Production Diary

Entry 1

Date: Thursday 10th October

Location: Hunstanton Beach

I began filming on Thursday 10th October, I had planned to use the beach as my location in order to ensure that my product would be appealing to my target audience. In my questionnaire, I had found out that the beach was an attractive location for  a pop music which is why I wanted to do it. I had hoped for a fairly clear but cold day so that the actors could look happy and cosy as they got to know each other, thus showing the first steps in a relationship. However, unfortunately, the weather was not in my favour. I had known that there would be issues with the wind after doing my test shots - I had not taken into account however, the extremity that British coastal winds can reach. This I found out when I reached the location for filming; due to deadlines, I needed to make sure the first part of my filming was done. Luckily, the rain held off for just enough time for me to get the shots I needed. Although, the weather did not make filming easy as I couldn't position the actors without someone holding on to the camera and tripod. The wind was so strong that the actors found it difficult to concentrate; this made filming very difficult. It was surprising that I was actually able to film as when getting into Hunstanton, the car we were in was moving because of the gusts of wind. This was very worrying, and as we got out and went down to the beach the wind was blowing the tripod so much that I almost decided not to go ahead with the filming. However, as I stationed the tripod and was able to get one of my actors to hold it, I was able to see the scene clearly and decided that the colder and more harsh kind of weather would work just as well, but add a different kind of point in the narrative of the music video. This is because the use of this unpleasant weather implies that it wasn't a very good "first date" but I got shots of the two laughing, and cuddling as they looked out across the horizon. This then reiterates the idea that the couples have to "Hold On" in order to make it through. So although, the weather on the set date of initial filming was not what I had planned for the video, I changed the ideas behind it and decided to go ahead with the filming.

Entry 2

Tuesday 15th October

Due to recent events, I am going to have to change my casting, this is because many of my original cast are now unable to go ahead with the filming. I will get around this problem by finding other people to complete the filming with. This is an issue as it sets me back quite a bit as now I need to find new cast members as well as brief them on what the video is about and the characters that they will be playing. I intend to overcome this by finding new people as soon as possible and giving them an overview of the whole video which will include the character brief. I think that if I aim to do this by next week, I should hopefully be able to get the filming done soon after. A benefit of the cross-cutting style of video that I intend to produce is that the characters don't need to be on screen for too long; this means that I can get different parts of the filming done quite easily and as they are only short clips, this will be easy to film as well as get the actors to make the time.

Entry 3

Friday 18th October

Location: Studio setting - music room

I decided that the sooner I could get on with my filming the better, I've realised quite how much needs to be done as much of my filming involves different people and different locations. This makes things very difficult, I decided to get some filming done as soon as I could. The opportunity arose and I took it, however, this did mean that I was not as prepared as I would have liked to have been. I was fortunate that the setting I had wanted to use was available on short notice. However, having it on such short notice meant that the room was quite unorganised and I had to spend a lot of time re-organising it which set me back quite a bit. Although I had expected that I would need to rearrange it slightly, but I still had to spend a fair amount of time reorganising it. This meant that the time I was able to spend filming was limited. It was also not helped that the tripod I was using for the camera was fairly loose and so the camera often slipped down which also caused me to spend much more time filming. However, I was able to overcome this problem by ensuring that I positioned my actor and the props before I was ready to film, this gave me more time to change certain parts of the scene before filming and gave me more time to get the camera in place, which I had to hold on to the tripod the whole time of filming because of the issues with the tripod. This filming session was particularly difficult as I encountered numerous problems, an example of this would be the size of the room that we were filming in. Unfortunately, due to lack of preparation I couldn't choose the room I was in and so ended up in a relatively cramped room, thus making getting the tripod out and getting the right amount in the shot quite difficult. I overcame this by experimenting with the tripod and ended up being able to make the legs come in closer so that I had more room to get more in the shot.

I used my main actor who plays the artist, James Turner, in this filming sessions. I decided to film the in-between parts of the narrative, the focus on the artist parts. This was difficult because I had chosen to use this studio-set-up-scene for the parts where the artist sings and thus making my video conventional for the pop genre. I needed to ensure that the lip-syncing would fit to the timings of the songs, to do this I played the song whilst filming so that my actor could use the song as a guide for the timings of the verses. I hope that this will make my editing easier as the lip-syncing will be much easier. I was fortunate enough to be able to use numerous props which were already in the setting, there were a number of amps in the room, this had not been part of my original plan but it allowed me to get across a studio-vibe which is what I was trying to make the setting appear to be. I also filmed some additional footage to the planned footage, this is because I liked the way the scene was set up and I thought that as the focus on the artist is so important in pop music videos, these clips could be used as fillers from scene-to-scene but still using the conventions of the music video. Timing was also a key issue because I needed to keep track of the timings of the song and which bits I wanted the lip-syncing to, using my storyboard made this much easier.

Entry 4

Tuesday 22nd October 2013

Editing pictures

After having issues furthering any of my filming and my main product, my music video, I have decided to get other parts of the production done whilst I remain held up in my filming. As mentioned in earlier production diaries, my filming has become very difficult due to my initial ideas of such a large cast and numerous locations. Until my potential cast members completely agree I have decided to hold on my filming until I am sure that they will take part - this is because after setting previous dates and deadlines for myself most of them have been disrupted and so I have decided to organise dates for specific scenes when I have the full permission of my actors. So, after already lost so much time due to these problems I decided that I needed to get as much done as possible so that I could keep as up to date as possible with the work for the deadlines. So, using the shots I took at my last filming session I managed to edit them into an album cover and corresponding magazine advert. This was fairly easy, however, I did have to learn to use a programme which I had not used before which posed some problems, however, I overcame these quickly and got on with the editing. An issue with my images was that they were fairly dark, making them look less professional, however, through the use of the editing software I was able to brighten them slightly and so they were much clearer and looked more fitting for the pop genre.

Entry 5

Tuesday 12th November

Filming

After having issues with casting I found two people who could help me with my music video and would act for me. This meant that I could film the next part for my music video; I wanted to have a more intimate setting for this fight scene but in order to get across the development of a relationship I wanted them to look older than they actually were. This was helpful as they dressed in business wear and I decided to have them sitting in a kitchen and drinking coffee, in order to make them appear older. This was the argument scene, it was difficult as it is difficult to recreate the emotions that are typical in an argument, so I had to get people who could act well in order for it to be believable. I also had some issues with how I should film as the setting was fairly restricting. The position I wanted to film from was filled with a column, causing me to have to rethink the shots I used. I overcame this by using a shot reverse shot style so it looked like they were having a conversation.

Entry 6

Thursday 14th November

Editing: rough draft

Today was the first time I had really experienced editing for my music video, the deadline for my rough draft is tomorrow. Due to previous problems, my filming remains incomplete, however, I have used the filming I have already done to produce the rough draft of my music video. Although, I haven't got a completely clear image of how my music video will look as a finished product, I have been able to seethe problems I may face when editing my main product.I found the lip syncing incredibly difficult and had many issues with the programme I was using to edit the video. As I was using high definition video and a difficult editing programme, Cyberlink PowerDirector, my computer crashed several times, causing me to lose the work I had already done. This was frustrating and time-consuming, I soon found that my laptop would not be able to cope with the editing process so I have been forced to make other arrangements. However, from the feedback I am getting I think that the video is on its way to being conventional and professional-looking as my focus group understood the narrative and could see how this related to the song, and it is clear that there is focus on the artist. I think that from this attempt at editing I have realised how time-consuming and difficult the editing process will be. I need to ensure I have enough time for this, I also need to ensure I get feedback throughout the whole editing process.

Entry 7

Friday 22nd November

Filming: the proposal

This was a key part of my music video; the proposal was the part of my music video I really wanted to do, just because I believed that this could signify the development of a relationship most obviously to an audience. This was by far the hardest part of my filming, due to the fact that I had chosen a rather busy spot on a bridge and so filming was halted several times in order to let people past. Fortunately, for this part of my production I had picked two people who had obvious chemistry and were more than happy to help me out. This meant that they didn't mind when we had to stop and did exactly as I had planned. This made is much easier for me. An issue we did encounter, however, was the low-key lighting that the filming took place in, due to it's location and the lack of exterior lighting. Fortunately, this was the kind of scene I had planned for the proposal, however the close ups of the ring proved too dark. We had to come up with an on-the-spot solution; the solution to this, although was an unprofessional and unconventional way of lighting, it worked perfectly and allowed the ring to be lit up and sparkle just the way I needed too. Overall, this was the most impressive part of my filming. I also felt like the acting was believable in this part.

Entry 8

Monday 25th November

Filming: re-doing the performance scene

After my rough draft, I received some feedback about issues with the syncing of the lyrics and music as well as some off-camera comments about the disappointing setting of the performance parts of the rough draft. I took this on board and booked my school hall for the afternoon; I decided that more of a stage setting would work better than a studio setting which, speaking honestly, did not look like a studio at all. With this I decided to focus on the lighting and the effect of the lighting for this part of the music. Lighting is something that I could use to get across the feel of the song; the song, to me, felt like it was about holding on to the hard times in order to have the good times and as much of my narrative footage was about the happy times I needed to get across the struggle in relationships. I felt that the argument scene wasn't really enough for this, so I decided to convey the pain of the song through the way the artist performs it. Lighting was key for this, and I tried to create a silhouette part in order to make the lighting get across the pain of the song; this proved very difficult. I am very aware of the fact that production is one of my weakest points within media and so getting the shots the way I wanted them was very difficult. I then asked for advice from a friend who's strongest part of media is in fact the production. She helped me to set up the shots the way I wanted and use the lighting in the right way, so with her help I was able to overcome this problem. I  also had an issue with the lighting due to the technology in the setting. There were two separate circuits for different parts of the main hall, this meant that they were controlled by different switches, on of which was not easy to find and as I was under pressure to meet the deadline this resulted in not being found. However, I tried to overcome this by using the stage curtain almost as a dimmer switch to try and get the low-key lighting I wanted.

Entry 9

Thursday 28th November

Filming: family scene

To finish the narrative of my music video, I had planned a family scene for this because of the ending of the song and the lyrics alongside this. This part of the filming was difficult because I wasn't entirely clear on what sort of footage I wanted for this, I wanted it to be natural and so I just got my actors to sit together and all focus on the book, I tried to keep it quite open so as to keep them at ease and I had hoped it would progress naturally from there. However, I got some natural footage and so this will be helpful when I put the music video together.