Filming: improvisation

We found that it was very easy to improvise some shots despite having a script breakdown and storyboards which included all of the shots we planned to film. While filming all of the essential shots for our music video we also filmed those that weren't originally planned. For example we experimented more with different types of shot e.g. if we had planned a medium shot of Julian playing on a game console we also filmed close-ups and different angles in order to include a wider variety of shots which we could chose from when it came to editing in order to get the best possible combination.

We originally only had two shots planned of the necklace falling (one in his hand and one falling to the floor. Although when it came to the time of the shoot we found it much more effective and interesting to include a shot of him holding the necklace in a medium close up, loosening his grip in a closeup and then the shot of the necklace falling to the floor which enabled us to include continuity in our music video.

Both Sophie and Julian are very talented actors and therefore they helped us to improvise some shots as well. For example when Julian's character has seen Sophie's character being unfaithful he drops the necklace. However Julian was also able to cry on cue and therefore we asked him to do so while dilimc his face in close up which is a very emotional and effective shot.

When Rhiann and I arrived at Julian's house to film the piano shots, we noticed that there was a stone ornament near his house which provided natural framing in the form of an arc which we then decided to use for some of our singing into camera shots. We also filmed some shots of Julian aggressively walking through leaves which we thought would show a natural angry response to being heartbroken.

Planning: issues with transport.

Myself and Rhiann have been communicating via Facebook messenger and on the day of our third shoot (27th of October) she told me that she couldn't get to Julian's house because her original method of transport was not able to take her anymore due to work commitments. Therefore we arranged for my Mum to pick her up from her house and take us both to Julian's house. We were extremely grateful for my mum on that day otherwise we would not have been able to film the majority of our singing into camera shots. Being unable to drive we were very reliant on other people which was unsettling as this is our project.

Planning: Lunch for the actors.

Rhianns mum owns a fish and chip shop and she very kindly offered to provide lunch at on our second shoot (25th of October at Rhiann's house) at 12pm for the actors as well as me and Rhiann.

Planning: Shooting schedule

Shoot 1: Lauren's house 23rd of October

3pm - Shots of the passports 

5pm - Shots of the bath 

Shoot 2: 

Rhiann's house: 25th of October 

Shots in Rhiann's house 

10am - actors arrive for shots in the living room 

12pm - Lunch break. 

1pm - Drive the actors (Sophie and Julian) from Rhiann's house to the Humber bridge viewing area and do all shots there. The actor playing Abby's (played by Sophie) new love interest has been asked to arrive at the viewing area via walking as he lives very close, in Barton. 

3pm - Drive  Sophie and Julian to Baysgarth park to shoot. 

Shoot 3: At the actor (Julians house) 27th of October 

11am - Rhiann and I will arrive via my mum who has agreed to transport us to and from Julian's house. Shoot the piano shots as well as various out door shots singing into camera.

Shoot 4: Rhiann's house 26th of October
Shooting shots of CCTV camera, money and kettle. 

Planning: organising actors

 In order to organise our actors my partner Rhiann and I thought it most appropriate to create a group chat on Facebook in which we could all discuss which times and dates were most suitable for each of us individually.


The screenshot to the left shows Rhiann asking Julian what days of the week he was free in the October half term from the 21st of October to the 31st. Our actor was an extremely busy person as he is a full time college student with regular driving lessons as well as participating in extra curricular activities such as drama which meant he had to perform shows in the evening.

Rhiann and I originally schedules to shoot on a Monday the 24th of October with Sophie, Julian and Joe and Tuesday the 25th of October with just Julian. 

However on 23rd of October, our star image informed us he only had an hour and a half free on the 24th October due to a change in his plans and shows hes performing in.

Therefore my partner and I organised which days he had the most amount of hours free on were and we discovered they were the 25th and the 27th of October so we informed our female role and she happily agreed.

Neither me nor Rhiann had a piano at our house and therefore we asked one of our actors (Julian, playing the role of Ben) if we could use his piano. We asked him to send a picture of the piano so we could see that it had a sufficient amount of natural lighting as well as being in the right position for us to film it. We decided to go to Julians house on the 3rd day of the shoot. 

The group chat was an effective way of organising actors. However when people had plans that conflicted each other and meant that we had to decide on a date and time that suited everyone we found it more helpful to have actual conversations via phone call so that we could discuss more effectively.

Group post: planning, organising shoot dates - gone wrong

Rhiann and I initially decided we would need 2 full days of shooting and depending how successful they were would depend on if we needed a third day shooting.

The initial dates were 24th October and 25th October, and our star image informed us he would make himself free if needed.

However on 23rd of October, our star image informed us he only had an hour and a half free on the 24th October due to a change in his plans and shows hes performing in.

Therefore my partner and I organised which days he had the most amount of hours free on were and we discovered they were the 25th and the 27th of October so we informed our female role and she happily agreed.

Shots needed without actors, e.g. bubble bath, cctv, cups of tea, sun, clouds, rain  drops, leaves, were all filmed separately by me and my partner.

Lauren had the camera on the 23rd before shooting with our models, and I had the camera on the 26th, which was in between the two shoots we had with out models.

Planning: Group post - script breakdown, Rhiann's house

Planning: Group post- Risk assessment

Planning: Storyboards

My partner and I chose not to post all of our story boards due to making the blog look messy and unprofessional.

Planning: Group post - call sheet

Call Sheet

Wake Me up – Barton Upon Humber – 24^th and 25^th October – weather

Rhiann	Director, Producer, Film Crew and catering	07837648922
Lauren	Director, Producer, Film Crew and catering	07947371186
Julian	Actor – Ben Austin
Sophie	Actor – shady girl - Abbie
Another male	Actor – being Sophie’s affair

Schedule

Monday:

9;30 – arrive in Barton

10:00 – film in living room upstairs – Julian looking at photo frame and kitchen

12:00 – Brothers bedroom

13;00 – FOOD BREAK

13;30 – Rhiann bedroom

15;00 – Rhiann garden – looking at necklace – CCTV

16;15 – leave to go Humber Bridge viewing area

1700- woods and Humber Bridge shots

19:00 - wrap

Tuesday:

11:00 – Arrive at Julians house

11:30 – Shoot him singing into camera – piano

13;00 – FOOD BREAK

14:00 – leave to go to Laurens house

17:00 - wrap

Possibly Wednesday….

Transport:

Lift from actor and parents.

Equipment:

·      Passports

·      Rings

·      Cups of tea

·      Phone with tinder app

·      Camera

·      Torch

·      Bottles of water

·      Bubble bath

·      Candles

·      Shrek cd

·      Necklace

·      Red lipstick

·      Blanket

·      Gloves

·      Disposable cups

·      Bobble

·      Portable speaker

Planning: Script breakdown - Baysgarth park

Planning: Script breakdown - Lauren's house

Planning: Script breakdown - The Humber bridge

Planning: script breakdown - Julian's house

Planning: Group post - organising shoot dates

In order to decide dates, we created a facebook group chat, to check the availability dates for when to shoot. As h is the star image we revolve our dates for when he is free, and then tell our further actors them dates to see if they're free.

We currently have the dates October 24th and October 25th. 

We have also asked for permission from out star image, Julian, if we can borrow his Piano for the intro shots.

Planning: Group post - Full script

Full Script

Name of music video: Ed Sheeran – Wake Me Up

Initial Shot-List: Full Script

Location    Character    Props

Scene 1- Julians house (living room)

1. Julian playing piano, close up of hands
2. Long shots of playing at the piano 
3. Close up of face, tightly framed. 
4. Close up of his lips
5. His face playing the piano – looking down
6. Long shot- show area of room – pan to piano after window
7. Fade to black 

Scene 2 – Baysgarth Park

8. Park – close up of water dropping into a puddle.
9. Fade into next shot 
10. Medium shot of leaves blowing

Scene 3 – Julians house

11. ECU of Julians face – brick wall behind him.
12. Close up singing into camera
13. Shot of playing Piano

Scene 4 -  Baysgarth Park

14. low angle shot of the female walking underneath tree in the park – introducing female.
15. Track downwards from her on to their hands
16. 2 shot of them, tracking backwards, him staring at her.

Scene 5 – Table

17. Two passports together on the table- pink one on its own
18. Blue one sliding up to it

Scene 6 – Julians house

Singing into camera

19. Extreme Close up of hands – wearing ring male
20. Extreme Close up of hands her taking the ring off and over cracked – matched cut
21. Medium shot – singing into camera

Scene 7 – Laurens Bathroom

22. bathroom – close up of water coming out the tap
23. wide shot of bubble bath – candles and rose petals
24. tracking a hand swishing around the bath, causing waves.
25. Close up of rose petals

Scene 8 – Bedroom

26. Medium close up of him looking down
27. Over shoulder of photo frame

Scene 8 – Baysgarth Park

28. Picture of them two walking- left of frame –
29. then smile at each other – holding hands
30. Close up of rubbing hands together in gloves – 
31. Close up of holding hot drink in park.
32. Tracking behind her and she looks over the shoulder flicking her hair. – hand held camera.
33. Walking holding hands – close up of hands – hand held camera
34. Arc/ pan around them both 
35. Shot of them two looking at eachother – blurred out
36. Shot of them walking hands – photo on phone

Julians house

37. Singing into camera

Scene 9 – possibly bedroom. Preferably little background

38. Record in mirror her applying red lipstick.
39.  “guilty” over shoulder shot of tinder
40. Close up of female looking happy 

Scene 10 – My kitchen

41. Extreme Close up of kettle boiled - condensation
42. High angle shot of pouring the water in to tea bag 

Scene 11 – My living room

43. Two shot of them on the sofa. Natural light on them. Drinking cups of tea. Blanket. Leaning on one another.
44. Shrek DVD case, over shoulder shot
45. The two looking at the DVD case
46. Close up shot of DVD – “no CD”
47. tracking of VCR
48. Smiling at one another.
49. Shot reverse shot – Close up of the male
50. Close up of the female.

Scene 12 – Bedroom Playing console

51. High angle shot – playing on remote. Close up of hands
52. close up of reaction shot – annoyance at game 
53. camera on floor and remote being dropped.
54. Throwing remote, then placing money on counter counting money. 

Scene 13 – Chip shop

55. High angle shot of opening till and having money
56. Close up of money being counted smacked on table

Scene 14- On a sofa

57. Shot reverse shot of male staring at the female
58. SRS of female looking at the male
59. Medium long shot at the end of sofa of the two laid together 
60. Cut to close up. 

Scene 15 

61. Over shoulder shot of having necklace he brought in its case
62. Close up taking necklace out of box
63. Medium shot – holding the necklace up and face reaction of male smiling

Scene 16 – outside brick wall – my house 

64. Leant against wall- cigarette in mouth covering wind, using a lighter. 
65. Close up of him inhaling 

Scene – my house somewhere

66. Tinder app – over shoulder shot

Scene 17 – Chip shop

67. Low angle shot of the CCTV footage of him smocking
68. Low angle shot of the camera

Scene 18 – Brick wall

69. Medium shot of him dropping the cigarette. 
70. Close up of the cigarette dropping on floor.

Scene 20 – Kitchen

71. Close up of shots cheersing each other
72. Shot reverse shot of male taking shot and smiling at her
73. Shot of female taking shot then picking up phone
74. Close up over the shoulder – message “I want to see you”
75. Long shot, low angle slow pan upwards from ground to show face.

Scene 21 julians house

76. Cut back to Julian singing by the piano

Scene 22– woods

77. Cut to Sophie in medium close up still walking.
78. Low angle – walking to camera – on phone
79. Close up of her looking up and smiling

80. Julian’s singing whilst playing piano passionately

Scene 23 - Humber Bridge viewing area. 

81. Close up over the shoulder shot of the two cuddling
82. Wide shot of the back of a couple leaning on one another 
83. 2 shot of the girl smiling at the boy – sat on the bench
84. arc / pan shot around the two on the bench
85. Point of view shot – what he can see them doing from distance
86. Reaction shot – slow motion upset 
87. Cut to arm dropping
88. Ecu of hand loosening dropping necklace
89. Ecu camera on floor of necklace dropping
90. Fast cuts of flashbacks use previous film. (Memories)
91. Singing directly into camera – close up
92. Julian walking away on the same path she walked in from.
93. Pan around, high angle.

Planning: Group post - Beat Script

After the focus group reserach, the concept of the video has had to change, therefore we're going to use some of our original ideas however have them reminiscing instead.

Beat Script


Ben Austin will be sat at a piano and reminiscing about the good times he has with his girlfriend whilst singing directly into camera.

Will show him running her a bath, them walking together in the park, them sat on a beach, them playing consoles in a home, and drinking cups of tea whilst watching Shrek.

There will be intertextuality of him finding her on tinder with an over the shoulder shot.

Ben Austin will then see his girlfriend walking away with another boy, and a slow motion shot of him dropping the heart pendant necklace.

Research: TA focus group/group post.

The questions we asked the focus group: 

What did you imagine for each verse? - bubbles, piano, close ups
What ideas do you have for the second verse? - parks, SRS, handheld camera
Do you like the use of handheld camera?
We're not sure on the next part, what do you guys think? - shrek intertextuality, nostalgia VCR, links to visual tea.
What do you think the song means?
How do you imagine their relationship?
(me and my partner worry laugh)
Do you like the use of computer games- social comment- capitalism- chucking money away?
Do you like the use of flashbacks?
Do you all prefer narrative music video for this music video?
Are you all hearing it negatively?
Do you like being an active audience and spotting social comment?
What representations would you like to see of female and male in music video?
Do you imagine black and white, colour or both?
Equal shots of the female and the male or more of a certain one?
What outfits do you imagine them wearing? 

Analysis of the results: 
After asking questions to a small focus group of my peers, they all had a completely oppositional readings.

They understood the relationship completely different to how we did. For example we had planned our narrative around the idea that the singer and his love interest were in a happy relationship. 

However, the target audience focus group heard the song differently, and understood it as the male being more interested than the female.The the man is completely head over heels in love with her while she is not interested.

This point of view is un stereotypical as in the media is a common representation that the woman is more interested than the male.

One member of the focus group suggested that we begin the music video with the introduction of the female love interest. Although the idea suggested was interesting, we decided that this idea does not fit the brief which asks us to launch a new star. It is more suitable for the first shot to introduce our star, Ben. After we suggested the idea of the star playing the piano the group appeared to respond positively to this idea especially because they recognised it was a piano dominated track.

A member of the group also suggested we include a montage of the memories he is singing about which is a very good idea and something that we had previously seen in the Taylor Swift music video 'White Horse'. It is useful to know that this would still be an effective editing technique which we will definitely use in our music video after a member of the group independently suggested it.

The group imagined hair flicking which we had previously imagined for the line 'you should never cut your hair, coz I love the way you flick it off your shoulder'

The group responded well to the hand held camera - and didn't seem to comment that the use of it was unprofessional. It was implied that this would make the music video more personal e.g it looks like he has filmed her and these would then be old tapes.

Intertextuality with Shrek - group responded well, seemed humorous.

'would you ever feel guilty if you did the same to me?' - this was a line that Rhiann and I were previously very confused about concerning the meaning. However the focus group suggested that this meant the relationship was 'very one sided'. Originally, we intended the reading of our music video to be a traditional happy love story. Both characters in the relationship would have a mutual love for each other and the narrative would centre around their unwavering happiness.  However as Hall suggests audiences read and understand a text according to their cultural upbringing the focus group had an oppositional reading and seemed to think that the relationship was not a happy one. This narrative would be more compliant with Todorov's theory of the loss of equilibrium in a once happy relationship which is now an unstable one. We think that this alternative idea would make the narrative more interesting. One girl said that 'She is out all of the time' and that he is more in love with the girl than she is with him. Therefore we may include a theme of unfaithfulness in the narrative.

Computer games - capitalism comment - spending money - no real comment, perhaps this is too much of a mature concept for our younger target audience. I don't think a young audience particularly wants to be that much of an active consumer like Blumler and Katz suggest.

The focus group also suggested that we should include flash backs - I like this idea of memories which we will include in our music video.

The target audience had a negotiated reading of our idea of narrative throughout. They said they would like a narrative - entertainment but still maintaining an element of performance.

Heart pendant - One member suggested we use a beach location.

In the conclusion of the song the focus group suggested that the star has to eventually give up and let go of the relationship.

Representations - The focus group were appreciative that stereotypes of a boy girl relationship were broken.

The target audience said that they imagined some of the music video being black and white like we said therefore in terms of Morley's readings this reading was dominant. A black and white effect would be good to use on the memories.

They also suggested that we only see small glimpses of the female love interest - they would like to see more of the male.