03/01/12 - 13/01/12 Week post

New Year
We returned after the Christmas holidays and assumed we had to finish the editing and digipac and poster. However over the two weeks various problems had cropped up and realised that the digipac and poster hadn't really been attempted. In addition we had to continue addressing the other issues with our video which would be harder as we all had various exams throughout this week especially me hence why this week post is over the past two weeks.

Poster feedback
During the holidays Jubel had been working on the poster and went through a whole host of various images and effects to try and project the themes of our genre but since drum and bass has so many other genre intertwined into it there's no one right way of portraying that to the audience. However we thought the best way he would see what suited best was by having various types of text for the title of our poster to see what worked best and get audience feedback from it.

Evaluation of idea
We had hit a problem because of the fact that since we were doing a conceptual video we needed to make sure that we had a lot going on but due to the length of our song which was bordering on five minutes we didn't think it was a practical to try and fill it all up. This was because there was a fear that people would lose interest and the fact that we feared that we didn't have enough footage became an issue.

Solving the issue
We then decided to cut the song down but stupidly cut it down to two minutes and as everything was in sync with i didn't want to move anything because it took far to long. Therefore we thought of way to get some more unique footage and decided to add some performance to the video as well as vibrant text that would appear as they sang the lyrics. This then allowed us to think of having an introduction and constantly relate back to it and use it as a link into other shots. Which addresses the comments concerning the making the video flow more like most conceptual videos.

Lost Shoot
On the 11th we filmed part of the performance text idea which required the character picking up the camera and putting it down then walking away. This was done as its role was to try and link together the drastically different scenes together which are usuall present within conceptual videos. *Updated* - However due to technical difficulty we were unable to retrieve the clip after removing due to negative feedback.

Poster V1

This was our first design of our poster which we used from our images we took during our drum shoot. We decided to use this image as we felt that the drums were a significant part of our conceptual music video as it is shown throughout the video. We opened the image with Photoshop and added the flare effect to achieve a very futuristic studio sense. The use of the flare helps intensifies the drum and the drum sticks. Additionally we set the contrast to a very dark tone to help emphasize every little element in the picture such as the glitter on the drum which also adds texture to the drum. The font "Embrace" we used the block distraught effect to help add to our punk theme hence why we used the colour green. However despite these effects this design did not seem much like a poster and therefore we felt that it required some altering in order to remain consistent.

Audience Feedback:
- Strays to far from the themes present within the current digipak and genre.
- Seems rushed
- Random light effect makes it seem like a pop album poster rather than our genre
- Good focus on instruments relating to our genres conventions

12/12/11 - 16/12/11: Week Post

Fresh Start
This week we intended on having audience feedback on a rough edit. On Monday we got a pleasant surprise and Zenith came up to us saying that he had acquired some kit that was necessary for the fire spinning which pushed our plans into motion. Furthermore the majority of filming had to be completed as we were leaving for our christmas holidays

Audience feedback
On Monday we had audience feedback which proved to rather interesting as we were able to identify the strong points and weak points of what we currentl had. Therefore throughtout the week intended on trying to address some of the issues raised.

4th Shoot
We decided to film our boxing scene which Jubel was starring in and it consisted of a single punch and a dramatic fall that we intended on editing so it would reverse as one entire scene. We ran into a couple issues due to the fact that the boxing equipment required was in use during the period of time thast we wanted to use it for. Therefore we decided to continue some more editing whilst Jubel worked on the poster and Scott worked on the digipak. Later on during the day we finally started shooting the boxing stuff but better, but obviously knowing our luck it just proved to be a lot more difficult than anticipated. Once we had gotten back to upload and edit the footage it just didnt work meaning we had to film it again.

5th Shoot
After our intial failure to film the boxing scenes effectively we attemplted them again. Lucky for us we found some photography lights that created this flashing effect which made the shots look very conceptuual. Therefore we turned off all the lights within our location and had Jubel aggresivly punch towards the camera whilst the lights flashed and it ended up looking really good. Allowing us to address some oof our critism

6th Shoot
As aformentioned we finally were able to finally film Zenith's fire spinnig which we had organised and it worked brilliantly. We had to wait till around five for it to get really dark so that we could really get the best possible effect from the fire spinning and it was rather amazing. Our entire group attended the shoot.

Good ending
This proved to be a very good ending to the wekk as we had practically filmed the majority of our film it was purely a matter of piecing all the piece together and possibly addressing anymore of the critism brought up.

6th Shoot 16/12/11 (Zeniths stuff)

Finally we were able to actually film Zenith's fire dancing at Wandsworth common and we were all filled with joy not only because of the fact that it was going to be a spectacle but because of the fact that after all our initial failure it was finally happening. The entire group along with Zenith and his 'Burn unit' armed with a bucket of water and a blanket make its way toward Wandsworth Common. There wasn't really anything that was expected from him to perform other than actually light the cubes and from there we just allowed him to do his thing. Something we did want to do is get him from a variety of different angles in order to create more of a stylistic effect. This resulted in some varying shots which consisted of close ups as well as distorted shots. Below are a variety of practice shots and images that can once again depict our gradual progression throughout the shoot.

Here is some footage taken from when filming the his fire stuff:

5th Shoot 14/12/11 (Jubel boxing V2)

This was our second attempt at filming Jubel in order to once again get this 'stylistic' affect in order to try and keep the boxing theme interesting. In addition in order to make the scene more interesting we wanted to alter the light using the photography lights allowing us to flash in and out of the scene by altering the natural lighting. Below are a collection of images that depict our gradual progression throughout the entire shot as we developed from our previous idea.

Initial flash

Punching flash scene

                                         

Preparing punch stance

Throughout the entire shoot we really wanted to make sure that whilst incorporating the boxing theme we needed to make sure that it remained quite interesting and would still fit in with our conceptual music video. We used an array of different flashing lights to create this effect and felt that it seemed more professional and gave it a sense of repeatability. In order to insure that we could control the light within our mise en scene we used a large white reflective board in order hide the background as it was cluttered.

4th Shoot 13/12/11 (Jubel Boxin V1)

Today we filmed the first re-shoot of the boxing scene and we wanted to try and aim for a conceptual look to try and make sure it looks visually interesting which would help to maintain a sense of repeatability. We tried to vary the types of shots so that we could be able to use them in multiple ways to represent that constant thread throughout the entire music video. Furthermore we wanted to try and create a reverse motion introduction for our video which would consists of the main character spitting into the camera. However we didn't seem to create the dramatic 'stylistic' effect that we were aiming to achieve. This therefore meant that we intend on re-filming this scene and below shows the gradual progression through the entire shoot from being rather hopeful to seeing that this wasn't going work. 

                                           Character in boxing stance

                                           Character preparing to do spit take

                                          Character being punched and then recovering
                                          

Audience Feedback - Initial Edit

Today we had a preview of our rough edit to a select group of candidates in ordeer to gather feedback concerning the negatives and positives of what we had. However due to our ever changing idea it wasn't a significant amount of the video that had been produced so people were required to base their judgements purely on what was there.

Mise en scene

- Good use of glitter/light effect on the drums

- Fire spinning is different and gives a unique edge

- Very professional scenery

- Good use of lighting creates 'mystery'

- Boxing clips are very lack luster and bring down vibe of the overall video

- Random punching bag scene ruins smooth flow of the other shots

- On the verge of a good conceptual video but needs to link the scenes better

- Currently level three

Editing

- Edited to the pace of music creating synchronous flow of shots

- Fast pace retained audience attention

- Good use of conceptual methods by adding subtle effects

- Make sure every shots fit with the beat

- Level three or four

Cinematography

- Variation in camera shots

- Close ups of glitter create stylistic effect

- Tight shots retain audience interest

- Use more unique shots to try and relate back to genre and type of video

- Have more angle shots

- Worried that we don’t have enough footage to fill rest of the song as we don't want to bore people

- Level three

Creativity

- Immensely original idea

- Themes of the song transpire through the shots

- Use techniques to juxtapose actual themes of the song rather than portraying a literal meaning

- Use of fire spinning and glitter creates unique visuals not normally seen

- Have more props and possibly more characters

- Level four

Genre

- Leaning towards grungy look

- Not instantly able to recognize genre with greater though

- Inspire that we include all aspects of the songs genre and project that through the shots, mise en scene etc

- Leaning towards rock

- However still has suggestive themes of other genres which retains audience interest

- Level three

Intended changes

 In light of these changes we intend on:

- Re-shoot boxing scenes and portray them in more stylistic conceptual way

- Have a greater amount of shots by trying to incorporate performance in a simple way

- Shoot form different angles

- Have a constant thread to relate back to throughout the video

- Make sure professional shots remain constant