Diary of Third day filming

Date of filming: 1st May

We started filming at 9:30 on Tuesday  morning. We decided to film against a white background which  wefelt would contrast with Amy and her outline so you can just focus on her and her singing and nothing else. The lighting was also very good against this colour backdrop which allowed the picture quality to be very clear.

Here we dressed Amy in a yellow rain coat and jeans to complete her casual look in the rain. We used this pretty umbrella as a prop also to show that it is raining. We also went to a quiet street to shoot some footage of Amy running through the rain. We planned to use this footage for the line of "I run out to meet you".

Diary of second day filming

On the second day of filming, we began at 2:00pm.
Amy's make up was done the same and we dressed Matt - our male role - in a casual t-shirt and chinos so his look was compatible with Amy's

We took some shots of Matt and Amy in bed and around her room. We made sure we had contrasting attitudes so that we could show them arguing but also happy together. To highlight the contrast, we shot them in bed hugging and then turned away from each other and also Amy in bed alone to show her lonely state when he is away. 

At about 4:00pm we drove to a field in Pilgrims Hatch - Brentwood. On our way we took some footage in the car to vary our locations and show a typical life of a teenage couple. They begin to argue and Matt pulls over and pushes Amy out of the car. 

When arriving at the field, We shot the couple entering and walking along a wooded path area and took some footage of the couple enjoying each other's company. This went very well and we were very happy with the footage we gained from this location. It could have been improved if the weather was better but as it was raining, we changed their costumes (Amy wore a coat and wells and Matt wore a jumper and boots) to adhere to the conditions which made the shots work. 

The couple held hands to portray their connection at the time.

After this, we went to the coffee shop 'Costa' in Shenfield high street. We wanted to shoot here to show the typical conventions of a young couple. We asked the manager of the branch for permission to shoot on the premises and after his approval, we began shooting. We shot some two-shots of the couple sitting at a table together drinking coffee and some birds eye view shots of their hands meeting over the table for more variety. 

Overall, the second day of filming went very successfully as Matt and Amy worked well together in front of the camera, we gained a lot of footage and varied locations.

Diary of first day filming

Friday 27th April

We began filming at 10am at Amy's house. We started with Amy's (our protagonist) make up in which we used as little as possible to capture Ellie Goulding's look.

We then chose Amy's first look which was a checked shirt and jeans for a casual look. We took some footage of her against a plan wall lip syncing and in her bedroom for a personal perspective.

After achieving enough footage for this look, we changed Amy into a dark outfit to highlight her anger at this stage in the relationship and the continuous arguing progressing between them. She wore black leggings, a leopard print top and a black leather jacket. We took some mid shots of Amy shouting at the camera and showing her anger in which we can edit into our music video at the point where the relationship becomes negative. 

12:00pm - We then changed our setting to outside to shoot some footage within a natural scene as Ellie Goulding is often captured in naturalised settings, like 'The Writer' video, which is where we got out inspiration from. We dressed Amy in a white dress to signify innocence and vulnerability as she remembers to happy times of her relationship. We also changed her hair style to show a contrast.

Costume

Amy
We are using various different shots in which our protagonist will have alternating outfits.
For the shots of Amy with Matt portraying their relationship positiely, we want her to look very casual so we are going to dress her in a checked shirt, jeans and converses with her hair in loose curls to achieve this style and reflect that she feels relaxed around him whilst their relationship is going well.
However, to reflect their relationship when they are arguing violently with each other, we will dress her in dark jeans, a black top and black leather jacket to represent the dark side of their relationship.
We will also be shooting Amy on her own in a field where she will be dressed in a white dress to show her innocence and happiness whilst reflecting on the happier times of her relationship with Matt.
When Amy is running through the streets she will revert back to the checked shirt, jeans and converse outfit as she is running to what she wants to go back to.

Matt
When Amy is with Matt in the positive times of their relationship he will be wearing a casual outfit such as chinos, a top and also converses to link him and Amy together.
When their relationship turns negative, he will be wearing dark coloured clothing - jeans and t-shirt to show the contrast.
When he is running towards Amy, we will go back to the first outfit choice to represent the past and present of their relationship.

Locations

Locations

We decided to chose various locations to make our music video more interesting as a change of scenery would keep the audience engaged.

We chose to film in Amy's bedroom to show a sense of intimacy and achieve a personal feel to some scenes as the protagonist unveils a lot of emotion in the video so we thought this would be an appropriate setting for this.

We also chose to film in a local park which had a path so we could film footage of Amy and Matt to appear like it is a memory she is looking back on in the memory. We wanted an outside location to show more versatility. The weather wasn't ideal for these shots as it was raining, challenging the conventions of happiness. Usually, sunny weather reflects a happy tone and would have been appropriate to show their memories but as it was raining it contrasts this concept. To overcome this, we changed the costume to fit the mood and shot a lot of close ups of their faces portraying a happy tone. 

We also filmed in coffee shop in Shenfield high street for a public location so it gave our video credibility as it is a popular destination with lots of people. We shot some footage from a distance to highlight our location. We thought this would be a good place to shoot as it would reflect a common destination for young couples.

We then shot a small amount of footage in Matt's car as it represents a young 18 year old couple in which the audience would be able to relate to. I sat in the back seat and shot from behind them to show the sides of their faces as they argue to then variate shots. 

Storyboard

After selecting our characters and ideas for our video, we designed a storyboard for shots to include when filming and editing. This gives us an idea of what to film when shooting and gives us a plan to guide us through the process. Now that we have designed this, we can begin filming with a clear direction.

Inspiration/Influences

Rhianna - We Found Love

This video can hugely be related to the theme of our song which is the contrast between negative and positive times in a relationship. With the lyrics "we found love in a hopeless place" this Rhianna video reflects the theme which we would like to portray in our own music video.

Here is a still from the video where you can see Rhianna kissing her boyfriend in the happiest point of her relationship. The kissing signifies love and romance.

Here is a still of rhianna alone in a field. The fact she is alone signifies her being alone in her relationship. Her body language with arms crossed also impies that she is vunerable at this time. This can be useful when filming our video.

 This still shows the storm outside. This could mean that the tone of the song is about to change. From good to bad, this could be used in our music video as we also have lyrics to fit this part "I run out to meet you, even though the storm had come"

when filming we could use a shot like this when this line is played.

This is a great example of the couple now arguing in the video.

The facial expression of rhianna is very effective and you can clearly see that her boyfriend is saying something to her. This would work really well in our video as we need alot of shots of our couple arguing.

This end shot shows Rhianna at the end of her video huddled up into a corner. This is a great display of her vunerability and how you can make a clear example out of someone being or feeling alone. This shot is a good idea and can be used in our music video as inspiration when we are trying to say that our character is feeling weak.