Test shots

As we thought that the 50mm camera lens was a good choice for our close ups in the music video we decided to do a test shoot of close ups to practice. As I am going to be the lead singer of the band there are more close ups of me so that we could see what it looks like. Also, we tested the girls standing behind me and seeing if there faces were blurred out or not.  I really like some of the images that we took and I feel that using this lens is really suitable for the music video as it looks really professional.

Filming for Music Video/Journal

Journal:

As we have done our animatics and got our feedback we need to start deciding when we can start filming for our music video, as we have a lot of different shots in different locations. I have marked off the days of next month when I'm busy but I'm free the majority of the time so we need to decide as a group when we can get together and start filming. We also came up with an idea today for our music video, for the notion of looking, where we want to film on a bus. We are going to go on the open top buses up London which will allow us to get a variety of shots and locations and also it would be totally legal to film with a tripod ect. 

Goodwin's theory

We have applied Goodwin's theory within our music video for certain aspects.

For example we have included:

• A relationship between music and visuals,
• A relationship between music and lyrics, 
• Intertextual Reference, 
• Notion of looking, 
• Close ups (the record label influence)

For the relationship music and visuals appears throughout a lot of the music video as well as music and lyrics. We have tried to link the music and lyrics but to an extent where it is consistent.

For our intertextual reference we have chose a section from her music video where the camera moves around her. We chose to do Blondie because we felt that the fans of the band 'After Midnight' would also be interested in this type of music. We have chose her as we want the band's roots to come from this era and their influences come from this too, however the band take a more modern approach towards their image/music. As we have included a lot of scenes that are based in London we wanted to choose and iconic artist that is famous in Britain. 

We have used the notion of looking through different cinematography, for example we have used a point of view shot to make the audience feel closer with the band. It also makes them appear natural and normal people who are just having fun. 

The use of close ups in reference to the record label is used in order for the audience to feel more in touch with the band. It also puts the bands image out there and for them to be noticed more. 

Animatics

So today we completed the animatics for our music video. I am really happy with the way it looks and it allows me to have a better insight as to what the overall video will look like. We have a lot of different locations and some are up london. When we film up london we need to make sure that we get loads of shots as it will be a lot harder to reshoot. We have included an intertextual reference from one of Blondie's music video where the camera turns round her laying down and we have done this for all of us.

Digipak photo ideas

As we are taking inspiration from the band Haim and also some ideas from Lana Del Rey I have made a collage of ideas for our digipak photos to ensure that we portray the right genre. We were struggling at our photoshoot with the angles and the lighting so this collage helps. Also, another thing was the way we were posing in the pictures. As shown in some of these pictures they are laughing and others acting quite natural, but in all they look like a band that are all close. I like the picture that shows their faces but you can see the sky in the background as it gives quite a nice feel to it. I also like the picture on the bench, as it is quite similar to ours, however it is quite planned. I think after looking at these pictures it has helped me get a better view on what my teacher was saying about some of our pictures. On the next shoot I am going to make sure that the lighting is right and that we get full body shots.

Tracklist Survey

This is a list of possible songs that I could put into my tracklist. As I am not sure on what songs to put into it I have created a survey so I can see what the most popular songs are for the specific type of genre then I can consider choosing the most popular ones for the tracklist.

These questions are to clarify that the song choices I have suggested are suitable for the type of genre. If I have feedback which says otherwise then I will possibly change them. The last question is for peoples opinions and if they have any other ideas too. - Click here to take survey https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WBBJMXD

Props

Our main prop will be an acoustic guitar for the digipak and the music video. This is because when we have looked at other music videos the conventions show that music instruments are shown in the music videos. It will make the band seem quite organic and signify the importance of music instead of just image.
We will not be having many props in the digipak, others may be a microphone stand or empty bottles to emulate the idea of partying the night before.
Our sole image is mostly to do with the scenery, and the scenery is probably the most important part.

Locations

Here are some of the locations that we would like to use for our music video and also for our digipak.
We are interested in:

• Danson Park 
• Local Woods
• London Bridge 
• London Camden 
• Trafalgar Square
• London Eye 

All these locations are outdoors and as we have thought about Goodwin's theory we are thinking that these locations could convey the relationship of visual and lyrics. Although these are the locations we would like to use we need to decide what we are going to film in each place and also organise a date so we can go to London and try and film it.

List of Actors

• Hayley Sollis (myself)
• Megan Mead
• Holly Wright

As the band is supposed to be a new band we felt that it would be more appropriate to just use the band members in the video, as this could come across confusing if there was other people in it.

My Digipak Ideas

These are my first ideas for my digipak that I am going to produce. This is the album cover, which shows the band all together with their heads together. I imagine this will be taken laying down, and it allows the audience to get to see what the band members look like as they are a new band, it also allows the audience to get a first indication of their genre too. 

 This is the interior and exterior ideas for my digipak. For the inside I thought that having a panorama image spread across would look very interesting. The idea is to have the band laying on grass/ flowers or somewhere with open space and to have the picture extended. This allows to have scenery in the picture so the band is not taking over the space too much and also highlights the idea of being in touch with nature. Also, the idea would be that they would look like relaxed which again highlights the genre. The exterior makes them seem very united as a band and also indicates that they are fun and carefree, reinforcing the idea of highlighting their genre and also adapting to conventions of indie bands who seem to have a fun and carefree nature about them.
This is just my first idea for the digipak, this could change due to weather or other reasons.

Fashion Ideas

After our discussion today we realised that we needed to think more about what we are going to wear for our digipak pictures and also for our music video, as the overall look will be very similar. I have created a collage of pictures of different aspects that I think we need to apply to the over all look. We all agreed that we should wear similar things but not exactly the same. Also, it's not going to be too styled as this goes against the conventions, of taking fashion and looks as a major aspect, and we do not want to do this. However, for our genre we need to use fashion to portray to the audience the type of genre that we are which is indie/rock and I feel that this can be conveyed with the use of clothes/makeup/piercings etc.

Discussions 1

This is a recording of a group discussion regarding our ideas for our digipak pictures and for the music video. We chose to record it because it will allow us to go over and listen to it again and again to remember ideas that we have had. As we could not take pictures today, instead we came up with ideas which we speak about in this recording.

Certain parts that we discussed were:

•  Jump cuts for the beginning of the music video 
•  Intertextual references in our music video 
•  Adopting Goodwin's theory of a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals and ideas to do this 
• Using the green screen
• Locations to film eg: London, Camden 
• Ideas for the chorus 
•  Conventions to adopt or going against 
• Point of view shots 
• Fashion ideas eg: makeup, clothes, hair ideas

Our Brief

This is our brief of our band 'After Midgnight.' It states all the things that we like and dislike (as a band) and what we are similar to.

Planning our ideas

This is a spider diagram of some of the ideas that we have come up with for our band.
We have now decided on a song and a name for our band.

We are called 'After Midnight' because this can be interpreted as staying up really late and sleeping during the day. It implies a festival/party type vibe which adds to the indie genre we are trying to achieve. Our song is 'Suddenly I See' by KT Tunstall and she is a solo artist. Although she is solo, we really like the song and its quite indie/folk and we think that it will be visually appealing as we want to film a lot of our footage outside and give it the hippy/nature atmosphere.