Group 8: Concept Development - Rough Cut 2

• This is an update of our most recent up to date progress of our final music video. With a week till the deadline, we still have lots to do including continuity editing to make the music video flow in conjunctive to the music, for example changing the cutting of the clips to the beat of the song; and having appropriate cutting rates and clips when the mood of the song changes.
• We have progressed a lot in this week, however we need to tweak and parts of the footage where appropriate and one of our priorities is to sort out a clear transition from the real world to the boys memories and back again, making it clear that this is what is happening.
• There are parts of the video that are not in line with the music as well for example when we use the Psycho clip, which will either need to sort or remove all together. 

Group 8: Editing Development

• Over the last several days, I have taken the role of editor. On the 26th of November I aimed to link all the footage with the sound. Meaning when there's  a change in the tempo of the music, the cutting rate and speed of shot mirrors this.
• As well as this, I have colour washed all the clips of the house scene in order to make it look a melancholy place. However I only used the effects on Premiere and aim to use After Effects in order to completely colour wash all shots, and potentially use the colour wash as a transition.
• Furthemore on the 28th of November, we looked at the domestic violence scene. After analysing it several times, we altered the arrangement of the shots and looked to time lapse and slow down some shots in order to make them more emotional and deliver more structuralisation. 
• With this video being aimed at a target audience of positive technological determinists, we feel as a group that we need to perfect the domestic violence scene. In order to make it serious and moving, rather than a comical sequence.
• Finally, making the video as smooth as possible is hard. This is because we are not using a fabula, and this may cause narrative fuzz. As well as this we are trying to follow the meta-narrative and conventions of Bastille, which is often authenticity. 

Group 8: Digipak Development

• Today I have continued with development of our digipak, I Have been changing the colours through the variation tool in which I can change the background colour of the photo.
• I have chosen to highlight the photos with a yellow background as it represents the happiness and the dream world associated with the video production.
• A screenshot is shown below of the format I have been using to edit the digipak.

Group 8: Concept Development - Advertisement

• With our advertisements we have tried to follow the Bastille themes that we have displayed on our digipack and is used on the singles. We have done this by using the same block, simplistic font and the overlapping style of the text. 
• We have used stills as the main background in both adverts with a text overlay. Both photos are conjunctive to the narrative of our music video and features our key main role, the young boy. 
• Mise en scene was important in the background as the locations and actions in the photo has to be eye catching as well as relevant to our music video. One is shot in Trafalgar Square in London where part of our music video is filmed and the other is on a carousel fun fair ride, both making a feature in the video.  

Group 8: Concept Development - Music Video

• On Monday we exported and received feedback on our rough cut. Since then we have edited a lot of our footage on Premier by going through all of our shots we have saved. We have nearly filled in our timeline for the song, however are yet to edit the final part of footage
• Today we went over our work in more detail with our teacher. From looking over our work we decided that with our abuse scene we need to slow some of the shots down and make it a more significant part of the video as it happens very quickly. 
• Furthermore during the 'dream state' footage in London we need to refer back to the narrative of his relationship with his Father; as though it is always in the back of his mind and to reinforce that it is not just a day trip to London.

 



Group 8: Audience Research - Rough Cut

• Today we presented a rough cut of our music production to our peers. we recieved comments and reviews on how we could improve over the next few weeks.
• One comment we recieved was that after our Psycho opening that the first shot could slowly colour out following the black and white theme of the film progressivly getting lighter as the shot pans up. We would have to do this on Premier through colour grading or on After Effects to achiever the change over time in the shot. 
• It was suggested that the 'dream world' should show more interaction between the mother and son which is key to the narrative to show the relationship between the 2 key characters.
• Cutbacks or flashbacks from the dream state back to reality where the child is unhappy with his relationship with his father. The flashbacks to the abuse would show the contrast between when he is his happiest and then saddest. 
• All of these comments we have taken on board and i think we are more than capable of adjusting, we have more footage availibe and can improve our final production by the deadline.

Group 8: Shoot Feedback

• On Tuesday the 19th of November we decided to go on a 3rd shoot at my house again.
• The main goal of this shoot was to film more powerful shots of the abusive scene between the father and son in our music video. In our first filming session we managed to film the plot, however the footage we had lacked depth of shot and didn't have enough content to cover such a vital part of our production. Ideally we needed shots that showed more interaction between the two characters i.e. both characters in the same shot rather than cutting from either character.
• We also needed to film a conclusion or ending to our music video.
• Overall our shoot went very successfully. We used a variety of different shots that promote the dominance of the male character over the boy in contrast to the loving relationship the boy has with his mother which is key to developing the narrative in our music video.

Group 8: 3 A grade shots

• Today we were asked to pick 3 A grade shots from our current footage that will hopefully get our group as higher marks as possible.
• We received feedback and comments after showing our peers these 3 shots. All comments were very positive and thought the steadiness and use of track was very effective, we were very happy with these comments.
• More specifically we need to trim parts down to them in our footage to make them run smoothly and create a voyeuristic perspective to our music video which is key to our narrative.

Group 8: Shoot Feedback

• On Tuesday we went to Jacques house to film the intricate part of our production. We had the task of filming the establishing shots of the young boy and the house as well as the actual 'domestic violence' part of the video.
• We started by filming the establishing shots of the young boy asleep using steady-cam, handi-cam and tracking shots. These ideas are following our storyboard closely, an example being a tracking stair shot.

• We then filmed the movement of the boy where he wakes up, goes downstairs and eats his breakfast. We continued to use a range of camera techniques, including different angles such as birds eye view and low angled shots.
• An important part of the scene at the beginning of the video is the relationship between the mother and son. We realised it was important to film interaction between the two characters; we did this by having the mother kiss the boy on the head before she leaves for work.
• Once the mother had left we began to film the beginning of the domestic violence scene, we started with a shot of the step dad coming into the back ground out of focus with an extreme close up of the boys face in the foreground.
• Although the majority of our shoot was successful and we filmed high quality usable footage, the domestic violence scene lacked depth and wasn't good enough. We had some shots that looked really good but on the whole we didn't take enough footage.
• We will have to return to re shoot some of this in order to better our production.

Group 8: Campaign - Band Image

• Today we have our an update on our digipak and magazine advertising. We have all gone for a simplistic approach, which follows the bands meta-narrative.
• An example of this is the simple motifs in all which follow the theme of the music video.
• In all of Bastille's other album cover they have not followed Dyer's conventional theory that specifically. An example of this is that the artists are not present in any of the album covers, and therefore follow the paradox of the artist being absent. However they all have the bands name in the same large font which is displayed on all album covers. This follows the same paradox with the band becoming present.
• Furthermore the second paradox is also followed however unspecifically, as the stars are extraordinary in ways that they are mysterious and aim to make an independent album cover. As well as this they use pictures which are simple and are ordinary, which the consumer can potentially relate.

 

• This is our digipak, obviously it is still being created and this is not the final copy. However we have aimed to follow the simplistic aim of Bastille. 
• Moreover the typography is the same as Bastille's font, and it also follows the conventions of Bastille's other album covers. For example the song title and band title are pulled together on the front cover, and shown as one work almost like a cross word puzzle.
• The leading line of the digipak would be the picture, and this would create enigma as the boy's (our protagonist) face in not shown. This adds mystery and follows the meta-narrative of Bastille of a simple picture. The second leading line would be the large bold font, which takes over the album cover and is easily readable.

• The magazine adverts, are close to completion and personally I think very professional. They are significantly different to one another, which I think is an important aspect.
• As well as this they both use pictures from our video, meaning they are following theme of the video and would be relatable to the video if it were to be seen in a magazine.
• However we are still undecided as to which magazines we would put our adverts in, after a discussion we have several ideas which include; NME Magazine, Q Magazine, MTV Magazine, etc.
• Plus the leading line of both would be the colourful pictures, as they are visually exciting. Hanson would say that the adverts are artistic and follow the happiness of the video.

  

Group 8: Digipak Development

• Today in class we varied the task, as Jacques took the role of editor and I attempt to develop the digipak.
• In this lesson I focused on the front cover, and more specifically the typography which is so significant to the meta-narrative of the artist.
• I have taken a screenshot of my progress.

• Despite several letters being in the wrong colour, we will get to this in the future as the positioning is very important. This is because it determines how good the picture actually looks.

NM: Magazine Advertisment Development

• I have taken two photographs of the young boy in London and dropped the opacity to 50% so that the photographs are merged into on.
• The photos that I have used are shown below.

 

• Having put the two photographs on top of each other; I am now focusing on the positioning of the text, the colour grading and then changing the font.
• A screenshot of my progress is shown below.
  

 

 







Group 8: Editing Development

Over the last week we have edited the footage we have:

• Firstly, we had to watch all our footage and decide which shots are we are to use in our video.
• Then we implemented the Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960) footage at the beginning, which ended up taking 15 seconds.
• Furthermore we have added our first footage (which was taken in London) onto the timeline and started editing it up.
• However we encountered several problems when editing as we felt in order to edit the London footage effectively we needed the footage of the domestic violence.

• On Tuesday 12th of November we filmed the domestic violence scenes, and added these to the timeline.
• Moreover we had found it hard to decide as a group how we should introduce our antagonist. Despite this we found tracking shots that we can use and have placed on the timeline.

Group 8: Digipak Development

• Over the last few lessons as well as editing our footage, I have been starting creating our digipak. This has been a hard process as we are short on still photos at the moment and plan to focus on taking more on our next shoot when we visit Brighton shortly. 
• At the moment I have been coming to terms with using the Photoshop programme and tested out ideas that fit with the theme of our music video such as over the shoulder shots of the boy in the video and the use of tube maps of London, where our music video features. 
• Here is a screenshot of some of my recent progress/ideas 

Group 8: Second Shoot Planning

• Today we plan to do our second shoot as a group.
• After trying to edit the current footage we have realised that we need to shoot our first shots in the video, to give ourselves as structure and edit in chronological order.
• Therefore we are going to shoot our house scene, this will potentially be the most difficult scene to film. This is because we have to shoot the domestic violence scene.
• This will be the most difficult simply because the domestic violence shoot, will have to be done in a variety of angles and movements. This has the potential to go both horribly wrong or being a huge success.
• The shots that we are going to use too emphasise and highlight the importance of this scene will include a vast amount of tracking shots as small amounts are vital to make it look professional and make the shots more interesting. Some of the different angles that we need to incorporate to better our production will include birds eye views and low angle to give different perspectives on the story and establish character exposition.
• Therefore we have to plan our shoot specifically, which Jacques has noted in his exercise book.
• Several other shots we aim to take are the boy and his mother, creating the initial relationship between them in which we base our whole production on.
• As well as this we need to take an abundance of establishing shots, in order to set the scene or act as filler shots if necessary.
• Finally we will also need to take shots of Noah, again planning how we are to initially introduce our protagonist to the audience in a way that will create verisimilitude.

Group 8: Concept Development - Psycho Idea

• Our song No Angels by Bastille, starts off with an interview between a man and a woman.
• After research, we have found that this interview is from the film Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960).

• We want to cut up this interview, and then put it into our video. It will only be there for the start and will then cross cut to the house where our video starts.

Group 8: Concept Development - Group Update

• Today in class, our group was split into different roles.
• We felt we should swap the allocated roles around, giving Jacques the chance to edit. He has several creative ideas, an example being implementing the Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960) interview to follow the track.
• Nathan however is going to add to the magazine advertising we have, he has found the picture he is going to use and the font. Because we have little experience of 'Photoshop' we are still adjusting to it.
• I am going to update the blog, and highlight key terms. Also I may add to Jacques digipak ideas, with another concept post on the Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960) scene.

Group 8: Concept Development - Magazine

• Today we allocated roles, for the prints. We have decided as a group that Jacques will be doing the Digipak, whereas Nathan and I will be doing magazine advertising.
• We decided this because we thought in the future Nathan and I, are more likely to be doing editing therefore Jacques will have more time to perfect the digipak.
• Following conventions that we have found in our research, as well as deciding on the perfect picture following the theme of our video.

Group 8: Concept Development - Digipak

• In todays lesson we allocated roles as who would be creating the digipak and the 2 advertisement posters.
• I will be designing the digipak. During the lesson I began by using the template from the student shared area on the schools computers to begin the layout. I then went through photos that what we had taken in London on our first shoot to see if there were any suitable images for that could be used.
• To begin I struggled with using Photoshop as it has been a long time since I have used the programme, however as I spend more time on it I am sure my skills will improve and will become quicker.

Group 8: Concept Development - Editing

Editing

• Today we began the initial stages of editing our production. Our track has three very clear sections and so makes it easy for us to work on a specific part.
• We have started to view all of our footage and filter out the best and worst shots and break them down into useable footage.
• So far we have edited just over 40 seconds of our production using quite a lot of the footage that we took from our first shoot in London. This is helpful to us as we know now that we will need to take even more footage than we initially realised.
• Some evidence of our editing is shown below along with some screenshots of footage.

Group 8: Print Update - Digipak Font

• In research for our Digipak (which we have decided Jacques will be doing) we have been looking for the font. We felt as a group we wanted to follow the conventional typography that Bastille use in all their album artwork, because we feel its an iconic part of the bands meta-narrative. After some research we think we found the font, its named 'Futura'.

• As you can see from the screenshot, the font is exactly the same as the album covers, however the font in those are bolder. However one potential problem that we have with our font is that in all the Bastille album covers they all use a triangle for the letter 'A'.

Group 8: Concept Development - Targets for Deadline

• As a group we are aware that we will have to film as a group at least 2 more times. We did practice shots inside the house with the school camera, but used one of our own cameras from outside of school during our first shoot in London. Therefore we intend to reshoot the shots from inside and visit Brighton at some point in school time.
• Plan Digipak ideas, we have to take several shots that we could potentially use for our digipak. As well as this we have taken several photo's to use for our magazine advert, however we need a group discussion on what theme we want to create in our advertising.

Group 8: First Shoot Feedback

• Having not been able to shoot on Monday the 28th October due to weather conditions, we rearranged our first shoot to Wednesday 30th October. 
• We went up to London with our actors with a list of shots taken from our story board, our aim was too look at the shots we had in mind and create them in person.
• However a big part of the shoot was not planned, when we got too London we improvised too our surroundings, for example we filmed Noah (the young boy) approaching a human statue, we didn't plan shots like this as we didn't know what there would be in London that would be inspirational to us.
• Having looked at some of our footage, we are really happy and see the shoot as being successful. We took over 150 different shots on the day using different angles, distances and movements. We also included two tracking shots that are of a very high quality that could be used as key establishing shots of both character and location.
• We have in mind a very vivid look about our production and we thought about this when shooting every single shot. For example almost every single shot had slight movement in it as we feel static shots could make our video look very amateurishly produced.
• Lastly a big part of our production is going to be focused around the relationship between the mother and son, for this we saw it as being very important to capture the genuine bonding between the two. This meant we filmed spontaneously when they were interacting. This had two major benefits to our production, firstly it creates a stronger sense of verisimilitude and secondly it improves the quality of the footage as we weren't relying on the acting skills of either character.
• The only challenge of the day was the location, as one can imagine London on a half term week was extremely busy, so we did suffer with people being in the way or walking through the middle of shots occasionally.