Equipment used throughout the course

P.C/ Apple Mac

The actual epicentre to our A2 media work !, these computer's and mac's main attributes to our workings were mainly for research, blogging and editing, these became very handy throughout the course as it made it so easy to blogg post anywhere and anytime and edit any where and anytime, they were hgihly efficent.

Still Camera

We used a still camera mainly to create our C.D panels and our poster for the song, this proved to be a high sucess due to the camera as with a still camera, we were able to take the perfectly framed and focused shot for our front cover.

Camera
Probably the most important piece of equipment we had was the actual camera, self explanitary really, we used it to shoot the whole enitre video, the college provided us with the camera so that we could keep perfect brightness and filter throughout the whole video that way.

Tripod
We decided to use a tirpod throughout our filming so that we could creat a smooth tilt and pan, and even keep shots steady through some rough weather, this proved to be very useful as there was no use in shake reduction as the tripod kep the shot still and clean.

Final Cut Pro (Apple Mac)

Final cut pro was our editing lifeline, we used this application for everything after the filming, As i did the editing, it was my favouite part of the course as it was made so much easier with this application, it allowed me to veiw a timeline of my editing progress and it plays the video at any moment I want, advantages of this is that it made it so much easier to reach correct timing on lip syncing.

Filming challenges and triumps.

Whilst filming the music video, we came across many challenges, for the first challenge, it was, "were do we actually start filming", we had a million and one ideas in our head and it was just where to start it which was the problem. We decided that maybe we should shoot the video in a chronological order of how it will look like at its finished state, so we decided to start filming in castlefield, that was a great start to our project, we got a lot of the opening to the video recorded and even some of the paraelle editing of when Michael (me) was happy with his partner.



We then faced another challenege when we filmed in the local shopping centre in Manchester, we did not have the permission to film there so we got asked to move one, the problem faced with this was we didnt get everything we wanted in the centre to use for the film, so we decided that we would only use small clippings from the centre and insert them around the film itself.












Then on the friday after we filmed in the Arndale, disaster struck again !, we spent hours on end filming in the local met stopy, filming the most important part of the vilm, the ending and as we had one more clip to film, the met police came and moved us on, we were distrought as we did not know what to do, so we phoned up the metrolink media gorup to ask for permission, the reason to get filming permission on the platform on the wednesday, yet wednesday came and no phone call came, so we took a risk, we got to the platform shortly after lunch and filmed as many clips as fast as we possibly could, and finally we had every platform clip we needed. It became clear that if we taken the risk in our film, we were only going to get the best results.

Yet on the positive side of the coin, we filmed a considerable amount of footage so it was easily acceptable to cut and paste certain areas together, keeping good continuity. In towards the end of the filming aspect of the course, we realised that we did not have an adiquette amount of perfomormance in our video, to resolve this we decided to have two master performances of me in the studio lip syncing the video, this proved to be highly sucessful as it given us the opotunity to base a narrative around a performance instead of a performance arount a narrative, which would of been much more challeging due to the timing of lip syncing and placing the performance in correct times.

Michael Redmond's- Personal Opinion of the filming aspect.

My personal opinion on the whole filming aspect of our course came to the conclusion is that is was difficult, it was cold,
sometimes it rained and we filmed in crowded areas and for me being claustrophobic, it was very uncomfortable, I had to constantly wear the same clothes almost everyday and people began to wonder did my wardrobe set a light or something, I also wore a t-shirt which was "childish" at best underneath my shirt so i was also the end of all running jokes, yet all the negative aside, some areas were good, we created a few laughs and even memories, my running in the video was humerus to some and also the pedestrian interaction put a brighter aspect on the filming days, although there are areas to improve on whilst filming , performance wise, I did all in all enjoy it even though i did find it challenging.
By Michael Redmond

Expanded Problem on Wednesday 2nd November.

As it was explained in our previous post, we were asked to stop filming on the metro link station on Wednesday 2nd November, to resolve the problem this cause, we decided to prone up the media advertising helpline, and they were great, we arranged a date and time for them to phone back to help us out with security issues whilst filming, well, it would of been great, if they actually phoned back ! they decided to not contact us again so next week came and we still had no permission to film
so decided to be risky and we filmed regardless, lucklily enough we did not get asked to stop filming and the rest of the filming was a complete sucess, we came to the conclusion that to get the best clips for our music video, we needed to bend a few filming rules and permissions.
By Michael Redmond

Metro Link Permission

Here is a screen shot we used for the planning permission to film on the metro link.

Detail of the day we filmed

Wednesday 2nd November 2011

In this lesson, we decided to meet up in class and go to the park behind college and film the scenes of the performer drunk. We used beer cans for the props to show that he had been drinking as a result of missing his girlfriend and therefore turning to drink. We had to shoot numerous different camera angles, as it was needed to improve the video. We struggled to keep the standard continuity, as it was difficult to film a drunken shot.

Afterwards, we went back to college to film the scenes using the guitar, but then this shot wasn’t used as the guitar was acoustic, which didn’t flow with the song. Also, the shots didn’t go with the music video. Instead, we filmed in the college studio, and took several shots of Michael performing the song, which looked a lot better and more professional.

Friday 4^th November 2011

We met up at The Urbis at 9:30am, where we wanted to film the scenes of Michael running after his girlfriend leaving on a train. However, we were told that we were not able to film there so then went to a metro-link stop which wasn’t far from the train station. We filmed some of the scenes with Michael singing the chosen song with the guitar and then filmed the scenes of Michael and Bethan at the Met stop, as appose to the train station. Again, we faced difficulties filming on the met stop, as we also had to supervised in order to film there. The performer was then told to call the customer service to ask for permission as this scene was necessary to shoot. We then booked a time for the following Wednesday at 2:30 to film the final scenes of our music video.

Done by Abdul & Saba

Tasks and roles in the group and how they were achieved

For our media project, we sectioned different areas of the course between the four of us, the reason for this is because we all had our different strengths in the group, First of all we had Bethan and Saba making the majority of the blogs as they had an exceptional talent in wording sentences correctly to gain full explanation on our video, we also had Abdul do all the cinematography as he had a steady hand for hand held shot and had the correct control whilst using the tripod for tilts and pans, I (Michael) did all the editing as my strength was to see the video come alive on the screen, difficulties faced whilst editing was to gain the correct timing of the lip syncing of the performer (Me) and to create the narrative by cutting and trimming clips, challenges faced during this was to actually find the clips I wanted to use in the clip library was they only had the abbreviations to the clips name, E.g "MOVO61", to solve this problem I when through the whole library and changed the name of all the clips, this gave ma a platform and easily detect what clip i would want in my video, It was important Abdul made sure the shots were not in poor lighting, completed the rule of thirds and any shot/ reverse/ shot did not break the 180 degree rule, due to this a lot of shots had to be retaken as sometimes even a reverse zoom ruined the original shot as shot would become disjointed, to resolve this we "banned" the zoom out button as it was a totally pointless feature in our video, yet on the other hand, we managed to create a section in the video were a zoom in is used.

Initial ideas that were not included.

For our music video, to make it look more professional, we wanted to film the transport scenes in Victoria Train Station, Manchester. However, due to not having permission to film on private property we had to adapt our idea. Hence, we decided to film on a nearby metro-link station, so that the theme of 'trains' was still involved.

The music choice for our video was the decision that we kept changing the most. We all agreed with the concept, but couldn't find a song that we could adapt it to. As a group, we all generally like different genres of music, so what one person liked, another person hated the song choice. As a group we compromised, and listened to songs off other people's ipods and put forward the songs which we felt matched the concept, putting aside our musical differences.

Another idea, which we decided not to use was the performance shots of the performer playing the acoustic guitar whilst lip syncing in town. The quality of the camera affected the visibility of the lip syncing which didn't make it clear that he was in time with the music. Also, the acoustic guitar didn't suit the music as it wasn't the main instrument that could be heard in the song. It worked out in the end though, because we replaced these original shots with shots from the studio which looked a lot more professional making it look like a typical music video.

When discussing ideas for the CD covers, initially the ideas that we talked about were over-complicated. After researching other covers from our favourite artists, we were inspired to keep it simple, as it would be a lot easier to edit and it would look just a professional as a modern typical CD cover. We stayed with the main idea of having the performer as the primary focus of the CD cover.

Is there a relationship between the lyrics and visuals of our music video?

The lyrics of our song is dominantly to do with love. The lyrics suggest that it is written for a partner, therefore it was appropriate for our storyboard to be based on a couple. To portray a relationship in our music video, numerous flash backs were used of the performing couple to demonstrate their connection and happy past together. The slightly distorted effect of the couple (such as lying on the grass together) enforces the idea to the viewers that the clips are from the past. By showing the images to be unclear, mimics the performer's memory.

Moreover, the theme of 'trains' is repetitively used. Due to this, we based our music video at Shudehill Metrolink Station, Manchester. (We were unable to film in an actual train station without valid permission) The concluding scene of the couple essentially breaking up for good was on the platform. From this, we wanted to give the impression that she was going to leave via train, whilst he was running to catch up with her to stop her. However, this is not the case, as at first he hesitates but then decides to abandon her on the platform.

Trains are also linked with journeys to places, so we chose to include the idea of the performer effectively going on the journey to stop his girlfriend from leaving. Shots of the metro-link lines and trams passing by were used to set the scene of being in a busy town centre, to add chaos to him finding her in such a crowded place.

At the end of the song the lyrics state, "I'll be the last train home"
The tone of this line is soft, therefore we decided to use this idea as a sign of admittance for the performer, as in, admitting to himself that he has to leave his girlfriend.
Moreover, as part of the chorus; "we ran like water" we included the scenes by the canal, of the performer being alone to link to the word 'water'. The area was also suitable as it was a quiet place, so there was little chance of passers by getting in the shot.

Costume and Props

Within our music video, numerous props were included in order to give the different desired effects for the audience. Costume was just as essential to portray certain characters to the viewers.

The performer, was meant to be represented as an average person of society so that the viewers
would be able to relate to him. Likewise, the female performer was also meant to be perceived as a normal teenager.

A suitcase was used to enforce the idea of the girlfriend having possessions in there, making it look as though she was leaving for a long period of time. Originally we used an acoustic guitar whilst lip syncing, but then our final decision was to include a studio performance of the lip syncing, as we felt it emphasised the emotion of the performance more, and also an acoustic guitar is not really the main instrument in the song. It would have been more suitable for an electric guitar performance, but these scenes were not possible for us to film outside.

Blooper in the filming

When filming the music video, we came across an unexpected surprise on our travels, take a look at the outcome when attempting to film in town, this was comedy gold and it really enlightened our mood when filming for the rest of the day, little things made the experience once that we will never forget and here is an example of one of them times.....

Friday 21st October 2011

As a group we decided before hand to meet up at 9am at Piccadilly Gardens. Our primary concern was that we had good communication between us, therefore the night before we planned where we would meet up via facebook or texting each other.

We met at Piccadilly Gardens at 9am, and filmed the scenes at Starbucks where both performers Michael and Bethan, are seen as the 'happy couple'. We asked for permission if we could film there, which was unsuccessful, so we did not film this sequence today and insted decided to try a different day in a different area.

Afterwards, we went to Market Street where we decided to film the scene of the performer, running through the busy Market Street. We had several different angle shots of him running, so that when editing we could decide on which shot would suit best, whether it be a point of view shot or a wide angle shot. This shot was important, as it represented the performer’s rush to get to his girlfriend on time. But also, with all the people getting in the way, mimicked the chaos that was going on in his head. The busy street was also used so that the viewer is not always focused on one or two main performers throughout the whole of the sequence, in case of losing interest in seeing the seeing the same people too much.

After filming on Market Street we then headed into Manchester Arndale where we filmed another happy scene with Michael and Bethan. We faced difficulties again, when we approached for not having filming permission, so stopped filming in the arndale centre. Luckily, we had all the shots that we needed from this location so we did not need to go back to re-shoot.

From this experience we learnt that if we needed to film scenes in public places we needed permission and so next time we came out filming we would know this and so could pre plan.

Differences between As Media and A2 Media

For my As work, we were asked to create and opening for a film, this was nothing compared to the challenges we faced in the A2 production, first of all, when creating a music video, there is not as much range and use of human imagination compared to creating an opening to a film, you have to constantly be reminded that in every shot, is it suitable for the music? Does it have good continuety? and even to the point of is the performer lip syncing the correct section of the song? This ment we needed a lot more planning and a more strict shot list, another challenege we faced is that the music video is longer than the opening to the film, so we needed to be out filming as much as we possibly could as insufficent film was not acceptable as we needed over an hour of film to make sure we had enough film to edit down to three and a half minutes. In the A2 project, I have realised that you are more advanced on your shot taking skills so there are more challenging angles used in the clip, one main clip achieved in the A2 work which wasn't as successful in the As work was the whip pan which we used in both films, in the second film we managed to keep to creat a smooth transitional pan and keep to the rule of thirds so that the most dominating figure in the shot was actually the protagonist. In the A2 film we also included a lot of free handed work which we were almost to scared to use in the first film incase the film didnt look smooth enough in transitions, the tripod is a big help as we can create many differen height and pans using it. in the As project we did use a lot more close ups than we did in the A2 project (image left). The editing process of the A2 work is so much more challenging, as you have to edit and match the lip synching to the correct milisecond in the song, this was redeemed as very challenging task for the group as it made us change other sections in the video to make sure the video has good continuity and a smooth transition, The film in As had a lot of challenges which included getting the balance of dialog and a non-diagetic score panned correctly, where in A2, no dialog is used so we were rest assured by that fact. Another daunting task we have to complete in A2 in which we did not in As is to create a poster and C.D cover for the song, this challenge was completed after the cameras stopped rolling, last year the video was the last thing we created so we almost took our foot off the gas in many ways when the video was complete, this year we have to work hard every single lesson untill we get to the final deadline where our blog needs to be handed in.

Wednesday 9th November

After observing last lesson's footage, we decided to go back to town for the final time, to get better shots on parts of scenes that we felt could be improved.
After getting permission from the metro-link station to film on a platform, we decided to finish filming the rest of the scene on the platform, including shots of the performer sat on the wall playing the acoustic guitar (which we decided to replace with a studio performance ultimately)
Whilst walking around town, we kept on looking for good locations to slot in throughout our music video. For example, shots of the couple sat outise a cafe, to use as a memory shot. We also placed the camera on the tripod on Market Street, and let the footage film for five minutes of the busy street. When uploading this shot, we wanted to speed up the footage to use as part of the music video to show the passage of time and the chaos.
Furthermore, whilst walking through town, we noticed location shots of places and objects which we felt would fit in our performance. For example, a close up of the clock on the tower in central town was also used, to show the passage of time, as he is running to catch up to his girlfriend before she leaves.
Furthermore, whilst walking through town, we noticed location shots of places and objects which we felt would fit in our performance. For example, a close up of the clock on the tower in central town was also used, to show the passage of time, as he is running to catch up to his girlfriend before she leaves.
Back at college, we were pleased with the footage we obtained so started editing the current shots straight away.