Tuesday, 30 April 2013

Dear Examiner

Dear Examiner

I hope you enjoy reading my A2 blog. I tried to capture every moment of my project on this blog showing the journey from preproduction to final out come. This adventure has inspired me to go out and do another music video in the summer. 

My Song On iTunes

Due to the online success of my music video, there was a great deal of interest in releasing the song for digital download. My single can now be found on most digital music retail stores such as iTunes, Amazon and Spotify. My Song On iTunes

Wednesday, 17 April 2013

Directors Commentary


Final Task Evaluation


Updated Video Statistics + Demographic



EDITING USING FINAL CUT

To get the best possible editing effects I used final cut pro which allowed me to to adjust lighting and colouring for a sharper finish. Final Cut also allowed me to easily overlay, trim and split clips which saved me a lot of time once I had became familiar with all the tools.



After every day of filming I would upload all the footage to my home computer to review all of the raw clips we had taken and highlighted my favourite parts so I would be able to come back to them at a later  time.
In this picture I am attempting to match the song to sync with the video. I would do this by leaving the sound on the original clip until I was happy that they sounded the same then I would simply turn the sound all the way down on the clip.
In this picture I am mixing the narrative with the live performance as to create a generic music video feel.
Initially I had to start roughly editing on iMovie on my home computer whilst continuing to film as I had scheduled 5 days of filming spread out throughout a month as to accommodate with my actors' busy lives. I used a USB with the largest storage I could find and transferred the event and project to my school computer which has Final Cut Pro.

Tuesday, 16 April 2013

Editing My Digi-Pack with Adobe Photoshop CS6


I cropped the original picture so it was more centred around the motorbike

                    I experimented by changing the the lighting and colouring to enhance the visual.

I took inspiration from cover art by for Disclosure's song Latch which had the contrasting white and gold.

It took me a while to decide the font but I did have an idea of what i wanted; an old school american high school bold and colourful text. I eventually went for this design.



I thought there was still something was missing and it took me a while to think of a 'cherry on top' to finalise my digi-pack. I came up with the idea of white subtle boarders as i felt it gave the image more impact.





Monday, 1 April 2013

Evaluation of Performance of Characters

In this post I will delve into why i chose my cast and my thoughts and feelings of how they performed in my Music Video- 'I Want You To Know'



Day 1 Of Filming


Naomi Dowse was someone who expressed interest in being in the video which was brilliant because she was one of the first girls I thought of for her role. I didn't know much about Naomi besides that fact that we both work at the same Hollister store and go to the same parties. Neither the less she was lovely, positive and funny to work with. Although acting was not a particular strength of hers I believe she did her best and in turn I was able to capture the best of her.

Dom Sherwood is a close friend of mine who has the most acting experience out of anyone in the cast. He has recently been in several plays and has now been signed to an agency as well as getting work for TV and Film. I automatically thought of Dom when i decided I wanted to do a music video and although he leads an incredibly busy life of acting and modelling he was able to find time for the two shoots I needed him for. I could not fault his acting, gave of a great energy which felt like the situation on my scene was almost real. He performed on keyboard as well where he really connected with the camera making it easy for me to edit.

Aitor Manuel has appeared in a variety of adverts making him a great choice for my video. Not just this but we always get a long well at work and explained that if I ever needed help with anything I could count on him.  He also is very supportive of my music and just a lovely, helpful person in general. He was not afraid to get into character which was great because he made filming a great deal more light hearted because he was able to laugh at himself. I was very grateful to have him.

Day 2 Of Filming

Jessica Arabella was a girl I automatically thought of when I was writing the story for my video. I felt she encapsulated the character in mind perfectly in terms of being a strong independent women so acting skills where no real problem. I had only met her a few times but she got involved and I had a lot of fun filming the scene with her, It was as if we were close friends. On set she couldn't stop laughing most of the time. I want to thank her again for helping.

Jake Foulger was brought to my attention after viewing his AS media film where he displayed brilliant acting qualities and in doing so inspired me to create a character like him so naturally I asked him to be the man to play the role. Jake and I established a good friendship from making this music video as before we were just acquaintances. We automatically got along and Jake went above and beyond what was needed of him. Although he appeared in just day 2 and day 3 of filming he took pictures for day 4 of filming and even helped me film day 5 by traveling up to Paddington with me  borrowing some of his stepfathers camera equipment. To say the least, this is not the last time Jake and I work on something film related.

Day 3 Of Filming
 
William Bor Is my drummer in real life, and has stuck with me for 3 years now going in and out of many different bands. He also happens to be my neighbor! The photo above is an OK magazine article about us performing at a charity event we did when we were in our old band 'HeadRush' where we originally wrote the song 'I Want You To Know' that I created the music video for! It would have not be the same if i had not had him playing the drums in this video. He wanted to use his own drum kit which was much better than the one I was going to borrow. I feel his performance gave the video a great deal more credibility as he was able to play the drums skillfully.


Day 4 + 5 Of Filming


I decided that I wanted Rosie Van Amerongen to be the lead girl after much thought. I came to this decision not based on her acting skills of which I was pleasantly surprised of how great they were, but because she seemed to give off a quirky and up beat energy through her photos which I believed my video needed. I also believed she had a distinctive look that set her apart from the other potential girls for the role. When It came to filming she was very positive and not afraid to do certain scenes such as the Motorbike one. She was also very pro-active in terms of pitching ideas on set and in that she would keep me up to date on days of filming she could do which makes a world of difference for me. I also understood that she leads an incredibly busy life of modelling and boarding School which limited her availability but I believed she was worth waiting for instead of choosing another girl and I am certain that I was correct to do so.


Looking back, I have absolutely no regrets on who I chose to be in the video. They all gave it their best effort. I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends who would go out of their way to be in this video. Not to mention the fact that some live a good hour or so away from locations!