Yet Another Update

Hopefully this mark's the last of the filming I have to do for my music video. Over the past couple of days since my last post I have tweaked my idea for the final time. It will still contain elements for a day in the life, however the main plot is that the couple are caught up in the midst of the apocalypse and are now some of the remaining people on earth. I feel this will help to add a through line to the story of my video as the previous idea that this couple were going on a journey didn't present itself as well as I had hoped. Also, by complete coincidence most of my footage only involves the couple, there is no one else around. This is mainly because I didn't want to film in public areas for fear I would be too awkward to film and mess up the shots - so yay for anxiety (it pays off kids).

The plan for Sunday (29th) is to film the couple rationing out their breakfast using measuring scales as well as taking some shots of their cupboards filled with tinned food as well as mass amounts of dry food too. I will also still be filming them eating their dinner as well as playing card games but this time I will have them eating smaller portions. I have an idea for a humorous shot of the man ready with his cutlery for the food to be served, and when he sees how small his portion is, his face drops. 

(it will look similar to this but not as cringey)

This will help to add a light hearted element to the video which is the tone I want to keep throughout. These scenes will be put into the gaps I didn't fill in my rough cut as well as taking over a few of the woodland scenes which I feel I overused in the rough cut too. The reason for this sequence is so that throughout the video, more and more clues as subconsciously given to the audience until the final scene when the penny drops and we finally realise what has happened. I also plan to create some fake news articles about freak weather storms or nuclear attacks - something that triggers an apocalyptic event.

The final scene will be over the couple stood in the living room, looking out of the window whilst we see the street is abandoned and is very derelict, signs that an apocalypse has taken place. This will involve me using Adobe After Effects to add in some smoke to certain scenes or even meteor strikes (whichever is more simple and looks the least fake). 

In terms of theory, I believe nothing has really changed. It is all still applicable, there is still a story to be told except this one is more entertaining. At the end when the penny drops, I hope it encourages the audience to want to re-watch the video to account for any hints that they missed the first time around. 

In terms of star image and representation of my artist, although there is no performance clips, I hope it shows my artist's fun side, a less serious side, to show my audience they can have fun when working with their music to create a video that shows this. It is more difficult to fully represent my artist as there are no clips of them in my video as it full focusses on the couple; but the idea of an elderly couple choosing to continue living their lives on a daily basis despite the fact they're caught up in the end of the world shows the artist has a humorous side to themselves whilst still being able to create a (hopefully) great video.

The song choice, I think, is fitting as the main lyrics read 'I sold my soul to the devil' which will help to link to the literal hell on earth that I am creating in the video. To me, the lyrics mean that they've sold their soul in their daily lives, they've given in to the daily commute despite their situation but they'e happy with their decision. The video ultimately shows a life well lived with the use of the photographs, as well as establishing a strong relationship between the couple. 

After a little bit of research, I found some videos containing an apocalyptic element:

This features a group of youths witnessing warfare as their local community crumbles around them. There is a scene of a helicopter flying into the distance as we see smoke billowing out onto the horizon, a scene I want to create similarly. (The video gave me vibes of Super 8 meets Red Dawn)



The next video is Radioactive by Imagine Dragons which features scenes which suggests a dystopian world where people's teddybears are used to fight one another for entertainment. This contains a satirical, dark element which is something I'd like to establish in my video as well.


And here is a bonus video just beaches I like it so much. This is the ultimate comedic apocalyptic video which uses the idea that once people hear the song they can't stop dancing; it's a disease.

So, in conclusion I am using a fusion of Arcade Fire and Imagine Dragons to help set the tone to my video. The ratio will be 70:30 as although I want the lighthearted, humorous tone I don't want it to take away from the impact the video will have on the audience. I'd like some of the lighthearted elements to distract the audience on the first view so that they ignore the small clues, but I don't want them to focus so much on the humour that when the ending is revealed, it doesn't make any sense.

This has been a very long post and gold stars for those who made it to the end. As I briefly mentioned, I will be filming on Sunday and hope it is the last of the filming I have to do for this video. I can finally start editing it all together from the Tuesday and then I can work on the special effects. I have just under three weeks before the deadline so I hope to get up another rough cut up as well as the final product. I will be putting in much more time into the editing process by staying back after school as well as taking advantage when the room is free so I can edit in peace, as well as obviously using the lesson time. I am determined to up the game on this video so that it's at a point where I can be proud of it and ready to send of to the band for their feedback.

Until next time,
                          Toni

Ch-Ch-Changes

As discussed in my previous post, I am less than a week away from the first deadline and I'm re-changing my ideas - my organisation skills are abysmal compared to my AS coursework.
After the feedback I received from my first rough cut, it is now within my intentions to film more footage to add to my video. As mentioned, there are a lot of scenes that were filmed outside which links to the countryside vibes I want to establish through the indie/folk genre. However, now I am to film some activities the couple can partake in indoors such as cooking a meal, playing card games, watching TV etc etc.

I want to film these scenes for two reasons:
1) The storyline to my video isn't as well narrated as I previously thought. There is confusion as to what I am trying to portray. Hopefully these scenes help to further emphasise the relationship between the couple whilst establishing the concept of a day in the life of the couple (perviously my idea was to show the couple go on a 'journey' of some type but this idea is more achievable in the little time I have left)

2) As we are now fully on our way into the winter months, regarding the schedule of both myself and my actors, it is within all our best interests that the less time spent outside in the cold and the wet the better. As I am filming indoor scenes, there is less stress on timing issues and the health of my actors.

So that's my plan this week - to film the remainder of my scenes and try my best to get the full rough cut finished by Friday.

Until next time,
                          Toni

Audience Feedback

Today's post comes to you in the form of a podcast that I created through Soundcloud.

I discuss the gists of the feedback on my rough cut which I sent out so members of my target audience and received back in the form of a focus group. I mainly talk about the main points of my feedback and discuss my plans for the upcoming week.
You can find it here:



Until  next time,
                           Toni

Rough Cut

So today I completed the first rough cut of my video and I'm going to evaluate it based on my progress so far.

The opening up until 53 seconds is my favourite part about this video. I like the way the shots are sequenced together and the effect of the slowed footage and black and white tint helps to set the tone of the beginning of a journey - it's slow to start but soon picks up the pace. The black and white effect also helps to tell the audience that it happened in the past. Some shots have been left at their own pace however as I couldn't stabilize it and add the tint in either.
My favourite shot is at 43 seconds of the motorway in the dark. I particularly like the effect of the blurred headlights, it helps give a softer tone as well as establishing the idea that the couple is on a journey.
After the first set of text, there is the sequence of the couple walking in time to the beat of the music which took a while to edit as seen in my previous posts. I want to re-edit this part as when the footage jumps, it some parts it looks like the couple is moving back a step rather than forwards. I ran out of footage at the end so I simply cut in a range of scenery shots in time to the beat.

The next set of footage is my least favourite part of the video. It looks as if I have just thrown in items of footage without any regard for the video. To me it looks as if I have just compiled some footage together and stuck some music on top of it rather than actually considering the relationship between the visuals and the lyrics.
My plan is to ask for feedback from my target audience which is young adults aged 16-24. I will show around 15 or so over the next few days and use their feedback to structure my next cut as so.
At this point I feel my video is lacking in terms of helping to establish an actual storyline - however I feel this is more common in the indie/folk genre as shown when I researched several videos (e.g. The 1975's Chocolate, Mumford and Son's Hopeless Wanderer). Nonetheless I still want a basic storyline to follow and I feel filming more scenes would help establish my storyline more.


Sold My Soul - Rough Cut #1 from Toni Hendry on Vimeo.

So over the weekend I will compile together some feedback of my target audience and work from there.

Until next time,
                          Toni

Editing Update No.3

This week my editing consisted of more sequencing and compiling the footage together for my video. The first 50 or so seconds is completed and I am very pleased with how it has turned out. So far, there is no need for any re-shooting of scenes,although I stated in a previous post I wanted to do so I realised the other footage i shot was suitable to take it's place. However, based on the feedback of my rough cut I will decide as to whether or not I will actually stick with this plan or decide that some shots are too important to leave out.

Here is a screen grab from even more editing:

Here I am completing a similar task to my last editing update. There was another sequence in which i wanted to time to the beat of the music. However these beats are more dificult to record in note form as at this point in the song there are a lot of instruments playing. It is hard to see the spikes in the music. So, what i am to do is simply edit and cut down all the scenes I will be using and using trial and error until they fit.

And here is the completed sequence I was working on in my last post:

That is my task for the week, however I feel it won't be completed until next week.
So that is my little update. I have been working on the first rough cut I will create a seperate, more detailed post on.

Until next time,
                          Toni

Editing Update No.2

Today I continued in the post production process of editing my video. I continued compiling the footage together. however I spent the majority of the hour timing in together with the beat of the song. After the first chorus the beat kicks in and the tempo increases. I decided in my story board I would edit a clip in time to the beat as you can see below.

Each beat was only around 80 milliseconds apart so I had to really stretch the sound beats of the music in the top left hand corner so that I could actually see at which point the beat actually sounded. I wrote this down so when I continue with the editing I can cut the clip in time to the music.

Update: 12.11.15

I have now finished this task and once I'd made notes on the clips it made the process so much and only took around 20 minutes to compile together. My original plan was to edit this with the couple walking away but I ran out of this shot so I finished off the beats with scenery shots as well. 

I also added a black and white tint as well as decreasing the pace of the footage so that it matches the tempo of the song better. (This will  be updated with pictures very soon)

So that's the editing process I have completed this week. By next Friday I will make it my goal to have the first couple minutes or so of my video completed and uploaded as a rough cut. This is to help establish the feel and direction of the video and allows me to make any changes before the final product is completed.

Until next time,

                           Toni

Filming Update No.3

Today's post will come in the form of a mini vlog.

I spent a good couple of hours sorting though hundreds of different photographs before choosing a selected handful to showcase for the shots. 

The reason why I wanted to use family photographs is because it   helps establish the relationship of the couple to the audience. We see the photographs and we know the couple are close as they've built up this life together. It also helps to add a personal feel to the video, a common characteristic of the folk genre as it's more heartfelt and original, which will help the artist to appear as an electronic shaman.
There was a change of plan in the set up of the photographs. I was originally going to have them plastered on a wall. However when I composed said shot, it didn't look particularly great - I want difficult to get a good angle and at this time of the year the lighting was very dim in the room I chose to film in. This set up was a lot easier to film in and I believe the background of the bed adds a more personal touch compared to a random wall.

So the majority of my video is now filmed and I can fully concentrate on the editing process.

Until next time,
                          Toni

Editing Update No.1 UPDATED

So today marks the beginning of the editing process and for the first hour, I sat and gave some of my footage the onceover, viewing it on a full screen to help determine which clips are the best to use. I already went through my footage on the day that I filmed the scenes but this final look allows me to see all the detail on screen. So far so good, however there are one or two shots that I'd like to refilm such as some one the woodland scene as I don't feel I took enough footage of the local scenery.
Therefore, over the upcoming weekend (7th & 8th), I will refilm some of that footage.
On the plus side, the res of the shots look really postitve and I feel confident this video will help capture the mood and tone I set out to create.

An example of a shot I deleted was this one taken on a country road to Lincoln. Compared to the shot below,  I felt the camera was at a bad angle, it was a little too high whereas the other shot was more suitable to use. This is because I want the audience to know the on a journey and the shot is taken from a car window and the shot helps to establish it - we see the road and know we are on the journey with them.

 

 

Others shot I want to delete is because they were either out of focus or didn't include the imagery I wanted to use. These two shots for example, I am unable to use because of these reasons.

This shot is out of focus so I am disregarding it - it doesn't show what I want the audience to see.

This shot is both out of focus and doesn't include the scenery I was hoping to capture. The whole point of the car scenes was to show the audience the couple are on a journey whilst linking it back to my chosen genre. A typical characteristic of the folk/indie genre is that is includes a lot of countryside elements, so filming the surrounding nature was something I wanted to include in my video for the filler scenes. However, this shot doesn't establish these elements at all so I am disregarding it.

 

However, I prepared for this problem so I filmed a whole range of different sceneries in the car and there are a lot of shots that I can use. 

I particularly enjoy this shot from the way the sun flares over the camera. I feel this will add a more personal element to the video by making the audience feel like they are there with the couple. Also, because I used natural lighting instead of artificial lighting, this will add another personal touch to the video, as it isn't staged or set up - it is pure emotions and raw footage.

 

Another shot I was really impressed with was when I was filming in the dark in the car, and because the camera I was using was of a higher quality, the footage turned out really well.

The footage, from what I can tell, isn't incredibly grainy so I feel I can use this in my video as the quality is very good. Although you can't see, it is an over shoulder shot of the couple driving. I took many of these throughout different parts of the day so when I compile it together in post-production, there will be a pattern emerging as I want the audience to follow the couple from the beginning to the end of the journey.

 

Another shot I was really impressed with was when I was just playing with the camera and I got an over shoulder close up of the male's hand on the steering wheel.

I was really impressed with the quality of the shot and although I was just playing with the camera, I want to try and include it within my video somewhere, even if it's just used as a filler - I will definitely be keeping this shot.

 

This is all the footage I've had chance to fully review so far but I still need to film a few more scenes such as the photo scenes but as mentioned above I will be doing so over the upcoming weekend. 

Until next time,

                         Toni