post 42: Reflecting on any filming since Monday

Since we uploaded the rough cut on Friday, we received several amounts of feedback and reflecting on it we filmed on Monday 30th November. The shots we used consisted of extreme close ups, low angled shots and wide shots to show the emotion of the artist and the synergy within the video. This was due to the audience during the rough cut being unaware of the synergy within the video and couldn't really relate towards it; moreover, the feedback we received about the close up of the artist was that she wasn't active enough within the video, so re-filming had to take place in order to get more movement shots from the artist.

We chose to film near St. Paul's Cathedral today due to the reason being that it's near the city and links to the theme of the song that we wanted to go for. The reason behind filming today was that we were told to film another base track with a different costume for the artist as the other base tracks were used too much in the short span.  The aspects of filming which went well was that we have a few more close up shots as recommended from Mary like extreme close up shots of the eye, close up shots of the arm etc. Also, we made sure to catch the dreamcatcher on the artists backpack in a mid shot, this was necessary as we didn't have many synergy links.

Editing in today's lesson

After receiving our feedback from our Rough Cut, we have decided to improve our rough cut according to the feedback. Mary and Class had mentioned that shot near Canary Wharf where she tries removing her hair from her face is too distracting and doesn't look appealing. So we decided to either remove this shot and add the shots were it looks less distracting and more natural. Also, another feedback acknowledged was filming another location which we did today in St. Paul's Cathedral.

We have a close up shot of the artists hands touching the pillar, and there's another close up shot of her arms while she is walking up the stairs. These shots are in slow motion as we thought it looked more appealing and helped focus on the movement of the fingers more. Also, we have an extreme close up shot of her eyes which we have also decided to do in slow motion. This is because it makes it more effective and clearer.

There was a massive jump shot in between a few shots which looked odd and quite dodgy so we have been trying to fix that as well. 

Rebecca pointed out that some of our location shots were darker than the others and it looked out of place. So she suggested we use similar background colour ones in one part and the others in another. Also, today she taught us how to change the saturation of the clips by going on effects and pressing colour effects. We have tried this on the clip of the close up shot of the artist in the beach and tried matching it with the other shots and we believe it was a massive and better change.

Teachers Feedback on Rough-Cut

For the feedback on our Rough cut, there was one key thing that needed to be improved and that was the structure of the video. Currently is seems very messy and there isn't a certain object that would tell you that this is the beginning of the chorus etc.

• Therefore one thing to improve would be the structure of the video and make sure it looks visually effective but also is clear.
• One thing they liked was the shots at the beach, they felt it was very artistic and look well with the city shots.

How is blogging going so far?

How has my blogging developed throughout the process?

Throughout the process of the project, I have learnt how to layout my work in a way in which not only I could understand it; but also so that it is looks presentable and appealing to someone other than myself. As well as that, I have learnt how to advertise the artist in everyway possible, to ensure the project is completed to its full potential.

At the beginning of the blogging, I was just posting blogs without thinking about what different apps I could use to present the work, therefore the blogs looked less appealing. However as the process continued I gained that understanding and began to introduce ICT that made my work look artistic as well as good quality.

Rough cut feedback

• Likes the wind - careful with hair covering the face - selective about the shots we choose or re filming. 
• Like the slow motions but need more slow motion shots
• Like the close ups but need a few more
• Variety of more shot types
• Not enough synergy shots - to make it more visible - the shots are mostly medium close ups making it hard for the synergy to show
• We need one more location shot which we have already planned to do soon
• Direction needs to be better, when the song gets up beat to have more movement from the artist and make her lip syncing much better
• More vibrant colours in clothes due to upbeat songs

Rough Cut

Rough Cut

Video:

Our Rough Cut for the music video will be a slight idea of what the much video will look like; all the base tracks are all placed in the music video and these will then later be layered with the other shots we have. The beginning of the Rough Cut is going to look very much like the end results; however the rest of the video will be layered with tracking shots, close ups and various other shots that is both in the locations of the City and the Beach. We will experiment with some effects, like a pinkish wash over the beach shots, which will contrast strongly with the city shots which will have no effect on the footage.

Draft of the artists website

For the artists website I chose an simple look due to the fact that it links with the video of 'beating heart' as it's not extravagant and goes with the black and white colour scheme more-or-less.

As this is only a draft, its simple with pictures of the artist and the music video we made which will be on the homepage of the website, greeting the audience as soon as they enter the website. 

http://kailiklarkmusic.weebly.com

Editing session

During todays lesson, our teacher pointed out that a part of our footage where the artist was singing was slightly off sync with the actual music, we have been trying to fix this situation for a while but nothing managed to work. We've tried dragging the clip and changing the speed but there was still no change so we decided to remove the clip from that particular section.

The colours of our footages are normal and not too dark or bright, however some of the shots from the beach are quite darker in comparison to the other shots. So we have decided that we will be slightly brightening those shots so it looks similar, but if we think it looks weird and odd then we will be changing it back to normal. 

We tried out some transitions like the gradient wipe and we thought it didn't match our footage and it looked quite weird so we have decided not to use any transitions and just stick to speed and brightness only. 

Reflection on filming

Between 13th - 22nd November:

We shot most of the city shots all during the those 9-10 days we had; we filmed many of the base tracks and some of the other shots, which we used the storyboard as our guide and found it very important to make sure all the features from the storyboard to be included well.
I think that the overall shots we filmed was effective however one key problem was the weather as it was far to windy at points to even film the shots we needed.
I think the shots filmed earlier in the day was much more effective as the camera was able to capture all the facial features of the singer and it made the shots look visually good.

The location choses were in the city, Albert bridge and Canada Water, these locations were just some of the ones we wished to include. We didn't film everything that we intentionally wanted therefore we will use the footage we have and review it for the rough cut and then from the feedback we will get it will help us shot some last footage before the deadline and edit down some parts that don't look as good. However, we should have filmed extra base tracks due to the fact that one base track's filming was out of sync with the music and too fast, restricting us from using that particular clip, leaving us with one less base track for our music video but still reaching the requirement. The costume the artist wore was exactly what we had planned for her to wear during planning, she wore a white shirt with black jeans and a leather jacket. This contrasted with the other shots we had in the beach location. I think the location choses could of been improved however, the weather restricted us to film in the locations we wanted.

Draft on the website for artist

The Ancillary of this music video is another vital process of the production of this and any music video. Here I have started off by selected one the photographs and then seeing which fonts of texts would suit the style of photograph as well as making sure I add the ideas I had for the CD cover. This is just me playing around with different ideas to create a effective ancillary that would link to the music video well.

Filming on 16th - 18th November

Review on Footage filmed on 15th November:-

On Sunday 15th we filmed on the Albert Bridge. This was one of the choses in locations we wished to film, the one main problem was the weather. It was extremely windy on that day which meant it was quite dangerous to film, so we had to stay far away from the side of the bridge. Originally, we imagined the lights on the bridge would make it still bright on the footage whilst filming, however it wasn't light enough so it wasn't a good filming session.

However there were some shots that were good enough to use for the video.

- On Tuesday 17th, the footage from that session was much better and more shots were filmed that could very much be used for the music video.

The weather was very good, even though it was very cold we were able to film and because we filmed from 12pm-2pm it was light enough to film the shots we needed.

We filmed in Canada Water near a canal that ran though the centre.

- On Wednesday 18th, filming was cancelled as Simona was not feeling well and also another problem was the wind was very strong and felt it would be quite dangerous to go film on a bridge, therefore it was postponed to another day.

Post 21: Test-shots of potential performers

Filming cancelled

We were suppose to film in today's lesson, however the artist could not attend because of an exam she needed to do. Therefore, we decided not film as we mostly needed camera shots with the artist, so instead in today's lesson we decided to continue editing and film on the 16th and 18th next week.

Editing

In this lesson we added our footage from last Wednesday onto Premier Pro. We had no difficulties with the sound, however, the audio and the artists lip syncing was not in sync, so we tried fixing that and ordering our footages in the way we want it.

Planned filming for three day break

The long weekend is an excellent chance for us to film the final part of the music video, these 5 days from Friday13th - Wednesday 18th of November.

This is what we tend to film:

- Film the other base tracks, we have around 10 more base tracks to film (all on the Albert bridge and Millennium bridge)

- Film her walking up and down the bridge and especially because the lights on the Albert bridge will create a mystical atmosphere.

Monday: 
- 11am till 4pm
- Millenium Bridge
- To do the remaining shots of the artist on the bridge, walking on the sand and standing beside the trees.

Wednesday: 
- 11am to 4pm
- Streets of London
- Walking on the road; long shots, back shots, close ups.

Analysing some of the shots

This is a close up that could also be identified as an extreme close up, it was an effective shot that I found made it look both dramatic and very moody; which does link to the genre of the Indie/Pop.

I think the darkness of surrounding, which wasn't intentional, made it look very mysterious and create the emotional message of the song.

I also found the close up the hands and the necklace was effective and had the intent I wanted it to have. However, it would of been much more effective if it jumped cut into an extreme shot of the the necklace and the artist playing with the pendant on the end of the necklace.

Reflection on filming - Millennium Bridge

We will need to film in the Millennium Bridge again, this is because we need more camera shots of the artist as we have enough of the city locations.

During this lesson and after filming in the Millennium Bridge we have decided that we might do a shot of the artists footprints in the sand. We thought it would be something pleasant to be in our music video and it would also match the songs genre. We have found the perfect location for this shot to be taken, it is near the Millennium Bridge and very spacious.

Moreover, we need mid shots, close ups, long shots and panning movements of the artist herself on the Millennium Bridge as we weren't able to do this the last time.

This picture isn't the exact shot we are looking for, however we would prefer to get some long shots of the artist walking on the Millennium Bridge. Also, the weather should not look as foggy as shown in the picture. 

After Mary watched our footage, she said we needed camera shots of the dream catcher that is main aspect to our music video, so the next time we shoot we decided to have the dream catcher in the shots.

Filming - Millennium Bridge

During this filming session we mostly did location shots of the river, rocks and the sky. We think these shots came out really well, and we won't need to re shoot anything as the location shots are perfect for our music video.

...

Blogging health check 2

Task 37: Reflection on progress

For my second reflection of progress I received the following comments:

Zahed - you've not done any blogging for exactly 2 weeks! Oh no! What's happening? You're only maintaining this 12 by the skin of your teeth - and by the group effort. Some of the blogs you had to do individually are missing - notably the synergy post 13 - analysing 2 promotional packages in detail, your own design and layout ideas for your website and digipack (not group ones - post 24) and your own analysis of the original video (post 17) - or if there isn't one - another Ellie Goulding video.
Targets:
1) complete the 3 posts mentioned above in detail, individually
2) make sure you show revisions to your pitch since the presentation - surely there were comments for improvement? Yes there were!
3) make sure we get images of your artist posted asap - the branding is very good so far but it's time we saw her on the blog.
make sure you're doing 4 hours media homework per week! I need to see it!
mary


After reading this I realised that my progress has been very limited so far throughout the A2 year, and that I would have to improve in every sector to show my true potential especially when it comes to uploading blogs on a regular basis and time bound. Also I would like to improve the way my blogs are shown by using several different techniques and ICT rather than a plain and boring blog with just text; overall, I would mark myself down by one to 11/20 as honestly believe that I am not giving 100% to my work at this moment in time which I'm disappointed in myself.

Production Schedule

Wednesday 4th November 2015

The plan for that 3 hours lesson that we will have on Wednesday morning, is to hopefully film. We have checked the weather and there might be some rain, so we might go film for an hour or so and then come back and look through the different shots we have.

Planning to film:-
- The establishing shots for the opening part of the song; the location will be near the millennium bridge and St Paul's. 
- We will need the fig-rig, camera and maybe an umbrella just in case it does choose to rain.

Blogging Health Check 2

This is the second health check and I have a clear idea of what I should be doing and what I am doing well. I have one very important detail to complete, the costume!! I am aware that there hasn't been much detail to what the style will be, and how it will link to the genre of the song and the message we are trying to display.

1. The most important step is to upload and describe in detail what is the type of costume we will want and have for the music video.

2. The production schedule is very vague, and it should show exactly what we have done and what we have to do.

I have gone up by one mark, but that does not mean that it is not any possibility of improving. I have much more to improve on both the amount of post I am adding onto the blog and the content of the blog.

Reviewing half term clips

In todays lesson we went through the clips taken during half term and have chosen the ones we would like to use in our actual footage and the ones we will need to re shoot. The location we have chosen is perfect and is a typical Ellie Goulding location we were proud of. We used slow motion whilst the artist was walking to add effect, and also did the usual close ups, long shots and mid shots. However, we were having problems with adding the actual song 'Beating Heart' onto Premiere Pro as it wouldn't play which made it hard for us to mark the song and add the clips along with it. Looking at the clips we had a certain idea as to which clips we wanted in the beginning and so on. We had some trouble with locating the files for Premiere Pro, as it was originally on another device but was then copied to our video drive. However it is thankfully saved on the device so the draft editing was not lost. We found the lesson a good time for us to look over what we had and what else we needed to add and we decided to hopefully film on Wednesday.

The screenshots of what we done, shows us trying to edit down the videos and seeing which works well and create an effective video that looks like a music video.

On Wednesday 4th November we will be filming again at Millennium Bridge so we can do the city shots which are missing.

First Filming Session

This was the location of the first filming that we did; we stated that we wanted to have a contrast with nature and urban, the idea of man-made and purity. And the message being presented is, memories and friendship is something that is pure and not man-made like the city.

Overall description of the conditions and filming:

The overall journey to Camber Sands was a long journey because of the traffic, as we travelled by car as I felt it was safer for me to take it this way. This meant that when we arrived the sun was setting, which meant we had to work fast!

The Weather was exceptional, as it didn't rain and it wasn't to windy; which would restricted my hold of the camera. It wasn't too cold which was good for the artist as they wore just a simple and jeans.  The main problem I found  was the tide had left the shore , which meant we had to travel quite far to reach the sea; however there was many deep streams  leading to the sea and I didn't want to risk the camera getting wet , so we had to make do with what we had.

We took a range of photographs that we will use for the Ancillary and the range of products to advertise the artist. For example for the Website and Digipak. Below are some of the photographs that we took, however we might use all the photographs.

Post Pitch Analysis

Post Pitch Analysis:

The overall presentation of the pitch was much less effective than I had hoped but I think overall we clearly displayed what our ideas and type of artist we were going to have. We presented the types of items we were going to use that will link the artist to the song and the story we were going to present.

 Some improvements for the actual presenting for the pitch was one main thing for improvement; we were all quite nervous in the presenting of the pitch and not confident. We mostly read off the board and didn't interact with our audience. 

However one good thing we did do was, we did clearly display the ideas we had for the music video but there are some improvements in the actual pitch that is needed.

The overall content of the pitch we felt was ok, but it could of been much better.

- The costume pitch needed much more detail and to clearly display what the different outfits are; one important element is adding more colour and clearly showing the style of the artist throughout the pitch and each task.

- Also we didn't  have any sort of evidence of the type of ancillary photos; to improve this post, we will address it by taking pictures of the main artist. We will take pictures at all the intended locations and these photographs will also appear on the website for the advertisement of the artists product.

- I think there wasn't a clear structure for the first 4 pitch tasks; we had and knew the initial ideas but there wasn't a clear description of that; therefore we would have to address the problem with making blog post displaying each task.

-Another area of improvement is the location and setting; by this it means we will have to have our own photographs of the places we wish to film.

- Also for the synergy pitch task; it was a good post but what would be important was adding images of the artist wearing the items that we choose to have as our synergy.