Planning: Ask the Audience

After creating an account on the Pixie Lott official forum and waiting weeks for approval I have finally managed to create a post aimed directly at Pixie's existing fans. Unfortunately so far nobody has replied, but I will be checking regularly and will hopefully end up liaising with one or more of the forum members about what they expect to see in a music video for Here We Go Again.

Planning: Costume and Props

Weather For Filming

Tomorrow (Friday 26th) we are filming for our music video. We will be filming inside, so the weather is the least of our worries. However, the journey to platform means we must check that weather and dress accordingly. 

As you can see, the weather forecast for Friday is for it to be very cold. Thankfully, there is no rain forecasted, meaning it will be easier to bring cameras and all equipment in which we need. 

We hope to get the vast majority of our filming done on this Friday, thus leaving us with more time to edit.

Take two on green screen filming!

Planning: Journey to Platform

Tomorrow we are meeting at college to collect our equipment for 12pm, then heading for Angel station to go to King's Cross and then Finsbury Park where we will catch any of the above buses and head to Platform for 12:30-1pm

Extra Filming Date

During lesson time on Tuesday 23rd October, we decided to use the green screen and get an extra session of filming done. During this time we took some practice shots. These shots went well, but there's room for improvement, so we then booked the green screen for Thursday 25th October. We have a time slot of 1 - 3pm. During this time we plan to record the whole song at least three or four times over, which gives us more to play with when editing. 

As a final product we hope to incorporate various amounts of lighting to keep up with the upbeat tempo of the song. 

We hope it will be similar to this - 

Update on production schedule!

I just wanted to make a quick update on how our filming schedule is currently looking, my group plan to get all filming done as soon as possible so we hope to use our time very wisely and film shoots in front of the green screen with Sylvie in costume. We've made our checklist just in case anything does decide to go wrong!

• Lighting/ coloured gels
• Extra batteries (for camera)
• Costume in regards to Sylvie: dress, make up
• Copy of the mp3 file 
• Ourselves!

Planning: Draft Storyboard

These are full shots of our draft storyboards. To look at them closely, take a look at the animatic.

Planning: Reflection on progress

Planning: Animatic

Planning: Reflection on progress

Planning: Reflection On Progress Blog

This a small vlog which explains where I feel I'm at in the blogging aspect. I speak about my previous blogging target and also set my self three more targets for further blogging. 

Planning: Test Shots Of Potential Performers

In our video there will be a main performer, which will be our artist. This is Sylvie Wilcock (stage name: Slyvie Gray) - 

There will also be two other performers, who have a very minimal role in the video. They will be in the background through one small part of the song, roughly five seconds.

These are two people in our group. 

Zubeir Bheekharry - 

Mark Mouna - 

Together - 

 

Planning: Pitch

This is the pitch that we worked on very hard as a group. It involves a lot of detail, and lots of research. 

Some areas of the pitch won't be seen in the final music video, but we felt it was best that we got all our ideas up incase we wanted to use them at a later date.

Location Vlog

Planning: Analysis on lyrics

To influence my current ideas for the music video, I thought it would be useful to analysis the lyrics from the song in order to get my thoughts onto paper. Despite my group's final decision on Vernallis' theory of Disjuncture which we plan to use, I have done this dually to finalise planning of the video and to contrast on what it would be like if we chose the illustration theory.

Below is a photocopy of the analysis I conducted:

After analysing the lyrics (shown above) I realised the difficulty of using Illustration, majority of the time the lyrics are often repetitive and do not justify links to performance of a scenerio taking place i.e. waking up in bed and putting on clothes. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that the lyrics are there to be performed (as to our final decision of using Disjuncture) and can only be emphasised through different actions.

Planning: Weather Forecast

As most of our filming (base track) will take place within Platform, all worries will be forgotten in regards to the weather as we will be inside (nice and dry!) Needless to say, we have conducted our research in case of any weather hazards which may take place when arriving and leaving the location. Using the BBC London Weather forecast, our first day of filming (Friday 26th October 2012) looks dry and cloudy which is an advantage in regards to filming equiptment!

Planning: Research on green screen and projectors

Research on

The use of green screens and projectors in music videos

Both green screen and projector are incorporated into this music video (above), both finding this extremely entertaining and appealing, the partnership between the two techniques are a strong point highlighted throughout the video. The use of green screen is shown through the projector also adding graphics such as text which moves along in time with the music and animation. Although the video itself looks complex, taking ideas from this I hope to create something similar in regards to our final outcome (music video). In particular, I hope to use the text animation (0:51-0:59) in our video with the artist against the wall with a projector displaying the lyrics over the artists body. This is something that my group can use and take away under the influence of using videos such as this. 

 

 

(3:02-6:03)

Similarly, deferring from a music video productions taken from a performance from artist Beyonce also uses on screen special effects through a projector. Using ideas from both videos, I believe that my group can achieve something along the lines (although, complex as it may looks) of what has been created here. As an alternative from using a plain background/image shown behind the artist, have animated text/images run along to add more appeal and interest to the video. 

The outcome of using a green screen

After Effects - Split Green Screen

The software which is used in the above video is Adobe After Effects which is specially created for the use of green screen and also to add spectacular special effects. In the light of our upcoming video, the genre in which it is based (Pop/R&B) should incorporate bright colour schemes and interesting use of backgrounds/backdrops throughout. Thus using a green screen will help us achieve this.

Planning: Props and Costume

Here are some of the potential outfits for our artist

Test Shots (Lighting)

This is a small vlog of us testing out lighting for our video - 

Planning: Original Video

Our song 'Here We Go Again' doesn't have an original video to it. This is a massive plus, because it allows us to put our own stamp on the song. We haven't been influenced by an original video to the song in any way, meaning all ideas are our own. 

Here is a reminder of the song - 

I'm sure if there was an original video, we would've been able to gain various ideas from it - but we wanted to challenge ourselves. A song with no video means starting from a blank slate and working our way up. That's what we've done.

Planning: Three Influential Music Videos

Cheryl Cole - Parachute 

(0-8 seconds)

Dizzee Rascal - Bonkers

(15-30 seconds)

Pixie Lott - Gravity 

(10-12 seconds)

Planning: Inspiration

I got the ideas for the music video from similar artist to my artist. For example, Rita Ora’s music video R.I.P  which features Tinie Tempah.

From 00:38 seconds to about 00:58 seconds of the video there are about 28 very fast cuts between her and Tinie Tempah. I want to use this in my music video because the tempo of Here We Go Again is very fast. However because it will only be our artist who’s going to be singing the other shots will have other peoples which will probably be two other group members.

The shot between these two go back and forth several times. The editing is fast paced and I want to use the concept in my music video as the song we've chosen is very upbeat. Also, our music video will
be classified as disjuncture. Meaning, there is little relevance between the lyrics and the video or when the video contradicts the lyric.

Another music video which inspired me was Pass out by Tinie Tempah. In this video, they've used a spotlight on the artist(s) with a wall behind them. Another video which does a similar thing is Boys and Girls by Pixxie Lott. 

The location we are using -Platform- has a wall with spotlights already. We can easily adjust the lights and use this idea in our music video too.

Another idea came from Estelle – No Substitute Love.  At 00:50 second in the video there is a shot of the makeup artist putting make up on her. I want to do the same but use this idea as one of the base track. I want to go back to this at least 5 times in the music video.

Green Screen Idea

Phone Call To 'Platform' (Studio)

Below is a short video of our phone call to the studio we plan to use for a lot of our video. 

It includes various details such as: dates and a provisional visit.

Planning: Inspiration

Here are some videos we have taken inspiration from whilst planning our own video. They are all of the same genre as our song.

Jessie J - Domino

The use of a wall as a backdrop allows us to add things in post production should we need to. It is also commonly found in pop videos.

The use of a spotlight was interesting in this video. That is something we can play around with in the studio

Pixie Lott - Boys and Girls

We watched some of Pixie's other videos and really liked this opening shot of her walking in. It shows attitude and immediately promotes her image. This is something we could recreate in our video

The use of a bare brick wall is accesible to us at Platform. We think the rawness gives the video a bit of an edge

Rita Ora Ft. Tinie Tempah - R.I.P

In this video, two scenes are cut between very fast. We think this works really well because it means we can cut down on locations and still produce a good quality video. It goes well with the beat of the song which is upbeat just like ours. 

Planning: Original Video

The song we chose doesn't have an official video. We think we can use this to our advantage as there will be no preconceptions and we are free to visualise our video however we want. This is important because we want to make our video as original as possible and that's much easier with an unreleased song.

Planning: Influential music videos

JESSIE J FT. DAVID GUETTA - LASERLIGHT

The main location in which my group will be filming takes place in Platform where lighting and sound will be used to create similar effects as shown in the above video. The screenshot depicts my groups idea of laser lights and to create a disco-eque feel. Using inspiration from the lighting, we hope to achieve the same...

The lighting here taken from a screenshot (2:01) takes the idea of lighting being placed behind the artist which shares similar ideas of what my group aims to succeed...

 B.O.B FT. HAYLEY WILLIAMS - AIRPLANES

 A lot of the video consists of projection of imagery over both artists (right image). The screenshot here displays a side view of the artists face over projection, artistic and 'complex' as it may look, it can be easily achieved through shining the projector over the artists face using an image/moving image to capture something like this.

Subsequently, the screenshot (left) displays text taken from the lyrics in the song which are then projected over the artists body (2:21). Hoping to use similar aspects, it also appears to be more engaging for the viewer and we can emphasise particular lyrics in the song which stand out and add meaning like the text displayed, "wish right now, wish right now."

 Lastly, we see a mid shot of the artists body in a faded silhouette against another projected image acting as a backdrop. The effect of the artists silhoette appealed to me the most as I believe that my group can use similar ideas for the opening sequence of the music video to add 'mystery' to who the artist or what the artist is about.

 RIHANNA - YOU DA ONE

In comparison to the 'Airplanes' video, Rihanna also uses projection specifically in her video, 'You Da One'. The screenshot (left) is a display of this, although in monochrome still proves effective and is easily done. As both videos belong to the same genre of our chosen song (Pop/R&B) it has been evident that many pop videos follow the same techniques which becomes repetive (in a good way).

 Sticking to the theme of rebellion, the brick wall which is found in this video (right) has influenced my group to use a similar wall in Platform to emphasise the rawness of the video. In this screenshot, Rihanna's body language is masculine and her clothing represents her attitude (despite it being in black and white) the clothing worn here evidently stands out. The brick wall can be used as a symbol for our theme.

Planning: Original video analysis

Here We Go Again by Pixie Lott does not have an original video. This is because it is an unreleased song from her album Turn It Up.

This is a really good thing because it will allow my group and I to come up with new ideas and not worry about if it will clash or resemble the original. Also, our target audience hasn't seen the original video...therefore this will have a greater effect in trying to promote our upcoming artist. 

Planning: Original video analysis

Fortunately, the song my group have chosen has a major advantage. As it is an unreleased song and taken from Pixie Lott's debut Album, 'Turn It Up' there has not been a music video released publicly which means that my group can automatically draw away from having an preassumed original concept in our mind's and base a whole new artist on anything which we desire. Generally, the concept of our music video is a reflection of young people (young girls in particular) who are full of charisma and attitude in which many of the lyrics go by and illustrate well throughout the song.

Planning: Website of original artist

- CLICK FOR WEBSITE - 

Planning: Original Artist's Site

This is Pixie Lott's official website http://www.pixielott.com

The header of the website immediately promotes her image as work from the album cover is used. The layout and font of the text is also the same as it is on the album. The links are easily accessible and allow the site to be split into sections for ease of use.

The website features a blog written by Pixie that can be read by fans. This is engaging and helps fans to keep up and feel involved with Pixie's work. It also helps create her image as a fashion conscious young female and targets the more fashion forward audience.

On multiple pages a Facebook comment box is visible. This means that followers of the singer can converse and discuss Pixie directly with like minded fans. It gives the site a social aspect and keeps it modern and up to date.

The 'Live' page of the website allows fans to see when and where Pixie is performing and gives information about where to buy tickets. 

All of Pixie's albums and singles can be found in one place. This shows how she's kept a similar image throughout her career which is interesting to note. All of the singles feature similar artwork as the album they are released from which gives it a running theme and familiar feeling. This will be important when we produce our ancillary work.

Videos are featured on the website which gives it another platform and adds to it's interactivity. Fans can watch extra videos besides the music videos and feel closer and more connected to the artist.

Photo albums have a similar affect. They allow the audience to see more of the artist and help create her image as a glamourous fashionista

Fans can sign up to receive a newsletter which includes them in upcoming events and makes them feel as though they are receiving exclusive information. 

The forum is very important in bringing her fans closer to her as they can freely discuss events, music and the artist herself. It is obviously very popular and shows how large a fanbase Pixie actually has. 

The merchandise page allows fans to purchase all kinds of Pixie Lott items including albums and singles. It's somewhere to buy music and anything fans feel they need to show their support and love for the artist