How The Filming Went

We filmed the performance part of our video first, spanning 3 days, including the set up and packing away. We filmed the performance in Matt's garage, using a black sheet to cover the door, allowing us to film in a seemingly black room. The sheet wasn't too difficult to set up, and setting up the drum kit & amps was also relatively straightforward. We placed the floodlights behind the amps and the spotlight at the far end of the garage, for the best results in lighting, however at times it was fairly difficult to navigate the camera around the lights while filming without disturbing the footage.
We filmed mainly individual shots first, first of the drummer (Tom) and the bassist (Steven) as Tom wasn't able to perform on the 2nd day and Steven wasn't able to perform on the 3rd day. For the majority of the individual shots, we focused on the instrument and the performer, but made sure if another instrument was visible in the background, that that person was still performing, so the continuity was smooth.
We made sure to film far more than necessary, incase some parts didn't turn out as good when editing, and at times filmed with both cameras from different angles to help even further with continuity. The only other problems we had when filming the performance was the sound; we had to muffle the drums incase of complaints from neighbours.
For the 'narrative' part of the video, i.e. the various shots of London and Kieran singing in London, we had to arrange a day where we were all available to go to London. On the day, we got the train from Peterborough to King's Cross and from there just visited iconic locations throughout London, again taking multiple shots of the same locations, such as Big Ben, Downing Street and the London Eye. Overall this day was far more hectic than the previous 3 filming days, as we had to move very quickly between shooting locations due to our limited time before it got dark. It was also hard filming in some locations because of the congestion caused by pedestrians. The fact that some of the Tube Workers were on strike also made getting around London trickier than it needed to be, but we worked around this.
Overall, our filming went reasonably well, thanks to good planning and storyboarding, just the problems we did encounter was expected lighting issues and general problems with transport.

Blur - Parklife Music Video

[Blur] - Parklife MV from yjchae on Vimeo.

This music video by Blur is of a similar style to what we hope to finish up with - a portrayal of British life and culture, with a very simple narrative. However this video is more of a sarcastic outlook on life, especially with the lyrics.

Filming Plans

As we were filming on a tight budget, We though it would a good idea to try and make the most professional type of shots using simple items found around the house, and other various items obtained online. In the professional music industry, they would use a track dolly to get the smooth pans, These cost in excess of £700, so Matt decided to construct his own dolly.


Matt constructed a makeshift dolly using some basic DIY products. The track is constructed of 32mm PVC pipe and more pipe can be added to the ends to extend the track length. The base is made from the bottom of a wooden cabinet,which has four office chair wheels attached to it. This in turn rests on the two pipes that are parallel to each other, thus creating a smooth camera movement.

Alongside the dolly Matt created, we also purchased two small floodlights off of eBay and we will place these behind the amps in the music video in order to get a good lighting in the master shot. Our friend has also allowed us to borrow his lighting machine which will allow us to get a realistic spotlight shot on various band members without having to re-adjust the equipment or lighting. Finally, we also purchased some large black sheets with which we use to cover the garage walls, giving the appearance that we are performing in a studio, as opposed to a amateurish garage. Luckily, actors and instruments are not an issue, as, between us, we all have the correct instruments and enough people with which to play them.

The cameras we are using are two Panasonic HD Cameras, and we will be filming with both of them in 1920x1080 Resolution, sometimes at the same time, to make editing easier and smoother when creating continuous lip syncing.

Chosen Channel For Music Video Production

After looking at the viewing figures for various music channels such as Scuzz, Kerrang, MTV, Kiss etc., we have decided that the best music channel for playing our video & promoting the band would be MTV Hits.
We have decided this as MTV has the best daily & weekly viewing figures as opposed to other music channels, and our band fits the genre of the channel.

MTV Hits

MTV Hits, and all other branches of MTV, as well as various other channels such as Nickolodeon & Comedy Central, are owned by Viacom, the fourth largest media conglomerate in the world.

from Wikipedia: MTV Hits is a digital television channel in the UK, Ireland, France, Scandinavia, Romania, Israel, Austria, Poland, Germany and the Benelux region. MTV Hits plays chart hits non-stop. There are very few MTV shows on this channel, but there are many music-related themed zones (such as 'Urban Beats' and 'Spanking New Music'). The channel launched on 1 May 2001, replacing MTV Extra.

From this excerpt you can see how MTV Hits is a lot more music orientated than MTV, which actually doesn't play many music videos at all anymore. MTV may have the highest viewing figures for music channels, overall it has a very low viewing figure total, in comparison with other TV channels, showing the decline of music channels since the 90s. The reason for channels such as this with low viewing figures not going out of business is due to companies such as Viacom, who own multiple stations at once, funding each station appropriately.

Pitches Presented To The Class

Pitch 1

• Typography
  


• Random CGI (posterized)
  


• Band Performance
  


• Transitions
  


• Time Lapse of cars
  


• Slow motion singing
  


• London – most well known places
  


• Lyrics written on body - arms
  

Pitch 2

• Band performance
  


• Unknown location
  


• Narrative – growing up in England
  


• Empty hall (big)
  


• Posters of British Propaganda on walls
  


• Blacked out room

After presenting our pitches to the class and listening to their feedback and advice, every one preferred pitch one to pitch two, which is also what us as a group preferred. Amongst suggestions offered by our class, people agreed it might be good to mix in a more gritty and 'realistic' representation of England; not just the cliche, typical tourist representation of England. Another suggestion was to simply add the British Propaganda posters from pitch two and integrate them into the band performance in pitch one.Everyone liked the demo of typography done by Matt, although thought it would be best used only in small segments throughout the video, rather than have one large segment of it.

This is the questionnaire that we will be using to get results from a wide range of people and audiences. From the results we obtain, we will be able to produce a better promotional music video that closely follows what the audience believes should be in a Britpop music video.

Mindboard

Mindboard for different ideas, effects and objects to be used in music video. (Click for larger)