Request for Permission

Before the planning and construction of my music video to ‘Hurricane’ by Halsey, I have to request permission from the copyright owner of this track to be sure that I can use it. The track is part of the Room 93 EP which was released through Astralwerks, a record label parented by Universal Music Group. They are known to release music of an electronica style. I have somewhat of the upper hand in this situation - I know the artist. Real name Ashley Frangipane, I became acquainted with Halsey over the internet some time ago. As I have her phone number, I decided I would message her to ask for her permission to use her song seen as though she's arguably the rightful owner of the song:

As the record label is also important in this situation, I also sent them an email asking if I had permission to use this song for pure educational purposes. Their contact page on the official website shows the opportunity to type your email directly:

Message to Halsey

Email to Astralwerks

Reasons for song change

Part of the way into the planning of my music video, I decided to change the track and most of the concept. I felt that what I'd planned wasn't showing the best of my ability, partly because it was a relatively short song. Whilst I think a sufficient amount of effort went into my work, I wasn't fully happy with my decisions. 
I considered that this could potentially be a bad idea - we have a schedule for when this project should be complete and I could fall behind - but all in all, I realised it wouldn't be too difficult. Some of my work such as the audience research and test footage would still apply to my changes, and it wouldn't be too difficult to rectify some other elements of the planning journey. 
I'm happy with my final decision to change from the song I first chose. I've left the planning of my initial song choice on this blog to show the work I put into it, although part of this will be adapted to fit my new track. I feel that the new song and concept for the music video will be more successful than my past choice could have been and hope this will show in the final product.

Photo Shoot Concept

To get the images for my digipak and advert, I will conduct a photoshoot with Demi. It would make sense to do some of the photo shoot at Seaton Carew - it could be an on-going theme and still fit in with the beach aesthetic of the video. From this I would definitely get the image that'll sit behind the CD. As I've decided to use pictures of the artist, I will take some here to use as options for the left cover and cover inside of the digipak. If I use my advertisement to promote the single, I could also take my advertisement picture from this particular photoshoot. 

I will also aim to take some images in the studio at sixth form because it will have a different effect to a natural setting and look more professional.

Choosing the actors

I put together a presentation explaining how and why I chose the actors that I did for this project:

Digipak Draft

Before the creation of my digipak, I decided to research the ones released in the past by Best Coast seen as though I'm basing my project on their music. I then used a template of a six paned digipak as I will be creating my own, and labelled it according to what I will be aiming to include on my own. This will help me when it comes to producing my own digipak because I'll have an idea of what I want to include which will make the whole process easier and faster.

Recce Shots / Test Footage

On October 15th I took a quick trip to Seaton Carew beach, one of my locations for my music video. I took some recce shots and shot some basic test footage to get an idea of the place I'm filming in and which exact places to use. I tried a few techniques also so that I had an idea of what they would look like. I did this without my model because some of my shots will be just of the location itself. Though basic and in lower quality than the actual video would be, I found this helpful because it gives me a visual aid and helps me to begin to piece together what the overall video will look like. All footage was shot from an iPhone 6 and was handheld, hence the shaky movement. Note: the actual video will be using a high quality digital camera and a tripod.

I uploaded a selection of different videos I took. It isn't very long as I only had a very short time there, and I aim to take more footage prior to the beginning of production (with the actors). In this particular instance, I didn't have much time to take footage as it was a spur of the moment situation. For this reason, I shot them from the wall across the promenade. I actual video will be filmed much closer to the sea, on the sand. However, some shots will be taken at a distance so this helps still. 

The first shot is a general establishing shot of the sea front. In my music video, I don't want any of the wind turbines or industrial areas in the background. I feel that it would ruin the aesthetic of the overall video. This means that I will aim to keep my music video in a central position of the beach to avoid any chances of this. I like this because it's quite simple yet still looks nice. I also filmed a tilt from the sand up into the sky. I really like tilts because they can give a nice effect to a piece of film. I will be using one in my music video so I thought I would test it out. I think it went quite well, but later production will be done with a tripod so it will be more controlled and have a smoother overall movement. 

Next, I messed with zooming and focusing. I want to play with the different types of focusing in my music video because I think it will look interesting. Obviously, my phone restricts me from using advanced zooming techniques but I managed to slightly use it. I like the outcome which is good because the higher quality camera will work a lot better than this, meaning it will look a lot better in my final piece. I also tried a panning shot. Again, it would be much smoother in a higher stage of production with the use of extra equipment. I also got the wind turbines and industrial works at the end of this shot. In order to avoid this, if I used it in my final video I would either make it a shorter pan or start more from the left.

These are some quick pictures I took of the beach to establish where I will be filming my music video. As it's a public place, I won't need permission to film there and will try to minimise affecting the public in any way. I'm trying to stay central to the beach because I don't want any of the surrounding areas including the section with wind turbines and steel works to ruin the overall look of my video. I want to use a filter for my video so it will essentially look faded and quite pale. I think this has a nice aesthetic to it and will make my music video look nicer than if the colours were bolder because I feel they would clash with each other. 

Personal Skills Audit

 

Call Sheets

My music video has been planned, so now I have to get out and film it. I will need to decide when and where to film it.  For this, I will create call sheets. These will help me to keep organised and know exactly what I will need for each particular location and day. Some of the dates may be subject to change: the days may not work in terms of my actor's availability when we get around to it but right now, they work perfectly fine for the both of us.

NOTE: sheets will be edited with equipment and any additional actors at a later date once this is decided.

Audience Profile

To go with this, I've added an example of Jackie's playlist hosted on Grooveshark. It gives off a generally indie vibe with a mixture of pop. It also keeps a little bit of her classic rock influences. Around half of it is by female artists which is significant because it shows how she is inspired by female artists:

Audience Research Survey Analysis

After carrying out my audience research survey, I analysed the results to gain an in depth view on what the participants thought.