FMP - Development - Stay Focus Original

After sitting here for the past 11 hours I'm starting to feel a little worse for ware, however there is the prospect that I might have produced the final edit for the original Stay Focus track. This can not confirmed yet though as the directors have not seen it and we are still without the final scene due to cast being unavailable. Ok so it's not quite final but it's close enough to allow me to begin grading the scenes first thing tomorrow, in an attempt to help the transition from one scene to another more pleasing on the eye.

With a week to go it's going to be another close one but I'm confident this can be pulled off. Baring in mind I do still need to do the video to my remix, create an animated logo for D-Fusion and write both the essay and evaluation, looks like I'm going to have many a sleepless night over this next week.

FMP - Development - Portable Hard Drive Size is Slowing me Down

I got the above hard drive over 2 years ago and had never considered using all the space on it, 150GB seemed more than enough given that the hard drive in my old desktop computer I was working on up until only a month had a mere 120GB of storage. 

I know have 1.5TB of storage on my home computer so running out of space shouldn't be a problem for a while. However my portable hard drive is beginning to cause problems in the production of both the Stay Focus music videos and the D-Fusion promo, these combined projects total in excess of 200GB (so I hope the tutors don't want all the development work on disc because they'll end up with about 40 DVD's).

The amount of raw footage we have takes majority of this memory, unfortunately this has resulted in me to keep changing the files on my hard when edited one or the other project. This is made more time consuming due to the fact that I can't just edit one project at a time, as these projects are for clients they need  give feedback on my editing progress.

FMP - Development, Colour Range and Colour Spill

This technique is very useful means when extracting the background of your green screen footage. As you can see the subject is clearly not dressed appropriately for being film in front of green screen, although the yellow isn't quite as bad as the line of green he has on his t-shirt, Keylight (1.2) struggles to make a clear distinction between green and yellow. To add to the bad choice of colours for this kind of shoot comes the fact that this was filmed not on green screen but on a sheet of green paper the lighting wasn't great either, with light reflecting of some parts with clear shadows on others not, exactly ideal.

With time running out it would be difficult to shoot this again, by using colour range instead of Keylight, it is possible to remove only the shades of green needed. This gives a much more controlled process of extracting a background. 

The process of colour spilling is useful for blending a new background in behind your subject. Unfortunately to do this you need to export your footage as a png sequence, remember to select the Alpha channel as well as the RGB, as this will be used sort of like a mask.

Next find a background you wish to use, I've got a colourful image from a google search for this example. Make a duplicate of the background and bring this to the top of the layered timeline, then apply set matte from the effects panel. Select the drop-done menu entitled, "Take matte from layer." setting this to your subject. Finally adding a fast blur helps soften the edges of the subject helping them blend with the background better. 

I have uploaded a few seconds clip of this below so you can get an idea of how well it has worked given the circumstances. Their is still a bit of green on a few frames and a piece at the bottom right corner that is there throughout the clip, however this could easily be masked out or given further colour range usage, as a test this has done the job as it's convinced me there is no need to re shoot.  

FMP - Development - Stay Focus Remix

As stated in the FMP proposal, I planned to make a remix for the track that Kiran and I are producing the music video for. I have also suggested producing a music video for this, as there is plenty of unused footage the content is available to do this. The track I have produced here is similar to the other work Stay Focus have done, the genre is a cross between Grime and Downtempo, the bassline is most defiantly Grime but the tempo is far slower than normal. With a BPM count of 97.5 it was difficult to develop a track that would compliment the vocals. The main problem I encountered is the chorus coming in on the last beat of the previous 16 bars, sung in an offbeat style, this didn't work with anything I produced so I made this and changed the chorus to make it on beat. This made it difficult to work with Gareths rap because it meant I had to cut the last beat of his 32 bar vocal. By adding rewind effects I managed to get around this by making it sound like it was meant to be produced this way making it sound like it had been mixed on decks. I have already had a good few compliments on this track with a few people saying its better than the original, however that is only a matter of opinion governed by taste in music. The influence is taken from the dubstep and drum & bass I used to mix although a much slower tempo than I'm used to, I guess this is the reason I chose to use an excessive amount of beats in each bar.

Sorry about the screenshots, they don't really show how I have produced this track. I started how you would go about making a track which involves laying the beat down first, however the next step was a little controversial. As I had to fit lyrics to this I decided to make sure the worked with the beat first, I tried a number of different styles from dub to garage and motown to trip hop. In the end I came up with this, I think the only way it could be described is downtempo drum & bass, if you like. The bass had already been planned out in my head, I knew I wanted a eccentuated raspy bassline that over powers everything else in the track, this has become popular on dancefloors throughout Europe in the past few years. When I dropped this in it seemed to work a treat with the beat and Gareths lyrics, however for Faadil's lyrics I had to break the song down and use a low frequency bass otherwise it sounded shockingly bad. I use a range of samples and Apple loops for the jingly bits, the apple loops I use were midi meaning I could change the notes to fit the rest of the tune. Unforuately blogger won't let me upload this tune so I'm afraid you will have to wait until I have done the video for it. 

FMP - Development - Home setup not quite up to scratch

Ok so I've finally got a copy of final cut working at home, however the colleges version is newer so I'm unable to open any projects made at their. To be honest shouldn't complain at though I do now have a computer to work on at home with a similar spec than the ones we access to at college.

Unfortunately the same can not be said about my screens, I have a 19 inch 800x600 pixel screen and 32 inch HD Ready with possibly colour definition ever 4000:1, this coupled with the fact that the horizontal lines shake when in 1920x1080 mode makes my TFT Monitor generally rather crap for editing.   

FMP - Reasearch - C.A.G - These Streets

From the first edit it has become clear that we need to replace the 

studio shots because the continuity is lost when the video cuts to 

the footage filmed in the infinity curve. We have figured that we are 

going to replace some of this footage with shots of Gareth handing 

out his CD on the streets, whilst the rest of footage will involve the

artists singing in different locations. I suggested getting a shot of 

the Leeds skyline in the background. Fortunately Zaadil knows the 

owner of the Leeds Media Centre in Chapeltown and was able to get 

us access to the roof. It overlooks the old high rise buildings from 

North East Leeds.I was shown this music video by Gareth because 

this location has already been used in this video below however this 

was filmed at night and ours won't be so we should manage to get 

away with it. Now it's just a case of waiting for the weather to clear up.

FMP - Techniques and processes - De-interlace Footage

I was forwarded this post by Faadil after I expressed concerns about using interlaced footag, I wanted the video to have an authentic film look to it, he suggested the technique could be just what I need to achieve this.

Firstly when your shooting, try to get hold of a film lens adapter system which fits on the end of the camera. I use a Letus Extreme, which is cheap and does the job well, it allows you to put on Manual SLR lens' from old school cameras, so immediately you get a more anamorphic view, i think you can hire them for around 40 pounds a day - well worth it.

Once you've finished your film, the first thing you want to do before compressing and burning to dvd or export to the net is to de-interlace the image. So in Final cut;

1. put your in and out points on your timeline sequence using the 'i - o' keyboard shortcuts - this selects the bit of the clip you want to export.
2. once highlighted, go to 'file' - 'export' - 'quicktime movie' - give it a name, make sure the box entitled 'make movie self contained' is left un-ticked, give it a destination and click ok.
3. once your film has finished exporting, make a new sequence in final cut.
4. reimport the clip into the sequence, twice, make sure both clips are in sync.
5. delete one of the audio tracks from one of the clips you imported.
6. so you should be looking at two identical video clips, one on top of each other in video channel 1 and 2, while audio just fills audio track 1 and 2.
7. in the effects window click on the 'video filters' tab, then 'video' tab, then click and drag the 'de-interlace' effect onto both video clips.
8. double click the top clip and in the viewer window select 'filter' tab, make sure field dominance on the top clip is set to 'upper' (i think that should be default).
9. double click the bottom clip and in the viewer window select 'filter' tab, and set the field dominance to 'lower'.
10. highlight your film in the timeline sequence using the 'i - o' keyboard shortcuts and export anyway you like.

Now your clips are de-interlaced but will need rendering, depending on the project this may take some time.

Now i havnt mentioned colour correction. before you de-interlace i always drag on the 'colour corrector 3 - way' video filter onto each clip and fiddle around with the settings untill the blacks are really crushed, while increasing the yellow tint in the image - this is really essential to do, but down to personal taste so just practice with it.

The final stage is to use adobe after effects. There's constantly new 'film look' filters coming out on the market, most you can download for free but they require researching online, have you used the 'creative cow' forum? most of the filters are simply variations on 'de-interlacing' and 'flicker control'. I won't go into the nitty gritty of using after effects but try searching for the 'magic bullet' effect on google, this should open the door to other such 'after effects' film filters.

FMP - Development - Captured Footage - Beginning First edit

I've spent from just gone nine in the morning right through to six in the evening merely just capturing footage, after this I began editing it from the start, this edit will purely be a means of sorting the useable footage from the not so usable, aiming to narrow it done to around and hours worth of footage in the first edit.

To be honest I am regretting not editing as I went through this project however it was difficult to motivate myself to do this after a stressful shoot. I still have over a month to get this completed and from past experience editing isn't much of a time consuming process in comparison to compositing. However, this is set to be a mammoth task, by setting a maximum of an hours worth of footage from nine hours I feel is a good place to start. 

My concern is that if I was shooting a two hour long feature length film I would probably have around this amount of footage, but trying to edit 9 hours of raw footage down to a 3 minute music video is going to be rather difficult.

I think the only reason we have ended up with so much footage is because the scene weren't properly planned out, this result in "on-the-fly," which is a nightmare to edit especially when the finished piece is meant to have clear narrative.

FMP - Shoot day 5 - Infinity Curve and Green Screen

The final schedueled shoot day had finally arrived, at first I thought things were going to run how they had done for the rest of the shoot, I arrived at college before 8.30AM because we were schedueled to start filming at 9.00AM. I was disappointed to find Kiran not there until around 9.30AM, although I couldn't start setting up until 9.00AM because I wasn't able to get the equipment of Matt before hand.

After this things went really well to be honest, everybody was in high spirits because it was a Friday with the added bonus of being the last time we had to film. We got a lot of good footage today, including photo's of the group in the infinty curve that I am going to make a CD cover with for the single release. I am a little apprehensive about how the footage shot in the infinity curve and in front of green screen will fit into rest of the video as it could lose all continuity. I will begin editing from Monday so I should have a better idea of how it is going to work some time next week.

Shoot Day 4 - D-Fusion

What a nightmare, today didn't go much better than the first days shoot. Luck was not on our side in the slightest, because as we arrived the van driver backed into a low hanging roof. I set up the all the track and equipment on my own, so much for being the just editor and assistant camera man. To make matters worse only about 15 people turned up for the shoot, so making it look like Stay Focus had a following was very difficult. On top of all of these issues Kiran did her signature directors move on calling it a wrap before we had all the footage, brilliant. 

I have a theory as to why my flyers have had no effect on getting people to turn up for the shoots. The other day when I was loading the kit into the back of Gareths car I noticed all the first load of flyers I had produce scattered in Gareths boot, I don't see why I bother sometimes.

FMP - Research - LGX - LGX Music Video

This is an example of the genre of music I am producing this Stay Focus remix in. It's not brilliant but it's an idea of what I can do with this green screen footage.

Case Study - Light Engine Films - How a music video production company works

1. Make a plan

First we would ask you to send us the track you want to make the vid for, also a brief synopsis of any ideas, storyboards, themes or concepts that you may have - don't worry if you've not thought about any of this as we can help you come up with the right idea for your track and your budget. The next stage is to either arrange a meet up or, depending on your location, have a chat over the phone about things such as locations and what your final budget will be.

2. Decide your budget

We're not trying to teach you how to suck eggs here, but your budget is one of the first things to decide as it dictates what is going to be possible in your video - there is no such thing as a one quote fits all price structure. Although we pride ourselves on being able to produce expensive looking videos for a fraction of what they can cost elsewhere, certain things will add to your production costs. For instance a heavily story boarded video will cost more than a simple performance vid especially if multiple locations are to be used (see our price structure page for details of packages we offer). One of the best ways to get something atmospheric and original on a low budget is to use an interesting location, of which we have many. The bottom line is that as with any kind of production, the higher the budget the better the production value and overall quality of your finished product. Once a budget is agreed we guarantee not to go over that budget, so long as your requirements and the logistics do not alter.

3. Choose a location.

The next thing to consider is the location for the shoot. We have an array of locations that are free to use, that not only look great but will significantly help keep your costs low. We have access to old abandoned churches, factories, farm houses, plane wrecks, old clock towers, power stations, railways and abandoned lunatic asylums as well as areas of stunning natural beauty.

You can see a selection of locations here.

4. Deposit

Once all the logistics have been discussed and finalised, we arrange a date for the shoot. At this point we ask for a 50% deposit of our agreed fee to confirm the shoot date.

5. The Shoot

The most important thing about the shoot for us, is that everyone enjoys themselves. People tend to be at their most creative when there's a good vibe in the air.

6. Editing

After the shoot we put together a rough edit with a time-code and preview it to you via Youtube so you can give feedback and have a creative input to the editing process. This process continues over several more edits until you're happy with the final cut.

>7. Masters

At this point we ask for the remainder of our payment, once this is received we release the master on DVCAM tape, data disc and DVD (other formats such as digibeta are available at extra cost). We can also help you with file conversion for Internet streaming via sites such as YouTube etc.

And it's fun!

Yes that's right- you wont need your blood pressure tablets or vallium on hand when you work with us! We believe that a good vibe on set is essential and so far everyone we've worked with has given us very positive feed back about the experience. We work quickly and efficiently on shoots and always strive to maintain energy and enthusiasm in both ourselves and those we work with.

http://www.lightenginefilms.co.uk/how.php

FMP - Shoot day 3 -

Today we shot footage in the lift at college, which will be use just before Gareths studio scene and footage of by the river near Clarence dock.

It went fairly smoothly apart from Kiran refusing to take advice when we were shooting the lift scene, the green door was in the reflection of the lift window, I said to film it from another angle or from the floor above so this wouldn't happen. I got a load of abuse, Gareth and Faadil have both picked up the way Kiran has been speaking to the production team and have congratulated me for not throwing in the towel. If only I could.

FMP - Invite for D-Fusion after party

I Forgot to mention that for the previous dancer recruitment flyer I had to reproduce the Stay Focus Logo because the only one was able to obtain was this small pixelated image found on the internet. This meant tracing the original image using the pen tool in Illustrator. I have applied some simple blending options in this one because I thought it looked better, as this is not how the original is I left the blending options of in the flyer production.

This flyer was designed to get people to turn up to the penultimate scene at D-Fusion. The club is fairly but we need at least thirty people to this scene convincing. As we have not had any feedback from the the dancer recruitment flyer we are dependent on this other wise the club scene won't work very well. We have told the cast members to give these out to friends or family they can vouch for. Each person that get filmed will have to sign a release form as public liability is covered by D-Fusion, means Kiran won't have quite as much paper work to deal with.

FMP - Shoot Day 2 - Studio and Park

I was a little apprehensive about today, however the studio scene went quite smoothly apart from that Kiran asked me if I had all the footage I needed after only two takes, to which I replied no. I explained the shots I still wanted to shoot but Kiran said she didn't want to shoot any more footage in the studio. This was rather annoying as it took nearly an hour to set up that scene, being told to pack away after 5 minutes shooting was very irrating especially when I have expressed concern over the level of content we had filmed.

I understand that we had a scheduele to stick too as closely as possible, however when you are on location waiting for the cast to turn up it can be really frustrating thinking of how that extra half an hour could have been spent at the previous location. I think this can be put down to the fact we were working with kids rather than production management. I'm not happy with this footage in the slightest, it was getting dark and there were loads of random kids there that Kiran agreed could be in the video on the spot. Of course this meant they all needed to get a release form signed by their parents. I know Kiran and Gareth are both keen on this shot going in to the final edit but after seeing how the shoot went this evening I am not so sure.

I took behind the scenes photos at the studio, so you can get an idea of the setup we had, the studio was a fair mess before we started plus with very large windows there was lots of natural light, we didn't this so we had to put large pieces of material over all windows, these are the main reasons setup took so long. I didn't take pictures for the park scene because it's probably illegal.

FMP - Shoot Day 1 - Clarence Dock

Honestly... I don't where to start! Kiran, Jay and I were down at Clarence Dock by just after 10AM, despite the rehearsal at Kiran's on Saturday one of the singers wasn't aware that he was meant to be in the first few scenes, whilst we were waiting a couple of hours longer for the rest of the cast, therefore it was until after two, by

the time we started filming. By the time filming commenced it soon became clear to me that the shots hadn't yet been fully realized, as I already suggested to Kiran weeks before that by a having a clear and detailed storyboard and shot list makes life much easier when it comes to shooting and editing the footage. Unfortunately this advice had not been taken due to Kiran being to busy.

Despite the four hour setback in the morning, the scenes filmed in Clarence Dock ran fairly smoothly in comparison to the scenes shot at my mates flat. It was here that the lack of a detailed storyboard and shotlist became a strain on producing usable footage. First of all I must stress how sorry I am to Olly who's flat we used, this is mainly due to the amount of numbers that turned up. It was previously agreed that there would only be a few of Gareth's mates in this scene, instead at least half a dozen did. Due to the lack of understanding of what I was meant to be shooting and the numbers of people in there, when the lights had been on for a few minutes it soon became very hot and difficult to work in those conditions. Somehow we got through that scene but it was already about 11pm. We then had to rush the bedroom scene with Bianca in, I am a bit concerned as to the footage we got here as well, I don't know what Kiran
managed to get but I'm not too confident we have all the footage we need. I will find out shortly when I get a chance to edit this footage.

I picked up on Kiran saying a few harsh words to Jay, to be honest I didn't hear the whole conversation but from what I heard he was just trying to offer some advice. At the end of the day he's helping out as a favour.

I thought it was fairly unreasonable the way she spoke to him. I have a feeling today could set the scene for things to come, fortunately today was the longest shoot day scheduled so I think I will manage to get through.

I wasn't able to take as many behind the scene shots as I would have like to due to lack of spare available for each location.

A small word to Olly; Sorry Gareth dropped your hamster mate, I hope her leg gets better soon.

FMP - Stay Focus - Dancer Recruitment Flyer

After the original dancers we had arranged months ago announced they were either busy on tour in the states with T2 and Jody Aisha or had other commitments over the finalised shoot dates I decided to draft this flyer up, in an attempt to reel in some last minute dance acts. It's a bit late in the game to be doing this, it should have been sorted by the end of February to be honest but we only need a few more dancers so hopefully this should work. We will print 200 flyer today and get them handed out and posted up.

FMP - More Location Scouting

Kiran Wanted a graphitti wall to use for the background of the car scene, I said that I know of a few locations where we could find some good art work, so i took my camera out to get some samples for her to view. I chose locations on a cul-de-sac and a small back road leading to only a few houses, this means we should be able to get away without having to obtain permission to film there, seen as we don't have to block the road off.

FMP - Research - STAY FOCUS FT WEEKSIE, G-DOUBLE AND M.D - BUMPA PON DAT

This is a good example of the level of production we need to be aiming for 

if not better. Ok so it's obvious this has been produced to a budget, 

however I think the shot composition and the editing works with the 

tune. Some scenes could have been colour corrected or graded to 

give the track more continuity but overall I think the video 

compliments the song well. It was filmed in part by one of the MC's 

on the track Zaadil (speedo.) Not sure who edited it, I'll look into 

and keep you posted.

FMP - Stay Focus - Script Development

Kiran's Script, edited and then expanded on by Haydn Robinson.

Scene 1

Location Ext: Day, Park/Street

Time-scale; 0.00-0.18 Minutes

Contents; Gareth and his mates are larking about, a lone girl approaches the group of lads and begins to flirt with Gareth, there is a clear connection between the two as Gareth makes no effort to refuse her.

Scene 2

Location Ext: Day, Park/Street

Time-scale; 0.19-0.30 Minutes

Contents; Gareth's girlfriend comes into frame in the background and notices her man to close for comfort with another girl. Gareth sees his girlfriend out the corner of his eye, he looks up, his face drop. Girlfriend looks at Gareth in disgust before turning to walk back where she came from, flirting girl reads between the lines, she isn't impressed, pushing Gareth she then makes a hasty exist from the scene. Gareth turns to his mates who are now in hysterics giving each other after just witnessing Gareth go from having two girls to none in a matter of seconds.

Scene 3

Location Int: Archway Studios & The Infinity Curve Studio

Time-scale; 0.31-0.55 Minutes

Contents; Gareth is isolated, all alone in the studio he is trying to write lyrics but with little success, Gareth is having trouble concentrating as his mind is on his ex. Cut with footage of Gareth and Speedo as they MC with dancers in the background, Filmed in front of the green screen in the photographic infinity curve studio.

Scene 4

Location Int: Girl's Bedroom

Time-scale; 0.31-0.55 Minutes

Contents; Gareth's ex girlfriend is sobbing reminiscing in her past with Gareth looking at photo's of the two where they were still happy together. She looks in the mirror wiping tears from her face, she looks lost in her thoughts as she walks of to the window.

Scene 5

Location Int: Gareth's Apartment

Time-scale; 0.55-1.22 Minutes

Contents; Gareth and his makes are drinking and laughing, on the surface things look fine, but it is clear from Gareth's body language that things aren't so good.

Scene 6

Location Ext: Evening, Street

Time-scale; 1.23-1.32 Minutes

Contents; Gareth's Ex and her mates are walking up the street, on the way to a club as they walk either side of the camera, the scene cuts to Gareth walking towards them, he goes to hand his Ex one of his CD's but she pushes past him, one of her mates grabs the CD and slighly puts it in the Ex's bag, as the other two mates walk past Gareth last they look at him flirtatiously.

Scene 7

Location Ext: Evening, Street

Time-scale; 1.33-1.36 Minutes

Contents; Gareth turns in time to see the girls walk around the corner, he stands in an isolated street to represent loneliness. Speedo, Gareth's mate observes all of this, he knows that things aren't right.

Scene 8

Location Int; Classroom or Infinity Curve Studio

Time-scale; 1.37-1.55 Minutes

Contents; Gareth at the front of the class teaching kids to MC. (I'm not so sure about this scene, as it seems of out of context with the rest of the script. I would personally replace this with MC-in' and dancers in front green screen or the infinity curve, to help the whole thing flow better.)

Scene 9

Location Int; Girl's Bedroom

Time-scale; 1.56-2.07 Minutes

Contents; Ex girlfriend finds the CD in her bag as she's getting ready to go out and puts it on. She soon realises it's Gareth and begins to cry.

Scene 10

Location Int; Club D-Fusion

Time-scale; 2.08-2.38 Minutes

Contents; Gareth and his crew are playing to a packed nightclub, Gareth's Ex girlfriend enters and sees him and the crew, she swallows her pride and dances over towards him. Gareth sees his ex coming his way as he tries to hide his smile, she get closer to him as they hold hands they look into each others eyes and smile.

Fin

FMP - More Location Scouting and Legal Cover

Whilst the majority of the locations have been sorted, we are still lacking; The studio location, the Bedroom and the Apartment. I suggested to Kiran that we could use my flat for the scene with Gareth and his mates after the break up and that I could speak to my mate who's got a flat down at Clarence Dock for the ex-girlfriends bedroom scene. The studio shot will have to be organised by Gareth and Kiran however, as wouldn't know where to start. Above is a picture of my lounge to be used as one of the locations.

Unfortunately my public liability cover only goes as far as use with audio work in Clubs/Venues, we are covered at D-Fusion but not for the other scenes. To cover ourselves against any legal claims I suggested the only thing we can do is write disclaimers and make sure every one on shoot signs them. To ease the worries about having no insurance for the kit Kiran has managed to arrange the hire of a private security firm, from one of her many contacts, she offered to pay them £300 for giving their help, however since we don't have a budget I said, "tell them we will design them a logo or make a moving image advert instead because we can't afford to be spending money like that." She did and apparently they are happy with a logo design.

FMP - Location Scouting

Kiran has been working hard, attempting to organise people for this Stay Focus music video. It's not entirely clear to me just how much progress has been made however I do know her and Gareth (the directors and producers) have developed a script. The idea is to involve a bit of narrative, this consists of; Gareth and his girl going through a rough patch, girl sees Gareth flirting with another girl, some confrontation occurs then the lyrics drop in simultaneously with Zaadil singing on the streets. The rapping and singing will be filmed both in the photographic lighting studio at college and on the streets, this will constantly cut in and out of the narrative. The next scenes will be Gareth writing in his studio, whilst his ex-girl is reminiscing on the good times they had together, with flashbacks of them when they were on better terms. At the end of the video Gareth and Zaadil will be doing there thing on stage at a club, Gareth's ex-girl will see him and fall for him again.

We needed to determine the locations that these scenes could be shot at, the lighting studio is sorted and booked for Friday 24th of April. The other locations secured today are; The park, which will be used for the flashback scenes, the scene with the confrontation between Gareth, his ex-girl and the flirt will be shot at Clarence Dock (dates tbc.) The club scene which will be shot at D-Fusion club on New Briggate, scheduled for Tuesday the 21st of April. As we were speaking to the manager of D-Fusion he showed great interest in our work, requesting we do a short promotional video for his club, so we managed to pick up some extra work that will become part of our FMP seen as one music video is not a sufficient amount of work between two people for FMP (information on this can be found on my previous blog post.)






file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Windows/Desktop/FMP%20Evaluation.odt

FMP - Location Scouting Leads to Extra Work

Kiran had previously been in touch with the owner of D-Fusion, however we went to confirm dates and times with him today. After securing this location with Ceaser, (the manager of D-Fusion) showed a real interest in Kiran and I producing a short promotional video for him. As we are currently looking for some extra work for the Final Major Project this is an oppurtunity we can not refuse. This will involve filming the functions at D-Fusion on the odd Friday and Saturday night, I have also offered to do a motion graphics to go at the end of the video promotion. We havn't managed to secure any payment as of yet, howver seen as we are paying £75 for four hours hire of his premises, the aim is to come to some sort of arrangement so we do not have to pay for this.

FMP - Do we ned all that Kit?

Personally I am a bit apprehensive about the need for so many cameras. Whilst Kiran and I will be doing the majority of the filming throughout the shoots, we will have help from Kirans friend who works at ITV. Zaadil (one of the producers) has studied a film course at Bradford college and is prepared to film the shots which he isn't in. Having said that I can't see four cameras being in use at any one time, furthermore as the kit can not be insured it would be more sensible to limit kit down to what is absolutely necessary. I have already told Kiran that I am not prepared to sign out a HDV Camera that I am not in charge of. 

FMP - Shot List - Dates, locations, scenes and required kit

APRIL 13th 2009 MONDAY:

EXT: CLARENCE DOCKS: 4pm – 8pm
Scene 1, 2 & 3
Kit required: 4 CAMERAS
1 TRIPOD
TRACK & DOLLY 

APRIL 14TH 2009 TUESDAY:
EXT CLARENCE DOCK & RED BRIDGE: 4pm – 8 pm
Scene 7, 8 & 9
Kit Required: 4 CAMERAS
1 TRIPOD
TRACK & DOLLY


APRIL 15TH 2009 WEDNESDAY: 4pm – 8pm
INT: DAY STUDIO & KIDS IN PARK
Scene 4 & INRODUCTION
Kit required: 4 CAMERAS
1 TRIPOD
3 TUNGSTUNG LIGHTS
TRACK & DOLLY

APRIL 16TH 2009 THURSDAY: 4pm – 8pm
INT: BEDROOM GIRL
Scene 5 &10
Kit required 4 CAMERAS
1 TRIPOD
3 TUNGSTUNG LIGHTS
TRACK & DOLLY

ARPIL 17TH FRIDAY: 4pm – 8pm
INT G’S LIVING ROOM
Scene: 6
Kit required 4 CAMERAS
1 TRIPOD
2 TUNGSTUNG LIGHTS
TRACK & DOLLY

APRIL 21st TUESDAY: 5PM – 10PM
INT D FUSION CLUB
Scene 12, 13, &14
Kit required 4 CAMERAS
1 TRIPOD
3 TUNGSTUNG LIGHTS
TRACK & DOLLY

APRIL 22ND WEDNESDAY: (7AM – 8.30AM FOR CAR)
INT CAR INTRODUCTION @ WALL IN HYDE PARK WITH JAG
Kit required 3 CAMERAS
1 TRIPOD


APRIL 24TH FRIDAY: 9AM – 4PM
Scene 15 CUT INS
INT STUDIO ART & DESIGN
Scene: GREEN SCREEN FOR MORPH AND G AND CREW DANCERS

Kit required 4 CAMERAS
1 TRIPOD
2 TUNGSTUNG LIGHTS
TRACK & DOLLY

FMP - Synopsis

G & Girlfriend sat on bench in park G is on the phone Girl is distant G is chatting away on phone.

Girlfriend has had enough she gets up and walks away G notices her and rushes after her still on his phone

EST car they are arguing in car she wants to spend more time with him he tries to explain then his phone rings it’s a text she insists on Knowing who it is G has a flash back

Younger G and Younger girlfriend are playing as kids laughing and joking on the same bench whilst other kids are playing in the back ground

Flashes back to car Girlfriend slams door of car and G is frowning thinking if only they could be like they where back when they where younger


Group of men laughing joking around one lone girl is flirting with G.

G’s Girlfriend walking and see’s her fella being rather close to another women. She confronts G.

Girl looks disappointed walks off; G looks gutted its over.

G ISSOLATED head down writing his lyrics he can’t focus and looks at his phone several times longing to call his Ex. Crew in back ground

Girl is sobbing, looking at past photos she looks into the mirror and wipes away her tears, she’s lost in thought walks to the window.

G & Guys are all drinking laughing, like nothing has happened typical male testosterone.

Group of girls including Ex walking through
With shopping bags after retail therapy laughing and joking with other girls They see G walking towards them

G gets close enough to hand the bunch of girls a CD they don’t want it at first but eventual take it, his Ex just blanks him, one o f the girlfriends slips the CD into her handbag without her knowing it.

G looking over the bridge thinking speedo as conscious reveal first time

Ex girlfriend puts CD on, she finds in her bag getting ready to go out dancing in room

G and crew playing to a packed out nightclub

Ex Girlfriend walks into club and see’s G and crew

Girl see’s G and dance’s towards crowd

G see’s Ex Girlfriend and she gets closer to him on stage they hold hands

Written by K. Kaur

FMP - Brief Proposal - Stay Focus Music Video

I first came across this brief back in February when I was in the studio working on my PPD. I overheard Kiran talking with about to visual represent a song they must have played back atleast 10 times. I decided they must be working on music video so I started coversation to see what it was all about. Gareth introduced himself as weeksie, the main voice behind a group called Stay Focus, the tune was well produced and the group well established with music videos already aired on Channel U.

I was interested in getting involved with this project straight away as I my main interest when I started this course was to get a job in the music video industry after graduating. So I offered my skills to Kiran and Gareth suggesting myself to edit and help out with shooting the video if needed. Kiran said she knew a guy called John who worked ITV that would do the editing for her but she was in need of an extra camera man.

This was never intended to be my Final Major Project proposal because to me it was just going to a bit of part time filming, however a few weeks later Kiran asked me if I would like to edit this video. As my role changed to a much more influential part in the finished piece I decided to propose this idea to the three tutors. I got a resounding response, basically saying that's good but not enough work for two people for a Final Major Project. I will keep you posted about more work as it comes my way.

D&ad; Sound editing

To get rid of the white noise and reduce the whistle I needed to reduce the frequencies where this whistle occurs then replacing them with another effects equalizer. I also put a voiceover voice enhancer effect to increase the depth of the sample.

D&ad; Sound editing

I then cut the sample to make the audio fit better and automated it with the volume setting. As the sample got louder and quieter this automating was needed to allow a constant volume. After this I began to edit the music samples in a similar fashion, this time to ensure the music wasn't interfering with the voice over.

D&ad; Sound editing

When I first recieved the narrative sample, I was a little confused as to what I could do to resurect it. It was incredibly quiet with an echo and an extremely high pitch whistle over nearly every 's' word. I started by taking it into soundtrack pro to boost the volume intialy as logic struggled to increase the volume without loosing quality. As the sample had a lot of high end feedback I decided to only increase the low to mid frequencies. This enabled the production of a sound that was editable in logic pro.