Animatic

We have created an animatic for our storyboarded music video:

We based our storyboard and took inspiration primarily from the original 'Out Of The Black' music video. We particularly liked the performance elements within this video however wanted to add our own spin onto it, so therefore added cutaways in between the band performance.

We believe that our animatic is of a high and professional standard and in comparison to the original video works extremely well with the cutaways slotted into the band performance. 

Storyboards

While I was working on the planning of our shoot Aidan created the storyboards for our music video with my input. 

Below are our completed storyboards for our music video. We have detailed each shot and how long it will last and any additional info that we may need to know when filming.

Discussion of Ideas

Over the past week we have been collecting test shots and scouting for locations to film - in particular for our narrative story which will require numerous locations and shots.
Our ideas are now becoming well established now and we have began storyboarding the video itself. By doing this in detail we will make the shoots themselves much easier, as we will already know what shots we have planned to film - from a variety of different distances and angles.

During the past week we have also been starting to work on the digipak - following the dark colour scheme that we originally planned. However currently we are struggling for an idea for the graphic image that we want to create - however we are now sure that we would like to create a band logo, which will feature on the front of the album (this could also be featured heavily on the website and merchandise to establish synergy).

After Effects Practice

Over the last few lessons I have been working on the special effect of the water 'frozen' in slow-motion using Adobe After Effects. Below is the result:

I referenced a video tutorial on YouTube whilst creating the effect with our test footage. I found this video very helpful when editing as it talks through different techniques that can be used to get the water in still motion. I primarily used 3D layers to create the water effect, using multiple layers to create perspective. I then slowed down the footage so that it would appear to be in slow-motion.

We will therefore be using this effect within our video as I believe if will make the video look very professional.

Grace

Location Recce & Risk Assessment

For our main cutaway location we will be using the B6279 off Staindrop Road:

We will be using this location for shooting our cutaway shots of a car driving down the road.
There are a number of factors that we need to consider when shooting here:
- The weather: we will have to try and shoot on a day in which the weather is suitable - possibly slightly cloudy but still bright so that the lighting is not compromised.
- Traffic: When we collected our test footage the road we were shooting on was quite busy,  therefore when we film our actual footage we will have to ensure that we do it at an off peak time e.g. during a week day.
- Safety: We will be filming by the side of the road therefore we will have to make sure that we are aware of our surroundings and any oncoming traffic towards us.

Risk Assessment

In order to conduct our shooting efficiently and safely we have created a risk assessment of the area we intend to film at.

- We based our risk assessment on the above table:

Grace & Aidan

Test Shots

Over the weekend we collected various test footage for our cutaway locations. We visited the location we found in our Location Research (Staindrop Road) which is around a ten minute drive away, so the location is very accessible.
We found that the location itself would be perfect for the kind of shots we were wanting to collect as it was the rural setting we were looking for, however when we filmed our test shots (on Saturday afternoon) we found that the road was quite busy, therefore when we actually plan to shoot this footage we will probably plan to do it on a week day, so that the roads would be quieter for us to film.
Below is a reel of the test footage that we collected:

We have therefore selected this as our primary location for our cutaways as it is easily accessible and suitable for the shots that we wish to collect.

We also visited one of the pub locations that we selected during our research:

However we found that currently this pub is being renovated so we would probably not be able to film here as we will not be able to contact the owners. Therefore we are going to have to continue looking for a suitable pub to film in.

We also collected some test footage for the 'frozen time' effect with the cup. Over the next few days I will therefore practice editing on this on After Effects to find out if the effect will be suitable/plausible for our video:

Grace & Aidan

Digipak Development

Here are some brief sketches and doodles that I did to get inspiration for the Digipak Design. I got ideas from designspiration.com as they have a large collection of album designs and the site can also be filtered to look for specific album design (alternative rock music). 

In the above left image I sketched some possible graphic designs that could be placed within our digipak, these could be the band logo or general illustrations. Whereas, the right hand image is focused on the font and we feel that it would be good for the back of the Digipak and the track listing. 

On Photoshop I created some mock up designs for the front cover of our Digipak.

- We found that from our research there is often an illustrated or graphic image located in the centre of the Digipak, so we took this into consideration when creating the mock up.

- Also, we stuck with the dark colour scheme to create an edgy and moody atmosphere, this helps to represent the music genre of the band.  

Grace

Set Design

These sketches below show how we are going to have the performance set design. The sketches show that the band performance will be in a minimalistic studio set with just a plain black backdrop and a three point lighting system. From our research we have found out that this is the most effective way of lighting up a band with the aim of low key lighting.

Aidan

- These sketches show some set designs for our cutaways - we intend to film on an isolated country road with a car driving down it.

- We also want to film in a pub, therefore i have sketched the shot we want of the woman walking into a pub and an image of the bar itself.

Grace

Research into Locations & Set Design

For the narrative portion of our music video we are wanting to film on a quiet country road, therefore we will need to scout out possible locations that we could use, in order to decide if they are suitable/safe to film on.
Over the weekend we are going to conduct some test shots on Staindrop Road to find out if it will be suitable. Below are some images from Google Maps which we would like to scout out to ensure that they are suitable places to film. The circled areas show where we could pull in safely in order to get some shots of the car driving by.

For the narrative we are also wanting to film in a pub, therefore we will also have to scout out possible locations for this and ask permission to film on the premises. Therefore at the weekend we will also be looking for a suitable 'pub' location. Here are some examples of pubs that we are going to visit:

For our studio shoot we have researched various music videos:


- In the actual 'Out Of The Black' music video we liked the simplicity of the set design.
- The dark colour scheme
- The brick wall backdrop
- The close proximity of the instruments
- The instruments are not all facing the camera - they are at angles


- This video is similar to the Royal Blood video in that it has a simple band set up
- Even though the lighting in this video the simple band set up is something that we will be taking inspiration from.
- We like how the background is also very simple and plain so that it does not distract from the band performance itself.

Grace

Test Shots - Costume & Props

 

 - We have been researching into different costumes for our band members and found these simple, plain T-shirts in Primark.

- These shirts would be ideal for our music video as they come in a range of dark colours and are also at an affordable price of £2.50

- We have also been looking for a suitable cup to use for our slow-motion 'frozen time' effect.

- We found this pack of 20 at 'Home Bargains' for 99p

Grace

Props

For our music video we will need three instruments for our performance section, including:
- Bass
- Guitar
- Drums/Sticks
- Mic/Stand
- Amps x3

For the narrative we will need various different props, including:
- A red plastic cup - for the frozen water effect
- A car for the cutaways on the road

We will be able to source the majority of these things from the college, for example the performing arts department already has the instruments that we will require. Aidan also has two guitars that we could possibly use and some drum sticks.

For the cups we will be able to buy these from a local supermarket or online.

Grace

Costumes

Band Members

Above is a collage we made to take visual inspiration from for our band performance section of our music video. Our band will consist of three members; a drummer, bassist, and lead singer/guitarist. Therefore we have three individual costumes that we need to consider.

• We have taken inspiration from researching into existing 'alternative rock' videos and bands. We looked into Royal Blood themselves and found that their style is very simplistic, often wearing a dark tshirt and jeans, sometimes with a denim jacket. We found this to be a typical convention of the genre as we found similar or identical costumes styles for bands such as Coldplay, OneRepublic and Muse.
• We also found however that each band member has their own individual style - for example the drummer may wear a black tshirt and hat, whereas the guitarist may a tshirt with jeans and a jacket. 
• Therefore when planning/designing the costumes for our band we will have to consider each members individual style and show that they are unique individuals as opposed to one generic band.
• Below are some videos that we have taken inspiration from for our music video.

To design some costumes for our band members we used Polyvore.com to create a collage:

- For the lead singer we decided to have a simple plain dark tshirt, accompanied with a dark leather jacket. We chose this look as the lead singer usually has something different about them compared to the other band members. So we decided that the unique element of their outfit would be the jacket - as none of the other band members are wearing one.

- The majority of the outfit is owned already by the actor we are getting to perform as the lead singer/guitarist. However they do not own a plain black tshirt, so we will either have to borrow one off someone else, or alternatively buy one from a charity shop or Primark.

- For the drummers costume we decided to keep it quite simple as we found that this was very common in most 'alternative' music videos. 

- The actor that we have chosen to be the drummer in our music video already owns similar clothing to this therefore sourcing the costume will not be difficult. 

- For the bassists costume we also kept it relatively simple, following the dark colour scheme we selected a similar dark T-shirt, however this time to be possibly paired with a dark flannel shirt.

- This costume will also be easy to put together as again the actor has similar clothing already, however we may need to go out and buy a dark flannel shirt from a charity shop.

Female Protagonist

We want the females costume to be quite extravagant so that it stands out within the video, yet still follow the dark colour scheme. However we are considering using a 'pop' of colour so that she does stand out in the shots, while still following the theme that we have set out for the band members. Below is a collage that we have created for our female protagonists costume inspiration:

- For the female costume we decided to make her look quite edgy so that she would fit in with the overall theme of our video.

- We chose an overall dark colour scheme for her outfit however we also added a 'pop' of colour with the red lipstick and nails.

- Our actress who is playing the female protagonist owns similar clothing to this therefore we may not have to purchase any of the clothing. However if we do need to buy any of the items we could source them from charity shops/Primark.

Grace