Editing Difficulties.

Yet again, reminiscing on our draft, the computer seems determined not to let us start. So far Adobe Premiere has frozen and shut down five times- everytime we go to save progress. However, we are trying to save it elsewhere which does seem to be helping for the time being.

Also the computer keeps hiding folders when we click on them, and they move up and down flickering meaning it is near impossible to select anything. We have only managed to get eight clips loaded onto our project so far and this has been throughout a combination of three lessons.

We hope to overcome these issues soon with some IT support.

New Storyboard

Here is the new storyboard that we created to help us make our new video. It was more thorough than our last attempt as I had previously gone listened to the song getting the timings for each line meaning that the storyboard covers all of the song and doesn't miss any out like our last attempt did in a few places.

Media storyboard

View more presentations from Lydia Bedford.

Below are the ideas we put down before hand so that we could complete a better storyboard:

Final Filming.

Last night we (thankfully) found space where we could film in daylight. Everyone had a last free period (except me who talked to my teacher to arrange taking it off) so we were able to leave school at the beginning of lunch allowing us to get all our filming complete. As we managed to film the daylight scenes all in line with a tight schedule we were able to complete the dark scenes as well meaning we were completed by about 17:15. This meant Harry who was due for a birthday meal with his family to be able to film with us and go out. It all worked rather well after an initial panic.

The lighting was a lot better than expected for an autumn day, I was expecting to have to use car headlights to add to the light but generally speaking the sun was shining and light was in good supply. The weather was as good as we could of asked for allowing for a smooth run.

We completed the following scenes/locations:

• roundabout on park
• swings on park
• field shots
• shop shots
• car park/trolley shot
• bus stop shots (which we omitted for a shelter giving the same effect)
• garage shots
• underpass shots

Although we basically forgot to take any shots of us filming Harry and Jake each took a few whilst they were waiting to be shot so here's a few quick images of yesterdays filming:

Although we actually missed out a few shots we took alternative ones to fill the space that we thought would be more effective. Hopefully when editing it should come together nicely.

When to Film.

As I keep discussing in my posts it is becoming really difficult to find times to film as day light is in short supply at the moment, by 4 o'clock the lighting just isn't good enough. I only arrive home at 3:45, and Izzy even later than this meaning daylight shots are becoming increasingly difficult. There is actually no day apart from this Thursday and the next Thursday that everyone is free and this Thursday it's Harry's birthday and next it is the day before the deadline. Even so we'd only get about 15 minutes worth of shots which is hardly worth it anyway. We really need to film at the weekend but Jake (in the band) and Izzy both work almost all of Saturday and Sam and Jake both also are working on Sunday. The only solution I foresee is filming early Saturday morning, although I need to check this is ok with everyone as I am unsure when they actually begin work. Hopefully there is going to be a gap open up for us to film! We did contemplate getting new band members before the new shoot however as this didn't happen and we have already started to film. I really do think we need to reconsider this though as I personally see no other way around it and I don't want to get to the deadline and find it's too late. Obviously I need to discuss this with Izzy.

Filming Update

We did some more filming on Thursday evening with the band members, however we did not get nearly as many shots as we would like to. This is because it is becoming increasingly difficult to get us, me and Izzy, as well as the three band members together at one time. This is for a variety of reasons but mainly is due to people having part time jobs after school meaning it is limited when we can film. Izzy also works Saturdays and Sundays so we are unable to film at the weekend. Again more reasons include our band members featuring in other music videos for other groups meaning we have to compromise when we can film and also our band members have school work they also need to fit in. Basically we are limited to Thursday's in respect to when we can film. But since the Thursday just passed we could only do about an hour worth of filming (because Sam had to leave) it has meant we have more to do for the coming Thursday (which is already having to be cut short because it will be Harry's birthday) and the only Thursday left before the deadline therefore is the day before it is due in which is no good in terms of editing. We are really struggling for time in that respect but are continuing to do the best we can.

Shots we did complete on Thursday were night shots and we had to use car lights on full beam to light the scene. It worked alright although when watching the clips back the lighting is compromised and hopefully we will be able to edit them to correct this if not we will have to refilm ASAP.

Filming Today

Today we did the first shots for our final video. I feel it went quite well as we took more time over doing them meaning that they weren't just 'good enough' but they were actually satisfactory. It took a lot longer than anticipated though, for several reasons including:

• Driving to get around places ended up being quite time consuming as we went between Whetstone, Enderby, Blaby, Croft and Fosse Park. I also accidentally took a wrong turn meaning we also were headed to Desford at one point which, when in rush hour, was far from ideal. 
• When filming the sky going dark about 10 minutes into the shot the wind blew the tripod & camera over. This meant we had to restart the shot. Luckily the sky hadn't darkened too much by this point and the remaining 30 minutes we did capture does show a change in lighting. 
• Getting the dog to do what we wanted was only an issue in that we had to tire him out to prevent him doing whatever he pleased. Therefore we had to run around with him and let him play for about 10 minutes before we could actually take the shot. However, he did actually cooperate quite well and we managed to get the shot we wanted by the third take. 

As a whole though the filming went well and we achieved everything we wanted to. 

Pictures of Izzy filming facing Croft Hill (this was a change in location to where we originally had planned the sky to go dark):

Here is the new location for the sky going dark. The camera faces Croft Hill. 

Izzy filming. On top of a picnic table to gain extra height.

Location and Izzy filming. 

Filming.

Today me and Izzy are planning to get the shots completed where no band members are required. This does mean a bit of prep work needs to be completed:

• hire out camera
• hire out tripod
• get props ready and accessible

We also need to leave school early to try to enable shooting to be completed in the daylight as currently it gets dark about 4:15 and with both of arriving home around, or just before this time, it would be impossible for us to get it done. This has meant I've had to drive into school rather than getting to normal bus as this allows us to leave when we are both ready.

Hopefully the weather and lighting will hold out for us as we both work several times a week and it is becoming increasingly difficult to find time where we can fit filming in. The weather outlook at present is as follows:

The black circle is today weather and the red circles is tomorrows, the next day we plan to film. Luckily it isn't showing rain however it is currently raining outside! Hopefully this will clear up by later though. Our main issue is going to be lighting as cloud cover and fog/mist obviously restricts how good the lighting is going to be.

Tomorrow will be our main issue as we can't get all band members to leave school early to do our filming as we can't assume they won't have lessons. Therefore timing is going to be extremely tight so we will have to be as organised as possible with a full proof idea of what we want to achieve to make sure there is no unnecessary 'faffing'.

Lyrics/Song Timings

When editing our draft video we found out we were missing shots due to lack of organisation and precision in respect to timing so here I have decided to write the timings for each line to make sure there are no empty spaces where we should of storyboarded shots for:

0-5 seconds: (intro)
5-10 seconds: (intro + guitar)

10-13 seconds:           Pretty girl, wrecking' bar
13-15 seconds:           Ra ra ra ra yeah you are
15-18 seconds:           Growing up, I’m twice the man
18-21 seconds:           Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah I am

21-23 seconds:           The angel's game, F Scott Fitzgerald
23-26 seconds:           The evening news and the morning herald
26-29 seconds:            I know they're not from very far
29-31 seconds:           But those girls do nothing for me

31-34 seconds:           Where you been? You can't say?
34-37 seconds:           Hey hey hey hey yeah you may
37-39 seconds:           That might seem a bit below
39-42 seconds:           No no no it's funny though

42-45 seconds:           Let’s go home, I think we oughtta
45-48 seconds:           I know you're your mother's daughter
48-50 seconds:           Well brought up and royal blue
50-53 seconds:           But I haven't got the time for you

53-1:04 seconds: (instrumental)

1:04-1:06 seconds:     Finger pointing, pre-supposing
1:06-1:09 seconds:     Watch out man the doors are closing
1:09-1:11 seconds:     This is what you get when you turn your back
1:11-1:14 seconds:     A clear blue sky turning dirty black

1:14-1:20 seconds: (ending)

Potential Hazards

As our storyboard has changed we needed to carry out a new risk assessment:

1. Falls?
2. Temporary structures?
3. Tripping Hazards?
4. Vehicles?
5. Special Effects?
6. Weapons?
7. Burns from lighting?

1. Hazard- jumping and falling
Answer- yes
Severity- medium
Likelihood- medium
Persons at risk- all actors + crew
Precautions- tape down wires, make sure all equipment is stable, make sure band members don't jump unnecessarily.

2. N/A

3. Hazard- standing on wall
Answer- yes
Severity- medium
Likelihood- low
Persons at risk- all actors
Precautions- make sure they don't mess around/move too much, use a low wall, make quick shot

4. Hazard- bus stop/ garage doors/ driveway with Mini's/ road lights
Answer- yes
Severity- high
Likelihood- low
Persons at risk- all actors + crew
Precautions- basic road safety will ensure no harm is caused

5. N/A

6. N/A

7. Hazard- car lights, daylight (sunburn)
Answer- yes
Severity- low
Likelihood- low
Persons at risk- all actors + crew
Precautions- no precautions really need to be taken as there is a very low likelihood that anyone will get sun burnt in this weather! However if on the off chance it is hot, suncream should be worn.

Prop List

Here I have taken the location list again and will write next to it the props we will need:

Location List (need band):

• Playground- for roundabout and swings (Narbourgh Park); Costumes, 2 x guitars, drumsticks
• Field- for band (Narbourgh Park); Costumes, 2 x guitars, drumsticks
• Garage Doors- for backdrop for band (Whetstone); Costumes, 2 x guitars, drums and drumsticks
• Car park- for band in trolleys (Asda Car park Fosse Park); Costumes, guitar, trolley
• Shops, Chinese + two others- for band to walk across (Wan's House Blaby/ Tesco Express, Pastures Narbourgh); Costumes
• Underpass- for band (Blaby); Costumes, 2 x guitars, drumsticks
• Bus stop- for band (Fosse Park); Costumes, 2 x guitars, drumsticks 
• Drive way- for band (Enderby, own drive), Costumes, 2 x guitars, drumsticks, 2 x cars (old Mini's) 

Location List (without band):

• Field- for dog + ball (Sixth Acre, Pastures); dog + ball
• Garden- for fairey lights + for wind spin (Enderby, own garden); fairy lights 
• Road- for passing lights (Leicester Lane, Enderby); (will need to rely on cars going past) 
• Traffic Lights- for light change (Fosse Park)
• Red/Green Man- for light change (Fosse Park)
• Horizon- for sky to turn dark (either Pastures facing Gilmorton wind turbines or Enderby facing Fosse Park)

Complete Prop List:

• Costumes, will need to have a change of outfit for each location which amounts to 9 changes. We will get the band members to bring their own clothes from the styling list we provided many posts ago to make sure we achieve the right 'look'.
• Guitars, Sam one of the band members already has an electric guitar, we will need to source one more.
• Drums, Harry from our band already has drums he can provide
• Drumsticks, Harry from our band already has drum sticks he can provide
• Trolley, we will have to borrow one from the Asda car park
• Old Minis, both Sam and Jake from our band own old Mini's luckily!
• Fairy Lights, we can source some from Christmas decorations
• Dog, we are going to use my dog, Toby, a Chocolate Labrador
• Ball, I already have a ball we can use

Locations for Storyboard

Location List (need band):

• Playground- for roundabout and swings (Narbourgh Park)
• Field- for band (Narbourgh Park)
• Garage Doors- for backdrop for band (Whetstone)
• Car park- for band in trolleys (Asda Car park Fosse Park)
• Shops, Chinese + two others- for band to walk across (Wan's House Blaby/ Tesco Express, Pastures Narbourgh)
• Underpass- for band (Blaby)
• Bus stop- for band (Fosse Park)
• Drive way- for band (Enderby, own drive)

Location List (without band):

• Field- for dog + ball (Sixth Acre, Pastures)
• Garden- for fairey lights + for wind spin (Enderby, own garden)
• Road- for passing lights (Leicester Lane, Enderby)
• Traffic Lights- for light change (Fosse Park)
• Red/Green Man- for light change (Fosse Park)
• Horizon- for sky to turn dark (either Pastures facing Gilmorton wind turbines or Enderby facing Fosse Park)

As you can see we have a lot more locations than previously but this will give the video a fast paced, fun feel rather than just being bland and boring like our previous video. Inspiration for some of these shots (primarily garage doors) was taken from this video:

New Song

The Vaccines- Wreckin' Bar



Lyrics:

Pretty girl, wreckin' bar,
Ra ra ra ra yeah you are!
Growin' up, I'm twice the man,
Yeah yeah yeah yeah, yeah I am!

The angels came F. Scott Fitzgerald,
The evening news and the morning Herald,
I know the offer very far,
but I found the bastard by the car!

"Where you been?" you can say,
Hey hey hey hey yeah you may!
Will a seaman fit below?
No no no it's funny though!

Let's go home I think we oughta,
I know you're your Mother's daughter,
Well brought up; well-to-do,
I haven't got the time for you!

English boy named, presupposing,
Watch out, man, that door's a-closing,
This is what you get when you turn your back,
A clear blue sky turning dirty black!

Discussion

Last night me and Izzy met up to discuss the new direction of our music video. A lot of new ideas came into light and we now have a much clearer, better picture of where we want to go.
Things we are keeping the same:

• Band Members (although we will be making sure they are much more enthusiastic and retaking shots until they look like they are- however the new storyboard should be more enjoyable for them to take part in anyway so hopefully it will come more naturally regardless).
• Styling- only to an extent as the new storyboard requires lots of outfit changes however as a whole the original styling posts still remains relevant to the general 'look' we want to achieve.

Things we are changing:

• Stop/Start- rather than the original idea of stop/start we will instead be using lots of cuts when editing to make the band members move/appear (depending on shot) rather than just images it will be proper film. This is completely different but should be more achievable and overall should look much more effective.
• Narrative- although our new storyboard/shot list is shot in a variety of locations we have scrapped the 'story' running throughout the video and just having it as following the band around, not so much a story as it is very disjunctive but it will give context and background to the band.
• Type of video- rather than a mixture of amplification and illustration our video will be primarily disjunctive with the only relevance to the song being through editing matching the tempo of the song and the band members obviously being from the band.
• Locations- we now have a much wider variety of locations so our video will be a lot faster paced and will be much more interesting than just a beige background; it will match the feel and genre of the band much more effectively as well.
• Time of day- our video will be a mix up of day and night shots again to make a more interesting video and to match the tempo and pace of the song

and finally... after much thought and consideration me and Izzy have decided to change the song as it is from within the same genre, was one we originally considered and it will be a much better match to the type of video we now wish to create as Plage is too slow paced. The new song we wish to proceed is 'Wreckin' Bar' by The Vaccines.

Change of Direction

After receiving feedback and also discussing between each other what we thought we have decided that it might be best to have a complete change of direction. This is because what we achieved was unsuccessful and starting something fresh should potentially have a better outcome.

General ideas discussed include getting rid of the stop/start as although it has the potential to look effective it took six hours alone to cut out the figures on Photoshop to get the shots we needed and we have been advised to double them if to proceed with the idea which would increase this working time to 12 hours- neither of us have this amount of time to spend on a small portion of the video which could be avoided if we came up with other ideas as we both have part-time jobs, family commitments and other coursework for our other subjects. The time might also be further expanded as for the draft the images weren't even cut out particularly accurately or effectively and so the six hours could easily have been expanded to around eight or nine if done properly so to about 16- 18 if to proceed and do it correctly for our final video. I think this amount of time is too much for the outcome achieved.

Another idea is to scrap the narrative and focus on the band performance entirely. It would make the video more coherent and easier to understand and view with no background knowledge to a story line required. It would also mean we wouldn't need Ellie, an extra, and so would be one less person to worry about when organised when to film/what to wear etc.

Again another possibility is a change of band members or perhaps even an extra member however at such late notice this may prove difficult so we will have to see what we can do in that respect. However if we do keep the existing band members we will have to seriously consider their enthusiasm and hopefully will be able to prompt them to giving a better performance!

Feedback from Draft Video

Although we both weren't expecting feedback to be great, obvious through the long list of issues we ourselves have with it, I think it really hit home that it needed a lot of work when feedback was received. We got 14/50 which is accurate for what we created however is not good enough in terms of what we want to achieve. Main points that were highlighted for improvement were:

• poor lip sync
• poor enthusiasm from band members
• unclear narrative
• bad mise-en-scene
• stop/start not being quick enough 

I agree with all that was said and so we really need to get a move on with completing our draft as it is in for under two weeks. 

Improving Advert

Taking into consideration the feedback I got for my advert I decided to develop it further. The main thing I did differently was keeping the extra information small so it doesn't take away from the general design. These are the four I created. The last three are all pretty similar although I think I prefer the third one down as I feel it is most effective. I am going to ask for others feedback for deciding which one I should submit as my final version. 

Improving Digipak

Taking into consideration the comments I received I changed my digipak to look like this:

I decided to continue the theme from the front panels to the inside panels as I got positive feedback on these. I added credits to give the customer that 'extra info' they seek when purchasing a digipak and also changed the quote to one from the band. I made this quote up but made it powerful as it shows that the band has come from no where and has worked hard to get their debut album etc. I also made the information writing on the back cover smaller as well as the bar code and record company. This made it look more professional. I also removed the white outer from the bar code to help it fit in with the theme/ colour scheme. I then added foot prints to the remaining panel as it loosely linked with 'Cheap Kicks' as you kick with your feet. But then when asking for feedback peers described it as 'a step to far' so I slightly changed this to complete what should be my final digipak. Shown here: 

Here I removed the footprints and replaced it with a simple motif that is cut out from the original pattern. I also added it to the quote panel to keep it as a running theme and removed who the quote was said by as it makes it look more simplistic and it's clear it came from the band or a band member. I will be asking for further feedback however this should be pretty much, or exactly the same, as my final digipak will be.

Draft Feedback

Digipak

The feedback I received for my digipak was pretty expected as I agreed with most of the improvements I am required to make for a better mark. I got a 6/10 and hopefully with improvements can aspire to a 10/10. Things I need to consider for my final draft are:

• My front & back covers are strong and can remained almost untouched (except making barcode/copyright info/record logo smaller)
• The use of a quote was interesting however irrelevant to the genre of music so change it to one from the band itself.
• The inside panels didn't work. Everything was too big and the lyrics weren't adding anything. 
• Add credits to producers/recorders/songs/writers/studio etc as this is often a convention you find in digipaks or in a CD booklet where extra info is available.
• The colour scheme works well and should be kept.

Magazine Advert

The feedback that I received for my magazine was slightly more unexpected in that the advert I created that I most preferred was the weakest and the alternating ones I made (which I favoured less) were stronger. However I did receive a 7/10 which I was happy about for a first draft. Therefore I might try to create two adverts (both taking into account the comments I was given) so that people can decide which one they prefer and I will submit this as the stronger advert. Things to consider for this are: 

• Keep the colour scheme as it works
• Add more information e.g. record company logo/website etc
• Make additional info I already have smaller as it is less important and only for viewers who want to find out more that it applies to 
• Take a further look at existing magazine adverts to make sure the conventions I take ahead are realistic and applicable. 

I will post my drafts leading up to my final digipak and advert soon to show the progress I am making.

Draft Video

Today I spent the whole day editing on the school computer to try to get it done. I started a bit into the song as the first few shots I was unable to upload. However I have managed to complete about 3 minutes of footage. It clearly needs a lot of work but will help us to progress in getting a much better quality final piece.

Progress

Today towards the end of school the program 'Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0' finally began to work with a few change of settings. Because of this we will be able to start editing properly tomorrow however it will be hard to complete as we will only have a matter of hours.

Despite all the difficulties outside of editing software I have managed to Photoshop all the frames which required layering with photos. These are for the stop/start sections and are shown below (put together quickly with alternative music than what we are using as I don't have song on computer used):







These give an idea to how these particular shots will look in our draft video. They also show that despite having been limited with what we can do editing wise I have still tried to utilize the time.