Potshots draft filming - pool scene

On Thursday 21st November we started filming our draft shots for the pool scene of our music video, we got permission to use a local pool hall called Potshots between 2 and 3 in the afternoon. We used this time to test the shots we want to put into our music video.

PotShots Outtakes

On Thursday 21st of November we went to PotShots to do some draft shots to test the lighting and the type of shots that will work and like all filming we have Outtakes and here are ours so enjoy them.

Creating the music (Day 5) - Synthesiser

When creating the music I decided to add in two synthesisers to further add to the blurring of genres by using instruments which aren't often used in conjunction. Synthesisers are normally associated with pop whereas the distorted guitars I used throughout most of the song are mostly used in rock and metal songs.

Story outline and song structure

Story outline 

Song structure/timing

Before making our storyboard we decided to make an outline of the story so that we knew the order of the shots and what would be happening in each scene. This, we hope, will make writing the storyboard much easier than without a plan. Additionally, since I am writing the song which the music video is based on, I thought it would be a good idea to write the timings for each part of the song so we could decide which scenes would fit into which part of the song based on the length of that part of song and the content which would work best with a certain section of the song.

PotShots

On thursday the 21of november we will be going to PotShots to do some daft shots to test how well the lighting is and how some shot will be done so on the day of the full filming we will done what we are doing with lighting and area of the space. We are also taking one of the actors with us to show him the type of pool shot he has to do and to see if he can make the pool shots need for the film.

Storyboard - Act 3

In act 3 it is the last act where the main character's "girlfriend" leaves there meeting area with another guy and when the main character gets there she is gone with the guy this leads the main character to get the picture of him and his "girlfriend" out but the female is no longer there in the photo so it looks like she wasn't actually his "girlfriend"

Storyboard - Act 2

Pool scene

Pool scene (page 2)

Prom scene

Prom scene/beach scene

Beach scene (page 2)

This is our storyboard for act 2 of our music video for the song "Never." This act is a flashback of the lead males past relationship with his "girlfriend" and shows three different scenes. The first is set in Potshots, a snooker club/pool hall where they are playing pool together, they then move into the second scene which shows them walking down a road onto the prom and they end up on the beach for the third scene where they  kick water at each other, the end of that scene then fades back into the cafe scene.

The reason we decided to use these scenes was to show them being happy as a "couple" through the use of typical couple activities, therefore we show them holding hands whilst walking and laughing and joking with each other. However in keeping with our post modern theme this "flashback" is to be seen as a memory or a fantasy depending on the standpoint of the audience and this point is later backed up by the final act in which these scenes are extended and are shown in opposite light i.e. the "relationship" goes wrong so this is either seen as the actual memory of the relationship ending or the end of the fantasy (back to reality).

Storyboard - Act 1

These are the storyboard for act 1 in act 1 is where we establish the story for the music video where the main character is alone and where his place for him and his "girlfriend" go together where he pulls out a picture of him and the "girlfriend" and after a few shots he ends up going to the cafe where he thinks he see his "girlfriend" which end up with him having "flash backs".

Writing and Creating the music - Day 4 (Guitar 2)

Today I finished the rough draft of my song - Never. I added the 2nd guitar part which was included mostly to add an extra melody and, in parts, to act as a rhythm section for example during the solo. Adding this guitar part increased the depth in sound and created a polyphonic texture in the song which it previously lacked.

Writing and Creating music - Day 3 (Bass)

Today I added the bass to my song. Due to the levels of each instrument I panned the guitar to the right because that was the only way for the bass to be heard without affecting the sound quality. The bass line was made up of typical straight and dotted rhythms usually associated with rock music.

Writing and Creating the music - Day 2 (Drums)

Today I added the drums to my song using guitar pro software, this involved writing in drum music notation and editing the equalisation settings to get the required sound. I faced problems such as making sure the levels between the guitar and drums were correct and trying to write drum beats suitable for the style of music. Since we are producing a post-modern style music video I decided it would be a good idea to blur the genres in the song and try to emulate several different styles, one way I have done this is by including many different kinds of drum beats - from pop to rock to metal.

Writing and creating the music - Day 1 (Guitar 1)

Today I started writing the first guitar part to the song for our music video - Never. To do this I used a TAB editing called Guitar pro 6 which features RSE (realistic sound engine) meaning all the outputted sound for each instrument comes from actual samples of those instruments which gives me an accurate representation of what the finished product will sound like. Once I have written parts for each instrument I will then record those parts using real instruments - the audio of which will be used for the final video.

Finding our actors.

We decided to get our actors prepared before filming so we went to the drama department because we knew that they had a lesson at the same time and that some students said that they are interested in taking part. We asked if any of them would be interested and had several people so we also asked when they would be free to narrow down our search, this left us with the final three actors - Ethan, Joe and Tiff. Joe and Tiff participated in our previous video so we are happy with this decision.

Actor influences

Our style model for our main actor is Corey Taylor, the singer of Slipknot and Stone Sour. The music video for his song, snuff, was our main influence for our own music video so we want our actor to have a similar costume.

Our style model for our main actress is Lzzy Hale, the singer of Halestorm. She plays the main role in most of her own music videos and we hope to have our actress in the same kind of clothing worn by Lzzy hale.