Equipment Used

Equipment

The equipment I will use for filming and for still images to be taken for my planning and research is my own camera and tripod. The reason I have chosen to use my own equipment because I am familiar with it and know how to use it effectively. However I have only ever used my camera mainly for still images so when it comes to filming I may not understand how to use my camera correctly for filming but I am going use the method or trail and error till I get it right. However if I do not manage to understand how to fully work my camera filming I will use one of the camera available at college purely for filming purposes. In addition to all this I fortunately have my own tripod, here are some images and information on my equipment. 

These two images are of my own camera that I own, I have some information on my camera;

Nikon Coolpix L820



Camera resolution - 16MPixel

Frames per second - 8 fps

Image sensor type - BSI CMOS

ISO sensitivity min - 125

ISO sensitivity max - 3,200

Video resolution - 1920x1080

Video frame rate - 30 fps

Tripod;

The above image is of the Tripod that I own, my tripod is a Tevion camera tripod is 60-153cm, max profile thickness 20mm and all weather resistant.

Health and Safety

Health and Safety

Hazard	Location	What/Who’s at risk	Controls	Chance of damage/injury	Risk	Action taken if hazard happens
Potentially falling onto train tracks	Beverly and Hull Train station	Actors – Dan and Zoe	Before filming establish the safety line used as a safety measure to prevent people getting to close to the train tracks. Also place equipment in a secure setting whilst filming	Medium	High	If someone was to fall into the tracks, immediately seek attention and alert the staff security at the train station what has happened and usher the person who has fallen to quickly try and remove themselves from the tracks.
Smashed class, causing cuts and scratches	Outside rural area	Actor – Dan	When filming throw and smash the glass bottle in a controlled manner and make sure the actor throws the bottle in way that prevents the most damage.	High	High	If someone is to be injured or cut by the smashed glass, immediately seek medical attention.
Potential of been knocked over by a car or distracting traffic	Busy road	Actors – Daniel and Zoe Me – Director Equipment	Clear the area before filming and check the amount of traffic that normally passes down that specific road. Place equipment in a secure setting whilst filming.	Medium	High	If someone to was to be knocked over a by a vehicle seek medical attention immediately. Also if filming becomes hazardous to traffic more the shoot to a more appropriate location.
Scratches and scrapes from flower stalks.	Town arcade	Actors – Daniel and Zoe	When filming throw the flowers in a controlled manner and make sure the actors hold the flowers in a way that prevents the most scratches.	Low	Low	If someone is to get cut by the thorns use appropriate first aid to treat the wounds.

Shooting Organisation

Shooting Organisation
For my music video I only need to actors, so to communicate with them I have used different variations of message such as through Facebook messaging and using the app Whatsapp. I had to communicate with my actors to consider dates and times and how we will be getting from different location that I will be shooting at. Luckily enough I drive and have my own car so means of transport are not an issue. My actor and actress live fairly close to me so organising where to pick them up in terms of direction was also not an issue. Also within this group chat and separate individual messages I will give my actor and actress descriptions on what costume and make-up they require to wear for each shoot. As my video is narrative based my actors need to have good performance skills, as in one of my previous posts I have given description of my actor’s backgrounds, and as Daniel is a drama student he is ideal to perform the lead role in my video. Below are some screen shots of the initial group chat between me and my actors and how we have organised timing and dates to shoot.

 

From the group chat we have organised a day for shooting Sunday the 7^th of December as this was the most convenient day for everyone considering college and part time jobs. Initially I had the idea to film one day after college but this was not ideal because as college finished at 4:00 the sun sets to early making it difficult to film successfully. Also adding to this by time we travelled to locations and set up the equipment it would be too dark to get any sufficient footage, so we have organised a weekend day to shoot as I will have suitable hours to get filming done and time to travel to necessary locations.

I also looked at the weather forecast for my day of filming using the BBC website for a seven day forecast.  From this weather forecast I was given information on sun rise and sun set this.  

Second day of shooting, from my first day of shooting I was unable to gather enough footage to edit so therefore oragnised a second day for shooting on the 18th of December.

Test Shots

Before I began shooting for my music video, I thought it would be a good idea to take a few test shoots with my actors. By doing this it would get me used to the camera in which I was using, how to direct my actors efficiently and to see if specific locations and ideas for my video where ideal and easy to access in case of needing to re-shoot. Below are some examples of the test shoots I have taken at Beverly Westwood and my own home with my actors Dan and Louise.

( Sound- as the videos have not been edited the sound may need to be switched off when watching) 

From doing the test shots it has helped me understand how to use the camera correctly in terms of getting the right shots and how to take all aspects into consideration, such as lighting, camera angle, camera movement and mise en scene. Also it has helped me realise that using my own camera was not a good idea as the quality of the shots where not to great, therefore when actually shooting for my video I will take out one of colleges cameras. Adding to this I have also changed my idea on certain locations due to difficulty travelling there and the feeling that it did not fit well with my narrative, so I have decided to change the location of Beverly Westwood to a more built up housing estate and no longer  using my house as a location either, due to the fact that household possessions with the shot made the video look slightly unprofessional and not well thought out. 

Talent Release Forms

I have decided to get my actors to sign a release form, I feel by doing this it has given me an insight into how real producers and directors would go about protecting there film or media text. By getting my actors to sign a talent release form they are consenting to being involved in my video. 

Casting List

Daniel Rothery 

Dan will be my lead role in my music video, I asked to be involved in my video because he is an experienced actor and is used to been in front of the camera, as he is a performing acts and drama student. As well as this Dan is a film and media student so when it comes to filming he will be able to add inputs when comes to certain aspects of filming. As Dan is a friend of mine and I believe he will be reliable and trustworthy to take on the responsibility of playing the lead role. The role in which Dan will take on is a lovelorn individual who has realised his wrong doings within a relationship and is hoping to win back his ex partner. 

Louise Clark 

Louise will play my lead female role in my music video. I asked Louise to star in my video because I know from previous work she is reliable and willing. For example last year she played the lead role in my short film for my AS Film studies coursework. Additionally Louise is a fashion design student so she will also bring input to my video in terms of costume and make up as she will be able to advise me on what outfits will work for different scenes. The role in which Louise will take on is the love interest to the main actor Dan, she will not be of central focus but will help the narrative progress. 

Conventions - Genre

Indie pop genre 

From researching the conventions of music videos I have a broad range of understanding and awareness of how these conventions are interpreted in various genres of music videos. For example in rock music videos typical conventions used are band performance or live footage, equally within pop videos the audience expect to see bright colours, lip-syncing, choreography and performance. For my own music video the genre in which I want it to be associated with is indie-pop because that is the typical genre my artist is recognized for. I have looked at both the indie and pop genre separately to see how conventions from both genres overlap to create the cross over genre ‘indie-pop’. I have researched both genres as a whole; by looking at various other media outlets such as fashion, magazines, film and music videos it has helped me to gain a wider knowledge on how to apply these conventions to my own video to appeal to a indie-pop audience.

From my research these are the codes and conventions I have found for the indie-pop genre; 

• Performance is often expected within this genre of music video, however if the genre is interlinked with another genre such as ‘indie-rock’ it is very common for artists to do a live performance for their music video. This way the main focus is on the artists and it keeps the spotlight on the actual music and talent of the artist.

• Indie pop music videos are known to be low budget due to the fact that the artists are signed to independent record labels. The main settings used are in; studios, cities, parks and woods all are which are available with a low budget. These locations create mysteries which makes the audience focus more on the performance and actual music.
• A narrative is used to tell a story by using sequence of images and videos related to the song; this enables the audience to the meaning behind the song, as technology has advanced, directors are able to create a variation of storytelling created by special effects making the video a lot more interesting for the audience, this helps the artist gain recognition and status from a memorable video.  
• Indie pop music videos are generally simple. Props, costumes, make up, etc. are usually modest and natural linking to the verisimilitude that is usually created. A prop can complete a scene as audiences can physically see what the character/artist is doing within in the scene. Costume and make up create the character within the video. It indicated their age, wealth, status, era of the music video and stability. For example in Taylor Swifts ‘Blank Space’ the use of the costume and make up helps the audience understand her wealth and status in the video.
• With sound in indie pop music videos dialogue is often used within the video either at the beginning or the end to tell or conclude a story. It is also sometimes used to distort, fade, increase or decrease the tempo to express a character or artists emotions. Obviously the soundtrack to the song is put with the video, often actions within scenes match the lyrics to the song.
• In terms of cinematography the most common shots used are extreme, close ups and medium close ups this introduces the artist or the protagonist character to the audience and also is used to show expression of emotions. Long shots and establishing shots are used to show the setting of the video. Tilts and pans are used to either move along the scene or cut to another scene. Typically in indie pop music videos there is use of both handheld and Steadicam to create various effects to fit the narrative.
• In terms of editing filters are typically used over the top of clips or the entire video to give the video a specific feel and idea to the audience, such as a memory, age to the video or show the video in a positive or negative light. Fast and slow cuts throughout the video are used to match the pace of the song creating the atmosphere of the music video.

Props needed

When it comes to shooting my video I will need various props to create verisimilitude within my video. When drawing out my storyboard and visualising my ideas, I catergorised all the props needed for my video. Here is a list of the props I will need when shooting;

•Wine Bottle 

•Red roses 

Storyboard animatic

Storyboard

This powerpoint shows my storyboard images cut down and put in order left to right on each slide. As I have the idea to repeat sections in my video, the powerpoint only shows the necessary images but on the animatic I will show which sections have been repeated. 

When drawing up my ideas, I also had a grid to fill in, in terms of sound, editing, mise en scene and cinematography as shown on the image to the left. Doing this was good when it came to filming because I had reference back to my idea on how I wanted specific shots to look like int terms of all the features mentioned above. 

colour connotations

As my video has a linear narrative that portrays emotion, the best way to show this to the audience is through the use of colour. Therefore I have looked at colour connotations so therefore when it comes to editing I know what filters to add, and when shooting what costumes, make up, background and props should be used to show a certain emotion. 

As my narrative is based on the love, from this research I have found that the main colours that should be used are red to signify passion, black as it is associated with the unknown and sometimes despair and finally white as signifies purity and honesty. From looking at the connotations behind the colours mentioned above I have also found that different shades of colours can signify different meaning so that the tint and brightness of colours also needs to be carefully thought about when planning my video. 

mise en scene ideas

In terms of mise en scene ideas such as costumes and props I have decided to create various mood boards for my ideas.

Costume 

In terms of costume for both my male and female actors I want them to be dressed in fairly plain colours such as white, black and navy, as I want them to look just like ordinary people and keep with my theme of using black and white filters throughout my video. Also I want Dan to wear converse trainers as they keep with the idea of the casual look and they are a well known brand the audience will recognise and can look rough and worn in, which adds to the idea of Dan being a 'mess' which therefore has a direct link to the lyrics and title of the song. From my mood board above I have put up images of jeans and legging both for Dan and Zoe because these are recognised as everyday items of clothing not stereotyping them as something glamorous but rather ordinary and can be relatable.

Location 
For location I want several locations to keep my audience interested, however I want each location to be quite urban and built up as shown in my mood board above. Specific locations that I want in my video are a train station, built up housing estate, main road and a brick wall. All these locations are easy accessible and are public therefore will not need to gain permission to use the locations. Once again similar to my costume ideas I want urban locations because they link well to the aesthetic of the video and help the audience understand the genre if the video as indie pop artists do not have a large budget to make videos like pop artists who can pay lots of money for studios to get more of a high end looking video. 

My initial ideas for my video in terms of mise en scene are quite simple for example with the female actress I want her to be as natural as possible in terms of hair and make up. When it comes to filming I will just ask my actress to wear her everyday make up and have her hair down usually how she would have it normally. Therefore there is no specific planning for the hair and make up side of the the video as my actor will not wear make up and my actress will just have natural make up on, so I do not need to practise any make up trials or hair styles for my video. 

Where my video will feature

For the advertisement side of my video the easiest way for my target audience to access my video is through using official and familiar sites such as YouTube, or posting it on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Through using social media this is encouraging web 2.0.

When it comes to promoting my video the main site that I would use is YouTube and within YouTube artists have their own Vevo account used to upload videos of their new music videos. YouTube is a worldwide media platform used daily; here are some statics on the viewership of YouTube;

•More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month

•Over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube—that's almost an hour for every person on Earth

•100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute

•80% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US

•YouTube is localised in 61 countries and across 61 languages

•Millions of subscriptions happen each day. The number of people subscribing daily is up more than 3 times since last year, and the number of daily subscriptions is up more than 4 times since last year

With YouTube it is easy to upload and post videos and you are able to post comments on the site, in addition YouTube is widely used worldwide therefore my target audience will be able to use the social media platform with ease to view my music video. Including Facebook and Twitter, YouTube converges with these sites to promote music videos as Tweets and Status’ will give links to the YouTube page for my video to be viewed.

Below I have posted certain media platforms that I will use to promote my music video, here are some statists on some of the various sites.;

Twitter –

Over 241 million monthly active Twitter users
184 million monthly active users using mobile
The cost of a 24 hour promoted trend runs about $200 thousand
70 minutes – The average time per month spent by users on Twitter
Twitter has a market cap of about 27 billion
Average number of followers per twitter user is 208

From the above statistics it is clear how powerful certain media platforms can be in terms of promotion as they reach a vast worldwide audience. With Facebook I would create a Facebook page solely for my artist and post the music video on their page for all their followers to see.

Inspiration - Existing Music videos

Inspiration - Existing Music videos

When it came to coming up with ideas for my music videos, I began my research by looking at existing music videos and then from these music videos I took some of the ideas I liked and transferred these ideas to my music videos. Here are some example of ideas I liked to include within my video.

 I have taken inspiration from The Little Comets 'Isles', I particularly like this shot on the left, for example I like the placement and framing of the shot and feel this would suite well within the narrative of my video in terms of Mise en scene and cinematography of this shot. However I do not want the shot to be a still shot I want there to be certain movement, for example also from their video they have a shot where certain actions are sped up put there is focus on the setting that makes the shot remain in real time and has the effect that time passes quickly. To the left, the bottom screen shot shows how this effect is put into action within a music video. As the setting remains constant the action within the setting is sped up for example the moving cars and change of the sky throughout the day. I would use time-lapse to create this desired effect. 



Another music video that I have taken further inspiration from is Jessie Ware's 'Tough Love' here are some screen shots of the specific effects that I like and may potentially use in my music video; 

This screen shot is an overlap of two images that are contrasted to both be visible without one image over-powering the other, I like this effect used in the video because it is a gradual transition of a dissolve which helps the video flow and have continuity. 

In this part of the video the shot is shown as a 180 degree turn, whist there is a zoom. This adds movement to the video which I think makes the video more interesting rather than just a still shot. 

Similarly to the first screen shot this is another overlap shot, which follows the same theme of the rose, but in this shot the petals are falling, this adds to the narrative of the video also adding continuity to the video. 

These are just a few of the screen shots taken from the video of the certain effects I like that, here is the full video to understand the concept behind the video and learn how the video uses specific effects which makes the video interesting and make the audience want to carry on watching.