Plans for our background

As half our group had started to edit our video footage I began thinking about photos we could take for our album cover. As i was listening to the song i heard 'I'm a one way motorway' and this is when i thought that perhaps a motorway as our background would look good. Jacob then suggested that only having one lane of the motorway would be better. This was my favourite idea for an album cover and one we could quite easily use. We will obviously have to go to a bridge to take this photo and at a late time to get the exact picture we want.

Fourth Day of Filming

Yesterday we filmed for the fourth time in our third location. We used the red lion pub again which offered us good lighting last time we were on set. We knew that this time we were going to film more handheld shots which we immediately did. The first to film was group member Alex who was getting up close and personal with the band. At first this seemed like a good idea as we were able to direct around the group getting the shots we wanted. However upon looking at our footage on the computers we discovered that by filming as we went along we didn't film in order of the song. We instantly had the time consuming problem of having to pull clips of our video from all over the timeline on final cut. This wasn't our biggest problem however because we had lots of footage to edit for our final video but my main concern upon seeing the footage for the first time today is that we have missed out some parts of the song and there are times where there is some back room clutter ruining the shot. Although we have these problems i feel we have enough footage to start editing and building a base for further footage to come. With only three of us in the lesson to see the footage we have all agreed that we wold have to go back this weekend to get some more footage to improve on what we already have.

Video Mood Board

These are some shots from live performances that i thought were pretty good and would consider using in my music video.

Album Cover Mood Board

This is my mood board of album covers I like.

Editing Practice

The snapshots below are some shots of me practicing editing of Final Cut, the software we plan to use. These snapshots are taken from clips of our third day of filming and many of them contain effects that are available on Final Cut. Some of these shots are effects I like but won't use because they wouldn't suit our music video.

Fourth day of Filming

On Tuesday 23rd of February we have planned to go back to the red lion pub, where we were for our third day of filming, to film hopefully for the final time. We have booked the same room and have planned to improve where we went wrong last time by bringing extra lights and extension leads which would give us more freedom with our lights. We aim to get all our remaining filming done today and edit for the next few weeks to meet our final deadline on the 31st of March.

Photo's of Location 3

This pictures are the images taken on our third day of filming at our newest location. This is the basement stage of the red lion pub where several bands perform every week. The image below shows our band performing but it also shows the shadow's in the background which was our biggest problem while filming.

This is a shot of our lead singer performing and the band practising behind. Once again you can just see the shadows in the background but our singer is very well lit along with his instrument.

This shot below is of our drummer during filming. The lighting on this shot was brilliant and the reflection on the walls helped to reflect this light the way we wanted it which was an advantage of this venue.

This is a shot without our main light on and we did this to see what it would look like with just the red and blue colours shining on them. The colours were a nice effect but the band wasn't lit enough so that they were clearly seen by the video camera.

Practice Shots

The images below are some of the pictures we took at school to practice for filming on our third location. The image below is a close up on Jacob playing the guitar, this image was taken after we had filmed this shot. We of course all liked this shot so planned to use it in our actual video.

The shot below is Jacob singing into a pretend microphone from the side. Tom who took all these photo's has also got a picture of the camera filming.

Photo's of Location 2

These are some of the photo's of the scout hall that we used after we changed our song. The shot below is showing me and Alex setting up the set for the bands performance. As you can see on the back wall there are scout signs which can be clearly seen and this was part of the reason why we chose to change location.

The shot below is a picture of me setting up the filming area and as you can see on the floor i had to be very careful due to all the wires on the floor which i could have very easily have tripped over. We later tied these wires down to prevent an accident.

This is a picture of me filming the band as they perform out of shot. This also shows the problem of the side walls not being well covered and once again showing the faults of our location choice as notice boards where clearly seen on side shots.

This photo is a picture of Jacob setting up the drum set for our drummer Chris to play on. Once again he was making sure that the wires from the amps could be held down to prevent anyone tripping and to help keep as many loose wires out of shot.

This picture is just a blank picture of our set without any instruments. It once again shows what our major problem was which was the signs on the back and the typical scout hall floor.

Target Audience 1

The success of every music video depends on whether the viewer likes the video or dislikes the video. In our video we are using the rock song of 'Times like these' by the Foo Fighters. They are a well known American rock band and we are choosing to do a live performance for a video to show the traits of the genre. Most rock bands including Foo Fighters are highly recognised for being a great live band and hopefully our video will represent a great live performance so that the viewer can connect with the song through the video. Another way we can target our audience is by using as many handheld shots as possible, that way the viewer will feel more up close and personal with the band. In summary our target audience is the existing fans of the band and any other rock lovers as they will appreciate the concept of a live up-close performance over a story based narrative of the lyrics.

Idea's for Album Cover

As we are nearing the end of filming our video we have started to plan ahead for our ancillary tasks. One of which is to create an album cover for our band. After looking at several other bands album covers we began to notice that many of them don't actually have any relevance to the actual songs on it. We have come up with some ideas we could use and i think it is important we choose an idea so we can focus on the design. These are some of the ideas we have come up with:

-The Band performing but with a black and white image

-A black background with different coloured times from a digital clock

-A picture of a clock

-An empty set with just instruments

-Symbols from the song

-A heart

Existing Album Covers

Below are some album covers from existing artist's which i think look particularly good.

The album cover above is that of British pop/rock band Keane and their most recent album Perfect Symmetry. I like the abstract image of the cover as all the pictures of the man are mixed up against triangles. The album cover does look good even though the cover isn't showing perfect symmetry like the album name suggests it would.

The album cover above is from 1969 and is by The famous Beatles. The album itself is called Abbey Road which can be seen in the cover as the Beatles are walking across it. This has made this street famous across the world but the name actually comes from the recording studio that is there an that the Beatles used.

The final album i have chosen to look at is London Calling by The Clash. I'm not a fan of the font used on the album cover but the image is what makes the album iconic as it shows the image of a bass guitar being smashed after a show. This image is clearly for the fans as every Clash fan knows this image and it also shows more emotions of the band in the sense of passion that they have for their music.

Third Day of Filming

On our third day of filming we once again had moved to a new location. This was perhaps the best location overall but one we could have had prior to our first time filming. We had original thought of filming our music video at The Red Lion pub in Northfleet where many local bands first start out. This made the location a convenient choice for us as our band would feel more comfortable and it would also look more realistic as it is where bands play. At first the lighting was an issue as we couldn't light the whole band and when we did it didn't look to good. However after talking to the landlord we were able to get the stage lights to come on and this helped light the band better which meant we could continue filming. In total we got nearly an hour's worth of footage after being there for nearly 4 hours. In this day of filming we were able to get hold of another camera which should lead to better video quality. My main concern about this day of filming is if we got enough decent footage to use and edit in our final cut version. We may need to go back and get some more footage, and before i look at the footage on the computer i already feel that we didn't get as many handheld moving shots as i would have liked. The one remaining problem we have with our filming situation is that we are quickly running out of time and we are starting to feel the pressure.

Video Analysis 2: Best of you, Foo Fighters

My second video analysis is of the Foo Fighters hit song 'Best of you'. The video was directed by Mark Pellington, who was the one that chose the theme of the video and not the Foo Fighters. The genre of the music is rock and this is expressed across the video with the band performing live on an abandoned hospital. The main characteristic of the video is dealing with the pains in life and making sure you make the most of this by doing your best in it.
The first 44 seconds of this video is just a close up on the microphone with Dave Grohl (the lead singer) leaning in and out of the shot singing the opening verse and first chorus. This is very rare for any music video to be like this but the tempo of the music is slow and the lyrics are the main feature of this opening sequence. The video does have some shots of imagery that represent the vocals of the song. The shots involve two young children playing, a car crash, a lion hunting, a snake attack, a zebra kicking a zebra, a snarling wolf, crash test dummies in a car crash and men and women showing affection for one another. All these shots helps to add a representation to the video that it is based around nature, youth, love and death. I feel that the video is amplifying the effect of death through nature and that you should give your all before you die.
The video does start off very slowly but when the pace of the song picks up we start to see more shots in the video. The video does cut to the drum beat but some of the shots are so quick that they don't stay within the beat but the effect still works as the lyrics are represented outside the beat. After 47 seconds the whole band start to play and this is when the shots become short and there are far more unlike the opening 47 seconds where it's just Dave Grohl singing into the microphone.
The performance of the band shows extreme passion as they are all giving there all in this performance. The record company could be looking at selling this record through the passionate performance of the band as it would shows their fans they are very passionate about this song which could lead fans to share the same feeling. The filming of the bands performance is with a handheld camera which helps to add the effect to the viewer that they are closer to the band. This is seen in most performances in music videos as a static shot doesn't give the same effect as a handheld shot because if you were at a live gig of the artist you would be moving around and not standing still.
One thing i noticed about the Foo Fighters is that they always wear jeans and a t-shirt along with trainers. This is a very casual look for a band but one that is common amongst most rock bands. However the difference between this video and all their other video's is that they are all wearing black as if their mourning. However after researching the video i discovered that the director of the video had seen his wife die a few months prior to filming. This is the reason why mourning and death are very common in this video.
Overall this music video is based around a performance by the Foo Fighters with some imagery seen in short cuts within the music video. The shots of the live performance are all handheld but the shots are cut very quickly so that we can get a view of the whole band very quickly. This video to me is all about the passionate performance given by the band and this would have been made to be this way by the director. From this video i have learnt that you have to show the band up close and personal to get a better effect, this is something i plan to do in my groups music video. This is the video by Foo Fighters for 'Best of You':