Plans to re-film

We decided as a group that we definitely need to re-shoot the performance element of our video, and will be doing this sometime in January. We are unsatisfied with this footage, and feel we could do much better. We also had issues when it came to getting access to a drum kit, which is something which we need to work on for our re-shoot, as we could not film any of the drum parts due to this problem. At current we are toying with the idea of an electric drum kit rather than a traditional drum kit. 

Filming- 16/12/12

We filmed the entirety of our narrative today. We went down to our local park and did full make up and paint on our main character, and then began filming. We got straight on with things, and overall things went very well and we got a lot of footage in a relatively small amount of time. At first, filming went slower, but as our cast got more confident it got much quicker until the final scene which required more work. We also had to film two alternate endings, as within our group we are in disagreement on how it should end. One ending has the living statue waiting at a bus stop, and the other is him watching  another girl, though the majority of our group prefers the first, due to it’s quirkiness and less seriousness, which means it will contrast the song. 

When we were working, I took experiences from last years directing. I ensured that I kept watch of things both in front of me and through the screen, and to be vocal about things which needed to be changed. When one person in our group felt change was necessary, we spoke as a group to decide if this was best. 

Filming- 13/12/12

We set to work filming the performance element of our video, however we encountered many problems. Firstly, we could not find a room which we could use, despite being told before hand we could use said room today at an earlier date. This lead to us to spending quite a while trying to find a room which we could use, delaying filming. When we got a room, it was not exactly ideal; the lighting was dull and we're unsure of how this may, or may not, have effected the quality of our filming. Asides from this, filming went well. We got a fair amount of footage, and our actors performed well. We took on the things we learnt from observing/directing the year ten band earlier in the year and as a result I feel we must have better footage. We made sure to be calm about how the band progressed, accepting that they would not get things right straight away, and that each shot would be better. We only used one camera in each shot, changing where it was in each shot, which was not ideal, and I definately think that if we were to re-shoot, using multiple camera's would definately be something to think about. We also did not use markers to sync up our footage, which would have been useful, as syncing the footage will be much more difficult now.

Final planning before filming

We had a few problems with decisions of when to start filming, but eventually came to a conclusion as a group. although we originally intended to start filming on wednesday but realised we had far too much we needed to do before we could do this. We needed to arrange locations and get props before we can get started. As me and Renee are not in tomorrow, we have arranged with Daniel and Andrew that they will go out to get the props (which they have a list for). The props they need to get are Silver body/face paint and a cheap suit which we can paint silver. We also need to decide on the guitar we will use, and get the band to bring in costumes. 

In addition, we will give the cast members the lyrics/cords to learn, and must decide on a finalised location for the narrative, as we have decided central london is too risky to use as a location as we need permission.

We have decided that we will paint any props that need to be painted silver on thursday period 3 and 4, and get things set up to start filming straight away on thursday after sixth form. We also plan to film on friday period 5 and after sixth form. We aim to film all of the narrative on sunday. 

Group meeting- final narrative planning

We have looked at funny ways that we could incorporate the stalking element into our narrative. We've organised our times and locations for filming, and discussed props.

For the stalking element, we decided to have the lead singer of the band as a living statue, and have him painted gold or silver. The two other members of the band will be dressed as members of the public, and at the beginning of the video put money into the hat in front of the statue. The woman will walk past him, and in the next shot we will see he has turned his head to look at her. His movement is never seen in shot, which is an idea we got from the Weeping Angels from Doctor Who. As the narrative progresses, she is continually following him, but she never see's him move, and she gets more and more frighened. The last shot within the narrative is of him in freeze frame, looking at her, with her purse which she actually dropped in his hand. 

We have decided on the cast for our video, with three males to play the band, and a female to play the woman in the narrative.

The locations we have chosen are the recording studio's within our school, and central London. We chose the recording studio's as footage shot by others on the schools stage has never worked well, and we thought the sheer amount of space would not work well. With the recording studio we have limited space which we think will work better. 

We have decided when we will be filming, and what we will be filming in each session. We have decided that filming done tomorrow afternoon and  on Wednesday will be focused on the performance element, so that we have all of that finished. We would then use free time on the Thursday, Sunday and Monday which are coming up to go to London and film for the narrative. The days following this will be used for footage review and re-shoot if we need to.

A little research into Rock and the Folk- sub genre

Today I thought about the fact that we have placed Vagabond under the catagory of 'folk rock' because it sounded most like this, and was so different to the music that Wolfmother usually play that we couldn't put it as Hard Rock. We went for this based on what we have heard before, but not what it actually is, or the true conventions of it. This post is just a small amount of research into the genre, and to look at how much we would cross sub-genre's. 

Rock music is a genre which emerged as 'rock and roll' in 1950's America, under the influence of rhythm and blues music. It is centered around the electric guitar, bass guitar and drums, though different sub-genre's make use of different instruments. The lyrics often stress romantic love, and touch on themes such as political and social. It has a large amount of emphasis upon musicianship and performance. 

Folk music is a genre with roots in the ancient oral traditions, and the music was usually related to national or local issues, folklore and historical and religious festivals. The genre was revived in the 1800's, arising to revive disappearing traditions.

Folk rock is a combination of the rock and folk genre's. It arose in the 1960's, and is defined by its clean vocals and instruments. It can lean more towards either of the genre's which make it. Folk rock focuses mainly on the lyrics, rather than the sound itself, as the lyrics and oral tradition are most important to it. The video's also focus on the singer/performer, with little or no narrative. 

This is all important to know as it means we do have free reign within the entirety of the rock genre, as it blurs to create sub genres, which in themselves share influences and conventions.

Planning our Narrative

We looked over the idea again to reassess how to do our narrative as their was some question as to whether or not it will work. As well as this, we have realised that folk rock music doesn't tend to have a narrative, as the ones we looked at are all heavily performance based. As a result, we're using the fact that it is a sub-genre so we can incorporate elements of other types of rock into the video, particularly pop rock, as they tend to aim more towards humor.

When talking about this idea, we realised that how well the narrative fits in will be what makes or breaks the video. We will have to tweak the idea, and be prepared to keep tweaking it, until it is right, and that the stalking element is low key and subtle, as well as not being outwardly hilarious, and perhaps alternating between funny and creepy.

Practice digipacks

We started practicing making digipacks which had the same feel as the ones we are making for our band. We got the template from Digi wizard. 

I chose to use this image. I began by cropping the image down, then heightening sharpness and clarity. before fading the saturation. I then went on to the effects section, and did some experimenting with different effects. I used cross process to make the image deep blue. I then added a light Sepia tone to half of the image, and left the other half white and blue. I then used HDR and made the image colours less strong. I then added a dark film grain to make the image look a little dustier. The then overlaid a weave effect and a paint effect to give the image some texture. I also added 'lift off' to the image, as that is the bands name.

I then went on to create the back cover of the digipack using this image as a base. I enhanced the clarity and sharpness. I then added a dusk effect which tinted the image a slightly yellowy brown colour, and topped this up using the sepia tone effect. I then added the names of the songs on to it. After being placed on the digipack, I will need to add a barcode and change the dimensions a bit.

This is the mock digipack with the first two images on. So far, there appears to be little synergy, but I plan to change that once I do the inside covers so the two link better. So far, the only real similarity is the air of old around them both. the colours could do with being more similar, and maybe the patterns could be, however for my actual digipack I plan to draw the images, so I can make them into whatever I want and create more synergy.

I used this image for the inside front cover. I cropped it to the rough size of a CD cover and so it was the right shape, then added sepia tone. I then used a weave effect underneath. 

Analysis of Digipacks

Digipack Research

Planning for Filming

We have been planning how we will meet our filming deadline of the 19th of December, roughly 14 days from now. In our plan, we have included times we could use for filming, based around our timetables, though of course this will change based upon when our cast are available. In our plan, we divided it up by dates and days, as follows:

Day 1: Thursday 6th 

Individual Analysis

Location Idea

Day 2: Friday 7th

Regroup at lunch

Create a solid narrative

Individual analysis on progress

Idea's for storyboard

Day 3: Saturday 8th 

Individual research and analysis

Storyboard 1

Day 4: Sunday 9th

Storyboard 2

Final Storyboard

These are the first four days, where our plan is merely to prepare for filming by consolidating ideas and getting things ready. The idea of this is that once the immediate things are done, filming should go much more smoothly and be much better organised. By ensuring we work to this we will be better prepared and hopefully make a better video, in less time.
In this time we must also get together a small cast for the video. 

We made a short video blog post as a group focusing on organisation, time management and our aims:

From this we plan to use our time for filming, and have so far only worked out when each of us is free, which means we have a better and flexible idea of when we could film. Our times will have to be flexible as we may have things come up, or cast may not be able to make certain times.
The plans for the following 8 days go as follows:

Day 5: Monday 10th
Me, Andrew and Daniel- Period 1, 2, 3, 4
Renee- Period- 3, 4, 5

Day 6: Tuesday 11th
All have media period 5

Day 7: Wednesday 12th
Me and Renee are on an art trip
Daniel and Andrew have media period 1 and 2 and are free for rest of day

Day 8: Thursday 13th
Me, Andrew and Daniel- Periods 3 and 4
Renee- Periods 1 and 2

Day 9: Friday 14th
Daniel and Andrew- prepare period 5 and film after sixth form

Day 10: Saturday 15th
Should be free to film

Day 11: Sunday 16th
Should be free to film

Day 12th: Monday 17th

Me, Andrew and Daniel- Period 1, 2, 3, 4

Renee- Period- 3, 4, 5

Day 13: Tuesday 18th

aim to be finished