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Today's agenda focused on presenting our pitch to Zoe and John. We spent time beforehand deciding on who would speak on each subject so that we could be more confident in it. We chose to delegate based on people's preferences and strengths. For example, I spoke about the introduction and the target audience of the video, whilst Chloe spoke about the choreography. I think I lacked confidence when it actually came to presenting and I would like to be able to gain better presentation skills in the future. Speaking as part of a group made it much easier and allowed us to talk about what we felt confident in.

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Analysing took a step further today as we looked at contributing factors that you have to think about before filming anything and we had to choose which ones needed to be prioritised. This then led to us brainstorming ideas which helped us progress a lot quicker. The generation of ideas was a lot easier than I thought as everybody came up with ideas from different segments and then the idea sort of fell together in front of us. There is some communication problems with certain people within the group, but we are trying to work through this and making sure everybody feels included and make sure they feel like they can contribute towards the group discussions. Some of the group definitely contributes more than others, but as long as they are involved in the process in some way then we can definitely make it work.
Along with this, we looked into the legal complications such as getting risk assessments in place. I took it upon myself to email asking for risk assessments within the college to make sure it was safe to use the spaces and any dangers involved.

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This was where sat down and discussed where our location would be and the stimulus we were going to use against our dance piece. We also ran through other ideas just in case the one we chose didn't pull through the way we wanted so we had back up options.
We wanted the stimulus and location to link so it wasn't mismatched and that's why we chose 'Stereotypes of people at a train station' and it made sense to actually be at a train station and we are lucky enough to have one in the local area.

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My first thought was contacting the train station to see if it was acceptable for us to go and dance on the platform. However, after looking at the website there was no contact details or even an email address, so we thought the best way to ask would be to go to the train station and seek permission before we began filming there. We were granted permission and told when the quietest hours were so that there wasn't too many people to disrupt the filming.

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To help us start the choreography, we had to come up with characters for the piece to tie in with our stimulus of stereotypes of people at a train station. As we had all used the station before, we drew on past experiences within our own life and recollected personal events. The four characters we decided on were 2 dancers, preparing to go to an audition, a business woman and a teenager in a rush. The easiest way we could show this was through the use of costume and then apply movements to the character that would clearly distinguish them.

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We discussed props and costumes so we could bring them in ready to ensure that we had them all sorted. It also helped us to visualise the piece better and allow us to look like the characters we had chosen. As well as this, we started to think about movement and we decided that pedestrianised but would fit in better with the public surrounding the local area.
I thought of using a newspaper/magazine as this is something that can always be found at a train station as is usually read by people who are waiting for their trains as a way of passing the time or just generally catching up on events. This was a way of showing pedestrianised movements but also a way of incorporating dance into it and transitioning the shots.

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These are my 5 video's I chose to do quickly analyse. I tried to choose videos that were contrasting so that I could look at different things in each of them but I found that most of them shared particular aspects such as the style of dance or camera angles that they would use.
Him - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0CjUYCc7OQ

Beach birds- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IH_rrpj0CU

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Painted- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd2KM3qjcKk&t=29s

Horse- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTbSuC-U0OQ

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room with a view - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dn39w6_AlA

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For my in-depth analysis, I initially chose to study 'Him' by Kyle Hanagami, but I thought it would be an obvious choice so I decided to go out of my comfort zone and I chose 'Painted' by Dorotea Saykaly. Video I analysed - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd2KM3qjcKk

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Within this workshop we looked at different camera angles which included wide shots and close ups. We also learnt about the grid system which is split into thirds and particular parts must be placed within them to allow the shot to be effective.

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Wide shot, A shot that contains all 3 sectors within the third. Can see a person and the surroundings from this shot. Used to pan over large areas or to show an area that is taken up by a group of people.

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Medium shot, A shot that features 2 thirds of a person's body and a small frame of their surroundings to allow more of a close up in comparison to a wide shot.

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Medium close up, shows finer detailing and is focused more from the shoulders upwards so it can be used to see a characters facial expressions more clear in comparison to a medium shot.

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(From 30 seconds onwards). I took what I had learnt and I wanted to learn more about it so I had a clear understanding ready for when I produced my own work with the camera.

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15 Essential Camera Shots, Angles and Movements in Filmmaking

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Regardless of movement and the effect you want on the camera, it should always remain on the tripod to allow no movement of the camera. To Pan, it means to move from side to side whether frantically or smoothly. Zooming isn't used as much as people think as you could just choose to do close up on things rather than using the zoom effect but this is where you can move the lens to allow it to focus on something far away and make it appear closer. Tilting the camera means moving it up or down and switching in between and is used more as a transitional effect between shots.

Example of a pan-
https://learn.corel.com/blog/what-is-panning/

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Something crucial for filming, is to have a storyboard. This helps the person shooting to know: how many shots there are, how many seconds they need to last for, whats happening in the frame and what type of shot you want in terms of angles and direction. To learn the basics we were given a scenario and we had to storyboard it as though we were going to shoot it.

(Here is a famous example of a storyboard made for a small movie. There are obvious differences between my storyboard and theirs but the background similarities are still there that include pictures of the scene and directions to go alongside it to show what is happening and what they expect from the camera).

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My storyboarding shows my choreography and displayed underneath is directions of what the movements are, and the shots that I want for each frame. This should be enough information for the person filming to be able to get on with it and not have to ask many questions, if any at all. Above the pictures explains what number shot it is and how long it should last for in seconds. As a single shot, they should be quite short and none of mine exceeded 4 seconds as this is a long time in terms of film, which is something to think about as 4 seconds in dance is such a short space of time so everything has to be narrowed down to allow for a shot to be taken and not give too much time to it.

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I found this workshop quite difficult as we were learning how to edit using the software 'premiere'. Once I had figured out the basics however, it was much easier to navigate around the app it was just learning the basics that was difficult to get to grips with in the beginning. After this lesson, I felt confident enough to be able to edit successfully on my own or within my group.

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This is a screenshot from the software that we were using to edit the video's. As well as this there are other editing softwares that are available to use such as: Imovie, final cut and many others online accessible to everybody.

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This was my final piece of footage from my editing workshop today. I'm happy with the outcome as it was the first time I had tried editing, so now I know what I need to work on and how I can adapt to make the transitions smoother and what looks good for the camera in terms of angles and movements. This have given me a lot to think about when moving forward towards the group piece as everybody has different experience in editing and we will all be able to put our different skills together to enable us to create the film. If i were to do this again (creating it by myself), I would aim to put audio over the top.

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Today, we started and completed the choreography for the piece. Initially, we decided to each make 30 seconds of choreography and then sequence them together afterwards but upon starting the choreography, we found that we ended up collaborating and putting our movements together but not intentionally. After attempting to do it individually, we decided that it would be easier just to choreograph as a group. Doing it this way was much easier than doing it separately.
To begin the choreography we tried to think of pedestrianised movements so we could fit in with the crowd more and especially as Lauren and Lucy had suitcases, we wanted to incorporate them in some way or another. Whilst they were focusing on the suitcases, I started working with the newspaper and working out ways I could incorporating it in with the movements. I used simplistic movements to build together and used repetition to allow me to create the movement bank. For my character I tried to look very pedestrian, so I had to act very casual as I was doing everyday activities but remember I need to add characteristics to it such as sitting upright and maintaining good posture at all times. We decided to make Lauren and Lucy a duet and then me and dawn soloists as this worked better to show our different characters. The way they are distinguished is through their use of characteristics and movements.
I think as a group we worked effectively and quickly with coming up with the choreography and movements for each other and independently.

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Today was all about creating the storyboards for the piece. We couldn’t do that until we had created the choreography so we knew what movements would be in which shot. At first it was difficult to visualise exactly how we wanted it but we knew that once we started filming we could always tweak it to differ from the original storyboard if we weren’t happy with something when it came to editing. We were all responsible for doing a little section which worked well and we discussed as a group on parts that we were unsure of. As a group I think we worked well together to complete the storyboards ready for filming next week. The most difficult part of this was the transitioning between shots and characters where we needed to snap and change.

(part of our storyboard)

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Filming day!
This week we went to the train station and began filming the piece. We faced a difficulty as soon as we got there as the platform was very busy so we had to wait until we could start filming as the seating was taken which was where we had planned to perform the choreography and take the shots. We didn’t have to wait long however, and then we were in full swing of shooting. It was much easier than I thought as Chloe and Louise were following the storyboards and we didn't have to give them much direction. But whilst some of us weren't in the shots we were helping to direct the camera to allow us to gain what we wanted. The public was generous in the fact that they didn’t walk in the way of filming which helped us a lot. Everything ran smoothly, but the camera battery died before we could complete the filming, so we had to go back to finish it a couple of days after to ensure we had all the footage. This was hard as we had to do a continuation which meant we needed the same clothes, same hair, same everything to ensure it didn't look any different from the previous time we had filmed. I thought we were quite successful in this but it was more difficult than we had anticipated and these are the difficulties with shooting in a public place that is used by hundreds of people on a daily basis.

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This session was all about the editing. I took more of a backseat role within this as I filmed another groups piece which was interesting as I learnt a lot about the angles of a camera and what works best for dance. The editing part is the most eye opening as you see what works and what doesn’t and you have to make the final cut on everything to ensure you’re putting the best work out. I was happy with the footage we had taken because the transitioning between the shots ran smoother than I expected and I was happy with the final product that we produced. I feel like I worked better behind the camera or on set rather than editing as I knew what kind of shots we were after and what we would need for the editing process. I made suggestions such as the transitions between shots and the beginning and ending as these are the most important to make it look good visually on screen. As a group, we all pitched in to allow a final product with different camera shots, transitions and effects such as pans.

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As a complete beginner I thought I did well at creating my practice video. However, I know it could have been much better but with the time frame I worked with I'm happy with the result. Something that would have made it more visually appealing would have been to change the shots up and make them more diverse. Shots I did use were: Wide shot, Medium shot and Medium close up which are very popular shots and I could have ventured out and used an extreme close up or something similar. I thought I used the technique of panning well and adding it into the shot as it's something I'd never worked with before and I thought it looked good on camera. My storyboard was quite effective as the person behind the camera took the directions well and the shots came out like I had anticipated. For a first project I was happy with the outcome and I know that for my group piece I will try to go out the box a little more to allow it to be popular entertainment and look more appealing as a dance for camera.

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Today was our first lesson with the media students. We were introduced to our groups that we will be working with to develop and create our music videos. My group consists of four media students: Tia, Jack, Jay and Tom, as well as Chloe. We looked at analysing more music videos but from the perspective of a media student. This included things like: The type of music video and examples of this; representations and performance styles. Myself and Chloe then had to explain different types of dance that can be used within music videos and give specific examples so that the media students would be able to see it for themselves.
We then went on to look at things that should be remembered/considered when it comes to creating a video, which would help us in the future when we come to planning the project.
My notes from the lesson are below.

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It was really interesting to see it from a media students perspective as they don't really know much about dance, only what they see in music videos such as Michael Jackson and Sia. It was enjoyable teaching them about the histrory and the contrasting features of different styles and they genuinely seemed interested in them.

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Emailing the technician to ask for the risk assessment of the fleet street facilities:

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Emailing the technician to ask for the risk assessment of the fleet street facilities:

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For part of the piece, we want to use a rooftop car park. Luckily, in areas close to college we have these facilities available. I emailed the manager of Coopers square shopping centre to ask for permission to film and dance on the premises.

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As a group, we managed to make a lot of progression today and we're on the right track as we need to stick to a tight schedule. Next week, we will get started on our mood board and creating the pitch to present to Zoe and John.

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(completed, completed)

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This is the finalised version of the treatment. We ensured that it looked similar to the pitch so that they all looked like they belonged together.

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Today, we went to meet with the manager of the shopping centre to ensure that we could use the space of the rooftop car park. We explained our needs and they were very accommodating and promised they would try the best they could to corner off part of the car park for our use and nobody else's. Between us, we arranged a 3 hour time slot lasting between the hours of 9-12 just to make sure we had enough time to cover ourselves for filming. The only other thing that needed to be arranged was that we send over the public liability insurance to make sure everything was in place.

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This is the area in which we will be filming. There have been 2 car parking spaces allowed for us with additional room to film just behind them. This is definitely big enough for what we need but we just need to ensure that we have all the equipment we need to gain some height rather than going over to the ledge of the building.

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Once we got back from the set, we needed to ensure that we had a risk assessment in place in order to be able to use it. We helped with this whilst Jack and Jay began to put together an equipment list ready for filming.

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We began filming at the rooftop car park at around 9 am and we spent the majority of the morning shooting a variety of shots from different angles. It was easy to get the shots, the only bad thing about the filming was the wind being high and the weather being so cold. We could have potentially thought about this more when deciding on costume choice as we could have had more layers.

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Our first location for shooting:
The view from the ledge of the rooftop car park. This is an image we thought about in the planning process and we managed to gain the skyline view with the use of a rig and elevating the camera above it's normal height on a tripod.

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Our second location for shooting:
We blacked out the room so we could use the grow sticks better and show the light in contrast to the dark. They stood out well and we managed to take some long exposure shots that were suggested by the media students. We only had two media students filming at this point, so we had to be pro-active and help move things around for them to offer assistance.

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We created the words to use a title screen for the video incorporating the use of glow sticks after we used them. When we adjusted the lighting and made it darker, they stood out much better and provided a better contrast of light.

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To see our collaborative padlet on the music video go to:

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To see our collaborative padlet on the music video go to:

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https://padlet.com/sharleighmaegiddings/musicvideoconcept

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Choreographing and devising the treatment and pitch were the main focuses of today's lesson. We decided to split up so that we could get more done and then check in with each other to see what we've been able to do. This worked effectively and we made use of our time together and individually and we were able to get a lot done in preparation for next week's pitch.

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We created a chunk of choreography that could be used within the video. It was easier than I anticipated, but I know that once it gets to filming, we might have to change/adapt some of the movements slightly so that they work better for the camera.

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When we came back from meeting, we made sure to get started on our storyboarding as this is a vital ingredient in the process of filming. Tom took lead on this as he felt the most confident doing them.