Film shoot - cancelled

Today's shoot was cancelled because I was ill.

I have rescheduled for this Saturday, but two of my crew members will not be able to make it, so I'll be shooting by myself with my actor.

'Outer Peace' - video inspiration

Here are some videos which either inspired me or are good examples of what I want to achieve.

Pennybirdrabbit - Maybe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puJX_LsT1Kc

I am particularly fond of the stylistic features in this video. I like the color grading; the darkness and gritty effect, along with the blue highlights. It creates a really cold tone, especially in conjunction with the imagery on screen; twigs and branches, landscapes and Penny on her own. This is similar to what I wan't to create in my music video.

Blue Tornado

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpnuvDAGN5E

This is a video of hula hooping in the snow, from someone who inspired me to hoop when I was younger. The video is a good example of the combined winter scene and graceful art; the same kind of thing I am looking for to be in my music video.

GoPro on hoop/Hulacam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EumsgPn9xaM

One member of my crew will be bringing his GoPro to a shoot. This is a link to what I hope the end result will resemble! I get very angry at the majority of these videos because they are highly sexualised. (I could easily go on a rant about this because hula hooping is one of my top hobbies, like filming.) Anyway, I like this one because it isn't.


Time spent: 3 hours

Pre-production timetable version 2

This is the actual progression of Pre-production events in this section of the project


14th Nov - Start of new section

18th Nov - Arranging meetings w/ clients

21st Nov - First client meeting

25th Nov - Brief client meeting and recap

28th Nov - Meeting w/ Colin, Slushy tunes

2nd Dec - Decision making

5th Dec to 6th Jan - Unrecorded working on ideas, choosing the track and catching up

9th Jan - Arranging practice shoot

10th Jan - Obtaining technical information

13th Jan - Compiling main video inspiration

Tehnical information/resources

Did a little bit of research on a few things in preparation for shooting.


Information on frames per second (FPS) etc.
http://www.steves-digicams.com/knowledge-center/video-frame-rates-24p-25p-30p-60i.html#b


How to shoot a time lapse:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAMiwG7ROXc

I asked my tutor from the Arts Picturehouse about how he made time lapses, he said to use a delay remote to take photos at timed intervals:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol3rdzzxUTA

I also asked my friend how he makes his time lapses, and he says there is also the option of a programme you can put on your camera to do the job.

I don't think I will be purchasing anything to create time lapses right now, but one member of my crew says he will be able to create one for my video.

Time spent = approx. 2 hours

Arranging practice shoot!

I have arranged to do a practice shoot with three people on the 14th:

I have acquired two crew members, one bringing a go pro to use on the hula hoop, and the other bringing a camera similar to mine but with a different lens. The third person is going to be the focus of the video; my actor, or the character, if you like. She will be hula hooping in front of the cameras.

We are going to meet after I get back from college at 2:30pm, outside the back of Tesco, next to the chimney.

My aim is to introduce everybody, find good spots in my chosen location, set up shots and discuss the music video. This will help us get a good idea about what shooting will be like, and after this we will be prepared for the shoot so that it will run smoothly.

In preparation, I will expand on the initial shot ideas I sketched down onto paper over the holidays, and form more of a story board, adding fine detail. I am aware that I will most likely encounter things to film on the day which I have not planned, for example, I don't know what exact plants I will find at the location. For this reason, some shot sketches may appear unfinished.

I will be looking into how I can upload my work to this blog which I have drawn or made on another programme. Also, I need to find out how I can print it all out at the end of the project so that it can be marked!


For the day I will need to take along:

1. A coat (wrap up warm)
2. iPod (to take quick and easy pics of location)
3. Phone (to contact crew)
4. Notes for the shoot (including story board and notes on technical details to discuss)

For the actual shoot I will take the same as above, plus:

1. Camera, in bag, battery fully charged
2. Tripod in case
3. Camera manual (in case I need to consult it)
4. Mini stalls (so that we needn't sit on grass)
5. Waterproofs and similar for covering equipment and myself
6. A snack and a water bottle
7. A flask with hot choc for all the crew to enjoy 

Time spent: 2 hours

Next step - into planning

After much consideration over a number of new tracks I chose 'Outer Peace'. This part of the project has been really tough so far.

My problem was that things fell through with trying to adapt the tune. My clients were too busy with personal events that there was no way they could achieve a finished track in time, and as I said, I was extremely pushed for time. Feeling the pressure, everything came to a halt for about a week or so. I then went away on holiday with my family to visit more family, and so I have missed a number of allocated time spaces to complete the pre-production section in the right amount of time.

To help myself out and get the ball rolling again, I made a big page of mini brainstorms for the tracks which were available to me once I was back at home. I then chose 3 main ones which evoked the best thoughts, and then made a very visual powerpoint presentation for my ideas about them.

As for the rest of the pre-production stage, which came to a close at Christmas time (I had no time to do it due do family events and personal reasons), I have made plans for a practice shoot and recruited crew. More detail will be up about this soon.

Reflection: should I do this again, I will next time consider the consequences of attempting to schedule the production during the Christmas break: it just wasn't possible!

Hours spent over holidays:
4 hours in client meetings and trying to decide on a track (in total)
1 hour recruiting an actor and 2 crew members
3 hours story boarding, brainstorming and writing details on paper
3 hours powerpoint brainstorm on laptop

Choosing a track for my project

During the Christmas break I spent time figuring out the next steps of this project as I was very stuck. I narrowed down my possible tracks to just three, and created a brainstorm on a power point. The choice of three was New Day, Outer Peace, and Fashion Kills. In the end, I chose Outer Peace, by DJ PLAY.

I felt that while my ideas for the overall tone of a video for New Day was really nice and tranquil, I was limited in where to go next. I had the scene set in my head but I struggled to create an act for the video to be following. I stopped there since nothing came to me for quite a while, and if I had chosen it for what I had, the video would not work very well in engaging an audience, even if it did look pretty. Also, I was unsure about how to represent the artist, Slushy, in this video, since it is an unusual track for his style of music. I didn't want to create a beautiful scene full of morning rays when the audience for his main music is expecting something entirely different. Furthermore, the image evoked in my mind from hearing this tune over and over spelled out 'summer time' in big capital letters. It is not summer time, and a winter backdrop for this song would have done it no justice.

Fashion Kills (remix by DJ PLAY) is a great pop tune and when I listened to it for the first time I had ideas popping up left right and center. In fact, I did worry that the narrative I thought up would be over complicated for a music video. I immediately began brainstorming and realised that I'd need a great deal of help from other people in the production of the video. I'd need groups of actors to fulfill the story line. I'd need people to mime the words to the track. I'd need a main actor. Then I'd need a good set, in a studio, or in town, which would require permission and specific scheduled days, and might not even be possible. I also had costume ideas, but I thought I'd really have trouble finding people to join in with this, and with achieving what I wanted in the time given. The prospect of carrying out this project just felt too much for this time of year. I needed something manageable.

I decided on Outer Peace because, unlike the thoughts for the other tracks, my concept for it was in the middle. It is just enough to sustain audience interest (in my opinion) and not too much so as to be overly complex. It would require only one actor, the one I had in mind would be eager to participate, and the outdoors, which is completely free and almost limitless. My mind had pin pointed the exact locations for the video while I listened to it, and this will be a great use since they are in my area. In this sense I feel it isn't overly ambitious, but it will be a perfect idea to fulfill for this project. In addition, I have chosen it because it is the ideal time of year to achieve such a video since it requires the winter look and therefore enables me to take advantage of the season. On a whole, I feel it will be manageable and enjoyable.