Category: Music Video

Whilst we haven’t yet got enough shots to make a full cut of the song, I was able to put together a small draft of how I might choose to edit and apply filters to this section of the song, using footage from our black studio performance shoot.

This demonstrates how I can apply this to the final product with adjustments to contrast and balance as well as applying an overlay colour tint in some sections. I am still unsure how much colour overlay to use however, as I feel it would be best only to use in small sections to add emphasis, as using it throughout the whole video may become visually boring for the viewer.

After creating an animatic and deciding on what we wanted more specifically for the video, we were quick to book the black photography studio in school and have another attempt at a performance shoot, this time without using coloured lights, as we decided these aren’t essential and could be done in editing later.

This shoot was a lot more successful than all the previous, whilst we had limited time in the studio, having a solid plan and motivation behind us we were able to power through our shot list and produce some better visual content that we can use for our video. (We may still revisit this shoot though, in order to get even more content if needed).

To provide a few extra shots and content for our performance and show some instruments used, I put together a simple setup in my bedroom with a black background as a mini shoot of me playing the violin and keyboard.

Retrospectively;

• this shoot was unplanned and performed alone, unfortunately meaning a lot of shots were out of focus as I had nobody to check the camera for me whilst filming
• my setup wasn’t ideal, as I have no professional equipment the background has folds and the lighting can vary

However, these shots were still usable and clearer (less grainy) than the violin and keyboard shots we got in the drama studio shoot

For this task I decided to draw from my pre-existent knowledge with Adobe Photoshop, drawing and the timeline feature to make a rough animatic for the video. By doing this we can really help visualise what outcomes we’re aiming for when shooting footage, as it is basically a visual shot list for the whole video. I chose to create an animatic in this instance rather than sketching out still scenes as having the imagery synced to the music also allows us to continue using this as reference when editing, not just when shooting the base video.

Before moving onto our second attempt at a narrative shoot we put together a plan document as to how we want to approach this

 

There was however a slight change to this plan at the last minute as we were unable to access my shed for the day, this however was easily amended as we rescheduled and booked a school white studio instead, keeping everything else the same.

Overall we reflected the following of this second shoot:

• the direction and performance of this shoot were better than the previous
• the coloured lighting made for some dramatic shadows which worked very well
• we got a good range of shots with the camera, making sure to get close ups, mid shots and long shots to create a range of engaging visuals for the video

However we still found a decent amount of the footage below our standard of quality that we want for the video:

• due to the darkness of the room and only using coloured lights, a lot of the footage was grainy and thus unusable
• whilst the room itself is painted black, it its not designed for filming and some features on the walls such as posters and sockets interfered with the shots
• since we were using a school classroom the time we had to shoot was very limited and left us with rushed unpolished footage

Next shoot we wanted to try was to get some content from a performance shoot, we planned to do this in the drama studio to make use of the coloured lighting and black background, to give the impression of the singer in a sort of void. In preparation for this I made some small thumbnail sketches to try and have a better plan before going into the shoot as we didn’t do this last time.

With this help and organisation, we were able to decide on simpler clearer aims for this shoot, we had a mimimum shot list from these sketches and from there could direct our model much more

After our first shoot we were able to reflect on and form a better idea of how we should approach tasks like this in the future. Whilst this was a helpful experience to recognise our own skills in filming, directing and cinematography we eventually decided that this shoot didn’t achieve enough good footage for us to use in our project.

Overall, we recognised the areas that we did well;

• we gained a better understanding of how we should structure a shoot and organise ourselves and what is needed
• we had good communication, critical thinking and decision making together
• we had some good ideas in theory

However this was eventually outweighed as we reflected on the shoot and concluded that

• our model needed more time to learn and be comfortable with the lyrics, as this wasted a lot of time
• we didn’t have multiple angles/versions of many shots, giving us limited material to work with
• some shots lacked movement and energy, as our model didn’t receive enough direction in some places so didn’t know how to move
• we hadn’t established much of a narrative plan and this left us unsure of how to direct certain lines and sections of the song
• mise en scene was unfocused and disorganised

Before our first shoot we also made sure to fill out this production meeting agenda to have a clear idea of what we wanted/needed going into it;

Shoot Title	Narrative Shoot 1
Date of Meeting:	Friday 3rd July
Date/Time of Shoot:	Sunday 5th July 10:30 – 4:30
Location of Shoot + Equipment needed	DRP Basement (town) Equipment borrowing: Camera (Levi), Gimble (Luke) Props/Costume to bring: Tin foil (hat) Glasses (Luke – red tint) Telephone Pinboard red string pins notes Water drops (tears) Makeup Jeans Dirty tshirt Flannel shirt White sheet
Model	Levi Laurence
	Levi will be playing the role of a conspiracy theorist, shut up in his basement and madly creating various theories and ideas as he aims to convince others of his conspiracies.
Costume + Make Up	What is it?	Who’s responsible?
	Make up Shadows under eyes Tear effectHair Brushed, messy Costume Jeans, loose fitting Flannel shirt Tshirt Glasses (red tint) Socks Plasters on hands	Zoe . Levi . Luke Zoe Levi/Alex Luke Zoe Zoe
^ Photos
Props (photos)	Tin foil Hat Pinboard Scattered notes on floor	Zoe Zoe Zoe
What do I need to remember whilst filming (what is in the background, detail? Visual Shot list)	We will need to tidy up afterwards, there are people living in the apartment upstairs so we cannot be too loud. We have a general shot list, wanting to ensure some long, mid and close up shots as well as some specific acting on certain lines.

 

Before we can go out and shoot for our video we needed to ensure we had permission to do so and fill out a risk assessment form, so that we and our parents/guardians are aware that we are responsible for any possible risks that come with shooting, especially outside of school time and off site.

Signed copies for everyone on shoot;

For this shoot I have permission from my dad to film in the basement of his office, as this space fits the style and themes we want to convey in the narrative. Since this is an office space we plan to shoot on a Sunday so as to not disturb any workers here nor have to limit our time/performance because of them.