Planning:Selection and Rejection: principle photography of stars

After posting the principle photography photographs on Flickr, I received some feedback which helped with reflecting on what types of shots would be useful for the music video. The promo package and the digipak, and most importantly, on what types of shots we should look at during our next photoshoot.

After getting feedback on the facial expression of the female as it is seen that she does not look happy, we will try and portray a different type of expression on both of them, as our genre and the song are not related to happiness and is more concentrating on leaving criticism on society and making intertextual links, also due to the fact that stars in indie/rock genres do not usually smile, and more often have a neutral facial expression. The incorrect expression was my mistake for not informing the stars about what I wanted them to do, and this will be improved next time.

Regarding the feedback  received on this shot about how good the natural hair looks when blowing in the wind, we decided that I will try and incorporate a similar shot, with the hair blowing in the wind for a dramatic effect. The location will be different, simply  because when I did this photo shoot, I did not consider the locations because I am not in charge of location photography, but rather the stars and their costumes. 

What I learned about the use of such photos through feedback is that using colour is useful in order to portray the style and possibly connote things. The use of the mustard yellow signifies the name of the song and the intertextual reference to the Yellow Brick road.

This was a really successful shot and the audience thought so as well. I think that we could use this photo in some way for our launch of the star, as I believe the vintage colours and the neutral expressions link to the genre really well. Also,just as one comment mentioned the road behind them, the meaning behind it is a journey with mystery and the unknown ahead.

When I took this photo of the female star, my main intention was to show the change of costume that will also be incorporated in the music video, and the feedback that we got on this shot says that the colour scheme that we are having is good and the muted colours within the shots are good as well. The reason I muted some of the colours in some shots was to see what effect it would leave, also because of the constant reference to nostalgia in the song of our choice.

Looking at the feedback on this photo, I think that we definitely should use a shot like this in our music video, as the female's face is not aggressive, and it contradicts the gesture that they are pointing at the camera. The rebellious spirit can be seen through this photo because of the facial expressions, the slight leaning towards the camera and each other can signify that it is not a very unpopular way of thinking about how bad the society is today.

For this shot, I wanted to experiment with the cooler tones being more forward and giving the overall shot a cold feeling, which looking at the feedback has worked. The moody expressions are generally usual in indie/indie rock music videos, therefore I asked the actors to look that way, to see what the outcome would be. Although this shot does adhere to indie music videos, I am unsure whether we will use this as it appears that the audience does not seem to like the expressions.

The carefree, relaxed movement on this shot was quite interesting and our TA thought so as well, as we received suggestions that we should use shots/movements like this in our music video. When thinking about this, I think we could use shots like this when the lyrics are lighthearted.

Having our female star in a relaxed pose and slightly leaning back is a nice and a natural shot, however,  the photo is too wide  and there is a need for closer shots, therefore, for improving this type of shot, I would either crop it, or get closer to the star in order to take the photo.

The use of a star leaning forward, at a slight low angle and leaning more towards the right ride of the frame. However, reflecting on the feedback that we received we should crop down the photo and bring the star closer to the audience in order to create a stronger relationship, also, when we use the actual locations that we have planned on using, we will make sure to get rid of any distractions in the background, however, as this is not one of the locations that we are considering, there is not a reason to worry about the background.

The reason why I took this shot was to try and experiment with different poses and see what effect they would leave. The feedback that I received tells me that the use of such a shot would be interesting in the music video, which is why I will seriously consider using such a conflicting pose in the video.

How this research influenced my planning and creativity: 

• We should try and get the female's hair blown in the wind for a dramatic effect
• we should try and get shots from either right or left of frame in order to avoid all shots being centered