Research Presentation.

Editing Process 2.

How does your media product represent the star image and how this is branded?
We used a pop song for our video, so therefore it is a pop video. We have used 4 different sets, including pink girly set, UV lights, Blinders and projections. By using these sets, along with the costume and make up, our artist looks very desirable, so therefore fans/audience want to look and be like her, so therefore we have created a star image. 

Who do you think you are trying to appeal to with the edited video?
Originally, I thought that our artist would appeal to both girls and boys from ages 13 upwards, However, after our audience feedback session, my view on this has changed. I think are video would be more appealing to young girls aged 8 upwards as it is very girly and fun and the song is repetitive, but I thin a few boys may find her appealing as teenage boys could easily fancy her. 

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this?

Editing Process.

Some see editing as the most crucial stage of production, it involves  is assembling shots to create a sequence.  

In our first session, we went up to the edit suite and watched all of our footage since we filmed the video. We were surprised at how good it looked. This is all we done in this session as we didn't have a lot of time. We done this organise the clips and to see which ones we would like to use and which ones we wouldn't be using. 

In the next session, we picked the footage that was best and what we liked most and then we added them to the time line and synced them up. The time line is a way of laying out the clips to make it clearer to view and edit. We began messing around with the order of our clips and decided that we wanted to show the girly set first. The music track was the first thing we added to the timeline as it made it easier to sync up our clips so the lip syncs are also in time. In this session we also renamed our clips to make it easier to see what was what, for example, we called one of our clips 'close up girly set' which was a close up of the artist in the girly set. 

In the third session, we began to cut our footage, we cropped shots so they were in time with the song and also some shots had parts of good footage, but the rest of it was, for example, accidentally filming or when she got the words wrong, so we cropped the good parts out so they were still usable. We thought this was going to be quite easy as we had already lined up and synced the our footage onto the timeline, so we thought it would just be a case of cutting and moving clips around. However, it proved to be more difficult than that. It was very hard trying to find a clip to use at the start as we didn't want to give away all the sets, so we were just going to use the girly set, but in the intro our artist wasn't moving, so it looked like the video had froze, we then tried to use clips from another set, However, she wasn't moving in them either. We used the razor tool to cut our clips. This also helped us with composition as it made us realise that going from a long shot to a close up wouldn't work as it looked wrong and out of place, so this really made us consider the order of shots we were using. 

In the next session, we decided to leave the beginning as we were wasting our time trying to find something to put there, so we began using other footage and editing that to the rest of the song. Originally, we just picked shots and laid them on the timeline but to try and organise it, we put them in order of shots we thought we would use first, but this was a bad idea. Especially as once we had finished our rough cut and re edited it, this order completely changed so that was a waste of time. 

So far, we haven't added any effects as we have just finished our video today, so I am sure that within the next week, we will be adding these. We also didn't add any effects such as cross fade of dissolve when editing, this is because our song is very fast paced and upbeat and we wanted to cut to the beats, so we used straight cuts to re in force the beat in the track. However, at the end of the video, we used a fade to black to create mystery. 

To film the video, we used a Canon 5D and to edit the video, we used Adobe Premier Cut on a mac computer. 

Showing our focus group our Rough Cut

We got a focus group together to show them our rough cut video and ask for their feedback. Below is our rough cut.

Below are the videos of our audiences feedback:

We asked a group of both girls and boys to watch our video. This is because we thought our video would mainly appeal to younger girls, However, to clarify that, we asked some boys to watch to hear their opinions, which we found out were that it is more appealing to younger girls. They thought it didn't appeal to boys as it was too girly/feminine and as it only features girls in the video, they thought it was more about female empowerment, which is what we thought originally although they didn't think it was cliche and was still visually appealing. 

We asked what they liked about the video, the girls really liked the upside down shots of Sasha, our artist, on the chair as it looked quite artistic and the boys thought that the cuts of the UV shots worked well, we also like the cutting of these shots between the blinders set, so in our next cut we are going to try and include more of these cuts and also include much quicker cutting as the audience felt some of the duration of the shots were quite long and went on for a lot of time especially as it is a fun up beat song, it becomes slightly boring watching the same thing for a long time. We already thought this before we showed them our rough cut, However,we didn't have enough time to cut the whole video and we also just wanted to get a second opinion incase we cut it all and the audience felt it didn't look right. However, someday said it might be a good idea to do a lot of quick cuts together, and then one long duration shot to allow the audience to soak it up, so this is something we can try and experiment with to see if it works or not.

Our feedback group also felt that our artist had an appealing image, which is what we were hoping for, they thought this was due to the female empowerment with using all the pink props and costumes, the throne, the crown, the flowers,the make up etc- they all contribute to making her appealing.

Our group also said after seeing this video/hearing the track, they wouldn't go and buy the album but that was just down to their music taste but they thought other people would defiantly buy the album. Overall, our feedback was very positive.

By doing this feedback group, we got to clarify a lot of things we already thought, but we also got to hear different and opinions that we can experiment with to try and make our video better and more appealing. 

Name Change.

The original name for our artist was ISIS, this is as it meant the goddess of flowers/nature, hence why we decided to include the crown and the flowers in our girly set. However, since filming our video, the tragic events have happened in Paris so we have decided to change our name. 
We still wanted to keep a short name, so after researching for a while, we came across the name Isadora.

My DigiPak Album Cover Idea.

My Idea:
This was a photo I found online that I liked and thought would look good someway on the digipak. I added a effect on the photo and then also added a smoke effect  but made it transparent so therefore it isn't as obvious on the cover. Next I made both sides of the flowers pixalated and added text. I made the name of the artist and the song title/album name in the same font to make it look neat. However, I made the song title/album name much bigger and bolder than the artist name. Infact, I think that the artist name is maybe a little faint and unreadable so when creating the final digipak, this will be something to be wary off. Lastly, I added another effect to make it stand out. If I was creating another front cover, I would consider including a crown to incorporate the goddess element, the flowers also tie in with the video, which i'm not sure is a good or bad idea. Below is the final result:

Lara's Idea:

George's Idea::

Georgie's Idea:

Write up of shoot day.

What did you do the day before, to set up for your shoot day?

We met at 3pm in the studio the day before out shoot to ensure that we had time to set up and make sure everything was ready to make sure that our shoot would run smoothly. This consisted of us unpacking and making our paper tissue lanterns, this took around half an hour and there was three of us doing it but it took quite a long time to make one flower and make it look good, but by 3 of us doing it at the same time, this speeded things up. Next, we swept the floor to make sure it was clean and white and would look good on camera, and finally, the most time consuming job was wallpapering our set. We began to do this at 5:30, leaving only half an hour for us to wallpaper it all, we had to cut the wallpaper and then use paste to put it on the wall, we left school at 6 and left half of wall paper undone which was a bit of a problem. 

How did you feel when you woke up on the morning of the shoot day?

On the morning of the shoot, I was nervous but excited as I have only ever filmed my thriller last year and apart from that I haven't filmed anything, so I was excited to be filming it especially as it was our idea that we had created from scratch so I was excited to see what the final out come would look like. 

How well prepared were you when you arrived for the shoot, what did you have to do before you could start shooting?

I would say that we were very well prepared as we made sure we had all the costumes etc the day before and that they were all in school so if we had forgot anything then we could bring it in on the morning of the shoot. Thankfully, the set designer, Jacqueline had wall papered the rest of the set for us, but when we got to the studio in the morning, we still had to bring in the throne and then we decided to add lights to it, which took a lot of time, we had to staple the flowers to the wall and we also had to wait for the make up artist to do the artists make up. Therefore, instead of starting at 8:45, we started at around 10.

Describe what the studio looked like when you started to shoot, how well do you feel you managed to create this look for your concept?

We first set up our girly set and we were unsure on how it was going to look as we wanted to hire a throne, but instead we found one in the props at school, it didn't look exactly how we wanted, which was annoying, however, we added some lights on it to make it look better and it looked really good. We were also surprised at how good the flowers turned out, as we wanted a real flower wall but it was going to cost too much money and we didn't have the budget for it, so we used the tissue pom pom flowers, which turned out great, and they were also bigger, so it filled more of the wall, so overall, we were really happy with how the set turned out.

How did you divide the roles on your shoot day? What roles did you play?

We decided to pick 4 roles that we all really liked and as there was 4 of us in the group, we just rotated roles each times the set changed. The roles were; playback, camera man, director and creative director. The roles that I liked most were creative director, as I always had to be alert to make sure there were no continuity issues and everything looked right, I also liked being the director because I shouted the instructions out whilst watching what was being filmed on the camera, on the TV screen, so I could see exactly how it was going to look in the actual video.  

What do you think that you personally did particularly well?

I think I was quite good at being creative director, this is probably as enjoyed doing it and I liked to check the sets, make up and costumes and make sure there was no wardrobe malfunctions etc.

What problems did you have on the shoot day and how did you solve them?
When checking the costumes, one of the problems we had was the white leotard that we wanted to use on the projections set, was really really see through and with the shapes being projected onto her, it really didn't look good- so we decided to put her in a white top and jeans, so the outfit was still all white, however, it wasn't see through. Another problem was because we started so late, each of our sets over ran, meaning we were meant to finish at 3, and didn't finish until 4:30 and one of our dancers were also called to Grease rehearsals so therefore, we were a dancer short, so we just had to film each dancer on their own in the UV set. 

Which part of the shoot do you wish had gone better and why?
I wish that we had managed our time better as the end of filming felt quite rushed and we only filmed 2 shots in the projections set, which didn't matter too much as both shots were really good, but I would have liked it if it didn't feel as rushed. 

How well do you think you managed your talent?
At first, I think we were overwhelmed with what to do, but we talked over our plan of the day and then made sure we knew what everyone was doing and where everyone had to be, so after that, I think we managed our talent effectively, it was just taking a long time in make up. 

What was the part of the shoot that you enjoyed the most?
All though I enjoyed all of the shoot, I was really surprised at how the UV make up and costumes turned out, so it was really cool to see that on the camera, and we shot this just after lunch, so everyone felt refreshed as we had just had a break and we really wanted it to look good. 




What are you looking forward to seeing the most in the edit?
I am looking forward to see the final video, but I am also really looking forward to seeing the UV set because when we filmed it, it looked really good, especially the hands when we painted them in orange UV paint.

How well do you feel that your production group worked as a team?
I think our group worked really really well as we are a group of 4, quite laid back, girls who all had similar ideas so I am really happy that I decided to move to this group earlier on, as originally, I wasn't in their group.

Are there any changes you might need to make to your website and artwork, in order for them to fit in with the video that you have shot?
We didn't really have an idea set in stone for the digi pack and website, so we don't really need to change anything to make it fit as our ideas were really vague, but now we have the video and especially once it is all edited, I'm sure we will take elements from the video and in corporate that in the website and digi pack.

Roles on Set on Shoot Day.

We decided to pick 4 roles that we all really liked and as there was 4 of us in the group, we just rotated roles each times the set changed. The roles were; playback, camera man, director and creative director. On the girly set, I was the director, which consisted of me shouting out instructions to the artist (Sasha) and then watching how it looked on the camera, on the TV screen. On the blinders set, I was the cameraman, I enjoyed this, but not as much as other roles, this is because I felt as if I was constantly glued to the camera and couldn't actually look at what was going on on the set. In the UV set, I was playback, so I made sure that the iPad was infront of the camera so we could see the numbers, so it is easier when editing and finally, in the projections set, I was creative director and once we sorted out the see through costumes and figured out what we were going to do with the chair, there weren't any more problems. The roles that I liked most were creative director, as I always had to be alert to make sure there were no continuity issues and everything looked right, I also liked being the director because I shouted the instructions out whilst watching what was being filmed on the camera, on the TV screen, so I could see exactly how it was going to look in the actual video,

Shot List.

First Idea for DigiPak cover.

This is our first rough sketch of our Album Cover. We decided to use the wall of flowers to link it into the video. The name ISIS also means godess of Nature so that is another reason why we incorporated the flowers into the cover and we also used the crown to show the Godess.We also liked the idea of having the silhoutte of the artist as then it is more intriguing for the audience as they dont know much about the artist so may want to buy the album to find out more, making more money for the artist, this would also look like the blinders set However, we felt that it looked too similar to the music video and this is something that we don't want, therefore, we are going to sketch another idea once we are back from half term and when all of our group is back.

Our First Dance Rehearsal

Anamatic Feedback

We asked the girls these questions to see how we could improve our video:
1. Do you think we need less or more of the artist lip syncing?

2. Do you think it cuts to the beat effectively?

3. Do you find it visually interesting?

4. Do you think we can do anything interesting with the lips?

5. Do we need a motif?

6. Would extended/ complicated choreography interest you more? 

7. Is it too repetitive? 

8. Is there anything you think that doesn't work?

9. Do you think the shots should be shorter?

10. What is your favourite set and why?
11. What star image are we trying to represent?
12. Is there anything unconventional? 

Meeting with Set and Lighting Designer.

Yesterday, we had a meeting witha professional set designer from South London and a professional lighting designer from North London. 
We showed them our prop and lighting list to find out how much of our idea/vision would actually be able to be made possible. From the meeting we also found out what props we/the school need to get and what they will get for us. My group need to organise buying the paper pom pom lanterns, which we are planning on buying from Amazon and a Tiara, which we are also going to buy off amazon. We also need to find an old Brown armchair, which we found on FreeCycle, but we need to find a method of picking it up and getting it to school as it is in Caterham at the moment. Finally, we/the school need to find somewhere to buy or hire a throne chair from-which is what we are researching at the moment, trying to find the best deals and cheapest prices.
We decided to change our floor from swirly wallpaper, to pale pink or off white in the girly set as we think the wallpaper may look too much and take away from the flowered wall, so the set designer told us to pick a plain colour but she said white didn't look great on camera, so we therefore decided on Off White or Pale Pink floor 

Costumes and Make up Ideas.

Girly Set:

White and Pink to keep it girly and the crown to represent the godess element of the artist.

UV Set:

Black and White striped dress as then it will stand out in the UV lights. 

UV paint used for make up to make it visually appealing to watch. 











Blinders Set:

Plain clothes as we will only be able to see the outline of the artist and dancers, so we wanted to keep it quite simple as you wont actually be able to see- as long as they were all the same. 








Projections Set:

A White leotard so we are able to project things onto it\her easily. Might be too see through when it arrives and therefore we will just use a white top and jeans. 

Make up like this as it fits with black and white theme in projections. 

Polydor Talk.

Today we had a talk from Poldor records. A girl named Emily Teldor came in to talk to us about her job as a video comissioner and the music industry in general. Below are some notes I took on the talk.

• Polydor is a subsidairy to Universal. 
• In the industry at the moment, it is popular for music videos to include a narrative structure. This is because the producers want to show this in thier portfolios. 
• The comissioners put together a brief from the ideas that the directors come up with and send it out to usually around 10 producers who are then given 1 week to reply with a treatment.
• The comissioners job is to represent the artist. As there is a lot of different people working on the video, everyone needs to know what is going on and what time etc 
• To make sure that the artist is happy, usually the director and artist will lialise with their ideas so that they are both happy. 
• The single would usually come out on radio 6 weeks before it was released to build a buzz around the song and artist, but now, to try and cut down illegal downloads, the single is pretty much released as soon as it plays on radio- this doesnt affect the single, but it does affect the artist, as people dont have the time to establish the artist, they just want the song. 

We watched two very different videos that they had comissioned:

Wiley- SKANK

And Years and Years- KING

Cast List.

We also found out our cast list in the lesson today- the girls in our video are;

Anjuli Vadera
Vogue Phelps 
Charlotte McGee
Natasha Christianson
Maddy Bowyer 

We are going to take photos of them on Thursday(3:10-4:55) to post on our blog and see what make up we can use on which girl. We are also going to have our first rehearsal on Thursday to show them the choreography. We will also have rehearsals on the first Monday and Tuesday back to make sure everyone knows the dance etc. 
We sent an email to confirm this...

After the rehearsal, we decided we wanted to recast our girls, we changed our mind to having only 3 short blonde girls as this made the dance look sharper and neater and all the girls looked the same which was more visually appealing. Therefore, our new cast list was...

Sasha Ward Smith (artist)

Vogue Phelps (Dancer 1)

Maddie Bowyer (Dancer 2)