Final Website

We have now finished our website. Here is the link:

theDropouts OFFICIAL SITE





Final Album Cover design

Final Music Video

Rough Edit: Sequence

We finished the rough edit of the sequence on Monday and got feedback on it. Here is a summary of the main feedback points:

• Narrative needs to show more progression, start seems a bit loose (input more candle shots and boyfriend shots instead of pulpit shots)
• Change the first chorus so there is more movement in the shots, seems a bit too static
• Input more CU of lead singer during first verse, change the opening band shot so that there is less black space
• Shots need to go in closer, input more CU
• Only show lead singer on the breakdown, don't go to the ECU of guitar

Rough Edit: Album Cover



We completed the rough edit of our album cover this week, which we then got feedback for before we edited it again to make it a final copy.

Our feedback is as follows:



• Add a white background to the behind disc cover so you can see the skull logo more clearly
• Add barcode to the institutional information (We also inputted our QR code here)
• Back cover looks too dull, add an effect to it
• Add an effect to the inside cover, also looks too dull

From our feedback, we are going to keep the front cover the same, as that was good. We are also going to try a spray paint effect on the back cover and make the inside cover black and white, although we will keep the eye colours of the band members.

Rough Edit: Website

Today we finished a rough edit of the website ready for feedback.
Here is the feedback we received:

• Make sure your link to buy the single works (couldn't be clicked on)
• Too much white space on the Gallery, News and Competition pages, put in some more visuals
• Include a link to the record label's website
• Organise the gallery page a bit better, looks slightly unfinished

Whole Band Performance

We came into school at 7am to do set up and then film the whole band performance shots. We had learnt from the previous week how time consuming these shots could be, so we set up to shoot from 8am-11am with the whole band.
We also got rid of the platform for the drum kit, as this complicated things as the drums kept falling over during the shots.

We shot the drum solo and the guitar solo, as well as the whole band shots with them all interacting. We took a couple of still master shots, but we mainly took moving camera shots with the camera weaving in and out of the band members whilst they were playing.

By the end of the shoot we were tired yet happy with the footage we had. We are now ready to input the footage into our final sequence, meaning we now have all the shots we planned for.

Band Photoshoot

We took the band photos today, which comprised of photos with the band in two different outfits - their band outfits and their 'smart' outfits.
We started by taking photos of the band all together in their band outfits, and then with the members individually in their band outfits.



We then took photos of the band in their 'smart' outfits. Some photos were of them together and some individual. We have sorted through the photos and are currently editing the best ones to put on our website and album cover where necessary.

Frank Solo Performance

Actor(s): Frank
Costume(s): Band outfit
Prop(s): Bass guitar, Amp


After we had attempted to take the band shots on Friday, we knew how to change the performances to improve them. With Frank's shots we knew he had to 'strut' about more whilst playing the bass. We took a number of shots, from the long shot of him in the solo spotlight to the CU of the bass strings and the OTS shot with his neck tattoos.

Pulpit Set-up

Actor(s): Olivia
Costume(s): Band outfit
Prop(s): Pulpit

We shot the pulpit shots this evening. The shoot didn't take very long as there weren't a lot of set-ups needed, and by then end we were happy with the shots we had taken. The main shot we had was the low angle with the pulpit, to make it seem as though she was giving a sermon to an audience.

Boyfriend Set-up

Actor(s): Olivia, Michael
Costume(s): Band outfit, Regular clothes
Prop(s): Wooden Chair, Rope, Crash Mat

The shoot for the boyfriend set-up went well, once we had tied Michael (unsuccessfully) to the chair. We then decided to record Michael being pushed backwards on the chair, and so brought in the crash mat. After some practice, we finally got the shot we wanted of Michael falling backwards onto the crash mat. We the took the shots of Olivia slapping and kicking Michael. Again, after a lot of practice we got the shots that we wanted.

Olivia Solo Performance

Actor(s): Olivia
Costume(s): Band outfit
Prop(s): Microphone, Microphone stand

We filmed Olivia's performance shots this morning. We took a range of shots, from the long shot master to the extreme close up of the microphone with Olivia singing into it. The shoot went really well, and Olivia had by now got into the character better so the performance shots we took were very useful for our final sequence.

Candles Set-up

Actor(s): Olivia
Costume(s): Stained white dress
Prop(s): Tealights

We filmed the candle shots at the end of the shoot on Tuesday, after we had completed the Coffin shots. We didn't have as many setups for the candle shots, so we were able to shoot these in a quicker time. We took shots from different angles, and had one with her 'dancing' in the circle and the rest with her singing to the camera.

Coffin Set-up

Actor(s): Olivia
Costume(s): Stained White Dress
Prop(s): Coffin

The coffin set up went quite well, although to start with we were slightly behind our schedule as it took slightly longer for us to get used to the studio with the lighting and the camera than we had anticipated. We took a range of shots from different angles and distances, so we should have enough footage to use in our final edit.

Shooting Schedule

Here is our shooting schedule for the main set-ups in our music video:



As you can see the schedule is split into three sections; the set-ups with just Olivia, the set-ups with both Olivia and Michael and the set-ups with all the band members. As Olivia is in our group, the shots where it is just her will be easier to shoot and can therefore be done first. We can then move on to the shots involving other members who are not in our group, such as the whole band shots and the boyfriend shots.

Shot List

Track Edit

Our chosen song, Goin' Down by The Pretty Reckless was originally over 3 and a half minutes long, which was too long for our music video. This meant we had to edit the track so that it would be shorter and therefore easier to edit to.

Editing our track

After much discussion and editing on the Mac, we finally agreed on cutting out the second half of Verse 2, which now means that our song is 3 minutes 20 seconds and that we still have the main basis of our lyrics for our music video.

Our 'new' Verse 2 and Bridge 2

Studio Bookings

Week 0:
Friday 21st Oct - 7, 8

Week 1:
Tuesday 1st Nov - 2, 3, 4, 5
Thursday 3rd Nov - lunch
Friday 4th Nov - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, lunch

Week 2:
Mon 7th Nov - 1, 2, 3, lunch, 6, 7, 8 -> 4:00
Wednesday 9th Nov - 7, 8 -> 5:30
Friday 11th Nov - 1, 2, 3, lunch, 6, 7, 8

Group Meeting 4

Agenda: To continue with our Pre-Production stage so that we can finish all the planning ready to start shooting after half term

The first thing we did was create a 'To-Do List' for the rest of the week

To-Do List:

• Timeline / Photo-storyboard
• Take photos for photo-storyboard
• Band rehearsals / Screen Tests
• Actor Contracts
• Shoot Schedule
• Time Code lyric breakdown
• Book Studio for Filming Sessions

Note: We have now completed the timeline, the actor contracts and the shoot schedule (12:30 on 18/10/11)

We completed the timeline for the video during the meeting. We made notes on the set ups we would use for each section of the song and how long each section lasts. Here it is below:

Actor Contract