There were certain shots we used in our prototype video that we wanted to replicate in our actual video, for example the stop motion fridge letters moving around a fridge to spell "Peach". This was a shot that I recreated using a fridge in one of the boarding houses. Immediately, I realized I couldn't use the angle I wanted because of the reflection in the fridge door. This meant that I had to angle it to the side, giving the fisheye lens a different effect as it wasn't isolated on the fridge door. I took a video and paused it to take screenshots afterwards.
This is something I can redo once discussing the parts of it that we don't like as a group. Another issue I faced was the focus of the fisheye lens that I had borrowed wasn't great and means that the shot isn't that clear, affecting the overall quality. This is a problem as it will be put next to shots that were shot on a professional camera.
I feel as though this exercise was beneficial to learn what needed to change, and now I can attempt it in a different way that will hopefully make it turn out better. Things I would try to change are the lens I used, to be clearer, and possibly finding a surface that isn't as reflective in order to angle the lens better.
I took this opportunity to try and take an instagram picture that would relate to the video but wasn't taken from it directly. I feel as though this worked better and has the desired lens effect in comparison to the stop motion video I took.
In order to use all of our actors in our video, we had to have them all sign release forms giving their consent to be in the video and the rest of our campaign - especially as our video is going to be posted to YouTube. I got each of them to sign their individual forms to ensure everybody was happy with what the content was being used for.
The day before our shoot we were allocated a few hours to set up for our production day. We started this out by talking between us and the staff who overlooked us to set up a plan of what we were going to do. Fran, our set builder, had just painted the fridge so that couldn't be put together prior to our shoot day. Instead we went to the band room that I had booked for both days to set up all of our props to dress the set. Initially we had to clean the room because it had dirt from outside all over it. To do this we carefully removed everything that was inside the room (except for the drum kit) and I swept the floor - I took a photo of the room before we did anything to it so we knew where to put everything back after our shoot. We then chose which amps we wanted to keep inside the room and which cables we would need for our shoot. I tried hanging up the tapestry with Ben on the inside of the room but we didn't like that it cut out the circle window and that the corners looked all scrunched because of the shape of the room. Fran suggested we hang it up on the outside to see the mandala through the circle window, we agreed it would look much better and would prevent continuity issues of things moving outside the window on our shoot day. We left it in the room to hang the next day. As I am quite short I couldn't hang much from the ceiling so Ben and Daisy hung the vines and fairylights from the ceiling while I looked from afar to see what looked better where. Daisy and I then set up the potted plants over the amps. This day helped us to ensure we had everything we needed and meant we could get anything last minute that evening. We wanted a few more dangling plants and we clarified what we needed to fill the fridge.
When I woke up on the day of the shoot I was slightly uncertain on how the day would go but I channeled that into excitement as I had prepared everything the night before and now I just had to focus on making a fun video. This helped me put as much energy as I could into the production day so that it circulated between the group and the actors.
I was very well prepared for the shoot when we arrived as I had brought all of my props as well as extra clothes in case we needed any new or emergency outfit changes. Alternatively, if we had time we could change their outfits and get extra instagram photos - we did not have time but it was there if we did. Before we started we had to set up the fridge, I carried in parts of the fridge and drilled some screws before going to the band room with Daisy to hang up the tapestry. While we did that the boys dressed the fridge with all the food we had brought. To take one thing off the to-do list in the morning, Luke came in-costume as we confirmed his first costume (for the fridge) the night before. This also helped as he became an extra hand when hanging up the tapestry so we would know if it was wonky or not.
In my opinion we managed to create the concept of being inside a fridge quite well. It was definitely supported by the use of on-screen blue lighting to create a sense of realism. The studio itself looked bare as it only had a white box in it, but from the camera's perspective it was the back of a fridge's point of view. All of the props filled the fridge nicely and added visual interest to the shots. We also used these props to reflect the song as we put in as many peach references as we could through tinned peaches, real peaches and juice.
As a group, deciding upon shoot day roles was a smooth process. Ben is a photography student and wanted to work on camera, Gite volunteered to do lights and Daisy and I swapped between managing shot composition and managing the performers. I really enjoyed working with the actors, making sure they were happy and helping to bring out their energy during the shoot, bouncing back from one another. In terms of looking at the shots, Daisy took on the artistic side of it and I watched from the monitors after starting the playback to ensure whether or not the shot was good enough to use or if we needed to re-take it. This was very important when doing movement shots such as going up and down the fridge levels, focusing on Luke as he danced around the band room and the freestyle movement. I also worked on the camera during the band room section as I had watched from the monitor previously and understood how important it was to move the camera and focus it on Luke.
Personally, I think I remained organised and relaxed throughout the shoot day. I ensured that we were reaching our targets on our schedule so that we finished on time and didn't fall behind. I feel as though the energy I gave to our performers behind camera made sure they gave a similar energy to the camera which is reflected in our video. Keeping it fun and light-hearted helped the actors to relax and feel more comfortable which is something we really needed to help the video look like a real product with a real band.
In terms of improving out shoot day, if I could do it again I would've spent more time getting variations of shots that looked really good rather than spending a long time trying to get a certain angle that wasn't really working right. For example, we spent a while working on the lower angle when we all ended up really liking the high-angle shot. If we had more time I think it would've been cool to swap the positioning of the band and edit between them, however, it would've been time consuming to get these extra shots on the day and something we hadn't considered before the shoot day itself.
The part of the shoot I enjoyed most was seeing the shell of the room transform with the actors, lighting, props, costume, makeup and camera movement. It was really satisfying and rewarding to see our ideas come to life. My favourite part of the day was when we were filming with the band as everyone's energy came together and they looked really good as an actual band. At that point I was also very comfortable with shooting and what needed to be done to get a good shot each time as we had spent the morning learning with the fridge section of the shoot.
In the edit I am looking forward to seeing the combination of performance and narrative shots and how they look in contrast to one another while communicating the same vibe and energy to the audience. I am also curious to see how the freestyle shots come across in the video. I think we got some really fun shots incorporating the food in the fridge and I think they could be quite funny in the final edit.
As a group I feel as though we worked well together on the production day. We all communicated well between the different jobs and were happy to alternate what we were doing to learn new skills and try something new. We were able to work on the sets separately and when we came together before shooting they looked cohesive, meaning we communicated the idea well between us and had a similar end product in mind - which is always important.
For future shoots I have definitely learnt that being relaxed while on-task helps the shoot to flow more and creates an easy-going atmosphere that makes everyone comfortable and excited to work in.
From what we filmed on the shoot day, I think it remains similar to how our other products in our campaign will be. Both the social media and digipak are still developing and of the two I feel as though the digipak reflects the video less than the social media. However, I think this is easily fixed and now that we have done the shoot, the bands energy is much easier to see and reflect through images and graphics.
To ensure that our band's social media feed is accurate and mimics real life versions, we have to analyse their conventions and consider what elements we can replicate in the middle of the countryside. The social media account that I looked at include:
The Wallows
Wombats
Flyte
Sports Team
Scouting for Girls
Plastic Mermaids
Easy Life
They are all part of the indie pop genre and are bands, this is integral as band images are different from solo artists in terms of composition and captions.
Promotional:
Genius are a company that pull together information about songs through their website and interviews with bands.
These videos are quite common for artists to do now, alongside Elle's 'Song Association Game'. I think it would be fun for us to recreate, however it is not as easy to achieve as other promotional posts.
Similar to the back panel of a digipak, posts about the album release and the songs that are on it are common for bands to post in the run up to their release.
While this post is to announce the release of their new track, I feel like the image is something we can easily recreate with our band as it is quite quirky and fits a similar aesthetic.
Most bands that I have researched post about a set list for a concert. This is something we can easily recreate and enhance the idea that they are a real band.
Normal Images:
The use of a fish eye lens is something that I would like to replicate as it is something we used throughout our music video and I think it compliments the band nicely. While we wouldn't replicate the background of the image, the effect is something easily achievable.
Similar to the image below this, I like the look that the photos were taken on a disposable camera, it makes it feel more home-made and personal especially because of the comfy background in a bedroom.
Additionally, the captions that this band have create a nice personal vibe as an audience and makes them feel like real people - it does not sound uncomfortable, as though a record label has written it for them
This is one of my favourite images because of all of the colours and the ice cream. As you slide across the images on this post you see the other band members interacting with and eating the ice cream. This allows for each band member to have an individual image and moment of personality while involving each band member in the post.
Other:
In each of these photos they use different editing techniques or photo composition techniques that I find interesting and that are easy to recreate. They are fun and unique and I feel as though they suit the aesthetic of the band and will include visual interest and variation to our Instagram feed.
When creating this digipak, I tried to use online software (Canva) rather than drawing it to get a better idea of what it would look like. I wanted to incorporate a cohesive colour palette and communicate the light-hearted and quirky energy of our band.
The Front Cover:
I used a photo from the band 'Easy Life' and manipulated it in Canva using the liquify effect to add a quirky element to the cover. Additionally, I used 2 fonts as in the indie pop genre they often use 2 fonts on the cover of their albums.
The Original Image
The Inside Cover:
This image is too naturalistic compared to the rest of the digipak and doesn't fit right, however, I wanted to use an image of the band to see how having handwritten names would look. Using different fonts I tried to make it seem more home-made as the genre often does and used their costumes to indicate the different colours for more visual variation. Although the image is out of place, I think it still delivers the general idea.
The CD (Inside Cover 2):
To continue the colour palette established on the front cover of the pack, I used the baby blue background and added a unique pattern. The random 'squiggles' enhances the home-made and quirky aesthetic of the band and genre.
Back Cover:
In the indie pop genre, and most genres, the back panel of the digipak often plays with space and doesn't include heavy design elements. I continued the baby blue background along with 2 font styles. The first matching the front cover and the second to mimic handwriting once again. The colour of the titles are cohesive with the rest of the pack and includes the legal copyright requirements at the bottom. For this I used images from the internet of copyright examples, barcode and random British recording studios.
This gives us a rough idea of things we can include, seeing if we prefer a different colour palette, the idea of using graphic patterns and ensuring we shoot them with more stylized poses etc. I think the home-made elements and manipulation of photos is something we can include in the real pack as it is typical of the indie pop genre, alongside the pastel colour palette.
Life's A Beach - Easy Life
Here we see a common colour of blue throughout each of the images, with a pop of pink. There is the handwritten element on both sides of the cover, bubble writing and normal handwriting that is also mimicked in my digipak. The image underneath sees a similar effect to what I achieved on the front cover of my mock-up digipak. The images on this digipak are more cohesive than the ones I have used on mine however it gives me a good idea of what we are working towards.
In class we looked at work from previous years and analysed what worked and what didn't work about them. First we looked at a band that performed the song 'City Never Sleeps'. It is important that we payed close attention to this as we are also doing a band and needed to learn from their mistakes.
A lot of the issues came from the captions, for example on a rehearsal video the tone of voice was completely wrong that it felt impersonal. Also, it was a single band member practicing and you would expect all of them to rehearse together. Additionally, some of the locations didn't make sense; there was a photo of a single band member in a middle class house which didn't fit their aesthetic or their identity was a band. Not only that but there were school mini buses in the back of some photos and the behind the scenes video was recorded from the edit suite screen rather than in the studio where they filmed.
However, with this there were some elements that worked, for example they included their album work on the instagram which is quite common for bands before a release. Their costumes and poses were often appropriate for both the band members and the genre. The set list for the gig was a nice idea as it was appropriate and suitable, while their execution didn't work the idea is something we can take and incorporate into our own.
Secondly, we looked at 'Adrenaline' performed by a solo artist. Despite us doing a band, we could also take inspiration from some of the images and captions used here. I liked the use of magazine covers, tune of the week and tour posters. Also, all of the photos had visual design elements as they were posed and edited to be cohesive on the feed. One negative was that they used too many images from their music video filming which is important to keep in mind as we need variation in our feed.
