Conclusion

Overall I have really enjoyed working on this entire project. Although it has been a little strenuous at times, I was able to overcome my problems and feel that I have created good pieces of work. I am really pleased with how my digipack came out and love the boldness of the colour and I think this really compliments the electro-pop / dance genre of music. In regards to my advert, I am again pleased with the outcome. I don't feel this is as strong as my digipack, however, think it completes its objective of selling and promoting my digipack and the video. For a first time video, I am really pleased with the end result. I can see possible areas of improvement, i.e the white balance shot and continuity, but feel we achieved our main goal of creating a video that was directed at a target audience from 18-25 year olds.
As well as me being please with what I have achieved, I am also excited by the many new skills I have learned. This ranging from camera work, to editing using "Final Cut Pro". These skills have enabled me to create, I feel, good pieces of work and will keep enabling me to create good pieces of work in the future.
I thoroughly enjoyed working with my team, we worked well together and shared the responsibility of different jobs fairly. All together we have all picked up new techniques and feel that this project has by far increased our knowledge of not just what can be expected from certain areas of the media industry, but also what techniques can be used, in order to enhance your work.

Clip ideas

When we were constructing our video, we researched other videos to see if we could gain any particular ideas that would work well in our video. When contemplating what we wanted our video to look like and wanting this to sync well with the music, we knew we had to research videos of a similar genre. This is when I came across Basshunter and his video for the song "Now you're gone'. This was a great video, in terms of compositions and many of the shots from our video came from seeing this.

The first couple of shots that caught my eye were when you had a group of boys hanging out in a guys bedroom and group of girls doing the same but in a girls bedroom. Obviously this was a complete comparison to what we wanted our video to look like, so we based the majority of these shots on the Basshunter video.

Here is a prime example of a group of guys hanging out in the lead characters bedroom.

This is our replica. It illustrates the group of boys chilling out, before they make their way to Brighton. It also shows features of the mise-en-scene. I.e. Posters, guitar, PlayStation, etc.

The video also consists of a close up shot of a computer. Although in the Basshunter video the computer screen only contains one message, ours is slightly different as it illustrates a conversation between the boys and the girls. This shot is a fundamental part of the video, as it shows the first time our characters make contact with one another.

A close up shot is used here in order to convey the information on the computer screen and to make it clearer to the audience in terms of what is says.





We too chose to use a close up shot. We begin with a mid shot of Jack sitting at the computer, but then zoom in, so to give the audience the chance to read the contents of the computer. This gives them a better insight into the storyline and our characters.

In regards to the mise-en-scene for our video, we originally wanted the boys room to be recognised by posters, guitars and PlayStation's, all characteristics of a boys room. When watching the Basshunter video "Now you're gone", I noticed one shot where you get a great view of the boys bedroom. This captured my attention, as I recognised the importance of showing the audience the environment in which you are filming in, as it too, plays a part in telling the story.

This is a high angle shot used in "Now you're gone". The good thing about using a high angle shot is that it allows the audience to see a great deal and as you can see it clearly represents a boys bedrooms.

This is our shot of Jack's room. Instead of using a high angle shot, we opted to pan from right to left in order to show the audience the surroundings. The panning shot shows features of Jack's room such as posters, TV and Playstation games. All things that were originally mentioned in my mise-en-scene.

One of the most important parts of our video is showing the two groups make their journeys to Brighton. Another similarity between our video and Basshunter's was just this.

Here, a close up shot is used in the Basshunter video to show the boys making their way to their destination.

Here is our version of the shot. However in our video we use a mid shot, which transpires into a long shot as the boys drive away. The rule of thirds is used in this shot. As you can see, the car is placed in the centre third, while the two dark doors either side of it take the place of the outer thirds. This improves the composition of the shot as the audiences attention is drawn directly to the centre third. This is also achieved through the brightness of the red. Red being a predominantly powerful colour and one that stands out and immediately grabs the viewers attention, highlighting where the action is taking place.

This shot represents the girls from Basshunter beginning their journey. Like our girls, by foot. I really like the composition of this particular shot, as it demonstrates a really powerful long shot, including all three girls. Our version of this shot is not as clear as this, but pretty much follows the same guidelines.

Here is our version. As you can see the composition is not as clear as the above. We chose to use a mid-shot for this scene, which includes showing the girls from waist up. We decided to speed this shot up, in order to show the girls enjoying themselves and to give the audience a sense for what the girls were feeling. Happy and excited.

I think that by researching similar videos, we gave ourselves plenty of option as to what we could include in our video. Basshunter's video for "Now you've gone" really helped and adapted what ideas we already had. I think overall we included a wide range of different shots and feel that these compliment both the song and the narrative of our video. (Especially where we adjust the speed of the footage to feet the beat of the music).

Bad Clips

I will now upload three of our shots that we captured, but due to either being poor quality or capturing a better version, we decided not to include in our video.

Shot 1: Boys parking.

(when play has been clicked, the video will take around 20 seconds to begin).

As you would have seen from our actual video, we have used a duplicate of this shot. The above shot was our first take and there were a couple of reasons as to why we chose to not use this particular one. Firstly, you will notice the camera movement is quite jolty in some places. The shot was filmed handheld and this caused slight movement in the focus. To overcome this problem, we should have used a tripod. This way we would have been eliminating any jolts in the camera movement which would have provided us with a clear and precise shot. However, when it came around to filming the shot again, I managed to keep the camera steady by resting it on top of my shoulder, this made it far easier to keep the camera still and made panning far easier! Another reason for us not wanting to use this particular take, was because of the amount of people that walked into the frame. In total, four people did in the space of five seconds. On the above clip, you can see two people walking directly in front of the camera, but you can also see the shadows of two more people about to come into the frame. I can see that this may have been good to include, as it shows ordinary people going about their business, which could add realness to our video. However, we wanted our audiences attention to be focused on the boys getting out of the car and begin walking off into the distance and had we included people walking into the frame, it may have drawn attention away from our characters.

Shot 2: Becca and make-up

We initially wanted to include a clip like this as it illustrates Becca getting ready to go out. However, as you can see, right at the beginning Becca begins to laugh, which ruins the shot. We originally wanted Becca to just look in the mirror and apply her make-up, as the shot was only going to feature quickly in the video. In addition, at approximately 9 seconds into the clip, you can see her begin to talk, again as stated above, we wanted to avoid this, as the shot was just meant to show Becca doing her make-up. A further reason as to why we didn't use this clip, is the slight jolts in the camera movement. If a lot of action had been taking place this may not have been as noticeable. But considering Becca is the only person in the frame and the camera demonstrates a low angle shot, any camera movement is apparent. To overcome this problem, we could have perhaps rested the camera on a hard surface, i.e a book and titled the lens. This is something I have become aware of for future projects.

Shot 3: Poor lighting

(when play has been clicked, footage will take a couple of seconds to begin)

This clip shows the girls on part of their journey to Brighton. As you can see, the lighting conditions are very poor! Having already included one poor lighting shot in our video, we really wanted to avoid including more. By filming in such bad conditions, our footage is very hard to see and this would have made our video look unprofessional. This is why we decided to scrap this particular shot and film a better take, when the sun was out, so that our footage would be clear and better understood. In addition, had we used more poor lighting shots, the continuity of our video would be very bad, which we definately want to avoid as it will bring down the overall appearance of our video.

Overall, these shots consist of poor filming techniques. In order to prevent these types of shots we should have considered our surroundings a little better. However, with that said, without making mistakes and having to do more than one take on some shots, I would not have learned how to adapt to such problems and what could be done to overcome and correct such problems. From analysing some of the bad clips we took, I am able to see just how these can be avoided in the future and have learnt the importance of being organised when embarking on such a project!

Editing:

For me, editing the video was the most difficult part of this whole project. To start with it took me a while just to understand the basics of the Mac programme we were using, "Final Cut Pro" and to follow, we had so much film to arrange it got very confusing as to what we wanted to use.

The easiest part of the editing process was to cut certain segments out of the video, or cut particular shots in half to use them at different times. To do this, I had to use the 'razor' tool. At first I wasnt aware that you could use shortcut buttons that made it quicker for you to use certain tools, but after practising and once I got into the swing of editing, I learned to quickly press the 'B' button to open the shortcut for the razor. This made things a lot easier.

As well as cutting, I also had to make sure that the continuity of the video ran smoothly and avoided any jolts in between each shot. Being that we could place each clip on a timeline, so that it was easier for us to conjoin each shot, it became easier to avoid jolts, as I was able to precisly match up the clips, so that they formed a continuous pattern. If after this had been done there were still any slight jolts between certain shots, I would then use the 'razor' tool in order to cut away the slight segment that was causing it to do this. One shot that does question the continuity of our story, features near the beginning when you see the girls leaving Becca's house. It was around 8pm when this was filmed so the lighting was very poor. However, we decided to include this clip, as we were not able to re-film that particular scene again due to timing, so rather than have nothing in the video, we chose to use it. In addition, we only realised this problem after we had completed editing the rest of the video and due to timings issues and deadlines, we were unable to re-shoot it. A further continuity problem that arose, was in regards to the group of girls. At the beginning of the video Becca's friends agreed to feature, but due to other commitments, they were unable to finish filming. To overcome this problem myslef and Vickie agreed to play the remaining parts. This slightly effects the continuity of the video, as at the beginning there is a shot with one of Becca's friend in, although we tried to narrow these shots down to as little as possible, some we needed to include as we were not going to be able to re-shoot them.

To enhance our video, visually, we decided to speed up particular segments of the video in order for it to compliment the beat of the music. We used this technique several times and found that it added emphasis to the overall video. To accomplish this, I had to click on the clip I wanted to adjust on the timeline, then simply right click and then go to the speed option and type in how fast or slow I wanted the clip to be.

Another part of the editing process was when we managed to achieve the effect of the boys sitting on the bed, to standing up, to sitting back down etc. Again, we chose to do this as it fits the beat of the music and I am really happy with how it looks. I found this quite difficult to do throughout the whole of editing, but Becca on the other hand quickly got the hang of it, so she then helped me improve by showing me what to do. It involves having to cut the particular clip up into small sections (this part I found hard) and then going into the speed option again, however this time changing the speed and also clicking the reverse box, as this is what gives it the effect. This effect was also used when the boys got out of their car later on in the video.

I enjoyed editing the video. Although I found it difficult at times, I have been able to learn new skills and techniques that can definately help improve my work. Also, it allowed us to see how well we worked as a group, as it was crucial we decided on the right clips to include. Fortunatley we all agreed with each other, so our abilities of working well together were very evident.

Video

Here is our finished music video for Frank Musik's song - "Gotta Boyfriend".



I am really pleased with how our video came out. Although it could be improved in certain places, I feel that being our first time, we created a good video, that fits the narrative of our chosen song. Below is a timeline for certain techniques and camera shots used in the video.

Timeline:

1 second: At the beginning of the video, we used a photo we took of some terraced houses in Brighton to act as an establishing shot.

2 second: As the first image was a photograph, when we were editing our video on "Final Cut Pro", we decided to edit the photo so that it would appear as if the camera was zooming into the top bedroom window of the house, this way the continuity of the video would allow the audience to follow the action.

6 second: As we enter the boys bedroom from the window, a quick panning shot from right to left takes place. This provides the audience with an understanding for where the action is now taking place. It is here as well that the Mise-en-scene falls into place, as props such as posters and accessories on the table indicate what sort of environment we are in.

7 second: This part of the song repeats the consonant sound of the letter 'B' numerous times. We felt that it would be a good idea if we were to include a reverse shot here of the boys sitting on the bed. Luckily it works really well with the beat of the music.

10 second - 12 second: I really like this part of the video. As you can see we zoom into the alcohol found on a shelf and just as we get really close to the bottle, it all of a sudden zooms out and we enter the girls bedroom. It almost acts as a portal from the boys room, into the girls.

16 second - 17 second: Here we use a mid shot to capture Jack on his computer. As this is an important part of the video, a close up shot of the computer screen, displaying his conversation is then used. Again, this allows the audience to follow the storyline more closely, giving them insight into our characters journeys.









24 second: This part of the video shows the girls leaving the house to make their way to Brighton. Like I stated before, as we would not be able to get these shots again, we had to film in order to have film to put into our video. This is why this particular section shows it being really dark outside, in comparison to other shots. This may affect the continuity of the video, however, I don't think the narrative of the video would flow as well, had we left it out.

37 second: Here an extreme close up shot is used to define what it is Jack is picking up. Had we not included this shot, the audience would be none the wiser as to what it was he picked up. This way we are conveying detail to our audience.

44 second: In order to compliment the tempo of the song, we decided to speed the footage up. This also breaks up the video and makes it more visually enhanced, rather than just sticking to one speed. We also used this technique as it features in a number of Frank Musik's already existing videos. "Confusion Girl", one I have already analysed is a prime example of this. This keeps our video consistent to his.

58 second - 1:01 second: Shot reverse shots are used briefly here, in order to show the points of view from both groups. We first see the girls point of view, as the boys drive past. It then quickly changes and we see the point of the view from the boys, as they capture the girls walking past. This is a key moment in our video, as it illustrates the first time both sets of groups actually see each other.

1:23 second: Here is a brief establishing shot of Brighton pier. The sun is quite bright in this shot and appears to be lighting up the Pier. This worked out quite well for us, as later on in the video, the Pier becomes an important setting, so its almost as if the sun is highlighting the importance of it.

1:35 second: Again, here we use a reverse shot, to compliment the repetition of the song. I think it works really well with the music.

1:47 second: I don't really like this part of the video. We forgot to change the White Balance on the camera, so it caused the footage to become very white. However, you can still work out what is happening in the frame, so we therefore decided to include it in the video. After we had filmed this scene, we realised what we had done wrong and adjusted the White Balance. We also adjusted the aperture, which controls the amount of light coming into the camera . After we had changed this, our footage was clear and precise.










1:51 second - 2:02 second: This 11 seconds of filming shows a range of establishing shots. This includes Brighton Pier and a double decker bus with the words "Brighton and Hove". We wanted to make it clear to the audience exactly where the video is taking place and feel that this achieved through these shots.

2:03 second: During this part of the song, the beat begins to slow. With the drumming becoming the prominent tempo. As you can see we have slowed our footage down in order for it to fit with the music. Again, this technique is evident in some of Frank Musik's videos. So thought it was a good idea to include it. It also allows the dynamics of the video to be more consistent.
Frank Musik video 'Confusion Girl'

2:30 second: By now the characters have all met up and it is at this point that we see the leading two characters (Jack and Becca), begin to flirt. These shots also include shot reverse shots, as they illustrate two different points of view, so that the audience can see the goings on.

2.52 second: Here, two close up shots have been used to identify two of the boys. The lyrics at this point in the song are "maybe we could, we could share, but I don't think that's very, very fair". This links well with our video as it highlights two of the boys that like Becca's character and gives the audience the chance to pick which guy they'd prefer Becca to choose. Jack make direct eye contact with the audience by looking straight into the camera, maybe this will give him more points?

2:56 second: This is the climax of our video. It presents Jack and Becca walking off down the Pier hand in hand. I really, really like this part of the video, as again, the music has slowed down, so we slowed the speed of the footage to compliment it.

3:06 second: This is the final shot of our video. As you can see, the shot begins as a mid two-shot. As Jack and Becca walk off, the camera focus zooms into the couple holding hands and forms a close up shot the pair walking off hand in hand. I am really pleased with this final shot. It illustrates the pair coming together and symbolises love, which ultimately is what the song entails.

Feedback:

In order to gain feedback for the video, I got a group of friends together and asked them to comment on it when they got via their facebooks. For some reason my it is not letting me upload the comments onto my blogger, so I will write the comments below instead.

Comment 1: "I think the video goes really well with the beat and lyrics of the song. I really like the bit where you zoomed onto the keys to show what he was picking up. It was a clever idea. I think you could have added a bit more of the girls though, as it sometimes got confusing as to where they were. Other than that, really good!"

Comment 2: "I like the video. The song is a bit cheesy, but it has a good beat to it. I like the video because it is clear what is going on and you don't get confused watching it. I like how you did the point of view bits for the girls when the boys drove past and vise versa. You could maybe have slowed the whole thing down though, as some of the shots don't last for very long and also I don't understand the white image in the middle of it."

Comment 3: Wow! your video is really good for the first time of doing it! I love the song and think the video fits it perfectly. I really like how you slowed it down in certain areas to fit the beat of the music, that was really cool. I think I have seen something like that on one of Frank Musik's videos. Good good good :) ."

Comment 4: "Good video and good camerawork. My favourite bit is when the camera zooms into them holding hands right at the end. Good touch. It definitely suits the song and as I'm a Frank Musik fan, I think it suits his style of music and his 'target' audience. Well done."

From reading these comments I have been able to see just what my target audience think of the video. The majority of the people I showed it to were of a similar age to myself and it was crucial that I received their feedback as they are my groups target audience. I have found this feedback really useful and constructive and will 100% take their comments on board.

Evaluation

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I have learned a lot from my audience feedback. As stated above, the majority of the people I showed it to were are target audience, so their comments meant a lot. In regards to comment 2, I asked them what they meant by the 'white image' and after re-showing them the video, found that they were referring to the white balance composition 1.47 seconds into the video. I fully understand why this segment may be confusing, as it isn't very clear as to whats happening. However, you are able to make out the characters in it, so we therefore opted to use it. From this comment, I have learned that with a little bit more time and effort, we could have re-shot this particular segment, so that we got the composition correct. This has allowed me to see where we could improve.

I am relay pleased that comment 4 mentioned the similarity between our video and others of Frank Musik and that it would be liked by his target audience, (after all this is our main goal). It has given me confidence in my work and I now feel like are video was a success, when considering who its target audience is.

I have also learned that it pays off to try different camera shots, i.e the extreame close up shot of Jack picking up his keys. We were aprehensive at first to try a variety of shots, but am now really glad we did, as it has provided me with postive comments highlighting specific camera shots.

I fully take into acount the comment about adding more shots of the girls. These are limited in our video and what we have included are very short clips. I have learned from this that we should take more time when deciding on what shots to include, as we want an equal balance so that the sotry flows well.

Overall I am extremely happy with the comments. I have recieved both postive and constructive critism and feel that I can improve on these in future projects!

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

To help me with my research, I first used a computer that allowed me to research an already existing Frank Musik video, I chose 'Confusion Girl'. This really helped me gain ideas as to what sort of elements feature in his videos and I was able to incorparate some of these into our video, i.e slow motion and reverse shots to fit the beat of the music. As our song changes beat quite regulary, this worked really well and made the video more visually exciting and original.

The second piece of media technology I used was a digital camera. I used this so that we could take pictures for our animatic, which of course was the foundations for our video and helped us constuct and plan what the video would look like. In addition, we used one of the photos in our video (the very first shot of terraced houses). The picture happened to be exactly what we needed, so we therefore included it in the video. I think the picture works really well and could easily be mistaken for live footage.

The third piece of media technology we used was the Mac programme "Final Cut Pro". This allowed us to edit and construct both the music video and the animatic. This programme has allowed us to do amazing things to our video, which without it, we would not have been able to do. For example, reverse certain shots and change the speed of the footage. "Final Cut Pro" was really challenging to use at first, but after practise, became a lot more user friendly. I am really pleased I got the chance to use this programme, as it has enabled me to learn new skills and techniques that I can now use for a variety of different projects.

Possibly the most important media technology we used, was the video camera. This was my favourite part of the whole project as I want to have a career in the media industry and camera work is a great skill to have. I learnt so much from using the camera! Especially in regards to the different camera settings, i.e White Balance, Manuel Focus and Aperture. The video camera helped construct our video hugely. It allowed us to capture our footage and at the same time, see whether or not we needed to re-take a scene. Without the use of this media technology, our video would have been mereley impossible to create.

In order to help me with the evaluation stage, I used Facebook to gain general feedback on the video. This helped me a lot, as it allowed me to see what others thought of the video and from this I became aware of what things were liked and what things we could have possibly changed in order to enhance the video.

I am really gratful that I got the chance to experience all of these different media technologies. I feel that from using them, I have become more aware as to what standard of effort is needed in order to achieve a high quality project and feel that I now have skills that will only aid me in future events!

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

When comparing our video to other electro-pop videos, I think it uses many of the same elements. When I was researching Frank Musik's 'Confusion Girl' video, I noticed he liked to use a lot of different effects in his video and so we thought it would be a good idea to convert some of these into our video. This also keeps our video consistent to his! Other electro-pop/dance videos often have a narratve to go along with their lyrics. This is also evident in Frank Musik's videos, but also in artists such as Basshunter and Lady GaGa.

I wouldnt necaserally say our video challenges any forms and conventions of real media products, but definately think it uses a vast amount of effects and compositions that we see in many electro-pop videos today. This making our video current and appealing to followers of electro-pop/dance music.

The Music Video

Filming:
After an initial mix up with the cameras, we finally got around to shooting our video. It took us all by surprise just how much effort was needed in order for us to begin filming, but after setting out goals for each day of filming, we eventually accomplished our video.
The first day of filming took us to Jack's house, where we would capture the group of boys hanging out and then getting ready for a night out. In total it took us about two and a half hours to get literally two minutes of film. At the beginning we struggled in assigning everyone different jobs to do. Obviously Jacks task was to act, so that left me, Vickie and Becca to arrange the camera work and setting and extra things like the clapper board.
Once we were organised, everything began to fall into place!

After filming our initial shots, we decided to take extra shots that we could possibly use as establishing shots. This way the audience would get a feel for the environment and things would become clearer. As we were based in a boys bedroom, we opted to take shots of alcohol and did one big pan shot from right to left, so that the whole bedroom would be included. To do this shot we placed the camera on a tripod, eliminating any jolts in the camera movement. We made sure the camera was securely positioned on the tripod before we began to film and adjusted the height of the stand, so that we had a better view of what it was we were filming. We tried to include several different shots, this included a close up shot of shot glasses, a zoom into a display of alcohol and numerous others. Some of these shots featured in our video, whilst others didn't due to running out of time to fit them in with the song.

Some of the shots took 2-3 times to get right. This is why it was really handy that we used a clapper board we had made. The clapper board allowed us to jot down which of the shots were good and which ones could be discarded. As Jack's room was fairly small, we had to compromise when filming, as for the amount of people in the room, there wasn't really enough space for everyone to move around. Becca was first to use the camera, whilst I used the clapper board. When it came to my turn to film, I was quite hesitant due to the lack of the room we had. After discussing where I should be positioned, we decided that it would be best for me to sit up against a wall on Jack's bed and place the camera on top of my knees in order to keep the camera steady. This seemed to work and we were able to gets some good shots.
However, before I could begin filming, I needed to make sure the settings on the camera were correct. This involved me changing the 'White Balance' from outdoors settings to indoors. This allowed us to achieve consistency of colour in our footage. And also the manual focus. This allowed us to set the focus precisely before we begun filming the shot. Without paying attention to these two important settings, many of our videos shots would consist of poor camera work and would not be good enough to include in a music video!

4th February 2010:
This day we captured back what footage we currently had and begun editing. To edit, we used the Mac programme "Final Cut Pro". At first I found this programme really hard to use, but after practising, it slowly became clearer. In order to edit our film, we had to use the 'razor' tool in order to cut the parts we did not want to use. As we were limited to how much we could edit, due to us not having a lot of film, there was not a lot we could do here, but it gave us a really good chance to get use to the programme and understand what exactly we could do with our footage. I enjoyed the editing part, as it allowed me to learn many new skills and provided me with an insight into how I could help improve our video.

12th February 2010:
On this day I was unable to help out with the filming due to work commitments. So the other members of our group went to Becca's house to film the exact same as what was filmed at Jacks, however this time, the girls.

16th and 18th February 2010:
We planned to film on these two days, but due to poor weather conditions, we did not want to risk damaging the cameras, so we decided against filming.

23rd February 2010:
This day we captured back the footage the group had recorded at Becca's house and began our assembly edit. At this point we were yet to upload our song to the timeline, so it was hard to sync the footage with the song, as we were unsure what parts would go with what parts of the song.
Another problem we were having was getting everyone together to continue filming. Becca's friends were unable to make certain days we had set out to film due to work commitments, etc. This became difficult as it set us back quite a while with our filming. Had this not been a problem, our filming would have been done a lot quicker.

2nd March 2010:
On this day we managed to get all the boys together and headed down to Brighton to film the main sections of our video. The boys were really professional and helped us out a lot. We were given a slightly different camera to use this time and at first it was a bit daunting as we were not sure how to use it. However, after having a good look, we soon figured it out. As we were filming outdoors this time, we made sure the "White Balance" was set to outdoors. This camera was quite a bit bigger than the previous one we used and we found it far easier to keep steady when we were doing handheld shots, as we could rest it on our shoulders.
One of the shots involved the boys driving past Brighton Pavilion (we only used part of this long shot in our video). Because we only came down to Brighton in two cars, Jack had to drive his, so was unable to be in the video for this shot. To overcome this, I dressed up in Jack's hoody, put the hood up and pretended to be him in the other car. Fortunately the shot worked and you are unable to tell that it was in fact me in the car and not Jack.

(I am the left hand person in the back).

We tried to stick to our storyboards as best we could when filming in Brighton, however it became hard in certain circumstances, so we took extra footage to use just in case we were unable to capture what our storyboards entail. One of these shots included an establishing shot of Brighton Pier. This way our audience would be aware of where our video is set.

(print screen from the video)

After we had finished filming in Brighton, Becca went home and filmed the next stages of her and friends going out. Unfortunately one of Becca's friends dropped out at the last minute, so the footage only contained two girls at this point. What was even more annoying was the darkness outside. When we shot the boys footage it was still light, we did this around 4:00pm. Yet when Becca got back to her house, its was really dark outside. However, it was decided to go ahead with filming as we knew we were not going to get another chance to film these particular scenes and we would rather have the footage to put into our video, then to have none. One problem with this however is the continuity of our video. To go from light to dark to light again will look very unprofessional, however like I said before, we were not able to get these shots again, so we had to make do with what we had.

9th March 2010:
This lesson we continued editing. In an hours lesson we got roughly 10 seconds complete. It took us such a long time as we were deciding on what exact bits we wanted to incorporate into our video. One particular piece that took us quite a while to film was when it shows the boys getting up off the bed. This is approximately seven seconds into the video. At this point in the song, a repetition of the sound "B" is used and we thought it would be a good idea to reverse the shot of the boys getting off the bed for it to fit with the music. We are really happy with how this has turned out.

24th March 2010:
This was our last day to film and we still had quite a lot to do. Unfortunately, Becca's friends were not able to make it, so we had no other choice but for me and Vickie to play the roles of the other females. Luckily our previous footage doesn't really show Becca's friend, so this worked out well for us. Another complication that arose was what are ending would be. Initially we wanted to end at a club, but as we were filming around 5:00pm, none of the clubs were open. To compromise, we decided to use the Pier as our end. This worked out really well, and we got some really good point of view shots. We were not able to film inside the Pier, as a security guard told us we need permission to do so, but evidently we got some great footage from the outside of the Pier.

(Both groups at the entrance to the pier)

We then went back and finished editing our video. This took a while, but we feel we did the best we could and are happy with the end result.

Preparation:
When filming we made sure we had our clapper board. We used a small white board and board marker for this. It worked really well! Not only did it allow us to note which take we would be using, but it also gave us a better insight as to how we should be prepared in such circumstances.

Along with the clapperboard, we used a shooting script. This enabled us to see what shots we would use for our video and in what order. At first we followed the shooting script, but after we began editing, we found it would take us far longer to complete our video had we stuck exactly to what the shooting script said.

When we captured our film back, I found it easier to actually name the different shots. This allowed us to be far more organised and ultimately made things a lot easier when it came to finding particular shots that were needed.

When it was my turn to film, I made sure that I recorded an extra couple of seconds before our actors begun and after the initial scene had taken place. By doing this, I hoped to capture some good footage (especially after the scene had taken place) as our actors would then be out of character and their actions would be more natural, which could possibly provide us with some good/real emotion for our video. My other group members also did this step and we managed to capture some fairly good footage by doing it.

Techniques:

• One of the most important factors we had to consider when using the camera was the automatic focus. Without changing this, the camera is able to focus on anything that came into the frame. To overcome this problem we changed the setting to Manual focus. This allowed the camera person to choose what they wanted to focus on, which provided us with clearer and more professional shots.


• Another important aspect we needed to take into consideration was the White Balance. The white balance allows you to achieve consistency in your footage and it was vital that we achieved this. When we filmed indoors we made sure that a lightbulb symbol appeared on the screen, this indicated that it was set to the right balance. In contrast, when we filmed outdoors, we made sure a sun symbol appeared, this obviously highlighting that it was the correct setting for filming outside.
  

Things not achieved:
Unfortunately, we were unable to get the shots of the girls on the bus. We were really annoyed that we couldn't capture these as it would have not only made our video more visually exciting, but we also could have got some great shots, i.e. the CCTV footage! We attempted to film on a bus, but due to complications, the bus driver would not allow it. This is why during the video you will see the girls making their journey by foot.

Also as stated above, our ending was different. We really wanted it to end with the two groups meeting at a club, but due to the time of day that we were filming, all of the clubs in Brighton were shut. Luckily we had a plan B and used the Pier as our end point. This worked really well and we are all happy with the outcome.

As a group we decided not to use more complex shots such as depths of field and pull focus. Although with time these shots can easily be accomplished and can enhance the visual effects of the footage, we thought considering the genre of music and speed to which our chosen song fits to, these shots wouldn't be necessary, as our video consists of a lot of quick, fast shots. Which ultimately wouldn't allow the full effect of these shots to be noticed.

Animatic

Below is the animatic for our video. The animatic consists of photos we went out and took, put on a timeline and linked to our song "Gotta Boyfriend". We used the computer programme 'Final Cut Pro' to complete this. The photos displayed are meant to represent scenes from our actual video. The animatic is basically our storyboards but in picture. Our animatic is very short and lasts a total of 18 seconds, however feel that from the pictures used, you can gain a greater understanding as to what we hope our video will look like. As said before, we are not 100% sure whether we will use certain shots, i.e. the girls on the bus, but we have included this on our animatic as it is something we hope to do. Here is a rough outline as to what we hope our video will look like:


We designed our animatic before we actually begun filming for our video. This gave us all a great chance to practice using "Final Cut Pro". For quite a while I found using this programme really difficult. The only thing I could really do was use the 'razor' tool to cut away what we didn't want. Although I struggled at first, I eventually got the hang of using the programme (more so when editing footage for our video) and found myself learning numerous new skills, that I will definitely find useful! One particular feature of the animatic that I like is the fade that takes place 14 seconds into the animatic. This transition has given us ideas that we can possibly incorporate into our video, which may visually enhance the overall dynamics of the video.
To improve on our animatic, I really think we could have included more photos. As you can see it is very short and only lasts for a small segment of the song. This would also provide a more detailed account of what are video entailed and at what part of the song certain things would take place.
I am really pleased we created this animatic, as it has allowed me to see what are video may look like, which has given me confidence in achieving a good standard of work. I have found it really useful and am grateful as to the skills I have learned so far via "Final Cut Pro".

Music Video Preparation

The main task we (my group) needed to complete, was to make our music video. As you can see from my previous posts, we came up with a specific idea we intended to use for out video, but before we could commence with the filming, we had several things we needed to arrange.
One of the first factors we had to decide on was how many people would featured in our video and whom these people would be. After brainstorming and coming up with numerous ideas, we eventually decided to use four guys and either two or three girls (we were undeceive on this, as we were not sure if we could get enough girls wanting to take part). The next step was for us to actually go out and find the people that would be staring in the video. We all thought the easiest option for this would be to ask friends, as they were more likely to say yes, as they would feel more comfortable performing in front of people they knew. After asking numerous people, Jack (one of the individuals in our group) opted to play the role of leading boy in the video and managed to get three of his friends to play the other male roles. Becca (another individual in our group) also decided to play the leading female character. (At the beginning of filming, Becca managed to get two of her friends to be in the video. However, due to complications they were unable to feature in a large proportion, so to overcome the problem, me and Vickie, the remaining members of our group, opted to play the remaining female roles).
Now with all of our characters in place, our next step was to arrange where we would shoot our video. We knew we wanted the main and most important parts to be shot in Brighton. We chose Brighton as it was close to where we all live, but also because it is known for its nightlife and culture and of course this is what we needed to capture for our video. Having agreed on Brighton, we then needed to discuss where we would shoot some of our earlier scenes such as in a boys and girls bedroom. Jack and Becca once against offered to use their bedrooms, as they were the most convenient in terms of people getting to them. Now that we had all of our settings arranged, we next had to decide on when we could film.
As all of us are in college, we found it quite difficult to arrange set times and days, as it sometimes clashed with certain peoples timetables. However, we refused to be beaten and instead worked with what options we had. Evidently the majority of our filming was carried out on Tuesday evenings, as this slot was when we were all available.
Now everything was in place we were ready to begin filming.

What role will I play?
Originally, it was my role to help out with the camera work. By me doing this, I was able to learn many skills in regards to working the camera. Things such as changing the settings in order to make them correct for the environment we were in is a prime example of this. (This is explained in more detail later on). On top of this, I also played the part of director for some of the shots. I.E took charge of what was happening and made sure everyone knew exactly what they were doing. I also acted. I found this quite nerve racking, as I normally prefer to be behind the camera, however, as it meant helping my group out, I agreed to take part. Finally my last was to help edit our video. This was extremely difficult at first as we were not use to the Mac programme "Final Cut Pro", however, after a few sections, things became easier.

My group:
I really enjoyed working with the members of my group. As we are all in the same class we found it really easy to work well together and come up with ideas. We all shared the duties of filming the video and feel that we have achieved a good end product and ultimately worked well as a collective!