After looking at our first draft there are some elements which we think need improvement, after analysing the feedback we had we realised one or two things needed to be changed (especially the make-up) when we did the final piece.
Here is the feedback; "I think the makeup is slightly over the top, and doesn't look realistic for the video" "I like the makeup and think the more dramatic for a music video the better" "I don't think you need to wear the black scarf around your head you could just with the headband and scarf" "I like all of your accessories and think you should keep them all"
As you can see we received a varied response but after much discussion we have decided to use less makeup but still keep the makeup dramatic. After some research I found some images of women in a magazine and was inspired by their makeup, the pictures are above. I like the dramatic makeup the lady is wearing and the way she has done her hair, I like the red lipstick and the sleek eyes. Hopefully we can make our makeup more subtle but still have a dramatic look.
When we filmed we had to consider possible risks that we were surrounded by, we had to consider risks such as:
Lights · We wanted Liv to have a spotlight on her face, but the only lamp we had was an ordinary bedside lamp. The first time we filmed Laura had to hold it so she had to be careful not to burn herself. The second time we filmed we laid it down on Liv's bedside table so we had to be careful the tabel didn't burn or set alight.
The Door · The first time we filmed Liv was sat against the door for both the lip-syncing and make-up scenes so we had to make sure Liv's mum Julie didn't walk in and bang the door into Liv or trap her fingers in it etc. The second time we filmed Liv was against her wall but it was still near the door so we hd to make sure Julie didnn't burst in the room and hit Liv.
Water · Liv had a glass of water beside her that she used when she smudged her make-up so it smudged more effectively and because she couldn't cry proper tears she sprinkled water on her face, so we had to be careful no water was spilt or was near the camera.
Fake Eyelashes · When putting Liv's fake eyelashes on, she had to make sure she didn't get any of the glue in her eye because it could have really hurt and stuck her eyelids together.
Jewellery Box · We filmed an end scene where Liv opened a jewellery box and got an engagement ring out and put it on her finger, she had to be careful she didn't trap her fingers in the box when closing it and she also had to be careful the ring didn't get stuck on her finger.
Getting Up And Down · Because Liv was filmed sitting on the floor she had to be careful not to put her back out when she got up and down.
When editing, we picked up on things that we couldn't when filming, this is good though because it helps us with improvements and with this being our first draft, that's what it's for. We picked up on things like:
When Liv is singing with no make-up on there a really big, visible shadow behind her bedcasue we only had one spotligth and it was an angle. Miss Sutton then mentioned the 3-point-lighting technique, which is where you have 3 light; one directly infront, on to the left and one to the right, this then makes sure there are no shadows.
Another thing we had comments on was Liv's make-up. Mr Smith feels that when Liv has make-up on it is too much, doesn't make sense and isn't very realistic, whereas Mr Ford as said that he likes the idea of a lot of make-up because it shows the contrast between when liv does and doesn't have maek-up on, and it smudges more when she smudges it. Vicky, one of our peers said that wehn Liv is signing without any make-up on it's obvious she has foundation on to make her skin look better, and she encouraged us to film Liv without any make-up on because it would look better, so next time we film we are going to film Liv without make-up on and off and then when uploading on the mac see which looks better.
When watching footage back we decided that Liv needs to put a bit more emotion into her face when she sings and use her eyes more effectively i.e. looking at the camera at certain points.
When the music video was editing and complete, we wacthed it back and, although the emotional make-up bits are in slow motion, it looked a bit like a continuity error because it wasn't clear that it was a different time. SO, we have the idea that we will re-film and on the make-up scenes we will have a black background and a white background for the non make-up lip syncing scenes. The black background will look more effective because the colours in the make-up will stand out more. I also thought that because the video is about Liv stripping herself bare and showing her true self to the one she loves, that the black background is symbolic of evil and the opposite of pure, whereas the white background is symbolic of purity, which Liv is when she has no make-up on.
The beginning and end we filmed didn't look very good at all when we uploaded thr footage on the macs. So me and Liv decided that at the start we would have a black screen with a title int he corner, like other music videos, saying the name of the artistk, the song and the record label. The end was just faded out which also looked effective.
As our artist is featuring in many different advertisments, we have to keep a common theme in order for it to be successful. As our video is a very simple idea, and mainly features a close up of Liv, i think it would be a good idea to have the album cover a close up shot of Liv. I think it would work well if we took a very simple and dainty photo of Liv with the name of the artist in a very simple font at the bottom. I noticed the film case for The Duchess and loved the way it was presented...
I like the way Keira Knightly is presented in a simple yet realistic way. The look in her eyes conveys a lot of meaning and this is what i would like ours to be like. The song we are using is a sad song, and this could all be conveyed in Livs facial expression and the look in her eyes. Keira looks soft and pretty in her photo and i think it works really well in terms of attracting the audience. Its a bold, statement photo.
Beyonce also does the same thing on her album cover. She is wearing very little make-up, with no clothing and showing the natural her. I think this works really well as the album is called 'I am Sasha Fierce'. Her photo therefore relates to the title and also grabs the attention of customers. Its a bold photo, also in black and white which emphasises Beyonce's beauty. I think this would be a good theme to use for our cover. Its simple, yet effective.
After editing and completing our draft weve learnt what works and looks effective and what doesn't. Receiving feedback from Mr Smith and Mr Ford will help us to evaluate our first draft and work out how to improve it. Already i can see what needs improving. Firstly i was very happy with the lip syncing Liv did, however i feel there could have been more emotion put into it! As we are doing a sad song this gives us an option to communicate with the audience. If Liv was to put more emotion into the singing, for example looking away from the camera, and into it again creates tention and will have an effect on the audience. It will make them feel the sad and upset feeling that the character is showing. Also i think we could add more detail into the video. The simple idea that we are using is good, although little things within it, for example the make up could be altered. At the moment we are using very big and bold stage make-up but theres no reasoning behind using that style of make-up. So therefore changing the make-up to a more subtle style would look more effective and relate to the scenery and location etc. Over all, both me and the other girls are very pleased with our first draft, but feel we could improve it to achieve a higher grade.
Today we discussed as a group the improvements we can make when we film the final draft. By watching back our first draft, we have decided between us, and with the opinion of others, that there needs to be more of a narrative to our music video. The reason for this is that it is not evident to why the character is at one point without makeup and the next shot she is wearing full makeup and is crying, wiping the makeup off. There seems to be no apparent link between the different shots and therefore we need more of a story.
As the song is about a relationship between two individuals, we thought it would be a good idea to show the character emotional to mirror the feelings of the character and to link in with the words. We feel we have not given the audience enough of a narrative for them to understand clearly why the character is upset and why she is crying. We considered having flashbacks incorporated into the video to make it more interesting and appealing to watch and to add variety to the simple camera shots we have used. In order to do this we will have to consider whether we want to create flashbacks or do we want another alternative to this to show a development of narrative as the video progresses. As the shots we have used for the without makeup face and the full made up face are simple, we want to make the video slightly more amusing to watch although we do like the simple aspect to it as we think it looks sophisticated.
After a lot of discussion we have also decided that we might not use as much makeup as we have, and may slightly lower the amount we use to make the video more realistic. As we were inspired by Natasha Bedingfield's video of "I Bruise Easily", we have understand the context and realized that although she does have a lot of makeup on which we were inspired by, she is in Japan in the video and is playing the part of a Geisha so therefore it is not seen as unusual for her to dress up in this manner, whereas for us, the makeup can look slightly dramatic for our surroundings.
We have a lot more to discuss before the final draft but by communicating as a group and by asking others for feedback we have a good set of ideas and a lot to work from.
We have now filmed our draft film two times due to the fact that when we first filmed, the frames weren't right. When we put the film onto the mac u could see more of the scene that you could on the camera. This meant door handles and flooring boards etc were in the shot. This made the shot look unproffessional and it didn't live up to expectations. However by filming this and getting it wrong it enabled us to improve and make the second filming easier to set. Although Liv was the cast in the film, she still contributed ideas and her opinion whilst filming. Jordan filmed and I directed. We split it so that we all had our own roles which made it alot easier. The second time round filming, it was a lot easier as we all knew what we were doing and which aspects would achieve which look. E.g the spotlight, the make-up etc. Keeping the storyboard very simple enabled us to concetrate on more detail within the film. For example certain aspects of how actions were done, e.g. eye contact with the audience. Here are some shots of Liv in the current film. Her make-up and hair is slightly different due to changes we made...
Our first draft isn't as good as we expected it to be, however we still have time to improve it which is when we will hopefully make it alot better. When filming we encounted a number of problems. Our first problem was the lighting. We didnt want to use natural light as it wasn't bright enough however using lamps were making the lighting to bright. To over come this we had to find a really small lamp that didn't produce much light. This spotlighted Livs face, and focused the attention on her. Another problem we encounted was when we were filming it was hard to find a plain white background. Using cloths and material were showing too many creases which made the film look tacky. But when we used a plain wall there was too many objects in the way. In the end we had to clear the wall in order to produce a completely plain blackground. This would make Liv stand out more and be the main feature of the video.
