Editing first draft

Today I finished editing the the footage from my film shoot the other day and have managed to put together my first draft. I edited the footage in Premier Pro as I feel this program is best equipped with what I need and i also know how to use the program well. For the moment the only editing done was cutting and putting the clips together to create cohesive video that will provide the basis for my other drafts, almost like a template. I also added the music audio to the video by downloading it and dragging it into Premier Pro. I then synced the audio to match the video in the way I envisioned it would play out during my planning stages. Overall I am happy with the first edit and the editing session went well in terms of what I wanted to achieve.

Here is a screenshot of me in the middle of the editing process for this first draft. At this moment in time I was going through the clips on the preview screen in the top left hand corner to check which ones I would be able to use and which ones should be deleted. This was also before I had put the audio in the video as you can see in the bottom right there is no audio there yet. Again i am happy using Premier Pro as my primary editing software.

First Shoot

Today I went out and filmed the footage that will be used to create my first draft. I thad to be a night time shoot as this is one of the main features of my music video. This presented a big challenge to me because it created a lot of lighting issues. To overcome this we shot mainly in places that were well lit so that the video had a cutting edge aesthetic to it. I had time constraints and so I have only filmed the scenes for the first half of the video and so I will need to go out and film again. After I have edited the video together and gotten feedback i will know if I need to re-shoot any of the footage that I have gathered today.

Main Issues with filming

One of the key issues that I am going to come across during filming is creating effective lighting. This is because my film is going to be at night time and so if the correct lighting is not used then the film will not look very good and will be too dim. I need to come up with some lighting techniques that will help ensure that my music video look look clear and good. I have learnt some lighting techniques from the film noir that we created in groups a while ago. These include using a primary light and then secondary light to create clear images and shadows which proved to be very effective. I can use this for the scenes that I am driving because it will help to make the scene more clear to the audience. One of the main struggles for filming at night is that the lighting needs to look realistic and not overexposed so that the audience can tell lighting has been used. To fix this I can use some natural light within the video for example street lights can be used as a primary light source for making the scene look realistic. To improve this I can set the camera to a narrow aperture so that the shots are sharp from the foreground to the background, ensuring that the image looks clear with the lighting.

Animatic

Here is my animatic that I have created from the storyboard that I have made. This will be very important to look at when I am going to shoot my video as it give me a brief idea of how the video will look if it does correctly. This also informs me on if I should make any changes to what I am going to be filming or not and at the moment I am happy with most of what I have got. This also allows me to know if the video will reach the appropriate time limit that is required for the video which mine does. I think some of the shots that I have thought of could be shortened slightly after making this animatic. 

Feed Back from Digi-Pack First Draft

Today in class we each presented our first mock ups of the ancillary tasks. I showed what I had done so far which was the front cover of my Digi-Pack. The purpose of this presentation was to identify what is good about the first draft and what could be improved upon.

The main strengths that I received were that the rain effect looked very good while the cover also had a good choice of font. People also suggested that it was visually engaging and that the contrasted colours worked together.

As for the improvements, people said that the text could not be seen very well because of the pink and black colours used. It was also suggested that I make the blue and purple colours darker to create a more dark tone which connects better with the music genre of Sound wave. People also said the maybe the road should be manipulated as it tails off so that it is not as clear to create depth.

For my next draft I will try to incorporated some of the improvements that have been suggested while also maintaining the strengths that are already there. This feedback was very helpful to me because I will now be able to further develop on my ancillary tasks.

Music poster advertisement first draft

This is my first draft of my Music poster advertisement ancillary task. I have decided to go with the approach of making it similar to the digi-pack/album cover because this will help my audience identify with the album. The text used is still a work in progress and I have placed these here just to get a template and idea of what I want the final product to look like. This includes the font style and colour of the font. At the bottom of the advertisement I have put the logos of the streaming sites Spotify, Tidal, and Apple Music so that people know where to find the album and therefore make it and effective advertisement poster.

Location

Here are some pictures of my location scouting and where I would mainly like to film my music video.

This is the location where I would like to shoot the first scenes of my character getting in the car. I think that this car park is a suitable location as it provides good light sources which will be crucial in filming at night time.

This is the location where I will shoot the scene of me getting out of the car and walking away. I think this is also a good location as it provides very good lighting for a night time shoot. It is also a very quite road and so I will not be disturbed when trying to film here and I can film rather easily without too much struggle which will be essential.

Here is the location for the scenes of me walking around. Again these locations provide solid lighting for me to work with and so is a good location to shoot.

Casting

For my video I will only be needing one person to act within the music video. This makes casting much easier because I will not need to look for a whole different range of people to act in the video. I have decided to cast myself as the only actor within the music video. This is because I know the kind of character that needs to be portrayed for the video and also will be convenient for me not having to rely on other actors to help out.

Below is a picture of me as the character from a test shot of me in the car which I think provides enough evidence that I should play this role.

Digi-pack First Draft

This is the first draft for my Digi pack ancillary task for my new idea. I used the program photoshop to create this digi-pack because I feel this is the easiest way to create it. 

Here is the front cover of my Digi-pack. This is one of the most important parts of the product because it needs to identify with the audience what the album is about while also appearing intriguing at the same time. I am working in the electronic genre of music and so to show this I have taken inspiration from other media that works in this area. Examples of this include Kavinsky's album 'Outrun' where I tried to include similar colour themes and images. I also looked at the film 'Drive' which uses similar music within its soundtrack and so I used a similar font colour and design. I positioned the road towards the left and then going out to try and capture the audiences attention. I have only placed the text on the image as a template for the font that I eventually find and so is only temporary. I may also think about changing the background of this cover because I think I could find something better suited to the synth-wave genre. Overall this gives me something good to work towards. 

New storyboard

This is the establishing shot of the music video which i think will last for around 15 seconds because it will also involve a mini title sequence within this shot to establish the video. It will be very dark to connote the main themes of the video. Ambient music will start to play.

This will be a long shot of me walking to the car which will last for about 5 seconds. The Mise en Scene will be slightly brighter as there will be a street light within the shot. The ambient music starts to pick up a little bit. 

This close up shot will last for about 4 seconds as I will also be getting in the car. The music will still be a bit ambient as it is still building up. 

Another close up shot which will only last for about 3 seconds. It will be well lit as it would be hard to see the black images within the frame otherwise. 

This close up shot of the speed dials will last for about 3 seconds and will involve the lights coming on. The music will start to kick in a lot more within this shot.

This shot of the car driving off will last for about 5 seconds to try and keep the suspense going.

Props and equipment

For my video I am going to need some props to help tell the story while also providing some more visual imagery and variety to the video. In addition to this, the equipment will also be essential to the video because it will be what makes or breaks how it will look visually.

Below is a list of props that will be needed for the video.

-Car
-Clothes (Leather Jacket)

Equipment list:

- GoPro camera
- DSLR camera
- Phone Light
- Primary Light

All this equipment will be essential to the filming process. This is because lighting at night time well be the main challenge of filming and so I need to have the correct lighting equipment to ensure that the video looks as good as possible. A GoPro camera will be helpful to have because it is a lot easier to film inside the car as it can film instantly and is a lot more easier to move around while also have top quality.

Shot list

I have now created a shot list for my video so that I will be able to map out in my head how my video will work and how effective the shots I have will be. This will then help me develop my storyboard so that I can get a better understanding of my video and then eventually create an animatic so that I can see how my video will work and if what I have decided to do will be a good enough music video that works well.

1. Establishing shot of the road moving along

2.  Super Long shot of protagonist walking to the car

3. Cut to long shot of being near the car

4. close up shot of protagonist opening the door and getting in

5. Super Close up shot of the car keys being turned

6. close up shot of the cars dashboard lit up showing speed dials

7. medium shot of car driving off into the distance

8. over the shoulder shot of protaganist driving the car

9. cuts to side on medium shot of protagonist in car

10. long shot of alternative character walking towards the camera

11. cuts back to medium shot of the protagonist in the car front on

12. long shot of car moving along the road

13. another long shot of alternative character walking along the pavement

14. over the shoulder shot of protagonist in the car

15. Cuts to sped up footage of long shot of the road when music picks up

16. medium shot of alternative character walking

17. close up shot of protagonist in the car front on

18. medium shot of alternative character facing side on to the camera

19. cuts to long shot of character walking along the road

20. wide shot of protaganist in the car

21. cuts to long shot of car pulling up

22. close up zoom in to protagonists face

23. long shot of alternative character walking away

24. cuts back to same long shot of car pulled up on the road

25. Close up of the protagonist side on view

26. extreme long shot of car pulling up on the side of the road

27. Tarantino shot of getting skateboard out the boot of the car

28. Changes to medium shot of walking away from the car

29. extreme long shot of walking into the distance with the skateboard

I think that this shot list will be very helpful in me deciding how my video will work and if any changes will need to be made.

Choosing the Music

I have now chosen the music that I am going to use in my music video. It is the song titled 'Night City' by the artist Vogel. This is a song that is in the sound-wave genre which is what I want to base my video off of and will help me create the video that I want to make. The artist Vogel has given me permission to use his music via email and so it is okay to use this copyrighted music. I have chosen this song specifically out of all his other work because it has a very dark tone to it however is also very vibrant and links to the imagery of driving.

Here is a screenshot showing me asking for permission to use Vogels music and him replying saying that it will be okay to do so. This now allows me to now work and figure out how I want to use this music to my advantage to create a good music video.