Shipley and Ilkley Shoot - 20/1/2018

On Saturday the 20th of January we completed our 4th day of filming in Shipley and Ilkley. Early in the morning we caught a train to Shipley where we were going to be filming. We only needed a few shots from Shipley as I found a really good location for the end of the first part of the narrative. The scene takes place seconds after James has been kicked off the train for not having a ticket. He then walks onto the bridge which goes above the train. It's on this bridge that he collapses and seems to give up on his life, therefore concluding the first narrative story of our video.

Once we arrived at the location we firstly began by setting the camera up at one side of the bridge. When we started filming James would walk into shot, walk along the bridge and then drop his bag on the bridge and then collapses next to it. It is a simple shot however we tried a few different places for James to collapse in. This just gives us options for whether we want a long shot or a mid-shot. After completing this shot we changed to camera position so we could use an extreme close up on James. We wanted this as we wanted to show the emotion his character was feeling after the realisation he had lost everything. We want this to be a very powerful moment in our video. Again, this close up was very simple but we took a few takes just so we had a variety of emotions portrayed by James.

The final shot we tried to film in Shipley was James walking up the stairs towards the bridge. We decided to do this last minute because we were worried we didn't have enough footage to fill the allocated time we gave ourselves due to the pace of the music. So we added an extra shot just to be safe. This was a tricky shot as the train line itself couldn't be in shot as we were using a different location to the one he got kicked off at. So we didn't want to risk a continuity error. Taking this into consideration therefore took time as we had to find a good camera angle which focused on James but without showing the railway. Once we found this we also had a focusing issue as the handrail was right in the foreground of the shot. This meant we would have to adjust the focus as James walked up the stairs and doing this while he is always moving is challenging. After a few test shots we finally got a shot in which James was in focus. However, for effect we made it so he was out of focus at the start of the shot and as he walked we performed a focus pull which put him into focus once he reached the top of the stairs.

Originally the plan for this scene was to have a time lapse shot of people walking past James as they got off their trains and tried to get on with their day. However, this didn't work because the station was very quiet therefore the time lapse effect won't have been effective at all therefore we changed our plan and just used the normal DLSR rather than moving to the GoPro camera. This is the reason we needed to add shots due our planned timing as we planned the time lapse shot to last for a whole instrumental section and one long shot wouldn't look good if we left it for that long. The pace of the song requires us to use quicker cuts in order to fit to the rhythm of the song.

Once we got the train back to Ilkley we had to re-film James sleeping on the bench. We tried to film this the night before however the location we chose wasn't as well lit as we hoped therefore the camera quality wasn't what we wanted. Therefore we just shot a single take in which James sat on the bench, got his sleeping bag out and then tries to go to sleep. It was very simple as we had done it before so everything was done very quickly as we could move onto the next shot.

After this shot we stayed in Ilkley to film both versions of the coffee scene. To begin with we filmed the happy version which shows James drinking a coffee on a bench. This was an easy shot as it was static and therefore only needed one take. After this Melissa's mum came into Ilkley to film the next scene as we required an added extra. In this version we see two extras happy and drinking coffee on the same bench James was on. We see James walking in the background looking sad. He then continues to walk off until he is out of shot. This shot will hopefully clearly show the audience that our narrative is the same story twice as the shots will look identical as we didn't move the camera at all in between recording the two sections.

The final thing we had to film on this day was the final montage that shows James rebuilding his life. This montage included: him shaving, him looking in the mirror, making his bed, a money jar filling up and him talking with his friend. All of these scenes were easy to film as they are all very short clips. However, we needed to film it in the correct order because once James shaved off his beard he wouldn't have the homeless look anymore so we can't film anything from the previous parts of the video. Therefore we had to make sure everything else was filmed before this moment. After this all we have to film is the final scene which shows James walking back through Leeds however he is now wearing a suit and looking much more successful. This final shot will show the full contrast between how James is at the start of the video and his final transformation at the end.

Digipak Analysis

As part of this assignment we must create a digipak that represents the concept we have created for the 'Tempered Tides' music video. As a result I have examined.

Coldplay - Viva La Vida (or Death and All His Friends)

This digipak for the Coldplay album Viva La Vida uses a style emulating its central theme of freedom and revolution. Taking the spanish title which translates to 'Live the Life", the front cover is an 1830 painting of the French revolution titled "Liberty Leading the People" by Eugene Delacroix, complete with the image of the figure Liberty facing a French flag in a battlefield. The title is painted over the top roughly and with other accompanying spatters of white paint, reflecting the rebellious theme further whilst also tying the historical elements to the 21st century.

The text and font on the back cover and one of the inside panels is a continuation of the theme, resembling gold engraving with an old-fashioned font and a formal, minimal design.

As the band don't appear on the front cover or other panels, one interior panel is dedicated to showing all 4 members of the band in performance on stage. The use of pictures of the band in performance befits the indie rock genre where the music is the key focus rather than the band members, so the grittier photos inside are more befitting than, say, a photoshoot image of the band.

Biffy Clyro - Only Revolutions

This digipak breaks away from some of the norms of classic indie rock designs. For starters the colour scheme suggests more of a pop genre as it clears shows a strong focus on blue, red and green. This gives off a lighter tone whereas indie rock is often darker. However, once you take a closer look the image itself shows a darker message than first thought. To begin with, the sky is fairly dark therefore giving off a slightly negative tone which is often portrayed in indie music. This feeling is emphasised by the fire which can be seen in the background. This visual element links to the title of the album "Only Revolutions" which suggests violence and rebellion. Fire is therefore a stereotypical image of these acts. The bright colours I mentioned earlier are also shown to illustrate a divide. The two flags show a difference between the two pictured figures. This links to indie music because it creates an underlying theme of conflict which is also a common theme in indie music. Especially the conflict between partners.

The inner sides of the packaging also show this divide and conflict as each side shows one of the flags from the front cover. One shows the O from Only and the other the R from Revolutions. These letters therefore can symbolise two sides of this divide as they appear on separate sides of the album.
The font used on this digipak is an example of iconography for Biffy Clyro as they uses this font for all of their products and promotions. It is very minor however as it is very small and put at the very top of the case therefore suggesting it is insignificant and that the image itself represents the band and their meaning in a better way than the titles can.

 Kasabian - Empire

Kasbian is an indie rock band and this is clearly reflected in the design of their digipak which sticks to the common grungy themes of this genre, created by the clear contrast of styles in the primary image. The image itself looks like a painting, emulating the style of renaissance artwork through the use of muted colours and soft edges which is heavily contrasted with the text which sits directly through the middle.

The font is that of the band's own logo and is sans-serif, immediately contrasting with the elegant, artistic picture in the background, instead being harsher and more futuristic. The black text colour also contrast with the lighter and softer tones in the rest of the image, causing the band's name to appear more stark and noticeable in the images with the black font. This makes the name stand out so it isn't overpowered by the image on the front and makes it very clear who the album is by in the absence of any actual pictures of the band. However, on the very front panel they have decided to use a more golden tone for the text colour which creates a more cohesive and unified image which is initially presented to it's audience.

The name of the album is written on a ribbon across the image in a font typical to renaissance literature. This connotes that the image on the front is directly related to themes and songs in the album, bringing the two clearly contrasting ideas together. The look of the ribbon around the picture along with it's soft edges are also comparable to stereotypical tattoos, especially with the colours used on the cover which resemble ink on skin. This further adds to the edginess of this album cover, appealing to their target audience and creating an easily recognisable image, making the album more memorable.

There is a clear contrast being made here between new and old, most obviously with the old image and new font, but also within the wider look of medieval imagery contrasted against this relatively modern band. It definitely makes for an edgy, memorable look which will help with the promotion of the music as people will be more aware of the album as they're more likely to notice the cover. The off-white colouring of the album itself also adds to the grungy feel of the digipak and avoids the connotations of purity and innocence presented by white, instead creating a more unfinished, well used effect which is commonly seen in the rock genre.

The 'K' signs in the top left and bottom right corner are denoted to be symbols from playing cards by the club signs underneath. The card 'king of clubs' could relate to the band's album name - Empire - through it's suggestion of power and ruling whilst also linking to the band's own name with the 'K' possibly standing for Kasabian. The use of playing card imagery also links to the edgy feel of the album as cards are linked with gambling which has negative connotations, inevitably making it attractive to those who want to defy social standards. The king is also the best card in the pack, connoting winning and success which further link to the album name 'Empire'.

The band themselves are not on the cover of the digipak which suggests that the band wanted to avoid the idea of star status, instead focussing the cover on their music and the tone of their songs. This sends a positive message to fans as it suggests the members of the band are not in it for fame, but instead to do what they love by making the music.

On the inside panels there are hand-drawn images of the band members faces, carrying through the theme of tradition. It also makes it feel more personal as the image looks as though it could've been drawn by a band member, putting a personal stamp on the album and making it special for fans. They have continued the use of very minimal colour through to the inner panels which creates a cohesion throughout the digipak so it looks like a complete unit. This also adds to the simplicity of the inner design and the hand-drawn feel that's created.
Overall this is very in-keeping with the rock genre, sharing the typical 'grungy' and 'edgy' looks seen across other bands in this genre but staying unique through their unconventional use of white rather than darker base colours. This album is made to stand out through the use of the renaissance style painting but keeps relevant through the blazon depiction of the band name in the comparatively modern font, ensuring it still appeals to their target audience. 

Ilkley Shoot - 6/1/2018

On the 6th of January we went into Ilkley to complete our third day of filming. We planned to film the part of our narrative in which our protagonist, James, would meet up with his friend and be given a bed to sleep in.

To begin with we filmed some wide shots of James arriving at his new home. However these shots dint turn out great as we didn't have a lot of sunlight therefore the shots appeared too blue and dark. The main reason we tried this shot first was because our new actor Joe was late therefore we didn't want to waste time and tried a few shots that we might be able to fit in the video. Once Joe arrived we didn't actually need to film much. To begin with, we filmed James walking up the drive to his friends house and then knocking on the door. We filmed this section from a variety of angles as this would give us several different options when it came to editing the footage. We filmed a high angle shot which looked down on James as we walked up the steep drive. We then also used a close up from the POV of the door for when he arrived next to the door. Finally in this bit we used a shot from behind James' shoulder as this shot clearly shows James, his action when he knocks on the door and it also shows Joe when he opens the door.

A challenge we had with filming this shot was the reflections from the windows. We realised after our first couple of takes that we were in the reflection in the glass when we were holding the camera. Therefore to combat this we had to change the angle of the shot sightly in  order to remove us from the shot. This wasn't a problem though as the shot still included every detail we wanted. After we finished filming outside we moved into the kitchen to film the next part of the video. In this scene we see Joe inviting James into his home. This is a short clip as all we see is a small exchange of words before Joe gives James a cup of tea. We made this bit short because the pace of the music at this point in the song is fairly quick therefore we want to match the pace of the editing to the pace of the song.

The last scene we filmed on this day was James walking into his new bedroom. This is significant as it represents the beginning of his new life. We therefore left this as a longer take because we wanted to symbolise this importance of this moment. This was a very short filming day as all of us had other things to do that day therefore we only focused on the shots that involved Joe so we didn't need to ask for him again. On our next day of filming we will complete all but the final scene of the video.

Magazine Advert Analysis

To inform our groups' creation of an advertisement for the Tempered Tides EP, we looked at existing adverts for music albums that have appeared in magazines within the industry to identify the features and points of interest and significance:

Biffy Clyro - Mountains

This advert is fairly minimalistic as the vast majority of the advert is taken up by a slightly cropped replication of the cover art image from the actual "Mountains" album. The purpose of this, whilst also being bold and eye catching, is to instil the iconography of the album and make the product and album as much as a brand as the band. The band is displayed large and centrally, in a clearly visible white font (contrasting the blue palette of the rest of the poster). The album name is the other large piece of information displayed prominently just beneath the band name.

The release date is then the third most prominent piece of text, important in informing the audience and building anticipation for the release. The other information displayed beneath in increasing small and dark, thus subtle, text is the following:

• The formats in which the song will be available (includes CD, Picture Disc and Download)
• A link to Biffy Clyro's website to presumably further information on the product
• The record label's logo ("14th Floor")

Oasis - Roll With It

A similarly minimalist approach to the Biffy Clyro advert, the advert for this Oasis single is even more stripped down and to-the-point, seemingly a convention of indie music advertising. 

The band and its iconic logo are placed very large at the top centre of the poster. It also banks upon the appeal of the band's members by including an image featuring the band within the central image. The image again is a near copy of the actual EP cover art and the palette is brash and makes use of complimentary colours.

The information below is more limited: the title appears also large as a key piece of information to communicate to audiences. The words "New Single" also appear small above the title to clarify what is being advertised. The release date is the third and final piece of information displayed. Granted this advert is from the '90's when online marketing wasn't as crucial as it is today and formats such as iTunes and Amazon Music didn't exist. 

Oasis were an extremely well known band at the EP's release so the unapologetically simple approach to advertising is likely as the marketing team know Oasis are a famous and popular enough band and brand that they can reveal very little and still pique lots of interest from an audience. It connects to the band's humble brand identity and in this way is a well designed insight into the band and their music.

Ed Sheeran - +

Instead of promoting existing artists like the first two examples, this advert differs by being an advert introducing the artist Ed Sheeran to a wide audience from a position of relative anonymity. In this way it has more information to provide in order to either make him identifiable to those who have heard his songs or convince people who haven't to listen.

The poster places the artist himself as its central focus, in an image where he's coyly smiling away from the camera, a representation of Sheeran's down-to-earth everyman brand identity. The main two pieces of critical information (artist name and album name) are again placed as the two largest pieces of text on the poster. They are central and contrast the black background. As "+" isn't obviously an album title, a subtitle is added noting it is "The No.1 Album", which also references the acclaim the album has to its name.

Beneath this is a line of text reading 'Featuring the singles The A Team and Lego House', drawing attention to tracks audiences are likely to be aware of and consequently be persuaded to buy the album. There's also a small inserted picture of the album cover.

Leeds Shoot 2 - 21/12/17

On Thursday 21st of December we did our second bout of filming where we tackled the first part of our narrative. Our main priority was filming in any areas of Leeds where we needed the Christmas decorations as we knew they'd be coming down before our next opportunity to film.
We took the storyboard with us to Leeds so we could check the shots we were filming to make sure they were how we had envisioned them and that we didn't miss anything.

Before we got on the train we filmed some shots on the station for the storyline where he gets kicked off the train. We wanted to show him clearly being forced to leave so he couldn't walk off it naturally, therefore, for the shot we really like, I stood inside the carriage pushing James off to make it look authentic and we asked James to look back afterwards as if in disappointment and frustration to help get the message across clearly. We are very happy with the final shot and believe it demonstrates what we wanted it to show.

Once we were on the train we were faced with the difficulties of filming on public transport - the movement of the train itself shaking the camera, finding an empty seat to film on and members of the public being inconsistent in the background due to them getting on and off the train. We knew this would be difficult and, as we were aware of the the challenges, we were able to deal with them. We had to re-shoot a few sections due to a lady appearing in the background halfway through but managed to avoid any further filming difficulties.

The other problem we had was trying to make it look convincing - the audience have to believe that James really was showing or not showing his ticket to a conductor so, in the absence of one, we had myself stand in wearing a black coat which could pass for a conductor's blazer and framed an over-the-shoulder-shot so you couldn't see his face. This also worked really well as I looked bigger in the foreground connoting James' lack of power in the background, furthermore, watching the scene over my shoulder also connoted his total control over James and the situation.

We also decided to film a wider shot incorporating the seats in front of James to display someone showing their ticket to the 'conductor' to make it clear to the audience what's happening and clearly establish my character.

Then we had to re-shoot the scene but with an alternate outcome for the second half of the video. We recreated the same shots but this time had James show his ticket to the conductor so he doesn't have to leave the train in the second narrative.

The most pressured thing about this bit of filming was the time limit set by the length of the journey but we did manage to finish both storylines in time.

When we arrived we got our establishing shot of Leeds station. As we were setting up a double decker bus drove down and covered the sign as it went past which gave us the idea of having a bus reveal the Leeds station sign as it drives past to add some dimension to the footage rather than it just being a static shot. Therefore, we had to wait for a while until another bus came past but it was worth it for the footage we got.

The first thing we did when we arrived in Leeds was head to the christmas market to get our establishing shots and film the tracking shot where we first meet our protagonist. We thought this was going to be difficult because it was complex with several different people who the camera needed to follow in time with the music. However, we managed it within three takes and are happy with the way it turned out, although we did have a few problems with people walking in front of the camera as we were filming in a public area. The most difficult thing was actually trying to find the best location to film that particular shot; we needed to move between two stalls and find James tucked away in a corner which turned out to be quite a specific requirement, especially considering the time restraints posed by our need to stay with the music. We did actually manage to find a spot where we could achieve the look we wanted and, after a few practices, we managed to get what we needed. This was the most important bit of filming of the day and we were relieved to have achieved it so early on.

Then we filmed James wandering around the market in different directions, sometimes walking towards the camera and sometimes away, to get some 'filler shots' of him for instrumentals and demonstrate the passing of time. We also filmed some shots of him getting knocked back as he walked to demonstrate how shunned homeless people can be. To get relatively smooth shots of James walking towards the camera we needed the camera person to be walking backwards which was quite difficult in a public place. To overcome this we had me wearing a rucksack with the camera round his neck and the string pulled taught to get a steady shot, then Melissa held onto the handle of the rucksack and pulled me backwards to make sure he walked in a straight line and didn't knock into anything. We found this technique actually worked quite well to get the desired effect.

Then we walked down to the ferris wheel to get an establishing shot of it because it connotes fun, family and inclusion which we wanted to contrast against Jame's isolation. It was also next to the town hall which was one of the establishing shots we needed for the introduction of the song. We then continued with these so went to Trinity to get an establishing shot of the shopping centre with the christmas tree which we filmed on an escalator to try and get a smooth tracking shot. Unfortunately the movement is so gradual you can't really see it but it's still a very nice, smooth shot of the centre.

We then went to the piano in Trinity and filmed me playing it for one of the introductory shots before getting another at Leeds Arena. When we arrived at the arena it was totally empty and we decided to get a shot of James walking in front of the large open space, again to highlight his isolation and exclusion from society. Through the day we found that we really liked the effect of having James alone in large spaces - we first saw it on the train when we decided to seat him in a 6 seater rather than 2 and again at the arena with him walking across the wide space. We really liked the way it turned out and may try and continue this theme throughout the video.

We had the idea that we wanted to film the cup scene as it's the most significant one in the video because it acts as the turning point. However, when we went to the location we had identified it was really busy and we didn't feel comfortable filming such an unpleasant scene so publicly. So we left filming it and went up to film the establishing shot of the arena but whilst we were there we found a corner hidden behind a grass mound that we could film more privately behind. So we decided to set up James in the sleeping bag and go ahead with the cup scene. It went very smoothly - we used Ed and Rob in different hats as extras so it looked more naturalistic and filmed from 3 different angles, a wide shot of the whole scene, a close-up of James' face and the cup and a backwards tracking shot of Rob walking away. We struggled to get the cup in shot properly as every time Rob kicked it it went too far, so we had to re-do it so Rob stood on it causing the money to fall out in the frame which worked nicely. Then we repeated all the same shots but had Rob put money in James' cup rather than stand on it for the alternative narrative.

The only thing we're worried about with this footage is that we were losing the light as we were filming and, when we reviewed it, there is a significant difference in the light at the start and at the end. However, we're hoping we will be able to fix this in post production as this will be in black and white and we will be able to slightly darken the first few shots so they match the last ones.
Overall we had a very successful day filming and are really happy with the footage we got. Although the weather was unlucky and we had to film a few scenes under an umbrella, we got a lot more done than we thought we would so are ahead in our schedule. We also got a few unplanned shots of James just walking around Leeds with different landmarks in the background which we can use in instrumentals and any time we need extra footage. Therefore we feel confident about the footage collected and will be uploading it to the computers and reviewing it in our upcoming lesson.