Planning: Casting

Casting the right person for our music video is very important as they make the piece more realistic. Casting is also important as we need to have the correct people that will understand our ways of communicating and be able to adapt to any changes in our music video. We will be casting a male and female. The male we will be casting typically needs to be comfortable around all people and be confident around the camera. The female will also need to be camera confident, she will also need to lip sync effectively to our chosen song and be friendly to all. We also want people who don't take everything seriously but can see the importance of filming the video and having it completed up to a high standard.

To gain the correct people we made a application form and asked a selection of males and females to fill it in answering the questions we provided and give details about themselves. After we had received all of the applications we shortlisted it down to 4 people that we thought fitted the description we asked for. We then found out more information about them and went on to write a small summary about their strengths and weaknesses included with pictures of themselves which we have included within this blog post. By completing this it gave allowed us to pick between who will be the best for our video.

  This is a screenshot of our application form

 that we made and gave to individuals.

This is Ellie, Ellie is a friendly individual who is confident around people of all ages and abilities. She is also a singer meaning she has experience of singing in front of large crowds and at times in front of a camera.This is also a bonus as she won't be afraid to sing in front of people when we are filming and she will be able to make the 'lip syncing' realistic. Ellie can be very mature at times and at times relax and be immature. As we will be having two sides of fun and seriousness i think Ellie will be suitable for this as she can make the two personalities realistic. She is usually busy at weekends but will be willing to change some of her plans and is free weekdays after 3pm.


                                                             

This is Sophie, Sophie is very confident and loud around those she is comfortable with for example her friends and family. Sophie is very camera shy and doesn't like having photos or videos being taken of her. She also finds it hard to stay serious this isn't suitable for our video as in parts she will need to look serious and sad. Sophie also has no experience of performing on her own in front of large crowds. She doesn't have a lot of space in the week for us toarrange a filming time with her as she is dedicated to other things such as her job and out of school clubs.

                                                                 

This is Harry, He is a very committed person to anything he  to anything he is involved in .This is a good thing to have as we will need someone to be committed to the filming schedule we have made and won't back out at anytime. Harry is a friendly,confident person around all people and doesn't have    a busy timetable resulting in a possibility of him being free when we are  planning to film our video.

                                                                

 This is Jake he has experience of performance but is extremely shy when he is infront of a camera and looses his self-esteem. This isn't suitable for what we are looking for although he has experience in the industry we are studying confidence is a key factor that we are looking at and he doesn't have this. Jake is committed to his school work and with exams coming up is unable to find a free space.

                                           








Out of the two females we decided to short list we chose Ellie to have the main role. We chose Ellie as she has more experience than Sophie as a performer she will make the video realistic and after we did a lip sync test with her decided that it will be easier to edit as she has this experience. She is also more willing to change her plans to film and to us seems more passionate and enthusiastic about filming our video than Sophie.

Out of the two males we decided to pick Harry due to the fact that he is more confident than Jake and has a less busy schedule therefore we will find it easier to arrange times of filming with him. Harry also has the commitment 'factor' which stood out to us as we need someone to realise how important this is and be committed to filming and not let us down.

We did some practise lip-syncing in the school theatre with Ellie before we cast her so that we knew she was comfortable in front of the camera , could learnt lyrics to songs and could use her facial expressions to tell a story through the song.

Planning: Shot List

	Shot type	Actor	Description
1	ES- REVERSE	Ellie	Ellie will be sat on  a bench (allows viewer to recognise the main cast member) and the film will then go in to reverse
2	CU-REVERSE	N/A	Close up shot of Ellie walking backwards on the stairs
3	TS-REVERSE	Ellie and Harry	The two actors will meet outside the carpark and reverse will stop.
4	CU	N/A	a close up of the stairs where Ellie will be walking up them, the focus of the shot will be of her shoes.
5	ECU	Ellie	Locket necklace that Ellie will be wearing.
6	CU	Ellie	Ellie lip syncing to the song.
7	LS	Ellie	Ellie sat on the bench lip syncing to the song
8	CU, OTS	N/A	Ellie will be holding a polaroid picture of her and harry looking at it.
9	CU	Ellie	close up of Ellie lip syncing to the song
10	LS	Ellie	Ellie sat on the bench lip syncing to the song
11	ECU	N/A	Timetable showing that Ellie's transport is delayed. Amplifies the song.
12	MS	Ellie	Ellie waiting and singing to song
13	ECU	Ellie	Ellie lip syncing to the song
14	TS,CU	Ellie and Harry	Home video of the two looking at each other
15	TS,LS	Ellie and Harry	Home video of the two taking a picture in the mirror
16	LS	Harry and dog	Harry playing with the dog in the park
17	ECU	Ellie	Ellie lip syncing to the song
18	TS	Ellie and Harry	Home video of them making funny faces at the camera
19	CU	Ellie	Ellie lip syncing
20	ECU	N/A	Ellie will be holding a polaroid picture of her and harry looking at it.
21	TS,LS	Ellie and Harry	Both of them holding hands and looking at each other.
22	LS	Ellie	Ellie sat on the bench lip syncing to the song
23	TS	Ellie and Harry	The two actors will meet outside the carpark.
24	CU	N/A	Stairs
25	CU	Ellie	Ellie lip syncing
26	ELS	Ellie	Ellie looking at a wall of polaroid pictures
27	MS	Ellie	Ellie looking outside a window lip syncing to song
28	ECU	N/A	Locket necklace that Ellie will be wearing.
29	CU	Ellie	Ellie lip syncing
30	TS	Ellie and Harry	The two actors will meet outside the carpark.
31	HAS	Ellie and Harry	Home video of the two lying on the floor looking up at the camera
32	TS	Ellie and Harry	Home video of the two looking at each other.
33	TS	Ellie and Harry	The two actors will meet outside the carpark.
34	HAS	Ellie and Harry	Home video of the two looking at each other.
35	LAS, CU	Ellie and Harry	The two actors holding hands
36	ELS	Ellie and Harry	The two actors walking holding hands
37	LAS, Tilt up	Ellie	Ellie walking on a path towards the camera
38	MS, Tilt up	Ellie	Ellie walking on a path towards the camera.
39	ECU, Tilt up	Ellie	Ellie walking towards the camera and lip syncing.

Although we won't fully stick to this shot list i have created it to give us a plan of what shots we need to practice and how we can use variety of shots. To create this shot list i watched our animatic and followed it closely pausing it at each change within the animations and decided on the shot that will best suit the scene and situation.

As you can see we are planning to have 39 shots with some being repeated with the same cast members. Next to each shot and cast member we have included a description so we understand why we have chose to use a certain shot and the meaning behind it. We are also planning on printing this plan out to look at as a reference when we are filming and give to cast members so they can get an understanding of what will be happening. 

Research and Planning Self-Assesment

Research into existing music videos- Within my analysis of existing music videos i have evidence of 4 different analysis's. I have this amount of evidence on my blog as it gave me a understanding of how music videos are constructed and how i could convey the characters in my music video using the  information i found out from completing the work. Although not all are as detailed and proficient as i would like them to be and i need to work in to some to make them more interactive.

Research in to a potential target audience-  My research in to potential target audience is basic as I've only talked about one individual and there is no research evidence in how i came up with the decision of having this target audience. I think my post/ description on a member of my target audience is good but i could make it more interactive by including pictures or a 'fake' survey.

Work on storyboarding-   I think my storyboarding and animatic is good as i have included steps on how we created both but to make it proficient i need to include more screenshots and evidence of us creating the storyboard for example pictures of us drawing on the cards etc. But as it stands i think it is good and allows you to understand what we did to create the storyboard.

Use of digital technology or ICT-  In certain areas i think my blog is strong with the use of ICT as i have used and talked about different websites we have used. My use of digital technology is extremely basic as i have very little evidence of using cameras and editing software therefore i need to work on this.

Communication skills-  In my writing i think i communicate very well as i write at a basic level for all to understand and include other properties such as pictures or links to websites to communicate how I've done something. To start working at a higher level my writing could be more detailed in certain posts so i need to go back and work on this.

Level of care taken in the presentation of work-    Within my presentation on my blog I try to keep it at a professional standard. I do this by having the same font throughout and pictures of videos in line with everything else on my blog (in the middle). I take pride within my presentation in my work and try to make it as interactive as i can but at times i could make it more engaging for the viewer.