Our Final Video

Absense:

Having been currently ill for numerous days this week, i have been unable to help Tash. M with filming the  final part of the video on Wednesday 6th. Although, the bulk of the editing was finished a few days ago whilst i was still in school. Thankfully, she was able to film the last section of the video without me and tied the odd bits of the video, such as making sure the lip syncing was in order.

Last Bits of Editing/Finished

I filmed the last sequence which is the throwing Jack out scene. As part of our group was not in school, I organised another person to film for us instead and directed them as to what shots we needed. This only took about 15 minutes so the footage was ready to edit. It was imported it into FinalCut and I edited this which didn't take too long.
Also, a lot of the lip singing was out of sync so I put it all right which meant cutting a few clips or making them longer. I have made a few shots speeded up as it makes more of an impact to make the shots fit with the song and the beats. I have also created an ending on iMovie where the artist's name and song name appears which I felt would help establish the artist, this is conventional of a music video on TV channels. I also acted on the tips Ms Thrasher gave us on a few shots that needed to be changed, like a shot at the end of the quick sequence near the end of the video and edited it too so it kept up the speed of the video as I made the video have a faster pace near the ending so that it is a gradual video.

It is now all edited and I am about to upload it to YouTube as the the whole video is now finished!

Filming Postponed #2

We had planned to film the last bit (chucking Jack out scene) today, however, this had to be cancelled as one of the actors went home and we couldn't use another man as he had been in the rest of the video.
We have planned to do it on Wednesday where we have double Media so we can film in the first hour (even though this will only take roughly 20 minutes) and edit in the next. That means after this, all the filming will be complete.
So the new filming list is:


Date to film: Wednesday 6th April
Time: 9:50am - 9:30am
People needed: The Group plus Jamie, Michael and Jack
Location: Under the stairs (interrogation room)


The rest is the same as the earlier list.

Filming!

Yesterday, we re-filmed the chorus in the drama rooms, we used the specialist lights for this to make it look more professional, as our feedback from the showcase suggested that our current chorus (which was plain in-front of curtains) didn't look very professional. This made a huge impact and the footage looks so much better. We were able to do this in the space of one hour as I got ready and turned the lights on during form time, so this was so successful within the time provided.

We also re-shot the beginning of the video as we realised the continuity wasn't great as we had a flood light in some sections whereas in others, it only used the light from a small lamp, also in this location we filmed the walking down bit again as last time my flower was on the wrong side of my head! So now, the whole first section's continuity is corrected and looks so much better. We also filmed some shots of the artist getting ready (putting make-up/shoes on) which we want to put quick edits in at the beginning when she is walking down the stairs because the music is jumpy so gives us a lot of room to do some fast edits instead of just plainly walking down stairs.

In the third lesson, we filmed the artist and the male together (before he cheated on her) just on a normal school day sitting on a bench and walking and running around a field, just generally being young and happy. We thought this would be good to put in the montage at the end.

We had a small amount of time left so we went and filmed Jack in the french corridors again and the artist lip singing, which we were supposed to do on Monday however, this has given us more time to do the last bits of editing.

So this was a very busy filming day (3hours) and we were knackered by the end of it, but we have all our shots now! Apart from the last tiny bit where the guys throw the main guy out, which we hopefully should be filming on Monday! We will be staying after school to do our last editing so we are able to have the very best outcome for our deadline!

Footage Editing:

As the video completion deadline is coming to a closure, i have made sure that every opportunity for editing the footage is taken. Today, the group (and jack for an hour) did three hours of filming in the drama studio and out on the fields for our montage of shots and in order to re do the chorus, which was successful.

Therefore, i have spent two hours today uploading the footage and have begun editing the footage onto the video outline. However, i feel that this will take some time and that the group will have to take lots of time editing the footage together to make sure that the editing is approved by the whole group in terms of agreeing on effects and to make sure certain shots are approved.

Filming: Redoing the Chorus

We will be re doing the chorus as people thought that our costumes were repetitive in the video and also that the curtain behind wasn't very professional. This can be filmed tomorrow period 1 as that is the only time it is free.


Date to film: Friday 1st April
Time: 8:50am - 9:50am
People needed: ALL OF GROUP (no extras)
Location: Drama room (booked)


Props/Items we need to take:
- Video Camera
- Tape for camera
- iPod (make sure it's charged)
- iPod dock
- Costume! (heels and RED flower for hair)
- Stage (this is portable, not using the main stage as it's too big)
- Mic stand + Mic (I'll get this from music dept.)


Shots to be filmed:
- Close up
- Medium shot
- Wide shot
- Singing to camera
- Singing to audience
- Pan shot
- Shot of 'rocking out'
- Shots of walking around stage whilst singing
- Extra shots incase extra footage is needed

Filming: Extra shots for second verse

After editing this section, I found that we needed many more shots for this section as it was not fully complete. Therefore, the group has decided to film extra shots for this section

Date: Monday 4th April
Location: French corridors, the white wall
Time: 13:00 to 14:00
People: All of the group/ Jack, Jamie and Michael

Shots:
- Artist walking around Jack and lip - syncing
- Shot of artist walking back to actors
- Jack/Gaga shot
- Artist doing "roar" to the song better

Filming: Re shooting beginning

The group is deciding to re shoot the beginning of the video with the artist walking into the dungeon tomorrow. This is because we have shot that section in different sections, which as a result, the lighting is considerably different:

Date: Friday 1st April
Location: Under school stairs (dungeon)
Time: 10:00 to 11:00
People: All of the group (no extras needed)

Shots needed:
- Medium shot of the artist lip - syncing
- Back of the artist walking down stairs
- Tracking shot of artist from the side
- Quick shots of the artist "preparing" herself - (make up, shoes, clothing)

REMEMBER: Hair accessory needs to be on the right side and her hair needs to be up!!

Filming: shots for the montage

We are still deciding when to film the last bit of the video with the "guy" being kicked out the door

We have decided to do a montage of shots, specifically with the artist and the "guy, reflecting their past before the problem. We plan to film this tomorrow:

Date: Friday 1st April

Location: Field/around the school

Time: 9:45 to 10:45

People: All of the group and Jack

Shots:

- Close up shots

- Medium shots

- Far shot/talking to each other

- Holding hands

We will also implement shots from other sections, such as the chorus, the "dungeon", the line up, the shots in the field etc we will make sure that the artist is singing in all sections so that when we come to editing, we will have a variety to choose from

Showcase for our video:

Yesterday, our group showed our media class our current unfinished version of our music video in order for critical feedback. We had numerous feedback for our video, some positive and some negative, nonetheless, this can still be edited. The majority of people felt that the video and camerawork was good, but felt that our chorus's need re - filming and that we should put different costumes on the artist.

As a result, the group has decided to do lots of re filming this week and next week, which has given us lots of new ideas such as a montage of shots from throughout the video, all placed at the end of the video.

This is the video that was showed, it has black screens in places where the footage has not yet been uploaded:

Next Filming Slot Response

Dear Natasha D,

Okay cool that would work, tomorrow we can film the parts with just me for the first period and edit second so that what we have is created well for the showcase.

On Friday, we have 2 hours so we should be able to film everythng we need to with Jack so hopefully the video will be finished by Wednesday 3rd period including editing and everything!

Natasha McGowan

Editing current footage:

I have just finished editing the footage that we shot yesterday onto our video timeline and i feel that it is really coming together now. However, i am having a few worries regarding some shots that i don't feel are as good as some others such as the beginning verse where the lighting is considerably different. I think we need to re film them, but I am worried about the time that is available will not be enough. I am also able to see the odd little shots that we need, such as more shots of the artists face in the beginning of the second verse, in order to keep continuity.

Next filming slot:

Hey Tash. M,

Seeing as the group will have to showcase the video that we have currently for other people to evaluate tomorrow, i felt that we could film tomorrow morning, two hours before the showcase? We could shoot the beginning section of the video, with you walking down the stairs into the "dungeon"? Therefore, we will have a complete beginning of our video that we will not have to worry about.

Also, I thought that this friday, we could film the ending of the video with the "guy" being chucked out of the "dungeon"? We can do this during our double free on that day and hopefully we will be able to find two more people to act as our bodyguards.

Lastly, if we have Jack on friday (hopefully!) we could film random shots of the lips being fed to him by you, which we discussed a few weeks ago? I will make sure that we have the sweets by then, then we can thoroughly start editing the rest of the video so that it will be complete by the holidays?

Tash D.

Filming Verse 2

Today, we were able to find 3 guys to use in our music video however, the main guy couldn't make it so instead of changing the date again (which wouldn't be good as we have a deadline coming soon) we filmed it all without him, we should be filming with him in it asap.

However, the filming went well, we managed to get some good shots which we should be uploading on to the edit station tomorrow. Although, we didn't take the storyboard with us so we forgot to do a few shots, however, the shots we forgot can be done in our own time as we don't need other people for this.

New filming date:

With problems regarding location and extra actors, we have decided that we will definitely film next time, during lesson time. We have decided that by doing filming in lesson time, we can take people from our lesson to star as the extra people will be available. Also, the corridor which will be the new location of the second verse and will be empty as it is lesson time.

Therefore, filming will take place the coming Monday:

When: Monday 28th March
Location: French corridors, long white wall
Time: 1:10pm to 2:00 (preparation will take place during the lunch time before this)
Props:
-Actors
-chair
- black paper strips
- blue tack
- camera
- tripod
- phone (with song on it)

Shots:
- P.O.V shot from artist to guys
- Tracking shot of the men in line
- Medium shot of artist walking through doors
- Close up shot of artists face/actors face
- Very low angle shot from "guy" p.o.v

Filming Postponed

We were supposed to film today, however, the main guy couldn't make it so we couldn't film. We know we have a deadline coming up soon so we are going to try to find the next available date to film when we have got all our props, the actors and the location booked.
Instead, in this lesson time, we made the black strips to put in the background for our 2nd narration for the line up as they went missing from when we previously made them.

However, an idea that I came up with is that we could use the black strips across Jack as a postmodern version of Lady GaGa's dress:

This fits in with the interrogation theme we are going for and could be used at the end for our montage of quick fast shots. This dress is iconic so the postmodernism of the bars should be obvious. We could film it and see if it works or not?

Location Change Again!

We realised that this time wouldn't be suitable for the actors so we searched around the school for about 20 minutes to search for a plain white wall that we could use instead which wouldn't need to be booked for a specific time.

We found the french corridors did the job, so we have decided we will film on Thursday 1st period as that time suits all of us!

Booked the Location

Due to not being able to film last week as the Drama rooms were busy, we realised the best way to make our filming session successful would be to book the location first to avoid disappointment.

So we have just booked Thursday 24th March, period 5... all we need now is to find some male actors to be in the shoot

Update:

With being unable to film for our second verse lately due to the lack of male actors, i have been asking around friends and people i talk to if they would be willing to be our actors. Fortunately, i have been successful and have been able to find someone who has offered their time to be in it, although i still need to confirm with the person yet, which will probably later today. I will also ask if he is able to ask his close friends if they will accompany him to be in the video