Weekly Production Diary-

This week was my research and planning deadline and therefore I focused on finishing and uploading all the planning documents I had to create before beginning the filming of my music video such as the floor plan, equipment list and running order. I also went back over my blog, in order to see what I could improve on and two areas I felt I hadn’t done in enough detail were my inspiration page and my audience feedback. Therefore this week, as well as uploading my design inspiration Prezi, I analysed a few successful music videos which I found effective and discussed how I would like to use some of their features or concepts in my own for example never shout never- What is love? Where I particularly like the way in which the video communicates to the audience by using signs and this is something I am doing for my own. I also feel like I hadn’t gained enough audience feedback, specifically from the male part of my TA, so therefore I asked Aaron Hunt (someone who in the real world would be interested in my product due to his personal interest in this genre) to fill in an audience feedback form on my digipack drafts and I found his advice really helpful. In the next week I’m also planning on showing a few members of my primary TA clips from the first filming shoots in order to see what they think of it so far, and how and what they think for the next shoots I could change.
This week I’ve also uploaded my footage of the first 2 shoots I conducted and began to work with them on Adobe Premiere in order to make my first draft.

Photo Sequence-

This is a sequence of some of the photos from my first shoot. It was important when conducting my photo shoot to take pictures from varying angles and different shot types in order to make the pictures look as interesting as possible as well as provide me with a large variety of images to pick from, minimising the chances I would have to conduct a re-shoot.

Audience Feedback Form- Aaron Hunt:

I’ve currently got more audience feedback from girls than boys and because they will make up part of my audience, as the secondary audience, I thought it was important to ask another male to fill in this feedback form. I asked Aaron Hunt for his opinion on my digipack drafts; I specifically asked him to do it because he is a fan of the genre and therefore would potentially be interested in buying my product. He really liked my idea but he gave me some good advice on the back design for my digipack (attaching puzzle pieces to strings with the names of the songs written on these puzzle pieces). He suggested I do as much as the design as I can in Photoshop as if I did it all by hand it may look a bit tacky and unrealistic and this is something I’m really going to take on board when conducting the second photo shoot for this cover and when actually creating the real thing.
Audience Feedback Form- Aaron Hunt

Running order-

This was the running order I created for both shoots, even though I did them on separate days. It was helpful because it gave me a basic outline of the kind of shots I needed to take for my music video however my filming was not only restricted to these and during the actual production I was able to experiment more with different shot types/ angles and movements.

Running Order

Floor Plan:

Because the two shoots I’ve done so far have been in front of the green screen I used this floor plan in terms of arrangement for both of them.
Floor Plan

Equipment List-

This was a list of the equipment I need on the day of filming. Organizing exactly what I needed before production was particularly helpful for example it minimized the chances I forgot something on the day.
Equipment List

Audience Feedback- Digipack Designs:

The following is an example of the video feedback I received from my digipack drafts design; I also made sure I asked Talya (the person participating in the video) to give me advice/criticism on how to improve my drafts as well as pointing out the aspects she found successful,this therefore will allow me to work on the elements she felt needed improvement and strengthen those she already found successful.

Production Diary-

Last week I started filming my music video, on Tuesday and Wednesday, and therefore before this I was working on my floor plans, release forms, call sheets etc some of which I’m yet to upload. I found the whole process really fun however when undertaking the filming I realised the importance of organisation beforehand where for example my call sheets were really useful in helping me to arrange what props to take in the following day. Additionally when conducting my re-shoots I think it will be much easier if I separate the groups into even smaller groups who will film on different days as it’s much easier to direct a smaller group than a larger one.
This week I’m going to really concentrate on working on the design inspirations of my products and how these have come to shape my own ideas. I’m currently in the process of creating a Prezzi on this and by conducting such similar product research I think it will help me in understanding what I actually want to achieve out of my product by the end. It will also help me in terms of allowing me to identify the specific parts of other products which I find successful and how I want to incorporate these into my own video.

Actor Release Forms:

These are two examples of the actor release forms I got the people participating in my video to sign before production. It was important I get the actors to sign these so they knew how to contact me if for example they were ill on the actual day of filming, this would provide me with sufficient time to get someone else to replace them while it also gave me their consent that they would participate in my video and granted me the right to use the material filmed as well as underlining the possibility that re-shoots may have to be undertaken at a later stage in the production process.
Actor Release Forms Becca Smith



Actor Release Forms Matt Williams

Call Sheets-

I created these call sheets before actually filming my music video. It was an important part of the production stages of creation because it helped me in planning everything I needed for the day for example the equipment and props I needed to bring with me as well as the overall details of the shoot in terms of the kind of shots/scenes I wanted to film on that day. I found this really helpful as well because I’m using a lot of people for my music video but I’m shooting on several different days and therefore they allowed me to plan who I was using on specific days and what I wanted them to do beforehand which in turn help the filming run more smoothly and efficiently, for example I knew what props to bring beforehand because I knew what I wanted the actors to do/perform and it also minimized the chances that I forget something on the actual day.
Though I will have to do more shoots and re-do some, these are two of the call sheets for my first attempts at filming:
Call Sheet- Charlotte and Tally



Call Sheet 2- Becca Etc

Risk Assessment:

It was important I create this so I am aware of all the potential risks which could disrupt the production process of my video on the day such as if my main actor is ill but most importantly it gave me ideas of how I can overcome such events and ready myself for them as much as possible which will in turn help production run as smoothly as possible on the day.
Risk Assessment

Production diary:

Because I’m filming in two days time today I focused on going out and buying all the props I want to include in my music video like balloons, the cardboard to make my ‘simply wonderful’ signs and other things like glitter. Also I’ve finished completing my risk assessment sheets and will soon be uploading these as well as the actor release forms I’ve got all the people participating in my video to fill out and the permission slips I got participants to fill in as agreement they wouldn’t let me down on the day and not turn up.
As well as concentrating on filming, I’ve also been getting audience feedback on what people thing on my digipack draft designs as in the next few weeks I’m planning to create my first drafts and I think it’s necessary that I understand firstly whether people find them effective as a product or not and whether they like the design and find it interesting and eye catching, which is its main purpose.

Production Diary:

The following is a time lapse of the photography process for the creation of my digipack. I took a variety of shots of my model from different angles and perspectives however I still need to go back and take some photo's of the puzzle pieces and strings which will make up the design for the back of my album cover.

Album cover Drafts- Front and Back:

In order to stick to the concept of the album title ‘missing piece’ I’ve decided to create an album cover which utilizes a puzzle like effect. For the front I'm going to include a side on picture of my artist and colour specific sections of the puzzle in so it looks like pieces are missing from it and down the side I've decided to write key words related to the artist and the album in different colours in order to make the cover stand out. For the back I’ve decided to have separate puzzle pieces, hanging down on strings or shoe laces, with the names of the songs on these pieces. I think this will be effective because it will be striking and is quite different while it ties in to the album name and the overall puzzle concept.
The following is a more detailed analysis of the specific components that will make up my album covers:

Digipack Drafts Power Point

Animatic:

This is a sequence of the draft storyboards I created accompanied by my chosen song: Simply Wonderful by Tim Myers. Even though I’ve drafted several different types of shots such as extreme close up and long shots for my actual music video I want to include a wider variety of different camera angles and shots to make my video look more interesting and keep the audience intrigued.
I initially wanted to use only one ‘story line’ within my video where I would base the video on one couple and the rest of the people featured within the video would mime and dance to the song however with the audience feedback I gained, specifically that this idea may become slightly repetitive, and advise of my teacher I’ve reassessed my ideas in order to include several story lines in the video. I’m still going to include people dancing and miming however the video is now going to be based on what people find ‘simply wonderful’ where I will film them doing what they love for example painting and after they will hold a sign up saying e.g. ‘art is simply wonderful’. I think this is a better idea because it’s less repetitive and therefore more interesting while it directly incorporates the lyrics of the song with the whole theme of the video.