washed out effect that the artist very passively gives out towards the audience. I think this look will go perfectly with when we film our gothic base track scene. I also really love how her make up is running down her face. I imagine this idea of the make up running down her face with our artist because she will be wearing heavy make up applied by Fahmida onto Yumi – our artist, which will look really amazing and get our point of view across which is to stay true to who you are. We also had the idea of having our artist wiping away her make up. 

Wordle

 

This is just a wordle i did, i got a BBC news music review on Jessi J. 

You can just see a lot of positive words going on there.  

Production of Music Video: Todays Filming

Today's Location for filming was Hyde park. We were filming the base track for our music video in the music stand. We chose this space mainly because of it being a really simple place and it wouldn't be to much for the audience to take as it being part of the Mis-en-scene. Because the whole concentration is meant to be given to the artist.

We all except one person in our group met up at 10:30 and started our journey to the location and were filming until 2:00pm in the afternoon. Not having much time we got straight down to filming. The good thing was that we didn't have any trouble with feeling uncomfortable with the artist; because it was the first time we all had met apart from Mika.

While filming we decided that we had to change most parts of our storyboard because it didn't really find it suitable for the song or it was to tricky to do.

The weather was windy and cold, so we had to quickly but efficiently film the artist because she was in shorts and tights and a top, so that obviously didn't keep her warm. After today's filming i realised that we'd have to film in good time but efficiently other wise our artist will catch a cold or something.

Production of Music Video: Photos from Filming Sessions

(This is Yumi the artist, this is just some of the close shots we've taken of her while she starts singing within the base track, we hope to create different angles from different view points so that it has a variety of shots - staying true t the convention of a typical music video, in particular RNB/POP)

(This is the same shot but its just a picture of what you see in reality and how you see it on the camera, we experimented on how close the camera should be and what kind affect we wanted, in the end, Mika and Fahmida came up with the idea that it should be a medium close up of Yumi which includes some of the background)

(This picture is of Yumi being filmed in a full shot where her head going down to her knees is filmed just to establish her casual clothes)

 (This is a long shot of Yumi, this picture is a still shot of how we're going to have Umi performing in the base track, we want to emphasise her and the green background to illustrate her isolation and lonliness)

(This is Ahmed trying out different ways to create; as he calls it "abstract" ways of creating different angels of the artist, he wanted to create a variety of different ways in filming the base track and he wanted to emphasise the feeling of the song by having a tracking shot and very slightly tilting the camera at an angle - all to show how the artist is feeling)

(Again this is Ahmed trying his idea's, here his trying to make use of the Mis-en-scene, his idea was to have the leaves falling on Yumi as almost as if its raining leaves, which in editing, we will slow this footage down so it looks more amazing as she embraces who she is)

 (This is our base track location which is Bandstand or its called a Gazebo, its in Hyde Park)

 (That's just me filming Yumi on a low shot, so I can try and get Yumi to establish her facial expression on to the video, this is very important because half of he music video really depends on Yumi nailing her performance)

 (This is another shot of Yumi, from a higher angel)

Day 1 Filming

Yesterday I went out to Alexandra palace to film although we didn't plan on filming at Alexandra Palace I thought we could get good shots of the artist and the scenery.

 To get the best view I got up at 6:00 am then got to the location and I was able to get shots of the sunrise and different shots of the artist using different angles to get both the scenery and the artist in the same shot.

The Gothic Make-up

I think this look will be great in our video for the gothic look

Locations

Our main locations are: 
- Angel
- Hyde Park
- Liverpool street
- Newington Green Park 



When looking at the location we also had to keep in mind the ideas that we have already decided for our actual music video. One of the main concepts were that we'd have different looks on the artist with a contrasting mis-en-scene. 

 

On the left is Liverpool street and on the right is an emo look that we will try and give to our artist, these two opposites have a contrast thus will try and emphasize the whole idea of "Who you are" and also try and show the audience that this person is out of place. 

                  

      This is in Hyde park, we've decided that it will be our base track for the artist, where she will be in her casual clothes, to show what she really feels comfortable in, and here also she will have a guitar. 

 

We're also going to have a smart look while she's in the park, here again we have the contrast of a smart look while she's in the park.

 

 

 

 

We also thought that she could have a party look in the middle of a shopping centre again emphasizing on the point of her being an outcast.