MUSIC VIDEO

FINALLY! Here it is! Our final piece :D

Reportage - All you need is NOW!

Editing is done!

We have finished our editing! Matt and Luke had a final look at it and said everything is perfect that means we can improve the quality to be High Definition and upload it to YouTube to show the audiences the work we have done!
Finally! 

CD Digipack photoshop

Photoshop software is a harsh thing for us, as no one knows how to use it in our group, so our working is going slow enough. The front cover was chosen and we started making the girls even more beautiful then they are. Tried some filters on , however haven't decided on one yet! Work in progress!:)

Working on a website

Today we have done some new contribution to the image of our website on WIX.com. Uploaded some of the images we have done ourselves from the IPhone of the shooting day, and also some stills we did on the day on his camera.
We added small images on the very first page of the website and also to the Gallery!
Written some information about our final editing things, and write twitts for the fans to look forward for the video as it will come up soon!:)

http://genevievecorich.wix.com/repotage1

Good News!

Ted Jackson had a look at our video, and enjoyed it a lot! He said he knows somebody from Duran Duran, so after we do the whole video, he will give it to them! Maybe we can even have some feedback from the real artist! That's thrilling! Looking forward!:)

Editing in progress - modeling shots

In order to not ruin everything we have done, we had to collect and group the modelling shots separately on another sequence that we called 5D models. Afterwards, we have found the place, time and shots we need to backspace and put the modelling instead and corrected them, without damaging all the rest of the shots we had. That wasn't difficult, we just needed to make sure that everything is on place in the right second of the sequence! :D

Editing in a new way

Today we had to edit in a new way, because we showed Luke what we have done so far, until the second verse and he gave us advice to out the modelling shots less randomly. We inserted them a lot everywhere, however we need to find a specific beat/place/section in the song where we would every time have just modelling shots separately.
So, as we put them in the very beginning of the song where the was no lyrics, we decided to insert modelling shots in the same beat every time now and again, so that it will make the video more repetitive and intense! Looks much better that way!  Audience will not be confused but enjoy every second of beauty of the girls!

Matt and Luke's feedback

Matt and Luke had a look at what we've done so far and made a huge contribution to our future editing by giving us some advices!

• We have a lot of random shots that look nice overall, however all the video becomes more interesting by the end, because shots cut quicker and therefore attracts the eye and interest. We have to cut the long shots and make video more dynamic!
• It looks better when the shots are "grouped", so when you can hear the base clearly you have to show ECU of the base guitarist playing then her face and a wide shot of her (everything quickly) than it makes it less random and adds the dynamic as well, making it also more vivid! In order to do that we will have to start everything from the very beginning, however the point is very important and it will actually look better that way, so we already started changing the editing!
• Modelling shots are very beautiful and look real, so we have to put more of them in, and when there is no lyrics in the song it is the best place to insert the modelling shots, as it works nicely in couple! 
• Our music video is one of the most beautiful out of all, and will definitely look pretty, as it already looks very good! Matt and Luke are glad to work on it. We just need to make it more interesting and dynamic. This is the kind of video boys would like to show to their friends and girls would like to admire! 

We are very happy to hear such an excellent feedback, it motivated us a lot! And we will do our best to improve our editing skills, and make the video look excellent!:)

Adding modelling shots

We started adding the modelling shots. Firstly, we had to name them all as a lot of them are really long and not relevant staff going on in there, so it will save our time later on, when we will insert them in our  video.

Afterwards, we started inserting them gradually in, however it is very difficult as the rough cut seems to match all the moments, and it is not that easy to decide which parts you don't like in it and can change for the modelling shots. However, modelling makes the video more vivid and beautiful. All the girls are very natural and look free and confident that makes video look even better!

Strengths and Weaknesses of the rough cut

All the shots look nice, and on the right place. Everything is synced perfectly, and appears on time. When the rhythm is very quick we change the shots instantly that add dynamic to the overall image of the video. The band members look incredible, each of them knows what to do, and look like real professionals in the shot, that contributes to the image of video as it makes it look more like an actual music video.
Unfortunately, the modelling shots were not included yet, as we didn't have enough time to do that. The wide shots look very good, however some of the CU and ECU shots do not match with the music, and so we need to work more on them. FinalCutPro is very good and not that complicated program that provides us with all we need. We blade any shot we want whenever we want, with no harm, moving them, syncing and inserting them we it is needed. So, we will manage to do clear up all the mistakes we have this week!

Our rough cut is extremely rough, as it lacks a lot, however still those who have seen it all like it, and the song matches the picture perfectly, so we are looking forward to make it a masterpiece soon!

Continuing to edit

We are running out of time, however the job has to be done perfectly! It is very difficult to sync all the bits of the song together, as we have 3 different parts of the video to edit:

1. Full make up on
2. Lipstick on
3. No make up on

The reason for that is our main concept and idea of the video, we want to give to the audience! So, we filmed all the parts separately with the different tracks of our song, that we previously cut into pieces and therefore we need to sync the beats for the song separately for each part.

That is very difficult as the song is very dynamic and repetitive, the beat is very clearly heard all the time, and happens very often therefore shots has to be changed on it.

It is also very difficult to sync the shots of Anastasia as she cannot actually play the drums, and sometimes didn't do that with the rhythm, and beside the fact the shots of her are synced it is not always the case that she is playing the right way. So, we needed to find pretty parts of her playing separately and then insert them into the footage. 

Editing in process!

Started the editing of the band shots. We are not using the modelling shots yet, as in the rough cut we don't need them, and we don't have enough time to do that as well. It is a time-consuming process to find all the beats we need, mark them and decided what exactly we would like to see and for how long. The video is going to look very good, as girls are beautiful and this is a very big pleasure to edit it, as all the shots are brilliant, we just need to sort them out and "put in the right places" on the music and lyrics!:)

Editing

On Tuesday we started lip synching all of the full makeup section this took us a long time as it is a very tedious process and if it isn't perfect then the whole music video is not going to look good.  However it was very nice to do this as we realised just how amazing all of our shot are and the music video is definitely going to look incredible!!! 

Questions for the feedback

Feedback form for our rough cut

Please answer truthfully to these questions as it important that we know what you think so as to improve our video.

What do you think is the main theme of our music video?

What do you like the best thing about our video? 

What do you think we could do better in our video (editing wise)?

Is there anything that we could do to convey our theme better?

Do you like the video overall?

Thank you for having taken the time to watch our video and having filled in this form Ottavia, Genevieve, Tilly, Liza

Rough cut - Editing started

We've started the editing yesterday. Had a look through all the shots and binned them into bins such as "make up", "no make up" etc. Because it is crucial for the editing as our music video will start with the girls with make up on, and then they gradually loose it.
We also renamed all the shots for the convenience of it, so that we can easily find which shot of which girl we need.

Evaluation of Research & Planning

Website

We've started working on our website appearance and possibilities. With the help of Wix.com we will create our front cover. Here is what we've got so far. We need to add the pictures of the band, we are waiting for to have from our photographer Calvin.

Twitter & Merchandise

We've created a merchandising T-Shirts for fans of our band, and just basically to distribute them to the audience through the website in order to promote our band Reportage!
We will upload that to our website, to contribute to it image and appearance.

 Here is a twitter page we've done for  the Band:) This will provide the audience a very quick access to the news and what is going on with every girl from the band through the website. Audience can also find out about the music preferences of Reportage's girls, via looking at those who they follow.!

Music promo - Write up of shoot day

Clothing:

• The process of preparing for the shoot day took us a long time, as a very important aspect was to have everything to look like desired. We've previously ordered all the costumes (trousers, blazers) and asked band members to bring their own white shirts and high heels shoes. That was a necessity as we wanted them to look absolutely the same, to create an androgynous kind of look, as well as very high classy, that wouldn't be possible if they were wearing different jackets and trousers. However, unfortunately, we've ordered 5 trousers, only 3 arrived, therefore Drummer and Keyboard player had to wear their own ones, that look nice anyway! So, it worked!
• We also borrowed make up sets form Loz (theatre department) and a mirror ball, that we didn't use afterwards.
• Clothing rail was constructed for all the costumes to be managed nicely, as there were a lot changing and beautiful dresses that had to be stored accurately. 
• Make up sets were ready for Ottie, who was responsible for the make up, which is an important aspect of the shoot because girls are going to be gradually loosing the make up in the song, as it is initial point of the overall concept of the beauty.

Stage:

• We built up our stage and put up a white background in order for the girls to look brighter and contrast with a white back. Also, it would add to our initial idea of the photo shoot. 
• We managed to create the right look, and even better. 
• Cast list was a bang on for us. Camera loved all the girls and they knew what to do, and what affect should be created for the audience. We showed the a video of Robert Palmer's - Addicted to love, so that they understand approximately the level of sexiness they should have. It was a lot about the image. They successfully attained everything                      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcATvu5f9vE   

Shooting:

• Every each of us took part in directing the shooting. We all gave suggestions and opinions of what we would like to see, and managed the overall process. Additionally, I personally was responsible for the music, managing the playback. 
• The most successful part is the image we managed to create. All girls looked perfect and beautiful. They all were tall and matching together. 
• One of our sets was impossible to be done (backstage shots with the mirror), because the mirror and all that set wasn't provided at all. We also couldn't do the proper look of the photo shoot we wanted, because we didn't have enough time, however we made some videos of girls posing, so that it will actually look like a combination of the backstage and the photo shoot. All the actors understood what it should be like, so that it was excellent!
• We took a lot of CU, ECU of different parts of the body of the girls, especially shoes, as they all were very beautiful, so that we can edit them anywhere in the final piece, without ruining the continuity.
• We have a very good detailed band shots, so that the editing process will be time-consuming, and we hope it won't going to look boring, as there are not much action going on. 
• However, the picture is very beautiful, so we think the audience will enjoy the video, as it is very appealing!
• We are looking forward to the editing, because it will be a challenge to combine both scenes together they way it doesn't confuse the audience
• Furthermore, we asked Calvin(AS student of photography) to make the pictures of us working and some pictures of girls for the CD Digipack's cover and booklet. 
• We all worked very good as a team, and didn't have any problems, finding each other very involved in the process and getting to the same goal. it would be good if we were a little bit more prepared in terms of time, as we didn't know we didn't have a lot. As we looked through the shots we've done, we can clearly see that our intentions succeeded and the overall concept of beautiful fashionista girls was achieved so that we don't need to change anything in our digipack or website artwork.                                                                         

Build Day

The Build Day took a lot of effort. We had to build the whole stage because that is the main set we have in the music video, make sure all the music instruments are on places, I personally borrowed a keyboard from my friend, that took some time. Then we sorted out the costumes, and brought them all in the studio, so that they are ready for the band members to be worn on the shooting day.
Main issues were:

• We covered the basement of the stage with big white pieces of the cardboard. Afterwards, in order to make the stage round, and two layered we added wooden half-circle pieces around it, that we previously painted with the white paint. It was a time-consuming thing to do.
• The mirror ball had to be put up, however we didn't really use it after in the shooting. The lightning was discussed and set for the next day!
• The clothing rail was put up and the costumes were arranged on it for the girls to easily change the outfits.
• Make up sets were borrowed from theatre department. Jewellery and make up was sorted for each member of the group, as well as personal red attributes every girl had on for the shooting to contribute to the overall image consistency.

Although we were absolutely ready for the next day, we were absolutely exhausted and extremely thrilled. .

Red is the colour :)

Here are the things we are going to emphasis on. Red atributes for each member of the band :) They look NIIIIICEEEE 

CD Digi Pack Templates

Here are the templates for our CD digipack!

Letter to a record company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

S-Curve Records

RE: Permission to use music track for student music video.

To whom it may concern,

We are a group of A Level students working on an A Level project for a qualification in Media Studies. We are writing to request permission to use the following track as part of this project:

All you need is now – Duran Duran, off the 2010 album All you need is now.

With your permission the track would be used as the accompaniment to a short form video that is made purely for assessment purposes and will have no commercial usage. The video will be viewed only by members of the school community and the assessor of the examination board.

The artist and the copyright holder will of course be fully recognised in the pre-production and evaluation material that accompanies the project. We can also include a full copyright notice if required both in the planning material and on the video itself.

Yours sincerely

Genevieve Corich Van der Bas, Tilly Guttridge, Ottavia Derossi and Liza Ievtukhova
Hurtwood House School

Album name brainstorming

What pops up in your head when you think of a word "Reportage"???

Here is the image of our spider diagram for the name of the album. The most appropriate one, we all like most of all, and which sounds good with the name of our band is Exclusive jealousy. Isn't that nice???  Reportage - Exclusive jealousy. Creates a connotation of something bad and sinful, however it is not an ordinary thing, it is exclusive, therefore makes the audience think of something untouchable and unreal. Only VIP has that. You are going to become one of them as long as you buy and listen to our band!

Clothing

We've decided to buy some of our clothes in order for our band to have that properly fashion and androgynous look, but not cheap. We have already bought black jackets, we are going to fit on the girls, so that they don't look like a borrowed once. 
http://www.clothingattesco.com/coats+jackets/f+f-basic-jacket/invt/br211074/

Additionally, shoes are one of our issues, as we are going to have a lot of shots of girl beautiful and skinny legs, therefore they all have to wear sane ones. We couldn't find or ask them to buy same shoes, so we will buy for them same ones  shortly. Here is the link of the shoes we might going to buy online, but we also went to Guildford to find some and found another nice heels, which are our potential twos. They are definitely will be black to match with the suit, and very high heels!
http://www.matalan.co.uk/fcp/product/fashion-to-buy-online/%3Cb%3E%3Cu%3EALL-FOOTWEAR%3C/b%3E%3C/u%3E/Pointy-Toe-Stiletto-in-Black/57993&resultsPerPage=100&attrList=Dept,brand




 

Inspiration for the album cover

 Mina's studio collection album cover was one of the covers that made us think about the perfect look of ECU of the face or a part of the face with the object for the beautiful object for the consumers to pay attention on. Also, that diamond thing emphasis her beauty and overall star image of a fate woman.

The Reminder album cover by Feist added to our desire to have only girl on the cover. The black and white colours look very nice, we might going to use them as well, as our media shoot will be with black and white colours as main.

Again, black and white albums 3 and Nouvelle Vague by Nouvelle Vague with only one colour bright pink and blue that makes a contrast with it, we might going to use it as well. An an interesting way they put the face on it, it is a photo, however with a special effect that makes it look more interesting and unusual.

The way in which the photo is ‘layered’ in Waldeck’s album Ballroom Stories creates an interesting effect that we might replicate in ours.

Le Grand Sophie - "et si c'etait" album has a combination of a photo and a painting, that makes it look fashion and art, that adds the interest to our fans, and especially creative people.

That image inspired us to have the front cover with the Polaroid image of the lead singer on it. We are going to take blank Polaroid slide and just photoshop it with the best images of  Sunshine(lead singer) and maybe add some drawing effects on top or around the Polaroid picture for the cover to be more interesting and creative! 

 

Album cover reasearch&development

This week we entirely dedicated ourselves, apart from theory lessons, to creating CD digipack image for our band Reportage! 

Here are the initial points we like the most and would like to have in a final piece:

• We don't want to have all the band on the cover (it can be just Sunshine-main singer or ECU of something we can emphasis on like a bow or tie, or whatever attribute our girls are going to have in a real shoot)
• We've changed our minds by swapping from the CU of the face thing with one part undone and the second with make up on as pretty much the same thing was in Bionic Chrstina's Aguillera album cover and loads of others as well.
• I've given the idea which was supported by all the rest of the group that we want to have all the girls images separately in the foldout booklet, with either lyrics of one of the songs, or a few thankful words to the audience with a signature underneath, so that it will make the audience closer to the stars, generate the fan base and therefore promote the album and make it more valuable.
• My another idea of the album cover was a Michael Jackson style thing. We can make Sunshine standing alone on the stage in the straw of the light on her, with either no other girls at all, or only their shadows behind.

 

Health & Safety checks videos

Risk Assessment & Health and Safety checks

Risk Asessment Table

Shoot Schedule Sheets

Shoot Schedule Sheets Shoot Schedule Sheets -1 Shoot Schedule Sheets

Shot List

Shot List

Websites of the real artists

http://www.thesaturdays.co.uk/
"The Saturdays" band is pretty much similar to our "Reportage" girls. I like their website very much, especially the first page, where they are presented in a very beautiful appearance, they all are in different poses, that makes them look quite natural, it connotes that the website is about them real, not only the artist side, but the real-life one. Who are they actually, what do they like and so on. The website contains the pages about every girl separately, there is their twitter account and a link to the account in YouTube where they do the on-line conferences, that makes their audience and fans find out more about their private life and ask any questions. That website matches specifically with our band website as "The Saturdays" are as well fashion interested ladies, and emphasise, as well on the beautiful look, but not only talent and art the create.

http://www.jmonae.com/
Another example is Janelle Monae's website. According to Richard Dyer's theory she is an organic artist, her talent is an essential feature of her star image. Her website reflects the idea of our band website because it is all in Black and White and this is what we want to make with our band. They all are going to be dressed in black and white colours, as well as musical instruments. She also wears the androgen style suits, and these are the costumes that our band is wearing, and their star image. This is their kind of fashionista preferences, that match with Janelle's.

http://www.pinkspage.com/uk

Additionally, P!nk is the artist we reflect upon our band. She is a rock singer, and her songs are rock, with the notes of pop, that adds to her ability to widen the target audience. There is a higher fan base, and that is what we see our band "reportage" to be seen by the audience. They sing quite a rock songs, however we want them to be popular among the pop lowers, especially as their star image is not only about the music but appearance as well. She may sometimes be awfully dressed, as a punk, but as she is  getting older she becomes more female looking and beautiful, as well as our girls. Her website is really cool, all her images are beautiful, she is a lady in dresses that makes her look nicer and adds to the females audience, as they want to look like her, and males are admiring her prettiness. It also done in Black and White but with pink colours only, to emphasis on her name and make a connotation for the users. She also has her store on the website, where it is available to buy her albums in different formats, whether CD or vinyl, which is very suitable and interesting.

The star Image

The star image of our band "Reportage" is a very high class, trendy, fashionable young females, who are not only attractive, but intelligent and politically and socially involved! By their appearance and actions they are challenging social norms. This is what you are going to see in the music video itself. We can't make them to serious as it will reduce the popularity of the brand. So, they are going to have a fashionably retro look.

Caro Emerald's kind of style.