Test shoot to audition possible models for our music video

To audition our possible model we decided to do a test shoot to see if all the girls would have worked together in any kind of environment and be able to pull of the attitude we are looking for, it was good to see al the different looks of the models joint together giving us better idea of the kind of clothing would work best with each individual.

They all needed to look serious and intimidating, I believe it was challenging as they all had different clothing style and there was a set in the studio that was complicated different of what we are aiming for, however it was still good practise and it was good to see that are willing to be dedicated and find free time to come and help us with the project.

In my opinion the whole group worked very well, even thought we do have some elements that might request in other videos so in case of any problems we are planning onto find back up models in case of a let down of any reasons. Some models may not look appropriate for an indie look but once they would be wearing the right clothing, make and they would be in character they would all be able to give us a good result.

Main models we planning onto to use

Our main models

As we are choosing a big group of girls it would be challenging to get all of them together for other test shoots but we will try our best to make it work, as we are all students from the same school and it will be easy to talk to and try to organise around our schedules, adapting from our different things.

The lighting was normal lighting in the studio, I shot with my own camera Canon 100D.

Test shoot planning

As a group we decided to plan a test shoot to cast all the possible models for our video and actually see how they behave in front of the camera if they will be confident enough, if they can pull of the look we are looking for and of they would all fit together as a group, however we decided to invite several to have more of a choice, also increasing the feeling of competition. We looked at the online register and we picked the girls we wanted to audition.

We double check with the studio department of we could have the studio free around a certain time and we email all the girls, that may be a potential (they are all currently Hurtwood students making it a lot easier to organise everything with them and is a mixture between A2 and A1 making it easier for us to work with as will be surrounded with familiar and non people), this would give us a clearer idea of the overall look and how we will need to work with them, making it more professional, I will bring my own camera and hopefully they would let us borrow one of the school filming camera, as we could get pictures as well as footage and see if it work or not.

We discuss to Phill about our idea, now that has changed and he positively responds to it.

Adapting our initial idea

This lesson has been crucial for our music video idea development as we decided to change the style of the music video into indie pop as we thought it would have suit the look of the model acting as the main artist as well as the song.

The whole look and style of the music has been kept, but we adjusted deleting few elements for the example the grill. Also we got rid of few ideas that we wanted to include in the video, like the drummer and the red ribbon as we thought it wouldn’t have much the style of the music video and are a bit random, so instead we decided to choose a different location.

 

We searched at a possible second location for our music video, thinking about an abandon building as that would respect the look and theme of the whole music video plus it would give us a wider range of shots and opportunities. Hannah found an actual building, were she knows the owner of it and it is just in Guildford, plus looking at some other video of the same genre of music and style of artist we decided to transform the look of the main artist into more Indy style taking inspiration from the artist MO. Looking at one of her recent videos Walk This Way, taking the idea of having more girls featured in the music video as an additional element after the main artist. By doing this we emphasise the whole vibes of the music video with the look of the models, make up and clothing style.

However we are going to need to cast different girls to get the most confident and looking at their performances, at they need to be able to pull of the whole look and attitude for the music video, also by having a whole location to play with and five different girls into a frame there should be enough footage to play around with after the shooting day, without the need of a third location, but maybe just featuring a third element will be useful during post production process to make the whole video less repetitive, add different feeling to it and making the whole time line more interesting and appealing overall.

As a group we agreed to all the changes and we are willing to move the project forward as more inspired to the new concept. We will be looking at more artists based on the genre of music where we could get more inspiration and ideas.

Overall the final idea is to keep an indie pop genre for the music and artist’s style, the first set we decided to keep the same, so it will be shot in the studio, and we will be using normal or coloured lighting, smoke and the main character and performing with two dancers in the background. For the second set we decided to use an actual location (abandon building) where the main start and her squad of four more girls will be featured in the location, they will be all wearing the same style of clothing and all the models will be different from the main artist, to draw the attention to the performer, we will be using different rooms of the building as well as stair cases.

As I previously mention we might need to add a third element to the video, but at the moment we will be trying to sort everything out with what we have got, and hopefully everything would run smoothly with no need of a third element.

Research of conventions for the music industry and feature incorporated into our music video idea

We looked at many different examples of famous artists that followed the same genre we are planning for our music video, and took inspiration from those, analysis location, costumes, performing of the artist, elements within the music video. We notices that mots of the locations used are random, public places, mainly empty, trashed and dirty and they have, usually a good contrast between studio work and natural location. The choice of location is important because it gives the audience information about where the artist 'belongs'. In these videos the places suggest the artists are outside the mainstream, living in underground and alternative subcultures.  We are looking to find an abandoned building to film our video in and hopefully if we can achieve this it should help the video fit within the genre and also represent our artist clearly to the audience.

We picked up few elements that we wanted to incorporate in our own music video, for example the hairstyle, make up and costumes. It was good to see that even a simple location can be very effecting without extra need to impress the audience, but the attitude and performing are more and more vital parts for an effective final result, pressuring even more our choice of casting.

The choice of lighting is very similar of what we were thinking and are looking for making our choices more convincing and positive, however must not forget that we are relating our work to high budgeted project and our will be a low budgeted one.

We then define our idea of choreography, by looking at dances and matching them with our song and see the final work and we are pretty confident with the choice of casting, music and we believe that aspect won’t be a problem, as the dancers can definitely higher our level of performance within the video.

We finally started a timeline with possible changes of sense, and including most of the elements we are looking at, we are aware that this will only be part of it and we might change it a lot before the actual shooting day, but it was good to see how repetitive it seemed with the only things we are incorporating, without thinking too much in depth about the details as we are still in early stages. With this can illustrate a clearer idea to our teacher.

Looking into more detail to technical aspects of the music video initial thought

During this lesson, Phill (media teacher) made us realise that every music video has an element that the audience look forward to, a build up through out the music for the main drop, beat of the song that represents at the best the artist, genre and style chose for the whole project. We looked into more details of the music video, clarifying in detail the first set, as we are 100% sure about it. Lighting, the smoke machine, dancers and the main character we thought it may have looked to over whelming so I used of my old shoots that worked well as a test shoot as it has all the elements we are looking for and the same sort of style, however I have only used blue lights as I believe wouldn’t create a good combination, instead I would change it to reed as purple lighting would be the final result.

My own pictures

Changed colour of lighting we want to obtain

We changed the colour pallet into black and gold thinking of creating a contrast between black of the first set and the gold into the second focusing onto the furniture that could be painted and put into a trash location like an abandon building (common factor see in many music videos of the same genre of music). We also believe that the red ribbon is going to be the crucial elements of the whole music video, although out with genre and too theatrical, in comparison to the rest of the style, we will do a test shoot to try out the whole concept and in case occur some changes to it.

Black and gold are the typical colours used for a digipack or anything relatively to the genre gangster/indy, the additional red would just add something innovative and appealing to look at, the red could appear after that several times to incorporate it more into the actual music video, and established it into the colour pallet.

We then listen carefully to the lyrics and thought about any possible narrative elements that we could show, or additional elements, but we believe that the drummer should be kept, because of the beat of the song that fit perfectly with the song, plus it gives us more to play with and more choice for post production.

We then discuss about a possible time line for our video, thinking clearly each second what is going to happen in the music making us realising what is missing and if it will come out too repetitive or confusing or any additional problems.

Developing further more our initial idea into a more detailed plan

In today’s lesson we carried on developing our music video idea further more, thinking more into detailed about a possible third location and other elements to fill the whole three minutes video clip.

We talked to our teacher Phill to have a plan of what we should look for in the next couple of days and what we should be aiming at, towards the end of the week, as we need to move on pretty quickly making visible progress.

We watched at many music videos with the same genre to have a clearer idea of what we are looking of, plus maybe get inspired by some of the artists’ music video.

We also looked at more example of Hurtwood music video so to realise what it would look like, once we are on the actual set, and have a more realistic perspective of what we can achieve and can do on set.

We thought of possible use of glass (sugar glass) on the floor and the main character standing in the middle of it instead of having money as the final result could be a lot better and less cheap looking, plus a lot easier to get the props and cheaper.

We also cut of the idea of having another set for the second location, and use an actual place, like an abandon building, to make it more realistic, interesting and creating a good contrast between the two location, we are still working for the third. Also we are thinking if the drummer element is needed or not, as we noticed that in music video related to that genres instrumental elements never show up properly, however we can adapt it as I think it would still a good element that could be incorporated or not.

Polydor Records

During one of our Media lesson we had two members of Polydor Records, telling us about their business and personal experiences with big as well as unknown artists. Showing us few of their final products and their initial ideas, ideas how it developed.

As in A2 we are going through the process of making an idea, develop it and expand to a final fine production before the shooting day, and the similarities of the different steps we have to go through in comparison to a big business like it, was very interesting.

They gave us tips of what we should aim at, being realistic as well as creative and innovative.

-       It is crucial to talk to the main artist to understand their style, genre and ideas so to match them with the ideal art directors and staff to end up with the best result.

This step is crucial as it can determine the main clients satisfaction, something that Polydor Records really cares about.

-       The brief is another important part of pre production as it determine a meeting point between the artist and the company, if you are lucky you will fine people that will be happy with anything you come out with, oppositely to other that won’t agree and reject the project several times, making it more challenging as we all know that nothing will go perfectly either in pre or post production.

-       The brief has to have a clear structure and be as illustrative as possible for the clients to really get and perceive the intent of the music video, without any unexpected surprises. The brief will then turn into a detailed storyline and shot list used during the shooting and in post production for the editing process step by step.

-       The musician must be updates through out the whole shooting in case of sudden changes, as running out of time is a usual thing for this type of business. Usually it’s around 2 days of shooting.

-       The artist performance is essential as you can use through out the while video in case of any particular gaps within post production. Also the musician want to sell him/her self to the public to be as successful as possible, so a good representation of them is very important.

-       The director usually decided the colour pallet, knowing that you can’t satisfied everyone, and you need to find the right balance between art work and aesthetic.

I thought I was really useful as they emphasise several times the importance of entertaining the audience and the appeal of the music video, following trends, come out with original and innovative ideas isn’t easy so just keeping track with recent music video and have a clear detail plan before the shooting day is essential, for a final professional result.

My favourite product presented by Polypro Records