Set Building

The afternoon before shooting Alex and I were able to go along and help with the painting and putting together of the set. The set for our video had three main functions: inside the space craft, the outside of the space craft and the blue screen background. Our first shot of the day according to the shooting schedule was the rappers within the space craft so we therefore set up the ship to save time the following day. Apart from the initial painting there were other areas like ensuring the panel on the set were straight and which colours to use on the knobs of the control pads that took up a lot of time.

We felt that by putting in small details and paying attention to detail it would create more of a professional vide and ultimately make our video look better. One of the largest issues we had whilst set building was deciding what to do with the doors. Firstly we had decided to try to incorporate them into the set so they could be shown at all time and equally so the audience would be more aware that the alien was leaving the ship that had the rappers in, not that they were separate. But after a short chat, we felt that it would be more advantageous to not include the doors and have them separately and instead build up narrative of many reactions shots of the rappers from the actions of the alien. Now the only issue was getting the doors to open at the same time and at the same speed with people pulling them apart. This was very difficult, especially with lots of smoke and flashing lights but after around four attempts the doors were starting to move evenly and the monitor showed promising results.

Another issue we discovered on the day was that we were intending to use the green screen; however our alien had previously been painted green. Therefore he would not show up when in after effects. So luckily a blue screen was also available for us to use, otherwise our video would have been a disaster!

The reason for the attention to detail within the spacecraft set was to tie in with the music video convention of reality. We wanted to audience to feel as if the band could actually be in a space ship, making them feel, even more so, the quirky nature of the band. The more real the set felt, the bigger impression the band would have on the audience in my opinion. Equally, it would also high light their seemingly low socio-economic grouping, that they are in a fabulous state of the art space ship, yet they are lower classed. Specifically, the part of the set that ties the most into the narrative strand of the video is the control boards located on the left hand side of the set. This relates dominantly as there are parts of the video where the rapper are frantically switching the knob to help stabilise the aircraft.

Set Design

We hope to build a replica of this set in the studio

We used this drawing to show to the media teachers how we wanted the studio space to look. By having a diagram with labels indicating colour scheme and taking into account the size of the studo, this will help them to visualise the set. For example the background colour was light silver, used as most of the other spacecrafts we looked at for a point of reference. The light silver colour worked well as a background colour as it did not detract from the performance element of the media product. Equally, we also noted briefly about small flashing red LEDS appearing as if they were buttons on the control boards which are evident in other sci-fi themed media products like Star Trek. We tried to make full use of the studio space we had available to us and space out the props accordingly but also kept in mind the fact that the rappers would be running around the whole et so we needed to ensure the right mise en scene was provided everywhere. There were only a few subtle changes to the set from out sketch to the set of the sctual filming including a different type of lighting and one less control pannel within the ship due to lack of space.

Location Ideas

This picture is of Guilford high street, our first choice of shooting locations.

Essentially, we need to find a place relatively near school to shoot to ensure it is time efficent. If we were shooting an hour away we would lose atleast 2 hours travel time, and as we need daylight in our shoot it is vital we do not venture too far. Alex and I branstormed what kind of back drop we wanted, and decided Guilford high street would be a good location. The vibrant colours but still its not too busy to shoot in; especially on a monday midday. The highstreet could be used as it has shops the alien can go into and we could shoot the hocolate scene there at only a 25 minutes drive away. We also though that Guilford was not a particlary modern town, and the vibrant colours of the shops could comply with the 1950s theme.

Time Line sheets

These were sheets that we used to establish what kind of shots we wanted and when. These have been very useful when story boarding the music video, creating a reference to what goes where. We did completed them by going through the whole song and deciding what went better where. It was crucial that the lyrics went with what was happening in the frame and that the cut also went with the beat of the song. Although some sequences in terms of editing will change when we ge to that point, atleast we know what needs to be filmed. This was a very crucial stage of pre production and took a couple of days to complete.

Album covers of the Beastie Boys

By looking at past album covers for the Beastie Boys we got a better understanding of the star image of the band. Two of the three albums show the band on a street, conveying to the onlooker they are an organic band that evolved from street culture. From their outfits in all of the pictures we can see their gangster like style of shell suites and high top trainers. Their music is shown to be very important to the band as a boom box is featured in two thirds of the slbum covers. This may also be used to show they like load music and their slightly old school music taste, not conforming to the stereotypical rap we see nower days.

Pictures of the band

I have included pictures of the band in my blog to show the image the created for themselves through pr. The image we would like to create would be similar to this and we will show this in our single cover and picture of the band.

Props list and costume

Costumes, hair and makeup:

Rappers:
• Silver jumpsuits with their own trainers
• Gold chains
• Base ball caps
• Their hair if showing will be gelled upwards but at least two of the group should be wearing hats

Alien:
• Silver jumpsuit
• The make up will be green face paint


Props list
• 3 light sabers
• Two units for the background in the studio that will be painted to look like machinery on a usual spacecraft (included in set design)
• Mini spacecraft replica

Cast list and contact details

Alex Roberts
Peaslake
xxxxxxxxxxx

Stephanie White
Peaslake
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Ian
Ewhurst
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Ted rowndtree
peaslake
xxxxxxxxxxx

Sparky
Turrets
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CALL SHEET

8:40 am : hair and costumes for rappers

9:00 am : shoot begins (studio) with rappers doing the rap

11:00 am: break

12:oo am: more rapping filming doing their funny stunts

1: 00 pm: Lunch

2.15 Pm: hair, makeup and set up stage for the alien

2:25 PM: start
Shooting alien scenes (studio)

5:30 PM: alien shooting finish’s, clear up the studio

6:00 PM Finish shot day


We made a shooting schedule for our day of filming to give to the cast to let them know what we were planning to film and when. It is advantageous to have one as some students were unable to get out off all lessons of the day so they could know when they would be needed. Equally, we had to know what the set had to be left like on the Friday evening for a prompt start on Monday.
I posted it on my blog to show the various stages of planning that must be put into making a pop promo. I find, the more you can plan prior to the day of actually filming, the lower the possibility of anything going wrong. Thus, Alex and I wanted to ensure every aspect of the day had been accounted for and checked over to ensure a smooth day and not to waste any time.