Earlier I had mentioned that the lighting had effected some of our clips, we had relied on natural light as our only lighting when filming at the miniature railway station, and although the day turned out bright like we had hoped, it seemed to have negative effects. I have done some research into how we can sort this out through editing on final cut express and came across this video which tells you how contrast can be enhanced.
This will be very useful in correcting the issues that poor lighting especially as the music video deadline is nearing and this needs to be done as soon as possible.
Sunday, 31 October 2010
Possible digi pack photos
Organisation
To Do List
The deadline of our music video (11th of November) is near approaching and there are many things still needed to be done -
The deadline of our music video (11th of November) is near approaching and there are many things still needed to be done -
- Organise newly filmed clips (artist playing piano)
- Begin to edit these clips
- Finish editing older clips (railway station)
- Edit clips from railway station and artist playing piano together
- Add track onto sound
- Begin to work towards digipack
Digipack Ideas
During filming at the miniature railway station, we took many pictures which we could possibly be used for our digipack. When we visited the location in order to see if it was suitable for filming, we came up with many ideas for possible album covers. There was a cafe which showed a sign saying 'cream teas and scones', we were featuring cupcakes in our video and felt this would be suitable as an album cover as it matched the image of our artist but also incorporated the location of the video. We also got pictures of the artist sitting on the train with a cupcake again incorporating both the location and Jose vanders image. I feel it is important that we also feature the piano in the digipack as that is a big part of her music and image.
Audience Research
There were two different videos of our song on youtube, one is an accoustic version and the other a music video that one of Jose Vanders friends has made. I looked at the accoustic version for my audience research as it has been on youtube longer and therefore will be more reliable.
The video has had 250, 949 views so far on youtube.
The video seemed to be most popular with females and the average age was 20 years old . This was very helpful to see as it gave me a more specific insight into the type of audiences who would be listening to our song and that particular style of music. Although the average age is 20 I found some of her audiences were as young as 14 and then others as old as 42. I found this interesting that our artist had such a wide range of audience and I felt our video took this into consideration. The fact that we illustrated the lyrics appealed to the younger audience as it was more fun to watch, but we still kept Jose simply playing the piano and singing her song which appealed to the older audiences. I picked five people from the many who had commented on the video at random, and most of the five people had links to videos of female artists similar to Jose Vanders, such as Natasha Bedingfield, Kate Nash and Ellie Goulding. Most of them also had links to accoustic artists which again was similar to Jose as she too is more of an accoustic artist. This made me confident that we were appealing the the right audience.
The video has had 250, 949 views so far on youtube.
The video seemed to be most popular with females and the average age was 20 years old . This was very helpful to see as it gave me a more specific insight into the type of audiences who would be listening to our song and that particular style of music. Although the average age is 20 I found some of her audiences were as young as 14 and then others as old as 42. I found this interesting that our artist had such a wide range of audience and I felt our video took this into consideration. The fact that we illustrated the lyrics appealed to the younger audience as it was more fun to watch, but we still kept Jose simply playing the piano and singing her song which appealed to the older audiences. I picked five people from the many who had commented on the video at random, and most of the five people had links to videos of female artists similar to Jose Vanders, such as Natasha Bedingfield, Kate Nash and Ellie Goulding. Most of them also had links to accoustic artists which again was similar to Jose as she too is more of an accoustic artist. This made me confident that we were appealing the the right audience.
Lighting
Before we shot parts of our music video at the miniature railway station, we had not planned to enhance the lighting and hoped that it would be a bright sunny day as said on the weather forecast for the 16th of October. The image of our artist didn't suit fancy lighting and therefore we felt natural daylight would fit well.
Having now shot the video, we realise that it may have been a better idea to consider the possibility of enhancing the lighting, although the weather was bright and sunny as the forecast had said, it created other problems we had not expected. The backround looked great with the sunny weather, but the artist and characters in the video were sometimes hidden by shadow or in the opposite effect blinded by the light and too lit up meaning their faces did not come up well on the camera. As we are past the filming deadline we will be unable to re film with better lighting however we believe there is ways to edit the film on final cut express which should help fix this.
We planned to film the parts of the video where the artist is playing the piano in the hall, we wanted to do this in the day so that the daylight would be enough for the lighting. We also wanted to use fairy lights in that part of the video and place them on to the piano to add something extra than just natural light, but we could not get any in time. When we shot in the hall we found that the natural lighting worked fine and we didn't need any enhancements.
Overall we will now have to rely on certain effects on final cut express to re adjust the lighting that we feel didn't turn out that well on camera.
Having now shot the video, we realise that it may have been a better idea to consider the possibility of enhancing the lighting, although the weather was bright and sunny as the forecast had said, it created other problems we had not expected. The backround looked great with the sunny weather, but the artist and characters in the video were sometimes hidden by shadow or in the opposite effect blinded by the light and too lit up meaning their faces did not come up well on the camera. As we are past the filming deadline we will be unable to re film with better lighting however we believe there is ways to edit the film on final cut express which should help fix this.
We planned to film the parts of the video where the artist is playing the piano in the hall, we wanted to do this in the day so that the daylight would be enough for the lighting. We also wanted to use fairy lights in that part of the video and place them on to the piano to add something extra than just natural light, but we could not get any in time. When we shot in the hall we found that the natural lighting worked fine and we didn't need any enhancements.
Overall we will now have to rely on certain effects on final cut express to re adjust the lighting that we feel didn't turn out that well on camera.
Thursday, 21 October 2010
Planning
On the day of filming, we didn't have a group of sweaty girls and came to the conclusion that we could make the girls out of cardboard cut outs and film them another day. As it came closer to our filming deadline we realised this idea wasn't going to be as effective as we'd hoped and would be very difficult as we would have to learn how to use green screen. We have now decided to shoot at a similar location with girls from the school and we'll have them standing around our artist in school uniform and texting with our artist in the middle. We will be doing this tomorrow in our frees.
Editing organisation
We have grouped all of our shots in the 'scene bin ' according to the sections of the video that we have planned. We planned using the chorus and verse sections of the lyrics.
Tuesday, 19 October 2010
Progress- 19-10-2010
We have uploaded all of the train station footage and in the process of making rough cuts and putting the clips in order, as we didn't shoot in order.
We are planing to do the second part of our music video ( with the grand piano) tomorrow , then upload that footage so we can see if we have enough footage or need more.
The shoot from the station went well as we managed to get all of the footage we needed and extra which we can use if we need to. The only problems we have seen so far when looking through the footage is that in some shots their are some shadows which will create a darker shadow, we will have to make the clip brighter so that when it is burnt to the CD it isn't to dark .
We have planned ahead for our digi pack as we took several pictures from a digital camera when we were at the station so we have different pictures to whats in the footage so we wont have to take a clip from the video , but as they were taken at the station it still uses the same M-e-s as it has the station as its main background and the character in the same costume.
We are planing to do the second part of our music video ( with the grand piano) tomorrow , then upload that footage so we can see if we have enough footage or need more.
The shoot from the station went well as we managed to get all of the footage we needed and extra which we can use if we need to. The only problems we have seen so far when looking through the footage is that in some shots their are some shadows which will create a darker shadow, we will have to make the clip brighter so that when it is burnt to the CD it isn't to dark .
We have planned ahead for our digi pack as we took several pictures from a digital camera when we were at the station so we have different pictures to whats in the footage so we wont have to take a clip from the video , but as they were taken at the station it still uses the same M-e-s as it has the station as its main background and the character in the same costume.
Planning for second shoot
We have been given permission from the school to film the grand piano in the main hall. We have decided to use a grand piano as it will create the effect we are trying to achieve. We want to make the piano contrast with the train scene to show two sides of the artist. one when shes having fun describing characters, and then another when shes focused on The music. The scenes we will be shooting with the piano are to show the artist playing their instrument which is very common in indie music videos.
Plan
When we shoot we are going to use :
a black grand piano
tea lights or possibly fairy lights
black back ground
Costume
This will contrast with the outfit at the station as we want it to be more formal .
Plan
When we shoot we are going to use :
a black grand piano
tea lights or possibly fairy lights
black back ground
Costume
This will contrast with the outfit at the station as we want it to be more formal .
Piano/Keyboard Issue
As a group, we have decided that we are certain that we want to film using a grand piano, instead of a keyboard. This is because we feel using a keyboard doesn't create the same effect as a piano however, we are aware that using a keyboard is much more practical in terms of having time to film with our props. Also, it is a lot easier to organise the signing out of keyboards.
We really want a certain effect for the audience when filming our shots where the artist is playing her instrument and for this to be successful we feel it would be best to use a proper grand piano. We are looking into when we can use the piano on a number of occasions as of now.
We have uploaded some print screen shots from when we filmed using a keyboard.
We really want a certain effect for the audience when filming our shots where the artist is playing her instrument and for this to be successful we feel it would be best to use a proper grand piano. We are looking into when we can use the piano on a number of occasions as of now.
We have uploaded some print screen shots from when we filmed using a keyboard.
Saturday, 16 October 2010
Video analysis
This video shows the use of a big exaggerated heart. By doing his the artist is creating a story through the video as the heart gradually decreases in size as the video goes on. It is slightly comical the way the women in carrying her heart around the city . It also describes the narrative of the video by sowing the heart decreases when she is falling in love.
We used this idea of the exaggerated heart in our music video. we decided to include this as we are exaggerating most of the characters as it also adds to the quirkiness of the video.
Risk assessment at the miniature railway
We will be filming at the miniature railway at 1.30pm on the 16th of October 2010.
In case of rain – we have two umbrellas to protect the cameras and equipment.
Training – we have all had a practice using the camera and have been taught how to look after the camera and set it up with a tripod correctly.
Power – We have a long power adapter in case the battery in the camera runs flat.
Other actors – we have briefed the other actors who will be in our music video so they have an idea of what we will be doing on set.
Mud – we have a tray to put under the tripod legs in case it sinks in the mud; this is to protect the tripod as well as making our shot steadier.
First aid – there is a qualified first aider at the railway.
In case of fire- there are designated fire exits which are clearly signed at the station.
Time – as we will be filming 20 minutes before the station opens to the general public we shouldn’t be there at the peak time, and large crowds are not expected.
Noise – we have briefed the owners of the station that we will be using filming a music video and will have the song playing on music speakers.
Friday, 15 October 2010
Test shots
We decided to test this shot as we were unsure on whether it would be as effective as we hoped. As long as the camera is kept steady at all times we think it will work well, we may need to use a number of tripods as some of them are broken.
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
Progress
We rang Audley end station and got permission to film at their miniature railway. On saturday the 16th .
we have organised what we are going to film at the station and what characters and props we are going to need . We need 9 people to play the characters in the song, we have decided that in the musical introduction of the song where she is clapping, we are going to introduce the characters. Next lesson we are going to practice filming how the characters come in and find the best way to make it work so we can be efficient when filming at the station.
we have organised what we are going to film at the station and what characters and props we are going to need . We need 9 people to play the characters in the song, we have decided that in the musical introduction of the song where she is clapping, we are going to introduce the characters. Next lesson we are going to practice filming how the characters come in and find the best way to make it work so we can be efficient when filming at the station.
Monday, 11 October 2010
Another possible location
If we cannot get permission to film at Audley end miniature railway I have found another railway which is further away then we had previously planned but we can still access. This miniature railway is located in Van Hague, Great Amwell which is a 40 minute journey by car. Below I have copied a time table from the website which shows the opening times for the miniature train .
I have copied a picture from the website to show what the train looks like, as i have not had time to take my own pictures.
Location
We went to the miniature rail way at Audley End, and took some location photos.This would be the perfect location for our music video as it has the train and platform which we decided went well with the song . We are now waiting for a .reply from the station to see whether we can film here
The only parts of the train left out were the carriage, but we were already aware of what the whole train looked like from pictures displayed on the website for audley end miniature railway.
This picture above is of the platform, we would like to include this in the video and have people appearing on the platform at the beginning, one by one. We also though it might be an idea to use the bench, possibly for the part of the song when 'there's a boy with a smile'.
In this picture we can see all parts of the train station, we would like to make use of all the space and thought we could use the platform, train and bridge to film different sections on.
This would be a perfect angle to film a train coming in, with our artist sitting on it.
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
Music Video Ideas
In one of our lessons, Miss Mapp introduced a helpful way for us to get ideas for our music videos. Each group played their chosen song and the rest of the class would make notes on ideas they got for the music video from listening to the song. It was interesting to see if other people had similar or different ideas to ours and funnily enough the majority of people seemed to have the same ideas. Most people said the video should have bright colours and the piano would have to feature, they also agreed on our plans to illustrate the lyrics and have our artist 'Jose Vanders' observing everything that is going on in the video. We told the class that we hoped to film the video at a miniature railway station and they also agreed that this would be appropriate for the type of image we are trying to create. Originally we had planned for the video to be set at the railway station and no where else, but Miss Mapp put forward the idea that piano seems to be a big feature in the song and therefore we should cut from scenes at the station to Jose Vanders in a separate place playing the piano and singing the song.
We have now updated our original ideas since that lesson, we are still going to use a miniature railway station depending on whether we get a reply of approval from either audley end or van hagues miniature railway. We are also still illustrating the lyrics with Jose Vanders observing these illustrations which are going on around her. We have taken Miss Mapp's idea of cutting from the station to Jose Vanders playing her song and developed it further when discussing what sort of back round we would want for those shots. Hannah had an idea that we should film her in a piano shop playing one of the grande pianos which suited our concept of the video being 'random'. There is clapping at the start of the song, and we are having the characters in the video clapping as well as Jose Vanders in order to link them into the video. In terms of the artists costume we still want to dress her in bright colours and old fashioned/individual clothes, I may have a dress at home which would be ideal as its style is old fashioned but this is not definite. We want the other characters to be dressed in black and white to contrast to our artist and I suggested that when they are being sung about in the song they should suddenly appear in colour to highlight that they are the character being sung about. Overall we seem to have progressed well with our ideas and our main issue is whether we will be given approval to use the railway stations as our location for the video.
We have now updated our original ideas since that lesson, we are still going to use a miniature railway station depending on whether we get a reply of approval from either audley end or van hagues miniature railway. We are also still illustrating the lyrics with Jose Vanders observing these illustrations which are going on around her. We have taken Miss Mapp's idea of cutting from the station to Jose Vanders playing her song and developed it further when discussing what sort of back round we would want for those shots. Hannah had an idea that we should film her in a piano shop playing one of the grande pianos which suited our concept of the video being 'random'. There is clapping at the start of the song, and we are having the characters in the video clapping as well as Jose Vanders in order to link them into the video. In terms of the artists costume we still want to dress her in bright colours and old fashioned/individual clothes, I may have a dress at home which would be ideal as its style is old fashioned but this is not definite. We want the other characters to be dressed in black and white to contrast to our artist and I suggested that when they are being sung about in the song they should suddenly appear in colour to highlight that they are the character being sung about. Overall we seem to have progressed well with our ideas and our main issue is whether we will be given approval to use the railway stations as our location for the video.
Monday, 4 October 2010
I decided to do some research into Kate Nash's recent album and single chart finishing positions to get an accurate understanding of just how popular our music genre is today. Kate Nash is very similar to the target artist image/music sound that we have in mind for our project. Therefore, this research could help help us to see how popular our artist would be or to, perhaps, see if the genre of music is getting increasing popular year by year.
However, this research is not fully reliable as this piece of information is anonymous as to where this chart comes from - is in a chart in a particular field or is it actually based on all genres across the board?
http://www.freewebs.com/marthajonesfan/katenash.htm
Made Of Bricks
Released: 6/8/07Chart Position: #1Tracklisting:
1. Play
2. Foundations
3. Mouthwash
4. ****head
5. Birds
6. We Get On
7. Mariella
8. **** Song
9. Pumpkin Soup
10. Skeleton Song
11. Nicest Thing
12. Merry Happy
13. Little Red (Hidden Track)
Released: 19/4/10Chart Position: #8Tracklisting:1. Paris
2. Kiss That Grrrl
3. Don't You Want To Share The Guilt?
4. I Just Love You More
5. Do Wah Doo
6. Take Me To A Higher Plane
7. I've Got A Secret
8. Mansion Song
9. Early Christmas Present
10. Later On
11. Pickpocket
12. You Were So Far Away
13. I Hate Seagulls
14. My Best Friend Is You (Hidden Track)
Released: 5/2/07Chart Position: UNAVAILABLETracklisting:
A1. Caroline's A Victim
A2. Birds (Demo)
Released: 15/6/07
Chart Position: #2
Tracklisting:
CD
1. Foundations
2. Habanera
Vinyl 1A1. Foundations
B1. Navy TaxiVinyl 2A1. Foundations
B1. Old Dances
Released: 1/10/07
Chart Position: 23
Tracklisting:
CD1. Mouthwash
2. Stitching LeggingsVinyl 1
A1. Mouthwash
B1. Dirt (Demo From Iceland)
Vinyl 2
A1. Mouthwash
B1. Take 'Em Back (misprinted as Take 'Em Out)
Released: 17/12/07Chart Position: 23
Tracklisting:
CD
1. Pumpkin Soup2. Pistachio Nut (Poem)
Vinyl 1
A1. Pumpkin Soup
B1. Pumpkin Soup (Live at Cardiff Solus)
Vinyl 2A1. Pumpkin Soup
B. Etched Side
.jpg)
Released: 24/3/08Chart Position: #116 Tracklisting:
CD1. Merry Happy2. Model Behaviour
Vinyl 1
A1. Merry Happy
B1. The Lion, The Devil & The Spider
Vinyl 2
A1. Merry Happy
B1. Don't You Want To Share The Guilt? (later updated for My Best Friend Is You)
However, this research is not fully reliable as this piece of information is anonymous as to where this chart comes from - is in a chart in a particular field or is it actually based on all genres across the board?
http://www.freewebs.com/marthajonesfan/katenash.htm
Made Of Bricks
Released: 6/8/07Chart Position: #1Tracklisting:1. Play
2. Foundations
3. Mouthwash
4. ****head
5. Birds
6. We Get On
7. Mariella
8. **** Song
9. Pumpkin Soup
10. Skeleton Song
11. Nicest Thing
12. Merry Happy
13. Little Red (Hidden Track)
My Best Friend Is You
Released: 19/4/10Chart Position: #8Tracklisting:1. Paris2. Kiss That Grrrl
3. Don't You Want To Share The Guilt?
4. I Just Love You More
5. Do Wah Doo
6. Take Me To A Higher Plane
7. I've Got A Secret
8. Mansion Song
9. Early Christmas Present
10. Later On
11. Pickpocket
12. You Were So Far Away
13. I Hate Seagulls
14. My Best Friend Is You (Hidden Track)
Caroline's A Victim
Released: 5/2/07Chart Position: UNAVAILABLETracklisting:A1. Caroline's A Victim
A2. Birds (Demo)
Foundations
Released: 15/6/07Chart Position: #2
Tracklisting:
CD
1. Foundations
2. Habanera
Vinyl 1A1. Foundations
B1. Navy TaxiVinyl 2A1. Foundations
B1. Old Dances
Mouthwash
Released: 1/10/07
Chart Position: 23
Tracklisting:
CD1. Mouthwash
2. Stitching LeggingsVinyl 1
A1. Mouthwash
B1. Dirt (Demo From Iceland)
Vinyl 2
A1. Mouthwash
B1. Take 'Em Back (misprinted as Take 'Em Out)
Pumpkin Soup
Released: 17/12/07Chart Position: 23Tracklisting:
CD
1. Pumpkin Soup2. Pistachio Nut (Poem)
Vinyl 1
A1. Pumpkin Soup
B1. Pumpkin Soup (Live at Cardiff Solus)
Vinyl 2A1. Pumpkin Soup
B. Etched Side
Merry Happy
Released: 24/3/08Chart Position: #116 Tracklisting:
CD1. Merry Happy2. Model Behaviour
Vinyl 1
A1. Merry Happy
B1. The Lion, The Devil & The Spider
Vinyl 2
A1. Merry Happy
B1. Don't You Want To Share The Guilt? (later updated for My Best Friend Is You)
Sunday, 3 October 2010
Music video analysis - Sara Barellies 'love song'
Her sound is similar to our artist as she uses the piano as her main instrument; the piano tempo also stays consistent throughout the song. Sara Barellies is an indie rock artist; you can see this from her video and also her image. Some of the shots show her playing the piano. This has been done intentionally to show how she is not just a singer but also a musician. 
The video also contains close ups which the theorist Goodwin suggests that ‘close ups shots should always be included’. The reason for this is so that it gives the artist more of a relationship with the audience, the way she looks at the camera isn’t to create sex appeal, but to connect with the audience as if she is singing to them rather then just to the camera.  |
| Artist rehearsing |
Their is a use of jump cuts between the artist performing in casual and formal wear, the editing has been done to deliberately show the differences between when the artist is performing and when she is rehearsing. This can be part of Steve Archers theory ‘showing two sides of the artist when they are performing and when they are practicing’.
 |
| Artist Performing |
We can use this technique when making our video because this is a common feature seen in indie videos, showing the artist in the rehearsals and then performing, it can give an insight in to the artist lives and 'behind the scene footage' which seems unrehearsed and makes them seem more down to earth, normal people.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)