Planning Blog - Green Screen Tutorial

Green screen

-John Harding-

Construction Blog : Photoshop (Editing Album Artwork)

First i took the photos we had previously taken whilst filming for the first time and uploaded them to the computer i them played around with some of them in photoshop trying to get to grips with the software which had had previously not used at all i quickly got use to the tools and how layering worked so i chose which photo we wanted to use for the front of our digipack.

 (Original Image)

               I chose the picture of me and Sophie (Girl in the video) standing on opposide side of the tree as the storyline of the music video is about a breakup and in the video we are both facing different directions. I then configured the canvas to the righ dimensions and resoloution (Width =12cm Height =12cm Resoloution =300) , then i copy and pasted the image in and made it fit to the size i wanted, after this i knew what kind of effect i wanted to give the image so i went to Curves Presents (in the right hand side toolbar) and then high contrast i then played around with the curve untill i got the desired effect.



Contrast curve ajustments that i made (Right)
Curves presents (Below)
















Next i decided to blur out all of the back ground only leaving in the two figures and the tree in focus, i used the blur tool which is located on the right hand side toolbar i changed the diameter of the tool using a large diameter at first to roughly do the background but then to do the edges i had to decrease the diameter, i tried to blur everything apart from the tree and the figures. (Blur tool right)



After i did this i had the background image the way i want it i moved on to adding the text onto the front cover i couldn't find any suitable fonts to use to write the bands name and the name of the single so i went online and found a site that lets you download new fonts that are free and uncopwrited i found one that i though was well suited to look professional for the digipack as i was going to use it thoughout to keep the same house style throughout. i then typed in the name of the band and the single name on top of the original image.

This is what the finished product looks like and what we will be using for the digipack.

For the back cover i wanted to keep the image simple so i used a shot of some leaves on the grass that ryan took while we were filming i then did the same as i did for the front creating a canvas the right dimensions and resoloution, then i copy and pasted the image of the leaves onto the canvas and positioned it how i wanted to.

(Original Image)

After this i did the same as i did for the front cover and Curves Presents (in the right hand side toolbar) and then high contrast i then played around with the curve untill i got the desired effect i tried to keep it looking similar to the front cover to keep the continuity. i didnt need to blur anyting for this image as when the picture was take the background was out of focus.

After this I entered the text I wanted to have on the back of the digi pack using the same fornt style that i used for the front cover. I also added in our media production companies logo. then added in a barcode that I found on google images into the top right hand corner of the canvas I was going to put it at the bottom but it blended in much better at the top with the white background and looked more professional.



For the inside of the digi-pack i took some of the other images that Ryan took on the first day of filming i wanted to choose some images that didn't have much going on so that the central focus was on the front cover but the other images would tie in with it the front cover.

Original image (Above)

I chose the picture of the trunk of a tree and the grass and leaves surrounding it i then followed the same routine that i did with the last 2 pieces of artwork and put it to strong contrast so it would keep up the same theme as all of the other.

The image looked a bit plain and i didn't want to leave half of the digi-pack blank so i inserted a verse of the song.

For the final image for inside the digi-pack i used a very plain image that ryan took because the CD will be sitting on top of the image but I still wanted to keep up with the house style, i ended up choosing a picture of the grass with leaves scattered around.

I then stuck to the same routine as i did with the other images and set the image to strong contrast i then left it at that.

-John Harding-

Construction Blog - First Day Of Filming

This is our first blog about filming. Today we started filming for the music video, this meant preparation was essential to help ensure that no retakes of shots and scenes, continuity errors or other problems arrised once the camera was rolling.

Each character was informed on what they had to do whether this was an action (e.g. Walk into shot&Out, smile, look surprised etc). This is where Celtx (Script writing software)came into play as it meant we could write down specific instructions for the cast to perform.

The Setting, was pre planned also listed in the script. This meant we knew roughly when and where the shot was to take place, as our opening scene takes place in a park we made sure that the audience was able to establish this by fragmented close to medium shots the surroundings e.g Tree's, birds, benches, grass, leaves and open spaces. Then it cuts to two characters Angtagonist and an Extra (Rival). We used close ups to explain what is going on between the two characters (they kiss) with over the shoulder shots. We also used various zooms and panning to help the flow of the video. We also complimented the opening scene with a long shot of the main protaganist walking to his destination which they are situated at.

We also filmed the time lapse scene today we shot the skyline as the sun went down sky turned red and eventually went dark when we come to editing the footage we will speed it up dramatically and it will be used as a transition from day to night in the video as we want to start the vido in daylight but then progress into the night. In the shot you can see mainly the sky but also a block of flats and some of the road. As the sun set you can see lights being turned on in the tower block and car head lights going past we filmed this for around 40 minutes.

I also incorporated a POV (Point of View Shot) of the protaganist walking up to the tree and then spotting his ex-girlfriend with a new man (Rival), this is also shown as the ex-girlfriend is instructed to look at the camera lense to mimic the protaganist ex-boyfriend's eyes.

We also used this day for capturing pictures that we could use for the digipak and the website. Seeing as our video mainly takes place in a park we saw fit to use the park as a recurrent theme.

-Ryan Miles-

Planning Blog - Celtx

We used celtx to do all of our planning for our filming, we filled out a basic master catelogue and a calender to plan ahead for any filming we have to do.

Below is a creenshot ofg the master catelogue and the individual posts within it

Below are screen shots of our calender which we used to plan days to flim, planning ahead was important as everyone in the video had other commitments so by booking ahead we could find days when everyone was free.

-John Harding and Ryan Miles-

Planning Blog - Preliminary Sketches

Below is a Brain storm of ideas for our music video

Below is a brain storm of days of filming

Below is a our planned shot to open the music video

Below is a shot we will be using in the music video of the character looking a photos

Below is one of the shots we will be using in the video it is of two characters standing by a tree

Below is one of the shots we will be using in the video it is of a character drinking

-John Harding And Ryan Miles-

Planning Blog: Interviews

 -John Harding-

Planning Blog - Reply from Equal Vision

We got a reply from Equal Vision who were the label that Pierce the Veil were signed to when they released their song "falling asleep on a stranger", they said that it was perfectly ok for us to use the song as long as it was for educational use and  as long as we weren't making a profit they also asked that we credit the song somewhere in the video. Also they  asked if they could see the finished product. We replied to them saying that we would of course credit them and that we would send them the video as soon as it was finished to see what they though of it.

-John Harding-

Planning Blog - Email to Pierce the Veils record label

          So we did not breach the copyright of the song we are choosing to make a music video for we emailed the bands old record label which they were signed to when they wrote and produced their song "falling asleep on a stranger". We stressed that the song is being used for purely educational purposes and that no profit will be made from the video. If we did not ask permission from the bands label we could be prosecuted by the band and seeing as we would be unable to contact the band directly we thought it best to email their label and ask them if it would be possible to use the song in our video. We have not heard back from them so far but will notify you when they reply.

-John Harding-

Planning Blog - Survey results

From the results of this question we can see that the most popular genre of music is rock with the overall percentage of 66.7% (6 response counts). Post hardcore is a sub genre of rock which is still relatively new to the music scene with a response percent of 11.1%. This is the genre chosen we are doing for our music video. To make our survey more varied  we had 9 genres to choose from post Hardcore, Rock, R&B, Rap, Hip-Hop, Metal, Indie, Pop and Dubstep. The ones we were most interested in were Post Hardcore as this was our choice of genre along with rock and metal as these were the most similar to our genre. It was important for us to collect this information as knowing what people want is important in the music industry.

From the results here we can see what bands are popular with our target audience two of the bands people put down are popular post hardcore bands which are FIR (Falling In Reverse) and Beheading of a King, two of the others are of the metal genre Hopsin and The Black Dahlia Murder. The other artists people chose are a mixture of indie rock, pop and rap, it would be important to incorporate elements of these other genres into our music video.

From the results to this question we can see that everybody from our survey watches music videos on youtube and a third of people in the survey watch music videos on TV and only one person downloaded music videos, from this we can conclude that once we have made our video we should upload it to youtube, get it on a music channel then make it available to download online.

The fourth question we asked was what themes do you like to see in music videos. As you can see violence got a response rate of 44.4% this is important as our music video will incorporate violence at one point of the narrative. however the main theme we was interested was Love as our video is a heartbreak video and as you can see love got a response rate of 22.2%.

We also asked people how often do you watch music video's with the majority saying they do everyday (66.7%) most people have access to the internet today so it isn't hard to find and view a music video. We got no results for rarely and never.

The sixth question we asked was how long do you think is an appropriate length for a music video? with the majority of people saying the appropriate length was 3-4 minutes long with 55.5% of results, the other responses we got was 4-5 minutes with a response percentage of 44.4%. These results were good as it concludes that a video of 3-5 minutes is industry standard for keeping the audience entertained.

From the results to this question we can see that the most popular music video is stan by Eminem with 44% of people choosing it as their favourite music video of all time even though it is not the same genre as our choice of artist we can use this information to try and make the video more popular by incorporating elements of Eminem's video into our video.

We aslos asked the people who completed our survey what clothing brands they liked from this we can see what brands of clothing to include in our music video so that views can relater to the people in the video and maybe like the video more and watch it more than once and tell other people about i. The results show that the two most popular brands are vans with 66.6`% of people saying they liked vans and 77.8% of people said they liked the clothing brand converse so these are 2 of the main brand we will be wearing in the video.

-John Harding&Ryan Miles-

Planning Blog - Survey

To gain an increased insight into what are target audience wanted to see in music video's and thus adjust our music video accordingly we created an oline survey which we sent to our friends and published it on our social networking sites so we could get as many people as possible to do it. Seeing as it was our own social networking sites they mainly contained teens and young adults which is our target audience.

First we tried to establish what was the most popular genre of music in our target audience, this would not affect our choice of artist or song but meant we could incorporated themes from that genre into our music video to make it more appealling to the masses of our target audience.

Next we tried to narrow down what artists were popular with our target audience so we could choose specific artits which we could then mirror themes and shots to be more appealing.

For this question we wanted to find out what form of media people mainly used to view music videos by our target audience and from this we know what form we want our music video to go out on, we can also use this in the production stage so if we want the video to go on TV then we can bleep out any swear words.

We also wanted to find out what themes people liked to see in music videos so they could be incorporated into our music video to make it more appealling to people with a different music taste who may usually not listen to post hardcore music.

We asked this question to see how often people watched music videos this meant we could find out how often our target audience watched music videos.

We though it would be important to ask our target audience how long they liek music videos to be from the results of this we can decide to edit the song and make it shorter, or we can develop a long introductory scene.

This question again is to find out what music videos people like but this question specifies a particular music video and their favourite video of all time and from this we can identify particular themes and shots in the video that we can use in our video to appeal to a wider audience.

We asked the question about what clothing bands they like, this information will be used as we will try to wear those brand in the music video as viewers will be more likely to identify with the characters in the video and therfore possibly like the video.

-John Harding-