Advanced Portfolio Researching and Planning the Moving Image Work

6. Shooting the video - Day 1

Today we did our first recording session in the studio with a little help from our friend Trang. She is an amazing Photography student and so she assisted us with the lighting on the background. We used a variety of shots such as close up, extreme close up, side shots and medium shots. We also decided that the backdrop would be best if it was white because it was the best colour to show his innocence and purity during his relationship with his girlfriend, however for the print products, we might use the black backdrop as he is driven to committing suicide. Overall, I think we did a great job and we can't wait until our final piece is ready.

5. Pre-production - Location Release

Team Meetings - 4

Recently, we improved on our storyboard and I re-done the risk assessment for our Advanced Portfolio.

Today we went over our ideas/ notes and realized that we needed to record during the half term. We need to complete the suicide scenes, the bedroom/ living room scenes and the park scenes. If we can get this done then we would have plenty of time to do our editing. We need to eagerly get hold of the actors and schedule the meeting times/ points for the shoot. Hopefully, everything will go as planned.

Here were some of the notes and reminders I made using the 'Notes' app on my iPhone.

5. Pre-production - Actors

Nana - our male character (who is also the track's owner)

Imelda - who is our female character

Actor 3 - there wasn't any third actor as the male actor was unreliable

5. Pre-production - Storyboard

The storyboard was changed many times due to the fact that the second male character would possibly be unreliable. I definitely think that we would include more scenes whilst recording the actual video because we will make sure we have a lot of footage, especially for the flashback scenes and the bathroom scenes. I personally think that the part we will struggle the most shooting would be the bathroom scenes because Nana's bathroom (as I have heard) is not that big. Also recording the bathroom scene for where he will commit suicide would be difficult as we would need the support of the tripod to record him drowning himself. Also, hand holding the camera wouldn't work that well, neither would it look professional because we need to get a still image of him. I think using a variety of shots would also really be really useful because it shows a diverse need for all type of shots, which all clearly set a different meaning.

5. Pre-production - Costumes/ props, make up etc.

Props:

 

  
Nana will give a single rose to his girlfriend in the park to symbolise his love for her.



They both will have a pair of golden marriage rings to illustrate the importance of their relationship for each other.

Costumes: 



 

The costumes for both male and female characters should be casual/ daily worn outfits. We don't want to be dressed up all fancy because we want the audience to understand that both Nana and Imelda are comfortable enough with each other to

Team Meetings - 3

Nana and I were given back our Advanced Portfolio pack and was told to do some improvements in our work. We agreed that we had to put a little bit more detail in our storyboard, re-do our risk assessment and also complete the talent release forms and call sheets. We also had to analyze and breakdown the lyrics for each scene. I think this will help us understand what we want for our final product and will give us time to develop our ideas into further/ deeper meaning.

This is just a list of the things we need to complete on the blog. I think this would be very useful for us and help us organise our time and posts better. I will definitely use this and spend my time to go through everything and post them in the best quality possible.

5. Pre-production - Risk Assessment

5. Pre-production - Production team roles

Director: Eda, Nana

Actor 1: Nana

Actor 2: Imelda

Actor 3: ?

Producers: Eda, Nana

Camera man: Eda

Editors: Eda, Nana

I think we're going to have some issues with the second male character, as we couldn't get hold of him numerous times. We tried to get in contact however, we didn't receive anything back. We might need to shoot the video without the second male character, so we would need to sort something out for this issue.

5. Pre-production - Call sheets

Call sheet for the first day of shooting the video.

 

Call sheets for the second day of shooting the video.

Team Meetings - 2

Today we thought more about the days we could start recording and the best time would be this Wednesday as both Nana and I will be free over lunch. We need to record the lip syncing scenes behind a white backdrop, with good lighting effect. For this, I think the best help we could get would be my friend Trang to assist us, as she is a great photography student. Furthermore, we still need to decide the studio's availability for the photoshoot, and also get the schedule to edit our video once all the recording has been done. We will discuss in further detail soon.

5. Pre-production - Talent Release Forms

5. Pre-production - Recess

Finsbury Park – we thought that this would be a great location for the flashbacks of the girl and Nana as it sets a romantic vibe because of the colourful flowers that are in the view. Also, the park sort of symbolises purity, nature and generally a really good vibe to be in, so the flashbacks would be great if we could set them here in the park.

Studio – we thought that the lip syncing scenes would be best shot here as we can control the lighting on Nana’s face and create nice background effects with the light. Depending on the mood we want the print products to be, we will decide if we want the backdrop to be black or white. Both of which symbolise (for me) the yin yang sign. Good and evil, purity and impurity etc.

White is associated with light, goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity. It is considered to be the color of perfection.White means safety, purity, and cleanliness. As opposed to black, white usually has a positive connotation. White can represent a successful beginning. In heraldry, white depicts faith and purity. In advertising, white is associated with coolness and cleanliness because it's the color of snow. You can use white to suggest simplicity in high-tech products. White is an appropriate color for charitable organizations; angels are usually imagined wearing white clothes. White is associated with hospitals, doctors, and sterility, so you can use white to suggest safety when promoting medical products. White is often associated with low weight, low-fat food, and dairy products.

Black is associated with power, elegance, formality, death, evil, and mystery. Black is a mysterious color associated with fear and the unknown (black holes). It usually has a negative connotation (blacklist, black humor, 'black death'). Black denotes strength and authority; it is considered to be a very formal, elegant, and prestigious color (black tie, black Mercedes). In heraldry, black is the symbol of grief. Black gives the feeling of perspective and depth, but a black background diminishes readability. A black suit or dress can make you look thinner. When designing for a gallery of art or photography, you can use a black or gray background to make the other colors stand out. Black contrasts well with bright colors. Combined with red or orange – other very powerful colors – black gives a very aggressive color scheme.

We will also discuss this further in depth when the time comes.

Team Meetings - 1

Today we discussed who the other two actors will be. Nana thought the best thing to do would be to ask the performing art students in our college to act in our music video, so we still need to hear from them if they're up for the task or not. Furthermore, we discussed the possible outfits/ costumes and props and how we would get them. In the end, we decided that I would bring the ring Nana will use to propose to his girlfriend and maybe buy a rose from a flower shop in Finsbury. I think the flower would be a great way to show the audience their love. Hopefully we'll have enough time to sort this out.