DiaryBlog Entry 8: Small Update of Filming

Unfortunately I did not get all the filming that I wanted to get done over the weekend with the bear, YET, it gave me the chance to reflect on how much work I had to do for some of the scenes, these I shall explain.

Basically, for the filming; I ran out of day-light time, by the end of it, most of the shots I had to do by bedroom light as it was too dark for the camera to capture the right expression and detail that I wanted. Yet, it's kind-of turned to my favour, as now when I look at the 3 minute footage that I have; it makes it look a little bit unnatural, and a little bit nerving, which I can link to an accidental stumble across a method of showing expression; without necessarily having to literally act it in the screenplay.

When I talk about the amount of work I have to do for one scene, I mean a lot! By this I could say that I've been a bit too ambitious with some of the screenplay. One scene in particular. By this I'm referring to my early confirmed shot of the rotation sequence with the toy bear in the middle of my room, as it constantly cuts between a current and a past version of my bedroom (reminiscing). I got the current footage, yet it hasn't got everything that I wanted it to have (like the posters I've researched music video screen shots put up around my current room). But now I'm sort of dreading the past footage as it'll take a lot of work to get my room into the right condition (especially with what I've got planned), I can't have much current technology in the shot, as it emphasises the fact as to how alien it all appears to the toy bear.

First difficulty with the shot, which I overcame, was the fact that the bear can't stand upright on it's own. This really frustrated me throughout me trying to film him. So I got some tub-aware which helped in me propping him into a stable position, without it being present in the footage itself. (this I'll take a picture of to upload to blog later).
Second, was the arrangement of the room itself. Although there isn't AS many changes that need to be made to my room for the present shot, it was still time-consuming moving stuff out of the way to get a clear shot, which is why it took up so much of the weekend. Plus, from wasting time doing all this, that's how it lead quickly to it being dark, making it even harder to get the right shot.

The other days were simply too dark for me to even try to attempt taking footage, which is where I lead up to my second outcome of this.

In this time, I instead worked on the shot list, perfecting the times of which I was going to film collections of scenes, that were relevant to others they were put with. I have now split my work into four even sections of filming (some bigger than others) where they focus on availability of different aspects and conditions of the scenes themselves. First would be of the opening scene, which requires a lot of effort (as stated thus far). The second being all the shots that have Bronwen present, and relative scenes close to that (because of available camera man and same shot conditions). Third being the next large half of the video, only comprising of me and the Toy bear, without difficult camera technique. And last would be the scenes leading up to Tommy becoming the new owner of the toy.

So really, I did get a lot of good work done this weekend, yet I've still got a long way to go. It's safe to say that this will probably go over Christmas, but hopefully not much longer after then. In addition there's still a ton of paper-work documentation that I have to complete (now just looking at my checklist :/ )

I shall update my blog promptly of any changes or reflections that I may come across in the near future.

Matt.

DiaryBlog Entry 7: Planning DONE!

Now I have done my timeline analysis, to great detail, and have started to plan for my first real camera shoot this weekend! Last weekend didn't go well as my teacher was away last Thursday and Friday, so I couldn't get the camera off of her.
Initially I thought to then use my own camera, but when the day came, I arranged to meet up with one of my friends, but left it too late to film anything as it was not the right time of day that I wanted for the scene she's in.

But now I've planned to film everything with the bear and me this weekend and then arrange other shootings with the people I need at a later, yet current date!

Right now, I'm starting to get up the paperwork like No-Fee Release forms and other such documents, as-well as trying to convert the timeline analysis into a suitable format to be uploaded onto my blog.

I hope that I don't stumble into anymore problems this week, than what I did the last week...

Matt

DiaryBlog Entry 6: Test Shoot Fail

Unfortunately, my friends little brother Tommy did come round last weekend for what I planned to be a test shoot, but I only got 10 minutes with him, so I didn't test shoot anything.
Yet, I was able to tell him about his role and that I needed to print off the No-Fee release forms before anything major can happen. This will be presented to his mother also.

Now in class, I'm filling in the rest of my timeline (all scenes with Tom, are already complete) and completing the release forms. Next lesson, I shall be helping my fellow student Becka Heasman film her band performance scenes in her video.


I'll Keep you posted on further details.
Matt

DiaryBlog Entry 5: Update of what's happening

So far, I've ticked off a lot of criteria for the first part of my coursework; which is really good! And now I plan to do some film testing this weekend with my friends younger brother on the last scene of the video itself (as this is when he is featured). I still have to complete the "No-Fee Release Forms" which shall basically prevent me from being sued by angry parents :3

I won't need to take one of the school's cameras, as it's only just a test shoot for the scene, which shall help me to understand, and hopefully, perform the scene better when the time actually comes. This will be my first time in testign with actual footage, so I'm not expecting MASSIVE results. But it would be nice to upload this to my blog as a "first attempt" of filming with the prop bear and actors with it :)

I shall update when I get confirmation for the release form from him and his mum (as he's in year 4), which will tick off the paperwork that needs to be made.

Ice Nine Kills

Band Name: Ice Nine Kills

Origin: Boston, Massachusetts

Genres: Metalcore

Years Active: 2000 - Present

Labels: Red Blue, Ferret

Associated Acts: Remember Tomorrow

Website: www.iceninekills.com

  

History:

 The band was formed in its earliest incarnation in 2000 by middle school friends "Spencer Charnas" and "Jeremy Schwartz". They originally pursued a pop-punk, emo, post-hardcore and ska combining style that would eventually further to develop the bands own innovative blend of rock, however the band have moved on since then to become more of an experimental metalcore hybrid. This is because of the influence of band members who have left and joined. Charnas remains the only founding member to still be in the band.

Back in the time of their uprise and major starting development, the band was originally called "Ice Nine", but they changed their name before the release of their first album.
Following the on Novemebr 20th 2007, Ice Nine Kills released their EP, "The Burning" through Red Blue records, where they then set off on a several national tours in support of this. Throughtout this they had opening slots on tours with "Eyes Set to Kill", "I See Stars" and among many others.
Through the fame, garnered in the same year; the band's song "We Ate Gilberts Grapes" was used in the opening and closing credits of the Lionsgate skateboard comedy "Dishdogz" starring Luke Perry, Haylie Duff and Ryan Sheckler. By 2008; the band had been invited to open for well-known acts such as "As I Lay Dying", "A Day to Remember", "Thursday", "Paramore" and a one-off performance at Taste of Chaos 2009.

Charnas was made the only founding member left in the band in mid 2009, as Schwartz decided to leave after struggling with life on the road. Charnas then recruited the former members of the Rochester NY based psot-hardcore band "Remember Tomorrow" which had recently disbanded. And because of this, this is what changed the bands song into more of an experimental metalcore sound; which "Ferret Music" took notice of, and so signed the band in the spring of 2009.

After their appearacne on the "Warped Tour 2009", the band began writing and recording what would be their next record. They released their second album on July 12th 2010, it was produced by a three-man team "James Paul Wisner", "Steve Sopchack" and "Tom Denney".
This received praise from the heavy metal magazine "Revolver" in the 2010 Hottest Chicks in Rock Issue and subsequently; they were invited to attend the Revolver Golden Gods Awards in Los Angeles CA on April 20th 2010.
After this they carried on through the promotion of their album through numerous tours and concerts which lead up to the release of their music video, insipired by the film Inglorious Basterds; for their song "The People Under The Stairs" on June 20th 2011.

On the same day of the music videos release, the band announced their partnership with Outerloop Management who represent numerous bands such as We Came As Romans, Refused and Periphery among others.
Currently (as of November 2012) they are recording their yet to be 3rd album in Marcellus, NY; which will be full-length and will be produced with Steve Sopchak.

Here is a list of their Current and Former Members:

Current Members:

• Spencer Charnas - Lead Vocals (since 2002)
• Justin "JD" deBlieck - Lead Guitar, vocals (since 2009)
• Justin Morrow - rhythm guitar (since 2009)
• Conor Sullivan - drums (since 2009)
• Steve Koch - bass guitar (since 2011)

Former Members:

• Shane Bisnett- bass guitar, vocals (2009–2011)
• Jeremy Schwartz - guitar, vocals (2002–2009)
• Grant Newsted - drums (2003–2008)
• Hobie Boeschenstein - bass guitar (2004–2008)
• Dave Marvuglio - bass guitar (2008–2009)
• Dave "Brittney" Sieling - vocals (2009)
• Joseph Merturi - lead guitar (2008)
• Terrence Donnelly - touring vocalist (2008)
• Andrew Justin Smith - bass, vocals (2002–2003)

Albums are:

Last Chance to Make Amends

(and)

Safe is Just a Shadow

The song that I have chosen from this band, is actually one of their covers that they've even done a music video on:

This is their version of "Someone Like You" by "Adele".

Music Genre and intended audience

As I am using the metalcore band "Ice Nine Kills" did a pop-punk / Easycore version of "Adele's" no.1 single: "Someone Like You".

Despite the song being of a genre like this, it can still aspire to the metalcore and other relate-able genre audiences, as-well as the fans of the band itself.
Others who may like the song: "Someone Like You" by "Adele" may wish to have someone else influence the style of the song, as to deprive it of it's mainstream fame, and present it in a new form, to a whole new audience that may would not of originally conceived the song in this way.

In general, this music I hope to attract the following:

Gender: Male and Female (as the metal genre generalises the video as being more masculine, but with the innocent toy aspect may attract just as much a feminine audience)
Age: 15-19 year old (this will be my own generation as when they watch the video; they shall reminisce over their own past and share the same new experiences that every young adult witnesses before maturing into adulthood.)
Personal Genre Preference of Fans: Metalcore, Metal, Easycore, Pop-Punk, Pop, Punk, Hardcore, etc. (generally going towards more of the metal genres than that of the mainstream ones)
Background: General mix, as everyone is different, but this will largely involve those who are fans of the band itself.

Later I shall post about the band, and their general history and development over the years...

Camera Work Planning 1

The main theme of the video; is the reflection of childhood, and how time has passed. For this, I'd really like to involve the effects of the camera from the Toy Bear's Perspective! This would involve things being brighter than what they are, even if the scene is of a negative matter, as the bear still wants everything to be positive and fun, like back when I was a child. This perspective will be heightened if there are any flash back scenes within the video (especially of the room changing between times, etc.).
For this the brightness setting will be adjusted to a higher intake of light, and I may involve more contrast upon the image itself. For the alteration of flash-back scenes, I'd create a blurrier focus (to make it seem dreamy - flashback etc.) by turning off auto focus and using the camera manually. And the contrast shall be made more extreme within the scene.

There will be other posts after this one, where I shall further the detail of my ideas!