Summary of original narrative footage in its raw state

This is a summary I have created on Adobe Premiere Pro, of the narrative footage I have filmed. I imported all of the narrative footage I have taken so far onto Adobe Premiere Pro and also imported the song I am using for my music video: "Guns and Horses" by Ellie Goulding. I then cut and edited all of the footage and removed the sound from all of them to make sure it seemed professional. Once I had done this, I made sure everything was in sync and the music was working properly, and finally exported the video. I uploaded the video to YouTube and of course, embedded it here. As you can see by watching this video, it only contains a summary of several different shots as my aim was to not bore the audience with a range of random, tedious footage. I have used the main feature of personal identity by keeping the audience engaged through mainly using shots that contain my main protagonist, as she is the focus of my music video - not other irrelevant aspects. I hope that my audience will maintain their interest by having some sort of relation to the artist. Furthermore, I adapted the footage on Premiere consisting of speeding up some footage, cutting some parts etc to allow the audience to be able to identify each part, so that again, they don't bore easily and feel as if they are watching the same thing over and over. Lastly, portraying a range of footage allows the audience to feel as if they are part of a journey, directly watching transitions from each shot to shot and how all the scenery varies.

Alterations made along the way (ADD TO THIS)

Below is a list of the alterations I can remember making along the progress of my music video/coursework. I have roughly estimated when I think these alterations/evaluations occurred, added some along the way, and included a description of them, why they happened and how they have effected my workload/progress etc.. I found this task really insightful as it showed me the progress I have made on this journey and how far I have come.

• Song change (03/09/13): At first I had intentions to use "Only Love" by Ben Howard as the song for my music video, however I then changed it to "Love Story" by Taylor Swift. Later, I realised that this song was actually too cheesy for me to base a music video on as I was not even that keen on the song itself. I figured that if I did not have a huge passion for the song then I would struggle to develop an understanding for the lyric meaning and be able to interpret it in different unique ways. So, I changed my song choice to "Guns and Horses" by Ellie Goulding, my permanent song choice now. I have always loved this song and understood the lyrics and their meaning, so I found it so much easier to adapt my own ideas to it and apply many different concepts.

• Work change (04/09/13): I had completed a lot of work based on the previous song I had chosen, and so now I had changed my song completely, I had to re-do a lot of my work which took a while.

• Music video concept (14/10/13): At the start I had researched Ellie Goulding's intended meaning for Guns and Horses so that I could adapt my ideas properly. I discovered that she made the song about an internet relationship and its consequences, so I decided I would replicate these ideas into my own and film a couple having an internet relationship, and their break-up. However, I soon realised that actually, this concept was quite bland and boring, and it did not have enough of a build-up or climax to it. So, after speaking to a media teacher Mr Fisher, I decided to change my idea. I decided I wanted to do a half narrative, half performance-based video like before except make it where my actress walks through the woods, lost, and discovers different props that link to different stages/flashbacks of her previous relationships. Except, what the audience will realise, is that these props are actually figures of the protagonist's imagination because she is suffering from heart-break causing her to imagine things from stress. In the narrative flashbacks, I had decided to present "the five different stages of a relationship", which are: 1. just-met stage 2. comfortable/inlove stage 3. distrust stage 4. arguments/break-up stage 5. acceptance stage. This idea is now my permanent idea now.

This was what my music video was originally going to be like:

• Script/storyboard change (15/10/13): Due to the changes stated above in my music video concept, I have had to change my script and storyboard to plan for my new ideas.

• Shots used change (16/10/13): I had already started filming according to my previous idea on the "internet relationship", so I had quite a few shots for this concept, however fortunately not many as of course I changed the idea. So, I had to delete all of these shots and obviously re-film. The one draw-back from this is that I am not 100% sure if I will still be using the footage of my friend Jessica performing her gymnastics, because I don't know if I will need them due to all of the footage I already have.

• Footage (20/11/13): The narrative footage I have taken so far is quite a lot, but of course I would rather have too much than not enough so this is a positive thing. However, I wanted my music video to be half performance, half narrative but I am not sure whether this will be possible as I want to fit a lot of my narrative shots in instead of letting them go to waste, so the alteration in this is that I think I will perhaps now have more narrative shots than performance shots, which is fine.

• Structure of music video (02/12/13): After having filming both my performance and narrative footage, I began editing my music video on Adobe Premiere Pro and figured that I have a lot of footage. This gave me the problem of not being able to fit everything in unless I use many fast shots that would not match the lyrics, which I did not want to do. Therefore, I had to re-organise the originally-planned structure of my music video to make sure that every vital "stage" of the narrative fitted in with my music video, along with the performance, along with there also being a fair balance between the two. I hope that I have successfully managed this as it was quite hard to do.

• Stages change 14/12/13: After I began editing my music video, I realised that the song wasn't actually long enough for me to be able to fit in all of my prop links (what I mean by this is when I was going to get Georgina to find all five props and they would merge into five different flashbacks of the stages of the couple's relationship) and all of my performance shots without it looking less balanced and professional. So, instead of incorporating all five props to link to the couple's relationship like originally planned, I actually ended up only linking only three props: the horse medals which linked to the first date, the spoon which linked to the comfortable/inlove stage, then the arguments/break-up stages were incorporated afterwards randomly, then I used a letter at the end to finally link to the acceptance stage. I think this worked quite well, because if I linked every prop then I believe my music video would become repetitive and predictable.

Project log 22/11/13 - after filming

This is a project log I filmed in my actress' car just after we had finished filming my performance footage for my music video. Below is the transcript:

Transcript:

We just finished filming for Media, we pretty much finished filming the performance side of my music video, and we're absolutely freezing! I've basically finished everything now, I've done the narrative-side of my music video and also the performance now, so all I need to do is edit it and put it all together. We actually went quite far into the woods, we got lost in there (laughs). We wanted to show an actual journey instead of faking going far into the woods, we did actually get lost (laughs). It was evident we went on a journey. I have made sure I have done a variation of different shots. It was quite successful.

Photographs of me filming

This is a video I have created on Windows Movie Maker consisting of photographs taken of me filming/taking photos during my filming sessions. I have got either of my friends to take these photos of me as evidence of construction. I uploaded these photos to Windows Movie Maker and added titles infront of each set of photos stating what the photos/footage were/was being taken for.
These photos/videos range from settings of the field, where Jessica is performing her gymnastics, to Georgina's bedroom, where I take photos of Georgina and Matt for costume photos or filming Georgina.
The purpose of carrying out this task proves that I took all photos or filming myself without any guidance or help. It almost acts as a journey whereby illustrating the process of my filming and how I have developed and improved. Getting photos of different positions also highlights how the lights adjusted whereby getting lighter in some areas and darker in others. This is effective when getting different effects due to giving different key lighting on different parts of my artist.

Structure ideas for my music video

Brief ideas for my music video

This is a document I have created on the brief ideas I have developed in planning for my filming my music video tomorrow. I have already filmed the narrative shots I need, and now I am going to film the performance shots, so I wanted to create a brief plan to structure what parts of footage I need and what my actress should be doing in them. Doing this has made me feel a lot more organised.

Covers of my music video song

I decided to research different covers of the song I am using for my music video: "Guns and Horses" by Ellie Goulding. I found this independent research really interesting because it gave me an insight into how different people interpret the song and vary it to match their tone of voice. It highlighted to me how differently people can take the song; - some may interpret it as extremely emotional, others happy, etc., which suggested to me that I can be as eccentric with my ideas for my music video as possible, as it is all up to interpretation. I enjoyed researching these covers.

Project log 21/11/13

This week I have started editing my music video at school on a program called Adobe Premiere Pro. I uploaded the clips I have filmed so far on the narrative-side of my video, and put them together. I feel it is going fairly successful so far, however it is hard to tell where to put what clips in what places because I have not filmed my performance shots yet.

Today and yesterday specifically, I began creating another file on Adobe Premiere Pro, summarising the footage I have filmed so far narrative-wise. I tried to export it today but I did not have enough time so I am going to export this and upload it to YouTube hopefully on Monday.

Tomorrow I am filming my performance shots with my actress Georgina, in Ruislip Woods. 

Print screen photo of the process of me editing my music video narrative footage summary:

I also created a "photos of me filming" video on Windows Movie Maker at home, as this I believe is a strong piece of construction evidence.

After this, I developed a Word document on a brief planning of the structure of the filming of my music video tomorrow. Therefore now I feel a lot more organised because I know what I am filming for what parts, so I found this particularly helpful. Then, I completed the "alterations/evaluations I have made along the way" task on my blog, listing the alterations I can remember making along the way, with rough estimations of the time these alterations occurred and a description of the alterations, why they happened and how it affected my work. I actually found this task really insightful, showing me how far I have come so far.

Behind the scenes/videos of me filming/alterations/bloopers video

Today, I created a behind the scenes/bloopers video in my free time on a program called “Windows Movie Maker”. I had previously produced this video, except now of course I have done a lot more filming so there was more footage to add to it. So, I downloaded my last “behind the scenes” video, imported it onto Windows Movie Maker, and added more pieces of footage Matt or Georgina have taken of me filming, doing Georgina's makeup, the group on the way to the filming set etc.. I added these all together, aswell as muting them and adding the “Guns and Horses” soundtrack with it. I cut out many parts to make the video look a lot more interesting.

I also thought it would be good to add a “bloopers” part to the video, so I turned down the soundtrack, looked on the USB for all my footage taken and found all of the videos where things had gone wrong. I imported these onto Movie Maker and added them on.

I was really pleased with the video in the end and felt it was successful. It allows me to give the examiner and the audience an insight into how my music video was made, and also some construction evidence.

The purpose of carrying out this task proves that I took all photos or filming myself without any guidance or help. It almost acts as a journey whereby illustrating the process of my filming and how I have developed and improved. Getting photos of different positions also highlights how the lights adjusted whereby getting lighter in some areas and darker in others. This is effective when getting different effects due to giving different key lighting on different parts of my artist. It also portrays to the audience how much I actually enjoyed filming and producing my music video, and therefore this adds a personal touch to my video, making it seem more believable and understandable because there has been effort put into it. The idea of taking an audience on a journey and allowing them to laugh at bloopers/mistakes I think is a really successful touch to the whole process.

Planning for my Digipak & album advert: image inspiration

I began Googling images for what I want my Digipak front cover and album advert pictures to look like, to give me some inspiration for how to construct my own. I put these onto a Powerpoint and explained why I want to use some of them. I thought this was a good idea as it also shows the examiner the progress with thought I am making, and some construction evidence.

Project log 04/11/13 (MAKE INTO VIDEO?)

Transcript:

Today, I created a "costumes" video on Windows Live Movie Maker. I had previously created a costumes video before, but of course now I have filmed a lot more footage, there have been many more costumes to add, so I started again. This video included every single costumes my actor/actresses used in my music video, the reason why and what effect it will have on the audience. I figured this would give the examiner or the audience a good insight into my motives and reasons for creating the look I did in each shot. I have uploaded this to YouTube and embedded it onto my blog, however I will be adding to this costumes post as I still have more filming to do on the performance-side of my music video. Furthermore, I have tidied up my blog, making sure that every post is named under the right label. I found that some posts had been labeled as "Planning", when they were just construction evidence etc., so I made sure to fix this. After this, I began Googling similar images to what I want my Digipak front cover and album advert pictures to look like, to give me some inspiration for how to construct my own. I put these onto a Powerpoint and explained why I want to use some of them. I thought this was a good idea as it also shows the examiner the progress with thought I am making, and some construction evidence.

Screenshots of the process of editing and uploading my "costumes" video:

Screenshot of the process of me creating my image inspiration ideas for my Digipak cover and album advert:

Project log 03/11/13

Project log 03/11/13