RISK ASSESSMENT.

ANAMATIC STORYBOARD.

STORYBOARD

ACTOR PROFILE.

NAME: Lisa Rogers

AGE: 20

OCCUPATION: Student and teaches singing and acting at Northen Theatre School Company.

HOBBIES & INTERESTS: Lisa's interested in singing and acting and has had singing lessons with Tracy Adams at Stage Struck Singing School, she has also took dancing and actings lessons at NAPA along with many other dancing, acting and singing experiences.

 

Lisa will be perfect for the actress in my video as she can easily take on a character role. She's also had a lot of experience in acting and is used to following orders. Lisa also studied media at college so also has a creative eye which will help if I need another opinion on the shot. She's also my sister which means we can work around each others schedule and she also only lives 5 minutes away.

PROPS IDEAS

LOCATION IDEAS.

COSTUME IDEAS

MORE IDEAS.

AUDIENCE DEMOGRAPHIC & PSYCHO-GRAPHIC INTERVIEWS.

MY AUDIENCE.

CODES & CONVENTIONS.

LYRIC ANALYSIS.

I have looked at the lyrics for Lisa Mitchell's  Neopolitan Dreams and highlighted key points and ideas for camera angles and the actions that could take place in that certain lyric.

CHOSEN SONG & ARTIST PROFILE.

CHOSEN SONG AND ARTIST PROFILE.

I decided to use the song 'Neopolitan Dreams' for my music video by 'Lisa Mitchell'

I chose this song as the tempo of the song varies from slow to fast and I feel rotoscope will fit perfect with this type of song. The song also includes a lot of acoustic instrumentals which I think I can use to my advantage as It would go well rotoscoped. Using an acoustic song will allow me to make the song more personal to the target audience as the genre Indie Pop applies to the young audience who are experiencing new things in life such as life journeys and love, acoustic songs allow these ideologies to be applied to my music video in a more subtle way instead of seeing a conventional video of a couple arguing or their relationship building throughout the video. The music is quite fast in parts which has quite an upbeat feel to it and I will be able to reflect this in my rotoscoped video by choosing nature based locations and hopefully filming when the sun is out. The fact I want to film in nature locations will attract the Indie audience further as they are stereotypically looked at as being 'hippie' and enjoying all things natural. However, when properly listening to the lyrics I can see that Lisa is singing about leaving 'someone' and saying she'll be okay. However, she doesn't definitely naming who she's leaving, although we are able to tell it's a loved one. This also allows me to use this to my advantage as I don't necessarily need a definite second character, the audience can decide for themselves who she is talking about. I like how the video and lyrics contradict themselves as the music is quite upbeat and happy but the lyrics have a lot of different emotions running throughout from sad to happy. When listening to this song I can also imagine a dreamy/fantasy world, which coincidentally Lisa Mitchell's video looks like it is inspired by as she's in a forest with a lot of different characters and actions taking place throughout the video. Listening to this song without looking at the video allows my imagination to run wild and think of key things which could go into my video. The video also has a lot of loud beats throughout which I can use to my advantage by starting and stopping the rotoscope at those points, whilst also changing camera angles on the beat to allow the video and song to fit together perfectly.

LISA MITCHELL

Lisa is an English born Australian singer song writer whom became involved in the music industry in 2006. She is signed to the label RCA Records UK (parent: Sony Music Entertainment) and her music falls under the Indie Pop genre.

Lisa Mitchell has used synergy in her music as her song 'Clean White Love' was featured in the film Australian Red Dog (2011, Direction Kriv Stenders) making it also appear on the films soundtrack. Her song ''Pirouette'' is also featured in an advertisement for the 2010 season of Bondi Rescue.

Both these forms of synergy allow Lisa Mitchell to reach out to a larger, more mainstream audience as the audience for Australian Red Dog may hear the song and decide to listen to her music. Also, adverts are a much broader way to get music out in the public as anyone can see TV adverts, whereas in films only a certain audience may go see the film depending on the genre of the film.

MUSIC GENRE

My new chosen genre is Indie Pop. The genre originated in London quickly through the independent labels such as Rough Trade. Indie pop was alternate and original, taking inspiration from punk’s DIY ethic and related ideologies. The first few indie pop artists were The Smith’s in the mid 80’s. Indie Pop wasn’t described as a real genre until NME’s C86 tape in 1986 was released. It featured artists such as The Pastels, Primal Scream and The Wedding Present. Indie was then defined as a genre with it’s own conventions such as guitars, a love of 60’s pop and pop song structures. Usually the audience that would listen to Indie Pop are teenagers and young adults between the ages of 16-24 who are sociable, outgoing and usually students with a busy life.

 

MEDIA TEXT INFLUENCES

MUSIC VIDEO INSPIRATIONS:

Never Shout Never - What Is Love?

I like how this video uses live action with typography over the top. I also like how the artist connects with the audience and breaks the 4th wall by giving direct eye contact. I think this makes the video more personal and allows the audience to feel more involved. I like how the video is shot in one take using a smooth hand pan from left to right with the actors changing each time.

Never Shout Never - Harmony

I like the use of the narrative structure as it follows a linear structure and Todorov's narrative structure theory can be applied to this as at the beginning we see the fly going to deliver a letter (equilibrium) and then a chain of events happening during the middle (disequilibrium), and then the fly delivering back a letter at the end (equilibrium again). I also like how simple the video is yet still is unique and effective. I think it fits with the song as it's a really delicate sony - hence the name 'Harmony' with an acoustic song, and the video isn't too heavy and complicated it's simple to understand.

JUNO (film) ''All I Want Is You'' 

In this sequence to the beginning of the film, I like the simple transition from reality to rotoscope. I think the rotoscope looks effective as at the start of films it's not a convention to have animation at the beginning so it creates a unique twist to the film. I like how at the end the video then transitions back to realism again.

Rotosmoking - ft MGMT (not official video)

I like how this video uses rotoscope but plays around with a lot of different media such as hand drawn, cgi, paint and coloured pencils. I also like how in the editing stage they have reversed the clip.

Amanda Palmer - No Suprises

After looking at the live reference video to Amanda's music video, I can see just how much work has gone into it. In the live footage version, Amanda is simply laid singing a song with nothing else. However, in the editing stage a lot of rotoscope has been added which makes the video look even more effective.

Kanye West  - Heartless

This video really attracts my attention as not only does it use animation, but it advances the use of rotoscope/cgi. The backgrounds are really well planned and drawn creating an alternate reality in the video. The characters are also well drawn and the video looks very natural. The video also has a variety of camera shots from establishing shots, long shots, medium close ups to close ups. 

 DIGIPAK INSPIRATIONS:


As I was really inspired by the A-Ha Take On Me video, I have decided to go down the rotoscoping path and test it out to see how it will look. I also study Art so thought I'd use that to my advantage as I also like drawing a lot.

ANIMATION TECHNIQUES RESEARCH & TESTS

ANIMATION HISTORY



Animation is a technique of using a seqence of images to create an illusion of movement. Animation can be created with a camera or video programme, however there are other methods. Animation techniques can be created by hand rendered art, computer generated imagery, three dimentional objects or a combination of techniques together such as rotoscope or stop motion animation. To flow animation smoothly the devices usually use 25 frames per second. Animation started as early as when Paleolithic cave painings were created. The paintings usually had multiple sets of legs in different positions, however this could be seen as trying to convey motion.

Traditional animation also knowsn as 'cel animation' or 'hand-drawn' animation was used for most animated films of the 20th century. To create the illusion of movement each drawing was changed slightly from the previous one. The name 'cel animation' was formed because the artists would trace there drawings onto acetate sheets which are called cels. 20th Century Fox Animation Studios (1977) was one of the first animation companies to create cel form animation, examples of this work can be seen in Wizards (1977) and Fire and Ice (1983).

Animation then developed furthur with Walt Disney Feature Animation (1986-2006) which produced films such as Aladdin (1992) and The Little Mermaid (1989)

Computer animation takes less time that previous traditional animation as it's all mainly created digitally on a computer. Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906, considered the first example of animation) and The Haunted Hotel (1907) are good examples of computer animation. Computer Generated Animation took a step in the 1973 movie 'Westworld' produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.

I'm going to research the more contemporary styles of animation and give examples such as:
Pixelation, stop start animation, computer generated, rotoscope, and 3D animation.

PIXELATION

Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer

In this example, photos of Peter Gabriel have been took of each syllable and action he does, and then combined together to create a smooth animation. What makes this video unique is the fact it wasn't just Peter that used stop motion, other objects around him had been moved to to create an abstract effect. Another reason this is unique is other medias have been used in the process such as claymation.

PIXELATION & MIXED MEDIA
Russell Howard's Good News Title Sequence.

I like this example as realism and pixelisation has been used, and he interacts with the woman on the TV screen at 0:05. I think this video is quite simple but effective because of the props used.

One music video animation which I found when researching that I find inspiring and very interesting is called "Rivers and Homes" by "J.viewz". The animation includes 300 of the band's fans which each hold one frame of the band's music video, then a photograph is taken of the fan and the image they're holding to create a second animation frame. The final outcome is that the music video in the center of the screen appears normally to create a kind of illusion when the two videos are combined together.

STOP MOTION ANIMATION

I like this hand drawn stop motion as it uses 3D obvjects and hand drawn photos that have been cut out an manipulated to fit with the scene.

COMPUTER GENERATED IMAGERY (CGI):

This example is one of my favorites as it looks really well planned out with a variety of imagery and colour to attract the audiences attention.
CLAYMATION: 


Looking at the 'making of xbox' video, I can see the way the video has been constructed, from the use of lighting to keep continuity to the use of editing to reverse the clip to make it look like he's putting the clay together. I think claymation is a good technique to use as it brings the photos to life and can easily be manipulated. However, it may be hard to work with if in a hot environment and the fact the clay could easily be ruined if in the wrong hands.

ROTOSCOPING:

Rotoscoping was invented by Max Fleischer in his series 'Out of the Inkwell' in 1915. Max and his brother both starred as the live film reference for the character Koko the Clown and dressed themselves in a clown outfit. Max Fleischer then went onto creating the Fleischer studios in 1929 (originally Inkwell Studios in 1921).

A-Ha  - Take On Me 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914

This video uses hand drawn sketches called a rotoscoping animation. The animators Michael Patterson and Candace Reckinger traced frame by frame to create realistic movements in the characters. I like the fact it uses rotoscoping with live-action instead of just full rotoscoping as this creates an alternate reality and a unique video. I like the fact it starts with a comic book as this helps establish the theme of the video it is going to be. The video won 6 awards and was nominated for two others at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1986.

Rotoscoping GIF example.

I decided to test out a few of the harder techniques to see how much planning would need to go into creating the video.

I tried out hand rendered stop start motion, claymation and CGI.

I used the song 'Round Up' by 'Rizzle Kicks' to test out these techniques.

STOP MOTION

Stop motion construction:

Stop motion final test: (ignore last few seconds this was for the CGI test)

CLAYMATION:

I bought some cheap flour and salt to create the base for the clay, and then used different food colourings to make it more realistic.

Final claymation test of 'curtain rising':
I decided to abort this test as the standard of work was really low and I knew it would take time to get real clay to form a good shape.
 

HAND DRAWN/CGI

Planning & Construction: Clown scene construction and final:

Although I'm happy with the CGI technique it was too time consuming. I have looked at After Effects but found it hard to get used to. I also looked at a few tutorials for Anime Studio to create bone structures to have a smoother path but once again found it quite hard to adapt to in the time I have considering I had to changing my idea once already.



I'm going to do some furthur research into some media texts and then decide which animation route I want to go down.

IMPORTANT UPDATE/MID WAY EVALUATION

This weekend was meant to be filming the skateboarding scenes for my video. However, once again I was let down which was really frustrating. Next weekend would definitely be to late to film as the 1st draft is due in on the 3rd December (even if I left gaps where the footage could go I doubt I'd be able to film the rest in December as the weather is getting worse). After a lot of consideration on Saturday afternoon I decided it would be more beneficial (however very difficult) to start again. I know this is going to be hard as I have around 40 posts of planning and filming already done, but looking at what I've edited already it's not working at all and I would need to re shoot most of my video anyway as I've realised the main performer doesn't look the part and the lighting is poor. Also the fact I keep getting let down has also made me feel the only thing I can do is start again...
I spent Saturday afternoon planning and analysing different videos and coming up with some very rough ideas I'm going to look into the animation side of video as I think this will be a different approach and create a unique video.

VIDEO SO FAR...

EDITING

This week I've been editing the introduction and performance scenes of my music video on the Adobe Premier editing suit...
However, the main skateboarding section is yet to be filmed because of the weather and other reasons. This has been worrying me as I really need to get it filmed so I can edit the rest together.

Last week I went round Wyke in my study period handing out leaflets to students asking if they knew anyone that skateboarded. I did this as I felt although I have 4 skateboarders already, I may need extra incase they are unable to do it. I gave out about 10 and around 3 people said they may be able to do it. I'm hoping they do as then I can finally get the skateboarding scenes done as this is what's stressing me out the most!

I also am worrying that some performance scenes don't fit the mise en scene. This is because I filmed some shots with the light on, and some with the light off but with LED lights on the performers face. The scenes with the light on don't look mysterious and rocky enough. However, I am yet to play around with the colour correction and tint, so I may be able to get it more accurate. The scenes with lighting only on the face look a bit too dark which I'm also worrying about...I'm going to get the full song structured out and then use the colour correction/tint to see if I can fix this.

The leaflet I made and handed out!

FILMING DAY 4

(Skateboarding scenes)

FILMING DAY 3

1-(sugar bottle smashing)
2-(time lapse) day to night in a house near a busy road with bright road lights

FILMING DAY 2

Filming the intro and outro...

FILMING DAY 2 on Prezi

PROBLEMS! & UPDATES

After getting the majority of filming done a few weeks ago, I still need to film the skateboarding scene as although this is only going to be featured on the chorus, I wanted to have shots flickering to the skateboarding scene as the song and tempo builds up However due to the weather my actors have had to keep putting it off which is stressful as this is the only main thing preventing me from editing. I am going to try film the skateboarding scene this weekend if the weather stays dry.

Tonight I am filming the introduction and outro, so then I can atleast start editing my footage that I have so far. I have decided not to use the same actor as who is performing in my video as while he sings he sounds quite young, but when he's talking at the beginning he sounds older and I can imagine an older guy with a big build.

Narrative of my music video...
I wasn't sure if in my planning it's clear what the narrative of my song is going to be so I'm going to explain.
The introduction beginning shots are supposed to focus on my actor at an older age, talking about  getting a rush off something, but also how a fun hobby addiction can turn sour if you get into the wrong crowd and get addicted to something more dangerous. This is then where the shot ends and it looks back on my actors past (of when he was a performer) and then looks back further to when he was a teenager (the skateboarding scene). I want these shots to tell a story of how he felt alive whilst he was a young adult performing, and also when he was a teenager skateboarding. I chose skateboarding as I feel I can use many different shots and tricks and it also fit well with the music and beat. I have used younger actors for this as first of all they can skateboard and fit well with my mise en scene, and secondly I wanted the singer to be looking back at when he was younger (my performer is 20 so he looks a little older which is helpful). The lyrics 'i'm on fire' in my eyes was supposed to connotate the fact the performer is amazing at what he's doing. I did some research and found that the song is about an addiction, some people thought it was a drug addiction and some said it was an addiction to doing something you love, which is also what I believe it can be seen as. I want the narrative to show my actor having fun but in the outro show how he got into the wrong crowd and turned to drugs, which is why he feels like 'junk'!

In the actual music video, there is a lot of bank robberies going on, which could give the band a buzz. The band could see themselves as being protagonists in the music industry as they are breaking rules in the narrative of the actual music video. This is another reason why I have used young teens in my video, they see them self as being rebellious and breaking rules.

FILMING DAY 1

FILMING DAY 1 on Prezi

RISK ASSESSMENT

 

 

SILHOUETTE FILMING & TEST SHOTS

You Me At Six - Underdog.
Looking at the music video below, I liked how until 00:10 they use silhouette on a strong red background. The room is painted red and the light is well lit against the wall to create a silhouette.
I like this effect as I think it makes the video look myserious at the beginning and then suddenly lights up.




You Me At Six - Loverboy
This music video doesn't have silhouette, however I like the use of red wall again as I feel it fits with the mise en scene.


I did a lot of research and found a video on how to construct and produce a silhouette. Although this is for a still image I can still transfer it into video form.

What I would need...
-Bright light to reflect on background
-Blank background
-Colour paper/accetate

Light plan #3

FINAL PROPS/CAST LIST/MISE EN SCENE/ COSTUMES & LOCATIONS

I have created a FINAL checklist for everything I need for the filming days and also made sure all the actors are definitely taking part! (Need to add locations and costumes)

LIGHTING PLAN FOR FILMING DAY 1

I made a few plans of what lighting I would use in the frame and where about's it should be.

However, after doing so I did some further research and found I needed three main lights.-Key Light - This is the brightest light and lights the subject.-Fill Light- This is placed to the side of the subject near the camera and isn't as bright. It is used to fill shadows.-Back Light- This is placed behind the subject and creates a 3D effect separating them from the background. 

PREMIERE PRO TUTORIALS

Before the editing process, I wanted to figure out how to add some effects and use the tools on Premiere Pro. I did this as I knew some effects I wanted to use but wasn't sure how to so I thought I'd watch a few YouTube tutorials to get myself more familiar with the editing suite and tools so during the editing process I wouldn't be wasting time trying to figure out how to do something and asking people for too much help. 

SPLIT SCREEN/MULTIPLE VIDEOS.
I was looking at some music videos and liked the idea of a few clips all being played together at the same time, such as the one below.

I learnt that to do this I need to add each clip onto the timeline. However, I will need to put each video clip on a separate 'Video 1,2,3' above each other etc on the timeline...(Hard to explain through text so I have print screened a picture)

I will then need to go to the 'Window' tab at the top of Adobe Premiere, and enable 'effect controls' if it's not already selected. From there I can click on 'Effect Controls' and click the sub heading 'Motion Effects'. I then need to click 'Scale' and re-position each clip to the size I want it to be on the frame.

BORDER TO CLIP.

 If I want to add a border to the clip (as they have in the above picture) I will need to go to 'New item>title>frame>rectangle' then click 'no fill' and make sure 'show video' is ticked. I can then play around with the 'strokes', 'inner strokes' and 'colour' tab to get the border accurate.

ZOOM
To zoom in on parts of a clip, I will need to make sure the 'key frame' is selected on a part of a clip. To do this I need to pause the clip where I want it to zoom in, then I need to make sure the alarm clock looking button is clicked under 'effect controls>motion effects>scale'. I would then need to change the scale (percentage of the video) which will then scale the video to a close up shot and when played it will zoom in.

FLASH
To get a flash effect inbetween cuts of a clip or during a clip I need to click 'new item>colour matte' and chose the right colour for my clip. I then need to change the opacity so you can still see the video but the colour will flash quickly. To change how long the colour matte flash lasts, I will need to zoom in extremely close to the clip on the timeline so it's stretched out. I will then need to crop it so it lasts for less than half a second to achieve the effect I am looking for in my video.

COLOUR CORRECTION/TINT
To achieve a more film type finish on my music video/more contrast I need to change the colours and brightness etc. I will need to go to 'Video Effects>Colour Correction>RGB effects' I can then play around with the 'Master/Red/Green/Blue' colours to try create a professional, more contrasted look on my video.
NOTE* Top level of curve controls highlights, bottom level of curve controls shadows, middle level of curve controls midtones. Dragging curve to the left - darker. Dragging to the right- lighter. 
Tint specific object- Effects> Colour Correction Effects> Change to Colour/ Paint bucket.
Change to Colour.... 'From' click the colour you want to change.
'To' click a colour you want to change to!'
*Make sure to click onto the clips and drop the effect onto the clip!*

CROP
Effects>video effects>transform>crop. Then I need to go to 'Effect controls' and play around with the crop scales 'left,right, top, bottom' to crop the clip as needed.

FILMING SCHEDULE

ANIMATIC STORYBOARD

(Need to finish last 15 seconds and outro!!)
Total number of shots so far: 214

FINAL STORYBOARD