Purchasing the Props - 31.10.2012

Following the production plan I set myself, I chose today to purchase all the props which I needed. Fortunately I only needed to purchase a few props as I already had the majority of my props; however unfortunately due to running low on money I couldn't purchase three materials which I needed to create another prop, which was clear string/fishing wire, cardboard and black acrylic paint to create the music notes and hang them from my ceiling above the stereo. 

These items will be purchased soon and will be added to my Pinterest page. 

Filming Shot 2 - 30.10.12

Today I was supposed to be filming shot 2 with the cast member Hollie, however she was being awkward and wouldn't contribute to the filming. She told me she was going to come to my house (where the filming is occurring) however she didn't turn up, and decided to go out with her other group of friends. To find out what was happening I rang her, and she told me if I wanted to film her it would have to be done at her house as she couldn't be bothered to come to my house. 

This has shown me that sometimes the people you are friendly with aren't always the best people to work with. I have come to the conclusion to use my other friend Helen, as Hollie showing early signs of lack of contribution and reliability. 

'Easy' Shots and Costume Research - 29.10.2012

Today I filmed some of the shots which would be classed as easy, such as the pan of the houses and the washing machine being filled. Doing these 'easy' shots first will enable me to spend more time on my more time consuming shots, as they may need to be re-taken if not up to the standard I expect them to be. I still need to film some of the other close ups such as shot 8, 17, 19 and 25. However these all need some of the other cast members and props which are not yet ready. 

Also during today I completed some research into how much it would cost me to either purchase or hire two police uniform; the outcome was disappointing as it would cost too much money to do either of these financial outcomes. In comparison to this is the expense of all the material needed to make my own police uniform, therefore the full outcome of this research has made me realise the plan I wanted to follow I cannot due to the high expense. 

Casting for "Our House Is Dadless"

Due to producing a music video I will need a cast to be involved in the production, similarly to directors needing a cast for their films. Casting is important when producing a music video as they help to create the directors imagination for the video. 

In my video I won't need many cast members, although the original song "Our House Is Dadless" by KiD BRiTiSH is a group of six, I have chosen to only have one main singer which not only makes it easier to film I also don't have to be worried about certain people within the cast not turning up and playing their part. For other cast members I have chosen people who I believe are reliable, however if they begin to slack I will need to talk to them and persuade them to be more reliable and help more often. Nevertheless this method doesn't always work, therefore if the same person/group of people keep choosing to mess around I will have to tell them they are no longer in my music video. 

Cast Members 
Protagonist - Tom Card 
Two members of Madness - Dad and Andy 
The Mum - Mum or Sharon Card
Stranger - Dad
Young girl - Hollie Dearing / Helen McCarthy 

The reason I have chosen these people is because I believe their reliable and will contribute in any way they can. Some cast members said last year they'd be in my music video when I told them what the Media Studies course consisted of. 

Images of Props/Costumes - 28.1012

To show my findings for the props and costumes which may and most likely will be used within my music video, I used Pinterest. I also created a board specifically for the props and costumes, this also enables me to add to it over time and the images will be under a tailored category. The following link takes viewers to my Pinterest account Props and Costumes Pinterest Board

Below I have inserted a print screen as to what my Props and Costumes board on Pinteret looks like. 

Location Images - 28.10.12

Below I have embedded a presentation created with web software Empressr. The presentation consists of images of the locations where shots within my video will take place; over time as more images are added the presentation will also be updated. 

Prop/Costume Plan - 28.10.2012

After following the production plan, I have created a prop and costumes plan. This plan shows all the different props and costumes which I may need throughout the filming of "Our House is Dadless." Although some of the props/costumes may not be needed, it was best if everything was included in the plan therefore I won't be unorganised when I come to filming the music video.

Now I have completed this plan, I'll be writing the rest of the list which I created on the 26/10 to see what props/costumes need to be purchased. 

Prezi Presentation of Location for Music Video and Go.Animate Discussion - 27.10.12

Below I have embedded a presentation of images taken on the estate I live on and are basing my music video on. Using Prezi has enabled me to show my images in a presentation different to what will be used when showing the exact locations of where some shots will be taken; broadening the usage of different web software's enables me to show my findings differently. 

Research and Findings of the Location for "Our House Is Dadless" music Video. on Prezi
To evaluate and discuss these images I have used Go.Animate. This web program has allowed me to show two people discussing the needs of this research, and why it is has been helpful to the production of my music video. 

Discussion on the Prezi Presentation by s0013339 on GoAnimate

Animation Software - Powered by GoAnimate.

My Findings - 26.10.2012

During this day I had planned to go to the protagonists house and take some photographs of the room and clothing which will be included within my music video. However my findings will be shown on a different date as they're included in another task which I have set myself; the images of the room will be shown in the Prezi presentation, however the images of the location where the exact shot will be taken will be shown in the Empressr presentation. 

In comparison to this, after researching what costumes would look good in my music video and my protagonist feels comfortable in I will be showing my findings on Pinterest, alongside other props and costumes. The URL for Pintrest will be uploaded onto my blog on 28 November, as I am following the tasks I have set for myself. 

Production Plan for my own Music Video

Instead of jumping straight into filming my music video I am going to stick to my production plan; the dates will be very close to each other therefore I'll be giving myself deadlines which I will be sticking to. Following the production plan I will be taking photos and uploading them to my blog to show evidence of my research and findings. 

26.10.2012 
I will be going to my protagonists' house to choose the costumes which he will be wearing throughout the music video, and to see whether there are any pieces which will need to be bought which can help him fit into the role I want him to play. 

Due to the location of my video being inside and outside a house I will be using my protagonists bedroom for one shot, as the mise-en-scene used within this shot will created verisimilitude as if it were filmed in my room it would be obvious that the male protagonists wasn't in his 'male' room he would be in a females room. To show evidence of my findings I will need to take several photos of the room and concentrate the most on where my shot will be taken. 

If there are any pieces which need to be purchased, I will be writing a list and then purchasing everything on that list at a later date when I have sorted through the props needed.

Every bit of research and findings will be posted into a new post. Each post will include their own title and the date following it. 

27.10.2012
Due to me basing my music video on a council estate, on this day I will be walking around the area which some of the shots will be filmed and taking photos of each area which I believe will be suitable to film in. 

I will be uploading all images to Prezzi and using Go.Animate to show my decision on which area I am planning on filming in. 

28.10.2012
Take photos of where the shots will be taken exactly, not only will I have a direct path on where my filming is going this slight exercise will help me with my storyboard when I develop it later on. I'll be showing these images through a web presentation software - Empressr. 

Create a plan of all the props/costumes which will be needed, whether they're used or not. I'll be scanning the plan onto my laptop and uploaded it onto blogger. Once I've created this plan I'll be gathering all the props which I have already and taking photos of these, to show my findings all images will be uploaded onto Pinterest. I will be writing a list of the props/costumes which need to be purchased. 

29.10.2012
Film some of the shots which would be classed as 'easy' which then helps to focus on the shots with the protagonist and other cast members. 

I'll also be researching into how much some of the costumes will be to purchase, for example the police uniform. Also, I'll be looking into whether it's cheaper to purchase or hire these costumes, however if this isn't applicable I'll plan on making the costumes myself. 

30.10.2012
Film shot 2 as this will take some time setting up the exact places where the cast member has to stand. 

Due to have a driving lesson on this day it will be difficult for me to do anything creative to do with the filming as I'll be interrupted. 

31.10.2012
Purchase all the props/costumes which will be needed for the filming, if it's necessary purchasing the fabrics to create the police uniform if it's too expensive to hire/purchase. 

Storyboard for Music Video

These two images are the storyboard to my music video; I'll be working alongside this storyboard to ensure I achieve the video I am hoping to produce.

Breakdown in times for the lyrics to KiD BRiTiSH - Our House Is Dadless

Below I have inserted two scanned sheets of the lyrics to my chosen song; timing each line in both the verse and the chorus will help me when it comes to filming my own music video. Also, using these sheets I'll be able to time each shot well which should result in perfect lip syncing.

 

Animatic Storyboard

The animatic of my storyboard was created to give me an idea of how the shots would look on a video, I was able to put the shots to music and time them for how long they would be seen on the video. This was very helpful, I have been able to note down some of the changes which need to be made and I have some new ideas for the video. This animated storyboard see's some of the shots being very long, some 9 seconds long; however, with the ideas I have now hopefully this will end up looking better than my original idea. 

I have also realised that filming some of the shots twice, possibly three times but from different angles may actually make the video more appealing to the target audience. Creating an animatic has opened up my eyes as to how easy it can be to plan a video, but how hard it can be to produce a good quality and successful music video. Below I have embedded my animatic of my storyboard. 

Evaluation of the Re/Deconstruction of the Media Text

When the task to reconstruct and deconstruct a media text began myself and five others joined as a team as we believed that we would work well together. After allocating the roles of each other we then decided on which media text we would be reconstructing, after going through each members storyboard we all came to the conclusion to reconstruct Missing Andy “Made In England.”  All six of us believed that this song would be a medium leveled video to reconstruct due to the usage of different shots within cinematography, elements of performance with the lip sync and the editing techniques such as the dissolve half way through the video.

Beginning to reconstruct the media text was difficult at first due to the rain, therefore the fifth shot was slightly rushed and the tracking shot wasn't steady as we tried to protect the JVC HD Everio video camera from the rain. Nevertheless we decided to re-shoot shots three six as the weather would have affected our final piece, as there were rain drops on the camera making the quality of the video look poor. Also when I filmed shot four I got confused and did a tilt up and zoomed out, whereas the actual clip was an extreme close up of a building with a slow zoom out and tilt down, therefore I had to re-shoot this shot with the help of the director.

As we continued to reconstruct the media text there were some difficulties within the group, one member wasn't here due to an illness although this didn't affect the filming; it did cut back on some of the editing as he was a chosen to be one of our editors, nevertheless we had already allocated two other editors within our group.  As friends we get along, however as a group I personally believe we struggled as we argued and became easily stressed over the smallest things; two editors were playing around with the shots and the music therefore this lost us time, towards the end of the week when we were getting closer to the deadline we had to work hard and the director had to basically stand over the editors to ensure they were doing their job properly. Another problem we had was our producer found it difficult to borrow an acoustic guitar due to a music student needing to use it, therefore we had to use an electric guitar which looked out of place due to the music having the sound of an acoustic, nevertheless we managed to cope fine and ensure the shots were correct.

From completing this task I have learnt that sometimes it is best not to work in groups, however if group work is needed then possibly work with people who are more reliable and don’t mess around, therefore working with people who I wouldn't normally work with could have been better. I have also learnt that when it comes to filming my own music video I need to get everything right first time, ensure that I have all the mise-en-scene I need and ensure the casting team are always on time and turn up. I think that as a group we realised the song itself was good however the music video wasn't as good, and very difficult to reconstruct. 

Final Production of the Deconstruction of Missing Andy - Made In England

Below is the final product of the re/deconstruction of Missing Andy - Made In England.

Equipment/Software Used Within The Re/Deconstruction Task

During the re/deconstruction of Missing Andy - The Way We're Made as a group we have used different forms of equipment and software. Usually when Media Studies students need to film there's quite a queue for the video cameras, however I had a video camera which we could use for the reconstruction of Missing Andy - The Way We're Made. This made things easier as we always had a video camera on hand therefore we never fell behind on filming, unless the weather caused this.

The equipment and software we used for reconstructing our chosen song:

• JVC HD Everio 
• Tripod 
• Adobe Premier Elements
• YouTube

Production Plan

28 September 
Plan shooting times and where is the best place to film the different shots. 

• Fozzy's 
• Wyke/Kelvin car park 
• Side wall at the Ash Building 

1 October 
Film the 'easy' shots

• Tracking shot of Scott's feet - shot one / College pavement outside the front of Oak
• Tracking shot with the shops (Fozzy's) in the left hand side of the frame - shot two
• Medium shot of Scott walking from around the corner - shot seven / shoot from the front of Fozzy's 

2 October

Film the rest of the 30 seconds 

• Medium wide shot of Benn playing the guitar - shot three / Ash wall 
• Medium close up of Benn playing the guitar - shot six / Ash wall 
• Long shot of Scott walking past some railings - shot five / in the car park, opposite the side of Oak 
• Zoom out and tilt down of the back of Fozzy's - shot four / shoot from the field 

3 October 

Due to the rain on 2 October we decided to film Benn's shots playing the guitar and Scott's shot of walking round the corner. We also finished the rest of the filming which we didn't have chance the previous day, once again the rain kept us inside. 

• Medium wide shot of Benn playing the guitar - shot three / Ash wall 
• Medium close up of Benn playing the guitar - shot six / Ash wall 
• Original film syntax: Scott walking towards the camera with a slight zoom in from around the (possibly) electric block - shot seven / Electric box opposite the side of Oak
• Reverse film syntax: Scott walking away from the camera down between parked cars - shot eight / Kelvin car park
• Long shot of Scott walking behind the park car - shot nine / Kelvin car park 

5 October

We needed to film shot four again due to rain on 2 October and not doing the shot properly.

• Extreme close up of the back of Fozzy's and a slow zoom out - shot four / shoot from the field
• Begin to edit and sort through the different shots we've taken to see which ones are better than others. 

8 October

• Set up the editing suite
• Continue with editing try to be close to finishing
• Add the track 
• Edit the shots of Benn to fit in with the music due to the lip sync 

9 October

• Piece the edited shots together 

10 October

• Finish the editing 
• Embed to YouTube and each member of the groups blog