Filming Plan

Filming Plan - A shooting schedule is a project plan of each day's shooting for a film production. It is normally created and managed by the assistant director, who reports to the production manager managing the production schedule. Both schedules represent a timeline stating where and when production resources are used.

Risk Assessments

Prop List

Prop: A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or on screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct from the actors, scenery, costumes, and electrical equipment.

This is our prop list. It is important to have a prop list so that, as a group, we know exactly what props are needed for each shot and whether or not these props are suitable for what we are trying to achieve; this is important as the wrong style of props could lead to a jarring music video narrative. By having a prop list, it saves time, and when preparing to film we can quickly check what props we've got with us and whether or not we have missed anything important.

Shot List

Shot list: A full log of all the shots you want to include in your film. Essentially it is a checklist filled with details that will give your film a sense of direction and efficiency.

By utilising this shot list and filming alongside our storyboard, time efficiency will remain, as we will know exactly what shot comes in at what time and for how long. A shot list also helps directors and camera operators follow the same process whilst filming as it allows everyone to see clearly how the music video will be filmed. It will also help to keep crew on track with their original ideas and help to achieve the music video they planned and the one they showed to their target audience focus group instead of getting side tracked with other ideas.

Audience Pitch to Class Feedback

Megan:

• Sufficient detail throughout and I liked the costume idea and digipak drawings. Explanation of locations are very clear and can see that there is a journey taking place throughout the music video through the locations.
• I really like your song choice. I agree with you that there are lots of possibilities for this song.

Simran:

• Sufficient detail throughout, backed up points with images etc. I thought the digipak drawings were very detailed with everything explained well. Main idea is explained very well and can't wait to see what the end/final product looks like.
• The fact that EDM music videos do not tend to feature the artist(s), and that they often employ narratives that are unrelated to the lyrics could be an advantage. I personally prefer it when the narrative of a music video is related to the lyrics; looking at your animatic, this shouldn’t be a problem.

Mr Kerrigan:

• Your locations are well researched.
• Your animatic is easy to follow; I feel you have a good idea of what you are attempting to achieve. I’m looking forward to seeing how you execute it.
• Your ideas for your actress’s clothing make sense.
• I like the idea for your music video given your comparatively limited means. I think it strikes the balance of being both interesting and achievable. As you have correctly noted, EDM videos often involve some sort of connection to a club; I think that the idea of tracking your actress in the run up to a night out is a great idea. Make sure that you make your links between the content of the music video and the lyrics obvious to your audience.

Audience Pitch to Class

Animatic Storyboard

Animatic: A preliminary version of a film, produced by shooting successive sections of a storyboard and adding a soundtrack.

Phoebe: "I'm even more excited to be starring in this music video now that I've been able to see the animatic. I can really envision the story line. It's a cool concept."

James: “I think the group has done really well in making the animatic and I think the shots they have chosen fit really well.”

Alex: “The theme of romance really comes through and I feel like the music video is slowly coming alive what with now having an animatic version of it. I’m so excited to see the final thing"

Scarlett: “I finally see what the group is intending to achieve now that I've seen the animatic. I look forward to seeing the real thing.”

Ben: “I think the animatic does represent a simplified version of what The Chainsmokers achieve in their own music videos. However, they don’t have the same level of production so it is clear its being done on an amateur scale.”

Storyboard

Storyboard: A sequence of drawings, typically with some directions and dialogue, representing the shots planned for a film or television production.

What is the purpose of a storyboard? To organise the images to be displayed in a sequence for a motion picture, animation, or interactive media sequence. Storyboards make it easier for the editor to know what order the clips should be shown in.

Feedback

Phoebe: "I'm really excited to feature in this music video. When listening to the song and looking at the story board I can really envision the story line and its cool concept."

James: "I'm not the biggest fan of the song. I wouldn't say EDM is my favourite genre; however, I think the group has done really well in finding a story to go with the song."

Alex: "It follows the romance theme of the EDM genre but doesn't include a club or dancing scene, which is common in these types of videos within this genre, however I'm interested to see the final product."

Scarlett: "It's cool, however until I see visuals to audio I won't know if it really works. It will be cool to see though and its a good idea."

Ben: "I love The Chainsmokers so I'm really excited to see how they're represented in these guy's music video to one of their songs."

Casting Research

This is one of the hardest decisions to make during the research and planning process as it is vital we choose the right actor to fit the role of the character. If the actor does not fit the criteria, it could give the music video a jarring feel to it. Our music video was not based upon anything, e.g. a book, so our group had complete freedom with genre, song choice, theme and what we wanted our actor to look like as there is no 'character' to by.

The singer in 'New York City' is female and so it would only make sense to have a female actress. We wanted our actress to look very feminine and natural, e.g. to have long hair minimal make-up but also to look as if she fits in with the 'club scene'. We also wanted our actress to look mature as our target audience is 18-25 so if the actress is around this age or looks as if she were then it will help the audience to relate and connect with her, making our music video effective. We know that our close friend Phoebe has an interest in drama and achieved an A* grade at GCSE and a C at AS Level. She is an obvious choice for the lead female role.

Final Idea for Music Video

After coming up with a wide variety of initial ideas, as a group we finalised our favourite idea:

This happened to be a day in the life of our female character. Our main character is to be a girl, around the age of 18 - an age based upon looming important decisions about what life has in store for them after they leave school/comfort of the comfortable, routine-based life they have become accustomed to.

We want her outfits to reflect her mood and by this we mean because the song is quite sad we do not want her to be in bright colours because it would be incongruous to the theme of the song and the emotions felt by the character.

We want to show a journey, such as the main character getting ready for the night, we will show her make-up as well as her in different locations such as the woods and the top of a building, looking out at the towns skyline. Our target audience is of an age where watching 'Day in the life of...' videos online are exceptionally popular, which is one of the reasons why we decided to follow with this theme.

We plan on making links with the lyrics and the visuals on certain lines such as "Losing my lover to the arms of another" and "New York City please go easy". As we will not actually be filming in New York City we want to find a way to incorporate American culture in to our video as well through imagery and metaphors.

Initial Ideas for Music Video, Digipak and Magazine Advertisment

Music Video Ideas

Digipak Ideas

Above are our initial ideas for our digipak. We wanted our actress to be on the front cover of our digipak and to incorporate the night-time shots that will be featured in our music video, shown through the drawing of the stars. We also wanted to conform to the typical EDM album covers that we have previously deconstructed by featuring the band/artists name and the song/album title. The side panels will most likely just include a backdrop of the city view (trying to mimic the song lyrics "New York City") with the song name/band name due to limited space. The back side of our digipak will follow on from the front with the night-time shots to give our first ancillary task a sense of continuity. To make the back side of our digipak more interesting to look at and appealing to a wider audience we have decided to introduce ideas about one statement object, e.g. our actress from a side point of view or a lamppost, originating from the filming location.

Magazine Advertisement Ideas

Above are our initial ideas for our magazine advertisement. We wanted the magazine advertisement to match our digipak to give our whole project a sense of consistency, but we have made minor changes to make sure we keep the campaign interesting and versatile. The only main difference between these ideas and our initial ideas for our digipak is the positioning of the superimposed text. We will have the record label name, name of artist and name of song on the advertisement but we also wanted to include "OUT NOW" because we thought it stands out and the sense of urgency it projects will help get our target audience engrossed in the promotion and speed up the purchasing process.

Analysis of Chosen Song

Deconstruction of lyrics:

Analysis of 'New York City' by The Chainsmokers

Because everyone in our group has very different music tastes it was a difficult task to decide on one genre. 'New York City' by The Chainsmokers incorporates almost every aspect of what everybody in the group likes listening to. This song will be challenging but enjoyable to use when filming for our music video because it has various ways to mimic the meaning of the lyrics into our visuals. I also think that because we will be filming in the winter season this will help creatively when trying to grasp the dark tone of the meaning behind the lyrics.