Group meetings - Miss Georgiou

Group meetings are vital to carry out because it gives everyone in the group an idea of what they need to create for their project the next time the group go out to film, this way filming is done efficiently and quickly by all group members. They are also needed as they save time from people in the group one by one trying to communicating through one another, as we arranged them in the lesson, we were all able to say what days we could and couldn't do for filming or editing when me and my group were in school. The group meetings helped construct our production because we were able to discuss and agree with everyone's individual ideas to incorporate into our groups media product, this means that everyone after each meeting had a better understanding of what we needed to film and why the certain idea would shape the rest of the narrative. The strength that me and my group had was the amount of communication we had for one another was very good, as we were all friends beforehand we all communicated a lot, but with this group it would give me and my group a focus point when we were talking with one another about the work we needed to do. If I could change anything, it would be to have one meeting where would talk about the narrative of the media product as at the beginning I was slightly confused at what we needed to create, so a meeting outlining the whole narrative of the video would have been very good.

I have now learnt, after carrying out group meetings, that they are essential when it comes to creating the production for a group and are very beneficial to all those group members that participate as they give everyone a clear understanding of where the production is going. I have learnt that they save everyone time when filming as the group can get it done quickly and efficiently without having much hesitation as everyone is clear on what the group needs to do. I think me and my group worked exceptionally well as we were fine with communicating with one another and there was no tension or friction once in the group. If I had to do anything differently then it would be just to clear up what the narrative was in the earlier stages because as I said before, I was confused on the narrative and didn't have much of an indication of where it was going, I did ask and was told but I think in hindsight I should've asked earlier than I did.

Risk Assessment - Miss Georgiou

A risk assessment is a piece of documentation that outlines all the risks the creators of a piece of media could face when making a film of some sort. The documentation doesn't just talk about risks, it also helps understanding how serious an issue could be when filming, and the steps the creators could take to avoid anything bad happening whilst filming, the creators also create a backup plan just in case one solution doesn't work out as well. A risk assessment is important to consider before filming because if people went out and filmed but it started to rain, then they wouldn't know what to do, they wouldn't have a way to manage the risk and they wouldn't be able to film. Planning ahead helps because it ensures the crew are able to overcome the risk so that nothing is in danger whatsoever and that nothing is broken while filming. Below is the risk assessment i made for when we start filming our music video:

An additional risk we encountered while filming was when a rather drunk individual approached us and offered us an alcoholic beverage, me and my group refused the offer as they could have been spiked and in general it's just a rather odd question, as said before, we politely refused his offer. The man then walked off so me and my group carried on our filming efforts in Liverpool street. Another risk we encountered was the weather when filming, on particular days the forecast was wrong and the weather was bad for filming, this was also a continuity issue as some shots showed it was a clear day but if we filmed when the weather and it showed rain it couldn't make much sense. I have learnt that the role of a risk assessment is to prepare a group for the worst circumstances that could happen when filming, they also show a group that there is a way around most problems as long as there is a plan for it.

Filming schedule - Miss Georgiou

A filming schedule is very important to have when planning the shots for your media product because it gives you a very good guideline to follow when it comes to filming. For example, for each frame of the storyboard we had to make a description of what would happen in the frame, the camera technique used and how long it will be used for, the iconography we will bring to filming, the time and date the group are able to film and etc. The whole schedule was very helpful as Me and my group were communicating a lot to clear up when we could film and what time we were all available.

One change that we made was the filming location of new playing location, we specified that the new location would still be in Liverpool Street, however due to the very small window of a filming opportunity with a couple of our other mates, we had to instead film in Loughton High Road so that the other people could get there quicker and so that we could start filming as soon as we found a good location in the High Road. Another change we made during filming was the use of equipment, we always brought the camera and tripod, however we never utilised the tripod to the best of our ability, this was due to short time periods of when our group could film and getting the tripod set up took a bit of time and me and my group couldn't afford to not utilise all the time that we had. A change that me and my group made when filming was an additional scene we created where the mugger steals the artists money, there is a very short reaction shot of the artist looking where the mugger is running, we created this to show further variation of camera techniques utilised in our music video. A filming schedule is very important to the role of producing a media product as it allows a group to follow these guidelines in order to create their product and it also clears up a lot of confusion when filming as it allows the group to look back at the filming schedule to see what shot is next.

Storyboards - Miss Georgiou

Storyboards are essential to the creation of visual forms of media as it's the easiest to understand and look back at when creating the actual film or video as it contains all the necessary information needed to capture the shot you want for the audience, it even contains what the producers want to see in the form of the images as that's how they've seen the scene being visualized in their heads. They're helpful as they allow producers to note down exactly what they want when the scene is being made for the video or the film, basically contains all the information for the directors to try and implement.

The primary research was very helpful when planning the music video and was very helpful, after the results me and my group got from our audiences via questionnaires and vox pops, we understood that audiences liked a set of conventions within the indie genre music videos. Some of these conventions we've planned to implement into our work include strong messages some people don't want to think, in our video me and my group have tried to get across the difficulty one faces when achieving their dreams of becoming successful in whatever industry, me and my group also conveyed that you can't do it alone as our artist won't be successful by the end of the video. The secondary research we carried out through the use of our research posts was also very effective, me and my group took several different inspirations form these posts, one was to have our artist performing throughout the video to the audience as it would feel a lot more like a personal song that the audience was watching.

Me and my group did our storyboards quite fairly, at first all 3 of us were writing the content of each scene which included cinematography, iconography, editing and the narrative description which basically means what happens in the shot. As said before, we all took part in this until another task needed to be done, I focused on this task while my other group members focused on getting as many frames done as possible for our music video. After lesson we still had more to do so 2 of us met up and noted as many frames as we could, thinking of as much as we could for different techniques to make it look good for the audience. Afterwards I was given the sheets and i had to do as many different frames I could before giving the sheets to another group member to do at home. As me and my group only had a few frames left we spent one last lesson on the storyboards and finished perfectly in time with the music videos duration. After the content of boxes was done, we each took home several sheets to draw the frames for, I offered to do an additional storyboard page as I felt the other two had done quite a lot already while I worked on another task so I thought it was fair this way.

We shared the responsibility of completing the drawings of the frames by assessing who had done a lot of writing of the storyboards and who hadn't done as much, I felt that I hadn't done as much as the other two so i felt that it was my responsibility to do more of the drawings of the frames at home whenever i had some free time.

Planning editing styles - Miss Georgiou

A wide variety of editing styles are good within music videos for several reasons, one is that in music videos there are a lot more edits than say a film scene, this is so that the video matches the beat of the song and keeps a constant flow for the audience to follow. Another reason why editing is essential is because it makes filming a lot easier as you don't have to use one continuous shot, you create several shots and quickly cut to each of them to present different connotations for the audience.

The first use of editing I will be talking about that we hope to use later when editing all of the video together is a time lapse, this is where time goes very quick in the frame to show how long someone has been in a single location, this is how we plan to use it as our artist will be shown to be playing the guitar for an extended period of time around central London to show how long he has been trying to get famous. I would say that the editing style is conventional to the indie genre as it shows that our artist is talented enough to play the guitar as well as sing and shows that he is dedicated to his craft, this way audiences of the genre respect our artist more because of this talent which almost encourages the audience to watch the video so they can understand the lengths my artist is willing to go through. The editing style helps connote that our artist really wants his dreams to come true and that he's still fighting for them to come true, the editing style also demonstrates the amount of his own time he is willing to dedicate to make his dream a reality, the idea that he's willing to spend so much time trying to get famous relates to the lyric near the end of the video, "Hey. Hey it's fine i left it behind" which hints that he managed to get through the hardest parts of his career earlier.

The next use of editing that will be featured in our video is a montage, this is where there are a lot of different camera angles and techniques within a short period of time. This is conventional to the indie video genre because the visuals of the video will match the rhythm of the song as this is where the chorus of the song will start and that has more of a beat than the normal verses before the chorus, this is conventional because the audience will know at that point that the song connects with the video and that there is a meaning behind the video that could relate to the song. The editing style should demonstrate how much our artist has changed since he entered the city to accomplish his dreams of becoming famous but also show the state he is in, he hasn't washed, he doesn't have a job and he doesn't live anywhere, as it will show him performing from day to night without him changing clothes whatsoever. We will use this when our artist is in central London during the first chorus of the song to show just how long he has been trying to get famous in the music industry.

Moving on to another example of editing we plan to use for our music video is a saturation filter, this takes away a bit of the colour from a certain shot so it looks more dull and lifeless in a way. This is conventional to the indie genre as indie videos typically have dark and hard hitting concepts in the video, to emphasise these themes they take the colour away so that it's more memorable and to make the theme parallel with the colour of the video, it also adds a sense of reality to the music video, almost showing that the story behind the music video actually happened. The editing style represents that our artist has lost all the life and hope he once had at the beginning of the video and has become completely broke and depressed due to the fact that he was unsuccessful. The saturation of colours will increase slowly as the video reaches the end so that the audience can see a clear contrast between the artist at the beginning and the end of the video.

The last use of editing that i will be talking about the should be produced when editing the clips together is a jump cut near the beginning of the video. The editing technique is conventional to the genre as it implies a complete contrast in locations as well as the artist because he isn't use to this change due to him not living in the city before, this is good structure in my music video because it sets up the goal for my artist which is to be successful in the city so he doesn't have to go back home. It shows that our artist is about to experience a very big change in his life, a change in which he may not be ready for as the audience later find out as he is living on the streets but the edit shows he is willing to start again just for his dream of being in the music industry. It will appear after the first verse when it says "something is changing" when he's waiting at the train station for the train.

In conclusion, our audience begin to respect our artist a lot more because they allowed some insight in what he used to do before making it into the film industry and the troubles he would face. The audience feel sympathy towards our artist because they realise all the horrible things he had to go through in order to accomplish dreams and makes some audience realise how hard it is for your dreams to be accomplished.

Planning lighting and colour - Miss Georgiou

Lighting and colour of a music video is essential when planning the project as it determines when you will be filming to capture the shot that you want. Different uses of lighting can portray different connotations within the music video you're creating, for example, low key lighting is when the frame is presented to be very dark, like the audience cannot see much in the frame, this could be used to show the artist's darker side to him/her self, however a back light, which is a source of light behind the character, could show they have a brighter side to them or that they have hope depending on the context of the shot. Colours are just as important because certain colours may illustrate different meanings, for example, a lot of black in a shot could suggest death or depression of a character, however, white could suggest hope and innocence of a certain character.

In our group, we've decided to use a wide range and variety of colours as well as lighting, I will start by talking about the different lighting techniques we will hopefully be producing for the music video. Firstly we want to use high key lighting as well as natural key lighting as it will be shot in the day time, near the beginning of the video just after the first scene where our artist taps in his oyster card and later when he starts performing around central London on the streets. This is conventional to our genre because in the context of this scene where our artist leaves his hometown in hopes to become famous in the music industry by playing his music in the city, the high key lighting is used to connote that things will be good for our artist or he thinks he could make it into the industry. This presents our artist in a hopeful way but also shows that he's willing to take risks for his dreams to come true, the lighting should also connote that he is innocent because he isn't shown to be a bad person in the video at this point. This is conventional because it gives the artist and the audience hope that he will be successful by the end of the video, it's also to show hope that he has for himself to get into the indie music industry and finding that it's much harder than he presumed, the audience then understand the bright high key lighting means hope and also become hopeful that he will break into the industry enabling the audience to further build a relationship with the artist.

The next use of lighting in the video will be low key lighting towards the near end of the video where our artist has ran from the cab to get to his home. Due to the artist not being successful in the city, the artist has no money so he has to run from the cab as soon as it stops so he doesn't get forced to pay for it. This is conventional to the indie genre as the genre's videos normally contain a hard hitting concept surrounding the video. This illustrates our artist as unsuccessful in the city and shows some of the situations he had to face to become famous, the low key lighting also suggests that by the end of the video, our artist has completely changed as he has ran away from paying a cab driver due to him having no money whereas at the beginning of the video he seemed as though he had hope of making it in the city. The theme or ending of my video is very much conventional to the indie genre that talks about negative messages or depressing stories because they feel more raw and harsh for the audience, the audience like this type of style in the indie genre because some genres try to cover that it's nearly impossible to get into the music industry on your own. The use of low key lighting can relate to the lyrics of the song because there is a lyric "been down some dark alleys in my own head", low key lighting connects the video and the song together and can also infer that the story of the song is a personal tale of the artists.

The next topic i'll be discussing in our video is the colour that we plan to use in several scenes. We have thought of the idea to use black frequently in the video by making that the colour the artist wears throughout. This is conventional to the indie genre as it portrays a darker side to our artist but it also presents a particular image about him, this is what the audience will remember about our artist. This is also conventional because it may even connote a darker message about the narrative of the video, the dark messages could be that our artist is all alone with no money by the end, the fact he wears black throughout the video shows foreshadowing of the artists later decisions in the video.

In conclusion, the audience can build up a relationship with the artist as they feel sympathy towards him, they understand he is caught up in his dreams in the beginning of the music video and wants to pursue them, but they also understand he is doing all of this alone so they understand one of the concepts at the end of the video is that it's very hard to become famous in the music industry if you're doing it on your own.