Rose Productions: November 2011

Tuesday 29 November 2011

Learning to use the camera

As we are filming tomorrow, I learnt how to use the camera. We went through how to set up the tripod to make sure it was level and stable. Then we were taught how to put the camera onto the tripod as we had to make sure it was facing the right way to film. We had used the tripods before so this part wasn't that hard it just refreshed our memories. The camera we used was different to the one we used last year so we had to learn all the basic skills and also how to make sure the white balance was correct. This was to make sure all the colours were as they should be. We did this by zooming into something white in the room and pressing correct. This then automatically sorted out the brightness of the colours. Now all of this was sorted we were all ready to go out filming tomorrow.

Roles

Ashley- Director and actor
Chloe- Director and actor
Freya- Cameraman and actor
Jess- Producer and actor

Week Nine Meeting

This is our final group meeting before we go out and start filming. As our group are using our own camera, we spent a short time going through how to work the camera so it would save time on going through it on the day of filming. As well as going through the camera, we spoke about the routine for the day of filming, when we are going to start, what we are going to need and at what location we will need to be at. Finally, we spoke about what needs to be finished before we start filming, such as things on the blog and to get them finished in this lesson.

Friday 25 November 2011

Call Sheet

Things We Need For Our First Day Of Filming

For the first scene of filming, we will need:

Location: Brick Lane graffiti wall
Actors: Jessica and Danny
Props/equipment: Camera, Tripod

For our second scene of filming, we will need:

Location: Jessica's house
Actors: Jess, Chloe, Ashley,Freya
Props/equipment: Balloons, ipad, Cake, Lipstick, Camera, Tripod

For our third scene of filming, we will need:

Location: Canary Wharf
Actors: People at the ice rink, Jess, Freya, Ashley and Chloe
Props/equipment: Camera, Tripod, Scarves, Gloves

Make Up

The make up that we use in our video is generally natural looking as we don't want it to look fake or too much. We also, do a section where the make up stands out and is the main attraction of the shot. For example, for the first chorus we are using an extreme close up of four peoples lips with different coloured lip stick. This shot will be in black and white apart from the lips.

Wednesday 30th November- First Day of Filming

From MTV to YouTube Trip

As a class we went to Brick Lane to a place called RichMix. We listened to the head of the examining board talk about music videos which would hopefully help us in our coursework.

History of Music - Music Videos
A music video last the lenth of the song (sometimes longer)
Normally it will feature the artist in the video
They can sometimes tell stories
Music videos need to have an impact on the audience to make them watch is again.

The first time music videos were experimented with was in the 1930's
This was the colour box, Len Lye created which turned out to be sponsored by the Post Office. The music was being shown throught the videos. Most of the images Lye ued were scracted onto plastics.

In the 1940's music videos were developed. The video juke box was created which meantas songs were being played, the juke box would also show a promotional film. 4000 of were installed round the united states. Many people thought that some of the films being shown were 'too sexy' to be shown. Nat King Coles promotional video shown performance and also a male gaze where the camera tilted up the woman. this video also showed screen in screen visuals which was very advanced editing.

The 1960's brought a new development in the video jukebox which was the new colour image on it. this was called the scopitone. most of these were created in France. there was a very low budget in making music videos but with the new colour screen, real promotional videos started to get made by big artist like Elvis Presley and the Beatles. The Beatles video was taken from a film but camera tricks like slow motion and fast motion were used.

Music videos really started to take off in the 1970's and the 1980's after Queens - Bohemian Rhapsody took of and people relised that making these videos could make some money. shortly after MTV was made wich showed ownly british artist for the first 2 years.

The first music video to be shown on MTV was Video Killed the Radio Star, and soon after people like Madness with there vidoe our house. Madonna was the first female artist to be shown and Micheal Jackson was the first black man to be shown on MTV. After people started to love Jackson, people realised that there was money to be made in black music. and now today people like 50 Cent and Jay-Z are very well respected.

we then went over Andrew Goodwins Theory which had already covered in class. he then gave us Ten Top Tips on how to do well in the exam.

0. Limber Up:
1. Choose a track
2. Write a treatment (Pitch)
3. Plan for everything
4. Set up a Blog
5. Know the equipment
6. The shoot
7. Capture your footage
8. The edit
9. Screening
10. Analysis

Thursday 24 November 2011

Media trip notes

On Wednesday 16th of November, my media class and I went on a trip to Rickmix Education in Brick Lane. Once we arrived, we were ushered ino a theatre room where we were then seated. We were welcomed by Thalia Cassimatis, the Rickmix Education Officer. She then introducted Pete Fraser, who was presenting our morning session. Here is what was included in the morning session:

What is a music video?

It lasts the length of the song, sometimes longer
Generally features the artist
Can tell a story but it does not have to
Needs to be visually memorable and worth repeat viewings

1981- The rise of MTV

The track exists first and the visual.
Music video's started of as feature films.
We were shown Len Lye- A colour box, which is a mini feature film made by an the artist Len Lye

We were then shown a feature film from Nat King Cole- Frim Fram Sauce. In the feature film, we see features of the male gaze when the camera pans up a womens legs, which wasn't common in feature films of that time. We also see Nat King Cole looking at himself singing in a 'Soundie'. Soundies were video juke boxes in diners.

Scopitones were later started in France. Scopitones were a more modern version of a Soundie.

1960- Mainstream videos became more popular

We were shown The Beatles first feature film- hard days night.
The feature film is made for promotional videos for tours as well as to give the band an image.

By 1970, feature films began to become more popular with bands. However, in 1981 MTV was dominated by British acts. Many of which were male. Although, this was the start of the breakthrough for women. Madonna made a breakthrough and budjets started to go out. Black acts found it hard to get their videos made, which meant that no black acts appeared on MTV. Although, it did not take long for Michael Jackson to be the first black act to appear on MTV. His first feature film, Thriller was shown on MTV.

After Michael Jackson's appearence on MTV, black music became more popular. Acts such as Jay-Z (99 probmels) and 50 Cent (Candy shop) made a huge breakthrough.

Method of analysis-Andrew Goodwin

Genre Characteristsics
Visual relationship with lyrics and music
Need to see the atrist as the star- star image is important
Voyeurism/looking- frames within frames
Intertextuality

Pete went on to talk about 'Mash ups' of music videos, Machinima. We watched various video's such as a Sims version of Telephone by Lady Gaga and Beyonce, Lego Starwars and a 'mash up' of Michael Jackson's Thriller, made by prison cell mates. We also watched Dangermouse-The Grey Video.

We then talked about World Wide Web Cam which is where people make home videos and upload to YouTube. Low budget films have been made by many different people such as Cellpone Sky by The Turn Back. The video was shot entirely on an iPhone.
Roles of technology and money have changed hugely:

Roles of technology and money
Conventions and characteristics
Viewing contexts-Where and how we watch music videos.

Top Ten Tips
0. Limber Up:

Do some exercises with found footage
Lipsync
Do a karaoke multi angle
Remake an existing video

1. Choose a track

Can be a mistake to go for well know artist/your favourite artist
Make it short

2. Write a treatment (Pitch)

Pitch for the material with a strong and simple idea
Have a clear concept
Be realistic

3. Plan for everything

Storyboard
People, places, props, costume
Shoot early
Rehearsed-know the words

4. Set up a Blog

Use it to link to ideas
Videos that influence you
Research the genre in detail
Photos that give you ideas
Location shots
Anamatic of your story board
Put all your ideas on an e-notebook

5. Know the equipment

Test Shots
Check the camera
Tripod
Make sure the tape is loaded
Do you know the editing software
Make sure u have the music and an audiable source e.g. i.pod or stereo

6. The shoot

Shoot the performance at least 10 different times with different set ups
Make plenty of cuts
Experiment with different angles
Lots of close-ups
Enthuse your performers
Shoot more than you think you will need

7. Capture your footage

Lable everything you capture
Organise it so it is easy to find
Dont capture stuff you don't need
Break it into manageable chunks

8. The edit

Synch up performances first
Get the whole picture rather than tiny detail
Cut and Cut again
Aim for a dynamic piece of work
Effects work-LAST!
Upload a rough cut to your blog and get feedback

9. Screening

Big Screen
Get feedback
Upload to your blog via YouTube
Get the artist to look and give you feedback

10. Analysis

Evaluation!
Take advice

Before the lunch break we were played a song 'No Rest' and our task over lunchtime was to prepare a pitch for the music video.

Afternoon Session

When we returned to the theatre after lunch, we were introduced to Liz Kessier, a video producer and Corin Hardy, a music video director. We began the afternoon session by telling Corin, School by school, our pitch for the music video we heard before lunch. Corin and Liz then gave feedback and told each school what they thought of the different ideas. Corine then showed us a few of the music video's he had directed, low budget and high budget. E.g. A couple of Olly Murs' videos, Britney spears and a few not as well known groups.

We were told about product placement- A brand pay money to advertise their product in the music video. To finish off the session, Corin told us a bit about being a director and how he got to be a music director.

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Costumes and Props for our Video

We have watched a variety of different videos to get ideas for what costumes we would like to incorporate in our music video. As it is quite an upbeat song we want to incorporate a variety of different colours, this also link in well with our ideas because the music video will be full of happy and positive throughout, so it makes sense to add in coloured clothing so there is a correlation. It would not make sense for us to have dark clothing with negative connotations as it would not work with our video. Below are some images that will be similar to the clothing that the people in our video will wear. Despite this we do want our video to be quite realistic so the costumes will be clothing the actors would normally wear. Also as our video is aimed at teenagers/early twenties, we want the clothes to be stylish so people want to be like the individuals in our video.

Main Couple in the video

Sarah Groves & Jack Latchford

Rest of the individuals in the video

Jessica Staplehurst
Chloe Spillane
Ashley Stump
Freya Catmur-Hill

PROPS

-Balloons
-Flowers
-Love Hearts (plastic)
-Love Heart Sweets
-Barbie and Ken
-Barbie Car
-Ring box and ring
-iPad x2
-Cake
-Make-up (Foundation, Blusher, Bronzer, Eyeshadows, Lipsticks, Mascara, Fake Eyelashes)

ABOVE IS THE FIRST PROP LIST THAT WE ORIGINALLY PLANNED TO USE WE CHANGED OUR IDEAS AND BELOW IS THE PROP LIST WE USED IN OUR ACTUAL VIDEO

PROPS

-Balloons
-Flowers
-Love Hearts (plastic)
-Love Heart Sweets
-iPad
-Make-up (Foundation, Blusher, Bronzer, Eyeshadows, Lipsticks, Mascara, Fake Eyelashes)

Our first Prop list was just from the ideas that we thought up at the beginning we realised that some of our ideas would not work with our video so the Prop list above is our final one with the props we ended up using.

Shot list

1. Couple(Jess and Danny) standing facing each other about 6ft apart infront of a graffiti wall, Brick Lane. (Long shot) [2 beats] stop motion
2. '' '' 5ft apart, same location. Long shot. 2 beats. (Jess and Danny)
3. '' '' 2ft apart, same location. Long shot. 2 beats. (Jess and Danny)
4. '' '' Close together same location. Long shot. 2 beats (Jess and Danny)
5. Facing the camera (long shot). Graffiti wall [2 beats] (Jess and Danny)
6. Facing the camera, both peoples hands come out slightly (mid shot) [2 beats] (Jess and Danny)
7. Close up of their hands coming together [2 beats] (Jess and Danny)
8. Hands changing to different people and positions (Close up) [2 beats] (Random people)
9. Hands change to different people and little fingers linking (Close up) [2 beats] (Random people)
10. Hands change to different people and normal hand hold (Close up) [2 beats] (Random people)
11. Close up of faces, girl first, plain face, still image [2 beats] (Jess)
12. Close up of girls face. Smile, still image [2 beats] (Jess)
13. Close up of boys face, plain, still image [2 beats] (Danny)
14. Close up of boys face, smile, still image [2 beats] (Danny)
15. Panning shot of feet, close up (Jess and Danny)
15. Big close up of lips miming the lyrics 'I feel' (Me)
16. Different lips miming 'so close' (Jess)
17. '' '' ' to you' (Chloe)
18. '' '' 'right now' (Freya)
19. Split screen of the 4 different lips 'It's a force field' (All 4 of us)
20. Panning shot of the legs, close up (Jess and Danny)
21. Boy and girls looking at each other, close up, 'i wear my heart upon my sleeve like a big deal' (Jess and Danny
22. Mid body for the pause, panning shot, close up (Jess and Danny)
23. Girl with water trickling down in front of her, mid shot. ' your love pours down...waterfall' (Chloe)
24. Pause, Close up again of the boy and girls faces (Jess and Danny)
25. 'Theres no stopping us right now' Long shot of boy and girl kissing (Jess and Danny)
26. ' I feel so close to you right now' close up of girl of firl over the boys shoulder saying them words
(music goes fast and there is loads of cuts to many different ideas) (Jess)
27. Long shot of balloons being released into the air (Jess' garden)
28. Various shots of people in an ice rink, holding hands and skating round (dark) (Canary wharf)
29. The camera quickly cuts back to the balloons floating in the air, Long shot (Jess' garden)
30. Establishing shot of loads of people walking, fast paced. (West end)
31. Shot goes back to the balloons even higher in the sky, now becomes an extreme long shot (Jess' garden)
32. Long shot of Barbie and Ken in a toy car (Jess' house)
33. Final shot of the balloons as they begin to separate and disappear (Jess' garden)
34. Fast paced show of people walking again. Establishing shot (West end)
35. Long shot of hearts falling and other things falling from the sky (Jess' garden)
36. Fast paced shot of traffic in the car, shot from above (Random busy road)
37. Quick shot of girls laughing and joking around, Long shot (Jess' house, all of us girls)
38. Back to the fast paced shot of traffic (Random traffic)
39. Back to the toy car again. Long shot (Jess' house)
40. Split screen of 4 lips with cake round them (All of us girls)
41. Loads of different shots of cake fight, Close ups, long shots, Mid shots (Jess's house, Us 4 girls and loads of different boys and girls)
42. Slow shot of a horse and rider jumping over a horse jump, long shot (Terri's stables, Terri and her horse)
43. Shot of girls getting ready for a night out ( Me, Harriot and Freya, Freya's house)
44. 9 various shots of the club and 8 various shots of the girls (Pacha nightclub, Me, Harriot and Freya, Freya's house)
45. 6 different shots of someone holding an ipad and each time they hold it up, there is someone elses face in the ipad. This will be shot from a mid shot. ( Random people from West End)
46. Close up of a ring box, closed
47. Close up of the ring box open
48. Again the ring box is closed
49. again the ring box is open
50. Close up of a bunch of flowers
51. Worms eye view of long grass swaying in the wind
52. Bouquet with petals falling off, close up
53. Close up of grass with some ones feet running through it (Random Park)
54. Bouquet of flowers on floor with petals surrounding it, Long shot
55. Long shot of 'just married' Barbie and Ken driving off and then the shot fades with the music

Tuesday 22 November 2011

The reason that Beyonce-1+1 inspired us was because of the various close ups to her face and lips. We wanted to include close up of our faces and lips as it is one of Goodwin's 6 point analysis, and if our music video was to be aired, it is required for the star(s) of the music video to have close ups. Another reason was because we liked the idea of having loads of different mouths and coloured lips to lipread the words. Another things that inspired us about this music video was when the water trickles down infront of her face and she is behind the glass, which, in a way, is sexual which links to being close to someone, hence the lyrics of the song 'I feel so close to you'.

Trip to RichMix

A trip was organised for all Media students in our year to go to a place in Brick Lane called Rich Mix. I went onto the Rich Mix website to see what it was about before we went on the trip. The website says that
"Rich Mix is a charity and social enterprise that offers live music, film, dance, theatre, comedy, spoken word and a range of creative activities for people of all ages and all cultures". We went to the there to listen to speeches from a variety of different people who were involved in the Media Industry. The first part of the trip was all to do with the history of music videos.

History of the Music Video

The typical conventions of a music video are:

It lasts the length of the song (or longer)

Generally features the artist but sometimes doesn't.

Can tell a story

Needs to be visually memorable, worth repeat viewings

-Video started in the 1930's where people started experimenting with film.

-Colour Box- Len Lye:- This is a video advertising the Post Office. They sponsored the people to create the videos if they advertised the Post Office.

-The video was made with images being scratched on

From MTV to Youtube

What is a music video?