Drafting & Planning / Research into Similar Products: Scene Transitions.

Earlier in my target audience research I found that most people preferred clean cuts to fade outs when it came to lip synching. However, I still needed to do some research into the transitions between other scenes, such as my lip synching scene and the skirt scene.

To do this, I watched some alternative rock videos and compared the transitions with the ones available on Movie Plus. I used some spare footage to practise editing:

Movie Plus cross fade:

Placebo cross fade:

Although there is a 'fade to colour' option on Movie Plus, I may have to record footage of a bright yellow or bright red light to get the same effect as the light in this video, as red and yellow are not yet available on Movie Plus. The cross fade is a very attractive transition and I plan to use it in between the footage of me lip synching and the Skirt scene.

Movie Plus cross blur:

Three Days Grace cross blur:

This transition is popular in alternative rock songs that feature substance abuse, so I could use this effect in between a lip synching scene and the bathroom scene.

Drafting & Planning - Bathroom Scene

Here is the edited version of the footage:

I am very happy with this footage. I decided to remove the shirtless part (from my storyboard) from this part, as when I recorded the scene the vulnerability that the bare-back was meant to display, it was not clear, and so the pointless soft-nudity ruined the scene.

Instead, I decided to keep my Placebo shirt on, for further advertising purposes, as the logo can be seen in the over-the-shoulder mirror shot.

This works better than using a bare back, as in the next clip I look upwards, as if fr guidance, and open the Vodka (water) aggressively, to show the viewers that the protagonist feels they have no other escape option, other than to get drunk. The disgust shown on my face displays to the audience that the protagonist is not drinking for fun, but to forget,

I plan to use this edited clip in my final video, with some extra clips in of visually-distorted versions of the Skirt Scene during the music break.

Drafting and planning - Cars Scene

I am very happy with this footage, and it is a massive improvement on the initial footage of sped up cars. I decided to to this in the day time just before the sun went down in order to get the bright lights from cars, but also to create a holistic approach with the footage of me walking outside, which will be uploaded at a later date.

Research Into Similar Products - Music Video intro and outro.

Start of videos:

As I am coming close to finishing filming, I decided to research the intros and outros of soem alternative and indie rock music videos.

Placebo - Twenty Years - Black fade in

Three Days Grace - Never Too Late - Black fade in

Skillet - Not Gonna Die - Clean cut with text

Arctic Monkeys - R U Mine - Clean cut

https://j.gifs.com/lYYl9J.gif

The Black Keys - Lonely Boy - Fade from black with text

https://j.gifs.com/BBBAM2.gif

Drowners - Hold Me Down - Clean cut

https://j.gifs.com/R66mmz.gifp

End of videos:

Placebo - Twenty Years - Fade to black

https://j.gifs.com/QWWlG7.gif

Three Days Grace - Never Too Late - Fade to black

https://j.gifs.com/lYYlgJ.gif

Skillet - Not Gonna Die - Clean cut to black

https://j.gifs.com/VOOqK5.gif

Arctic Monkeys - R U Mine - Clean cut to black

https://j.gifs.com/G66JNQ.gif

The Black Keys - Lonely Boy 

https://j.gifs.com/9rroo8.gif

Drowners - Hold Me Down - Clean cut to black with logos

https://j.gifs.com/4xxjjg.gif

Research Conclusion:

There are a wide variety of intros to alt / indie music videos. I prefer the black fade in, perhaps with some text on top.

I also really like the Drowners ending with added credits logos on a black screen. I think this works well as a form of advertising. 

When I begin to edit, I will use a 'fade from black' with some white text on the screen, and I will most likely use 'fade to black' with some credits and the Placebo logo.

Drafting & Planning: Happy Bedroom Scene.

The camera I use did not focus well on the computer screen so I used my phone for some of this footage.

Positive / reassuring messages:

Happy lip synching:

I changed this section from receiving a message to self acceptance because it sends out a better message to the viewers.This change represents non-straight people as people who accept and understand themselves, rather than attention-seeking or in need of other people's approval.

Drafting & Planning: End scene

Draft 1:

Draft 2: (Mid Shot)

Draft 3:

I think I will use a mix of draft 1 and draft 2 for the final cut, as I want one close up and slightly further away and these are the best pieces of footage.

Target Audience: YouTube footage so far.

I asked my target audience their opinions on my draft pieces of footage so far, and whether I could improve anything, and what I did well:

1) 

https://youtu.be/uoDsEpKa2Lw

&

2) 

https://youtu.be/5XEC0Oh104k

Results:

Clip 1:

Clip 2:

Target Audience: Twitter Fonts

I will be using an intoduction screen in my music video, so I decided to ask my target audience about which font I should use.

Which font would be best for introducing this track in a music video? :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y17pkR6fTKA

Fonts: 

Calibri Bold:

Broken Ghost:

Fluffy:

28 Days Later:

Adamsky:

Results:

Target Audience Research Conclusion:

The majority of my target audience think that calibri is the most suited font to Too Many Friends, so I will use this font in my music video.

Drafting & Planning: Skirt scene footage improved.

Raw footage low angle:

Edited footage low angle:

I have decided to continue to use slow motion to show the audience that this scene is a vivid memory and that the protagonist is trying to take in every little detail.

Raw footage high angle:

Edited footage high angle:

Skirt extreme close up:

Skirt extreme close up edited:

I am extremely happy for this shot, and I plan to use very quick cuts of this in the 'drunk' scene of the music video.

Raw footage panning up:

Edited footage panning up:

I slowed this down less than the last few clips to ensure that I can make time for other skirt clips in the final cut.

Looking up edited footage (draft):

I may refilm to improve this scene as I am not completely satisfied with the expression on my face.

Draft of sequence:

Overall I am extremely pleased. I was worried at first that the footage would look to casual but with the effects and track added in it looks professional and well planned in my opinion.

Target Audience: Lip sync improvements.

I have asked some of my peers from my target audience to comment on the lip syncing video of Stephen to tell me if there is any part of lip synching scenes I can improve before I film more footage with my supporting actors and actresses:

Results:

Research Conclusion:

I need to edit out the background noise, which will be amended once I add in the Too Many Friends track when I begin to put my footage together. The target audience also seemed to prefer the close up of Stephen rather than the  mid-shots, so I will use more of the close ups in my music video.

Drafting & Planning: Bedroom Scene initial footage.

This is the footage of the first scene from my music video. Although at first I tried it with naturalistic high-key lighting like in 'Song To Say Goodbye', the footage looked much better with blurry low key lighting like in 'Bosco'.

Raw footage:

Edited Draft:

This footage is good enough to be in the final cut of my film, I now need to film myself walking down the path so that I can edit in cutaways.

Drafting & Planning: Stephen lip sync footage

Medium Close up Sad:

Medium Close up Happy:

Close Up Sad:

Close Up Happy:

As my actor is quite tall, the tri-pod could not reach close enough to do an extreme close up without the footage being very shaky. However, this is not a problem as my alternative supporting actors can fill in for these extreme close ups.

Organisation: Filming update.

Unfortunately, one of my supporting actors had to cancel filming on the 28th of November, so at the moment I am slightly behind. This will most likely be re-shot later in december, or in the Christmas holidays if I am delayed further.

In addition to this, the red tree which I filmed some of my original footage in front of had lost its leaves now, so to solve this issue I am getting my 2nd actress to wear a red coat so the colour saturation is still effective.

However, on the whole I am almost finished filming all of my footage.

Next I need to film my bathroom scene, footage of traffic, the path scene, my happy bedroom scene and a few more lip sync scenes with supporting actors. I also need to film some footage of me and my 2nd actress texting eachother.

My bathroom scene will probably filmed last, as a tri-pod will not be needed for this scene (I have borrowed a tri-pod from school), because the scene will be done steadi-cam style to demonstrate drunkenness. This scene will be done in high key lighting and will have distorted effects added onto it to enhance the 'drunk' feeling of this scene.

Drafting & Planning: Footage of protagonist lip syncing.

During my own lip synching scene I decided to wear a Placebo T Shirt, because as I've referenced before, one of the main reasons for creating a music video is to advertise the artist.

While filming, I also changed my plan for a medium close up to a mid-shot, in order to get the placebo logo into frame.

Mid-Shot full song:

Medium Close up:

Extreme Close up full song:

Research Into Similar Products - Inspiration

Although I have done research into props and backgrounds of music videos before, I wanted to look deeper into it as I am coming close to filming the scenes of the video which take place in my own home. I have chosen to look mostly into Placebo videos as they are the most helpful in researching into similar products.

I chose to look at Bosco. In Bosco, the couples bedroom is quite disorganised and casual.

In addition to this, later in the video a small amount of low key lighting is used to represent the protagonists negative emotions. I really like the mixture of both very low-key and high-key lighting that is used earlier (eg. in the first image) in the video. I plan to adapt this to my own filming.

Whereas in "Meds", the bedroom appears quite sterile. 

I will try to use a mix between the two, so I will clear space in my room but keep my books and posters within view, in order to conform to the conventions of alternative rock music videos. 

In STSG, the majority of the rooms shown in the video are rather messy and casual-looking. Naturalistic lighting is used.

I like this effect, and I plan to incorporate it into my music video. 

I will still use low key lighting in the laptop scene as I'd originally planned, but I will also now use naturalistic lighting, and a higher key of lighting in other scenes filmed inside, as it will allow me the audience to see the actors better and shows a wider range of mise en scene.

Drafting & Planning: Kevin's lip syncing footage - Improved

As the footage was too dark on the first try I have filmed again with one of my supporting actors, Kevin:

Medium Close Up - Sad

Medium Close Up Happy

Medium Close Up Happy IMPROVED

Close Up Sad

Close Up Happy

Extreme Close Up Sad

Extreme Close Up Happy

 -----------------------------------------

My actor was a little nervous, so some parts of the lyrics have been cut out, or have ended too early. However, this is fine because I will be able to replace low quality footage with high quality footage from other actors.

I am extremely happy with this footage, and I think I will add parts of these into the final cut.

Organisation: Tracker.

My post tracker tells me I am lacking in organisation posts, so I will create more organisation blog posts, which will also help me to structure my filming. This is extremely important to keep track of as all of my filming needs to be complete by the end of term,

I also plan to do more research into similar products, as some of my previous posts have concentrated on the ancillary products. I believe that I need to do deeper research and analysis into music videos before I collect all of my footage and start filming.

Drafting & Planning: 2nd actress Lip sync footage

This is the edited footage of my second actress Paige lip syncing. The filming was very successful so I do not think I will have to organise a re-shoot. However, I may organise further filming of more angles across all of the chorus' and some casual smiling. This will be useful to add into the first chorus in which the protagonist lip synchs as it foreshadows the reason why the protagonist is initially sad.

Extreme close up - sad

Extreme close up - happy

Close up - sad - 1st Chorus

Close up - happy

Medium close up - sad

Medium close up -  happy

As the music video is about the friendship between (Paige) and the protagonist, I may use more footage of Paige than some of the supporting actors. To do this, I have filmed Paige lip syncing to the first chorus, which is something that the supporting actors were not filmed doing.

Mid-shot (Neutral)

The music played in the background will be edited out so that I can enter a better quality version of the track into the music video.

Drafting & Planning: Improved footage.

Last time I filmed Shannen and Kevin, the lighting was much too dark, so I got them to re-film:

Shannen (sad medium close up)

Shannen (happy medium close up)

Shannen (sad close up)

Shannen (sad extreme close up)

Shannen (happy extreme close up)

I have got my actress do to multiple scenes with both happy and sad expressions as they will be used for different parts of the video to show how in some ways technology makes life worse and in some ways it makes life happier.

Organisation / Drafting & Planning : Story plan update.

In my original storyboard, I planned to have a wide variety of backgrounds and a very large supporting cast to lip sync.

Since then, I have changed my plans.

Me (the protagonist) and Paige (2nd actress) will perform lip syncing against a plain white wall, which can be found in my Locations post. We are sharing this location as our stories are connected. I have chosen to remain with a white wall to conform to the common conventions of alternative rock music videos, for example, in Marilyn Manson's Third Day Of A 7 Day Binge the protagonist performs in front of a plain background.

Two of my supporting actors, Shannen and Kevin will be filmed against a brick wall as their stories are connected. Shannen and Kevin's story shows a couple in a long distance relationship who can only talk through social media finally meeting up again.

A third supporting actor, Danielle, was filmed against a wall in the girls bathroom, however, the texture on the wall makes it appear as though she is outside a building. Her story is not connected to any of the other actors, which means that the rest of the supporting actors will have a different background to hers when they are lip syncing.

I have also decided that apart from the scenes above, I will attempt to film most of the other supporting actors outside. This will contrast nicely with the 'nature' aspect, to reflect the naturalness of sexuality, and the unnaturalness of man-made technology such as the mobiles and laptops that will feature in the music video.

Target Audience: Qualitative analysis

I have created a YouTube account for the footage I film in Media Studies.

I have uploaded a few videos in order to see what my target audience's opinion is of the videos, and if they have any improvements.

Skirt sequence:

https://youtu.be/3IvUk_kibV8

Different angles:

https://youtu.be/pTZWhVIn5qk

Feedback - Skirt sequence:

Feedback - Different angles:

Target Audience conclusion:

Overall I received positive feedback about my initial footage. I have also received advice as one of the respondents said they liked the colourful effect better, so I may decide to expand the amount of footage I use this effect on.

Organisation: Filming update.

On Tuesday 24th I will be re-shooting the lip-synching scene with Shannen, as last time it was too dark and gave unintended connotations. This will be done in the same location (a brick wall on school property.)

After this, I will filming lipsyncing with one of my supporting actors.

The next part of my filming will be captured on Saturday the 28th with Hermella (one of my supporting actress'.)
I will be filming her lip sync in a similar way to the rest of my supporting actors, with happy and solemn version of medium close ups, close ups and extreme close ups.

This was initially planned to be against her bedroom wall, however, I now plan to use an open space in Birmingham City Centre, such as Brindley Place, as there are black pillars on which I can film my actress against. I may also use this area to film my actors as it offers many interesting backgrounds.

As I have got positive feedback from my YouTube target audience, I will go with the 2nd actress back to cannon hill on Wednesday 25th to film on the bandstand and perhaps against the red tree.