Music Video Planning & Preparation - Final Locations List

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This first location is my home, it will be used as 'Liam's house'. We will be using a bedroom as Liam's room where all of the performance will be filmed, I have made several changes to the mise-en-scene in order to make this room more realistic to the viewer. These changes include, swapping the bed covers to a darker, more 'masculine' colour, removing any 'girly' items (i.e. make-up, teddy bears, perfumes) and replacing them with empty beer bottles and an ashtray. We will also be using another bedroom to represent Liam's girlfriend's room, this room will require little changes as it is already painted pink. The only changes that will be made is the purposely placed make-up and clothes on the bedroom floor to connote her messy lifestyle. The front room of my house will also be used to show Liam getting ready and reminiscing about old times.

The second location for filming is the kitchen in Liam's house and is intended to be a room in the same house as the performance shots (Location 1). This location will be used to film parts of Liam's getting ready montage. Due to my kitchen being too small to negotiate acceptable camera movements, I had to chose a separate location to film these shots in but I hope that, with the use of some editing, I can convince the viewer that it is all one house.

This is a graveyard that is local to Liam which made it easier and less time consuming for everyone involved when moving locations. This location is going to be featured in the last part/closing scenes of my music video. I enjoyed filming in this location because, due to the Autumn weather, the leaves had turned a golden orange colour and began to fall off the trees themselves (pictured). I believe these seasonal changes helped in enhancing the visuals of these scenes but also created a cold/wintery atmosphere, something which I wanted to create throughout the video.

This location is going to be used to film the 'drinking montage' between Liam's character and his girlfriend. This location is easily accessible due to the fact that it is a public walkway but is rarely used in the colder months, which made it easy for us to film our shots without disturbance. I am extremely happy that I got to use this location as visually, it is everything I imagined.

The death/running over scene will be filmed in this location. I have picked this location because I think the long, straight road will help in making a great shot when the car is driving away. Due to this being a pubic area it is not uncommon for dog walkers and joggers to cut through this area. To avoid any complications and to ensure no members of the public are caught in shot, I have made the decision to only film at this location early in the morning. 

Music Video Production - Editing Practice (Car Scene)

This is the first edit of the running over scene. I had to be very careful when I edited this as I wanted to make it look as convincing as possible regardless of the fact that I have no budget. Creating this scene involved filming several different shots and editing them together to form a quick paced series of events culminating in me being run over.

What did I do?
I began by filming a panning shot of the car driving from one end of the street to the other at great speed. I then followed that with a long shot of me running onto the road whilst Liam watched looking shocked, after so many seconds I signalled for my friend to again drive down the road at a quick speed but this time stopping about a metre away from me. To make the car look like it was actually going to hit me, I then got my friend to drive at an extremely slow speed towards me until his car tapped me on the legs. This was filmed a a close up of my knees with the cars bonnet seen coming towards them. To make this look convincing I sped up the clip by 100% when editing it which gave the illusion of the car travelling at a much faster speed. I then filmed what started off as a close up of my hand which zoomed out to slowly reveal me lying dead on the road with a grieving Liam kneeling next to me, holding my hand. This was followed by a tracking shot of the white cider bottle rolling along the road. I then filmed a medium close up of Liam screaming 'no' whilst running out of shot which I later slowed down for dramatic effect. I then filmed the same shot again but as a close-up of Liam's face. 

What will I change?
I had originally intended for the white cider to be a recurring motif throughout the video due to the 'white lightning' reference in the song's second verse, and the narrative being about escaping that type of hedonistic lifestyle. Unfortunately nowhere stocks White Lightning so we had to make do with a basic white cider bottle for the tracking shot. I feel that this detracts from the lyrics and is not clear to the viewer and I think I am going to remove it from the final version.
In the close-up of Liam's face I feel that he is not showing enough emotion what so ever. I have decided to re-film this shot but to also film an extreme close up of his eyes widening in shock.
This scene is intended to be a flashback so I am going to add a sepia/grindhouse filter to these shots in order to make the footage look older and more dated.

Music Video Production - Editing Practice (Reverse Smoke)

This is the first edit of the 'smoke reversal' scene. I wanted this to represent Liam's memory regressing to a time in the past as an introduction to the first flashback sequence. I purposefully placed this edit at this specific point to coincide with the lyrics 'something is changing, changing changing'.

What did I do?
Whilst filming Liam performing I got him to slowly let cigarette smoke flow from his mouth whilst I filmed it as a close-up shot. When we were out filming the drinking montage I got him to repeat this whilst I filmed it as a close-up shot. I then edited the first shot so that it was in reverse and placed it before the second shot having a slightly overlapping fade between the two.  

What would I change?
Although I am extremely happy with the overall outcome of this edit, I am considering re-filming the second close-up as I wanted both shots to be identical in their framing and I also believe that it will be mre effective overall.

Music Video Production - Editing Practice

After my first two days of filming I began to upload the footage I had so far onto the editing suites. As I had never used an editing program before, this was a big learning process for me. I decided to play around with some of my shots as practice for when I edit the full video together. For my first try at editing I put together all the shots I filmed on the second day. The end product showed Liam getting ready from several different angles, all edited together in a linear fashion. Although I am happy with the final outcome I personally feel that this scene is too slow and I am considering speeding it up by about 50% in the final edit. I have no comments on what I'd change in this edit as I am planning on using these shots, in this order but spread out throughout the video in order to keep with the non-linear structure of my diegesis.

Music Video Shooting - Day Four

shooting diary
On this day I needed to be up, ready and out of the house at a very early time to ensure the filming of the car scenes went smoothly. After that I had planned to film the bedroom argument scene. Unfortunately, the camera started to run out really quickly from being used so much the previous day. This meant that I only managed to get a few shots from the car scenes filmed before the camera's battery fully died. Another negative factor was the rain on this day meant that, unless it rained the same on the next day of filming, all of my outside shots were completely useless.

Music Video Shooting - Day Three

shooting diary
Day three began with me and Liam filming his scenes in the graveyard. After that I had intended to film his and Katie's indoor scenes but, unfortunately, due to work commitments, Katie couldn't make it. As we were on restricted time and I couldn't afford to waste the day I decided that it would be best for us to carry on filming but with me in Katie's role as it was too late to find anyone else.

Every shot taken in the graveyard went without complication and we finished half an hour earlier than originally expected. I also decided to add a few panning shots as I thought what I had filmed looked very basic.

Due to the unexpected cast changes I decided to swap round the filming schedule, instead of filming the bedroom scenes on this day I swapped these to day four and instead to film the drinking montage scenes as they could only be filmed when it was light outside. We managed to get all of the shots I wanted completed (graveyard scene, visiting the grave, drinking montage) and I found it easier and quicker to complete with me in Katie's role as I knew what I wanted and how I wanted it to look so I had to spend less time directing people and I found it fun but challenging taking on both roles.

Music Video Shooting - Day Two

shooting diary

The second day of filming went really well compared to the first. We began by filming a long shot Liam coming through his kitchen door then going out of shot to put on his shirt then coming back into shot whilst buttoning the shirt up. Despite some problems with lighting we got this shot filmed fairly quickly. 

I then moved the camera into the door frame of Liam's bathroom so that the kitchen could be seen from a different angle, I then got Liam to repeat his movement from the first shot. This long shot made it possible for Liam to actually be seen putting the shirt on, this shot proved to be slightly difficult to get as Liam's bathroom is fairly small which caused me to have to stand in the bath whilst filming.

After this I filmed a third shot (medium long shot) of Liam exiting the kitchen and putting on a blazer then walking out of shot. Finding the correct angle for this shot was very difficult as the lighting in Liam's front room was fairly low. Eventually we found the correct angle and managed to get the shot. I ad originally planned to have this shot track Liam's movement as he exited the room but, due to the lack of lighting this could not be done and I had to settle for him walking out of shot.

I also decided to film an extreme close up of Liam's hands as they buttoned up his shirt. Although this was unplanned I believe that this shot looks good and have decided to include it in my music video.