MY LETTER TO CINEMA CENTER BOYANA

Dear Readers,

For my project I wanted to film some of the scenes in New York. That is why I ask premission from Cinema Center Boyana to use their New York film set. During this summer I worked there and that is why the menager of the studio was happy to let me film there for free. This is the actual e-mail that I had send to them.

THE NEW SHOOTING SCHEDULE

Dear Readers,

As I mentioned in my previous posts, I had to change the whole shooting schedule due to many unfortunate circumstances. As I promised I made a new one to keep you updated how I worked with the actors and the extras. Hope it will be helpful for your preparation for filming. Enjoy reading!

SHOOTING SCHEDULE NEW

LOCATION PHOTOS TAKEN DURING THE FILMING PROCESS

Dear Readers,

As I mentioned before, During the filming process I took many photos to keep you updated with how and where I am filming. I will begin with the first place we filmed which was the Cinema Center Boyana (NuBoyana Image).     




The first picture is taken after the first day shooting in Cinema Center Boyana located in Sofia, Bulgaria. On this photo the audience could see the London film set for the upcoming movie "London has fallen". Just in front of us is the New York set used for the "Expendables 3''.










The second photo is an establishing shot of the place we filmed. This is part of the New York set which I needed for my music video. There is no doubt that it is really realistic.
                        

This photo is one of my favourite. It is the building we were filming the whole time. 

 This photo is showing the small streets of New York City. However, at the beginnin it could me notice some of London's buildings.  

This photo is screenshot of some of the shooting I did in Cinema Center Boyana in the New York set. The adience could notice the backgroung buildings of the big city and how busy it can be!

The second part of the filming was located in the a music studio called "Studio Spot Records" located also in Sofia, Bulgaria. I used two guitars (electric and acoustic, a trompet ( a toy because unfortunatelly I couldn't find an actual trompet), drums and a microphone. Every amp for the guitars was a Marshall ( one of the best company for amps) and the drum kit was a Sonor ( a high class of drum kit). Here some photos of the studio:

This is the studio. I chose to film there because the light as good and it is big enough (50 m²)  for the actors to dance and perform.

  And it was fully equiped with the best musical tech and instruments.

The audiece could notice how comfortable the actors are looking in that studio both to perform and to spend time in there!





 The third location we went to film the music video was in a small village close to Sofia called Plana. The innitial idea was the shooting to take place in another village called Kraevo, but due to the bad weather I decided to be closer to the big city.

 This photo was taken next to the supermarket where we filmed the most important scenes for the video.

As the audience could notice I had brought also my crazy assistant  Nikol Yovcheva. She helped me with the props and with encouraging the actors to work.

On the top right of the photo is the person who made possible the whole shooting in the village. Many thanks to Angel Todorov.








To conclude, this are only few of the photos I took during my stay in Sofia, Bulgaria for the half term. The other photos will be looked carefully and I will choose which one will be used as a front cover for the Digipack. Keep checking my blog for more posts and updates.

P.S. huge gratitudes to Iliya Trifonov, Milen Minchev, Dimitar Naidenov, Konstantin Vasilev, Emil Borisov, Yoana Georgieva, Nikol Yovcheva, Nora Hristova, Tsvetan Uzunov, Angel Todorov, George Gidikov for the help and the time spended in hard work !

FINISHED WITH THE FILMING PART

Dear Readers,

This half-term I manage to film everything for my final piece music video. In my previous post I mentioned the song on which I will make my own interpretation of the video. I have used amateur actors but from the work we did I think the audience won't notice. During the filming I had to change few things in terms of shooting schedule, the amount of people I had to use in the some of the scenes but eventually I managed to handle the problem quickly and it didn't harm my work.

The first problem I had to handle was the film schedule I made last month ( it is posted on the blog ). Unfortunately, the week I was in Bulgaria to shoot the sequel was quite busy for the actors because it was full with exams which they had to do. This exams were unexpected for the actors and that is why I had to make a new one which will be posted later on my blog. As the audience can notice, I was planning to film everything at the beginning of the half term (which was 12 Feb) so that I could keep my audience posted how the filming process going. Eventually, I decided that the only time I could film my video will be the last days of the half term. This change harm my plan to keep posted my audience with my work.

The second problem I had to handle was to get a premission to change the date to film in Cinema Center Boyana and to use the New York set for my video. The problem there was that I had to limit the number of extras's I wanted to use for the scenes in there due to important Hollywood production filmed close to the set. From 17 extras I had to limit them to 6. This caused changes to the way I wanted to shoot the particular scenes but in the end I was happy with the final result in filming there.

My final problem and the one that was impossible for me to fix was the weather. During my stay in Bulgaria I was expecting sunny, relatevely hot weather. However, I was surprised with foggy and rainy weather until the end of my stay there. This, also, caused some changes in my prepared storyboard. I had to plan my time carefully so that I could find simple and easy solution so that both my audience and the actors could be satisfied. For the scenes where the main characters meet in a traditional village field in the mountains I changed the location to be again in a traditional Eastern European village but insted the main action to be set on a field, I filmed it on a small  shop in the center of the village.

By the end of my stay, I was happy with what I manage to film and how I handled the situation. The only thing I wasn't happy with was the establishing shots I made in the forest. However, I hope with the help of Adobe Premiere Pro I will manage to make the image more colourful and pleasant to be seen by the audience. Keep following my blog for more updates. Expect some amazing location photos with the cast and the assistance that helped me during the whole filming.

R&P ALBUM COVERS AND POSTERS

Dear Readers,
During my research on the Eastern European Punk Culture I was wondering what conventions I could use for the poster and the album cover of my music video by Dubioza Kolektiv-USA. My Research began with one of my favourite bands Dubioza Kolektiv.

Dubioza Kolektiv ALBUM COVER

• Really simplistic for a Punk/SKA band 
• They have used two colour: black and yellow 

a) the black colour is a symbolism of the underground punk/ska music.
b) the yellow colour can be suggested to be the colour of the rise. The band will get out from the underground and it will be available for the Mass audience.

• The band used typical street conventions. The cover looks like it is made with graffity.

• The band has been illustrated in the cover.  

Another popular Eastern European Punk band is the band called CONTROL. It is a Bulgarian band and they have been on stage more than 35 years. After the end of the communist regim in Bulgaria they have become the face of the traditional punk Eastern culture. This is their first album covers.

CONTROL (trans. КОНТРОЛ)-OOOUUU BABY! (trans. ЛЕЛЕ КАКО!)

• The band has enterily cartooned their album cover. On the right side the audience could notice the traditional look of the punk societies. Their style of clothes can be really colourful. 
• The album cover looks really rebelious.
• The look of the album is really messy (stereotypical for the punk culture)
• All the songs can be seen on the right side of the album cover. (verticly positioned )

A band called Gogol Bordello is a band created in America by a "Gypsy'' Ukrainian. The bands members come from all over the world ( Asia, Europe, North and South America and Africa ). Their songs consist different traditional Eastern European Rythms. The band genre is known as "Gypsy Punk". This is one of their album covers.

GOGOL BORDELLO - SUPER TARANTA!

• The band has used different colours to represents it's style to the adience. 
• The band has used different acrobats to show how artistic gypsy culture is. 
• The band hasn't focus on a simple cover because of the genre of music they perform.
• The people behind the lead singer look happy and satisfied from what the band performs. 
• The way the performers are dressed is a traditional gypsy style of clothing. ( striped trousers, boots.) 
• The band aims to look a little bit like a circus performers. Their aim is to make a show which will be liked by the audience.

The last band which in my opinion will help me with making my own Digipack cover is a Bosnian band called "S.A.R.S." They are relatevely new band of 21st century. They also focus on a stereotypical Eastern European motives by using traditional music instruments of their folklore such as accordion, trompets and saxophones. The cover I will focus will be one of their first release albums called "Petspektiva"

S.A.R.S. - Perspektiva

• As the audience could notice the cover is focused on the black colour. It symbolises the culture of the underground music which was S.A.R.S at the beginningof their career. 

• On this cover albym the only visible face is of the lead singer. 
• Тhe name of the album means "Perspective" and is coloured in red colour with a typical punk street fond. 
• The location of  the album is in a tunnel. It has encoded meaning which is that with this album they will come out from the underground music world. 

To conclude, I will aim to use conventions on each of these album covers for my Digipack. I will focus mainly on the colourful motives because I the music I am using is aiming people to be positive and happy.

CASTING

Dear Readers,

 This is the casting I have made to represent the characters I chose to film for my interpretation of the song Dubioza Kolektiv- USA. You will get familiar with the atmosphere and the actors. 

 

STORYBOARD

Dear Readers,
This is the storyboard I have made to give me a better understanding of how I want to film my music video. I have included different shots which I will use in different scenes, the charachtrers behaviour (e.g. mouvements, dancing,etc) and the props which I will need for the clip.

ANNOTATED SONG LYRICS

Dear Readers,

This post will represent the stages of when the scene will change, what shots I will use for each scene and the characters behaviour on the upcoming music video which I will film. The lyrics will help you to understand what the musicians want to say with their music and it will give you information on what is their genre in some sense.