Monday, 4 April 2016

LO4 - Music video drafts

First music video draft

I think we have succeeded massively in making the cuts look good and in time to the music in the first 2 minutes, as well as telling the narrative clearly through the use of some interesting shots. There are some clips that need to be stabilised and we need to give the video a more surreal feel using effects. Once it is finished we will hopefully have accomplished this.


Second music video draft

There's a lot of performance in this draft of the music video and we have managed to give the whole thing a surreal feel by slowing parts down and making use of the reflection tool, the ending is also extremely effective and we should be keeping this in the final cut. We changed out a few clips and, looking back, the originals may have actually been more effective. Other than this we mainly need to cut some clips down as they either drag on for a long time or you can tell the actor has just started moving.


Third music video draft

We tried using a black and white filter over the narrative to give it a moodier and stereotypically indie effect but we will probably remove this as it didn't work as well as we'd hoped. Apart from that we have edited clips in that better fit the the narrative and then focused on furthering the jump cutting and adding effects over each clip to ensure they are good quality.

Monday, 22 February 2016

LO4 - Offline edit

First offline edit:



LO4 - Edit decision list










LO4 - Evidence of editing

These are a couple of screen recordings of me editing in class.



During this video I edited the footage of Dave outside the pub. I majorly used the razor tool in order to get rid of segments which did not match the narrative, as well as split up scenes in order to create jump cuts that matched the beat of the music. With the remaining clips I would nest and stabilise any jittery ones, doing so ensured that the clip played much smoother- this was vital seeing as most of our scenes were handheld in order to connote instability.
One of the main editing techniques I employed here was colour correction (brightness and contrast) which I used to alter the clip of the guitar so it appeared moodier and fit in with the rest of the music video.





I used keyframes to fade to black the clip of one of the band members playing their guitar. By doing it this way I felt I had more control over how the image was dissolved, and learnt the importance of key frames for the rest of the video as they allow scenes to transform gradually. As well as this, I unlinked  some of the video clips from the audio clips so that the music itself became the only noise.





Again, I used the razor tool a lot within each of these screen recordings in order to create a music video that flowed with the beat. Quick cuts gave the video a much quicker pace, especially towards the end, which helped gradually build up the tension of the narrative. The scenes I cut to would also match the lyrics of the song e.g. when Dave sings about Foster Kenzie and the wicked acts he commits it cuts to him shoplifting.





This video depicted more of me stabilising each clip so each transition was smoother.
Whilst editing the music video I also worked a lot on creating a 'ghosting' effect by layering clips over one another and altering the opacity. Doing this created a warped aesthetic that was heavily inspired by Slaves music video "Hey". The ghosting connoted instability and the dual nature of Foster Kenzie, as well as enforcing the eerie psychological genre of the music video. One example of this effect I created was when Kenzie walks down an alley after mugging a man on the street.

Friday, 5 February 2016

LO3 - Footage log



















LO3 - Rushers


Town narrative - Lauren's SD card
00.00 - 01.35: Wide shot of Dave walking out of pub, good but needs to be cut.
01.35 - 01.44: Handheld close up of Dave staring ahead in front of the Washington pub, good quality.
01.44 - 01.54: Handheld close up of Dave staring ahead in front of the Washington pub, alright quality.
01.54 - 02.06: Close up over the shoulder of Dave walking into Nisa local, very usable except for the reflection of me filming at the beginning.
02.06 - 02.10: Handheld close up of Dave taking a can of spaghetti off the shelf, great quality.
02.10 - 02.14: Handheld close up of Foster Kenzie taking a can of spaghetti off the shelf, good quality.
02.14 - 02.25: Handheld medium shot of Dave spotting Kenzie and following him, good quality except for focus issue.
02.25 - 02.37: Medium shot of Dave spotting Kenzie and following him, good quality.
02.37 - 02.44: Wide shot of Foster Kenzie walking out of Nisa Local, unusable as the actor made a mistake.
02.44 - 02.51: Wide shot of Foster Kenzie walking out of Nisa Local, decent shot.





Town narrative - Ben's SD card
00.00 - 00.05: Wide shot of Dave stood in front of the Washington, unusable as we hadn't sorted the camera out properly yet.
00.05 - 00.42: Wide shot and zoom in of Dave stood outside Washington, pretty good footage.
00.42 - 01.01: Medium shot zoom in of Dave walking in Nisa local, zoom is jerky at the beginning but smooth's out towards the end.
01.01 - 01.30: Medium shot zoom in of Dave walking in Nisa local, zoom is jerky but not as bad as first shot so could be potentially usable.
01.30 - 01.34: Medium handheld shot of Foster Kenzie pocketing the can of spaghetti, unusable as the actor messes up and misses his pocket.
01.34 - 01.45: Medium handheld shot of Foster Kenzie pocketing the can of spaghetti, good shot but needs to be cut at beginning.
01.45 - 02.01: Handheld close up of Dave's back as he walks, alright quality at time but quite shaky.
02.01 - 02.21: Handheld medium shot of Foster Kenzie walking, pretty good quality.
02.21 - 02.51: Handheld medium shot of Dave following Foster Kenzie down the street, pretty good quality so is usable.
02.55 - 03.02: Handheld close up of Dave's face as he looks around nervously in the alley, very good quality.
03.02 - 03.15: Close up of Dave's back as he walks up the stairs of the alley, good quality.
03.15 - 03.27: Handheld close up of Dave walking up the alley then stopping as Kenzie steps out of the shadows behind him, great shot and good focus.
03.27 - 03.40: Handheld low angle of Dave getting him over the head by Kenzie, not particularly believable but decent quality.
03.40 - 03.43: Handheld low angle of Dave getting him over the head by Kenzie, blooper as actors aren't acting properly.
03.43 - 03.55: Handheld low angle of Dave getting him over the head by Kenzie then loomed over, good quality and pretty good acting.
03.55 - 04.03: Handheld low angle of Dave getting him over the head by Kenzie, very usable, great acting.
04.03 - 04.06: Handheld, close up blooper of Dave.
04.06 - 04.20: Handheld of Dave scrambling back to wall, great shot.
04.20 - 04.26: Shot of Kenzie looming over Dave after knocking him down, not great quality, not in shot for a lot of it.
04.26 - 04.30: High angle shot of Dave against wall, looking up at Foster Kenzie with fear in his eyes, great acting and nice close up of Dave.
04.30 - 04.38: Low angle handheld of Foster Kenzie revealing himself to be Dave, great acting.
04.38 - 04.43: Low angle handheld of Foster Kenzie revealing himself to be Dave, great quality.
04.43 - 05.01: Handheld from behind Dave of him walking down the street, out of focus.
05.01 - 05.12: Handheld from in front of Dave as he walks down the street, again out of focus.
05.12 - 05.18: Great quality of a close up of Dave as he sees the mugging taking place and walks off away from the crime.
05.18 - 05.28: Handheld of Dave walking away from the mugging scene, a bit out of focus.
05.28 - 05.31: Side shot blooper of a wall.
05.31 - 05.36: Side shot of Foster Kenzie throwing Paul against the wall, decent quality footage.
05.36 - 05.50: Side medium shot of Kenzie throwing Paul against the wall, similar quality to previous shot.
05.50 - 05.53: Medium shot of Kenzie throwing Paul against the wall, good quality.
05.53 - 05.56: Medium shot of Kenzie throwing Paul against the wall, not properly acting.
05.56 - 06.07: Side shot of Foster Kenzie throwing Paul against the wall, good quality but needs to be cut.
06.07 - 06.16: Handheld side shot of Kenzie throwing Paul against the wall, good quality and good acting.
06.16 - 06.28: Wide shot of Kenzie mugging Paul, great shot.
06.28 - 06.34: Medium side shot of Kenzie mugging Paul and walking away.





Performance - Maddie's SD card
00.00 - 00.01: Handheld unusable of Dave's arm.
00.01 - 00.03: Another unusable shot of the room.
00.03 - 03.46: Handheld close up, great shot of Dave singing all of Foster Kenzie- great focus.
03.46 - 05.22: Handheld close up of Dave sat down singing all of Foster Kenzie, bit too bright but still relatively good quality.
05.22 - 06.35: Handheld close up of Dave sat down singing all of Foster Kenzie, better brightness and some great acting towards the end.





Outbuilding performance - Maddie's SD card
00.00 - 01.43: Handheld different shots of band members in outbuilding practicing and playing their instruments, mainly good quality and in focus.
01.43 - 03.41: Lots of side shots and close ups of lead singer, great quality.
03.41 - 08.24: Eye level wide shot on a tripod, zooming in and out on lead singer.
08.24 - 10.32: Lots of close ups of iconography, handheld camera moving around the room to get differentiating shots.
10.32 - 12.00: Majorly close ups of guitarists in great focus.

Wednesday, 27 January 2016

LO3 - Photo evidence

Us presenting our media pitch.




These are pictures of us filming in town.



This is a picture of me doing the call sheet in class.

Monday, 18 January 2016

LO2 - Shot list

Shot lists are very important in both the planning and production stages of filming a music video. They are very helpful to look back on when filming so you know what you will need to do next, as well as being able to influence your storyboards. In the editing stage you will be able to look back on the shot list to create continuity for the film.
To give us ideas for our shot list we can look at other music videos and the angles/shot types they used to create their vision.

Shot list
- Wide shot of pub from other side of street, a couple of seconds pass and then Dave steps out.
- Goes to close up on Dave's face, looks slightly nervous- perspiring.
- Cuts back to wide shot of pub and Dave stood in the same spot outside, as he stands there we see two men pass (the other members of the band) by walking and chatting coming on from the left side of the screen and going off on the right. Two seconds after they are off screen Dave begins to walk towards the left of the screen- on beats cut to performance and back.
 Between this scene there are future shots of the music video's narrtive cut in to foreshadow the narrative (in order to further the mood and the protagonist thoughts)
Several seconds of performance from plug from front.
- Over the shoulder of Dave walking.
- There will be cuts to close ups of different places around Dave to foreshadow that he is Foster Kenzie committing these crimes or characteristics.
- Ghosting of the band's performance could be used in certain scenes and shots to make sure we have the same mood kept in the music video.
- Medium shot of an alley, camera at shoulder height- see two silhouettes in the alley, one mugging the other. Dave walks into view, looks over to the alley.
- Performance for a few seconds.
- Medium close up low angle on Dave's face from a handheld camera, see his reaction and then he begins to move away from camera, handheld camera follows his at the back. 
- Cuts to long shot in front of him, he continues walking straight towards the camera until his shirt obscures its view.
- Starts black at a straight on medium long shot, realise darkness is Dave's shirt and as he walks away from the camera with his back to it the view of him entering a shop (probably Nisa local) can be seen.
- Few seconds of performance
-  Low angle, tracking, of his face as he enters the store and begins to walk around. 
- Cuts to medium close up of Dave's hand reaching for a can of food, turns to split screen and both hands reaching for different food cans on the shelf. 
- Wide shot of Foster Kenzie stood on the left looking at can and Dave stood in the background having noticed Kenzie, Dave puts the can back in the background. Foster Kenzie walks off screen. 
- Few seconds of performance
- Handheld camera close up of Kenzie walking out of store, camera tracks Kenzie putting the can in his pocket as he leaves.
- Dave leaving shop there is jump cuts from different angles of him walking that change to the music's beat. Starts with a medium shot from the end of the aisle as he leaves the store.
- Cuts to a handheld camera following him from a medium close up from behind as he walks out of the store to pursue Foster Kenzie.
- Few seconds of performance
- Close up on his face of him looking around for Kenzie, we see him seem to spot Kenzie and he walks off-screen (camera pans) towards an alleyway.
- Wide shot from opposite end of alley as Dave enters it, then Kenzie coming up behind Dave and knocking him to the ground.
- Few seconds of performance
- High angle medium shot from above Dave, lying on the ground and clearly concussed, opening his eyes and squinting above him.
- Low angle from Dave's perspective, Kenzie walks into camera out of focus, he throws his hood down and his face comes into focus in time for the watcher to realise it is Dave. 

Maddie         Lauren           Ben



Assessed by Lewis, Jai and Ellis

What we've done well
Good use of detail, allows me to picture the exact shot a lot more easily
Good description of movement of camera throughout

Improvements
Vary angles slightly
Mention focus a bit more

We now need to ensure we have a variety of angles in our shots and mention the focus of the shots more.

Wednesday, 13 January 2016

LO2 - Presentation from Hugh Mann (Let there be light productions)

Hugh Mann is the director of 'let there be light' productions, a team of creative film and animation experts that are stationed in Sheffield. Mann decided one day when he participated in the creation of film that he needed to be a film maker, and started it all off by engaging in a short film competition, of which he won multiple awards for. Since then he set up the production company 'let there be light' and it has gradually grown into a more well-renowned business. On the 13th January 2016 he visited the UTC to talk to us about the importance of planning before shooting something.
Mann believes that film production is 80% planning, this includes: scheduling, scripting, storyboarding, animating, signing off the actors and signing off companies that are funding the production. In the event of creating a music video this will also include branding assets being filed (logos, text, etc. that are used in the video). He stressed to us the importance of building up a portfolio throughout your career and having business cards to hand out at networking events as it opens more doors for you as a director. Another issue you must tackle is health and safety, this is vital as the company is responsible for whatever happens- release forms and location consent forms are included in this.

The groups asked questions about his work at 'let there be light':

How do you deal with difficult crew members on set?
Patience and respect are important. You have to lead by example when you're in charge, that means no disrespecting anyone. Show them that you're willing to take on the crap jobs so that they will do them next time, you also need to also maintain a presence of control so that nobodies faith in you wavers.

How do you make your creations realistic?
When writing from a character's perspective you need to have the experience of people like them so that they are both believable and relatable, this means you need to do your research and go out and participate in activities. The actors that you choose also need to suit the roles well as they're really the ones that make the film. Props are also important as they make the setting more real, a believable set makes for a believable story.

What's the most important part of planning?
All of it. If you miss anything out in the planning stage it can ruin the rest of the project. It's not only the things I've mentioned before about getting release forms and hiring actors, it's also important to get food and water for the day for the actors so that they're satisfied.