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Diary Posts Eleven and Twelve

A two-in-one video diary briefly covering the last two (very busy) weeks

Video Shoot: Behind the Scenes

Last night I did my first shoot for the video, using three out of my four models (as one of them could not make it, but I will use her in the re-shoot I am planning to do after the Christmas holidays). As well as having a camera for myself to film the footage for the music video, I gave my models a camera to take some 'behind the scenes' photos of the work I was doing. Here are some of those photos...

 As well as having my three models - Daniella, Becca, and Verity - I also had my assistant Megan on hand. One of the things she did to help me was playing and pausing the song at the appropriate timings, and scrolling the lyrics on the projector screen behind us, so that when the models needed to mouth the lyrics of the song, they had the screen to refer to.

These two photos show me discussing with Becca the camera position and angles, as I wanted to ensure that the image I recorded was only of her lips, but she also needed to be in focus. This made it difficult as I had to make sure that Becca did not move backwards or forwards too much when mouthing the words.



As I mentioned earlier, I used the projector screen behind us to display the lyrics for the models to read, but in between takes Megan put up my shot list so that I could make sure I was following my plan. We crossed off each shot after we had done it, meaning when I do my re-shoot I will know exactly which shots need to be done.

Personnel Details

Costumes

Most of my costume ideas were outlined in my mood board, where a lot of the pictures were of clothes, jewellery and make-up. The sort of costumes that I want for my models are short skirts, high heels, lots of make-up, etc. - essentially just the kind of clothes worn when going out at night. Here are some examples of the style I am looking for...

Props

These are the props that I am aiming to use in my music video, based on my shot list. Some of the props are a bit unusual as I'm not using them because they're stylish or pretty, but because they are visually representing the lyrics. So, for example in any other music video, I would not feel the need for a biro or a drawing pin, but I need them for the lines "we'll start to talk when she borrows my pen" and "sharp as a tack" in this song.

I am going to use bank notes at 02:19, when the lyrics are "I want a girl with good dividends". I thought hard about how I could visually represent dividends, and in the end I decided that I could just use the idea of money by having the model fan out a wad of bank notes. I can get these easily by just asking all the models to bring some money, and because obviously I don't have to spend it, they can have it all back after the shot has been done. 

I plan to use a biro at 02:23 where the model writes the words, "we''ll start to talk when she borrows my pen", which are the lyrics. I will speed this up in Adobe After Effects so that it covers just the length of the lyrics.

Using shots of instruments, particularly guitars, are often common in indie music videos. Because the bassline of the song I am using is quite loud and important to the song, have chosen to use a bass guitar. The bass guitar will feature a few times in my video - I plan to use shots of the bassline being played during the intro, the instrumental and the outro.

During the line "eyes that burn like cigarettes", I have storyboarded a shot of lips blowing out smoke. Obviously this shot will have to be filmed outside, whilst the rest of mine will be shot indoors. Also the model I aim using for this shot is eighteen.

I will use a sped-up shot of a clock twice in my music video, once for the line "I want a girl who gets up early", where I will reverse the footage so that the clock hands are moving backwards, and once for the line "I want a girl who stays up late", where the hands will be moving forwards, though still sped-up.

I aim to use a takeaway paper coffee cup (not necessarily from Costa) for the line "she wants a car with a cupholder armrest", where I will film a model's lips in extreme close-up taking a sip from the cup.

I will use a small diamond-type gem for the line "I want a girl with a mind like a diamond", where I will have a model toying with it in her fingers, filmed in extreme close-up. Hopefully the light bouncing off the different sides of the diamond, especially when filmed so closely, will make for quite an interesting shot.

In the lyrics, the simile "sharp as a tack" is repeated, so I wanted to accompany this line with a simple gold drawing pin, having the model lightly prick her finger against it to draw attention to the sharpness of it, hence representing the simile.

For the line "who uses a machete to cut through red tape", I want to have a shot of the model snipping through red tape with some scissors. The scissors are easily obtained, and I managed to find some red tape in the sound department at school, which is used for taping wires at school productions. I will use two chairs on either side of the photoshoot backdrop to secure the tape to, and then have my model cut it in close-up.

Floor Plan

Risk Assessment

Call Sheet - Video Shoot 1/12/11

Actor Release Forms

Location Contract

Audience Feedback - Proposal

Screen Test

Location Recce

Shot List

This is my shot list for my music video, which briefly outlines all the shots I am planning to use along with their timings. Whilst I have tried to be as detailed as possible, there are some timings where I am not looking to film something that specific, for example in the instrumental of the song I would just like a variety of shots of the models dancing, or singing, or the bassline being played, and so at that point in the shot list there is less of a clear-cut plan. I will show this to all of my models before shooting to ensure that they know exactly what they are required to do, and then use it when filming so that I stick to my original plan and do not miss any shots that I require.

Diary Post Ten

Since my last diary post I have put up the storyboard that I mentioned, as well as a mood board that I created based on the themes, design inspirations and overall look of my music video. I have also completed a shot list, which briefly describes every shot I plan to use in turn along with the timing of that shot. Although I could just begin filming with a basic idea of what I wanted, and then use whatever footage I had from that to create the video and still end up with something very successful, in the case of my video (because of the song I'm using, the fact that I want visual representations of the lyrics, and also the way I work) I felt it would be much more effective if I knew exactly what I was going to film before I started. I have also got my models to sign their model release forms and I plan to film next week.

Digipack Cover Sketch

This is my draft for my digipack front cover. As the name of the band is Cake, I thought that an interesting design would be to bake a cake and ice the name of the album and band on the top. The name of the album is called Shadow Stabbing, so I had the idea of putting a knife in the cake and then using red icing to look like blood dripping from the wound. I really like the idea of using a cake for the cover, but I am unsure yet as to whether I will use the knife idea as I'm not sure it really reflects the tone of the song and the band.

Animatic

This is the animatic of my music video, which I created by taking the pictures from my storyboards and placing them on a timeline on Adobe Premiere Pro along with my song, and then editing them so that they fit in time with the music. Although this and the storyboard do cover most of the shots I plan to use, there are some parts of the song where I did not have a picture for what I am planning to film. However I have a more detailed description of the shots I want in my Shot List.

Storyboard

For my storyboard, I took the shot ideas that I knew I definitely wanted to use and sketched them out roughly with colour, so that I had a basic idea of what they would look like, even though they were not detailed. Then I scanned these in and pasted them onto a blank storyboard (like the one I used for my reverse storyboard), adding a short description of the camera angle/movement and type of shot, along with the lyric or music playing at the time of shot. Although this doesn't cover every shot I am aiming to use, it gives me a basis of what types of shots I want to use and it made me think more about the visuals of the video.

Mood Board

This mood board represents the overall tone, look and style of my music video. For example, the colours are mainly red, black, white and grey, with a lot of dark eye make-up and red lipstick, which is the kind of make-up I want my models to wear. I tried to include images of the sort of costumes I would want them to wear too, although this is harder as we are somewhat restricted to what people own, so I found photos of short skirts, high heels, ripped jeans, etc., as these reflect the sort of 'look' I want the models to have.

Diary Post Nine

Over the half term I have been working on my sketches for my storyboard and digipack cover and turning the sketches into an animatic. These should be up here soon, with a little description of the camera movements and why I chose these shots, etc. 


As well as this I have begun working towards my audience profile by getting some feedback from peers. I began by putting up polls on my blog asking about people's attitudes to music videos, and then showing some friends (who are not in my media class, so as to give me a less biased view) my proposal and asking them what they thought of the idea. I will write up these results and post them soon.


I also began discussing costume ideas with some of the models I will be using, mostly the sort of colours I am looking for them to wear, as well as the style of make-up, jewellery and hair. Additionally I briefed them on some of the things they will be required to do in the music video and at what part of the song they would be shown. I am hoping to show all my models my proposal, storyboard, animatic, etc, so that when it comes to filming they are fully aware of what it is I am looking to achieve and I know that we are all on the same page.

Diary Post Eight

This week we got into groups of four and filmed some test sequences. These are just little clips of footage that we can use to try out different effects and things and see how they work, hopefully giving us some ideas and inspiration for our music videos. Our teacher gave us a list of different basic ideas, which included dramatic angles, reverse shots, split screening, multiple exposure, slow motion, etc, and we  tried to get as many clips for the ideas as possible (although many of them did not work very well in the end). This was something that I really enjoyed and I feel that I’ve already learnt a bit more about getting interesting and artistic shots. After we had filmed the footage, we edited them individually on Adobe Premiere; I put some things in reverse, changed the colours, and played with effects like ghosting. By seeing the sort of ways that I can manipulate footage using the software we have, I feel better prepared for making my music video as I know what is easily achievable and what is not. As well as this, it meant that I am more familiar with the cameras we’ll be using, so I feel more confident about that.

Also this week I have been sketching out some basic ideas, beginning with my digipack cover and then also the start of my storyboard. We had a discussion in class and tried to come up with some unusual concepts for these, based on either technical skills or an impressive image. When these are finished and coloured and everything then I’ll upload those too.

Test Sequences

Diary Entry Seven

Since doing my last diary post, which was the holiday one, I have written my music video proposal, which just outlines my initial ideas for what I’m going to create. I wrote about my target audience, concept, possible equipment I might use, models, possible locations (or lack thereof, I’ll explain this in a bit), costumes, choice of song, similar videos, etc. A lot of the stuff that I talked about I had already mentioned in previous posts, especially my holiday diary post, because they’re ideas that I’ve been working on for a while now.

Also this week I went back over previous work that I’ve done and just made sure that everything was really detailed and clear, so I did some little explanations on stuff like my 10 iconic music video stills and the equipment checklist.

In my last diary entry I mentioned uploading my location recce, I haven’t uploaded yet, mostly because the concept for my video requires it being shot entirely in extreme close-up, so the location isn’t really important, or actually necessary at all, because if I do it right you shouldn’t see the background. Having said that, I know the location recce is an important part of planning my video so I post that soon, but my location will probably just be in one of the media rooms, with a plain white backdrop, possibly with some bits filmed outside for a different lighting effect.

Proposal

My music video idea is for the song ‘Short Skirt/Long Jacket’ by the band Cake. I chose this song because I thought the lyrics would be interesting to present visually, as when I listen to the song I get clear mental images of what is being sung about. Because the lyrics are about a girl and the models I will be using are all female, my video will be aimed at men, probably aged 16-30.

Rather than have a single model in my film, I would like to use a large group of girls to represent different aspects of the girl being described by the lyrics in the song. All the models will be filmed in extreme close-up – like the video for ‘Animal Arithmetic’ by Jonsi – using studio lighting and either a Canon XM2 HD Camera, a Canon 55OD Camera or a Sony HVRA1E Camera. These all allow for high quality footage, meaning my video will look professional. Like videos such as ‘Get Over It’ by OK Go, I will visually represent the lyrics using these models and also some props, for example, when the lyrics say "eyes that burn like cigarettes", the video would show one of the model's eyes, followed by another's lips blowing out cigarette smoke, or something similar.

The costumes for my video will be based on the descriptions from the song, so one of the models will be wearing “a short skirt and a long jacket”, they will have lots of make-up and painted nails, so as to look very glamorous. My video might use a band, also filmed in extreme close-up, so that when the song begins with the bass line, I could show it being played on the bass. Due to the fact that I will be shooting entirely in extreme close-up, location is not a particularly important part of my video, as you will not be able to see the surroundings very clearly or at all. I will shoot inside one of the media rooms against a white backdrop, much like the way in which I carried out the photoshoot for last year’s coursework.

After having filmed my video, I will edit it together using Adobe Premiere and After Effects. I aim to use many cuts in the editing process, timing them with the music so that the two fit together well and my video looks professional. There are a few problems that I might encounter when it comes to making my music video, though as I do not require outside locations, there are less potential issues. One problem that may occur is not being able to find a suitable filming day, because I aim to use so many models, who may not all be available at the same time. Although I could shoot the models individually, I liked the idea of shooting as many as possible at once, as I found last year that they felt more comfortable and were more willing to pose if they were not alone. This means that my video will not have an awkward atmosphere, as the models should look more natural. To try and ensure that I can get them all at the same time I will ask them to sign an agreement form that says that they are willing to work at certain times. I will also need to be sure that I know how to work all the equipment properly, so that I use it to its full potential.

Diary Entry Six: Holiday Post

I know the holidays are definitely over now, but I wanted to do this post after I had finished all the work I wanted to talk about. Over the summer I did some more thinking about an idea for my music video, and I decided that the idea I had for Short Skirt/Long Jacket by Cake (see Diary Entry One) would be very effective if done well and also fairly simple to do, especially in comparison to other ideas I have had. The idea was basically that I would use many female models and shoot them in extreme close-up, visually representing the lyrics. For example, when the lyrics say "eyes that burn like cigarettes", the video would show one of the model's eyes, followed by another's lips blowing out cigarette smoke, or something similar. This would also take inspiration from the OK Go video that I also mentioned in my first diary entry, which uses visual representations of the lyrics by zooming in on objects, e.g. when the singer shouts "hey!", the video cuts to a bale of hay. My video might also use a band, also filmed in extreme close-up, so that when the song begins with the bass line, I could show it being played on the bass. However, I first need to find a band that would be willing to learn the song. Additionally I would like the focus of the video to be more on the models than the band. For this video I could make use of the HD cameras available at school, as well as the studio lighting.
So, as I had pretty much decided on a song, I analysed the lyrics, which I did by printing them out, scribbling all over them and scanning them back in, a habit I have picked up from English Literature. This process was particularly important for my music video as I'm focusing on visual representations of the lyrics, so I think it's vital that I work to understand the lyrics (and the themes and ideas presented by them) if I want my video to be successful.
Another piece of work that I have been working on is my location recce, which I have not yet uploaded as I wanted to take some photos of locations around school that I could use, e.g. the OK Go video that I have already mentioned uses an empty bingo hall, a look that I could recreate using an empty school gym. Once I have added these photos then I will upload that too, which should hopefully be in the next week.

Song Lyric Analysis: Short Skirt/Long Jacket - Cake

Before creating my shot list or storyboard, I wanted to analyse the lyrics of the song I am using. This is especially important for my idea because I want to visually represent some of the lyrics through the models and props, e.g. having the model snip through some red tape when the lyrics are "who uses a machete to cut through red tape". I decided the easiest way for me to do this was to print out the lyrics and annotate them like I would a poem.

Diary Entry Five

In the last diary post I made I mentioned starting a reverse storyboard of the 'I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor' video, which I have finally uploaded. As well as this I also finished my equipment checklist, which just showcases some of the equipment I have at my disposal when it comes to the production of my music video. It covers most of the stuff, but the department at my school also has things like a green screen, which I didn't include.
Before the holidays I also posted my ten most iconic music video stills. I know I missed out some of the more obvious and popular choices, e.g. 'Sledgehammer' by Peter Gabriel or 'Ashes to Ashes' by David Bowie, but I tried to choose videos that I personally thought were iconic, rather than ones that other people had already chosen.
Lastly, I'm just about to update my inspirations page with more videos that I have mentioned, and there should be a holiday diary post coming soon.

Equipment Checklist



Autocue
This could be useful when making my video because I could have the lyrics playing on the autocue to remind the performer of them, so that I may have to do less takes as hopefully less mistakes will be made.



Canon 55OD Camera
This camera would be particularly good when filiming my music video because it allows me to shoot in shallow focus, something which may work well as I will be using a lot of extreme close-ups.




Canon XM2 HD Camera
I could use this camera when filming my music video because it shoots in High Definition, meaning my footage will be of a much better quality, which is very important to me. Additionally it works very well in low-light settings, so if I wanted to film outside without studio lights my footage would still be of a decent quality. Lastly, it also allows me to use external microphones, so I could use a boom mic and get a better sound quality as well.




Crane
This is a crane, which allows you to get a smooth, free camera movement and obtain shots that you wouldn't be able to otherwise. I don't think that I will use this in my music video as it is better suited for longer shots and landscape filming rather than close-ups, which is what I am interested in.



Fill Light
This light is useful because it enables me to get high-key lighting. Unlike a spotlight, which only highlights certain areas, a fill light just brightens the entire area I am filming, meaning it gets rid of any harsh shadows. I might consider using this when filming shots of the band.



Sony HVRA1E Camera
These cameras are high-definition, allowing me to get a better quality footage (like the Canon XM2 HD camera). However, unlike the Canon, it is very portable, meaning I could use it if I wanted to film in a location that is further way, such as in London. Additionally, I am able to film in wide screen rather than just the standard size screen, making my work look more professional.




Spotlight
I will consider using these in my music video as they mean I can highlight certain areas, which will be particularly effective when filming in extreme close-up.




Tripod/Dolly
This tripod means that I can get steady, smooth shots rather than using handheld all the time.




Visual Switcher
This means that I can mix different visuals, plugging in different cameras so that I can live cut between them. This may be useful when filming my music video as I am planning on having many fast-paced cuts.

 This is just some of the equipment available for use in the production my music video.

Reverse Storyboard: Arctic Monkeys - I Bet That You Look Good on the Dancefloor

This is my reverse storyboard for the video 'I Bet That You Look Good on the Dancefloor' by Arctic Monkeys. I created this by taking 14 of the most important or interesting shots in the video and analysing them individually in terms of camera angle/movement, mise-en-scene and editing, as you would if you were to create the storyboard before I had made the video.