Changes

Throughout the course of making this music video we came across some decision that we made that we believed would improve the music video and give it a stronger theme. This happened when filming; at times we included changing the proposed shots and change up the original sequence from the animatic. Originally we planned to film the opening at the beach, however due to restrictions this was unable to b carried out so we found alternative locations. The biggest change we made was the storyline, at first we had said the plot would include Ellie and Max having an argument, during the post/production stages we decided this wouldn't add to the music video, and decided it would suit the video better if the music video was happy and was created out of happy memories as opposed to regrets. 

2nd/final Cut

This is our 2nd cut, we have included all of the things on our 'to do' list and is a possible final cut, we plan to show it to our teacher, and other class members (who are our demographic) to gain feedback and see if there are any improvements that can be made.

After speaking to our teacher, we have been informed that our work is at a high standard and she wishes for us to change and alter nothing, we have finished our music video a head of schedule allowing us time to breathe a sigh of relief.

Production Update

Today we filmed in the photography studio, we filmed Ellie singing the last verse and chorus to the song completing the music video. We kept to a basic close sup shot as seen in Miley Cyrus's Wrecking Ball music video. We also used a hairdryer to give the shots a professional effect. We filmed a number of shots and then edited the video into black and white. This seemed to look to out of place therefore we added a light leak as we had previously used in the opening to the music video, and ended with a high standard lip synching track.

We have now almost completed our second and possibly  final cut, and we are ahead of schedule this will allows us time if need be to go back and re films an unwanted shots and make better those clips we weren't happy with

Production Update

We have chosen a poem by E. E. Cummings to be read during the opening sequence, it will be overlaid with other sound files such as light winds, birds tweeting and footsteps walking through autumn leaves, this is something we will be super imposing as the original sound files were ruined by talking and strong winds the other sounds. We chose this poem as we thought it would allow the audience to understand the theme of love. This is a technique use by many mainstream artists such as Rihanna (We Found Love) and Beyonce (If I Were A Boy). We believe it will be something that our target audience will like as it is a poem we found on Tumblr, a social networking sites who's demographic of 15-25 year olds, is similar to ours.

We have taken inspiration for our opening from a number of professional media products. This allows use to follow the same conventions they do giving our work a professional appearance. below are links to the music videos with similar openings.

Beyonce - If I Were A Boy

Rihanna - We Found Love

Lana Del Rey - Ride

We are keeping a good and steady pace, at this rate we will be completed by our deadline. 

Production Update

This is the video montage of clips we have filmed previously during the beginning of the project, we have decided to include it at the end of the music video. These shots will be used as part of the flashbacks to Ellie's relationship with Max.

We are keeping a good and steady pace, at this rate we will be completed by our deadline.

Production Update

Over the half term we have filmed a number of shots in the fields behind Ellie's house for the opening to our music video. Originally we had planned t film the opening at the beach but due to travelling reasons we chose to film closer to home. The meaning of this opening sequence to give the audience a slight insight to the music video, with a number of similar editing styles (light leaks and kaleidoscope effects) that will be seen during the music video. This opening sequence is to show Ellie at the present day looking back at her time with her then "boyfriend, this will be seen with the cold colour correction and single shots of her alone.

We are making good progress by keeping to the deadline we had set, we had aimed just to have filmed it by today, but we have filmed and edited the opening sequence.

Timetable Update

This is an updated timetable of things we need to do and when for our music video. These are the things that we believed were missing from the music video when we showed it to the class. In this timetable we have included a final cut deadline (12th Dec) this is when everything must be finished, hopefully if we keep to the deadlines set on this timetable our music video will be completed and ready to be shown to the class on the 12th December.

1st Cut

Today Mollie, Ellie & I presented our 1st cut to our class to gain feedback, the video isn't quite finished with just under half completely edited and filmed, we have yet to film at the beach and more shots to show the relationship between Ellie and Max.

We managed to edit and film he first half of our music video in time for the first cut deadline.

Production Update VIIII

On Thursday Mollie, Ellie & I filmed the lip synching shots required to fit the conventions of our media product. however before starting we had realised Ellie still didn't know the lyrics, this concluded with us printing the lyrics on A4 sheets and putting them on a board allowing Ellie to read them off.

We used the over-head projector in the drama studio to project time lapse videos to give the video a professional look, this is a technique used in music videos for Rihanna, Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus & Chase No Face.

Unfortunately due to restrictions and lack of availability of the drama studio we were unable to film in the drama studio until today.

Production Update VIIII

Today we filmed in the nature reserve with Max and Ellie to gain more romantic footage to add the memory montages. We only filmed for 15 minutes as we only wanted 5-8 shots. The shots we really wanted was a long shot (Ellie and Max walking away hand in hand), an extreme close up shot (Max and Ellie holding hands) and a close up shot (Max staring into Ellie's eyes and moving her hair). We believed these shots would be important as it would help show their relationship.

We found it hard to find time when both Ellie and Max were free to film, subsequently this meant we had to film at a later date

Production Update VIII

Today I have began experimenting with possible album cover templates, I have taken inspiration from Drake's - Nothing Was The Same and Tame Impala's - Innerspeaker. This is only the first draft, as we will be taking new photos tomorrow. The shots currently included are images from the footage, making the album cover relevant to or media product.

Production Update VII

Today we have edited the opening sequence to our music video, we have included the shots we filmed earlier today with Ellie and the projector despite her no knowing the lyrics, these shots will just be replaced later on. Below is a clip of what we have edited so far, we have spent a lot of time adjusting the colour correction and overall presentation of the piece.

Here we are ahead of the schedule meaning we are most likely to finish the first half/first cut by 22nd October

Production Update VI

Today we filmed in the drama studio and used an overhead projector to overlay time lapse videos to give the music video a professional style. We also used professional lighting to light the shots we want and give he music video a stylistic look. The projector effect is similar to music videos such as Rihanna's 'We Found Love', or Ariana Grande's 'The Way'. However Ellie still doesn't quite know the song lyrics so we were unable to record shots of Ellie lip synching. We plan to reshoot these shots on later day when Ellie knows the lyrics, until then we are still going to continue with the post production stages and simply replace them with the lip synching shots at a later date.

Unfortunately due to restrictions and lack of availability of the drama studio we were unable to film in the drama studio until today.

Production Update pt V

Today we filmed a number of shots in the local swimming pool using an underwater camera. We wanted to do this to give our work a professional look as seen in some of our inspirations such as Beyonce's - Halo and Rihanna's - Diamonds and The XX's - Chained. We filmed Ellie jumping into the swimming pool and swimming around, these shots will be used at beginning of the sequence and will also be used as overlays in some of the lip syncing shots. We were lucky enough to use a real swimming pool, this allowed us an insight to what it is like to find possible locations and be able to acquire them ourselves (with help from Miss Baker). This is one of the conventions that our music video follows.

We have began to get back on track by sticking to strict times and keeping an organised weekly routine in our media lessons

Production Update IV

Here is the final edit of the first montage of memories, we have re-arranged the order of shots, included more shots and added a continuing light leak to give the montage continuity. This collection of videos will appear during the middle of the sequence after the first lip synching.

To gain time we have began to edit ahead of schedule in hope we will have finished at least half of the music video by the first cut deadline

production Update pt III

Today we have begun to re edit some of the memory shots we filmed in the fields. We have still ye to re-shoot footage of Max and Ellie together as the last pieces of footage captured wasn't high quality, tomorrow we will be filming underwater in the local swimming pool and will be editing this footage in our next lesson, other shots will be recorded after school in the drama studio normally and then edited on Premiere/Final Cut. below is a print screen of the editing process and a video of what we have done so far.

Production Update pt II

Today we filmed in Cow-fields, behind Ellie's house. We filmed shots of Ellie in the fields lying around in a relaxed state. The weather however proved to be a difficulty as it was grey and windy, we used the wind as an advantage in the end by having shots of Ellie with the wind in her hair, we also plan to use the colour correction to alter the appearance of the clouds and give the montage of shots a warm feel. We have already began to edit the appearance of some of the shots, by using colour corrector and overlaying the images.

 At the current moment in time we are behind schedule by a couple of days as you can see on the above  schedule timetable

Production Update

So far we have filmed in the Priory park. We have managed to use a kaleidoscope case and film experimenting with the different effects the case can create. We filmed the memory scenes between Ellie & Max (the first of many) the scene included the two romantically sitting by the river talking. so far we have taken the footage and added a number of light leaks to create similar styles of cinematography as compared to Lana Del Rey's National Anthem. However after looking at the quality of these shots we are going to reshoot them on a camera with HD recording capability as the quality of he footage isn't very good.

Once again the completion date was delayed, to make up for lost time we began to edit straight away to develop our editing skills to give the music video a high presentation.

Characters

For our music video we will be using two people, Max and Ellie. Ellie will be the lead role and act as the singer. Ellie will be included in all shots. Max will be a supporting role acting as the boyfriend of Ellie, he will only be seen in the flashbacks. Both characters will be dressed in casual clothes t make the music video more relatable to the target audience. They will be both be playing young teenagers aged 17 in love.

Location

For our music video we have planned to shoot on a number of locations, this is one of the conventions of our media product. We plan to shoot at Maldon Seaside, a marsh type coast. This will give us the opportunity to gather visual information, unique footage and a feel to a vocational setting . We will also be filming in the drama studio with lighting to give it a professional. We are also going to film on the priory islands and in a number of local fields for the scenes of Ellie's memories. We have used similar locations as to our inspirations of Lana Del Rey and Rihanna. we plan to have a mixed feel of seasons for our music video, the memoir flashbacks will be filmed and edited so they appear to be in the summer contrasted with the bitterly cold shots we plan to shoot at the marsh like seaside at Maldon to give an autumn/wintery feel.