Production Diary: Filming

On Saturday, we arrived at Richmond - Isabella plantation with our artist early in the morning as we hoped to have it all completed in a day. To our luck the weather was looking up as it was clear skies and sunny which is what we were hoping for. However, to our dissapointment once we entered the plantation it was not what we expected. From the images online of bright colours and plants everywhere, we hardly saw any colour at all and there were very few plants or flowers that had actually blossomed. So, as we did not want to waste time, we met up with our other artist which is the feature in the song. Luckily he had his car and so we were able to quickly drive to our secondary location which was private luxury estate in Surbiton. This was almost even better though as it had both options such as the greenery which we wanted and the urban 'street' side of it.

The first few shots we did were the car scenes as we wanted to get these out the way first because they were the most difficult to navigate and shoot. As at one point I was actually standing inside the car with my head outside of the sun roof filming the houses and cars we were driving past, so I had to put faith in my stabiliser and keep a steady hand.

After these shots were done, it had reached the golden hour that we had been waiting for which was at dusk when the sun was just setting. At this point we moved onto the grass where there was a waterfall and other locations under the pillars where we shot the majority of our music video. In some of the behind the scenes shots below you can see this golden hour and me with my camera between shots! Much to our plan we were very efficient with our plan and despite the first failed location and trying to fight the sub zero degree temperature we managed to complete all the filming of our video in this one day - later on we would come to realise we could do with some more close ups of our artist lip syncing, which wasn't a problem as we used our school and called up our artist who was able to accomodate so we were able to also film this in a couple of hours.

Below are some behind the scenes shots of when filming our video:

Rough Cut Feedback

After showing our rough cut to our media class, they were asked to fill in sheets with questions about positive feedback and things we can improve on. This was really helpful as it was the first time anyone else had watched our full video.

Here are some of the comments to questions that we received:

What was especially good about the clip?

• Good continuity with editing, excellent lighting, like the use of cutaways and close ups – use more of those.
• Fitting for genre, great exposition shots, good performance.
• Good shots (car shots) and good use of location.
• Nice flow to the video and the cuts.
• Good filming quality.

Would you want to watch this again? If yes, why, if no, why not?

• Yes! Looking forward to seeing the SFX.
• Yes – once the special effects have been added.
• Yes, good editing and interesting plot but would like to see the final video with the added special effects.

Did you notice any serious issues such as continuity errors, strange edits - did anything not make sense to you?

• The pace is a little slow for the genre and the song, think it needs some more conventional aspects for the genre.
• Missing areas – fill in the gaps.
• Some shakey camera parts.

What would you suggest to improve the video and how?

• Image stabilisation – try the Warp Stabiliser, more close ups of singing and need to show more skill in terms of transitions and SFX.
• Bleep out derogatory words, add effects, adjust duration of some of the shots as they’re too long.
• Just continue editing and maybe add some transitions
• Finish adding in other clips and editing.

Record Label Logo Development

Firstly, here are the sketches I drew in class when thinking of some ideas for our Record Label logo: WOTRecords. I roughly thought of those three designs before I suddenly saw a sample font online in which I recreated into my own.

Here you can see how I progressed and created this from paper to an actual logo by using the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator.

Website Research

A$AP MOB

A$AP MOB features one of the most stylish and best dressed men in the current music/fashion industry - A$AP Rocky. So it's no surprise that their website would follow their conventions as a group of bright colours, random imagery all put together to create a masterpiece! It could seem quite overwhelming for a website though as you aren't sure where to look.

Below are screenshots of each page of the website. Between each page of this website there is very little differences in design as they all keep the same background image, titles and lay out, which is positive as it is simple and easy to use, however audiences may not remember this website as it is not very interactive. The Menu has 8 sub categories: Home, Music, News, Media, Tour, Join, Lyrics and Store. The store page is probably the most interactive as it takes you to their completely new site with a range of options of stylish clothes. There are other fashion brands such as VLone which are also available from a drop down menu as they are endorsed by the A$AP MOB.

TRAVIS SCOTT

Scott's website features his well-known animal - an eagle. He uses this animal often in his live performances by performing on top of a huge eagle, and by using the noise of the eagle's screech in-between songs. Also in his most recent album he is actually got wings on again portraying this dominant animal.

The Home page features Scott's Eagle which slowly rotates around and allows you to click and drag the end to see all the details. The Eagle is gold with a red sparkling eye which could be to represent Scott's extensive amounts of high end jewelry. This is a great choice for a Home page as the interactive part means that people are more likely to remember this over a standard picture.

The next page promotes his latest album 'Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight' where on clicking this it takes you straight to iTunes where you can purchase the album. This is a great technique to help the artist gain sales as it's so quick and simple. And it avoids a daunting 'Buy Here' button.

The following page is Scott's 'Tour' page. Travis is known for his insanely active live performances and always manages to get the loudest crowds at festivals as even if he isn't necessarily your favourite artist you know you'll have a good time. The simplicity of this page is what interested me the most about this page as clicking the buy option either takes you straight to the festival website or Ticketmaster. I will definitely be trying to incorporate the simplicity of Scott's website in my own as it is effective.

This page shows his hit 'Butterfly Effect' music video. On clicking the 'Video' button the video plays straight so you can just sit back and enjoy. The website is very smooth and minimizes the amount his fans have to do to reach his products.

The final page is Scott's merchandise shop which unfortunately is not yet open, however there is an option to enter your email address so his fans can keep updated and be the first to get his clothes.

DRAKE

Drake's website has a very clean and simple layout and colour scheme. As Drake is now almost seen as a veteran in the rap genre this layout could be to show his class and style over the younger generation of so called 'Soundcloud rappers' who would probably use bold bright colours and crazy looking images.

His website is also the only one I have looked at that had a 'Biography' section. This is so his fans can relate to him even more or just to find out facts they may not know.

Here we can see a list of all Drake's albums including his most recent 'More Life'. Once clicked on it takes you to the iTunes page of the album where you can listen to snippets of each song and/or purchase the album. This is a great way of promoting sales.

The next page shows his most recent shot music videos, again to promote both obviously his music but also his clothing OVO (October's Very Own) which there is also a seperate link to.















The final part of Drake's website is a list of his most recent tour dates. This is an easy way for his fans to purchase tickets as due to his fame they will usually sell out within minutes, or in this tours case for London's O2 - within seconds.

Target Audience Research

Target Audience research is a vital piece of research to undertake as it lets you know what your audience will want to be seeing from your music video, and perhaps more importantly what they won't want to see.

Here is the link to my target audience questionnaire: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeg7d2q3alNsw24fn9fn3tOAsWk3DlhtqsjPSnPclWkojtyOQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

Here is a summary of my results:

Music Video Treatment

TREATMENT OUTLINE - WILL

• Artist Name - DRAM feat. Lil Yachty
• Song Title - Broccoli
• Genre - Hip Hop/Trap
• Target Audience - Young People (15 - 22)
• Style of Music Video (Performance, Narrative etc) - Performance and Lip-Syncing

LOCATION - OTTILIE

Although there are many locations that would be great for us to shoot this video in, realistically, there are only a few outdoor ones local to us that would be practical. The first one is the Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park. We think this would be a great place to create our own take on A$AP Rocky’s scene in Yamborghini High.

The other ideas we have are car and drone oriented. We want to have a scene shot on a drone looking over country roads maybe. We’re currently thinking about how we can get access to someone with fast and high end cars as this seems to be a key theme in a lot of Hip-Hop music videos. 

CHARACTERS (if applicable) - WILL

As our music video won’t be narrative based, there isn’t real ‘story’ being told so we don’t have characters as such but we are planning to have two main people to represent D.R.A.M. and Lil Yachty. These two characters will be at the forefront of most shots and and the main focus of our music video. There will be other people in the background as in most Hip Hop videos the rappers will usually have their group of friends in the video with them. We can link this to the theories of Richard Dyer’s Star Theory and Goodwin’s - The Star Image. In both these theories there is a key star performer to add style to the video and make it more appealing to the audience.

TARGET AUDIENCE - OTTILIE
Our video will be primarily aimed at a younger audience ranging from 15-22. Although I think boys would be the more likely audience viewing our video, I do think that there will be aspects our video that will draw girls in too. I think with the creative visuals we’re planning on creating, our video will appeal to both girls and boys. 

EQUIPMENT & RESOURCES - WILL
Technical Equipment: 

• Canon DSLR camera with mic
• GoPro
• Tripod
• Stabilizer
• Drone
• Lighting
• Lighting gel  

Some of the equipment we already have such as the Canon DSLR camera, and Stabilizer, so we won’t need to worry about hiring these out. We will need to make sure we have at least two fully charged batteries when filming to avoid a wasted trip. We will however need to rent out the  GoPro, Microphone, Tripod, Drone camera and Lighting Equipment. Therefore we need to make sure our filming schedule is planned to perfection to ensure we can get the equipment when we need it to prevent any work being handed in late.

The visual effects that we wish to use in our music video during the post production editing stage may be difficult, although I am relatively confident with the editing software we will have to get used to Premiere Pro and After Effects again. We may need to look at some tutorials on YouTube or ask Miss for some guidance. In terms of any limitations when shooting, we will make sure we are both fully trained on any equipment which is new to us such as the GoPro and the Drone. This is to ensure we are confident when using this and so no time is lost when filming. As we know how valuable filming time is.

VISUALS & STYLE CHOICES - OTTILIE

• We have been hugely inspired by the visual effects used by artists such as Lil Yachty, ASAP Mob and AJ Tracey in videos like Yamborghini High and LA4AWEEK. The artists use layering effects and colour grading, changing the hue and making the colours appear almost neon. This kind of thing helps add to the fantasy kind of look we’re going for. Although the contents and the visuals of the video will be real things, we want to add a surreal atmosphere to the video.

• One of the ways we’re planning to add and change colour is through using lighting gels. We could use purple lighting gel then change the colour grading to change the contrast or the highlights to help parts of the picture stand out or gain a 3D effect.
• Although we don’t have any specific costume planned for the video, we do want to have the characters wearing clothes that are both unique, wacky and from identifiable brands. For example, we loved DAVE’s Stone Island thermo sensitive sweater that he wore in his video for No Words ft. MoStack, and something like this would look great with an enhanced hue, contrasting background.

CONTINGENCY PLANS - WILL

In terms of filming, there is always a high chance that there may be a technical difficulty when out on location. This could range from, weather disruption such as rain and the camera getting wet, to not properly understanding how to use the equipment. To overcome these we will make sure we take all the precautions needed such as having a waterproof camera cover with us at all time and having a backup location as the weather can be very unpredictable. We will also make sure not just that we are well prepared and have had the relevant training of all the equipment but that we are both confident in using them. Of course there may be some unforeseeable problems that may occur but we will be prepared enough to ensure that if something does happen, it will not damage our whole project and we will recover quickly. 

GROUP ROLES - OTTILIE

• Director: Ottilie & Will
• Camera-Person: Ottilie & Will
• Chief Editor: Will Saunders
• Sound Engineer: Ottilie
• Story-Boarder: Ottilie & Will
• Runner: As there are only 2 of us, instead of having a runner, we are just going to make sure that we're organised and have everything we'll need before we start filming.