Toy Guns

Due to the restrictions involving replica guns in the UK we had to be very careful when filming the narrative for our music video. There was a risk of us being seen by members of the public and them thinking that we were messing around with real guns. Unfortunately the only way that we could get around this problem was to film on private land owned by a friend of ours, although members of the public still passed through the area whilst we were filming. To get around the problems of filming with replica guns we had to make do with children's toy guns from 'PoundWorld' which were green and blue, obviously not ideal but it's all we could use. However we did have one more realistic gun from GimmieGizmo (£4.99) however we could not afford to buy enough of these guns for each of our actors so we only had one which the main soldier (Sam) who dies in the narrative used. This gun was bright orange when we purchased it, however, Sarah painted it black with acrylic paints to make it look more realistic but left the orange tip on the end of the gun so that it was clear that it was in fact a toy gun that would not pose any threat or danger to members of the public. We also stopped filming and placed the guns on the floor whenever a member of the public passed through and explained to them what we were doing so that they were not concerned. All of the people we spoke to seemed to be very happy with what we were doing and didn't have a problem with it.

Photographs

Photographs

Photographs

Video Clips

Here are some video clips of some of the shots that we recorded on Saturday. Although they may not be used in our final music video we really like how they turned out.

Journey's End

I went to see a production of Journey's End at The Royal Centre in Nottingham. The play seemed really relevant to what we are showing in our video.


'Set in the trenches at Saint-Quentin, Aisne, in 1918 towards the end of the First World War, Journey's End gives a glimpse into the experiences of the officers of a British Army infantry company in World War I. The entire story plays out in the officers' dugout over four days from 18 March 1918 to 21 March 1918.'


I found some of the themes and ideologies of war which were portrayed really disturbing because of how real they were. The things which happened in the play are all events which really happened.. including the deaths. 
The actors playing the soldiers were brilliant and captured the emotions of war perfectly. The sense of fear I got from them was un-nerving and horrific.


I want our video to have this effect on our target audience. I want to leave them feeling like they've just witnessed a realistic view of war; something the government covers up. We want to keep it real and harsh. 


These are some photos from the play:

Just from looking at these three images, you can clearly see the look of fear and anxiety on their faces. War does strange things to people. It heightens emotions- from anger to sadness, and changes people.  It showed me how much the troops back then and now do for us, it's not about the job it's about the honour of serving for your country.  

Editing Stages

We began editing our footage today and have managed to put some of the clips together. Here's a screen shot of our work:

We've also looked at some effects and applied a couple to our footage. For example, we used the speed tool on iMovie to slow down the shots of Sam (our soldier who gets shot) falling to the ground as he's hit by a bullet. I think this effect makes the shot look really dramatic allows the music to anchor the visuals.

Another effect we used was the ghost FX tool. We used this on the shot when the soldiers resuscitating Sam turn into his girlfriend. Because the shot is quite abstract, the ghost effect makes it appear dream like and surreal. 

Although we've only edited about 10 seconds of the video, I feel like we have made a lot of progress and I'm very excited to continue the editing process.

Join The Army

I found this image while browsing on deviant art. I thought it was just a bit, well true in a sense?

Explosions

Whilst filming today, one of our actors brought along a fake grenade which we used. So, we wanted to see if there was any way of making an explosion effect when we edit the clip. These are some videos on YouTube which I thought were easy and helpful:

Last Shoot

We have one more shoot to do before we have all our footage and before we can properly begin to edit. This shoot will be in Watnall again, partly in a field near Laura's house, and partly inside Laura's house. The shots we have left to do are the shots of the soldiers in training (doing drill etc) and the shots of the soldier and his girlfriend. We are hoping to get this done within the next 2 weeks, but of course it depends mainly on the availability of our actors.
We think that this shoot will only take about 2 hours, and after it's done we will be ready to get stuck in to the editing process.

Main shots; complete!

Today we shot all of the soldiers in combat shots (and more!). We were filming in the forest for 5 hours and weren't disturbed at all. (not that we would be because the land is private). There were however some people walking their dogs but they read the signs and so knew it wasn't real. When we saw them, we told the actors to put their guns on the floor so as not to scare anyone. All of the dog walkers which we encountered were really friendly and didn't seem to mind at all. 

All of our actors were very good, and brilliant to work with. They listened to everything we said, and also put forth their own thoughts and ideas involving movements etc.

Overall, I think the shoot was a great success, I just hope all the shots have turned out OK!

Soldiers

These are some of our favorite photographs from filming the narrative of our music video

Narrative Outline

These are notes that I made to help us whilst filming the narrative section of our song.

·         Soldiers face – looking past the camera >>Close up>>1Sec

·         Another soldier looking scared >>Close up>>1Sec

·         Another soldier looking scared >>Close up>>1Sec

·         Camo paint- soldiers >> midshot >> 3Sec

·         Soldiers feet marching >> low angle >> mid/long >>2Sec

·         Side of soldier face (looking determined) >> close up>> 3Sec

·         Shot down the row of soldiers >>pan>>mid shot>>3Sec

·         Soldier preparing to run >> tilt>> long shot>> 2Sec

·         Soldier kissing triad necklace >> mid/close>> 1sec

·         Flashes of soldiers faces (10) >> 2Sec each

·         Connor shouting at soldiers (over shoulder – with them standing at ease)>> 2Sec

·         Feet – running >>low angle>>long shot>>1Sec

·         Running >>from side

·         Running>>from behind

·         Soldier handing a gun to Sam >>3Sec

·         Pan face to gun >>tilt>>mid shot>>2Sec

·         Soldiers running (guns pointing forward – crouched run)>>long shot>> 2Sec

·         Falls into shot on the ground – starts shooting>>camera on ground>> mid>>2sec

·         Soldiers shooting from different levels>>pan>>1sec

·         Commander shouting instructions >>high angle>> close up>> 1sec

·         All soldiers shooting >>long shot>>1Sec

·         Running >>low angle>>mid shot>>1sec

·         Soldier goes behind tree >>close/mid>>2Sec

·         Shot from other side of tree >>mid/long>>2sec

·         Soldier turning back around (looks scared – mimes “DARKNESS FALLS”) >>close up>>1sec

·         Holding triad

·         Pan up from soldier holding triad, looks into camera, WAR FACE >> tilt>>5sec

·         Commander –looking round giving instructions (soldiers on floor) >>low angle>>1sec

·         Looking scared, heavy breathing (on floor)>>low angle>>close up>>1sec

·         Looking scared, heavy breathing (on floor)>>low angle>> Extreme close up>>1sec

·         Showing soldiers crawling >>long shot>>2sec

·         Showing soldiers crawling >>long shot>>2sec

·         All soldiers look round –SUDDENLY- >> low angle >> 1sec

·         All soldiers looking round still. Connors head snaps back round towards Camera (stunned)

·         Connor shouting >>close up>> 1sec

·         Soldiers crawling (panicked) >> mid/long>>2sec

·         Sam looking panicked –stands up (SLOW MO) >> close up >> 2sec

·         Different soldiers turn to look (SLOW MO)>>close up>>2sec

·         Sam finishing standing up (finished raising gun)>>tilt >>mid shot>>2sec

·         PAN OF SIDE OF GUN >>close up >>2Sec

·         Sam’s face + gun >>from side>> close up>>1sec

·         Soldiers panicked on floor (shouting – GET DOWN!) >>mid>>2sec

·         Connor Yelling >>close up>>1sec

·         Sam’s face >>Extreme close up>> 1sec

·         Waist down (legs – steps forward- away from others)>>mid shot>>1sec

·         Sam walking  + shooting from side >> long shot >>1sec

·         Sam’s face –EYES (has been shot) >>Extreme close up>>1sec

·         Soldiers reaction >>mid shot>>2sec

·         Sam drops gun (SLOW MO) >> see gun fall to floor>>2sec

·         Sam falling >>several angles>>2-3sec

·         Soldiers getting up – shouting “SAM” >> close/mid>>2sec

·         Soldiers getting up >>long shot>>1sec

·         Camera on floor –Sam falls into shot- dead >>2sec

·         FACE >>close up>>1sec

·         Soldiers running to him >>long>>2sec

·         POV – Soldiers running to him >> long shot>>2sec

·         Sam blinking >> Extreme close up>> 2sec

·         Sam’s POV of Connor standing over him >> 2sec

·         Sam’s POV of Cathy standing over him >> 2sec

·         Cathy smiling >> close up>> 1sec

·         Sam’s face –Smiles back + closes eyes >>Extreme close up>>2sec

·         From Connor POV – seeing his hands shaking Sam >> 2 sec

·         Trying to resuscitate>> low>>mid shot>>3sec

·         2 of soldiers hug>>mid shot>>2sec

·         Connors face (deflated) >>close up>>1sec

·         Connor stands – raising gun (soldiers stood behind looking angry)>> Tilt>>long shot>> 6sec

   

Plan of Action: 26th

Tomorrow, we will be conducting our main soldier shoot. Me and Laura will meet at Cathy's at 9.20 in order to complete her make-up and hair. We will meet our actors at the location at 10am. We have written down our key scenes from the shot list that must be done tomorrow in detail and we have also written a list of equipment that we require. This afternoon Cathy and I, are going to procure the guns. I am going to try and paint them in black acrylic leaving the orange tip on. We will remove it during filming and put it back on afterwards. 

Platoon Trailer

This is the trailer for the war film; Platoon. I thought that we could gain some ideas from it and a feel of brotherhood and team work.

Google Trends 3

We attempted to find a google trend graph for pretty much every single aspect of our video. We searched bonfires as obviously the graph shows that they are most popular near the end of the year and this fits in with the timing in our video. We also found a graph for the popularity of the drummer Shannon Leto; brother of Jared. He has increased in popularity since 2010 when there latest album was released.

Google Trends 2

Google Trends 1

Spray Painting Our Guns

Seen as the guns which we have found are dark blue we may be required to spray paint them. We may leave one side unsprayed so that it is clear to others, just in case, that it is in fact a toy gun.

These are some tips for spray painting that I found.

This is a video that I found on how to paint guns fall camo. There are many other tutorials on the same channel for different styles.