Editing

Today I managed to upload all of the clips that we filmed onto Final Cut Express. We had some difficulties doing this at first as we had filmed onto a HD camera and we hadn't had any experience doing so and then uploading before.

We still have one more shot to film, which we can do during the coming week. Luckily the shot we still need to film is the final shot, so it doesn't affect the editing of the rest of the video, which we can start as soon as possible.

So far I am extremely happy with the progress that we've made as a team, as I feel that we have been very pro-active and extremely organised. What we need to make sure we do is film the last shot perfectly so it brings a dramatic, yet fun ending to our video. Once we have done all of this we mustn't let our progress slip away, so we need to use all of the time we can get when it comes to the final editing stages and evaluation.

What we achieved while filming

We filmed the full film on Sunday 18th, apart from the swimming pool scene. 

The filming went very well and and we managed to film on a sunny day which made the shots look a lot better, and the scenery around the villages in which we filmed were suitable for how we wanted it to look. As we started the filming during the morning and throughout the day, it looked very realistic because as we filmed the daylight slowly went which rapped the video up nicely.

Overall we think that the filming went very well and we are happy with what we have got so far, unfortunately we were unable to transfer our footage onto the macs this lesson, however once we acquire the correct CD we will be able to start editing our footage.

Filming

As mentioned by Charlie, due to medical issues we couldn't use the swimming pool that we were planning on shooting the final scene in. Other than that all the filming is done therefore we can film the final shot at a later date and edit what we have got so far.

What we must remember to do is wear exactly the same clothes when we go to film the swimming pool shot, as it won't seem very continual when we suddenly change outfits within seconds.

Filming

We did all of our filming today apart from the final swimming pool scene because the owner of the pool has swine flu and by the time we had finished our filming, it was dark. We experimented with loads of angles, shots and ideas and we think that we have got a lot of decent shots that will go well in pour music video and that will go well with the song!

Storyboarding

Today, Richard and I started the storyboarding for the chase scene, we planned the first shot and discussed ideas for the rest of the video. Soon we will be filming the shots of the singer singing the words, only two members need to be there to film. Once that is finished we can move straight on towards filming the chase scene, and once that's completed, the filming's finished.

What we need to do before filming

All we need to do before we can go ahead with filming, is complete the final draft of the storyboard and decide on costumes.

We have a vague idea of what we want for both of these issues, so it is now just a case of finalizing everything so we are 100% sure and know exactly what we are doing when it comes to filming.

Final Plot

3 characters meet in location (to be decided) all receive texts . As they all take their separate routes. There are cuts back and forth from the singer, who, differently to the other members of the band, is waking up, and taking it slow. This is what happens until the guitar solo, when the singer then sees the briefcase in the swimming pool in his back garden and starts to become more suspicious. He goes outside to see it, and turns around, then to see the other 3 members hurtling down the road towards his house. The cuts between the 3 members and the singer will become more and more frequent the nearer they all get to each other. Eventually, the singer breaks away from his "chilled" exterior and gets in on the action by turning round and storming towards to swimming pool. All 4 members of the band then throw themselves, mid-air into the pool, and the video just cuts out before they all hit the water.

We feel that the contrast between the fast paced action from the instrumentalists and the slow, step-by-step morning routine from the singer will be effective and also not to difficult to capture. When it comes to editing, we can really bring the pace to a halt when it cuts to the singer through quick transitions and different lighting techniques in the filming.

More Costume designs

For our different characters in the band we need to have different costumes to identify our different personalities.

Firstly, the lead singer ; Tom Abraham

- As he is the lead singer we have made him the 'cool' one, therefore how he acts. As he is waking up in his home he will be wearing pyjamas, but he will be acting cool and doing everything in a slick style and lip-syncing the words into the mirror.

Second Character, the Drummer ; Charlie Potter.

As he is the drummer he will be the wacky character, so therefore charlie will be wearing ripped jeans, with maybe some tweed to go with his country boy esque transport. This will make it funny to watch him, also his facial expressions will be very 'crazy.' This will all add to the comedic effect of the video.

Our Bassist is Emiel Pronk ; His character will be the 'cool' one, therefore his clothes will be smart casual. He will be wearing a cool suit that will end up getting wrecked as he tries to find the money.

The last character is Richard Gough who is the Guitarist ; He is the rebel of the band therefore he will be wearing a hoodie and some baggy/scruffy trousers. The transport will be a 'stolen car.'

This will add many dimensions to the band and help achieve the 'random' video idea and make the video repeatable to the audience.

In our music video i am going to be one of the characters who is running for the briefcase, i think it will be a good idea if my my characters actions contrast with the way he looks, as i am going to be wearing a suit i think it will be very effective if my character does things like jumping over fences, sliding down hills etc i also think it will be a good idea if my character uses a push bike as his main method of transport, i feel the scene where charlie is in his tractor going along a field will be very entertaining if i cycle past him in my suit looking very rough and determined to get the briefcase. i think that a my character should see someone on a bike then steal it from him, this will be very effective.

i think that Toms character should be very down to earth and smart looking as he will be the one who ends up with the contents of the briefcase.

i think that charlies character should be quite funny and crazy as he is going to be driving through a field on his tractor i think this will be very entertaining.

i think that richards character could be cool and stylish as he is going to be using everyday transport such as trains and cars to get to the briefcase.

Location Confirmation

I now have certain confirmation that we are allowed to use the tracks and outbuildings that i took photos of, in our music video. we are also allowed to use a few old cars and props that are about as long as we leave it the same as we found it.

Simplifying

In class today, Charlie, Richard and I discussed possible happenings in the video. We decided that we didn't want it to have such a step-by-step feel to it, for instance, if a man was to take something out of a bag and then hide the empty bag, we wouldn't want it to come across as:

1) Man sees bag

2) Man opens bag

3) Man takes what's in the bag

4) Man closes bag

5) Man hides bag

We felt that if we were to use intriguing camera angles and technical editing, we could simplify the whole process whilst allowing more to happen, and even though we'd be using less shots, it may actually make it more interesting for the audience. Take this example for instance, we would much rather it be:

1) Man sees bag

2) (shot from behind the bag) Man looks surprised when bag is open

3) (shot from behind the man) Man walks away carrying something

4) In another shot of another character, audience notice bag in the background.

In our opinions this would be much more effective, also it would show that we are being intelligent with our filming, and that a lot of planning did happen before filming.

Another video idea

After watching a music video for 'All American Rejects - Give you hell' it gave me an idea of how to add more comedy to our video. In the All American Rejects there is a scene where he is very tired and waked up in bed, this small scene gave me the idea of having another dimension to our video; While 3 people are desperately running to get the briefcase from the swimming pool, the other person has no idea what is going on and just wakes up as usual and goes down to the swimming pool (in his garden) and discovers the briefcase, he goes into the swimming pool in his pyjamas and gets the briefcase. As he comes up from the bottom of the pool the three 'runners' turn up and discover what has happened, even so they still all jump in to the pool and there is a freeze frame of the runners in mid air above the man in pyjamas. The story of the 'man in pyjamas' waking up and stumbling to get a bit of toast slows down the music video slightly but makes it more interesting and funny.

Below is the image that i gained this idea from, i got the idea simply because the character looks very tired therefore gave me inspiration for another character in our video.

Ideas for Storyboarding

This lesson we have looked at many different videos to get ideas for our storyboard;

- Vampire Weekend, Oxford Comma: From this video we gained ideas about what to have going on in the video, from the video we have been been influenced to have many things going on in the background, we feel this will add to the video and make it repeatable.

- Beck, Odelay: This video was used as a preference because it is very much the style that we want to achieve; for example having very random goings on in the background and the video seemed very clever and cutting edge.

- Blink 182, All the Small Things: This video works on the basis of intertextuality making it very humorous - we like this video because it brought comedy into the music and we would like to add comedy into our video. We also liked the weirdness of the very random 'What's my age again' video by blink 182 which also showed signs of intertextuality.  With this music video we alo learned techniques of camera angles, for example the running round the corner shot shown at the top of the post.

The last video we looked at was by Chikinki, Assassinator 13; We like this video very much as it uses a range of weird clips and many different costumes on one person. Watching the video you realise how long it would have taken to make therefore you watch the video and appreciate it.