Costumes

We have finally decided on our costumes for our entire cast. Here are the outfits:

Dancers

Darina

Meeting about our Props and Set Designs

We had a meeting for the media team and a set designer. This was to discuss our ideas and the 5 strands we have; to see if they are possible but also if it works out. We presented each of our scenes along with the required props. We discussed lighting and logistics along with what props we have to source and which they already have. This proved to be a more important meeting that I though as I managed to find out the logistic part of it and finding our new ideas what we could do with the scenes. The media guys overall seemed very positive about our music video.

We had to make a very detailed list of what we needed for each scene. This involved from the props; to the colour of the floors and walls. After brainstorming, we emailed the media team with everything we wanted and telling them what we are going to source. 

By doing this list as a group, it made me realize what we actually needed instead of just a vague idea of what we wanted. We now feel more prepared and organized. 

Our Cast

Fatima 

Fatima will be our artist who we will

promote and will be the vocalist of the video. 

Darina

Darina will be a second element to the video
she is the person who fatima will show her
dominance over.

Dayo & Etian

Dayo and Etian will be our dancers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Email asking for Permission to use track

This is the email that we sent to the record company that the artist of the track is signed to in order to ask for permission to use the track and avoid copyright infringement.

Props & Costumes List

           1^st Scene

Material (Silk&Black)

Smoke Machine

Wind Machine

Costumes

Black Body

Safety Pins

 

              2^nd Scene

Glossy Floor

Sand

Feathers

Materials (Black)

Wind Machine

Ropes

Water

              3^rd Scene

Lycra Wall

Long Silver Dress

              4^th Scene

Tin Foil

Black Materials

Flour

2 Costumes for the Dancers + Fatima’s Black Outfit

               5^th Scene

Stones

Smoke Machine

Elastics

Costumes for the main protagonists

Structure for pebbles

 

 

 

 

 

Music Video Timeline

Timeline from hurtwoodhousemedia5

Visiting Lecture from Polydor Records

Last week, we had a guest coming in to talk to us about the inside world of the music industry, specifically about music videos and the route you have to take in order to succeed. The procedure that Emma presented to us started with a treatment which is basically the concept of the music video (that most of the time comes from the artists directly)that has to include ideas, inspirations, references, costumes, appearances, etc. This document then has to go to different directors, that 'filtrate' the concept and turns it into a 'ready to shot' video. It takes up to 6 weeks for the whole process to get completed so that the music video can go up on the internet, Vevo for example.

As Emma gave us an update on the music industry nowadays, she also mentioned about the decreasing budgets they have to deal today. A normal music video would approximately cost around 5000 £ - 10 000 £ due to their last projects. Therefore the advice that she gave us was that basically 'Less is More' because it is the safe path to a positive feedback and it will always look good.

Ellie Goulding - Goodness Gracious

She spoke about Ellie Goulding which I personally don't admire because she is way too commercial, stereotypical, fake; and this other not very well known artist that appealed to be much more interesting and original in terms of he's music video. Emma and them worked together in order to create the products.

I believe the talk was a very good example of how the real industry works, and gave as the opportunity to actually step inside their world for an hour and see the way they work in, see the amount of effort put in for all this to happen.

Concepts for the Music Video

Idea 1

  The concept for the music video is very minimalistic and simplistic. It does not have a narrative but it has a series of images and short sequences of different characters represented as 'freaks'. The video should be a mixture of colour and black and white so that there attitude is prominent and it gives it a chaotic as well as using different graphic and futuristic effects. I also want to incorporate reflective elements by using mirrors to create a confusing ambience. I would like to use quick cuts and slow motion figures.
The song

Idea 2

 My second concept has to do with the idea of a person that let's out all of his/hers frustrations, negativity, etc. I would like to symbolize and create a confusing ambient by using different things that would help towards building up the story such as flashing lights, smoke, black&white powder. I believe the concept of it should somehow be dramatized by smashing and breaking stuff like glass, mirrors, as well as water that can look very effective in slow motion. Also creating a set design with a lot of white duvets covers to give a mysterious ambience and it could also relate to the concept of the music video by being lost in hers/his thoughts.
The Song

Idea 3

     My third concept is about high life tensions, what it takes to be glamorous, to have the fame that you always wanted and where all that brings you as a person, again being very conceptual and not selling all the clues to the audience directly. Using metaphorical actions, frames, shots; for example, the star is taped to a wall, and a crowd of photographers, paparazzi are taking pictures of her/him to represent the idea of not having any privacy in their everyday life.
The Song

The Brief

Introduction to Advanced Portfolio

The Brief

 

A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

             a website homepage for the band; 

  a cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package);  

a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).

Task on Creativity and its Meaning

Creativity - 'the use of imagination or original ideas to create something; inventiveness.

"firms are keen to encourage creativity'

Csikszentmihalyi says

'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.'

TED Monologue on Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Website

As a group we have created a pilot 'official website' for Britney Spears.

  Link to the website: ">http://nomydz.wix.com/britneyspears#!tour/c9a0

Richard Dyer's Theory

Task 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

 

 

Prezentare isa from alexandrawerner

Task 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? 

 What We've Learnt Since the Prelim Task

At the beginning of the course, we didn't know a lot about the process of making a short movie. In fact, before this course, most of us probably believed that writing, producing, directing and editing a movie was quite simple. I have realized the progression that I have made since the beginning of the year. Now we know about the process of drafting an idea, redrafting an idea, storyboarding, getting a props list and cast list together, making sure everything planned is achievable, setting up and using a camera, final cut pro, sound cut pro and various other elements that create and produce a movie which were before, inscrutable.

Before getting right into shooting our thriller video, we tested our knowledge and skills on a "Preliminary Task". Within this task we were given a general storyboard and asked to just run free and explore the various paths of shooting a movie. We began by learning how to handle a camera. We were given a tutorial on the buttons and workings of a camera as well as how to set it up and pack it away. The idea of the pre-lim was to get used to how the camera looks and works and to help familiarise ourselves with it before shooting our important and final Thriller Video at the end of the year.

 

We didn't have to prepare and to organize much for this Prelim Task. We just had to decide each person's duty within the group. I n contrast to our thriller which took several months of redrafting and brainstorming, running ideas past the officials and coming up with the props, screenplay and actors for the shoot day.


By experimenting with the pre-lim, we were able to improve our techniques and use the camera with more advanced tactics which ultimately led to my development and growth as a media student. Since the pre-lim, we have also learned more about shot angles such as panning and tilting, where as in our pre-lim we had only focused on wide shots, mid shots and close ups. Knowing various shots and angles helped our thriller be more visually interesting while likewise adding more range to our storyboard and plan for the thriller video.

As for mise-en-scene, the pre-lim didn't require anything specific, it was simply an exercise, while for our thriller we hired and used much more miss-en-scene elements such as a recording machine, a CCTV camera, a Mac Book Pro, and a two way mirror, a clip board, etc. As for the lighting aspect, for our pre-lim task we didn't need a specific light, we were lucky enough that we had the chance to film in the media suite where the lights are bright enough in order to get a clear view.


Indifferent to our thriller, when recording sound for the prelim, we used what was recorded with the camera. Therefore the sound was often inconsistent, echo-y and rough. When recording sound for the 'Caleidoscopio', we used a specific boom microphone so that the audio would be recorded at a high standard. Likewise, we made sure that the audio was constant while furthermore hightening  the sound of the dialogue especially, and the little details such as pressing the button on the recording machine or, opening the file, footsteps as well in order to add effect to our video. These sounds enabled the audience to feel as though they were right there in the video while simultaneously creating a sensory response, expected in a thriller.

In the editing stage, our pre-lim lacked creativity and interesting elements, for we were just following a general storyboard which specifically told us which shots to cut together.  In our thriller video, however, we had the chance to use and cut shots that are able to intruige the audeince and make things more visually intersting for them. Although perhaps such shots did not add anything to our story line in any way, they enabled the audience to stay engaged. In the editing suit, Katie stepped up to the challenge and came to the front, leading many of the editing sessions for she was more familiar with final cut pro than both Santi and myself.

Because I will be continuing on with Media for my A2 year, I am thrilled to dive into next year having a better understanding of how to operate final cut pro, flipping footage, deleting footage, checking in and out, creating a soundtrack and various other elements I will need for next year. As a whole our group worked very efficiently together, Katie taking the lead in the editing stage, Santi enjoying the write up of the script, plans and making the set come true and myself being an important vote for various decisions, creating a storyboard, coming up with the costumes, and overall take control of the creative side of it, and last but not least come up with the Thriller Idea. Though specifically I missed the opportunity to learn how to add titles and make music, I am sure I will be able to familiarise myself with them next year. Overall, I am happy with my contribution to the project and believe that my contribution easily matched anyone else's in the group.

 

 

Prelim Task https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmWc5jXQ4iY

Final Product https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlBZHvR8ROo

Task 6

 

What have you learn about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

 

 

 

On our shoot day we have used a professional digital camera which was Sony NX5. We used a tripod for some of the shots in order to have a fixed view towards the characters and to get an accurate frame. I also used it for taking some smooth pan shots, tilt and static shots. I learnt hot to adjust the setting on the camera that gives the right colours that we need which is called white balance as the whole process of it. We basically have to face the camera on any white, flat surface in order to press the setting on the camera that would create the appropriate white balance. Another aspect that is very important as well is focusing the camera to its best potential which is very simple to achieve; by zooming in all the way and adjusting it from the lance.

 

After we finished shooting all we needed, we had to transfer the footage which was on a memory card to the Mac computers, so that we can start editing. To make this happen, we used Final Cut Pro which is a non liner software which allows and supplies us with all sorts of different necessary tools, the useful thing about this software in particular, is that you are able to choose what you want to use from the footage and what you want to leave out.

 The digital files (footage) are placed in something called a trash bin from where we had the chance to watch the footage and decide on what fits best, then those go on a timeline or a blank canvas. That helped us to structure our narrative/plot because we could move the clips around. I used the blade/erase tool to cut the footage so that I could shorten the videos. That gives the product a polished aspect, plus the dialogue had to match correctly, so that again helped us with our non-diegetic sound. On the other hand we also added music that we created ourselves for the first part of the video where the credits/titles were placed quite simplistically on the screen. We had also added noise to the beginning part, the special effect that we choose was a black and white filter that gave the impression of a security camera POV. After this experience, I gained some new skills and abilities and I have discovered myself better because I really enjoyed working on the set and using the specific technology.

Evaluation Task 6

                                              Link to Youtube Video, including annotations

Task 5

Link

 

https://soundcloud.com/calumgmusic/katie-media-5

Task 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

 

While passing through our planning and research stage we identified who should be our potential audience and construct our marketing side in a way that we have the right audience in order to have a guaranteed success. There are different aspects to look at when it comes to finding the suitable audience, plus we had to keep track of the fact that our film has a low budget and so we were aiming for a niche audience and second of all, our movie is not a concept movie. Age and gender, personalities and classes get involved when it comes to choosing the audience.

With regard to all this, as a group we have created a number of questions to ask different people concerning their tastes towards thrillers, something like a survey and this is the feedback we got.

Survey

 

 

 

After interviewing, I created a Facebook page which shows a sample of a profile which would represent our fans. It's a n example of a person that would watch our thriller.

Caleidoscopio is for people which like getting involved and participate with their minds to the movie. An audience that doesn't just want to watch but they want to think and reflect as well while watching.  Concerning the age certification I think that we should restrict it to over 16 year olds because of the violence involved and the sexuality, plus the fact that it is psychological so the youngsters would not understand its concept.

Evaluation Task 2

Task 1

In what ways does your media products use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

When we were doing the research for our thriller we . We based our research on the interrogation room itself and what exactly is happening in it. We looked at different personalities and attitudes, as well as the mise en scene, and camera shots.

While looking closer to our main character, which is the criminal we realize that she has a lot in common with Angelina Jolie playing the main role in Salt. It presents a strong, independent woman that doesn't give up on what she wants to achieve, a form of manipulation and not only that. Her appearance is similar to our protagonists as well, it 's beauty which turned into a form of seduction. This challenges the audience to support the main character in her decisions and it helps us give the audience the chance to be drawn into the movie.

 Colombiana is another movie that presents the stereotype which we tried recreating through our opening sequence of a powerful, fierce woman as the main focus. Therefore the concept of it relates to ours. A woman that inspires a lot of intelligence through her moves, her thinking, followed by a trauma in her life that made her change the way she had to live, made her change her targets and goals. While the audiences expectation is to see her fighting for her family, and that is what happens in Colombiana, but in our film we have turned the daughter against her family producing a dilemma in the public's minds, it creates intrigue and tension.

Now You See Me is another very similar real product in which we found different conventions regarding the mise en scene, etc. The set seems to be very similar to ours, at least the same idea although we didn't have the budget to make something more sophisticated. With this movie I am strictly talking about the interrogation room; a very simple, direct setting which shows exactly where the characters are.

 

Small clever lines mean a lot. Playing with the lines/script is also an important aspect, the audience enjoys that because they have a certain impact and weight, it gives suspense to the scene, and that's what we found in both Now You See Me and Caleidoscopio. We have used simple attracting lines. Both of the movies interact through their messages with the audience's mind and that draws them in.

 

 

 

 

 This is one of Ke$ha's music video called "Interrogation War" which presented interest to me.This music video links very well with our opening sequence in terms of shot types and not only; The rebellious attitude of the suspect is alike to our criminal. The idea of being young and feeling like nothing can stop her is again a sign of revolt,uncaring and arrogance. Relating to the shots that were taken, I have recognized the similar camera usage, the close-up shots, the over the shoulder shots, and the shots taken from the office room behind the glass window. They all connote seriousness, they give a more realistic feel to he scene and also bring seriousness and point of view. For example the over the shoulder shots represent the POV so that the audience feels involved and see both of the sides f the story from different perspectives, therefore have the right to decide on which side to be.

 

Music Video

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The definition of a sound effect from the online Dictionary is:

sound effect

n

1. (Film) any sound artificially produced, reproduced from a recording, etc, to create a theatrical effect, such as the bringing together of two halves of a hollow coconut shell to simulate a horse's gallop; used in plays, films, etc

 

My group and I intend to use interesting sound effects to help create the atmosphere for our thriller video. Due to copyright issues we are of course not allowed to just take any sound effect so we will have to  a) make ones of our own or b) find ones that aren't copyrighted.

 

The definition of a copyright from the online Dictionary is:

 

cop·y·right  (kp-rt)

n. Abbr. c. or cop.

The legal right granted to an author, composer, playwright, publisher, or distributor to exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of a literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic work.

adj.

1. Of or relating to a copyright: copyright law; a copyright agreement.

2. Protected by copyright: permission to publish copyright material.

tr.v. cop·y·right·ed, cop·y·right·ing, cop·y·rights

Here is a link to some rules about copyrighting:

http://www.reelseo.com/copyrighted-music-in-video/

Storyboarding

Here is someone who knows how to storyboard and it is where my group and I drew inspiration from as to how to contrive our own.

Kyle Cooper: Title Sequences

Kyle Cooper

 

 

"A great title sequence sets an expectation…” Sais Kyle Cooper, modern designer of motion picture title sequences. Kyle Cooper has produced over 150 opening title sequences for some of the biggest movies in Hollywood, including (name a few). After graduatuating from Yale University, Cooper joined an advertising agency as a creative director called R/GA. There, Cooper created some of his most renowned pieces such as Se7en, a 1995 American Crime film. He went on to co-found ‘Imaginary Forces’ in 1996, a creative agency branching from R/GA.  In 2003, after leaving Imaginary Forces, Cooper founded Prologue, another creative agency where he worked in film title design and production. The opening title sequence for 1962’s To Kill a Mockingbird, created by Stephen Frankfurt and Kenneth Branagh’s opening film title for 1989’s Henry have been some of Cooper’s biggest influences. Kyle Cooper’s work is often compared to that of Saul Bass. Saul Bass was a graphic designer and filmmaker in the 1950’s through the 1990’s who worked alongside Hollywood’s finest including, Otto Preminger, Billy Wilder, Martin Scorsese and Alfred Hitchcock. Bass has created some of the most famous main titles in Hollywood history such as, Spartacus (1960); Psycho (1960); It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963); and The Man with the Golden Arm (1955).

 

Other opening title sequences of Saul Bass include:

Walk on the Wild Side (1962)

West Side Story (1961)

North By Northwest (1959)

Vertigo (1958)

The Big Knife (1955)

Other opening title sequences of Kyle Cooper include:

Se7en (1995)

Braveheart (1995)

Spider-Man (2002)

Iron Man (2008)

Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn –Part 1 (2011)

American Horror Story (2011)

 
Analysis of ‘Seven’: Kyle Cooper uses fast images and intensive music to set the mood of suspension in the opening title sequence of Se7en. By slowly giving the audience frames of disturbing footage, we are able to piece together an idea of what we are seeing. This lack of revealing too much footage at once is effective in that it makes the audience think, keeping us very engaged.  We learn in this opening title sequence that there is a very mentally disturbed man piecing together some sort of disgusting catalogue. Before this, we witness the same man removing his fingertips, signifying that this unidentified man does not want to be found. Cooper sticks to dark and cool colours like red, black and grey to give the sequence an airy aloofness, aimed at taking the audience members inside the mind of this criminal freak. Between each frame, we get a glimpse of who the main actors in the movie are, as well as who directed it, who produced it, who wrote it etc. Cooper effectively never shows of the face of the creepy man, keeping us wondering who he is and what he looks like through the entire sequence. 

Analysis of Wimbledon: In this opening title sequence, also created by Kyle Cooper, the music begins in an upbeat manor, with the production company as the first image on the screen. In the background, we hear car and street noises as clouds appear and as each beat is hit in the music, the frame changes to another image of clouds. Next there are several images of large groups of people seen on the screen. The interesting effect Cooper uses here is that the frame cuts to a different image on each beat in the music. Back and forth the frozen images of peoples head going left to right with the beat flash in front of the screen as the opening credits appear. We see the names of the main actors, casting director, tennis consultant, music director, editor, director etc. As an audience, we are kept engaged by the swiftness of the camera frames and by how cool it is that a whole crowd of people is all looking in the same direction all at once.

 

Video Production Bases

Editing Suit

Today we had our first day of editing. After our introduction into how to edit, my group and I had a look at all the footage we shot in order to organize it into folders so that we can decide what we want to keep and what we probably wont use. However we have decided not to throw anything away yet just in case. We jumped right in and began editing and since then have already got a rough draft of about a minutes worth of footage. I understand the importance of just getting a rough draft of our general idea done so that we don't get stuck on the nit picky stuff. I am really proud of what we have so far, however we still have to include the various director and actor titles as well as the individual sound effects.

Evaluation of the Shoot Day

We began our shoot day late in the day due to some difficulties concerning the set. In order to create an effective and efficient thriller video we had to build the appropriate set which took us longer than we had expected. When building the office we felt that the white walls looked too much like a set so we had to put black curtains over the walls in order to create the right atmosphere. Another problem with these white walls was that they reflected in our stage mirror so we could no longer see the actor in the investigation room on the other side of the wall. Because we only had access to a school table we knew we needed to transform it into a more realistic looking prop. Thus, like the walls, we pulled a black curtain over the top of it. Once we finally felt that our set was to our liking, and the camera (a Sony 3X50) and actors were prepared we began our shoot. During the shoot we noticed some problems with our stage lighting. It became difficult to see the actors faces and so we had to incorporate some extra light. We did this by adding an extra spotlight which reflected into a white piece of cardboard so, along with the new camera exposure, the combination gave the entire atmosphere a colder and more blue tone, essential in establishing the vibe of tension we wanted to create. As a group we really appreciated that they actors were on top form, doing there very best, giving us time to shoot more shots that we could then use in the editing suit. We took various angles and shots - more than we had in our story board - because we suddenly had new inspiration such as shooting from the corner of the room so that it looking like our main actress was being watched in a security camera. As a group, Katie, Santi and I worked really well together. While we all tried the different roles, we each had our specific station which we felt brought out our best strengths. The roles we felt we most enjoyed were roles that fit our individual abilities: I was the set coordinator and director; Katie was on camera; and Santi worked best with the sound and lighting. We are all very creating minds, but I felt that I was still able to take charge at times and bring in creative ideas of my own. As an over all I think the entire process went really well. I am so surprised by how much I enjoyed the process of creating a thriller video and am thus even more excited to begin the editing process so that we can finally present our ideas to the world.