Hi, welcome to my media coursework blog. My name is Audrey King Lassman (0397) and I am working in Group 3 with Chrystal Li (0470), Brandon Poonwasie (0660) and Juliette Wileman (0875). You can navigate my blog by clicking on the labels at the right hand side.
Thank you for taking the time to look at my blog!
Here is the link to Group 3's Facebook group, where we discuss and plan things for the project:

Our music video

Our Website

Our Digipak Cover

Our Digipak Cover

Tuesday 25 November 2014

4th November Shoot

On this shoot we filmed individual band shots of me and Chrystal.

First we had to set up for the band scenes, and modelled this on our plans, but decided on the shoot day to stick a piece of paper with the band logo on the drum kit:

This is because it is conventional for bands to do this:

(Examples: Panic! at the Disco, Kodaline and The 1975)

We set up the lighting and then got ready in costume and make-up.
Chrystal and I setting up lighting
 Juliette did everyone's make-up, including her own, because she could do the best job.
Juliette doing my make-up
Even though we didn't film Brandon's individual shots that day, we still his make-up because the framing of our shots meant that he would be visible:

Once this was done, we could move on to filming:




Juliette was helpful as a director, advising us on movement/positions etc. and seeing if it looked good on camera
Because this was the first time performing in front of the camera, it was slightly nerve-racking and took some time to get used to. In the end we viewed this session as more of a practice, to learn from for next time. 

After the band shots, we moved on to the 90s scene. This is the set:

We built the sofa out of two chairs with cloth borrowed from the art department draped over it and cushions, as well as a coffee table and the Central Perk mug to reference Friends. We also had a boombox to connote the 90s era as a whole.

Juliette and Jacob on the monitor - the monitor was helpful because it meant we could all see the footage on a bigger screen and watch it at the same time, so we could all give input
Brandon, Chrystal and I got more of an opportunity to be behind the camera and direct the performers this time. I preferred this to being in front of the camera because I felt more in control of what the shot would look like since I could see it. 


More photographs from the set

Here is the footage we shot that day:

Juliette's character jumps onto the sofa, acting flirtatious, and as the lead goes to lift the cup to drink from it, she stops him, lowering the cup and then kissing him on the cheek.

Later, we watched over our footage and were given advice from Ms Blackborow. We decided we would shoot everything again and made a list of things to improve:

Band:
- Improve Chrystal's image - straighten her hair so she looks more obviously styled and give her red lipstick to match her shirt
- Rehearse the band performance so we look more natural and confident performing

90s:
- Re-frame these shots so that the camera is on eye level:


- Improve Jacob's lip-sync so it looks more realistic
- Lift the cup higher so that the logo is clearer

Friday 21 November 2014

Choreography and performance rehearsals

This video shows our choreography for the 50s, 70s, 80s and 90s set ups:

These were inspired by films and television representing those eras. Here are some examples of dances we incorporated into our choreography:

50s - Grease
Danny falls to Sandy's feet (Sandy later goes to kick him away)
Danny follows Sandy, then she turns around and they walk back the other direction
70s - Saturday Night Fever

80s - The Breakfast Club

We are going to have two dance sequences in our music video. This is the choreography for the first dance (Brandon is standing in place of Jacob and Juliette is performing her own part):


We knew that we would film this dance in the set-ups of all the different eras and edit them together. We tested this out in the studio, using the lighting set-ups of each era and roughly editing it together to see if this could work (here Chrystal is standing in as Jacob):

The choreography is inspired by dances from our chosen eras, for example:

RUNNING MAN - 90s
(The Fresh Prince of Bel Air)


50s
(Grease)


Here is the second dance, which also includes the set up from the modern era: 

This dance sequence is more random and fun than the previous one, because it is towards the end of the video and often in music videos nearer the end is a sort of climax and that's what this dance sequence is for us. 

For the modern scene itself, this is the choreography:

We wanted the couple to be on their phones because as with the other eras, it is playfully referencing the stereotypes of that era. Today there is the idea that technology has taken over our lives and everyone is obsessed with their mobile phones, so that's something we can make fun of here. It establishes the era in an obvious way because it is something the audience are likely to recognise as representing culture today. 

When the characters throw the phones over their shoulders, as well as being fun and slightly humorous, it creates the idea of the couple's love overpowering the thing that has supposedly taken over our lives in this day and age. After this scene it then goes into the second dance sequence, tying all the eras together at the end and giving a message of love transcending history.

Shoot-boards/schedule

Although the storyboard shows the structure of the video, so we know the order of the shots as they will appear, it doesn't provide us with enough detail to effectively organise our shoot days. This is why, for each shoot day, we had to make a shoot-board/schedule so we know exactly what we are filming and when. This is to help us with time management when filming, so we know exactly how much time we have for setting up, doing make-up and filming each shot, and to make sure we get everything done and don't forget about any shots. 

Here is an example of a shoot-board:


This shoot-board is from Tues 4/11, our first shoot day

The shoot-board includes a description of what each shot is - the shot type (e.g. CU [close-up], ML [mid-long]) and what happens (e.g."pushing cup down" - the girl pushing down the lead's cup as he goes to drink it). Since these descriptions are quite vague we include an image of the shot from our storyboard, so we can visualise exactly what we aim to do. 

The set is also included, and props, so we know what is needed and can set up quickly. The cast and lighting are also mentioned, the time that we plan to film it and the time code (TC) so we know what part of the track we are filming for.

Call Sheets

We made a call sheet for each individual shoot. An example is here:



The call sheet gives information about the location of our shoot, contact numbers of everyone involved (cast, crew, runners), health and safety information and a brief schedule of what we are shooting and when. Props and costumes needed are also listed. The call sheets are useful because having an overview of the essential information for our shoot ensures effective organisation - we know what we need to bring, where we need to be and when.

When we knew what time we had available in the studio, we worked out what set-up we would shoot and when, and how long we would need for filming, make-up and setting up.

Thursday 20 November 2014

Schedule of studio shoots

Here is the schedule we were given showing when the studio is available to us and when we are able to shoot there:





As Group 3, all the purple boxes show when we are set to film there. This shows we will have six shoot days in total:
- Tuesday 4th November
- Friday 7th November
- Wednesday 12th November
- Saturday 15th November
- Tuesday 18th November 
- Friday 21st November

Saturday the 29th of November will also be available for us but we are saving this day for pick ups. 

From this we were able to decide specifically the timings of our shoots and we could go on to organise our call sheets and shoot boards.

Kit List

Here is our final agreed kit list for the production:

CAMERA: Canon 5D Mark II DSLR
LENS: 24mm - 105mm Canon L Lens
TRIPOD: Ball head tripod (Manfrotto 546B with 504HD) + Dolly tripod
LIGHTING: Leapfrog lighting desk + Arri 1000K lights in studio lighting rig, colour filters
PLAYBACK: 50 inch visual playback monitor, 15 inch Macbook Pro + studio sound system 
STUDIO: White floor 

Wednesday 19 November 2014

Props and set design

50s:
Our 50s set will be comprised of a colourful cardboard cut-out jukebox and two cut-outs of 50s-era cars, a red one and a blue one (only the red one is shown below):


We chose these props because since they are only cut-outs they aren't too expensive, and they contribute to an intentionally home-made feel to the video, creating an innocence that fits well with indie pop and our band's image.

In addition they are easily recognisable features of the 1950s:
Collection of 1950s photographs with jukeboxes
Elvis Presley with a jukebox, 1957
Jukebox advert

Photographs of cars in the 1950s - our cut-outs look very similar to these
We are going to position the jukebox in the centre of our set, and some of the choreography will be centred around it. Each car will be on either side of the set in the background.

70s:
For our 70s set we are going to have a disco floor and a disco ball. The disco ball we bought online, but the disco floor we had to make using coloured sugar paper:
Making the disco floor
The 70s set was inspired by our main influence for this era in our video: 70s disco, in particular the film Saturday Night Fever:

Since disco is one of the most recognisable aspects of the 70s, it seemed like an obvious choice for our set, also because it is easily distinguishable from our other eras.

80s:
Our 80s set is quite minimal, because unlike for 50s and 70s there are no especially iconic set designs representing the era that we could have chosen. We based our set design instead on The Breakfast Club, using a bench like the one two characters famously shuffle across in the 80s film:
(the bench itself is not really visible here, but ours will be)
We are using a bench from the gym in the school. 

Another prop for this scene is a book that Juliette's character will be reading, when sitting on the edge of the bench.

90s:
For the 90s set we are going to have a sofa that the characters sit on. This is inspired by our main influence for this era, Friends, and the iconic Central Perk location:

We will also have a coffee table and a mug with the Central Perk logo on it, which Juliette already has and so is able to provide. The reason we are deciding on this is because Friends is a widely recognised part of 90s popular culture, so our audience will be more likely to understand what we are referencing and what era it therefore is. 

Since it will be difficult to bring in an actual sofa we will make one that looks like a real sofa using chairs, cloth and cushions.

To make sure that our set references the 90s as a whole rather than specifically Friends, we are also going to include a boom box, positioned next to the sofa (which will be in the centre of the set). 

Modern:
Our modern set will consist of a zebra crossing, and mobile phones will be used as props. We wanted to include technology in our modern scenes because that is arguably what is most distinguishable about this era, and there is the stereotype that people today (especially teenagers and young adults, our target demographic and the age of the performers) are obsessed with their phones and always using them. The era will therefore be obviously identifiable.

The phones will be literally thrown onto the floor by the performers in this scene, so we are going to use old broken phones that some of us have so it won't matter if they break
The zebra crossing allows for space to focus on the choreography and the performers. There are no specific sets that easily connote the modern era so with an everyday, simple set up like a zebra crossing that our audience will recognise from their everyday lives, they will then be able to identify with this scene. The zebra crossing will be made from black and white paper.

Band:
The set up for the band scenes will be simple: the drums in the back, the guitarist and bassist on either side (with their instruments), and the singer's microphone in the centre (but a little to the side of the drums so Brandon won't be obscured by Jacob).

We will also have an amp behind the guitarist and an amp behind the bassist. We don't want to use ones that are too small so as not to be easily seen or provide an effective background but we also don't want them to be too big to distract from the band members themselves and their instruments. 

The set up of the band is inspired by bands in other music videos, for example, San Cisco in "Awkward":


Here is the bass (left) and guitar (right) we decided on using:


We liked the black and white guitar because the neutral colours match with the white background and also match with the colours I'm wearing, providing a contrast between the black and white of the guitar and the pink colour of my outfit.

I offered this bass to be used as well:


The other bass (provided by Juliette) we decided was better. It is more interesting than the plain black bass, so our band looks more easily identifiable and unique as well. 

We are going to use a microphone like the one in San Cisco's music video for "Fred Astaire":

This gives our music video a more 'indie' look and also looks more original and interesting than a normal microphone, so it is likely to be more memorable.