H&M Close the loop video comparison - original v recreation

H&M Close the loop

Firstly, upon looking at the shot involving the brown shoes, i believe it accurately resembles the original video in terms of placement of the camera and the mise en scene used in it. The shot itself is a medium to close up shot and is taken statically with minimal movement in both. In our shot, we like the original have included a small part of the car in the background, aswell as a slightly angled section of the door covering the top of the shot. With this though, we found it in fact hindered the shot slightly in terms of lighting, because when taking our video the flash from the camera focused on and illuminated the door - leaving the rest of the shot to be too dark. Another small yet noticeable difference of the two shots, is that in the original you see the street lighting in the back whereas even though in ours it is visible that they are stepping onto tarmac, there shoes are covered in a wall of darkness - almost missing the original idea of stepping out onto a street at night.  To account for the lighting problems, we used a subtle effect in editing in order to brighten the video slightly and replicate the original more. Finally, we can tell the mise en scene of the shot is also very accurate in all aspects. The shoes share the same pattern in both videos, and the theme of ankles being shown is also accurate to the original. Now, looking at the umbrella scenes we see the key difference is the lighting used because in the original it is night time, though in ours it is light. This is problematic because it really splits up the segment as it doesn't seem like it is the same story with the sudden changes of light. Aside from this, the camera positioning in these scenes is accurate and mise en scene such as cars has been carefully used in the background of ours. Unfortunately, the clothing of the two characters is different with the original being very classy and smart, though ours has very normal clothing.   This scene includes only non-digetic sound which is the music and the narrator. 

This is the 'wear a hat indoors' feature, which includes 3 seperate clips of different natures for the one scene - tracking of the girls walking in, followed by a facial close up and then a wide shot with them sat on the seat. With ours, we have acquired the necessary clips with an obvious feel as to which is which, though there are several factors which let this scene down. Firstly, the location which truly sets the scene is very different to the original. In our plan we did set out to film this is a restaurant which would have been very accurate, though accessibility and time restraints withheld that. Ours is still in a cafe though the atmosphere just isn't the same as the original. Looking at lighting now, the original is very dark which makes the women look cool and mysterious, though as ours was in a well lit room in the day it is much brighter so does not get this feel. On the other hand, the mise en scene is rather accurate as we used two similar red hats and had our actors wear glasses.  This scene includes only non-digetic sound which is the music and the narrator.  

This is "wear a short skirt after 40" and includes two shots - a close up of the womans face and an aerial shot of the woman with the younger people. In ours, we only acquired the aerial shot though i believe this is the most significant anyway. We really struggled to find the actor to be the elderly lady in this shot, so used props like a wig and dress to recreate the woman in an accurate way. In terms of location the original is clearly on a bed, but we recreated this using a floor with a duvet and pillows which despite not being exact is very similar. The lighting in our video is very similar to the original as it is rather dark though we used a light above to brighten the centre much like in the actual video. Finally, looking at mise en scene, we see the clothing of the actors is different becuse the original used very smart clothing, and even though we got a dress we did not get the same jewellery.  This scene includes only non-digetic sound which is the music and the narrator. 

Now, we look at the shot narrated with "dress like a man", which features two clips of a woman walking across a street, aswell as a moving shot of her turning. Firstly, starting with the location which is arguably the most prominent part of the shot, we see the two are reasonably similar. In the original she is crossing a large main road at a cross point, which we have recreated though obviously the area lacking is the fact the road is not visible in the background which in the original shot is almost highlighting a form or freedom and bravery to not care how people see you. Looking further back we see a collection of trees which in ours do appear in the back in a similar way. Unfortunately, with ours the clothing is slightly different in terms of colour, though the principle still applies as it is a male coloured jacket with black jeans. This scene includes only non-digetic sound which is the music and the narrator. 

The original clip from the 'H&M close the loop' advert shows a young child, sat in a hallway  wearing headwear and attempting to put on shoes. The shot suggests that the child is trying to tie their laces, or could be trying to learn to ride a bike, however the dressing gown indicates it isn't very likely that they've been outside on a bike. "Don't try at all" is heard on the voice over, which implies the child has given up whatever they were attempting to do, and contrasts to the previous statement heard over the last clip. Despite the camera being at a low position, the shot would actually be a 'full body shot' because the small child is sat on the floor, and the camera is filming it from a straight angle rather than looking up or down on the actor. 
In our clip, we have used a child also sitting in a hallway  and attempting to put on their shoes. Unfortunately, the head gear doesn't match exactly, but we have used the fact the child is attempting to put on shoes and with that we see there is a clear match with the childs confusion. The child is wearing a dressing gown as well, and shows a familiar 'tired' look to the one featured in the original advert. To match the original clip as much as possible, the shot we have filmed has been done at a similar position and angle to the camera in the actual advert. Another issue with the our clip, that certainly differentiates our video to the official video, is that it is filmed portrait, whereas in the actual advert it is filmed landscape. This is an important part of the shot as it leave it looking very unprofessional and odd.   This scene includes only non-digetic sound which is the music and the narrator. 

"Wear a short skirt if you're a man". In theory this is a very simple shot to recreate, though because there is so little going on it means every small thing must be the same in the recreation. Ours has the same camera angle and for this we set the camera up in place in order to avoid any movement because the original is completely still. The location of ours is also well done because it is against a blank wall, the only difference being the original has some rectangles on the wall. In terms of props and mise en scene they are reasonably similar. The card being held up is the focal point of the shot, and is exactly the same size with the same writing on it so that has been recreated perfectly. Our actor wears a skirt which is important, though it is a different colour from the original. Looking at lighting, we used studio lights to emphasise the actor standing out which is similar to what is done in the real video.  This scene includes only non-digetic sound which is the music and the narrator.

"Dress like a girl" This is a rather complicated scene to recreate due to its intricate details and out there location, as well as the fact it is 3 different snappy shots. With our first scene when she walks towards the camera ours has been redone well in terms of the camera angle as we used a low shot so the girl is looking down. Also, in ours we have the same colourful background though in a low light setting. Unfortunately the wall patterns aren't exactly the same though this is a very minor detail. The net scene is a close up mirror shot which is well recreated in terms of mise en scene as our actor has the same over the top makeup as the original, and the same expression on her face. The key difference in this shot is how the original has a cracked mirror which creates this effect of there being multiple reflections in the mirror. Again though we have the lights around the mirror. Upon looking at the final shot this is much like the first as in the mise en scene is very good, both actors are wearing almost identical clothes, and are entering this place with lights in it. In terms of lighting it is slightly different, as the woman in the original is a silhouette though ours is much brighter.  This scene includes only non-digetic sound which is the music and the narrator. 

"Stand out/blend in" This shot is one that is hard to organise because of the amount of people needed to do the same thing. Looking at camera angles we see that a long shot is used which matches the original. We also did not have a tripod so had to ensure that the camera was kept steady. The location is really the focus on this shot, and we see that the original is by a large white house on a london street though we did not have access to this so still managed to do it on the corner of a building. Due to this though, it does lose part of the story of the scene as he is meant to be in an expensive area. With mise en scene, we could not get access to so many different suits so we put our own twist on stand out blend in and had the single character on a phone with a scarf on, then the multiple actors are looking at phones with scarves on. Also we did not have the exact amount of actors as there are more in the original. Finally the lighting is similar in both, as the original used natural lighting and ours does the same.  This scene includes only non-digetic sound which is the music and the narrator. 

"Wear pink and red" In terms of finding a specific location, this was the most difficult because obviously the main point is the pink house which is not something easy to find. We did manage to get one even though it is much lighter of a pink compared to the original. Looking at camera shots, ours is clearly filmed in portrait where landscape is needed which once again makes the shot look less professional. Also the shots themselves do not exactly match the original, as the first is meant to be a very far shot though ours is fairly close, and the second is supposed to be a still close up shot of the lady, though ours moves along the girl not particularly close up. In terms of mise en scene, for some reason our actor is holding a plant compared to the letter box which the original is stood next too. This is simply an error of judgement on what is in the video. Also our actor is wearing a red top like the original though not pink bottoms like the original. Finally the original is in sunshine and is well lit with natural light which i believe we recreated rather well. This scene includes only non-digetic sound which is the music and the narrator. 

1. How organised were you as a group? What elements of organisation were vital to you as a production group? I felt that as a group we were organised in the sense that we all knew what we were doing and which shots were 'ours'. The only problem, is that we were not able to meet out of school so shots that needed multiple people out of school were hard to get.
2. What technologies did you use and how did they serve to develop your skills as a media practitioner? I used my phone and macs mainly throughout this project. These helped greatly as i was able to quickly film the shots to a high standard anywhere, and the mac was great for sending and uploading the shots. 
3. How creative do you think you were during this process? What elements of the project required creativity and imagination, even though you were given a very structured brief to 'copy'? I believe we were creative by the way we improvised. Many things we simply could not recreate so we had to be creative in finding other ways to get the shot.
4. How successful do you think your first draft video is? Use examples from the film to illustrate your evaluations. I believe it was very successful even though we were put on a tight time constraint, as our shots were done accurately to a high standard.
5. In preparation for the next stage of your production work, what knowledge of experience will you take with you into the next project? In the next project i will understand the importance of planning everything meticulously, aswell as the ability to get everything done to a schedule. 

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