Print Productions

Learning Parts

There aren't going to be successful visuals if the performances aren't convincing and so Oli and Lucy will need to really get into learning the guitar tabs and lyrics. Filming begins in roughly two weeks which should hopefully be plenty of time have these learnt.

Props

Throughout the planning process I've been keeping a list of props as ideas developed in the notes section of my phone:

 

Most of these things are everyday objects and so just like with the costumes, they are fairly straightforward and cheap to obtain. As soon as I could I began collecting ice-cream tubs with a total of around 5 and if any more are needed there are cheaper alternatives to the branded tubs below that still looked like everything they need to be, which is simply an ice-cream tub.



The temporary green-hair dye has been something I've used before and can be bought quite cheaply from Claire's.
As for the all important pineapple, Asda is my chosen destination where they have a decent selection all year round. And just to be on the safe side, I'll be buying an extra pineapple, as similar as possible to the first in-case of potential damages, and after all, one has to be cut up at the end.

Items I forgot to include are the knife and guitar. I plan to use a kitchen knife of Lucy's so as not to cause issues with transportation and possible injury.
Luckily as was established pretty early on, Oli has his own guitar as pictured below - which is perfect as he doesn't have to take responsibility for another person's property and will be familiar with playing it.


With props there always tends to be something that ends up forgotten but a little closer to the shoot I'll be making a comprehensive props list so as to refer to and document this best

Rest of Cast Costumes

Luckily, everybody else is straightforward. Bethany is the only other person who needs to wear normal clothes as she is seen to be strangled on the swing. She's got quite a bit to choose from, all relatively conservative which is what we want:

The rest of the cast are seen only during the 'Ice-Cream' scenes, which essentially involves wearing pyjamas which everybody has:



The only other exception is Oli as he will be seen wearing the Hawaiian shirt I managed to win on eBay and a pair of shorts. Simple.

There may need to be tweaks along the way but as the costumes are so simple, this shouldn't be much of an issue.

Lucy's Costume 3

Luckily I managed to find the skirt. The connotations of punk that tartan brings should work well with the leather to juxtapose the sweet vintage styling's.

Considering the other girls (which are currently Jess and Katie) I want the pair of them to wear denim jackets (which I know they both have) with the addition of:
- Denim shorts and thick tights for Katie (she owns)
- Red skinny jeans for Jess (she owns)
- Red vest top for Katie (I own)
- Blank vest top for Jess to have aggressive slogan written on (cheap as £2 from Primark)

I have found it a great benefit to cast friends to cast as I already know the personalities they can portray as well as what's in their wardrobes (although it would be careless not to confirm).

Lucy's Costume 2

It seems that Lucy doesn't have anything of her own that's fits it with vintage goody girl style. However this shouldn't really be a problem as it would be perfectly plausible for her to wear a 'regular' outfit that can be picked out closer to the shoot date.

Luckily she was able to find some items for the scene where her and two girls will be moving in sync, acting pretty much as symbols of when 'breakup girls' go from craving sympathy to scary. The leather jacket and shirt would work great for this character phase, however the skirt doesn't really gel. Fortunately I should have a skirt that fits the bill...



Health and Safety 2

Thinking more along the lines of what the scenes I want to shoot entail, there are actually quite a few risks to consider. This is mostly based on the hazards caused by the actual performances or the environments I have chosen to put the performers in.

The following are things to be taken into consideration:
- Producing a key from Lucy's mouth: as with anything that someone would put in their mouth, for hygiene it would need to cleaned thoroughly both before it goes in and afterwards so as not to spread bacteria. There is also the risk of choking and so Lucy will have to remain very calm whilst the key is in her mouth and try not to keep it too far back.
- Strangling: this is a no-brainer really. Obviously the intention is not to actually strangle nor does the strangling need to be serious (we're keeping this still relatively light and up-beat after all) but care still needs to be taken when Lucy attempts this. She'll need to make sure her grip is more gentle than we are meant to believe and that not only does she not shake too vigorously, but also inform Bethany of exactly have vigorous she will be shaking. Also, as this will be shot on swings in the park, we will need to take into consideration that there may be young families around who may be startled and discomforted by this kind of action and so filming would be preferable when little to nobody is around.
- Sharp knife: the presence of a knife is always a danger and although this will only be seen resting on the table it will still be used to cut up the pineapple pieces (if pre-cut is not available) and so this needs to be done on an appropriate surface with fingers well out if the way.
- Tissues: with these and any item left on the floor there is the hazard of slipping or tripping. Care will then need to be taken to ensure items on the floor are avoided and that there is a big enough 'clear area'.

Blocking

Below is my completed PowToon featuring the work I did to work out my blocking. I am very pleased with the outcomes and information I came back with.

Locations Confirmation

Luckily the locations I plan to use are either public places (that will simply require us to maintain respecting the fellow public) or houses of friends I am close to and have already expressed permission for me to use, as both Lucy and Oli confirmed when I made the enquiry mentioned in the post 'Locations Permission'.

The final locations are:
- Cripplegate Park
- Lucy's Bedroom
- Lucy's Livingroom
- Oli's Hallway

All areas are in pretty close proximity to one another and have plenty of extra space for equipment and any extra cast members who may not be immediately used at the time.

Lucy's Costume

Lucy's character is by exterior, your typically sweet and over cheerful girl. She therefore needs and outfit that compliments this and also has the 60s-esque vibe I would like to carry forward. Luckily, Lucy wears similar size clothes to me and I have this dress which I think is perfect:

I think that this coupled with the hair in bunches will work really well. However, she'll need something underneath if we film outside as December tends not to very warm, but any long sleeved top underneath should work and some leggings. I would like to find a secondary outfit however, to create some variety, but I will suggest this to Lucy soon.

Storyboard

Here is my final decided storyboard which I didn't think would be completed by now. It runs in real time with the music although there are directions written on some frames and so it may be worth pausing so as to be able to read these directions fully.

Improvising Pays Off!

Straight away I've found a free presentation website called PowToon. I've had a little play around and it seems both straightforward to use, free and just as appealing (if not in some cases more so) as Prezi. Now I'll go about creating my 'blocking' presentation.

Learning to Improvise

I had hoped to be able to use Prezi to create a presentation of the blocking, however it seems that it isn't cooperating right now... just like yesterday. And so to spare both my time and my patience I'm about to search for an alternative.

Locations Permission

In order to be able to actually film, I will need to make sure I have permission to film in my desired locations. Luckily, the majority of shots take place indoors and can be shot in friends' houses. I would ideally like to use Lucy's house but I will have to see if it is available.

Health & Safety

In terms of Health & Safety, the things I wish to attempt are not particularly hazardous.

In my case, the most serious dangers come with the standard equipment; cameras, lighting etc. The procedures needed to make sure that this equipment is safe would be:
- Taping down loose cables and marking off - serious injury can be caused from tripping on cables or from pulling equipment over.
- Placing lighting in areas with enough space - the large lamps can be particularly dangerous if knocked over as they contain mercury which is poisonous.
- Ensuring electrical safety - all plugs need to be correctly plug in and not taught from transporting ( although taping down ensures that they cannot be pulled to far)
- Ensuring camera is secure - on standard tripods, the cameras screw onto a bay that is then slid and locked into place on the tripod top. If either part is not correctly secured then the camera can fall and either break or fall onto someone, causing injury.

These issues are all easily carried out though it would probably be best to have a checklist when it gets to the time for shooting.

Paramore Album Covers

These are Paramore's previous album covers in order of release. All of them have very specific iconography with the Paramore fandom. This is probably partially due to the invasive use of colour.

'All We Know Is Falling' features the stark contrast of a very bold red featured in the sofa against far more desaturated greens and blues.

'Riot!' has an equally, if not more so, loud appearance as the black and white is accented with a rusty red. 'Brand New Eyes' does not have such and aggressive use of contrast but it is still very prominent. The yellow and black stand out enough as it is but the grey background then sets the wings apart from it again.

The layout is also a key part of the appeal. In 'All We Know Is Falling' the layout is very clear and simple. The focus on the sofa at a fairly low angle makes the title appear elevated and more prevalent - especially as the shadow of the tree on the left of the sofa makes it appear in the centre of the setting rather than just at the front of it. 

The layout of 'Riot!' again is simple but with purpose. The band members are slightly off centre, at a slight tilt to the right hand side; the biggest 'RIOT!' does so also. This eliminates any sense of perfection. Also, having the contrast turned right up on their images and creating the black and white effect makes the band seem somewhat integrated into the background. This gives us a sense that they really embody the message they are trying to convey, that they are a part of Riot! and that they remain involved in their music.

Even 'Brand New Eyes', with it's clean cut first appearance, upon looking further, embodies non-conformity. Though the text is neatly placed in the corner, the blue pins that run horizontally do not do so perfectly. Also, a seemingly random green line runs vertically (but still with a slight diagonal tilt) somewhere between half and a third of the way across the cover.

These covers appeal more to a particularly visual stimuli. their purpose is to peak interest in the album itself rather than sell the artists (identifiable by the lack of a clear band image). You get the sense that the music is the main benefactor as these images are designed to create visual music synaesthesia on a smaller scale than a music video would. As backup to this, in the music video to 'Misery Business' featured on the 'Riot!' album, the word 'Riot!' is written repeatedly on the walls featured in the majority of the background, as well as on the floor and on some of the instruments. Also, as I have mentioned before, the mirrors on the back of the 'Brand New Eyes' album are featured in 'Playing God'. There is also clear imagery and lyrical reference to butterflies in 'Brick By Boring Brick' - another main track on 'Brand New Eyes'.

For my album cover, I could then consider incorporating some of the imagery I plan to create in my video into the artwork.

Performers and Casting Meeting

The following is a voice recording of my meeting with the friends of mine who I'd accumulated with an interest in this project. Not all of the people here would be needed but the main purpose was to find and confirm the cast members which would be essential for fleshing out both the acting and musical performance. Also, and arguably most importantly, I needed to find out whether or not availability would be an issue.

Print Production Design Sketches

Here are my sketched designs for my Print Productions Digipack. I wanted something that was clever and a little bit art but didn't want to imitate the existing design (link). And so, I drew inspiration from just the type and then a little bit of a mixture between the essence of the video for 'Playing God' and my own character that Lucy plays.

The cover features 2 fists pressed against a wall (probably brick) with 'PARAMORE' written across them in black marker. I know I want the background to be dark - the foreground will be lit quite harshly - but I would also like to see some instruments in the back, possibly a drum kit. There is a wonky black frame that runs around the perimeter which will continue over onto the back.

The black continues in the ripped of ripped looking strips which I will add with one of  Photoshop's paint tools. This strips house the song titles at jaunty angles as to give a little more interest, against perhaps a light wood colour, similar to the desk seen beneath the paper.

As we open I want to see a fairly brightly lit surface (most likely a piece of stiff cardboard) within the same environment and covered in  shiny grey masking take, again with 'PARAMORE' adorning it in black marker.

On the underside is the disk. This will probably be white with a scratchy black pattern, similar to the strips on the back, and featuring a white (or grey) little 'x' made of masking tape photoshopped in.

The Head Inside Right features Oli and another male (most likely Peter) sat in the dark with the harsh light masking taped across the wrists, mouth and to their chair. They both look towards the Head Inside Left panel...

Which feature Lucy in the same environment holding the masking tape dangling in a dress and bun and gesturing for the pair to 'shush'. The idea is that you see this side before you open the pack fully and then you see the more shocking sight of the boys bound up.

I would like the advert to simply feature one of these images so that it ties in nicely together and so I can spend as much time as possible getting any edits to look just right.

Digipack Trial

Here is just a quick experiment to see what kind of format and layout the digipack will be and what can be fit on it. This was done very quickly but using tools I haven't used before.

Time for some more Time Management

Over half term (the week just passed) a lot of unexpected things came up which caused me to be very busy. As a result I have had to re-evaluate my deadlines so that I can still get everything done on time: