Due to several I peter not to mention, I left Wymondham High Sixth Form when the summer holidays began and joined City of Norwich School Sixth Form. This means that I was unable the complete the Preliminary task (e.g. designing the CD front cover and write about the editing process and evaluation questions). The finished project has not been posted on Youtube yet, meaning I cannot link it to my blog. I thought that this blog post was necessary to explain why I left the preliminary task blog posts the way they are, and to not cause further confusion.
Saturday 23 July 2016
Thursday 14 July 2016
Preliminary: 1st & 2nd Day Filming and photos
1st Day
Overall, the first day filming was not very successful but we may be able to use some of the decent shots in areas of our music video. I certainly feel as though using a tripod and having a longer period of time to film would certainly increase the level of productivity and success of filming impressive looking shots.
2nd Day
After filming on the first day, Harry and Richard said that they will film them playing in their band studio as their practise hours are quite spontaneous and additional access may be denied.
Unfortunately, I was not present on the second day of filming so I was unable to see how successful the day was. This is because I only had an hour to spare before my appointment in the city, but Harry could only make the afternoon. However, judging by the images taken on set, the second day was far more productive than the first and a variety of location were managed to be covered.
Wednesday 13 July 2016
Preliminary: Final locations
One of our initial ideas was that we would film Harry exploring and walking outside houses around Wymondham. However, our group ventured around Wymondham to look at a variety of buildings but we thought that none of them would fit sufficiently into the aesthetic of the song, although some members of our group know where some run down areas are. I feel as though this type of setting would be more suited to the song. Additionally, we are going to include shots of our actor in the countryside of Wymondham because this setting contrasts to the urban scenery that features within the majority of our video.
We concluded that the second location for our music video would be the North hall/stage inside Wymondham High school. This location is certainly appropriate for what we are going for because we want our video to consist of some shots of live music. For the 3rd location, The band will also be filmed during their practice in their own studio (located behind Morrisons in Wymondham). By using two different environments of the band playing music, it makes our music video different from the original version.
We concluded that the second location for our music video would be the North hall/stage inside Wymondham High school. This location is certainly appropriate for what we are going for because we want our video to consist of some shots of live music. For the 3rd location, The band will also be filmed during their practice in their own studio (located behind Morrisons in Wymondham). By using two different environments of the band playing music, it makes our music video different from the original version.
Preliminary: Update week 3 (Final Week)
Everything is nearly finished, we have 2 more days of filming to do and then it is Kate's/Richard's job to edit the footage together. If this goes as planned, we will meet the deadline on the following Monday. However, there is still a lack of effort from some members of the group and it has delayed us - especially with the blog posts. Everyone need to be fully updated before we need to hand in our work. Our music video is taking a lot more time than it needs to but I feel like it's the case of lack of communication that should be blamed. The amount of teamwork has dropped since we started the project but I feel like people will contribute more to their roles once we finish filming and begin editing. We will meet the deadline but the project has been left at an extremely short notice so we have put a lot of pressure on ourselves.
Preliminary: Casting Auditions and Chosen actors
We auditioned 2 people to play the lead singer in our music video - Harry Buxton and Richard Bate-Weldon, who is also part of our initial group.
Harry
What makes you want to star in our music video?
"I am a big fan of the smiths before is started to really get into music and I really liked your idea of the music video so I was really excited to get involved and I am now a lot more confident to be on camera because of my gigs I've been doing recently."
Do you think that our idea is original and will the final video look good?
"I like how you've changed the original video into having narrative as well as live performance because it shows you've put thought into your idea and that you really want to show that you've thought about the lyrics and the whole song. I feel that after it has been edited it will look really good and well put together."
How do you feel about the locations we decided on to film our video?
" I think that you've chosen really good locations especially the stage in the hall because, it shows can show the and from loads of different camera angles. Also I think that the run down areas are very good because, again it shows though and time taken over where to film. Also the location on the train track looks really good because it does look like something from a smiths video and I think that its a really good place to film the music video."
Would you change anything about the props, location or the actors in the video?
"I would only change a few things because most of it sounds like it will look really good. But instead of a stage it would look better to film the live performance in a basement or somewhere more rundown because then the music video will be symmetrical with the narrative. I think the locations are fine but more rundown places would be better because some of them aren't that rundown and doesn't really show what the songs meaning."
Richard
What makes you want to star in our music video?
"I have been a big smiths fan for as long as I can remember and I would really feel like I would fit into the role the best. I feel that I am confident on camera and can sing the song not just lip sync so it doesn't look fake. I am passionate about media and would really like to be involved."
Do you think that our idea is original and will the final video look good?
" I think that the idea is very new and that it will be challenging to get right because, it is hard to get the lip-syncing to look good. But overall the idea is refreshing and will look professional if it is done right."
How do you feel about the locations we to film for the video?
" I think that the locations are good because it fits well with the meaning of the song. I think that filming in a rundown place would be good and because they are hard to find it will show that you've done your research and that you've thought about the best place to do it. I feel that you could film it in a city where it is more rundown because it will really capture the song and show your effort."
Would you change anything abut the props, location or the actors in the video?
" I would change the time of day that you film for example, I think that it would look better at night rather in the daytime/ sunset, because I feel it would be more dramatic. I would also change the location to a city rather than a small town and the countryside."
We didn't audition the other band members because are planning to film when they are doing band practise, so to them it will feel like another normal day at band pactise - this will make them feel more relaxed and comfortable on camera. We also decided to choose people to audition who can play an instrument (preferable guitar) and hopefully in a band so they already feel comfortable playing to a large group of people/being on camera. They don't have any lip syncing/singing roles so we just asked their permission to film them when they are playing their instruments and they agreed. The two other band members said that they liked the idea of being on camera and they liked the idea of our music video. We felt that we only needed to audition for the main role, so we chose between Harry and Richard and came to the decision that Harry fits the role better and suits the voice of the chosen song.
Harry
What makes you want to star in our music video?
"I am a big fan of the smiths before is started to really get into music and I really liked your idea of the music video so I was really excited to get involved and I am now a lot more confident to be on camera because of my gigs I've been doing recently."
Do you think that our idea is original and will the final video look good?
"I like how you've changed the original video into having narrative as well as live performance because it shows you've put thought into your idea and that you really want to show that you've thought about the lyrics and the whole song. I feel that after it has been edited it will look really good and well put together."
How do you feel about the locations we decided on to film our video?
" I think that you've chosen really good locations especially the stage in the hall because, it shows can show the and from loads of different camera angles. Also I think that the run down areas are very good because, again it shows though and time taken over where to film. Also the location on the train track looks really good because it does look like something from a smiths video and I think that its a really good place to film the music video."
Would you change anything about the props, location or the actors in the video?
"I would only change a few things because most of it sounds like it will look really good. But instead of a stage it would look better to film the live performance in a basement or somewhere more rundown because then the music video will be symmetrical with the narrative. I think the locations are fine but more rundown places would be better because some of them aren't that rundown and doesn't really show what the songs meaning."
Richard
What makes you want to star in our music video?
"I have been a big smiths fan for as long as I can remember and I would really feel like I would fit into the role the best. I feel that I am confident on camera and can sing the song not just lip sync so it doesn't look fake. I am passionate about media and would really like to be involved."
Do you think that our idea is original and will the final video look good?
" I think that the idea is very new and that it will be challenging to get right because, it is hard to get the lip-syncing to look good. But overall the idea is refreshing and will look professional if it is done right."
How do you feel about the locations we to film for the video?
" I think that the locations are good because it fits well with the meaning of the song. I think that filming in a rundown place would be good and because they are hard to find it will show that you've done your research and that you've thought about the best place to do it. I feel that you could film it in a city where it is more rundown because it will really capture the song and show your effort."
Would you change anything abut the props, location or the actors in the video?
" I would change the time of day that you film for example, I think that it would look better at night rather in the daytime/ sunset, because I feel it would be more dramatic. I would also change the location to a city rather than a small town and the countryside."
We didn't audition the other band members because are planning to film when they are doing band practise, so to them it will feel like another normal day at band pactise - this will make them feel more relaxed and comfortable on camera. We also decided to choose people to audition who can play an instrument (preferable guitar) and hopefully in a band so they already feel comfortable playing to a large group of people/being on camera. They don't have any lip syncing/singing roles so we just asked their permission to film them when they are playing their instruments and they agreed. The two other band members said that they liked the idea of being on camera and they liked the idea of our music video. We felt that we only needed to audition for the main role, so we chose between Harry and Richard and came to the decision that Harry fits the role better and suits the voice of the chosen song.
Preliminary: Final Plot ideas
At the beginning of our music video, the curtains on stage will open and the band will be revealed. The camera will gradually move closer to the band and the song will start when the camera will switch to a shot of Harry (the main singer) walking around the rundown areas of Wymondham. The camera will be angled to make him located in the centre of the shot. It will switch back to the band's performance, but this time the camera will focus on each band member at different angles. After this, the camera will go back to the narrative scene where Harry will be walking around old houses in Wymondham. The shots in this scene will not show him lip syncing as he will be singing the song in the performance on stage. After some more close ups of harry in the performance it will switch to a shot of him on the train track. There will also be shots of him running away into the distance on the track. We hope to have hand help shots and on a tripod to get the full effect and to see what looks best. It will end with the band not playing their instruments and it will fade away slowly as the song finishes.
The plot fits with our stimuli because we hope to have some of the instruments attached to the actors to suggest that they are puppets.
The plot fits with our stimuli because we hope to have some of the instruments attached to the actors to suggest that they are puppets.
Preliminary: Week 2 Update
It is now week 2 and our group are writing the blog posts that will help us construct our video and arrange when we are going to film and edit it. We aim to finish the majority of them before we film footage so it is not a mad rush to finish everything at once before the deadline. Now we have planned our shooting schedule, we appear to be on track. I've noticed that I haven't put in as much effort as I should because I feel as though there is a lack of conversion between our group outside school. It can be agreed that editing and filming require more work than the role I've been applied to.
Preliminary: Shooting Schedule
Our group are planning to film between 10th - 16th July 9the last full week before the summer holidays). We have arranged a time to film the performance scene in the north hall on Tuesday 12th July at 11:15. I did this by emailing a member of staff the week before and asking when the North Hall was free to use. Our group also arranged to film the outdoor scenes in Wymondham on Thursday 14th July. We chose this day because it is when our group (including our main actor) is free. We hoped to film on a rainy day for dramatic effects but the weather forecast shows that it is meant to be dry and sunny all week. If we prepared our task earlier then we could have filmed the previous week where there may have been a chance of rain. Once we have got all of our footage, we will edit them at home and create the single cover. We will finish all remaining blogs after we have made the music video.
Preliminary: Music Video Research
The Clash - London Calling
I feel as though this song is a good one to reference to because it is similar to what we want our video to look like. The lyrics are similar to this charming man because London calling shows that other bands are feeling the same about England's economic situation in the 70's-80's. It also has the comparable beat and rhythm due to songs' similar genres. because of the similar genre of song. Although London Calling is more slower and darker than This Charming Man, there are many similarities.
The Cure - Friday I'm in love
Similarly to This Charming Man, Friday I'm in Love has a more upbeat tone than London Calling. Although the meaning of the songs are different, I chose it because of how the video relates to the composition of This Charming Man. Both of these music videos possess live performances and narratives, which keeps the viewer entertained as two settings are combined into one video. This is similar to the puppet stimulus because of the changing of the scenery and how hectic everything is. This is what we want our video to look like but with different camera angles and more thought going into them so we can get the most out of each shot.
Say Anything - Alive with the glory of love
This music video is a fantastically accurate representation of the idea for our video. For example, the shots of the live performance and then the narrative with it is what we want to create. I feel like the beat of the song is very similar to The Charming Man because it is upbeat. I feel that this is the closest thing I have found to our original video and our idea.
Preliminary: Plot ideas
Our main plot ideas are that we will have a live performance on the stage. We assume that the stage in the North Hall of our School would be a suitable place to film this. It will start with the curtains being drawn back and the band playing the song. We will also film the main singer walking around a very deprived area as well as some open fields to show the dramatic difference between the two conditions. . Also we will have many shots of the main singer rebelling against the natural order to show their opinions on society and how it affects people. The reason for these decisions are because, we feel that it will make sense with the song so they aren't random choices about where to film due to the meaning behind the song. The reason why we chose deprived areas rather than middle class areas is because of the meaning of the song being about not needing glamour and you can live without it.
Preliminary: Week 1 update
Today we decided which song and stimulus we wanted to do for our preliminary task. There was confrontation on which song to choose but we chose the smiths because Richard made it clear that he had a good idea for the video and that he would make sure it would look good. We decided our roles between us and decided that Kate and Richard would do the practical stuff like filming and editing where as Molly and I would make sure blog posts are up and look into locations and props. We haven't decided a date to film yet but we will work around when we are all free and we are planning to cast actors and discover when they are available.
Preliminary: Song Lyrics
Punctured bicycle
On a hillside desolate
Will nature make a man of me yet?
On a hillside desolate
Will nature make a man of me yet?
When in this charming car
This charming man
This charming man
Why pamper life's complexity
When the leather runs smooth
On the passenger's seat?
When the leather runs smooth
On the passenger's seat?
I would go out tonight
But I haven't got a stitch to wear
This man said "it's gruesome
That someone so handsome should care"
But I haven't got a stitch to wear
This man said "it's gruesome
That someone so handsome should care"
Ah ! A jumped-up pantry boy
Who never knew his place
He said "return the ring"
He knows so much about these things
He knows so much about these things
Who never knew his place
He said "return the ring"
He knows so much about these things
He knows so much about these things
I would go out tonight
But I haven't got a stitch to wear
This man said "it's gruesome
That someone so handsome should care"
La, la-la, la-la, la-la, this charming man
Oh, la-la, la-la, la-la, this charming man
But I haven't got a stitch to wear
This man said "it's gruesome
That someone so handsome should care"
La, la-la, la-la, la-la, this charming man
Oh, la-la, la-la, la-la, this charming man
Ah ! A jumped-up pantry boy
Who never knew his place
He said "return the ring"
He knows so much about these things
He knows so much about these things
He knows so much about these things
The lyrics affect the video because it shows the social differences for example "why pamper life's complexity" meaning that there is no need for extreme wealth and you can live without it. This means that our actors can't be wearing really fancy clothes and that we have to base our video around the lyrics and the more important things in life. It is meaningful so, the tempo will be different to a song that has a less significant backstory. The genre of the song will effect our idea because it is a difficult song to make an impressive music video of. We have to put a lot of thought into our location of the video and who will be in the video otherwise the song won't fit with the video and we will drop marks.
Who never knew his place
He said "return the ring"
He knows so much about these things
He knows so much about these things
He knows so much about these things
The lyrics affect the video because it shows the social differences for example "why pamper life's complexity" meaning that there is no need for extreme wealth and you can live without it. This means that our actors can't be wearing really fancy clothes and that we have to base our video around the lyrics and the more important things in life. It is meaningful so, the tempo will be different to a song that has a less significant backstory. The genre of the song will effect our idea because it is a difficult song to make an impressive music video of. We have to put a lot of thought into our location of the video and who will be in the video otherwise the song won't fit with the video and we will drop marks.
Preliminary: Format of the video
After researching the original music video and looking at the lyrics, we have decided to do a mixture of live performance and narrative. This is because the original music video is all live performance so we didn't want our version to be too similar. Also, our idea is based mainly around the narrative side of the video because we feel that that is going to be the most challenging and thought provoking part of the video. The live performance will also be hard to film but, the narrative is going to need a lot of planning and patience. There are other factors that affect the narrative, such as the weather and the type of location. There will probably be more narrative than performance but it will make our music video better if we have both.
Preliminary: Roles within the group
Our group sat down together to decide roles and which one suited who so that people were happy with what they are doing. We also based our selection of roles on what people enjoyed doing in Year 12. I was happy to have any role that contributed to the creation of our preliminary task, so I was given the option of being in charge of gathering props and guiding actors. However, I feel as though I want to give more to our music video than my role as weeks go by and when we get round to recording footage. Despite this, it is important that everyone sticks to our roles and puts in the equal amount of effort, otherwise easy marks will be lost.
As agreed, the roles within the group are:
Kate - Filming/ directing
Molly- making sure we meet deadlines and blog posts are in detailed and are on everyone's blogs
Richard- locations, casting, editing
Me - props, in charge of actors
As agreed, the roles within the group are:
Kate - Filming/ directing
Molly- making sure we meet deadlines and blog posts are in detailed and are on everyone's blogs
Richard- locations, casting, editing
Me - props, in charge of actors
Preliminary: Song Choice
The Smiths - This Charming Man
Our group and I were debating between two songs - This Charming Man by the Smiths and Sweet Nothing by Calvin Harris. It was a difficult decision to make because they were very different songs accompanied with disparate music videos. However, we ending up choosing This Charming Man because it was the song out of the two that we had an idea for. We feel that the pace of The Smiths song would be easier to work with because Sweet Nothing is more upbeat, therefore it would be more challenging to film something that would match the pace of the beat. Additionally, we felt that the other songs wouldn't work this the stimulus as well as This Charming Man does, which supports our song choice decision.
First A2 Task - Preliminary
In preperation for our A2 coursework, we have been given a trial effort over the next month to produce an original music video, and an accompanying original CD cover for the release of the song. I will be working with Kate Lankester, Molly Collison and Richard Bate-Weldon. Here is a picture of us.
We have been given the following songs to choose from:
DJ Sammy - The Boys of Summer
Sugababes - About You Now
Sia - Cheap Thrills
David Bowie - Life on Mars
Blink 182 - Another girl another planet
The smiths - This charming man
Calvin Harris and Florence Welch - Sweet nothing
Our class was not given a condition to include in our music videos. This is because our groups had no trouble with brainstorming ideas for them. However, we were all given a stimulus to base our idea(s) around to see where it would take us. For my group, our stimuli were Jack & Jill, The boy who cried wolf, and Puppets. The stimulus we chose was puppets because we were thinking about having the singers in the band as puppets because they feel like they are tied to social inequalities and differences and it is the only stimulus that works well with our idea.
We have been given the following songs to choose from:
DJ Sammy - The Boys of Summer
Sugababes - About You Now
Sia - Cheap Thrills
David Bowie - Life on Mars
Blink 182 - Another girl another planet
The smiths - This charming man
Calvin Harris and Florence Welch - Sweet nothing
Our class was not given a condition to include in our music videos. This is because our groups had no trouble with brainstorming ideas for them. However, we were all given a stimulus to base our idea(s) around to see where it would take us. For my group, our stimuli were Jack & Jill, The boy who cried wolf, and Puppets. The stimulus we chose was puppets because we were thinking about having the singers in the band as puppets because they feel like they are tied to social inequalities and differences and it is the only stimulus that works well with our idea.
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