The Big Shoot!

Today after school we filmed the biggest part; our glamorous scene which makes up the majority of the video. It took us a good couple of hours to both set up and film. We were lucky enough to be able to use the school theatre and all of the facilities it had available such as the sound and lighting equipment. At first Mr Collins, the head of Drama folded back one side of the stairs enabling us to have more space to use. He then covered the stairs with a white sheet just incase we wanted to film some shots on the side and also showed us how to change the lighting and use the sound equipment. Mr Ayres helped us to set up the white screen.

Once we were set up, we then arranged the cameras on the tripods. The four girls then went to get ready. Before we started to film, the girls did a practice run of the dance routine on the white screen with the song about 2-3 times to familiarize themselves with the screen and so that we could work out the positioning of the girls for the camera. After this, we started to shoot. I filmed some parts and participated in the video, whilst Sarah and Saira did some filming and Zarah adjusted the lighting.

It was quite cold in the theatre, but we all managed to pull through and have a successful shoot. Months of planning were now being put into action! In the meantime, check us out performing below before the editing begins!

Sir talking to us about the equipment before we started filming and giving us tips.

The white screen still in the process of being set up. The trail needs to be long for the girls when they perform their dance routine as they do a strut towards and from the camera, like on a catwalk.

Zarah setting up the white screen.

Saira setting up the microphone prop to ensure that it is stable and connected properly.

Sarah setting up the second and main tripod.

The white screen finally set up!

Us four girls getting ready to film.

Sir giving us some tips.

Getting ready to perform.

Walking back after performing the first part of the routine.

The girls :)

The girls watching back some of the recordings.

Zarah controlling the lighting.

Megi getting ready to record her individual part.

Myself and Sarah filming Megi.

Me filming.

Saira filming.

Megi and Sam getting ready to use the microphone.

Us four using the mics!

Schedule for Friday

Friday 26/11/10 Schedule:


Location:
Theatre (3.10 pm)

Dance routine run through: 3.10 pm-3.30 pm
Chorus (4 girls): 3.30 pm - 4.00 pm
Chorus (individual): 4.00 pm - 4.30 pm
Break 4.30 pm: 4.45 pm
Second Verse: 4.45 pm - 5.15 pm
Third Verse (4 girls): 5.15 pm - 5.30 pm
Third Verse (Individual): 5.30 - 5.50 pm
End of Song (Individual): 5.50 pm - 6.00 pm

Equipment:
2 Cameras
2 Tripods
1 Digital Camera
iPhone (to play song off)


Props:
2 Microphones
2 Mic Stands


Mise-en-scene:
Glamorous look - flashy dresses/outfits
Vibrant make-up
High heels

Gaining Permission to use the Theatre

I emailed the Head of Drama, Mr Collins through the school portal to ask him whether it would be possible to use the theatre for our shoot. However, on the day of the shoot, there was an event being held in the Sports Hall during the morning which had equipment from the Drama department and theatre in it. Mr Collin's reply was "as long as you can get the equipment out of the Sports Hall during period 4, you are then able to use the theatre to set up during period 5 and after school as long as you have a supervisor" (taken from an original email). So now that our location is sorted, the filming can now begin!

Here is a screenshot of the email I sent:


(you can click on the image to enlarge it)

Editing The Classroom Scene

During todays lesson, my group started to edit our footage. We used the software Adobe Premiere on the Apple Mac. Our first scene is the classroom scene, so we started to edit that by choosing our establishing shot and how we are going to incorporate the close-ups of each of the four girls to show their boredom. At first we had to cut down the amount of footage we had and chose to keep the bits that we felt had good angles and shots. We did this by creating a list where we noted down footage that we wanted to keep and as we did this we deleted footage we didn't need so that it was less time-consuming.

The beginning of our video starts off in the classroom before the song actually starts, so we need to ensure that the establishing sequence is only a  few seconds long (approximately 8 secs) to keep the audience engaged. We managed to get quite a lot edited and distinguished between the order of our clips.We sorted out our footage by putting the classroom shots first, followed by Vanessa's, Sam's, my scene and Megi's scene in our individual locations as this is the order in which the lyrics are sung. Below are a few pictures of us editing!

Sarah and me looking at our footage identifying what needs to be moved where.

Me and Sarah again watching my part on the screen where I start to go into 'dream mode'.

Zarah, myself and Sarah.

Editing Sam's part where she drifts off into 'dream mode'.

Our group watching Vanessa's part as we end on Vanessa's mid close-up before the song starts, so therefore we need to ensure that we give the clip enough time to fade in the dream so that the audience can understand the narrative.

Day Three of Filming - Sam's, Megi's and My Scene

Today me, Sarah, Zarah, Megi and Sam (Saira couldn't make it) went to film our parts. We filmed Megi's part first, with Sam's following next and then mine. It was extremely cold but we managed to pull through and overall managed to have a successful morning of filming. We did a test shoot for Megi and Sam to enable them to practice and feel comfortable in front the camera.

Unfortunately, we had to change Sam's location as there was a graduation commencing outside the university where the balls that Sam needed to sit on are located, which meant that we had to choose another location for Sam as we are pushed for time and our schedules all clashed. However, we were able to work with the location well as I directed Sam to lean on the wall and then come out and sing to the camera, which looks effective on camera and matches the lyrics. Sam and Megi both managed to sing along with the lyrics in time and both performed really well.

Myself and Sarah filming Megi. As you can see Megi is wearing pink as her individual colour in some parts of the video.

Zarah filming Megi from another angle on the handheld camera.

Me and Sarah looking back at what we've recorded. 

Us showing Megi her recordings so she can see whether she needs any improvements.

Zarah doing a test shoot of Sam so she can adjust to the new surroundings due to change of location.

Me directing Sam on how to walk out from her position to sing to the camera..

Me and Sarah showing Sam her recordings.

Sarah setting up the camera to record me.

Sarah recording me.

Our group after a successful morning of filming :)

Schedule for Tuesday

Tuesday 23/11/10 Schedule

Meeting Point:

School (Media classroom) at 8.40 am.

Locations: 

Lady Herberts, Coventry University and Priory Point

Lady Herberts - 9.00-9.45 am (Test shoot and Megi's scene) 

Coventry University 10.00-10.45 am (Test shoot and Sam's scene)

Priory Point - 11.00 am-11.45 am (my scene)

Break 10.45-11.00 am

Equipment:

2 Cameras

1 Tripod

1 Digital Camera

iPhone (to play song off)

Mise-en-scene:

Costume - Smart look (individual coloured top and black trousers)

Neutral make-up

First Stage of Editing

Today myself, Sarah and Zarah (Saira couldn't make it) stayed behind after school to start the first stages of editing. We went through all of the footage that we had shot by connecting the memory card from the cameras onto the laptop and watched the footage through the software Adobe Premiere. By watching each piece of footage we were able to establish what we'd like to keep and what we'd like to get rid of.

We found that we had shot some really good footage, getting a variety of shots and were pleased with what we'd done. Also, we found that we got good close-ups of the girls showing their intense emotions to match the lyrics. As the song has parts where it is instrumental, we are going to incorporate these close-ups during these parts to show continuity throughout the video as the close-ups are of the girls in their location of where they met the boy they like.

Sarah filmed some floor shots which unfortunately didn't come out as we'd at first anticipated. This is because they showed the ceiling and surroundings of the theatre which would've ruined our video. Therefore we had to erase this footage. Our next stage of editing will be deleting other pieces of footage that we don't want (which we noted down) and then start to edit the actual footage we are going to keep. Watch this space!

Choreographing Our Dance Routine - Second Rehearsal

Today, myself, Vanessa and Sam (Megi couldn't make it) continued rehearsing the rest of our dance routine. I'd arranged with Ms Gallagher to use the drama room which we fortunately were allowed to as it enabled us to get a lot done because we had a lot more space to use; especially since I had created a step which included the girls strutting to and from the camera as if on a catwalk hence why we needed a lot of room.


We managed to get all of the dance finished and overall are very pleased with what we achieved. I choreographed the whole routine and came up with ideas but later found that some of them were too slow and didn't match the beat in time. I administered this issue however, as I then made up moves which we found were a lot easier to do with regards to matching the beat.  I also previously made up some moves at home which I used during the rehearsal and the whole of our routine consists of them. My main inspiration came from dances from The Saturdays and Cheryl Cole performances. All of us were happy and found that the new moves allowed us to move in time to get in the next position/move for the next beat. We took some recordings and when we watched it back we found that we were all in sync and time. Overall, we have come a long way since our first rehearsal! I was very pleased to see that my creation was paying off and that all of the girls were happy with the dance. We will also hold another rehearsal session so Megi can catch up and so that we can perfect our dance. Check us out below! (You can click on the images to enlarge them).

Rehearsing the move that was inspired by Cheryl Cole, but I incorporated my own idea to make it unique and our own technique.

Practicing strutting to and back from what will be when we record, the camera. As you can see from the picture above, it was quite a long walk so the drama room came in useful because of the space we had allowing us to rehearse efficiently.

Saira taking photographs.

Zarah playing the song off my iPhone which was connected to the large speakers.

Sarah trying out one of the moves whilst I was instructing Sam and Vanessa on how to position their hand for this specific move.

Practicing the first move of our dance as inspired by The Saturdays.

Me and Saira decided to set up a test shoot so we could experiment potential lighting ideas for when we film the chorus and the dance routine for the actual video.

Here is some test footage. As you can see it isn't perfect as we were still in the early stages of rehearsal, therefore it has flaws and isn't complete. It helped us to identify where we were going wrong and how I could adjust the moves so that they matched the song and beat in time. 

Here is another take we took near the end of rehearsals. As you can see it is much more rehearsed and better than the first take above as we had enough time to practice the steps. As there are only three of us in the take, when Megi performs with us in the video you will see the actual dance come into effect when we stand in pairs opposite each other as you can see in the clip below at 29 seconds. I'm also miming along to the lyrics as I dance as I need to practice this for when we film, however I'm not miming as much as I will be in the video as here I'm doing it in order to ensure that the steps are right. We will hold one or two more rehearsals so Megi can learn the dance and so that the girls can familiarize themselves with miming along to the lyrics and feel comfortable. Anyway, hope you enjoy the video for now and let me know what you think of the dance!

 

Dance Inspiration

I researched videos on Youtube to gain some inspiration and ideas for our dance routine. I looked at videos by celebrities and ordinary people. Most of my inspiration however, came from performances from Cheryl Cole and The Saturdays. I remember watching 'Cheryl Cole's Night In' where she performed her song 'Fight For This Love' in which she did a routine which I'd seen her do on The X Factor too. There was one move in particular that stood out to me which I really liked and want to use for our routine as shown below at 2:24. I would like to use this move but will add my own twist on it to make it unique.  Below is Cheryl's performance:

I also saw a performance of 'Higher' by The Saturdays from their series 'The Saturdays 24/7' which I liked. There's one move from the performance which I would like to use for our video, as shown at 1:02 which will start at the beginning of our chorus. Below is their performance:

Other A2 Music Videos

I researched other A2 music videos in order to see how other groups have produced their videos. I found some that I think are really good.

I think that this video has been done very well and looks professional. The students used a blue screen which is useful because it allows you to add special effects in the background of your choice in post-production, as demonstrated throughout this video. They changed the background to black and added white effects on certain people in the video such as at 1.38 to add emphasis on the dancer. The white effects coincide with the black to match the boy's outfits in the video, as they too are wearing black and white which shows how they've created a colour scheme and house-style. There is also a good use of a variety of camera angles and shots which keeps the audience engaged.  I like the effects used and how they move which contribute to the overall professional effect of the video. Personally, I feel as though the video looks authentic and the cast and crew did a great job.

I also like this A2 music video as I think the narrative fits very well with the song. It is vital to have a video which matches along with the lyrics as the audience may get affected with regards to how they perceive the song and video i.e. the video may be distorted resulting in the audience not fully understanding the concept. Flashbacks are also used to show how the relationship between the boy and girl was happy at some point, until the disequilibrium occurred. Flashbacks are an element we are considering incorporating into our video, to show why each girl is dreaming about the boy. Therefore, it is useful to see how this group have included them in their video so we can see the overall effect on the audience. There are also good shots and effects used such as at 2.25 when the boy disappears, showing how their relationship isn't like what it used to be and henceforth it fits in with the narrative. I think this video has been done really well and the narrative coincides with the song perfectly.

Choreographing Our Dance Routine

Today after school I arranged and started to choreograph our dance routine for the chorus of our video. At first it was hard to think of any potential moves as the song was very upbeat and we had to ensure that the dance moves we chose to do were applicable to the song and matched the beat in time. However, it was lucky that I'd already had some ideas in mind which I told the girls and we then managed to choreograph some moves for the first part of the chorus. We were very pleased with what he came up with and are all going to ensure that we practice at home in order for the dance to be well rehearsed for when shooting as well as scheduling some more rehearsals after school and during free periods. I was pleased that the girls were comfortable with the steps as if they weren't, producing a dance routine would we harder as the girls need to feel content with what they're doing. Check us out experimenting some moves below!

Discussing potential ideas before we start rehearsing.

Above you can see Sarah suggesting our positioning.

Sarah watching us rehearse to see whether what we were doing worked well or not.

You can see us practicing our first part of the routine which starts just before the beat kicks in and we 'strut' towards the camera together.

Megi, Sam and Vanessa watching me as I demonstrate the moves.

Us standing in a position we are considering using during the routine.