filming diary:day 5- re-film

Today we went back to Alex's house to re-film the pyro scene, as we needed better smoke etc. We needed to re-film the entirety of the scene though as the weather had changed meaning the continuity of the shots would have been non existent. We turned up without a storyboard or shot list as we knew exactly we needed to film and it took about an hour less than last time. We got rid of some shots that we thought were boring or didn't really add to the narrative and proceeded. This time, we wanted more shots of me lighting the pyro. This proved very difficult because we needed to be fast and precise with lack of mistakes. As we only had one pyro, we needed to film me light it, get on my bike and cycle, all whilst the person filming had to capture me lighting it, getting on my bike and then running to the car to film. This was hard because the pyro only lasted about 30 seconds from lighting to the smoke becoming thin and going out. We had rehearsed the manoeuvre around 5 times because we could not afford to slip up. We wanted as much footage as we could get with the pyro so we had to be well organised. Things went well and practising the event paid off as we didn't make a mistake.

Filming Diary-Day 4: 26th November

Some photos of the studio where we filmed

Yesterday we filmed the bulk of the video, the performance aspect in a studio. We had many doubts going into filming because our performers left Thornbury later than we had liked to get into Bristol. This made our group very stressed as we had booked the studio from 6-9 and we were weary of traffic accidents and other problems. Although we were anxious that our performers would not get there on time or be demotivated once they actually got there to film. We were also worried that if they had arrived late, we would not have filmed all the footage we needed because they needed to leave at 8:45 in order to get the bus home. However, we all arrived 25 minutes earlier than expected which allowed us to set up the mic, drums and all the audio we needed including the aux and linking them to the speakers etc. This 25 minutes also allowed us to go through the rhythm with the drummer and the lyrics with the singer, although both made an effort to learn them before the time of filming.
The filming went really well as we had planned in a lot of detail what we wanted to do and our group went through this numerous times before we got to the studio because we were worried we would run out of time. We had created a shot list with all the shots, camera angles and times we needed to film at. This allowed us to film pretty much for the full 2 hours 30 minutes as opposed to being unorganized and having to discuss with the group the next shots we wanted. However, we did have a few mistakes on our shot list with timings which held us back a couple on minutes which drained the battery even more.
The filming went better than expected and Pete and Josh took the job very seriously, which we wanted. They also wore appropriate clothing which linked with the conventions of the genre nicely and gave it an indie look and feel. As Josh is a confident performer, he could have a camera in his face and still perform to a high standard. This enabled us to film fully within the 3 hours and still have a lot of time left over. Another benefit we saw from utilizing a confident performer is that he knew how to get into character fast which saved us a lot of time and made the overall look of the clips look professional. Josh also studies film studies so he suggested some shots we could film to bulk out our video as we thought that some of the shots we were filming would become really repetitive when we started editing the sequence together.
We also used an experienced drummer who has been learning for the last 8 years.This was crucial for ours to look good because he knew when and what to hit and made the video look really professional in terms of the drumming. We were contemplating to not use Pete as we didn't think it would be worth it but we were all happy we decided to use him because he added more depth too the performance  and made it look much better.

Filming Diary-Day 3: 25th November After filming

Today we filmed the majority of our narrative. The filming went fairly well but i feel some of the footage and performers suffered as a result of the cold weather conditions.

Originally, we went to a local park in Thornbury to film. There were a few implications which delayed our filming. We required bikes to film on and to help develop our filming by using bike footage to get more shots, however, we could not use bikes to film because they were left at our old house and we didn't have keys to get in. More implications were down to the weather. As soon as we got the camera out to start filming, it started to rain and we didn't have a cover for it. This meant we had to delay our filming to protect the camera. On review, this was actually a good thing that it started raining because we had time to edit our idea on what to do as a result of not using bikes, which we had planned to use. Overall, i think the shooting went fairly well and we filmed everything we wanted to.
We then went to the industrial estate on the other side of Thornbury. This filming went well as we didn't have to change much to our idea. This allowed us to be confident on the camera and we filmed this piece relatively quicker than the previous scene. Also, our actors felt more comfortable in front of the camera in this scene which enabled us to film in less takes. Also, as it was freezing cold, our actors didn't want to stay out much longer so that's maybe why they took it more seriously. This scene consisted of 2 people spray painting a wall and then getting kicked out of the area by a member of public.
Furthermore, we could not film the third scene, to do with the fire because of the rain we encountered. The rain obviously made the floor and wood wet or damp meaning we could not start a fire. This isn't a major problem because we have enough time to film this aslong as the rest of the week is fairly dry, otherwise we may have to think about making a new narrative part to put in as a replacement.
Overall, the days filming went really well and is now available for editing together. Although there were a few implications, we managed to adapt to these and overcome the problems we faced.

Filming Diary-Day 3: 25th November Before Filming

Today we are planning to film the other pats of the narrative. This is the core of the narrative so we need to film 2/3 different scenes today, hopefully taking 2 hours combined as we know what we need to film. Having looked at the weather, we should be able to film all the intended scenes today as although it's cold, it is sunny/overcast. The scenes we are filming today are all outside so it is crucial bad weather hold off. Also, we need the weather to be different from the starting scene and the pyro scene as we want the continuity to be disrupted. As our narrative is about a man reminiscing his childhood through social interactions and crime, we don't want the mise en scene in terms of location and weather to be the same because it would make the video unrealistic because not all the memories he thinks of are what he did on the same day.
By the end of filming today, we expect to have all if not most of the narrative aspect completed. The first scene will hopefully be at  the local park, the protagonist meeting with friends and chatting. The social interaction is needed and also to be developed to link in with the original man, who is now lonely and bored. The second scene we hope to film is in a forest with a small fire. This may not be possible to film today as the floor is damp from recent rain, meaning all wood is wet. The final scene is spray painting an abandoned wall. This again shows social life and if more of the 'crime' aspect we want to portray. This should be fine to do although we are not 100% where the wall we are painiting is so we are going to have to ask friends for guidance of the location. Overall, we hope to have completed narrative by today so we can give ourselves as much time editing in lessons and in free periods, as the deadline is fast approaching.

Filming Diary: Day 2- 22nd November

Today we went to a surrounding neighborhood to film on our friend's land and the roads around his house. The scene we were doing was to do with pyros and followed 2 people around, messing about. We encountered various problems which may lead to a re-shoot day early next week! The scene we planned was for any weather bar rain and wind, so of course it was rainy and windy. We still shot the scene although some shots with the pyro looked poor as the wind was taking the colored smoke faster than we would have liked, leaving a vague smoke trail. As the conditions were poor, we had to change our idea from the storyboard. This proved dangerous as in some shots we messed up as we were running out of time. This lead to re-shooting to allow us more footage and different angles and movements of the camera with some shots turning out better as it gave us a variety of different shots.

There were some positives of filming today. Firstly, it allowed us to go through the actual scene beforehand, enabling us to get some sort of idea of what we were going to film. We needed to practice shoot before as we had limited pyros and did not want to waste any as they are fairly expensive. More benefits also were time management. Although we were running out of time, we managed our problems and filming within 2 hours. This means that if we need to re-film next week, we should have a vivid image of what it is exactly we are filming as well as the fact we know it should take less than 2 hours which is important as the nights get dark fast so filming time will be short.
Although there were a few positives, i feel that the whole filming was quite bad. We turned up unorganized for these conditions which added up to 30 mins more onto the filming time. Luckily, we only used 1 flare suggesting if re-filming is required, we will not have to wait for delivery of resources as we have one. Also, hopefully on Monday, if we need to re-film, the weather will be some what good and the wind and rain won't be a problem.
Next time we film, we will take into consideration the predicted weather forcast to make sure it is worth filming on that day, we don't want to waste more time if the footage we take is of worse quality.

.

Task 24: Photoshoot/Digipak Planning (Ancillary Task)

This is the under developed digipak design i want mine to entail. The other Task 24 has the actual photos i am going to use.

Task 21: storyboard and shotlist

This is the story board for our new idea.It allowed us to film what we needed and precisely what. I feel working with a story board is worth it because it gave us guidelines in terms of what to film. This helped because when we got ready to film, we knew what was coming next and could prepare easily, as opposed to not knowing what to film and being stuck in two minds. However, when filming we didn't do all the shots on the storyboard because we felt we didn't need to or that it was repetitive. Instead, we put some more clips in that we thought would look better. 

The shotlist also helped us a lot. Although we didn't really stick by the times, we can shorten the clips with editing techniques such as jump cuts. The shot list, i feel, was better than the storyboard because its more precise, there are no photos so you can sort of change the look of the image. However, sometimes i was vague and on task 21, i didn't specify what we were planning to film. It would have been easier to film with more shots named but i didn't know what my mum was willing to do. Overall, i think that they both contributed to our video nicely and were both detailed enough to get a video.

Filming Diary: First day filming: 18th November

On Saturday 18th of November, we went to film our first sequence of the music video. We filmed the very beginning and the very end of the video. We knew exactly what we needed to film as we had a storyboard with all our shots on.On Saturday, we filmed the part where an older man listens to the song in his car whilst on a journey and starts reminiscing his teenage years. This was quite a fast segment to film because we didn't have that much to film with Jim, Tom's dad.

There were many positives we took away from our first day filming; as it was our first time filming with a proper camera, we needed to get used to all the settings and filming with limited space. We found it fairly easy to get used to which allowed us more time filming, instead of setting up. We weren't in a time limit to film although it was raining and some of our shots were outside so we wanted to get it done fast so that our equipment wouldn't get wet and damaged, as it wasn't our camera and gear. Another positive was that our actor, Tom's Dad , took it very seriously. This was crucial as some of the shots were awkward and quite embarrassing, e.g. nodding his head back and forth for 5 seconds. Tom's dad was very good and his acting allowed us to complete the start and end of the video. We also filmed extra shots whilst we were there which were not on the storyboard. This enables our group to work with the footage and make the best looking video. I think it is important to film more than one shot for some scenes as when it comes to editing, we can edit the videos together to involve more editing techniques such as match on action, which would hopefully get our marks up.

On the other hand, there were some negatives and improvements we could act on. Firstly, for our scenes when we were driving, the roads we drove on were very bumpy leading to shaky footage. This could have been prevented through the usage of a stabilizer which smooths out the footage in terms of bumps and movements generally. Another negative was that it was raining. This didn't really affect us as we filmed in chronological order although we could not film different parts again that much. For instance, if we had filmed the very first shot of Tom's dad walking out the door and then got to the end of filming with the last shot we did which was Jim, Tom's dad, nodding his head. If we had then gone to film the start again after finding a fault in the footage etc, then it would have looked very bad as the lighting and mise en scene would have been different.

Overall, we had a very successful filming session and we got everything we wanted to film done with extra parts as well. However, next time we film, we will continue to make the continuity look perfect and we will also film some shots in the future again to make sure the footage is of the best quality.

Task 24: Photo shoot planning (Ancillary task)

These photos are like the ones i'm going to have on my digipak. This task was to get an idea of what we wanted and to experiment with angles, photos and mise en scene. When I re-take the photos, the backgrounds will be different and in different locations. It gave me an idea of what i wanted so when i say the same photos, they will be different but with the same aspects in them. On my digipak, i want a number of people, not just the same because i think it looks better. 

Improvements to video idea

We decided to make improvements to our idea after getting feedback from our pitch.

We have decided to improve our idea in terms of the narrtiv, actors and locations in order to make a better video. After we did our pitch, we received questions  about our video such as the fashion for the performance actors and more challengingly, questions regarding our narrative. We knew that our narrative was underdeveloped but weren't to bothered on it as we had an idea of the narraive, although not set in stone. From talking about improvemnets, we decided to speak to our teacher about a whole new narrative. This was a challenge for us as we did'nt really have any good ideasto do with the lyrics and how they could match the narrative. Our teacher gave us help and we came up with the narrative above. Our group are happy about the new narrative as when it comes to fiming, we will have a good idea of what we are doing and we now have an order of events in the narrative as before, it was all wish-wash. 

Task 23: Branding

Branding is an important aspect to consider when making an artist or band and it is crucial to consider what logo and font to use to stand out.

This task enabled me to think of a band name suitable to the genre of music we are covering. I picked a very basic logo as well as font, this is because in indie music, the bands or artists don't usually use both as their font is their logo. This task gave me a better understanding of why branding is so important for bands and how much thought has to go into thinking of a concept and then creating the brand. The logo and font will both feature on my digipak so i wanted it to look professional as well as bold and clear.

The font for the name of my band 'The Adroams' is going to look basic although unique. I think the font is a big part of the branding as many audience members look at fonts as a way to remember things. For instance, Bastille's very normal font with a triangle for an 'A' is a brand which most people know and as soon as they see the triangle, they think of Bastille. The font was found on Dafont.com which means that when it comes to making my digipak, i will be able to use the font and won't have to make it in Photoshop. This will hopefully give me more time to make the digipak.

The name, The Adroams, is a made up name which sort of links to other indie bands such as The Wombats, Bombay Bicycle Club, Hippo Campus and the Night Cafe. These names are quite random and just relate to everyday objects and places such as 'Bicycle' and 'Cafe'. The names are also random like Arctic Monkeys and Sundara Karma.




Another Brand I thought of was The Kings Club. The Kings Club expresses prestige and also involves codes and conventions of the genre. The Club part is also seen in other bands such as Two Door Cinema Club , Tokyo Police Club so it makes sense and isn't unique to have 'Club' in the name. The font that i am using is also from Dafont.com. I decided to look at the different fonts within the 'Script' section of fonts. The font I think will suit the genre as well as the prestige to the actual name is 'Heading' by Zantafonts. The font looks simplistic although still prestigious and is very clear to read, this was also a key part of picking this font because most script fonts have a lot of wavey lines in that aren't that easy to read. The logo will also have connotations of 'Kings' and royalty. As the band is called 'The kings Club' I think it would be suitable to have the logo as a crown. The crown would be a very basic as the image suggests. I am also going to keep the logo fairly dull because Indie bands and artists are known for their lack of color. Artists such as The kooks, The 1975 and Catfish And The Bottlemen all use just black and white in their logos although some artists like Foster The People do use limited colours such and blue and yellow to make the logo more vibrant and more appealing to the eye. From conducting this research and seeing that some artists use color and some don't, I am going to include yellow/gold on my logo to make it seem more eye catching.

Task 19: Fashion and props

Task 18: Initial pitch

Task 11: Photo shoot and edit

Photo-shoot for practice 

Edit for digipak

Task 8 part 3 : Focus group

Focus Group from Tom Cornock on Vimeo.

This task was to look at previous student's work and talk about what we liked and disliked. From this task i learnt that looking at other work could influence my ideas and help motivate some ideas of what to include. We looked through work and wrote down what we saw, liked and disliked which i felt was useful. It also gave us a chance to see other work and how good it was. This helped me as i could match up with someone on a similar target grade which allowed me to see what i need to do in my final piece. As we spoke about different elements, it was nice to hear what my group liked as we could then base ideas around stuff we wanted in our final piece.

Task 20: Location

Here are a few shots of our location. As you can see there are many different places we can use and a lot of it is outside, allowing us to make noise. It is also about 3 miles away from Thornbury and traffic is minimal so hopefully using a pyro around here won't be a hassle.