Shooting Diary - Tuesday 18th March

Today I shot the performance scene which I am going to incorporate throughout my music video. Apart from some initial lighting problems, the shoot went quite well. Initially, we had to experiment with different lighting in order to create the effect which I desired, I also had to experiment with different camera positions to gain a good shot. We were under pressure of time as we only had one hour to shoot the scene which meant I wasn't able to gain as many takes as I would have liked. However, I am going to take my footage into the editing suite and attempt to incorporate it into my video. This may take some time as editing lip syncing can be quite difficult.

I also had to cancel filming on Friday 21st March as Leah had other commitments. I am going to try and arrange another time to shoot this part of the video ASAP.

Permission to use the theatre and shooting schedule

I have organised a time to film in the theatre for this Tuesday with Jordan. I am going to film a performance based scene where I plan to shine a spotlight on Jordan and he will sing into a microphone.

Shooting schedule 

4pm - 5pm Walk to Mcdonalds and buy Jordan some tea

5pm - 5.10pm - Set up the lights and camera ready to shoot the scene

5.10pm - 6pm - Shoot performance scene

New filming dates

As my audience feedback has shown that the storyline hasn't been very clear to them as the majority confused Leah's illness with pregnancy, I have decided to re-shoot the scene where she finds out her diagnosis, I am going to change the location of this scene to make the diagnosis clearer to the audience by visiting the Oncology department at Castle Hill hospital in Cottingham. This location isn't too far from my college and will be easy for both me and Leah to reach. I plan to shoot the same scene as before but infront of the Oncology department sign instead so the diagnosis is completely obvious.

Another suggestion from my audience feedback questionnaires was to add a performance element as my video is purely narrative based. It is not often that there is a music video without the common convention of performance, both my target audience and media teacher feel that the video could be improved with this added. I am going to do this scene in the college theatre where I can use artificial lighting to aid me in creating the effect that I wish.

Here is the email I have sent asking for permission to use the theatre.

Therefore, I have communicated with both Leah and Jordan and agreed two dates.

Tuesday 18th March - Performance scene (I am still yet to be granted permission to use the theatre but this is the initial date me and Jordan have agreed on, a shooting schedule is yet to follow)

Friday 21st March - Hospital scene

Shooting Schedule

4.30-4.45 Pick Leah up from Beverley and travel to Castle Hill hospital.

5.00-5.30 Film the hospital scene

Audience Feedback 2nd Draft - Facebook

I posted a link to the second draft of my music video on Facebook to gain comments from my Facebook friends. The purpose of this was to see if my target audience had any suggestions on how to improve my video which would help me produce a final draft. I am still yet to gain the results from the questionnaire but the comments on Facebook were very positive. However, a suggestion made by my audience was to do something with the introduction where the screen is just black whilst the audience listens to the voice-over. Owing to lack of time I might not be able to achieve this but I could cut the dialogue down or use text to accompany the diegetic sound. A further suggestion was that I could cut the shots to the beat of the song which would be more conventional of the pop punk/metalcore genre. 

Second Draft - CD Cover

I have decided to use a six panel instead of a four panel CD cover for my second draft. In order to create the imagery for my CD cover I used a still image from my video and used a stamp filter to create the red, block effect. Lyrics of the songs are a common convention in CD products so I decided to overlay the lyrics of the song I have created a video for and two other A Day To Remember songs. For the extra second panel I used the custom shape tool on Photoshop to create several arrows which cohere with the band name. Next I positioned these shapes on top of each other whilst using the layer blending tool to create a transparent effect for several of these arrows. For a final draft I think I will  make some final adjustments to the imagery. However, I am happy with the overall composition, house style and appearance of the CD cover so far.

Audience Feedback - Questionnaires

In order to help me make improvements to my video and to gain suggestions for a third and final draft. I gave questionnaires to 26 A2 Media students. Not all of them fall into my target audience criteria therefore they might not like the genre that the video represents. However, I have done this in order to gain valuable feedback about the overall video so far. The questionnaire consists of open and closed questions which concern many of the issues which have been previously raised about my music video.

Here is an example of a completed questionnaire.

1) Do you think that the voice-over at the beginning helps make the story easier to understand?

The opinion shown through the response to this question was divided. Half commented that the voice-over helps give the video some context, it makes it more emotional, it's effective, sets the scene and one individual commented that without the voice-over they 'wouldn't have grasped the narrative'. This was one of the main reasons why I included the voice-over initially.

On the other hand, the other half of the respondents gave me some good constructive criticism. The general comments were that it was too long and it made it a bit confusing as it made them think that the video was going to be about the couple separating.

2) Do you think that the video reflects the pop punk/metalcore genre sucessfully? If no, why?

The people that answered yes to this question commented that they thought the aggressive and angry atmosphere of the video helped reflect the genre successfully, particularly through the boxing scene and the argument scene. They also thought that the use of the black and white effect on the flashback scene was effective and conformed to the conventions of the pop punk/metalcore genre. Furthermore, it was also stated that the editing was effective in showing this genre.

On the other hand, the people who answered no thought that the overall mise-en-scene let this down and could be improved in order to reflect the genre more. However, this isn't possible to improve due to the time that I have left to complete the coursework since it would involve re-shooting parts of the video.  Although one respondent commented that they liked how I broke the conventions of the genre by not including a performance element, it was also pointed out that the video is missing this element and that it could be improved by adding this in. Therefore, I could add a performance scene which just shows Jordan singing to the camera.

3) What parts of the video do you like in particular and why?

4) Are there any parts of the video that you think could be improved? 

5) Did you understand that the female character receives a cancer diagnosis? 

From looking at the response to the previous two questions it is clear that the diagnosis of the female character needs to be made much clearer. I could do this by changing the location of where Leah finds out her diagnosis. For example, I could visit the Oncology department at Castle Hill hospital in Cottingham which is not far away from college. This would be an easily accessible location and would make the narrative much clearer to the target audience.

6) Would you watch this music video again? 

Second Draft - Magazine Advertisement

For my second draft I have made some alterations to the imagery. For the main image of Leah and Jordan I used the quick selection tool to cut out the area surrounding them and placed them on top of a rose backdrop to reinforce the romantic mood to the image. In order to show that the advertisement is for an alternative genre and to make it cohesive with the CD cover, I used the 'angled strokes' filter which makes the image look similar to an illustrated, cartoon style.

I also used a different image for the background behind the text. This is because after a re-shoot I had to use a different closing shot as to which I did before in the graveyard scene, in order to make it cohesive with the music video I used an image of the most recent closing shot in the second draft. I think this image is just as effective as the rose since it allows the text to be more visible. I made the image to be of a similar style to the rest of the imagery by adjusting the threshold which gives it a black and white appearance. This is the same technique which I used for the first draft of my CD cover, therefore allows the magazine advertisement to connect with the CD cover. 

Furthermore, I made some adjustments to the text. I changed the font style of the smaller text which isn't as important as the bigger text. I also changed the colour of the text so the main colour was black, but the red stroke allows the text to work as part of the overall house style.

Questionnaire

As part of my audience feedback for my second draft I am going to ask my teacher's permission to show my video to an AS Class and for them to fill out the following questionnaire. These answers will help me in the process of making any final adjustments for a final draft.

Second Draft

This is my second draft, I am still yet to make some final adjustments to my footage, particularly the editing at 1.28-1.50. I have also added a sound clip at the beginning in order to make the narrative of the story more clear. To see if this is successful I will carry out audience feedback and ask them especially if they understand the narrative of the video. Before uploading the video I also forgot to cut the very beginning of the sound clip where you can hear me speaking at the beginning, I shall fix this on my third draft. Furthermore, I shall also upload the final draft in a much higher quality setting.

Shooting Diary - Friday 7th March

Today, I managed to gain all the required shots. However, there were some issues. The wind was quite fierce which meant that I had to hold an umbrella behind me in order to stop the tripod falling over. The lighting was quite bright which meant that I had to experiment with different camera angles and positions so the quality of my image wouldn't suffer. We also had to pause the filming at some points in order for pedestrians and visitors to the church to walk past.

Apart from that, I managed to gain the shots I needed and hopefully these will come out well in the editing suites. I asked Jordan to do a much more subtle performance this time as members of my target audience commented that he looked a bit too 'dramatic'. Therefore, when I carry out some official audience feedback for my second draft, which I am currently in the process of editing, I will see if they feel that the performance has improved. I could do this by issuing questionnaires, asking for verbal feedback, or posting the link to the video on the social media site, Facebook, in order to gain feedback from my Facebook friends.

How have I developed so far?

Shooting Schedule - Friday 7th March

I have arranged with Jordan to re-shoot the graveyard scene this Friday. However, we are going to visit a different graveyard at a different time of day to the last time we shot it. This graveyard is in Hutton Cranswick and is in a much more beautiful, peaceful setting. As we are shooting just one scene this shouldn't take too long.

1.51 Get on the train to Hutton Cranswick from Cottingham.

2.45 - 3.00 Arrive at the graveyard, find a suitable spot to shoot the shot where Jordan kneels next to a grave stone. Talk to Jordan about what it is we are going to be doing.

3.00-3.45 Shoot the graveyard scene.

3.56 Get Jordan on the train back to Hull.