Evaluation Of Shoot Day

On the day before the shoot we make up a checklist and checked that we had all of the props, equipment, and other items we needed in the shoot.

On the morning of the shoot I felt exited but also anxious about the day we were about to face, especially with all of the variables in a music video.

On the morning of the shoot we setup the first set and and then got the makeup done for each of the actors one at a time, doing makeup while the other dancer is dancing and rotating as so, this required careful and precision planning and enabled us to finish in time. We felt that our prior preparation paid off and we felt that we were very prepared for the shoot.

We accurately replicated our set design, but on the television setup we had extra time so we decided to experiment and use some extra setups and orientations. It was essential that we recreated the setup accurately so that we were able to follow our storyboard accurately and so that it all came together in the edit.

On the shoot day we adhered to our rolls, my own being playback device operator, and producer. Although at the end of the day when we were fully satisfied that we were running on time we switched roles so that we all had the experience of all of the roles.

Personally I believe that I did well in both of my roles. In my role as playback operator I was able to play the device at the right time and put the device in pronto of the camera so that in the editing process we were able to find the point both via sound and also via visual, this is actually surprisingly important because the speakers are ceiling mounted and there would be a minuscule delay in audio as sound takes significantly longer to travel than light.

As the producer I was efficient in making the changeover of performers and keeping to time schedules. I found the role as producer to be stressful but also highly rewarding.

On the shoot day we had very few problems, although we did find out that there was both banding and rolling shutter, to fix the rolling shutter on the televisions we had to change the shutter angle on the camera and this stopped this effect. To fix the banding we had to gauge the angle of the televisions so that the pixels on the screen and on the sensor lined up.

I personally think that the most successful part of our shoot day was the element that included the televisions, the reason that I think that it was the most successful part of the shoot was that we got some breathtaking shots that were in my opinion very original. The setup for this was not easy because we had to have two sets in the same studio space, one for the actor and another for the television setup. Also included in this scene was wiring for power for all five cameras and 5 connections from the cameras to the televisions and five power supplies for the televisions, that is fifteen wires all across the floor. What I found phenomenal was that every connection worked and that the image displayed clearly on every television, but this was thanks to our prior testing and planning.

The only thing that I wished went better was the one shot with the dolly on the track shot where the rubber tubing was in shot and obscures some of the televisions in shot meaning that this section is essentially unusable in post.

We effectively managed our talent and set a schedule of who would be needed and when, and when wee needed to makeup and shooting times.

Usually in a shoot you would record the artist first but unfortunately our artist was external meaning that she had to travel several hours to get to the school studio meaning that she could not arrive at the 8:30AM start time and had to  arrive at 10:00AM, this meant that we subsequently were forced to shoot the performers first and this meant that we could not do the makeup costume and hair homogeneously which made the shoot day longer.
In the edit I am most looking forward to seeing the television shot and finding out how we can manipulate the colors and add effects to the footage. I am also very curious as to how we can edit the colors and make the backdrop the correct color as on the cameras built in screen it was showing the background to be a tone of grayish brown.

As a team I felt that we cooperated well and worked effectively as a team working on our set roles and tasks. I felt before that delegation may prove difficult but on the shoot day we managed to keep our minds open and worked together effectively on the shoot day.

From the shoot day I learned that organisation is key and having everything ready prior so that the whole process goes smoothly is essential, I will use this knowledge in order to transfer it to my next shoot so that it can be even more successful, although our preparation was very thorough.

Our original proposition for the website and digipac was going to feature some bright and vibrant colors but our shoot showed that it mainly was composed of dark shots that were not very vibrant in color. This means that we will have to alter our design so that the design is composed of darker colors and also is less saturated than our original proposition. It is essential to make sure that the three media products are all similar in style and all have similar connotations so that a audience can instantly recognize that the media products are all linked to a single artist. Making everything similar is essential because it is intended to promote the artist.

Behind the scenes video shoot 1-London Cherry Duck Studios, male singer

We created the following annotated video to document the process of our first shoot day.

Behind the scenes shoot 2

We created the following annotated video to document the process of our second shoot day.

Behind the scenes video shoot 3 slow motion shoot- London

We created the following annotated video to document the process of our third shoot day.

First draft album digipac design.

I have put our artist on the front cover in the same style that Adele has done on her album cover, this is because it is a perfect way of promoting a artist, but one negative is that it connotes that the artist is synthetic. I also added a blue tint to the woman's face and exaggerated it in her eyes to connote mystery and to intrigue a audience. Our target audience is a young one and this level of intrigue would attract them.

I am going for a style that adheres to our music video with the black and white elements, and the paint on the inside of the digipac. The inside and outside subvert from one another and this powerful counterpoising adds a unique touch that is clean but creative and original.   

I am using contrasting colors in order to make the album artwork really stand out. I intended to make the inside and outside contrast to add surprise when the customer opens the case, this will make people talk and this will eventually cause word of mouth advertising.

My digipac adheres to Richard Dyers Star theory because the artist is shown to both have fear and to be strong, a common problem with our young target audience.

I have included the element of paint within this digipac because this motif appears in the whole of our music campaign and ties it all together so that the audience will instantly understand that it is all part of one package.

I have used mise-en-scene and technical edits in order to make my album artwork display the intended conventions. I have used a blue night club style peak in the highlights of the image to replicate a night club but also give some stylistic elements to the image.

Research into similar products -Album Artwork

Through my research I have found that three out of the four artists have two things things in common, both being organic, and also that there is only one element in the front cover on the digipac.
Two out of the four digipacs use a non standard font.
I have created a video evaluating my research into similar album artworks products. 

Shot list

We created the shot list so that on the shoot day we could have a really clear idea of what to shoot and in which order. Of course on the shoot day we will come up with additional ideas and these will only be done once the whole shot list is complete. As my role as producer it will be essential to have a schedule of what to shoot and in what order so that the sets can be created and changed over when required.

 

 

My role- Playback and producer.

In the music video during the shooting my role is both managing the audio playback device as well as being the producer.

As the audio playback device manager I will have to constantly be in contact with the team and to be able to restart music playback, as well as go to a specific time point and play from there. The audio playback device also works as a visual time sync device and a color board for the use in post production.
 
 The music playback device that we are using is a iPad running a video on the videos application, the iPad is then plugged into the surround sound speaker setup in the studio.

As the producer I will be in charge of keeping to time schedules and managing the performer and dancers in terms of making sure that they are in the right place at the right time and doing what they should be doing.
In the industry a producer is in charge of the visual presentation and representation of a artists music video, but for the actual shooting this role will be less powerful due to our groups delegationional rights. The role of being the producer will also involve adjusting equipment to connote and display the desired visual effects. 

A producer and a director will work close in hand to be able to ensure that both the script and the storyboard is adhered to. Essentially a producer is in charge of everyone and ensuring that they do the right this at the right time, this is essential in the industry because time is money and most shoots have to be completed within the day, this will mean that a producer will have to make executive decisions such as rushing certain parts and skipping others if they feel that it is necesary in order to complete the project both in time and in budget. 
 
In essence both roles together will mean that I will have to man the audio playback device as well as ensuring that there is a seamless and clean shooting day and that everything
goes to plan.