Task 10- Filming: production diary

Date: 12^th November

Location: Home location

Shots: opening scenes and arguments scenes

Equipment needed: Camera and tripod, props like beer cans and clothes to make the scene messy

I filmed many scenes at home as I needed a room where the boy was able to play the video game. I made sure the room was dark and also placed out beer and pop cans as well as clothes on the bed to make the room appear messy, dull and therefore unappealing. There are many shots filmed in this location as it's one the main places used in my production along with the garden scenes. This was because I wanted a continuing contrast of dull and dreamy throughout the production.

 The image to the left is a screen shot of the footage taken for my production. the image below is another piece of footage took in a home location however I have edited it. I edited the colour to black and white to make the mood even darker . In addition, I wanted the home scenes to look negative in comparison to other locations that are lighter as I wanted to show an obvious mood change.

Task 10 Filming- production diary

Date: 24^th October

Location: City location

Shots: Shots to be in the video montage

Equipment needed: Camera and tripod

Health and safety concerns: Careful around busy roads when filming

I only filmed some scenes in the city location as I already had a lot of street shots from when I filmed in London.

Task 10- Filming: production diary

Date: 12^th October 

Location: Floral garden

Shots: Garden scenes, shots of surroundings; flowers, trees

Equipment needed: Camera and tripod

Health and Safety concerns: Had been raining the days before which meant the ground would be wet and therefore could be dangerous, so take care when filming on the grass.

The shots filmed in this location of Blenheim palace are part of the main scenes. At the palace I filmed shots of the main character (Jess) in a rose garden by trees and by steps to get a range of location backgrounds. The image to the right shows Jess about to walk through the rose garden mining the lyrics. This shot is a medium close up and I zoomed out as she got closer to the camera. Most of the shots filmed here involved jess mining the lyrics to video games. This makes filming harder as I had to re-film if she makes a mistake or was out of time with the lyrics. However, when editing I was able to change the speeds of the scenes so her mining fitted the lyrics well. In the rose garden I filmed various shots like pans of jess walking the garden as well and close ups of her sitting on a bench mining, this meant I had a range of shots I could use in just that one location. The weather was very sunny which was beneficial as it make the shots bright which is what I wanted the garden scenes to be like as she was happy to be there in contrast to the dark bedroom.

Task 10- Filming: production diary

Date: 21^st October

Location: London

Shots: Video Montage shots e.g. Street signs, tube station, Streets, London Bridge, London eye, shots of walking the streets of London.

Equipment needed: Camera and Tripod

Health and Safety concerns: not too close to the tube tracks, careful when filming on the city streets due to cars.

The scenes I filmed in London were a variety of shots. I filmed shots of the main character (Jess) walking down the streets of London and looking over the famous London Bridge in order to create another location in the music video and that location being a place she would like to be as opposed to back in her boyfriend’s bedroom watching him play games. Whilst there I also filmed various shots of London’s attractions to put in my music video to create a small montage of various background shots. The weather did make it hard to film as it was raining and overcast making the sky look grey,  where as I wanted it to look bright and only a bit dismal in the music video so I edited the brightness of the shots to suit the video.  I filmed a mixture of shots; wide shots were used when the main character (Jess) was walking down the street as well as zoom in and out's on her walking the streets. I used a low angle shot when shooting big Ben so I was able to scale the building bottom to top.  London was very busy and crowded which meant some shots do have people in them meaning I will have to try and cut them out when editing the footage. I felt the London scenes are important to the music video as it will help portray a location where the girl wishes to be as opposed to back in the messy bedroom. The costume she wore involved fairly normal clothes making her blend in with others around her. However, her jumpsuit is quite formal implying that even though she is in a city with many people she still feels special as opposed to nothing to her boyfriend.

Filming different locations in London enabled me to edit them into many of the scenes. The image to the left is a still shot from the music video where a garden scene is overlaid on a tube shot. I edited many scenes of London into the music video as it helped create another dream-like location the girl would like to go to as opposed to being stuck watching her boyfriend paying video games.

Task 10-Filming: production diary

Date: 12^th October

Location: Blenheim Palace

Shots: shots of palace

Equipment needed: Camera and tripod

Health and Safety concerns: Had been raining the days before which meant the ground would be wet and therefore could be dangerous, so take care when filming on the grass.

One shot I filmed was jess walking down a set of stairs; this was very effective as the sun was shining behind her in the background making her stand out. I also filmed wide shots and close ups of the protagonist (Jess) standing by a massive tree singing as well as her sitting on one. This staging was very effective as it made her stand out against the three due to her bright purple dress contrasting with the brown trees. The costume she wears is a bright purple maxi dress which is quite formal, I made her wear this as I knew that filming in the rose gardens and the grounds would bring bright colours from the flowers and rural landscape and her colour would make complement as well as contract making her stand out. In addition, I wanted her to look more glamorous than she does in the shots in the bedroom as in there it is dark and dirty where as she is now in a dream location.

Task 10- Filming: production diary

Date: 6^th October

Location: Castle location

Shots: Camera shots of old derelict building, wide shots pans

Equipment needed: Camera and Tripod

Health and Safety concerns:  filmed on top of hills to get high shots of the castle so had to be careful when transporting the equipment up and down.

Filmed shots of an old derelict castle to use in the video with the London scenes to show various locations.

The screen shot is of the girl walking down the stairs at the location of the old building. This was another location like London that was used in the music video to present dream-like locations. The weather that day was sunny which benefited me when filming as it helped create the dream feel and it meant I didnt have to edit the footage too much to make it light and dream-like as it already was. The scenes worked well in contrast to the darker bedroom scenes as it exaggerated how happy she was in the locations like the garden opposed to the dark gloomy room.

Task 10- Filming: locations

The images above show some of the locations used in my music video. They include; Kenilworth Castle, Blenheim Palace and London.

Task 10- Filming: production schedule

When (Dates)	Where	What shots are being filmed	Who	What equipment will we need	Health and safety implications
21/09/13	-London	-Shots for the montage in the music video e.g. street signs, tube etc. -Shots of surroundings, girl walking the streets of London.	-Abi - Jess (Girl actress in some scenes showing walking the streets of London)	-Camera -Tripod	-Take care with equipment, busy areas of London.
06/10/13	-Castle location	- camera pans of old derelict Castle	-Abi	-Camera -Tripod	-Take care with equipment
12/10/13	-Park floral garden	-Shoot garden scenes with girl walking around. -Shots of surroundings e.g. shots of close ups of flowers, landscape for the video montage to show throughout the music video.	-Abi -Jess (Girl-main focus of the video)	-Camera -Tripod -Props of formal clothing	-Take care with equipment
24/10/13	-City locations	-Shots for the montage of the music video, shots that fit song lyrics.	-Abi	-Camera -Tripod	-Take care with equipment
12/11/13	-Home location	-Shoot opening scenes of girl and boy in the house. -Plus the scenes that are shown throughout the video in the house when they start to argue.	-Abi -Jess (Girl-main focus of the video) -Dan (love interest of the girl-boy how is playing the video game.	-camera -Tripod -A video game to play -Props to make the room messy(cans and clothes on the bed)	-Take care with equipment

The table above shows the filming schedule for my production of 'Video Games'. I went to film on five occasions and filmed a certain amount of scenes each time. I did experience some limitations when I could film the scenes as the girl who is the main focus of the production is at university so i had to work the schedule around her. 

Task 9- Casting: props

Props needed for the music video include a video game for the opening scenes where the boy will play it, plus props such as drink cans and cigarette butts to make the house look unappealing.  Not many props are needed for the music video I am creating, it’s a main focus on the girl and the location she is in.

The location of the music video was mainly focused in a garden therefore many flowers were used as a prop throughout the music video. Many Scenes involved close ups and zoom out on the flowers. The props of flowers helped portray the theme of contrasting worlds of the dark bedroom to the light floral garden.

During the scenes where the boy plays his video game many cans can be seen on the bed. These props were used to portray a messy undesirable bedroom. The image above shows the character to be holding one of the props whilst singing. She also fiddles with it in other scenes to show her feeling insecure as well as boredom of just watching her boyfriend play video games.

Task 9- Casting

Casting for 'Video Games' video

Once I had decided the plot to the music video and what song I would be using I had to decide what actors I needed for each character in the production. I had to decide carefully about what actors to use for the music video roles as they have to play believable roles.

For the role of the girl in the film I have cast a girl aged 21 which would suit the role as the plot requires a young girl. The girl cast fits the role as she is a young age therefore making her believable to the role as well as relatable to the audience of my music video.

There is also a need for a boy to be cast as the girls love interest. I have cast a boy aged 23 which is suitable for the role as he is a similar age to the girl making their relationship more believable and realistic.

The image above is a screen shot taken from my music video production. It shows both the charcters involved in the production.

Task 8- Final propsal: updated

Once I hade filmed and edited my video my idea proposal had changed slightly. Therefore I have updated my final proposal paragraph to fit the music video I have created.

Final proposal paragraph updated :

My brief plot for the music video is as follows; Dark, dull house, girl watching her boyfriend play a video game her face looks emotional and unhappy. It continues on to show her dressed in formal clothing she looks very natural and fits to the tone of the garden. It then shows her by a tree and she starts to sing. It then shows her walking around a rose garden, it’s bright and formal. The cameras shots of the garden scene are close ups of the girl as well as tracking and wide shots to show her walking around the garden and set the setting. Meanwhile, it will have quick pace editing cuts which cut back to her arguing with her boyfriend about playing the game. The camera shots include two shots and close ups of to show the distance between the boy and girl and the emotions they felt which will show on their faces. In addition, to these scenes it could also flick to other scenes of flowers and nature to fit the scenes of the garden these will act as a superimposition. Near the end of the song it shows more garden and London scenes and then cuts back to the bedroom scene. She is back to reality as opposed to the dream world of the garden.

Task 8- Final proposal

Final proposal for 'Video Games'

My final proposal for my production is a music video for the artist Lana Del Rey’s song ‘Video Games’.  I have chosen to do this as my music video I feel that I will be able to create a suitable production that fits the song accurately. My plot idea I feel fits the song lyrics and will be an accurate representation of what the lyrics mean. 

My brief plot for the music video is as follows; Dark, dull house, girl watching her boyfriend play a video game her face looks emotional and unhappy. There is a zoom in on the screen and she appears on it in a floral bright garden the opposite to the dull house. It continues on to show her dressed in formal clothing she looks very natural and fits to the tone of the garden. It then shows her walking around a rose garden, it’s bright and formal. The

cameras shots of the garden scene are close ups of the girl as well as tracking and wide shots to show her walking around the garden and set the setting. Meanwhile, it will have quick pace editing cuts which cut back to her arguing with her boyfriend about playing the game. The camera shots include two shots and close ups of to show the distance between the boy and girl and the emotions they felt which will show on their faces. It could also flick to other scenes inculding London walking in the streets to show another location where she wants to be opposed to the living room. Shots of flower and nature will also be shown to fits the graden scenes, these will act as a superimposition.Near the end of the song it zooms out and rewinds back to reality where the boy continues to play the video game. She is back to reality as opposed to the dream world of the garden. 

The music video I am creating is in the genre of pop. I choose to create a music video in the pop genre as I feel I know the most about this music genre as opposed to a genre like rock. Therefore it’s important to take into consideration which channel my music video would be broadcast on. I feel 4music created by a German record company is the most appropriate channel to broadcast my music video on. This music channel is known for playing songs in the pop genre. Therefore my pop music video would be a perfect suit for the channel and also will benefit the music video with advertising to the accurate target audience of people who like pop and R ‘N’ B music. In addition, most musicians on 4music include some hip hop and reggae artists. This will help create a wider audience for my music video as these genres have similar conventions to the genre of pop. Therefore people who favourite hip hop videos are most likely to listen to pop songs and artist and they are closely linked as many artist can sing both genre an example is the artist I’m using Lana Del Rey.

Lana Del Rey as an artist has a wide target audience from young teenagers too middle aged women as her songs choices range from pop like the song I am doing “video games” to a more slower beat song. This diversity means that she has many audiences that like her songs. Therefore, the song of my production “Video Games” has to appeal to a wide target audience. I feel that this song is more suited to a female demographic with the age range of most likely mid teenagers to middle aged as many may relate to the song about feeling less important to a man than other things in his life like video games and drink. The video will appeal to the working and middle class as they will be able to relate the storyline of the fall out between the girl and boy and the locations of a house and a floral garden as it makes it realistic as well as relatable.

The genre of my music video is pop and is going to be a narrative based video. I feel a story telling music video will fit the songs as it’s a song about Lana describing the events of her and a man’s relationship. The plot I have created for the music video is narrative based as it involves two various different locations to create a realistic storyline. The setting of the house is the reality of the girl’s situation whereas the garden is a dream world where she can be real and happy as opposed to sad and feeling alone with the boy. I also want to involve artistic performances to the music video whilst in the garden as I feel I could manipulate some camera shots to make it more dream-like. In addition, I may also add certain shots of flowers and nature in the location to add creative scenes to the music video. I feel that these shots will help when portraying what the girl dream-like world involves. These shots will create an artistic side to the video it also shows a music convention by creating almost a montage of certain things that is part of the garden. Whereas, the narrative side of the production is in the house between the girl and boy.

The style of my production I am trying to achieve is elegant during the garden to show her transformation into happy and beautiful as opposed to her former self in the house. The style of the house scenes will be edgy to create a cold depressed emotion as the relationship is non-insistent as he doesn’t pay attention to her.

 The camera shots for the production whilst in the house will be a variety of wide shots, close ups to set the location and express the emotions of the two people as well as two shots the distance between the girl and boy as they aren’t in close proximity of each other as their relationship is failing. I will also use low angles from the point of view of the boy to show he is looking down almost on the girl and vice versa of high angles from her point of view to show he is the superior figure in her eyes. The shots in the garden are going to be a range of shots such as lows angle shots and wide shots to capture the gardens beauty as well as the girls.

The editing techniques I will use include colour changes. During the scenes in the house I will edit them to become black and white to reflect the mood of the girl as she is being ignored by her boyfriend. However, the scenes in the garden will be very bright with bold colours to show the opposite emotions between the two worlds. Another editing effect will be used near the end of them music video, I will use editing and rewind back from the garden scene back to the house bringing the girl back down to reality. 

The mise-en-scene in my production is important to as it will make the video seem realistic. The costumes styling of the girl will be quite plain and casual clothing during the house scenes as it represents the mood she is feeling. Whereas, the costume in the garden will be formal such as flowing dress to show how  she has transformed in this scene to an elegant girl who doesn’t need the man in her life. 

Task 8- Final proposal: Artists background

Lana Del Rey is my chosen artist for my music video. Therefore, I felt it was important to know about her background such as her music artist references and the song I am doing for my music production.

Bio
Elizabeth Woolridge Grant known in the music industry as Lana Del Rey was born June 21, 1986 and is an American singer/songwriter. She started writing at the age of 18 and she signed her first recording contract when she was 22 years old.

Video Games
Her debt single Video Games in June 2011 had a music video created by Del Rey. The song became a viral internet hit with over 20 million views, her second studio album, Born to Die, was released in January 2012.

References
Lana Del Rey has been noted for its cinematic sound and its references to various aspects of pop culture.
Lana described herself as a "self-styled gangsta Nancy Sinatra and Musically, she draws influence from what she deems to be the masters of each genre, including Elvis Presley, Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin, Nirvana, Eminem, Bruce Springsteen, and Britney Spears.

Task 8- Final proposal: lyric analysis

Once I had decided to do Lana Del Rey's song 'Video Games' for my music production I thought it was important to analyses the lyric's. I felt this was very helpful as it allowed me to come up with ideas about what I thought the lyric's meant. It also helped me build on ideas I had already previously thought of to include in the music video. 

Task 7- Role allocation

‘Auteur’ Theory:

The auteur theory suggests that a director's film reflects there personal creative vision, as if they were the primary "auteur". In spite of the production being part of an industrial process, the auteur's creative voice is distinct enough to shine through all kinds of interference from other productions. Alfred Hitchcock is one who is known for the auteur theory and he has been attributed with revolutionizing the thriller genre. Alfred Hitchcock’s famous screen moment belongs to the shower scene in the film Psycho. This scene features 70 distinct shots in the space of less than one minute. These shots are then bonded together making it difficult to distinguish certain features.   

Task 7- Role allocation

Role allocation for 'Video Games'

 I am working alone to create my production of a music video, meaning I have to carry out all of the roles.

Director:  Directing the film alone will have its benefits as it means I can make the video from my own view as opposed to having to adapt ideas to suit everyone in the group.

Cameraperson: I am not acting in this video meaning I can focus my attention on filming all of the scenes, this would mean that the camera shots would have more continuity to them as its only one camera persons style.

 Editor: Being a sole editor means I am able to edit the music video how I want it to be this will mean the editing will look slick as it will involve similar techniques throughout as opposed to having to incorporate other peoples editing ideas into the music video.

Task 6- Storyboard

'Video Games' music video storyboard

The images above show the storyboards that I created for my production of the music video ‘Video Games’. I made these storyboards once I had decided on a plot so I could make an accurate timeline of what scenes will go where.

Copyright Email

This is the email sent to Lana Del Rey's record company 'Polydor records'. I sent this before recording the song as I had to ask for copyright permission from her music label. I did this to avoid any copyright issues that may effect the outcome of my video and the grade it receives .

Task 4- Audience research: Questionnaire results

Questionnaire music video results

1.

Question one of my music questionnaire is a stereotypical question seen which is “What gender are you?” This question was asked as I thought it would be important to know the gender of the people answering my questionnaire as it can impact on the results. Six out of the ten people asked were female whereas four was male. I tried to get an even balance of genders so it wouldn’t have an uneven balance, which could impact the results as women and men typically like different music types.

2.

Question two asked, “how often do you watch music videos?”  I felt this question was key to ask as it was important to know how often the people watched music videos and therefore how much knowledge they had on the conventions. Four people out of the ten asked watch music videos everyday and others did watch them quite regularly as two watched weekly and 3 monthly. This data is useful as it will help me understand how much knowledge they had and how this effects how they answer the other questions. One person never watched music videos meaning their knowledge on the rest of the question would be very brief therefore it could result in an anomalous result.

3.

Question three was “what music channel do you watch the most?” this question was useful as the data would help me decide what music channel I should use to project the music video to make sure it is seen on the most popular channels to gain a wider audience. Five people voted for 4music indicating this was the most popular out of the ten people asked.

4.

“What mediums do you use to watch music videos?” on this question I decided to make it more of an open question. I allowed the m to tick more than one, as many people don’t just use one medium to watch music videos. As the pie chart shows TV and Internet was the most common with eight votes. This would help with the advertising side of my music video, as it will enable me to decide the best ways to advertise the video to attract people using these mediums to gain a big audience. 

5.

Question five asked, “what’s your favourite genre?”  The majority of six voted for pop, which is one of the most common therefore very typical favourite. Two others voted each for rap and rock where as two other voted for other genres that were noted as folk and Reggie. This spilt vote indicated that many people share different music tastes and therefore making the genre you know well would be the best idea to create the best video.

6.

“Do you like to see dance routines in music videos?” this question was important as it is a very common conventions used in videos so it was important to see peoples views on it. Three voted yes two voted no and the majority five voted for depends on the artist. The data implies that people do enjoy dance routines but only if they fit the artists. This suggest that a dance routine wouldn’t be suitable some artist. This means I have to be careful when creating the video to make sure fits the artists brief.

7.

Question seven “What do you enjoy seeing in music videos?”  This was another open question as people can enjoy many different types of music videos narrative story telling was the most popular with seven votes indicating people enjoy a story in the music video and I should try and incorporate a story into the music video I do.

8.

“Do you like to see special effects in music videos?”  Six people voted no whereas, four voted yes indicating special effects aren’t always wanted in music videos. The question continued for the people who voted yes. It asked what special effects they enjoy three voted black and white and another voted archive footage. This suggests that if I were to put effects minimal ones would be k but maybe not to drastic.

9.

 “What is your favourite music video?”  This question asked each person to list there favourite. Each one said a different video, which is to be expected. The question is useful as it gives a wide range of videos, which could help influence, what video I choose.

10.

“What emotion do you like to see presented in a music video?”  Six voted for happiness, three for sadness, one for anger and zero for comical. This data will be useful when deciding what emotion to use in the video to please the audience.

11.

Question eleven was “What media techniques used in music videos do you like to see the most? Rank 1-4 (one being your most enjoyable four being your least)” this question I felt would be useful when understanding what the audience really enjoy about music videos to make sure I can get them right fashion and clothing was ranked first the most times indicating I must choose careful with the fashion side of a music video to make sure it fits the video. All these media techniques are important in order to create the right atmosphere for the certain music video I do.