Costume switch of Marcus green because of weather

I have decided to change the costume of Marcus Green due to the poor weather conditions despite the forecast showing that it will be sunny on Thursday and Friday, it will be very cold. I can’t do cold weathers (let alone literally stand it) especially when I am the one that is performing. As a result here below are the costumes that I would like Marcus green to perform in.

Planning

Too Close lyrics

After choosing our final song, I decided to listen to it without its video to see what ideas would come to mind for our group's music video.



I realised the lyrics are about love and the artist moving on from someone, a woman. As a group we came up with the idea that we would show a story of someone in love and then having to leave. However, when telling our teacher this- he gave us useful tips on how to improve our idea and helpful criticism. Doing our idea would require good acting, and if dont wrong- will ruin the whole video. Instead we thought of doing several base tracks focusing on performance and putting extra tracks over the top of the existing ones if we want to add something.

Affects of weather on our video

We know that during our shooting at Columbia Road/Ezra Street, we may be faced with adverse weather conditions. However, I have thought of a way for our group to take advantage of this situation.

Rather than let rain hinder our progress on the video, we will aim to let the weather enhance it. The street we will be using is made with cobbled bricks, like in the photograph above. The reflection of the lights onto the rain on the road will create the same effect, thus portraying the depressing mood of the song.  

Weather check for Thursday and Friday

I have quickly gone on BBC weather to check out the weather forecast for Thursday and Friday and it does look good in terms that it is not raining from 12.0 pm on both days (Friday not raining at all). But in terms of temperature it is very cold so I have decided to change my costume for Marcus green to full black (black attracts heat, hence keeps me warm and focus on the lyrics of the song

Not bad but as we all know the UK has some very unpredictable weather , so it would be useful if we still took and umbrella for the camera.

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Locations

Skills development of planning compared to AS

I think my skills as an individual has improved tremendously compared to my AS planning, here below is a short clip of me talking about the progress of my skills.

Progress so far

This a video of me at home, discussing on my progress from last year and the progress I must make this year.

Marcus Green's Official Facebook Page.

This is Marcus' Official Facebook Page. Through using the page, he will be able to promote his music and advertise anything he wants. Creating a Facebook page for an artists allow them to promote their music as well as making them more known to others and establishing their brand image. For example, Marcus will be able to change his profile picture and Facebook cover to suit him, whether it be an image of him, a concert he performed at or his brand logo.

Filming

Filming on Prezi

Analysis of too close lyrics

We know that the music video that we will be shooting is Alex Claire “too close” I thought that it would be best to look at the lyrics of the song an try and see what type of shots to employ and the scenes to use for the song to an extent that the audience will enjoy it. Clearly the music video is about love and confusion that (us as late teens face), so we have already established that it relates to everyday concepts and the social life of teenagers an adults. 

We expect good acting from the main artist as well as protagonist, because if this is done wrong it may ruin our chances of a good music video. As well as having base track and choruses for the song I also think that it will be best to put the artist’s emotions into vital scenes (love scenes) such as holding with his lover or watching TV together laughing.  Clearly the music video will need a minimum of two characters the artists as well as the artist’s lover (girlfriend or wife) and we should nominate someone in our group who can deliver good acting and lip sinking to the audience.  As a group we came up with the idea that we would show a story of someone in love and then having to leave. Maybe at the end we can have the artists leaving a house and turning back looking at a window were his lover stands alone. I think that this part should defiantly use an over the shoulder shot as this shot helps to establish the position of each person, and get the feel of looking at one person from the other's point of view.

Group 19 first Production

Shooting- Day 1

So today was our first day of filming for Marcus Green- Too Close, at Smithsfields Market. Below are some of the pictures taken during the shooting, uploaded on Photobucket. As you may notice, the focus is mainly on Marcus Green, the artist and lead character. Our video will mostly be of the artist performing (with other images implemented) in order to give him maximum camera time, which will aid to promote this new artist to the audience.

One problem we had encountered during our first day of filming was interruption from the public as people continuously walked in front of the camera. However, we managed to solve this. As shown in the pictures below, I (Shumon) approached a builder at the construction site nearby and asked him politely if we could use some of their cones to stop people walking into our shots. He promptly agreed and this enabled us to film our scenes for the video without any further interruption.


I think our first day of filming generally went well and I am pleased with our group's effort in the practical work so far. We worked very well and efficiently together to film all the shots we had planned. When we returned at college, we decided to look through some of our footage:

  

See you at the next shooting!


 

Island Record's Artists

I decided to take a look at Island Record's website too see what other artists are signed to them. I found that as well as Alex Clare, there are many artists that follow his genre and style with majority being male and wearing more casual clothes than being suited and booted or extravagant and avant grande.

Indie/Alternative section

Singer/Songwriter section

Travelling

We will be traveling to and from our locations and meeting points via London transport, mostly by bus routes. I have thoroughly checked on the Transport for London website, http://www.tfl.gov.uk/ and know that there are currently no planned diversions or problems with all the buses we will be using.

As the Ezra Street location is closest to my house, we have decided we will meet in my area and then make our ways there together. To ensure we do not waste any valuable time, we will arrive and set up at each of the locations nice and early, ready to film. 

We are making sure that each of our group members always has an Oyster card with them, which allows free travel on London buses and discounts on train journeys.

Planning: Locations.

Before we start filming, we had to plan our journey's to and from the locations. We did this so that we'd know exactly where we were going so that we don't waste time.

Production

Feeling before first take

Learning the lyrics and test shot of performer

Learning the lyrics for this song was straight forward in the sense that there were only two verses and the rest were the chorus, hence easy to memorize despite this being one of the worst songs I have heard in my life. However I did find it difficult to gesture and show body language such as dance moves (moonwalk didn't help) because the lyrics are so clean and easy to understand I would have expected it to be straight forward.

Marcus Green's threads for Smithfields market

production week on Prezi

Group vlog

Test shots

Test shot videos

Filming: test shots

Now that we've chosen our song, our artist and made our storyboard- we decided to film a few test shots of Mark (Marcus Green) to see how the shots would play out and if we'd need to change our storyboard in any way.

Here, Shumon was filming close up shots of Mark's face to see if our idea of filming from different lengths for a bastrack would work. He used the tripod for some filming, and others without it.

We used the brick wall to simulate the backgrounds for our chorus'...

..And the local streets to simulate our location for the verses.

Filming close ups of Mark's expression.

Shumon filming Mark walking away from camera, we needed to see how still the take would be in order to see if we'd need any special equipment like a figrig.

When filming this, we knew we may need something to rest the camera on to pull along for a steady shot whilst tracking Mark's feet.

Shumon adjusting the camera.

Shumon.

Mark walking away from camera.

Lyrics

Alex Clare- Too Close

  
You know I'm not one to break promises,
I don't want to hurt you but I need to breathe.
At the end of it all, you're still my best friend,
But there's something inside that I need to release.
Which way is right, which way is wrong,
How do I say that I need to move on?
You know we're heading separate ways.

And it feels like I am just too close to love you,
There's nothing I can really say.
I can't lie no more, I can't hide no more,
Got to be true to myself.
And it feels like I am just too close to love you,
So I'll be on my way.

You've given me more than I can return,
Yet there's oh so much that you deserve.
There's nothing to say, nothing to do.
I've nothing to give,
I must leave without you.
You know we're heading separate ways.

And it feels like I am just too close to love you,
There's nothing I can really say.
I can't lie no more, I can't hide no more,
Got to be true to myself.
And it feels like I am just too close to love you,
So I'll be on my way.

So I'll be on my way .

And it feels like I am just too close to love you,
There's nothing that I can really say.
I can't lie no more, I can't hide no more,
Got to be true to myself.
And it feels like I am just too close to love you,
So I'll be on my way.

So I'll be on my way.
So I'll be on my way.  

There are only 2 verses in the song, even though the song and video is over 4 minutes long. However, the chorus is repeated 3 times and there are also some 'gaps'. The original video deals with this issue through the use of many slow motion edits when appropriate. They also 'fill' in some bits where there are no lyrics (just music) with the powerful imagery of the narrative. Even though our video will be different, we will attempt to portray the meaning of the song in the same way through our narrative, the symbolic mise en scene and the actions of the character, who will be played by our artist.

GoAnimate

Analysis of original song video

As I'm sure you're all aware by now, our group will be recreating Alex Clare's Too Close video. The song starts off with soft beats to which the images are edited; the beats and the images of two kendo performers preparing for battle portray intensity. In our video, we will use the similar method by showing close up and far shots of the artist without properly revealing their face straightaway. This will ensure a slow intense build up which is intended to engage the viewer and keep them anticipating as to who this mystery man may be.

In the original video, there are only two separate locations (and hence, two base tracks) and cross editing is used to show the events in both places. I really admire the powerful image of the two men fighting. As part of the mise en scene, they are dressed identically, the only slight difference being the red and navy/black colours in their attire. These scenes are very crucial in constructing the meaning of the song; I think the two fighters represent the main character's conscience fighting with each other and contemplating whether he should stay or go, as portrayed by lyrics:
Which way is right, which way is wrong,
How do I say that I need to move on?
You know we're heading separate ways.
     
The character is in a complicated situation with his love interest and is wanting to leave her. The main meaning of the phrase 'too close' in the context of this song is that he feels too close to be in love with her, as in, they are too close as friends perhaps and they know each other too well. The original music video builds up a climax through the kendo scenes and eventually one of the fighters lose, which means the main character has made his decision. We are looking to achieve a similar result; the video will build up through Green's increasing pace of walking (and then eventually running) in the base track and the other symbolic images in the video and lead to a climax.   

Overall, the lyrics have very deep meaning and tell a story on their own. We will make our video completely different. Our main base track is a old fashioned cobbled street, which I have specifically selected to suit the needs of our video and to create a moody atmosphere. The two verses of the song will mainly show the performer's journey through this street, with use of different angles and edits such as slow motion.

I have noticed in Alex Clare's original video how during the fast paced choruses (as opposed to the slow verses) there is more action and faster editing. During our chorus, the artist Marcus Green will be performing at lively colourful locations. This will create an emotive contrast against the gloomy and depressing mood of the street.

The artist Alex Clare is represented to be quite intellectual by his look and is well dressed and groomed. Marcus Green will be sporting similar attire to present himself in the same way. Also, Alex Clare is quite distinct due to his beard, this makes him appear sophisticated and goes well with his alternative genre of music . Marcus Green's appearance is also very distinct and stands out because of his Mohawk hairstyle.

As the verses in the song are quite slow, there are images or flashes during the 'gaps' which act as fillers. In the original video, this is achieved through the cross editing between the two scenes. This is something we will implement in our own video by having close up flashes of the couple holding hands.

However, over the course of the video, the hands will slowly drift apart, constructing meaning with the song that he must let go and that the romance is dead. I think the use of slow motion editing will be effective during these images because the music during the gaps is quite slow and will portray the deeper meaning behind the song.


 

     

Our target audience

After having a major group debate on our target audience we have now decided that this music video (Too Close) will be aimed at people who live in the countryside, now in the countryside R and B music is not really that popular mostly all types of rock and souls are often listened to as a result we believe that “Marcus Green Too close” will meet their expectations and taste. We expect many of these people listening to this sort of song to live in areas such as Kent, Durham, Essex, Canterbury and more.

Canterbury will make a very good ideal audience 

Gillingham

Notice how quiet it looks this just reinforces the target audience we were aiming for as o ur target audiences are ones who keep to themselves and don’t let the music influence the way they behave in terms of negative violence etc.

Gender

The gender we chose was women as this song is mostly to do with the ups and downs of a relationship, this appeals to women because they are able to relate to the real life situations or life crises that have happened to them with this song. We can't really see men listening to this but they can although we are targeting this at women.












AGE
The age of the audience is 18 to 25 originally but after allot of negotiations we have decided to extend the age group from 18 to 35 as you are never too old to experience ups and downs during a relationship (nobody’s perfect) . The youngest age is 18 so we would expect to find many university students or people applying for UCAS to be listening to this, the oldest is 35 so we would see these people as being in the prime of their career. As you can see our target audience is very specific.

graduates 

Spare time

The audience we  are aiming for are not only from the above categories but also do a hybrid of things during their spare time such as reading magazines, or as they are from the countryside we expect them to do bike riding or read newspapers from the local shops.

mountain bike riding

Gadgets

Our target audience is are highly sophisticated so they should at least on the following items..

I PAD

Transport 

This genre of rock and soul links to the intended audience because of the location most of the UK British rock songs are not in busy streets its more quiet and peaceful.

Risk assesment

There are many risks of taking the camera from the college and filming outside of the college premises. Here below is a list of things that we thought could pose a threat to the production of the music video.
Risks
     Bad weather may affect camera shots.

2  .       Losing equipment whistle on transport.

3  .       Filming on the roads could lead to accidents.

Solutions

1  .       Make sure you take an umbrella.

2  .       Handle equipment with care with the use of the equipment bags and more.

3  .       Be careful on the road and be aware of vehicles at all times when filming.

On Thursday on 18^th October 2012 we all had to do a risk assessment where we had to go through the basic steps of using digital cameras after we were all assessed individually we then have to sign a contract in order for us to start production. 

overall the camera in my opinion is easy to use 

now I am ready to start production.