R+P Post 33: Reflections on my role and contribution during research and planning

We all got very involved in the the research and planning stages as a team. This meant I took a role in contributing to all aspects of this stage.

Making Backdrops
Our friend Priya helped us draw out the basic design for D4MES in a very urban, street font which is going to be one of the backdrops for our music video. We then made a stencil of it and spray painted the design onto fabric. I helped to draw out the stencil, spray paint and also paint the outlines of the design using a brush and acrylic paint.

Props
We found a nice pieces of red cloth in the media department which I said would look good as our tablecloths. So we decided to put two different typed of fabrics together to create a classy dinner table scene. I also helped my group to order our spray paint by choosing the best deals and the colours we would use.

Planning outfits
I drew up a table and asked each member what they had in their wardrobes and what they'd like to wear in order to plan everyone's outfits, make-up and hairstyles for the music video.
We also met up at my place and spent a day trying out make-up looks and outfits to see how they worked together in order to be as prepared as we could.

Creating the shoot schedule
This was a long process we divided up between ourselves but eventually got done. It involved working out who was performing in front of which backdrops with which lighting and everyone's timing according to our timetables. Gift finished a lot of the schedule as she was very fast at putting it together but we planned and decided everything as a group.

Planning shots
We all came up with many types of shots and scenes for the music video. This included beauty shots, wide shots and moving shots.

Acting
Acting for the music video was so much fun. Our shoot sessions were full of laughter and excitement. Although lighting was a pain to set-up it was worth it. We had many dance rehearsals to perfect our routine. It was like a workout every time.

Filming
As me and Monica had the same free periods we both actively shot each other's scenes. I'm proud of what we'd achieved during the test shoot despite room for improvement.

Editing the test shoot
Editing was fun as we finally had a chance to see the result of something we put so much effort and time into. It was  fun seeing the effects we could use and best worked with our music video. It also meant we could see if there were shots missing, shots we could have filmed better and also any concepts we didn't like.

R+P Post 32: Test shoot and rough edit

Result of our test shoot and rough edit

Test shoot schedule

Our times (group 3's) are shown in yellow.

TEST SHOOT
Pros

• The test shoot was really fun
• We tried out new ways of shooting shots such as moving shots of us playing around and dancing freestyle.
• Even though all our male actors weren't available Amber took Aaron's place temporarily so all of us were able to practice our scenes with someone.

Cons

• We didn't test shoot everything that we had wanted to. This was due to lack of time management and proper communication between the group.
• Some of our male actors did end up waiting a while with nothing to do. We could have better organised their call times and shoot slots.
• Some shots were not focused which we didn't realise until viewing the shots to edit them. Next time we will make full use of the TV to see how our shots look on a large screen and also check the camera focus every time we shoot. We also plan to view our shots more regularly on the computer during the shoot week in case we need to re shoot anything. An example of an out of focus shot below.

ROUGH EDIT
Pros

• We were very efficient with editing. Everyone contributed time equally.
• We learnt how to speed up shots and used previous knowledge from our prelim to edit in flashes to the beat of the song.
• We made use of fade-ins and outs.

Cons

• It doesn't look as cool and professional as the music videos we've all researched and took inspiration from so we need to work on filming and editing.

R+P Post 31: My call sheet

A call sheet is essential in making sure the shoot day goes well. It keeps the crew and cast organised by giving them something universal to follow. Therefore we made call sheets in order to help us be as efficient as we can be.

Call time: Time at which all crew and cast must arrive and start doing makeup, costume and lighting
On set: Time at which crew and cast need to finish preparations and be ready to shoot on set
Break/Lunch: Periods of rest essential for regaining energy
Tech call: Time needed to prepare lighting and equipment for shooting
Finish filming/tidy up: Time at which shooting needs to be stopped and tidying up started

Overall the call sheet was very helpful in keeping us organised and the shoot days going as smoothly as possible. No one including our male cast was waiting around for long periods of time with nothing to do.

R+P Post 30: My shoot-board

Creating a shoot-board was our next step as we've used them before to keep organised during shoots and they make all the difference. A shoot-board is a document that provides all the information about shots, props, casts and timings. It is used professionally all the time. Below are extracts from our finalised shoot-board.

Where we could, we've added in real life stills from music videos to use as visual reference points. This would help us remember what our ideas meant and looked like so that we could save time when shooting.

R+P Post 29: Rehearsals

We had many dance rehearsals and below is one of our first ever sessions in the studio.

Below is another rehearsal in a media classroom when Gift and Thakshana had a free.

To prepare for our test shoot we rehearsed intensely for one week to perfect our dance routine and get it right with everyone in sync and looking somewhat like professional dancers. It took us a few sessions before we got the right moves and remembered the steps correctly.

This is the rehearsal schedule with group 3's sessions highlighted in yellow (our group).

We sourced a lot of YouTube dance videos to inspire our moves including videos from The Fitness Marshall and Matt Steffanina. The Fitness Marshall is great as he takes you through the steps in a tutorial like method. Matt Steffanina also has separate tutorial videos to the usual dance ones.

1MILLION dance studio is a YouTube channel I personally love to keep up to date with. This video is something that I would like our dance routine to look as good as.

For one of our studio sessions we tested our dance routine in the actual lighting we wanted to use such as the red silhouette scene. This helped us to see what it would look like realistically on screen which made us realise that we needed to make our moves more dynamic and out there so that we don't look like bodies just shuffling around. Being silhouetted meant there was out a lot of detail that was visually left out. You could only see our arms and legs moving as well as hair whips if any. It made the dance more boring.

R+P Post 28: My kit list

TV Screen

MacBook Pro

Floor lamp

Our kit list:

• Canon 5D Mark II camera
• 24mm-105mm Canon Lens
• Tripod
• Dolly
• SD cards
• Spare batteries
• Mac Book Pro
• Studio Sound System
• Lighting Desk
• Cyclorama
• Floor lamps
• Turrent lamps
• TV screen
• Extension cables
• Strobe Lights
• Laser lights

R+P Post 27: Casting

For our girl group we decided to cast ourselves for the following reasons:

• We are in the same media class so that means we can have more time together in terms of our study timetable which will prove useful when doing group work or shooting.
• We have all taken the media prelim which resulted in us all having experience with lip-syncing and performing in front of a camera as well as working the camera.
• We would be able to carry out our ideas the best as we personally came up with them and have the visuals in our head.
• Each of us are passionate and enthusiastic about something whether it's dance, performance or visuals and camerawork so we would work great as a team with each individual being able to make a contribution to the project.

Inspired by Little Mix's Move and Worth It by Fifth Harmony, we wanted to cast four guys so that each girl in the group had a partner who would serve as the love interest in the video.

We contacted various guys a few who rejected the offer as they were busy but we managed to gather together a diverse range of males.

R+P Post 26: Set design, locations and props

We decided to shoot in a studio as this was the most convenient and advantageous option for our group. It would allow us access to lighting and also allow us to access props easily. We can change outfits backstage behind the studio and also switch backdrops quickly.

D4MES graffitti backdrop

Industrial/scaffolding backdrop

Props List:

• Confetti
• Balloons
• Spray paint
• Helmet hat
• Tables
• Chairs
• Table cloth
• Wine Glasses
• Juice (colour of champaign)

R+P Post 25: Costumes, props and make-up

After having a lengthy group discussion about outfits, we created a digital table with visual references to plan our outfits for the music video.

Outfit 1 - Individual style

Outfit 2 - Street urban style jogger themed

Outfit 3 - Classy theme

R+P Post 24: Planning my digipak panels

This is our flatplan for the album cover and inside.

We wanted to incorporate a brick wall (bottom left) which is quite conventional of the street, urban hip hop style music and would complement our outfits well. It would also be a simple backdrop to shoot in front of. It is not hard to find one.

For the back of our album (bottom right) we wanted to keep it simple as half of the space would be dedicated to the list of songs in the cd. So we decided to go with headshots of our group.

Inspired by Neon Jungle's very cool, arty album covers, we wanted to give off a similar vibe. To do so we thought geometric shapes and designs would work well as they're simple and not too over the top (top right).

R+P Post 23: Planning my web pages

After having a group meeting, we researched existing artists' websites to start planning and drawing out what we wanted our own website to look like.

Key conventions of websites:

• Key pages such as Home, Tour, Music, Store
• Purchasing opportunities such as music on iTunes or merchandise such as a t-shirt
• Social Media Links e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
• Interactivity e.g. subscribing to a newsletter

These websites below inspired us to plan our own.

This arty graphic design we thought was very urban, cool and edgy. It was quite attention grabbing and the clean white and grey theme of their website balanced it out.

We decided to draw out a flat plan on paper however this was not very helpful so we decided to digitally create a rough draft to help us visualise the end result.

R+P Post 22: Planning my promo shots

These are a few real album covers we looked at to decide our outfits as well as poses. These three stood out to me.

Then to help me decide specifically what we should wear I created a moodboard of ideas inspired by Rihanna's style.

This lead to us planning three different outfits for our promo shoot:

• A denim look
• A classy look
• An individual look

To check with each other what to bring to our shoots we decided to confirm on our Whatsapp group chat and sent pictures of our outfits to each other.

We also decided to try out makeup ideas at my place. Thakshana is doing my foundation below.

Our denim look will be a street but also casual and cute look where all four girls will be wearing at least one item of denim. Flannel shirts as well as check patterns are also quite popular as well as sneakers and boots. This is one of our end results.

Our classy look will reflect the prestigious side of D4MES and we aim for it to be a cross between black tie and clubbing attire. Below is what we looked like when shooting.

Our last look will be the girls wearing an outfit which portrays their own individual style and reflects their personalities. Monigal's would be tomboyish and casual, Gigi's would be stylish and girly, Shana's would be smart and mature, Angel's would be smart and slightly grunge.

R+P Post 21: My key shots storyboard

We created our key shots storyboard in a timeline format which was really effective.

This is the key for our storyboard showing the different shot types.
We used post-it notes for each of manoeuvre and colour coding. This meant if a shot was wrong we just had to take a post-it note off and redraw and replace it. If we changed the position of a scene in the song we just had to rearrange the post-it notes. So it was easy and convenient to make our storyboard in this way.




Below is a breakdown of our key scenes:
1. Silhouetted
2. Individual
3. Group dance
4. Love shots
5. Dinner scene

R+P Post 20: My music video timeline

After planning scenes and shots for our music video we made a timeline to put our ideas together.
This was useful in the following ways:

• It helped us time our shots and decide how long they should go on for
• After making one we knew how many shots and scenes we needed to create and shoot. Then we could start making further useful documents such as a storyboard and shots list.
• It helped us somewhat visualise the whole music video to see if it flowed nicely.

Here is a one minute extract of our timeline.

Although it was simple it served as a nice basic draft of what our music video would become and included the scene details and shot types. The rest of the timeline followed the same format.

R+P Post 19: My influences and vision for the project

The next step in our project is to create a stealomatic that puts together all our ideas and best conveys the kind of music video we want to create. A stealomatic is basically a visual, moving pitch of our music video. We made one which contains references to roughly ten real music videos we liked to hopefully represent the style and feel of our own.

This is the list of the music videos we took references from.

• F(x) - Red Light
• Beyonce - Naughty Girl
• Little Mix - Move
• Calvin Harris - How Deep Is Your Love
• Fifth Harmony Worth It
• Zara Larsson - Lush Life
• Rihanna - What Now
• Pia Mia - Do It Again
• Neon Jungle - Trouble
• Emeli Sande - Heaven

I think that a stealomatic is a really effective mode of presentation as it highlights the style of direction, content and creative process our music video will embody.

R+P Post 18: Analysis of my track's lyrics and instrumentation

Red planet's lyrics are very sexually orientated but in a way that gives power to girls and doesn't demoralize or objectify them. Rather it portrays us girls as the dominant ones who know what we want from our lovers.

Analysing our lyrics and instrumentation in detail really helped us to come up with visual ideas for the music video and also picture how we should act in scenes with our guys. It helped us pinpoint the main themes of the song which includes love, passion and female empowerment. We also decided that Monica should do the rap verse starting with "Blow me out of this world tonight" as she had the tomboyish style and personality. We thought Thakshana should sing the starting verse as she would be good in conveying the lyrics on screen with her guy. She has the potential to create sexual tension. Me and Gift decided to share the remaining verses according to what we thought would suit us best.

R+P Post 17: My chosen track

Our chosen track is Red Planet by Little Mix:

Red planet was written by Autumn Rowe, Tionne Watkins (also known by her stage name T-Boz), and Jon Levine (from left to right below).

The song was released on 19th of November 2012 as the 10th track on Little Mix's album 'DNA' and produced by Jon Levine (above).

Little Mix is a British girl group who first performed on X Factor, winning the eighth series. They debuted with their DNA album which was released in the United Kingdom via Syco Music. The album was co-written by Little Mix who have stated that they were involved with the development of the album as much as possible. The album is a mix of pop and RnB records with elements of pop rock. Their songs' lyrics promote empowerment and explore relationships as well as heartbreak. Little Mix has become very popular in the US with their albums lead single 'Wings' gaining fame in Canada, Belgium, New Zealand, the US and other countries.

This song is copyrighted so we had to send an email seeking permission to use it for our A-level project. The email is down below.

Here's a list of what I like and dislike about the track we've chosen.

R+P Post 16: My band or artist

Our band D4MES will be a four girl team who are between the ages of 18 and 20. We've grown up in London where we met each other as friends and discovered the same passion for singing and performing.

• Dames - a British title given to a woman with a knight rank. We aren't literally dames but the defnition gives us a classy edge and British identity. By adding the number 4 we've made it more fun and street.
• "We're street but we're prestige street. We're classy but it's 2015, we're fresh-breaking negative stereotypes of these north London streets" (Monigal)
• D4MES - British Pop RnB girl group of four formed in 2015.
• We all grew up in London, went to the same secondary school and became friends after discovering each other's passion for music
• Our look will be urban, street and chic
• We signed signed with Soho Records after a talent scouting manager saw us performing at a gig in North London.

Profiles

Inspirations for our identity and image

Dance on my own - MO

What I liked about MO was their band image and song style. They're very street which is conveyed by their trendy casual but sporty outfits. They are a diverse group and their songs promote female empowerment like Red Planet does. This video is a performance based one so they can be seen dancing but they don't really have a routine they just have fun and look cool doing simple moves.

R+P Post 15: My Record Label

Our record label will be called Soho Records. The name has an urban city street vibe to it which will reflect D4MES identity as singers who grew up in London.

• It is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group (UMG)
• It will be based in Soho, London
• It will have been formed in 2012 so it is fairly new and small with only 12 artists signed to us but who are doing well in the UK charts.
• We seek out young British artists who have the potential to flourish in the mainstream music industry and expand their career. Genres include pop, RnB and EDM
• Although Soho records is still a small company, we like to focus on each artist's success and try to create a friendly, free and relaxed atmosphere which aims to bring out and develop each artist's creativity.
• D4MES, our first ever girl band and latest signing is planning to hit the charts with their debut single Red Planet. We hope that they become very popular with the UK audience and hopefully also with international audiences in the future.

R+P Post 14: My Target Audience

Core target audience

• Girls and young women

We're a girl band so we our music would appeal largely to females especially as we promote female empowerment. There has been a boom of female artists in the last five years who have become very well known and popular. Examples include Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Iggy Izalea, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Adele and girl bands such as Little Mix and Fifth Harmony. These women are known for being strong individuals so I'd like our band to give off the same vibe and create a similar star identity.

Secondary target audience

• Pop and RnB fans

This can be fans of both genders but fans of RnB will be skewed towards the younger generations (10-30) since it was more recently found and developed.

In general, we will be targeting mass audiences with a mainstream approach as our music will be of two of the most popular genres at the moment Pop and RnB. Although our audience may be largely female - they are our core audience as we want to promote female empowerment.