13th September 2009

Today, i have;
*added around 6 more steps to my detailed plan for the video.
*re-written the interview format for the magazine cover.
*arranged for Rorie to play the part of the 'ex boyfriend' in the video.
*re-edited my pitch power point, and created an account so that i can add it to my blog.
*added a slide show of my power point.

12th September 2009

Today i have had band practice with Diabolical Dispatch, we went through the song that i have written for the video, and we came up with several different ways in which we could make the song sound different. also we organised that we will do the photo shoot next Saturday so i could take the newer photo's for the magazine and CD cover.

Also today i went into TK Max to ask them whether or not i could use their balcony to do the opening shot. i spoke to the manager of the shop and they have granted me permission to do this. they let me out on the balcony so that i could look up the different possible angles i could record it from.

More Detailed Plan With A Few Camera Angles

*Extreme long shot of Rorie (R) and Lexi (L) arguing in the middle of Leicester.
*From the T K Max balconies, pan around the scenery and then a slow zoom into the crowd where L and R are arguing. It pans from the right to the left into the action.
* Mid shot of R and L arguing. Several over the shoulder shots of each of the two faces.
*long shot of them fighting, L pushes R away. Within this we get a Point Of View (POV) shot of L's Face, this is to show the upset and angry in her facial emotion.
*Then we have a POV shot of R walking away towards a group of people.
*Close up of L's face, sad, distraught
*Another POV shot from someone in the crowd of people, this person is watching R walk towards the group, they focus in on R's face then look slightly to the left, over R's shoulder to see L miserable in the distance.
*Close up. the camera focuses on L's face. it pans round from the right to the left.
*R starts to talk to the guys, this is an over head shot (at this point the music should start to play in the distance).
*Long shot from a 45 degree angle behind L, R and the crowd start laughing.
*Close up of L's face - shows the hurt. she stands there, looks down, then up at R and then down again (she's making the decision to go elsewhere).
*Close up of L as she turns her head and turns away.
*Camera switches to a shot of L from the front, she walks towards the camera.
*We get different shots of L sitting on her own, being lonely whilst seeing her friends happy.
-She sits at the fountain, staring at the fountain. we see this by using an over the
shoulder shot.
- Close up of L's face as she See's the people having fun and having a good time on the grassy
bit behind the benches. we will see this through a long shot but a POV shot.
*We get several different shots of her walking towards band practice. (the way I'm going to do this is, i will record some footage of her walking but then stop it and when she is a bit further up the road i will record again so that you can see the progress of her walking. i will get this from several different angles. however when she gets the bridge outside stay free i will stop that type of recording.
*We see a long shot of (Bam(B)) leaning on the wall. As L is walking up to the bridge.
*L gets to the bridge. and then we see a POV of her seeing B on the wall. at this point B has his head down and cant see that L has turned up. (i am either going to do a POV shot or an over the shoulder shot from behind L on the bridge. within this show we will be able to see B leaning against the wall.)
*When L See's B we see a close up of her face, she's trying to withhold a smile.
*Next B looks up and smiles (close up of him) but L doesn't see that he's noticed her.
*The camera is then stationary at a 90 degree angle from where T is standing (the camera would roughly be at the canals lock gate). the camera stays stationary but follows L as she walks towards B.
*She walks past B not expecting him to be waiting for her. the camera at this point would be stationary at the front of L, it will be a mid shot of the two. the camera will follow the action from the front of her.
*As L walks past, B catches her arm. at this point the camera will be behind the action but focused in on the two arms and hands. this will mean it is a close up shot. the camera will stay there as B moves his hand down L's arm so that they can hold hands.
* the camera is then moved to the previous position where it follows the action from in front of the action. B pulls L round the corner and into the Stay free back entrance.
* Then the camera is stationary outside the black room, we see B and L running through the corridor into the room.
*The camera then moves to follow them into the room. we see the crowd of people and L and B pushing their way through. we get a shot from the POV of someone in the audience and they are watching L and B pushing through the crowd. it then switches to a front, mid shot if them pushing through the room.
*Going Onstage
B jumps up seeming 'macho' and confident, he looks down at L and then holds out his arm to pull her up. She pulls an 'oh jeez' face then she takes his hand and get pulled onto the stage.
(Camera Angle within that scene)
-B Jumping Up - Side Shot
-B putting his hand out to pull L up - Long shot from floor, looking up at him, from L's POV
-L's Reaction - high angle close up (looking down at her face)
-Pulling her up - the camera is behind her as she takes his hand, and then he starts to pull her up, and then the camera switches to behind B, so it is an over the shoulder shot, when B has finished lifting L onto the stage.
*someone in the crowd throws a mic' on stage.
*Shot Of Crowd
Camera on the stage floor looking over the audience.
*over the shoulder shots and over head shots of the audience.
*standing on one of the amps, over head shots and long shots of the band on stage and the audience.

*I will get several different shots of Dave drumming, Eddie playing the guitar and of Lexi and Bam singing.
*i will get some shots of them when the camera is on the floor, looking up at them and i will get some shots of them from the eye level.

Video Basic Plan edited slightly

1. Rorie and Lexi are arguing.
2. Lexi pushed Rorie away.
3. Lexi stands there on her own, watching Rorie walk away.
4. Friends and Rorie laugh, and Lexi feels as if they are all laughing at her.
5. Lexi realises she isn't wanted and turns to walk away, she hesitates then starts walking.
6. Lexi walks to band practice.
7. Lexi gets to the bridge and See's (Bam) waiting outside the building, leaning against the wall.
8. Lexi hides a grin then walks past as if to ignore him, because she doesn't think he's there for her.
9. As Lexi walks past (Bam) grabs her arm as if to no let her go.
10. Lexi smiles feeling happy he's there for her.
11. (Bam) moves his hand down Lexi's arm so that it is at her hand until they hold hands.
12. (Bam) then pulls Lexi through the crowd of people in band practice and then onto the stage.
13. they (hopefully) start to sing as they get to the chorus, where Lexi actually starts singing.
14. we see several different shots of the band and the audience.
15. Lexi and (Bam) are hanging out with their friends and the band.
16. More footage of the band practice.
17. Lexi and (Bam) are in a big queue looking happy and general in a great mood, then we see a contrast where Rorie looks miserable and looks terrible in terms of what he wears.
18. shots of the band just chilling at the fountain or something.
19. group of friends together hanging out and skating.

Things I Need To Do Part 2

* Go to TK MAX in Leicester near clock tower and ask them whether or not i can use their balcony to record the opening shots.
* Finish writing up the more detailed video plan (I have added to this since i posted the last 'things i need to do' post.)
* Find a friend to play the part of the ex boyfriend.
* Take photo's of the band that don't include myself in them. so i need to kinda section out myself for now. (I have organised this so next Saturday at band practice i will take the photo's)
* Organise a date where i can get a lot of friends into the band practice room so that i can record the guys playing on stage.
* Record the song and make it an mp3 file.
* Take photo's of the story board and finish drawing it out.
* Write the script for the argument

Video Basic Plan

1. (Ex Bf) and Lexi are arguing.
2. Lexi pushed (EX BF) away.
3. Lexi stands there on her own, watching (EX BF) walk away.
4. Friends and (EX BF) laugh, and Lexi feels as if they are all laughing at her.
5. Lexi realises she isn't wanted and turns to walk away, she hesitates then starts walking.
6. Lexi walks to band practice.
7. Lexi gets to the bridge and See's (Bam) waiting outside the building, leaning against the wall.
8. Lexi hides a grin then walks past as if to ignore him, because she doesn't think he's there for her.
9. As Lexi walks past (Bam) grabs her arm as if to no let her go.
10. Lexi smiles feeling happy he's there for her.
11. (Bam) moves his hand down Lexi's arm so that it is at her hand until they hold hands.
12. (Bam) then pulls Lexi through the crowd of people in band practice and then onto the stage.
13. they (hopefully) start to sing as they get to the chorus, where Lexi actually starts singing.
14. we see several different shots of the band and the audience.
15. Lexi and (Bam) are hanging out with their friends and the band.
16. More footage of the band practice.
17. Lexi and (Bam) are in a big queue looking happy and general in a great mood, then we see a contrast where (EX BF) looks miserable and looks terrible in terms of what he wears.
18. shots of the band just chilling at the fountain or something.
19. group of friends together hanging out and skating.

Things I Need To Do !!

* Go to TK MAX in Leicester near clock tower and ask them whether or not i can use their balcony to record the opening shots.
* Finish writing up the more detailed video plan
* Find a friend to play the part of the ex boyfriend.
* Take photo's of the band that don't include myself in them. so i need to kinda section out myself for now.
* Organise a date where i can get a lot of friends into the band practice room so that i can record the guys playing on stage.
* Record the song and make it an mp3 file.
* Take photo's of the story board and finish drawing it out.
* Write the script for the argument

Including Roland Barthes Theory In The Video

Action Code _ i think so i can involve some obvious action codes within my video, when Lexi is about to leave the old boyfriend(Random Guy(This will be replace by the name when i have found someone to do it)) the soundtrack will start, thus suggesting that Lexi is going to be wondering off on her own sometime soon. also i am going to get (bam) to hold his hand out near the stay, therefore suggesting that Lexi will take his hand and he shall help her on the stage.

Enigma Code _ i think to involve this within the story i may show a few things like the ex boyfriend hanging out somewhere and about to do something, and just show it to a point where then the audience starts to question what's going to happen to the other guy.

Semantic Code _ i might have a picture of the 'stay free sign' so that i can get the audience to connect that Lexi is going to be going to a band practice, however the only way that they could understand what's going on is is the audience is familiar with 'stay free' so i think in order for that to be the case. during the argument between Lexi and (old boyfriend) i will maybe have the (old boyfriend) say something like 'you spend too much time at stay free with the band, its like your married to them when you should be spending time with me'. i think this will be appropriate to inform the audience of what stay free is. this will then add in the 'cultural code'.

Cultural Code _ The audience would now know (if not before) what stay free is, because of the argument at the beginning of the video. they would have the understanding that stay free is a place where bands practice playing their music.

Symbolic Code _ the way i am going to incorporate this into the video is, nearer the end of the video i will have different shots of the ex boyfriend and Lexi being in complete contrasting moods, happy and sad. maybe the ex boyfriend will look a complete mess which would also incorporate the 'enigma code' because the audience will be asking how did he get like that? what has he been doing? on the other hand Lexi will look great and happy and seem to have her life completely in order.

18th July 2009

okay so i do this a lot. write out what i need to put on my blog, but then i end up forgetting to put it on... seems kinda silly to me now, but at least i already had it written out :)

Lexi and Bam (from my band 'diabolical dispatch') came over today, we had a crack at trying to get some music to that song i told you about, but bam suggested that we write a new song, because 'its not right' would have more meaning to the guys that played it organically, and we thought it'd be better to write a song for diabolical dispatch that we could actually perform with out another artist saying 'dint want you to sing that'.

okay so here is the song that we came up with. we have basic guitar tabs on it, which we will improve on during band practices during the future.

you sit there all alone,
thinking you've done wrong,
you can't imagine there's nothing,

cause no-body's there,
and no-one seems to care,
you don't know what they're thinking,

(chorus) cause there's someone there for you,
they're looking over you,
just open your eyes to see them, (x2)

you sat there all alone,
thoughts of what went wrong,
you imagined there was something,

(musical interlude)

now you know there is nothing

i will get a basic recording when we've gone through it at band practice.

15th July 2009

okay, so i know I'm writing this out really late but i had it all written out on my PC at home and i forgot to add it in when i went on the Internet so i am now :)

today i spent the day going through all my old 'bagige' songs (my old band) to see if any of them fitted into the sort of genre that we are aiming for. i found one called, 'It's Not Right' but there were a few 'not so happy' lyrics so i spend around half an hour editing the song so that it fitted into the right genre. i then spent another hour and a half trying to figure out what sort of tune could go with it.

I've just been txting my newer band members and i asked them if they thought that we could cover this song, but i can't remember all the old tabs so i have planned to have Lexi and bam over so that we could figure out together what we need to do to make the song work.

7th september 2009

in the past few days every time i have tried talking to Jamie about our media work and what we each need to do before our pitches need to be sorted out, but it was hard to get hold of him again. so i have spoken to Mr ford about what i could do and have came to the decision that it may be best to work on my own as 95% of the work done, has been my own anyway. so i have mentioned this to Jamie, so that he knows that he needs to find something to do for his new solo project.

1st September 2009

i have started to create the pitch (powerpoint) for when we go back to school so that we are able to pitch our idea to the class. i have managed to get a hold of jamie. and he is coming down later on today to do some work on the project and to hopefully complete the power point (pitch) that i've started. And add to the video plan.

Jamie has just been at mine. he was here for around 6 and half hours. we got a little bit done but i thought that i still did the majority, i did try to encourage jamie to add in his own ideas so that the project isn't completely my work. I asked him if he had done any other work during the holiday that he may have left at home however he didnt give me the slightist impression that he had made any effort to do any work before today. He contributed a few ideas such as the camera angles for the scene where 'lexi' goes onto the stage. oncee we had figured out a few of the camera angles i suggested that we do some more work on the pitch so that he could have some input on what we are doing. we added a few things from my blog to the power point and simplified it so that it didn't look like a huge essay on the power point. i asked jamie several times to help my pick out the individual photo's for the powerpoint so that the audience (for our pitch) could see who would be staring in the video. we managed to finish writing up the powerpoint and then jamie decided to go before we discussed which parts of the powerpoint we would each cover when pitching our idea. i then went through our pitch thinking about who might do which pages. i then fowarded the powerpoint to jamie so that he could also go through it as we had discussed. I got fairly annoyed that we only got a little bit done, because i have so far done a fair bit of work, and it seems as if jamie has done nothing other than what we have achieved today. The thing that annoys me most is the fact that i had to keep saying, 'jamie, can we actually get this done?', 'Jamie put that down, thats not yours' (as he kept picking up random things around my living room that belongs to my family), 'are you gonna write anything?', 'do you have any ideas about what we could do in this scene?', 'can you just go through this and add in your own ideas for the pitch please' and 'Jamie i feel like i'm taking over because i have done the majority of this can you please do something'. This, i didn't i would have to do, and i felt really nastey for doing it but no disrespect to him but i don't want him to get all the grades for my work, because i think thats totally unfair. I think i am going to talk to one of my media teachers about what i could do to sort this out.

24th August 2009

Over the past few weeks i have put together a basic plan for the magazine article and the CD cover. i have tried to contact Jamie more and still had no luck in getting in contact with him. meanwhile i have added to the basic plan for the media video. although it isn't complete at the minute, i have added to it so that it is around half completed. i have gotten my band to perform the song a few times during band practice and i have recorded a basic version of the song so that i have something to work with in terms of timing for the video. i have decided that the genre may have to be altered slightly because of the lyrics of the song. so it is more about the life of a teenager rather than going out there and partying 24/7. i am, in the near future, going to find some more YouTube links that are more related to the type of music that it is now. and as soon as I've found them i will post them on here so that you can see what sort of genre it is now.

20th June 2009,

I booked out a camera from the school library and had a photo shoot with the band, Diabolical Dispatch. We took the photo's so that we could put together a photo covered CD booklet (the things that come with the CD, Telling you who the band members are etc) and so that i could include photo's of the band in the magazine article. i haven't managed to get all the photo's to a good quality so i will at some point have another photo shoot where i will get better photo's and maybe have an interview with one of the band members, in which we will be discussing the song and the video.

I have mentioned to Jamie that i do like to complete work before the deadline so if he doesn't pull his weight and do some work then i may mention to the teachers that he's not working and discuss what i can do in terms of maybe working separately.

Year 13 Induction

For our media project, we have decided to work with brief 1.
 Brief - a promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with; a cover for its release (DVD/CD package) and a magazine advertisement.
Our initial ideas for this would be to write and record a song with 'diabolical dispatch' and then to make the video based around the song. we intend to include some shots of the band members skating and playing (the music within a band practice). video's that inspire our ideas for the video are as follows;
Blink 182 - Rock Show
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWemwyqpIpg
From this video we want to take the idea of having a big crowd of people to cheer on the music, like in the shot taken 1 minute 33 seconds in.
Andrew WK - We Want Fun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49mDdQSwPaA
One thing we want to take from this video is the bounciness of the music. we also would like take the idea of throwing someone into a pool as it adds to the fun element that we want to achieve. we like the idea of getting people to fall over as it shows people that skaters fall over as well as achieving the desired trick. i like the idea that they use on the opening, as in this video they show a mysterious car driving up to the camera, i would like to achieve a similar effect by getting the band members to walk towards the camera.
OPM - Heaven Is A Half pipe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1QMFOR5wi8
The thing i want to take away from this video is the camera angels from when the skater is skating, and doing tricks on the ramp. i think the angels used are really effective when it comes to showing the height achieved by the skater and the different skills used throughout the video.
Viva la Bam Season 2 - Bam Margera & Crew's Mardi Gras Skate Road Trip Episode Compilation/Montage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSiy3BW89ro
The inspiration that i have got from this video is more related to the food fights and the mud fights. Also the idea of messing around with the skate boards is also appealing. there is a great shot of a skateboard trick at 3.30 in the video, i would like to be able to get this sort of angle from a trick being performed as it has a great effect.
Anti-Flag - "When All the Lights Go Out" Side One Dummy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVGw8nMUl-8
the idea that i want to take from this video is the one that you burn your past. in this video there is a slight hint of optimism and the thought of moving on. i want to be able to portray this in our video, the idea of burning the past and moving on and making use of what you have rather than letting it go to waste.

Camera Angles :/

Low angel shots looking up off of the floor. showing the height of a trick, off of the floor.