Make-Up Test

In the run up to our production day, Daisy and I sat with Luke and tested different makeup looks on him to go with the indie-pop genre. Using Declan McKenna's photos as inspiration, Daisy applied 3 different make-up looks on Luke and I screen tested them. 

Look 1:

Look 2:

Look 3:

My favourite look is the first one as I feel it is subtle enough to be seen but not remain the focus of the music video. Additionally, I think it suits his character and the upbeat vibe of the song far better. 

Test Video:

We weren't able to do a test on every band member, however, we plan to have Luke in slightly more makeup as the lead singer so we still wanted to test him. I suggested that the rest of the band members have glitter on their eyelids to incorporate it to their look and reinforce their image as a cohesive group.

Lighting Meeting

As we are shooting in the band room for one of our sets we only need a few lights and are limited in these as we can only fit them through the single doorway and in the small space before to the band's performance space. Chris (the lighting advisor) said that we would be able to use the Titan lights for this. The band room also has colour changing LEDs on the roof which has a cool and quirky element to it which we don't want to drown out with too many extra lights. However, we will use the Titans to ensure everyone is lit well from the front. 

In the fridge element of our video we will have it heavily lit from the fridge with the background in relative darkness to mimic that he is getting a midnight snack. This also helps us from a set point of few as although we'll have kitchen units from the theatre department, the set isn't fresh as it would be in a normal kitchen as it was made to look good for theatre which is far away rather than the close-ups of film. 

Emailing About The Set

In order to ensure that we have what we need for shoot day in terms of set and space we had to ask for some help around the school. Firstly, Daisy and Ben both emailed Al (the set designer from the theatre department) for the fridge which has no back and kitchen units that he had built for Daisy's devised piece. 

(PHOTO OF EMAIL FROM DAISY OR BEN)

Al said he was happy to save the pieces of set for us and store them in school until our shoot day. Now we have a realistic looking kitchen secured for our second element.

I then emailed Dave (organizes the band bookings) in order to book the room across our shoot day and previous day for dressing to ensure that we had access to it and nothing would be changed by other people using the room.

I am still awaiting a reply but this would make sure that we have ample time and access to the band room for filming.

(08.11.21)

Costumes

Daisy and I have made some final decisions about costumes that Daisy, Gite and Ben have tried on each of the band members (and taken photos of them). We kept in mind each of the band members individually as well as the way they look as a group. They only used clothes between us which means we don't have to buy or borrow anything from outside of our production group or band. This also means that the indie-pop genre doesn't stray too far from who the band members are as people anyway.

Luke's Costumes - Singer (Performance + Kitchen)

Performance costume

R.H. Side - Kitchen outfit 1

R.H. Side - Kitchen outfit option 2

George's Costumes - Drummer (Performance):

Molly's Costumes - Guitarist (Performance):

Seen standing in one of Luke's options 

Bashy's Costumes - Guitarist (Performance):

Costume on Bashy

Preferred the cream trousers outfit

Group Photos:

Shooting Schedule

Daisy filled out the shooting schedule in order for us to have a good written overview of the shooting day and organise ourselves. It has helped us consider how long it will take to set up, light and shoot each of our sets and whether or not we will be able to film everything in this time. This is crucial as we are competing with our time limit and once it is passed we will not be able to film any of the elements that had been set up for us specifically on our shoot day so it is important that we have set up time limitations. Ultimately, it will ensure we are efficient and organised on our shoot day when it comes to filming all the shots we need for our music video.

Copyright Request

Copyright is important in the music industry in a general sense as it is important for everyone who worked on the song to be compensated for their work. We need copyright permission in order to make the music video for the song and release it on YouTube. Ben sent an email to 'amuse' the independent record label that RALFY's song 'Peach' is signed under which I found through his pre-existing music video.

Risk Assessment

Risk assessment's are necessary for projects like these as they are an integral part of health and safety and it is important to identify who is at risk on our shoot day and whether or not control programs are required for particular hazards. There are no elements of our specific sets that are extreme healthy and safety hazards, the most likely hazard being someone getting cut on a blade of a blender, however, the blender won't be plugged in and the shot doesn't require Luke's hand to reach all the way into the blender so we already limit the risk. This table has been filled out by Gite but I went through it and made a few edits.

Back-Up Cast

Leonie + Neave

Just in case anything happens to any of our cast members in these circumstances (being sent home ill, contracting covid etc.) it is important that we are prepared to pull other people in to replace them. We have made it so that we can easily pull in other people that we have already screen tested as we know they could perform and have already heard parts of the song. With that in mind, we have:

• Singer - Joey Brown
• Guitarist - Leonie Biney
• Guitarist 2/ Singer - Max Wright
• Drummer - Neave Van't Riet

Max

Joey

How To Edit A Music Video - Workshop

When cutting a music video, you generally do it in a specific order, this being:

1. performance cut
2. narrative cut
3. effects work
4. colour

In order to picture sync, there is a time code attached to the song which we will play on an iPad at the
beginning of every take. You line up the number in the timeline with the number in the file play back screen and drag the video only as you don't want any sound to play over the top of the track. Once this is done you drag the file to the end and rename it on the timeline. It is important to note that while naming things being as matter-of-fact as possible make the editing job easier in the long run. While making a cut, cut down all of the filed on the timeline (excluding the sound) and drag it back (V key) to ensure everything remains ordered. When sound syncing you similarly find the sound on the rush, line it up in the timeline and drag it. If cutting on the beat, find the exact beat using the arrow keys to scrub through the sound until it is found with one hit of the > key. Organizing shots into contents makes it easier and more efficient for anyone to pick up the project and find the shots. Although this is often only edited by one person, if the editor becomes ill someone will need to be able to take over. 

There are 3 steps to follow in order to create a well thought out and cohesive video.

1. Listen to the music and illustrate what you hear (e.g. the first line of the song should see the singer's face as the audience need to establish who they are)
2. Group shots together (e.g. if there is a close up then zoom further out to another shot of the same thing)
3. Follow the movement of the main focus' body

It is really difficult to cut with the whole song in mind, so cutting 10 seconds at a time makes the task seem smaller and more manageable.

My DigiPak Design

My digipak design opens like a typical digipak as it allows then for a picture to go across the first 2 panels. I wanted to include illustration/ animation aspects to the pak as it is a convention for the indie pop genre but I also feel as though it matches the band's personality and energy. The pastel colour palette is also a convention of the genre and match the clothes and style of the band members themselves. There is a child-like and upbeat vibe to it and I feel as though this parallels the genre and sound of music well.

A similar album that this reminds me of is Tyler the Creator's album, however it is more of an alternative hip-hop/ rap style. With that in mind, perhaps it is too cluttered for an indie pop digipak. However, that doesn't mean some elements of it can't be utilized and work in combination with another group member's ideas or designs.

Rehearsal & Costume

As I am ill and at home, I wasn't able to attend the dress rehearsal today. However, Daisy and I spoke about trying it in costume. Once I had booked the band room, Daisy liaised with the group who had what clothes and who needed to borrow things. This is the first rehearsal where all 4 band members are there and it worked very well, all of them knew their parts! Additionally, they look really good as a band, especially in costume, and their interactions make it seem as though they are actually friends in a band rather than people chosen from a school.

Filmed by Gite 

Set Presentation

Phil & Matt's feedback:

Before we presented our ideas to our set builder, Phil and Matt spoke to us about our plan. Immediately they talked about how time-consuming all 3 sets would be to build, take down and re-light on the day (and we only have limited time to shoot everything in). This is because it is 9 flats to build each set and as we have 3 different sets this makes up 27 - also meaning it will be time-consuming to make. 

Comparing this to our prototype video we can easily cut the third set of the sofa rather than our initial idea of keeping the sofa and cutting the third colored room (inter-change it with the kitchen). This would just be a waste of time and it would be easier to just cut it. We also spoke about potentially shooting on location for the kitchen, however, with this we need to find the right place to film as the kitchen's in the boarding houses are, to be frank, ugly and don't match the vibe of the video. I feel as though we should present the Kitchen to Fran anyway to get feedback and then way up our options.

Presenting to our set builder (Fran):

Looking at our prototype video, Matt and Phil voiced how much they liked the look of our locations with the fish eye lens and the use of circles in all of them. Having 2 big sets on-location saves a lot of time when building, changing and re-lighting on the day. We will still be able to dress these sets with elements of our old set ideas such as: plants, vines, peach paraphernalia etc. We settled on having 2 flats (one white and on colored) that will make a corner for us to shoot things that cannot be shot on either location, these include blowing flour everywhere and opening the fridge and singing (as examples).

Our next steps are to look at the master shot list once again and re-organise the elements of each set and what we will need.

Set 1 - Performance space (the band room)

Set 2 - Kitchen space (dining hall)

Our Prototype Video

After getting most of the shots for our video (the performance shots by Daisy and Ben, kitchen shots by Daisy and ice cream shots by Daisy and I), I need to start editing it into a rough outline so that when we have all of the final shots I am able to make the final edit as fast as possible. This is also helped by the rough storyboard that we all contributed to but Daisy drew. To edit the video I am using iMovie as it is easily accessible to me and I have used it for years so I am quick with the controls and shots cuts. The stop-motion shots, such as the peach slices and letters on a fridge I had to do using my phone and images online as it allowed for a reasonably similar affect and I am not allowed to leave my room as I have covid-19.

My favourite parts of the video are:

• The performance section - I feel as though the fish-eye lens works where it is in use too, it allows for more visual variation and suits the song. All of our performers are comfortable and interact really nicely with each other. Additionally, once they are in the actual performance space and in costume, it will look even better.
• The kitchen - I like the change in scenery and I feel as though it makes sense that he is in a kitchen due to the food element of the song. It also gives him alot to interact with
• The transitions where he turns his head work nicely and combine the different elements well, along with this I think we should use high-angle shots more often
• Interacting with the camera - where Luke is laughing, being playful in the kitchen, pulling in the camera and giving flowers are some of my favourite parts as I feel as though it is where they see his personality as an artist and it allows for the audience to feel more connected to him.

However, I feel as though we need to reconsider:

• Stop motion - while I think the letters on the fridge worked, I feel as though the peach slices didn't and as they are time consuming shots we need to be clear on what we want and don't want.
• Magnifying glass - I like the end of the sequence where he is lying on the floor with a high-angle shot but I don't feel like the magnifying glass bit before it is entirely necessary
• The sofa set - I think that this can easily be scrapped as we don't use it that much and it would be a waste of time changing the set and re-lighting it.

This was a really useful task for us to see how much content we had and how much of the time it actually filled. Although the sets aren't that realistic it was a good enough indicator to what was actually necessary and what wasn't. It was also a good task for Luke (our lead singer) to make sure he was comfortable in front of the camera the whole time.

Master Document and Set Designs

I put together the master document through reading Ben's prop list, checking against Daisy's set drawings and speaking to the group as a whole. It is organised by set, props and costume and then under the people who are going to be bringing each item so that the responsibilities are clear and everyone can take accountability and not get confused. Daisy and I are able to bring in more costume and some elements of set than Ben and Gite can because it is closer to our natural style than theirs, however, we still tried to split the responsibility. Adding photos makes it clear of exactly what we need - especially for those at school trying to help us with our set. It is much more accurate showing them a picture of what we would like rather than explaining it and receiving something that we don't want. 

CLICK HERE (link to master document - also seen below)

Set Designs:

Using our ideas, Daisy drew the set designs for us to propose to Francesca who is helping us to build sets. On the master document these are followed by reference photos of real life rooms/ sets. These clearly show our 3 different elements that will appear through the development of the song/ video.

Rehearsing With New Guitarist

Today's rehearsal (organised by me and attended by Daisy, Ben and the band) involved our new guitarist as we needed a lead and a rhythm guitarist as they are quite prominent throughout the song. Now, Bashy and Molly are our guitarist, although Bashy couldn't be at the rehearsal, Molly was able to alternate between parts, swapping each run. At this rehearsal, Ben and Daisy also filmed wide, mid and close-ups of the performance for us to use in our prototype video. 

We have also discussed adding a girl into the video numerous times and have found that Naty would be a good choice as she suits the 'cutesie' vibe of the video and is not in any other video. This is good to know in case we decide to pull her in later on in the pre-production process. We filmed bits of her for our prototype video to see if she would suit it. 

DigiPak Analysis

Analyzing digipaks is a key part of our pre-production phase as it allows us to make note of the key conventions of our genre's digipaks (indie pop), including colour palettes, fonts, artwork and overall energy. In general, digipaks should be 140mm by 125mm in order for it to fit well on a shelf with the spine width between 5-10mm. They also have a coherent visual style across each of the different panels with similar colours (up to 3 dominant), texture and font. The photos used are not lifted shots from set or the music video and the artwork is a way of adding value to the physical product as it makes them collectable and also allows for special editions. 

The key conventions of this media form are:

• Size of the packaging (already noted as the same for practicality)
• Legal disclaimer - copyright etc. 
• Barcode - on the back of the digipak to ensure it is scannable through protective seal
• Track list - often small as it is close to the shopper's face
• Artist + album name - in that order with the artist's name bigger than the album as it is selling the person rather than the album itself. This can be placed either left to right or top to bottom)
• Along with this is; stickers on the front or back, company logos and website address on the back

The photos across the back are often heavily designed or edited, the inside including lyrics, song inspiration, photographs etc. however, these are only seen by the purchaser, not the shopper. The back of the pack is often a clean layout with the names of the tracks and a lot of empty space. 

Indie Pop DigiPaks:

At first glance, I noticed the colour palettes used. Within this pastel colours are the most dominant alongside blue. Other than that, there is also use of white, yellow and orange. Many of them use various fonts within the same phrase. Examples of this are in Rex Orange County's 'Apricot Princess' and The Wombats covers. This has a more 'quirky' vibe to it and makes it seem slightly more handmade, it is often a combination between a type writer style of long letters with a cursive font. This 'hand-made' style is also reflected by the illustrations on many of the digipaks. Boy Pablo, Foster the People and Dayglow all have an element of illustrations or hand-made items on the cover of their packs. Dayglow's is different as its is a clay sculpture compared to the drawn illustrations on the other two. The digipaks in this genre also play around with empty space, excluding the Wombats, making the photo/ illustrations stand for themselves. Additionally, the poses and costumes are very casual and natural, reflecting the naturally up-beat artists - this is something that will be reflected through the entire campaign (rather than high editorial shoots).

Key elements to include in our digipak:

• Pastel colour palette
• Illustrations
• Negative space
• Playing with various fonts
• Natural poses

Organising Different Elements

Today we split up each of the tasks we had to get done by the end of the week in order to get it done efficiently. 

The tasks:

• Me: email teachers song link/ book band room/ organise costume
• Daisy: continuing storyboarding
• Ben: props list
• Gite: wallpaper + set mood boards

I was able to book the band room for our rehearsal tomorrow where we will also film some of our prototype video.

I then used Pinterest to find boys outfits that would match the vibe of what we are going for in our music video. I screenshotted these and compiled them onto a word document and also sent them to my phone. Then I sent it to our band's group chat to ask if they had similar style pieces and if not then we would be able to bring them in for them we just need to know who needs what pieces.

Making a Prototype Video

A prototype is an early version of something that is used to test concepts in the pre-production stage. In this setting (a music video) it is important to see if our ideas will translate on camera and if they don't, knew ways we can achieve the desired look and/ or changing the concept. Consequently, the closer the prototype is to the actual video the more accurately we will be able to evaluate whether it worked or not. This is also why we must do the full duration of the song to see if we have enough content to fill the duration of the video.

We will film it on our phones for efficiency and ease and it will then be easy for us to export onto a laptop to edit it. From this video we will learn if things such as: setting, costume and performance will work as well as seeing if the elements fit together in terms of it being coherent with the song, video and actors. 

With this in mind, we used our time today to create a rough storyboard of the shots/ content of different shots so that we knew what specific shots we would need (other than wide, middle and close shots). This will also make it easier to edit if we already have a clear vision of what order the shots will be and when different elements will be introduced.

Optician Idea

When presenting our idea today, I put forward the idea of using the kaleidoscope glasses and having Luke (our lead) put them on the camera like a person (as an example). Matt, our technical teacher, then continued this idea with the idea of the camera being a person throughout the entire video. From this then came the idea of it being in an opticians with different lenses and glasses being put on the camera as if Luke is an optician changing the lenses - in a manner of asking "how do these feel" like in a real setting, also seeing the legs of the person who is the camera as they sit etc. Other ideas that surround the opticians idea includes:

• The hot air balloon you focus on
  
• The symmetry of the eye chart
• Turning the lights off and putting a laser in people's eyes

Daisy then suggested using these different lenses changes as transition to different positioning of the band members or types of rooms. 

While this could be a good idea, we decided as a group that we have so many different options at the moment that we need to sleep on it and pull from our favorites as there is too much going on at the moment. Personally, I feel as though the opticians idea is cool and could work or a big budget with cool effects (like an OkGo video), however, with our skill, time restraints and budget I'm skeptical as to whether or not we will be able to execute it the way we would like. We also place a lot of risk in it actually working and coming off to the camera as we envisage it because, ultimately, we could end up with a sub-par video because we couldn't execute our idea with all factors considered.

Creative Camera Effects & Shot Ideas

After discussing having a disco-ball as a prop, our teacher gave us the idea of shooting the reflections in it to have a new creative shot. This then sparked a brainstorm for different props we could shoot through and the contents of shots. Daisy and I created a couple of lists...

An example of this is stop-motion, things we discussed that we could make stop motion include:

• peach tart
• stop motion jumping

Props we thought of being able to shoot through includes:

• discoball
  
• bubbles
• fish tank
• 
  kaleidoscope glasses
• snow globe - to do this Daisy would create a snow globe using plasticine to recreate the band themselves that we would be able to film through in the video and then use later on in promotion
• blender
• perception shots
• lava lamp
• microscope
• magnifying glass
• camera/ polaroid
• fish eye lens
• CDs
• light refractor
• phone
• glass ball

An example of kaleidoscope glasses

Another idea that we had to end the video (when RALFY says "and that was peach") for him to take a picture of the 'behind the scenes' and show it to the camera in order to break the fourth wall and show his honesty with his fans and that he is a down-to-earth character.

Daisy and I also thought of props for the background of the performance shot such as:

• flowers/ plants
• hanging beads
• piñata 
• tapestries
• carpets

We're unsure whether its worth buying a piñata or not, however, we could easily make one with cardboard.

Lighting Workshop

Todays workshop was about different ways we could light our music videos, starting with the basics and
then developing into more creative ways. Firstly, we had to learn the different types of lights that we would be using on set.

Red head light - these lights are bright and powerful. If it was the only light source we had (single point lighting), the best was to use it would to be to put it as close to the camera as possible. As these are not dimmable, using waxy paper called frost/ spun/ trace, we are able to diffuse the light and soften the shadows. These lights also have a metal mesh called scrim in front of them that acts as a protective rim so that when the bulb blows, the glass will not explode everywhere - making it safer.

Blonde light - this is the brightest light that we would use, it is good as a backlight as it is powerful and can edge out our subject from the background. Additionally, this light is dimmable, the other lights are not, allowing us to change the intensity dependent on the shot.

The basic and standard lighting system we had to learn first was the 3 point lighting. In this there is a key light (the source), fill light (to fill the shadows) and a back light (to edge out the subject). This lighting is typically used in news as it is balanced and neutral. 

The next lighting set up was popularized after 'Blade Runner' and was previously used in British advertising. It uses a wide open lens, back light aimed into the lens and styrofoam to bounce the light back into the subjects face. Additionally, using a matte box covers the dirty light and creates a beautifully lit shot.

Another style of beauty lighting is using a theatre flat with a gel across it and placing the light behind it. On the other side of the camera there would be styrofoam to bounce the light back and create a balanced and well-lit shot. This is one of my favourite set ups for lighting a shot and I feel as though it would work for our music video as we would like everything well lit so that you could see all of the colours and band members well - especially as our genre is bright, youthful and happy. 

Fluorescent lights (flurries for short) are not dimmable and initially are white tubes of light. However, adding a gel tube over it can change the colour and create a cool effect. The lighter the colour, the higher the intensity of the light and the darker the colour, the lower the intensity. The good thing about these lights is that they can be used as dress lights - can be in shot and look good. 

The two last lights that we looked at were a Foto-Flo light and a Photon Beard Highlight. The Foto-Flo light emitted a warm light, especially compared to the Highlight. Additionally, the Highlight had a high intensity of light but only for a short depth, with slots of light coming out sideways.