Pictures from Filming!

We decided that we would have someone take pictures of us while filming as it shows elements of risk assessment we took care of as well as the situations we were in to get the shots we needed.

We can see that these pictures were taking during the filming of the bedroom scenes.

From all three pictures it is shown that the camera operator was put in some fairly difficult positions, shown in pictures one and two. By having to squat and balance to ensure certain shots looked good, again with picture 2, we wanted to ensure we got some diverse shots and this often caused the camera person to be temporarily put in an uncomfortable position.

Also Shown through the pictures is the specific placing of our seating arrangements. We specifically placed the props and the artist in front of the window as this allowed us to get all ambient lighting which created a realistic look to the video and ensured nothing was faked.

 This video also illustrates the artist miming which is obviously a vital part to music videos, if in the performance type.

 The pictures to the right show pictures from the shooting of the beach scenes at Brighton. 

These videos clearly show the camera operator in again some uncomfortable positions, especially sitting on the rocky beach.

This image shows the camera operator in an uncomfortable position as it was the only possible way to get the specific shot that we needed in this moment in time. It also shows however, one of the solutions we came up with for our rick assessment  this shows the use of wearing sensible shoes, so it stopped the camera operator slipping and gave her grip.

This picture illustaes the use also of ambient lighting. As shown in the picture it creates a nice effect on the image, you can also see it well on the water as a reflection which can help for a very beautiful image.

These images below are from filming in on of our forest locations.

We also used natural lighting in all the forest scenes, as we wanted to stick to the theme of naturalness in our video as it means we are conforming to our genre of music, Indie Folk.

This image also shows the camera operator again addressing one of the issues put forward in risk assessment. She wore different shoes to the beach shooting as these shows allowed more grip on the damp, slippy forestry floor.

Location Report!

We have put together a location report of all the specific locations we have used. The pictures shown  are not only the places we have filmed but the surrounding location.

These pictures illustrate the bedroom setting we used. all the scenes where filmed on the 'Chez-Lounge' so we did not need to take pictures of the surrounding area much because it is not shown in the video.

 These pictures show one of the forests we used. We have got pictures of the area we filmed as well as the surrounding area, as some of it may be seen in the background of the video.

These are the location pictures of our second forest setting. Like the other forestry pictures we added pictures of the surrounding area as it may be seen throughout the video.

 We only have one picture we took of Brighton Beach as the area in which we are filming is pretty basic and looks the same throughout. So this shows the surrounding area as well as the specific areas we are filming!

Camerawork in Our Video

In our music video, camerawork can be seen as a very important part of the indie/folk genre. Below is a in-depth description of the different types of camerawork in our video.

Shot Types.

In Indie Folk genre a variety of different camera shots were used to convey the narrative/performance in their video's.
We want to conform to the Indie/Folk genre so therefore we will be using the same camera shots as many indie folk video's. Such shots as closeups, long shots, medium shots, extreme long and extreme closeups, these are all extremely common in the indie folk videos we have watched before.

Below are some examples of the shots we specifically will be using in our video (We took shots of Lissie, our artists, other music video to show what shots we will be using):

 Medium  Shots
                                     Close Ups

Extreme Long Shots

                                        Long Shots


         
Medium Long Shots





We will be aiming to using as many as these shots as possible as they are conventional to the Indie Folk genre and also Lissie's music videos. Some of the shots such as an extreme long shots are slightly ambitious as it depends solely on the locations we have chosen and if we will be able too as some locations may cause a danger for us to film certain shots.

Camera Movement.

In our video we want there to be minimal movement as in the indie folk genre there is usually not that much movement, such as tracking/crane movements. However a convention of the indie folk genre is hand held camera work.

We will be using handheld only as we do not have the equipment to conduct tracking/crane movement etc.

Camera Angles.

In Indie Folk music videos, camera angles is not a prominent part of camerawork and is usually very basic and doesn't really include many angles. However we want to challenge this convention and use camera angles. We will be using both high and low camera angles as it gives a new perspective to the video that we would like to achieve it also keep the video interesting and stops the audience from being bored.

Editing in Our Video

In our music video, editing is not a very prominent part as the indie folk genre does not focus on editing, rather the mise-en-scene and camerawork. 

In the indie folk genre, there is hardly ever elaborate editing techniques used. The only editing that we usually see is, Fade to Blacks, Cutaways and colour correction.

As we want to conform to our genre characteristics as much as we possibly can, we have decided to also do Fade in/out to black, Colour correction to ensure the colour palette matches the tone of the song and Cutaways.

Fade in/out to black gives a smooth ease into the song, so instead of the song and visuals starting abruptly straight away, they slowly come on which ensure the audience aren't completely shocked or bored before the video has even started.

Using colour correction in our video makes sure we conform to the genre as usually, and from the videos we have analysed, the colour palette often matches the tone/atmosphere being created. Therefor as our song is quite solemn and sad, we are going to use colour correction on final cut express to match this mood. So we will be using cool tones such as blues and greys to ensure it matches, however we will not take it to the extreme were it looks silly, we still want it to look realistic.

We will be using Cutaways in our video to show time passing. For example we will have a shot in one location, then cutaway to another shot in the bedroom and then back to the forest where it seems our actor has moved along her journey rather than being in the same place.

We are aware that we are not using very fancy editing techniques or skills, but if we were doing a different genre we probably would, however in the indie folk genre not much editing is used so therefor we want to conform to that and make our video like some of the others.

Mise-En-Scene in Our Video

In our video for Here Before by Lissie, miss-en-scene is quite a big micro area we focus on especially as in Indie Folk music videos, such as ours, mise-en-scene plays a part in the video and create an atmosphere.

Our Mise-En-Scene
Below is the descriptions and pictures of the different parts of miss-en-scene.

Clothing

In our video, we have kept the clothing very simple by only using two different outfits throughout the whole video. As we have three locations this means that two of the locations have the same clothing. As the location of the bedroom is were the performance side of the video takes place, it is a different outfit to the beach and forest location.

The Bedroom clothes include a white jumper, neutral coloured shorts and bare feet. This is just kept simple as it make it seem like its just something that the artist put on, it also sticks to the neutral theme throughout the video.

Although part of the forest scenes are narrative and part are performance, the outfit stays the same. This out fit consists of a plain, cream dress made of chiffon so it flows nicely and creates a whimsical atmosphere. The artist is also barefoot in these scenes.

In final location of the beach, the outfit stays the same as the forest outfit as this links with our narrative and makes it seem as if our artist has traveled from the woods to the beach, following the lyrics of "I took the wrong way home".

All items in the pictures are the actual items we will be using for our music video.

Make-up and Hair

For Hair and makeup we wanted to conform to the genre of Indie Folk by keeping it natural, however we want to make the eye makeup more noticeable and appealing to the audience, so we will be adding more 'sparkle' to the eyes, however we will be keeping the face makeup and lip colour completely natural. 

For hair we have also decided to keep it natural as this conforms to the indie folk genre. We have decided that the hair will be down with a slight curl to it, we will also use no products in the hair as this will give it a more natural look and stop it from looking perfectly done which we don't want.

The pictures used for makeup and hair are images from Google however this is what we will be basing the makeup and hair on.

Lighting

Throughout our entire video we will be using ambient lighting to ensure that our video sticks to the natural theme we have throughout our video.  We decided that using ambient lighting is a lot easier as it creates natural and unforced shadows and highlights. We also figured that it would be better because we are planning to use colour correction in post-production anyway, as this conforms to the genre of indie folk as the colour palette often is parallel to the mood/tone of the song.

In our locations, luckily, they are very open so will allow the natural light to pour in and create a really nice effect.

Locations
When choosing our locations for our music video we kept into consideration what we have seen in indie folk music videos so far. A lot of the locations are natural such as a woodland area or river and then a homely place like a bedroom. Taking this into consideration we have decided to set our video in three different locations. These locations include a forest, a beach and a bedroom. We have a basic location recce of the exact locations we are using below.

We came up with our mise-en-scene when taking into consideration the typical trends that we have already seen in music videos and analysed.

Contacting Artist

We have decided to contact our chosen artist 'Lissie' in attempt to get permission to use her song 'Here Before'. By contacting the artist, it means that we have not used copyright of the song by claiming it is our own song. We decided to contact her through her official Facebook page. 

Below is a screen shot of her Facebook page and our request to use her song. 

As we have not yet got a reply, we will wait until we do get a reply and then go from there, if we do not get a reply we will assume that it is OK to use that song as we haven't been told otherwise.

Shooting Schedule

Above is the image of our shooting schedule. We have listed the days in which we will be shooting and where abouts we will be shooting on that day. This helps us to keep organised and also helps us realise how much time we have for the filming process before post-production needs to start taking place. We intend to stick to this schedule and not come off of it as it is crucial to keep on point with schedules- just like it would be in reality if working in the media industry.

Animatic!

Here is the animatic for our music video, an animatic is preliminary task that consist of putting a series pictures to a voice over or song to show the effect you want to create in the actual music video.

We took individual pictures of the shots on our storyboard, because that is the most recent ideas we have had, and placed them along side each other in there specific order according to the song. We used Final Cut Express to make this as it is the quickest and most reliable way to get our animatic ideas across.

In our animatic, we have had to re-use certain pictures to create the effect we wanted as in our music video there will be quite a few cutaways, and we felt it would have been pointless to keep drawing the same shots over and over again.

Doing an animatic is a great way to ensure that we know exactly what we will be doing not only in terms of camerawork but in terms of editing. It will help us have a clearer idea on what we want to create and how we can create it.

Risk Assessment

Our risk assessment states the risks that we may face when on our filming locations. We have described the risk, the severity of the risk and action we will take the ensure the risk is minimized.
Most of our risks are problems with locations such as rough or dodgy terrain, like the pebbles on the beach being uneven etc. These are risks we cannot stop from happening, however we can try our hardest to stop these risks from becoming a major issue.

Shot List

Above are our shot lists. This is just another overview of our video plan, like our storyboard however it is not illustrated. It is also a more detailed account of the different shots and what will be included in them.

We think that by doing a shot list it makes our vision of our video a lot clearer and will help us to understand the different shot types we will be filming. It will help us establish a filming order and also keep track of all the shots we need in certain locations.

Test Shots

Above is the video of our test shots. We tested certain shots that we thought needed to be practiced before our actual filming days, as this which ensure that some of the more difficult or possibly awkward shots go well and the way we want them to on the days that were filming. We filmed shots that included elements like manual focus, as with this camera we have not yet experienced manual focus.
We filmed all of these shots handheld, which we will not be doing on the day but we thought that we would use handheld as that way if the tripod does not work we have an alternative. We also tested certain shots that are from different angles such as the 'eyeline' shot which basically is where the camera is on the same level as the subject, in this case our actors feet.

From the test shots we have learned that we will need to:

• Ensure that we are very steady when using the camera (Handheld)
• We need to get our focus on point and not make it sloppy and out of time

Upon doing these test shots we feel fairly confident in the choices we have made for shooting and the angles and shots are all good to go and will be easier now thats we've practiced.

Our Storyboard.

Below is the images of our storyboard for our music video of "Here Before" by Lissie. 

Above are the images for our storyboard that we did for our music video of "Here Before" by Lissie.
We have stuck very closely to the original conventions of this song genre, which is indie folk, as we wanted the video to be true to its common trends that are seen in indie folk music videos. Some ways in which we have conformed to our genre is by having various shot types including, extreme-long shots, medium-longs shots and extreme closeups as well as more common shot types such as closeups and long shots. We have also used some variety with our camera positioning such as high angles shots and low angles shots and by using eye level shots. By using loads of variety of shots/angles etc we not only conform to the typical codes and conventions/trends, we also feel this is quite creative as there will be a lot to look at and it will keep the audience attracted to the video.
We have tried to be original and almost think outside the box for our video, this is seen through our use of focusing on the image such as shot 18, as there is a 'stick' in focus and the image of the girl is not but you can still see the girl moving in the background, this creates a ghostly atmosphere and we have not yet seen this in the indie folk videos that we have analysed, therefore it could be considered quite original and unique to our video.
In our video we have not challenged many conventions in the indie folk genre, however we have challenged the theories of Andrew Goodwin, by not using the theory of "Relationships between lyrics" and the "Relationships between visuals", we have also not followed his theory of "Notions of looking" which is quite common in indie folk videos.

We believe that our storyboard is very successful and it fits very well with our song, by also expressing the narrative and performance side of our video well and representing the genre and artist in a positive and typical light.