Planning: Filming Schedule

When I made my filming schedule I had to consider a lot of different factors. I needed to make sure that the star of my music video is available on these dates before setting the dates.
I have decided to have two days at the corn fields recording both times the characters meet and then one day selected to work on the parts with older Tom starring in it, this gives me plenty of time to get all of my shots along with several takes of each shot to make sure we have enough footage to edit with.

My filming schedule is not set in stone, if there is a sudden change of the cast's availability then dates will need to be changed. We may also decide to add in some equipment or props for example along the way which are not mentioned here.

Planning: Shot List

I have created an animatic which I will attempt to follow closely when I start my production however I feel that it would be more efficient to also have a shot list along side it which I can follow and this includes all of the scenes that will appear in the music video. I will also hand out a copy of the shot list to the star of the music video so they can see what they are going to need to do when it comes to the filming. After this I intend to create a filming schedule and decide the order in which I will shoot my music video.

Although I have made this shot list it does not mean I have to stick to it exactly. If, along the line of production, I think that a shot does not work or a shot needs to be altered, removed or added for example I will do so. This shot list is not final it is just here for guidance.

Planning: Casting

The person that I cast will also need to appeal to my target audience to really engage them and draw them into the music and really connect to the music video, therefore I will need to cast someone who is like my target audience so the link is there. I will need to make sure that their schedule would have available times that fit into my filming schedule. I took some pictures of potential candidates that I could potentially cast in the music video and I have explained their good and bad features and at the end explained who I have picked and why.

Casting is a very important part of the planning stage as the person that I choose to star in my music video will need to be the best I can find. The person that I would like to act in my music video needs to be male, and they must be able to feel comfortable performing in my music video as that is what will make it good.

The star that I will cast needs to be very confident because if they are self conscious when in front of a camera then it will make the music video very awkward. The audience may feel disconnected and awkward whilst watching the music video if the star is self conscious. The person that I cast as the star for my music video will need to be good at lip syncing as this is a major part of the music video; they will need to be able to convince the audience that they are actually singing. To make it look believable the person I cast will need to be confident whilst doing it.



I have decided to use pictures from their Facebook profile as I believe it shows you more about them and their personality. This is Tom Kelly and as you can see he is a very confident and outgoing person. He can be comedic and therefore in front of the camera he could bring a funny side to the music video however he can be serious when needed therefore he would be a great choice for the star of the music video. Tom has told me that he would like to be part of the music video and his schedule is relatively free therefore we could fit in filming times.



This is Rhys Kowalczuk. Rhys is a very outgoing person and loves media and the photography side of it, as you can see in his picture. Rhys is lacking confidence and can be very camera shy therefore I don't know if he would be able to keep a straight face whilst filming the music video. His schedule is very open however and filming would not be a problem if I was to choose Rhys as the star of the music video.


This is Jake Liggins. Jake is a outgoing person as well and is completes everything at his best, therefore if I was to pick him to star in my music video he would make sure everything is the best he could possibly make it which is good. Jake however is a very busy man therefore his schedule is almost full and finding time to film would be difficult. Jake is very confident in front of the camera and would connect well with the target audience if he was picked.

After looking at my potential three candidates to star in my music video I have decided that Tom was the most suitable to perform in it. I am close friends with Tom and I know him very well therefore I know he would be a very good pick to star in the music video as he is confident and ready to do his best.

I have not done any initial lip syncing tests with Tom but if he struggles to do it effectively then I will make sure to take several takes of each part of the music video and when it comes to the editing I will pick the best ones.

Planning: Camera Equipment & Lighting

In our music video there are going to be a few scenes in the video which will require a slow motion feature to be on the camera. An example of this within the music video will be where the 2 younger actors walk off into the sunset. This will be in slow motion and will then dim into darkness.
Below you are able to see the camera that we will be using to film the music video.

After reading the information within the camera description we then realised that this would be the camera that will be used. This is becasue there is a part that I have screenshot above and it says that you are able to film in Super Slo-Motion.

When we got the camera we explored some of the slow motion features within the camera and how well the quality would be when filming what is needed. One problem that we did find when testing the camera was the lighting as the lighting was very dim throughout the whole of our test filming. We will now have to take great care when choosing the location of our filming, but there are ways around bad lighting such as a light box that can be used to light up a face if the face is staying in the same spot. The light box can be seen below.

Above you are able to see the light box and the amount of light that it is actually giving off. On the back of the light where you are able to change the intensity of the light.
The lighting of our music video is a vital and important component of any production as it enables you to see everything that is going on instead of having unwanted shadows. I will also be able to film under great lighting facilities. This is because the lighting in the theatre is good and this is where the music video will be filmed mostly.

Planning: Props

Prop 1:

This is prop one that we will need whilst in the music video. This is because within the music video there is a scene in which the two children in the music video are having a picnic and this will be needed so that they have somethin to sit on.

Prop 2:

 

 This is the second prop that we will need in the music video. This is because this is the second activity that the two children do within their little date whilst in the music video. We chose tennis as it is easy to do and its cheap to buy rackets and tennis balls for.

Prop 3:

This is the third prop that we will be using is a microphone as this will be used when the actor is lip syncing to the song in front of the green screen. This will be easy to get hold of as we should have a lot of different microphones and stands at school which we should be able to borrow if needs be.

 

Planning: Costume

The costume is a very important part of the planning of the music video and there are a lot of things to consider when doing the planning for the music video. First, you need to consider the music theme and the costume has to keep within that theme. The costume also has to appeal to the target audience. the target audience for this particular music video will be all ages of teenagers. The actor in the music video also has to be comfortable in the costume becasue if he/she isnt then they wont look good infront of the camera. The last thing that you have to take into consideration is the cost of the production, you have to keep it affordable.

During the scenes in which the actor is in front of the greenscreen i have different options in what the actor can wear which will suit the music video and the target audience. There is only one person in the whole video which will need a particular costume and that is the artist lip syncing in front of the green screen.

Option 1:

So this is option one for the top and this will be worn with a pair of jeans and a pair of black shoes. Which can be seen below.

The shoes that have been chosen will fit the rest of the costume. It  would also fit the type of music that this video is made for.

Option 2:

Above you can see the second option that we will be giving to the actor to have a choice. With the top that you can see on the left you could also have that top in different colours but it will be the choice of the actor to choose the colour of the top. These are both very cheap things to buy and will only cost the max of £10 for both things if we can get some deals on them. With this outfit i will have an option between the shoes in costume 1 and a pair of trainers which we believe will match the rest of the costume better than black shoes.

Added extras to the costume:

In some elements of the video depending on weather we may need sunglasses as it will show the name of the song and it would fit well. This is all weather depending as it wouldnt look good if you were wearing sunglasses in the rain.

Overall, we think we will choose option 2 as it will look a lot better with the actor who is going to be wearing it and we have chosen the white shirt instead of any other colours that were available. This will then influence the effect on the artists target audience.

Planning: Filming Location

The locations of where we will film our music video will be extremely important to what the music video will end up looking like. We have had to consider a lot of different factors when choosing our music video locations. One thing that we have to be aware of is the availability of the location and this may be a problem with a couple of the locations that we are planning to film in. Another thing that we will have to watch out for would be the general location on where it is and how far we will have to travel to get there. 

Location 1 - Theater

I intend to film most of the music video in the theatre as most of the music video will be the performer in front of a green screen. This will mean that the green screen will be needed for this part of the music video. The point of filming in this location is so we are able to have a spacious and quite location so we are able to film the lip syncing parts of the music video.There is one possible problem with the location and that is the availability of the location. We decided that this would be a good location because of the high ceilings as well as how much space there actually is. Events often take place in this location so we will have to make sure that we book the area well in advance of when we need to film in there.

Location 2 - Corn Fields

During the music video there will be a scene in the music video in which there are 2 children who are posing as the current day artist and his girlfriend in the past are meeting and running through the fields. We have chose this location because once again it is a good open space in which a lot of filming can be done in the one location. The 2 children in the corn fields are a boy and a girl who are boyfriend and girlfriend. The boy is the past version of the artist who will feature in the video. The one problem with this location is that we are unable to change any of the lighting as it is an outdoor area. So on the day we are hoping for good weather and good lighting. If it is bad weather or lighting it means we will have to go and either film on a different day or increase the lighting on the video whilst editing it. 

Planning: Storyboard & Animatic

Now that myself and Ryan have thought of the idea for our music video we began to put together the storyboard animatic. Firstly, we needed to do the story board part which is easy as we need to put our thoughts onto paper in drawings. We got several paper cards and drew on them with the shots we wanted for our music video. We then made a timeline in which we placed the panels along to clearly show in which order we want the shots.

Making the animatic requires good artistic skills to clearly represent what we want the shots to look like, however the drawings were not very good but they still got the idea across to the viewer. Whilst editing the animatic I needed to make sure that if the were cuts to the beat at points in the song then I had put them in. Throughout the production of my animatic I put in a lot of cuts to the beat.

Here are all of the panels that were used for the animatic. We used some of the panels several times to give a feeling of memories etc. These are not in the order used in the animatic.

Here is the timeline with the panels placed across it, this is our first thoughts and therefore the finished animatic will have developed and changed to make it better, changes that we needed to make were found in the editing process.

Here is the completed animatic of the song 'Summer'.

The process of completing the animatic instead of just taking some photos of a storyboard was extremely important because it helps us to visualise what the music video is going to look like and now we just need to replace the drawings with actual shots. Making this animatic also gave me the chance to practice with Premiere Pro beforehand. Practicing cutting to the beat and other effects for this animatic is very helpful as these effects will be used for the final product.

Now the animatic is completed I will move onto the other parts of pre-production. I will now do my location planning and casting etc. for my final product.

Research and Planning: Self Assessment

Research into existing music videos

I believe that my work for this particular section is in the low basic high minimal. This is because i don't have a second existing music video yet and this is what is needed to be done to get a higher grade for this section. The detail in the one existing music video, i believe is good as i have explained everything that is needed to be explained and it makes it easier for the reader to choose the costume if they were to re-create the video.

Research into a potential target audience

I believe that the work for this particular section would be good because i have managed to create a person who would be the perfect target audience for the artist that i have chose. There are a few things that can be added to the post to make it look better like  picture for example of what the person would look like.

Work on Storyboarding

From what is actually on my blog at this exact point i am unable to give myself a mark as there is no evidence on my blog. The work is ready to be put onto the blog but isn't up yet.

Time Management

The time management on my blog started off well but as i have went through less and less is getting posted to my blog every week. One reason for this is that we stopped the coursework in class to be able to look at the exam. My time management at this time is poor as my posts are too spread out.

Use of digital technology or ICT

There is a good use of ICT throughout my blog as there are different means of looking at my work and it isn't just text. There is an emaze there as well so you are able to look through that as well which is good use of digital technology but more could be added.

Communication Skills

The communication skills throughout my blog are good as it is easy to read and there are no grammatical errors that i can find on my blog.

Level of Care taken in the Presentation of Work

The level of care that has been taken on all my work is good and it is all well explained on what was needed to have been done on each task. The level of care on my work is high on most of my work as i ty to make my work as detailed as possible.

Research: Green Screen and Lip Sync Practice

In this task we were asked to edit some footage and create a short video where you are able to see the lip syncing on the video as well as how to remove the green screen. In the pictures below you are able to see what i had to do at different stages and throughout the process.

After i got the video and the actual song that i want to edit into the timeline then i added the eight-point garbage matte which allows me to remove some of the green screen before actually removing the green on the actual video.

With the garbage matte you are then able to move the green into where you want. You have to be careful that you are not putting into the body of the person you are trying to get the green screen off of.

Then you need to put a ultra key on there as well. This has to go on the video you want to remove.

Planning: Music Video Pitch for Frank Hamilton "Summer"

Planning: Creating an Online Mood Board

In this task I was asked to collect images to be able to create the online mood board. The images I chose were based on what featured in most of the Frank Hamilton music videos. I have chosen the pictures based on the key features within that music video. This is why one of them is having a close up of the artist within the music video. Another thing I chose to get a picture of was the formal tops that he wears in nearly all of his music videos. For some of the pictures I only had to type in Frank Hamilton and then it came up with him performing and all the album art work that I wanted as well.

Below you will be able to click the link and it will take you to my mood board on Frank Hamilton. Also to the right you will be able to see under half of the whole mood board.

Click Here to see the Mood Board.

Research: Lyric Analysis of 'Summer // Frank Hamilton

To give me a better understand of the song I have chosen I did some lyric analysis, I found the lyrics on the artist's website. From the lyrics to this song I interpreted that when he is talking about 'summer' this is a girl that used to be his girlfriend but they were separated some how and he wants to find her. I know this because at the start it reads 'summer where have you been' then it follows on to say 'I've been trying to remember how you feel on my skin', this tell us that Summer is a person that he then goes on to express how he feels about as the song continues on.

Throughout the song he then goes on to sing about how he feels about her with the chorus implying he will never change how he feels about her.

I have made notes and went into detail about the lyrics some more as shown here:

Afterwards I then went on a website called WordItOut which I entered the lyrics of this song into and made a map of the lyrics with the most used words being the biggest. From the word map you can see  that the most used words are 'summer' which is the name of the song which is a convention to see the song name used a lot in a song, 'change' and 'hope' were also used a lot which are usually used in love songs.



My Chosen Song

Research: Who are the target audience for my artist?

Sam is 18 and was born in Kettering. He is currently at university studying music. Sam loves a lot of different types of music and he also likes to be different. The usual people would go for Ed Sheeran but that's why he likes Frank, because he is the same style but at the same time a different artist. He is a singer songwriter as well this is because he was inspired by the work that Frank Hamilton does. Sam has a lot of different genres of music as well. This is also because he likes to be unique and he doesn't like to follow the crowd.

One thing that Sam does like to do is watch YouTube videos of the different chords he would be able to play on the guitar and he teaches himself them. Sam also likes to perform with his band that he is in. This is why he got into song writing. Sam doesnt really have a lot of friends that like the same sort of music as him as he is into multiple genres.

One thing Sam cant live without is his social media. This is because he likes to be up to date with all of the different types of music that are around at that time. He likes to watch interviews with his favourite artists to see if they are bringing out any new music soon. He also likes to check his twitter and facebook a lot to find out if any of these artists are performing anywhere. Sam is the type of boy who would go to the concerts to watch his idols perform and he would try and mime the words as they go.

Research : Who Are The Target Audience For My Artist?

You now need to move away from your chosen artist and think about who their target audience is.

This is vitally important before you move forwards as you are producing a promotional package and you must know who you are appealing to with your music video, CD Digipack and Music Magazine Advertisement.

Most magazines produce media kits or press kits for prospective advertisers - these allow them to promote themselves and for advertisers to commission advertisements in the most cost-effective and targeted manner.

Looking at a media kit helps you to se just how much effort is put into the identification of a target audience.

Create a post titled Research : Who Are The Target Audience For My Artist?

Take a sheet of paper and create a pen portrait for a typical member of your artist's target audience that includes as much information about them as possible.

• What age are they?
• What sort of things are important to them?
• How do they dress?
• What types of music do they listen to?
• What do they read? Watch? etc
• How do they use social media?
• How do they spend their time?

Research: Existing Music Video (Frank Hamilton/Summer)

Cuts Match the Music

The cuts in the video match the beats in the music. This is shown throughout the whole of the video. The cuts in the video change from when it was the past and from when it is the present day. This happens throughout the whole of the video which means it follows the conventions of a music video.

Projector effect

Another thing that happens in the music video is where Frank Hamilton stands in from of a projector and the fields are in the background. This is to give the effect of his younger self in the fields with the girl called Summer, which is also the name of the song. This creates a good effect because when they go back to the past they are in the corn fields. Whilst this effect is in use there is a close up of the artist in the whole of this projector effect.

Chorus has faster cuts

The chorus of this song has a lot faster cuts because there are a lot more beast within the chorus. From the 52nd second there is a series of cuts of where Frank is sitting in the same place over and over again. This shows that he goes to the coffee shop a lot to be able to think about the lyrics he is going to write. You can tell that he is righting about a song because later in the song as he is leaving the place he puts away his note book which is likely to have his song ideas.

Mise-en-scene 

The costume of Frank hasn't really been chosen that carefully as through the different outfits that he does wear they are nearly the same as they are all just shirts. His younger self doesn't wear hat type of top which means he has changed over time. This isn't 100% true though because  when he was younger he did wear some shirts but mostly T-shirts. The girl in the coffee shop had exactly the same necklace from when she was younger. This is shown through the way she leans down and the necklace falls out her top.

Overall, I feel like this is a good music video. There are a lot of different conventions used within this music video and they are used very well. This is a love sort of song as it is about a girl called Summer and how she left him and then they found eachother.