Digi-paks planning x2

DigiPacks Planning

Filming through the Freeze

Today we started work on our performance sequence, currently we have an abundance of narrative and ZERO performance which is obviously a major flaw. So It felt really good to at least make a start on filming even if we didn't get that far! For our performance we decided that less is more - working with big cast & costume & makeup shoots for our previous sessions we decide that the juxtaposition of a colour crazy journey through the past would be most effectively contrasted with something extremely minimalistic and simple. We debated having our lead singer performing to a television & our lead female being trapped inside the television (using already filmed footage of her in different decades). Though as our school was very inconveniently robbed we now don't really have time to export all our footage onto quicktime files & put them onto a disk in order to film the scene, not to mention the tweaking in the edit suit to make the transitions work continuously. So unfortunately like our 'band performing' idea we had to tame our creativity in order to feed practicalities. We have been aware all along that our video would never be able to be at a standard to which we would be 100% proud because we don't have the time or the money. For example, though i came up with the idea, i find the polaroids in the beginning of our sequence a tad predictable and cheesy, however in order to paint an overt picture of this couples "intense" relationship we needed that graphic signifier to be included. 

Consequently we decided to film the lead male (Bing) wandering the streets attempting to find his "lost love" &  sat in a messy bedroom looking depressed and hopeless. We wanted to expand their emotional distance by making Rhianna (lead female) be stuck in a time warp, whilst he was looking in all the wrong places. We aimed to reiterate the themes of the video by cross cutting their distance and create a representative piece in relation to the song lyrics. We knew we had to include only extreme close up's, close up's & mid shots for our performance (mainly) as we were majorly lacking them in our narrative shots. We needed our audience to be fully connecting with bing in order to sell the product well, keeping in mind the fact that we are promoting 'Suburban Typo' (our chosen band name) lead singer, our band, their image, their music, and their ethos.

One of the key focuses of today was on eye contact, connection & acting abilities when working with our protagonist. It was extremely difficult for him in the middle of a freezing common (in the snow!) to stay focused and to feel at ease. As he was mainly concentrating on remembering the lyrics and not freezing to death, his performance became slightly stilted. As a drama student i suppose i am more picky about facial expression & body language when filming than the rest of GEAR, but we were all agreed that filming in a near by house may help us achieve a stronger image. Once inside we had the song blaring, lyrics up on a screen, (not to mention some warmth) and he really loosened up. Evidently when performing an actor/musician needs to warm up, partake in rehearsal techniques, vocal exercises and so on, so for our next filming session i hope to plan a warm up activity just to allow our lead male to feel at ease and not so coy about performing properly. Though when we were filming outside myself & Rhianna (Grace was filming) really tried to be extremely active, sing along, make our performer laugh & feel comfortable, because there is nothing worse than your actor feeling awkward & uneasy when your trying to produce a confident performance. 

Overall we got a fair few shots today & photographs for those using bing for their album art, but we are planning to shoot again of friday the 1st of March - when it's less cold, Amy can be present (she had to miss today's shoot due to work), and Bing feels more at ease with the song & the brief at hand. 

 

 

 

                      

Further research

In relation to the production process i have had much more general practise directing, producing, colour editing & stills editing, cinematography & graphic work. So i felt that when it came to the final editing stages of the video though i would try and find a loop in the industry to oversee some editing and gage a better understanding of the planning processes & decision making / techniques  used by professionals. I went along to watch the Mf foods 'Fry Light' campaign's final 20 second advert be edited. I Partook in their discussions on artificial effects, music, slogans, graphics and close up expressions. I found it extremely intriguing watching professionals work and feeding in my own ideas (actually creating the 'motto' of the company / advert in the end), the process was extremely long and tedious and at times i felt imprudent commenting and voicing my opinions, but they were actually extremely grateful and co-operative. Watching the attention they gave to such miner features in their work for example : a button sound effect, really reinforced the precision we must uphold on every tiny feature of our own work in order to create just what they were aiming to achieve with their advertisement...a product. 

Current Work

Presently I am trying to mainly concentrate on my website & building that up based upon The Vaccines web design & research into other artists site's which enticed me. I have completed a photo shoot of x4 young boys posing as the 'young' band & i hope to have an opportunity to photograph some older men as well in order to make my creativity more believable. We are currently aiming to set up a casual evening where we can photograph a group of friends in a natural environment in order to create a warm, indie vibe rather than getting an overly commercialised 'posed' feel from the images. I really need some contemporary shots for the 'group image' page using the lead male from the video in order to forge a connection between my website & work. I have started by looking up tour venues, setting up social networking links & editing images & the typography of my site (Something I viewed important to concentrate upon from the research I did into like-ability features of websites).  I am primarily concentrating upon the ancillary projects even though we still have x2 shoots to do & some editing of the performance pieces for our video. This is because there was unfortunately a robbery (which took place on the weekend of the Saturday the 9th of February) in the Media Department. Our teachers arrived on monday morning to find macs, cameras & cables stolen, which of course was devastating both for them & the media students. We are in the process of ordering all the equipment back on insurance (the macs are on their way & the cameras in the buying stage) so the incident should hopefully (to an extent) resolve itself soon. However of course this will hinder our preparation time & quality of our projects. Left with little computer availability at school & a 'make do and mend' attitude we've tried to concentrate on blogging, digi-paks or websites dependent on our individual needs. After our half term break the production process should hopefully fall into place (after all the new equipment has arrived, been installed & tested). However though we are currently trying our best to carry on, our coursework deadline was this friday and this halt in the development of our piece will really effect overall editing time & video quality, though we are trying to as positive as possible!

                                                

 

BAND NAMES BRAINSTORM

SKINNY FRAMEWORK

SUBURBAN TYPO

HEY BULLDOG

NOBODYS HERO

Discontented honey

HEYLA HEBA

SELF ASSURED

OBLADI

UP YOUR JUNCTION

PROPER STINGING

MUCH OF MISTRUST

LEAKED LOGIC

THE GRATEFUL DENIALS

QUESTIONS OF SCIENCE

THE RYDELLIES

 

We finally chose our band name 'suburban typo' a title which connotes the bohemian individuality of the indie ethos. We wanted a name which represented our band as an anomaly in society, posing them to be outcasts in a suburban maze. 

http://www.wikihow.com/Find-an-Interesting-Name-for-Your-Band - Interesting article on how to choose a band name 

Photoshoot planning

 

Today I did a photo shoot with x4 young boys who were posing as the younger version of our indie rock band. I wanted to incorporate the idea into my ancillary project, that this group had a real story behind their formation, they weren't just a manufactured construction from a reality TV show. I aimed for it to seem as if even as small boys music was in the foreground of their interest- an intense passion, which sculpted their childhood and brought them up into a world where they all shared x1 key goal. I based my photos on the physicality of the vaccines album covers, aiming to mimic their formation and create links to this particular style of musical photography. I took several photographs on an SLR - then edited them in after effects & also took a number on a disposable camera in order to achieve an indie, festival style effect & I also printed off a number of photographs on a polaroid camera in order to make them seem more vintage. I did originally want to photograph a band of late teens & I did several brainstorms of ideas having EG: x4 boys sharing one face / a face made up of photograph & painting & sketching - to build up a tactile image, using a polaroid shot of x4 boys by a London landmark completely shadowed, created a line of boys posing as if their were going through evolution into each other or grown men, having x4 boys doing handstands against a brick wall, having x4 boys spraying the band name on a brick wall, x4 at a festival on a disposable - playing their instruments by a tent...etc - However actually acquiring a group of people to use proved to difficult & thus I thought I would try and explore other options in order to achieve something more realistic! My shoot overall went really well, I am not 100% sure if I like my idea / images, or if I am stretching my abilities far another, however I took a diverse range of photographs & the boys were fantastically easy & energetic yet tameable to work with (something which worried me as they were only 10!). 

1970's shoot prep & storying boarding