Production Diary
#1 - 19/09/14
During our first meeting, we presented all of our music video ideas and chose three of them to put forward for our final A2 music video. We decided that we would like to produce a music video for either: Paramore's 'Fast In My Car', Nina Simone's 'Feeling Good' or Paramore's 'Born For This'. We all uploaded the three tracks to our blogs and spoke about our opinions on them.
#2 - 22/09/14
In today's lesson we decided to produce a music video for Paramore' 'Fast In My Car'. We conversed about our ideas for what we can include in the video such as balloons, the inclusion of my car and silly string. We also began to put together a narrative that would run throughout the video where we are all picked up by me in my car and Ellie, the vocalist of the band, will sing passionately in the passenger seat whilst the rest of the band play their instruments in the backseats.
For our music video, we are hoping to all be dressed in colourful colours and be surrounded by a fun atmosphere. To create this vibe, we will invest in as many bright props as possible.
#3 - 23/09/14
Today we talked about what roles we are all going to play in the production of the 'Fast In My Car' music video. We all decided that our band will be called 'Alleyways'. Jonathan will be doing the daily production diaries, Ellie will be putting together the website, Zahra will be comprising a poster for the Alleyways' EP and I will be researching similar artists. Ellie will also take part in a lip syncing task to prepare her for performing during the video.
#4 - 24/09/14
During today's lesson we began working on our selected tasks. Ellie started putting Alleyways' website together using Wix, Jonathan researched a few similar bands and their digipaks. I helped Zahra by considering styles that can influence the poster that she is creating for the EP's marketing campaign. I also created a song lyric timeline to help us during production.
#5 - 25/09/14
During today's lesson, Jonathan and I researched some famous music video directors such as Spike Jonze. Ellie continued creating Alleyways' official website and Zahra began designing a poster for the EP release. We have decided to do our lip synch task tomorrow and to take some professional photos of the band to be used in our digipak, on the website and posters.
#6 - 26/09/14
In today's lesson time, we went to the music department's recording studio to film our lip sync task. We all felt that we were particularly successful in producing a good lip sync video and Ellie performed exceptionally well.
#7 - 29/09/14
During today's lesson, Jonathan researched similar artists' magazine interviews. Ellie, myself and Zahra researched similar artists and influences. We all prepared ourselves for conducting a photoshoot tomorrow for our website, digipak and social media platforms.
#8 - 30/09/14
In today's session, we all took part in a casual photoshoot for Alleyways' magazine articles, website and social media accounts. We had to take the photos by filming the different scenes and then saving good freeze frames. However, after the shoot we decided that we didn't like the outcomes that we produced and so we agreed that we would re-do the photoshoot with the assistance of someone outside of the group to take pictures.
#9 - 01/10/14
Today we got George Brewer to help take pictures of us for our press and social media presence. We found it a lot easier to take pictures with someone else's help. We all made sure to dress up for the occasion too in colourful colours to positively benefit the photographs and our image in relation to the sound of our band.
#10 - 02/10/14
In today's lesson, we started our storyboard and began to put together a risk assessment. We also all assessed each other and learnt our merits and weaknesses.
#11 - 03/10/14
We continued our storyboard and finished our risk assessment in today's lesson. We also finished our sheet which features all of the possible obstacles that we may encounter during the production of our music video.
#12 - 06/10/14
We finished the 'Fast In My Car' storyboard and Ellie began putting together the presentation.
#13 - 07/10/14
Today we presented our band and what we have done so far in preparation for the music video.
#14 - 08/10/14
We all began to catch up with our blog work.
#15 - 09/10/14
Today we all completed a Cross-Media Image Consistency presentation each to adapt the way we wish to present our own band.
#16 - 14/10/14
During today's lesson, we ventured out to shoot the beginning of our music video. It didn't go too well as the setting was a little drab for our band's aesthetic. We will require a re-shoot.
#17 - 15/10/14
We all continued to catch up on blog work and filmed the cramped studio performance scene of our music video during our free time after school.
#18 - 16/10/14
Ellie and myself edited the footage that we got from the night before whilst John and Zahra left to go to Barcelona on an Art trip.
#19 - 20/10/14
John and Zahra came back to find that Ellie and myself had completed a lot of work whilst we were away. We had begun to put together a rough draft of our music video. We then filmed for two hours after school in the Drama studio and the shoot went very well.
#20 - 22/10/14
Today we added footage from the shoot the night before to put into our rough draft.
#21 - 23/10/14
In today's lesson, we discussed how we could change our digipak design idea to suit the band more. We concluded that we would have a front cover that did not feature that band, like Ellie's previous idea, but a back cover which does feature us in silhouette. We all agreed that this was a good idea and Ellie began to draw up the design using photos from our photoshoot.
#22 - 24/10/14
Today we continued to complete blog work and allow others in the group to catch up so that we can all be fully focused on the filming at hand.
#23 - 04/11/14
In today's lesson we have been creating a survey to find out what our audience wants from our band, music video and digipak. We also put together the digipak using a template provided on the internet and pictures that we have taken for it.
#24 - 05/11/14
Today we uploaded the teaser trailer for our music video, updated the design of our website and posted about our various social media outlets. We also shot a little footage for a clever sequence during our music video.
#25 - 06/11/14
We created lots of merchandise that Alleyways can sell on tour and through their website. We added further updates such as iconography and widgets. Tour dates have also been posted on the website. We all took part in practicing our editing skills using footage that we had shot the day before. John conducted some magazine advert research to prepare me for making a magazine advert to promote Alleyways' debut EP release.
#26 - 07/11/14
In today's session Jonathan created a magazine advert or poster for our band. Ellie updated our teaser trailer as it was a little grainy. Zahra also created a poster.
#27 - 10/11/14
Jonathan and Zahra were taking part in an Art session all day today but me and Ellie created a Kerrang! 'Introducing' article whilst we weren't present.
#28 - 12/11/14
Today we continued to edit our final music video using all the footage that we have shot so far. We all also conducted a self-reflection on our blogs and thought about what can do to improve them.
#29 - 13/11/14
We continued improving our blogs by researching the music industry and how they treat unsigned artists. Ellie finished editing another sequence for our music video.
#30 - 14/11/14
We looked at the weather forecast to see which days will be appropriate for us to shoot the rest of our music video. We are mostly up-to-date on blogging, research, and planning but we are falling behind with shooting at the moment.
#31 - 17/11/14
During the lesson, Ellie created a presentation on cross-media consistency covering CHVRCHES. They are relevant to our image and sound so it is good for us to investigate them. She also uploaded some edited footage of a sequence that we shot a few weeks ago. She also planned how we will answer the evaluation questions when we get to that stage. Johnathan improved our NME Radar article by making the layout of the text more like the original article. He also changed the photograph as it suits our band image more than the previous one.
#32 - 18/11/14
Today we prepared for tomorrow's photo-shoot and music video shooting. Ellie created a poster, inspired by CHVRCHES, to promote Alleyways' EP release.
#33 - 19/11/14
In today's session we completed a brief photoshoot which we all felt went extremely well. The photos came out stunning and we edited them a little to improve the lighting slightly. We all prepared to meet after school and shoot a few more sequences and shots in my garden.
#34 - 20/11/14
Today we began editing the footage that we shot the night before. We are all very happy with it and have a lot of good shots to choose from. Jonathan also analysed the other artists' websites to help them improve.
#35 - 21/11/14
This morning we continued editing our music video. John uploaded our GoPro Car Test Shots and Zahra analysed our peers artist websites.