Performance Scene Rehearsal/ Screen Test

The purpose of this performance rehearsal was for us to see Georgie in front of camera in the role of the lead singer and to help her feel more confident with her performance and lip sync before the shoot.



After this we felt confident in our choice of Georgie as our lead performer and she felt more prepared for the filming of performance scenes.

Location Recee

Originally we planned to shoot our powder paint fight in Epping Forest. This required finding a date that all members of our artist group could do and organise 7 extras. The only date everyone could do was Saturday 22nd, leaving no time for a re shoot and carrying all our powder paint to the forest which would have been very unpractical and risky. An alternative option was to film in the rec a couple minutes away from our school, we originally dismissed this idea as it is mainly a field with goal posts. However there is a small woodland area that we thought with tight framing could look like a forest. We did a test shoot to see how it looked:





We decided that this would work and plan to shoot next Thursday ( Thursday 20th). Another benefit of filming close to school is that it allows us to have a bit more control over the weather as we can retreat back to school if it starts raining, which is likely at this time of year.

Shoot-Board,Shoot Schedule and Call List

Part of the planning process is to create the shoot board, shoot schedule and call list, which helps get organized for shooting- getting props, actors, location, equipment together.

Shoot Board

In order to create this we looked at our animatic and transferred each shot into the shoot board, organizing them by scene.

Here's an example from the balloon scene of the detail we put into the shoot board...

We did this for every scene and every shot. 

Shoot Schedule

We then used this to make the shoot schedule. When doing this you think of the most efficient way of shooting each scene by looking at the practicalities, which is usually not filming in the chronilogical order shoots appear on screen. For example for the balloon scene for which we had a large cast as well as the three artist members, we organised it so that we did all the group shots first and then the shots that included artist members only. This meant the group of extras could leave early and wont be hanging around waiting to film. It is also a very useful at giving you a rough idea of the timings of your shoot.

Colour code:
Blue- when not filming

Call Sheet

The call sheet is a simplified version of the shoot schedule that lets actors and crew know when they are needed for make up, costume and shooting.

This is the accompanying call sheet for the shoot schedule above.

Schedule of studio and location shots

We organised our shoots to when we had the studio and when our actors could do. These our the dates we decided:


Thursday 6th, break p4+5- White scene (cupcake)
(For the performance scenes the set up and lighting takes a lot of time, hence why we start early)
Tuesday 11th,10:50-13:45- Performance scene, just with DJs
Friday 14th 7:30-1:45- Performance scene, DJs, Georgie, Together
Sunday 16th 7:30- 12:30- Performance scene, all of them
Monday 17th, studio all day, shooting 3:45-9- Balloon scene
Thursday 20th 11:10-13:30- Powder Paint fight
Tuesday 25th- Back up shoot

Tests- Go Pro

Below is the footage from test shots with the go pro, seeing the effect when filming balloons bursting.



We found that the quality was not very good and thought this might look strange when following footage shot in high definition. However it is the slowest camera we have and the speed was good for popping balloons. We thought it would also look good when smashing the pinata, and I really like how it captures the expressions of the actor therefore we are going to use it on the shoot.

Lighting and Set Design

Performance scene

This is the footage from the lighting test for the performance scene. The final set up can be seen at 0:45. The choice of colours was inspired by our pink and blue colour scheme that is used throughout our branding.

Final lighting scheme for performance scene

Balloon Scene

Continuing with the theme of the colour scheme the backdrop will be lit with blue lights while the floor and people will be lit with white light. This has the effect of a more light hearted feel then the performance scene as it is meant to be more fun and less serious.

We did not get a photo of the set up at the time, but here is one from the shoot. On camera it looks a lot less pink and more blue.

White Scene

For the scene when Georgie finds the cupcake we thought we should have a spot light shining on her. 

Testing out spotlight, final set up had more white light

However we decided to changed this and have the whole scene in white lighting rather than a spot light. 

All these set ups have been saved to the lighting machine so it will be easy to set up on the day. 

Casting

Singer: Georgie

We cast Georgie as our lead singer as she has previous experience of lip syncing and performing, starring in the preliminary activity as the main female role and partaking in the performance workshops. Also she is familiar with the demands of a media project having taken it last year.

Georgie in the prelim lip syncing and dancing

DJ 1: Eugene

We cast Eugene as a DJ as he is a fan of the music genre,is confident in front of camera and likes dancing. Also he will be reliable as he is my brother and I have ensured he understands the time demands of agreeing to take up this role.

He is also on the sound and light team so could be useful, and this could be a good experience for him.

DJ 2: Gavin

We thought Gavin would be good as a DJ as he takes media and has performed in previous projects. Also he is friends with Eugene therefore will have a natural on screen chemistry that group artists appear to have.

starring as the lead role in previous projects

Props list

Performance Scene

Key Hole

The idea is to make it appear as if the audience is looking through a key hole at the performers. This puts them in the position of Alice in Alice in Wonderland in the beginning when she is entering wonderland. We thought this would be a nice way to establish the first shot of the performance. We plan to make it ourselves by simply cutting a key hole shape out of black card.   

Giant Playing Cards

We wanted to have giant playing cards hanging in the back ground of the performance scene in order to make it more visually interesting. This is also a reference to Alice in Wonderland which references playing cards in the Queen of Hearts character. Also by making them giant and playing with size could be a reference to the idea of Alice shrinking and growing from drinking the liquid upon falling down the rabbit hole. 

Decks 

For the DJs, we were thinking of making the illusion of them through tables and sound boards. 

Microphone

For Singer, this would also include a stand.

Balloon Scene

Giant mushroom made out of balloons 

This is also a reference to Alice in Wonderland and the idea is that it is in the background of the balloon scene and then becomes a focal prop with the friends pulling the balloons off and popping them. 

We did an experiment to see how it would turn out using card for the stem and chicken wire which we then covered in newspaper for the toadstall. This is how it looked... 

For the real mushroom we will make the top much larger and only use red and white balloons to give off the impression of a mushroom. 

We want the floor to be covered with balloons so we will buy a multi pack of balloons and a pump. We have also ordered a variety of balloons, these include 2 giant balloons which we think will be good for some close up or them flying through the air and 25 marbled balloons. This scene also includes a pinata so we ordered one from the same site, our basket is bellow.... 

Powder Paint Fight

Powder paint

This is obviously an important prop for this scene. We plan to order 1 assorted pack of 12 colours in 500g and 2 packs of 2.5 kg tubs in the colors purple and pink. 

FINAL PROP LIST

To make:
10 giant cards
key hole
confetti for inside of pinata
giant balloon mushroom

To order:
500 balloons (shades of pink and blue and red and white ones for mushroom)
powder paint
pinata
pinata sticks
2 giant balloons
marble balloons

Website Flat plan

After playing around on Wix we found a layout we were happy with. Its' simplistic block structure will be easy to navigate and will emphasis our choice of images and video which will be visually stimulating.

This is important for our young target audience group (16-24yrs) as they will be well acquainted with this style from using programmes like Tumblr and Instagram. There will be a greater image to text ratio on the home page in order to gratify their need for entertainment through visuals and short form content as large chunks of text will be off putting.

Artist websites we referenced:

Beyonce

What we liked and want to transfer when making our own website:

- block structure
- simplicity
- vibrant, interesting images

Track permission

To summarise: we are allowed to use their track as long as we do not display it to a wider audience, this includes YouTube. 

Make up and constume

Make Up

We had a meeting with Olivia to discuss and experiment our ideas for make up. First we were told everyone on camera has to wear make up even if we don't want them to look "made up". 

Balloon scene 

For the balloon scene we wanted there to be a festival inspired make up look. We experimented with blue and pink eye shadow. For the extras we discussed glitter and in general bold shapes and colours.

We are thinking of doing it without the yellow for the real shoot.

Forest Paint fight

Decided on naturalistic make up in order to make the paint stand out.

Neon Scene

Told to be careful when applying neon paint as it is important to get it right the first time. As we are unsure whether we have enough black light for neon to be possible, an alternative is to use dark colours such as purple and to invert the colours when editing to give of the illusion of neon face paint. 

Notes from the meeting on tips and brands:

Costume

Notes on costume for each scene: 

Performance scene: 

DJ costume: short sleeved shirts, black trousers and trainers 

Tried a variety of outfits, took pictures and showed them to the group. 

Final outfit:

Second choice shirt that we brought to school and Gavin ended up wearing.

Georgie (lead singer) 

We used Facebook chat to talk to Georgie, and get her to send us costume options. 

1. Grey crop top and disco pants

We thought this was alright and suited her characters image but not glamorous enough for performance scene. 

2. Gold jumpsuit 

We liked this outfit as it was more glamorous then the previous outfit without being too girly. 

White scene (cupcake)

For this scene we wanted Georgie to be in casual cloths. 

The group had a conversation with Georgie on Facebook chat discussing costume and make up. 

We decided on jeans, grey sweater and red trainers. 

Production Meeing



Story boarding process

Looking at the lyrics and interpreting them helped us have an idea of what shots we wanted where. Our video is an illustration to the music, in particular the lyrics and title of the song "my head is a jungle".

The process of interpreting the lyrics and creating the story board was simultaneous both helping the other progress. For the story board we used a colour scheme to signify scene changes (just like the animatic). It was helpful as it forced us to think about the details of our video, and find the most effective way to tell the narrative through shot types and what and who would be in each shot.



Album Cover Flat Plan

Focal image

As this is our artist debut album for the front cover we thought of having a face on shot in order to introduce them with the audience.

Style ( Font and Colour)

We wanted the font to be white and simplistic, possibly all lower case or capital. For the white to stand out the focal image would need to be colorful. We wanted the colors of the powder paint in the video to be reflective of the artist stylistic color scheme choices and we were thinking of using mainly pink/purple and blue powder paint.

Front

Focal Image

The back we wanted a naturalistic shot of a group of friends, possibly from behind. We were hoping to get this photo on the day of the shoot in the forest after the powder paint fight.

Back

Animatic

KEY:
Green- Forest Scenes
Pink- Perfromance
White- Seaward Studio
Blue- Baloons
Black- Neon Performance

 

The animatic serves as a combination of your mood board and shot list, together with the song. It helps to imagine how the video will look and raise issues from the story board such as what shots will look good together.

From doing this we realised that there were some head and shoulder shots of Georgie performing next to side on mid close up sots of Georgie in the narrative (eating the cake) which could look weird next to each other or alternatively become a graphic match if we made them both face on.

For us the changes in the rhythm of the music effect the mood, and we wanted to pick the best shots to match the mood. Therefore seeing the story board combined with the track was very helpful.

Pre Production- Test

After story boarding and creating our animatic we decided we needed to test out the beginning of our narrative. We originally wanted to use projections, but when checking with the technicalities it became clear that this would not work. So overlaying footage became a good alternative. Archive footage was something we talked about from the start, so it seemed like the right decision to use footage of The Alice In Wonderland production from 1951, in keeping with the themes of our video.

Here is the result of the video over layed with the Alice in Wonderland footage:



We are very pleased with the results and will use this technique in our music video.

Meeting: Sequencing

We are now starting to refine our idea, this includes creating a shot sequence. In our group meeting we began this process by listing the type of shots, props, setting, and actors we wanted for each set up. 

Notes

As we have a lot of props, we decided it is essential that we test these out first. We made a list of some of the things we came across that would need testing.

By doing this process some changes that would have to be made became evident. For example one thing we discussed was for the music video to follow the journey of just the lead female vocal, rather than the whole band, as it would be more practical and clearer for the audience, and then to establish the band in performance shots separately.

Developing the concept
After doing this we moved on to story boarding, when doing this we decided to follow the Alice In Wonderland reference throughout. Therefore we decided to open our sequence with the lead singer walking through a park, and noticing a tunnel (equivalent to rabbit hole) entering it (curiosity like Alice) and once inside, what would now be the studio, sees a cupcake on a stool and eats it ("Eat me" biscuits). This reference would run through the following dance scenes in some way in order to create a kind of "Wonderland". For example the balloon scene will feature mushrooms made of balloons and the performance scene will have arrow signposts in the background.

Meeting: Album Flat Plan

In our meeting we discussed the focal image, font, color schemes and stylistic choices of our album cover. We liked the white font against the background on MGMT's album cover, as well as the picture of the band on the front and a group of friends on the back. 

For the inside we wanted to thought about having an image of somebody blowing powder paint that stretched across the two sections. 

Production Meetings (First Week)

In our first meeting we brainstormed our ideas and shared our research. Some ideas that came up were to follow a group of friends around London and a powder paint fight. We concluded that a track of the dance genre would be best as it could work well with our ideas and all our research told us that it was very popular at the moment. Also we all had references to dance music videos on our blogs for various reasons such as color, camera angles, dance movement, but we figured this was a good sign.

Next we tackled the 4 key decisions: Track, Artist, Audience and Label (the decisions are in detail below on separate posts).

Then we put our influences together creating a "stealomatic", this helped visualize our video and establish the main themes.

Whilst creating our stealomatic we also researched into the practicalities of what we wanted to achieve, in particular the powder paint fight and neon scene. We found that we would not be allowed to have a powder paint fight in the studio as it would ruin the permanent white backdrop, therefore we developed our idea deciding to base it outdoors, in a forest. Also the department did not have enough black light to light the studio for the neon scene, so we decided to use a smaller space and use this for head and shoulders performance shots like this...

Audience

Core

16-24 female, not typically girly, enjoys dance music, going out, dancing and seeing friends, going to festivals.

How the artist will appeal to them: the lead singer will be a bit of a tomboy as shown through her styling and body language.

How the music video will appeal: Prominent focus on female lead, the friendships portrayed, the dancing and partying throughout.

audience image & attitudes

Audience activities- festivals

Secondary 

16-24 male, likes dance music

How the artist will appeal to them: The two male DJ's

How the music video will appeal: Mixed gender friendships will be portrayed

Wider audience

Fans of dance music, all ages

How are artist will appeal: The genre is dance music

How the video will appeal: The constant dancing throughout

Dance music festival

Record Label

Our record label is called Technicity a small, specialist dance genre label, branching off mainstream label Universal.

When creating this label we looked at labels that other dance genre music were signed too. One label we looked at was Positivia, a subsidiary of EMI Records, and one of the biggest dance music labels in the UK. Accoding to their Wikipedia page "Positiva has always claimed that it is simply a record label which takes underground hits and pushes them to the forefront, and its influence on dance music is hard to ignore." Since this is our artists debut album this seemed like a good label to base ours on.

Avicii- An artist signed to Positivia Records