Third day of filming

We didn't get as much done on the third day of shooting as I would've liked. Our plan this week was to film every day and smash it, and today we did anything but smash it. For starters, this is the only day we've filmed this week, and will probably be the last day we do until next week. Also, when I tried to ask the staff at Morrison's where I could find sparklers, they laughed in my face. So, we may not be able to achieve that shot. We hardly achieved anything tonight because it was simply too cold to work effectively in those conditions. We got about two shots done. They were decent shots, but for a whole week's work that's nowhere near enough.

Shot list

Wide panning angle - Luke gets in car


Close-up - Luke driving


Tracking shot - car


Medium shot - Luke driving car
Tracking shot - street
Tracking shot - street
Side-view medium shot - driver


Close-up - parked car; character in background
Medium shot - Luke screaming
Low-angle wide/long shot - skyline
Long shot - Luke with car and candles
Close-up - Luke crying
Long shot - Luke sitting on beach
Long shot - Luke with girl
Close-up - lantern
Medium shot - girl kisses Luke
Long shot - girl with sparkler
Wide angle long shot - living room
Medium shot - Luke enters
Back on wide angle - living room (shot reverse shot)
Medium shot - hallway
Close-up - Luke crying

Costume design

Our star/hair and makeup artist Luke Jamieson picked out his own wardrobe for the video. It was a very navy palette, fitting in with the themes of darkness coming into light. He wore a navy Bomber jacket over a blue and grey raglan t-shirt with light blue skinny jeans and navy suede shoes.

Second day of filming

We completed our second day of filming today. Today's shots were Luke and Paddy lip-syncing the first lyrics. We didn't get as many shots done as I would like to, but I can hardly talk as I didn't contribute much. I offered some good shot ideas that went unused. Frankly I think the operation would run a lot smoother if Liam and I were co-directors rather than that hack taking full responsibility for directing the video.

20 facts about PEGI

1. PEGI stands for Pan European Game Information.
2. PEGI is a European video game content rating system.
3. It was established to help European consumers make informed decisions on buying computer games with logos on games’ boxes.
4. The PEGI system is now used in more than thirty countries and is based on a code of conduct, a set of rules to which every publisher using the PEGI system is contractually committed.
5. It was developed by the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE) and came into use in April 2003.
6. On 30 July 2012, PEGI became the sole system for age classification of video games in the United Kingdom.
7. As a result of this, games no longer have to be rated separately by the BBFC (although some still are, such as games based on films).
8. PEGI self-regulation is composed by five age categories and eight content descriptors that advise the suitability and content of a game for a certain age range based on the games content.
9. The age rating is not intended to indicate the difficulty of the game or the skill required to play it.
10. PEGI replaced many national age rating systems with a single European system.
11. Products with PEGI ratings are regularly available in countries outside Europe, having been exported for language reasons (e.g. games in French in Canada, or games in Spanish and Portuguese in Latin America).
12. PEGI has 7 categories for rating its games:
    1. 3: Suitable for ages 3 and older. May contain very mild violence in an appropriate context for younger children, but neither bad language nor frightening content is allowed.
    2. 7: Suitable for ages 7 and older. May contain mild or unrealistic violence (e.g. violence in a cartoon context), or elements that can be frightening to younger children.
    3. 12: Suitable for ages 12 and older. May contain violence in either a fantasy context or a sporting action, profanity, mild sexual references or innuendo, or gambling.
    4. 16: Suitable for ages 16 and older. May contain explicit or realistic-looking violence, strong language, sexual references or content, gambling, or encouragement of drug use.
    5. 18: Unsuitable for persons under 18. May contain extreme or graphic violence (including "violence towards defenceless people" and "multiple, motiveless killing"), strong and/or sexually explicit language, strong sexual content, gambling, drug glamorisation, or discrimination.
13. The 8 content descriptors are violence, bad language, fear/horror, sexual content, drugs, gambling, discrimination and online content, which are all factors they judge to decide what their ratings will be.
14. The gambling descriptor is one to particularly note. Video games rated PEGI 12, 16 or 18 may contain content that encourages or teaches gambling. In practice, only a small portion of video games contain gambling elements. If a game would offer the option to gamble for real money, it would be subject to specific gambling legislation in every country where it is released. Currently, none of the video games using the Gambling content descriptor contain gambling for real money.
15. Statistics, based on every game that was rated in 2013: 59% (916) have the Violence content descriptor, 29% (458) have the Online content descriptor, 22% (340) have the Bad Language content descriptor, 10% (159) have the Fear content descriptor, 3.5% (55) have the Sex content descriptor, 1.5% (23) have the Gambling content descriptor, 0.7% (11) have the Drugs content descriptor, 0.0% (0) have the Discrimination content descriptor.
16. To obtain the ratings for any piece of software, the applicant submits the game with other supporting materials and completes a content declaration, all of which is evaluated by an independent administrator called the Netherlands Institute for the Classification of Audiovisual Media (NICAM).
17. It is based on the Dutch Kijkwijzer system as well. Following the evaluation, the applicant will receive a license to use the rating logos.
18. If the applicant disagrees with the rating, they can ask for an explanation or make a complaint to the complaints board. Consumers may also make complaints to this board.
19. Although PEGI was established by an industry body (ISFE) the ratings are given by a body independent of the industry and the whole system is overseen by a number of different Boards and Committees. There is the PEGI Council, composed mainly by national representatives for PEGI, that recommends adjustments to the code in light of social, legal and technological developments.
20. A consumer survey commissioned by ISFE in 2012 demonstrated that the PEGI age rating labels are recognised on average by 51% of respondents in 16 different countries (highest: France – 72%; lowest: Czech Republic – 28%), while 86% of all respondents found them to be clear and 89% percent found them useful.

BBFC (British Board of Film Classification)

Says the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification): "Parents would like to calibrate parental controls to filter out inappropriate music video content for their children and we look forward to working with the Digital Service Providers to incorporate these findings into the way age ratings and BBFC insight is presented on their platforms. Non-UK label artists wanting to submit music videos for an age rating and further digital service providers wishing to display them are also welcome to help broaden the coverage of age ratings for online music video content in the UK."


We recently watched a screening of the 1987 fantasy comedy adventure film The Princess Bride, directed by Rob Reiner and written by William Goldman (adapted from his own novel), starring Cary Elwes (the guy who cuts his foot off at the end of Saw), Mandy Patinkin (Saul from Homeland), and Robin Wright (at different points married to Sean Penn and Forrest Gump).


After the screening, we were treated to a talk from a BBFC film classifier. He fondly recalled watching The Princess Bride in the cinema on its initial release. He enjoyed it just as much now, a testament to its timeless value and Toy Story-like appeal to audiences of all ages. He told us all about how films get given age ratings, based on their levels of bad language, sexual content, and violence. According to their website, the factors the BBFC weigh in on in classifying a film are as follows: "discrimination, drugs, horror, imitable behaviour, language, nudity, sex, sexual violence, theme and violence."


Using The Princess Bride as an example, he told us it was rated PG as it contains some mild gore and inappropriate language to the tune of "son of a bitch," so it could not be rated U, however it is on the whole family-friendly, so it was certified PG. The ratings system was different in the 1980s, as they didn't have the diversity now allowed by U, PG, 12A, 12, 15, 18 and R18, so a PG film could get away with a lot more then than it can now. However, the man explained that The Princess Bride was given a re-evaluation by the BBFC to determine whether or not it needed a higher rating now that 12A is available, but they ultimately decided the original PG rating was still fitting.

First day of filming

We completed our first day of filming today. We've made a good start on the video. At the last second I was replaced by the hair and makeup guy Luke Jamieson as leading man and I was left to hold the lights. To begin with, this disheartened me, but now that I don't have the pressures of performing, it's actually a much better situation to be in. This way I can give our ill-qualified director Liam pointers and ideas for shots that will give the video a depth of symbolism. We had the odd technical setback with lights falling over and malfunctioning and cars driving over our cables and faux pas with timing and an overstocked memory card and the garage door breaking, but overall a successful day of filming (for our group that's the best you can hope for).

Digipaks

Digipaks usually consist of a gatefold (book-style) paperboard or card stock outer binding, inside which are one or more plastic trays attached on the inside, used for holding a CD or DVD disc.

Digipaks are used unanimously now, but were first introduced as a cheaper alternative to jewel cases, and brought into popular use by major record labels who wanted to save money and improve their profits.




Digipak-style packaging is used for both CDs and DVDs, everything from first edition singles to special edition re-releases brought on by popular demand. Its cheapness shows in that it wears easily, but this has not stopped sales and the Digipaks are still commonly used by record companies.

The creatives at labels utilise all of the available space allowed by the plastic, which can encase papers and even booklets containing information about the artist or the album. These are made assuming people take them out and read them, although people rarely have the time to be bothered.

This is based on the information included in old vinyl records, which people read as they were released before the internet when people had time to read the lyrics of the songs and information about the band they were listening to.

Equipment we're using

Since we commenced filming, we have made use of a series of equipment available to us through the school. So far, we have used a Canon Camera DSLR, a tripod, a dolly, and for the first time, a lighting rig, complete with a reflective cover to really make the bulbs "Shine."


We didn't actually use the camera offered to us by the school. Instead, we used Paddy's camera which his older sister gave him upon completing her own Media Studies course with it, as his has a larger lens with a better zoom function that doesn't distort the picture quality during a zoom. It also has a greater resolution than the ones available at school, so it made sense for us to use his instead. DSLR is typically used for taking photographs, but it has a video recording function and it's been working great for us so far. There are numerous other features which we might utilise at some point down the road, such as the ability to reduce the shutter speed. This would increase the light exposed to the shot, and give us Abrams' signature lens flare, so we might use that as a nod to the geek behind The Force Awakens. If we have one concern, it's that the zoom is manually controlled using the lens, rather than an automatic zoom, so it may not be as smooth and become jumpy, though we can find a way to use that to good effect in the vein of the gritty, choppily edited Jason Bourne franchise.




Our tripod was quite basic, with no enhanced features, but it did as required and stabilised the camera during the steadier shots. We can also move the camera with a handle, which depends on the steadiness of the user's hand. This handle can be set tighter or loose for handling, but if the user has shaky hands, the movements aren't going to be smooth.

We used the dolly briefly as a way of increasing the height and manoeuvrability of the tripod. Dollies are very expensive bits of kit, so we couldn't provide our own and had to borrow one from school. The use of the dolly, a platform on wheels, was to help diversify our choice of shots, which it did as it allowed us to do otherwise complicated, smooth tracking shots.




This year has seen the introduction of a new piece of equipment we've never used before, an artificial lighting rig, which allows us to film in the dark and still see the focal point of the shot (in our case Luke's face). So far we've seen huge improvements. The project looks overall much more professional. We had lighting problems in the dark during our previous project last year, as we relied on limited sunlight and the focus of the shot was often missed, causing further complications and a lack of professional appearance to the film. This new project looks a lot better thanks to this lighting rig - as well as this one missing my poor acting skills.

Mood board

I made this mood board to reflect the style and tone we hope to attain in the filming of the music video. Having this mood board on hand will help to keep the style intact without being compromised or the visual style going astray.

No response to email

It's been a few weeks and it's starting to look like this Georgia Smith isn't going to reply to my email, so we're going to go ahead and use the song anyway. We asked. If she didn't want us using it, she should've spoken up. Not my problemo.

Storyboard

As a group we decided to each create our own storyboard and use what we agreed was the best one as the basis for the actual video. I drew mine to incorporate some of the basic elements we had talked about in our preliminary discussions. It revolves around a depressed male driving a car to the coast, all the while singing the emotional song, and ending in wandering into the ocean to kill himself by drowning.

Mine was not chosen as this bleak ending does not suit the hopeful tone of the song. We have instead gone with Luke's, which I contributed to in the later stages. His follows a male who catches his girlfriend cheating on him and drives out to the coast to sing and cry and deal with his emotions.

The new ending is: he's sitting on the beach and he gets over her. He realises, 'Who needs her? She's a cheater. I'm better than her.' It's much better than mine and more well-suited to the song, which is the most important aspect, so we've chosen that one, and we begin filming next week.

Song choice - "Shine" by Years & Years

As much as I rallied for N.W.A's "F**k the Police", which has a powerful social message and would be a hoot to film, the majority vote of the group went to "Shine" by the British electronica group Years & Years. I'm not a huge fan of the song or its artist or its genre, but I suppose it does have a lot of heart and storytelling potential for a music video. It was released on 5 July 2015 by Polydor Records as the album's fifth single and is the third track on the album. "Shine" peaked at number two on the UK singles chart. The song was highly acclaimed by music industry critics who thought its only shortfalling was the slow tempo. For the official (real) video for the song, the band took inspiration from the films E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Poltergeist, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, so I like the idea of creating a video for a song that can pay homage to those Amblin classics.