Production Day - 30/9/22

Production Day - 30/9/22

This week, Olivia and I were given a Production Day to experiment with different techniques and concepts we had for our music video. We took the feedback we received from the class for our pitch and decided that we needed to investigate some of the ideas we had for certain shots that seemed tricky and needed some practice before we could decide whether to use them or not. 

First experiment - Projecting images

One idea that Olivia and I had for our music video included using a projector and projecting images or text onto a person to convey emotion or a message inspired by our song. We decided to experiment a bit with this today.

[Olivia setting up the text to project onto the screen, with the lyrics 'I wont shut up' from 'Under The Table']

The first thing we decided to try projecting was text. We chose a lyric from the song and typed it across the screen, with the intention of our character in our video to stand in front of. This worked quite well, however we decided that we would need a light on the character's face in the actual video, as it was difficult to see me lip-syncing in the footage, which is a key aspect of the shot. However, I think this worked really well and we will definitely be considering using text in our video to add more emotional intensity to the character.

[Setting up the bars]

For this experiment, we tried projecting bars onto the screen to create a feeling of sympathy for a character who is trapped in a relationship they can't escape from. This was a good idea we are considering using, however we would have to use a light again as the black between the bars meant that we could not see the person lip-syncing - a similar problem as before.

[Setting up the lava lamp background - this was not as successful as the colours didn't merge together, so it looked slightly unnatural]

Finally, we tried using a 'sensory video' on YouTube as a background to project onto the character. This was probably our favourite background we tried today as it was colourful and the colours blended together. It was also the brightest of the backgrounds, which meant I was really clear to see, as was my lip-syncing. We will definitely be using this background for our music video (providing it is not copyrighted) and will also be experimenting further with the speed of the video, since that is something you can toggle with YouTube videos easily. This means we could have the colours exploding slowly or quickly in the final video, with both creating different effects and emotions.

Second experiment - Bathroom mirror scene

[Setting up the camera so it was filming me and the mirror reflection]

The next idea we had from our pitch that we experimented on was trying out a mirror scene, with our character looking in a mirror and their reflection talking back to them, representing some kind of inner saboteur. We filmed this experiment in a bathroom at school, something we will probably use in our music video, as it is meant to be taking place in a restaurant, so would include a restaurant bathroom. We also decided to try this handheld with the camera, in order to create a more intimate and shaky vibe which fit with the bathroom environment and inner conflict of the character. This was successful, however we are also considering a different approach, by editing the shot so that both versions of the character, the real one and the mirror reflection would be in the shot at the same time. This would convince the viewer of the reality of the reflection talking back to the person. This scene is also good for editing between other scenes as a montage clip. 

Third experiment - Crane shots

Our next experiment we tried was with a crane, which we used for shots at what will eventually become a dinner scene. Our vision is a warmly lit dinner party, with our main character sitting at the end of the table with their partner, stuck in their toxic relationship. To do this, we tried a shot using the crane, with the camera panning up from underneath the table (showing the character getting kicked) and then across to everyone else at the dinner party, showing how oblivious they are to the conflict. We also decided that this would be a good opening scene to the music video.

Overall, this was a pretty successful experiment. The shot came out as very smooth and not shaky or wobbly. The crane was also very useful as we managed to capture the whole table in one shot.

Fourth experiment - Reflections in puddles

The last experiment Olivia and I tried out today was trying to film a character's reflection in a puddle. We had an idea from our feedback from the pitch about showing a reflection in the puddle of a spilt wine glass or bottle, to show a sense of reflection on their choices, or to show a possibly more confident version of themselves. This was probably the least successful shot we tried today, as it was very hard to show the face of the person. In this photo below, Olivia's face isn't visible at all - just her silhouette. Though this was just done with water. The other problem we had was how red wine stains, and just how possible it was for us to spill it on a wooden table. We will possibly have a deeper look at using puddle reflections in our music video, however it was not something we thought was that successful from today.

Evaluation

Overall, this has been a very successful Production Day. Olivia and I are more confident in our ideas for our music video and have a clearer understanding of where to film certain shots, and how to shoot them. As well as this, we have also come up with more ideas for the narrative of our music video, and how it will start and finish. Our story feels more fleshed out and we have a deeper understanding of which parts of the song will show which parts of our little experiments from today. We believe that we achieved everything we wanted to with our experiments - apart from the wine puddle reflection, which we think we will alter to become something else in the video, or else will decide against. This was just difficult as we couldn't see a reflection in the puddle and therefore the lip-syncing. 

What does this mean for our project?

After today, a lot of the experiments and ideas we had are now much easier to create, and we now have a better understanding of how to set these up and execute them well when we come to filming out music video. The production also opens up new possibilities for Olivia and I, specifically with the projector images and videos we used. We found that sensory videos with a lot of colour and movement worked really well. This opens up new ideas for how we could use these colours in our video, for example by using the red ink to show anger near the end of the video or blue ink to show helplessness or a sense of melancholy. In terms of needing new ideas, Olivia and I pretty much figured out what is going to happen for at least the first 2 minutes of the song. We decided we will most likely start with the crane shot across the table and introducing the relationship between the two characters, with this being about 30 seconds. Then we will go onto the mirror shots and the projector sequence. As for the rest of the song, we are still figuring out what we will show in that time, but for now we have enough to start to fully realise our video, at least.

Montage of footage

Here is the footage that Olivia and I created on Production Day, edited with 'Under The Table' to create somewhat of an idea as to what our video will look like.