Interviewing

Male Target Audience Interview - Fred.

Female Target Audience Interview - Chelsea

Target Audience

My Target Audience Survey

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7FTFQNL


Results

Although the song that I have chosen is seen has 'indie' I feel that his contains aspects of rap in itself due to the speed of the lyrics and tempo. Therefore, from the analysis I feel that my song choice is very popular which will add to the quality of my finished project.

The age of '16-20' is clearly the highest. Therefore, this will be my key demographic for my music video.

From my results it is clear that groups and bands are more popular. I am still going to use a solo artist to make my video however, I like the technique of creating 3 of the same person in the same shot as if they were playing together (like a band).

This question was important for analysis in order to create my video as locations are a huge part that contributes to a video. From my results it is obvious that the most popular locations are stage,studio, bunkers and beach. I like the idea of a natural environment as well as studio shots. Therefore it is likely that I shall use beach or forest and a studio. I would also like to include some skating footage to allow viewers to get an idea of the artists personality allowing my video to be relatable. Thus, I shall use a street-like location.

Responses from Q6 - What are some typical conventions of an 'indie' music video?

'looking like they are playing a lIve set, all instruments shown!'

'shot of band'

'Shallow depth of field shots with in and out of focus of either the sun, studio lights etc and camera glare.'

'Guitar... beach's etc'

'shot in the streets not fast pased cuts'

'calm, relaxed atmosphere'

'bands, guitars etc'

'full band playing'

'dress up and fun with unique style'

'Relaxed atmosphere'

'beaches slow motion shots lens flare natural environment'

Given that 'possibly' is the most popular choice, I am very likely to use special effects as the idea that I want to attempt would work well with the song and genre in general as it won't be an effect that may come off cheesy.

'It does not matter' and '2:31 - 3:00' are the most popular choices therefore I am no worried about the length of my song for the video.

I could not decide whether to make my video with a narrative or not and these results have not changed my mind much.
I think that I may create my project with a slight narrative at the start followed by some studio shots and some skating footage.

For my video, I felt it was essential to show my actor playing guitar as my video is acoustic. I chose an actor that could play guitar so that my video was more professional which illustrates that I was always going to show shots of him actually playing the song with an instrument.

Key Demographic

This is Fred. He is 18 years old and his favourite genre of music is indie and he likes to listen to artists like Ed Sheeran, Natty and Jack Johnson.

He is a full time student with a part time job at HMV meaning that he has a strong passion for film and music. In his free time he likes to play guitar, create short films and watch new films at the cinema. Apart from that, he meets and spends time with his friends unless he is working.

After Effects Tutorial - Freeze Frame Sequencing

Here is the tutorial which I used in order to practice this technique as it is an effect which I may use in my final project to compliment other factors of it such as the cloning.

My first attempt 
I found this tutorial online and thought that it was very cool and effective and that it could be a possible feature to my music video. For example, I am going to use the location - The Dolmans; a woodland area. I feel that this technique would be effective with a medium shot with the artist simply walking side on. It is this type of aspect that would make my production different and appealing.

These are the screenshots of my first attempt of the freeze frame sequencing.
Although it works, it is simply a rough idea and there are still factors which I need to fix such as feathering the masks of each individual freeze.

This shot shows the software After Effects that I used in order to create this effect.

This close up illustrates markers that have you be used in order to get the exact correct moment for when the freeze is going to begin.
The second marker shows where the second freeze starts

This shot shows how layers of the same clip have to be used. As the first layer pauses it creates the freeze frame and having the layers below continue, it appears that the individual is leaving a freeze of herself behind. It also shows the start of the masking phase, which has to be carefully in order to look successful.

This screenshot is an example of this.
As you can see it is necessary that the freezes are individually masked in a very detailed way. If this is not done properly or well enough, the outcome looks awful as unwanted parts of the layer overlap the layer still moving.

This shot shows the final phase of the freeze frame sequencing technique.
It shows the number of layers used; the number of layers must equal the number of freeze frames in the sequence.
Here it shows how the freezes look on top of each other.
I am fairly happy with this first draft, however, when doing this technique for my final project, I shall ensure that my subject is at a far enough distance so that the masking issue is less of a problem.

Experimental cloning - After Effects

A rough idea and practice of the cloning technique,

For this I used a classmate, however in my music video each individual person shall being playing an instrument, singing etc.

take 2

This second attempt shows how playing an instrument would look and an attempt at slight interaction as each of the individuals look at each other and smile. However, this was not obvious enough and does not come off as intended, so more attempts shall be done soon.

In order to do this second sequence, I used After Effects again, but with a different technique to the first attempt. Rather than effecting the composition of each layer as I did with the first sequence, I put the two layers on top of each other and cut them in half in a way that creates the same background.

take 3 - interactions

With this third attempt, I wanted to create more of an interaction which comes off effectively. Therefore, I tried passing an object to one and other. In order to do this, again, I split the clips and layered them one on top of the other. I then had him put the hat on a ledge. I filmed again, the hat on the ledge so that when it is picked up and put on it seems as if it has been passed/taken. To do this I had to put a motion on the mask as he reaches to put it down and picks its up.



This screenshot shows the first layer where he takes off his hat and puts it on the ledge.
The yellow edge shows the mask and mask points.








When the mask is altered, it shows how the second layer below appears.
As you can see, he is wearing the hat and the same hat is on the table ledge.











This screenshot shows the motion of the mask as the sequences commences.
It only covers the hat so that when it is removed, it appears to be the from the other sequence.
Below is the markers for the movements of the mask throughout the sequence.













Here is the final outcome of the sequence with the second individual wearing the hat that the first individual was wearing to begin with.

For my final attempt, I wanted to try more interaction with, as well as passing an object, dialogue is shared. It is clear that timing is an issue but is something that can be fixed.

School Interviews

My teacher asked me and another student to film several interviews of lower sixth students having mock interviews with an external examiner, meaning that they can watch it back and pick up on the positive/negative aspects of how the interview went.
In order to film this, we used three cameras; a static camera, filming a medium shot throughout and two Canon 7ds from different angles which show mannerisms, facial expressions and characteristics of each person in the interview.

Photoshop Tutorial

In order to practice using applications such as Photoshop, I created a graphic design using online tutorials.
This screenshot is an example of the ideas used for the start of the design.







Using images of a road and patch of grass in photoshop, I created the effect of the grass being pages of the book, by using tools such as magnetic lasso tools to cut out the writing and replace it with the grass. Then inputting the road consisted of cutting out part of the road out of its original image.

Trial 2

Timelapse Practice - GoPro - 1 photo per S

iCal

In order to keep track of time management I used the application iCal, which illustrates my progress throughout the two months of the planning section.

These screengrabs show that throughout September, it was mainly research and analysing of other videos, as well as song choice.

During the month of October, we learnt about Indesign and researched digi-paks and posters, whilst creating mock ups.
I also began finding actors using the audition process, and locations by taking photos.
Storyboarding also tool place during this month.

As for the month of November, I finished my animatic for the deadline as well as practicing using the equipment such as the crane. I began my construction phase by looking a different techniques and special effects that I could use in my project. Therefore I spent a lot of the month doing experiments to see if these effects work well.

Towards the end of the month, I arranged filming dates with my actor and checked locations to use. 

December consisted of tutorials with software such as InDesign and Photoshop (both CS4). I also practiced the Go-Pro angles and as my remote control arrived, I could start creating time-lapses.

During January, I continued with creating time-lapses, and received animatic feedback from my classmates. After having organized dates, I began the filming process, checking over the footage as well as compressing it. I was then able to start to edit my first draft.

February was the deadline month for my coursework, therefore I was editing my footage, re-film and compress extra necessary footage. 

StoryBoard/Animatic

Animatic link.

http://www.youtube.com/user/rlangmedia?feature=chclk

Could do with a little more variety of shots and shots of different settings. Could focus less on the guy singing and the guitar. clone idea will be great if you pull it off

1/10/2012 9:04 AM

Location shots seem great. be sure to focus on the singing and his head as he sings. Depth of field would look great as well in some of the shots, it will really help add to the mood. An idea may be to have some moving shots along the guitar as opposed to just stills and zooms by using equipment such as the dolly and the crane.

1/10/2012 9:03 AM

- good, appropriate choice of location - perhaps have more natural shots of the artist 'having fun/relaxing' to give more meaning to the song (e.g. walking along the beach) - good variety of shots used

1/10/2012 9:03 AM

maybe more locations but overall very good

1/10/2012 9:03 AM

more close ups of the singer when he isn't singing. skating etc.

1/10/2012 9:02 AM

great idea. maybe mix up some more of the shots, love the cloning idea.

1/10/2012 9:02 AM

Good stuff, try a few different shots and a little faster edits. Like the use of close ups.

1/10/2012 9:02 AM

- maybe another change of location to add variety - I like the idea of the close ups the guitar being played

1/10/2012 9:02 AM

good choice of shots as they match the choice of song. 

1/10/2012 9:02 AM

Really good... maybe more shots of the surrounding location.

1/10/2012 9:02 AM

Nothing to add really . really like the clone idea. good luck pulling it off

1/10/2012 9:02 AM