Wednesday 30 November 2011

Looking at other Bands Poster

Before we started on our poster for our band I looked into what other bands have created to promote their CD being realised. I found a few images that could help with us creating the right poster for our CD. The poster normally has the same image as the CD has on it but with different information. The poster normally shows; the artists name, what the CD is called and when it is out. Extra things would be websites of the band, where you can buy the CD and possibly when the band is next touring.


Wednesday 23 November 2011

second draft of digipak

These are some more photos I took and then edited to help us decided what idea we were going for with our digipak front cover.



We ended up deciding on using an image of a tree to put as our frount cover of our digipak, as we could edit the image to a style that we felt represented the satr image of the band.

First drafts of Digipak

Colabrating all the ideas that we came up with for this distored image we found an image that colabrated all these ideas on google images. We will now go and take our of picture and create this similer idea and concept to help us produce our front cover of our Digipak. These are just ideas to help us.
We decided on the name of 'Dawin in Eden' after we decided to create this confussing image of the band, we had to decided on an album name but we haven't quite decided wether or not 'ignorance' gives the same message as the band name and cover gave off. It needs to also connect to this concept of a distored image.
We are trying all different desighns, from people to nature to trees:

Digipak - Ideas

 Our idea for our music video developed from a skins video from YouTube, they used distorted images to show what her life is like in Skins. So we asked ourselves the question that the people who edited the video would have looked into, 'How does it feel for someone who has lost everything?'. Looking into this concept of losting everything we got the idea from both our music video and the Skins video that we are trying to capture this blurred world and images that are surrounding both our characters in our music video and Effy from skins. They  both use distorted and shattered images to create this world that they are living in.
So for our Digipak we looked on google images for some ideas of blurred images, we came across blurred lights and blurred figures that create what we wanted to capture. This lost, confused and broken look through someones point of view. So we will take away this idea of distorted images and create something using lights,shadows and people that will make a confusing front cover to our Digipak.

Digipak and Advertisement

Thursday 10 November 2011

On Campuse Perfomace - Shoot

Monday 8th November, the day of our Music video shoots. We started off on campus in the studio, starting with our performance element. We had three man band Charlie, Oscar and Freddie who listened and cooperated very well with what we chucked at them. At 9 we started setting up the camera and putting the band in place to get them rehearsing. As we were setting up the camera and making sure everything was ready to start shooting, but as we were just about to start band practice, Freddie our basest of the band had to be taken out to do a November assessment which he wouldn’t be done until 10 which meant pushing back our performance shoot till then. Which didn’t really matter as it meant we got the chance to properly rehearse the other two members.

 
At 10 we got started straight away with a wide shot of the whole band, Due to our set and the way our lighting is set up we decided it would look more effective with the bigger camera that was slightly more technical but after getting the hang of it we felt that it would give us a great outcome.
                                    
                                     

So far we were getting all the shots that we wanted and decided for our final few shots on performace that we  would use tracking to pan round the band to capture different angles and try something different to try and get more interseting shoots to add to what we had produced all from the morning shoot. We layed out the track and had the chance to sit on a chair and cotrol what we wanted the camera to do by follwoing the bands movement.

After we were happy we got all the shots we wanted of the band we did a last check that we got all the shoots we wanted, by going through the list of shots we wrote down. We finally finshed shoot the perfomace at 12.30. We were ready to set off for our location set in guildford and shoot the narritive.

Guildford car park - Shoot

After spending the morning shoot the band shoots we needed, we moved too our location shoot at about 5pm. We packed up the bus with all the equipment we needed camera, tripod, paramedic uniform, fake blood and all the cast members. It took us about half an hour to get there but didn’t start shooting until 6. We had a few problems with getting one of our cast members their as he had to drive in his car so that we could use it in the shoot and the directions weren’t very clear but he finally arrived and was ready to start shooting.
          


We used the smaller camera this time as the other camera was better for our performance shots. The majority of our shots were done in slow motion so that we could capture the drama and reactions of the event that was unfolding I feel this worked very well as it captured what we really wanted which was the emotions of the shots.

Our cast was made up of 5 people and we asked a few other people to step in when were there. Connor and Pete were the main characters with Rose and Henry as on lookers at the last minute I had to step in with Henry so we could act together. Charlie who was our fifth person actually wasn’t need in the end due to the way things were shot in the end. Phil who is a teacher at school acted in the video as well to give us a different age range between the main characters and the extras. These worked well and give us a great contrast.   




Not only did we use the normal camera but we also used a smaller camera that could be put on top of the car to try and get the effect of a paramedic coming into the scene. It was too expensive to higher out a real ambulance so we used a teachers car and put a blue flashing light on top of the car to try and capture this idea with out actually showing the car. The camera got some good shots of the car coming in at speed and creating a panicked atmosphere.   

Music Video - Setting up and Shoot day

As a group we decided a good way of showing how we set up and decided what the set would look like would be a video diary, so as we set up and got ready for shoot day we used a camera and our phone to record and take pictures of our video set. We enjoyed doing this as it was a different way of recording the events that happened and its more interesting then just simply putting photos up.

The video shows all the different things that had to be done before the day of the shoot to make sure everything ran smoothly. We first of all cleared out everything from the last shoot and took down all the lights so we could have a blank canvas to start over again. We then decided what position our lights should be in so that we got the setting we wanted. Once the lights were up and checked we started to move in all the instruments and put them in place ready for the band members on Monday. We were then ready to shoot what shots we wanted of our performace side to our music video.


As Imii struggled to put it up on blogger straight from her computer, me and her decided that if I created a YouTube account We could put it on to YouTube and then upload it on to our blogs. This was a lot easier as it didn't take long to set up an account and it also means we can share our experiences with other people on YouTube.


Tuesday 8 November 2011

Band practice

To get ready for our shoot day we decided on do a badn practice to make sure everyone was clear on what part of the band they will be playing and that they new the chords and lyrics and deffenetly heard the song before the day. That was important as we couldn't have them turning up on the day not knowing anything they were do let alone not knowing the song. We did this pactice one evening to make sure we were all free at the same time so that we could record it:

As it was quite difficult to get Freddie who is in another house over to our house we asked Oscar (the drummer) to learn his part so that if he had a chance before Monday he could teach it to it which made the process a lot quicker.

Charlie who is our lead singer and Guitarist he had to learn both lyrics and guitar part ready for Mondays shoot. Learn the lyrics wasnt that difficult for him as we had to cut down the song any way from 5 minutes to 3 minutes which meant charlie didn't have so much to lear and could consantrate mroe on the guitar part. He took away the chords and came to the shoot on Monday ready to get on and shoot.



Oscar worked on the drum part for the video and found it easy to learn and we were pleased with how well he got into his part.



Narrtive practise

As our narrative element of our music video was very intense we decided that we need to get the two main characters Connor and Peter together to have a practise so they didn't get embarrassed or awkwardness; that may happen on the day. We needed them to get it all out before the shoot so we could get on the shoot as quickly as we could. So we did it in a room with just those two and Me and Fergus and we just practised doing compressions so that Connor wouldn't hurt Pete.

Thursday 3 November 2011

Videos that worried us about our idea

This was a video by radiohead called Just that we looked at on youtube that worried us as it had a very similer concepts to our first idea. After looking at it and going away and adding some different elements to our video we felt a lot mroe possitive and felt we could pull of our new idea.



Too double check that there were no other videos similer to our idea we googled 'ambulance music video' to see what else had been done. First oen we found was this:



Then came across this country track which had a slight comdy factor to it:


and then this one by Nikelback


We knew that nothing would be completely original that we came up with but it was mroe the way we executed our idea that will make it a sucess and give it its unique identity.

Quote from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1996):  “Creativity results from the interaction of a system composed of three elements:  a culture that contains symbolic rules, a person who brings novelty into the symbolic domain, and a field of experts who recognize and validate the innovation.”

Other quotes on creativity:

"The making of the new and the re arranging of the old" (Bentley 1997)

"A process needed for problem solving...not a special gift enjoyed by a few but a common ability possessed by most people" (Jones 1993)

Final Decision on Location

 Guildford car park was our final attement at trying to get a public place to shoot at, after trying so many times to ring up south west trains for permission to shoot at Horsley station we decided that it would be a safer opposition to use the contacts the school had and asked permission from Guildford bough counsel to shoot in Guildford station car park, we got the all clear for shooting on Monday 7th November. This is a perfect location and it meant we could have public reactions watching this scene unfold. We could use huge amounts of space and set the scene perfectly in this quite car park in the early evening.
We felt a lot better now that we had finally sorted out the off campus location. Guildford is a perfect location as it only takes half an hour from school to get to and it meant that our cast could get home easily as it was close for them as well so it was very convenient.

Extra props and cast

Cast List

A2’s
AS’s
  • Charlie Lindsay – Lead Vocalist
  • Oscar Jackson – Drummer
  • Connor Vickery – Performing CPR
  • Rose Salvage – Passer by
  • Charlie Manton – Passer by
  • Freddie Dixon – Bassist
  • Peter Bergin – Collapsed guy
  • Henry Hammond – Passer by


As a few cast members we had origanally decided to use were busy or had other priorities, we decided to use Charlie Lindsay as both the Lead Vocalist and Guitarist. This would make it easy to contorl as well only have a three man band.  

Props List

School will provide:
We will provide:
  • Fake Blood
  • Blue flashing light (ambulance)
  • Paramedic Outfit: fluorescent jacket, green trousers and green shirt
  • Mic
  • Mic stand
  • Electric Guitar
  • Bass Guitar
  • Business Suit - Phil
  • Bag of shopping (things that can roll and be visually interesting) – can of baked beans, oranges etc.
  • Drum kit – Oscar Jackson

 
Due to the fact that an ambulance would be too difficult to source, we have decided to just get a blue flashing LED light. We have looked on amazon at possible blue lights that we could buy cheaply.

Letter to recording company


We sent a letter to the record label that released Our bands song ‘Climbing up the Walls’ in order to ask their permission to use their song in our video and to confirm that we can go ahead.

To Parlophone Records,

We are a group of A Level students working on an A Level project for a qualification in Media Studies. We are writing to request permission to use the following track as part of this project:

Radiohead, Climbing up the Walls (Ok Computer)

With your permission the track would be used as the accompaniment to a short form video that is made purely for assessment purpose and will have no commercial usage. The video will be viewed only by members of the school community and the assessor of the examination board.

The artists and the copyright holder will of course be fully recognised in the pre-production and evaluation materials that accompanies the project. We can also include a full copyright notice if required both in the planning material and on the video itself.

Yours Sincerely,

Fergus Brown, Imogen Holmes and Laura Cheese
Hurtwood House School

Thursday 20 October 2011

Check List for Day of shoot

To Make sure we are extra organised we made a check list of everrything that we need on the day or that we need to take with us off campus. Just incase we forget something on the day we will be able to check.

Wednesday 19 October 2011

Day of shooting

Final powerpoint for music video

When presenting our final idea we decided on who our target audience should be and what we wanted to show in our music video. The style of editing was important for us as we wanted some quick shots to show images over lapping and merging in with the band shots.



The narrative had to me quite deep as it had to reflect what we felt the music reflected and the lyrics. We wanted it to apple to a young audience and maybe relate to how they might feel about serious topics. The band are very alternative and this is reflected in their music especially in the song that we pick, it has a lot of meaning.

The cast

 The band image was quite important we wanted a boy band that had a image that teenage boys could relate too and a band that would also attract teenagers girls. They will wear leather jackets, high tops and skinny jeans showing an emo/punk sort of look.
The Two main characters needed to look a like if we wanted to pass them off as brothers or even a similar sort of ages to show their friendship. Both boys will be wearing every day cloths with a big jacket to show the time of the year. The characters may attract to the audience as they are two young males so girls may find them attractive. Also the situation that happens my relate to some audience members.


Tuesday 18 October 2011

Animatic


Our animatic shows roughly what we want to achieve on the day of our shoot, we tried to make the images fit as well as we could with the music so that we could all have an idea of what our end product may be. It didn't work as well as we hoped but it still came out pretty well concidering. The images are quite hard to understand but its rough and works with the music.

Tuesday 11 October 2011

Story Bored



Our story bored shows each shot idea and what we want to achieve in each shot and how we are going to actually achieve this. We had difficulty coming up with our final idea but once we listened to the song over and over again finally ideas started to flow and we came up with a moving idea that would fit well with the song. Even though the drawing aren't very clear we have this image of watch a struggle for a friend or family member as they collapsed for an unexpected reason causing panic and upset. This was a dramatic change from what we first wanted to go with but after actually concentrating on the meaning of the song we felt this reflected the lyrics a lot better.  

Practis shots

The practis shots helped us visualise what our targets actual where for our shooting day. It also gave us a chance to see if it would work as an idea and reflect what we wanted to put across to our audience. We enjoyed taking these shots and it got us personally in the shoes of our character and how we felt we wanted to pull of this dramatic scene and help it unfold. It gave us a chance to sorce the angles and type of shot we need to pull off the right image and style. Even though the location is going to be different we still found a public place to try out the shots.


Cast list

Our cast list shows all the theatre students who we felt would fit the character and act out what we had in mind for our character. We needed good actors to be able to pull off the style of acting that we needed which was very naturalistic. We then cut these down so that we didn't have too many cast members, which would make it to manic on the day trying to control everyone.

Monday 10 October 2011

Lighting inspiration for Band



Muse, Neutron star collision influenced the way we wanted to light out band. It shows the lighting and setting design that would fit perfectly with climbing up the walls as it kept the mystery to the words and kept it to a dark side like the song reflects. It also hides the identiy of the band members and shows that their band image is different compared to a normal boy band.

Location for our music video

We have had a few problems with locations of our shoot, the band is simple we will sort all the lighting and setting in the studio. The problem is our off campus location we haven't quite decided where it will be we are having a look in to local stations and shopping centres to see if any of those would be a possibility. So far we haven't found any where. 
 Horsley is one of our ideas for off campus set as it has a big outside area and still looks like a station so that your not shooting right on the edge of the station for health and safety.
 Guildford is a busy shopping street that would be ideal but it is hard to get permission to film on the main high street
We also looked at sainsburys in Cobham as another possible shopping centre but once again the permission will be too hard. 

Wednesday 5 October 2011

Lighting and Setting

Our setting and lighting is quite plain, the idea for the band lighting is to putting the lighting so that the member's of the bands our silhouetted in the pool of light. We will have a plain black setting so that the light can be the brightness aspect on the set. 

Nurse

The nurses/paramedic will come into the scene with a medical bag wearing a big jacket that will be visual. This will show that help has come.

Props List



The props list is quite simple and easy to get so this wasn't a problem for our group to get a hold of.