WEEK 5: The Aftermath

Filming Part 2 is done and dusted! The group (minus paul again...) met up outside redcliffe sixthform centre with our two main characters played by George Fisher-Wilson and Karen Paul. We waited for a good 20minutes or so for just a few friends to turn up and help out...no one came. Luckily we'd already made a plan B, just in case of rejection and we were just going to film the two main characters. We went to Brandon Hill, and set up where the benches are. We new it would be wet, so we came fully prepared!

Location: Brandon Hill, Bristol

Getting into Character:

Here is a picture of Sidonie, Becky and I prepping George for his 'old man' routine. We put tonnes of talcum powder on his hair, for a gey-hair look. Mise-en-scene: he's wearing a robe and red silk scarf like we planned.

It was extremely hard not to get talcum powder everywhere, but we decided that the more talcum powder, the better - the more fake and silly it looked, the more satirical our video would be.

Shots:

We had a faulty tripod, so it was extremely hard to film free-hand. We decided to make the most of it, by experimenting with what shots looked good and what didn't. We started off with a pan of small section of brandon hill; to show the viewer the protagonist's surroundings. We tried, tilts and over the shoulder shots - angles to make the footage look as surreal as possible.

We really wanted the question, "What's the meaning of life?" written somewhere in the video. We didn't like the idea of editing text into the video, so we decided to chalk for a more abstract and original look. Unfortunately our chalk started to run dry!

As we had extra talcum powder, we decided to write the answer to the meaning of life - "DISCO" in huge letters with the powder. We thought that we needed to be consistent in our originality. Thanks to our experimenting, we were able to film a really tricky scene, a high angle of the protagonist after he has his heart attack. A stranger puts ipod earphones into his ears...we didn't want to show the strangers face, to maintain an element of mystery...so I suggested that we put the camcorder on his head (as a point-of-view-shot) over the protagonist.

We then met up with dancer, Frankie J at college green for our 'old man dance' scene. Frankie J was supposed to be a busker, whom our protagonist, 'G' takes a liking to. We used two cameras for this scene, so when it comes to editing - we can use match-on-action to make an emphasis on the franticness of the dance sequence. Our actor George was brilliant, he improvised well and gave us so much to work with. It was hard to film Frankie J, as he kept moving in the opposite direction of the camera, I'm scared that our footage will be extremely shaky!

Unfortunately, we ran out of time as our actors had to get home. It took us about 2 and half hours to film such a small part of the video, we still have an ending to film...I'm starting to feel behind :(.

Week 5: Film Day!

'Old People' day has finally arrived! I'm feeling quite apprehensive, as I checked last night and only 13 people have still confirmed. However, I think that 13 people may still be enough for the concept of our music video - an elderly man (our protagonist) grabbing other elderly people at random and dancing to the Hit-ups gig, at the croft with him.

It's extremely important for us to get the message of our humour across. We want to create a satirical video, where we can make fun of adulthood, and the cycle of life; birth, adolescence, becoming an elderly person then death. We were inspired by the 1980's film 'Bugsy Malone', where the whole cast were under the age of 15. We thought that the use of paintball guns and apple pies as weapons, added a satirical and light-hearted view on the gangster lifestyle.


We decided to use a young person, dressed up as an old person to add humour to our music video. This means that there needs to be a consistency in how our protagonist is dressed, his mannerisms, and how he looks on screen. We thought of the general characteristics of elderly people; grey hair, scarves, hats, slippers, old ties and blazers, dressing-gowns.

Mise-en-scene:
Props for the protagonist-
1) Talcum Powder

To create a "grey hair look". We'll need to sprinkle talcum powder onto his hair. I know that it would be easier to just spray a 24 hour hair dye into his hair, but we want to spend as little as possible on our props. Paul, Becky, Sidonie and I all have talc at home, so it would be easy to get hold of.
2) Bowler Hat

We love the classic look of the bowler hat. I have one at home so we won't need to spend any money. This also disguises the very fake hair that our 'actor' will have.
3) Slippers

Slippers are a stereotypical element in an elderly persons lifestyle. As we wanted to poke fun at 'the elderly', we thought that our protagonist dancing down park street in brown slippers would be an extremely humorous effect.
4) Dressing gown

This is another characteristic of elderly attire. I can imagine a grandmother sitting in a dressing-gown, sipping some tea. We have to make it as humorous as possible!
5) Scarf



We really want to use a silk scarf, it'll be quite cold outside and we want what he's wearing to a representative of the weather and surroundings.
6) 'Joke Shop Pipe'

Again, to add satire - we want to use the stereotypical 'old man's pipe'. This cost us £2.

7) 'Joke Shop Moustache'

This is the second thing we will be buying, it costs £1.99
8) Vintage Blazer (when he is re-born into a youthful old person)

We want him to still have a signature mature look, but we want to add colour as a representative of his new youthful persona. This will be the last bit of props for our protagonist.

Positioning/Facial Expressions/Mannerisms:
- Before heart attack

• Grumpy (dismal elderly person
• Squinting
• Crouched down, low shoulders
• Smoking pipe (With talcum powder inside of it!)
• Dejected

- After heart attack

• Upbeat/Energetic
• Smiling
• Fast movements

Week 5: Filming Part 2 - Shooting Schedule

Our first filming section went very well. We filmed the "rave scene" first because we thought this may prove to be the hardest thing to film during the project. It also helped that the Hit-ups had a gig coming up aswell. We managed to capture all of the shots we wanted to get. Although saying that, our footage would've made more sense if more "old people" attended. We have a few shots of two or three of our friends walking into the venue and dancing at the front, near the stage. However, we're finding this hard to fit in with the rest of our filming. We have to change our plot and story-board again and make do with what we have. In terms of mise-en-scene, we planned to have all of our "old people" extras planted around the venue, then slowly make their way up to the protagonist.

[PICTURE OF SHOOTING SCHEDULE]

This means that we have to come up with various ways we can make the "rave scene" fit in with the rest of our humorous video. We need to film our "brandon hill scene" ASAP. We hope to finish filming by early November (maximum!) So we have at least 4 weeks to edit in depth.

WEEK 5: EDITING!

I'm so happy to get back on the mac. I really enjoyed editing last year and experimenting with different effects. So far the footage we have, is from the croft. We filmed about 2hours worth of gig (altogether). We wanted a variety of shots we could select during the editing process.

I'm getting back into the habit 'splitting clips', 'cutting' and previewing. I thought that we were taught extremely well last year, so it makes it easier for us to get back into the flow of it, now in our second year of using iMovie.

Week 5: Filming Part 2 - OLD PEOPLE DAY!

After the commitment and loyality issues were tested by our friends during our first part of filming, we decided to take drastic action. Influenced by The Hit-ups use of social networking, we decided to make our own event on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events.php?archive=1&s=80&hash=3df2df1d0773097990eac4bbc9c09a54#/event.php?eid=329943375416&index=1archive=1&s=80&hash=3df2df1d0773097990eac4bbc9c09a54#/event.php?eid=329943375416&index=1

We also contacted a well known dancer in Bristol called "Frankie J", he's about our age and is a phenominal dancer. I emailed him via facebook. One of our friends has PROMISED to turn up to the event as she is another main character in the music video. We want to insinuate that she is an 'old flame' from the past. This creates an instant link between her and the protagonist.
(video of frankie j)

We called the event: Old People Day

We invited hundreds of our friends, we thought that the more people we invited, the more people were likely to participate in our filming. We needed our friends to dress up as an elderly people for the duration of the filming process.

"Wanna be on MTV???Heres your chance; We're making a media music video with Bristols best 'The Hit Ups': myspace.com/thehitupsWhat we need you to do is dress up as your grandparents :), we mean, grey hair, granny jumpers, walking sticks, glasses, shawls, ankle socks, the lot!!!We're meeting outside Sixthform at 3.30 and will go on to brandon hill from there! We really need your help, and it will be a really fun day :):)Get back to me as sooooon as if you can make it!Much love, Sidonie, Yero and Becky xox"

We included the Hit-ups myspace url (myspace.com/thehitups) as it has their music on it. We wanted the people we invited to the event, to be able to listen to their music. In pink, we highlighted the guestlist (might attend, not attending, and awaiting reply) and cofirmed. Even after inviting over 200 people, only 13 people said they were confirming. If you were to take out the three of us that said we were attending (Becky, Sidonie and I), only 10 people would be turning up!

WEEK 4: THE AFTERMATH

After getting home with beerstained clothes and a missing blackberry case at 1.30am, I am extremely proud of myself. Like we guessed, the male member in our group didn't turn up...I'm really annoyed, he didn't make any effort whatsoever to get in contact with any of us. He could've sent an email. It would've been so much better for all of us, if everyone's input could be used during this project.

We got to 'The Croft' at 8pm or so, after making various calls to Charlie we finally managed to get sorted. Armed with 3 cameras, a storyboard and a tripod, we precisely planned how we were going to make this filming process work. We had 4 hours to waste, and ended up taking pictures of ourselves we were so bored!

Josh actually announced that we were filming to the whole crowd, so this allowed us to have some sort of authority on the crowd

Camera with Tripod:We wanted to get a variety of pan shots of the bands performance, and the crowd dancing from a high-angle.

Handheld cameras: We wanted to get a variety of more energetic pans as if the protagonist was dancing whilst looking around. If the shot appeared shaky, it would look like this was done intentially rather than a crisp, swift movement on the tripod. We also used the handheld camera to zoom into the instruments and band members, we wanted close-ups on both the band and their instruments to make an emphasis on the fact that it's a live performance. We wanted to viewer to feel like they were part of the gig.

We took advantage of 'midnight rave' feeling as it made the party feel more exclusive. It adds an element of humour, seeing a hundred trendy teenagers dancing while the protagonist is an elderly man. Unforunately, as our actor was not there - neither was the protagonist, therefore we used many point-of-view shots. We used nightvision on all of our cameras, it created an edgy underground feeling. We did this to encourage the audience to feel apart of the 'rave'.

Over-coming the problems: We found it hard to get extreme-closeups on the band members, especially lead singer Josh as he was really into the music. He wasn't aware of the camera at most times, and when he was aware of it - he looked into the lens! Alot of people were drunk and kept waving at the camera, this was time-consuming as we needed to remain in certain positions to capture footage of Josh's mouth, so we can make the lyrics in sync with his mouth movements.

About 7 of our friends turned up to the event, only 2 of them wore 'old people fancy dress'. We felt really let down, however with no budget - we can't expect too much from people. These are our friends, not actors.

WEEK 4: FILM DAY!

FRIDAY 16th OCTOBER! DOOMSDAY HAS ARRIVED! Or rather filming day...I've been feeling quite stressed, we've been asking our friends to help out, the old school way...we've been sending texts, emails and of course depending on word of mouth to get the news of The Hit-ups gig out!
It's an inset day, AND a Friday, so there's no excuse of "school the next day"...I really hope people don't let us down. However, I have to be realistic - I do think its a lot to ask, "can you please come to stokes croft dressed as someone around the age of 75? also can you dance so we can film you please?!"

Mrs. Davies gave us three cameras and a tripod. We want to use two of the camera's to get footage on the dance floor, and position the third camera on a table, near the stage using the tripod to get pans of the croft. We want sharp, clean shots that will make editing easier, yet we also want many shots of the crowd jumping up and down, as if they are point-of-view shots. George, our actor can't make it...so that will make it even harder to film.

Newest member Paul is completely silent in media lessons. I don't know how to encourage him to speak up, maybe he feels overwhelmed with all of our ideas. It's hard to know how to include him, when it's as if he doesn't want to be included. We have to work as a group on this. He won't give me his mobile number, this makes matters so much worse! I have to rely on facebook to contact him:

I feel awful, I'm meeting with Becky and Sidonie at 7pm to set up (during their soundcheck) and then we'll grab Paul at 10pm for the midnight show.

Charlie the guitarist dropped a huge bombshell on us last night...The gig is infact at MIDNIGHT, rather than 8pm advertised on their myspace. Now he isn't replying to any of my texts, extra stress...I'm really unsure of what's going to happen this evening. Seeing as I'm the person in main contact with him, it's as though it's down to me to make this run smoothly!

Good luck to us...

The main obstacles that we may have to find ways to overcome during filming:
-Quality of lighting
-Disorderly behaviour e.g. drunk people looking into the camera lens
-People turning up! (Old people)
- Sharp, focused shots
- The whole media group turning up!

Week 4: New member in the team...

Both Becky and Sidonie have been poorly so I've been left on my own for a lesson or two. Sidonie had told me that both of our media teachers had noticed that one person in the class was working on his own, Paul. He asked me if he could join our group and I immediately said yes, without consulting both of my group members. I do feel that we were put on the spot, but if I was in that position, I'd probably be too shy to ask a group of people I don't know very well if I could join their group...however, when it comes to your 'A' levels, I think you have to swallow your pride and strive for the best grade you can get.

The three of us have been storyboarding and working so hard. We have a creative direction and we all share the same vision. I hope Paul can fit in with this intesity!

Week 3: ARGH!!!

Just got home, been informed that reception has taken off majority of our posters...after all the effort we made! Sidonie and I even asked to put an announcement in the newsletter but apparently "if it's not work related, don't bother asking". IT IS SCHOOL WORK RELATED! Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to advertise it as a party? How are we going to pull this off? STRESS!

Currently my facial expression:

Week Three: Getting people involved

Over the weekend, Charlie and Josh told us that they had a gig at the croft on October 16th. This was excellent news, as it meant that it fit in with our shooting schedule. We didn't have to organize a gig, there was already one on! This made matters much easier, as we just had to get all of our friends involved. This week, we've been urging our friends to invest in some talcum powder, a few shawls and 'granny socks'. We have just about over a week, to promote the gig and get all of our friends and Hit-up fans to attend!

Sidonie and I made posters and advertised them "PARTY AT THE CROFT", with a picture og Josh and Charlie from our interview. In some ways, this could be propaganda as it's not actually a party. But we thought it sounded better than "A2 Media Project, please help we're desperate!"

To make this 'party scene' jam-packed and energy filled, we need to completely fill out one area of the croft. We even left our mobile numbers on the poster for more information.

Currently sticking these posters everywhere, and we mean everywhere. I just hope lots of people turn up...

Week Three: Meeting some ROCKSTARS!

A brief (and extremely giggly) interview with only 50% of the Hit-ups, as we pitch our idea and they talk to us about how they got started, their influences, random funny facts, their target audience and how they reacted to our idea!

Here are a few things that stood out to me during the interview:
-The band intially got started by just 'jamming' together and mutual friendships
-They compared themselves to bands such as Sublime, Rage Against the Machine and Redhotchilipeppers (all different Genres)
-They prefer more boutique festivals like Shambala than huge festivals like Glastonbury, they enjoyed the intimacy and the crowd at Shambala
- Target audience - everyone, they've got a good response from everyone, all ages like their music, they didn't want to appeal to "just one age group or genre"
- Charlie the guitarist said, "young people get it more" and "it's all about high energy and having fun"
- They use past experiences, (even if they're silly!) as references in their songs -e.g. the phrase "hot butter" in 'Welcome to the Discotheque'.
- When asked about their own ideas on a music video, Josh said that it's "not really their strong point". I think that Becky, Sidonie and I can express our creativity and encourage them to become involved in our music video
- Lead vocalist Josh, is "looking forward to seeing old people dancing around when they're really young people"
- Lead vocalist Josh liked the fact that each band member is influenced by different genres of music, he thought that it was useful that they have enough between them to bring in different ideas.

Week Three: Anticipation!

Eek! Tomorrow, is the day that we meet up with the hit-ups and pitch our idea. I'm very nervous, Becky and I both decided that even if they don't like our music video, their thoughts are irrelevant as it's our A level project. Guitarist, Charlie decided that we should meet up after school at 'The Croft'.

'The croft' has been dubbed the most chilled out bar in Bristol. It makes sense for the Hit-ups to make this bar their second home. I can imagine that they've been inspired to make majority of their music here. Our initial idea for 'Discotheque', was to film a party scene in castle park. However, this would be impossible - where would we find an adapter that would let us plug in outdoor lights? how could we make sure there was no disorderly behaviour that may ruin our filming? do we need to advertise a massive event and get all of our friends down there? Charlie also suggested that we should film out party scene in 'The Croft'. As we're meeting there tomorrow, it works out well - we can check out venue and start properly planning how we can make this look realistic.