Using the projector.

The lyrics say 'We fell in love / right by the ocean', this is past tense and we could show a representation of this by showing the clips of them being in love by the ocean and suggest that this memories are strong with him as the are projected behind him.

After our first day of filming and going through our footage, we have decided that we might need some more footage to cut into our film. On the train home we discussed ideas and decided that we should do some scenes on the black box with the projector.

An example of a music video which uses projections is Rihanna's music video for 'We Found Love'

I prefer this method to the green screen method as it looks more real and organic - it blends the artist more with the background to represent the idea of the artist being connected with the images behind them, this could represent memories or dreams. We thought we could tie this in with our music video - we had discussed the concept of our main character reminiscing about a past relationship.

Another music video which uses projections like this is Ariana Grande's song 'The Way'. Ariana is shown dancing and lip syncing in front of footage of her and her love, suggesting her thinking about memories with him. This is slightly different to our idea as the song is more happy and is more about her being infatuated with her boyfriend and thinking happy thoughts about him and their relationship.

This is quite late to be changing our concept, but we just want our video to be perfect and to be up to the standard of mainstream music videos at the moment. We all were unanimous in our decision and we will do screen tests as soon as we get back to school.

Filming: Day One.

Today we went to Brighton to film the 'love story' section of our music video.


First of all our lead actress, Raphi, was late as missed our original train. Sophia and Wini got on the train and me and Jem waited as we had open tickets, meaning we could get any train. When she (finally) arrived we got on the train, however once we got on the train we realised it was the longer train which had more stops, which made us even more behind schedule.

Once we got there, we had some issues with the weather, we checked prior to travelling so we knew it was going to be cloudy, however we did not anticipate the rain.

The rain was a problem because we were concerned about getting the equipment wet, it also made the whole vibe of the footage more gloomy than we wanted.

We still tried to get as much footage as we could as we knew we couldn't really go back to Brighton to get more footage. After a few hours of filming we felt that we had enough footage and we got back on the train.

Although we were happy with what we had got done today, on the train on the way home we decided that we may need to get some other kind of footage to cut into our video to make it more interesting.

Learning how to use the equipment.

As we are filming next week, we all needed a reminder on how to use the equipment.

We can all remember from last year but it was good to refresh our memories to ensure that we are fully prepared for filming on Monday and Tuesday.

We all now feel confident with the equipment and are looking forward to shooting our video!

Health and Safety - risk assesment for filming.

While we are filming, we need to make sure of the following:

• A parent or guardian knows where we are at all times.
• Our production call sheet has listed emergency numbers and we know where the nearest emergency services are.
• Some equipment for example the lighting kit, will get very hot, so we need to always be aware of this. The tripods are large and heavy and will take more than one person to assemble and disassemble.
• When we are in public, we need to have a copy of the letter from school to say that we are students as well as out student IDs.
• We will take care in public with the equipment and ourselves, being mindful of traffic and others around us.
• If we are asked to move on by any official or public servants, be gracious, apologise and move on swiftly.

Booking our train to Brighton.

Now that we have decided to film in Brighton, we need to organise how to get there. We needed to decide on the time of our train - we decided that we would get there as early as possible in order for us to have as much time as possible filming in the daylight.

We booked an open return so we didn't have to rush anything.

We went for the 8.24 train which is quite early but West Hamstead is the closest station to all of us so it wont be too much of a rush in the morning.

We will keep the equipment at Wini's as the station is on her road, sophia can drive it over there in her car.

Now that we have the timings we can start to make an itinerary of our day to make sure we stay organised and on top of everything.

We all can't wait to go to Brighton and start filming.

The band: biography about Coasts.

This is the band Coasts whose song we will be using for our music video. Here are a few facts about the group:

• English Indie Rock band formed in Bristol in 2011
• Consists of Chris Caines on Vocals, Liam Willford on Guitar, James Gamage on Bass), David Goulbourn (Keyboards) and Ben Street (Drums)
• "Oceans" has receives international media attention and has achieved over four million plays on SoundCloud
• Members all met at Bath University and then moved to Bristol after they had finished and then formed their band
• The band released their debut single, 'Stay' in 2012.
• During this period, the band toured extensively across the UK, with sell out shows including the Camden Barfly.
• In 2013 Coasts continued to sell out shows around the UK and in Europe, and made various industry appearances including Brighton's Great Escape Music Festival.
• Coasts recorded their third single, "Oceans" with Duncan Mills and released it in June 2014. 
• The single received BBC radio 1 support from Greg James and Huw Stephens 
• The band played a Radio 1 live session at Maida Vale for Huw Stephens following on from this as well as performing live at Radio One’s Big Weekend in Glasgow. 
• The band followed this up with a sold out show at Dingwalls in Camden and were then named as iTunes 'Ones to Watch' in July 2014.
• In 2014 The band recorded "A Rush of Blood" which became their fourth single. 
• The song was premiered as Zane Lowe's 'Hottest Record' on BBC Radio 1
• The band embarked on a North American tour in early 2015, with their first appearance taking place at El Rey Theartre in LA. 
• They have also headlined London's Scala & KOKO. 
• They performed at Coachella in April 2015 and played at Reading and Leeds festival in August 2015.
• Their debut album, Coasts was released in January 2016

What we did today: pre-production planning 19/10/16.

Pre-production planning

Today we did the production call sheet for the filming days.

The call sheet will be sent to our talent and we will all have a copy, it will help us to be organised and make sure that everyone is on the same page.

The call sheet states all the details about the day including a detailed itinerary - we will try our hardest to stick to these times to ensure a smooth running filming day.

Music Video Inspiration: Analysing Sweater Weather by The Neighbourhood.

When researching artist similar to the genre of our artist, I came across this music video for 'Sweater Weather' by the Neighbourhood.

The video begins with an establishing shot that demonstrates the relationship between the set/location and characters and show the whole view. 

The fact that the scene is spacious emphasises the close relationship between the members gathered in the centre. The black and white effect gives a retro feel for this music video. Also the darkness connotes the indie rock genre of this band.

The pace of each frame cuts away quickly and follows the tempo of the song. This increases the audiences excitement and keeps interest with the video. The POV shot from the back of the car engages the audience by making them feel as though they are on the car journey with the band. 

The 'love interest' is shown less often and is seen as less important than the band. This suggests that he does not keep her as his main priority, instead she is used as a way for him to escape, which links in with the lyrics of the song.

The recognisable logos of the band are superimposed over images from the video, this is a nod to the fans and also it further strengthens the branding of the band, furthermore the fact that the video is shot all in black and white is a recognisable convention of the band, as all of their videos and promotional images are shot in black and white.

The video ends with the same establishing song from the beginning, which confirms the end of the song and ties the video together nicely.

Testing the talent: Part two.

 Today we screen tested Raphi so we could get an idea about how she performs on film.

We filmed her on our phones and we all agreed that she was a good fit for the video, she was confident and comfortable in front of the camera.

These are some of the photos that we took today, her style and attitude is great for the video.

This was a relief as if her performance isn't up to a good standard in the video, it can be the difference between our video looking professional or amateur.

We doubled checked with Raphi to make sure that she if definitely available on our filming dates - she confirmed which was also very relieving news which assures us that things will go smoothly on the day.

Testing the Talent.

Today we did a test shoot with our actor Jem, who will be the protagonist in our music video. We wanted to see how he looked in a photoshoot situation and we were really happy with the results - we thought he could really fit with today's music market and he suited the song.

We also took this opportunity to speak with him about our plans for the video and we wanted to also hear his ideas. We need to make sure that he will be happy with the video as that is the most important thing as it is his brand that we are representing, furthermore he needs to look comfortable and relaxed as it will really show through in the video.

He seemed happy with the concept so far and also made some suggestions that we really took on board.

Styling Moodboards.

These are some styling mood boards that I made for both the male and female characters in our video. I want the style to be cool, casual and modern. We discussed style options and we didn't want anything that was too cliché or typical 'boyband' style. I looked at current street style and catwalk trends from this season to make sure everything on the mood boards was cool and current.

Jem:


Raphi:

Location Moodboards.

'Oceans' lyrics analysis.

Casting the female lead.

We also need a 'love interest' in our music video. This role is important because this is who the song is meant to be about. The girl needs to fit the vibe of the video - she needs to be cool and pretty in order to appeal to our target audience. She also needs to have some acting experience and have the ability to look comfortable and confident in front of the camera.

Here are the potential candidates:

Raphi Phelps:


Raphi is a student from North London. She has appeared in a short film previously so she has acting experience, I also know her very well so I can testify that she is confident and I believe that she could be very good in this role.

We all agreed that we liked her personal style, and we think she could bring some of that cool style into our music video.

We checked our potential filming dates against her own schedule and found out that she is definitely available.


Leah Milligan:

Leah is a Model from Kettering. She has experience in both editorial and film work. I know her through my agency and have worked with her before so I know she is confident in front of the camera.

We think she has a cool look, however we think that we prefer Raphi's personal style. Also, Raphi looks more like an 'Girl next door' which is the kinda look we like.

We checked with Leah and she said she is probably available on the potential shoot dates.

Overall we decided to go with Raphi, as we know she will definitely be available, also she lives in London which is much more convenient for us.

We look forward to shooting now as the team has come together.

Casting the male lead.

Today we decided on who we wanted to be the main character in our music video. He will be posing as the singer of the band and also acting out the storyline.

We need to make sure that he has good acting ability and is competent at lip syncing and has good stage presence.

Here are the potential candidates:

Alex Talwar:

Alex Talwar is a drama student from North London. He has very advanced drama skills and has recently performed in our schools musical production of 'Anything Goes' as the male lead.

He is a grade 7 at singing which would probably mean that he would be very good at lip syncing.

We like Alex but we are not 100% sure that he will fit with the vibe of our music video.



Jem Nash:

Jem Nash is a student and part time musician from South London. He has previous acting experience and knows how to play the guitar and the drums at an advanced level.

Jem is our main candidate as it was our original plan to use his song and we already decided that he would be very good in a music video. We think he really fits with the indie genre and we like his personal style.

He regularly busks on the Southbank which is something that we wanted to incorporate into our video.

Overall we think that he is a very strong candidate.

Images from http://instagram.com/jamnashmusic

We decided to go with Jem for our video. We checked the filming dates with him and he confirmed that he was available. The next thing that we need to do is a screen test to see how he looks on screen and to test his lip syncing ability.

What we did today: 11/10/16.

Pre-Production planning

Today we did some pre-production planning in our groups. In order to make sure everything goes smoothly with our filming and production, we need to make sure our group is well organised.

Today in class we allocated different roles to work on the mood boards. I was in charge of the styling and mise-en-scene mood boards, Wini did location and props and Sophia got started on analysing the lyrics.

Once we had finished with the mood boards, we helped Sophia and added our own insights into the lyrics.

I will be adding the mood boards and lyric analysis mood boards on to my blog soon.

Adjusting our concept to fit the new song.

As we have our new song 'Oceans' we decided we needed to adjust our concept to fit the new song and lyrics.

We definitely can keep most of our previous ideas as the song still fits into the indie genre.

We still want to film on the roof for our cutaways from the main storyline.

The one thing that we are going to change is the main filming location, today we brainstormed as a group and decided that we wanted to film in Brighton. The first line of the song is 'We fell in love / right by the ocean' so we thought it would be fitting to film it by the ocean.

We know its not going to be the best weather as we are filming in October, but we want to work with that and have our character dressed in nice winter clothes and working with the grey weather. We can even use it as pathetic fallacy, to use the weather to convey a sense of mood.

We are all really happy with the new concept and we don't think this set back will hurt our video - we all said that we prefer the concept now which is really good!

Permission from the band.

Due to our problems with using Jem's song, we had to find a song as quickly as we could. We found a few songs that we liked on soundcloud - including the song 'oceans' by Coasts.

We messaged a few bands and a few of them replied, but Oceans was by far our favorite. We were lucky that they were so quick to reply.

We had to regroup to change our concept slightly, as the song is about the ocean - we decided that one of our main locations should be Brighton. This was quite a big change to our previous idea to film in London, but we wanted to make sure that the video was relevant to the song.

We are all solid on our concept now so now we can really put all the planning into motion.

Our Song: Coasts - Oceans

Problems with using Jem's song.

Our original idea was to use our friend Jem's song. He is a new artist who is signed to a label and has some original songs which we really liked.

We brainstormed some ideas and we think we should definitely incorporate busking in our video as Jem regularly busks on the southbank. We also definitely want to film on the Jealous rooftop as we think that this location is perfect.

We also wanted to incorporate a story-line in our video, we want there to be a love story running alongside the visuals of Jem playing on the roof and lip syncing.

We were all really happy with the concept...
However we discovered a problem.. The song that we really liked was not properly recorded; originally Jem said that he can finish the recording and production in the studio, however today he told us that he cannot book any studio time with his label and his contract states that he cannot record anywhere else.

This means we are going to have to find a new song - and as fast as possible so we can get our plan back on the road.

Location Scouting - Jealous Gallery Rooftop.

Jealous Gallery Shoreditch

This is the rooftop of the gallery that my dad works at. We think its the perfect location for a music video - both at daytime and night time.

We have permission to use it on the weekend when no one is working there - we are also allowed to paint the wall however we want (potentially green to use as a green screen)