Second Film Day

The sun set is at 4:34 due to it being winter. This is a problem we will face on the film day which will affect our finishing product as our day is systematic in the music video we have to think about the natural light that each scene is in. For this reason, we may need to do it another day.

Contacting Our Artist

We messaged Georgia to check she was available for us to take photos for our album cover. She is on half term which means that we are going to schedule to meet her for 2 hours after school so that we can take photos.

We also want to finish filming. We are going to film on Sunday (1st November). This is a good day as it is meant to be sunny so this will reduce the risks when filming. Georgia is also available shown by the text message below. 

Equipment

My dad owns a media company so we got all our equipment from him. This was easier for us and also the cameras were smaller than the ones at school and due to us having lots of settings and moving around a lot these cameras were more fitting for the job.

Camera
We used a Canon EOS 5D with a 24-70 mm lens. This was effective as it capture the shots we wanted and was easy to carry around.

Monopod
We used a monopod to film in Camden as you can't use a tripod there due to permission. This meant we had to hold it as steady as we could (especially against the strong winds this could be difficult). We also used the smaller tripod to film the wheels of the taxi (which we didn't use) but it was good for shots on the ground.

Osmo
We used an OSMO camera which is a camera that allows movement but keeps it steady. It allows the camera lens to turn 360 degrees and pan up and down. We wanted to use it for having Georgia walk and sing to the camera but keeping the camera steady so it fitted perfectly for our use.

Drone
Lastly, we want to try and use the drone. This is a helicopter with a camera attached to it. This however, comes with many problems as we need permission to film in a public area and it can be dangerous if it becomes out of control.

This is a picture of the drone above my house.

Potential Album Cover Planning

We really like elements from many albums we've looked at as discussed in the previous blog. I really like the pose Ellie Goulding is doing as this will help clearly represent our artist, Georgia May, as 'The Girl Next Door'. We used a script font that we had found when experimenting with different fonts. I tried it with black and white font but found that the black font was more engaging when I asked people which one they preferred. We now have an idea what we want our album cover to look like so when we go to take photos of Georgia we will have a clear idea on what to do.

I do like this album cover but i feel like the album is very plain due to the pink background and very generic for a girl. Instead we may try incorporate more about our song or using a more popping image. Another idea to explore is to make the album pop create the feel of being unconscious on our album cover like either using a slow shutter speed to create blur or to lay an image in green, red and blue to make it look 3D but not actually 3D, this will create the impression of being unconscious.

I tried out using an interesting image of a dream catcher, I really like this as i layered it over the pink background using photoshop.  We chose a dream catcher because we think they are very aspirational and associated with dreams which are something we want to achieve in life. This also works well with the message of our album.















I like the one with Ellie Goulding in the foreground as this represents what who our artist is and what she is about. She looks like she is also the 'Girl Next Door' as well as being organic. I think this is much more interesting than the plain pink background but doesn't take the focus away from the star image of the artist. This will also help attract our target audience as teenagers may like the innocent mood that the pink and dream catcher layered creates. This will also fit our genre because the colours represent pop well and will stand out in a shop or on iTunes where the song may be sold.

When showing our target audience this, they didn't like it. They though it was too revealing and removed her urban qualities. Thus we will have to rethink the album cover by looking at artists such as Jess Glynne and Lily Allen.

Artist Album Research

Album Cover Name

We have made a spider diagram to shown the potential album cover names. We wanted the album to be one word so it is catchy. We used a thesaurus to help us get adjectives that you don't hear everyday. We wanted it to keep in with the theme of the song so these words are about the feelings on the girls mind.

We chose 'Unconscious' as we though this was extremely catchy which is key to a good album cover name. We also thought it was a good choice because it matches what happens in the song.

Outfits For Album Cover

From the sequence above you can see that Jess Glynne's album covers are just close ups of her face. This shows her being a 'punk'. They also represent her as edgy therefore contemporary. The reference to the close up representing the early 80's which will mean she is targeting people in their 30's. Just using a close up of her face is done to sell her through attractiveness. This could also be down to two other reasons, firstly she is not known to enough people so they are trying to sell her to become recognisable, on the other hand people do know her and they record company are trying to sell her on her looks. The use of a pink background is very feminine which may represent who her target audience is for example girls in their teens and 30's. The use of the white font shows purity.

From the album covers above you can see that Christina Aguilera album covers are also close ups of her face. She represents innocence which is a theme we want to explore. I really like how lighting is played with in the album covers as it represents her aspirational qualities. She uses a black and white theme through out all her music videos for the font which may connote her traditional values. She has very neutral coloured backgrounds which may presents a calm feeling from the album cover. It also allows fans and viewers to focus their attention on the artist as she stands out against the dull background. Aguilera's album covers all consist of close up shots allowing her to express her emotions clearly to her fans.

A common theme apparent in these album covers is that the font is exhibited in the top left hand corner in black. This allows her album covers to be clearly recognisable to her fans and maintains a subtle link between them all. This could indicate she's intending to create her own trademark that  becomes obvious to viewers that it is Allen. The neutral background again draws attention to the artist as she stands out against the light-toned background. Moreover, black is commonly a main colour included in her album covers, which suggests she could have a dark personality and is gothic like. Her outfits contrast with each other, as for some album covers she is dressed in purely all black where as in others she is dressed in pinks, suggesting her music is more pure and innocent like. The shots displayed of Lily Allen are of medium shots, which could be to display more of her body, attracting male fans as well as females. 

The majority of Ellie Goulding's album covers consist of side shots of her face, avoiding eye contact with the audience which acts as a boundary to see her emotions. Due to the use of extreme close ups and tight shots, it signifies her feeling trapped in her music, clearly displaying her passion for her music also. Besides, her outfits aren't evident in her album covers, as it is just of her face, and it shows how she isn't being sold sexually. However, in her latest cover 'Delirium' she is displaying an example of  'male gaze'. She is showing her cleavage which represents her as a synthetic artist and her figure in another one. This could be due to becoming more synthetic since her last album covers which correctly shows how the music industry can change the star image of an artist. The font in most of her album covers is gold which is aspirational which also matches her hair colour which could be her unique selling point so she acts upon it. 

From this I am going to get a variety of shots of Georgia, ranging from close ups like the shots of Ellie Goulding, Jess Glynne and Lily Allen. I also like the use of a black font used in Lily Allen's album covers as it stands out which will make our artist's name more recognisable and rememberable.  I will take the photos on a white wall where the lighting is focused on our artist to show aspirational qualities. I will also do shots of hair flicks like Ellie Goulding as I think these are interesting. I like the positioning of Ellie Goulding in her 'Delirium' album cover. This has all been chosen to engage our target audience and match album covers that are popular within the pop genre as well as being similar to our song. As our artist is organic and represented as the girl next door, she will be dressed in a white t shirt a jeans to show her purity. We may also try take a photo like Aguilera's album showing two parts of her face, we will do make up after the car crash one side and normal the other. This not only represents our song but also displays her characteristics as an artist. 

Fans and Social Media Research

Location

Outfits

Make Up Practice in Advance For Shoot

Research 

I went on google and looked up real people that have been hit by a car to see how their face would look from the injury. I thought these two pictures were the most realistic as they aren't too over the top as this would make our artist's injury look fake. I used this tutorial on youtube as a guide. We tried with eye shadow but found it wasn't successful and the look we wanted as it didn't look realistic, we then brought face paint which worked better which are shown below.


I have chosen to make a bruise around the eye area and to use liquid latex and fake blood to make a few cuts and gashes. Here is my experiment below...

Account of First Shoot Day

We started late due to various issues on the day of filming. We started at 11 and finished at 3. We didn't get everything done but as we are on top of things we have arranged another day to film. We did the first 30 seconds of the songs systematically. We also did the instrumental bit as we didn't want to make it inconvenient for Jonah to come twice as he only has a small part in the music video so we tried to get all his scenes out the way.

Risk Assesment