Fx Test

After creating my first draft I decided to test some of the effect premier pro offers. I found the luma lighting effect. It increases the contrast and gives the video a grungy dark feel that goes more with the metal conventions rather than the clean sterile look the theatre lights give. I showed before and after to my classmates and others around college to get some feedback and found nearly all agreed with me that the second had a much better look and feel.

First Draft Of Music Video

This is my first attempt at editing together my footage. I had a few problems with this. I found I didnt have enough shots as I ran out of time of the day of filming and that some of my actors where rather static and looked out of place. Instead of going back to get more footage with my current actors I decided it would be best to leave this as a first draft and then change to better actors and start from scratch.

Review of first filming session

This was a quick video blog I made because I didn't have time to sign into blogger and write out what had happened.
Tthe main points where that my cast returned to my original plan, the shooting schedule changed and the equipment had all been transported and organised. 
The reason for the cast change was because the singer got off work early enough to make it meaning until he arrived we had to work on solo shots and close group shots not containing the singer. This started with the shots of the drummer.
The rest of the shoot was fairly successful with only a few mistakes made here and there with the masks being on and off at the wrong point.
What I have filmed I will now edit to see what is left to do before I arrange another day to re-shoot any shots that are needed.

Band Costume

These are the costumes I eventually settled on for each member of my band on the night. These relate to other band outfits I have seen from bands in the same genre.

Idea Development of Gothic CD Cover

These are the two images I took to start the gothic obscene album cover. I wanted to get the effect of skin peeling away from muscle and decided the best way to do this rather than drawing or doing with makeup would be to use the technology available and do it in photoshop. I overlapped the two images and erased parts of the first to show the second underneath as shown below.

It then came to finding the correct effect to create the effect I wanted. I tried oversharpening the image with the smart sharpen tool and I thought the effect was good but decided on the dark brush strokes tool.

Dark brush strokes edited image

Something still didn't look right and I decided it was the under layer I was using. Without any other science manikins I had to search the internet for a more suitable image and came across this.

I went throught a similar process as before first trying the smart sharpen...

Then the Dark Brush strokes. Deciding again the Dark Brush strokes looked better I added the band name and album name on in a font I found on dafont.com to create this final outcome.



CD Cover Research

For metal bands there seems to be two chioces of ways to go with your album cover.

The first is a gothic detailed cover. Theres alot going on and it usuall contains quite graphic images that show gore and horror or represent death. The text on these covers is usually small not covering much of the cover and is usually dramatic and sharp or violent looking representing the genres violent nature and the violence in the music. The picture on the cover I have chosen as my example had colours that have connotations of death. The pale blue showing the skin colour of the corpse in the centre of the picture and the red representing blood and violence. The lower half of the cover is also covered by stright lines running in random directions this gives a shattered effect almost like glass. Again this has conotations of violence.

The second is a quite simplistic look of a gothic novel cover. There seems to be a set coloyur scheme of deep Navy Blue contrasted by a Light Yellow almost Tan colour. This simple cover is often dominated by the bands logo, name or the albums name.

Updated Cast List

Singer           - Adam Blaza   
      Outfit - Black Jeans Green Jacket, Black Shoes
Drummer          - Mark  Hurton 
      Outfit - Black Band Tee, Baggy Jeans
First Guitarist  - Peter Hurton
      Outfit - Jeans, Black Shirt, Beanie Hat
Bassist          - Dale Hurton 
      Outfit - Jeans, Hoodie
Camera 1         - Aaron Hill

Day Before Filming progress update and Cast Change

My Lead Singer Phil Bainton has had to be called into his work to do overtime on the night of my filming meaning he wont be able to get to the set in time to be in the film. This means I will have to re-arrange my cast and bring in another member to make up for his absance. Ontop of this my second camera worker has a doctors appointment meaning I need to find someone who I think is experianced enoght to work the other camera. On a lighter note I have the outfits for the rest of the cast finished and ready the equipment is to arrive at college tonight to be set up tomorrow afternoon as soon as the theater is free. I have the camera equipment booked out and have made sure the rest of my cast all have travel plans to get here as soon as possible to maximise filming time.

Safety Considerations

I have received a set of rules and restrictions given to drama students working in the theatre. Some of these rules will not apply to me on the day as the rules are designed for dancing and acting rather than a film shoot.

Before every lesson you MUST :

·         Be in correct attire, i.e. Loose fitting clothing, it should be easy for you to move in your clothing. No skin should be showing, example low cut tops, bare stomachs or hips.

·         Correct shoes, either jazz shoes or bare feet in the theatre.

·         Tie long hair back, if it gets in your eyes you could lose balance as well as if an exercise involves physical contact hair could be pulled, which is painful.

·         Check your working space, any wires that are not secure, check for anything that could potentially be obstructive, make sure there is nothing slippery on floor or something you could slip or fall over on.

·         Remove ALL jewellery BEFORE start of lesson, if something was to get caught it could be very dangerous for you and/ or another member of the team. 

·         Be aware of personal space, Yours and other peoples.

Also no food or drink should be brought into the theatre at any time.

This table is a risk assessment I have designed to show my actors on set on the day to make sure everyone is as safe as possible.

Hazards	Who is at risk?	Control Measures	Severity of injury	Chances of injury
Large Equipment	Camera operator	Make sure all large equipment is properly balanced or strapped down to reduce the risk of collapse.	Mildly serious	Mid
Obstructions on set	Actors	Make sure everyone is aware of the set layout to avoid trip hazards in the dark.	Mild	High
Falling lights	Everyone	Make sure the lights are all properly strapped to the scaffolding.	Serious	Low

Band Costume

I have put lots of thought into my band dress. I have looked at the style of the band Atreyu as well as various others such as Billy Talent and Theory Of A Deadman.

These outfits are the basis of the outfits for my band.
Singer - Skinny Jeans, Green Jacket, Black Shoes
Drummer - Black Top, Baggy Jeans
Guitarist 1 - Beanie Hat, Black Top, Jeans
Guitarsist 2 - Red Checked Shirt, Skinny Jeans
Bassist - Gray Hoodie, Baggy Jeans