Changed Actors Call Sheet

Actors Call Sheet

Title: Reach Out

Director and Producer: Kathryn Dowson

Call Date: Saturday 2^nd November (Jessica and Joanne)

Rest of dates are explained in call time

Actor	Character	Call Time	Wardrobe	Make-up
Jessica Hay	Troubled Teenage	Saturday 2nd - 10am Saturday 9th  – 11am Tuesday 12th – 4pm Saturday 16th/30th – To Be Decided	For the whole video: light denim skinny jeans, a grey baggy top (will be provided), leather jacket, vans trainers, rucksack	Black eyeliner, mascara, foundation, bronzer, however makeup will run during the woods scene due to the tears – please bring make up with you.
Joanne Dowson	Mother of Jessica Hay	10am	A superdry top and dark blue skinny jeans	Normal: mascara, foundation and bronzer

Location venue: Joanne: directors house

Jessica: directors house, Coxhoe bus stop, Durham City, Coxhoe woods

Transport: Please meet at directors house on each call date

INSTUCTIONS: Please ensure that you are both at the director’s house at least 5 minutes before your call time to ensure that everything is clear and shooting can begin ASAP. Jessica, please bring a warm fleeced jacket and a scarf and gloves, as you may get cold when we aren’t filming.

ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE CONTACT THE DIRECTOR ASAP.

Changed Filming Dates and Times

Due to problems that have occured, meaning that we couldn't start filming on Saturday, I have changed the filming dates:

Saturday 2nd November (10pm - 2pm)
- Argument
- Packing
- Running Out of House and Street

Saturday 9th November (11pm - 2pm)
- Bus Stop and Bus
- Durham

Tuesday 12th November (4pm - 5:30pm)
- Woods
- Returning Home

These are the new scheduled dates and times. 

Digipack and Inlay

I am just designing some better quality print products in terms of my digipack and inlay. I am currently using images that I have already got, however I am going to try and get some more and see if they work better.

I am going to play about with different text to see which works better and also the colour of the text, however I will stick with black and white as that is what my researched artists use. The text will also have a bold, capital text for my artist name and a more fancy text for my album title 'My Dreams', as that's also what my research uses, however I will just try out some different types of text and font.

Health and Safety Risk Assessment for Reach Out

I have produced this risk assessment for Reach Out to ensure that no one is intentially hurt and that all risks have been considered before shooting. All risks will be managed, which has been shown above and the actors will have access to this risk assessment before shooting.

I found a template online which I used as my guideline:

For my AS piece, I produced the risk assessment for my window smashing scene during post-production, as I didn't know how it was going to work out. I have produced my risk assessment before hand for my AS piece as I now know from experience that these things need to be thought about, which is going to be helpful during production. I also didn't produce any evidence or research into different risk assessments templates during my AS piece.

Reply From Arriva

Today I have received a reply from Arriva Customer Services and they said that it would be perfectly fine to go ahead with my plans, as long as no passengers were in shot, the bus wasn't held up and that the bus driver gives permission.

This was their reply:

This is absolutely fantastic that they were able to get back to me so quick and the positive reply is also great. I was apprehensive as to whether they would get back to me, however I am extremely grateful that they have and I have sent my kind regards.

This now means that I can go ahead with my plans to shoot on one of their buses, which means all of my plans are going as wanted so far.

Shot-by-Shot Schedule

I have produced a detailed shot-by-shot schedule, describing each day that I will be filming, with the different shots and estimated times that I will have shot them.

Saturday 26th October

Saturday 2nd November

Tuesday 5th November

I have produced this shot-by-shot schedule of my days to give me a better idea of what I need to shoot and how long on average this shoot be taking me. I haven't included the singing parts because they're already filmed and will just be added in during post-production.

This shows a clear difference between my planning at AS to my planning now at A2, as I didn't produce something as detailed as this with estimated times of shooting on etc, I just produced a basic storyboard. I also didn't produce a separate storyboard with the script added it, like I have during this year by adding the lyrics onto the storyboard, so map out a clear plan. This therefore shows a distinct difference between the 2 years, as my planning has come on considerably and become a lot more detailed as result. This is extremely effective, as I am able to have everything planned out before I go into shooting, which will be beneficial for me as well as my actresses', as they will also be able to access this blog before hand and see my details before they turn up on set.

I have sent each of my actresses' and also Leanne Owens (behind-the-scene's camera operator) a copy of the production schedule, call sheets and both actresses' their costume sheets. This is now their responsibility to turn up to the shoot at the required times with the appropriate props/clothing. 

Animated Storyboard with Singing Parts Added

Animated Storyboard

I have produced an animated storyboard for my music video and I have added in both the storyboard sheets and the singing parts that I previously recorded over the summer. One of my previous posts includes the lyrics and the storyboard to give me a better idea of how the video will pan out, however that has changed completely. This animated storyboard has been a great help for to do as I now have a better insight for how I will edit my music video during post-production. 

I have found that the singing parts work much better appearing throughout the video, rather than just continuous narrative throughout the whole video. I was planning on doing this, much like the A Team video, however after conducting my research there is usually narrative and singing involved and it works really well. The singing parts engage with the audience more and draw them into the deeper meaning of the lyrics allowing them to think about the song as a whole and what has happened, linking to Barthes' theory as there is a slightly enigma code, as the audience are able to work out the puzzle of what'll happen next as they link the different parts together. 

By adding the singing parts in between the narrative, the video seems to be less boring and repetitive than just having a continuous narrative flowing through - I think that would get boring after a couple of minutes and this would apply to just having singing parts. The balance is right between them at the moment. 

I might possibly add more narrative into the second chorus where the "reach out" repeats the second time around, to break up the narrative slightly, however I will decide on this during post-production too see whether it works or whether it is better just having the narrative flowing. 

The editing of this animated storyboard is obviously extremely rough and the shots during the singing sections will vary, as I have a large variety of footage from over the summer which I filmed. This will split up the long shots/CU's with a variety.

After the middle part of the song, when the slow bit of "you turned away your family" is sung, Jessica will stand up dramatically in the woods and I will film a variety of different shots and mix them all together to act as a 'realisation' as everything comes crashing down on her and she realises what's happened and how she doesn't belong out in the world alone without her family and at this point she returns home. 

At the end, Jessica will slowly move out of focus as the song begins to fade out and this will be shot from within the house as the curtains begin to close.

I will have to see how the bus scene works, as it may be too continuous and boring, as you see her at the bus stop then getting on the bus etc, however I will give it a go if possible and see how it turns out. 

This animated storyboard shows a distinct change between my AS research and my A2 research, as I only produced an animated storyboard for a preliminary piece at AS, not for my final piece and I think this piece of research has been extremely helpful is mapping out how the video will turn out and it seems to be going to plan at the moment. This is an advanced piece of research, adding to the portfolio that I already have, however I feel it hasn't been a waste of time, as I will keep referring to it during my post-production editing.

Contacting Arriva

I visited Arriva's website: Website and I found this 'Contact Us' page which allowed me to enter my details and my question into it and submit it for a reply.

I explained everything that I want to do and the concerns that I have about filming the bus driver etc. Now I am waiting for Arriva to email me back to confirm whether this will be possible or not. I am expecting that they will want a schedule with dates and times on, however I will let you know when they reply. 

Bus Scenes

I am just trying to find out some contact details for Arriva as I would like to find out what time and date would be best to film Jessica getting onto one of their buses and also whether it would be possible.

If this isn't possible, I think the video would still work well, as I could get the bus stop footage, however it would just jump between the bus stop and then Jessica walking through the City, which would work as there is singing parts between those two scenes; however ideally, I would love to shoot some footage of a bus of some sort and see how it looks. 

My Dad suggested that there is a bus depot that they use near to Durham City and it may be possible to use one of those; however I don't know how that would work.

When I find some contact details, I will let you the outcome. 

Actors Call Sheet

Actors Call Sheet

Title: Reach Out

Director and Producer: Kathryn Dowson

Call Date: Saturday 26^th October (Jessica and Joanne)

Rest of dates are explained in call time

Actor	Character	Call Time	Wardrobe	Make-up
Jessica Hay	Troubled Teenage	Saturday 17th - 10am Saturday 2nd – 10am Tuesday 5th – 4pm Saturday 9th/30th – To Be Decided	For the whole video: light denim skinny jeans, a grey baggy top (will be provided), leather jacket, vans trainers, rucksack	Black eyeliner, mascara, foundation, bronzer, however makeup will run during the woods scene due to the tears – please bring make up with you.
Joanne Dowson	Mother of Jessica Hay	10am	A superdry top and dark blue skinny jeans	Normal: mascara, foundation and bronzer

Location venue: Joanne: directors house

Jessica: directors house, Coxhoe bus stop, Durham City, Coxhoe woods

Transport: Please meet at directors house on each call date

INSTRUCTIONS: Please ensure that you are both at the director’s house at least 5 minutes before your call time to ensure that everything is clear and shooting can begin ASAP. Jessica, please bring a warm fleece jacket and a scarf and gloves, as you may get cold when we aren't filming.

ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE CONTACT THE DIRECTOR ASAP.

Costume Sheet - Joanne Dowson

Costume Sheet

Actor: Joanne Dowson

Role: Mother of Jessica Hay  

Costume:

-         T-Shirt

-         Jeans

PLEASE NOTE: YOU WILL HAVE TO PROVIDE THESE YOURSELF AND TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR HAVING THEM ON THE DAY OF SHOOTING.

Visual of Your Costume:

 THIS WILL BE YOUR OUTFIT FOR THE ENTIRE MUSIC VIDEO.

Make-up:

-        Mascara

-        Foundation

-        Bronzer

Costume Sheet - Jessica Hay

Costume Sheet

Actor: Jessica Hay

Role: Troubled Teenager

Costume:

--       Light Coloured Skinny Jeans
      Grey Baggy Top (this will be provided)
      Leather Jacket
      Vans Trainers
      Rucksack (this will be provided)

PLEASE NOTE: YOU WILL HAVE TO PROVIDE THESE YOURSELF AND TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR HAVING THEM ON THE DAY OF SHOOTING.

Visual of Your Costume:

THIS WILL BE YOUR OUTFIT FOR THE ENTIRE MUSIC VIDEO.

Make-up:

-       Black eye-liner and mascara

-       Foundation

-       Bronzer

PLEASE NOTE: EYE MAKEUP WILL RUN DURING WOODS SCENE DUE TO TEARS

Production Schedule With Added Times and Dates

Production Schedule

Title: Reach Out

Director and Producer: Kathryn Dowson

Production equipment required:

- Canon Camera

- Tripod

- Leanne Owens will be filming behind the scenes for some of the video

- Extra camera for taking pictures of the location and the set

Crewing Requirements:

Leanne Owens will be in charge of taking behind-the-scenes footage of a camera, which will be her responsibility and both Jessica Hay and Joanne Dowson will be required to turn up on time and have the right props/costumes.

Actors:
Joanne Dowson –Mother
Jessica Hay –Helpless teenager

Crew:
Leanne Owens and Joanne Dowson –camera women for behind-the-scenes

Transport Requirements:
Jessica Hay will be required to meet at the Directors House for the arranged times and dates and transportation will be arranged from their by the director.

Props:

- A mobile phone

- Bottle of whisky

- A rucksack

- Money (for the bus scenes – director will provide this)

- Possibly a notebook/photo album

Dates and Times:
Saturday 26th October
Time: 10am-12pm
- argument between Jess and Mum
- Jess packing bags her bags to leave
- Jess running out of house

Saturday 2nd November
Time: 10am-2pm
- Filming at bus stop and in Durham

Tuesday 5th November
Time: 4pm-5pm
- Jess walking through the woods
- Jess returning home

Saturday 9th/30th November
Extra Dates If Needed

Post Production Requirements
I will need to overlay the music track ‘Reach Out’ and I will then continue to use iMovie to edit my music video.

Storyboard and Lyrics

Pre-shoot Discussion

Before I take the step into starting to film my music video, I need to think of the problems that may occur along the way, how I will deal with them and also contingency plans.

A problem that could occur is that Jess could be working on one of the dates that I have planned for filming, or she may get called into work, thus the filming cannot take place on that day. If this does happen, I feel like it will be easy enough to set another date and continue with the filming on the next available date. I also have a contingency plan if I need to film more footage or if some of the dates don't go to plan and cannot be worked around or rearranged. If this happens, I have allocated two extra dates within my schedule to allow more time to film if need be. 

On one of the days that I have planned to film my music video, it may be raining, which will add to the effect of the lonely, despaired look, however I don't want the camera to get wet. As a result, I may need an extra crew member to hold an umbrella above my head as I am filming to stop the camera from getting wet. I have found some waterproof camera bags online, however they too expensive for me to buy just for this project: Waterproof Camera Bags. I also think that by covering the lens with plastic, there would be a strange effect and you'd be able to tell during post-production. I doubt the manual zoom work to it's full effect either as it will be compact in a small plastic bag, so I think that the umbrella idea is much better. If the rain is extremely bad, then we will just have to re-schedule, which will set me back, however if it will benefit the video in the long run then that's fine, as my schedule is due to finish in time anyway, with spare time to add in extra. 

When it comes to filming the bus scene, I am going to have to pick a suitable time and date as the buses can get busy on a weekend and at teatime on a weeknight, so possibly early morning or late afternoon on a Saturday would be the best time to do this scene. There may however be a full bus, which won't be good as there may any time to film Jess getting on the bus, which will result in more re-scheduling. There may be an even bigger problem though. The bus driver may ask me to stop filming as Jess get's on the bus, as I will film from behind as she gets on and I will also get on the bus at the stop before and sit down, filming Jess as she gets on, whilst I'm inside. This will mean that I will either have to try another bus and another driver, or it may mean that I can't film that bit all. In which case, I will just film Jess from the bus stop getting on rather than following her on and I will film the bus from the other side of the road, showing Jess getting on and sitting down, which will allow me to get footage of Jess staring out of the bus window. 

I will have to time my filming extremely right because the nights are getting darker and it may get too dark for the camera to pick up any image. In this case, I will try using a crew member to hold a torch, however if this effect doesn't look right, I will just have to film that part on a separate day. The part that I am thinking of is the woods scene because woods do get dark due to the lack of daylight getting through because of the trees and although I do want the "eerie" effect, I still need to be able to pick up enough detail. 

During the filming of my rough music video, the camera battery died after we had only been out for about 30 minutes, which really wasn't helpful as we were just getting into the swing of filming and the camera operator had just properly learnt how to use the camera, which was a pain. To save this from happening, I am going to ensure that the battery is on charge for all of the previous night before and also up until I leave the house to get to the different locations, ensuring that there is enough battery life. I will keep a close eye on the battery during filming to make sure that we don't get into the middle of a scene and the camera dies. Hopefully this will all go to plan, however if not, there isn't really much that I can do other than call the filming off for a couple of hours and go home and charge the camera. 

For the rough music video that I produced, I bought two memory cards to go into the camera, as I was borrowing the camera and I therefore had a backup incase the other one ran out of memory, although that was highly unlikely. Before I start to film, I will make sure that the memory card that I used for my rough music video is wiped clean, so that I have two free large memory cards and I will always carry the second one with me during filming at all times, to ensure that if the memory does get full, I always have a backup.

This Week...

I am hoping to have all of my pre-production planning material finished by the end of this week, however the very last the end of next week, just depending on how everything goes to plan.

I also plan to add more detail into my blog posts, outlining the reasons behind my decisions, ensuring that it is clear to why I have made the choices I have in terms of location, props, actress's etc and I will also make sure that my audience, narrative and representation detail is up to scratch.

Production Schedule

Production Schedule

Title: Reach Out

Director and Producer: Kathryn Dowson

Production equipment required:

- Canon Camera

- Tripod

- Leanne Owens will be filming behind the scenes for some of the video

- Extra camera for taking pictures of the location and the set

Crewing Requirements:

Leanne Owens will be in charge of taking behind-the-scenes footage of a camera, which will be her responsibility and both Jessica Hay and Joanne Dowson will be required to turn up on time and have the right props/costumes.

Actors:
Joanne Dowson – Mother
Jessica Hay – Helpless teenager

Crew:
Leanne Owens and Joanne Dowson – camera women for behind-the-scenes

Transport Requirements:
Jessica Hay will be required to meet at the Directors House for the arranged times and dates and transportation will be arranged from their by the director.

Props:

- A mobile phone

- Bottle of whisky

- A rucksack

- Money (for the bus scenes – director will provide this)

- Possibly a notebook/photo album

Post Production Requirements 
I will need to overlay the music track ‘Reach Out’ and I will then continue to use iMovie to edit my music video.

Quick Idea

I have just thought that when Jessica is in the woods, she could either pull out a note book and write down her feelings at the time or she could pull out a photo album or some photos of her and her family. I thought this would be a good extra into the video, so that the audience don't just see this reserved character who comes across as normal and just a bit of a bad teenager, however they will get an insight into Jess's thoughts, as she may write things such as "don't want to ask for help", or "feel alone now", something like that to get the audience thinking even more. I may apply Roland Barthes's theory into my video and actually keep the notes hidden from the audience, acting as an enigma code which will leave them guessing as to what she has written. 

If I was to do the photo album idea, I would need to get some pictures of Jessica with her mother and father, or find some pictures of just her family. I think this would be a good idea because it could open up another side of Jessica to the audience, possibly that she does care deep down and she does love her family, however throughout her teenage years, she has found it hard to open up about her feelings/problems and she really does need help and support from her loved ones. This could act as a really interesting part to the video. I think I will film it and see how it looks in post-production, as to whether I keep it in or not, as it may not work as well as I thought. 

Preliminary Dates/Times

I have mapped out some dates/times that I could film with Jess, however I will need to get her go-ahead with these to check that they're all ok with her, so they may change as a result, however I will keep you updated with any changes. 

For Tuesday 5th November, I am wanting to film between those times as I want there to be a dark, eerie tone to the sad atmosphere as Jess dwells on what's happened and decides to return home. For whatever reason, it may not work as it may be too dark, so that's why I have allowed Saturday 9th and Saturday 30th for extra filming if need to be as a back up plan. 

I will use both Leanne Owens and Joanne Dowson to film some behind-the-scenes footage throughout these dates.

Retrospective Blog Post - AS to A2

Well, so far I feel like i've done a lot more research into my chosen field (music videos) and I have also analysed in more detail and deconstructed other artists music videos. 

In relation to Question 1a, I have stepped up a lot in terms of technology for my rough music video, as I was able to use a Canon camera which was amazing quality and gave me the option to use the depth of field settings, as with my AS piece, I only had a normal quality digital camera, which wasn't great at all. The camera that I used for my AS piece wasn't made solely for videoing, that was just an extra that you could use, which was obviously why the quality wasn't great. I did have it set on the highest possible HD setting, however it still didn't work as well I needed it to, yet I was able to produce a film out of it. As I knew that I needed a better quality camera for my A2 piece, I was able to borrow a Canon HD camera, which has depth of field settings and manual zoom, enabling me to have more control when filming. As I had someone else filming me whilst I acted in the music video, they were also able to learn how to use it well and how to use the depth of field settings, which has put me at an advantage for the future as I now know that if I ever need help filming again, my camera operator knows how to use top quality cameras.

During my rough trial, I have been able to improve the sound MASSIVELY because I didn't need to use a camera microphone, I was just able to add the sound in during post-production, which was great as there was no disappointment with the sound issues. I had a lot of problems during my AS piece during the post-production part of the film, however from experience, I was able to improve my editing and technological skills during my rough music video.

For my A2 piece, I have also included a lot more research as I created a rough music video, which I didn't do for my AS piece, I just filmed straight away. I did however, create a film which I thought could be my final piece, however after feedback I changed parts of it, so I was able to get a feel of filming, however not as good as I have this time. With the skills that I developed during my AS piece, I have been able to create a rough version of my music video as I knew how to use depth of field settings from research during AS, which helped a lot during my rough music video. As I had never produced/edited a music video before, it was extremely beneficial that I had the summer to film my rough music video, as I was able to take my time to plan it out, using storyboards it allowed me to gather a better insight into the planning stages of a music video and it also enabled me to gather extra footage for my final piece, as I will be using the singing parts of my rough music video within my final piece.  
In terms of Question 1b, I have done a lot more research this year in terms of audience, genre and narrative, as I have been able to deconstruct individual music videos and artists to branch out my research, giving me a wide range of knowledge, enabling me to plan out my final piece in great detail as a result. I have also been able to use theories during my research, as we didn't study these in AS, but they've helped add to my research in A2. The theories that we have learnt have allowed me add a theoretical element into my work, which has given the music videos a structure, due to Todorov's theory with the three stages, which links to a lot of my videos that I have analyed. It also links to my video, as there will be three stages: Equillibrium (implicit - we don't see the previous equillibrium), Disequillibrium (the argument and when Jess runs away), New Equillibrium (also implict - this could be the family moving on without her, or Jess going back into the family, however the video will end before the audience have a chance to know). This is showing a basic structure to the genre that is normally shown within the pop/rock genre that I am researching. Roland Barthes is also brought into this, as there is a clear Enigma as the audience are left puzzled and they have to fill in the blanks to what happens next, which is very interesting. Propp is also brought into this because Jess is portrayed as the hero as she is the main character in the video, however she is an anti-hero as she is presented in a negative light. This however, is solely based on Propp's theory.

For my AS piece, I did do some research into the type of target audience that would be viewing my film, before I started to plan it, however that was just done on the internet. I also did a few interviews with some of my characters during my evaluation, asking them who they thought the target audience would be. For my A2 piece, I have extended this research hugely, as I have produced a survey on survey monkey, which has given me a great insight into how my audience would think as I picked a random sample and sent them my rough video through email and gathered their feedback. Their findings are presented on previous blog posts.

I will be continuing to extend my planning research within this project, as I going to complete the suggested list of planning materials and hopefully extend that further with more material, which will be a massive step up from AS.

Overall, I feel like my skills have developed a huge amount, which has been extremely beneficial in order to create a sophisticated final piece, linking well with the research that I have carried out.