Production
After completing my research on how my music video can be structured, what and who it can feature, what would work well to gain the best active audience. Starting off my pre production I needed to fill out a range of forms to explain all of the logistics of my music video. For instance, where we would be filming, if there was any permission we needed to gain, what the risks are whilst filming, what shots would look like. I started off by looking at a lyric analysis - deciding on what shots and visuals to use and doing a location recce.
Lyric analysis
When looking at the lyrics I am able to see what lyrics I could link to certain visuals that could be beneficial. These song criticises the government in detail and makes use of metaphors such as "the suits and the ties feed us lies". The visuals that I choose could be heavily reflected on what genre of music video mine will be. I conducted a look at what the lyrics were and what they mean/infer to earlier on in my research.
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I had initially set out to have a stand off type of seen with two groups of people portraying different generations. I think this goes well with the lyrics when looking at verses where it says "It's moronic frustration, the undercover nation, lying and faking to a brainwashed generation". Also thinking about the mise en scene I had looked at using - having the character of "The Prime Minister" in a suit and blue tie (conservative colours), this links well with the lyrics "the suits and the ties feed us lies everyday". I wanted my music video to be a mix of performance, narrative and concept music videos so having parts that didn't directly link to the lyrics would work for the concept parts of it. I can also look further into the beats of the song when editing to really connect the music with the visuals as well.
Location recces are used to underline where filming will take place. For me this was in a field near my house. I decided to use this field as it is very accessible from me and is a public footpath so I believed we would be able to film here. By keeping it close to my house it meant we were able to stop for an hour or so to have lunch and then do costume changes and make up. I wanted to use the field to symbolize how politicians should be more open minded to what young people have to say. This was used as the field was very "open" and spacious. Filling out the location recce meant I was able to consider different requirements and situations. For example, I filmed on a Sunday as all cast members I needed were going to be about to help me and I wasn't at work on Sunday and the weather was better. I didn't take a light out with me as I thought the natural lighting would be okay to film with and if it wasn't great I could always colour correct and grade it to have the desired effect on the audience. A location recce can help plan out these ideas and make a solid plan.
The next pre production document I filled out was a risk assessment. This can highlight any potential hazards and risks that could occur whilst filming. This mean I can make any precautions or explain to anyone involved what they may need to look out for so that there are no incidents or accidents. I looked into things such as trip hazards (tripping on tripod legs) as this is a reasonable risk that could easily happen. I had explained to my cast and crew where the tripod would be whilst filming and as we were in a open place they wouldn't need to get too close to the camera and tripod so just to be mindful of where it would be.
Again, I looked into what there could be a high potential of posing risk within the area we were filming in. As it was in an open field in the sun and heat, there was high risk of being sun burnt and bitten by bugs. I warned my cast and crew of this and told them they were welcome to wear long sleeves and use sun cream and bug spray to minimise the risk.
After completing the risk assessment, I moved onto the call sheet.
A call sheet is used to make sure the director has all the details of the cast and crew and so that the cast and crew know all the details of what is going on. This can include the casts phone numbers and email addresses so that if there are any issues I would be able to get in contact with them. I put all the names of my cast and crew that would be helping me off screen and one by one went through and added this information.
My call sheet also talked about the set and location. For me this was the field. If I was filming in numerous locations these locations would need to be added and discuss what scenes and shots use what locations.
Next I moved onto production requirements. This was where I was able to discuss the practical sides of filming. For instance, where parking would be if it is needed, who would be catering and where the toilets are based. As I was the director and I was asking what felt like a lot of my cast as I was getting them to film, costume change, act out and use makeup, I based production from my house. This meant that I was the catering source, my friend who drove parked on my driveway and they could use my toilets. This worked well for my cast and crew and made the process more smooth as the filming location wasn't far from my house and they were able to leave their things and mine and then come back for refreshments.
I then created a schedule for filming. As it was a Sunday I said we would meet up earlier in the day so that we could finish filming earlier in the day rather than later. I gave time gaps in-between each task as I knew this would take time and things might get changed through the process.
Next I assigned roles to people. I thought about who may be good to help due to experience and past work. These people were Jenna and Jess as assistants as they both take media so the process of filming and later editing is familiar to them so they could help me and contribute to ideas. I chose Josh as a runner as if there was something that was needed from my house, He would know were it would be (as he's my closest friend so has been to my house thousands of times).
I then briefly spoke about health and safety aspects that may need to be mentioned. As I asked people to come in "trendy and current" clothes however sensible clothes were needed more instead of fashionable clothes this is to benefit my casts health and safety.
The final thing on my call sheet is the travel side of it. How my cast and crew are getting to the set and the locations needed. For majority of my cast, they all live around a 20 minute max walk from my house however two of them do not. Luckily one of them can drive so she will pick the other up and they can drive to mine together.
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The next pre production document I needed was pre release forms. These were signed by my cast basically saying I was able to film them and then post my music video online.
Next I moved onto how my music video will look. I started by doing a story board. This meant that I could experiment with how I might want my shots to look before going out filming. This can help me save time when filming and also have a more prepared shoot.
On my storyboard I started by showing the opening as having Rishi Sunak discuss young people whilst have it green screened onto a old TV set. I wanted the TV to cut out to show tension and also have my characters "interrupt" him in a way. Then I wanted to show my two age sides so wanted a wide shot. This shot would been repeated a number of times in my music video as its shows the physical places my characters are stood/looking at each other. I then moved onto a shot list.
I used a shot list to describe the shots I wanted to use formally. This worked around my storyboard and I used my storyboard to start the understanding of my shot list. When filming I will have a mental idea in my head of what I want to do but should refer back to my shot list.
After completing all my pre production I started filming my music video.
First Draft/Rough Edit
After completing my research and my pre production I began filming. My cast and I went out and spent a number of hours filming and they were all very committed to the project and their roles. After filming I began editing and so far this is what I have. I will be gaining more feedback from focus groups to see what could be changed to make my music video better.
After completing my first draft I received feedback from my supervisor and teacher Sabina and also from from class peers and friends. By getting feedback off of my teacher and class peers I am able to get more technical feedback as to what I could do to really change the overall product as they understand the topic. By getting feedback off my friends who might not take media can influence me to change things that a untrained eye may see. This is also beneficial as my friends are apart of one of my target age demographics.
After gaining my feedback I went back to my edit and changed it to match my feedback and make it better. This is my final draft.