music video production diary

Production Log

25th February- I have an idea of what i want to do for my music video. This idea is taking a number of girls to the beach, Redcar, and filming them having fun.

29th February- I have decided that my music video will be to the imagine dragons song 'On top of the world'. I definitely want to do it on the beach, however i now need to find actors for my music video. Before booking out equipment i need to make sure i have everything i need completed before thinking about the filming stage.

Here is a link to the lyrics of my track.

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/imaginedragons/ontopoftheworld.html

The meaning of my song i believe is that they are talking about keeping the people you love close to you. Hence the lines in the first verse of my song. The lyrics of the song talk about mountains and rivers which can link to exploring and having fun. The title of the song is 'on top of the world' meaning the song is an exciting and happy song which is why i want to make my music video with people who are very close to each other and are going to be having fun. The line 'been dreaming of this since a child' makes me think that when they were younger they didn't really have much fun whereas they are now having the best times in their life. This song when i listen to the lyrics, makes me think of summer and fun times which is what i would like my music video to be like. The verses that start with 'And i know its hard' makes me think that he has had downs in his lifetime and he is telling everyone else that you will always get back up from it. The lyrics could also imply that dreams do come true which is again why he says the line 'Been dreaming of this since a child'. The line 'I've been waiting to smile' adds to the fact that something bad had happened and that he has been down a lot but he has got back up and carried on and now hes smiling which hes been waiting for. All of the lyrics talk about being down or something being bad in some way, but then it is like he is giving everyone hope that they will come back from it and they will become happy. I am going to take on board what his lyrics are about and make my music video on the words 'on top of the world'.



When listening to the song it makes me feel happy and reminds me of the summer. It makes me feel this because it is very upbeat and fast paced. When you listen to it you want to sing along. I believe that doing a music video that is fast and fun will work best with this song and its lyrics. I am hoping to have a group of girls that i know will agree to do my video having fun on the beach. This links in the summer feel as it is on the beach and i will have them doing activities that they would normally do when having a day at the beach. 

7th March- I haven't made a script or storyboard for my music video. This is because i don't want my video to look planned. I will have the girls do whatever they want and video them. I want to do this because then it will look more natural than planned. I also believe this will work better for the group of girls as they will also be natural rather than act differently because of the camera being there. I have decided to do my music video on Redcar beach and have decided on some of the equipment i am going to take for them to do activities. Things such as; a Frisbee, enough towels, one for each girl and a ball. I know that at the beginning of the video i want the girls walking on to the beach altogether carrying they're towels etc, just like they would if they were going out for the day. 

Here is a picture of the place i will be filming, and some links to archive footage that i looked at to help me get ideas. 

https://archive.org/details/Beach_1

https://archive.org/details/Beach_6

https://archive.org/details/UndpBeach

My risk assessment will be added separately.

Here is my song. The song is 3 minutes 11 seconds in length, therefore i have to make sure i collect enough clips to fill all of the time. 

I have permission from all five girls. I explained to them all that my music video would be going on either vimeo or YouTube and they said that it would be absolutely fine and didn't have a problem with it. I will receive their signatures to prove that they are happy with it. 


14th March- Today i am going to message all of the girls that i would like to do the music video for me. I will need to ask around to find a Saturday that most if not all of us are free. I need to do this in plenty of time so that people are aware to keep that Saturday free for my filming. 

21st March- I managed to get an answer for the girls. I have around 7 girls helping me out with my assignment. We worked out that Saturday the 30th April was the best day for most f us as we all had that day free. Today i am going to message Sarah and book out some equipment for my filming. I am going to use the Black Magic camera and tripod so that my filming is as good as it can be. 

28th March- I have decided that i would like my music video to be different. I don't want a storyline for my music video still, but i have decided that i would love my video to be natural. Meaning my shots will be different, and not precise. I want it to be like this because i think this would go best with the theme and song for my music video. With it being at the beach and the music being upbeat i think it will be best to have the filming as if it was just a day out at the beach that someone was filming as the day goes by. I will have the girls doing different activities and having fun so that it looks as natural as possible. I am excited to film my music video. I have emailed Sarah and asked her to put my request in the diary to pick up my equipment on Friday 29th for me to film on the Saturday and then i would take it back on the Monday. 

11th April- Today i don't have too much to do as i have to wait until The Saturday to film then i can begin my editing. I decided i would maybe start doing some sketches as a storyboard, however this didn't work out as i did not want to plan what the girls where going to do. I want the filming to be natural and have them acting as if i wasn't there filming them. I want them to be doing there own things or what they would normally do at the beach making my video look fun and enjoyable. The girls i am asking to be in my music video, i know very well. They are used to being in front of crowds and being together as they all do dancing together. I know that they will love to do my video and would love to be on camera. 

25th April- This Friday i will be collecting my equipment for my filming on Saturday.

30th April- I ran into a huge problem today. On Friday i went to collect my equipment for my filming on Saturday. However the technician was not in at that time. That Friday, we were not in lessons as it was our cinefest festival. However once this had finished i completely forgot to go back up to the technicians office and collect my equipment. This was not good as i do not own a good enough camera for filming. Luckily i have my own tripod meaning I was able to use that. My Dad has a Fuji-film camera, so i decided i would use that. It didn't go as bad as i thought it would and the filming was clear, but still natural. I am really happy with the clips i have of the girls on the beach. Another problem was that two of the girls unfortunately couldn't make it on the day therefore i only had five girls. However this worked well and i was very happy with how they done. 

2nd May- Today i uploaded my clips to the computer at college and started my editing. I got quite a lot done today and i am very happy with how it is looking. My favourite parts are the ones when the girls look like they are just having a day out and haven't came just to be filmed. The girls were up fr doing anything i asked them to do and that made it so much easier for me to get a lot of footage for my video. I have used editing techniques such as reverse speed, speeding up clips, flipping them upside down and repeating clips but changing them slightly. One of my favourite clips is when i took the camera off the tripod and give it to one of the girls. I then had all the other girls stood around her in a circle pulling different faces or poses and she span around with the camera held up in the air. I pout this clip to the beginning of the chorus and it works really well.

9th April. Today is the due date for our assignment. I have finished my editing and have created two title pages for my video. However, when i had finished and I was beginning to render my video, a message popped up saying there was an error. I asked my tutor for some help as my proper teacher was off sick today. However he couldn't help me and told my to email my teacher who I have for the lesson  and explain that it wouldn't work an that i needed his help exporting it.