Filming day 3

Today was our second day of actual filming. Lots of snow fell over the local area so we decided to take advantage of the way it made everything look so peaceful and beautiful. It really matches the genre of our music video because of the connotations that snow gives. EG. Romance, laughter, fairytales. An example would be the very famous Christmas music video for 'All I want for Christmas is you' by Mariah Carey shown below.

 We set up our camera in an untouched patch of snow on the college field. Hayley from our group played the artist as before in our indoor shots. We filmed in the same way that we did last time because it worked successfully and made editing easier. This was by filming the song the whole way through in each style of shot. We did a long shot, mid shot, close up and a side shot. Then during editing we can pick the best parts of each shot for parts of the video. This is more successful doing it this way because we have clips for the whole song in every style so there is a lot of leeway on the shots we can use for each part of the video.

We also filmed parts of a boy and girl not lip singing but just acting. These were clips of them playing in the snow together, holding hands and looking generally loved up. This will be edited along side the lip singing to show the artist's jealously of the couple.    

Filming day 2

Today we planned to do our outside filming for the video. This plan had to be cut short due to heavy rain through out the day. The conditions were too bad to take a camera out in and would have spoilt the effect of the video. 

So, we changed the plan for the day, we are now going to do our final piece of inside filming. This will be only a short section where a males hands are seen playing a piano. These clips will hopefully be cut into small sections of the music video alongside outdoor clips.

We have now planned to film tomorrow- weather permitting! We plan to film in a local park called Ashcombe park. The park itself is quite sheltered by big trees so if it does rain filming can hopefully still take place! 

One of us girls from the group will be staring in the outside filming, we are also bringing in a male from outside of college to star as her ex boyfriend.

Storyboard animatic

Above shows my video animatic of my storyboard, this is my storyboard cut more specifically to show single shots we plan to shoot. I have put the animation alongside our song choice so we can see specific timings of each shot and how it coincides with the music.  

Storyboard

Below shows my storyboard for the whole of my music video. I have included the lyrics of the song that fits to the image that will be shown at the same time. The storyboard has helped to plan out our video and work out timings for each part of the video. 

For the video we have planned in our storyboard to create a happy medium between a performance based video and a narrative story. This will hopefully maintain the viewers interest through out the video as there will be varied locations.

Researching into pop music videos has given me clues to the conventions of a pop music video. I have included close up shots of the artist, different locations and shots which may encourage the audience to look at the artist in a sexual way. This is common for a pop music video. 'Your Song' could maybe be seen as slightly in the style of an indie song, so I have included outdoor locations and natural colours which is a know video convention of an indie music video. Ben Howard's 'Keep your Head up' as shown in my research is a good example of outdoor locations and natural colours in an Indie music video.      

Filming day 1 photographs

Here are some examples of photographic examples of our first day of filming. These photos show us setting up our backdrop for the video. We shared roles and took it in turns to do the filming, manage the music, etc.

Filming day 1

Today was our first day of filming. We arrived at our college during half term (19/12/12) for a 10.30am start.

Today we aimed to get all of the indoor studio filming completed. We started by dressing our studio by using a white back drop and studio lights to create a bright setting without shadows. We faced the lights away from the set so that we still got the benefit of their light but it didn't look too clinical. This is important to make the video look professional. We also ran fairy lights along the top of the set to give it a bit of character and add to the soft, feminine look of the video we wanted to create.

We decided to film the whole song at one angle and then repeat this for each style of shot we wanted to include. This meant less organisation of the different shots we wanted to film for each part of the song and simplified the organisation process of the video. Then we will just wait until we edit to pick out which parts of the song need which style of shot.

We filmed four different shots with the white backdrop. These were...
-Sat down mid shot.
-Side shot
-Close up
-Extreme close up

We then changed the costume from subtle day clothes to a glittery party dress to add some variation and also changed the backdrop to a black colour and kept the fairy lights.
We filmed the entire song in each of the following ...
-Mid shot
-Close up
-Side shot

We found that using the black background it looked better with less lighting so we faced the lights further away and turned some of them off. It gave it a magical and pretty look.

We also took the opportunity of having Hayley (our singer) in costume with a set to photograph pictures for our album cover. We found that making the photographs out of focus on purpose gave a lovely effect. It was soft and intriguing to look at. I think these would be most appropriate for the back cover of the album or the inside because on a pop album cover the front needs to have a clear picture of the artist. So we also took a variety of in focus profile shots of the artist to use as the front cover.

Shooting Schedule

Filming day 1:

Arrive to college at 10.30am

Prepare the studio with white back drop and lights.

Props needed for white backdrop:

-Brown stool

-Costume: 

Wooley cream/white jumper

Blue Jeans

Scarf

Ugg boots

-Natural hair and make up

Sing the whole song through at different angles

Prepare studio with black backdrop and fairy lights

-Christmas lights (dressed across the set)

-Costume:

Sparkly dress

Purple heels

-Natural hair and make up

Sing the whole song through at different angles

-Mid shot facing camera

-Mid shot facing away from camera

-Long shot stood up

-Long shot sat down on stool

During the shoot we plan of taking photographs for our album cover. We want to include: 

-Close up shots of her face

-Strong image of her on the stool

-Mid shot of her on the black back drop

Filming day 2:

In Thursday afternoon lesson

Outside filming in a countryside setting, better on a day with good natural lighting. 

Costume: Winter clothes, scarf, big coat. A warm and cosy look.

Sing the whole song through at different angles

-Mid shot facing camera

-Side shot

-Long shot 

-Close up

Then film a couple (Izzy and Tom) playing in the grass acting loved up and flirty with each other.
-Running through the grass
-Holding hands 
-Their feet walking together
-Piggy back rides