Successes and failures

Right I've finally got the photo of josh the second guitarist in the bands music video despite all of fate preventing us from meeting as he was ill for a few days, I have duke of Edinburgh meetings, then he had band practise and I've had performing arts rehearsals as Josh's music exam and my practical exam is on the 11th February because he is playing the music for the performance. This wouldn't have happened in the real world of work as we would each be working on one project at a time instead of having all the course work and exam deadlines appearing at the same time which annoyingly always seems to be at the end of a term. 

Even though people are probably bored of hearing me complain about this project I have to explain my problems I've faced in production in order to get a good grade. Rob unfortunately could not attend today's filming session for reasons not yet clarified. I'm sure he has a valid explaination but it's just so unfair when my grade is based on team work. Everything was ready I had the room the equptment and the female protagonist but not the male protagonist. My deadline is fast approaching and hopefully the protagonists can make it tomorrow because I want to split up my filming sessions as I know I won't be able to film the antagonists and protagonists shots all on one session of filming and we can't stop in the middle of the paint scene because it will mean we'll have to wait for the costumes to be washed covered in paint again and then filmed which will take extra time and effect the continuity of the product. However, my ancillary task is well underway. 

Editing

Unfortunately, I have not been able to progress in my project that much recently because I think I need to become more organised. This is because I need to make sure I ask for permission when I need props, actors and rooms. For example I was only lucky that my actors do A-level music other wise I would not have been able to access the drums as I did not give enough notice to Mr Munster the head of music at the school Chalfonts community college. Also I need to redo my shot list as it is quite unprofessional of me to keep rescheduling all the time. However, if I was making any form of media in the real world of work then I would pay my actors and they wouldn't have any prior commitments such as A-levels, Gcse's, after school clubs, socializing or work. This is due to the fact that they are volunteering and would commit more if they had a reward which is why I will be rewarding them with pizza at the end of filming.

Nonetheless, I do understand josh has been ill over the past few days which is why I will b taking his photo for the ancillary task on Monday at break, despite the fact that I have rescheduled that Several times. Meanwhile, I have a large amount of editing to do with the performance part of the music video. I just need to remember to get the SLR Monday morning because I will need to take the equipment back to PVA (which by the way stands for the photography video animation department which I forgot to mention before) every time I have finished with it and then collect it when I need it again. I kept some equipment for about a week because I kept rearranging filming times as things keep getting in the way such as parents evening yesterday which meant I couldn't use the room. The biggest problem is how busy everyone is I have performing arts after school every Monday and Tuesday until 6pm except this Tuesday because I have a university interview and then Mr Smith my antagonist has rehearsals with year 13 drama on Thursdays and people have plans on Fridays. I thought about getting another teacher who can do Thursdays but then remembered I book a driving lesson on Thursday as I knew we would not be able to film on that day. This is because Luis my lead singer does Drama and is in year 13 so wouldn't have been able to make filming either. I think if I were to make this promo again from the start I would have asked male teachers to be the band as this would have broadened my target audience and followed conventions more.

4th Day of filming

Unfortunately, Josh didn't come to our meeting yesterday to take the photo for my CD front cover and album advert so I took the photos separately with an SLR Nikon digital camera for the the best quality. I have splattered blue and white paint on a piece of white paper and for the background of my ancillary task to connote masculinity and copy conventions from former pop punk artists.

I have also decided that there is a significant difference in camera quality so I have stuck with the one I used first in order to keep the same lighting and maintain continuity. However, this has now caused me a huge problem as I have to use the same camera from the PVA departments and the technician isn't happy about it because it means I will have to borrow the camera until the project is over. The thing is I thought she said that there was more than enough cameras there when I returned her tripod and the camera batteries. Nevertheless, I have got the footage of the close up of the lead singer and drummer even if it isn't the best quality camera the performance section is complete unless I need to re-shoot some stuff which maybe likely.

I tried to organise a filming session after school today even though I only have one lesson and would have had to hang around for 4 hours, because my antagonist is usually available on Wednesdays but today he isn't. He is on Friday but my male protagonist isn't so I am going to film some shots of my protagonists tomorrow and then add my antagonist later to split up the shots more. This is due to the idea that I have found it takes longer to film footage than I originally thought.

3rd day of filming

Ok I filmed a mid shot of the 2 guitarists of the band individually and then a close up of the guitar itself being played by Jonny the lead guitarist to get more detail of the music. Unfortunately, they are just miming but due to their education of music through A-Level they have the basic knowledge to mime with perfection. Thus, I play the song through the amps of the studio they are playing in so they could keep in time with the music and each other. This was done the last time as well but I was talking to my friend and she said the way I have to lip sync it is for the lead singer to mime the words in slow motion it shouldn't matter too much with the long shots but when I do the close up of the front man he will have to know the words a lot better than he did last time. Although I had not done a shooting schedule for this date it went well as I only needed the guitarists because the close ups meant no one else on stage was seen. However, on Tuesday I will need Oscar and the drums in the back ground so that continuity is kept in the close up of the front man Luis. Otherwise the drummer will disappear and reappear several times throughout the music video which will be disorientating for the viewers. Whereas no one is behind the guitarists including the amps as they are much lower than the shot.

I have uploaded all the shots but I may have replaced some with the same name. They are still on the cameras so there's nothing to worry about. On Monday I will sort out the shots put them in the right order and cut the shots to match the animatic and compare the quality of camera, Thus, I will know whether I need to continue using the worse quality camera but to be honest I may just reshoot them shots with the better camera to make my product the best that it can be. Hopefully, on Tuesday lunch I will be able to take a photo of the band in PVA with the Green screen and SLR Camera if everything goes to plan then I will be able to edit the background with photographed splatters of paint in the background and photoshop the transparency of non-copy righted skulls for the band members heads. This way on Tuesday after school Luis and Oscar will have their costumes to do their close ups.

2nd day of filming

On the first day of filming Mr Michie's room was locked so I had to
get one from PVA this was a different quality to Mr Michie's. Thus, while
 watching the video there may be a significant difference in lighting
 so people be able to notice different types of cameras were used. Hence, to
see if there is a difference in the types of cameras I loaned another tripod
to see if the normal HD cameras that I used last year contrast the shots I did last
week that much. Hopefully the different cameras will not be noticeable when
 I upload them today.

this is my band in their costumes with their props behind them I did not
use microphones one because they were not accessible and 2 I was copying the
conventions of  Beyonce's if I were a boy bringing in more elements. The lighting
looks better in the video than this photo but I felt it copied Green days and
Paramore's band section of their videos which I analysed earlier.

below and above is me setting up the shots while the lights are not set

Next filming session I will be today at lunch because when the lights are up and
the blinds are down it looks like its evening outside which it should be connoting
a really late detention. This way the band is more likely going to be able to meet.
However, it won't be dark forever in the afternoons so I need to figure out how I'm
going to get street light for the narrative section of the video when the antagonist
is chasing the protagonists out side because when I did the tilt up establishing shot of
the first day of filming it was really dark so I may need to reshoot that shot with a little
more light so I can see the logo of the school and the characters facial expressions
more clearly.

Pomo

This band Gorillaz is the most post-modern band out there because it isn't a band at all there are 2 artists Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett who created avatars called 2-D, Noodle, Russel, and Merdoc. This video follows the conventional pattern of verse to chorus, breaks the forth wall and is generally quite interesting so I thought I'd blog about it as it is a case study for my exam. This is due to the fact that Gorillaz copy, combine and transform other music and videos to create their products. For example there is a generic hybrid as electric rap and motown music is combined.



Memes are genes but ideas because they copy combine and transform. Remixes are really postmodern as they are tweaked only slightly so that people recognize where both sections are from. e.g. Dora the explorer. South Park parodied Christian Bale making it pomo in its own right. Merchandise was even remixed such as T-shirts. The reason this process happened so quickly was because it was so mainstream that it had almost no where else to go as it had become as popular as it was going to get.

New Actors

So I have decided that Callum welsh looks too old to be in my music video because I need a 15-16 year old looking male. Therefore, I will not be filming today and will have to reschedule for the 21st and 23rd of Jan if my protagonists and antagonist can make it. I have spoken to my drama teachers and they told me to contact a Rob Woods who would be interested in being apart of the product. So I went to the gym as my teachers said thats where Rob usually is he wasn't there so I was going to ask my tutor if he could e-mail rob through the school e-mail but it turns out he's his English teacher so can ask rob directly which is lucky. Also Reece cannot do the 16th and 14th so I have asked Jonny morris but he hasn't got back to me yet.

First Filming Day

On tuesday callum did not have his costume so I did all the shots that did not include people these included the establishing shots of the corridor and the clock. Thus when I come to filming with people the actors will not have to wait around. Today I will upload the footage of this filming and put them on premier pro for safe keeping to start editing my rough cut. Moreover, even though my actor Mr Juilan Smith cannot make it after school today I will film the students shots. This is because yesterday I managed to raid the charity shops in order to find Callum a school uniform. The cost came to £7.95 which is a fair amount considering I got 2 school ties, a white shirt, and clack trousers. Hopefully Callum will have shaved today as he hadn't on Tuesday which made him look older and less like a student. we though of using a couple of pupils from the younger years but that would mean I would probably need permission from the parents and I would also need to buy them another uniform to get paint all over.

Luckily I have complete permission for my protagonists to have a paint fight in the art room as long as the room looks exactly the same as when miss Blick left it she doesn't mind. This means that I will have to clean up everything after which I was planning to do anyway. I also have permission from Mr Smith to use the Shikara next week with the lights on the 14th and 16th. So at least some aspects of the project are coming together nicely.

Ok so Callum hasn't shaved but I've bought his costume so it would be a waste of money if he refuses to shave because "its part of his identity". My mum said that she would pay for pizza for the people that help me out for my music video as payment for my actors but this bring didn't work either. so I don't know what to do today. Whether I should cancel my filming today or use a different actor another day because another convention of music videos in general is to have the male protagonist as the lead singer in the band for example weezer. However, Luis has a large amount of work on because he has to retake his drama, has a lead role in his Performing Arts Exam and I don't know whether he has a costume so the best bet is to ask him if he has school uniform like clothes that he does not mind getting paint on. I thought about it an if callum doesn't fit into the costume he has black jeans but he doesn't want to get paint on them. Thats when i though of making it a water fight instead of paint but then my ancillary task won't work. I am quite worried about this because I do not have a mock up of this yet which I need to get started on as soon as possible.

Another huge annoying problem is that I borrowed a camera from PVA on Tuesday because Mr Michie's room was locked. The cameras are different so the quality and lighting of the cameras will be different. Hopefully it won't be so obvious so I will be able to use the better quality HD sony cameras from now on. I will have to compare the footage and reshoot the establishing shots if necessary.

Problems

Right, so there seems to be a bit of a problem Mr Smith cannot do the 9th of Jan therefore we will need to cancel that day. I was thinking of just doing Mr Smiths shots on the 7th but the protagonists will be covered in paint at the end of his shots. This will be difficult to capture due to the following facts

1 I do not have much paint

2 it will be difficult to get the costumes washed by Thursday if we get paint all over them on Tuesday (I was thinking if I used a large amount of jump cutting this would work)
3 There are art exams on the second week back so I probably will not be able to use the room required (I have not yet asked for specific dates yet I will ask tomorrow)
4 I'm not certain but there may also be a Drama exam on the 14th or 16th so I may not be able to use the room for the band - it looks like I may need to reschedule.

I mean thinking out loud I could just do all the shots with the teacher on Tuesday which may be easier I have counted them and there are 25 shots if we work quickly it might be possible.  Unfortunately, I cannot do Wednesday because I have a university interview. Friday might be possible but most people will want to get home at the end of the week and today is still the Christmas holiday and most Mondays I have a performing arts rehearsal until 5.