My Role and Cara's Thoughts on the Process

I was the director of photography and I also directed the introduction scene.
I also worked closely with Cara and kept in touch letting her know what was going on an when.

I also used my own Steadicam on the Project, this helped me improve my skills as a camera operator as well as giving us some nice movement and shots. 

I helped edit the ending of the video and synced up the music with the video. I also added more of the band to the end of the video as we felt it needed a few more quick shots.

I have asked Cara what she thought of the whole production from start to finish and I have noted what she had said.

‘You Were Supposed To Like Me’ Music Video Feedback.

Cara Hammond.

Director:                                               Leon Callard.

Director of Photography:             Ryan Hammond.

Editor:                                                   Luke Hammond.

I was asked by Luke, Ryan and Leon (LRL) to take part in filming a music video using one of my songs in February 2013.

They first asked me to select a song to use as a base for the music video to be filmed. I picked ‘You Were Supposed To Like Me’ as it is energetic, fun and a narrative could easily be created for it.

 I then took part in a series of discussions with LRL. These discussions were used productively in that we spoke about our ideas, aims and opinions.

After I had told them my wishes of making the video fun, quirky and comical, LRL drew up a story board, explaining through drawings what was to roughly happen in each shot.

After being shown the story board it gave me a very good idea of how they wanted the film to be shot and I got very excited to start filming.

As I live in Wrexham and LRL are based in Stafford we thought it would be best to film closer to me (in Wrexham). Therefore I was advised to organise my own actors as they’d be closer to the location. Also because I’d be more comfortable as they’d be people I knew.

I found it very stressful trying to get actors for this film as I had a limited time to do it in. However, I managed to get all actors required.

Filming with LRL was very fun. They made all the actors feel comfortable by being friendly and helpful. LRL were very patient if I and the other actors messed up, and when guiding and explaining to me and the other actors what we were doing in each scene. LRL were very precise in making sure they had more than one take of each shot. My track was played through Leon’s laptop which I lip synced to. LRL also brought back ups of this track if the laptop was unable to play it (this did happen to which we had a recording on a mobile phone). LRL were very understanding about the pressure me and the actors, giving us breaks every hour or so.

I loved the final version of the music video as it reached all the aims that I wanted and that we discussed. LRL work as a great team as they have created a music video that I am very pleased with which I have now decided to use for the promotion of my music.

These are her honest opinions and I couldn't agree more.

http://vimeo.com/63849731

This is a link to the finished video.

The Shoot

We arrived at the park at 10:00 am, and went straight to filming the Wall scene. We decided to change the location of the wall to a bench over looking the lake. we thought this would give a better shot and it gave us more space to use equipment like the Jib. We set the Jib up while we gathered the actors. 

For the narrative scene in the park we would need:

• Cara Hammond- Cara
• Nathan Edwards-Boy
• Dan Thomas-Boys Friend
• Luke Thomas-Boys Friend
• Joe Maddocks-Boys Friend 
• Charlotte Jones-The Other Girl Friend  

Cara helped get us the actors as most of them were her friends and people from her drama club. The original girl was going to be played by Laura, but she couldn't make it so luckily Cara's friend Charlotte was willing to p[lay it. 

We set the Jib Arm up first and loaded the laptop up that would be playing the sound. I brought some mini speakers so the song could be heard on set. This was used to help us synch up and get keep the lyrics and timing correct. 

The first scene we filmed was the moving scene with the Steadicam, this took a while to do as the public and lots of dog walkers kept creeping into the shot. When we had a chance, as I was on Camera and The Director of Photography I filmed behind Cara keeping her in focus by keeping her in the focal distance and having auto focus on. Luke would follow us with the laptop playing the song, while Cara played and sang. Luke signalled Leon as we past a certain point and then the other actors would move into position. 

We went through this scene a few times and on the last one, me and Luke decided i would follow Cara as she goes through Nathan and his friends, follow Cara and as she turns around to face the camera, move backwards and around the friends as Cara is moving me backwards.   This shot looked really nice so we kept it and used it in the final film. Although most of it will be used for the projection shot. 

The other interesting shots that we had planned for the shoot were the moving shot following Cara and Nathan down a path, the whip pan and the circling shot around "The Stone Henge". 

The Jib shot moving down the path worked really well with the Charlotte waving in front.

and the reveal and whip pan also looked good. we chose not to make Nathan and Charlotte kiss as we thought it would be very awkward for them.  

For the Whip pan I waited after Cara had been revealed and then when she nodded I quickly panned it right. Then on the next shot in the park with them on the swings I panned it right till they were centre frame. This took a few attempts to get it right. 

The Stone Henge shot went worked well as I own the Steadicam I am now comfortable with the equipment. The Steadicam proved to be a good piece of equipment to use to keep the movement flowing in the shots. 

After Filming in all the locations:

• The Bench
• Path way
• Oriental Garden
• Stone Henge 
• Park-swings 

We finished filming the narrative at 4:30 pm and then we had to head home and quickly edit the footage we were going to be using later that day as projection shots onto the band and their equipment. 

Luke Edited the two scenes we would be using and colour graded them enhancing the colours and levels making them brighter and more vibrant. I asked him to do this as it would show up better on the wall as it was going to be projected from the projector.

We arrived at the Warehouse at 6:10 pm and would be meeting the Band Vesper at 6:30. We hoped we had enough time to set up the equipment, cameras and lights. We got arrived and had to clear a space in the warehouse which took us back an hour and the band arrived and started setting up their equipment as we did. 

Luke had planned the lighting design similar to the one McFly set up we had liked the look of. 

We set up and started filming at 8:00 pm.

The lights were set up, the projector was set up and I had set up three Canon 550D Cameras. One on a tripod, one on the Jib Arm and our own on the Steadicam. I set them to all the same settings. They all had the same white balance but our one was set to cine-style but both University cameras didn't have it, so we set them to faithful. What we should have done was set all of them to faithful so they would have been easier to edit them in post. Luckily they weren't to bad to colour grade. 

We didn't have a story board for the band scenes, we just had a shot list.

Sweeping shot of band.

Cara move with camera (Sway and follows the camera).

Cara dancing.

Close ups of Base Guitar, Guitar and Drums.

Different angles and lots of movement. 

Glitter on drums and smoke machine. Glitter to be thrown in second chorus and third chorus.

Projection onto band or floor. 

Most of the shots were thought up and filmed on the spot depending on what looked good. The first scene we filmed was the hardest one as it had to be timed perfectly with the projection and the song that was being played for Cara to lip synch, as well as Cara singing at the right pace and time. The camera (Steadicam shot) would track back from the projection on the wall, to the band in one smooth movement, while making sure everything is at the right time.

We had problems with not being able to see the projection on the band or floor as the lights were to bright and the smoke from the smoke machine blocked the image. 

The smoke machine brought out the lights more and turned up the look of the music video. The Steadicam shots worked really well and added more energy and motion to the video. 

The glitter really came out and looked better than we thought, especially as it passed the lights, that was a nice touch. The one scene where glitter burst on to the screen, we did that by getting everyone who wasn't in the shot to throw handfuls of glitter around me, i got covered but it was a really good shot. We performed tracking moves and booming moves using the Jib, these also looked good. 

For the Last scene with Nathan and Cara we threw a white sheet over a wooden box and lit it to create a make shift background, although it wasn't completely white, we would be able to change it in post. 

We finished the shoot at 0:00 am.

The Lyrics Timing Sheet

I listened to the song and noted down the songs start time, the instrumental duration, then the start of of the verse and each line and the end of each line. I noted down the chorus and logged the duration and length of the parts and wrote down the actual lyrics in the song rather than the ones on the lyric/music script because they were slightly different.

This would be useful when it came to filming the scenes, this would help us time the shot and the length of the singing and keep the timing right.

we used this for filming in the park and in the warehouse, it was very useful and helped keep track of what Cara was supposed to sing on what shot and scene. 

The Shooting Schedule

We arrived in Wrexham on the Friday night. We planned the rest of the shoot on the Saturday.

Leon planned a Shooting schedule. 

Time	Length	shot type	equipment	Action	Character	Lines
16:00	60		Camera, Steady cam, Jib	Setting up
17:00	40	Sweeping shot wide	Jib	tracking and sweeping	Band	Chorus 1, Chorus 2, Chorus 3
17:40	10	Cara move with camera	Jib	Sweep	Cara	Chorus 1
17:50	30	Close-up	Steady cam	Pan	Band	Chorus 1, Chorus 2, Chorus 3
18:20	20	Medium close-up	steady cam	Dancing	Cara	Chorus 1, Chorus 2, Chorus 3
18:40	20	Extreme Close-up	Steady cam	band playing	Band	Chorus 1, Chorus 2, Chorus 3
19:00	10	Glitter drum	Tripod/steady cam	Symbols, jump cuts	drummer	before line 23
19:10	20	Various	Various	Projection on band	Band	Chorus 1, Chorus 2, Chorus 3
19:30	10	Cara pulling camera	steady cam	cara pulling camera	Cara	Instrumental
19:40	20	shot 26	steady cam	cara shouting at nathan	Cara & N	2nd coda

This would enable us to keep to the times and let us know what we would be doing for what scene.

Day	Location	Time	Length	Shot	Props	Equipment	Action	Line
6.4.13	Lake	10:30	30			Camera, Steady cam, Jib	Setting up
	Lake	11:00	10	9	Guitar	Camera, Steady cam, Jib	Cara sitting on bench	2
	Lake	11:10	10	10	Guitar	Camera, Steady cam, Jib	Cara jumps off bench starts to follow Nathan	3
	Lake	11:20	10	22	Guitar	Camera, Steady cam, Jib	Cara singing on bench	Coda line 2
	Lake	11:30	10	11	Guitar	Camera, Steady cam, Jib	Behind cara following nathan	3
	Lake	11:40	10	11.5	Guitar	Camera, Steady cam, Jib	Reverse shot	4
	Lake	11:50	10	12	Guitar	Camera, Steady cam, Jib	Nathan meets his friends	4
	Lake	12:00	10	13	Guitar	Camera, Steady cam, Jib	Cara circles them	5
	Path	12:10	20			Camera, Steady cam, Jib	Setting up
	Path	12:30	10	22		Camera, Steady cam, Jib	Cara singing on path	Coda line 3
	Path	12:40	10	14		Camera, Steady cam, Jib	Cara is walking is walking with nathan	12, 13
	Path	12:50	10	15	Guitar	Camera, Steady cam, Jib	Cara stops and looks back	14
	Path	13:00	10	16	Guitar	Camera, Steady cam, Jib	Hug with cara behind them	15
	Path	13:10	10	17	Guitar	Camera, Steady cam, Jib	Cara singing on her own	15, 16
	Swings	13:20	10	18	Guitar	Camera, Steady cam, Jib	Whip pan with cara behind the swings	17,18
	Swings	13:30	10	19	Guitar	Camera, Steady cam, Jib	Cara kicks Nathan off swing	19
	Swings	13:40	10	20		Camera, Steady cam, Jib	Char goes to help him	20
	Swings	13:50	10	22	Guitar	Camera, Steady cam, Jib	Cara singing on swing	Coda line 4
	Stone henge	14:00	30	21	Guitar	Camera, Steady cam, Jib	Cara walking around Nathan and camera going around other direction	Instrum
	All	14:30	60	shots	Guitar	Camera, Steady cam, Jib	extra time to film shots

Rsearch

Music Video 

A music video is a short film or video that accompanies a song or music. Today’s music videos are made mainly as marketing devices that deliberately try to increase and expand the sale of music recordings. Even though music videos originally go back much further, the term music video became more popular in the 1980's when MTV released VH1, the Video based format for their music.

MTV inserts (above)

Performance 

A Music video usually contains either, parts of the performance with artists, singer and band or the whole performance. This can be done either live on stage or on a set. The prodigy's Music video "Omen" is mostly band and stage performance based.

The Prodigy "Omen" (above)

The Big Pink "Dominos" (above)

Narrative

A narrative in a music video acts like a short film, they can either run close to the lyrics or stray to something different, usually stay in between because following the lyrics can sometimes loose the audiences is attention. Nickel Back use a narrative in their music video "Someday". It has a Hollywood horror story feel to it.

Nickel Back "Someday" (above)


The conventions of a music video depend on the genre of music. The style of the video often has to match the style of the song. Generally for a music video to look like a music video they have to include the artist performing, the lyrics of the song influencing what is being shown and the pace has to fit the melody and tune of the music. Some music videos have none of these and have their own codes and conventions. These tend to be made for symbolic purposes where they have hidden or clear meanings behind the surrealistic videos.  




Camera Movement

Natural Transition

Example of natural transitions

A natural transition is a transition that is made using in scene elements to create a transition while shooting, rather than adding a cross fade or wipe in post-production.  

There are a variety of ways to create a natural transition; it’s only the creativity that limits you.

Here are some examples:

·         Film through a doorway and then close it during shooting to create a wipe to black. This can be reversed in post to create an opening wipe.

·         Change the focus until completely out of focus to create a fade out and reverse to create a fade in.

·         If a person moves past or towards the camera until the shot is completely obscured until it goes black.

We will use a natural transition to cross fade from the bedroom scene to the wall scene. This movement will help the video to flow nicely between scenes as well as giving it a feel as if its continuous.

The Whip Pan

Example of Whip Pan 

This is a rapid type of camera movement where the camera pans so quickly in a certain direction that the image blurs the image.  This movement creates a clever effect that can also be used to disguise a cut from one location/scene to another. It keeps the motion of the scene and also can be used in long takes or cuts to keep the continuity.

This movement depends on what lens, settings and camera you use. The distortion and moiré (strobing) will add to the effect.

We will use this camera movement in our music video to keep the pace fast and the style interesting. We want the video to flow from scene to scene and location, rather than having an obvious cut.

The Reveal

This is the closest thing I could find that gives an example of a reveal. They use it for comic effect to reveal T-Pain. 

This is where something hidden is revealed to the audience, that adds to the scene or story and can amplify the meaning of the shot before it. This can be done using camera movement or the subject. For instance, someone is in the foreground fills the frame, when they move they reveal someone standing behind them in the background. This is effective when the second person is revealed.  

 Camera Equipment 

The Steadicam is one of the best and effective methods of camera movement. It helped change history and create some of the best looking moving shots. It helps keep camera movement smooth, stable and can be used where other equipment cannot be. They don't need flat and smooth surfaces to move across and have no restrictions to moving on ground and can travel through tight spaces, upstairs and over rough ground. It enables the film maker to place the camera anywhere and a professional operator can create certain complicated moves more simply.  

The traditional Steadicam consists of a camera mounted onto a central pole with the operators video monitor and battery pack is secured to the bottom. When the Steadicam is positioned correctly the two should counter balance each other making the camera movement stable.  

This equipment will help with the moving scenes as stable, flowing movement in the scenes will add more energy and motion into film. This will help accompany the feel good and up beat song. 

Jib Arm

This allows for high  and low angle shots, the camera pivots on a fixed point and can boom up and down from its ground point. This piece of equipment is good for moving the camera up or down up in the scene and can bring the audience into the level of the subject. The camera is mounted to a plate at one end of the long extending pole, while weights are added to counter balance the camera and longer end of the pole. This pole is then balanced on a pivot and when it is correctly balanced the tow should not move and remain horizontal. 

This equipment can all so give nice Ariel shots and used on wheels it can move freely left, right, up and down. Though the jib arm requires additional planning for shots and extra time setting up and dismantling, it is a good piece of equipment for moving shots and can result in some impressive footage.  

We will use this equipment for the band and music stage scene to get some Ariel and up high shots of the band and Cara. as well this piece of equipment can cover any angle and movement from one stationary point. it can also track in any direction when needed. 

Lighting 

Natural day light 

This is lighting we will be filming with for most of the narrative as we will be shooting on location outside.

 

image above from http://www.cravehandmade.com/true-color-lighting-white-balance/

Indoor, house hold lighting. 

Image above from http://www.cravehandmade.com/true-color-lighting-white-balance/

Both images shot the colour and white balance settings of the different light types. We will most likely be filming using the AWB, Sunny and Cloudy white balance settings.

If we need to film in doors, lights and a reflector will be used to add light to subjects. AS well as an extra effect we were thinking of adding fairy lights in the bed room scene. 

Fairy Light Idea

We are thinking about using fairly lights in the bedroom scene, hanging them up around Cara's curtains and across her bed post. This would add a little colour to the room and give it a little extra style.

Band/Stage Lighting 

This is the sort of style we want the Band/ Stage scene to look like, we want to use a warehouse as the location and place red/blonde heads in a semicircular all at the same level behind the band and Cara during there performance. This shot will require about 6 lights, possibly a smoke machine and good positioning.

We want the light to pass over the band and Cara as the camera moves and catches the light and creates nice lens flares and effects.

Luke wants to be in charge of lighting.