Notes to Actress

Before we started shooting I gave this...

...to my actress to help her through the shoot. The lyrics were obviously important as lip-syncing is a huge convention of a music video. Noting which part of the song is in each location will help her prepare for each shoot as well what costumes to bring along. In terms of what she needs to do in each shoot I decided to do briefings at the start of each filming so as not to confuse her and so we can discuss what I'm aiming for together to make sure she gets a good feel for what I'd like to achieve. I found this a very useful technique as it meant that whilst filming I could direct her and she can ask questions as we went along. 

London Film Festival

This week I visited the BFI London Film Festival, saw three fantastic films and had a brilliant experience which has inspired me greatly as I go into the editing stages of my music video. 

The films I saw were Breathing, Martha, Marcy, May, Marlene and Trishna; all very different.
Breathing was a 'quiet' film but was meticulously edited with fantastic sound detail, making me think about the importance of good cutting between shots to give it a good pace and a strong impact.
Martha Marcy May Marlene looked at dreams and reality and had a hazy quality, with flashback elements - an effect I'm looking at having in some portions of my video.
Trishna was a world of colour, light and movement, but the focus was on the main female protagonist, and her subtle expressions were what carried the film. How my female protagonist is represented is something I have looked at and it is very important to get the right balance between relatable and also being a 'pop star'; being professional on screen.

I've taken a lot away from the experience and has made me look at my video differently and how I can improve it.

River Rough Cut

I've put together a rough cut of my preliminary filming, much of which I will be keeping in. I tried out a few effects and editing techniques to see how it would work...

Forest Shoot

The forest shoot on Sunday went well. As it only features in the video for about a minute, the shoot took a lot less time than I was anticipating. The weather was nice and clear and the sun shone through the trees at times so I managed to get some great shots.
Here is my shot list from the shoot...

Here are some of the pictures I got that may be used for my album cover. 

Whilst filming I came up with a shot of the artist running away from the camera further and further into the forest, which symbolises letting the relationship go, and that it is now just a memory (helped by the white blouse which is ghost-like). 

Me filming

I'm now going to try to put a rough cut together of what I've got so far before I film the river location.

Beach Shoot #2

I thought I'd post about my filming progress so far to keep on track with my plans. My second shoot focused mainly on using the props that we didn't have time to do the first time as well as get a few pick-up shots.

Me during filming

 Here is my shot list from the shoot...

The rose shots went well and we decided to throw the petals to the sea in order to have a stronger visual. I took a few shots that could be used for my ancillary tasks for the single cover...

The only thing that didn't work well were the match shots. This was mainly due to time constraints, the strong winds and the lighting (i.e. too bright). We will have to come back later to try it again, because I think it is a really strong visual that will work well. 
Here was our attempts anyway...

The darker lighting and more sheltered area worked better when experimenting, so perhaps it was the location. I may try out the match again on the river shoot to see if that works better otherwise come back at dusk on the beach, and try and pick a less windy day!

Audience Feedback

I showed a rough cut of the opening sequence for my music video to a member of my target audience to get their thoughts on how I should proceed. 

This is what she thought...
- She likes the mixture of shots, and wants even more Close Ups
- She likes that the waves crashing brings in the music at the beginning
- She thinks maybe to have a close up of the artists hands more while singing to add depth to the shots


This has made me think more objectively about the video as I go about filming more (on Sunday) and editing my first cut of from the beach shoot.

Audience Research: Target Audience

I decided to survey a selection of the target audience of 16-25 year olds on their music video watching habits and what music videos they think are successful...

Lorna, Saffie, John, Tash, Daniel

Natasha
Age: 17
Subjects studying: Media Studies, English Literature, ICT
Favourite genre of music: Country Rock
In what medium do you watch music videos: YouTube
How many music videos do you watch in a week: 0
Favourite music video you've seen recently: Raise Your Glass by Pink

John

Age: 17

Subjects studying: Media Studies, Business Studies, Photography

Favourite genre of music: Indie

In what medium do you watch music videos: YouTube

How many music videos do you watch in a week: 20

Favourite music video you've seen recently: Time To Pretend by MGMT

Lorna

Age: 17

Subjects studying: Media Studies, Art, ICT

Favourite genre of music: Country/Pop

In what medium do you watch music videos: YouTube

How many music videos do you watch in a week: 15

Favourite music video you've seen recently: I Won't Let You Go by James Morrison

Saffie
Age: 17

Subjects studying: Art, Textiles, English Literature

Favourite genre of music: Folk

In what medium do you watch music videos: Online if at all

How many music videos do you watch in a week: 0

Favourite music video you've seen recently: There aren't usually videos for the songs I like.

Daniel

Age: 17

Subjects studying: Chemistry, RE, Biology

Favourite genre of music: Pop

In what medium do you watch music videos: YouTube

How many music videos do you watch in a week: 10

Favourite music video you've seen recently: Summer Nights by Grease

What this means...
As I thought, the majority of young people keep up to date with their music through YouTube, which I looked at here.

Also, as Saffie highlighted her favourite genre is folk and the reason she doesn't watch many videos is because there aren't many made for her genre. My remix/dance genre is also niche so there aren't many made, something I've also looked at. Therefore I have a little more freedom, but there are less conventions for my genre, so I have to look a bit wider in the music industry to gain inspiration and ideas.