Filming at the train station

First Filming Session

We filmed the shots which were located at Beeston train station on our storyboard on 25th September, and styled our actress to look sophisticated, stylish and slightly retro with the hair and make-up. We looked at our moodboard for inspiration of the costume and hair/make-up which would look best at this location, and styled her hair and make-up like this.

Before

 Doing her hair style: I styled a retro roll at the front of her hair which looked really good on the footage, and Laura-Jo curled her hair to make her look more like a star and less ordinary. We felt that we needed to add a hairband behind the roll to make her hair look more interesting.

 Doing her make-up: I did her make-up by applying natural foundation and blusher, but emphasising her features such as eye brows, eye lashes and lips which we painted red. This made her seem more natural which was the style we wanted at a casual location, but still showed she is glamorous.

 After

 At the location

Costume: We planned for Georgina to wear something sophisticated with an edge for these shots, and after looking at the images on the mood boards we previously created, decided on a white shirt as this is classy, with jeans to make the costume more casual for the location. We originally put a brown satin jacket on Georgina, however after seeing her on the location, decided she looked too dressed up and opted for a more casual blazer which still made her look sophisticated. She wore wedged heels as these give her star image at a location which we wouldn't expect people to necessarily wear heels at. The only prop she has at this location is a brown leather tote bag as it makes her look like she is living her every day life.


Problems: The issues we faced on the day we filmed these shots were that it began to rain heavily as we started to film, however we waited until it calmed down and as the station was sheltered we were able to continue. The theme of our music video about summer being over worked well with this lighting anyway. We also had to try and avoid people getting in the way of shots as they got of trains or walked down the station, however as we filmed on a Wednesday morning it wasn't too busy.


Snap shots from the footage we took:

We filmed from the same platform as Georgina in this shot, and as she walked past the camera it showed her costume, and we asked her to stop at a certain position and turn to look for the train so that we are able to see her face and sad expression, before she continues to walk down the platform.

We also did a few shots from the opposite platform to show her in long shots, walking across the platform reminding the audience of the current location.

We waited for some trains to arrive to make the location clear for the audience, and in this shot the train goes past without stopping and shows Georgina on the opposite platform.

This shot was not planned, however we thought it might be interesting to involve a handheld shot in the music video to make it feel more personal to the audience. I followed her walking with the camera which gives an eerie sense of somebody following her.

Another hand held shot that we tried out was a close up of the platform sign, which could be put into the music video to look like it is the artists own footage as Lana Del Rey often involves her own videos into her music video, again making the video more personal.

Further Location Visits

Toton Park

This is a local park, which we are both familiar with and therefore know the best areas to film at and which backgrounds will look best on camera. I personally like the spot near the river where the model can lean against the tree, as this will add a unique element of performance and also suggests star image as it isn't a usual thing to do at a park. We ideally want to film here on a sunny day so that we can shoot the summer scenes which will be like home videos from a males point of view.

Planning for filming

Shooting session one

Shots: 1,2,3,5,6,19

Locations: Toton Park by the river and Beeston Train Station

Order of shots: 1,19,2,3,5,6

Shot 1- Establishing shot, taking as a birds eye view of a puddle with rain drops falling into it. Location, Toton park weather permitting.

Shot 19- Face of actress reflecting in the water of the puddle. Location, Toton park weather permitting. Will be an overhead shot or taken from the angle which best shows their face.

Shot 2- Actress looking out of the window through a long shot and mid shot to see which we prefer. Costume- casual clothing : Jeans and a T-shirt with natural make-up and hair.

Shot 3- Actress walking along the platform of a train station, shot from the bridge over looking the station, crane shot. May also try shooting the same scene from the opposite platform as a panning shot so we have different angles on the movement. 

Shot 5- Mid shot and long shot of a train passing by, will film from the opposite platform from our actress so we can get an image of her on the bench behind the train. 

Shot 6- Actress is sat on a bench at the train station, will shoot from the opposite platform to show the location by getting the railway tracks in shot. I think we should try the same shot shooting from the same platform and doing a side angled close up to show her emotion.

Costume for the train station: Sophisticated vintage style, white shirt with a blazer jacket, and jeans or a skirt with wedged heels so that she looks classy but not too dressed up for a train station. Her make-up will be quite natural with red lips and eye liner flicks, and her hair will be styled with a roll or curls. 

Shooting Schedule

Shooting Schedule

From looking at the storyboard we created together, we realised that we need to plan our time wisely in order to do all of the shots we plan, in the locations as there is a wide variety, and will probably be shot on different days due to costume and availability of all three of us. This is the shooting schedule I devised to help us keep on top of the filming, whilst sticking to the story board as much as we can, although we are likely to change ideas along the way.

Storyboard

Storyboard 

We have devised a storyboard to the song Summertime Sadness by listening to the song and studying the lyrics. We both shared ideas of what we thought would look good at that moment of the video, and made a tally chart of the shots which we wanted to include so that we had a variety and not too many of the same shots so that it would look interesting. This is only a plan of the shots we want to do and we may change the order and angles of the shots when we actually start filming.

Mock up of magazine advert

Magazine Advert 

I want to keep the magazine advert simple with a close up photograph of our model in the center showing her sad emotion, with paint splatters behind her on a black background. The title will be in bold white text, and the remaining text will be slightly smaller in the same colour and font. Like the digipak mock, I need to change the title to 'Born To Die', however I think a close up image of her showing emotion will still work well with this title as it suggests the sincere meaning of the album.

Mock up of digipak

Mock Up of Digipak 

I have created a rough mock of the design of the digipak that I would like to make for the track, I haven't drawn the images accurately as they will be photographs from when we shoot the video. I realise that I put the wrong title as her album is called 'Born To Die' so this will be altered in the first draft. After looking at this design I have produced, I feel it represents the track Summertime Sadness too much, rather than the album as a whole, and I will therefore change my design for the first draft, with original photography which I will take away from the filming scenes to ensure they are not linked directly to that video.

The front cover will be a close up image of our model making direct eye contact at the audience, with bright paint splatters in the background on a black wall to create a contrast between summer and sadness. The text will be in bold in white so that it stands out.

The back of the digipak will have the track list on in a column format, in white text. There will also be the record companies logo and credit blocks at the bottom, with imagery of a tree representing the end of summer as the leaves are falling off.

When we shoot the scenes in the film, we can take a photograph of her walking into the distance and use it on this page, I think it will look best if it is slightly distorted as it shows her dispair.

We will take an action shot of her doing a dance move and have her wearing bright clothes against a blank background so she stands out.

The CD will be on the middle insert with information of the tracks behind it and paint splatters as headers and boarders to keep the design from the front page running throughout.

I got this idea of the quote from an artist after analysing the Example digipak as they used this idea and I liked the idea of making the CD more personal to the consumer.

Location Recce Shots

Location Reece Shots

After we had brainstormed ideas of the locations which we consider good options for our music video, we decided to visit some of these places which were local to check where would be best to film from and the different backgrounds and lighting.

Beeston Train Station

The train station would be good place to film the miserable shots of the artist, as the setting is rather dull and the lighting is poor, suggesting a darker atmosphere which also represents the sadness that summertime is over. There are many different areas which we can film from at this location and get interesting shots, as we can stand on the opposite platform and film across, or from the stairs and do a low angle shot, or on the same platform and have her walk past or do close ups.

Wollaton Hall and Park

Wollaton Hall - slideshow

Wollaton Hall is my favourite location for a background in a shot, as it has a beautiful presence and is a grand building, which would represent the wealth and success of an artist if they were able to film their video with it in the background. There are many different locations within this place as round the back of the hall are some steps which would be good to film the artist walking on, and and arch way which could be interesting as there are vines hanging from a particular arch, which would make a creative shot if we could get the model to stand or sit by it. The lighting is good here, but very dependent on the weather, as we visited this location when it was briefly sunny and therefore the lighting was impressive.

Nottingham Town Square

We initially had an idea to sit our artist on the steps here and film people walking past quickly, however after visiting the location and experiencing standing in the square where we planned to film, I feel this is an unsuccessful plan, as there wasn't a huge amount of people walking past this area for a long time, and we would have to film a lengthy piece of footage in order to speed it up at the editing stage. Also we may be in the way of people passing in the square, and lose focus of our model which would not be a good idea.

Nottingham Castle

Nottingham Castle - slideshow


I was on a school trip here, when I noticed it would be a great place to film at as there were different elements such as beautiful gardens, and the castle itself. However I don't know if we will film here as it is similar to Wollaton Hall, and both me and Laura-Jo prefer that location as it had more to offer.

 East Midlands Airport

EMA - slideshow

We had an idea that we could film our model waiting for somebody coming out of the airport as it would be romantic and suggest the beginning of their summer, or have them both departing so it would add to the narrative of them being in love during summer. However we realised this may be difficult to film with security precautions and people departing. We wouldn't be able to get them through the airport so they could depart either, so this location will not be used in our video.

This was an unplanned location find, as we were driving round and found it in Long Eaton. It is a graveyard which represents the album title of 'Born to Die' so I thought I should take my own photography to use for my ancillary texts as I feel this could make an amazing section of the digipak.