As I have said in earlier posts, particularly the Shooting Script, we are going to be wearing fangs for quite a few of the shots.
As I nor Jodie and Fran already have fangs and we don't know of any joke shops or places to buy fangs from in town - I have ordered some online from Amazon and put the link to the group blog to show the others the ones that I have brought.
It's necessary that we all buy the same as we don't want to look different to one another.
I chose these fangs to buy as they had good reviews and came with 'putty' that allows you to stick them to your teeth - which is useful!
I have brought two pairs of the fangs as Max is also filming with us, and will need to wear fangs for a few of the shots.
The estimated delivery for them is early next week, which is suitable as it suites when we will be filming these shots.
Updated 06/02/13
The fangs I ordered arrived today, however I haven't yet tested them out as I don't want to use them until we begin filming the shots that require them.
I have also brought another prop, similar to what I used last year in AS Media, red food colouring as a substitute for blood - as a back up if we cannot create our own imitation blood.
This is how the blood appears on a surface, which looks really effective and realistic, precisely the colour intensity I was aiming for...
As I learnt from my filming last year during AS, it isn't always necessary to record consecutively - and it can become more difficult as I may not have all of the props available for each shot, and the necessary settings that may be needed may not be available during school time. Therefore today with my group I recorded shots: 6, 7, 8, 12, and 17
As I am not in lessons this week due to university interviews, I have been working after school on planning for my group music video - however this has been quite difficult as Jodie and Fran haven't been available so I have worked with a friend (not a media student) to try out different examples for vampire style makeup.
Despite not being able to work on make-up with my group members, I still asked for their input before doing the task.. this is a conversation I had with Fran, discussing how I could attempt the vampire make-up!
To help me with 'how to look like a vampire' I watched several YouTube videos, such as:
This video was helpful as it showed me step by step how to apply vampire style makeup.
The research I took suggested that the stereotypical vampire look consisted of the following:
Pale washed out skin (due to the lack of natural light)
Bright red lips/red surrounding lips (due to drinking blood)
Dark eyes, e.g. Black and red (possibly due to lack of sleep and to achieve the mysterious evil appearance)
Exaggerated bones and features, for example cheek bones, collar bones and jaw line
I looked at the makeup I have at home to help me achieve the vampire look, and decided to practice makeup styles on my friend, Lauren, with these items of makeup
The 10 eye shadows on the palettes in this image weren't all used - I tried to use only the specifically dark and very light eyeshadows, to emphasise the eyes.
The pale pink and black eye dust was also used, all of the eyeshadow colours around the eyes were used to emphasise the eye colour and also indicate the 'ill' and 'evil' look.
The two images above of Lauren after I had done her make-up, show where I used the darkest make-up, I think it worked particularly well around the cheek bones and jaw bones and it accentuated them stronger.
I also found that using red blended into Lauren's eyes improved the sinister look, as though, like a vampire - she hadn't slept for a few years...
This image portrays how I looked after applying the vampire style makeup, similarly to Lauren, with accentuated dark eyes and red lips!
And this image portrays how I looked with very minimal makeup, which will be the intention for my make-up in the most innocent scenes, as it looks purer and doesn't attract as much attention as the vampire style make-up does.
Although not visible as much here on this image, this is an example how I attempted to emphasise bone structure quite strongly - I didn't want to make this too prominent as it may look unrealistic, however it does hint at darker parts above and below my collar bone and red on my collar bone - suggesting bruising or pain, which viewers of the music video could consider is a result of the male's force.
Today I recorded a few rough shots on my phone to see if there were any difficulties to overcome when official filming begins in a few days. Only a few shots were recorded that will be in the location of either the drama room or school hall as it seemed easier than to go into the woods during school time. Below are a few examples of the shots that were recorded today including the shot numbers, to show precisely which are which.
0:54-0:55 - Shot number: 6 Shot location: Wods Camera angle/composition:Close up of male fist
0:55-0:56 - Shot number: 7 Shot location: Woods Camera angle/composition: Close up of male wearing fangs (This shot is slightly different because Max is not yet wearing fangs, we need to order to fangs online or buy them before we begin planning this shot).
0:56-0:57 - Shot number: 8 Shot location: Woods Camera angle/composition: Close up of male eyes
1:34-1:39 -
Shot number: 12
Shot location: School stage
Camera angle/composition:Close up (only head to waist on camera) Fran with a males arms wrapped around her/covering her mouth - Fran suddenly breaks away when lyrics 'freedom' are sang.
(This shot of Fran doesn't yet have enough emphasis as the music isn't included, however this is an example of how the shot may appear).
2:05-2:08 Shot number: 17 Shot location: Woods Camera angles/composition: Extreme close upof eyes looking from left to right (This shot does not yet have enough empahsis as we haven't began looking at make-up, though when we film this shot officially we will make sure our eyes stand out as they will be the only thing included in the shot and it's important that they portray the 'scared' and 'possessed' look we are aiming for.)
Shot number: 11c Shot location: Woods Camera angle/composition: This will be another montage of shots. We intend on using split screening in this shot (through the editing process), to portray a 'reminiscent' feel for the viewer, as though each of the characters are having flash backs - this will be shown by a montage of approximately three shots, which will be: Jodie appearing innocent whilst it is indicated that Jodie has been bitten by the evil character, whilst being elsewhere in the shot witnessing herself being harmed/bitten. (This is slightly different as we haven't yet looked at split screen editing, however this is how we want it to appear that Jodie is being bitten.)
Today as a group we choreographed our dance for the 12 seconds of our music video that we have allocated a 'synchronised dance' to!
We worked in the Mezzanine in school, this room was chosen as it is a large empty spacious room with a few computers, the computers were useful for us to YouTube search the song (Delilah - Go) that we are basing our music video on so we could play it whilst making up the dance to ensure we are working with the music!
To choreograph the dance we listened to the 12 seconds allocated thoroughly and considered the 'mood' as a main point for our dance moves, as we wanted to portray a very specific and synchronized feel so the movements we were choosing had to follow and flow from eachother gracefully - as this is also how Delilah sings during this part of the song.
To help, we looked at other dances to this song as inspiration for our own:
Although we aren't going to be partner dancing like this, I found this video inspirational for how graceful it is portrayed, yet also significantly powerful.
This video however, although the dance is a lot quicker than the one we intend on making - we liked several of the dance moves used and intend on incorporating them in our own.
On Thursday 10th Jan, myself and Fran looked at potential locations for when we begin recording our music video. Whilst looking at our shooting script we realised that the main location that we have included is the woods. We walked to the woods and took pictures of places that we would like to record. The Woods is relatively close to where we all live too which is convenient as we are all able to meet there on the days that we are shooting.
It seemed a better idea to take photos of the different locations (rather than e.g. use Google maps or draw an ideal location) as it made it easier for when we begin filming to recognize where we wanted to film.
The two above images are the ones that we are considering using for the flash back/reminiscient shots where e..g I am watching myself being followed. I like the idea of this being a potential shot as it will allow us to (example) be standing beside/behind the tree, or the bush or somewhere infront in the field, however if we'd have chosen a part of the woods which was only grass - we didn't think it would make as much effect if I appeared twice in the same shot easily to see one another. I think it's important that we aim for the 'eerie, reminiscent' feel.
One of the main reasons we liked these parts of the woods were due to the weather at this time of year, the lack of colour and natural beauty in the shots above is very suitable for our theme and genre. The trees and grass looked very dark and grim, like an unwelcoming scene - precisely what we are aiming for in our music video.
Above are images of the drama room that we plan to use as another potential location. The main reason we are considering the drama room is due to it's all black curtains - suitable to our colour use and the connotations we want to portray with black - as well as this we really like the lighting available in the drama room. Unfortunately I was unable to take any pictures of the lighting in the drama room as my phone doesn't have flash, so the image was just black, however there are lights on the cameras that we can use if necessary when recording. The room is also very spacious which is suitable for the shots we have allocated this room for.
Above are images of the school stage, similarly to the drama room I liked this location as it has all black curtains which we can close and a variety of lighting effects. The stage is extremely spacious which will enable us to perform our dance well - there is also a wall of mirrors that we could consider using.
All three of these will be our main locations for filming our shots, each shot has been allocated a location though whilst recording I understand that we may come across other locations that would be good to use, which I will update on this post.
