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Pitch- Diamond Cut Records

Record Label Logo

Choosing a company name

Logo idea Sketches

                                                                                                   

Inspiration for company name ideas

Filming Diary- Day 1

Make up and hair tutorial

As lots of the lyrics in the song talk about nature and how one of our settings was outside like an enchanted forest we chose natural makeup to match. This is so all the focus is on the costume and natural beauty. Contouring was used as this is a popular technique used by celebrities today and so fits with the codes and conventions of popular culture. It also highlights certain features of the faces which looks good with the natural lighting when doing close ups. For the hair we let it dry by itself, again to continue with the natural theme and to represent the lyrics "my head's a mess". We even started filming when it was still slightly wet so the messiness contrasted even more with the beautiful formal dress.

Risk assessment for The Green

Risk Assessment Day 1

Shooting schedule

I created a shooting schedule for the three different locations that we plan to film our music video at. This is so when we get the location we know what kind of shots we want to get and what part of the song needs miming. Obviously this is subject to change and we need to get more footage than is listed on the shooting schedule. This is just a rough idea so that we are organised when we get to the location and then anything else that we find inspiration to film around we can. We put up this shooting schedule in the sixth form office so that we could refer to it, add further noted if necessary and so that it was a large visual plan that will help us to stay focused. 

Location 3 idea

Location 2 idea

Thorpe Bay beach, Southend

Location 1 idea

View on Flipagram

 On the green in Blackmore a girl is creating an art project where the area will be turned into a "surreal landscape inspired by the works of Salvador Dali and Walt Disney". I took photos of what she has done so far, which is decorate the trees in paints of many colours and stickers. I thought this would be a perfect location to shoot some of our video as it is bright, fun and a bit mystical which can represent some of the natural imagery in the song. I imagined Bry who is going to be in our music video walking through the different trees miming. This is also a perfect alternative to a graffiti wall that is used often in music videos, but with a more girly and unique twist.

Snapchat Research

Questionnaire feedback

Glitterball Questionaire

Analysing a lower level past student's video

Analyzing a higher level past students work

Past student interview

I messaged Charlotte Samuels, a past year 13 student, to get some friendly and constructive advice about this years coursework. Teachers advice is very helpful but I wanted to hear from a past student as they went through it not long ago and know the struggles and challenges that this coursework can bring. I wanted to be prepared for what lies ahead and make sure I use my time wisely.

Intended Institution

Secondary Auidence Profile

Secondary Target Auidence

Audience Profile

Audience Profile

Seeking song permission

I emailed 3 beat productions on behalf of Bryony and I, to seek permission to use the song "glitterball" by Sigma featuring Ella Henderson. I did this by emailing them through their website with the following message:

"Dear to whomever this may concern at 3 Beat Productions,

For our media a level we have to create a music video of a song of our choice. Through writing this email we are seeking permission to use the song “glitterball” by Sigma and Ella Henderson to make a video to. We do not intend to use it for any money making purposes, only to publish on youtube to be marked as part of our coursework. If you are interested we would love to share the final product when the project is completed.

Yours Faithfully

Charlotte Timson and Bryony Elsworth

Shenfield High School"

History of the Artists and Song

Glitterball lyric analysis and visual ideas

Prelim

Editing the Prelim

To edit the prelim I used an app called “splice” on my iphone. First all the footage had to be imported into the app and then could be arranged into the order that I wanted it to appear in. The app automatically created transitions between the clips so I removed them as I knew in that in music videos, quick cuts look more effective than any transition effects. The first task was to actually get rid of the diegetic sound in the clips, as nearly all sound in music videos is non diegetic because it is simply the song played over the top of the footage. I then had the option to important music from the app or from itunes so I could add Glitterball by Sigma into it. A cutting tool was then available so I could shorten the song to the only the bits I wanted; I also had the option to fade the music in and out at the end so it was not an all of a sudden abrupt stop. The tricky task was then to cut the three individual clips I had so that the lip syncing matched the song. It was a fiddly job trying to get it at the exact right time as the timeline only showed in seconds and not milliseconds as well, but this was relatively easy with the simple slider tool.

“Splice” was the perfect app to use for editing a short video, but for a much longer project the timeline would become crowed and a lot more complicated. As well, I think it would be difficult to edit a full music video on such a small thing. Also, it lacked some of the more professional features that a proper editing software would have such as slow motion effects, spilt screens, stablishing the footage and syncing the audio. Something else we may consider when editing our actual video, is to cut the footage more to the rhythm of the song. “Splice” served us well when practicing basic editing features, but for the real thing we should conduct some further research into a more professional editing software that we could use.

Filming the Prelim

We decided to shoot a proper prelim as well as the dubsmashes, so Bryony could further practice some lip syncing and Charlotte could familiarise herself with the using the camera (such as filming landscape, different filters, and the slow motion effect). We did this in one of our free periods that we had, so that we were efficiently making using of our time. We found that the easiest way to get the shots was by playing the necessary part of the song and star filming a few seconds before Bryony needed to lip sync so that we would have room to cut the clip and later edit it. With only two of us in the group we found it helpful when someone else gave us a hand by controlling the phone with the music, whilst Charlotte filmed and Bryony sung. This is something we should consider when shooting our actual video, that we may need an extra hand when shooting. We experimented with shots such as wide angle, close ups and high angle shots to see what they looked like whilst lip syncing. We shot on three different locations at school: a wall of one of the buildings, the school playground and by the benches on the field to fit with codes and conventions of a music video and how many locations are nearly always used. Obviously for our actual video we will consider locations, costumes and props that represent the genre of the song and its target audience. As we were only filming on site at school there was not much planning involved; however when out for a whole day filming we should consider health and safety risks, our phones having sufficient charge, warm clothes and snacks.

Prelim Storyboard