Couple Scene Filming Day 3 - Bedroom Scene

The couples scenes I decided to do at a cosy home location. This would give the right relationship atmosphere I wanted to convey to the audience. This is the day I got some really effective and powerful shots showing the relationship before her loss.

I managed to collect a number of shots:

• Close-ups
• medium shots
• arc shots
• wide shots
• low angle shots
• high angle shots
• over the shoulder shots

During this production day I filmed various artsy shots of the couple in bed from different angles including shots through the reflection of the mirror. I also got shots of the protagonist on her own in bed and reading through old text messages. 

I then got shots of her doing her make up and getting ready for the day. My favourite shot is the one of her looking out the window.

Kite Scene Filming Day 2 - 31/1/18

As a result we had to go back again on the 31st of January where the lighting and weather was better and allowed us to get enough shots for the film. We collected and shot a variety of different angles and shots;

• close-ups
• medium shots
• arc shots
• wide shots
• low angle shots
• over the shoulder shot

The second day was more successful in the quantity and quality of shots made.

Kite Scene Filming Day 1 - 23/11/17

On the 23rd November 2017, I began filming for the Held Like Kites music video. The first day of filming took place in Avon Dassett to make the shots of kite flying scenic and effective for kite flying. The weather was clear on that day providing me with good natural lighting for shots meaning i didn't have to bring my own lighting on the day. However due to the wind we were unable to get enough decent shots that was sustainable for the music video.

First Edit of Held Like Kites Music Video - Post Production

Artwork Mock Up - digipak

This is the image I used for my first mock up and the artistic style I was trying to recreate was 'postcard'. I upoloaded the image on photoshop and began by freehand drawing the white outskirts of the image. 

I then played around with the effects in the filter gallery on the cartoon image - looking at the different levels. This gave the image less structure and it gave an abstract effect. As I increased the number of the levels, it gave certain features less shape which is quite interesting. 

Despite my plans for this artwork, after some verbal audience feedback I decided to go back to the drawing board and create some new artwork

Ancillary Research - Synergy

Synergy is the interaction or co-operation of two or more organisations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.

Music videos provide opportunities for Synergy. A classic example of this is Skyfall - as Adele and the producers of Skyfall benefit from the arrangement as the song promotes the film and the film promotes the song.

Another example of this is the Arctic Monkeys digipak 'Whatever people say I am that's what I'm not' and 'when the sun goes down' music video. There are many types of synergy between the digipak and the music video. One of these is the main character on the digipak smoking which creates the link between the product as well as whats being sold to the target audience.

A final example is in the Miley Cyrus 'We Can't Stop' music video where she uses thewellknown EOS lipbalm to get ready. They are featured throughout the video which both companys - EOS and the Miley Cyrus brand - will both benefit from. 

When all the aspects work together to create products that link well together, the products become identifiable for the audience to associate with that specific band and music artist. The only differences are the information for the audience which is relevant to the product. 

For my own products I will use this research to assist how successfully I try to create my own synergy which are evidently linked and promotion.

Overlaying effect - Editing

During my editing process, I was constantly thinking of ways to demonstrate the changes in time. I came up with the idea of overlaying similar shots to show that the male member of the relationship was no longer there. I set the opacity low so that the audience can see both. This is effective as in the same shot, the audience can see the flashback clip initially which fades into the shot of just the female protagonist. I am happy as to how this turned out as I think it is the most indicative shot that reveals the narrative.

As I did not use a tripod while filming there were some issues with imaging and rotation. Firstly I had to get the two shots (one of the two of them and one of just her) in the exact same place on the screen. Then I played around with the colouring of the two shots, the first shot had a warm filter overlaying and reduced saturation while that faded into the shot of her alone in bed with a cold filter overlaying. In order to make it fade I had to lower the opacity of the two clips to below half so that it wasn't to strong and you could see the two clips blending.

In the final music video I think the shots look really effective and shows the two different before and after states to the audience. It also adds more emotion to the music video as the audience are able to connect to the protagonist and engage in the narrative - sparked by the enigma of the loss of the male character.

Flashback Filter - Editing

• As there are some points in my music video that go back in time and flashes back to the couple, I wanted to make it clear to the audience so that there was no confusion. 
• I did research into demonstrating a flashback and considered a variety of different options which included transitions into the shots and filters overlaying the shots - often looking warmer in colour. 
• I looked at a number of music videos that have shown this:

• Luckily, as the flashbacks were only a year or so behind current time I didn't have to take mise-en-scene into consideration, and the protagonist would be the same actor in both current time and the flashback so that it is clear for the audience what is going on. 
• I took a look on premier pro at the different filters that they had to offer to place over my footage and played around before I decided one that I really liked. They were easily available and were easy to apply to the footage.
• Firstly I placed a warmer orange colour over the top of the original footage and then reduced the saturation in the footage to create a 'grainier' shot to then make it look older making it look like a sepia filter. This is effective because not only does the filter indicate clearly to the audience that it is a flachback but the warmer colours used connote feelings of cosiness and love - juxtaposing the cooler shades used overlaying the current day shots. 

First steps - Editing

• The first step to editing was to import the soundtrack into premier pro and then getting the basic layout ideas of the shots
• When it comes to editing, I worked somewhat closely to my storyboards however if I did a spontaneous shot or something didn't work i would adapt my ideas. 
• I began to add the shots above the soundtrack and edited it to the music using the slicing tool to add transitions and effects to later 

Title Research - Post Production

In my research of music videos, I found that there are 4 obvious titles used in the majority of music videos that I have looked at. These are:

• The name of the artist
• The name of the song
• The management
• The director of the music video 

For example, in Walk the Moon's music video to 'Shut up and Dance', when the music starts the the artists name comes onto the screen alongside the name of the song again. Usually at the very beginning or at the very end the directors name will be on the screen. However as the the title is 0.16 seconds in which is quite late considering the duration of the music video whereas usually they appear straight away or at the end. 

Another example is Black Eyed Peas's 'meet me halfway' music video before the music starts the titles are shown in a way that allows them to blend in with the background. This gives people a taste of what's in store for the audience in terms of narrative and theme throughout the video. The celestial/galactic style font reflects this. 

A final example is at the end of Maroon 5's 'sugar' music video they have the record labels name at the end of the music video. This is quite common for most artists to have as it represents what record label they are signed to and it also means people know who to contact with anything regarding the band. In this music video it was placed on a black screen at the end of the video.