Week 12: Two weeks 'til deadline!

MADNESS! We're still filming! This is awful...I'm not sure how we're going to finish this? We dragged our actor out of sixthform for the very very very last time. We have to many good ideas, we just have to get then SORTED.
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We were extremely lucky, because the weather was gloomy and wet, alot like the day when we first filmed in october. This means that there will be a consistency in visuals when it comes to editing. Our video ended with our protagonist being stood up by his 'old flame'. The viewer watches hin pace around, waiting for her and she doesn't turn up. We edited the speed of this scene by fast-forwarding alot of the footage. We wanted to convey a theme of pathos, where the viewers feel sorry for our protagonist. We managed to over come obstacles such as the loss of the moustache, by using mise-en-scene - we asked our actor to put his hands on his chin, insinuating that he had 'freshened up' for his date.

Week 11: Back to Editing

We've finished editing or main section, all we need is an ending. We've decided to film our last few scenes at Becky's house. We wanted to have a few shots, with a home-atmosphere, Becky's is the nearest house to Redcliffe.

Becky, Sidonie and Ifilmed the shots of 'G' outside of Redcliffe sixthform in a phonebooth, we used props such as the Hit-ups poster, to make our video more realistic as we show the actual event. Our actor misplaced his moustache, this meant that we had to film everything from behind! We used many over-the-shoulder shots and long shots.

I edited a photo of the protagonist's 'old flame'. I cropped the photo, and edited it by changing it into a Sepia tone. We chose to use sepia, because it looks like it could pass off as an old picture from 1946 (just about!)

We just have one more bit of filming to do! (Fingers crossed!)

CLC

When we entered the CLC, our mouths literally dropped...the suite was amazing! We had a really helpful instructor that talked us through a step by step guide in editing our photos sufficiently. Through photoshop, we were taught how to manipulate photos. As a photography student, I already had basic knowledge about photoshop. Sidonie and I immediately had thoughts on what we wanted to do to our images. I found the CLC trip very useful, because it improved my technology skills on software like Photoshop, it also encouraged me to experiment more, until I'm happy with my product.

Front Cover:

Before:

I took a photo fron a tilted angle, of a sign that said "water hazard" on it, we hung the disco ball on the side of it. We wanted to create an abstract image.

During Editing:

We used an eraser tool by copying ans pasting the plain yellow parts of the sign ontop of the water' part, to look as though it only said "hazard".
This was extremely time consuming, but we really wanted this as our album cover!

We replaced the empty space with black text that said "Disco", we would've used blue text to match the blue disco ball...but it wouldn't have shown up properly.

Inserts:
We increased the contrast to make the disco ball the centre of attention, the main focus - so the element of disco remains cohesive in the project.


For our second insert (dedications) - we cropped a long shot photograph of the bowler hat with the disco ball. We thought the two props worked well together, and the bowler hat is instantly recognizable - like our trademark.


We wanted to create a dedications page that actually reflected (what we thought) the band would say ; such as the croft and their manager Skip Curtis. We have a strong bond with them, and we thought it would only be fair if we did them justice.

Again, we've used the two elements of the video - the concept of disco and the bowler hat. We wanted the text to be blue, to correlate with the blue ball.
We experimented with different font colours during our photoshop session, we wanted to make the best album cover and back to suit our energetic image,

We originally used an orangey brown colour text, but it clashed with the business of the trees, this benefited us - because we still carried on with the theme of blue.

For our advertisement, we tried to make a collage of pictures, to make an emphasis on the amount of things he did in his youthful day, not only was this time-consuming - but very tricky. We didn't want to use the band's picture in the advertisement, because a portrait shot would not fit into our image of a care-free band, with a simple message - to enjoy life. I feel that that doesn't fit into the conventions of an young indie band.
We ended up going home without an advertisement, but we knew what we had to do in our own spare tinme.

Week 9: CLC Prep

We're going on a Media trip to Brislington Enterprise College. There have an amazing facility full of macs for the whole media year to edit our photos for our CD cover, advertisement, and get general tips on Photoshop.

Sidonie and I ventured down to Brandon Hill (our prime location), armed with a disco ball, a bowler hat and an ipod - we went to take photos for all three products. We wanted to create cohesive products, that our target audience could find appealing. We wanted to create something that's not in the niche market, that's not already out there...

The Hit-ups own album cover, is an animation. It was done a few years ago, so the band have definitely grown up... It's extremely colourful and vibrant, like the song.

This is a key example of prioritising their music, more than getting their faces known. We want to follow their example and forget about vanity.

Back to more editing...we still have a lot to do and the deadline is nearing!

Week 8: Finally getting there....

We officially have 1.48 seconds of a music video! We've been thoroughly editing the the croft footage. As we used night-vision to film, as the lighting was poor - the footage appeared grainy. We adjusted the lighting on Imovie, so it's not too dark or high in contrast. The band have been checking up on us now and again...we're getting there slowly but surely. We just need to film one last bit! AND WE'RE FINIHED, VOILA!

Week 7: Feeling the Pressue/Illness

I've been feeling extremely poorly! I'm so worried that there's still a bit of friction between Paul and the rest of the group...Becky says editing is fine. She's been attempting to edit the dance sequence and incorporate lots of match-on-action. Ofcourse Paul is on hand to help out with editing. I saw that he added a flash effect into the scene where our protagonist walks out of a quirky shop (BS8 on Park Street) after he's "re-born". It's cheesy, but I kind of like it...



I am absolutely inlove with Miike Snow, Kudos to the director of this video!

Week 6: Film Schedule

Looking back at the film schedule...I'm noticing that we have not been following the rules!

Date: 16th October
Location: The croft
Whos' needed: Becky, Sidonie, Yero, Paul
Props: 3 camcorders, 1 tripod, charger

Date: 21st October
Location: Brandon Hill/Park Street/College Green
Who's needed: Becky, Sidonie, Yero, Paul
Props: Dressing gown, bowler hat, scarf, slippers, chalk, talcum powder, moustache, pipe, blazer
1 tripod, 3 camcorders

Date: 29th October:
Location: Park Street
Who's needed: Becky, Yero (and Karen - actor)
Props: 1 camcorder

Paul hasn't turned up to one filming session, it's proving to be difficult, getting him to engage in work....we're not working as a team. I spoke to Mrs. D and she says not to worry, we just need to focus on our own grades. That's set my mind at ease. :)

Week 6: Tackling Editing

We've uploaded the song to the mac we're working on, this should make it easier to estimate timing accurately. We have finished editing the intro to our music video. I feel that it is a bit too long, as do the rest of the group. However, we don't want to change anything just yet. The group dynamics seems to be changing...Paul has failed to turn up to our group meetings and film days, even with notice. Becky, Sidonie and I are just scared that Paul may spend hours in the editing suite, deleting alot of footage that we need. It's really hard to be able to tell Paul that he needs to be aware of the creative direction...I know he's still new to the group, but it's so much easier if two people are in the suite at once.

We're having a problem with one scene from our video - our protagonist's 'old flame', is seen from across the street - yet she isn't re-introduced into the music video. We asked for feedback from our class members...and one person said they didn't understand the 'old flame' scene at all. This means that we have to drag Karen around Park street yet again so that our video makes sense. It feels as though we're filming as we're going along. We need to stick to the storyboard! We come up so many fresh, new exciting ideas that means more hard work...too ambitious??