Sunday, 18 April 2010
Sunday, 11 April 2010
The End
So here it is....
Cheater - Tramp Etiquette
Directed and Produced by Bobbi Gosen, Charlotte Lowe and Danni Gisbourne
Audience Feedback
- 'It doesn't look professional enough'
- 'It takes a while to realise that she is cheating on him'
- 'It's missing something'
- 'The bit where they are giving her gifts is boring'
These were very useful comments. The next day Danni used her frees to re-film the opening scene and edit it into the film. It was then much more obvious that she was cheating on him from the beginning.
In the lessons Danni showed us her re-filmed and edited work. Needless to say Charlotte and I were shocked, since we hadn't expected it, but we eventually agreed that it was more informative than before. Throughout the next lesson, whilst Charlotte and I were working on the ancillary tasks, Danni added filters, adjusted RGB balance mix and gamma. This made the video look more professional.
Danni took the altered DVD home to show her family, the feedback was more positive this time
- 'it looks more professional'
- 'I like how the middle part spins, it makes it look like it's doing four rotations of a cube'
- 'I like the band being darker'
There were still a couple of negative criticisms, but we decided to overlook them as everyone else we had showed the DVD to had disagreed with them.
Creating the DVD cover
We used the information that the band had written about themselves on their myspace as a blurb on the back cover. What better way for the audience to find out who the band really are, but for them to describe themselves?
Poster
I cut out each individual member one at a time, resized them and layered them ontop of eachother so that it looked as if they were next to eachother on swings. It is a very tedious and slow process, but the finished product makes it worth it.
We wanted to maintain Tramp Etiquette's signiture colour so we put a deep purple colour onto the poster. We used white writing which stood out really well on the purple. We found that a black background was very effective also. We used gold writing on the black which is another of Tramp Etiquette's signiture colours. Since we couldn't decide which one we preferred, we decided to keep both, meaning that magazines which may want to advertise our poster could choose which colour scheme they preferred.
Ancillary task
We started off looking at the band's original CD cover to see what kind of image they were giving off so that we could develop it and incorporate it into our poster and DVD cover. We wanted to make sure that we involved the energy of the band within our own work.

This cover is clearly playing on the name 'Tramp Etiquette', it connotes that all classes have certain norms and values which they live by. The juxtaposition of the italic writing against the bold 'eye for an eye' carries on the theme of opposites and also reflects the fun personality of the band. The picture looks as if it has been done by hand and is quite traditional, this shows that the band is not too fussed about trappings and trimmings and that it is 'all about the music'.
The purple used is the band's signiture colour, so we decided that we would like to incorporate this into our design and perhaps sell it through as a part of the bands' identity.
We decided to see what else is on the market by way of album covers. We decided to look at 'Rolling Stone Readers' 25 Best Album Covers of 2007'. This is a very valid secondary source since they appeal to a similar target audience to that of our film.
From this research, we realised that:
- We should have the font in a single colour
- We should use a single eye-catching image
- The colour scheme should either use lots of different colours or should be fairly monochrome.
We decided to look only at the indie/rock genre of music to see what kind of album covers other bands in a similar field were releasing.
They are all quite basic and simplistic, like Tramp Etiquette's original CD cover, suggesting that the music is the most important thing. However, we decided that colour is important because our CD is sitting on a shelf amongst 100 other albums, it needs to be eyecatching.
We particularly like the mosaic style used on the Killers album as it created a pattern which they had used on their previous album. We felt using something like this could create band consistancy.
It's Complete...almost
except we all needed to look at it and put our own little finishing touches to it...
- Sharpen the cuts
- Create consistency with the colour filters
- Play with dissolves so the cuts aren't all so blunt
- Add credits perhaps?
- Film the beginning scene
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Editing
Editing the storyline was easier because we had a specific space in which we had to fit it. This meant that we had to be brutal about cutting things, hence only putting in the best of our footage.
Our idea of having the boys change into eachother like in the Next adverts left us technolocially overwhelmed and we were unable to use this idea. However, Danni and I found a cube spin which was a more than adequate second best. It was really just as good as the Next effect would have been, but also has the bonus of creating the illusion of time passing.
Filming the Storyline.
1) We realised that we didn't have a camera.
2) Jerome and Grace both had to pull out of the filming last minute.
3) My train was delayed to get into Berkhamsted.
Unfotunatley, the day didn't improve all that much...
Luckily, we managed to convince Danni's sister that she would like to be in our film and bribed Tom Baker to fill in for Jerome with promises of Dominoes pizza later that afternoon.
Danni then saved the day by going to get the camera from school. We (eventually) all met at Danni's house where we were expecting to film, but Danni's mum had decided to redecorate that week, so we all went down the road to her Gran's house which she kindly (and bravely) allowed us to film.
Danni went off down the road with her sister and Eamonn to take pictures of them looking like a couple which he would burn at the end of the video. Meanwhile, Charly and I set up the room to look as if a younger couple might live there. Being very careful to move photographs and ornaments which didn't fit in with the mise en scene. We started to talk about where we could put the camera and which angles and lighting we should use to create the right ambience.
We began filming the sofa scene, but because we hadn't had the camera that morning, therefore hadn't had a chance to charge it, it soon ran out of battery. We then had to wait for ages as we charged the camera.
Once it was charged we decided that it was best to move on and film Danni's sister walking out of the bedroom, down the stairs, out the door and into the car. As we were all standing outside filming Danni's sister walk out the house, she shut the door behind her. A feeling of doom fell over the group as we realised that the house key was sitting on the hall table! We had to wait a few hours for another key to be cut... perfect time for Tom to get his pizza! We filmed a few more scenes outside before the camera ran out of battery again.
By the time we got back inside the house, it was beginning to get dark so we quickly filmed the last of the outside scenes. We charged up the camera again before filming the rest of the inside scenes. ie. on the sofa, in the bedroom, and the girl being caught cheating by her boyfriend.
We charged up the camera, for the final time, and went down the road to film Eamonn, the estranged boyfriend, sitting on the park bench and flicking through photos before finally throwing them on the ground, burning them and walking away. When we reached the bench, we realised that the lamp wasn't very bright. Charly had the genius idea of using Danni's car headlamps as extra lighting. It illuminated him and made him look alone, but in control of the situation. Almost as soon as we had finished filming, the battery on the camera died, I kid you not.
So after a day of disasters, we had finally finished our filming. We all went home for a well earned rest!
The aftermath...
We used input and output points to break up the footage, rather than having one long piece of footage which we have to go the whole way through each time. We burned the song from the CD to iTunes, then imported it to Final Cut Express. We started to fit teh footage of the band to the chorus, doing it this way round means that we will have the lip syncing perfect, then we can fit the storyline around it, rather than having to do it the other way.
We had a slight cast change too. We decided that since James had cut his hair short he looked too much like Jerome. The band offered us a replacement who they assured us was perfect for the part. We also decided that Grace would work better than Danni as the girl in our film as she does A-level drama and was likely to be more convincing.
When checking the final details of our storyline, we decided that we would rather film the boyfriend finding out about his cheating girlfriend in his house than Costa for a number of reasons:
1. We would have to gain permission from Costa to film on their premesis, which would take up time that we didn't have.
2. To keep moving locations on the only day that we had available for filming would be a complete time waster.
3. We would have to get written permission from every person who walked through the background of the film, and have to organize people so that they weren't in the way of the film.
In light of this, we decided to have the boyfriend catching his cheating girlfriend at home because it made the whole betrayal more stinging. It also showed that the girl wasn't just out with a friend for coffee and was most definitley cheating.
Filming the Band
We didn't have much time as the band had to be in Tring as they had a recording session at 6.00. This meant that we had until 5.30 to get everything we needed. The pressure was well and truly on!
We used two sets of four coloured lights which had already been set up for the school disco the night before, they were fitted so that they flashed in time to the music which was very effective. We also had four free standing spotlights, which meant that we could enhance and lighten the appearence of the band, taking away any shadow which may fall due to natural light, hopefully making the footage look more professional.
We set up the cameras so that we had Camera 1 directly in front of the stage, about half way down the hall. We had Camera 2 to the left of the stage, and Camera 3 to the right. We had the band repeat the song until we had a varied amount of angles and distances from the band.
After we had filmed from the floor, we moved the three cameras up to the stage and filmed each band member playing through the song individually.
Although it was a highly charged, stressful and busy afternoon. Essentially, the band were lovely to work with, it was enjoyable and very successful!
Camera Angles
We broke down the song into sections and decided what each camera would film and for how long. We felt that this pre-preparation would help us on the actual day of filming as we wouldn't have to keep deciding where to move the cameras and we would be far more efficient. It was incredibly important that filming went as smoothly as possibly because it was the only day the band could film altogether.
Storyboarding
...Ready, Steady...
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Meeting the Band
We began to get a feel for the band and decided to explore how they portrayed themselves.
'Everything you love, but slightly better!!!!'
'Feel free to paint your own influences and references on the Tramp Etiquette Sound....but no doubt that will change next week.'
These quotes suggest a versitile and easy going band who are open to all sorts of music and influences.
We then decided to research some Indie/Rock music videos to cement our ideas and find out which conventions we would like to follow.
Both of these videos show the band playing and singing, this helps the Showing the band playing live in what looks to be a ‘gig’ setting is very common in ‘indie/rock’ videos. It helps the audience to develop a real feeling for the band’s energy and enables them to feel as if they are part of the song, as well as helping the band to re-create and reflect what the atmosphere would be like if the audience watching the music video went to one of their gigs, which is in itself a form of self promotion.
...all star cast?
We chose Danni because she is attractive and well put together.
We thought James would be good as the boyfriend as he has quite an 'indie' look and does drama which is a bonus!
Jerome was good for the 'other man' because he had shorter hair than James and would be easy to tell them apart in the video.Friday, 19 March 2010
Research.
We constructed a questionnaire to find out what our audience particularly liked and disliked about music videos.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/formResponse?formkey=dHgtNG1MOXVwUG1CT2NCVWZQbjZHcVE6MA&theme=0AX42CRMsmRFbUy1jZGZhYTJjOC0xYzc1LTQyYzEtYWM3MC1mMjQ1YzEwYWM3NzE&ifq
Once we had enough responses, we were able to create graphs and analyse our information.

Because we advertised our questionnaire through facebook, it was likely that we weren't going to have a particularly wide range of ages answering it. However, we felt that we had encapsulated our target audience within the age groups above, and this is who we needed to cater to.

This graph shows us that indie is the genre of the masses, at least for the sake of this graph. This stood us in good sted, as the band have quite an indie vibe.
This graph showed us that the storyline is very important to our target audience, we needed to make something exciting and enthralling that would maintain the audiences' attention throughout.
We decided that we should research other songs about cheating or being cheated on and watch their videos. A few of the most popular were...
1) I heard it through the grapevine - Marvin Gaye
2)Jolene - Dolly Parton
3)Me and Mrs. Jones - Billy Paul
4)Lips of an angel -Hinder
5)It wasn't me - Shaggy
6)Secret Lover - Atlantic Starr
7)Cry me a River - Justin Timerlake
8)Careless Whisper - George Micheal
9)Before he cheats - Carrie Underwood
10)Jealous Guy - John Lennon
'Before he Cheats' was a particular inspiration because it relates to the song 'Cheater' in the way in which it suggests getting revenge on their other half. We wanted to reflect the emotion of the song in our video.
From our research we decided that we wanted to have a storyline which reflected the lyrics of the song, ensuring that the viewer connects to the song and perhaps would draw on it emotionally. The song was about a girl cheating on her boyfriend, and the jilted boyfriend gaining power and moving on as the song moves along. We wanted to portray his growth from when he found out to the end.
We had a chat and started to come up with a few ideas that we could incorporate into our video...
Charlotte Lowe came up with the inspired idea of having the boyfriend throw pictures of the couple on the floor at the end of the film and setting them on fire. We felt that it was a nice symbolism of the end of their relationship and would also be a really effective ending to our film.
For the beginning of the film, we had been inspired by a previous A2 video, where a junkie revisits himelf from the future. The idea was that the beginning and the end of the film would be quite similar, and be the boy going through the photos at either end. This meant that the video almost becomes his train of thought with everything inbetween the photos being what he imagines or remembers.
Charlotte and I came up with the idea of the boys sitting on the sofa and changing faces. We asked Mr Van Straten whether our idea was technically possible to make with our limited skill and the available resources. He said that our idea was technically possible, but would require an unbelievable amount of work. There were a series of next adverts which we found to reflect what we wanted.
I had the idea that we could show pictures of the two boys at the same time to show that the girl had been getting away with cheating for a long time. I took this inspiration from the Andy Warhol Marilyn Monroe prints. I am a big fan of his work and thought that this kind of style would be very effective.
Putting pen to paper...
We constructed a questionnaire to find out what audiences particularly liked and disliked about music videos.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4OJQKtPtrr_46m-QM2uX1wSqnK4a1wM0dhY_LrluXMMv3tCO2FFPu0kRGO68D7L_qBMEvyPDe6n1xDotYx9gdq6_woAlY7R6fpo9VZxrC0tj-tcCcZN1kRJZwiWY1DS5yd5telUqRYHo/s1600-h/quetionair.bmp
We wrote a synopsis of our initial ideas.

After constructing our synopsis we timed the verses so that we could work out how long each clip would have to be to fit around what we wanted to do. This meant that we were able to physically see if our inital synopsis would fit around the song.

In the beginning...
We went straight to 'myspace' the best place to find unsigned artists and stumbled across a few unsigned bands which we thought sounded good. We emailed them asking if we could use their music.
Danni then showed us a band called 'Tramp Etiquette'. We 'myspaced' them (www.myspace.com/tramp_etiquette) and had a listen to their music. One song, called 'Cheater' had really insightful lyrics and we thought that we could make a video with a story line to reflect this. We started throwing ideas around and getting very excited! Danni fortunatley knew a member of the band and was able to organize a meeting for the 8th of October to put our ideas across.




