Saturday the 20th's blog

Today I researched the ideas I want to use on my album art cover. Emily and I thought it would be a good idea if we used an Olympic torch in the front of the cover. This is significant because it would relate to the song we have done, We Are the Champions, as well as the video, which is based upon the loser becoming the champion. The reason I chose to research this is because to use such a significant symbol, I needed to know what it really meant and why I was using it. The Olympic flame or Olympic torch is a symbol of the Olympic games. Commemorating the theft of fire from the Greek god Zeus by Prometheus, its origins lie in ancient Greece, where a fire was kept burning throughout the celebration of the ancient Olympics^. The fire was reintroduced at the 1928 summer Olympics in Amsterdam, and it has been part of the modern Olympic games ever since. According to legend, the torch's flame has been kept burning, ever since the first Olympics. One of the problems that lies here, is that if I intend to use this in any shape or form for my album art cover, I will need to create myself. Therefore, an idea that Mr. Earl had, was to use a match stick, or even more simple, a flame of some sort. It does not have to be an Olympic torch, but to use the fire itself would be effective. And reading the urban legend that the fire had been running since it was founded during the first Olympic game, I had an idea for the album art cover name; astound presents, The Flame That Holds Us Together.

Friday 19th blog. Thurday's

Last night, I stayed after school to help shoot a video for a classmate, Rob. Whilst we filmed, I set Adobe Premiere Pro to render the video files I had uploaded to the school network earlier that week. By the time I had finished the filming, the rendering had only been completed around 64%, in light of this situation, I turned off the monitor and left the rendering go on, until the next morning when I checked it and it was fully completed, I saved my project and logged out.

Recording of the music

Yesterday, during lunch time, at Framwellgate Durham, Emily and I attended the music room A27, to re-record our music track. Alongside Philippa, James, Oliver and Jonathan we took about half an hour of practice, to just get the entire band ready to record at the best of their ability. Whilst the band practiced, I used the camera and the tripod to capture different angles of the band playing; I filmed Philippa singing at different times during the song, James playing the piano at different angles, Jonathan playing bass, an angle from the top of the neck of the bass guitar, as well as a P.O.V (Point Of View), Lastly I filmed Oliver playing drums at different intervals and different angles. I will get the recorded song from Mr. Lamb, who has the track saved on his computer, as it is his device which we've used to record the sound track of the band playing. I then went into my media lesson after lunch and uploaded the footage I captured onto the camera to my laptop to try and use the Adobe Premiere Elements 9 I have on my computer, but as it is a trial, it leaves a watermark on the footage, and to remove this, I will have to pay around £80 to buy the code to unlock the full version. This makes it harder for me to edit at home as I’d have to not only pay a lot of money, but also it takes up a lot of space on my personal computer, therefore I have decided to edit on the school network; this is because the school network has an entire separate Media Drive, which gives me a larger space to upload footage and edit videos within. The computers will be faster and much more reliable as there are many to use within the school, but I have only one laptop if I chose to use it for editing my footage.

Software

I spent today's lesson speaking with Mr. Earl, getting his advice and thoughts on which programme to use for the editing of our video footage; this is important because if Emily and I start to use the Premiere Pro which is available to us at any time, but only on the school network computers, we will be tied down to using this software at school only, so no editing at home. Where as if we were to use something else, like Adobe Premiere Elements 9, we could edit our footage at any time, or place, with no strings attached to us, we can virtually work outside the walls which programmes on the school computers would set for us. The down side is that i'd always have to have my laptop with me, as the programme we are getting is the mac version. Furthermore as i chose to come home and download the trials available to me via the Adobe website, i am waiting for it to download. I have the majority of the footage on my personal laptop, thus being able to edit it and test the capabilities of this software as soon it is done.

Friday 29th (unable to access from home last week)

Today we shot our second scene, the training montage. On my way to the meeting place, Emily texted me telling me to meet her at the Abbey Sports Centre car park instead, this seemed more suitable than the arnison centre because it would have a training facility, a field to run within; but only to ruin my expectations. This had nothing of the sort and the facilities it had were both full and damaged, and they would have made our video look like we tried to look professional and give off the vibe that we could not afford professional, therefore it would have came out looking very amateurish. When I got to the Sport Centre car park, whilst Emily got dressed for the sporty occasion, Sophie and I discussed whether what she was wearing was sporty enough or she needed some of the other outfits I had in the car with me. After getting dressed, Emily and I were discussing where the best place to shoot would be, and I suggested that a field located behind the st. johns church would the best place for doing the training scene, as it is large, and very quiet, not many people tend to use the field. When we went there, there were only a few children on their bikes alongside the field. We managed to film the training, doing some simple exercises and as well as running to show her progressing. I took each exercise from different angles, to add more shots to the video. Half way through the shoot, I remembered that the camera should be on the stablizer 30FPS, where as previously we had been doing the usual 60FPS; but I am not sure of this. The only way to find out is to upload the footage onto the school system on Monday and see if the Adobe Premiere Pro is able to work.

Thursday 28th (unable to access from home last week)

Today, Emily and I simply discussed when we are doing shooting tomorrow. She’d like to do it in an hour, where as I think that’s far too short, even if it is a small scene. We decided to meet once again at the arnison centre at 1.30 tomorrow. This would be for our second scene, the training montage.

Wednesday 27th (unable to access from home last week)

We spent today shooting our footage for our first scene. I picked up Sophie from her place of work, which was on my route from my house to Durham anyway at about 16:10, I then took us both to the maiden castle parking, where I met Emily, Bethany as well as Leanne Thompson, whom all wanted to be in the movie. After much complication on clothing, personnel and equipment malfunction, I finally set up the camera at the correct places, got all of them actors to go to their positions for each different shot, then started to film; different angles, different times and different shots. Although many of the people taking part n this movie were not happy due to it taking a longer time period than they’d hoped, we got the first scene done. Emily suggested that whilst we were there, we do the last scene too, but looking at the morale of the crew, I thought best if we get them together on another day, when the quality of their performance would be higher.

Tuesday 26th (unable to access from home last week)

Today I started by asking Emily when is the best time and place to meet, we decided at half 1 at the Arnison Centre. But eventually delayed it a bit longer as I had a small errand to run before I got there. I still got there at 14:09 and met Emily, Sophie Balfour and another one of our actors, Bethany Simpson, whom had both gotten a ride from Emily. We spent today planning what were going to do and exactly when and where. We went to different locations, to choose the best surroundings as well as the running track for the first scene, being the race. We went to the Maiden Castle sports centre, checked out the running track and then went to the main office/reception to ask whether they were happy about us filming within their grounds or not, after asking different people, we found out that it would be okay with them.

Monday 25th (unable to access from home last week)

Today is very sunny, therefore I think it’s best to start filming today, as the whether will not be an issue and we will not have to worry about us or the equipment getting wet and damaged. Emily contacted to see when is the most suitable time for me to start filming, as I have the cameras and the accessories (this is because neither of us had gone to see Mrs. Gibson before the end of the term to book a camera, therefore, as a favour, our teacher, Mr. Earl, had lent us the camera and tripod from his own department to help us film for our movie). I asked Emily if she was free today, so that we can at least plan fully what we are going to do tomorrow, if not film today; to which she replied that she could not make it today at all, due to being busy with plans she had already made before knowing I needed her today. And despite my push to get her to focus more on the project and less on her own pre-made plans, she could not make it today.

Sunday 24th (unable to access from home last week)

Today I had contacted Emily to see when the best time to start filming would be for both of us, as we needed to get some real footage done before the end of our half term holidays. Later in the night I got a message from Emily which stated that Tuesday would be the best time for her and the other actors to start shooting for our product.