Filming Day 4 - Projection Testing and Red Ivy

7/10/2015 - Dark Room and The Red Ivy

Within our video we wanted to experiment with projections both video and images. In the first half of this filming session we tried out the image projection.

We firstly printed a sunset landscape and a picture of our friend Louis onto pieces of see-through paper. This is so that we can easily create a projection image. We wanted to have a boy placed as a projection because it will give the audience an insight to who the boyfriend of Nova was - this creates drama in the video as they now have a face for the person.

We thought that by putting his image in black and white it would make the image seem more like a memory rather than something current therefore, this will help the audience understand that the couple are broken up.

The sunset is something we wanted in colour as it gives off an artistic flare to our video. Sunsets represent the end of a day and a new beginning therefore, this links to the situation that out artist is in - the end of her relationship and a new beginning as a singleton.

From the videos in the Footage Review below you will notice that we had the projections also shown on my bare back, this was to show vulnerability within Nova, typically, the naked body is a symbol for being vulnerable and for this reason, we decided that this was a good idea.

In this session I did not do any filming as I was in every scene - Tamzin, Evie and Kate all took turns in filming and Evie also styled and positioned me so that we could get the best shots.

Within the second half of this filming day we went out into the red ivy that our school grows to ge some lip syncing shots. We thought that the red ivy would be an excellent location to film at due to it's vibrant colouring that will immediatly grab the audiences attention. The red also connotes the idea of romance, in this case, recovering from one. The location is also extremely acessable for us as it is on our school campus, a simple minutes walk from our classroom.

The day that we done this filming, the sun was extrmemely bright which caused some issues with the sun getting in my eyes a lot whilst filming however, we managed to get the camera in the sun, for amazing lighting and me in the shade so I could keep my eyes open whislt filming. Inconsistant lighting did not put a damper on our day as we managed to get pleanty of filming done - our sole focus for this session was lip syncing as not only were we running low on it but the background, we felt would be a good pop of colour to add into our video, without Nova being swallowed up by it. We thought that this time it would be best to lip sync the whole song just for security reasons, we wanted to make sure we had at least one location with every lyric sung so that if we needed to fill in space when it comes to editing, we had that saftely cusion to land on. I personally feel that this session went really well, I made sure to be very expressive and I tried to use my body more to convey the emotion behind the song. As planned, we mainly filmed medium wide shots, keeping me to one side of the camera and the background running through to the other - we feel that these type of shots work best as they fit everything we want into the frame without looking too zoomed out or too zoomed in. Tamzin also filmed  tracking shot of me walking down the ivy as it faded from green to red due to changing seasons, we thought that this would work well as it could connote the idea of falling in or out of love; this is one of the most unique shots we have so far so I have no doubt it will make the final cut of our video. 

Costume

We chose to put me in a plain black top and a tanned suede skirt for this scene - this was because we didn't want any colours that would take away from the background also, as we want our video to show differet seasons, to show a lengthy relationship, we thought that a tanned coloured skirt would be really good as representing autum as brown is a rather autumnal colour. My hair for this scene was straight as we wanted me to look as natural as possible.

We did have some spare time so we decided to film against a white wall, to try and see what a studio setting would look like with the rest of the video. I personally, hated everything about this setting - the lighting was over exposed, the wall was too clean and just a studio setting doesn't fit with the overall look of the video. I placed an atumnle coloured cardigan over my outfit, so that it looked like a completely different setting.

Review of Footage

This is a clip of the tracking shot we filmed by the red ivy. From this you can see how well the fade of colours looks with the mise en scene of Nova. I feel that once this clip is cropped it will look really outstanding and could really benefit our video. The only thing I am not keen on is that my hair hides my face and you cannot see me lip syncing properly however, I do not think this is something to be worried about at the tracking will make up for it.

 I really hate everything about this clip, I think that I do not look like how we want Nova to look; I look tired and unproductive, I think that the lighting is quite grey but also too bright - this just is not something I would be happy with putting in  my video.

Filming Day 3 - Faversham

13th September 2015 - Faversham

For our third day of filming we decided to go to Faverhsam due to its more naturistic locations and calming vibes.

For the first part of the day we went to a lovely quaint creek that featured a long path that we thought we could taker advantage of for lip synching scenes. We decided that for the lip synching scenes her that I would walk towards the camera, with the camera moving backwards, tracking my movements - this would fit our video as we want majority of the scenes to be in the point of view of Nova's partner therefore, by having me walk towards the camera it looks as if I am singing to the partner. I personally, feel that the creek was an excellent location to film in as the greenary surroudning it is soemthing we would love to have as a running theme throughout our video, this will show good continuity, making our video look more professional. Also, the wide open space gave us a lot of scope for both, mid and wide shots.

We were eager to experiment with different angles and shots, especially with this location due to the amount of space we had around us, we were also excited that we had bright natural lighting to use, this gave us an opporutnity to get some lense flares within our footage, this will make our work look a lot more professional; throughout the day we managed to get a variety of lense flares so when it comes to editing, we will evaluate which ones we feel are best to use within our video. Whislt filming at the creek we found ourselves having to overcome some issues, one being that the tripod we had used had some parts missing, this is something we didn't realise when we booked out this equipment - to overcome this, Evie thought it would be a good idea to hold the camera still ontop of the tripod, this was so that we still had the height of the tripod; Evie held the camera as she has the steadiest hand out of the three girls that aren't in the video. We also had the issue of the battery life of the camers, it lost battery very quickly which is something we were unprepared for in a nature environment as, obviously, there were not any plug sockets to quickly charge up the camera. However, we powered through, making sure we knew what shots we wanted so we could film them without faffing about, wasting bettery. We also checked the footage afterwards to make sure we got what we needed. Unfortunatly, this did restrict the quantity of footage that we got as we ended up loosing power completely.

Fortunatly, Evie has some relatives that live in Faversham, only a 10 minute walk from the creek so we went and visited them so that we could charge up the camera for the next half of our filming. Evie's grandparents live on a farm, meaning they have a lot of open space, we decided that this would be an excellent place to film due to the greenary and open spaces. We were able to use this space as an advantage to get lots of intertesting scenes, including some on haybales, establishing shots of sunsets, and medium asthetic shots of me. I feel that this location was exceptionally successful as the natural lighitng created many lense flares and the amount of space we had to use allowed us to be creative and artistc without many limitations.

At this location we were able to build our own bonfire, we wanted to create a memory of the couple having their own bonfire, including activities such as lighting sparklers and dancing together. Despite using the bonfire to show some happy memories, we wanted to film some close ups of the flames to symbolise the burning love that Nova has for her (once) boyfriend, this could come accross as quite heartbreaking as she is still in love with a boy who no longer cares for her. Similiarly, fire is an intense symbole which can give of many connotations, making it acceptable for the audience to draw their own conclusions from the footage. The picture inserted to the left is a still from some of the footage we got on this day, from this you can see that the colours are profound, we feel that this adds range to our video as most of the colours we are wanting to use are soft blues and pinks so by having a harsh orange in our video, we feel that this could bring variety to it, making it more entertaining for our audience. One problem with having this difference, is that it does break continuity within our video however, during the editing process we can do some colour correcting to make it look more like any other clips used.

As we were filming a bonfire we had to consider the time of day we filmed at due to lighting, we needed it to be dark enough that the fire could be seen but also light enough so that the footage wouldn't turn out grainy. We researched what time the sunset for this day was so that we had the perfect lighting  - the time for this was around 8pm. From reviewing the footage, I feel that this was a successful time for us to film as the footage was not grainy and the fire also showed up. Filming a variety of shots such as high angles of the fire that panned up to me proved to be succesfull as we seemed to have created our own motif of panning up to me, this is something I feel that we should incorporate to our video so that we have our own personal touch.

Costume

For this filming day I had two outfits - one for the daytime scene and one for the after noon.

For the daytime scene, we felt that Nova should look comfty and farm like due to the greenary around therefore, I wore a grey cowl neck, bat winged jumper with black jeans and black calf boots - we wanted to stick with monotone colours as it fits in with the alternative genre and we felt that by having a slouchy jumper this would look comfortable and stylish.

Afternoon Outfit without the waistcoat

Morning outfit

For the afternoon, we wanted to stick with the 'farm girl' theme so I continued to wear the black boots however, I changed to dark grey jeans with a black crop top partnered with a long black waistcoat that had fringing on the bottom, this fringing gives Nova a boheemian look, which is something we want to incorporate into Nova.

Review of Footage

This is a short clip to show you one of the lense flares we managed to get. This shot is a wide off centre shot, you can see me on a haybale to the right of the shot, this is to match the lipsynching we done in Whistable. The lense flares in this shot work really well as they appear accross the whole screen, making the shot look more artistic, which is what we were aiming for - the flares are also red, this will help us symbolise both love and hatred, which are themes that come accross in our chosen song. I personally, cannot fault the collection of lense flares we got as I feel that is shows our skills both technologically and artistically.

This clip shows a tracking shot of me lip syncing part of the chorus - I really like this shot as I feel that it shows the audience a large part of the location as well as making them feel as if Nova is walking towards them, this is significant as it makes the audience feel as if they are invovled in the video and Nova's life. One thing that I do not like about this clip is that the lighting is rather weird, only one half of my face is in the light, I personally feel that this ruins the shot however, the rest of my group like this clip so it is more than likely that it will be used in our final poduct.

Filming Day 2 -Whistable

7/9/2015 -Whistable

On the 7th of September we went to Whistable to film the first 'memory' scenes for our video.

We thought that Whistable would be a good location as it is a quaint seaside town therefore, it would allow us to ge some excellent beach shots as well as maybe some shots of me walking around the narrow streets. Whistable is a pebble beach, for us, this was really important as pebbles are linked to relaxation, we thought that as our song choice is a slower one, that this would all tie in nicely as slow longs tend to be linked with relaxation.

As this location is one of the 'happy' scenes, we decided that it was time to give lip syncing a go. For this we found a wall that was on the beach and positioned the camera so that I would be to the right of the screen, this is something that we would like to be a running shot throughout our filming as we want the audience to be able to see both Nova and her surroundings. At first I found lip syncing in public slightly dauhnting as you do get some people watching you, for this reason it took me a few goes to get used to it however, once I got confortable I found it rather easy; we thought it would be good to sing the opening verse and the chorus of the song in this location, this is because the opening is quite calming, like the sea so that fitted rather well and, as a group, we have decided to film the chorus in every location we go to as this is the section of the song that is going to need the most lip syncing.

We also decided to do some filming of me walking around on the beacg, looking both away from and at the camera - this is to make it look like the partner, whos point of view the video is from, is watchinf Nova and she sometimes catches him. The girls filmed a variety of movements including tracking and panning as well as some different shots such as long and mid.

I feel that this was a good location to use as it is extremely picturesque however, the whether was fairly dull that day so when it comes to doing any editing, we will be sure to sort out the colour balance to make it seem a bit brighter.

Costume

For these scenes we wanted something quite bohemian yet still edgey,for this reason I went with a cream gypsy top with black short dunagrees, I feel that not only does it represent both of these styles, but the dunagrees also show off Nova's more playful and childish side, as this is an age group that dungarees are linked too. As we were going to a seaside I also had my natural hair, which is waved - this links with the location as seasides have waves.

Review of Footage

 This is one of the lip syncing clips, watching this back I feel that I have done a good job of lip syncing, I am looking at the camera as well as off to the side, I feel that this makes it look more realistic as I'm not static however, from this clip I think you can tell that I am a bit nervous to be lip syncing, for this reason, I do not think we will use this clip in our video.

This is an obviou point of view shot. We plan of having a motif of a shot to look like Nova is holding her partner's hand, this is what this is showing - I personally feel that this worked really well as it feels as if you are holding Nova's hand and you can imagne yourself to be in the video, this is something we want our audience to feel. Once this clip is cropped and scaled, I feel that this could be really beneficial for our project.

Filming Day 1 - Rochester

1/9/2015 - Rochester

On the 1st of Septemebr, we decided to have our first filming day - since the weather was rather gloomy we thought that it would be a good day to film the 'break up' scene, this is because the weather will reflect Nova's mood in this scene - they are both sad and depressive. Since some of these scenes are filmed in a coffee shop, we decided to go to Rochester to film; Rochester has some nice, small coffee shops with an alternative feel to them, fitting with our genre. 

In the coffee shop, we filmed some close ups of my face, with no make up on, looking quite sad/miserbale - this is to reflect the effects of the breakup that has happened; also, we have filmed some mid shots of me reading in the coffee shop or just staring into space to enhance the drama of the breakup. We filmed in a café called 'The Deaf Cat' which is a quaint coffee shop that provides books for you to read as you drink your coffee or eat your food - it fits with the 'edgy' look and feel that we are aiming for; this then creates continuity between the location and our artist.

As you can see in this image, we had a lot to work with as the wall in the background is extremely colourful and will make this part of the video a bit more interesting. When it comes to editing, I think that some sort of a filter or wash over the top of these scenes will make the background stand out more and attractive for our viewers.

We then went to the castle grounds to film some more naturist scenes, this also shows the weather which will create a sense of Pathetic Fallacy - 'Nova's' emotions will be reflected in the gloominess of the weather.  

We shot some long shots, close ups and mid shots; we also had filmed some tracking shots to create a variety. We want to try and experiment with the levels in our video therefore, we decided to climb up on this ledge to get a really good high angle for our video, this allows our shot to be artistic as it shows our artist from a different angle to normal also, extreme high angle shots are not the norm in most videos therefore, we are breaking typical conventions of music videos as we have said that we would like too, we feel that this will set us apart from all the other videos out there as we are willing to break the rules to get a good shot.

We have now filmed majority of the break up scene shots - our next filming day will be focusing on one of the 'memories' of the relationship scenes.

I think that Rochester was a good location to use due to it's natural edgy-ness, this not only fits in with Nova's look but it also gives the video that alternative look we were hoping for. The weather was perfect as it was quite a gloomy day; normally, this would be seen as a bad thing however, due to the context of this scene (a breakup), the weather created a sense of pathetic fallacy.

Overall, I feel that today was a successful day due to us filming majority of the footage we needed to for the 'Breakup' section of the video. We also worked well together and bounced ideas off of one another so that we could evaluate what would be the best camera position and angle for each shot.

Costume

We decided to go for the outfit we discussed in the Process of Creating a Character post as we feel that it fit a break up scene most. The overall 90s look of the outfit fitted in with the location and it also gives off the edgy vibe we wanted Nova to have.

Review of Footage

Here I have inserted two clips from filming on this day, one that is likely to be used and one that we will have to think about using...

This is a low angle shot of me in Rochester Cathedral. Firstly, we thought that Rochester Cathedral would be a good place to film as it is a beautiful building with lots of history, this will make Nova look as if she is interested in the past of the buildings around her also, the cathedral is linked to religion - religion is something that people tend to turn to when they are going through a tough time in their life, for Nova in this narrative, the tough time would be the break up. I personally, am not a fan of the low angle as I feel that this isn't something we are going to continue within our project therefore, the continuity will be rather off but, the low angle does give the audience a better view of Nova's suroundings, making the scene seem more majestic due to the decor of the cathedral. I feel that this is a shot we need to discuss as a group when it comes to editing as it could be controversial within our group.

This video was taken in Rochester Castle grounds, I am sitting on a wall with a bridge behind me along with a lot of nature, this is a wide shot as to show our audeince where I am whislt having me in the shot. We decided that we wanted to have me sitting still whilst the camera tracks around me, to show my emotion from all angles, as you can see I follow the camera slightly with my head, this was to create a deeper connection with the audeince, My facial expression is mournful and glum, this is to show that these scenes are the aftermath of the breakup, it shows how Nova feels usless without the person she loves -linking with the lyrics 'I'm nothing without you'. My favourite part of this clip is the end where my hair is moving in the wind and I am looking down slightly, I feel that this captures an essence of the heartbreak we are wanting to convey. I personally, do not like when the camera is face on as I feel that this looks to restricting, this is not something we want to have our video feel like; for this reason, I feel that we need to crop the clip and only use the last few seconds of it.

Insert Research

Within the prezi below, I have discussed different things you can get inside an album.




From this research we have decided to do a double page spread, one page being a 'Selfie' that Nova has taken and other being a thankyou page.

We chose to use a selfie as we feel that, not only is it up to date with a current trend that has taken the world by storm but, it also creates a sense of intimacy between Nova and her fans as they get to see an exclusive image of Nova.

We chose to do a thankyou page as we would like Nova to be seen as grateful for the opportunity she has been given, we also want her to come accross as humble and appreciative as we feel that these are qualities that someone who is in the public eye must have to be successful.

Poster Research

In order for us to create a successful promotional poster, we decided that we needed to do some research into posters that have already been made; as Lana Del Rey is our inspired artist we decided to look into her posters as they will give us the most relevant ideas...

This poster is advertising a single event that Lana is doing rather than a whole tour therefore, the information shown is her name, the venueand date, as well as other information. All elements on this poster are ones that we will need to include on ours, if we decide to advertise a whole tour obviously, we would have to include more than one date and venue. I persoanlly, like that the image used on this poster isn't one that is included in her 'Born To Die' digipack, this is because it allows her fans to see a different side to Lana as well as keeping them excited to the possibility of something different to what their used to; this is a good reason as to why we should have a different picture on our poster to our album cover, even thought 'Fragments' is Nova's debut album, it will still keep the audience interested in seeing multiple sides of Nova. Lana's trade mark logo has been cleverly placed on this poster as it is half way down the frame; this means that the audience can still see the image of Lana extremely clearly, which means their focus can be swapped between the image and the information, this is something that I feel we need to consider having our poster like as we want everything on our poster to be seen. This placement also breaks the typical convention of the poster being at the top of the page, which is something I quite like as Nova is meant to be a bit of a bad girl in the sense that she does what she likes without caring if other people judge her. Another element of this poster that I like is the fact that she has chosen to have her album adveritsed at the bottom of the frame, this allows her fans to know that her material has been released; it also allows people that haven't heard her music but are considering coming to the show to know that they can have a listen now.  

The actual image of Lana itself, is extremely edited, elemens of mist and a 'galaxy' effect have been implimented to entise the audience, making them want to come to the show. The editing has also been used to create a colour scheme, making sure that everything ties in nicely which is asthetically pleasing for the audience. 

All aspects of this poster are ones I feel we need to consider - do we want Nova to look heavily edited or natural? Are we going to advertise a tour, her album or both?

This is the tour poster for 'The Open Road Tour' which took place in January 2013, it was Lana's tour for her debut album 'Born To Die.' Lana has chosen to keep the layout on the poster the same as on her album cover, this is to keep her audience familiar to her as an artsit and for those who aren't sure who she is but like her music, they will be able to recognise that it is that album's tour. I like the fact that 'The Open Road' is in red writing as i feel that it stands out from the rest of the poster, this is important otherwise, at a first glance, the audience might think that the poster is promoting the album rather than a tour. The red letters being capitalised really grabs the audience's attention therefore, forcing them to read the poster. The image chosen is successful as it is prodominantly Lana's face, this is significant as it means that the audience can get to know her face. The use of the nautral colour white suggests innocence, which is something that Lana might have wanted to convey to her fans -  it also makes the attention go to Lana's face as the top isn't distracting. We have chosen to go for a white tshirt on our album cover, as shown in a previous blog post, and for this reason, we need to decide whether to stick with this and a busy background for our poster or to go for a busy outfit and a plain background. I think to show some continuity accross our porject, it is best for us to have elements of the album cover on our poster.

This poster is a promotional one for her album 'Ultraviolence.' This poster is extremely minimalistic in the sense that it literally has the image that appears on the album cover, her name, the album's name and the fact that it is already out. I like this poster as it shows continuity to her album; as this poster is more of a billboard, it shows the audience that the album is able to fit multiple mediums, suggesting that Lana can appeal to multiple people. The colours used are black and white, this is purely for no other reason than the fact that the album cover is in black and white however, I do like that the font is in white as I feel that this makes the text stand out, making it more accessible to the people that will see the poster. A downside to this is that is has very minimal information, this is because it is purely promoting the album and not a tour; this is something that I don't think we should do, I feel that we need to advertise a tour as well as the album as I feel that this gives the audience more to look forward too, the idea of a tour can lead the audience to buying the album as they want the whole experience.

From doing this research, we were able to think about different types of posters as well as what we actually want to advertise. In conclusion we have decided to advertise the album as well as a tour as we feel that this will appeal to our audience more.

Projection Testing

For our music video, we are wanting to do some projections, whether that be images, videos or both - for this reason, we decided to try some out before we started filming to see if we liked the overall look of them. We tried out images of sunsets, flowers and water - to create these projections we opened up the photos on photoshop and changed the brightness, then printed them on clear paper - this is so that we can use the projector without any hiccups. 

We liked the overall look of the projections however, we decided that for the image projections it would be better off if they were on a bare back, this is because the colours didn't pick up very well on a black or white t-shirt - the video projection will work with a while t-shirt as the colours are all over the place, rather than in one place. 

After this exercise, we decided that projections are defiantly something that we would like to incorporate into our video.