GP: Inspiration

BriBry - Adventure Time (2013)

This video shows a split-screen effect. This split-screen show two possible outcomes of BriBry's life and as the lighting and colour grading shows (anchored by the mise-en-scene of non-verbal language), there are clearly two moods (one depressing & one that connotes happiness). I thought this effect worked really well to reflect the mood(s) of this video & I believe we can use this effect on our video (the difference in colour & lighting) as we could have a more 'drained' effect when the harsh family life is shown & then show juxtaposition with a happier effect when the kid is using escapism to be happy (through more yellow lighting). This effect, when applied, can also be anchored by the mise-en-scene i our video (props, blocking, location, costume & non-verbal language) & camera.

A2G3: Lesson Progress (20/10/14)

Lesson on the 20th October:

• Finished contribution to pitch: Gwen and myself (Georgia) checked off an element of our checklist by finishing our posts ('Pitch Contribution') on the blog.

• Collaboration of shot ideas: (All of us) This included mise-en-scene, camera & editing ideas which fed into our storyboard.

• Touched up blog (formatting, adding visuals): Gwen and me edited other blog posts such as 'Editing Ideas For The Narrative' and other posts by adding visuals, formatting & double-checking each post.

• Started storyboard: Isaac and Alex started our storyboard which will lead to our animatic also. They started with the establishing shot & then the following shots from there.

IH: Colour Editing

Colour correcting is an essential part of editing, which allows the creators to make sure every image in a relevant sequence (i.e. with similar light sources) looks the same in terms of brightness and colour. This can involve brightening shots which are too dark, or darkening shots so they are correctly exposed.

After you have colour corrected the relevant footage, you can use grading to stylise it. In the example below I have shown the original image, which is desaturated and grey, next to the graded picture. The difference is obvious, the edited version has much more rich, healthy looking skin and colourful pebbles. The hair is also much less grey and the blue shirt pops with colour.

An example of the power of editing,

look at the difference in the pebbles and skin colours

From Utopia (TV Series) which features highly

unique colour editing

Colour Grading

Here is a video by a professional colourist who uses DaVinci Resolve to edit the colouring of images to enhance and stylise them. It's well worth looking at as it shows the power of colour editing in creating different moods. While none of us are anywhere near this experienced or talented, I have some experience with colour grading, so I will be using Adobe Speedgrade or DaVinci Resolve (the free version) to edit.

 

 

Colour Theory

 

By using similar colours you can create an analogous colour scheme, which means the colour palette (colours in the frame) are all very similar. This can be highly effective when creating an environment such as greens for a forest, oranges yellows and reds for a desert.

 

Another way of creating an interesting colour palette is to use colours from opposing sides of the colour wheel, which theoretically contrast each other. Instead, they actually compliment each other.

Colour Swatches

Colour swatches are squares of colour aligned together to allow for easy comparison. They show the major colours in a colour palette and can be used to analyse the colours of a piece or to analyse colour theory.

This Danish website, Adobe Kular, allows the user to sample huge amounts of premade colour swatches, and to even create new ones, which automatically selects complimentary colours.

A2G3: Risk Assessment

Today we carried out a risk assessment of our location, looking at potential hazards and reducing risks. This is an important process as it allows us to plan out for as many eventualities as possible, and try to minimise the impact things could have on our work and on us.

Location	What is the hazard?   Think about road safety, filming at night, potential damage to equipment	Who/what might be harmed and why?   Think about who needs to be aware of the risk	How will you reduce the risk?     What steps will you take to ensure that the risk is lowered?
Kitchen	Aga is hot       Sharp knives     Enclosed space	might cause equipment to overheat/ people to get hot   they can cut anyone who touches them     cast and crew could trip over equipment and get hurt	Stay away from it, and if overheating go outside etc   Avoid handling knives or going near them     Watch where we step
Outhouse	Thorny branches       Rain	The cast and crew, as they could come into contact with them.   Camera damage	Be aware       Take an umbrella or 4.
Field	Rain     Mud	Camera damage     Cast and crew could slip and fall/ injure selves	Umbrella   Wear appropriate footwear and watch where we are treading & use a groundsheet to protect equipment/props
Lake	Rain     Mud       Water	Camera damage   Cast and crew could slip and fall/ injure selves     Anyone could fall in water and damage equipment	Umbrella     Wear appropriate footwear and watch where we are treading & use a groundsheet to protect equipment/props   We will try to keep away from the water’s edge
Bedroom	Toys (trip hazard)       Bees just outside by window	Cast and crew may fall or become overly distracted     Might get into the house… then could be an annoyance or sting somebody	Watch where you step and have time limits on how long you can handle toys for.   If they get in try to encourage them away and do not aggravate them.

A2G3: Lesson Progress, Storyboard, Animatic and shotlist (21/10/14)

Lesson work on the 21st October

Today, we all discussed several more points and shot ideas, within the storyboarding process, this was useful as it allowed us to all contribute.

Georgia created a reflective post for the group on yesterday's lesson, as well as bringing up and putting forward shooting dates. Georgia set up the premier project for the animatic to go in.

Gwen, Alex and Isaac all worked together in order to create more storyboard frames and compile a shot list. There is still a lot of work to do towards the storyboard, so Alex and Isaac will meet up out of the lesson time in order to carry this on. We found there were some disagreements on shots, so either debated until one clearly made more sense, or compromised. In some cases we have decided to try out shots and then may or may not use them, depending on the overall collective aesthetic of the final product.

Storyboard

Each frame created for the storyboard was based mostly on establishing the mood for each scene, more than a coherent storyline. The frames were also thrown into Photoshop to bring out the pencilling. Some of the frames present were shots that we considered, then scrapped due to it not matching the finalised project. 

GP: Pitch Contribution

Inspirational Shots
 
 
For this slide we needed to have inspirational shots which needed to be taken from different blog posts from each blog contributor. I suggested that we use the 'six inspirational shots' blog posts to take the shots from as each of use blog contributors have done this post; all of us would contribute to the pitch, plus, we had really good shot findings on these posts.



 
 
 
Digipack Slide
 
 
Alex and myself decided that we would research similar artists to Lorde and analyse their album covers; we can identify a trend & take inspiration whilst not differing too far from their style. We found artists such as Marina & The Diamonds, Lana Del Ray, Charlie XCX & Ladyhawke, & found that the lead singer was normally featured on the front cover as the main focus of the cover (& the fourth wall is normally broken with them staring straight at the camera lens). Being that the lead singers are on the cover & also part of the video/ narrative, this means that we could use an aspect of our narrative to put on our album cover also. Dark colours were also used a lot on these artists' colours which fits with out desired mood & narrative. I noted that we, like AS with films, should find recent artists to research to make our research more relevant. We also found on Lorde's covers that the lighting was quite high-key but was also harsh, white lighting which signified a dark mood.





Key Findings


I also contributed to the key findings with aspects of my music video analyses (I'm Not The Only One) & technical analysis put forward & added to the key findings. We found that certain camera effects such as shot distances (long-shot or close-ups) & shot angles (low & high angles) create different moods & effects.
 

• Spoke on the digipack slide

• Spoke on the audience research slide

GW: Pitch Contibution

Having been in a different group during the main part of pitch preparation I had to contribute nearer the end of the process.

Research and Context

I added in ideas about shots and images used in other music videos similar to the genre. This is important as it demonstrates that certain ideas definitely work within this style of work, and allows us to link to the industry.

• In terms of shots and character placements, I found that a LS will often make a character appear small and, therefore, vulnerable.
• Close up shots are key to allow an older audience to relate to the child.
• Rebellion is often projected onto teenagers, but giving them a back story through the juxtaposition of shots in editing e.g. going from an image of a teen stealing to one of his surroundings filled with dirt and anger provides an explanation.

I mainly looked at films that used quite cold blue and grey colours, to reflect either a simplicity or negative mood.

Ideological Discourse

This is a key part of the planning for a media video, as certain images hold social connotations and are culturally marked as negative or positive. The audience is highly likely to make their own links between images of ashtrays and people arguing, due to past experience and hegemonic ideology.

I spoke about ideology during the pitch.

• the video is not going to challenge ideology, the child is still an innocent and is imaginative, the teenager rebels and the problematic family has somewhat problematic children.
• It does challenge the idea of a teenager rebelling purely to rebel; The older brother takes money (could be for everyday things could be for illegal substances), but this is explained by the hopeless destitute situation he is locked in and the way it is assumed he grew up, thus providing reasons for empathy.

This representation is key result of our video and we do not want to accidently create alternative ideologies to these.

Costume and Props

I also spoke about costume and props, reviewing where the costume would come from (Clothing the family already own, basically) and discussing the meaning and ideas presented by the props, shows desolation in the first scene, then the toys create an opposition as they suggest fun and escape.

AD: Pitch Contribution

Below is a list of the elements I was responsible for in creating the pitch. This included elements of research, organisation and assessment of risks and challenges that we could possibly face during filming, as well as initial research into digipaks 

Location Recce

• This involved walking through the grounds and through the house for shots that displayed the moods and elements that fall into the treatment, mostly as a way of generating ideas for us to work with when developing the storyboard. We will have access to these areas at all times, meaning that we will not have to ask for permission to shoot anywhere. 
• The risks are trivial at best, although they should not be neglected. This includes rain and wet ground, as it is in the countryside and we'll be shooting in the autumn/winter period, and therefore these elements will be considerably important when we're filming, especially considering equipment and general motivation for the crew. If worse comes to worse, we will have to equip ourselves with ideal clothing and protection for our equipment.

Organising actors

• Considering the fact that we're including a significantly larger cast than last year, I made sure that, in accordance to the treatment, we had the correct cast. Thus, I asked my own family if they wanted to be a part of the production, to which all of them agreed. This element is particularly helpful, as it provides us with a cast capable of delivering the performance that we want to achieve in the music video. It is also notable that the person playing the protagonist has done previous work in the media industry, both in television and film, as well as a couple of music videos.
• The most obvious challenges in this aspect is time management and level of acting. Since both of the grown-up actors work most of the time, we'll have to be sure that we effectively manage and organise each shot so we do not waste their time. Furthermore, we agreed beforehand that we wanted to make sure that the acting was in place, as to not make it seem cheesy or unprofessional. 

Research into relevant/similar music videos/Inspirational shots

• Looking through various music videos that had a similar concept to our own was an important part of the pitch, which, like the location recce, helped to establish the general mood that we want to incorporate into the music video. This included things such as 
• Colour grading - what was the general colour scheme of the videos?
• Locations - which locations are conventional for this genre of music?
• Elements of mise-en-scene, such as lighting and costume.
• An additional element that I discovered in this research was camera. Tracking shots, close ups and depth of field, alongside the element of rule of thirds are vital to the understanding and prevalence of the protagonist in a largely narrative music video. 

Digipak research

• This was done between Georgia and myself. We decided to look at the colours and composition elements of Lorde's albums, to gain some inspiration towards our own digipak for later. However, we realised that, Lorde has so far only released one album, and as such we looked at artists within the same genre as Lorde, and discovered:
• The lead singer is usually present on the front of the cover.
• The colours vary between a monochrome set-up or slightly desaturated images with some additional colours included for artistic measure.
• The challenge of this is that we will most definitely not have access to Lorde herself, and in essence it would be irrelevant to include her on the front cover, as she is not present in the video itself. However, the colours and composition are already good indicators to what we should aim for.

A2G3: Linking to Lorde

One point highlighted after our pitch was that it was unclear exactly how our video idea links to the artist, Lorde.

 

Lorde doesn't do overly commercialised videos, and many of them encapsulate the idea of music videos as art, not as an advert or porn. For example, the video for Tennis Court is a very simple one-shot, intended as a metaphor for celebrity.



It is a critique of the world, and, considering the fact that our Video idea represents a wider issue, and demonstrates to some extent a level of brokenness in the world- the boy tries to escape just like many of us do, though he uses toys and imagination, this links to Lorde's image. The parents are consuming alcohol and cigarettes to help them deal with their worlds and the teenagers rebel in a last desperate hope.

Jonah Weiner, a critic, also noted the typical themes of teen pop music, including "social anxiety, romantic yearning, debilitating ennui [and] booze-soaked ragers." are present in Lorde's music. We address the ennui and alcoholism in the background of the video, whilst bringing the escapism and imagination of the child to the foreground. She often has a short story structure to her lyrics, which we will represent through the short story within our video.

The meta-narrative of Lorde as an artist is one of doing things differently. She has a very unique voice, with haunting tones, especially considering her age. The singer makes the point that she wishes that she did not have to do interviews or videos in order to promote her work- which has in some sense worked, as she managed to get to a #1 position on the alternative chart without either. Renowned for her blunt mannerisms during interviews, which includes commenting harshly on some other artists, Lorde is not the typical 'teen sensation'. Our video, therefore, does not act as a marketing tool and also does not solely represent youth culture, as many others by somewhat similar artists do. 

A2G3: Pitch and Pitch Feedback

Pitch - Powerpoint

A2G3 Music Video Pitch from Fadmash (Alexander D)

Feedback

We received positive feedback from the class, as well as questions as to how we would deal with certain aspects of the music video. Some of the questions and comments below are from the class.

• How will we keep the pace of the video going, and not too slow for the audience - thus losing interest.
 
• How will we relate the digipak to the video, if we are not including Lorde
• How will we show that it's imagination, and not a flashback?
• An Alice in Wonderland like conceptual part - abstract, to make the difference between the realistic narrative and the conceptual part more clear.
• Use a colour card to match colours between the cameras. This will allow us
• We could include animation.
• Additional lighting would be a possible way of distinguishing between the dream and realism shots.
• How will we achieve consistent colour grading?

GP: Editing Ideas For The Narrative

Editing Ideas For The Narrative

• Cutting on the beat
• Matching action with the music (through editing)
• Slow-motion
• I could use a shot like this in the ending (1:48-2:24) of the song & cut to his imagination then back to him in despair multiple times on the beat. Shot-reverse-shot occurs with the boys imagination at the end section of the song to show juxtaposition
• or intercutting of the family being nice in high-key lighting and then them being angry in harsh dark lighting highlighting the juxtaposition during the imagination sequence; I would need to order the clips as well on the timeline.

Shot Idea

A shot of a fireplace would be effective as we could symbolise the rage of the Dad by getting him to throw something in it. The shot would be a handicam, mid & profile shot of the Dad and then pan, with the object he is throwing, to the fire. The object could be a drawing that the little boy gave him or a gift; this emphasises the brutality & harshness of the Father & link it to the little boy.