Action Plan

These are our action lists for each of our cast members. These lists consist of the actions which our band members will be doing through the music video. By creating these lists it has enabled us as a group to know where each band member is going to be at a certain part of the song and this further means that for each shot (wide, mid, and close) our band members will be doing the same actions and therefore when it comes to editing it will be much easier. 

Step by Step Outline

This is a step by step outline of our performance elements. We have divided each section from their location and the set up and have completed a brief summery of what will happen in the set up and throughout the performance, we have also added necessary notes which we need to take into consideration throughout the filming process and organisation process for our shoot day.

Shot list

This is my group and I's shot list for our music video. This list breaks down all the shots which we will be doing throughout the filming of our music video and when they will happen and how. This shot list consists of the wide shots, the necessary close ups, the mid shots, the birds eye view shots, and the low angle shots. This enables us as a group to know and be aware of what we are filming and have in order the different shots we will be doing.

Roles on Set

For the roles on set throughout our shoot and our campaign we as a group discussed who would fit what role and why.

For our on set roles I have been dedicated as the director as I am good at communicating with individuals and getting people in order and organised and this is key for anyone directing a group as you have to be prepared to take control of the group and you have to consider everything which you have prepared for the music video (story board, shot list, timeline, props, and costumes). Millie has been designated the role of handling the camera and being in control of this role as she is good at working with the camera and knows how it operates. Amanda has been allocated the role of the art direction and this means she is in control of making sure the set looks ready and good to shoot in, the props are organised, and anything on set that needs to be adapted Amanda will take control in that. The last role is the producer on set/play back and this is Wendy's role, this role is helping around the set and in charge of our production cast and organising them on set, she is in charge of organising the director and providing them with the shot list, story board, and timeline. 

Props: Organising

Once our props arrived we brought them into school and made sure they were in a secure space so we do not misplace them. The four black t-shirts which we ordered for our second set up arrived and we made our band members to try these t-shirts on to make sure they fit and look good. We did this in advance to the filming of our music video so that we had time to change anything that didn't work or look good. 

We also asked our band members if they had any spare CDs or posters or vinyls which they could bring in so we could use for them for the basement set up, to create the 90s vibe and aesthetic. They were able to bring these in and as a group we went through everything and were pleased with what we had. 

We also told our band members to bring their clothes in in advance so everyone had the correct costume and so no one forgot their costume on the day of our shooting which would delay our shooting schedule and potentially mess up our music video. 

As a group we made sure we were extremely organised with our props and we made sure we had everything in advance so that on the day of shooting our music video we could begin straight away as early as possible which will inevitably help us throughout the day.

VHS Effect: Planning

As a group we met with our production cast and went over the VHS effect with them. We did this so that we could visualise our ideas and visualise our story board, as for our test shoot we went over this but not in as much depth as we would have liked. To complete this we took multiple different clips on my VHS camera and I sent them to Amanda and she edited these together on final cut pro. We did not add the song / music to this clip as it was not necessary, we just did this to see if our ideas worked by themselves and with our initial concept. From this we were able to see what we need to change or add but overall we are all pleased and satisfied with how this looks on camera and think it works really well.

Props: Organising

As a group we spoke to our production cast and asked them what size t-shirts they would like so that we could buy then. We just got plain black t-shirts from primark. We further notified our members and reminded them of what they need to bring in on the Monday when we are shooting on the Wednesday for their costumes. We reminded them that they need to bring their costumes for our set one which is the 90s aesthetic vibe and we told them they need to bring in their black trousers for our second set up which is the more professional set up of the band performing. 

For the props which will be present in our first set up as a group we discussed who will bring in what. Millie is going to bring in empty beer bottles as she is Day House so it is easier for her to bring them in, I will be providing the snacks which will be placed around the set (crisp packets), and I will also be providing the empty cigarette packets which will be placed on the table, and Amanda and Wendy will be providing the decorations which will be around the basement, for example posters and other objects which we can place around the basement which will create the basement feel and vibe. 

Felix who is our bass guitarist is going to bring in CD discs for our basement set up which we will locate on the walls of the 'basement', this will further enable us to adhere to a pop rock genre and Molly who is our guitarist is going to bring in amps which she already has and we will place these around our set up, she is also going to bring in different guitars which she owns which we can  place around the basement to further create the basement feel of a band. 

Lighting Design Meeting

We met with the lighting designer to go over our lighting designs for both our setups in our music video. We discussed what would work well and what would not work well, we also spoke about how our different lighting will work in our location.

For the first set up the lighting designer said that our lightbulb idea will work really well and we have easy access to it. He stated whether we would prefer the light bulbs which are transparent and you can see the insides of them but the only disadvantage of these are that they are very dim, or the full lightbulbs which are filled and these are very bright but also create the golden warm tones which we want to create. We as a group decided to go with the full lightbulbs as these will create more light in the 'basement' and look better on camera.

For our second set up which is just back light we discussed what lights we could use to create this effect. We came to the conclusion of using parcans, parcans are retro lights which create an orange warm tone, this will work really well with our music video as they link to our retro 90s aesthetic and feel which we want to create. Our initial idea which was having crisp cut lights would not work with our setting and song which we are using therefore we decided to change this idea and use different lights. For our second setup we want our band members to be silhouetted throughout the video and using white reflector polystyrene in front on the band members to bounce the light off them will allow us to still get the definition of the backlight but also light on them. By using parcans we can also get side lighting which creates the shadows and silhouettes and we also spoke about using haze which will create a smokey look on the light and on the band members. 

Call Sheet

To further help organise us as a production group we have made a call sheet. This is able to tell our cast members and us as a group who is needed at what times and when. We have also included our production casts emails and numbers so that we are able to contact them throughout our shooting process and stay in contact with them if anything were to happen.

We have blacked out our cast members address and numbers due to privacy reasons.

Shooting schedule

To help organise us as a production group we made this shooting schedule for the day of our shoot which we will be sharing with our production cast. This further helps us to adapt anything if we come across any problems within our schedule. This also makes it clear to our production cast when they are needed and how the day will plan out what what is going to happen.

Production group meeting

My group and I had a production meeting with our teachers. In this meeting we adapted our idea and changed key elements within it. Our main focus was the VHS elements and our set 2 design. We first decided that we are going to change our set design and take out the Tv's which we had initially in it and just have a black backdrop with strobe lights, creating the effect and mood that the band have 'made it' and are performing seriously and not just in their basement. The costumes which the band members will be wearing in this set up will be black t-shirts and black trousers which will make the band members look professional and as if they are actually performing. This will also make it clear that this is a different element and more of a performance element.

Another element which we changed for our music video was the VHS elements. We are going to add in another element which will consist of our band members going into one of the music studios and rehearsing as a band. Some of the band members will be messing around as one of the more serious band members is taking it very seriously and working on the recording/mixing desk. This enables us to add in another whole element which not only works really well but if the VHS elements don't work we can use these shots instead and the music video will still flow and work together. This creates a mood and atmosphere of the band 'behind the scenes' and making their music.

This allows our music video to flow really well and our narrative to be clear to our audience and viewer. The video will play out of the band in the process of making their music, the behind the scenes of them practicing and rehearsing and then of the band making it and performing 'live'. Overall as a group we are very pleased with this meeting and our results of it, and now we have a clear vision of what is going to happen and how it will all work out together. 

Editing workshop

During this workshop we as a class learnt how to edit a music video in the most effective way and how to make it look professional. The editing software which we will be using is Premier Pro, this is an advanced editing software which is timeline-based.

The layout and format of editing a music video and a completed music video is the performance cut of the band playing their instruments, then a narrative cut which are the extra shots you get or the story behind the music video and then what comes last is the effects and colouring which you want to add over the edited music video. This makes editing much more simple and organised and you are not trying to do everything at once and you can focus on one aspect at a time.

The first job you do when it comes to editing is sync up all the footage which you have filmed, to do this you use a clapper board and this is used while filming the music video, then while editing you put this to use and sync up the original song to the picture.

The three rules to editing a music video:

- Illustrate what you hear and cut to the beat of that. For the first line of the song you have to be able to see the lead singers face with a close up shot.

- Group at least 2/3 shots of the same band member together. This allows your music video to fit well and not look random.

- Follow the movement. If the artist is moving in a certain way, edit the video so that the camera follows it and it does not just shut off.

As a class we were told important tips for when it comes to editing, the first tip was to not ruff cut as if you do you will just have to go back and edit it again, you should aim to make everything perfect. Another tip was to work on 10 seconds at a time when it comes to editing, this mean you can just focus on those selected 10 seconds and work on that to make it as good as possible without any other distractions and then continue this process till everything is edited.

Lighting presentation

This is my group and I's lighting presentation which consists of the different lighting techniques which we will be using throughout our music video and why we have chosen them. This has enabled us to understand fully what we are going to be using, what we will need to get, how we will use them, and what lighting techniques go in both sets.

 

Problem with set 2

As a group we have discovered a problem for our second set. When we had a meeting with the set designer she explained to us how our first set (basement) is very complicated and with the VHS elements and VHS camera this set up would take a lot of time to set up and take down. As a group we decided we will push out set 2 design to the side for the moment and focus on set 1. We will still do the work needed for the organisation and planning for set 2 but on the day when we film our music video we will evaluate our schedule and see if we have time to do set 2. 

As set 2 is not extremely complicated there is potential that it could still work and follow through, but we will be unsure until the day of filming our music video. 

Costume

For costumes for my production groups music video we have told our cast members that they will need to wear clothes which adhere to the genre conventions of our song which is pop rock, we have further told them to wear clothes which portray a 90s aesthetic and vibe. For our test shoot we made our band members aware of what was needed from them and what they needed to wear and they all had clothing items which matched our ideas and our vision of their outfits. The clothes which our cast members wore to our test shoot was ideal and further followed our 90s theme. 

Molly Cadman - Guitarist 

Felix Wood - Bass Guitarist

George Acworth - Lead Singer

George Robertson - Drummer 

(George R will not be wearing this jacket in the music video)

For our set 2 set up which has a different concept to our first set up, we as a group decided on the costumes which we want our band members to wear. We want them to be in full black (black t-shirt and black trousers). We wanted our band members to wear full black to make them come across as professional and carry on the idea that the band have 'made it' and are now performing as a full band which have gone through all the stages to get where they are now.

The t-shirts we want our band members to wear are plain black Primark tops.

We have told our band members to take photographs of black trousers which they already have and we as a group will decide what would be best out of their options for our music video.

Test shoot reflection

From my group and I's test shoot we were able to reflect and evaluate how it went, what we need to work on, and what we need to change. 

During the process of filming our test shoot we were not as organised as we should have been. We had set a time with our group to film this test shoot and the timings were from 5pm to 6pm, we were very tight on this schedule as we only had one hour to complete it so we had to begin as soon as possible and try fit everything in. We began to set up the shoot in one of the studios but we had to wait for George R (drummer) to show up as he was delayed due to football practise. This took back our shooting schedule by 20 minutes which had a massive impact on our test shoot and being organised. Once we were in the studio we then had to leave as we had not booked a time slot for us to film in, luckily there was another free studio which we were able to film in and this actually worked our really well as the space in this studio was much more similar in relation to our music video set up. 

Once we began filming everything was working out really well and everything was looking really good on the camera. When we had finished getting our main shots we then did the VHS shots. We only had 10 minutes to complete these VHS shots which was not ideal but we were able to do it in this amount of time. 

When it came to editing we faced multiple issues, the main issue was the placing of our band members when it came to the different shots. As the wide shot and the close up shots did not match and our lead singer was doing different actions and different movements in these shots and this meant that when it came to editing it was extremely hard to match up the shots and the actions taking place as they did not sync with one another. 

By completing this test shoot we were able to visualise our initial idea and see what we need to change. This also meant that we could speak to our band members and tell them what they need to do for our real shoot and what they need to work on (lyrics, actions, and their mood).

Test shoot (2)

My group and I completed 2 test shoots edits, I edited one test shoot and Amanda edited the other test shoot. We decided to edit two test shoots for us to see what creative ways we could go with and do and we could also see what works and what doesn't work. This further enabled us to see the different perspectives in which we were both visualising our ideas and making them visual. 

Test shoot (1)

This is one of media production groups test shoot. This test shoot consists of a brief view of how our actual music video will be. We have completed this test shoot to provide us as a production group to visualise our ideas and see what we need to change or adapt and what works well and what does not work well. This further provided us as a group to see how all these band members work together and perform together. We have edited this test shoot as if it is our real music video, by adding in the VHS effect and using VHS cameras. For this test shoot we did not incorporate our set 2 design as we did not have access to the studio and we further wanted to see what the video would look like just with our first set design.

Editing Test Shoot

I chose to edit one of my production groups test shoot. I edited this test shoot using iMovie. I had to import the clips from my VHS camera onto my laptop and I did this by using a SD card connector and I transferred the SD card from my VHS camera and placed it into the connector and then imported these clips to iMovie. While editing this test shoot I had to be very patient while cutting up the different clips and adding the wide shot, close ups and mid shots of the different band members. As this was filmed on an iPhone the camera quality is not as good and rich as it would be if we were to of filmed this shoot on a real camera. 

The SD card connector.

A challenge in which I faced while editing this music video test shoot was adding in the different shots from the different angles in which we filmed in. A mistake in which we made was when shooting the close ups we did not have the wide shot being filmed. This meant when it came to editing it was extremely difficult to match and link up the close ups and wide shots as this meant when I wanted to cut to a close up I then could not cut back to the wide shot and both the shots be in sync. This was the initial idea for our test shoot to look for things which we did wrong so that we can be aware of this next time and not make these mistakes again.

This was the beginning of the editing process for this test shoot, when I had only added in the main body clips of the music video. These are the wide shots and close ups.

This is a screenshot of when I had imported all of the VHS clips from my VHS camera, to add them into the music video.

This is a screenshot of when we had a large section of just VHS clips and behind the scene clips. For this section I had to unlink the audio from one clip and add it under the VHS shots, so that the sound would match up to the rest of the song.

I then had to upload this test shoot to YouTube, and send it to my production group so that they could upload it to their blog.

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Planning Test Shoot

My group and I are going to be completing a test shoot for our music video. We will be treating this test shoot as if it is our real shoot so we want to get a feel of how the band will perform all together and work together. This will enable us to visualise our ideas and figure out what we will need to change or adapt for our idea to make it work with the band. 

We have arranged a date with our chosen cast to complete our test shoot. For this test shoot we will be taking our chosen cast to one of the media studios and filming them. We will be getting a drum kit, guitar, and bass guitar placed in this studio for our performance. 

We are also going to be bringing in our own props and equipment to film this test shoot. Amanda and I are going to be bringing in our camcorders which will enable us to create the VHS effect, we are going to use these cameras while shooting the handheld camera movements and when it comes to editing we will use these clips to make the video how our actual video will be. This will enable us to get a feel and sense of how our complete music video will look. 

We are further going to have to improvise with some ideas and concepts within our idea as we do not have access to majority of the props which we have selected, for example the furniture which will be placed around the set. We will be informing our cast members about this so that they know for the real shoot that the lay out will be different. 

As we complete this test shoot we will also be thinking about our genre conventions, star image, our target audience and out campaign.

To further plan for this test shoot I emailed our production cast our timetable of the whole song. This time table consists of all the elements involved in our music video and what happens when and the different shots which take place throughout the song.

Props: Organising

This is a list of my production groups props and who will be providing what props. This list also includes what props the set designer will be providing and bringing in for us. This enables us as a group to be organised and know who is getting what so that we don't forget anything and have everything written down. 

Props/Set designs list

This is a list of all of our props and set designs in which we will be sending to our set designer. This is so that she can go out and look for all of these props and think about our set as a whole and what would look good and work well in the provided space for our music video. This has further enabled us to write down all of our necessary props and discuss what else we may need or what we don't need. From completing this we then as a group went onto different websites and looked for our props and furniture and we also asked our production group cast members if they had any props in which they could bring in.