Our final music video!

This is our final and complete music video! Hooraaaaaay :)



Enjoy!

Final magazine poster

This is our final magazine poster advertising the CD that our track would be on, we feel it fits with a generic magazine poster and contains stereotypical aspects that a poster should have.

A little look at our evaluation so far

Here's a very very rough draft of our evaluation - 
Ruby has almost finished the 3rd question however it was on her computer so it would have taken an aaggeee to get it over to my computer then import it into the powerpoint, but we will add that into our evaluation as soon as it's finished. 
The movie clips we have added in are not complete either - this is really just a quick look at what our final evaluation will look like! 

Update

Over the last few weeks Ruby and myself have been extremely busy, and similiarly throughout this half term holiday we have been busy each day with rehearsals hence the lack of blog posts. So here's a quick update of where we are at;

SO, two weeks ago we made plans to reshoot every single shot that we needed to redo and also to do the photoshoot with Amber and Max that would help us finish our ancillary projects. However, about 3 days before the reshoot was planned Max unfortunately broke his leg, and 3 days after needed to go in for an operation on it - of course this meant we were unable to reshoot for the time being and also we were unable to decide when we could reschedule due to Max's injury being extremely bad.

We also realised that with his injury Max has to be on crutches constantly, and also has a mechanism on his leg keeping it all in place - this would have a terrible impact on the video in terms of continuity, after discussing with our teacher we decided there was nothing really we could do for this and it would have to become a 'joke' throughout the video that in one shot he has crutches and the next he doesn't. Ruby and I wanted there to be another way around this as we feel it will just make the video look terrible but in all honesty there's nothing else we can do for it. 

In the holidays we tried to schedule a day that we could all reshoot the footage and shoot the ancillary task photos. Unfortunately there wasn't a single day that everyone could make, this was because of things like Ruby, Amber and I all having university auditions throughout the week, and then the whole cast were at full day rehearsals 3 of the days. Again there's nothing we could do about this.

Ruby and I have discussed our options from here, we both feel we would really like to reshoot as much footage as possible but next week we have a school show wednesday- saturday, and I am away the Monday and Tuesday. After this we have a group of Americans coming to stay with us for two weeks and by this time the deadline will be over. The only thing we can think of doing is to try and make the music video look as good as possible via editing and cutting and chopping parts of it - we are aware that at the moment our music video is no where near as good as we want it to be but in these circumstances there's little we can do. 

Today we are continuing to work on our evaluation and our ancillary tasks, the latter is difficult without the photographs we want to use so we would like to take some photos when we are back at school in a lunchtime possibly. 

Bye for now!

Video responses to our first draft

So our film still isn't entirely finished as we still have a lot of things to re-film and to modify. We're working really hard on getting this done, and we plan to film next monday which isn't too far away! However we're pretty confident that we can get the entire filming done in one day which is fantastic. This lesson we've been filming people responding to our first draft, to see what they liked and didn't like etc.We'll probably also film their responses to it after our film is 100% complete but for now we decided to let them see our first draft. Here's le videos:

Amber and Mae:



And here's Ellie and Rory:



We're probably going to be using excerpts from both of these videos in our evaluations. Thanks to these four for our feedback, we really appreciate it!

More to follow :)

Filming update!

Sp yesterday we filmed pretty much all day! There were some massive complications at the start of the day because we only were able to get a few of our actors assembled, and had to wait for an hour to gain access to our location! We were slightly worried because of the continuity in terms of light and the time of day. We were worried that if we started filming certain shots with certain extras and actors, then the shots would be getting lighter and lighter then there would be a really dark shot, and the continuity wouldn't flow, so we decided to wait to gain access to our location so that we could film all of the shots in sequence. Max was due to turn up in an hour so we started with Amber's shots and filming all of those in sequence. We started off at a decent pace because we needed to get everything done! We managed tog et all of the shots involving Amber finished. We then started on Max's shots but had to finish as we all had to be back at school! However we got some fantastic shots, and made changes to a few which I'm going to tell you about now.

Firstly, the shot where Amber clicks the laptop on and the song begins to play, I caught sight of Amber's face in the hand mirror next to the laptop and I suggested that we could position the camera on purpose so that you can see Amber in the mirror. This could be one of the few times that we actually see Amber's face during the entire video, showing us both characters and establishing the audience's opinions on them both.

Another shot that we decided to change was that of the shot where Amber gets caught between two people. We decided instead of making the shot an 'awkward situation' that we would choreograph the movements in time with the music. This was to give links between music and visuals and to parallel the editing, which will be in time with the music the entire way through.

The last shot that we decided to change was the one with the music notes. Originally we wanted only the music notes in the top of the shot, not a person then when we got to filming the shot, the extras couldn't hold the music notes above Amber's head without hurting themselves! So we decided to include Jazz in the shot. Wee thought that this actually looked better anyway, as there are extras in most shots and by doing this makes it link to the rest of the shots but also carries on the theme etc.

At the moment we still have just under half of our footage still to film, and we plan to do that asap. This should be done by the end of this week and then we can get really stuck into editing! I also feel like I need to get to grips with final cut a bit more, as I am very unfamiliar and prefer to use imovie, even though final cut is tenchnically better for effects etc. So I plan to have a  lesson this week where I play around with final cut and then I will show you what I've learnt from it. This will help my overall editing technique and will gradually improve as the project carries on. Watch this space for a blog post!

Both me and Carla are getting stuck right into working on our digi pak and magazine advert. I am currently researching typical things that are included on a magazine advert and what we should include. I have also been given a template for the magazine advert and need to discuss with Carla which template we decide although I have chosen which one I would like to work with. Carla is currently editing the photographs that we took for the digi-pak and magazine advert on photoshop so they should be finished fairly soon! All in all, we are happy with our progress and we plan to overall, have most things complete by the end of term, before christmas.

Watch this space, more to follooooooooow :)

Video update

So we've filmed a video update this lesson telling you what we've been doing and what we have done in detail, enjoy!

I personally enjoy the thumbnail quite a lot!

More to follow :)

Start of our filming!

Yesterday, we began our filming by shooting the shots that are in the 'dream sequence' of the video. Our main difficulty throughout the day was the massive amount of fog that followed us around for the entire day! The fog was so thick that we had to postpone filming until the very end of the afternoon, by then it had cleared slightly but not that much! However we still went ahead and filmed just to see what the shots looked like, and they turned out looking alright! The shots were clear and you could see all of the action happening in the shots, so we decided to keep them. If we decide to re-shoot these specific shots then we will do so after shooting the main bulk of our footage on monday.

The first two shots are the shots that involve our two main characters, Max and Amber, spinning round holding the camera.

 We thought that this created a state of euphoric happiness and also made the dream sequence very cliche and cheesy, which is the sort of romantic attatchments that happen in a dream! We wanted these few shots to be as cheesy as possible! We also felt like the fog and the mist surrounding the shots makes the shot look 'dreamlike' and unrealistic because of the haze on the screen. We are also planning on editing this shot on final cut, to give it a more dream-like feel. I want to blur the edges of the shot so it looks like Max is projecting it into a dream thought-bubble. This will make it stand out from the rest of the footage because the audience will know that these few shots are in a dream.







The next shot that we did was of Max and Amber taking a picture of themselves. We struggled with the timing of this shot and carla suggested that we shoot a bit more than we actually need and then when it comes to the editing process we can chop off the bits that we don't need, as long as we get them taking a picture of themselves. We made them do very cheesy smiling faces as if they're in love! So cringey!

Looking at this picture I think we might edit the shot so that it looks brighter and happier, to reflect the moods of the characters!

The last shot that we did was the shot where Max and Amber were meant to be at a picnic. However, we realised that as the day was quite overcast and foggy we couldn't really have the pair having a picnic as it wouldn't reflect the settings or the weather. We were a bit stuck for something to include in the shot, and the we spotted the leaves! As trees and leaves are a recurring theme throughout our entire project, digipak, magazine advert and video, we decided to incorporate the leaves. We had Max and Amber shoot about fifteen seconds of throwing leaves up and jumping and laughing in them. We also recognised this as very cliche and cheesy, so thought that it was perfect for the dream sequence shots! We also decided to move it to slow motion so that the cheesy factor was emphasised even more! It also shows a new editing technique for us within final cut, which we can incorporate into our video.

So that concludes the post on yesterdays filming! we're filming the rest of our footage on monday so we're in preparation for that. At the moment we're focused on our magazine advert and didgipak research as we need to really get into the research and planning involved with that.

More to follow :)

Planning; photographic storyboard

I have created a photographic storyboard as of last weekend, however I've been having multiple problems with exporting it from windows movie maker; if I attempt to export it into the correct type of file it will look as if it's exporting however when it's finished I will open the file and it will only be the music with a blank black screen. I've tried doing this about four times now into different types of file.
I talked to my teacher about this and she said perhaps if I can find no other way then I should record the video on my phone and then upload it to blogger which is obviously extremely annoying as the quality wont be anywhere near as good after I spent such a long time creating the video!
However I still really want the photographic storyboard up on here, so I've done just that.. of course we didn't have our extras with us today so Ruby, Ryan and I stepped in for them but it gives a good idea of what we've planned for our video!

Lesson update; Making props!

Today in our lesson, Ruby and I decided that due to the fact we are filming two days after we get back from America, we should make sure we're totally prepared now - so we thought it would be helpful to make some of our props needed in the music video.

We decided to make the music notes that are hung above both Amber and Max's head as this is probably the prop that will take longest to make.

In order to make them we decided to make music note templates, then found some cardboard - as this is much more stable than making them out of paper - and then cut them out and coloured them in in black pen!

They're looking pretty good but now we just need to hang them off of a stick so someone can dangle them over Max and Amber!

Update! Photographic storyboard!

I completely forgot to mention that yesterday Ruby, Amber, Max, Ryan and I drove to our location and took all the photos we needed for our storyboard.
This went really smooth and I actually think it was a fantastic idea as both Ruby and I, and also our main characters have a much better idea of whats going on and what they will be doing when it comes to actually filming. 
We didn't ask many extras as we haven't had the chance to talk to them yet, so we only asked Ryan and Ruby and I filled in for the rest of the extras. Although this makes the storyboard confusing - Ruby is creating a table in which she explains whats actually needed in each shot. 

Instead of putting this onto paper, I want to create a video with each of the photos in time with the music. I think this will really help with our filming and also editing as we will get a really clear idea of what will be going on and how much time we have for each shot!

I'll hopefully have finished that by the end of the weekend and it will be up here!

Research; mini music video!

Right at the beginning of this unit we came together in groups and created a music video to the song 'why does love do this to me?' to begin researching into some skills we would need to create a music video and to practise some camera, editing and directing skills!
It was really helpful to see how creating a music video would plan out and what hills you have to overcome and how you can make the process as smooth as possible.
We also tried to incorporate as many editing proccesses as possible to enable us to practise these skills before coming to do it ourselves in our own music video.
Anyway heres the final outcome!

Absence: 2 weeks.

Beginning from the 27th October to the 10th of November, both me and Carla are going on a 2 week trip to Milwaukee in America. We will be going on the exchange programme, and living with an American family for 2 weeks. Unfortunately we may not be able to post on blogger at that time as there is no guarantee that we will have constant access to the internet. If we manage to blog at all, they won't be in a steady stream. Also, we will have to film after we come back from America, but we plan to do it a few days after we come back so we can get all of the filming done asap! We are really trying to stick to the deadline of getting every initial task in before christmas, which includes both ancillary tasks, our evaluation, our music video and our planning and research. We're both really sorry for the absence but we promise to make up as much as we possibly can when we get back!

Here's a little photo to lighten the mood:

Planning; initial storyboard!

So I'm uploading this on behalf of both Ruby and I as it was a joint job we did, we know it's extremely basic but next week we have arranged for our main characters to actually create a photographic storyboard so that will be much clearer.
But for the time being this is our initial storyboard!

Planning and audience research; group brainstorm!

As a way of helping us brainstorm, we showed our class the song we plan to do our music video on, and then on sheets of paper that had different headings (narrative, props, location, ideas etc) and so our class mates were able to brainstorm ideas. We found this really useful as they came up with ideas that we hadn't thought of - however we did notice that everyone had similar ideas to ours, which was reasurring as it shows we've chosen the right type of music video ideas to fit the song and to appeal to our target audience.

Here's a few photos of the feedback sheets we gave out!