Shoot Day!

They day before the Shoot day we all, as a group, prepared the studio ready for the next day. This included painting the back wall green in and also the platform, which the band were going to stand on. We then positioned the light in the place the best lit the green so there were no shadows. This was key for the green screen as there had to be no shadows in order for us to edit the video and allow us to key out the green effectively.

Shoot day began with us all getting together to go over how the day was going to go ahead. I made up a plan for the day including times so that we had to try to keep to the schedule and have structure to the day in order to achieve as much as possible.

After this discussion we waited for the band. They arrived around 9:00. From there we took them up to the edit suit where Davina and I explained how the day was going to unfold and what we wanted from them, including, do’s and don’ts when in front of the camera.

Whilst Davina and myself, briefed the band, Jo and Oscar did the last minute checks and changes to the set including the positioning of the lights they also checked that the playback was working.

Finally we bought the band into the studio ready to start shooting between 9:30 and 1:00 which was when we were going to break for lunch and get ready to travel and shoot in Guildford.

Once the band were in the studio, they set up all of their instruments, which we then positioned to make the shot interesting and make sure they would all be in shot. We were able to see the shots that were constructed on the camera live on a large television monitor, situated next to the playback. We then gave the band a chance to run the song a couple of times before we got them to play to the playback. This proved difficult because there instruments were so loud that they couldn’t hear the playback and therefore went out of time. However we managed to sort this by increasing the volume of the track on the playback.

During the day Davina was on playback, Jo and Oscar took photos with an SLR camera as a record and to use in the digi pack and I was on the camera. However all of us directed the band and had input on what shot we wanted and what shots we liked and disliked by looking at the monitor.

I set up the camera by bubbling the tripod to make sure the shot was level and then started filming a WS of the band. It was only after we had filmed several establishing shots that I started to film CU’s and low and high angle shots. Every time I changed to do a different shot I got Oscar and Jo to watch the monitor and tell me whether it was properly focused because during the day it seemed focused on the camera monitor but it always seemed to be slightly unfocused on the bigger monitor.

At the beginning the filming was going well and we were getting through a lot of shots however before lunch the overhead floodlights tripped and went out. We tried to get them to come back on but they needed to cool down so we took a break and discussed our next course of action.

When we finally got the lights working again, we quickly got the rest of the shots we wanted and then broke for lunch for half an hour.

After we packed everything up in the studio and transferred it into a mini bus including spare batteries, a new memory card and a green screen board that we were going to use to reflect into the puddles for our idea.

We got into Guildford at about half two in the afternoon and went to locations in Guildford where we had already scouted puddles a couple of days before. Luckily for us it was dull, and grey and lightly raining so the puddles were still there and we wouldn’t have to edit the background to make it look like a rainy day. When we got to the first puddle we tried to get the green screen to reflect into the puddle but it was too small so instead we just shot the puddles as they were and decided to try and edit them using final cut pro and after effects.

At this point we had to be fast and get the shots we wanted quickly because of the time restrictions we had and because at this time of year the sun goes down earlier and the continuity of the video would be compromised.

The kind of shots we did were shots of the puddles, the band walking towards and away from the camera always from right to left in different areas in Guildford and then finally we ended up at a pub in Guildford called the Boileroom, which is where we finished the last few shots. Luckily for us the owner turned up and turned the lights on and let us film the band walking in to the pub making it more realistic.

Finally we packed up all of the equipment and packed it back into the minibus. We thanked the band and they left and then once we got back to Hurtwood we transferred all of the footage onto the main hard drive so we didn’t lose any of it and so it was ready to edit the next day.  

Running Order

Day plan: Now is Everyone “What we See.”

1. Meeting at 8:00 – 8:15 for breakfast and chats about the day ahead


2. Meet in media at 8:50 ready for band arriving at 9:00


3. 9:00 – 9:30 Davina and Fran brief the band and style them and Oscar and Jo finish last changes to the set.


4. Around 9:30 move into studio and begin filming. Green screen shots and performance shots.


5. Then at 1:00 – 1:10 break for lunch


6. 1:45 finish lunch make way to Guildford, to do puddle shots and shots of band in Guildford.


7. 5:00 finish filming due to time of day.

Change of Design and Layout

Previously the set was going to be designed as a bedsit. However I have decided to change this due to time limitations and because as a group we have decided to just use green screen. By only using the green screen we are able to insert any kind of pattern or image into the background by using after effects and the techique known as chromo keying. Below is the tile pattern we used and the wall paper pattern.

Experimenting with the puddle idea.

Here i took one of the photos of the band that they had taken and then i copyed it into photoshop where i edited the image to make it look like he was in a puddle.
The photo of Elliot is a seperate layer. There is also two photos of paint that was dripped into water to create a swirling pattern. These were photos i took when i was exerimenting with what paint worked best when dripping it and mixing it in water.
With each layer i edited it using the different texture options so i chose to use the ocean ripple texture and changed the intensity. I did this with each layer and the with the two paint swirl layers i changed the opacity so that the image of Elliot could be seen behind.
This is what we are hoping to do in after effects once we have got the footage for our pop video.

Below is another puddle experiment. This one is a lot easier to do. I copied this photo onto photoshop, duplicated the layer and then went in filter, distort and finally clicked on the effect ocean ripple and played around with the ripple size and magnitude. I then went on to hue/saturation and made the colour more of a bluey green and then finally adjusted the brightness and contrast. Even though it was more simple i don't think it is as effective as my first experiment.

Lighting design and Set design

This i currently our initial idea for the set although it may change on the day due to what props we could get hold of and the amount of space is left for the band to perform in. However from what you can see in the image we want to make it a dark messy bedsit. So we wanted to have a bed in there and a wardrobe and have bits of scrunched up paper on the floor and wallpaper on the walls that has started to peel away from the wall and is all scratched up. We also want a window on one side with blinds so we can do interesting lighting effects and create interesting shots with shadows. We want to represent what they see originally (Which is this set in black and white) and then slowly throughout see the colour return and the room be restored to order.

Props and Costume List

Props List

These props are being provided by the band:

Keyboard
Bass
Guitar
Drums/drumsticks
Mic
Guitar piks

The props we have got are:
Paint
Water
Buckets
Hosepipes/jet wash
Empty Coke Cans
Hat for money
Money –coins
Plastic cup / cup
Bed
Cupboard / wardrobe
Wallpaper

Costume and Make up
Military Jackets/blazer, black skinny jeans, mens shoes or plimsoles (no trainers)
Casual tops (shows individuality), black skinny jeans, mens shoes or plimsoles (no trainers)

Research References

This is a list of the places we researched and referenced material:

• Youtube
• Myspace
• Eagle Radio
• Facebook
• 14thfloorrecords.com
• biffyclyro.com
• wikipedia.org
• google.co.uk/images
• various forums

Keith Negus

Keith Negus
The Ideologies of the music industry
• “What I’m looking for is the working act. The real act. The act that can get up on stage and do it. That act will give you career. I signed Black Sabbath umpteen years ago; they are still making records. These are acts that are career acts… Two years ago I started a dance label… now that’s not a career-orientated label. I mean those records are one-off situations and every now and again maybe you’ll get an artist come out of it.”
• “When I first started it was more about going out and finding bands. That method is becoming more and more redundant. More and more these days I find it’s as much about: I sit here and think ‘there’s really a gap in the market for this kind of project…’. I don’t go out to gigs. That’s not how I find my stuff. It comes through various writers and producers. So if a writer comes in he may have some great songs and maybe is looking for a front person. Or maybe I have the front person who I want to launch into the market but I haven’t got the songs. So you put the two together.”

Ideologies of Creativity
• Keith Negus – Producing pop
• Identifies two distinct ways of thinking about potential artists from within the music industry.
• These ideologies shape the way in which the artists’ images and careers are developed, and the way that they are marketed towards specific target audiences.
• The organic ideology of creativity and…
• The synthetic ideology of creativity.

The Organic Ideology of Creativity 1
• A ‘naturalistic’ approach to artists
• The seeds of success are within the artists, who have to be ‘nurtured’ by the record company.
• The image of the artist is ‘enhanced’ by the record company.
• The artist is given time to evolve and progress through their career.

The Organic Ideology of Creativity 2
• Emphasis is given to album sales and the construction of a successful back catalogue.
• Often aimed at older or more sophisticated consumers
• Profits generated by this kind of act tend to be part of a long term strategy by the record company.

The synthetic Ideology of Creativity 1
• A combinatorial approach to artists and material.
• Executives attempt to construct successful acts out of the artists and the songs at their disposal.
• The image of the artist is often constructed by the record company.
• The artist will be given a short time to prove their success before other combinations will be tried out.

The Synthetic Ideology of Creativity 2
• Emphasis is given to single sales and to promoting first albums.
• Often aimed at younger, less sophisticated audiences.
• Profits generated by this kind of artist tend to be part of an immediate, short term strategy by the record company.

Balancing the Two
• In practice, the success of synthetic acts will fund the development and investment in organic acts.
• Most big record labels will look to balance their roster with a combination of successful synthetic and organic acts to ensure that there are funds available for the day-to-day running of the company as well as long term profit making potential.

Promoting Organic and Synthetic Acts
• There are clear distinctions between the ways in which different types of artist are represented to ensure short term or long term success.
• Organic acts are often sold on their ‘authenticity’, both musically and socially.
• The image of the artist appears ‘unconstructed’ (although, of course, this is in itself a carefully constructed look)
• Synthetic acts are often sold on their ‘look’ or personalities
• The image of the artist is carefully and unashamedly constructed.

Story Boarding Process

Today we filmed the story board ready to edit on final cut pro. We used a Sony Mpeg2 SD NXcam. We set the camera up on its tripod and pinned the story boards on the wall and filmed each shot for 10 seconds so that we had lots of time to adjust how long a clip would go on for in the video.
It was the first day of editing today. We uploaded the footage onto the final cut server, then went through the process of editing the footage to the track. Before we could edit we had to save the file to the desktop and change the footage to edit proxy so we could editing the footage. We then waited for the footage to save onto the desktop. Once it had we double clicked on it and it opened up in final cut pro ready for us to edit. All the footage was already in a bin so we named it so we knew where the footage was. We opened up the bin and began to edit, however before we could edit anything we had to upload the song. Unfortunately the copy we had of the music was a wav file so we changed it to a wmp so it was compatible with final cut pro. Once we had the music, I place it in final cut by dragging it and then I padlocked the music so it wouldn’t be affected whilst we edited. I started off oing the editing because I still had a good knowledge of how to edit from last year where as the rest of my group didn’t so I did most of the editing however, my group were watching me today learning how to do it all again so that they could edit too.
I feel more confident editing this year editing than last year because i used it all last year ao it was a matter of picking it all up again but also after using after effects which i feel is a more complicated programme, it make final cut pro. seem easier.
So I started editing. Firstly double clicked on the clip in the bin so they appeared in the first video window, then I dragged that footage onto the time line ready to cut up. Unlike the thriller last year there was no need for me to cut the footage in the first window then drag it onto the time line because each shot was 10 seconds of the same footage. So after dragging it onto the time line I started to adjust the footage. In the video we decided that we needed to set the scene because the singing starts straight away because there was no introduction. So using the storyboard as a guide I started by cutting the footage that we wanted to use before the music started. We wanted to start off by hiding the bands identities. So we have decided to start with a high angle tilted shot of a hat on the pavement with money in which a hand then comes into frame and picks up the money and puts into their pocket, the camera then continues tilting up the body after following the hand but stop just below the shoulder, the person in the shot then slowly turns their back on the camera and walks away. This whole sequence is one whole shot. As a group we thought this particular shot ‘set the scene’, and allowed the audience to almost guess where the person is and what they are doing and what they look like yet it is still all a concealed mystery. I like the fact that we are starting in close up because it invites the audience in.
Like I have said in a previous post we are using the puddles to go between performance shots and context shots. By cutting to the music it has helped in showing us what works and what doesn’t for example some of the cuts didn’t work with the music so we either had to add shot or extend the number of seconds the shots were going on for. It has also allowed us to add and play around with shots because to the music some shots feel right and go with it but some don’t so it’s a matter switching shots around. Also because of the music all of the shots had to be ajusted to fit in time with the music so i had to use marker to mark were the main beats are so that each shot cuts on the beat.

Here are the finished story boards that we edited on final cut pro:

Story Boarding Process

In the lesson today we went through all the storyboards each of us had drawn, cut them all out, went through all the shots we wanted to use and where we were going to put them and then arranged them on plain paper ready to film. As a group we decided to discard the shots that were the same or had too many of, for example the POV shots that we drew of each band members POV. We also removed some shots to keep the entire video simpler instead of it ending up like a miss match of different shots that don't connect. The way we placed the story boards was a rough guide on how we would like the pop video to look however, it would probably change once we started to edit it on final cut pro. to the music.

Story Boarding Process

Today we came up with another way of adding a variety of shots to the pop video and a way of connecting all the ideas that we want to incorporate. We want to stick with all the footage being in black and white at the beginning and then slowly throughout have the rain bring in the colour but as well as this we thought we could, using After Effects, project images of them performing in puddles which connects to the coloured rain idea. This is how we are going to go between performance shots to context shots. The idea is that the camera will look into a puddle and a member of the band will appear in the water. We then will then either keep with the same shot or go between shots until the puddle is disturbed by someone jumping into the puddle or something similar. As a group we decided to drop all of the blurred light ideas because we thought the video would end up being too busy and full of different effects that weren’t necessary.
We have decided overall that there are going to be more performance shots to promote the band. This is because they are a new band and the audience, need to see what they look like, this also includes record labels that might pick them up. They would need to see how the band interacted and played together, so by us choosing to use more performance shots we are allowing more time for audiences to get a better look at the band itself.