First rough cut ! By Lucy barker and Maddy Ryder

This is our first rough cut of our music video! We are excited and really happy with it so far but we had to use placeholders because we had to reschedule to Saturday 30th November and Wednesday 4th December instead of Sunday 24th november, when we had originally planned to film all the rest of the shots, including the dog walking shots, but we ran out of time. It has also been hard organising actors because we have so many, and finding a time when they are all available has been difficult.

Editing has been difficult because this has been the first time we have used Pro Cut X but we have learnt how to slow/speed up a clip and put it into reverse which has been useful when the clip wasn't long enough or was too short.

We have filmed too much of the 'Gold Party' clips because we took on the approach that it would be better to have more than less. So we worked on deciding which clips would be better to use.

We have lots of shots for the bloopers!

Researching Ancillary tasks - Album Covers by Lucy Barker

Album Covers 

Some of the album covers I have found by similar artists (singer/songwriter/indie): 

Lauren Aquilina 

This cover is very simple with few text other than the name of the artist and the name of the album. It has quite a sad affect, her expression and the dark image outlines in the background reflect the emotions in her songs. The most important part of the front cover, is that obviously she's on it. It's a bit abstract which suits her 'look'. The artists name is bigger than the album tittle and I think this is because she is more famous than the tittle, which seems obvious but because she isn't as big as Lady GaGa or Adele so a word may not be directly linked to her name, whereas Adele who is known by everyone, everywhere, can be linked to her albums, 19 and 21. 

This album cover works with her video, so it becomes recognisable to her fans, because in the 'fools' music video there is lots of focus on water. 

We want to create something a little bit like this - focussing on the artist, but less dark and perhaps using signs and signifiers. 

Designing a logo and name for our production company - By Lucy Barker and Maddy Ryder

We have thought of many names such as Iris media and Argus media, however the names have already been taken. We chose these names because Iris has many different meanings, such as being a type of flower, or the name of the ancient Greek Goddess of rainbows, which gave us a lot of options for the visual side of the logo. We considered Argus because that is the name for the being with many eyes in Greek Mythology, which we thought fit well with the media/filming idea.

We eventually settled on the name 'Silver Bee Media'. It was very difficult to find a name that was not already taken, and we liked the idea of a silver bee as it is unique. Bees are associated with hard workers, and the colour silver links to the idea of cameras and technology.

We have decided that our logo will feature a bee holding a camera, with the words 'Silver Bee Media' at the side. We feel this will be simple and effective, as it incorporates all the ideas of our company name.

Finished Logo by Maddy Ryder

This is the finished logo for our production company. We have used different shades of silver to keep to the theme of technology, and fit with the company name. The image of the bee means that the grey tones appear less serious, helping our company appeal to a younger audience. It is also fun and quirky in a way which will appeal to most audiences.

19/11/2013 by Lucy Barker

Yesterday I planned on filming my actors Meg Hunt and Amber Hewit but unfortunatley it has had to be rescheduled. But at least it has given me more time so I can be extra prepared! Today I brought some decorations for the gold party scene!

Organising Actors by Lucy Barker

I have used Facebook to organise my actors for the gold party, I made a page so I could contact them all and check what dates and times they are free and to also check whether they could get to the location and organise lifts. It was really useful to make sure I could help anyone who needed a costume as well. And I received notifications on my phone from facebook so that also made things easier.

Location update for dog walking scene by Lucy and Maddy

We have decided not to use this location as it looks 'too out of the way' so we will use a road instead

Uploading clips onto Final Cut Pro by Lucy Barker and Maddy Ryder

We have started to add clips into final cut pro! We have been renaming each clip so we don't get confused and have started putting them in order ready to start editing:

Venue Update by Maddy Ryder

We have hired the smaller room in Ulceby Village Hall to film our party scene:

This room is ideal for us, at is is the perfect size to accommodate all of our actors and give the impression of a smaller, more exclusive party which is the image we would like to create.

Party props and mise en scene ideas - By Lucy Barker and Maddy Ryder

We wanted veryone at the party to look modern and dressy, so we started to look at hairstyles and found this one. We are going to use it on a few of our models for the party scene.

We wanted make-up idea tips too so we decided all the actresses will be wearing gold make-up, the make-up will be over the top with gold stick on sequins and fake eyelashes.


We are going to make the room we are hiring look like a proper party location so we're taking influences such as this

here they have used food in gold wrappers, this will be easy to find at this time of year becuase it's so close to christmas.

We can even put gold christmas baubles in a glass for the background, like this:

Party location update by Lucy Barker

The party location that we were previously looking at, The Ulceby Village Hall, is proabably too big and expensive to hire, however there is a smaller function room that we could use which is available to hire at £8 an hour which would be perfect. We are going to plan the party scene shots and estimate how long it will take to film there before hiring becuase we want to make sure we don't hire it longer than we need it.

12/11/2013 by Lucy Barker and Maddy Ryder

We are currently planning our next film shoot, at the weekend we will both be filming in separate locations. We have one camera and tripod so I (Lucy) will be filming on Saturday and Maddy will be filming on Sunday and I will drop the camera and tripod of at her house on Saturday as soon as I have finished filming so she has plenty of time.

I am going to film the shots a few shots but many of them will be of Kids this weekend. Maddy is also filming with children.

We decided that doing a call sheet for the children would be pointless because they wouldn't understand it, but we will make one for ourselves and inform the children and the parent of the content of the shot, and we will have permission slips.

Video diary of filmshoot 1 by Lucy Barker

Preparing for Filmshoot 1 - By Lucy Barker

We used the call sheet to get down which characters we needed for each shot, how long it would take to shoot them, time of day and whether it was inside or outside. This helped us enormously.

We used a call sheet which we handed to the actors. This had the time/date and place for where everyone needed to get to and the roles were also written in the grid at the bottom. This was a good way of keeping the actors in the know so they always knew were they had to be and when.



Codes and Conventions By Lucy Barker and Maddy Ryder

We are going to be breaking codes and conventions as well as conforming to them. Our music video is a concept style with elements of performance in the genre of singer songwriter. Most singer songwriters/ indie performance have mainly performative shots in because they like to exaggerate the fact that they are skilful in an instrument, however, although we are not ignoring this completely we are putting a message across more importantly than the performative aspect. This is because we feel it will relate more to our TA and our TA analysis supports this:

We are also using children in our music video which will be breaking conventions becuase usually they wouldn't be involved in the promotional videos becuase it wouldn't appeal to a teenage/young adult target audience becuase they don't want to see children as it makes it less sophisticated, which is what they would look for. However becuase we are targeting our music video at adults, we know that having children involved will support the message we are sending across becuase parents will be able to relate to it.

Film Shoot 1 - Costume List by Maddy Ryder

Plans and Ideas Update by Lucy Barker

8/11/2013 - Today we created the call sheets and printed of permission slips and have got them signed. We need to be prepared for sunday so Maddy is coming early to help set up the sets.

6/11/2013- Plans for filming - We are unable to start filming on Saturday but might be able to start on Sunday, we need to prepare permission slips and call sheets.

Locations update- I've decided it's best to have a back-up plan for the party location so that if we can't get the Village Hall there is another location to film in.
Options include:
-Lucy's house (maybe putting up a gazebo)
-Maddy's house (Ulceby)

Plans for filming - 4/11/13

We are planning on filming this weekend if we can get more shots planned so, if possible, we can film as much as we have planned, we also want to get some of the cast together for stills and to try out costume/hair and make-up ideas.

We are planning on filming with Grace (Tatiana) and Eleanor, who is one of our extra's.

Storyboard making by Maddy Ryder and Lucy Barker

When creating our storyboards we were listening to the music at the same time to help us visualise the scenes. We did this together because we both contribute to the ideas. I find this an easier way of working because you don't have to remember the lyrics and where they come.  

Costume Update by Maddy Ryder

We found this jewellery for the female actors in our party and dog-walking scenes. This style of jewellery is ideal as it matches the colour scheme, and we want the actors to appear over the top/flashy: