My Final Production Hard Wi - Hard to Beat

This is a link to my music video. I filmed the video in Northampton and I have included pictures of London so that people think that the video is filmed in London.

The filming and editing took several days all together and it took time to get the lip syncing right.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KycPSH0xEXk

Filming

Today we filmed in Northampton.

It was a really fantastic day. The weather held off until the evening and we managed to film in the park with little interuption.

We filmed up and down Gold Street first after meeting outside the VUE cinema. When we had finished the filming we ate at the original Buddy's and went home via train.

The backup camera came in handy and so did the back up batteries. The school camera ranout of power about 3/4 of the way through filming and so I used the digital camera of mine. The batteries in this quickly died and I changed them to get the last of the filming done.

Possible Filming Techniques: Boom Arm

To achieve a really long moving shot I could use an improvised boom arm. I have borrowed my dad's mono pod to try this out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BEKyN7EMag

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPUSb9Ifb2M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ37RYhNdNY

I have found that the boom arm needs to be counter weighted. The camera at the top of the arm is weighty and pulls down the arm. When I am holding the arm it tends to shake and the camera wobbles. To balance this out it would need to be fitted to a rig that has a pivot point in the middle allowing for the camera to be slightly weighted against the counter weight. This way camera would move down in a fluent movement.

Possible Filming Effects: Blood

The next technique I am have tried is blood. To create the blood all I used was pure red food colouring. I used in a sink for two reasons. One I wasn't aloud to try it on any other surfaces in the house and two it seemed like the best place to use it in a video.

The first attempt went wrong in a way because the sink was wet. This meant that all of the colouring bled into the water that was already there.

I realised that at the top where the sink was dry it looked better so I washed the sink down and dryed it out. By washing the sink down I could see that the colouring acted similar to blood.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqk1S4yCpyo

The second attempt was so much better. The fake blood looked life like and moved in the same way. It moved at the same speed and was dark enough too. If the blood does look a bit light in some places it can be put down to the sink being white.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Bigg1Po9jY

Possible Filming Effects: Police Lights

I have been looking into possible filming techniques that I could use in my film if I needed to.

As I have already storyboarded this should not be necessary but it's nice to know if the technique works or not.

The police lights effect can be created in a dark room with a pair of novelty magnet lights I bought years ago. They flash just like police lights and they reflect off of anything in the way of the light.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3YPxMadv6c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JapwPX8x-WE

My Location

I plan to film in Northampton. On the map below provided by Google Earth there is a marked out area where I plan to film.

Beckett's Park provides the perfect green space in a town location for my video and the landscape's hills and hollers allow for the right effect.

My Equipment

This is the equipment that I have booked out for use over the holiday.

A Jessops Tripod.

A Canon MD 205 Camera.

For extra emergancy safety I will also be taking my digital photgraphy camera as it also has a film application with it. And to back up this I will be taking 3 sets of extra batteries. This way I know that I have enough back up options to get all of the filming done.

The Weather

Lately it has been very rainy but I have planned ahead and looked at the weather forecast for the shooting day.

Me being the ultimately clever person that I am I may have forgotten to scroll down to the right part of the day's weather. So now that section of the weather report is gone forever. However I can tell you that the next time frame was at 10:00 a.m. and it did say cloudy but sunny spells. I remember this because I remember thinking that it was just at the right time for when we would be filming. After that it said rain at 1:00 p.m.

I am going to take umbrellas anyway because I don't want to ask George and Emily into town and get them wet because that's just rude to say the least.

My Actor

The actor in my video is one of my best friends. I asked him at the begining of the year if he would star in my music video and he agreed. George Caswell is completing the same media course as me and while we have different songs with different concepts he knows what I have to achieve. This is helpful to me because he knows what the main aims and goals of the project are and what the breif is. He is also a keen musician like his girlfriend Emily Hare so they are on hand if I need any 'industry' advice.

Thank you George for starring in my film!

My Actress

This is the actress in my music video.

Emily Hare is a very good friend and has very nicely agreed to be in my music video with her boyfriend of two years + George Caswell.

Emily has also amazingly been so kind as tolet me have complete control over her hair and wardrobe. This means that I can create the right effect in my video.

I would just like to take the chance to say Thank you to Emily for being Great and starring in my video!

Planning: Preparation Including Porps, Equiptment, and Control of Location

I have found my two actors and we have set a date of the 23rd October 2010.

We are planning on meeting up in town and filming through out the course of the morning and into the afternoon.

The only prop needed in the film should be the girl's phone. My actress will have her phone with her anyway and if need be I shall have mine to hand that we can use.

The equipment needed will be one tripod and one camera. I have booked these out from the school media department.

The location is a public place and so I have no control over that or who walks into the shot but I think it will give the video a more realistic effect.

Planning: Shooting Schedule

To effectively and efficently shoot my music video I am going to need a shooting schedule.

The shooting schedule will enable me to know what I have and have not filmed. There is going to be three main parts to the shooting shedule.
The largest two sections will be the girl scenes and the boy scenes. In the middle of the two will be a mixture of the both where both characters are on screen together.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/42792318

Planning: Final Storyboard

In my final storyboarding I am going to take out some scenes of the sky and some of buidings. This will enable me to focus more on the actual people and therefore the song. By having more shots of the girl the audience will want to see what she looks like more. Therefore this will drive the audience to watching the video through to the end.
This will then increase records sales.
After re-storyboarding I will organise the shots into the girl scenes and the boy scenes leaving the mixed few where both are in the shot in the middle.

Director's Pitch

Here is my directors pitch for the main concept of the video. It's a fairly simple concept that I think compliments the song well.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/42773405/My-Director-s-Pitch-for-My-Music-Video

Final Production of Magazine Advert

This is the final draft of the magazine advert that I have created to advertise the bands new album Stars of TV. The feedback on this advert was mainly good so I am keeping it the same as the original with exception to the line around the text which I have now changed to white so that it blends better with the background.I looked into an alternative concept for the advert based on what the audience research said. I thought that it could be really clever and have the same simple intelligent effect. Despite the fact the pattern I have used is green it still works essentially the same. The text is where it becomes clever. By layering the text on top of the opposite text in reverse it gives it a real mirrored effect. The text "Hard WI" is in the top on the left hand side of the image with the text "Stars of TV" underneath it in reverse. On the right hand side the text "Stars of TV" is on the top with the text "Hard WI" underneath. On each piece the text underneath is written backwards so that it looks like the image has been flipped.

This is what my advert will look like inside an actual magazine.

Final Production of Digipak

For the final production of the digipak I have taken some advice from the WALL.E Soundtrack and made the entire digipak, with the exemption of the CD, recyclable.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UUa87u9j6Q
I have decided to make the case out of a relatively thick cardboard which can be made from recycled card and paper. The front cover is plain and so is the inside panel. The back cover is plain but the real magic of this is the way the CD is held in place.

The inner back panel will have a hole cut the same size as a CD with two overlaps at the bottom to hold the CD in place. At the top of the circle there will be a little cut out that allows the user to grip the CD with a finger. The inside of the two overlaps will be hollowed out on the inside so that the CD fits in easier.

There can be some variation on this design because the inner panel to the front cover could be just a square frame that has no middle. This would create a frame like edge on the back of the cover panel; with two overlaps added it could hold an insert booklet about the band.

This is the final product. I am overly pleased with how this turned out and I love that the simple concept is in keeping with the bands image.

Here is the link to my final digipak construction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcyngItc1XU

Research and Planning: Target Audience Feedback (Video)

The feedback I got from the video was also questioning into some aspects. four out of the six people that I asked said that they think it's alright or better. This means that the main concept I have for my video is right or there abouts.
Some people said they thought it went well with the song and the rhythm. This tells me that the timing of the scenes is correct and that the scenes are in the right places before I start to film the video. The main concept of the video relates to Goodwin's Theory's; it contains a lot of notions to looking and a large overall chase concept of boy meets girl - boy wants girl.

One person said that they thought it would be hard to get a clear shot if I was filming the video in town. I sort of agree with this but having other people around would make the video seem all the more real I think. It gives that atmosphere of a bustling community and a vibrant always moving work place of the city/town.

Another person said that it was alright but did not give an answer as to what could be improved upon.

Research and Planning: Target Audience Feedback (Advert)

The feedback I recieved from my target audience on the draft of a magazine advert was varied to say the least. Three people said that they thought the advert was effective and they liked the way it was laid out. The other two that I asked had differing opinions.

One person said that it was "very bold", this could be both good and bad for the advert. The boldness makes the advert stand out in the magazine and creates a certian impact which allows the readers of the magazine to slowly absorb it's message. The red creates that immediate WOW and BOOM effect leaving the reader to just read what the text says in the middle of the pages. The viewers eyes are immediatley drawn to this because the white stands out more than the red does as a brighter, bolder colour. However it could be bad to have the advert so bold as people may think that it is being preachy and in their face. This could deter readers from buying the CD or going to see the band.

One person said that it was quite boring and that there should be a picture in the advert. I am choosing to ignore this comment because the bands image is clean cut and simple. I am keeping with this image and the belief that an image would look too clutered and give of the wrong impression of the band.

Research and Planning: Target Audience Feedback (Digipak)

My target audience feedback on my draft of the digipak came back all complimentary.
I think I have found the right balance of contemporary modern simpleness that easily captures the bands individuality.
I have used ideas based on their other albums and their other covers to create an effective and different digipak for their album. The band is individual when it comes to CD cases and digipaks because they don't do the same 'mainstream' thing like all of the other bands/artists do. Hard Fi unlike other bands does not have an irrelevant expensive photo shoot with the band members in it; instead the band chooses to signify themselves by using primarily yellow with black and white writing or images. The images are usually computer generated and they have clean cut simple lines which gives the band a modern feel.

I feel that I have created a digipak worthy of the band and there is one more surprise I have left in store to distinguish it from other albums.

Research and Planning: The Genre

Hard Fi is an Indie Rock Band. Ultimately Indie rock is a sub form of rock that originated in the UK and the US in the late 1980's. The main roots of the genre lay in three or four different categories of rock: - Alternative, Post-Punk, and New wave are where the basic origins of the genre came from.

The term Indie comes from the saying Independent Music. The genre is not to be confused with Indie music.
The artists in this genre like to have control of their own music and they work hard to maintain the values of independence. To keep independence and control of their music the bands use only independent record labels. This means that the band can have control of their music and they do not have to bend the lyrics to what the major records labels would want. The major record labels such as EMI and Universal Music Group like to change songs that their artists write so that the lyrics are more politically friendly or less explicit etc. By making songs more acceptable the record label will sell more copies of the song and make more money.

I shall bare this all in mind when I am creating my products for the band because the band does not like to make a 'mainstream' fuss over what is happening in their career. Hard Fi uses primarily simple designs and ideas to attract fans and not loud outlandish statements.

Research and Planning: The Artist

Hard Fi are and English Indie Rock band from Surrey. The band formed in 2003 with four members.

They achieved chart success with their third single, "Hard to Beat" and then followed by other successful singles such as "Cash Machine" and "Living for the Weekend", which all reached top 15 in the UK Singles Chart.

Their first album Stars of CCTV had three singles in the charts. "Hard to Beat" was the first single that got Hard Fi noticed as a band. This was followed by "Cash Machine" and "Living For The Weekdend".

The band was marketed to audiences mainly on the radio and music channels. The band also used poster advertising to project their record sales further.

After looking into all of the old covers that the band has had for various singles and albums I have found that the band likes to use bold colours mostly yellow to contrast well with black and white. This is a signifier that has been anchored into the minds of the audience. When the three colours appear on a CD cover it instantly reminds people of the band and by staying with the same style and colours it is a very effective way of creating a large number of record sales.

I plan to use the basic idea of simple is better to create my advert and digipak. This may sound easier but it's actually harder trying to get the right combination of things together to make it simple.