Rejected shots

So after completing the music video shoot we started shortlisting the shots we were going to finalize and incorporate in our music video. However, here are a few shots we had to reject: 

We rejected this shot because although the angle and light were the way we wanted them, but the actress did not understand the act completely, and therefore very quickly picked up the bowl to pour the water. 

The second shot we rejected is shown below. It was rejected because the shadows of my fellow members can be seen in the frame, therefore we re-shot this in a similar way and selected that one.

This one was a slight blooper, as the actor ended up laughing while he was supposed to be acting to eat food; 

The fourth shot we rejected is this, because the actress wasn't able to show the emotions we needed for the mood of the video, she was supposed to look hopeless and sad whereas in the shot she doesn't look like that at all.

Another behind the scene blooper yet again, our actor was finding it difficult to hold back his expressions. In this shot the actor was supposed to look up into the camera after 3 seconds which he forgot to do so I reminded him, after which he ended up laughing,

Shot= Rejected!

We shot this scene twice and ended up rejecting the second shot since the ground already looked watered because our protagonist had already water it for the first shot. 

We misread the shot list and this shot was supposed to be a Close up of our hand with the camera slightly more closer to her hand, therefore this one was rejected too.

By Humble Awan

Production day 3

On the third day of our production process, the performance of the music video was to be shot. The location for our video was the IB Performing Arts room within our own school, Learning Alliance. Having the location in our school made it easier for us since we did not have any specific permission issues and since our performers were from the school as well, there were no issues of accessibility.
 

The idea was to casually set up the room in a way that gives a feel of a studio, with props around and the instruments placed in front of the performers as shown: 

 The camera work for the music video shooting was done by Humble Awan and me. We had to make sure that a variety of shots were taken in order to be able to select specific shots according to the shot list we made inter-cutting through the narrative scenes. The mis-en-scene of the performance shoot felt in-sync with the narrative because of the expressions of the performers. With a variety of shots, we knew we had the margin of being able to edit out scenes that did not complement as well as they should have.

Our major weakness for the shoot was of the lighting, it could have been better especially for the photoshoot. Quick action had to be taken in order to make sure everything was completed on time and was done to perfection so it was decided that we could have an outdoor photoshoot for the digipak and website.

Before the actual performance shoot, we made the performers rehearse with the lyrics of the song so they know for sure when to start and how to go about it: During this, our guitarist missed out on his solo part but since we were rehearsing it, we knew we had a chance of perfecting the actual performance.



The performers followed a theme of wearing black and red clothes which are bold colours, this added up to the end result of our narrative in the way that we were showing strength and a hopeful society.

Overall, the music video shoot went extremely smooth, according to the plan but our greatest weakness was during the photoshoot when we weren't able to capture the ideas we had for the photoshoot due to which we decided to conduct it in an outdoor setting. Since we were representing an indie band, following the conventions we decided to make our performers look bold with their expressions. Our band represents the realistic middle class society with their ideology of not losing hope even in the toughest times.

A few images from the music video are shown below: 

           

The music video production experience was great, we learnt that not everything is as easy as it seems, encouraging us to work in a team and respecting opinions and ideas of fellow members as well. The total experience was great, we went through a couple of issues which were immediately catered to with different ideas and eventually, we were able to construct something solid.

By Fatima Ali (Me)

Production Day 2

Production day 2

By Humble Awan

Production Day 1: Photos

Production Day 1 Photos by Humble Awan

Production Day 1

 The first day of the shoot was a Saturday. We had planned to start filming at 1 pm however, people took their time reaching the meeting point so our plans were delayed approximately thirty minutes.

Between the four of us (the team and our lead actress Mahnoor Tariq) we had three cars for transport. We filmed on two different locations that day; Dha Commercial Broadway and Eden City.

 Our first location was Dha commercial broadway.  We faced a couple of problems here. Firstly, we chose a really bad time to start filming considering the kind of light we needed. The light was too sharp and we weren’t getting the effect we wanted.

  Secondly, a man stopped his vehicle along the road to ask us what we were doing. This happened as Humble was digging a hole in the ground using his mini-shovel. The man seemed to be an officer but he did not show any identification. This problem was solved rather swiftly once we showed him our permission letter. He told us to carry on and went on his way.

However, most of the shots did use props. In total we had four different kinds of mud bowls, a mini-shovel, a bottle of tap water, a seed and slightly grown plants ( not used in location 1). Other than this , there were Chips and Mineral water bottles at our disposal.

Coming to equipment, we had two cameras and two tripod stands. One camera was used for the filming; Cannon 550 D and one for photography; Nikon D5100. The tripod stand was used in a few of the shots, most were hand held camera movements.

  After a couple of hours of filming, a change of outfit was required as we were worried the video might get too monotonous. So we went to Nareen Ali’s house in Eden City. We had requested to use her house for dressing purposes prior to the shoot  so she was expecting us.

 It was not until we reached her house that we realized just how tired we were. The heat had drained our energies and we still had so much to film. We took a fifteen to twenty minute break at her house during which Mahnoor changed into different clothes for the next scene and humble collapsed on the bed. We had all the facilities we needed during this break; a toilet, a room to relax in and even refreshments

 When leaving her house, we decided to explore the area and also to check out the patch of barren land Nareen had mentioned to be near her house. This land turned out to be our second location. It was much better than the previous location. It was more a much wider patch of land. This helped while filming as we no longer had to be very careful about what comes in the background. It was also a much quieter location. Dha Commercial Broadway is a main road and we were filming right next to it. Eden City is a housing society and we were filming at some distance from the road. The only issue we faced was that of a security guard inquiring about our activities but that was handled easily thanks to the permission letter.

For the final outfit change, Mahnoor had to change to her pyjamas as we had to film the scene in which she comes to the land to see the grown plant after seeing droplets of rain on her bedroom window.
For this, we went to her cousin’s house in DHA Phase 8 which was near Eden so it wasn’t really an issue.
The team waited outside while Mahnoor went inside to change.

 On our return to the land in Eden City, we noticed an old man roaming around. Humble and I approached him and convinced him to be a part of our video. This was easy as he was rather excited to be on camera. We needed to show his emotions to signify a change in the atmosphere of the video.

Overall, the shoot went rather smooth. The few issues that did occur were easily resolved.

By Faisal Yazdani

Phase 2: Production!

Planning: Pre-production arrangement/Shopping

The pre-production phase was an important part of the music video since it had to be made sure that all the things are available, there are no issues on location and no one has to run around unnecessarily to get things. 

For all three days of the shoot, we made sure that all our equipment/ props were available. The locations we decided, Phase 8 Commercial Broadway, the protagonist- Mahnoor Tariq's house and the performing arts room in our school were the ones we used. 

Planning: Equipment List

The equipment we will be using includes:

Canon 550D with 18-55mm lens

Tripod





A small shovel for digging the ground to sow seed

Planning: Location Recce Sheet

Recce Sheet- Narrrative

By Fatima Ali

Permission Letter for outdoor shoot

Here is a permission letter issues to us by the school to complete our outdoor shoot without any inconvenience:

Post by Humble Awan

Role of Members

Production and Editing

Humble Awan:

• Direction
• Camera work
• Editing

Fatima Ali:

• Camera work
• Art Direction
• Editing

Faisal Yazdani:

• Photographer
• Manager/ Coordinator props
• Documenting behind the scenes

By Fatima Ali

Planning: Shooting Schedule

After checking up and deciding with the cast and management of the music video the following shooting schedule has been drawn keeping in mind the weather forecast during 21st-23rd February. 

Weather forecast and Location

The weather forecast during the shoot days seems to be fine since there is no chance of rain as of right now, expectations are for it to remain party cloudy and since the shoot is outdoors, no chance of rain is good news.

The location of the Shoot is Commercial Broadway DHA which is also highlighted above.

Planning: Software

The Software we will be using in our music video Post production will be Sony Vegas Pro and Adobe after effects.

Planning: Budget

A rough estimate for the expenses to be incurred are as follows:

Petrol                                       1 500 Rs
Lights rental                             1 500 Rs
Clothes and accessories         2 000 Rs
Food                                         1 000 Rs

Total                                         6 000 Rs

By Humble Awan

Record Label/ Company

 
Walnut studios is a unique platform with the sole purpose of bringing new artists and musicians to the forefront and helping them make their mark. It offers a wide range of services and also sponsors and promotes young talented artists.

The various services offered by our record company include studio recording, mixing, live concert shoots, editing and design etc. 

Mise- en- Scene of the music video

Elements of Mise

By Fatima Ali

Cast for the music video:

Narrative:
The female protagonist: Mahnoor Tariq
For the role of the protagonist , we needed a young girl, someone with the look and feel of a nice girl next door. therefore we went with her because we felt she would fit the narrative and be able to express the emotions we need in our music video.



Old Man: Shakeel Khan
Tin bucket guys: Muhammad Murtaza
                               Sarmad Shafique

Performance:Male Vocalist: Umair Ahmed Khan 
Female Vocalist: Areeba Mubeen
Guitarist: Agha Hashim

Theories to be applied

By Faisal Yazdani

Representation of the Actor

In our music video, the protagonist is a young teenage girl who happens to be concerned with whats going on in the society. Typically, teenage girls don't care much about what is happening around them they are usually just involved in focusing on their looks etc. Breaking the stereotypical image, Mahnoor is a girl who is upset with the current situation of a country and wants to break the unhappiness and discontent in the society; she goes in search of hope.

The way we plan to show the girl is similar to the look of Jamie in A walk to Remember with her hair tied back and casual/ everyday clothing which gives off an extremely personalized feel to the music video and signifies that the emotions are real and not made up.

 In comparison to this, we see that generally teenage girls have no worries about society but themselves and are carefree and fun loving- they do not go into the depth of why a certain aspect of society is in a particular way. Hence, we feel that with our music video we are in a way breaking the stereotype of what a 14-15 year old girl is like.

By Fatima Ali

Representation of the Band

In this post i will briefly talk about the kind of representations in our performance part of the music video.

Our band members will be represented as casual normal people, wearing normal clothes, the vocalist and guitarist wearing shirts and jeans and maybe a nice leather jacket giving him a more singer-type look, no such jewelry or tattoos or any other dark representations.

The lighting will be slightly low key to give a more indoor feel and represent a studio setting, something like the picture below but slightly low key.The representation will also be similar, like simple T shirt which the guitarist will be wearing and the girl might also be wearing a nice jacket as well rather than just a shirt.

An in-depth analysis shows that the band will be representing the realistic middle class. Something that the real audience can relate to, especially those who are Hopeless, or going through something bad or suffering a hard time or even heartbroken, that is what the background of our band will be or the ideology of the band that they would represent these kinds of people and have a target audience, and since the music video will be about being hopeful even in the hardest of times so that would further add to the ideology and representation of our band.

By Humble Awan

Story board

The story board is being illustrated below, here are some shots from the narrative only. Our performance is in a studio location.

By Fatima Ali
Presentation by Humble Awan

Shot List for the music video

shot list

And here is our final shot list for the music video based on 66 shots covering a running time of 3:08. This will also help us save a lot of time while shooting the music video.

By Humble Awan