Music Video Creation Process Update

Me and my media partner have recently started editing our music video and have finished the majority of our filming. 


So far:

• Our main success has been the way that the dancing and pianist footage turned out. We have also just recently shot the sky lantern scenes and the singer footage; they have turned out as a success too. 
• At first, I was worried about the quality of the filming with the cameras at night, but using the HD camera was a huge advantage to us, and resulted with the footage being extremely successful and distinct. The way that the flames from the sky lanterns lightens up the faces of the people around is something which I felt was most successful - as that effect connotes our music video's message.
• The dancing and pianist were filmed in the same room, being the dance studio, which my media partner and I were worried about because of the exam timetable occurring at the same time, (therefore the hall would be in great use much of the time). However, because my media partner takes drama studies, she was able to ask the drama teacher if we could use the drama studio after college on a Wednesday afternoon, and the dancers were all available on that day too. The filming took 5 hours, and we were very pleased with the results. 
• The dancers made up a routine to the song weeks before we planned to shoot - yet they kept showing us updated versions of their choreographed routine first. It was very beneficial to allow them to choreograph the dance to the song, because it allowed my media partner and I to have more time in planning other aspects of the music video - such as costume design, and to organize the other scenes.
• The pianist was Emma Harrison, who was already Grade 7 at piano, so we were well aware that she would be a very convincing pianist for the music video. Sophie (my media partner) had a dress which she borrowed from her sister, which we made Emma wear. It was a formal dress and suited the vision that we had for this video perfectly.
• The filming of the sky lanterns was also a success, because everyone involved co-operated very well. Organization skills were definitely needed for this scene to film, due to the amount of people we ended up including in this section (being overall around 20). The filming of the lanterns were a pleasing result because of the shot angles we managed to film.
• Filming the 'singer' was quite difficult, because we had to make sure that he responded to the lyrics as though he actually meant them, and that he also acted along with the singing. I found that filming this part was the hardest out of the rest. 
• Once we got all the footage gathered, we then loaded all of the footage onto the computer and started editing...

University Portfolio Music Video (Practice, Experimental Music Video)

This was a music video which I produced for my portfolio to show at university interviews, which I made throughout the christmas holidays. The idea behind this music video was to evoke the emotions which the song portrays (such as violence, anger and threat) by challenging my creative vision up to something which could instantly make the audience feel for the characters involved, but to still recognize it as a music video.


Initially, I had decided for this to be a fight scene, filmed in the style of 'dance,' but that was not possible because of the dancers not being available when I was, etc, but I realized that it was important to work with what I had got, and to improvise. 


The main aspects in my music video which I had planned and anticipated to use from the start were:

• The plates smashing - as the girl turned around in anger whilst smashing the plates. I saw this as a strong effect from the start of my planning, and created the plates out of sugar (which I took the time to bake the night before). It took a while to learn how to make sugar glass, but I googled it on 'Film Props' and found successful results. The takes to get this shot right took 10, and the cleaning process afterwards took the majority of the day, but despite all of the draw backs, it was in my opinion the shot which was most important in the music video, as I connected everything else around it.
• The fighting - where the girl and boy push each other and try to grab each other. I made sure that I used extreme close ups, hand-held shots and very much "in your face" types of filming. I wanted the audience to feel uncomfortable and to feel as though they were an extra character in this argument/fight scene.  

MY MUSIC VIDEO

Love The Way You Lie (Part II) - Rihanna Ft.Eminem 

Influences:

My main influences came from this video.

Did It Again - Shakira

This is my storyboard which I spent five days creating in preparation for my music video. However, with all the coursework and revision I had to do, I knew that I could only create the start of this storyboard. 


I spoke to a person who is very wise and knowledgeable about the film/television industry, and he said that I was to make sure that each picture in the storyboard clearly showed what the camera was to be shooting whilst filming. I found this very useful when filming.

Skills Update: (Print Production Finalization)

Now that I have finished the print production, I am going to reflect on what I learnt during the process: 

1. I learnt how important it is to plan everything that you intend to produce, both visually and 'behind the scene.'
2. It was very useful to find 'inspiration' sources before I started to plan. I used certain images to influence the way that I wanted my key points in my potential ideas to appear.
3. It is very important to come up with at least four different possible ideas which I can progress with, until I have decided which one is best to carry on with. 
4. Annotations on any planning or work that I had done was very important, as it helped to reflect on my progress and realize my way forward.
5. I found it very useful to take pictures for my production piece in batches, regarding the different themes which I was going to use. 

Organization and Permission

Locations: 

• Dance Studio - Booked (Wednesday 12th; 2:20) Permission given from Gary (Head of Drama department) Filming dancers and pianist. 
• Droitwich High Street - Filming late at night with crowd (Friday 14th; 19:00) Okay to film, no one will be present. Filming 'star' and the crowd of people (approx. 10)
• Friend's House - Organized and sorted out (Friday 14th; 21:00) Filming the 'star' and crowd with sky lanterns, etc.

Location shots to use when filming our crowd: (in Droitwich):

Costume and Props

Costume Ideas:
My media partner and I decided on the costume ideas together, after collaborating our inspirations and thoughts in order to come to a final conclusion for each section of the different casts.
The Dancer Cast:
The idea for our dance cast was that they would be clothed in black outfits, (leggings, vest tops, etc) so that they could easily dance in the clothes, and so that they would contrast with our designated location of which we planned to film them in. 
This is the ideal appearance we want our dancers to have, yet our filming would be against a lighter background.

The 'Crowd' Cast:

In our music video, the 'crowd' which we plan to film walking/running/skipping around shall be very important to symbolize and connote the concepts of 'unity.' However, my media partner and I believe that it would be best to keep them in casual looking clothes, so that it can logically match the situation at hand. We also feel that casual clothes set the right atmosphere for the crowd.

                                 

The Pianist

Our idea for our Pianist was that she would look "classy" and "fresh," which would fit in with the connotations of our music  video. Therefore, we agreed to dress her in a formal dress, with dramatic makeup and nail varnish (paying attention to detail, as we would have many shots of her hands on the piano).

                                

The Main 'Star'

The main 'star' proved a difficult aspect to think of - regarding costumes and outfits, because of the way that we had to portray him as the 'most important' star in the video - for the audience to idolize. Therefore, we decided that he was to wear a "cool" outfit, regarding the theme of 'smart-casual,' which involves red converses, a suit jacket and jeans.

My inspiration of the stylish, smart-casual theme (which was still suitable for our target audience) came from this: