R & P Post 33: Reflections on my role and contribution during research & planning

Throughout the research and planning phase of the project, we have all worked hard as a group to ensure that our extensive collection of paperwork, brainstorms and research notes will come to fruition and produce a good finished music video, album cover and website. In hindsight, I would say that having assigned roles to each other at different stages of R&P based on individual strengths, whilst also coming to important decisions as a group, we have worked extremely efficiently to collect references, complete individual paperwork and broaden our understanding of the music industry.

In my opinion, we worked well both on individual tasks and
also whilst making decisions and completing work as a group.

I feel that delegating roles based on group members' strong points has also been an advantage, for instance, I have been able to help with both research into the industry as well as the creative and technological aspects of the project - producing diagrams & our website flat plan, and assessing whether our ideas were practical. Meanwhile, Phoebe has given useful creative and research input, such as through the album flat plan and her collection of album & website reference points, and Georgina has demonstrated her performance ability already through the test shoot, alongside her organisation to buy props.

Below I have listed my personal contributions to the group during the research and planning process:

Tasks I completed Individually:

-Producing set design diagrams:
I drew up a series of set design diagrams for each of our planned setups, including lighting details and a small prop list for each. In hindsight, I feel this was a good idea as they were useful documents to refer to when dressing the set and lighting each scene for our test shoot. Hopefully they will have a similar effect during our final production.

(left) My six set design diagrams             (right) Drawing up the diagrams

-Producing a website flat plan & analysis:
I was entrusted with a lot of responsibility when it came to the website, in terms of both research and planning. I not only collected a number of website reference points & produced an analysis of Daya's website to give us an example of how to potentially produce our website and conform to existing conventions, but also produced an initial flat plan to map out a representation of our potential design, which I believe has been useful to refer to when producing the website.

(left) My analysis of Daya's website    (right) My website flat plan

-Producing logos for both our artist and record company:
I feel pleased that I was given a lot of creative freedom when it came to the project, and I was tasked with coming up with the logo of both our artist, GiGi, and Glass Ceiling Records, our record company. I ensured that I used our research into existing branding of both to produce realistic and plausible designs, and that the overall brand would be synergistic, continuing into our other tasks, such as the website and album cover.

 (left) My final designs for our artist and record company logos.              (right) My initial ideas for our record company

-Group Input:
I was also able to give my opinion on whether our ideas were practical, which - despite leading to some initial disagreements - was ultimately crucial to guarantee that we had a workable idea which we were able to shoot well, and in time before our shoot week ended. For instance, we were originally going to include another 'businesswoman' setup in our video, which I vetoed as I felt it would have been a stretch too far to plan, dress & light the set and film for a seventh setup.


Tasks I completed as part of a group:

-Acting:
I really enjoyed the opportunity to also take part in the music video itself as a patriarchal doll. I was able to mix in acting with my other roles on set, and develop my skills and confidence in front of the camera.

-Filming:
Filming was, of course, a huge responsibility, and - often alternating director/playback and camera roles with Phoebe - I had the opportunity to broaden my expertise, using manual focus and a dolly for the first time, thus enhancing my camera skills.

-Editing Test Shoot:
At any possible time when we were not needed on set during the first week of construction, I would work on Premiere Pro to help the group edit a brief rough cut from our test shoot footage - useful in order to act as a guide on where to improve certain shots in our main shoot.

-Prop and Set Design:
I helped the group to cut & staple wallpaper onto the large white backboards which enclosed our set. I believe that the juxtaposition between the clearly fake dolls house, with real wallpaper, works to good effect to reflect its artificiality, whilst also conveying a strange element of realism.

-Completing paperwork:
I helped the group to complete a number of documents - this

Some of the roles I took
during the R&P stage.

includes our timeline, our shootboard & key shots shootboard amongst others. I feel that this was a key aspect of research and planning, and helped to lay the foundations for our eventual ideas.

-Completing jobs on set
As well as filming and acting, I was also required to complete other jobs on set, including:
-adjusting lights/using the lighting desk
-playback