Update on Progress

After the Christmas holidays we have got together and looked at what we still need to do. We have been set some deadlines by our teachers which are as follows.

End of January - We must have completed our first full draft of our music video. This will not be finished and may need some re-shooting and more editing in places but will have the bulk of the video and will have no gaps, running smoothly.
End of February - We must have completed our final draft. There maybe time to go back and iron out a few issues after we have finished everything else but the idea is that by the start of March we must have moved onto the auxiliary tasks.
End of March - We must have finished the auxiliary tasks in full.
End of April - During April we will do the evaluation questions, and depending on how quickly we get them finished we will go back to our music video and iron out any little problems. However, by the end of April we must have finished the entirety of our coursework and have handed it all in.

Also at this group meeting we arranged a few more filming sessions in the up and coming weeks.

Changing The Leads Outfit

Originally we envisioned the lead wearing a white skaters dress, a black bowler hat and coat, and a red scarf. 

However, having gone to the pier and started filming we started to find a few issues. 

Above is a picture from out first filming session, as you can see the coat looks too bulky and goes against the sleek, smooth, feminine, angelic look we were going for. Because of this we had to review what we had chosen as clothes. 

Despite the cold weather, we decided to remove the coat while we filmed for the second time as well as changing her shoes from clumpy books to light weight canvas shoes. 

Below is her final look. You can see we have removed the coat and the light weight shoes. We think this really helps us achieve the more feminine look we were aiming for. 

As we are filming outside, on a windy pier in the middle of winter we make sure we always have someone there with extra layers of clothes for the model to warm up in between shots. 

First draft of First Section of Music Video

This is the first draft for our first section of the video. We still need to re-shoot at Hall Place but to get a better idea of where we're going I put this together as a first attempt.

Second time filming at Erith Pier

After the first shoot at Erith Pier we decided we needed to go back and change things while re-shooting. We changed her clothes, her hair, her shoes, we made her make-up more bold and we brought a speaker so we could play the music to the song out loud during the lip-syncing shots. All four of us attended as we filming during the afternoon.





The camera we were using was Cannon Legria FS306. we used a tripod to help up get a steady shot. A advantage of this tripod is that you can turn it around gentle to gain a smoother pan shot.
























This is the outfit we can see her in. We kept the same dress but removed the coat as well as adding the hat. We also changed the shoes and restyled the hair.







It was a freezing cold day but Katie managed to power through in just a summer dress and two pairs of clear tights. We would set up the shots with her in a coat and scarf and then get her to take it off just as we start to film. As soon as that take was done we would then wrap her back up again.



During the sections of filming where Katie was supposed to be lip syncing I had to stand behind her, just out of shot, with my iPod playing the song out loud so that we could fit the song to her lips easier. You can see this in the Gif on the left. You can also see me holding her coat for when we finish the shot so she can warm up as quickly as possible.

First Bits of Filming at Erith

This is the first bits of filming on Erith Pier. These kind of clips will go at the start of the music video, during the first verse. I was unable to attend the filming due to a work commitment but together Hannah, Katie and Danielle used a number of different techniques, such as the rule of thirds and the golden hour filming.

After I edited these clips we got together as a group and reviewed the footage. We have seen a number of improvements we need to take into account when filming next. These are:
- We need Katie (the model) to walk slower.
- We are changing the clothing she is wearing. We think the coat is to heavy and goes against the mood we are trying to create. Further more we think we need to look over what shoes to have her in, her current shoes are black thick boots and it again goes against the mood we are striving for.
- We are also going to try out other methods to pan as the way we are currently using does not work very well as it is bumpy and jumpy.
- Also from edited the pieces I have discovered that we require her to sing along to the music when we want to lip-sync. This is so that her lips move in time perfectly with the music.

First pieces of edited footage

Having had our first bits of filming to play around with I started to play around while editing them. I have then arranged them into different sections so we could each easily write about them.

Section A - Animal Life.
These animal shots were taken in Hall Place. Due to the environment most of the wildlife consists of water birds such a geese. The clips by the river are very shaky as we forgot to bring the tripod. However, we can still see potential in these to be used during the first half of the video. While I was editing these pieces I noticed that just cutting from clip to clip was often harsh on the eye and so added in fades. However, we do not plan to use fades in our final piece. Because of this I think its important to clearly think out the layout of each clip so it is not such a big jump from one clip to another. My favorite clip in this section is of the birds flying, but to be able to sue this kind of shot in our music video we would have to be careful of the surroundings as in this clip we have a lamppost come into shot which we would not want in the final cut.

Section B - Leaves.
This is a short sequence about how we could assemble our different clips and angles within our music video. While filming we shot this single action of dropping a leaf many times from many different angles and here i have tried to utilize that as best as i can to show the journey of the leaf. This kind of clip would fit nicely into the middle and ending section of our video.

Section C - Hugging.
Similarly to Section B, we filmed this actin of hugging from many different angles and I have carefully selected which angle to go in what order so that ti appears the camera is moving around the couple and slowly getting further away from them. You will also notice that on the final transition I have created a  fade. I did this to show that time has passed since the last clip, as a way of explaining why they have moved from a rather still position on the bench to a more animated motion of walking away form the camera. This kind of clip would be used within the first section of our music video.

Section D - Every Day People
This section was hard to shot as we tried to do it with people knowing we were filming them as they would act different. The first clip is of a man shutting down his shop. We thought this important to film as it is a every day activity that you wouldn't normally notice. Next is a man briskly walking along the road in a leather jacket with his hands tucked in the pockets. We thought this would be a good idea to film as it leaves you wondering why he is in a hurry and if he is cold which will add to the melancholy feel of our music video.

Steadicam Research

This is some research that Hannah has done. I have put into a prezi. From this research we now feel that have a found a way around the problem we were having with shaking while filming,