Day 2 FILMING

Filming for Day 2

We shot the second lot of footage for our video on 21st December. We were aiming to shoot 2 key scenes in our video - the scene where Olivia-Mae finds the letter and the party/gathering scene where we see Ruth flirting with Jenny. Unfortunately Anica could not join us on the day, but we still managed to get everything done fairly smoothly.

Our day started at 9am and not leaving until about 4pm making our day very long so we provided ourselves with several snacks and drinks to keep us going throughout the day and taking breaks when we needed them. The others were exhausted when we first arrived due to the early hour (especially during the holidays) but  everyone quickly got into the process of setting up and preparing for the long day. We filmed the scenes with just Coral and I in the morning, stopping at midday for lunch. Our extras began to arrive at this time so there was a quick pizza lunch (ON TIME) then we were ready to shoot. One of our extras dropped out at the last minute, but fortunately the friend/home owner was willing to be in the video. The extras all got along really well, both with us and each other, and the filming was remarkably smooth. The only problem we encountered was a broken guitar string which looked bad in the shot, but we just removed the string and carried on filming (evident in the video above).

Overall, the day passed smoothly, with us shooting everything we needed to despite having to work with a larger group of people. The extras were all very helpful and listened to us well, which definitely contributed to the successful shoot we had. All in all, it was a very good and productive day despite our worried thoughts of on the previous day.

Day 2 PLAN

Filming Plan for Day 2

On 21st December we will be filming the second lot of film for our video. We will be shooting the letter scene in the morning and group scene in the afternoon at one of our friend's house. This will be an interesting day as we will be filming with other actors as well as ourselves, meaning that organisation will be key. We have chosen a good, reliable group of people so we hope that the day will run smoothly. We will be filming from about 9.00 until 16.30, so it could be quite a tiring day. Below is our shooting schedule and risk assessment.

Choosing extras...

On 21st December we will be needing extras for the party/gathering scene. We therefore need to choose a good group of people to be extras as the outcome of our shoot depends on them behaving well and not causing us too much strain. As there is no dialogue in our video and the acting is not particularly hard we do not need to look for amazing actors. Instead, we have focused on finding people with the expected 'indie' aesthetic we are aiming for in our music video, choosing people who will concentrate, get along well and not be too camera shy. We will need around 4 extras and have decided on 3 of our friends and Sam's younger brother. 

The friends we have chosen all have an indie aesthetic, are sensible and we all know each other so there shouldn't be any strain or struggle. Sam's brother is also quite friendly, so we should all hopefully get on well with everyone else, plus has an indie aesthetic for us to work with.

Day 1 FILMING

Filming for Day 1

Here is a behind the scenes of day 1:

The 10th December was the first day of shooting our music video. We planned to shoot several sequences: including the opening with Olivia-Mae (me) and Ruth (Coral) walking together, the scenes of them walking through the woods, and the found footage scenes with the dog. Due to cynophobia (fear of dogs) Anica did not join us on this shoot, although Hannah's mum came along to act as the dog handler.

When we got to the location, we found the weather to be a little different than what we had hoped. We had initially pictured sunlit fields and light shining through the woods; we arrived to find the day overcast and foggy with a light rain. However, instead of returning home and rescheduling the shoot for another day, we made the decision to carry on filming. The fog made the fields seem atmospheric and indie, creating a beautiful effect in the camera. We pulled on our raincoats and started shooting our video. Of course, there were some downsides to the weather. Firstly, we had to make sure that our cast and camera all stayed dry, which included Hannah holding an umbrella over the camera. We also found our time with the dog cut short, as he got wet very quickly and we didn't want to keep him in the rain for too long. We made up for this by shooting shots with him at the very beginning and filming shots of just Olivia-Mae and Ruth later. We also decided not to have them climb trees, as this could be very dangerous and we didn't want to spoil the shoot with a trip to A&E. One advantage of the weather (other than it's beauty) was that our location was basically empty, so we got our pick of places to film without having to worry about other people ruining our shots. One later disadvantage of the weather, however, was that we didn't manage to catch golden hour as we had aimed to, as the clouds stopped the sunlight from getting through. At this point the fog had mostly cleared, removing that effect, but I had brought a canister of fake fog along with us so we could still make it look indie. We managed to finish our shoot just as the sky was beginning to get dark, reaching the car park just as night was beginning to fall.

In the end, we managed to film everything we needed to. Although the weather wasn't what we had initially hoped for we actually think that it might make our video look better and more indie as fog and rain is a convention of the genre, plus it reflects the mood of our piece. All in all, it was quite a successful day, if a very damp one.

Day 1 PLAN

Filming Plan for Day 1

Tomorrow (Saturday 10th December) we will be shooting each shot required for this area. We will be filming in the field to start off with and then walk to the forest areas for our other required shots. We are hoping to get to the Larger field before it gets too dark. We're aiming for a 13:30 start and a 16:00 finish. 

Time schedule:

Risk assessment:

Ancillary Tasks

Planning our Ancillary Task

In order to start a designing these digipaks and averts we had to think up what kind of imagery we wished to portray. We all decided we wanted to show synergy between the two so that they corresponded with each other and the music video itself.

We came up with a few ideas:

• Orange/fire related colours 
• "Mysterious' character looking at a projection
• A projection of myself watching back at my character
• Fire in my eyes
• A burning guitar (with me potentially in the background)
• A broken pocket watch
• Fire
• Projection room (to symbolise re-arrangement)
• Puzzle with a still from the video
• Burning trees
• Fields and trees

Using those words we started designing and here are the outcomes:

Digipak 1

Digipak 2

Digipak 3

Digipak 4

Advert 1

Advert 2

Props in our Music Video

Props

In our music video we will need to use several props that we have to get. In order to make sure we don't forget anything we had to look into our storyboards to see what our video required.

What we need:

• A projector - to create the projected images needed in our video
• A pocket watch - we want to show Olivia-Mae waiting for someone but we didn't want to use a phone as it was considered too modern; we therefore decided to use a pocket watch to follow the indie convention
• A lighter - Olivia-Mae looks for a lighter to light some candles but this is how she stumbles on a letter that is the main catalyst for our video
• A letter - A note that Jenny to shows Ruth's unfaithfulness towards Olivia-Mae
• An acoustic guitar - for Ruth to play with Olivia-Mae in the garden or campfire (which is another convention for indie
• A broken guitar - to set on fire symbolizing Olivia-Mae's rage

After deciding on the props needed we set about sourcing the props. Below we have a few age ideas for who could provide them along with a couple of pictures wherever possible. 

Projector - Samuel

Pocket watch - Hannah's sister 

Lighter - Crystal

Letter - Coral

Guitar - Samuel

Broken guitar - Joseph (a friend of the group)

Acting in our Music Video

Actors

We need at least 3 characters to playing in our video as we'll have 3 main actors and the a few extra to play the friends in a scene when they all get together. I will still be playing the role of Olivia-Mae (I am the main character so the video will be mainly from my perspective) as I have acted in our AS media video and my group believes I have the abilities required. Olivia-Mae is in a relationship with the character Ruth so we needed another person to play this role and another to play the character of Jenny. We came to the decision that a friend named Coral will be good as the role of Euth as she has had her experience in acting and we know her very well. We have also decided that Hannah will be a good person to play the role of Jenny as she too has acting experience and she is part of our group so we figured it was a good way to show more members of our A2 group. Considering the fact Jenny has a minor role throughout the video we found it would be much easier for Hannah to be more involved in the actual filming for most of the time as well as another member of our A2 group (Anica) so we shouldn't be short of hands.
For our A2 I acted in the video and we hired another actor that we never actually met before but it came out well, hopefully using people we actually know will allow us to feel more vocal and it is easier to keep in contact with one and other.

Location Choices

Location Location Location

Our music video includes several locations so this could be challenging. Sam went location scouting in Shot-Over Woods which is easily accessible and has many sections to it which could enable us to use a wider variety of locations.

Field 1:

Possible issues:

Getting there might be difficult. It requires a 20 minute walk through the woods which in itself isn't strenuous, but our group has varying fitness levels and we might be carrying quite a lot of equipment with us.

The weather is also something to be taken into account. Because this field is wide and open and we will be standing still when filming this, we could get quite cold. This means we will need to wear a lot of clothing, and also prepare for wet weather should it appear. There is plenty of tree cover nearby if it does rain heavily, but we will need to keep the equipment dry.

If we want to film at sunset or sunrise (golden hour) we will have a short window of time in which we can film because of the dramatic changing light of qualities during golden hour. In addition to this, we will need to get home quickly after filming as it gets darker in the evening sooner, and this location is a 20 minute walk from any street lamps.

If it rains heavily before we film, the ground will be very muddy. We will need to wear appropriate footwear.

Notes on location:

This field is the busiest of the three fields I looked at, so we may need to wait for people to walk out of frame if we are filming towards the path (not in the photo above). However, it shouldn't be hard to frame the path out, and so we shouldn't have to worry about that.

I like this location, but the grass is short and kept which might give this location a bit of a park-like-look potentially being too similar to when Olivia-Mae and Ruth are walking the dog.

Field 2:

Possible issues:

Same as field 1 - it's right next to it.

Notes on location:

This is a favourite field amongst our group because the grass is longer and unkempt. Sam has filmed here in the past, and he believes the grass gives a really nice look on camera. The grass has always been long when he came here in the past, so he doesn't believe it will be cut between now and when we film (plus, it's winter time).

It's a quieter field, so we're unlikely to have to stop and wait for walkers which will make filming here much easier.

Field 3:

Possible issues:

Same as field 1 - they're all adjacent fields!

Notes on location:

The biggest field of the three. The grass is short much like the first field, but also has a path that goes through the field, so framing people out will be even harder. It is busier than the second field, but not as hectic as the first.

Forest Path:

Possible issues:
Same as field one. However, as it's a path it will be busier.

Notes on location:
This could be interesting considering it's symmetrical; if our subject was standing in the middle it would show great composition (rules of thirds) and create a good effect.

Forest Area 1:

Possible issues:
Same as field one. There's also an abundance of thorns bur the location should be surmountable.

Notes on location:
While it doesn't come out well in the photo this location could work really well because it is an accessible thicket of long grass and shrubbery. With a subject, movement and haze, this location will really show its depth.

Forest Area 2:

Possible issues:

Same as forest area one - This is right next to a path.

Notes on location:

Really good location if it doesn't bother the actors that it is right next to a path. The trees create a really desolate and lonely feel which would be good for parts of the video.

Campfire:

Possible issues: 
As seen in the above images, there's been wet weather recently. We'll need to store some wood. Fire is also dangerous so we will need to take safety precautions.

Notes on location: 
This is in Coral's (Ruth's) grandparent's back garden. Easily accessible with a house nearby in case of emergency!

A Change in Direction

Song choice

After our efforts to try and create an original song we recorded we eventually found it wasnt really working as well as we'd hoped. None of us really had much experience in recording a song so we were learning the process as we went on. It was an extremely valuable experience for us all and we developed some new skills. It helped us to establish what tone it was we were going for, and as a result, we will have a music video that can be more visually and tonally refined.

Here are four rough version of the song we worked on:
Instumental:
(Sam had to record all of the instruments in the song separately because there wasn't a full band)

Draft 1:
(Vocals)

Draft 2:
(Flute over vocals)

Draft 3:
(Vocals bought back up after flute)


Final decision:
(Biffy Clyro - Re-arrange)
















... We decided on this particular song because the tone matched the tone of our original song very well. We were able to keep many original aspects of our original ideas for the video. However, we had to change a few of our ideas to shift the artist from Olivia-Mae (me) to the already existing band/artist Biffy Clyro.

The Recording of 'Missing You'

Recording our Song

Here we have a behind the scenes video of our recording 'MissingYou', the song we are planning to use for our A2 video:

Audience

Audience Questionnaire

We decided to create an audience questionnaire to find out what styles/designs of digipak and advert would appeal to a potential audience. We used various examples of digipaks and adverts, including both mainstream and non-mainstream artists. We also tried to include examples from across the indie genre. 

We also wanted to see if age or gender had an impact on choices, as a difference here could mean narrowing our audience. In doing this we also stayed mindful that for some people age & gender may be sensitive topics, so we made sure we provided an option for those who preferred not to say. Below is a copy of our questionnaire:

We then went and asked 8 different people what they thought about the digipaks and adverts. We tried to ask a range of people so that we had a good overall idea of preferences, although obviously some groups (especially 16 - 20 year olds) had more representation than others, mostly because we could access these people more easily. Below are our results:

We seem to have gained quite a variety of answers in our questionnaire, and possibly if we asked more people we might be able to see stronger patterns. Nevertheless, some preferences have emerged. A and B seem to be the most popular digipak design, although all designs were liked by at least one person. In terms of the adverts, however, there seems to be a strong preference for A, with C also being relatively popular. Interestingly, nobody chose B as their favourite, everyone choosing either A or C. There also seems to be no link between favourite digipak and favourite advert.

Overall, we have found that there is a huge variety in people's preferences to indie digipak and advert designs, although Mumford & Sons seems to be a favourite. This shows how wide and varied the genre can be, and how different aspects of it appeal to different people in different ways.

Screenshot Analysis

Analysing Indie a Shot of Videos

Here we analysed screenshots of indie music videos and annotated on top of a chosen shot. Within these shots we can see what they do visually well. We took a still and decided what made them indie and unique according to the typical conventions. Each shot has at least one person in the frame and they're all artistic in some way. All portray a sense of darkness whether in colour or through imagery use through some visual effects.
Here are some ideas:

Digipaks and Magazine adverts - Indie

Analysing Digipaks and Magazine Adverts

We decided to analyse some examples of indie digipaks and magazine adverts to help us design our own. We decided to look at 3 artist's digipaks and magazine adverts to find common themes so that we could get a good idea of the sort of product we would like to make.

Digipaks

Gabrielle Aplin:

The first digipak we looked at is Gabrielle Aplin's 'English Rain'. It conforms to the artsy side of the indie genre, and is very pretty and positive. It focuses on the artist as someone the listener can relate to, and seems personal and friendly. There is a strong sense of synergy in the style of the pictures and the colour schemes.

Mumford and Sons:

The second digipak is Mumford & Sons' 'Babel'. This digipak conforms to the vintage and eccentric side of the genre, and seems more 'folksy' than the other 2. It has the look of an old-fashioned english village or town, with bunting and strange furniture. It also looks positive and friendly, although less personal than Aplin's. There is less of a sense of synergy here, because the CD does not have the same colour scheme as the packet.

The 1975:

The last digipak is The 1975's self-titled album. It is very different than the other 2 due to it's more alternative sound, and is very dark and mysterious. Unlike the others, it seems less friendly and more mysterious. It also doesn't feature a picture of the artist, adding to the sense of mystery. There is a strong synergy as the front and track listing are almost exactly the same, and the CD and back link with the dark feel and colour scheme.

Magazine Adverts

Gabrielle Aplin:

The first advert we looked at was for Gabrielle Aplin's 'English Rain' tour. The advert is not particularly similar to the digipak, although it has the same positive and happy feel. The advert focuses on her face and therefore on her as a person, unlike the digipak which focuses on the art. However, there is a sense of synergy with the font used, as her name and the name of the ep are the same as those on the digipak.

Mumford and Sons:

The second advert we looked at was for Mumford & Son's album 'Babel'. Unlike Aplin's, the Mumford & Son's advert is the same as the picture used on the digipak, creating a sense of synergy and an immediate link between the advert and the album.

The 1975:

The final advert is for The 1975. This advert is different to their digipak cover, although it has the same dark and mysterious atmosphere. The advert focuses singularly on the band, showing only their logo and the band members. This means that although the look is not exactly the same, the synergy is still there through the style and atmosphere of the advert.

Indie Posters

What Makes These Posters Indie

In order to decide which ancillary tasks to do, we decided to research examples of them for 3 artists within the indie genre. We decided to focus on 3 artists specifically: Lana Del Rey, The Killers, and Coldplay. We chose these artists as they are well established within the genre whilst having different styles of music, meaning that their products will be both professional and varied.

   Lana Del Rey:

The poster for Lana Del Rey's 'Born To Die' album reflects the look of the album it is advertising. Along with the imagery, it features the name of the album, and includes an offer of an extra feature that can be purchased alongside it. Some of her most famous/well liked songs are also mentioned so as to persuade the viewer to buy the album, as they would know those songs and therefore want to own them. The fact that Lana herself is featured on the poster would also persuade people to buy the product, as her potential audience would recognise her image and therefore want to support her.
This poster reflects the indie genre as it has quite a vintage feel to it. The slightly saturated colours and grainy appearance create the feeling of a somewhat old poster, reflecting the indie convention of making things seem vintage. Indeed, the very fact that it is advertising a 7 inch vinyl is part of the vintage side of the indie genre, making the sale more appealing to an indie audience. The poster

also seems to feature nature a lot, which again appeals to an indie audience as the genre focuses on nature and natural things. The font used on the poster is very simple, which, again, is a convention of indie music, whilst also making the poster look smart and professional.

   The Killers:

The poster for The Killers 'Day & Age' album is similar to Lana's in that it shows the same picture as is on their album cover. However, unlike Lana's, it does not feature images of the band. However, they have included their logo, which reflects their brand and therefore makes the poster immediately recognisable to their fans. There is very little text on this poster, which makes the text that is there stand out more. The viewers will quickly see the 'brand new album' text, which should make them want to buy it as it is something new and exciting. This poster also mentions one of their most famous songs which is featured on the album, again drawing people in through a song they recognise. This all makes the viewer of this poster want to buy the new album.

This poster is also a reflection of the indie genre, although it is so in a different way from Lana's. The poster revolves around the art of the album. Art and artsy things are often used in the indie genre, as the genre involves the idea of art and beauty without the technology and professionalism of more 'mainstream' genres like pop and rap. Although the art could have been digitised, it appears quite natural and broken up, looking like a mosaic. This broken up imagery is also reflected in the font, which all seems quite broken and rough. This gives the poster a sense of consistency, meaning that the poster does still look rather put together. However, the poster also seems very welcoming, and the brokenness makes the poster seem less professional and thus less mainstream, reflecting a convention of the indie genre.

   Coldplay

The poster for Coldplay's 'A Head Full Of Dreams' album also reflects the art of the album. Like The Killers', it doesn't feature the artists themselves; however, it also doesn't use a familiar logo that their fans would immediately recognise. The font for the poster is completely different to that on any beforehand, which may be because they have gone through many sounds and evolutions over the years. However, as the poster is inconsistent with other posters of theirs, this means that a viewer may not make an automatic connection or assumption about the poster. On the other hand, they are such a famous and well established artist that they possibly don't need to do this in order to get people to buy their albums. Instead, their name and identity as a well established band is likely to be enough to sell their product anyway. The poster also doesn't feature a selected already well-known song from the album, although this could be because of the reasons mentioned before.

The Coldplay poster, like The Killers', is also based around the convention of art, although the style is very different to that of the latter. In the centre is a colourful geometric shape, and surrounding it are little images of various things, including planets and birds, with a colourful rainbow border on the outside. The font matches the geometric shape in the middle as the gradient colours are reflected in the font, thus creating consistency. However, this consistency is broken by the seemingly random border on the outside. There is almost too much to look at on the poster, but it is not so much that it appears crowded or heavy. The randomness of the images also reflects a convention of the genre, which revolves around being different and artsy. There is a pop art feel, which again is a convention of the genre. The imagery also reflects the modern 'aesthetic' style that is common on the internet.

Indie Album Covers

What Makes a Successful Indie Album Cover

After researching into indie album covers we were able to understand what conventions were used to make them unique.

Lana Del Rey:

Lana Del Rey is always seen on the front of her album covers. They appear quite simple and this conforms to the convention associated with the genre having a 'laid back' kind of feel. The colours on her covers are also bright and sometime have added effects such as black and white. Typically most indie music has many special effects and I think that this element was tied in very well with the album covers. The text is also a simple, sharp and bold style and is large which makes it stand out. The clothing Lana wears in her covers are very classy and feminine. The dresses are very simple yet elegant.

Looking into the above cover closely we found many features that help us associate Lana with the indie genre. Her outfit is simple and elegant but still draws our attention and the audience already relate to her as an artist. Indie music is usually more about the artist rather than what made the album; having her as a main, central piece emphasises this. Her dress is silky and flows which is kind of like her music in itself. Her hair is kind of vintage with the loose waves relating to the title of the album as it's written like hand writing adding a sense of class. The title on the cover is big and bold, in gold and the font is simple yet because it's big it still draws our attention to it.

The Killers:

The Killers albums all seem to have a main focus on their name when is comes to the covers. There's a common theme of red, purple, grey, white and black. The mixture of these colours set different moods for each album suggesting they like to experiment with their style of indie and giving us a large variety of song types for different moods. The four main image focuses on these album covers are: the band, women, creativity and open spaces. The use of the band in their own cover promotes who they are whereas the use of women or open spaces suggest what kind of atmospheres they like or what they feel will draw the audiences eye. The use of artsy imagery for creativity suggest the personality of the band.

This specific album cover relates to indie very well. Indie tries to focus on a persons feelings and when looking at this album cover we can think of many stories that are behind it and making us feel as it's very thought provoking. The use of the plain black and white effect is very clever because the background is very dark and the snow-globe. though white, is very vibrant making us focus on it. The album is also called boots so making our eyes attract the the boots inside this snow-globe is smart. Though it's rather obvious to put a pair of boots on a cover with the album called boots it's very creative as an audience would expect something else such as a picture of an artist or something or at least a little colour, and this is what makes them indie, stating the obvious but in a way we (as an audience) don't expect it.

Coldplay:

Coldplay's album covers tend to my very simple and minimalistic. The images used usually just represent the title. Angle wings for 'Ghost Story', King Kong for 'King and Kong' and Mario with Luigi for 'M and L'. The titles are usually written in a very small font, barely readable along with the bands name. Barely any of their covers suggest a form of promotion besides the odd couple with either them or their logo. One thing that is obvious through out is the use of vibrant colours (and sometimes the odd black and white). We can see the individuality this band carries as their album covers may be different they still have a common theme: simple image with colourful background  small font on the side of the cover listing the band and the album title in line with it.

This selected album cover really stood out to us. It reminds us of doodles we do as children, just filling in certain gaps without any specific pattern. This album cover shows a contrast of vibrant pastel colours within a tangled frame of bare silhouetted branches and twigs. We found this album cover was different to all the others Coldplay use as they usually have very vibrant, minimalistic features but this one in particular is different, though there's a simple design we're looking at a more naturalistic cover; rather than it being very artsy is it a photograph with very little added colours and effects. In relation to indie we can say this album cover features nature which is a common theme in indie music videos (we normally see people - such as the artist/band - at a beach, in a field or in a forest).