Planing: Equipment & Software

Now we have filmed some footage for the music video for our project, we will be using a program called Final Cut to edit the sequence and put scenes together to create a video with the music in the background. I will also be assessing what equipment was needed throughout the task to make the filming possible.

FINAL CUT:Final Cut will be our main piece of equipment for the task. This will enable us to
add effects and chance the speed and order of clips and many other things to create our independent music video. We have all completed a training program in Final Cut which has enabled us to learn the basics of this program including how to cut shots, overlap and include transition features.


PHOTOSHOP: We will be using Photoshop to design the logo for our band. We will not be using it to make a background for the green screen effect as we are not using this effect. But we will be also using it to design out adverts and digipacks to go with the music video. Again we have all completed a training program that has taught us how to work the basics of photoshop to suit our projects needs e.g. cutting, colour changes, layering and changing opacity levels to make our advert and images look more unique and artistic which links to the genre of our music.

CAMERA: The camera we will be using to film the footage for our video will be a Nikon D90. We have chosen to film our footage with a 720p camera, which is almost HD. We decided to use this camera rather than a lower quality one so we can capture everything to the best quality possible and to make our video look more realistic. We also used different types of lenses to create different effects with our camera, such as out fish eye lens which is pictured below along side the standard lens. 

TRIPOD:

Another important piece of equipment we used alongside our camera was the tripod. This enabled us to keep the camera still to film shots and we also used the tripod in many other ways to create different effects such as a tracking steadicam shot, where we held the tripod by one leg and followed the actor through a field which created the 'following effect'. We also used an elastic band to create the smooth panning effect.

Planning - Risk Assesment

Planning - Call Sheet

Plannning - Storyboard

This is our storyboard including the scenes we have filmed and edited so far. These are just basic sketches which relate to the shots we would like to include in our video. We are currently in the process of planning to film the lip syncing part of our music video.

Planning - Artist Image

Artist Image Planning - As we have chosen our male performer we need to plan what he will wear to make it relevant to our previous research for genre. Joe is seventeen so our audience can relate to him and his appearance and style is relevant to the indie generic genre of music.

Planning relevant costume:

We also need to think about the weather conditions for a day in November. We have checked the weather and it is forecasted to be dry and cloudy with breaks of sun. This will be best type of weather that we can get at this time of year. As it is crisp and cold we need to wrap up as we are out on location all day in woodland areas. The styling of a rain coat, hat, trainers and jeans is relevant and stereotypical to our chosen genre of indie rock. The layers of clothing also make it practical and safe for the cold weather conditions.

Props:

We have chose to keep our music video very minimalist and therefore have decided to have no props, the main focus is on the artist and surrounding atmospheres of the forrest, stepping stones and landscapes.

Planning - Synopsis of video

The main idea that flows throughout our video is nature. We will be shooting all of our footage outdoors in Whitewell and The Trough of Bowland.

We are keeping the video very simple and slow paced as the song is both simple and slow. There is only one character within the video, our artist, who will be on a walk out in the countryside. We will be filming different shots of him walking through the fields and also shots of nature. A variation of shots will be used including close ups and long shots and we will also be using a variety of lenses including an 8mm fisheye and a 50mm lens.

We have been heavily influenced by Ben Howard's music video for Old Pine. The sequence has given us ideas and a direction to take our music video. The nature and natural atmosphere compliments the song's lyrics and the artists presence. We particularly liked the style of shots - low angles and long shots of the artist and close up shots of the outdoors. The editing techniques emphasize a sunset time of day. Warm tones and colour grading create a really nice effect that is soothing and nice to watch, it reminds us of a summer evening. We think the way this video has been filmed relates to the video we will be producing because the genre is the same therefore the videos will have similarities to them as certain genres have their own characteristics. As we are planning on filming our video outside on location we also think this video links because it is also filmed outdoors throughout and we would like to incorporate some of the same kinds of shots e.g. close ups on certain parts of nature and also long establishing shots of the location. 

Planning - Introduction

Now that we have completed all of the research for our project we now need to begin to plan the different parts of our music video. Our planning will include such things as what is going to happen throughout our video, equipment and software needed and risk assessments. We have already completed a call sheet for our day of filming which lists what equipment we are using and who will be with us, this will be shown in a later post. If we plan our video accurately it will make sure that we will not get back without enough footage or correct footage. The planning part of his project is very important as it will help us make sure that most of the shots we are filming at relevant and needed for our project, ensuring that we do not waste time whilst on location trying to think of shots to film as we will already know what we are doing due to prior planning.