[ANCILLARY PLANNING] - Mock Up Advertisement

Mock Up Advertisement

Synergy: Same font and colours, Same images.

Include: Release date and information of where to purchase/download.

[ANCILLARY PLANNING] - Ancillary Production Pitch

Ancillary Production Pitch

[ANCILLARY PLANNING] - Mock Up of Digipak

Mock Up of Digipak

Inside panel will include a booklet of pictures of the artist

[PRODUCTION] - FINAL VIDEO

Yasmin Ally - High For This

28. Chenny, Nahida, Nicole, Yashima from 283goswell on Vimeo.

[REFLECTION] - Cinema Viewing of Music Video

Cinema Viewing of Music Video

Today, the media students all had the opportunity to watch all our music videos on a big screen at a cinema near by our college. It was great to watch other student's music videos and a photo montage of all our hard work put into them. The work produced was absolutely phenomenal and I was proud of myself and those in my year group. We also had the opportunity to gather some feedback which could come in handy for the evaluation process. 

Unfortunately the footage I gathered of the feedback wasn't great so I plan to get more for evaluation at the latter.

Here's a video of the LIVE reaction to our Music Video and also a few feedback notes. The reaction was amazing and uplifting. *Unfortunately you can't feel the outstanding atmosphere through the video*

[PRODUCTION & PLANNING] Being spontanous

From the first day of filming, we were very spontaneous about our decisions that we made. Even though we create a storyboard, we honestly didn't follow the story board. We only followed our story board on the first and second day of filming. The decisions we made were based on how we felt about the current footage he have so far and how what can we do now that would be efficient and easily accessible. So in this case there were times when for example on the second day of filming, we passed the thames, but on that day we didn't plan to film there but because of the good view and great weather, we all felt that we should film some shots of the location.

For a lot of video there we're a lot of things that we didn't plan but I guess it made our music video better because, at the beginning of the filming stages I personally didn't have a proper vision on how I wanted the music video to be but as we began filming more and more, I began to see how I wanted things to work and so whenever I felt something could be fit into the video I then thought we should try and incorporate it in.

Changed The Background!

Our old background was the default blue skies and clouds which wasn't exactly visually appealing nor relevant to our project as a group. So I thought to switch it up, using the cover art for Ellie Goulding's song High For This  as our new background (found it on google) which is indeed our chosen song and basically what we've been working with as a stimulus for the past few months. The greyscale of the cover art looks quite similar to some shots from our video aswell!  

[ANCILLARY RESEARCH + PLANNING] - My Ideas

My Ideas

So with the Music Video out the way, it is time to work on the Ancillary Products. We have the task to create 3 Ancillary Products - The Exterior and Interior of a digipak and a magazine advert to accompany it. So coming up with a digipak and advert is not the easiest thing in the world, in fact it is rather difficult, especially for a perfectionist like me. I have no clue as to what pictures I may want to use of what fonts will be best and so more research and shortlisting is needed. I know what feel I want to get from these ancillary product so I guess thats better than nothing. It's all a matter of knowing what you want and what you don't want and I am on my way getting there but it looks like I need to get inspiration and speed this process up. This is actually rather unusual, as I am a creative person and I can usually imagine what I want my final piece of work to look like but right now I am blank, with maybe a few specks of dust here and there. 

My first few thoughts when planning the digipak and advert. 

The Music Video has very simplistic theme to it, with the simple clothing and setting and this is what I hope to portray in the digipak and advert to ensure there is synergy through all the products. I also want to carry over the black and white theme with a hint of colour and so this led to me to want to use one of the smoke shots so I could use this repetitive colour separation edit which also has synergy elements with the Music Video.  Now down to researching, and shortlisting, Images & Fonts. 

Colours

Fonts

My initial idea for fonts is to use the maximum 2 instead of 1 as I want to make the artist name stand out as we are attempting to promote a new artist. For the artist name I want to use a signature, handwritten like font to give it a more personal and engaging feel to it, much like Jhene Aiko's debut album. I also like how she used a more standard, bold font and would also like to take inspiration from this idea. 

In order to find fonts that I could use I carried out some research on Font Book and DaFont to find 2 suitable fonts and shortlist them. 

Firstly these are the fonts I found on Font Book, which I think could be used. 

*annotated to show which ones I probably should cut as they don't exactly fit my own specifications*

Although I found some fonts I liked I didn't feel that they were as strong for the advert and digipak as would have wanted them to be. I then moved on to look for more fonts on DaFont.com. While browsing the website I came across some graffiti fonts which I could consider using to achieve the urban aspect of the digipak and advert. 

However I felt this could corrupt the simplistic theme I was hoping to achieve, so decided to scrap that idea. Besides they don't exactly look like they'll be easy on the eye.

Between both Font Book and DaFont I have narrowed down my fonts to the following...

Now it all depends on what suits the final digipak and advert and compliments it as a whole.

Pictures

*Made using Picasa*

Digipak Layout

Advert Design

Most of my inspiration for an advert was from The Weeknd, who is a PBRnB artist and so the simplicity of the Ad gave me ideas as to how I would approach creating my own.

However there were ideas of my own which I also implemented. This was just the base from a layout. Instead of making it an Ad with concert information I wanted to focus more on album release details as a way of promoting and branding our artist. The simple album cover, Artist name and album title at the top and, release details at the bottom. SIMPLE.

Now that I have complied my ideas together, I can now start working on my digipak and playing around with Photoshop elements until I achieve what I hope to. I hope I can closely follow the ideas I have whipped up together, but in the case that I cannot then I'm sure it would be at a high standard and just as effective. Here we go...

[ANCILLARY PLANNING] - Overview on Do's & Don'ts

Overview on 'Do's & Don'ts'

[ANCILLARY RESEARCH] - Digipak Design Activity

Digipak Design Activity

We were set the task to design a digipak using images given to us. 

If there's one thing I learnt from this lesson it would be SAVE along the way or screenshot my progress. 

Analysing Real Media Ancillary Texts

[ANCILLARY RESEARCH] - Analysis of Digipaks & Advertisements

 Analysis of Digipaks & Advertisements

Jhene Aiko - Sail  Out (Debut Album)

Unfortunately I could not find an advert for this album, but I would also imagine it to have the same imagery, the peace like logo and the same fonts.

The Weeknd - Trilogy

Ellie Goulding - Bright Lights

[ANCILLARY RESEARCH] - Introduction to Ancillary Products

Introduction to Ancillary Products

[ANCILLARY RESEARCH] - Previous Student Digipak Analysis

Previous Student Digipak Analysis

[REFLECTION] - Blogging Health Check 2

Blogging Health Check 2 

Reading this note on how my progress is going has been very satisfying and mood lifting. Knowing that I am now working at a grade more suited to my skills makes me very proud. But again I am confident that I can exceed this grade and do much much more. However I am still not motivated in this whole project. I feel that I have not had any fun in creating the music video and that all I have been in stressed and cannot wait for it to be over.

I have successfully taken on board the notes that Mary has given me and have worked accordingly. I have attempted to use a range of ICT technologies to make these blog posts much more enjoyable. I caught up on all the blogs that I was missing as fast as I could and have tried my best to put in as much detail as possible.

However I still feel as though I have gotten slightly behind on progress blog posts about how editing has been going as up until this Blogging Healthcheck Mary has found some gaps so I think a target here is to do the blog posts as soon as possible and not delay with my laziness. 

I have also worked towards my own targets such as that of getting organised and have also recorded how I have organised myself using lists and iPhone Apps. 

So from here on I will:

• Keep a high standard of detail in my Blog posts
• Keep up to date with my posts
• Carry on using different ICT technologies and possible add a post on the strengths and weakness of these applications/softwares as well as a post on research used to find these.
• Stay organised. 

[PRODUCTION] - FINALLY FINISHED MUSIC VIDEO

FINALLY FINISHED MUSIC VIDEO

[PRODUCTION] - Editing

Last Few days of Editing

created using keynote

[PRODUCTION] - Skills Development

Skills Development

One of the new skills I taught myself was the colour separation on the smoke in the clips we used. Here's a video which outlines the steps I took. 

1. Select the clip you want to work with 
2. Go to effects, video filters then Colour Correction, the Colour Corrector 3-Way
3. Then on the video, clip on the colour corrector 3-way Tab
4. At the bottom clip the drop down arrow on Limit effect
5.  Using the Eye Dropper, select the colour in the video which you want to separate i.e the colour of the smoke
6. Invert the selection and take the saturation down. 
7. Untick Sat and Luma
8. Then slide the limit effect colour bar slightly until you have the clip how you want it. 

New Location/Failed Filming Session

[PLANNING] On the hunt for a black studio

On the Hunt for a Black Studio 

After our last lesson on Friday, we submitted our rough cut and received feedback from Louisa. During that lesson me and Nicole went and did more filming for the music video as we needed to shoot some more shot. We initially wanted to find a black room as when we planned the music video we wanted to be in contrast with our white studio room that we had already filmed in. We used a class room in the college which has black curtains, we thought that it would be okay and would work with the footage we already got, but when we when reviewed the footage we could all see that the quality standard was not compared to what we filmed in the white studio. The lighting in classroom was far too yellow and grainy So we took into consideration to try find a black studio, even though it wasn't decided for definite whether we would need a black studio or not because our rough cut wasn't completed at the time. 

So as I took the responsibility to book the white studio room in Bethnal Green, I also took charge and said that I would try and to find a black studio. I again contacted Studio Space again, as they were the only studio I knew at that time which had a black studio. 

I received a reply, so now we just need to review the rough cut again, which can't determine whether we are going to re film or not. 

Costume @ The Studio!

Final Stages!

[PLANNING] Finding New Location

[PLANNING] Studio Location

[PRODUCTION] - Rough Cut Feedback

Rough Cut Feedback

Chenny and I (Nahida) were very stressed with what we had and were not happy with it. We felt as though we needed to reshoot some shots to make them stronger and pull the whole video together. However after the rough cut feedback we feel a little bit less stressed with it all. I think the comments were pretty good and the feedback we could definitely work on. 

Response to Feedback:

• There was a red tint on one clip however that was us experimenting on how we can fix our problem with the out of focus shots. The audience liked this, but we are still unsure on whether we want to add it in as it didn't really help with our out of focus shots. *If we do decide to use it, to make it more often.*
• Strengthen our chorus - so we could have the outside shots with the each smoke shot. 
• Change one of the sofa shots as the leg acts as a barrier
• Change some of the shots at the beginning to work around the focus shots - We've watched through all the footage with Louisa and identified which ones were out of focus and which ones we could use.
• Use the lamppost shots in reverse as well.
• Change the hair flick shot - either slow mo it to fit or have it on a beat
• One of the last Woaah oohh Shots out of sync so fix it up. 

So much to do but I think we can pull it off. 

Evaluation Question 1 [Notes]

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Andrew Goodwin
- Amplification of lyrics; giving visual meaning to the word 'high'
- Yasmin breaks 4th wall
- Seductive behaviour portrays sexual behaviour described in the lyrics of the song 
- Similarities with the work of FKA Twigs and The Weeknd who's music is of the same genre as Yasmin's

Laura Mulvey
- Male Gaze: Revealing clothing, seductive body language, singing to a male counterpart 'trust me boy, you'll wanna get high for this'
- Similar to Beyonce's single ladies 
- Vulnerability portrayed through body language making the boy Yasmin is singing about/to immediately superior 

Carol Vernallis
- Colour separation; coloured smoke and black and white background (editing): similar to Chris Brown's 'Don't think they know' video

[PRODUCTION] - Rough Cut 2

Rough Cut 2

[PRODUCTION] - Editing 4

Editing 4

                                         

Editing 4 - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

[PLANNING] Prop - Smoke Grenade

As said in our pitch, we wanted to incorporate a smoke effects into our music video (inspired by Tove Lo - Not On Drugs) so I began applying some research to find out where and how I could find something which is able to achieve the effect that we wanted. Trying to find something which had this type of effect was really difficult as the none of the members of the group knew where or how to find it. I also assumed that the college wouldn't have anything that could really help up.

I first came across some images on Tumblr showing photography projects which had the same style of smoke effect that I was looking for. From the photos, it showed that the people in the photos were holding a cylinder tube which the smoke comes our from and I slowly found out that they were called smoke grenades. The photos shows that it was safe to be in human contact with the smoke grenades and that it wouldn't harmful if anyone of us were to use the smoke. As you can see from the photos the smoke comes in different colours and comes our very clearly and gives of a very beautiful and euphoric effect which is exactly what we wanted to achieve in out music video.

























I didn't have any clue if there was any store in London which sold these smoke grenades so I began searching, I mostly found online websites like eBay, Amazon and www.airsoftworld.net but I didn't want to risk waiting for delivery to come through especially since we were on a tight schedule with our filming already. I soon came across website www.wolfarmouries.co.uk, the website states that it sold the smoke grenades which were only available to be sold in store, and when looking further into the website I figure out that they were based in Camden, London. This was perfect as I could personally go to Camden and buy the smoke grenades.

So planned a date to go and buy the smoke grenades which I then bought and tried out myself before I let the team used it. I wanted to see how long it would last for and how well the smoke came out on camera but also what colour worked best. When I was trying it out, something I learnt that the people in the shop never told me was that the grenades gave off a very strong smell when it is set off and that it last for 90 seconds which sound very short however when I was shooting I found out that actually it is a very long time in terms of filming and shooting. If used continuously it can definitely make you a little nauseous and also as you have to hold it for the whole 90 seconds, the longer you hold it the hotter it will get but luckily its isn't hot to a point where it's burning you, just still quite hot. Other things are the wired trigger that you pull to release the smoke it very difficult to pull, the wire is very thin and if not pulling it the correct way it can snap which then won't work anymore, this happened to me once when trying our the grenades, I was meant to pull towards me but I ended pulling it away which then caused it to snap. All of those things were the downfall of the smoke grenades but apart from those minor things the smoke grenade overall give off a really cool effect, works and looks great on camera. Here are some text shoots that of when I tried out the smoke grenades.

Being Yasmin Ally

After much reluctance in the beginning stages of the project, I have now become accustomed to playing our artist: Yasmin Ally! 
When we first started filming it was all quite bizarre and I found it hard to get into the role of the artist. In our second filming session in Wapping, I loosened up and found that playing Yasmin Ally was quite fun! I've enjoyed being in charge of the costumes that I wear as Yasmin and have found that social media has been the most supporting platform for Yasmin (some people even think she's real!)

Analysis of Original Video

Ellie Goulding's cover of High For This doesn't have an original video. Ellie is quoted to have said that this is because:

"The beautiful imagery created by the lyrics in the song cant be mimicked by a performance or visual interpretation"

Skills Audit

In the AS year I gained a lot of knowledge about media and the technology involved in different forms of media. I now find that the knowledge I gained in the AS year has changed my perspective on many different things such as television, the music industry etc.

Some of the most significant things I've learnt are:
- Operating the Mac's to their full potential
- Operating the cameras
- Using filming equipment, e.g. fig rig
- Mise en scene, sound, cinematography and editing

Copyright Clearance

As I did not contact any music labels concerning copyright clearance during the summer after AS finished, I decided to email different labels for copyright clearance of our 5 final song choices. This helped with making our final decision for the song we wanted to use.

Re-filming

In a recent editing session we discovered some problems that we was unaware of before.

Whilst looking over some of our footage it had come to our attention that some of the shots were out of focus which wouldn't be such a big problem if these weren't the main shots that hold the whole video together. This is a bit of a  problem as we're nearing the deadline for our finish project but have only discovered this problem this week.

Tomorrow our group will attempt to re-film some of the unfocused shots and maybe 1 or 2 more base tracks in order to give us more options and ideas whilst editing.

Music Videos in AS

Music Videos: Summer, AS

• First ever music video aired on MTV = Buggles: Video Killed the Radio Star
• The basics of base track editing
• Male Gaze
• Laura Mulvey
• Andrew Goodwin's theory

Analysis of Digipak for Ellie Goulding: High for This

[PRODUCTION] - Editing 3

Editing 3 

On Monday (24.11.2014) I only had one lesson in the morning and so that meant I was able to come to the editing suite to get some editing into play. After submitting our first rough cut, there was a lot of feedback from Louisa to work on, so I tired to make changes however felt that I needed to change the sequence completely as I was not happy with it. 

                                         

I spent about 2 hrs putting together a sequence, but I kept the first sequence incase the rest of my group did not agree to it.

One of the highlights of this editing session, I would have to say was the Colour Separation of the shots with the smoke. We decided that we would want these shots Black and White with just the smoke in colour.

Steps For Colour Separation:

1. Select the clip you want to work with 
2. Go to effects, video filters then Colour Correction, the Colour Corrector 3-Way
3. Then on the video, clip on the colour corrector 3-way Tab
4. At the bottom clip the drop down arrow on Limit effect
5.  Using the Eye Dropper, select the colour in the video which you want to separate i.e the colour of the smoke
6. Invert the selection and take the saturation down. 
7. Untick Sat and Luma
8. Then slide the limit effect colour bar slightly until you have the clip how you want it. 

[PLANNING] - Test Shots for Digipak

Test Shots for Digipak

While at the studio (20.11.2014) we thought we'd try to get some shots of Yasmin Ally for the digipak. Here are some samples that we could consider. 

Skills Development

Production in A2

In participating in the production of a music video in A2 I've noticed that the method of production shares similarities and differences with that of the opening of a short film. Where in AS we gained most ideas and inspiration from other films which shared our genre, music videos have required a deeper form of research as we've developed key knowledge around theorists beliefs and thoroughly researched the origins of music videos and their background. In doing such concise research I have developed on different forms of media.

Locations

                                                                                  When selecting locations, we had to be to put a lot of thought into what locations would accommodate our concept and genre. This was similar to AS but was far more difficult because of weather conditions and a shorter span of time. What I've found from filming a music video is that we have adopted a far more pragmatic approach to location choosing; we haven't stuck to our original locations, instead as we've gone out to film we have come across suitable locations to maximise the amount of base tracks we have which could be beneficial to our final project. For example, on day 3 of filming, we visited blackwall to film in a tunnel and ended up filming in a walkway which was far more visually appealing and practical than our original decision.

Creating an Artist 

Creating a music artist has been one of the most significant differences between AS and A2. Where in AS we had no goal to create a significant persona to revolve around our production, producing a music video has required us to consider brand imaging factors. 

Filming
Whereas last year I worked behind the scenes when making the film opening, this year I'm on screen and I am finding it very enjoyable. I am grateful to have the opportunity to work on screen as it has boosted my confidence and also changed my outlook on filming and cinematography. I have also found that its fun to play around with body language, camera angles and costume when filming which something I acknowledged less last year.

Reflection [Motivation & Communication]

As a whole, our group has improved massively as we're finally starting to communicate. This has helped all of get more motivated about the project, although we do still have a lot of hard work to do and need to make sure our blogs stay up to date. Its all finally starting to come together! 

Ellie Goulding's Website & Synergy

[PRODUCTION] - Filming Day 5

Chenny and Nicole carried out filming during this lesson while Nahida worked on the editing. We needed to speed the process up so we would have some sort of rough cut that our teacher can give us feedback.

We all moved back and forth from our filming location and editing suite to help one another out but to also ensure that we were part of all processes on the production. It was productive to the extent that we were able to multitask and get a lot done.

[REFLECTION] - Rough Cut 1 & Theory

Rough Cut 1 & Theory

CAROL VERNALLIS - 

• The video cuts to the beat of the song
• Breaks the rule of continuity
• There's some obvious edits in the second verse where I added a cross fade effect, also added slow motion to the footage with the smoke and at the end of the video.
• There are a lot of jump cuts
• Camera movement in time with the song
• And clear use of a lot of base tracks

ANDREW GOODWIN - 

• Amplification of the lyrics through the use of smoke links to the being 'High' 
• Repetition of clips throughout the video

LAURA MULVEY -

• Achieves the male gaze - female in little clothing 
• Artist portrays herself in a seductive and sexual way
• Dismembering of the female - the beginning shots have focus on her legs. The high angle of artist bring focus on her cleavage. 

[PRODUCTION] - Rough Cut 1

Rough Cut 1 - 21/11/2014

Throughout our blog posts it's pretty clear that we did not get up to a good start. We were falling behind and lacking motivation. However, Nahida worked hard and fast to produce a messy rough cut that attempted to portray what we wanted with the guidance of Chenny and Nicole. This has truly motivated me (Nahida) to work my magic on the editing part of the production to pull together our music video to a very high professional standard. We had Louisa look through what I was able to get together and provide me with feedback which I really could work with and that has been able to give me a clearer vision for the final product as well as require the group to question some aspects of the video. 

Feedback: 

- As the singing started in the video we kept the artist anonymous which is what we wanted to do however there was shots before the 'ohh' where we had shots of the artists face so it was unclear. 

- There isn't a clear structure between the verse and chorus of the song as we had the first verse and chorus with the white room shots and then the second verse with outside shots. We need to come up with a clear structure so we can either:

• Have inside shots for the verse and they were very strong and outside shots for the chorus 
• Have inside shots of the white room for the first verse and the black room for the second verse and then the chorus could be the projection shots that blends the black and white 

THEY ARE BOTH GREAT IDEAS AND SO WE HAVE A DILEMMA.

- About a minute into the video there was a blacked out flash with the sound of the click which did not happen beforehand. - Unfortunately I did not add an edit to it but it just sort of happened but Louisa had told me to add it to the other clicks from before. 

- Louisa also gave another tip. The shots with Nicole near the lamp post worked well and she suggested we also add that specific sequence in reverse. 

We clearly still have a lot of work to do. 

[PRODUCTION] - Editing 2

Editing 2

[PRODUCTION] - Filming Day 4

Filming Day 4 - 20/11/2014

[PRODUCTION] - Day 4 Filming

Day 4 Filming - 20/11/2014

Today we set off to film as much as we good. Before going ahead to set a plan of all the locations we wanted to visit and what shots we want to get done. As Chenny had booked Work Rate Studios for 10-2 we decided it was wise to make that our first location. Also this white room held many of the key shots for our Music Video. We were very successful in using this space wisely and attempted to perfect our shots as much as we can so we don't have to book it out again. With the studio we hired the lights that they provide and well it added professionalism into our shots and just made them look pretty much amazing. We also managed to get our smoke shots with the smoke grenades outside the studio. This gained a lot of attention of passerbys and was so awkward, but we did was we could and again the shots we perfect. 

As we were so in the zone we filmed a lot and actually ran out of space on our memory cards even though they were empty to start with. We were on a roll and considering other filming sessions we were super proud of ourselves. We made our way back to college so we could save our footage onto a hard drive before continuing. 

Our next location was meant to be Greenwich Foot Tunnel, however that was too far and on our way to that location we found another foot tunnel near Blackwall DLR Station which we liked more and thought could be very effective to our video. We filmed a few bass tracks before our memory card kept saying 'insufficient space'. Also our battery was dying. At this moment we had another two locations planned as well which were, The Bubble Wrap Lights near London Bridge and Granary Square in Kings Cross. We were all also very tired and freezing cold. So we thought about whether these locations were necessary or whether we can film them another time. We decided that these shots weren't as key and so could be delayed. So we had departed for the day.

This was the first filming day where all the group members were presents. *Yay* 

I (Nahida) would like to thank each member for their hard work to make this filming day a productive one. We have some really good footage to work with. 

[PLANNING] Communicating With The Group About Filming Schedule and Locations

As said in my reflection post, I said that my group lacked communication between each other so I have made sure to try and changed the way we communicate with each other. 'Whatsapp' is our main way form of communication with each other whilst we're not together. Right now even though I have tried to communicate with everyone more frequently but there is still a strong barrier that is surrounding us.


The gif here shows that I have tried to communicate with the entire group, I have left a long and details message to all of them which explains clearly what what is the plan for our next filming session (thursday 20th). I've made sure to keep everyone updated of times locations and ideas have come up while we haven't seen each other, I've also asked for everyone's best effort and hard work to be put into each meetup we have, as I know that it can be hard and tiresome especially for Nicole as she's the one performing, so I have asked for everyone bare with the the long hours and try to put 100% effort.

I and Nahida in particular have been speaking to each other regularly and separately, this is because I feel that she and I are seeing the project at a more serious level and so because of this I feel as though if  have any problems I am able ask her for a opinions and advice. We usually sort out the schedule together and check before hand with each other first when we have a suggestion to put forward to the team.

Evaluation Q1 (notes)

[REFLECTION] Blogging Health Check 1

After have my first and second progress meeting with the Louisa, the progress showed that I'm currently working below my achieving grade. These grade honestly show that I haven't put much effort and dedicated myself to the project but also the team. After the serious chat with Louisa, it's motivated me to show my try potential as a media student and make sure that I get the highest grade possible for this project. I want to show that I and my group can produce a great piece of work worthy of our hard work and efforts. 

Reasons why I or my group has show lack of progress in our work. 

- One of the main reasons my team has show lack of work is because the lack of motivation we all have, we then feed of this lack of motivation is then fed off each other creating a bad aura within the group. 

- The other reason is that I left everything to the last minute when given any assignments to or blogging task to do. Saying that I'm going to do it on this  particular day but really never actually do any of it because I felt that I could be done simply and easily resulting me in delaying it until before the deadlines. 

- Our group also show a lack of communication, at first even though we eventually got each other's numbers we wouldn't completely contact each other frequently to try and discuss or plan the project. This was really difficult as it now shown in the amount of work we have produce so far. 

- For a while we we're all too nice and considerate of each other. No one was stern and straightforward with their opinions, making a clear point and sticking to it we were very 'whatever floats your boat' kind of way. Which is also why I think out storyboards where so complicated to organise and figure out. 

So now that I have been able to see what my weakness are, I now have to address those weaknesses. 

- I'm going to try and organise myself efficiently so that I'm able to keep track of what is going on in our group and record it in the blog.

- I'm also going to try and keep communicating with my group, keep their motivation spirit up. 

- Voice my opinions in a clear sense and make sure that we can all agree on something and stick to it. 

Response To Cause For Concern

In my one to one with Louisa, we discussed my lack of consistent and up to standard blog posts due to my de-motivation and juggling college work as well as employment. We discussed my targets and how I can achieve them without overwhelming myself with the workload. 

Cause for Concern Details: 
Nicole has fallen very behind with her coursework blog. The work she is producing is inconsistent in the level of detail, standard and frequency and subsequently, I am very concerned that Nicole will not achieve a mark that reflects her ability in the subject.

In my one to one, Louisa addressed the issue of my inconsistent and low standard work recently. This is partly caused by a lack motivation among my group in general which delayed our filming/production stages and left us behind on our work. Similarly, losing my phone and my laptop breaking during the entire half term meant that my group members could not contact me which delayed our production and with work taking up most of my time, I had no time to go to the library to keep up with blogging. Since then, I have started to slowly catch up on both production and blogging.

Targets for improvement:
Achieve a blog count of at least 60 by the review date
To complete all the missing planning posts and the synergy activity from the research stage
to upload and develop posts for the current production phase to show evidence of filming and editing

To improve frequency of posting to the blog - at least 3 times per week

[PRODUCTION] - Filming Day 3

Filming Day 3 - 18/11/2014

Today was the 3rd session held for filming. The plan was to work on projection shots and get more in as we liked the ones we got last time but thought we would need more. 

Unfortunately I was not part of this filming day due to other commitments (I had my driving test - & I passed *Insert celebration emoji*) however I took it upon myself to catch up with the group so I would know where to go from this point in our production. 

Looking at the message above it is clear that it was not successful and we really need to up our game. I keep saying we need to up our game, and I am giving 100% into this, but I don't feel this with all members of the group. We are highly lacking motivation and it's starting to bring my confidence in doing well down. 

Our next filming session is planned for Thursday and so there is so much work to get done. I'm working on a plan for the day to ensure we use our time and the equipment productively. We have so much to do in such little time, we can't be laid back anymore. 

[PLANNING] Downloading Blogger App

So I have now downloaded Blogger iPhone App onto my phone which means I can create post whilst on the go. This will become a more accessible and efficient way to keep the blog updated.

As part of trying to making my blog more frequent and consistent, this would be a very useful way for me to make quick and easy blog post while on the go or during a group filming session. It ensures that I won't forget anything as I can directly create a post whilst at the locations. 

[PRODUCTION] Filming Day 3 - Unsuccessful

Unfortunately, filming on day 3 was a complete failure. I arrived late to the lesson and when I arrived Nicole and Yashima was already filming the projection shots that we had planned to filmed. I arrived about half an hour late, and during this time I expected Yashima and Nicole to have some kind of footage filmed but disappointingly they hadn't filmed much. Something on that day didn't seem to work out which made the progression of our filming progress on a really slow paste. 

We tried to be experimental with when filming this time, and so Nicole asked her male friend to come and shoot some scenes for us. As the song has a strong connotations of intimacy we thought that by shooting some shots with Yasmin being intimate with a male figure would bring a new sense of feeling into the music video. Disappointingly, they both found it hard to film as they both couldn't break the awkwardness which resulted in very ammature type of acting and a lot of time being wasted.

[RESEARCH] - Recent Video Releases

Recent Video Releases

[REFLECTION] - Organisation 2

Organisation 2

I decided that keeping notes of the things I have to do is useful and ensures that I get them done instead of forgetting about them. Also makes sure that I am up to date with all the blogs I have to post. Last time I created a handwritten list of the things I have to do. This time I downloaded an App onto my iPhone called, abcNotes. I layered post it notes on a colourful background (so it's not dull obviously and actually has my attention) and on each note I had a different blog post that I have to upload, alongside little notes to refer to when posting to ensure I include as much detail as possible. I then made this the wallpaper on the lock screen of my phone this way I am easily reminded everytime I pick up my phone which is basically 24/7. I found this to be effective and shall carry on this process with blogs to post each week. *The gif below shows the main steps I took while using this app*

Another way I have decided to organise myself is by downloading the blogger app onto my phone. This way I have faster access and can blog on the go, so  I can save notes onto a draft post while I'm making journeys to and from place and then later when I have access to a laptop I can expand on these notes and display them using different technologies.

Thus I am on top of every task and not falling behind, ensuring the highest marks possible.

[PLANNING] - Black Room Location

Black Room Location

Since the beginning of the project we had this idea of cross cutting between a black room and a white. We searched for such rooms everywhere and it was hard. Nicole suggested that we use the college drama studio for a black room and I was able to use a white wall from my house. We were able to book the drama studio on 6th November 2014, however as the main performer had other priorities, we had to reschedule. I've tried to remind everyone that we need to re-book, however I think I was unsuccessful as we don't yet have a date which we will be able to used it.  Later we were successfully able find a better white studio (Work Rate Studios - Bethnal Green http://www.workratestudio.com/ ) thanks to Chenny. *Details to be found on her posts about the location*

I then remembered that I have a black drama studio and can also black out the main hall at my old school (Mulberry School For Girls) and so thought I'd give it a shot in contacting my teacher and asking for permission to use the location. 

Unfortunately, they were not able to accommodate us and so we are back to looking for a black room. However as we don't have much time left to film, we may have to scrap this idea.