Blog 10- Mise-en-scene

Mis en scene
Mis en scene is an expression used to describe the design aspects of theatre and film producation. It refers to everything that appears before the camera and its arrangement such as: composition; sets; props; actors; costumes and lighting.

Location/Setting

We have planned to locate our music video production in a local Forest as it is similar to the type of environments used in other florence and the machine videos (like shown in the image below).

This setting makes the band look out of their time because they usually use a natural environment as their location which comes across more abstract, feminin and old fashioned rather than in built up everyday surroundings. However, they continue to maintain a modern look by adapting their old fashioned clothing into something that looks iconic to fans.

Costumes

We have planned to go to charity shops and buy some vintage clothing which we can alter ourselfs to make them also look modernised.
This original plan was changed when we realised it would be expensive to buy outfits for all the characters, therefore, we instead got the characters to all wear plain black clothing to symbolise darkness and death which relates to the lyrics of the song 'my boy builds coffins'.

Make up

At the begining of the video we decided to have the main character wearing very youthful and natural make up as well as the background dancers. Then nearer the end of the song when the day came to a close we used make up to make the main character look old and tired to symbolise her becoming older as the day went on and also again relating to the theme of death. This idea was to interpretate the girls life in one day. However, this scene was cut from the final video as it looked out of place in the video because we did not find a way to show her becoming older, she just suddenly became old which didnt make sense which is why this was cut.

Lighting
We want to make use of the daylight as much as possible in the scenes of the forest, so we could show the begining of the day, then have the day moving on, untill sunset. Doing this shows that the video begins at the begining of the day and ends at sunset. We thought this would be a good effect because the end of the day could symbolise death which relates to the song.
Our second location shown in the film will be done in a studio. This scene is of the boy building the coffin. We want to use a spotlight in a dark shed like room to create a shadow of the boy hammering the coffin. Therefore the room needs to be completely dark so the shadow on the wall is the main focus of attention. I also think this will be a good effect because the lighting we use can represent candle light which gives an old fashioned feel to the video.

Props

In the forest scenes we do not need a large amount of props because we wil mainly being using the natural environment such as logs and trees. Brining modern props into these scenes could make the forest scenes less believeable in an old fashioned sense. We want these scenes to be as natural as possible to create a dream like feel rather than living in reality.
In the studio scene, we need a hammer, nails, sawdust and a wooden work top to create the boy building a coffin.

Blog 9- The Pitch

Here is the link to our powerpoint presentation which we presented on film.

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B0DnGj06WOfoY2Y2Nzc5NjItZTkzNi00NmExLWEyZWItZTc0OGFhNDQwNjA2&hl=en

It explains how our music video needs to link in with the target audience and also shows key ideas for the production of our music video.

The link below is the link for the presentation me and my group presented on film to explain the powerpoint in depth.

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B0DnGj06WOfoMjkxMzBjNDgtZjc2MS00ZTEzLWIxOWEtYzJhM2UwOTk1MTJi&hl=en

Blog 8- Initial Ideas

The link bellow shows a powerpoint poster of initial idea's for our music video.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B20gzrmLsLdxNTM0MDU4MmYtMDE1My00NTcxLTgzNGUtM2RkZDRjZjMyNWZl&hl=en

Blog 7- Comparing an existing video

In term one, in groups, we have been working towards re-creating some of the teenage dirtbag video by wheatus. During this project i have gained some good experience with the production equipment which will prepare me for when my group and myself will produce our own music video. I have started to develop some good film techniques such as adjusting the lighting for the best quality picture at different times of the day and zooming in and out for smoother effects, which are useful skills for creating our video and I have become more confident with putting these techniques in to practice.
During the first week we analysed the first ten frames from the official 'Teenage Dirtbag' video outlining what was required for each shot.
Before taking on the production of filming we first had to follow a story board of the teenage dirtbag video shots which we would film and put together to eventually create the whole video. We had to refer to the lyrics of the song to match each shot. The shots consisted of different shot types such as close up, medium shot, long shot or extreme close up. This meant we were able to practice using a variety of shot types and learn how to track or zoom in or out to change from one shot type to another. Over the course of production of this music video we used both static and dynamic camera movements. Static use of the camera meant we had to fix the camera onto a tripod therefore the picture was more stable however, we could only zoom in and out rather than using different tracking methods. Dynamic movement allowed us to try other method such as tracking and taking shots from high angle or low angles.
When I had my turn at shooting a few clips I was initially unconfident because I was new to useing a film camera and how to use different techniques such as lighting, contrast and angling, however after a few un successful shots i began to get the hang of it and my shots became more successful. I am glad I had the oppertunity to practice filming before filming our final video because it would have taken more time to get used to and some of the shots may have been bad quality as I would have been less experienced.
As well as shooting we also had to practice all of the production aspects that went with it. We were shown how to use a shooting script which had an image of each shot and a description of how the image should be shot and what is going on in the specific scene. This allowed us to record each shot we took and note if it was successful or unsuccessful and why it was. It also records how many shots we took before taking a good shot. We also used a clapperboard to log each take on the film so we could match the analysis of each shot on the shooting script to the film shot and monitor which shots were suitable for use in editing and which wern't. The clapperboard would read 'shot 4 take 1' for example, then if the shot needed to be repeated the next clapperboard would read 'shot 4 take 2'.
In this exercise we were also shown how to direct a shot as it is important to have someone controlling the production so the filming runs smoothly and everyone is aware of what is happening in each shot. When i had my go at directing i was in charge of setting up the shot by picking the camera angle and positioning the actors in the scene. I found it takes time to set up the camera operator in conjunction with the positioning of the actors to set up each shot because the actors need to be able to be seen in the shot therefore the place of the camera may need to be moved back of forward or the actors may need to move to fit into the shot without blocking one another. Once the shot is set up it was my job to call the actors to the ready then instruct the camara operator to set the camera to record while I put the clapperboard infront of the camera to display the shot and then call action so the actors knew when to start the shot. When the scene is over I called cut and then decided whether the shot was successful or needed to be retaken.
I found that directing the shot was the easiest part in comparison to setting up the camera and making sure the white balance and exposure were correct to match the surroundings. The first process of setting up the camera is mounting the camera to the tripod which gives you stability when filming, particulary when zooming , panning and tilting the camera. The tripods we used at college have a spirit level on them which enables you to position the camera to an exact horizontal angle, where as, if you were using handhelp the angle would not be exact however handhelp ables you to move around more and experiment with different angle such as low angle which you would be able to do when using a tripod. When I had a go at filming i used handheld as we decided to use tracking to follow the path of one of the actors. It was difficult to move with the camera whilst trying to maintain stability where as the tripod would maintain stability but would not be able to move around and have to reply on zooming and panning.
Before filming, setting the white balance to suit the conditions you are in is essential otherwise the quality of filming would be poor. When filming outside the white balance needs to be set to 'Daytime Filming' otherwise the the footage might end up having a blue tinge to it. I had a go at playing with the white balance when we were filming outside to see what suited the lighting best and how it looked without 'Daytime Filming'. Then when filming inside the white balance should be set to artificial light.
Lastly the correct exposure needs to be set . When using the Canon XM2 cameras at college we have been practicing using the manual settings to adjust the exposure and not let the camera run on auto. This gives us the opportunity to practice manually using the camera rather than relying on auto. This is because manual gives you control over how light or dark the footage is to match the mood you want the shot to be set in. I was shown how to change the exposure using a combination of shutter speed, aperture and gain.
Camera techniques include composition and depth of field. Composition allows you to change the frame size to be like a widescreen film if you were to shoot a scene using a large amount of land such as a shot showing a horizon in the distance. We used a normal camera setting that is set to a standard frame size of a ratio of 4:3. We have been taught to use the rule of three to help compose the frame when using any ratio. This means that the most important aspects of the shot will be in the power points of the frame. Next, the depth of field refers to the focal range of the camera. We used depth of field to centre the audience attension on a particular part of the frameby having it in focus while the rest of the shot is blurred. This is called 'Shallow or Narrow Depth of field'. For example, The shot may show one person with a background behind them, where the person is in focus and the background is blurred. The depth of field may then be switched to focus in on the background and the person will become blurred. This is called 'Pull Focus'. This gives us the advantage to show an object, person or background in full detail so the quality of the image is at its best. If all the frame is in focus it is called 'wide depth of field'. The quality of each detail in the photo will not be as clear however the audiencde is able to see everything in the shot to create a full picture of what is happening in the shot.

Below is the Final edited video of Teenage dirthbag that myself and my class put together.



I shot one of the scenes where the main boy walks toward the camera and i had to track back with the camera trying to maintain stability while he walked towards me until he eventually goes out the shot right next to the camera and cuts into the next scene. The Video was very easy to put together but cutting between each shot at the right timing to make it flow and look professional took a lot of time. There is one scene where the singer mimes along to the music and we had to fit the music perfectly to look as though he was singing it. This took a long time because we had to keep adjusting the timing of the music and pulling back or bringing forward the shots until it matched perfectly! This took the most time out of all the editing. I found it difficult at first to become fimiliar with the software we used to edit the video but after watching the rest of my group and practicing myself i began to understand how to cut and edit each clip to flow into the next. I now feel more confident when it comes to editing my own video with my group.