Rough Cut Reflection

Rough cut reflection

By our second rough cut we still did not have all the shots we needed so our pace of editing and variety of shots suffered. After showing this rough cut to our teacher we have noticed that our change of costume was too frequent and sudden between the denim jacket and the black shirt. We have decided to film later that day with a more suitable costume which was the bomber jacket and the shirt. 

The feedback reflection was mainly positive but it has been brought to our attention that some shots linger for too long as we were missing shots that we can cut to. 

Audit my blog

There are still some blogs that I have yet to complete, or that need completing. I have made a list of the blogs that I need to finish and how i'm going to present them. Most of them are to do with my digipak or the final ideas for the video so i'm going to spend a good amount of time thinking about how I want my digipak to look and do drafts of them, in time for making the actual products.

Feedback on video so far

Since our first rough cut we have edited more of our video and added in the new shots that we filmed, so we now have more of our video edited and at a better quality. In todays lesson we went around each groups edited video so far and watched them. We then gave positive feedback on what was good and also some areas that could be improved. A lot of our feedback was positive, and the class really enjoyed the different shots we had, for example the silhouette type shots. They also really enjoyed the overlay and transition shots we had with Dan and Beau and also with the location shots of Piccadilly Circus.  Areas that they said we could improve were to include more cut-outs of different locations so that its not always on the main singer. We are thinking of including cut-outs of Beau's scenes which do include a different location so we think this will work well. Also to ensure we have enough shot types, it was suggested to include more close-ups so we have a variety of shots.

Task 2

What needs to be completed by friday

Thursdays Lesson

In Dans lesson on thursday, Seun was ill and so we asked him to send us the final shots that we filmed on the previous monday so that we could upload them to Premiere Pro and look over what shots we had. Seun managed to send them to us and we successfully uploaded all the footage. We then looked over every shot and discussed what were the best shots to use and how we were going to edit them. A lot of the shots were filmed with the music sped up so that we could edit them in slow motion and so we worked out how they would be edited into the video. We also discussed with Dan (Our teacher) what worked well with our video so far and what could possibly be changed, however he said that what we had so far was very good.

Final Day Of Filming

In our filming schedule we was a little behind meaning we was a group that still needed to film some parts of the music video when other groups have already finished , but after our Monday lesson we went to the City and down the River Thames at the London Eye and finished all our filming , so now in our media lessons we can focus on editing our music video and make it the best we can. Also when we got some feedback we got told that there was a shot where the artist had a different costume on so we also re filmed that shot on this day as we wanted to react to the feedback which was helpful.Below are some pictures of us filming on that day. We took photos of the location and some photos of our group involved in the filming, and in our music video there is also a girl in it so we filmed her part in the location of the London Eye which we also have evidence of underneath.

2nd Rough Cut

In the second rough cut, we addressed an issue we had with the costume changes. We also got started working on the edit for the chorus, helping shape the rest of the music video, as the chorus is arguably the most important part of the song.

Filming Overview - Daniel

Overview 

Our shot variety turned out well as we have a good amount of both studio and outside shots that work well together. We made sure to have plenty of base shots so we can apply a faster pace of editing as we have a lot of shots to pick from. We have also managed to implement a few new shots that we didn't plan to do that turned out great: 

When we were filming our intro we came across a location that had four light pillars that we thought would look great to record next to them. One of those shots is a mid shot where I'm singing to the sped up version of the song. This allowed us to then slow down the footage to normal song speed which made it look like I'm singing in slow motion which I think came out great. We also used that location for the silhouette shot which had me standing in front on the light, making me appear completely dark against my background. We used this for the shots where I'm dancing which I also believe came out very well. Also, we have managed to overcome the potential difficulties of filming in a tube station which we though would be difficult but due to the late time we filmed everything came out fine without it being too difficult. 

As to what didn't go so well its mostly that we failed to go by our production plan due to unpredictable weather and unavailability of group members at times. We managed to overcome this however and only have a small portion left to film which we will do today (Monday 23rd November). We have also noticed that we need at least three people at the shoot at all times because when Me and Seun went out to film we couldn't leave the equipment anywhere so we were wasting valuable filming time.

We have managed to go by the storyboard as much as possible which was not too hard as our narrative is very simple and can be easily altered on the day of shooting. We still didn't get to filming the shots of the girl in the video which will hopefully be done today and that will be a wrap on filming which will leave us a sufficient amount of time for editing. 

1st Rough Cut

This is how far we have got so far with the rough cut, bearing in mind we are a bit behind on the filming schedule meaning we haven't got all the shots so we are spending one more day getting all the shots finished, so the shots that are in this rough cut is only half of what we got.We are going to get the second half of the song shots done and when we have we are going to make a much better improved rough cut with all the shots. Also in this rough cut we have tried to add our synergy effect with the eyes.

Editing Process

From looking back at our production schedule we so far are not on schedule as we still have to film the end part of the film because at the moment we have shots that will suit the first part of the song. The reason why we are a bit of track is because we where spending a lot of time on the filming as we want to get the shots at perfect as we can so we spent a lot more time than we expected, but so far its paid off because the shots we have now are really good and better than what we expected and thats because we spent more time on it.
We have edited the first half of the song right now and the editing is looking really strong as we have added effects and transition fade in fade out which has made it really effective as the transitions work really well with the lighting the studio shot that we have as we have put them together. The only weakness that we have at this moment of time is that we have not finished filming so the only down fall is we could have more shots but we haven't because we've not finished the filming but we have scheduled that we are going to have got all our shots done and finished by today (Monday 23rd November) which means by our next lesson we would have every shot and can start on editing the whole song.
We have mostly followed our story board but whilst filming we come up with new shots and locations , however we have followed the narrative and the first part, but we have changed the last location as we have decided to film on Liverpool Street.

This is one that is well framed and edited very closely as we have faded the artist in front of a location and blurred a part of it which makes it look really good and at that part of the song it works really well and fits in. It is also better than having two separate shots jumping from each other and by putting them together it looks so much better.

This is also shot that is well framed as the lighting is very appealing here as you can see his frame which looks like a shadow and not his whole features which makes it look very good as you can see a black body performing in front on a brighter wall which makes it look very effective.Also I think that the lighting works very well as we thought that the shadow wouldn't of looked as effective in front on any old wall.

This shot is also what i also think is well edited and framed as we have edited the lighting to make it look more better as the colour kin of changed and the reason why this shot works well is better we have used this shot as a base track and this shot is perfect for it and with what we have editing so far it looks really good and we have come up with that there is no other shot that will look better than this with the base track.

Editing 3 (Part 2)

An effect we began to attempt was the hidden implements of the Arcane eye, which we would add when Arcane is seen for the first time. The effect, ideally, would be a holographic sort of effect, however, that may not be possible. The eye itself, on the other hand, will continue to be hidden all throughout the music video. Below is an example where I have marked it out. The reason why we have used this is because where it is part of our synergy because where we are influenced by disclosure because in their music videos they have a effect where they have a white scribble over their faces so people can identify them when they see it because when you see the white scribble you straight away think of disclosure , so thats the aim we are trying to get across for when you see this effect you think of our artist Arcane. Also where the white scribble is effective we can not copy their idea so we come up with designing this whole new feature which is also effective.

Editing 3

Today, we were really able to push with editing due to how much footage we have. We started chopping up the footage in time with the music, which is a convention we knew from the very beginning we were going to use.

One of the effects we wanted to include was a fade shot with the lights going against the singing. To do this, we had the footage of the lights along with Dan looking up, all playing simultaneously, then automating the opacity of the footage to vary, along with a gaussian blur. Below shows how the frame came out.

So far, we feel our video is really coming well together. The shots we got were very good, and switching from one to another will make the video as good as planned, which we have also concluded in our story board and we have tried our best to follow it.

Our Silhouette Shot

When we were shooting at Canary Wharf on Sunday, we noticed there was an area that we felt had really good lighting, one way the lighting was really good here as compared to a shot filmed in doors we can see the difference in colour and in contrast which makes this shot better and more attracting. We also got very positive feedback towards this shot where many people have commented that this is a very good shot all because of the lighting and that is what we wanted to hear. We decided to use it for our close up/mid shot, as seen below:

After shooting this scene, Seun had an idea to use the same light for a silhouette shot. Keeping the song sped up, but dancing and moving in time with the song, against the silhouette shot, we felt would be a great idea. The shot came out amazing, and we cannot wait to edit it for the final product. Below are screenshots, and from research that we did on music videos we see that there are hardly any music videos with these sort of shorts which has gave us a advantage and different from others. Even though you don't regularly see these shots in a music video doesn't mean we can't include it but it works really well and it still fits in with being in a music video.

Day 4 Of Filming

On Sunday, we had another shoot outside. We recorded a few shots with the song sped up, in order to slow down the footage and have it look nice when slowed down. We continued focusing on the 1st half of the song, adding variation shots to it in order to prevent the music video from being stale. Below are screenshots of what was recorded.

Day 3 Of Filming

Second lesson- Editing

In todays lesson, we have all of our footage uploaded onto Premiere Pro which meant that we had more footage to view and choose which files we needed. We dragged the files we wanted onto the timeline and also put the markers on at 4 beats, which we will then use later to cut out what we don't want. Because we haven't got all of our main footage, we can't completely edit a rough cut, as we are yet to film all of the base tracks we need. However, we have updated our production schedule, on when and where we are going to film the rest of our base tracks. When we have done this we will then be able to properly start editing our music video.

Beginning of editing

In our Monday lesson, we started to edit our footage that we have so far and also plan when and where were going the be filming the rest of the shots that we need. We have imported all the files we have so far onto Premiere Pro and downloaded our song. Each member of our group spent about 20 mins editing different parts of the footage. So far we because we have not got all of our files to import, we haven't got much footage to work with so todays lesson was mainly drafting certain shots that we could use. We also spoke to Rebecca about what we have so far and what we still need to film and she made it clear on when the deadlines are for tour video. We are now going to update our production schedule as we now know when we are next going to be filming.

Second day of filming

These are the photos that we took when filming the rest of our studio shots in our Thursday media lesson. After our first shooting session we had a much better idea on what we were doing and how to do it. Our main performer felt more confident with performing and knowing the lyrics which really helped to make our filming easier and smoother. We thought of new ideas, like how we can use the lighting to make the shots look different. We also filmed a few more base tracks and different shot types and shots from different angles.

Beginning Of Edit

We began to edit our music video by importing our first day's worth of shooting. We still need to upload the 2nd day of shooting, however, we've made a good start so far.

We began marking all of the footage in time with the music, making sure it matches every beat. We also did a test shot of using slow motion, making sure the frames blended well and were not choppy. The timing of the normal motion to slow motion was automated, in order to add stylistic effect.

Evaluation Question 1 - Notes & Ideas

"In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?"

I believe that our media product follows similar patterns to real media products, making it as professional as the music videos in the industry. We, however, did certain things differently in order to challenge certain aspects.
A typical music video would have focus on the main artist all throughout, consisting of a lot of close ups, mid shots and screen time on the main artist themselves. However, considering our main artist is a producer (Arcane), we wanted to use the metaphor of them being 'behind the scenes', as they would when producing the music itself. Therefore, we intentionally chose to give the vocalist (Dan Davids) that Arcane was working with, more screen time and more focus. This goes against the convention of having focus on the main artist, as the main artist makes a slight cameo, rather than being in the limelight from beginning to end.

We used slow motion in our product, mid shots, close ups and cut the video to match the timing of the audio. These are all techniques we found in our research of actual music videos.

Canary Wharf- Location

Seun went to Canary Wharf DLR station in order to see the lighting that's already there which will give us a good idea of how it will work when filming at night. The station is well lit which will be very useful for our opening shots. Also it can look very nice (when quiet), whilst having a roof over it, preventing rain from affecting our shoot. We will be shooting there on Sunday evening.

 

Reflection on Blogging Health Check 2

I found the comments on my blogging health check were well deserved. A lot of work has been put in from myself in order to push my blogging back to a higher standard, making me vary in terms of ICT, what information is spoken about, etc. Having said that, there'll always be room for improvement and that is something I continue to strive for.

9. Analysis of music videos

11. Mainstream vs independent

Mainstream- One direction - Kizoa Online Movie Maker
 

24 | Digipak initial ideas

Digipak

This is a rough idea for the CD cover made by Seun. It includes the custom face art that we made with inspiration from Disclosure's face outline. One of our ideas for the album name is Voltage which goes with the light blue all-round colour scheme of the cover. As of now the design is too simple so if we were to develop on this idea we would have to make it more eye-catching with maybe a change in the fonts, colour scheme, pictures or interpreting the eye more as that is our synergy base.

Update on filming scheldule

On this following day in our three hour lesson as a group we wasn't able to carry on our filming as one of our group members didn't turn up. The main reason why this was a problem was because we was using his equipment and not the college equipment meaning their was no alternative. If we was filming with the college equipment we could of managed doing it with the people that did turn up. This has made us a bit behind , but because we are using our own equipment we will have to catch up in our own time with the time that we have missed out on.

blog post 19

blog post 17

Disclosure ft Sam Smith - Omen is our final song choice which we will be using to make our music video. In this video there is no narrative as you are mainly focused on the tattoo artist lady and Sam Smith , it also stays in one location where you see Sam Smith most of the time. Our video will defer from this as we have more locations shots meaning in our video you will see our artist in more than one place other than one place because in the original video you only see Sam Smith in one place. We also have a studio shot where there is a white background and you don't see that in the original because they also have people in the background or lights. However , from the original video we was influenced a bit from the beginning as you get a extreme wide shot of the location and from seeing that gave us a good idea that we should try and include that shot ourself but with a more central location with bright lights and an interesting background. Another thing that we are making different is that Sam Smith doesn't look directly at the camera where in our music video we are making the main artist look at the camera which we found out that , that was in Andrew Goodwins theory.

This is a screen shot of one of our studios shots where you can see that the main artist is looking directly at the camera and when watching the original video you don't see this throughout the video. The lighting is also brighter than the main video , even though there are many lights in the main video the whole setting scene is quite dark , whereas we have quite a brighter setting.

From our screen shot and the original video screen shot you cans see the difference straight away and that is the look we are going for as we want our artist to look straight at the camera as we feel it gets the audience more involved and attached and because it is quite an emotional song we want the audience to see the emotion in the artist face fall on other than just from the side as you can we can only see half of the emotion in Sam Smiths screenshot.

Blogging Health Check 2 - Daniel

Blogging Health Check 2

"A vast improvement on HC1 Daniel.  You've been back over some of the early posts and have completed the research tasks to a good standard.  Still missing posts 11 and 13, which are important and will need to be completed to get this grade higher.
Much of the pitch is completed, but there are still some individual elements of the planning that are missing:
1. Post blogs 18, 1924 and 37
2. Post either a shot-list or draft storyboard - at the moment your group only has a completed final storyboard.  Without the draft version you aren't showing development of ideas, which carries quite a lot of marks.
3. Post the copyright clearance letter - I can't find that on the blog. If it's there and is hidden can you make it more obvious?
4. Make sure that you keep up the current level of momentum and don't let things slip and slide again.
Definitely room for further improvement and this would result in an even higher grade."

I also believe I have made progress from my previous health check but I am aware there is still significant space for improvement. I will do the blogs I am missing and also improve on existing ones. The copyright clearance has been done by Seun and is now on the blog.

First day of filming

The first day we filmed was on Wednesday during the half term where we filmed in room 333 which has the green screen and studio. We shot the whole song through about 6 or 7 times to ensure we captured enough usable footage. We also shot specific shots that we thought would be good to use in our video and go well with the beat of the song. For example where the beat of the song comes in at the chorus we directed Daniel to open his eyes right on that beat, which we thought would be an effective shot. 

32. Reflection on blogging health check 2

I think that I have improved on my blog, although not majorly but there is some improvement as I did go from a grade D to a grade C. There are still some blogs that I have yet to published, which effected my grade as all my blogs weren't on the blog to be marked. I also need to continue working on getting on top of my blogs and doing them as they are set. Another area in where In where I could improve would be to make sure that my blogs are fully detailed and well presented. I think that some my blogs are very minimal and so I just need to make sure that I spend a good amount of time on each blog. 

Feedback health block check 2

This is my second blogging check and from my previous one I have gone up a grade, I feel I did much better blog posts and done the right amount of mosts for the deadline, however I would like to achieve higher grade for my next blog check so I am going to carry on doing what I am doing but putting more detail. I also need to make sure I do more individual posts.

Prepared to my as blogging heath check as I progressed I would be getting higher grades , so im going to continue and hopefully by the neck check I will be on grade B

Request For Copyright Clearance

We have sent an email to Universal Music Group, the label with copyright of our chosen song, requesting a copyright clearance from them.

And in the letter, it reads: