Photoshoot

Today we did our band photoshoot for the album cover.

When deciding how to pose our band we researched bands of a similar genre. Particularly inspiring was the tongue-in-cheek style of the indie band Danananananaykroyd.

I learnt:

• How to set-up the photographic lights to flatter the actors and avoid shadows
• Use the 'reverse' option on the camera to create a stop-motion effect
• Encouringing my actors to laugh/interact to create natural looking shots

The shoot went very well and we achieved getting:

• Group shot for the front cover
• 'Party' shots for the inside
• Individual promotional shots for the website

Band Names

After a group discussion today, we have come up with ERWIN'S FELICIDE as our band name for the following reasons:

• Inspired by the scientific/philosophical problem of shrodinger's cat
• Felicide connotes death (a key theme of the emo genre) but is more subtle
• Erwin was Mr Shrodingers first name

Storyboarding

Storyboard

• The timings of our music video
• Serves as a reminder to us of what specific shots to shoot and to give our actors a general idea of what we want them to do
• Showed us how many shots we needed
• ANNOTATIONS ON REVERSE OF POST-ITS so we could order shots/put in length of shot

Storyboard - On wall behind edit suite

 Wanda put the effort into drawing the Post-Its because of her artistic abilities but we had all previously worked out generally what we wanted to happen and when.
 
The purple represents narrative shots and the green performance to we could create an even balance of the two. At this stage we are still planning where to place all of the performance shots, as the narrative shoot is our priority

 

Example CU of the performance/narrative sketches and the timeline in 5 second increments

In pairs we went around London to film a reccie to get shots for the storyboard

• We practised setting up a shot in a crowded areas and instructing actors from a distance
• The movements of the antagonists
• Listed all the shots we would attempt on the day
• Timed the different journeys to make the most effecient plan for the day
• We could then use these shots to explain to all our actors what was required on the day, to cut down directing time on the day

When we got back to school, Dom spent a week overcoming technical problems to edit the footage into this.

Album Cover Initial Ideas

Initial discussions/plans/personal ideas for the future of our album cover:

• The barcode idea is meant to be ironic as our audience/band are anti labels/branding, as individuality is vital
• I believe it will look effective as an album cover as the band's image is on the front (because its a debut band), but its not a convention of the genre so the subtlety will prevent the audience from being put off

Improvements:

• Replace the cartoon with a black and white image of the band - need to think of iconic, memorable image
• Add a colour album title to the top left to liven it up
• Change the 'I' in the name to '1' to make it more obvious that the title is where the numbers are usually
• Think up song titles for the back cover
• Add more colour to rest of the album cover to prevent it looking monotone
• I think a BLUE and ORANGE colourscheme would suit our band as it follows Angus's costume, and it breaks normal boundaries to look arty and different

Need to do before Half Term

The narrative shoot is in half term (next week), so before it we need to get done the following:

• Finish detailed shot list
• Storyboard
• Scheduele the day
• Practice the antagonists face paint
• Complete the antagonists costume
• Confirm Angus's costume
• Have meeting with all actors showing them the shots we need to get on the day
• Finalise with all cast and crew (Group x4, Angus, Antagonists x4, Tess, Robyn, Zarah) the exact times and arrangements of the day
• Plan food preparations for the day (snacks, drinks, lunch for the cast/crew)
• Organise make-up/hair stylings for the actors
• Get all filming equipment ready to go

Other:

• Group discussion on website
• Group discussion on album art/ideas
• Confirm studio for performance
• Confirm Angus and Tom's costumes for performance
• Ideas on band photo for album cover - and costume/props needed

Location Reccie 2

Today we went as a group to each of the narrative locations to plan/practise/film actual shots needed for Angus and the Antagonists on the day.

Kerry and I did the morning and achieved:

• Found locations on the South bank
• Found the ending scene location @ Westminster where Angus gets cornered
• Filmed possible shots in Westminster station
• Filmed locations and shots in Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square and Covent Garden
• Timed how long it took to get to each location
• The trains were also cancelled on many lines, so we found an alternative walking route
• Filmed shots for the actual video - opening shots of London (St Pauls and Piccadilly circus, to add in motion blur)

Personal Costume List

From the costume needed, I've made myself responsible for bringing the following:

• Blue tights
• Black/gold skirt
• Purple heeled boots
• Black shirt
• Beaded necklaces
• Back-up tights
• White/red/black facepaint (to order)
• White hair spray
• White shirt x2
• White braces