Shooting Schedule

As a group we constructed this timetable, which would be most coherent for our shooting day:

8:15 - crew (Kris, Aidan and I) meeting in the editing suit. Checking the props and costumes 

8:30 - meeting performers in the editing suit and starting preparations for the shoot by changing into costumes, putting on make-up etc. I will go down and ensure that the set is ready for the shoot. 

8:50 - Performers in positions, starting to set up the equipment

9:00 - Rolling. Filming the performance element all the time before lunch. 

13:00 - Lunch break 

13:30 - Moving away the set for the performance element and setting up for the boxer 

14:10 - Boxer in position. Setting up the equipment 

14:15 - Filming the boxer. Ballerina preparing for the shoot

14:40 - Ballerina in position. Setting up the equipment 

14:45 - Filming the ballerina.
15:10 - Wrap 

Shotlist

I was given the task of writing up a shot-list. We will use it on the shooting day as an instruction of the order in which the shots have to be filmed. It is therefore important that they organised in a way that would minimise unnecessary re-setting of the cameras, which otherwise will waste the limited time provided for filming. Of course, some unforeseen circumstances may force us to neglect parts of the document, but it is necessary to have a well thought through plan to which we will always be able to come back.

Call List

Aidan Murphy - 07531*****
Kris Alexandersen - 07730*****
George Papazov - 0775166*****
August Berner - +491511009****
Rahil - 077144*****
Karl Fonseka - 0795033*****
Manu - 077898*****
Nandi - 0758502*****
Camina - 078640*****
Marvel - 074846*****

Above is our call list which will allow us to quickly get in contact with our performers in was of an unforeseen situation.

Costume, Hair and Make-up: The Ballerina

We will be working closely with the performer to match her needs for the costume and certain details, for example a particular colour, may be sacrificed in order to ensure the highest possible quality of dance. Nevertheless, our preferences are that the dancer will be dressed in a full white traditional ballet costume: with pointes, tights and a tutu bodice.

Costume, Hair and Makeup: The Boxer

The boxer is the most simple element costume-wise. Because we will film an athlete in the process of training, he will only wear what is necessary for the exercise. Namely: shorts, gloves, hand bandages and trainers. They will be black and white in order to maintain the seriousness of the practise by keeping the colours to minimal, while creating a visual rhyme with the lead singer and the ballet dancer both of whom will be dressed in white.

Kristien is responsible for finding this costume. He is most likely to borrow the kit from his brother in law, a professional boxer.

Costumes, Hair and Makeup: The Jazz Band

In our group we distributed responsibilities of attaining the costumes for performers in each of the three elements. Aidan was assigned with finding the ballet clothes, Kristien is to bring the boxing outfit and I have to supply each member of the jazz band. We decided that we are going to avoid using dark coloured costumes, because the majority of our performers will be black and filmed against a dark background. Thus, a variety in colours is necessary to make the actors distinguishable. 

We agreed to have the musicians in dark blue suits because this would make them easily visible and align with the energetic nature of the composition, while preserving certain formality that is present in jazz clubs. They will have no facial make up, but their hair will be gelled, because this is a conventional appearance of jazz musicians. Identical outfits would also make them appear as members of a single group and contribute to the impressive visual effect that they will have on the audience as a cooperating band.  

The lead singer will be dressed in white because this will make him stand out. This distinction is necessary to highlight the importance of his role. Our first choice performer for the lead singer has very short hair which will not require any preparations. However, other candidates will have to gel their hair to align with the rest of the band members.

Our back-vocal singers will wear long red dresses. This is an elegant attire that will contribute to the sophisticated atmosphere of a jazz club and make the two performers identifiable. They will wear make up and have specially prepared hairstyles, because this is a conventional appearance for female backup singers. 

Although there will only be several shots of the audience and their visibility will be limited due to the dull lighting, it is important to make their appearance fit the rest of the actors. Therefore, they will wear formal clothes with combination of white and black colours.

Our school has a large drama department which usually provides media studies with props and costumes. I already have once borrowed a red dress from them when we shot the thrillers. Nevertheless, they are specialised in theatre rather than film, so I will have to order the necessary components from amazon or other online shops. I will do it as soon as our performers will be confirmed, so that I will be able to choose the right sizes. 

Props

Post by Aidan Murphy (responsible for the props in our group)

Below are some ideas of the props that we have in mind. We want to set the music video now in the modern day but have a funky traditional jazz band who have a unique and cool feel to them. In order to achieve this we need to acquire and get the right props to give that modern yet old jazz band style to the music video that we will be creating, we want the jazz band to look cool and stylish and the props that we want to get will hopefully allow this to happen, and also contribute to our artists star image of that groovy slick style to appeal to the audience.

Set Design Meetings

Over the last week we had several meetings with the set designers and technicians of our project. We also communicated via email and you can see an example of the conversations we had below:

Here are some of the issues that we discussed:
- Matt McIvor, the technical supervisor, pointed out that we may run out of footage when editing due to the fast rhythm of our song. In order to avoid repetition we will have to develop our elements further. Adding a fourth element is not an option due to the limited shooting timeframe.
- The set designers commented that it is challenging to imitate the style of 1950s considering the limited budget. We will reconsider whether following this trend is worth the difficulties.
- Because two of our elements depend on arrival of actors external to the school, we made up one more component that would have the same set design as for the capoeira fighters. This way, we will be able to substitute it if something will happen to the boxing or capoeira element.

Set design

The most complex component of the set design for our video will be the stage where our artist and the band will perform. We will have to plan its proportions so that the stage would be big enough to look realistic and fit all the music instruments, including a large piano and a drum kit, despite the limited space of the studio that we have. We would it to have a brick wall at the back, which would be a reference to the jazz clubs in New Orleans, the place where African American musicians found this genre of music. In front of the stage some space will be occupied by tables with the audience, hence we will have to make sure that enough space will be left for the equipment.

The second set design should be much less time-consuming to construct. It will consist of a punchbag, hanging from the ceiling on a chain, and a gym bench next to it. The area where the boxer will perform will be enclosed by black curtains and only a part of it will be lit up by a spotlight. Thus, the boxer will seem to be surrounded by black infinity.

The images below show the diagrams that Kristien drew to show the set design artists in the future meetings. The first one represents designs for the stage and for the boxer element:

The set design for ballerina will be similar to boxer's, in a sense that she will also perform in dark infinite space. There will be no props or decorations and she will be lit up by projectors on the right and left from her, as shown on the diagram below:

Rehearsals

To ensure that our cast is suitable for the video, we arranged a series of rehearsals. Due to the busy Hurtwood schedule it was not possible to gather all the performers in a single time slot, so we filmed test shoots of the band, the lead singer, the trumpet player and one of the back vocal singers separately. The video presents candidates who we thought would be the best in their roles:

As a result of the rehearsals, my group decided to find a new pianist, because he proved to be the least confident on camera. These meetings also gave the performers an idea of what is expected from them, and allowed them to develop their acting independently.

Casting

The most important feature that we considered when choosing our band members was their appearance. We wanted them to have African or Caribbean origins because it would fit the track best and match the historical period that we are recreating, when most of jazz musicians were black. The second criteria was their musical skills, because it is important for the video's quality that performers have experience in playing the instrument they will be given on the shoot day. The third criteria was their acting skills, because it is easier to direct an expressive and confident person than someone who is not self-aware and unable to pose for the camera. These are headshots of our performers:

August Berner, the drummer 

Manuchimso Opara, the trumpet player

Nandi Clarke-Coulibali, the back vocal singer 

Capoeira references

London Capoeira Academy has sent us videos of their teachers' performance so that we would know what quality of action to expect from them on the day:

Reference for the lead singer

The lead singer should be strongest part of our performance element. It is important to cast a confident and energetic individual who will interest the audience by his body language. An ideal variant would be a dancer, so we will use this video of Sam Rockwell as a reference when instructing candidates on the role: 

Animatic storyboard

Storyboard in progress

We have recently started to work on our storyboard. We asked Kristien, as the most skilful member of our group, to draw it while Aidan and I are working on casting and rehearsals organisations.

To improve the quality of our storyboard, Mike gave us a document with instructions and examples of professional methods.

Legal letter to Record Label

We had to email the record label of our composition in order to get the legal consent to use it for our music video:

The language and the sentence structure of the letter were put together according to examples of requests for authorisation found online.

The Timeline

I have recently completed an outline for our music video. It is a record that presents what shots we expect to show at certain times of the video. The line represents duration of the song (2 minutes 28 seconds) broken down into labeled timeframes. The content pf each timeframe is then described below the timeline. As the result, each second of the song is attached to a particular image.