Group 8: Concept Development - Targets for Deadline

• As a group we are aware that we will have to film as a group at least 2 more times. We did practice shots inside the house with the school camera, but used one of our own cameras from outside of school during our first shoot in London. Therefore we intend to reshoot the shots from inside and visit Brighton at some point in school time.
• Plan Digipak ideas, we have to take several shots that we could potentially use for our digipak. As well as this we have taken several photo's to use for our magazine advert, however we need a group discussion on what theme we want to create in our advertising.

Group 8: First Shoot Feedback

• Having not been able to shoot on Monday the 28th October due to weather conditions, we rearranged our first shoot to Wednesday 30th October. 
• We went up to London with our actors with a list of shots taken from our story board, our aim was too look at the shots we had in mind and create them in person.
• However a big part of the shoot was not planned, when we got too London we improvised too our surroundings, for example we filmed Noah (the young boy) approaching a human statue, we didn't plan shots like this as we didn't know what there would be in London that would be inspirational to us.
• Having looked at some of our footage, we are really happy and see the shoot as being successful. We took over 150 different shots on the day using different angles, distances and movements. We also included two tracking shots that are of a very high quality that could be used as key establishing shots of both character and location.
• We have in mind a very vivid look about our production and we thought about this when shooting every single shot. For example almost every single shot had slight movement in it as we feel static shots could make our video look very amateurishly produced.
• Lastly a big part of our production is going to be focused around the relationship between the mother and son, for this we saw it as being very important to capture the genuine bonding between the two. This meant we filmed spontaneously when they were interacting. This had two major benefits to our production, firstly it creates a stronger sense of verisimilitude and secondly it improves the quality of the footage as we weren't relying on the acting skills of either character.
• The only challenge of the day was the location, as one can imagine London on a half term week was extremely busy, so we did suffer with people being in the way or walking through the middle of shots occasionally.

Group 8: First Shoot Reschedule

• Unfortunately due to the poor weather conditions on October 28th, Monday our group were unable to go to London and film our first shoot as it would not have been appropriate for our music video.

• As a group we have decided to reschedule our first shoot to next weekend, when the weather is better as this is the nearest time the whole group and the cast are available. This is frustrating however is something we prepared for and although we have been delayed should still be able to get the majority of our filming completed in half term.  

Group 8: Concept Development - Digipak Ideas

• Whilst currently shooting is our most important concern at the moment, we are currently putting some creative thought into our own digipak ideas and magazines adverts.
• From previous secondary research such as digipak analysis and analysis of brand image (which is found in the pitch).
• It has allowed us to develop our ideas and opinions on what we want the album cover to look like and what it should represent through different signifiers, and polysemics.
• An example being the brand image for Bastille. As in all their singles they follow the same trends, this being the name of single and word 'Bastille' incorporating within one another. Shown in picture's below.

Group 8: Concept Development - London Plan

Planning this week has been specifically for locations in London, in preparation for our first shoot. Here are specific examples of locations in London, and stations we will need to get to in order to shoot there.

• London Eye, Waterloo Station
• Westminster Bridge, Waterloo Station
• Camden Markets, Camden Town Tube Station
• Hamleys, Charing Cross or Regent Street Tube Station
• Hyde Park, Marble Arch Tube Station or Lancaster Gate Tube Station
• Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross
• Science Museum, South Kensington

We also have several ideas for particular shots:

• Several establishing shots of places in London, e.g. London Eye, Big Ben, etc.
• Track movements of the Thames.
• Close ups of boys emotions, specifically in 'happy places' e.g. Hamleys.
• Time Lapses, e.g. along Thames, traffic, train journey.
• Low angle shots, from the boys perspective.
• Birds- eye view shots.
• Pull Focus.

We also have ideas of props:

• Ice Cream
• Toys

Group 8: Concept Development - Post Animatic

• We have reached the finishing point of the animatic. We have edited all the shots of the storyboards together, showing the appropriate length and right camera movement in each frame.
• There are some final touches that we need to do. This includes putting our track behind the visuals so all can see what is going to happen at what point.
• Furthermore we need to do some last touch ups to make sure all the shots are straight and centrally focused to give the animatic a professional look.
• We have learnt a lot from the animatic.
• Firstly it has given us a good idea of how much footage we are going to need, and what ratio of action to filler shots we will need to prevent the video from being to boring.
• Secondly we can now see what areas we are lacking in. For example a music video should always contain lots of close up shots and have minimal static shots. From our animatic we can now see if we have too many static shots or not enough close ups and then when it comes to filming our first shoot we can improvise and change our planned shots to make them more interesting.
• Lastly we have learnt a lot about the process of making a music video. The animatic has really helped us to map out our shots; we have since learnt that this is vital for any music video to be successful, otherwise it could go wrong and look bad quality.

Group 8: Concept Development - Planning First Shoot

• During today's lesson I planned where we would be filming for our music video in more detail. I did this by noting down specific places and locations that we consider would be ideal for our music video, including road names, nearest stations and areas of interest. This is important to us as a group so we can use our time efficiently and get as much footage as possible. 

• We have decided we are going to shoot in half term and as a group are currently deciding on an appropriate day that ourselves and our cast will be available for. We are very aware that our shooting is relatively whether dependant as we do not want to film in the rain or too murky conditions, therefore it may be a spontaneously decided day. 

• To be well prepared for our first shoot I believe that if we research further into what shots and smaller technical details that we plan to use in each location. These notes will give us more ideas and save us potentially multiple trips when going to locations and we are stuck for shots. Therefore this planning is key to getting good footage for our production.