30th September's Production Post

We are still planning to film in London on Tuesday, and now we have confirmation that our actor Jack will definitely be free, this will allow us to push on with our music video and especially the beginning. We have decided as a group that we will head to the area around Trafalgar Square at first and then branch out to other places in order to obtain a variety of shots. These shots will need to be both shots of the surroundings as well as shots of Jack lip syncing different parts of the song in different locations as we begin to piece of music video together. 

27th September's Production Post

On 27 September, our group travelled to London in order to film for our music video. Unfortunately, our actors were not able to join us as they had academic commitments but we used the day wisely and we were able to film what could best be characterised as 'filler shots' and to also take photographs for the Digipak that we will soon be designing. 


Below, you can see some of the pictures that we took and will be utilizing in the design phase of our project. Our next filming session will be taking place on 4 October, for which there will be another post like this, and our actors will be free this time around so we will be taking a big step in regard to the progress of our music video. 


Aside from this day, we have taken more photos for usage with the designing of the Digipak and its advert. Furthermore, I have been experimenting with After Effects and have completed pieces for two effects that I would like to feature in our music video, which you can again see below. I feel we are making good progress at this moment in time, and we are working well together and will continue to do so. 

 

Lyrics Analysis

Click on the pictures in order to enhance them. 

Storyboards

Mise-En-Scene Discussion

Representation of People/Groups

Representation of People/Groups

As we have solely two actors in our music video, one male and one female, the representation is fairly simple. As our target audience is likely to be close to those aged 16-21, there would be a lot of baggage surrounding stereotypes here and therefore we would try our hardest to negate any negative stereotypes that have found their way into the media within the past months especially.

Costume would have a role to play, and we will be looking to dress our actors casually but respectfully. By doing this we would aim to provoking a positive reaction from the audience who may feel that any labels that they have seen or have had to deal with. As relation is an element that we will also be looking to provoke from the audience, the actors will be of a very similar age to those watching.

We will not be presenting our characters in a 100% positive light, but having said that our representation will fall short of any stereotypes by a long way. As we will be depicting a relationship, the fact of that matter is everything is never smooth in that respect and this is something that we will be looking to draw upon; yet again provoking some sort of relation from the audience.

In regard to ethnicity, our actors are going to be Caucasian, through no discrimination but just solely due to the resources available to us. The majority of our audience are likely to be of a similar ethnic background to our characters, which means it is more than likely that there will be an increase in the relation between our audience and our characters. Succinctly, we will try our utmost to negate any harmful stereotypes and please our audience with the representation of our characters and their circumstances and surroundings. 

Locations List

Locations List: (This list is not exhaustive; we may add or take away) 

Pros, Cons and Hazards

• As some of our locations such as Regent Street and Trafalgar Square are likely to be rather busy when we are filming this is something that we will have to bear in mind as it may have an influence on how long filming would take. 
• In addition, the majority of our locations are clustered in the centre of London, so we must always keep an eye out for any transport information that could hamper our plans. 
• Most of our filming will be completed during the daytime, but there will be shots that we could film after sunset in order to enhance the atmosphere but we would have to ensure that there is apt lighting in order to do so. 
• Although the reliability of the transport system can be questionable at times, it will make any length of time that we will be filming more fluid and will benefit the amount of shots we are able to obtain. 
• The main hazard that we would face would be the safety of our group and those involved during filming as London's roads can become overly busy so therefore we will need to take care when moving between locations and filming also. 

Shooting Schedule

We have already started filming, as the group travelled to London on 27 September; which you can find the production post for here.

We will be looking to finalise filming within the next seven days, with our next filming session taking place on 4 October. As you can see below we have constructed a plan for this day in order to make the most out of it as possible. If, for any reason, we still have footage that needs to be filmed then we will compensate this by filming on 8 October. Production posts will be made about the day(s) in order to show what happened and how we got on. 

4 October Plan

10:00 - Arrive in London at Green Park, where we will looking to film a manner of shots, but mostly shots that capture the emotion of the actor as well as his surroundings. Here we may want to take some pictures, not only for the production blog but for the Digipak that we need to produce. 

10:45 - Filming in Embankment and Westminster which seems to be the best location in order to film the shots towards the start of the music video as we could film some of our flashback shots. 

11:30 - By this time we would have hoped to have travelled to Oxford Circus where the busier streets would be perfect in order to emphasise the solidarity of our main character, this could also be another opportunity to take some photos for the Digipak and its advertisement. 

12:15 - Now we would go to Primrose Hill, where again we would be looking to not only capture emotion but the actor's beautiful surroundings. After we have done this, we would head to Charing Cross in order to finalise our filming for the day.

13:45 - For our last section, we will film the intro locally, which is detailed by the first few storyboards; with the two actors arguing and then the accident taking place. If all has gone to plan, we could start editing from this point onwards, but we could always use the following Saturday should we need to. 

Transport

Luckily, Central London has one of the best transport systems in Europe which means it will be easy to transport from place to place as relative ease and cost. There will be a more specific schedule and reports from days of filming when we have commenced filming. As a lot of the landmarks we would be looking to film are clustered within a few locations, this will save us time in order to go and film perhaps further afield. 

The main tube stations we will need to travel to in order to film at our chosen locations.

4 October

• On this day we will be looking to film tracking shots in and around Oxford Circus followed by a mixture of medium shots and close ups when at both of the locations in regard to lip syncing. Furthermore we will use tracking shots and slightly longer shots for both filler and establishing shots for when the actor is not appearing on screen. 

7 October

• On the friday we will be aiming to film more specific shots, especially those which will be very significant to the music video's ending. The most important shot will be the tracking shot of the actor walking past a set of gravestones, but we will also use this opportunity to get the actor to lip sync the chorus and just generally obtain more footage to show when the actor is not involved.

Questionnaires and Feedback

For the first question we put to the participants of our questionnaire, the general consensus we received was that people watched music videos for the fantasy that they brought about and to escape to a fantasy world. Of course, this is one of the parts of the Uses & Gratifications Theory and therefore we will be looking to provide an element of escapism; which will make the strength of our plot and narrative imperative to the success of our music video.

Indie, Rock and R&B were the three most popular genres of music among the participants and since The Fray’s ‘You Found Me’ would be classified between Indie and Rock which means we would be tapping into a popular genre of song. Creativity, location and the mise-en-scene were the most important aspects of the participants’ favourite music videos, which will mean that our planning process will be of utmost importance and we will definitely keep these elements in mind.

The average of the scale of one to ten was exactly eight that means again our idea seems to be popular, but a more explicit gauge of this is found within the last question. As our AS Media idea was not tapping into a popular genre of film, this meant that there was a slight disadvantage before we had created our film opening but here a more popular genre may play into our hands and allow us to be more creative accordingly.

The responses to the last question were varied to say the least. The majority of respondents said that they would watch it but it would depend on the cheesiness and effect of the music video itself. In addition, two further answers questioned how they would be forced to pick a side within the depicted relationship and another answer stated it would have to be thoroughly entertaining. Therefore we will have to bear in mind its effect on the audience and to avoid clichés at all times, but the responses of our target audience have been undoubtedly positive and this data will be useful when creating the video. 

List of People Involved

List of People Involved

Nathan Russell 

As I am more experienced on the editing side of things, this is where my main contribution will lie. This will range from usage of Final Cut Express to Adobe After Effects, although I will be involved in as much as possible as I will look to enjoy experiencing all aspects of this project, and my other responsibilities will include a major contribution towards the design work. 

Jon Chace

Upon analysis of Jon's work last year, and what we have already completed this year, he has already had a massive impact on the ideas that we have come up with. However, like myself and the rest of the group he will be looking to involve himself in as much as possible, and will be responsible for organising locations and our filming sessions.  

Will Pilkington

Will's forte is camerawork, and as I have worked with him before I am sure he will make our project unique by the usage of different and exciting camera angles. He is also experienced in editing with Final Cut Express and his other responsibilities will range from the organisation of equipment to taking photographs.

Charlie Gilbert 

Charlie is another ideas man, and has contributed greatly to the main ideas and shot types that we will feature in our final product. We will want to ensure that everyone gets an experience of the different aspects that there will be on offer when creating our music video, and some of Charlie's more specific duties will include the general organisation of the group, especially in the editing phase.

Jason Fox

Jason is our media technician and will help us with any queries or problems we may have along the way when filming and editing our music video. 

Male and Female Actors

We have chosen Jack Morris and Jess Sammut as the couple to appear in our music video. After filming some test footage this seems like the best choice as they will not only be as flexible as we are, but they will be able to bring their talents and chemistry, from their relationship in real life, to make our final product the best it can be. 

Props List

List of Props: (This list is not exhaustive; we may add or take away)

•    Car – For opening scene when the main female actor is run over
•    Costumes - (See list of people involved for detailed description)
•    Cigarettes - To correspond with the line 'All alone, smoking his last    cigarette.'
•    Alcohol – When the male actor is depressed after the death of his girlfriend
•    Envelopes – To come through the door rapidly to correspond with the line 'You never sent me no letters.'
•    House  - To facilitate letters coming through letter box
•    Clock for time-lapse – To emphasise the time of the main character being alone

Digipak Sketches

Here are sketches of the Digipak that we will be creating over the coming weeks.