Music for Advert 3

Me and Hannah have spend a large amount of time looking for music to suit advert 3. From a very early stage, we decided that we did not want music with lyrics because this would clash with the dialogue present in the advert. We have therefore had to find and instrumental version of a song and/or within a song.

Eventually we decided to use the instrumental version of 'Heartbeat' by Scouting for Girls. (See below to hear music) We have chosen this song because we feel that when edited, certain parts will fit with the action, for example, the heart beat at the start and end of the song would fit well with the beginning of the advert because it would highlight that the boy is nervous to meet his girlfriends' parents. Furthermore, the song fits well with the pace of the advert which is a vital thing to consider when choosing music.

Below are just a few other examples of music that we looked at, but rejected:
- Instrumental version of 'That's not my name' by The Ting Tings
- Instrumental version of 'Are you gonna be my girl' by Jet
- Instrumental version 'she's so lovely' by Scouting for Girls
- Intro of 'Kids' by MGMT
- Instrumental version of 'Love story' by Taylor Swift

Below is a YouTube video of the song which we ultimately decided to use:

Uploading footage onto macs

After our first two shoots from the previous day me and Hannah spend a double free period in the mac suite to upload what we had so far. This proved to be very time consuming because the camera that we were using from home had problems connecting to the MACs meaning that we could not capture the footage from the camera to the programme. We wasted a significant amount of time trying to work out a way for us to upload the footage and all this meant that we had not yet moved forward with our work. With the interruption of a fire bell, we then had to abandon what we were doing and come back to it as we had planned, after school. This caused us a lot of worry because we felt like our progress had come to a halt and that we were not going to get any footage done with the seemingly bad luck that we seemed to have. We did however pick ourselves up by persisting in trying to get the things we wanted to get done so that eventually we could put something together.

After school that day, we successfully managed to get hold of a camera. This was a relief to us because we could finally get all of our filming out of the way the following day, and we could finally upload the footage that we had so far.

Me and Hannah spent about 2-3 hours uploading the footage, and taking the decent shots to put the opening on the advert together. We managed to fully edit the first couple of seconds of the advert meaning that we had to finish filming and editing the rest of the advert because we had rejected the rest of the footage. The opening which we put together matched the storyboard, and we felt that it created a successful opening couple of shots to the rest of the advert. The footage that we rejected was not good enough because it seemed sloppy, and felt too similar to the previous advert because the couple were sitting on the same sofa. We therefore have gone against the original storyboard and have decided to have the advert set in the kitchen so that the location differs in all three adverts.

Problems with equiptment and first shoots

Me and Hannah have been ready to film advert 3 for some time now, however we have failed to progress in our advert due to us not having the equipment needed for us to begin filming. We have made sure that we check for equipment often enough, yet we still have had no luck.

We gathered that little progress is better than no progress, therefore I have decided to bring in one of my own camera's for us to use until we can get hold of a school camera. Unfortunately, because the camera is old, it does not work very well and cuts out regularly meaning that it will be very time consuming to film what we need to film. Despite this, we have gone ahead with using this camera in order to make a start to our advert.

In the first shoot, we attempted to begin our filming and found that we got some good opening shots of the couple arriving at the house. We tried out several angles which we felt would give us a variety to choose from when it comes to editing in the MAC suite. Unlike the other adverts, we found this one more difficult to film because we found ourselves stuck for ideas when it came to new ideas and new shots. In the first shoot we stuck to the storyboard however even when filming, we felt that this did not achieve its full potential.

In the second shoot the following day we picked up from where we left. The camera was still playing up on us which causes a lot of stress and panic meaning that we did not progress as far as what we would have hoped. In addition to this, we weren't sure if the dialogue worked well within the advert which caused us with confusion and hesitations during out filming.

Our first shoots were abandoned early due to camera problems. We found that every time we wanted to get some shots the camera kept cutting off therefore didn't capture what we wanted. This meant that we had to pros pone the rest of the filming until the following day. We also felt that if we could upload the footage onto the Macs then we can view what we have so far which we find easier to manage because it allows us to see what needs to be done and what works well.

Shooting Schedule Continued

Me and Hannah have had to keep re-arranging times to film due to problems getting hold of equiptment for the filming part of the production of advert 3. This has therefore caused us to be behind our intended schedule for advert 3. These are they dates which we planned to film on after arranging eqiuptment.

Date: Tuesday 10th March
Who: Me, Hannah, Ben, Lucy
Where: Outside Hannah's house
Time: 3-4 hours in morning
To Do: Begin filming opening shots from storyboard. Do jingle.

Date: Wednesday 11th March
Who: Me, Hannah, Ben Lucy
Where: Hannahs House
Time: Lunch, P6, P7
To Do: Continue through storyboard

Date: Friday 13th March
Who: Me, Hannah, Ben, Lucy
Where: Hannah's house
Time: P3 onwards
To Do: Complete filming/re-shoots

Problems for Advert 3

Me and Hannah have been discussing our plan for advert 3, and we have come to some problems. Our first problem is that tomorrow's filming, 27Th Feb, can not go ahead because our male actor is sick. We therefore have to reschedule this date and fit it into next week's shooting. This could cause some problems due to ILP day's next week, meaning that we will be loosing two days of filming. We therefore have to organise ourselves so that we can spend after school time/weekend either filming or editing.

Another problem which we have come across is the mother actor. We were originally going to use Hannah's sister as the mother, however we decided not to use her because it will not be convenient for us in the long run due to her being away at university during the week. We therefore have to find somebody who has similar frees to us so that we can film as and when we need to.

The last thing which me and Hannah had worries about is the original storyboard. We found that unlike the previous two adverts, this one has a lot more dialogue. As it stands, we plan to keep the dialogue the way it is as this is where the humour will come into it however this is liable to change if it doesn't provide our intended effect when uploaded onto the MAC's.

Progress

Since we have started our coursework we have made a consistent amount of progress meaning that we have continued to move forward in our work as well improving our work through the learning process.

At this current stage, two adverts have been completed, meaning that we now only have one more to film and edit. I believe that our consistent amount of progress is down to our organisation skills and ability to work as a team. This has therefore given us a determination to make adverts which we can be proud of as well as to ultimately meet the deadlines.

After believing that I would be better off working alone due to various problems in working with a group after last years coursework, I have learnt that it is possible to work as a team and that all of you can have an equal amount to do as long as you all stick with the set schedule that you set yourself as well as apply communication skills so that everybody knows what they are doing. I also think that by making personal deadlines, it allows us to complete certain tasks by a fixed date meaning that the progress made on our coursework is more significant. I believe that I need to communicate my ideas with my partner in order to overcome everything that we face regarding our coursework. The advantage of our partnership is that we have identical timetables meaning that most of the time we can do our filming and editing together, meaning that we both put inan equal amount of effort into the coursework.

I also feel that our organisation skills have also contributed to our steady progress. To begin with, we did tend to miss dates in which we had originally planned on filming, and we realised that we could not carry on doing this if we were to meet deadlines. We found that because we did not always organise our time well, that we found ourselves rushing when it came to completing finishing touches of the advert, such as the music, meaning that we were over a week late that the original deadline that was set. We have overcome this lack of organisation stage and have been able to progress and be ahead in our work due to us sticking with our shooting schedule. In completing the majority of shooting and editing a week before the deadline, it allowed us enough time to focus on music, voiceovers, and re-shoots. We also found that by getting the filming out of the way early, it gave us more than enough time to fully edit the advert.

One of the key things which I have developed upon since last year's coursework is the use of camera. Before we started this coursework, I had very little knowledge on camera usage because my primary focus/role in my group last year was editing, meaning that I didn't use the camera as much as others. I feel that I have a much better understanding on how to use the camera. To begin with, my lack of camera skills were shown when we failed to tell the story of the advert through the camera, as well as having poor shots which did not meet the codes and conventions of an advert. However, after some discussions with our teacher and some more experimenting, we soon learned how to tell a story with the camera, as well as discovering more interesting camera shots.

Our progress was however, quite limiting at the very start of the project because we we had no experience in working with the new Adobe Premier software on the MAC's. This meant that we had to focus a lot of our time learning how to use the features meaning that valuable time was spend 'experimenting.' The advantage of this was that we could play around with the features and have an idea of what works well and what doesn't. Furthermore, the more time we spend on the programmes features and editing meant that we could master it therefore ending up with a good final piece.

At the beginning of this coursework, I wasn't feeling 100% sure about our overall idea, and i was having doubts as to whether we could achieve three good adverts. I was also quite reluctant to use other people's suggestions, believing that our idea was the one to stick with. However, as we begun the production process I soon realised the potential that our idea had and I realised that experimenting and getting feedback and/or ideas from potential consumers really helps to influence and guide my thinking. At several points during our project, we went against our storyboard and tried out new shots, which ultimately made the advert meet the codes and conventions much better, also showing the development that we have done. We also asked people's opinions of the work we had completed and this feedback helped us to see the project from an audience point of view meaning that we could tweak things in order for it to fit better with audience expectations. It also gives us a different perspective to view our work from, meaning that we could be more critical with our work leading to consistent progress in changing and improving our advert.

This coursework has enabled me to learn simple things, such as how to use several editing programmes such as Adobe Premier and Adobe Sound booth, which to begin with, I had no idea how to use. This means that if in the future I need to use these programmes, I will already have background knowledge from the work that I have been producing towards our adverts. In addition to this, the coursework has made me appreciate moving images in the media, in a variety of mediums, a lot more because I realise how much work is needed to produce a piece of media.

The next step which I will be taking from this point is to complete all of the filming during the space of a week, meaning that we have time for re-shoots etc before the deadline. I also aim to keep up the consistent progress by continuing to spend a significant amount of time editing in the MAC suite in order to get our final advert completed.

Advert 1

Above is our advert 1, couple and the cat, with its improved changes. (still having problems uploading so will put it up ASAP)

Filming and editing Friday 30th

On Friday 30Th January, we completed all the shots that we wanted to achieve according to our plan, as well as have an almost finished edited sequence on the Macs. Both me and Hannah focused our whole day on completing as much of advert 1, couple and the cat, in order to meet the deadline and give us enough time to complete re-shoots and final touches the following week. We found the process of constructing this advert a lot easier than the first advert we did because we had learned from the mistakes that we made when filming the first advert therefore made sure we did not make the same mistake. We also planned our time well, meaning that we could get on with filming and editing in order to finish the advert.

Filming
To begin with, we spent Period 1 in the Mac room in which we looked back on the opening sequence which we had already filmed. We used this time to improve the shots through editing as well as focus on which music we could possibly use for this advert. When going over the music we came across for the first advert, we thought that 'The One' by The Ting Tings would fit much better with this advert due to the pace and the light hearted feel that we wanted. The music has a 30second introduction which fits perfectly with the length of time that we have to work with, and the fact that it is intrumental means that we can afford to have diegetic sound in the advert which is what we originally wanted when we drew up our storyboards. During Period 1 we also organised ourselves and booked out a camera and tri-pod in order to avoid disappointment for filming later during the day. It also meant that we could fully charge the battery whilst we were editing on the Mac meaning that we can get straight on with filming.

During break and period 3-4 we met up with our actors, Lucy and Ben, and set off to Hannah's house and begun filming the rest of the advert. We progressively followed the storyboard and list of shots in order to ensure that we did not miss out any vital shots, as well as to have a set order which will make it easier for us to find when uploaded onto the Macs. When filming this advert, we took some similar ideas to that of the previous advert such as the close up of the hands touching. This is a way of further linking the adverts together because they follow a similar plot line and all revolve around the couples affections.

From the early shots that we did for this advert, we knew that the shots with the cat in were going to be much harder to shoot. To overcome this, we left the camera running whilst we set the cat into position. This meant that we didn't miss the shot and we can pick the part that we want to use when it comes to editing it on the macs. It also saves us time especially when the cat becomes restless and acts unpredictably!

Unlike the other advert, according to our storyboard, there was a lot more diegetic sound in this advert due to the speech between the characters. Whilst filming we did a variety of shots in which the actors would speak and ones in which they didn't. We found that we did not want to have too much speech as this could bring the focus away too much, however we wanted to keep dialogue in the vital points of the adverts such as when the boy says 'you smell gorgeous' because this is the key 'joke' of the whole advert.

Editing
Once we had finished all the shots that we needed for our advert, we went back to the Mac suite to upload the footage and start putting it together. Firstly, we put all the shots that we wanted into an order without editing them so that we could get a rough idea of how it would look like and follow. We were pleased that we had all the shots we needed meaning that if any more filming needs to be done, it would be re-shoots. We were also pleased that we had a variety of shots, from mid shots to close ups, meaning that we are meeting the codes and conventions of an advert. One problem that we found was that the lighting was slightly different to some of our earlier shoots due to the sunlight being brighter and/or lighter. The change in lighting is especially evident in the jingle part of the advert because it appears much darker than the rest of shots. We have however, decided to keep it like this because these shots are all together in the same place and it isn't drastic enough to change it.

Now that we had a rough layout of the sequence of the advert, we began editing it by making the shots much shorter than the original. Without the editing, we had more than double the amount of time that we needed, therefore we had to do a lot of editing in order for the advert to flow and fit into the 30-40 second time that we have to work with. Due to our variety of shots which we did during the filming process, we had more than enough shots to work with meaning that when cutting, we could have several different shots which would tell the story, rather than having one shot which is too long meaning that the actors are telling the story, not the camera. For example, we have split the 'handing over the drink' shots into two different shots: one is a mid shot of the girl handing the boy a drink, the second being a close up as the hands touch in the drink exchange. Another example is the kissing part of the advert which begins with the boy leaning in as if to kiss the girl. This is then followed by a shot of the girl leaning in to the kiss from a different angle, followed by another shot of the boy bending down to get the cat, and ending with another shot of the girl being grumpy. We found that by doing this, it is much more effective because the camera tells the story. Furthermore, it allows us to squeeze in as many shots as possible meaning that it engages the audience much more. In comparison to the first advert we did, couple on a bench, this advert has much more shots and includes a lot more than the previous one without it being over complicated.

After spending time getting the sequence together, and watching it over in order to make it fit well, we moved on to adding the voice over. This was less time consuming than before because we already had the voice over saved onto Itunes from the previous advert. Importing the voice over was simple, however once we added the voice over into the sequence we had a problem of fitting it in with the action. This is because, unlike the previous advert, the shots were quicker meaning that the beginning part of the voice over did not fit. Me and Hannah therefore added the 'Shake, Click, Fresh, Ahh' to fit with the action, but left the rest of the voice over to finish for another day. At this point, we may either make the shots slightly longer to fit the voice over in, or re-do a new voice over to fit with what we already have.

Once part of the voice over was put into place, we then had to find the diegetic sound. The reason why we had to do this was because when we uploaded the footage, the sounds for each clip went faulty meaning that the sounds did not match the correct clips. We therefore found the clip in which the 'you smell gorgeous' sound was on, and had to extract the sound in order to put it onto the right shot in our sequence. To begin with, it was a bit of a problem because of the lip syncing, however we soon managed to make it match.

After doing this, we decided to add in the music 'The One' by The Ting Tings from our previous discussions of the song. We uploaded the music and put it against the advert, and surprisingly it fitted really well and did not need much editing to it, except for the end due to the instrumental part ending too soon. One problem that we encountered once we added the music was that it was too overpowering meaning that the voice over could not be heard very well because it has to compete with the sound of the music. We therefore, on Adobe Premier, made the soundtrack slightly quieter, but not so quiet that there is a drastic change with the rest of it. We then went onto Sound booth and imported the voice over into the programme. Using this software, it enabled us to made the sound louder so that it can be clearly heard over the music. Once we editing the volume of the voice over, we imported it back into Adobe premier and put it back in place accordingly.

After all the time we spend working on the advert on Friday the 30th it left us with the following things to do for the following weeks:

-Make the beginning of the voice over fit with the action
-Edit the end of the soundtrack so that it doesn't cut off too early
-Show what we have to teachers/students for opinions on improvements