Fonts

This is where I decided what fonts would look best on my digipack and advert. I wanted to use the same font for both the digipack and advert so that they both showed continuation.

This is the font from the official Florence + the Machine website. The font is curly and represents the style of the band, old fashioned in style yet modern at the same time. It also looks quite sophisticated which would attract to the demographical audience of 15- 40.

This is the first font that I wanted to use that I found on the website dafont.com. I liked this font because it was quite individual and I thought that it would look good against photos of forest. I decided not to use this font in the end as it was too complicated to use when editing on photoshop and didn't look as effective as the simple font used on the official Florence + the Machine website. The font that I decided to use in the end was called 'Alice in Wonderland'. I liked it because it looks simple yet effective against the busy woodland scenery. It also had the same sort of feel to it that the font on the Florence +the Machine website had. Because the font is quite simple, it easily would appeal to the mixed gener, 15-40 age range demographic.

I used this font for the whole of my digipack and advert so that the whole package showed continuation with each other. It was an easy font to colour in on Photoshop using the fill tool, and I could experiment easily with the different colours to see what would look best against the picture background.

Blog 14- Shooting Diaries

These are pictures from our filming in Uckfield on Sunday 20th March. We were really pleased with the group dancing shots that we filmed. We filmed one particular dance (shown above) by the river from many different angles, for example the reflection of them in the stream in front of them, directly in front of them and from behind. Using fast editing we want to put these all together to create an amazing effect.

Here Hannah is using the hand held camera effect to film Lucy singing as Florence by the lake. We held the camera in line with Lucy's eyes to create the eye line match so that Lucy is really connecting with the audience as she sings into the camera.

Here we used the hand held camera again to capture the dancing scene from below.

The Lake was really good for filming a shot of the reflection of them dancing.

Again we used the hand held camera to get right above Lucy as she rolled around in the leaves. We were really pleased with how this particular shot turned out as it gave our video a different angle than just her sitting up horizontally singing.

We first started our filming on the 6th February 2011 in Friston Forest in Seaford. We were a bit worried on the drive down to the location, as the weather was quite drizzly and therefore we may have had to postpone our filming. However, once we had parked and walked to where we were wanting to film, the rain had stopped although it was incredibly cold and the lighting was quite flat. We overcame this by adjusting the contrast on the camera. The filming went well although it was quite disappointing as only 2 out of the 6 people that said they could come turned up. We overcame this by using the time to film shots that showed the location and shots that involved only our main character.

We tried to incorporate different shot types, for example the picture above and below shows some of the close ups that we used. We also used mid to long shots and re shot some shots twice in different angles and positions so that when editing we can make it look as interesting as possible.

These pictures show the filming that we completed in a forest in Uckfield on Sunday 20th March. Luckily everyone turned up this time, so we could incorporate the group dancing shots that are similar to many of Florence and the Machine's music videos. The mise en scene shows everyone wearing black like we planned, as it connotes death, and therefore fits in with the title of 'My Boy Builds Coffins'. We decided to use a V shaped formation with our main character at the front of the group and the dancers behind her. Again, we filmed this shot from different angles, including one where we were lying in the grass and filming them from below.

One of the lines in the song goes "...Kings and Queens all knock at his door, beggars and liars, gypsies and thieves, they all come to him 'cause he's so eager to please..." We therefore decided it would be a good idea to make Lucy who is playing Florence, a crown made of natural things from the wood such as twigs and bracken.

This picture shows one of the scenes where we just got Lucy to mime the whole song to the camera. We got her to do this in all different parts of the wood and while she was doing different things, such as the picture below where she is lying in the leaves. We thought this was a good idea as we could then cut all of the different miming shots and put them together to make our video more interesting.

Later on that evening, I took the camera and set it up so that it could film the sun setting. It was very important that the camera was not moved at all when filming as then the effect would look good when we speed it up on the computer when editing. I sat in the field for about 45mins and managed to get the sun going down, until the battery ran out. Luckily, the battery ran out quite near the end of the sunset and therefore the change in the sun in that 45 mins will be very clear when we change the speed when editing. We want to use this piece of filming at the beginning on the film, reversed to show the sun coming up, and at the end of the film, to show the sun setting. This therefore helps with our idea about showing the 'death' of a day. We all personally contributed by taking it in turns with filming on the camera, for example I filmed the mid shot of Lucy rolling around in the leaves and after Hannah also filmed a hand held piece of Lucy singing by the lake. Emma enjoyed filming some of the dancing scenes. We all also contributed by taking it in turns to show communication on set, for example with use of the clapper board and making sure that the camera and the actors were fully ready for beginning to film.

Blog 20- Evaluation & Feedback on Video

My evaluation will be focused around the following four questions:

• In what ways does your video use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?


• How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?


• What have you learned from your audience feedback?


• How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages of all your products?

To view my powerpoint, here is the link for it on Google Documents:

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B0DnGj06WOfoMTc2NTJiM2UtOTVmMC00ZTM4LWEyNjktNzk2OTIyYWFlMTQ1&hl=en

Blog 19- Finished Video

This is the link on YouTube for our finished music video to Florence and the Machine's song, "My Boy Builds Coffins".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dEf9lmS2ec

Blog 18- Creative Camera Use

When filming our music video, we used a lot of creative camera use:

Rule of Three

Here we decided to make this shot more aesthetically pleasing we decided to use the rule of 3, where the screen is split into three columns and you place your character in one of them. We chose to position Lucy on the left of the frame and we think that this shot works really well. It is a strong composition as the narrow depth of field allows the audience to concentrate on what the singer is doing, without being distracted by the background.

Slow Motion Filming

To make this shot look better we decided to use slow motion. This works really well as we put it in a part of the song that slows right down. To change the speed of the shot, we held down the Control key, then chose speed and reduced it to around 60%.

Timelapse Shooting

This is one of the most effective pieces of our music video. We filmed the sun going down and then after capturing back on the camera, we used the same method of slowing down but instead sped up the clip to about 8000%. This created the impact of the sun setting in a few seconds when really it took a couple of hours. We then reversed the shot so at the beginning of the film we have the sun coming up and then at the end we watch it go down again.

Reflection

Here we creatively used the reflection of the stream to show the dance routine. It gave the routine a twist that we would not otherwise have achieved had we just followed the basic procedure of filming them head on.

Establishing/Panning shot

Here we used an establishing shot so that the audience can begin to imagine the surroundings that this video is being set in. We used the tripod and securely fastened the camera so as to achieve a clean and well cut pan of the forest, beginning with the tree tops and moving down towards the water as it pans around. This shot works particularly well at the beginning of our video!

Use of fading/cross dissolve

We particularly like this effect of cross dissolving that Florence uses in her video "Rabbit Heart"and wanted to achieve something similar in our own video.

We used the cross dissolve as the song got slower and it worked really well as it cut between shots of Lucy/Florence singing. I really liked how the fade changed from the medium close up to a mid shot without you really noticing as it flowed into one shot to the other so nicely.

Extreme Close up

We wanted to use extreme close ups of the boy building the coffins as the song is ambiguous as to who he is and so we wanted him to be a mystery in the video as well, never truly showing the whole of him. The close ups worked really well and we reduced the speed so that they were doubly effective.

This was a similar extreme close up that was used in Florence's "Rabbit Heart" video.

Use of angles

Using fast edits we managed to make a small dancing scene into a really interesting shot by filming the same shot multiple times from different angles and then when editing putting them all together. This shot changes so as Lucy/Florence is lifting her arms the angle changed so that you are viewing the same routine from the ground.

In conclusion our group used many example of Creative Camera use that effectively made our music video interesting to watch. Editing ensured we could pick out the effects that we felt worked the most and use them to the best of our ability. Our camera creativity and knowledge of how to edit them well together really did benefit us into making a good music video.

Blog 17- Rejected Footage

These are some of the shots that we could not use due to various problems with them. For example, the lighting may have been wrong or there may have been things in the shot that we did not want include.

Sun going down

Half of this shot was not used as towards the end of the capturing back, a technical fault meant that the FIREWIRE cable was pulled out when it wasn't ready to be meaning we lost some of the middle of the film. Using the beginning and end of the sunset didn't look good so we left out the end part.

Shoe in way

We didn't use this shot, as as you can see, in the bottom left hand corner of the screen someones welly is visible.

Poor lighting

We decided not to use this shot as the sun went behind the clouds and left us with poor lighting. We didn't want to change the shutter speed on the camera as we were pleased with all the other shots that we had from that day.

Laughing/Forehead cut out

This shot is when she sits up after waking up. It took us many attempts to execute it correctly as we kept coming up too slow with the camera and therefore chopping off her forehead. She also laughed in this shot as well so we couldn't use it.

Head piece falls over face

We had to get rid of this shot as when she was rolling around singing on the floor, the head piece that we had made out of leaves fell down over her eyes so that she couldn't see.

Hammering

We could not use this shot as we had tried many materials to make it look like he was hammering wood. In this instance he was in fact hammering some cardboard covering a blanket and sawdust however when he starts hammering the blanket underneath is clearly visible.

Fell off log

We could not use this shot, as when dancing on the log our main character fell off and then the rest of us were laughing.

Changed Idea

This shot we didn't use as it is the shot depicting when our main characters face begins to grow aged. By the time we started editing however we had all decided to scrap this idea as for the length of the song it was not worth it as things would start getting confusing for our audience.

Camera Shake

We really wanted a shot of our main character running through the field which we would then slow down. However, filming it hand held meant that it was incredibly shaky, especially in the wind. We therefore set up the tripod and filmed it again.

Bags in shot

This shot was a disappointment as we were really pleased with how it turned out as it was the introduction of the dancers. However, when looking back in the editing room we realised that all of our bags were in fact in the background of the shot!

When we were editing our video we realised what needed to be removed as otherwise our video would not have been of a good quality. If we were to film again, we would now be more aware about things like bad lighting conditions and making sure that none of our props are in the way of the shot in the filming area. We also learnt through mistakes that the best way to film was on the tripod, not through using the handheld camera as the quality of the film is much better and not so jerky. Editing helped us overcome many of the issues however the above examples are where we have learnt from our mistakes and would probably not make as many mistakes in the future.

Blog 13- Shooting Schedule

This was our call sheet for when we were filming and included all of the numbers of everyone involved and that of the technician at school and our media tutor. It enabled us to contact all co collaborators at any stage of the production. It saves time and allowed us to contact anyone involved in the film at short notice. We had the contact details of all our contributors including Dann our media tutor and Craig the media technician meaning that we had our project organised from the initial stages through to completion.

This is a copy of our shooting schedule: https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B0DnGj06WOfoYmUzMmQ2MjQtMzJjMy00YTcxLWIxMGItNzQ2Yjk5MWExY2U2&hl=en

So that my project will run smoothly, I am creating a Shooting Schedule so that myself and my group are clear about when we are filming and so that everything is filmed on time to edit. It will also ensure that we stick to deadlines.

The dates for shooting are as follows:

Reccy & Photo taking in Seaford- Friston Forest

The Reccy was vital as it helped identify with how we could go about filming in the forest. It also meant that we could check on any problems that may arise, for example whether the forest was owned by anyone and we needed permission to be there.

Filming in Seaford- 6th February 2011

12pm

Here we filmed the beginning sequence of the music video.

Equipment list:

-Camera

-Camera Batteries

-Camera Tripod

-Outfits for dancers and Florence- black clothing and face makeup

Filming at College- 15th February 2011

3.40pm

In this time filming at college we used another student, George, and used him as the boy sung about in the song making the coffins.

Equipment list:

-Camera

- Camera Battery

- Tripod

-Lights

-Hammer & nails

- Sawdust

- Wood

Filming in Uckfield- 20th March 2011

12pm

We filmed in some woods behind my house, here we got shots of Lucy who is playing the part of Florence miming the song, some group dance shots and some locational shots of the woods.

Equipment list:

-Camera

-Camera Batteries

-Tripod

-2 DV Tapes

- Costumes- Black clothing to connote death and therefore representing the theme of coffins in the title of the song.