Shoot - 29th November - Publicity Shots

On the last shoot we also took publicity shots for the 90s, 50s and the band. I edited the chosen photos in Photoshop to put on the website.

For the 90s, we used the boom box as a prop to convey the era, as it is a clear reference. We also did some 'fun' couple shots, so to visually portray the theme of our video - love.

For the 50s, we again used the props to reference the era; we also did individual shots of both Jacob and myself, as well as the 'couple' photos to portray the theme of our video. 

For the band publicity shots, we used a different colour background for variety between shots. Again, we did individual and band poses, continuing to convey the band image of being innocent and fun; for example, the photo on the right, where the band is messing around with one member looking confused and fond, or the image on the right, where Brandon is peeking over Jacob's shoulder.

For example, this photo connotes innocence, as Jacob looks young and slightly cheeky. This would appeal to parents of younger audience members, as the band are positive role models.

The image on the left is unedited, and the image on the right is edited - I increased the vibrance and contrast of the shot so as to make the colours richer, and to make the photos seem more professional and clean. I also enhanced the background colour, to accentuate the variety between shots.

Again, the image on the left is unedited, and the image on the right is edited - I again enhanced vibrancy of colours and the contrast to give the image a more professional, clean look. I also removed the border between the cyclorama and the floor, to make the image cleaner. We used a different colour again for variety between shots so it is more visually interesting for the audience members.

We did poses such as the ones above as they connote the more quirky side of the band, whilst also showing the band dynamic and relationships - we wanted it to be clear that the band worked well together and could have fun.

We also did poses like this to add variety to the shoot.

Shoot - 29th November

In this shoot we were reshooting all the shots that we decided during the week after reviewing the footage that we had.
We started off reshooting all of the 50s narrative scenes, as we felt Jacob's lip syncing was not as good as the rest of the narrative. We also did this set up first as it was the longest part to shoot, and the longest to set up and take down.

We then one shot from the 70s narrative scene, then moved on to shooting two shots from the 80s narrative scene. After reviewing our footage with Mrs Blackborow, we decided that a mid-shot of Jacob walking across the bench and directly addressing the audience was needed, so we shot this extra shot along with the reshoots.

We also decided that some of the band scenes needed reshooting, so we did this after the 80s scene, as it was another difficult set up. It also took a long time to set up as I had to do the make-up for every band member. Whilst this was being shot I also got ready for the next set up to save time.

Lastly we shot two shots from the modern narrative scene, which were the mid-shot of Jacob and I, and the close-up of me.

 We also took more publicity shots of the band, as well as for the 90s and 50s eras. For this publicity shoot with the band we had the members wear different costumes, and we changed the colour of the background, as it gives more variety to our shots, and therefore interests the audience more.

We kept the poses the same in terms of conveying band image - fun and quirky, such as the one above where they were sitting together on the floor laughing. 

Working On The Website - Interactivity

It is conventional for band websites to have links to the band's social media pages. We decided to make a Twitter and a Facebook page for our band, as we feel our target audience of 13-25 year olds are most likely to use these sites as they are part of the tech-savvy generation. It also means there is more interactive content that appeals to the audience, as they can like and share the content with their friends.

We also decided to have a page for the music video itself, along with an explanation of the meaning from the band, and some background information on the actress in the video. We felt that our target audience would enjoy reading a message from the band, as it seems more personal.

We also plan to have a competition, as this is another interactive way of appealing to the target audience, who would want to win the chance to meet the band for example.

Shoot - 21st November

During this shoot, we decided to re-shoot the band scenes, which are the performance bed of our video, and therefore are important to get right.

We did a variety of shot types, such as a wide of the whole band, a close up of Jacob the lead singer, and close ups of the other band members.

Because I'm not in the band, I was the director and cinematographer of this shoot, meaning I framed and directed each shot.

In the mid-shots of Audrey and Chrystal, we also had to have Brandon playing the drums, as he is in the background of the shot. We made sure each member was singing or playing convincingly, so as to make the performance seem more real.

We also shot close-ups of each band member, so as to make sure the audience focuses on each individual as well as the band as a whole. We also decided to shoot close-ups of the instruments as well, so the audience focuses on that too.

Shoot - 18th November - Reflections

During this shoot we decided to shoot the two dance sequences in the video. Above is the first sequence. It doesn't have the modern era in it, unlike the second dance sequence, as the modern era is not introduced until after this sequence.

I feel like this idea worked well, as we were able to keep on our marks, meaning we could cut between each era without making the dance movements look disjointed.

I also feel like this helps to convey the message of our video that love does not change through time, as the dance does not change between eras.

Shoot - 18th November

During this shoot, we filmed the two dances in every era - we had to make sure that the camera didn't move, and that Jacob and I started on the same mark for every shot. This was so that we could cut between eras during the dance sequences in our video.

We started with the 90s, as we had to reshoot the narrative scene

Brandon, Audrey and Chrystal set up the camera for the dance sequences whilst Jacob and I practised the dance routines and made sure our make-up was good enough for on camera.

We performed both dance routines in each era, using the same marks for both routines, as this was much simpler for us - we only had to switch sides for the two dances, rather than move to a completely different mark. This also meant that the camera was not moved, maintaining the framing continuity that was vital for the editing that we planned to do.

We moved from 90s to 80s, as this was the most convenient set and costume change. We made sure to perform the dances in exactly the same was as the 90s.

We then moved to the 70s, and again performed the dance as similarly as possible to the previous eras, so as to maintain the continuity for editing.

We then moved onto the 50s era, and performed both dances once again.

We moved to the modern era last, as we also had to film the narrative scene. At the end of the second dance, we made sure to also walk off in the same way, again for continuity whilst editing. We had our arms around each other so as to appear as a couple to convey the theme of our video.






We then filmed the narrative scene for the modern era, once we were completely sure we had shot both of the dances to a standard that we all wanted - we could only move the camera once we were sure of this.

For this narrative scene, we once again shot a number of framing types so as to make the video more visually interesting, and to make sure we had clear shots of Jacob lip syncing and the props. We also changed Jacob's costume, so that the modern costume was different from his band costume, as we felt this would make it easier for the audience to differentiate from the different set ups.

We used mobile phones as props, as they are a common item in our current era and clearly convey the era. We also chose to have the background blue as this colour is associated with technology, much like our era.