Production Meetings: Week of 24 - 28 November

The main priority for this week is planning for our final shoot. Our final shoot is the last chance the group has to film any missing footage or take any photos we need. Therefore we needed to be completely ready for this. We did this by first going through all of our footage and deciding what needed to be reshot and going through our shot list and noting down shots we've missed.

The shotlist we drew up for the last shoot

We also came to an agreement that we didn't think we had enough publicity shots. We thought that even though the ones we had were nice, we would rather have more in various poses; with various props, like instruments or the props the band uses in the video; different background colours and settings; and different expressions.

This is all so that we'll have more photographs to put on our website and digipack album cover, because at the moment we only have one setup and two costumes for each band member.

On top of all the planning for the last shoot, we have been continuing to edit new footage onto the animatic, which has been coming along. We've been editing the footage, both individually and as a group, onto the animatic, even if we have changed our mind of the placement of the shots since the animatic. This is just so that we have a rough idea of what all of the shots look like together. Once we've put all of the footage down onto the timeline, we can start to change the shots around to see what looks best.

Screenshot of our timeline on the edit suite

Shoot Reflection: Saturday 22 November

For this shoot, we wanted to reshoot all of the wide performance shots, film all of the glide-cam performance shots and all of the band close ups, including some of the remaining prop shots. The list below shows the specific shots we planned to film. The shot titles in bold indicate the shots we were not able to get done.

Our shot list for the day

Our time slot for the studio was from 1:45 pm until 9:30 pm. However, we didn't start filming until about 3 pm. This was because there was really bad traffic so a few of us were late and we were an amp short for the performance shot, so Gavin had to go home to get one (but he lives very near, therefore it wasn't much of a problem).

However, once the shoot got started we started to be very productive. I think that the wide and glidecam performance shots that we got were a lot better than the first ones we filmed. This was probably because Kayvon, Gavin and I were all more comfortable in front of the camera by now as we had six filming sessions of practice by now. Mahalia also had more experience directing us when she was the only one behind the camera, so that helped too.

The shots we didn't get to do, like the wide superhero posing shots, were mainly because we ran out of time towards the end and didn't want to run over our time slot. We couldn't take the Nintendo 64 shots because we didn't have access to the console on the day. However, we will on our next shoot.

Shoot Reflection: Thursday 20 November

The shot list for the day

For this shoot, we had a 1:30 pm until 9:30 pm time slot for the studio. We set out to film all of the prop setup shots we had left. We made a shot list of the shots we needed, in addition to the shots we could do if we got all of the prop setup shots done.

When we planned out the shots to do, we put them in order of framing and shot type. We did this because someone pointed out to us that we could save more time by doing this rather than changing the lighting setup each time, as it is easier and faster to change the set (considering that our sets are quite simple) than alter the lighting each time.

As a group, we felt that this shoot was one of the most productive ones. We completed everything on the shot list, including the extension shots, which meant we had less work to do on the Saturday shoot.

Shoot Reflection: Tuesday 18 November

For this shoot session, we had the studio booked from 7:00 am until 12:30 pm. We thought that we should utilise as much studio time as we could as we are slightly behind schedule, therefore we decided to meet in the studio at 7:30 am.

We scheduled to film the shots with the prop setup, meaning an empty set and only one costume for each band member. We filmed the shots with the hula hoops, Twister, Monopoly, Monopoly money, Jenga, slinky and the Nintendo 64.

We used a different lighting set up for each different prop used, which is what we planned when organising the shot list.

As a group, we felt that this shoot was very productive and flowed well. This may have been because we all had the same free periods that day, meaning we were always working and uninterrupted by group members leaving halfway through the session to go to other lessons.

Shoot Reflection: Friday 14 November

During this session, the main focus was to shoot the confetti wide shots, which we needed lots of extras for to help throw at the band and pick up at the end. However that was only after 4 pm, so before that, from 12:30, we decided to film a few more prop shots, which were the party poppers and silly string shots.

When filming the confetti shots we had the helpers stand on chairs, with boxes of confetti to throw at the band. We placed them so that they, their arms and their shadows were out of shot when they threw the confetti.

We were pleased with the look of the confetti on camera and also of the overall footage that we got from this shoot.

Here is some of the footage in the props setup we took during our time in the studio:

Here is some of the footage we took of the band performing with the confetti:

Production Meetings: Week of 10 - 14 November

During our production meetings, outside the filming sessions, we started to work on other aspects of our project, such as the album cover and editing the footage we had, as well as improving things we needed for the shoots to come, like correcting the shoot schedule and looking into improving our performance as a band.

Firstly, Mahalia revised our shoot schedule, as we were behind on filming. We shifted some of the balloon performance shots and some of the props shots over to another shoot, for later in the week.

New Shoot Schedule with corrected dates and times

We started to edit and move all of the footage we shot onto the timeline and started to sync up the music. We did this so that we could slowly edit the music video bit by bit, rather than having a larger workload later and editing all the footage at once.

Screenshot of us editing the footage onto Adobe Premier

Me editing some of the footage we shot

Thirdly, we used the album front cover template we all liked and edited a few of the album cover photos onto it. We're still undecided on the colours and layout, so we may still try other layouts and colour schemes.

Me editing the album cover

Lastly we looked more into the characters we're portraying on screen. Gavin, Kayvon and I sat down together to discuss our characters and how to make them emerge when we're being filmed. To do this we came up with names, particular quirks and tendencies they had and researched some other artists we could take influence from. For Kayvon we looked at George Ezra and Robert Milton (from Dog is dead) and named his character Scott. For Gavin we looked into Daniel Harvey (from Dog is Dead) and named his character Michael. Lastly for me, we looked at Hayley Williams (from Paramore) and called my character Ash.

George Ezra

Dog Is Dead (Robert is the 3rd from the left, Daniel is the 1st on the right)

Hayley Willams from Paramore

Shoot Reflection: Wednesday 12 November

For this shoot, we scheduled to take the publicity shots along with filming the remaining balloon shots that we failed to shoot on Saturday.

The balloon shots took priority over the publicity shots, as some of the balloons had already deflated and popped since the Saturday shoot, and we were worried that this would be one of the last chances to film them.

We ended up filming all the balloon shots that we needed, which were directed and filmed by Mahalia. We then cleared the set of all the balloons, which took a while, then prepared the lighting for the publicity shots, in addition to the band changing costume.

For the publicity and album cover shots, we asked our friend Alex Reid to help us take the photographs as she is experienced with photography and knows what looks good. For evidence of her work, look at her Flickr blog. Mahalia and Alex both took pictures and directed us by telling us where to look, how to pose and what expressions to convey.

Overall I feel that we used our time well during this shoot and got some good footage and photographs. However I felt that we were a bit pushed for time as we only had a few hours of time where we were all together, as Mahalia and I had lessons whilst the other two were around, setting up.

Here is some of the footage we took in this session:

Shoot Reflection: Saturday 8 November

For this shoot, we planned to shoot all of our performance shots along with all of the balloon performance shots. However we didn't keep time as well as we could have. We ended up filming the wide shots and glide-cam shots for the performance setup, including the balloon performance shots. As a cause of not filming all the shots we had initially planned, we have to update our shoot schedule and call sheet.

At the beginning of the shoot, getting into character was very difficult for Kayvon, Gavin and me. We seemed really stationary, withdrawn and looked really unapproachable when we looked back at the footage on playback.

However, as the day went on, we became more comfortable in front of the camera and Mahalia was able to master directing us, making the footage look exceptionally better.

Overall, we are happy with the amount and quality of footage we shot during this shoot. We agreed that we would rather have a smaller number of good quality shots than a larger number of unusable shots.

Publicity Shots: Further Research

Using the collection of images of publicity shots we had from a few weeks ago, we decided to look further into costume, posing, light and framing for the publicity shots of the band.

Firstly we sat together with the pictures we gathered and made notes on the common characteristics and conventions between them and discussed what we particularly liked about each one, and which ones we could take influence from for our photos.

From this we agreed that we wanted to try both direct and indirect address, along with a range of frames, along with full length, long shots. We also decided that we wanted a studio-based setting with high key lighting, similar to Clean Bandit publicity shots.

Example of a Clean Bandit Publicity Shot

We also discussed the positioning of the band. We wanted Kayvon to stand out more than Gavin and me, because he's the leader of the group. However we didn't want him to dominate the shots, otherwise it would offset the themes of friendship our video and brand are trying to convey.

Production Meetings: Week of 3 - 7 November

This was the last week before our first shoot, so we had to make sure all the props for the shots we planned for were in school by Saturday morning and that the majority of our research and planning for the video was done by the time we started the production stage.

As well as preparing for the shoot, we worked on other aspects too. We prepared the confetti for later shots, so that we have less to organise later. We also brought in some of the costumes, for other shots, like the superhero costumes.

Agenda for the week

Our to-do list for doing before Saturday's shoot

Finally we made some notes on publicity shots, on how we want the band to be posing, the costumes they'll be wearing and the overall colour scheme of the pictures.

Publicity shot notes (page 1)

Publicity shot notes (page 2)

Costume, Hair and Make-up

Kayvon (Lead Guitarist/Singer)

For Kayvon and Gavin's characters we took fairly similar inspirations for both characters, so I put them into a mood board for the both of them rather than making two very visually similar mood boards.

For Kayvon's character, being the lead, we wanted him to stand out the most. Therefore we decided to dress him up slightly more than Gavin's character, by making him wear button-up shirts in almost all of the shots, even if he wore them casually and unbuttoned, like in the prop set up shots. This was influenced by artists like George Ezra and Dan Croll, who, even though are solo artist, stand out compared to artists like the band members of The 1975 (not including the lead).

Performance Setup

Visual Rep of Kayvon's costume

Kayvon is wearing a blue and white button-up shirt, dark skinny jeans, wristbands and his black Dr. Marten boots.

For the performance shots, we wanted the band to look more dressed up, this was to add contrast to the more casual shots where the band play with the props. So we put the two boys in smart shirts and had a black and white colour scheme for costume.

The hair and make up is all fairly natural. We put foundation on Kayvon's skin to hide imperfections. We did not need to put any make-up on his eyelashes or eyebrows as they are already reasonably dark, therefore they would show up on camera easily.

Props Setup

The costumes for the props setup are more casual than the performance costumes. We dressed Kayvon in a plain, white t-shirt and an undone, brown, corduroy, button-up shirt over the top. He's also wearing dark grey skinny jeans and his black, lace-up Vans.

Superhero

The purpose of the superhero costumes was to fit in with the theme of nostalgia. Kayvon wore a Superman costume.

Publicity Shoot (1)

This publicity shoot was styled more casually styled, as none of us wore button up shirts or anything formal.

Kayvon is wearing a plain, white T-shirt, blue skinny jeans and black Vans.

Publicity Shoot (2)

This publicity shoot was more formal than the first as we wanted to have some variety of shots. This time the background was white rather than grey, again to have more variety of shots.

Kayvon is wearing a buttoned-up, brown corduroy shirt, black skinny jeans and his black Dr. Martens boots.

Publicity Shoot (3)

This third publicity shoot was more serious and make the band look cool, with a colour scheme of grey, black and white, against a grey background.

Kayvon is wearing a plain white shirt under a half done-up, green, checked shirt. He's also wearing dark grey skinny jeans and his black Doc Marten boots.

Gavin (Drummer)

Gavin is the drummer, meaning that his character draws the least attention than any other member in the band. We dressed Gavin's character in overall quite casual clothing, such as t-shirts and pull-over jumpers. If it was necessary for his character to wear a button-up shirt, in for example the performance shots, we added a casual item of clothing, for example his Addidas trainers.

We took influence from George Ezra, Bombay Bicycle Club and The 1975.

Performance Setup

Visual Rep of Gavin's costume

Gavin is wearing a white button-up shirt, dark skinny jeans, wristbands and trainers.

We wanted him to look smart, but slightly more casual than Kayvon because we wanted the audience to be able to differentiate between the lead and the other band members. To do this we put him in trainers rather than something like Doc Martins.

Gavin's make-up was simple too. We put foundation on his skin to hide his imperfections. However since his hair colour is quite fair, we coloured his eyebrows and eyelashes with a light brown colour to make sure his features were not washed out on camera.

Props Setup

For the prop setup Gavin is wearing a white, printed t-shirt, black skinny jeans and his blue Addidas trainers.

Superhero

For the superhero prop scenes, Gavin is wearing a Batman costume.

Publicity Shoot (1)

For the first publicity shoot, Gavin is wearing his blue and yellow patterned, knitted pullover, black skinny jeans and trainers.

Publicity Shoot (2)

For the second publicity shoot, Gavin is wearing a white t-shirt, with a short-sleeved, blue, undone shirt over the top, along with his blue skinny jeans and brown trainers.

Album Cover Shoot

For the third publicity shoot, Gavin is wearing a grey, buttoned-up shirt, black skinny jeans and blue trainers.

Alice (Bassist)

My character's costume required more thought because I'm female, as opposed to the other two. We wanted my character to be aspirational to our female audiences but also slightly quirky to connote the indie genre. However we didn't want to draw too much attention to her and away from Kayvon (the lead), so we dressed me in quite casual, tomboy-style clothes.

Some inspirations we used were Kristen Stewart, Mila Kunis and Alexa Chung.

Performance Setup

Visual Rep of my costume

Ripped, high-wasted skinny jeans, a black crop top, a checked, black and white button-up shirt and black Converse shoes.

For make-up, I wore foundation to cover imperfections, make-up on my eyebrows to make them stand out and eye shadow, mascara and winged eyeliner to enhance my eyes on camera.

We kept my hair fairly natural, but I straightened it down a bit to make it appear slightly longer and slightly more styled, as it is naturally quite curly.

Reference to winged eyeliner: Hayley Williams (Paramore)

Props Setup

For the prop setup, I am wearing a grey, knitted jumper, blue skinny jeans and black, slip-on Vans.

Superhero

For the superhero setup, I am wearing a Green Lantern costume.

Publicity Shoot (1)

For the first publicity shoot, my character is wearing blue skinny jeans, a white vest top, with a blue button-up shirt, half done-up, along with black slip-on Vans.

Publicity Shoot (2)

For the second publicity shot, I am wearing a long-sleeved, white shirt, high-waisted skinny jeans and black, high-top Converse.

Publicity Shoot (3)

For the thrid publicity shoot, I'm wearing a black vest top with a knitted grey jumper over the top. I'm also wearing a black skirt with tights, along with black, high-top Converse shoes.