Production: The Best Day

For my final major project,  I created a music video to a song by Taylor Swift. The Best Day is a song based on a child singing to their mother, and it was written and released by Taylor herself in winter 2008. Although it was said at the beginning of the final major project pitches that we weren't allowed to use copyrighted music, here is my explanation: http://firefliesandcitylights.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/fmp-revamped.html

For my video, I wanted to have some shots of me lip syncing the song in a studio, and the rest would be archive footage of me when I was younger. To make this work, I would gather the archive footage and sort through it, trying to intertwine it all with the lyrics. I decided to book out The Cove, which is a rounded studio with a white background, that gives a light feel to a video. I took out some LED Panel lights to ensure my face was well lit so I could finish the video to a professional standard. It took around 5 takes to ensure all of the shots were worth using. My colleague Matthew Jury filmed them for me. 

This was the first edit I did. When I imported all of the hand held shots into Adobe Premiere Pro, I realised they were quite shaky, even though Matthew used a fig-rig to ensure steadiness. I did the best I could to get rid of the shakiness by warp stabilising the shots, but that just made them look blurry. I stuck with it, and exported like normal, however the more I watched it, the more it bothered me and I just had to reshoot some how.

For a previous project, myself and my colleague Naomi Doddridge created a music video, which again, included shots of myself lip syncing to a Taylor Swift song in the film studio, This is similar to The Cove, except it's all black. With it being so dark, it makes it easier to be more creative with the lighting methods. For this, I hired out a DaDo kit, which consists of three stand alone lights. For the lighting, myself and Matthew decided to position one behind me so I would be lit from the back, creating a -sometimes- silouhette shot depending on where I was standing in coherence to the light, one would be in front of me on the left, and the other on the right. This way, my face would be lit well.

We shot the video a total of six times, with all six times from a different angle. Some close up, some mid shots and some profile shots. With this, there would be a diverse range of shots to choose from when it came to editing, and I would have a good mix of camera angles to work with, and cutting between them would look really effective.

My favourite shots actually ended up being the close ups. I felt they really fit with the theme of the video, innocence and happiness. I was slightly worried that the black room would suck the happiness out of the video in conjunction with The Cove, but I really like how it came out in the end.

The second video came out a lot better. The shots worked really well and I didn't have to warp stabilise any of them, which was handy, as I always thinks it takes the professional look away from it when shots are super smooth. The second time in the studio shooting the lighting shots were a lot easier to have in mind, as I would just swap the shots over in Adobe Premiere Pro, so in my mind I knew which shots had to be absolutely spot on.

In terms of editing techniques, I didn't really stress over which clips I used where. I didn't want it to look mega scripted. I wanted it to be a happy video that portrayed the message of the song, which is about me growing up and saying thank you to my family; especially my mum. 

I really enjoyed making this my final major project as I felt like it was also an indirect thank you to my family, especially my mum, dad, nan and grandad for being so amazing to me throughout my whole life. Yay.

- Olivia

FMP: VHS-C & Cannon 600D's

VHS-C

VHS-C is the compact VHS videocassette format introduced in 1982 and used primarily for consumer-grade compact analog recording camcorders. The format is based on the same video tape as is used in VHS, and be played back in a standard VHS VCR with an adapter.

Throughout my music video, there are a number of archive video clips of my family and I from when I was around 3-5 years of age. My Grandad, being the technological genius that he is, was able to convert the VHS-C videos into MP4s using a simple USB adapter and a lot of patience. There were around 40 videos he had to convert, so props to him for doing that.

Importing these clips into Adobe Premiere Pro was just the same as importing any video, by selecting File > Import. The only real difference is the sizing and quality of the clips compared to others that I had gathered from the likes of an iPhone and a Canon 600D camera. The video clips from the VHS-C are around 352x480 pixels, so when I blew them up to fill the screen of 1080x720 pixels, they slightly lost their quality. Don't get me wrong, they weren't AMAZING in the first place, but the did become a little blurry.

Disclaimer: not every single archive bit of footage were recorded on a VHS-C, just most. The others were recorded on an older Canon E300 camcorder. I'm not 100% sure which one's are which. (nobody is)


CANON 600D

The Canon EOS 600D is an 18.0 megapixel digital single-lens reflex camera, released by Canon on 7 February 2011. The 600D is the second Canon EOS camera with an articulating LCD screen and supersedes the 550D, although the earlier model was no discontinued until June 2012, when the successor of the 600D, the 650D was announced. Its features include HD 1080p video recording at 24/25/30 frames/s, 3-10x digital zoom in video recording only, and built in flash with Speedlite wireless multi-flash support.

The only footage recorded on a Canon 600D in my production are the shots taken in the film studio of me. My colleague, Matthew Jury, filmed these shots in 25fps in 1080p video recording. We set it to auto focus to make the moving shots easier to film, and Matt placed the camera on a fig-rig to ensure a steady and smooth operating technique was used, so the shots were clean cut for when I edited it all together.

The contrast between the Canon 600D and VHS-C are extraordinary, but I'm really pleased with how they all came out. I like the fact that the older shots are slightly blurry and pixelated as it shows they're authentic and captivates the audience, actually almost proving what era they're from.


- Olivia


Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHS-C - accessed on 20th May 2015
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_EOS_600D - accessed on 20th May 2015

FMP: Revamped

From short rom-coms to horror films, you name it, I thought about doing it for my final major project. From the beginning of Year 1 I always had my heart set on creating a super cool music video to one of my favourite artists, until the dreams were shattered in around January when we were told we couldn't use copy-righted music without permission from the song writer. This totally threw me into a dead end because I hadn't even begun to think about any alternatives to a music video.

Disclaimer: the reason we weren't allowed to use copy-righted music was because if we were using the FMP to 'sell' ourselves to future employers or universities, then we would technically, in one way or another, be using the song to possibly make money.

When I began creating my final major project the first time, I came up with a plot for a short horror film. which would include myself and colleague Charlie Theron as the two characters. I created a few blog posts on this, and got right up to the point of filming; that's when it all fell apart. I planned it up until the script and shot list. 6 weeks prior to when I was scheduled to film, I fell ill with glandular fever/tonsillitis and was unable to attend college and had absolutely no brain power to do anything. Hence why, when I filmed, I was anxious and didn't really know what I was doing. When it came to editing, I was really disappointed with the quality and felt it looked quite amateur compared to what I should be capable of.

Scrapping the short horror film, I was left with just under a month to come up with a brand new idea that I could plan, film and edit within a short time frame. The only thing possible was a music video. I told myself that it was the easiest way out, it was the only thing remotely possible for me to do given how much time I did/didn't have left. I had a number of ideas running through my head, but credit goes to my Mum for the idea I finally ended up using. Just before Christmas, we had a music video assignment. We had to come up with an idea and create our own individual video, but I decided to collaborate with my colleague Naomi and create Out of the Woods as a duo, this was we would be able to finish it to the highest quality possible.

Blog posts previously created for short horror film:
BTS of The Press Kit for 10.39pm
FMP: 6 Week Preparation (unfinished)

Before this idea, my Mum stumbled across some old footage of me when I was younger and said I should find a song about a young girl growing up and use the archive footage intertwined with a number of studio shots of me singing/miming to the song and create almost a flashback video. I REALLY liked this idea, I mean seriously, it's genius. The only reason I didn't go through with it is because myself and Naomi decided to do a joint video.

Although I said before that we weren't really allowed to create a music video unless we had permission from the singer/song writer, I had no other choice. If it means that I'm no longer available to use my final major project as a platform of my skills to show off to employers, then so be it. It's better than nothing.

SO, in the end, I have decided to recreate Taylor Swift's The Best Day music video, with myself lip syncing to the track in a number of studio shots, and using archive footage, I would intertwine the two together and create a light-hearted music video. You know the sort, easy on the eye and happy to watch. I thought it'd also be a great way to thank my Mum, Dad, Nan and Grandad for all they've done for me over the years.

Stay tuned.


- Olivia

FMP: {Light Hearted} Critique - Boyhood

Boyhood is a 2014 American independent coming-of-age drama film, written and directed by Richard Linklater. Shot intermittently from 2002 to 2013, Boyhood depicts the adolescence of Mason Evans Jr. from ages 6 to 18 as he grows up in Texas with divorced parents.

Production began in 2002 and finished in 2013, with Linklater's goal to make a film about growing up. The project began without a completed script, with only basic plot points and the ending written initially. Linklater developed the script throughout production, writing the next year's portion of the film after re-watching the previous year's footage. He incorporated changed he saw in each actor into the script, while also allowing all major actors to participate in the writing process by incorporating their life experiences into their characters' stories.

Boyhood premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically (U.S.) on July 11, 2014. The film also competed in the major competition section of the 64th Berlin International Film Festival, where Linklater won the Silver Bear for Best Director. It was declare a landmark film by many notable critics, who praised its direction, acting, originality and scope. The film was nominated for 5 Golden Globe Awards, winning Best Motion Picture - Drama, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress (Patricia Arquette). It also received 6 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress for Arquette, which she won.

Right from when I saw the trailer for this movie, I was desperate to see it. I love the whole concept, and to have that sort of time, dedication and patience as not only a director, but as a writer as well, is truly incredible. Following the same 'family' for 12 years takes bravery and it's such a clever idea. It also plays with your mind when you're watching the film, because you just cannot get your head around the fact that it's the same people, not just dodgy lookalikes from the next state along or whatever.

The story of the movie is a pretty normal one in some respects. Somebody out there is going through the things this boy and his family are going through. Parents divorcing, vicious stepparents, domestic abuse, isolation and growing up to be a high school graduate. I'm so glad it became a 'normal' film, and it wasn't one of those far fetched sci-fi dramas with aliens coming out of nowhere and their being a murderer wherever you turn. That would've seriously ruined it.

I saw this movie over a year ago, so it's pretty hard for me to remember what exactly happened, but I do remember a specific scene which just made me fall absolutely head over heels in love with the whole film. When [Mason] is all grown up and off to college, a scene takes place for around 2 minutes where there is absolutely no dialogue. It's just surrounding sounds of the environment and it makes the picturesque side so endearing.

 

 

The song in the background of this clip just gives it a peaceful feel, and it's the sort of thing that would happen in real life. You'd turn on the radio, listen to a song and just drive for miles and miles listening to it, wondering where the road is going to take you. Two lanes of freedom. With this scene being at the very near end of the film, it sums up the whole experience throughout. A pretty hectic life, but it turns out okay in the end. He's off to college. He's happy. Marvellous!

 

In an interview with thedissolve.com, Richard Linklater discussed the differences between the real life and character version of lead actor, Ellar Coltrane.

Q: Was the character of Mason a fusion of sorts between yourself and Ellar?
A: Yeah, I think so. It's very personal, but it's filtered through all of us if you think about it. The adults, too: Patricia, Ethan, and myself, we're collaborating with our parents and who they were, and ourselves as kids, ourselves as parents at this moment, and kind of figuring that out so there's this kind of triangulation at all times. We're filtering our ideas through these kids who are in the moment as kids growing up. There's hardly anything in this movie that wasn't real to some degree, that didn't happen to myself, or one of my collaborators. Pretty close to everything is based in somebody's reality or memory or something, pretty much across the board. That's a good place to start.

This. THIS ANSWER. Oh my gosh. Amazing. I love it when we find out little things like this. When there's hidden facts that make the film better. It's so good to see a director channelling himself and his colleagues when it comes to the storyline/plot/script of a film. How he or one of his colleagues has experienced the events in the film just makes it so much more humbling. Very good job, sir.

Overall. Good film. Awesome film. Highly recommend checking it out if you haven't already.


- Olivia.

{Sources:}
https://thedissolve.com/features/interview/666-interview-richard-linklater/ - accessed on 18th May 2015
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyhood_(film) - accessed on 18th May 2015

FMP: 6 Week Preparation (unfinished)

(The only reason this blog post still half exists is because I didn't want it to look like I did nothing for the time I was supposed to be preparing for the final major project - click here for the explanation) 


Ideas for my final major project have been running through my mind ever since it was first mentioned at the beginning of the course, in Year 1. From movie trailers to music videos, then back to documentaries; you name it, I've thought about doing it. In terms of enjoyment within the course and what I had the most fun making, it would have to be the music video. Music is literally my life, and to put my creativeness into something I love so much was amazing to do.

I narrowed my ideas down to having just 3, which were completely different from each other. The first was a music video, the second was a short film about a good turn, and the third was a short horror film. I began planning the music video around two of my favourite artists long before we'd even started the Final Major Project talk, because although I wanted and needed the FMP to be my best work, I'd have to have fun doing it otherwise it just wouldn't work.

Here were my 3 inspirations for my FMP plots. An odd mixture, I know, but that's me all over.

Tim McGraw & Faith Hill:
2 country music singers that began blessing my ears late 2012, loved them ever since. I've always wanted to create a music video to one of their songs. Any excuse to listen to them on repeat for 6 weeks, I guess.

Horror movies:
I love the adrenaline. Weird? Little bit. An original short horror film has always been on the cards because I have nightmares a lot, so why not make one a reality...

The Blind Side:
This inspired a short film that would consist of the slogan "one good turn deserves another". The Blind Side is one of my favourite movies of all time. God bless Sandra Bullock, and of course the Touhy family for sharing their story.

Originally, I thought all of these ideas were absolutely 100% possible. Then my world literally shattered when we were told we could only use a song if we had permission directly from the artist or their record label, as this would ensure that when we published the FMP, we'd be legal to use the song for a possibility of making money, as it may lead to securing a job in the future. So there's that, bye-bye music video......

..... Hello short film with the slogan "one good turn deserves another." This would be a 10-ish minute film, filmed predominantly in a pub. It would include one female lead, and one male lead. Sounds pretty simple, but locations caught up on me one day and I wasn't able to score a pub anywhere, so that fell through. Bye-bye short film......

.....Hello short horror. This is 100% possible and I'm SO happy that I'm finally getting on with this properly. Locations for this are sorted, as it's in my friends' house who lives up the road from me. Actors? Easy. 2 of my colleagues in my college class offered their wonderful acting skills. Although the horror was my third choice, I'm happy that I'm doing this, as it gives me a chance to experiment with technology and filming/recording methods that I haven't yet come across. It's a gamble, but I'm going to make it work. Seriously.

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Paranormal Activity (inspiration, kind of)

Paranormal Activity is a 2007 American found footage supernatural horror film written, co-produced, photographed, edited and directed by Oren Peli. The film centres on a young couple, Katie and Micah, who are haunted by a supernatural presence in their home. It is presented in the style of "found footage", from cameras set up by the couple in an attempt to document what is haunting them.

As a whole, the film itself isn't the best horror film I've seen. Neither is it the scariest, but the concept of most of the activity happening within the house BECAUSE of a character, not the surrounding environment, is kind of like my short horror. Throughout the film, we see a number of days which are documented by the couple, and the nights are all based around the bedroom. This is how mine will be played out, except for the fact mine will not be in first person. 

Paranormal Activity - Official Trailer (2007)

Throughout the film, we see and hear a number of features that have inspired me to recreate within my short film. The director of the film, Oren Peli, stated in an interview with moviefone.com that "the sound effects used throughout the entire film were shot in his dining room with a standard mic and household objects." Reading this made me realise that if he can do it, then I can too. Household objects can be great for foley work, which I have researched into before, and taken part in recreating a scene with my own sound effects.

The shots within the film are pretty basic as they're all filmed either by a 'hand held' camera, or placed on a mechanism in the bedroom as they sleep. This is not how I want my camera film to be, as it's not the right effect that I'm looking for. I want it to be finished to a professional standard, with the camera work being quirky and focused on sections that I choose.

 

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FMP: BTS of The Press Kit for 10.39pm

15 second teaser trailer (original and improved):

For my 15 second teaser trailer, I wanted to keep things quite straight forward yet mysterious for the audience. With the title of my film being 10.39pm, I wanted the key focus to be on the time itself, and nothing else.

My set-up for the trailer was pretty simple. One camera, one tripod, a few candles, a clock and a steady hand was all that was needed. I wanted the main focus to be, of course, on the time, and I figured by keeping the camera still for the full 15 seconds, I would then zoom in using Adobe Premier Pro. This way, it would ensure a still frame with a slight incline in terms of closeness and proximity to be clear when viewing.

I had a few doubts about the clock that I was using, as I really wanted to use a vintage clock with all the fancy writing, but the time frame we had to complete this trailer was short, so I had to use the facilities I already possessed. The candles were a last minute substitute for natural lighting as they gave a more spooky and atmospheric feel and look to the film.

In terms of sound for this video, I downloaded all of them from SoundBible.com. All of them are copyright free and I am allowed to use them. I experimented with a few, but ended up with 2 in total, which is the "Demon Girl song" and "Static" sounds.

Overall, I'm really happy with how this snippet turned out. I think it gives a full insight on what the film will be like, without giving too much away.

- - -

After completing the 15 second teaser trailer, I realised I hadn't included the tagline for my short film: 'the clock is ticking'. This is a key element within the production as it highlights the plot in less than 5 words, and is a good strap line to have on posters, social media and website advertisements if needed.

After watching my original trailer a few times, I took into consideration the 'horror' side of it more, and realised I needed to have something a bit more thrilling towards the end, as it just seemed to die down straight away, when the end should be the climax and keep people on the edge of their seats. As I hadn't filmed a great deal of my production because it's early days, I had to somehow capture something from the internet and use that instead. I took a snippet of the Sinister trailer, and added this to create more layers and depth to the trailer.

A few minor improvements were made throughout this edit, also. I turned the saturation down to 23 on the clips of the clocks, as it then all seemed to match colours throughout, including the text background at the end, and the snippet I took from Sinister. To add more depth to the text at the end, I took an image I found on Google that was a 'gritty' effect, and took the opacity down on that to make the text stand out, and to have the gritty effect faded in the background.

Trailer sources:
Font - Bank Gothic Lt BT (Windows Premier Pro only)
Static effect video - http://www.videezy.com/elements-and-effects/242-tv-static-hd-stock-video
Static effect sound - http://soundbible.com/1611-TV-Static.html
Demon Girl song - http://soundbible.com/1738-Little-Demon-Girl-Song.html
Gritty texture - http://www.student.nvcc.edu/home/komar/WEB%20SITES/MUSIC/background.jpg
Sinister snippet (incl. sound)- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgYxydrVlDk

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Teaser poster:

A teaser poster is a perfect way of advertising a film and enhancing the genre and target audience of it. In my eyes, posters are all about layering text, images and textures to coincide with the selected genre and atmosphere of the movie. It's important to give enough information away about the film, but not too much, so it leaves people intrigued about the plot.

My poster included the title of my film, the 4 word tagline and an image of a small girl at the top. I wanted to keep it simple yet effective as when I imagine a horror movie poster, I in-vision something quite dark and mysterious.

In terms of selecting fonts, I wanted to make a clear yet indirect statement about my film. In the short trailer, I used an analogue clock, whereas in the poster, I have used a digital clock-looking font. This way, it suggests that the film will include a number of clocks, that all have an obvious link to the time of 10.39pm.

How I edited it:
1) I created an A4 sized canvas and filled the whole thing in black.
2) I added the same 'gritty texture' as used in my 15 second trailer. (opacity down to 22)
3) I added the 'the clock is ticking' tagline, and put an outer glow on it.
4) I added the 10.39pm text throughout 3 different layers, as the font was quite tricky to size. I added the same outer glow effect to all 3 layers.
5) I placed the young girl in at the top, and took the opacity down so she wasn't as vibrant and noticeable.
6) I added the text at the bottom, which explains the details of the film; like directors and characters.

Poster sources:
Font - http://www.dafont.com/alarm-clock.font
Horror girl - http://imageserver.moviepilot.com/scary-girl-this-abandoned-child-prank
Gritty texture - http://www.student.nvcc.edu/home/komar/WEB%20SITES/MUSIC/background.jpg

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Olivia

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The Big Blog: Out of the Woods

Name: Olivia Searle & Naomi Doddridge

Working Title of Music Video: Out of the Woods - 1989
Title of Song/Performer: Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift is signed to Big Machine Record Labels, and has been since the beginning of her career back in 2006. Big Machine Records is an independent American record label specializing in country music artists. Despite Taylor's newly released pop genre album, 1989, she still continues with Big Machine records. The current top-selling artists working on Big Machine are Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts and various other country artists who are well known in the industry.

Big Machine benefits because it has artists like Taylor, who gets a lot of terrestrial radio airplay, and who are now receiving payment for being played. Taylor's most recent album, 1989, both her and Big Machine are on the verge of reaping their greatest sales accomplishment, comes word that label, founded by Scott Borchetta, is up on the sales block.

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Target Audience:

The audience that myself and my colleague Naomi Doddridge will be targeting mostly is teenagers. The song we are using, Out of the Woods, is a song that Taylor Swift wrote and produced for her newly released pop album, 1989. This album is the fifth studio album that Taylor has recorded, and is her first documented 'pop album'. Unlike any other album, 1989 is built over drum programming, synthesizers, pulsating bass, processed backing vocals and guitars. Its lyric content is based mainly on Taylor's style of writing about love, the album's content frequently discusses the complexities of relationships.

With this knowledge, we will be targeting the video at teenagers so they get the most out of it. Ranging from around 12-22, we'll have a number of shots that are quite similar to Taylor's previous video also set in the woods, Safe and Sound. We will be recreating some of the shots in this video to involve Taylor Swift's own creativity within ours, and this will hopefully be noticeable to some of her fans who have followed her throughout the years.













The thing I really like about these shots is how Taylor herself blends in with the colour scheme of the woods in the background, even though she is clearly the main focus. The distant look she gives creates a mysterious feel and this is hopefully what will be achieved in our video. By not looking at the camera, we will be creating a linear categorized video in the sense that I will be telling the story through the chorus', and Naomi will be acting it out during the verses.


Synopsis:

The storyline of the music video is fairly straight forward. Naomi would be acting out the versus in the woods, and I would be singing the track in a black studio. There are a number of videos like this out there and the contrast of the two locations work really well and I enjoy watching those videos more. When it's all based in one location, I find them to be quite boring and dull, but cutting to different shots and settings could work.

There will be a number of anecdotes during the production as we couldn't physically match every lyric to what the audience would see. We will use logs as a couch, cardboard for a table and dominoes for building. We think this will be quite quirky and when we do our individual edits, we can create an absolute masterpiece from these and then work around any problems we face.

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There will be a number of elements throughout the video that will indirectly suit our target audience without obvious recognition. Like Taylor Swift's videos that she's produced over the years, our video will have a linear narrative with a clear cut between the verses in chorus'. Throughout the first verse, there will be multiple shots of myself singing in the woods, and Naomi telling the story through acting within various locations. We're not going to match every single line of lyric in the narrative viewing, as this will be cheesy. Which is something we're just not going to do! By matching a few up, it gives the story some sort of chronological order which allows the viewer to understand the message that the song and lyrics are portraying.

Myself and Naomi are responding to this song with a narrative because we feel the lyrics of the song can be fully experimented with during both the verses and chorus', and with the swap of location, we can portray the lyrics in the correct environment and atmosphere. Within the locations, we will apply filters in post-edit to create a dull and upsetting scene as this is what the narrative of the lyrics are during the performance.

In terms of pre-production, it took us approximately 2 days to create a pitch we would display to other colleagues and our tutor, Neil. Quite informal, sitting around a table with a MacBook in front of us, discussing our idea with the group listening and answering any questions they had. The good thing about pitching is that they will happily fill you in with bits you may have missed, and their knowledge can interact with ours and create an even better video, with their suggestions. Our pitch lasted around 10 minutes, and we accepted any questions at the end. Overall, myself and Naomi were happy with the feedback and took all of the suggestions on board. Some we used, some we didn't. It was an even spread.

Reflect on Music Pitch:

Were you expecting the responses you got?
You know, in some respect, I wasn't expecting anything. Not in a bad way, just because I think it's so hard to make judgement on other people's ideas when you're not involved within the creation and design of the video itself. Obviously I was expecting suggestions, but not to the point where we had to change our whole video around. It's so hard to put on paper what your idea is, when it's crystal clear in your head. It's one of the things I really struggle with. The only thing I had to go into detail more with was what genre our music video is, and who the target audience was. I guess those answers seem pretty self explanatory, but when you're pitching to people you are your target audience, it's easy to get lost within the storyline. I think they got it in the end.

Were recommendations made?
There were, of course. I think the one that hit me more than any others was their suggestion to film a section, edit, and see how it goes. It's all very well, and on the whole a good idea, but when you've come up with a schedule of pre-production and almost a calendar to make sure you have enough time to film your final production, it's quite tricky to change it all when you've got your heart set on doing something in a particular order. Another recommendation that I really took into consideration was, "What would you do if it rained on your filming days?" and I honestly struggled to answer it. We just assumed it would be ok (and thank heavens, it was!), but myself and Naomi did discuss what we'd do. There wasn't a solution, mind, but at least we discussed it!

Are your ideas appropriate to your identified target audience?
Yes. Absolutely. Our target audience is teens, and looking at our chosen artists, Taylor Swift's, previous music videos, we were okay. A mixture of shots of Naomi in the woods telling the story, and myself singing in a studio, there wasn't really a wrong age to watch this video. (My Nan loved it!)

Are your ideas achievable in the given time frame to plan, produce, film and edit your music video?
Absolutely. Myself and Naomi gave ourself at least 2 days to shoot in the woods, and 1 day to shoot in the studio. So overall, 3 days for filming was plenty. Pre production we mainly did separately, so that was kind of in our own time. Editing, again, was completed within 2 days, but separate edits so we could each put our imagination to a separate video. (Oddly enough, they're quite similar!)

We allowed 2 weeks for pre-production as we figured that this part was important and would make the filming process a lot easier if we knew exactly what we were doing, on what days, and the concept of the video would be there in front of us. In these 2 weeks, we completed the risk assessment, storyboard, overhead plan, concept of the video and the pitch.

Pre-production paper-work was a challenge as we were working together and shared it out between us, and had to agree with who was doing what. We worked together well, and considering some of the challenges we faced with mixing our outside life with college work, it went okay. We really wanted to be organised with our paperwork, as in previous assignments, both myself and Naomi have been a bit all over the place. Scanning in was a must, as we wanted them to look as professional as we could, instead of being all crumpled and torn.

Our overall plan was to have all the paperwork done, obviously before filming, so when it came to being on location, we could look through it all and understand what we were meant to be doing whilst filming. This way, we would be ahead of ourselves in terms of time, and the music video would be completed before the Christmas break. In the New Year, we would come back to an organised blog in which we would just have to tidy it up in terms of appearance wise.

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Filming: In the woods

I was really looking forward to getting behind the camera and filming our music video. Our first location we visited was the woods at Manadon, a small selection of autumnal trees perfect for the mood and atmosphere of our desired finished look. We began by picking a basic location in which it had all we wanted; cover in case of bad weather, a log for Naomi to sit on, and big trees to cover any direct sunlight that may be tempted to peer through the trees.

Filming within the woods went quite well. The only problems we came across was the weather, and what we film to have a number of spare scenes, just incase we needed them for filling in instrumental sections of the song. We spent 2 days in the woods, one for filming the first 2 verses, and the other for the last verse and the fill in shots that would be more of a precaution, just incase we needed to use any extras in the final edit.

The weather was our only main obstacle throughout the two days in the woods, as we had to have regular and annoying breaks because we couldn't risk damaging the equipment. 80% of the time, the weather was just really crisp and cold, but it did rain every so often which put a slight spanner in the works.

During the filming in the woods, we used a number of shots that would differentiate from any that we've used before. We filmed every scene we wanted to use twice, so at least we had a choice when it came to editing. Long shots, medium, close up, point of view and panning shots were all filmed during our time in the woods, but not all of them were used in the final edit. 

Filming: In the studio

For the chorus', I would be standing behind a mic, almost narrating the song and story through a basic studio performance that would be used as cutaways during Naomi's woods' scenes too. For the studio shots, lighting was the most important thing we could use to make it look professional. We hired out a Dado Kit - which consists of three LED panel lights, with an option to make them as bright and dim as we needed. We also hired out a mic and mic stand to make it seem realistic, as if I was actually singing. The positioning of the lights was mega important as we needed one behind me to create a silhouette, one to the right of me directly onto my face to create a shine, and one on the upper left hand side to light the top of my head. 

We had 3 cameras in total; 2 were on tripods, and the other was connected to a FigRig, which Naomi was operating to create some handheld shots from a number of different angles during the video. We occasionally changed the lighting on 2 separate events, to add more depth to the video, and so when we inserted the studio shots into the final edit, we had a number of lighting techniques to play with.

When it came to recording, I suggested we filmed the whole song, not just the chorus', just incase we needed to fill some gaps that we couldn't fill with shots from the woods. Whether that be chorus, verse, or instrumental. I said it would be quite strange if I just popped up at the chorus', people would be watching, thinking "Who is she!?"

The positioning of myself was the key to getting some really good shots in the studio, as we discovered that even slight movements away from the light, looked amazing on camera. Naomi filmed these shots approximately 10 times over, just to ensure we had more than enough shots to choose from when it came to editing it all together.

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Editing

Myself and Naomi gave ourselves 2 days to edit together the whole production. We each did separate edits, so we could each explore the different designs and concepts we both have of editing. There were quite a few clips we had to import into Premier Pro, and organising them took the longest! I started off by importing the clip sin which we filmed in the woods, and organised and positioned them roughly on the timeline as to where I think they would sit best. I then began important the mountain of studio clips we had, but ended up using 2 camera angles for the whole video. In my personal opinion, the clips that were hand held looked a lot better than the stand alone ones on the tripod. 

The trickiest part about editing the whole production was the lip syncing. It was something I had never had to do before, so it was quite a challenge. You had to match up the clips with the song at the exact time they met, otherwise it looked absolutely ridiculous. I got the hang of how to do it in the end, which was good. I decided to alternate studio shots within one scene, so this made it a lot more interesting, but also a lot more difficult to edit! Never mind, what's a music video without a challenge?

Our original idea was to have me singing in the chorus, and Naomi acting out the verses in the woods. This was the case, but with such a direct cut between the woods and studio, it got a bit repetitive and boring - and matching up the lyrics with the video, at some points, looked incredibly cheesy. That was where the studio shots came in handy, just to slot into the verse sections we couldn't fill with the shots from the woods.

Overall, I'm really happy with how it turned out. I think if I was to ever be in charge of a music video again, I would have it all filmed in one location. I liked ours, however some of the shots were just ultimate cheese factor and made me cringe watching them. Matching the lyrics up with the actions of the actress in a music video DOESN'T always work, people. Be warned. I'd also, maybe, have played around with the colour scheme of the whole thing a bit more. There was such a sharp cut from woods to studio, none of it really seemed to blend in when I look back on it. All in all, for my first music video, I'm pretty impressed.

It was also fun working with my best friend, too. Check her Blog out!

http://naomi-doddridge.blogspot.co.uk

We're out of the woods.


- O



{Sources:}
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Machine_Records
http://www.bigmachinelabelgroup.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzhAS_GnJIc
http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6304343/big-machine-taylor-swifts-label-reportedly-considering-a-sale

Music Video Critique #3: Blank Space - Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift is an American singer, songwriter and actress from Reading, Pennsylvania. With album and song sales exceeding 30 and 80 mission, respectively, she is one of the world's best-selling music artists. Her work has earned her seven Grammy Awards and seven Academy of Country Music Awards, among other accolades.

Taylor released her first album, Taylor Swift, on October 24th, 2006, with Big Machine Records, who are an American record label specialising in country music artists. Currently signed artists are Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts and previously Reba McEntyre. Taylor first single, named Tim McGraw, was released in June 2006 and spent most of the year radio touring to promote her album. Since then, Taylor has released another 4 albums, all specialising in country music, apart from her most recent, 1989.

Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now and Red all specialise in country music, whereas 1989 is upon the pop genre, and has become Swift's biggest selling album in her own records, and was the biggest selling album overall of 2014. Her latest album, entitled 1989, was influenced by some of Taylor's favourite Eighties pop acts, including Phil Collins, Annie Lennox and "Like a Prayer"-era Madonna. The album was executive-produced by Swift and Max Martin, with whom she first collaborated with on her 2012 single "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together".

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Blank Space is the second single released from 1989, and the music video to go with it has a hidden message that nobody was expecting. Throughout her career, Taylor has been the media's key topic for relationships. She's famous for writing about previous boyfriends, whether they ended on good or bad terms, and in my opinion, with this music video, she's given the media exactly what they've been treating her like. She's portrayed herself in the video, like the media have been portraying her for years.

"I'm all too aware of the jokes made about all of my ex-boyfriends and how I like to include them in my song writing, and I want to address the general thought of me in a video where I play the crazy villain."

I adore videos that actually have a narrative; a story line; a purpose. It makes them more intriguing and actually have a way of promoting the specific song. I've watched this video so many times now and I'm still not bored of it, because she's over emphasising her personality and I just love it. It's kind of hilarious. When interviewed about the video, a magazine columnist asked if Taylor was 'boy-crazy', in which Taylor responded, "For a female to write about her feelings, and then be portrayed as some clingy, insane, desperate girlfriend in need of making you marry her and have kids with her, I think that's taking something that potentially should be celebrated - a woman writing about her feelings in a confessional way - that's taking it and turning it and twisting it into something that is frankly a little sexist." However in this video, Swift performs the very unflattering image that the public has foisted upon her, as if to say "You want boy-crazy? I'll give you boy crazy!"

The main thing I noticed, as a media student, when I first watched this video, is the colourings throughout. In the past, Taylor has given us very bright and colourful videos that fit the themes of the song, take Shake It Off, for example. With this video being set in a fairy-tale looking home, the video and story is far from the stereo-typical 'princess' themed narrative. 

Throughout the video we see a number of long, medium and close-up shots which fit within the sensitivity of the lyrics at certain points of the video. The concept of the dominant female is portrayed with what she's wearing, her body language, facial expressions and tone of voice throughout the video. Although she's almost playing to the media in terms of giving them boy crazy, she's doing it in a clever way. There are a number of lyrics which match with the actual script of the song, as if she is physically speaking them to her 'boyfriend'.

If you've seen Taylor's past videos, there is always links either to a real life situation, or videos of hers that have been created before. There are a number of features within this music video that link to her previous songs from other albums, which is a really unique feature Taylor does. With this, she's constantly bringing out new music and videos, but her loyal die-hard fans will never be able to forget her original music, who made her the artist she is today. It's also a nice feature to have as when people watch the video, they may relate to a previous song or video, and this will then give them a reason to go and watch her older material, which keeps it current and still in the public eye.

There are a number of shots within this video that I absolutely adore. The setting, colour grading and angle are absolutely amazing and I fully commend the director for this video. When it was first released, I couldn't stop watching it. One that I did keep my eye on was the in depth content of the picnic they were having. All it consisted of was champagne and sweets. Thinking about it, they're two particularly slim people - eating junk. Does this mean that even though they're nice to look at, they're ugly on the inside? Hidden messages in videos are great.

Overall, I absolutely love this video. I love the narrative, concept, sassiness, colour, song, and camera work. Everything about this video is great and I genuinely wouldn't change 1 second of it. It's so cleverly thought out, with the links to her old music, disney films (Snow White - with the apple), metaphors about them being ugly on the inside. Everything. Genius. High five, Taylor! 

- O

{Sources:}

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Swift

http://www.bigmachinerecords.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blank_Space

Music Video Critique #2: Paul Weller - Wild Wood

Paul Weller is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Starting out with the band The Jam (1976-82), Weller branched out to a more soulful style with The Style Council (1983-89), before establishing himself as a successful solo artist in 1991.

The Jam were an English punk rock/new wave/mod revival band. While they shared the "angry young men" outlook and fast tempos of their punk rock contemporaries. The Jam wore smartly tailored suits rather than ripped clothes, and they incorporated a number of mainstream 1960s rock and R&B influences rather than rejecting them, placing The Jam at the forefront of the mod revival movement.

The Style Council were an English band, formed in Woking in 1983 by Paul Weller himself, (the former singer and guitarist with The Jam), and keyboardist Mick Talbot. The permanent line-up grew to include drummer Steve White and Weller's then-wife, vocalist Dee C. Lee. As with Weller's previous band, most of his London based outfit's hits were in their homeland, although the band did score six top 40 hits in Australia, and seven top 40 hits in New Zealand.

Weller went from The Jam to The Style Council as he wanted a change from the "power pop" style to the more soulful style and it gave him the chance to infuse jazz/soul/funk and even a little rap into his songs. In terms of target audience and fans, Weller tended to have a strong fan base from the beginning that followed his every move between bands and onto his solo career.

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Paul Weller released his first solo album, Paul Weller, in 1991. After leaving label Polydor in 1989, Weller formed The Paul Weller Movement in 1990, releasing a single, Into Tomorrow, on his own Freedom High record label in October 1991. Its success - reaching #36 in the UK chart, led to Weller being offered a new record deal with Go! Discs, and the resulting album was released on 1st September 1992, reaching #8 on the UK album chart.

Weller's second album, Wild Wood, was released in September 1993. It made it to number 2 in the UK charts, and contained three UK hits; Wild Wood, Sunflower and Hung Up, all reaching within the top 20. The music video I will be critiquing is Wild Wood, which is a single from the album. At the time that the video was released, Weller was signed to Go! Discs, which was a London based record label launched in 1983 by Andy Macdonald and Lesly Symons. Shortly after the launch, Go! Beat records was launched as a subsidiary for dance artists like Beats International, Gabrielle and Portishead. In 1992, Paul Weller signed.

Throughout this video we see a number of different filming and editing techniques that were very common within the particular era of music videos. Time lapses, cut aways to the artist singing in a different location, traffic marching and point of view shots within crowds of people. All of these features tend to match with the theme and genre of the song, which is very blues-y feeling and calming. In other circumstances, the scenes also are the complete opposite, with the busy crowds within the city and manic scenes.

Time lapses are often seen during the instrumental parts, as it's completely contradicting the part of the song; calm and relaxing to hear, manic to look at. The whole video is a metaphor. "Finding your way out of the wild, wild wood" could be another way of saying "Finding your way out of the crowds", so in this sense, the people are the woods.

In terms of a narrative, there isn't really one at all. This video is just a collection of clips that tell the story of a particular lyric line, rather than from beginning to end. I quite like it, because it makes the video fun and quirky, rather than the stereo-typical love story we normally see in videos these days. As well as the time lapses, there are also image distortions throughout which coincide with the time lapses and create a warped scene. This happens during the shots during the city scenes, and cities are more often than not busy places, which to some people, could be quite a scary place; often leaving their image of a city slightly distorted. 

Overall, I do like this video. It's quirky and different to any I've seen before, and that's what I love about Paul Weller's music and videos. They're not copied, they're completely his own and that's what makes a good musician in this day and age. He may have been inspired by others, but his work is a class unique act.

- O

{Sources:}
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Weller#Solo_career
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jam
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Style_Council
https://vimeo.com/38030651

Music Video Critique #1: Faith Hill - American Heart

Faith Hill is an American country-pop singer and occasional actress. She's one of the most successful country artists of all time, selling over 40 million records worldwide. Faith is married to country singer Tim McGraw, with whom she has recorded several duets.

American Heart is a song written by Jim Beavers and Jonathan Singleton, and recorded by Faith herself. It was released on September 30th, 2012 as the second single from her upcoming seventh studio album. The song was announced on her Twitter account and distributed for airplay the following day. For the Twitter debut, Faith responded to questions with the hash-tag #AskFaith prior to her weekly performance on NBC Sunday Night Football that night.

As well as the song itself, a music video premiered a month after the single was released. The music video was directed by Trey Fanjoy, who is a well known music video director in the country music industry and has worked with the likes of Dolly Parton, Miranda Lambert and Taylor Swift. The video reached the number one position on the GAC countdown in early December, and in the following May, was nominated in the Female Video of the Year category for the 2013 CMT Music Awards.

The video kicks off with a series of short interviews with a group of kids. All of them are talking about what being American means to them. "We're different on the outside, but we're the same on the inside", is the big takeaway message from the video - and you get that before the music even starts. Faith shared the stage with 10-year-old T.J Jones, as they put together a choreographed number that's worthy of a broadway stage. At various points in the song, Faith steps back to let T.J. take the limelight. 

The concept of the video came from the line in the song, "it bleeds, it scars, it shines when times get hard." Director Trey Fanjoy explained in the behind-the-scenes film that inspired by the lyric, "We have created a 15-foot illuminated 'American Heart' full of red, white and blue stars and stripes. There's a really special metaphor found in all of it, and each of the bulbs represents a different part of our country and a different spirit in our nation. Together, they form something that's bigger than all of us."

I really like this video as it's such a simple concept with a strong message. Studio-based music videos are always a winner in my eyes as you can do so much with them, and I love how both Faith and Trey chose to keep it simple. It's important for songs with a large and special message to keep the video to a basic structure, as the artists don't want all of the attention to focus on the video. Involving the children at the beginning and T.J within the video really shows Faith as a family-friendly artist, and this may be the image that she is trying to portray - and in my eyes, it worked! 

This video falls into the "video using band/artist in a creative way" category. This category consists of 2 main features; the artist being one of the main features during the video, and being creative visually with the lyrics and song itself. With her both performing/lip syncing and acting during the video, it creates a natural and personal feel for the audience watching that the particular artist has put their own spin on the video and has a real input within the choreography.

This video is one of Faith's most involved choreography in a video yet. "When I first heard the song I was brought to tears. I not only knew I had to record it, but I almost immediately saw it visually. It's awesome and so appropriate to be able to share it with my fans first, because they've been so supportive of me throughout the years." 

The beginning of Faith and T.J's appearance originates with them getting ready in what appears to be a dressing room, with T.J. almost assisting Faith as her little companion. This is portraying America, to other countries around the world, as a very friendly place, and ensuring the message is one that can be remembered. No matter how old or young you are, you can still appreciate America in all it's glory and show your appreciation, in this case, through music. 

There are a number of shots that I really like during this video and they all take place within the studio, and by the looks of things, it's all down to the lighting. Silhouette's are absolutely beautiful in any music video, and create a mysterious feel to the whole production. In this video, there are a number of silhouette shots, and I have picked 3 of my favourites. I really like the way they make both Faith and T.J. complete silhouettes, and the bright blue background behind them really emphasises the shapes and dance moves they're performing.

There are a number of different lyric counts within the song, and the shots and views that are used tend to match eachother really well. For the silhouette segment pictures above, the lyrics "cause it beats like a drum down in New Orleans..." which is an upbeat, happy lyric, and the dance moves portray this throughout the video. Silhouette's also create quite a mysterious atmosphere, almost like a cover up of who a person or act really is. 

Other shots I love are the mid-shots of Faith and T.J. during the entire video. They tend to appear near the chorus section and show the loving and affectionate relationship for eachother, which puts a nice family-orientated feel out for the video. This could then foreshadow the upcoming album that this single is on, and show old and new fans a snippet of what her new sound and image is, seeing as her last studio album was in 2005.

Overall, I really like the way Faith channels who she is within the song and lyrics and portrays her love for America throughout the video. Like I said, studio based much videos are always a winner for me as they are unique in their own way and portray the artist for who they really are, without taking the attention away from the song itself. The song reached at #26 in the US Country Airplay charts and is believed to reach #1 when her full album is released. 

- O 

{Sources:}

http://tasteofcountry.com/faith-hill-american-heart-video/

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=27258

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/the-615/474246/faith-hill-returns-with-american-heart-video-watch