Filming – Day One…

On the 21st of July on the last day of school, myself and my group have decided to meet up to begin the first scene when the random scattered letters are developing into words. Modey and I met up in school at 8.30am to finish of the editing of the target audience interview 2. Whilst modey was finishing of the editing for the interviews and rendering it, I was printing out ‘KiD CuDi’ Letters in different text sizes and cutting them out individually. Overall we ended up with 50 letters of the Kid Cudi and Trapped in my mind all in different sizes from 700 to 300pt. Sam arrived at 10.45 to help us begin with the filming as we needed him if we were going to use more than one camera, plus to test the experiments we would need more than 2 pair of hands.

This is an image that I’ve take from the boys setting up out room into a working environment for our filming to begin. We managed to set up a fan in the corner of the room out of the way where we are going to be based. We thought we would need the fan as our original plan was to cut our different size letters that can be blown slowly by the fan with the letters landing into a set of words, which will introduce the artist and title of the song.

However our plan didn’t exactly work, as the letters blew extremely fast all over the place only giving us one split second to catch the flying letters in shot. Before my camera was able to take a picture the letters had already it the bottom of the floor therefore this idea failed to meet our expectations and we needed to find a different solution but keeping the same concept.

Instead of having the letters flying all over the room creating the sentences, we came up with the idea to stick each letter on individuality one by one on the wall in a random order, then gradually building up a sentence that is hidden on the wall. We have used a camera on a tripod, and a film on a tripod which gave us two different angles that gave us the ability to find the best angle for the shot we needed. Therefore Modey and I were behind the tripods and cameras taking shots of each letter that is applied to the wall. Whilst Sam was arranging the letters on the wall and moving out of the way before the shots were taken. This was a very quick and effective way of create some stop motion effects for our little introduction of our music video.

Difficulties & Constraints  We had some difficulties during this process as my camera ran out of battery which I didn’t think would be a massive problem as I had my charger with me, plus a spare camera with a full battery in place. I changed the camera whilst attempting to keep the tripod in the exact same place. When I has successful managed to change the camera to the fully charged on, the angle has slightly moved making it extremely hard to get back into its original form. Modey had tried to help get it back to the same angle which was near to impossible! Another problem occurred when I realised that my spare camera had a different flash option of the lighting of some still shots where slightly darker than it was, on my original camera. I didn’t think this would be too much of a problem as we can Photoshop it to change the brightness and contrast. Luckily we still had the shots that Modey was taken on his camera which was more fluent with the lettering however the camera quality was extremely poor and the angle at the beginning was unclear. This left us with a decision to work out how to solve this problem. The options we had was to Photoshop the images on Modey’s camera to make them more clear and stick with the dodge angle at the beginning, merge our shots together and see what happens, or use the shots that I’ve taken with a more professional camera and see if the change of angle can be solved in the editing stages.

Overall, I think day one has been very successful and productive as we have developed new skills.  Even thought we had made some mistakes during this filming process we managed to overcome these problems as a team! We have successfully filmed the first shot of our story board in just a few hours, and now know exactly what to do if we were going to re-take these shots to improve them.

Risk Assessment

This is our Risk assessment for filming.
Title: Trapped in my Mind
Writer: Rachel Taylor
Date: 28^th October 2011
Date and time of filming:……

The possible hazards are as follows:

• Getting unwanted students in the film causing problems with illegal policies.
• Risk of disturbance from household members
• Risk of not enough light causing a hazard for crew members
• Risk of equipment being damage or stolen due to misuse
• Risk of furniture interrupting or harming actors.
• Risk of crew tripping over wires or equipment.
• Risk of disturbance from teachers or students
• Risk of fire hazards
• Risk of actors and crew falling over on slippery surfaces due to the coke spill scene
• Developing a dead battering when filming
• We can’t get into location which we are filming
• Members of the crew being unavailable due to sickness or work

The safety measures we will take to avoid these risks:

• Tape and secure  all cables and wires to the ground to minimise risk of tripping and falling. A mop and bucket to clean up any spillage from liquids used.
• Film in a suitable room with sufficient lighting
• We will make sure only people with experience with the camera film
• We will rearrange furniture and make sure the set is clear
• We will make sure that all cameras and equipment are tidy and this will eliminate hazard
• Make sure to film in a secluded areas where we wont be disturbed.
• Renting out batteries, bring a space camera and charger.
• We will make sure that there will be enough of us to get enough footage and keep control of the situation if a member was ill.
• Speak to member of staff or security guard, making sure they are aware of our presents and open location if necessary.

Site officer (of the school) contact number:             01733 252235
My contact numbers in case of emergency are:  Mother: 07926763522 Myself: 07907684350

We also have a contact number of our media teacher in-case of problems: (Mr Zadi : 07590430385)

Animation Software

In this section myself and my group will be looking at different types of 3D animations software’s available that we can self learn during this course to produce an effective finished appearance to our final media product. We thought it would be a good idea to add some scenes that are fully animated to symbolize the difference between realism and surrealism. Therefore, we want to learn another software that we can incorporate in our final piece.

Adobe Flash CS5

Flash enables the ability to manipulate vector & raster graphics to provide animation texts, drawings and still images. It also captures the users imput such as Mouse movements, keyboards, microphones and camera. Adobe Flash strongly contains an object-orientated language called ActionScript that supports automations via Javascript flash language. Adobe Flash is a form of a multimedia platform mainly used to animations interactivity to webpage and other digital devices. Flash is frequently used for different methods of advertisements, games and flash animations.

Autodesk Maya Modelling & Animation Software

AutoDesk Maya is a three dimensional (3D) computer graphics software that runs on Linux, Mac OSX and Microsoft Windows. It was originally developed by a company called Alias Systems Corporation and its now currently owned and developed my Autodesk, Inc. Maya is used to create interactive 3D applications, including video games, animated films, TV series or just simply to create visual effects.

 This is a screenshot of something that is possible to create. From all the icons on display, it indicates the complexity of the software and it will takes years to full learn it. However as a group we are determined to buy tutorial magazines of this software to see if we are eligible to create an functional 3D animation that is suitable & relevant for our music video.

This image of the car looks extremely realistic and professional which shows how good this software is. This software is well known with all the film creators in animated films, as this is the exact software they use to produce the movies.

This is an example of what Autodesk Maya 2010 is capable of creating:

Overall, as a group I believe we will give a good attempt to use these animation software’s that we could use in our finished music video, however it all depends if we can find the time to learn these complex software’s in a few months that will be professional enough to be used. Out of the choice of software, I would like to use ‘Maya’ as it looks more effective but I have had some basic experience on ‘Adobe Flash’, so we shall be experimenting with both software’s and test what attracts the target audience more effectively…..

Lighting styles

The most basic and common lighting setups for any film or music video are done with three main types of lights: Key, Fill and backlight. Each of these lights have its own function and have been usually found with the combination of each other to create the desired lighting effect. When lighting is used, the intent is to simulate the light that may occur under normal conditions in the filming area spaces.

Key Light

• The key is the brightest light and casts the primary shadows, giving a sense of direction to the lighting.

Fill Light

• The main function of the fill light is to fill in the shadows produced by the key light without casting a distinct shadow of its own.

Backlight

• Backlights, sometimes called hair, rim or edge lights, are placed on the opposite side of the subject from the camera, high enough to be out of view.

Set Light

• A fourth basic light, the set light, may be used to illuminate the background. Usually the background is partly lit by the key and fill lights, as well as by several set lights.

Lighting Styles

• Lighting choices should be made before beginning to film, and should be based on the lighting style you hope to achieve

BACK LIGHTING

Back Lighting is used to illuminate the character from the back, therefore separating them from the background, this creates a ‘halo’ effect on the shoulders of the subject, and portrays the subject as more ‘pure’  &  ‘heroic’. Less of a backlight makes the character seem secretive and hidden

This is a ‘YouTube’ video that I have found that clearly demonstrate the types of lighting that’s used in music videos and the visual impact it has on the overall appearance.

Mise En Scene

Costume:

• He will be wearing a suit in some of the shots when he is out in the real world and when he is trapped he shall be wearing some casual clothing, for example a pair of cool stylish jeans, branded top and possibly a hoodie.
• The top he will be wearing will have a red coco-cola logo, to show that we considered branding in our music video and used different methods of advertising.

Branding Mens T-shirts:

These are some men’s t-shirts that we shall be considering to use in our music video as it counts towards costume and incorporating product placement too. We want to give the actor (Kid CuDi) a more casual trendy style in most of the scenes as the artist Isn’t known to be ‘formal’.

Jeans

Props:

• Mobile phone
• Apple Laptop
• Earphones
• Sofa
• Broken down doors

From this list of props most of the objects will have logo’s and brand names therefore our music video will have different forms of advertising and branding. For example the apple laptop will most likely be instantly recognised and the mobile phone with headset will have some logo printed on, which would be hard to hide.

Sound:

• The song lyrics (Kid CuDi- Trapped in my mind)

Lighting & Colour: 

Colour in Kid CuDi- Pursuit Of Happiness

After researching KiD CuDi’s music video Pursuit of Happiness we were instantly inspired by the use of camera angles and how mise en scene is used when it comes to the use of lighting and colour. We wanted to use this inspiration and create our own visual representation of some shots that could be incorporated into the final media product. For the colour of the official video is very unusual in a positive way due the the colour being clean and clear showing exactly whats happening in detail but to the point where it still look surreal and dull making it more confusing.The use of colours is naturally dark and boring in my personal opinion. I think the brightness and contrast of these shots haven’t been used repeating throughout each scene, as the director wanted to keep this theme very original and show its creativity from the use of weird camera angles and movements. Than spending hours changing the colour of each shot for example grey scale.

Colour in our music video

The colour in our music video will also be quiet dark and dull, however some parts of the song will be more colourful from the use of artificial lighting to brighten up some locations. For this shot we did use the natural lighting within a home as we wanted to show the actors emotions and lip movement clearly. We also needed to make sure the use of product placement of the ‘Coco-Cola’ was represented effectively, with the liquid pooring at an angle, we needed to show that the gravity of the liquid was surreal. Therefore the colour and lighting needed to be bright and colourful whilst keeping the scene natural and authentic like the rest of the shots during the video.

Lighting in Kid CuDi- Pursuit Of Happiness

For the lighting of the official video its appears to be very verisimilitude creating emotions and emphasizing the complex narrative.The use of lighting in this music video is quite dull and bland, but this is quiet effective as the narrative links well with the overall mise en scene theme. Even though nearly every shot is naturally dark with hardly any artificial lighting it adds authenticity to the final appearance. So even though the narrative seems to be surreal, the lighting is mainly natural with little added lighting or LCD screens.

Lighting in our music video

For our music video we have tried to keep the same idea as Kid CuDi’s music videos with keeping things natural and authentic but in still add surrealism with in most of the shots. For this shot we have used the actor to emphasis the darkness of the scene, whilst using natural lighting to make him appear more out of place. In some of the shots in the scene will make Kid Cudi appear lost and confused from the use of the dark alley way, where he is either walking towards the light symbolising death and more meaningful moments or walking away from the light to represent him trying to escape.

Camera Angles/Movement

• Mid shots of actor (Kid Cudi) in the empty room
• Close ups of his face looking through the window and hands holding the bars
• Another close up of Kid Cudi (actor) face when he is lip syncing
• Extreme high angle shot of artist in the room, signifying that the walls are way to high to climb.

In order to make our music video as effective and professional as we possibly can, we wont be using the Sony Handycam as we previously used in our AS coursework. I personally think that we should use the Olympus are I think it will give a clear overall impression. Which is the best camera to use when using stop motion in some scenes.

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In terms of Camera shots, I will be referring back to one of my prime influences for the initial concept of moving imagery and surrealism, and that it the music video by Kid Cudi Pursuit Of Happiness (Megaforce Version). In order for our music video to challenge the conventions within the genre of alternative hip-hop rap, we will need to use a range of camera shots, both to highlight the main character in our narrative. Camera shots such as;

• Establishing shots (ES) – such as the start of the Kid Cudi’s video – to establish the scene – where it’s set and to establish the surroundings.
• Mid Shots (MS) – These will aid the establishing shots – and give a closer view of the objects in the frame.
• Close ups (CU) – These shots will probably be the most important shots in the video – these shots will give the audience a close up view of the moving photos and character – allowing them to see the detail in the actual photos and facial expressions.
• Extreme Close Ups (ECU) – Extreme close ups will also aid the audience in understanding the narrative – it will also allow us to pick out fine detail through using one of the specialist settings on the Canon.

Camera movement on the other hand, we will be using simple methods, that will allow us to follow the photos accordingly.

• Panning & Zooming – to change setting and cover space.
• Camera Tilt – tilting to various angles using the tripod will allow us to follow the photos up or down, or round sides, etc.

Lip-syncing exercise

In this section myself and my group will be experimenting with lip syncing and will do some practicing and exercising to test the complexity of lip syncing and making it fit well, when it comes to the editing stages. If we were to use lip syncing in the final music video, it’s important to know weather is possible, otherwise ifs its more difficult than expected we can easily adapt our story board, and use less lip syncing in the final piece.

Below is a video that we have made to show my lip syncing techniques? We got Luke to learn the lyrics word for word so it will make the editing stages much easier, to get the whole outcome to synchronize smoothly.

Below are the videos that we have made to show our lip syncing techniques. We managed to get Luke to learn the lyrics word for word so it will be easier in the editing stages, giving the whole outcome to synchronize smoothly.

First attempt:

This attempt of lip-syncing is shockingly bad, as Luke wasn’t signing along with the song, he was just signing the song from memory with some lyrics with him, but there was no beat or soundtrack to guide him. Therefore this first attempt wasn’t acceptable and we were now determined to find different solutions to make Luke more comfortable and to get the lips and sound matching together in harmony.

Second Attempt:

Whilst filming Luke, we were playing the song in the back ground so he can get the tune of the song in perfect harmony. As the first time we tried lip syncing Luke was too fast with the song, which made editing extremely hard. So we asked Luke to try again with the song playing along with him, this made him feel more comfortable as he was now able to keep in time with the tune.

Overall, I personally think that lip syncing is much harder that I thought, as its needs to be perfectly smooth with the song, otherwise it will look terrible, giving a poor quality appearance, which makes watching a video unbearable to the viewers. I think we can lip-sync in our final product but it will include a lot of practice to get it perfect. Unfortunately Joey is not in our media studies group, therefore in our spare time we need to work with him and make sure he knows the words of the song from memory, to improve the overall impact. This is going to be hard, as Joey will need to jump from one group to the other which will be stressful, as Joey is going to be a key part in our media video. Therefore communication will be an essential part in our media work.

HRP Peterborough Letter

After a few days wait we got a reply from the HRP prison regarding our queries. Unfortunately the letter was unsuccessful, as we are not allowed to use their prison for our music video. This was a really big dissapointment as the use of location in mise en scene would have looked really effective, allowing us to be more creative with the use of shadows and metal bars. Luckily we do have a back up plan, we will now find an empty room that we can transform. The letter currently states the following: ” Dear Rachel, Modestas, Samuel & Joey, Visit to HRP Peterborough Thanks for your letter in which you request to use one of our prison cells to film a music video. Unfortunately I am unable to grant this request to come into the establishment. I wish you all the best of luck with your media studies. Yours sincerely Nick Leader (The Director)”

Plan B- Potential option for location

Just in case we can’t get the HRP Peterborough prison we have found out that the school has requested police officers to teach yr 9 students ‘How not to get into prison‘. They brought along props and an real life version of a prison cell to give the students a real insight of what it is like to be locked up inside. We managed to track down the police officers and asked for some permission to take some photos and possible to do filming within the cell.

These are a few photos of the portable prison cell that was shown to the year 9’s.

This was a good potential option for a location that we can film in, however the only problem we had was that the offers were extremely busy fitting in all students to see the prison in one day, so it was really difficult to every step foot in the cell to film. However seeing a real duplicate of a cell was inspiring and now we know exactly what is located in this small room as we can try to duplicate it ourselves