Genre

The genre of the band we've chosen is 'indie-pop'. Their use of steady beats and electronic\pop-style sounds put them in this genre.

A typical music video in this genre would usually consist of random, irrelevant shots, e.g an abandoned warehouse, the sky, wires etc. They would include the singer/band members in the video, but they wouldn't be the main feature, being shown only a few times. 

Iconogprahy that is often used in indie-pop videos is the black and white effect. This adds a sophistication/calm to the video. 

Typically, our chosen genre's music videos will use a narrative. Often using a relationship, be it friends or a couple. We too are going to follow in this convention by using a narrative following a couple.

Evaluation

This is our filmed evaluation of our opening :

Premiere

We were able to premiere our films in front of the school, which gave us a great opportunity to not only see everyone's films on the big screen, and all of the A2's music videos, but to get feedback on our film , and to see if everyone enjoyed it as much as we do! The feedback we were given was really positive, when asked what they would change about it , the main response we got was the ending was slightly too long. So, given the chance to redo, we'd change that. However , they all said that the sound was excellent , it really helped build the tension, and they thought it was creepy (which is what we wanted!) and many commented on the interesting shots we used, the CCTV  and split screen. So, all in all, it was an really good chance for us to see what others thought, and we're really pleased with the comments we got!

FINAL FILM

At last! Here it is, Surveillance.

Couch Potato Productions, Sinister Pictures

Our first production company we decided to name 'Couch Potatoes' , because our prelim exercise used the song 'One Potato', so we felt it fitted nicely. We then settled on 'Sinister Pictures' for the second production company name, as we felt this one was more in keeping with our horror theme.

Music

We got the majority of our soundtrack off of a website 'LGFL sounds'. The website states that the sounds are for the use of exams, such like ours, and that it isn't copyrighted.

http://www.audionetwork.com/faq/20

That's the link for you, just so we have ourselves covered. The sounds we've used are 'Vampire Playground' (I'm gonna find the other two names on friday and put them on here)

New Title

Sorry Heather!  A new title has been decided, Kat expressed that she really thought we should steer away from anything to do with school, mainly because the biggest part of our film is the CCTV footage, and suggested that we name it with something more in keeping with that. Which I too thought was a fantastic idea. SO, 'Surveillance' has been the chosen one! It's such a great word, and fits perfectly with the theme of our film. It doesn't give away too much either, which is another plus. 'Surveillance' will be finished soon! Keep your eyes peeled.

Draft Number Three?

A lot more filming has been done! And it's really looking so much better. This draft is the actual length of our film, we worked out how long the shots that haven't been filmed yet will be, and put in a text screen to allow us to see how long the whole opening will be. So it's looking pretty good! Just a few more bits to shoot, which will be done today and probably put in tomorrow, we're nearly finished, at last. All that's left to think of now is one more production company, but we've already got a few ideas in the bag for that one. I'll keep you posted. But here's the next draft!






P.S we're only having two 'logos' not sure why we went with that word, and I'm not sure as to why there's three of them. But c'est la vie.

PPS. I think we're going to go with HEATHER MCCUTCHEON'S, suggestion for our title. 'The Detained', what do you reckon? I promised her a mention on my blog and there it is :)

Title?

Having got all of our filming finished yesterday, or at least the vast majority, we can finally start thinking about other aspects of the film; title, production company etc. We've already got a few ideas in the bag for production company, so all of that is to come! However, with Katrina being our token skeptic, about everything, we're struggling for a title name! We originally had the idea of '..... playground' (trying to find a word to go in the '.....') but that soon went out the window after much deliberation, as it soon got fairly boring to hear, what with Lucy throwing her, erm, brilliant?, ideas out there. So, all suggestions are welcome! You may even be lucky enough to get a mention on my blog if we use your title. If that isn't motivation for you then I don't know what is!


Oh and p.s, on monday I'll post our most up to date draft of the film opening. I know you must all be waiting in anticipation.

I DONE IT

After much trying and failing from Lucy, I finally managed to get our split screen moved from Final Cut Express to iMovie! Having put it in with our (at long last) budding film opening, it doesn't look as great as it did on FCE, nevertheless, a bit a of tweaking here and there and it'll be perfect. Needless to say I'm very excited at the prospect of our opening finally coming together. I done a bit more work to it today, seeing as though I was the only member of our media group in... *ahem*. Here's what I done guys, what do you think?

Everyone seems to think the 'CCTV shot' section is staying there , and keep telling me to change the font. IT'S NOT STAYING. We just put it there to get an idea of how long our actual CCTV shot should play for. Also, do you guys agree the split screen needs some work? Don't worry Nada, I was just waiting for a better shot to put your name in. Nothing is set in stone anyway, I just wanted to get an idea of what you thought. I was thinking once we had filmed the shots of me and Lucy 'breaking into' the school, they should go before the split screen. It appears too suddenly. In my opinion anyway, but like I said, tell me what you think .

Cinema Trip

We were taken to the cinema to see 'The Rite' with our media class. We were all excited because it was a horror, and the majority of us really love them (apart from Heather). It wasn't as great as we had hoped, there were some really amazing shots, but some of the storyline didn't really make sense, and I felt there was more that needed explaining at times. This didn't hinder it's ability to scare me though! I was watching through my hands for the most part! Which of course,is great, as it meant it was doing it's job. Overall however, I think it could have been a lot better, and was slightly overrated. I wouldn't be in a hurry to watch it again.

Filming, again.

More filming has been done, and again, is looking promising! We appear to have finally gotten it right. Here's what we've got so far:

Third time lucky

You must be getting tired of our changing ideas now... let's just call the others , practice. We've changed our minds again! This time though, we really are very optimistic about it. We already have some footage filmed and it actually looks great! (for once). We're really quite excited about getting this filming finished, and editing our opening. This is definitely the one, I promise. Our new idea is based in our school, I know it sounds like the easy option, but our school really is quite creepy. Our idea is paranormal activity meets every other generic horror film. With doors moving on their own, and lights eerily turning off, and of course, no horror film would be complete without the beautiful teenage couple bringing themselves to their death, although we won't see that, you don't get that far unfortunately. We're filming the rest this week so, watch this space...

Injection

We managed to get a needle, and here is a practice shot using it! It's not brilliant but it's a start. We're currently reviewing our footage from filming a couple of days ago, and once again it isn't great... so, we're going to try and put a bit together and see how it comes out, but, it could be back to the drawing board. Here's hoping it's third time lucky!

In needle of something

We're currently on a hunt for a needle, so we can get our shot of Olivia (Katrina) injecting herself. But, as we expected, it's not easy picking up a needle just anywhere.We're hoping with a note from the school to reassure the chemist that we are not using it for drug (we'll leave a phone number so they can call too) that they'll be generous enough to let us have one. Fingers crossed!

Media has ruined my life

Well, not so much ruined my life but it has ruined films for me! I can no longer enjoy them without analysing every shot or angle. I guess you could say I can now appreciate the work that goes into them, but it does get quite frustrating... It's what I signed up for though, and it's a small price to pay for all of the other enjoyable things we get to do, like write essays! I'm kidding, but I do love the filming and editing process, and of course , blogging, although I know that isn't evident by my blog. I watched the film 'Never been Kissed' last night, it was showing on E4, and although it's a film that holds no depth, a typical RomCom really, it was fairly enjoyable. Anyway, the reason as to why I am writing this babble is that I LOVED the introduction, there was this single brilliant shot, something that I think would be fantastic to have in our intro, but I don't see that happening. Anyway, here it is, it's so long because this is the only one I could find! 1:14 is the shot I'm talking about:

Our set!

We think this looks like a pretty typical teenage girls room... right? Just what we're aiming for!

Finally

We have an idea at long last... I've been absent from my blog due to a lack of inspiration. After a good group discussion, we've come up with an idea we all think will be successful. We are hoping to use Lucy's bedroom as our set, and she's letting us write on her wall! There will be paper stuck on it, but still, very generous of her. Our idea is that of a girl struck with cancer, writing her 'bucket list' as such, on her wall. Inspired by the book 'Before I Die' by Jenny Downham. We are hoping to buy a novelty needle to get a great shot of her injecting herself, and we are going to try and find an oxygen mask that we can place somewhere in her room. All to create the illusion of illness. Once we have these we should be able to crack on with filming. Hopefully all will go well this time!