2012.11.31 During the editing, we were suggested by our teacher. He suggested us that we could film a sequence 'zoom-in to the frame which is the picture in the frame is the first sequence of our music video'. We accept the suggestion, because we think this sequence could be a good link back to the story what could represent our equilibrium linear narrative, and bring our audience back to real life. Abbie filmed few clips, but on some clips we could see the door next to the frame and the lighting was dark which we don't think will suit our video. So in media lesson, I filmed it again in different camera shots. Abbie printed the picture out, we put it in a real frame, by using the Blue Tac I sticked the frame on the wall outside our class room. This time, there were nothing near the place where the frame sticked, no door etc. I filmed this in 'Zoom-in','Zoom-out' and 'Pan' with different positions, so that we have more choices. Below are some of the clips I filmed.
2012. 11. 28 Today, we filmed the 'Jump' sequence in college studio. On our planning, we was going to film this sequence in the museum. We filmed that part as our planning, but when we watched it on computer, it does not work well. After discussed with our teacher, we decided we are going to film it again in the studio, by using software, we could edit it looks like she jump out from the frame. By the test on yesterday, Bronte tried few different ways. Because we cannot ware hight-heels on the floor in the studio, she cannot jump up both feet with the dress otherwise we will see her jeans inside. To solve this problem, we asked her step out by using one feet, which was the best solution. Thomas also jump out after her, which followed the narrative that he wants her back. There are some clips and pictures of the filming.
What is in this Sequence: It contains the opening sequence and I have added the 'stepping' out clip which was missing in the previous rough cut, although I still have to edit it further and crop out the studio light. I have also included some more lip-syncing from the performing arts studio where the dance sequence takes place, I have also added some of the museum clips where she is exploring the houses and leaves one of the houses as well as the candle sequence. There is a lot more black patches since I have synced different clips at different timings of the music.
The Narrative of the video: There is a painting of a couple on there wedding day, the female persona is sick of being stuck in a small framed space, eventually she's had enough of being a painting and decides to break free leaving her husband confused at her sudden departure. She finds herself in the museum where she explores vicariously as if she was human, passing against the houses she finds some candles and begans to light the dark world which is the realistic look on life when she escaped from her optimistic lifestyle.
What i'm going to do next: I will add more clips in which will be the dance sequence and I will also try and sync the clips more into the beat of the song, for my main next goal will be to roughly place as many clips as possible in order to fill up the gaps and get around two to three minutes of the song completely sycned.
What is in this Sequence:
For rough cut one, I did a thirty second clip of what my beginning sequence would look like. It shows our personas standing infront of a church lipsyncing. We filmed this sequence on our first day of filming, in the studio. It shows us doing a close up, medium shot and long shot with the additional transition to make the sequence flow more easily. I have to be careful not to go overboard with the transitions as it won't look professional like I intended it to.
The Narrative of the video:
There is a painting of a couple on there wedding day, the female persona is sick of being stuck in a small framed space, eventually she's had enough of being a painting and decides to break free leaving her husband confused at her sudden departure. She finds herself in the museum where she explores vicariously as if she was human, passing against the houses she finds some candles and begans to light the dark world which is the realistic look on life when she escaped from her optimistic lifestyle.
What i'm going to do next:
I am going to add more of the dance sequence which we re-filmed, I am also going to add the clips which we re-filmed in the studio. Due to re-filming, there was a few black patches of in between the clips, because we had not shown that she 'steps' out of the painting which would rupture the order of events in the narrative leaving the audience confused. I will try and make the next rough cut longer than 30 seconds preferably to a minute or more.
Test Footage:
This is our test footage of our music video 'Cosmic Love', it shows the beginning sequence of our music video. The beginning shows a medium shot of our actors Bronte and Thomas, then it changes to a long shot of them infront of a church that I have used film colorization on. On the right you see part of the green screen coming through onto the footage while we were doing a few shots, we weren't able to use this clip because of it. It then shows a long shot of our actor Bronte doing some dance moves in the same studio we filmed our beginning scene, we were going to use these for the actual video but decided against because it didn't look very good. It then changes to a medium shot of Bronte in the museum walking towards the camera, this was a good shot and we may use it in our music video.
The narrative:
There is a painting of a couple on there wedding day, the female persona is sick of being stuck in a small framed space, eventually she's had enough of being a painting and decides to break free leaving her husband confused at her sudden departure. She finds herself in the museum where she explores vicariously as if she was human, passing against the houses she finds some candles and begans to light the dark world which is the realistic look on life when she escaped from her optimistic lifestyle.
We were inspired by Christina Perri "A Thousand Years" because of her candle scenes where it shows her holding a candle and surrounded by hundreds of candles. I liked this because it went with the song lyrics 'They have all been blown out'. It was also a nice touch to add in the dark room, because of the lyrics 'You've left me in the dark', they melted quite quickly because they were tea lights but overall I liked how they were portrayed during that scene in our music video.
For the dress, we wanted a victorian like theme but were not sure what dress to use, Within Temptation song Frozen portrayed a very formal dress which we liked very much so we tried to find a dress similar such as the collar of the dress in Frozen is similar to our dress in our music video. It went with our theme and we're glad that we could find a dress so alike.
For this inspiration we went to the source of our song, with is 'Cosmic love'. We really liked this camera angle of how she is surrounded by lights while singing on the beat so we decided to do something similar but we got a side view instead because it looked better with the lights reflecting onto her rather than under her.
I written an email to Hartlepool Marina asking for permission to use their premise to film part of our music video as I explained in the email.
I got a reply quickly from a woman named Emma, who I stayed in touch with most of the time whilst arranging permission. Fairly, they required I come down and show them where I want to film so they know if they need to redirect the public.
I offered to go that weekend to meet Dominic and show them where I wanted to film which was on the Boat, in the hallway and outside where we could light candles and not be stopped because of health and Safety reasons.
I went to meet Dominic who was kind enough to give me a tour of where I could film and gave me the permission to use the Museum grounds for filming. I was given the busiest days and offered to film when the museum wasn't open to the public, which was great if I needed be. But I decided I could easily work around the public. He said he would like me to call in preferably 2 days before we are going to the museum filming, I agreed that was fine.
Unfortunately when I went to call them two days beforehand but I was unable to get through to Emma so I left my number, I was told I'd get a call back that same day but sadly I did not. I tried again the next day and I left my number a second time and again I did not receive a call back. This was very frustrating as I was trying to arrange a time so that all members including the actors were able to come.
I was able to reply, and told Wendy a date and a time I wished to go and film at the museum, by this time I had to arrange this on the day. I told them we we're more likely to be a couple of hours simply due to the amount of shots we needed. I offered to work around the public, and try not cause any inconvenience.
After getting a reply back from Emma, they required I bring my storyboard of my shots in like I promised Dominic, they told me a large school was coming on the same day as us so I needed to play where we were going to film at particular times.
I told her where our locations are going to be on their establishment and unfortunately I had forgotten the name of the hallway which we were going to film in. I also asked if we we're able to use the boat in which the museum owned. I gave them I time, me and my group would be appearing at the museum and that I would show them the storyboard before I set up any equipment.
Our group booked in the studio for Thursday 4th October. We asked a series of questions on how to work the equipment, what would we need to achieve the effect we wanted etc.
We found a series of problems that we need to avoid:
When planning outfits, we need to cross out green clothing as it would affect the green screen
We need our image to the big so that it isn't pixelated and unrealistic
We need to plan our cinematography carefully due to the amount of space we have on the screen
Lighting need to focus on the backdrop and face of the actor(s).
We were advised to film outside the studio and grab our still shot using a real background so that if we need to go back we can without a problem, we also need to find out what cinematography we want to use so that it's easier to film in the studio. We're also advised to film in colour and when we want to record in the studio and want to change shots we record the whole song and cut it in post production due to the camera being live.
Planning our first few shots: Longshot of actor(s) by the church Close up of actor before zooming out into a medium shot
Firstly I opened up a new photoshop file before changing the size of the canvas so that it is the same size as the orignal Florence and the Machine advert.
Next thing I did was to copy the background incase I made any mistakes I could simply delete that background with my orignal still intact.
Next I changed the 'background copy' to black but kept the orignal background white.
After changing the background to black, I added the bands name at the top of the canvas. I changed the font to our chosen font which is Edwardian Script ITC and change the colour to white, the size is 48 PT and set the anti-aliasing method to strong.
Next I added the title 'Presents' and I changed the font to our chosen font which is Edwardian Script ITC and change the colour to white, the size is 48 PT and set the anti-aliasing method to strong.
I added the title of the album which is 'Lungs' and changed the font to our chosen font which is Edwardian Script ITC and change the colour to white, the size is 48 PT and set the anti-aliasing method to strong.
I print screened a photo of candles and copied it into photoshop before changing the layer name to 'Candles'.
I added a 'dark shadows' that was located in the blending options to add a soft touch to the photograph.
I then added outer glow onto the picture because it reminded me of a picture frame which makes reference to our narrative.
Afterwards I changed the blend mode to 'Hard light', which darkened it and made it look more shadowed.
I then added the date in which the album was released orignally.
I added some information on the advert as has as well as the CD, you will recieve live versions of the songs and a behind the scenes exclusive. I also offered a download on the song we chosen 'Cosmic love'.
I then added one of our actors Thomas, I rasterize the layer and used transformation to move the picture to blend in with the background before turning opacity the down (96%) and Fill (72%).
Then I added a picture of Bronte in and added a mask as her background was going through the lines, so I masked it out. I had orignally used the same opacity and fill as Thomas but decided against it and changed her opacity back to 100%
I then saved it as a JPEG and added an 8 for image quality, the reason I chose 8 so it looked high quality without taking a long time for the images to load.
What is in this Sequence:
In this sequence I had added some of the dance clips roughly and since I
filmed the dance sequence with the same timing of the song in final cut
I was able to place them in similar timing as the song on the clip so
they match the beats mainly. I have also added more of the musuem clips
such as Bronte holding onto the candle this is one of my favourite clips
as I think the singing is really well synced as well as the darkness
around the lighten candles adds atmosphere into the sequence. I have
also add some more into the beginning sequence such as Bronte placing
her hand onto the glass of the frame.
The Narrative of the video:
There is a painting of a couple on there wedding day, the female persona
is sick of being stuck in a small framed space, eventually she's had
enough of being a painting and decides to break free leaving her husband
confused at her sudden departure. She finds herself in the museum where
she explores vicariously as if she was human, passing against the
houses she finds some candles and begans to light the dark world which
is the realistic look on life when she escaped from her optimistic
lifestyle.
What i'm going to do next:
I will fill up the final patches of black and add an ending since I
forgot to cut this rough cut. I won't be adding a fourth rough cut as
the next construction will go under first final video. I also will be
placing the ratio of a 16:9 so that all clips match. I will also be
adding the 'step' effect on the video and will add more transistions has
the clip cuts to rapidly to the next which I do not like.
This is the animatic of our music video 'Cosmic Love'. This post talk about the production of this animatic.
There were some problems when I created the animatic.Thomas scanned original storyboard and put it on computer. But those images were not clear enough, the reason of this is when he drawed the storyboard, he used pencil which was undertint. I figured it out by changing the Offset and Gamma Correction on Photoshop, so that we have better images what could be used in animatic.
One Of The Original Storyboard
Photoshop production The original storyboard did not follow the full shot schedule, so some of the shots were missing, which was not enough for me to create the animatic of our music. To solve this problem, at the beginning, I used all the shots from the original storyboard, edited those shots in Final Cut. Than I compere that with the shot schedule so I know which part were missing, I re-drawed the missing part. This time, I labeled the time, shot type and the action every shots on the right-up corner of the image that could help me put those new shots in the right place.
These Recce shots are of the church to show the location of where our
video could be. We have used the first picture as our painting because
it goes with the storyline of a married couple, hence a traditional
wedding. We were also exploring the location for any good shots so that
we may use the Church as a filming locating rather than just as part of
the mise en scene. On the last picture we were thinking of using this
picture on the digipak/advert because it is a good angle and the line
which goes across the sky could be used in reference of our song lyrics
'A falling star' so we could add some creativity onto the digipak by
changing that sky line into a shooting star. This is good for our
Florence like video because it is unusual and interesting.
The technical aspect of this video is quite ambitious, for
cinematography it is only using roughly about two camera angles which is
close up and extreme close up of the lead singer Christofer but instead
of his face, he is upside down which is when the mise en scene comes in
because he uses props such as a top hat and created a character with
it, so when he singing upside down it looks like the characters are
singing. He also cuts to the Ukulele playing to add some consistency to
the video to keep the interest. For editing there was a lot of editing,
such as when the song hits the highest point and the effects change. The
effects used were black and white, film grain and dividing the screen
into four and sixteen parts which gives the video some interest to keep
the audience attention.
The music video shows that it is
indie rock because the video itself is very individual and when it
changes to a close up it shows the singers clothing which is an odd
design shorts and the singer also has hand tattoos of an anchor which
can be included in the indie clothing design. The singer has dressed
himself to his music which can bring a similar fan base in. The video
contains individual characters which they've made out of paper and it
looks like they're singing but it's actually the singer from the band
upside down.
The lyrics in the video are represented
with the visual effect as it is the singer that is singing it but he is
dressed up as different characters, which are illustrative video of
different images. The music and images again work together like the
convention of indie rock would normally use as the illustrative video
images and works with the beats such as in the video at 1.30, you see
the lead singer banging two rocks together to the beat of the music
following through with the convention.
The video itself it
pretty much close up of the singers chin which goes with the conventions
of a music video, which the video developed a motif of repeating five
to six video clips to play through out the sequence, which is seen as a
visual style and motifs are often used through out the band
Nevershoutnever videos.
You often find that there is a reference
of notion to look, such as the reoccurring characters which you want to
look as as they change from male to female characters.
Like
most Indie Rock music videos, this one shows both the band and an on-going
narrative (which run as one, rather than cross-cutting between them). There are
three specific locations used throughout, the original bedroom (with the two
men asleep), the ‘dream’ bedroom (with the two men awake), and the ‘dream world’.
Most
of the pans used in the music videos, are done by moving the camera, rather
than rotating it as in a typical pan. In the dream bedroom, the camera
movements are more erratic and are most likely hand held (most likely to convey
the strength of the wind in the shots), while in the original bedroom they are
smoother, although they still seem to be handheld. In the dream world, the camera
movements are very still and smooth, sometimes not moving at all, or moving on
a dolly.
Green
screens and special effects are used throughout the video, with the train and
the guitar being most likely modelled in 3D and then placed on the scene. The
parts with the bed seem to be green screened, with the bed perhaps on a ‘rodeo’
machine.
The
scene beings with a tracking shot ‘zooming’ into the peephole. The lead singer
is seen waking up and lip-syncing the song. The camera cuts to the man sleeping
on the floor at the lyrics “fast asleep”. He then puts on a red jumper. At this
point the other clothes on the floor start moving and coming to life. The TV
turns on the camera approaches in a very handheld motion, the same happens with
the light shining through the door, except the speed of the camera moving
towards it is much faster. The camera motions and lights become more erratic to
match the beat of the song.
At
this point the other two band members wake up and the three band members are
seen on the TV (two on guitar and one on keyboard) the same jerky handheld
camera motion is used to zoom in towards it. The bedsheet comes to life and
attacks the band, causing the scene to return to the original with the two men
asleep on the floor and the lighting to return to normal. It then goes back to
the television to zoom out to the blue-lit room again. A static filter is placed
over the scene to give the impression that these are the band in the TV rather
than the band asleep in the room. Most of the camera motions are handheld in
this segment, showing various items doing strange things throughout the room.
The lead singer is once again lip-syncing whilst playing the guitar.
The
door then bursts open and bits of paper and feather from the pillow are sent
flying around the room, as the band plays. The camera motions become even more
erratic, and the lead singer jumps onto the bed to then be swallowed by
himself. The bed and the lead singer are then seen falling past a skyscraper
(the camera motions at this point are smoother than before) there are more
shots of him lip-syncing as he falls into a giant tunnel. Smoke appears behind
him and a train starts chasing him on the train tracks (fitting the electric
guitar riffs that start playing behind him). They enter a forest and the lead
singer pulls away from the train to fly off through it.
A
giant guitar then emerges from the forests and starts chasing the flying bed,
knocking him off so that he has to run through the forest, the two other band
members join him from either side and the all run towards the red door seen at
the beginning. The door pulls away and then the band burst through into the
ruined (blue) room. They start playing instruments once again until eventually
the lead falls into bed. When he falls out he’s back in the original room with
the other two band members asleep on the floor still. Revealing that is was all
just a strange dream.
All three digipaks are five page images
(including discs). The cover image tends to feature the band and album name,
the second panel is usually a picture of the band along with the track listings,
while the third contains copyrights and the fourth a filler image of some sort.
The discs are mostly simple and show the band name/ album name, with the
exception of The Killers disc. All of the digipaks fall under the indie rock
genre.
The Killers digipak lacks colour (much like the
three other examples) except for a few choice words including the album title ‘Sam’s
Town’. The band name and album title are both centred in the middle of the
image on the front panel, with what seems to be a ‘Miss World’ winner taking up
the right hand side, and a ram taking up the bottom left. The Killers logo is
made up out of a pointillism style, that gives it the effect of a light up sign
(with the dots being lightbulbs) and is a sharp contrast against the aged
building behind it.
Sam’s Town is the Killers second studio album,
and was produced under the Island and Vertigo record labels. These two
companies are fairly mainstream, both of these companies are over 40 years old.
Island Records has had such names as Mariah Carey, Dizzee Rascal, Def Leppard
and Florence and the Machine signed to them, while Vertigo includes big names
such as Black Sabbath and Metallica in their retinue.
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