Clothing Planning comments

I decided that to make sure that I was targeting the audience correctly, it is important to ask them on their opinions on my choice of clothing, just to make sure:

Adam Herrick " The clothing choice is excellent, the analysis makes it clear of the reasons why you have chosen these clothes, they work for the genre aswell."

Tom Featherstone " The clothing choice is cohesive, it is obvious that the choice of clothing has been thoroughly planned".

Danielle Martin " I like how the colours all go together. The connotations of the use of blacks and greys are obvious, and it fits the soft rock genre".

Clothing Planning.

In order to present and shape the meanings presented in the narrative of the video, the planning of the outfits the actors wear is significant. The choice of clothing is significant for the depiction presented to the audience. Clothes create connotations, these connotations in consequence make the audience understand more about a character and also can make the audience understand the narrative better.
Actor: outfit number one

The first outfit for our actor is a black t-shirt with dark washed denim. The t-shirt design is a white silhouette with a person and then birds scattered around the outside. The use of a black shirt enables to the audience connotations of the rock genre. The use of birds around the outside is an interesting print that creates an enigma for an audience. The use of the silhouette may illustrate the freedom that man seeks, away from the trajectories of the strong manacles of society’s restriction. The sense of this restrictive freedom, on the t-shirt, therefore is the meanings also in the video. The audience therefore can link these two meanings.

Outfit number two:
The second outfit consists of dark denim, a striped grey and black shirt with converse style black shoes. This outfit has a similar dress to the conventional rock artist clothing. This is significant for the audience as they are able to identify the genre of the video simply through the outfit of the actor. The style shoes were deliberately chosen as they are similar to the “converse” shoes associated with rock artists.Actress: Outfit number one

The first outfit consists of the actress wearing a light grey jumper, dark grey skirt and black tights. The use of the grey has connotations to the audience of coldness. The over use of this colour reinforces to the audience this “coldness” and misery that the character endures in the video. How she wears black tights continue the deliberate empathetic depiction of the character as black tights suggest her being reserved, trying to cover up herself.

Outfit number two:

The second outfit continues the reserved nature of the character. The black dress with the striped shirt underneath illustrates again that the actress has something she is hiding, evident in the shirt being “tucked away” behind the dress. The bands on her arm also illustrate to the audience how her problems coil around her, certainly a character presented as suffering from the problems in her life.

Time Plan

Monday 8th February: Me and Samantha in class and after school created the storyboard, we gathered our ideas. This cohesion resulted in the final plan of the music video shot per shot.
Location; introduction shots; 103 Main Street.
Witham saint Hughes.

Time: Wednesday 17th February 5pm-8pm

Intention: To complete the introduction of the video

Review: We managed to shoot a variety of shots that aligned to the storyboard created at the beginning of the project. We didn’t however complete all of the necessary filming as there was timing issues. In order to overcome this problem we planned beforehand. We planned in case this would happen and planned in this case to film another section of the video. The other section that we filmed the following day was the shots at the train platform

Location: 103 Main street Witham st Hughes

Time: Wednesday 24th February 3-4 pm

Intention : To make sure we finished the introduction of the video

Review: After not completing the introduction of the video it was important that we created a new date. To make sure our planning kept coherent and on schedule we decided to film on this date. We did successfully. In order to plan for the next scheduled date we need to organise exactly the shots and how long intimately they will take to film. One problem that has already arisen is the clash of schedules with the actors. We need to make sure it planned perfectly to save time and enable an efficiency to the work.

Location: North Kesteven secondary school and Waddington fields

Time: Monday 1st March. 4-7

Intention: Get the outdoor shots whilst the sun is out.

Review: We got there later than expected due to irrelevant inconvenience. We didn’t get many of the shots that we hoped for as the weather let us down. We therefore had to improvise and just capture as many shots as possible. We understand that it is better to do this as we needed “filler” shots just in case we have further problems with our actual video shots. We need to rearrange another date soon, as we need similar weather.

Location: Waddington

Time: Tuesday 2nd March 4-5

Intention: Make sure we hit plan
We were both ( me and Samantha) concerned about the “lack” of shots produced yesterday. We decided that we needed to capture more of our actual video shots to therefore maintain our hold onto our schedule. We did have some errors though. We had to go back to Witham quickly to get the clothes our actress was wearing the previous day so that it looked like the same day and we could only get the actress to film as our actor had made other plans. Even though today we did only have our actress we still managed to film a lot of the shots of her needed. All we need to do now is to “tweak” the order of filming and just swap two or so around as we have unexpected filmed further date shots.

Location: Witham St Hughes

Time: Wednesday 10th March 6-8

Intention: To film bedroom narrative

Review: Our intention was to continue filming more of the bedroom scenes with just our actress. We did manage to film quite a lot of different things but did feel that we didn’t have enough time needed today to get all the shots necessary. I am pleased with today’s result as we got some nice shots that meet the criteria of the assessment.

Location: Witham st Hughes

Time: Friday 12th March 8-9

Intention: finish bedroom shot

Review: we struggled badly to fit all the shots needed in with the time due to other commitments tonight. We did manage it though and I was more concerned about the quality than the quantity. This therefore meant that I wasted time due to wanting the best shots and wanting to feel like I covered a range of decent A2 shots that will meet the criteria. I think it was a good idea to take the storyboards with us as it certainly helped to know the exact shots we needed and it saved us time.

Location: Bassingham location

Time: Sunday 14th March 3.30-9.00

Intention: Get all the shots of the actor as the singer and get the narrative of the actor and actress in the bedroom and outside.

Review: We got there at 4.00 instead of the planned time of 3.30. It was useful having the map that we researched before we started to shoot as this saved us time and we therefore knew our way. The time went very fast and we covered many of the outdoor shots. The use of props came in handy here as we used the ladder to get our shots of the actor doing the vocals. The shots inside were fine however even with the light on the bedroom was really dark. To overcome this problem thankfully one of the props were some fairy lights that we were putting up outside , we used these above the camera inside to get a good brightness. Also the fairy lights had problems outside As we had to switch near the lights! We managed to find an extension cable however we should have considered this before.

Wednesday the 17th March schedule: Today’s filming did not go ahead as one of our actors were ill. We have therefore re-scheduled the date of the filming to Friday.

Location: Bassingham graveyard

Time: Friday 19th March. 4pm-7pm
Intention: Get graveyard and final field shots.

Review: We managed to film everything finally ( besides the sand timer) today which has worked out well. I am pleased that our planning of today enabled us to get more shots than necessary (just in case of a problem). We didn’t have many problems. The weather was unpredictably bad at times but the organisation of places to eat etc kept our actors happy. The use of the storyboard were beneficial as they enabled us to save time on the shots that we collected. Overall I am very happy with the work we have done today. Next time though we could have possibly found a nearer graveyard but overall the graveyard was suitable for the video and looked the same area and weather and with its mass of greenery etc.

Location: School

Time: Monday 22nd 3.00- closing time

Intention: Edit filming

Review: We spent hours until closing time and didn’t get much done. Concerned a little bit we are putting in all the hours this week. We also got a better shot of the timer. The sharper quality of the sand timer by using the green screen has improved the quality of the video.


Location: School

Time: Tuesday 23rd March Break, lunch and after school

Intention: Continue editing
Review: stayed for many hours until the school shut and managed to just edit the beginning of the film. Again concerned as we didn’t suspect it would be as difficult. We are pleased that we have storyboard to know what went where. Some of it looked a little out of place in reality so we used some of the “filler” shots. I’m pleased now that we filmed these extra bits.

Location: school

Time: Break and after school Wednesday 24th

Intention: continue editing
Review: We both managed to equally edit it. We again just kept going with the editing for hours. We didn’t have many problems as we knew what we were doing on the software as we made sure we did before the editing. We just both got very picky over the shots to enable the best quality video that ticked the criteria for this assessment.

Location: School

Time: Break and after school, Thursday 25th March

Intention: continue editing and try to complete the music video.

Review: The editing today felt a much longer process than before as it came to the crescendo of the song where we needed to make sure the timing was perfect for the shots with the audio. I am very pleased with the pace of the shots in the correlation to the pace of the music.


Location: School

Time: Break, Lunch and after school

Intention: Meet today’s deadline

Review: I felt me and Samantha really did well today. We managed to get the video in today with a video with a variety of shots. It has been stressful but thankfully the use of planning of time with the use of storyboards and the scheduling of when we are both available enabled us to meet the deadline.

Project Planner:

Outfit analysis (applicable for use in my project)

Style for our actress:
Analysis number 1, Avril Lavigne:
Avril wears a contrast of colours that suggests her “rebellion” to the conventional female image. The short skirt as well, with the hoodie reinforces he rebellion and her take on the contemporary style of women in society. Wearing the hood up on the video hides her hair. In terms of connotations , the hair is one symbol of femininity and identity. The covering of her hair therefore, suggests Avril wanting to hide this femininity as a means to present a “harder” image.
The frayed skirt also reinforces the transgression of feminine females in society to the independence of the modern woman, a stronger , self-governing personThe artist here is Hayley"Paramore".Hayley wears a military-style jacket on top of a dress. The clear connotations from this outfit in the video “only exception” presents how Hayley is a fiesty woman who contrasts to the patriarchal view of women in society. The overly bright orange hair reinforces the fierceness character of her. Throughout many of the bands videos Hayley does wear some very feminine style clothing. However, the outfits are of a majority Blacks reds and grey, this linking to the stereotypical image of rock , predominantly dark colours.
The soft rock genre that the bands music is categorised into is presented through Hayleys clothes. Hayley does often wear bright colours, presenting her bright personality and the energetic pace of the music. What I have learnt from looking at this artist is that clothes can present the emotion and the personality of a character, this being important for the audience.

Style for our actorYMA6; This all male comprised band again, keep to minimalist colours of clothing. Empirical research ( gigs and music videos) shows that they all primarily wear simple, black t-shirts, conforming to the social perception of artist in this genre. The black colours again symbolises the emotion of the band, where the colour black also has connotations of power. The simple colours and contrasts between black and white symbolises the simplicity of the band. This therefore being the band as a group of people who don’t want to wear something outrageous to “stand out” but for the music to be the representation of what they stand for. This in some retrospect’s creates an enigma for the audience, something to consider when producing my own. The Kings Of Leon; The band often wear simple neutral colours. The natural presentation of the band, with the use of the earthy colours, creates connotations to the audience that the band members are natural performers. Empirical research shows that the band usually wear layers of clothing. This may suggest to an audience, the dimensional personalities of the band, a band with depth and personality.

I have learnt from empirical research and the analysis of the clothes worn by these artists that the outfits worn in a video serves to further portray the artist/s even further to an audience. The connotations that an audience can extract from an outfit is significant in the understanding that the audience has of artists. This image therefore affects the marketing and the sales of the artist.

Music video storyboards

"Quicksand" and how to use the camera and FinalCut Pro

In order to understand the meanings for the video and to plan each shot, me and my project partner listened to the record and typed up all the lyrics. This is crucial in aligning the narrative of the video to the record:


I saw a girl on the train with a flower in her hair,
On my way to Sander city.
A bright eyed angel, beautiful stranger.
The way she’s laughing with her friends looked so pretty.

I wonder if she has somebody,
I wonder if she needs someone to talk to,
Late at night.
But love, it’s just so complicated.
Trying to drag this broken heart a-stone
Back out into daylight.

I guess I’ll never really understand,
Thought that I would always be your man.
But we let the whole damn world slip through our hands.
Gave you room to breathe, it was never enough,
You pushed me to the edge just to make me give up.
I didn’t jump but I’d had enough, of the damage done,
Just running on quicksand.

It’s no surprise to find three years down the line,
Closed eyes never lie.
Was it really so hard to be a little bit honest?
Tricked yourself to think what you were doing was harmless.
Thinking I would never recognise the signs.

And now you told me that you’ve found somebody,
And you’re out there somewhere,
Pretending it’s all alright, faking that smile.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t really figure it out,
I guess I always knew inside you’d never be the one to stick around,
And now you’re out of style.

I guess I’ll never really understand,
Thought that I would always be your man.
But we let the whole damn world slip through our hands.
I gave you room to breathe, it was never enough,
And you pushed me to the edge just to make me give up.
I didn’t jump but I’d had enough, of the damage done,
Just running on quicksand.

Don’t go (what you looking for?)
Find that... (Looking out that open door).
You’re always there you wanted more,
It’s time to see, gotta settle the score.

I guess I’ll never really understand,
Thought that I would always be your man.
But we let the whole damn world slip through our hands.
I gave you room to breathe, but it was never enough,
And you pushed me to the edge just to make me give up.
I didn’t jump but I’d had enough (I’ve had enough),
Baby, you had better understand,
There ain’t no chance I’d ever be your man again.
Just rewind, if you try, I won’t buy it.
All the tricks and the lies are behind it.
You can look but you’re not gonna find it.
Running on quicksand,
Running on quicksand.


Demonstration
. Need to book the video camera
. Ensure that I return the videotape at the end of the course, once I’ve used it to edit.

How to use video camera:

.Press eject
.Put the tape in the right way around.
. Gently push the “close” button.
. Make sure that the camera is fully charged.
. Flick the green button down to the camera and remove the lens cap.
. Rewind the tape back to the beginning
. Press the white button to record.
.* Don’t rewind the tape*
. Press “record” a few second before you want the actors begin as it makes the camera adjust and enables you at the editing stage to cut the filming to where you want it to.

Demonstration on using Finalcut pro
Open Finalcutpro (Start-all programmes- Finalcut Pro)
- Then go to File; save project as- ….( Save as your full name)

Go to the folder- media-Yr13
- Then click “Quit Finalcut Pro”.

Then go back into the saved named folder.
- Then plug in the camera
- Then on Finalcut Pro go to file; login capture.

Then open the window and press the capture button.

After press the “ESC” key and turn off the camera.
- Then press save.

Demonstration to import music:
Open up the application “BR” Bridge.
- Insert and open up a CD.
- Copy the track
- “Edit”, “copy” – then paste into my folder.