This blog will cover our production on Your Body is a Wonderland.
Jamie - Director
Isobel - Production Designer
Tack - Production Manager
Liam - Sound Supervisor + Script Supervisor
Ryan - Director of Photography
Our first major task was to create a gripping pitch, on our ideas for the Music Video. We were given the option to create a music video for Kerrianne Covell, and Elle Wood. We had meetings with both signers beforehand, to determine what they wanted from the Music Video. Of course, the video's purpose overall was supposed to promote their image, since they have not been given one yet. Both I and Isobel worked on Kerrianne's video, while Tack, Liam and Ryan worked on Elles. Kerrianne told us she was inspired by many singers from previous era's, and that she had an interest in the 50's era. Isobel and I both had the same idea of producing a video that was set in the 50's, using quirky outfits, and locations of interest.
"The idea is to have
Kerrianne play herself; in a 50’s style era, visiting diners, beaches with
friends. She slowly gains the attention of a boy, who seems to be following and
keeping an eye on her.
Kerrianne however
couldn't really care for the boy, and is much preferring to party with friends.
The boy advances his attempts to get her attention throughout the video, and
the more she teases and pushes him away, the more enthralled he becomes.
The video will
switch between the key areas, like the diner and beach, we’ll add more places
as/when we find them."
The pitch was completed, and showed in a meeting to Kelly, Kerrianne, and Nina (Head of makeup, who attended for both herself and Elle who was busy).
I think our idea gave alot of description, and a unique style, which was unlike others. It had a lot of versitility when it came to makeup and costume, something Nina was interested in, and it showed Kerrianne in a whole new light, which seemed to interest her greatly.
Kerrianne told us that she loved the idea, and overall, this one was picked to shoot.
Next was to think about costume more, Nina wanted to know what her students would be working on.
"Nothing has been set in stone,
although ideas have been made. We can experiment with the makeup, hair and
costume, depending on the ideas that we find on things such as Pinterest,
Tumblr, and Facebook.
Depending on the location, the
costume ideas can change to suit the vibe."
We had locations set out planned. The Diner, Kerrianne would portray a more 'bad girl' punk-type character. The beach would show Kerrianne as a girly, pastel colored teen that ate ice cream and held balloons. The garden/field would have her in a bright dress, having a picnic in the sun. Her friends would have the same costume throughout, to save time and money. The makeup would match the costume.
"Using something as unique as a different time period in a Music
Video, I think that we will be able to create something that will be both
aesthetically pleasing and easy to plan out.
Experimenting with these visuals will be everything. We have the
chance to go wild with makeup, hair and costume that is influenced by the 50’s.
We want the video to be different, but not too over the top
‘artsy’. For instance, the official music video for Your Body is a Wonderland
is focused on a stereotypical modern relationship of a boy who loves his
girlfriend."
While working on this, Isobel planned on contacting our Diner. We wanted to see if we could film while it was closed, so we had more time and versitility to shoot. I planned a recce check for the field, which turned out badly since the grass was majorly high.
A Facebook Page was created for the group so we could easily contact others if we needed them.
The week of shooting was almost here. We said that we wouldnt be filming on our week off since we still had a few locations we needed to work out. Kerrianne's timetable for work was precise, and we're going to have to work around it carefully. We also need to sort out our actors, it seems easy to borrow some from Sonya's Drama group.
One the break, Isobel worked hard on contacting Kerrianne throughout the week. On the day we came back, the group focused on making sure all paperwork was done, Kerrianne informed us that Friday was the only day she can have off, her work would not let her swap shifts with other days.
Isobel informed us that the diner we were going to use would let us shoot our project on the Sunday, meaning we would not be able to shoot there. We began searching for other options for Diners. Tack focused on completing paperwork, I worked on matching the visuals we were thinking of, to the lyrics, (Storyboards, Shotlists, ect) as well as checking with the group for their input.
We tried around 3 different Diners, none could let us shoot on the Friday. We all agreed that it would be best to leave the Diner out, if we happened to find one last minute, we could just use smaller shots, just to get more of a 50's vibe.
We recruited Jack Harrison and Helen Wilson as actors. Jack playing the 'love interest' and Helen playing her friend.
Filming began on Friday, we agreed that the beach scene would be best shot at Saltburn. There, we can also get to Valley Gardens easily, and use those as the field scenes. We will not have time for the Modern scene we planned, nor the Diner. We had a last minute idea of using the Diner for a couple shots, but we wouldn't have time to use it.
Neil took us in the mini bus to Saltburn beach we arrived later than planned, since the minibus held the other group, who were to be taken to their destination first.I met my Dad, who previously agreed to meet me there to blow up some balloons with helium for us. While I did this, Isobel started walking to the Valley Gardens, to get a basic idea of where we were going to shoot.
While this happened, I assumed the rest of the group would go down and shoot establishing shots on the beach. Once I finished getting the balloons, I met up with Isobel to head down to the beach. Isobel found many great places to shoot. When we arrived, the Actors were told by the rest of the group to have a break, and the rest of the group told me they were waiting for me to start shooting. We began shooting once everyone was back, which took only a couple minutes.
Once started, the shots seemed to go very fast, and we managed to get a lot done. Tack and Liam filled in the diary reports while Isobel planned the next shots to do, Ryan held the camera and I instructed what I wanted the actors to be doing. Tack also helped pick out which parts of the storyboard we should do next, and Isobel had some great improvisation suggestions that we could shoot. The balloons flew away accidentally quite early on in the day, meaning we wouldn't of been able to film with them how we planned, but we managed to use it to our advantage by planning out other shots we could use instead of that. Ryan injured his leg by tripping on a rock at the beach half way through shooting, so I offered to take his place as cameraman, it gave the benefit of being more eye-level with Kerrianne since Ryan was taller.
We finished up on the beach at around 2. Both Jack and Helen needed to head home due to work, so the minibus came back to pick them up. We arrived had break and arrived at Valley Gardens at half two, where we began to shoot clips of Kerrianne singing.
Kerrianne loved the whole concept of the day, and she had no complaints about anything. She brightened up the set incredibly and it was great to work with her.
We finished at around 4/4:30, and my Dad was able to drop me, Kerrianne and Isobel off at our houses, while the rest of the group managed to get the train back safety.
I think we managed to capture enough footage to create something great, even if there were setbacks such as lack of location, and a fast paced schedule, we pulled together great and had a fun time doing it.
Editing came together perfectly. Everyone had a say in the edit and were pleased with the finished result.
