Eleventh Filming - Shots in the mirror

To correspond with our story board, it is essential that we get Alice's reaction shots in the bathroom mirror as they take up a lot of our video. Therefore, for our next filming we decided to shoot this. We changed where she took her pills(ensuring that she hesitated more so the audience can see the effect on her).

Firstly, we decided to try different lighting in order to see which was best. We tried using the main lights, the lamp lights and natural lighting too.

As you can see, the natural lighting is the most effective due to the lamps being too bright and the main lights not being very successful. We did not want the clips to be too bright as we wanted the audience to feel hopelessness for Alice. 

It was important that we used a lot of 'Birds eye View' shot to show that Alice is not in control of her emotions. We made sure to use this a lot through the mirror. These first videos are some that we will use early on within our video:

As well as her reaction in the mirror, we wanted to film her body language. Therefore, we have her leaning over the sink to portray frustration and the sense that she has given up. She cannot keep her body up due to her troubles being laid on her. This was filmed in many aspects:

Close up of the hand then worms eye view:

Worms eye view:

The use of worms eye view is very important here. Through most of the video, we film her in a birds eye shot view. This is because we are trying to promote life having power over Alice. However, here, the use of the worms eye shot is to show that Alice has power over the pills she is taking. This is effective as the audience will be able to see that Alice could be in serious danger. (no one else has control over her life but her).

Bird's eye view to the right:

Next, we decided that we wanted to film Alice putting on makeup and then rubbing it off aggressively. We thought this would reflect her unhappiness within herself as no matter what she does, she cannot remain positive about herself. It allows our actress to feel frustration which is hopefully clear to the audience:

Close up:

In the mirror to the right:

In the mirror to the left:

Taking all of her make up off:

As you can see, the video above is from a birds eye view and at a rather sharp camera angle. From my feedback, I realized that this was too much of a sharp shot and therefore, this needed to be re-shooted. These re-shoots are shown below:

Close up:

Close up (2):

In the mirror from the right:

Tenth Filming - The Bathroom Scene

Although some of the shots from our ninth filming appeared rather successful, we decided to re-shoot everything in order to have a better chance of successful editing. 

As well as this, we realized that we had no Evidence of Alice's suicide in our last attempt at filming. Therefore, we decided to use her swallowing pills. 

First, we filmed her coming into the bathroom from various angles: 

The follow shot (we are continuing to use this shot regularly, wanting the audience to experience what Alice is):

Pan shot:

Tracking shot:

Over head shot: (bird's eye view)

Close up:

Close up (2):

We wanted to film the phone ringing on the side of the bath and have Alice ignore it. This would reflect the idea that no one can help her now.

Close up of Phone and Alice's reaction:

Focus on the phone (not ringing):

Focus on the phone (ringing). This video is not able to be used due to our actress laughing:

Mid shot:

Mid shot (birds eye view):

Side view, close up of the phone ringing:

Ancillary Task (The Back Cover) Research

The next part of research I have decided to do is for the back cover of our Digi-Pack. Again, I wanted to keep my research rather specific. I decided to try to stick to researching the same type of artists. I also made sure that I ONLY researched Black and White back covers. Since my front cover is going to be black and white, I think it is essential to keep the same style for the back too. 

First, I researched Adele. 

I really like this example of a back cover. The use of black and white again allows the Models facial expressions to be clear and effective. I will use this example to further develop my research. I particularly like the writing used for the song names. I believe that it is a font that is simple, easy to read but also stands out. This is my favourite of all the research I carried out. 

The three I have above do not link to what I wanted to find. Although all albums have black and white features, all of these three contain colour. I will therefore, focus on the Adele example to complete my sketches and eventually, my product. 

Rather then a focus on the body like rihannas advert shown here, I want to focus more on the character herself. Just like Adele's, I would like the advert to be a focus on Alice's face. 

Ancillary Task (The CD and the Spine) Research

Next thing I wanted to research was ideas for the CD of our Digipack. Having previously researched certain artists, I decided that I would do further research into their albums as I knew a lot of them reflected what I wanted (in the album front cover). 

First, I decided to research Adele 21's CD. It is shown here: 

This CD is not what I would have expected it to be. I do not believe it corresponds well to the rest of her album designs. I will not not use this example to further develop my product ideas. 

Next, I decided to research Avril Lavigne's CD's (I was not able to find any Kelly Clarkson or Hilary Duff CD's). I do not like the use of the colour Pink in the first example. I believe that for my CD, I want a more simplistic idea. The second example is more successful in my opinion, as I like the use of the darker colours. These reflect the mode of the song - the depressing pessimistic song relates to the dark, gloomy colours of this CD. 

Lastly, I looked at Rihanna's CD of 'good girl gone bad'. This is my favourite example of the ones I have found. Other then the use of white dots at the top, it is rather simple. The name of Rihanna is clear and bold. I would like to use this album to further develop my ideas for my own. 

Next, I am going to do research into the spine of the Digi-Pack. I believe this will be the easiest part of the product to create. 

I believe many Spines of CD cases are similar and therefore, I do not believe that it will take a lot of research. However, I will look further into more CD spines that I have at home. It will hopefully help towards my next sketch. 

Ancillary Task (Album Front Cover) - Extra photo research

At first, we kept our extra photo research rather basic. We did not know whether to include things such as props, location and we were not too sure on camera angles etc.

We first looked at location. The photo below shows this. In my opinion, looking at this photo, I believe having a location (like the one below) distracts from the model. This is something we do NOT want as we want Alice to be the main feature of our DigiPack. If we want to capture her extreme emotion, having defined things around her might ruin this.

Similarly, the two photos below are photos which I believe do not capture the models emotions enough. Botha re mid shots, where you can see alot of the models body or they contain props. Like location, I believe other factors in this photograph distract from the model.

 The next photos I researched therefore, concentrate on the model alone. I tried to find photos that used close up angles or extreme close ups. I believe this will capture the models emotions succesfully.  

The two photos above are rather pose-like. We want to reflect Alice's major depression from the video. 

The three above show the hand touching that is present in the album cover research. However, I believe that none of them capture the depressing feelings that we will want to convey in Alice.

The last four photographs you can see, are my personal favourite out of the ones we have researched. I believe all of them show extreme emotion and capture the models depression well. I will continue working with the Black and White effect as I still maintain the opinion that it is the most effective in expressing emotions.

The bottom two photographs show the model in a location. Although before I stated that this would distract from the model, I believe that the camera has successfully faded out all background to the photo meaning that the model is still the main focus.

The bottom photograph is my favourite. I think it is important that we get Alice's make up to be similar to the makeup presented on the model as this image is present in our film. However, we may not have her in the bath.

Ancillary Task (Album Front Cover) Research

Whilst filming, I knew it was essential to think of our ancillary task, which would to be to create a Digipack for our music video.

Firstly, I decided to do some research into existing media. This meant I did research into CD covers which had already been created. They are shown below:

The first artist I researched was Kelly Clarkson. I knew her covers would reflect the type of style we wanted to adapt as her songs are rather similar to PINK's (quite rock and roll with a theme of depression).

The cover shown abpve is probably my favourite of all of hers. I believe the use of her hands conveys her stress and despair. This is an idea we might adopt in our digi-pack as we have Alice putting her head in her hands in our film.

The three shown above are also successful for the type of music we are promoting. The wild hair in all three examples is something that captured my notice. The volume of hair reflects the characters large and 'wild' personality. It also conveys a rather 'rock-indie chick' look which is also something we want to incooperate into our task to mirror the music.

Shown above is an album cover that I believe links well to Kelly Clarksons. The models hand is on her head conveying distress and maybe inner torment.

From here, I wanted to become more spefic.

I therefore, decided to ONLY research artists who I knew write rather depressing and pessimistic songs (like many of PINK's tend to be).

The next selection of Albums, I believe, are very successful in conveying the same themes that we want.

The cover above covers a rather depressing and hopeless feel to it. This is something we hope to somewhat covey as Alice feels very hopeless throughout our video, dealing with unrequited love as well as her own sexuality.

Although the  cover below is somewhat similar to the one above, we do not quite get the same sense of hopelessness and depression. This is why we will not use this cover any further. Not many of Cheryl Cole's songs appear depressing or sad. As a pop artist, she does not quite convey the image we want.

As you can notice, my research has moved on to become focused around Black and White imagery. After my research, I have realised that many of the artists who are similar to P!NK use black and white on their front covers.

I believe the use of Black and White allows a models features to stand out more. Effects of lighting and texture will be more obvious. As well as this, I believe the use of black and white allows the camera to capture emotion more effectively. It adds a sense of mystery as well as showing simple emotion through expression of the models.

Shown below are similar Black and White covers with a little bit of colour. We wanted to explore this feature to wonder whether or not to add it to our own Digipack

Although I believe both covers above appear rather effective (especially through the use of the red), both models seem quite eccentric and full of life. We want to convey a more depressing photograph and I believe keeping the photo as completely black and white will keep our task simple and effective. Through no colour, we do not give any other emotions away. Alice will be able to convey the emotion that we are deprete to capture.

The two covers shown below are part of my final research.

Above, is the album cover for Adele (an artist who many people associate with sad songs). I knew looking at her album would be helpful as the facial expression reflects the emotion behind her songs. 

Above is another favourite of mine. This is one of Rihanna's album covers (an extremely famous music artist). Similar to Adeles, he emotion is shown through the facial expressions.

Both of these covers, I believe are very effective. They are rather similar to the first Kelly Clarkson one due to the use of the models hands on their heads. This conveys distress and extra emotion. Something we hope to capture in our own DigiPack.

I will use these three examples to further expand my research.



Ninth Filming - The Bathroom Scene

Next, we wanted to do our first shooting of Alice in the bathroom. 

Coming in the door we shot her from all different angles:

From the front:

Follow shot:

The video above is not successful as Alice goes to the taps before going towards the bath. This did not maintain continuity. 

The one shown below was more successful: 

Shown below is close up and extreme close up shots of Alice when she is taking her make up off. We wanted these close ups to accentuate her upset: 

I think that the close up shots will be extremely effective if we manage to achieve the correct angle. 

We also shot some videos through the mirror. One is shown above and one below: 

We then decided to take videos of the running taps. To set the scene.

Her getting into the bath: (We only had one opportunity of doing this as once she was wet, we had no extra clothes we could film her in again)

Her putting her head under the water: 

Birds eye view:

Side view: 

Problems: 

We are yet to film her attempting to commit suicide  This is why this scene will need to be further developed (and in places, re-shoot some parts). One thing we noticed is that Alice keeps looking at the camera by accident. This means that not all clips can be used. Next time we shoot, we are going to ensure that she does not look at the camera. Meaning we can use all clips in the way we want.