Evaluation

In what ways does your media project use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

I chose the song “Mad World” by Gary Jules for my song and targeted an audience that enjoyed listening to acoustic style music, aiming to hit a large age range of people. The song has been recorded over the years by many different people, including Tears for Fears and the more recent version by Alex Parks, winner of Fame Academy; which means that the song has already hit an audience of a wide range.  Even though the song is hitting a wide target audience there is still only a small fan base.

My video should capture the imagination of people viewing it as it doesn’t challenge the forms and conventions of my music genre; however it does incorporate some new ideas. Rather than the original that Gary Jules has filmed with the video being mainly performance based and filmed out into a city scape, I have used the countryside and tried to put my twist on a mad world. My music video includes a mixture of both performance and narrative footage. I also included nature which meant that I used the countryside for a variety of shots, including balloons floating down the river and familiar faces being represented through gravestones.

I studied many videos looking for inspiration and particularly liked Ben Howard’s ideas and way he included nature in to his videos, and this is what I have aimed to achieve. 

Ben Howard’s videos incorporate a lot of nature and as my video follows the same theme I found them very useful and they offered me some really good ideas to help me develop my video. I liked the various different high angle shots he uses to capture different effects in the woods. This made me when watching the video immediately think and let me imagine what is beyond the trees and let me interpret what I want to which is a really technique to use. I especially liked the high angle shots he used looking up into the wood canopy and the other more direct camera shots. It was especially useful to study his mise en scene as it helped me focus on what I wanted my artist to wear. In all his videos I looked at, the artist was wearing plain clothes without any large patterns such as a plain green hoody, so I thought that my artist wearing a plain grey coat, would firstly look effective and secondly still fit in with the music video as it reflects the sombre mood of it.

I originally shot lots of moorland scenery footage trying to use rock formations as familiar faces for example, but feedback from friends suggested that this was a nature video rather than a music video.

Therefore I decided to include much more narrative and performance footage and combined it with countryside shots. I found that my storyboard was very helpful for the re filming as it offered me structure as the director and helped steer most of the filming.

I carried out a lot of research throughout my project including using focus groups, and the internet. For my focus group I chose a variety of ages, both male and females, as this would give me an overall view of my target audience.

During my music video, I didn’t use Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze. Mulvey’s theory comments on the way women are portrayed through dress, dialogue, the sounds around them and the camera angles plus all the other contributing factors. This makes men see women in a different light and is shown to draw men into the music video for example. But in this video I didn’t use or incorporate her theory, as I felt that it added no value to what I was trying to achieve in my music video.

I included Andrew Goodwin’s theory which links the lyrics to the music and the visuals shown. This was done through lip-syncing and the general mise en scene which went with my music video. This is an important thing to include, as it makes it easier for the audience to follow.

A good example of Andrew Goodwin’s theory in practice would be the video below. This music video made by Coldplay has stop motion and the lyrics to the song appear behind the singer making this a direct link as with the background.

In my music video I used the ‘Black & white’ effect for the piano scene to give the impression of this scene being filmed a long time ago. At first I was unsure what my audience would think of this style but when I did my focus group they commented and said it looked very effective and was a good change rather than just having the normal colour footage. I also used this effect on the river scene as at this point I wanted to superimpose my artist, Nick, over it to achieve a dreamy feel without any clashing of colours.  The focus group felt that the mood change had a more powerful result and a deeper meaning which fitted in well with both my chosen music and with this genre, as it followed the forms and conventions of the video. I used a few different types of transition between the various video clips, and this meant that the video ran smoothly making it easier for the audience to follow.

Towards the end of my video I zoom into follow Nick and then I change the focus so that is focused on the tree rather than Nick to show the clear contrast of distance.  During one part of the music video it shakes a bit, but I did this to create different light patterns behind my superimposed artist. This gives it a slight subtle twist and makes the colours behind my artist look more creative. Throughout the video I slowed parts down for example the part with the balloon, as this meant that the balloon was in the shot for longer and making time go longer. Whereas the part with the balloon floating down the river was sped up as the balloon wasn’t moving.

My first transition, of the original music video didn’t work well and looked tacky because it didn’t flow smoothly, this was good feedback from my focus group as I was then able to amend and improve it.

As well as making a music video we had to make a digipak and an advert for the artist as part of our ancillary tasks. I wanted to keep a strong link with nature throughout, so decided that I would keep the same simple colour scheme. I also decided that I would add an effect to a couple of the pictures and ensure the colours remain constant. I kept the mood the same throughout, by the mise en scene surrounding the artist. When filming I took a variety of different pictures and this meant that the mise en scene was consistent and you could see the resemblance with the video and images used.

I looked at many different digipaks before creating my own. All digipaks followed a similar layout of pictures of artists, album name, and the artist name. I followed the forms and conventions of the genre for the digipak, and kept it simple but clearly displaying everything required. I saw that it was very important to the audience to have a picture of the artist on the front page as this gives off an ionic symbol and instantly associates you with their music.

How effective is the combination of your main product with ancillary tasks?

The main product matches and goes well with the other ancillary tasks due to the use of the same colour schemes, same artist, and mise en scene throughout all the tasks. The music video showed nature scenes from which I was then able to link the advert in with the main product by having a forest as the background to my magazine, this then shows the correlation with the digipak as my artist is outdoors in a few of them surrounded by nature. The back page of my magazine is a blurred picture of some trees and other shrubs to give the effect of a blurred out image with a mixture of colours being different shades of brown, and greens to give an intriguing appearance.
On my magazine I have superimposed Nick on top of the wood scene as this made a powerful picture making him brighter and clearer than the background.

The other pictures on the digipak all show a clear link back to the music video as I took those pictures when I was out filming with Nick to maintain consistency with the music video.

I would say that there was a definite link and you could clearly see the synergy between the different tasks.

Have you learnt much from your audience feedback?

I decided early in the project that frequent feedback throughout the production of my media products was very important to make sure I was always thinking of what the audience wanted. This is why it was very good to have my regular focus groups, as anything they didn’t like was clearly highlighted, and any errors I had made were identified.

What really helped me to create my digipak was obtaining feedback on photos and the layout of the text. When editing the images I was able to ask the focus group for feedback on photos, which helped me tailor to their preferences, highlighting my errors and aiding my decision making.

I put a link to my music video on Facebook and then asked some friends to give me feedback on it to ensure that I was still hitting the right target audience. Also when creating the digipak, I ensured I asked my focus group questions like ‘Does the colour scheme fit the genre of music?’ This was very helpful to decide things.

I realized during my project that I was too close to the video and could not find objective judgements however focus groups dipping in and out of the task allowed them to be blunt in their direction. A directional change encouraged by them for example was to cut the amount of the piano playing footage and increase the close up singing and the amount the artist featured.

When uploading my second music video the various feedback I received was useful as they told me the playing scene went on for too long and should be reduced and the main artist should be featured more. So I reacted to their feedback and then decided to include the artist in more scenes and make the lip-syncing more accurate.

After speaking to other people in my class I was told that uploading my focus group video would take a long time due to the video being in excess of 10 minutes. So I decided to link my video through Facebook which meant that more people could view it and give their advice on how it could be improved.  I found this worked well and it was very good to get the wide variety of feedback.

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

During the research and planning stage I had to do a lot of research into the music industry. Most of the research was carried out through browsing the internet and analysing different things we had to make, e.g. music videos, adverts, and digipaks. I also used the various music channels on television to see new adverts for CDs and the latest music videos. This was really helpful as I could then base this information on my genre of music and have a wide knowledge to help create my media products. The main channel I used on the television was 4music. This channel predominantly shows music videos, and watching these various music videos offers different ideas to include, and incorporate into my own. The large advantage of using 4music was that I would discover music videos I was unaware of and this meant that I would find out about different artists. This then led to access to videos outside my genre and would then mean I could follow the forms and conventions of my genre, or choose to break them.

During my research I also looked for guidance from an advertising company for advice on storyboarding and how this can be done more effectively. They said that I had a good basic structure, but I should include more detail to communicate what I wanted to achieve during filming. He then said that the church in my storyboard could be a variety of different colours, size, age, etc. highlighting his point to be more specific.

Most of my research was carried out on the internet as it was easier for me to access at any time of the day and have all the information I needed in one place. When analysing music videos I was able to replay them many times on YouTube to ensure I had covered all aspects of the video, including mise en scene, and to see what theories are connected to the video. I used You-Tube for analysing my music videos as this is the most popular place for people to upload them and is where we have to upload our own music videos we create so it is good practise to familiarise myself with the website and its various tools. When analysing music videos, on the side of the page there were various linked videos including some by the same artist or genre broadening my research.

 I used the blogger throughout my AS and A2 media course, to record any research and work. Although it was difficult to get into the swing of at first I developed a skill that helped me to structure my work. During my AS year I was able to ask the A2 students for advice on using Blogspot, so I was familiar with it before starting my A2 year.

 In my research into music videos, I also used Adobe Premier Elements 10. This was on my preliminary task, where we had to make a version of songs in real life. This was good as I managed to get used to the various equipment, including the green screen, cameras and lighting plus the other equipment we had to use. The idea of songs in real life is to include little parts of different songs in normal everyday life, so this is what we were set as our media groups’ preliminary task.

 Once seeing this video we realised that we only needed to include 10-15 songs clips. We had to then storyboard this and once we had our storyboard to think of various lines which we could use in that part of video to fit in with the storyline. 

When researching my digipak I looked at many different designs on Google. I found that Google images was the best place to find these bits of information as when I was viewing different websites I found that many were not relevant, whereas on Google images however I was able to see the image before going on the website, so I didn’t waste as much time. This was also good as I was able to go on the internet and see the various digipak layouts and decide on the one I wanted.

When filming my music video, I used a Panasonic Video camera, for the capturing of the footage before editing it. When filming the scenes I wanted, I used the Panasonic SD40 video camera. This video camera was very good and managed to capture the woodland and river scenes. The camera can film in high definition improving the quality of my footage. When filming these scenes I also used a tripod, this was so that the camera was not shaking creating a blurry scene, and meant that the panning shots I did were effective without the camera moving really fast or slow, it was able to be kept at a constant speed meaning that it was more effective. On this camera there is 16.8 optical zoom, which I used to effect on the main shot but I found it was also good when zooming in and out as it achieved a smooth transition. I was able to use the tripod at various heights and different angles, changing the length of the legs. Having a spirit level on the top of the tripod ensured the shots and filming was always on the horizontal.

 After capturing what I thought was all of the filming I needed I had to then start the editing process. I used Adobe Premiere Elements 10. This was a good software to use as it enabled you to add in any animations and overlay clips. One thing that I liked about the software was how easy it was to add various effects to the different clips and to change them without ruining previous work. Originally the software on the school Dell Computers wasn’t working properly and meant lip syncing in the singing parts, was a very long and tedious job due to jumping. I then decided to get the software on my own laptop. This made it a lot easier as it ran smoothly without jumping and this meant that the editing time was reduced.

I was able to post the videos onto YouTube and then link this to my Facebook and get many people to comment on it and give their feedback.

When creating my digipak, I used the photos I was able to take on the video camera but I also used another camera. This was a Panasonic Lumix DMC- FS16 Compact Digital, 14.1 megapixel camera which was a good camera to use as it has good optical zoom and a clear camera screen to view the images taken. This camera was good for capturing the images I wanted for my digipak, but I mainly used the video camera as I took photos when out filming for my music video. This was because it was easy to do as you didn’t then have to take two different cameras you could just take one, which can do the job of two. Having the video also meant that whilst filming I could take a photo whilst in the middle of filming, so saved loads of time in the long run. 

When I was creating my digipak I didn’t want to just insert the plain image, so I used Adobe Photoshop Elements 10. This was a very good piece of software for me to use when editing images. I used the previous edition, Adobe Photoshop Elements 7, the previous year when making my music magazine, so was familiar with the various effects, so when editing these images.

At the start of my AS course I had little knowledge of how music videos were made and the various software available to achieve them. I know appreciate the various software used and the skills behind the creation of them realising how long it takes to create them.

Final Music video

This is my final music video that I have uploaded, and this has undergone a few more changes and is now finished, with everywhere lip synced and have everything the way the audience wants.

The two streams to my music video would be the narrative storyline, to which my artist is singing along to, and then the nature scenes. The nature scenes tied in due to the different effects used. I used the black and white effect in the music video as when fading in my artist over the nature scenes it was less harsh and has a very subtle transition to it. I used fade transitions mainly as I was told though my research that the main transitions used in the music industry would be your standard fades, and straight cuts, and after changing the transitions from the earlier videos.

I used different effects behind the video like the black and white to also make it seem more like a dreamy feel and that made it tie in well, and also has the upset feel to it as well.

I was told by focus group that the really liked the ending with the reflection of the trees and background behind and that I was nowhere to be seen in this part just the pure background and scenery behind

Advert Final Edition

I was told that there were too many colours going on so should get rid of the vibrant colours and then put in instead different text, and rather than talk about the brit award talk about the album release date. Also I was told to make it easier to read and was advised to thicken the outline of the words. This also includes the barcode like the digipak for the same effect. Asking my focus group they said that the colour scheme stayed constant and looked really effective now with the red outline to the text being bolder, making much more legible. I was also told that the idea of having a i phone scanner barcode was a really good idea and would help to promote the artist even more.

Digipak Final Version

Here is the final copy of my Digipak, and I only added a copy changes since last time. With the way in which time are moving on I have decided to also add a barcode symbol which takes you to any place on the internet, meaning that this is then linked to the website.

I decided to use similar photos for my digipak, with the main focus being on my artist Nick. I decided to keep all of the photos in a very natural colour scheme apart from the picture behind the CD area. This was done in a black and white pencil type drawing. This was done so that it was kept fairly simple but had to be a change from the normal and other pictures my digipak contained.

Music Video 7th upload

I was told to see whether it was really relevant to have that short blip of Nick shown when the balloon is let go on the bridge and whether rather than have the blue balloon scene have Nick at this point sat in a classroom looking nervous rather than the balloon scene but I am going to ask a wider target audience to see what there feedback is. Also the first transition between the starting clip and the first scene where Nick sings the video seems to come to a halt.

Advert

After getting feedback from my previous poster I decided to make a new one, changing the colour of some of the bits of writing and changing the position of the text to have a much more appealing feel to it.

Advert

After looking at many different types of music magazines I decided that I was going to download a better and more effective font to get the users attention. I downloaded the font called 'FmiringCampotypeOne' and this font gave the look I was looking for, a slightly edgy effective font. As I was told that the star was tacky I decided to make my own bubble effect in paint and placed this here instead, which is prefered.

Music Video 6th upload

With this music video I changed some of the angles I filmed through and was told that this was better and was good that I included Nick the artist superimposed over the top of the nature and river scenes but would probably be better and would look more effective if Nick's face was either the size of the screen and made it more ghostly but was told to change.
Also towards the start of the video when Nick is crouched down at the gravestone the lip syncing was a small bit out and needs a minor amount of adjustment.

Advert

When I was stuck what to do for my advert I decided that most of the posters are plain and simple but use effective looking fonts, so was going to redo my one.

Advert

Here is another copy of my music magazine but I wasn't happy with it so asked my focus group for feedback.
My focus group feedback was that there is much more colour on the cover now but the star looks tacky and needs work on and also the font is still quite boring so will also need work on it.

Music Video 5th upload

This is my music video, after the feedback I received last time, I decided I should re-film some scenes as this obviously wasn't working and have been advised to follow the storyline more so have done this.

I was told that the music video now follows the storyline better and that it has a much better start than the original one I made.

Ending to my music video

I wanted to finish my music video with a powerful ending but was unsure of what to do, so looked at a variety of different videos to see how they ended there videos:

Both of these videos have very effective and powerful ways of ending and finishing the video, with one having the ending part of the video focusing on someone's face and the other music video having someone leave on a horse like in the traditional cowboy movies where the cowboys ride off into the distance and its like an Iconic symbol knowing that that is the end of the movie or music video in this case

Idea Change

After being told that Nick my artist didn't feature very much in my music video, I was told it would be good to include him in the video more. So I have decided to change the opening section to have Nick at this point going into a graveyard and I will then be able to match Andrew Goodwins theory of the representation of the lyrics in the music video itself.

Advert

This is a picture of my magazine advert, I created this part of the magazine and was unsure how to improve it from here on  so asked a focus group.

Likes :

• The Background, with the trees and wooded scene

Dislikes

• The font used, too plain and boring,
• Needs more text on it, for example another slogan i.e. Best album
• Needs another picture or logo or something to liven it up a bit.

Storyboard changes

I have changed my storyboard slightly not using the woods as much, and used the balloons on the river. The reason I got rid of the wood scenes was as the weather was poor when I wanted to do it, and the overall feedback was that this was better than the original one.

Advert Layout

Here is my advert layout, and I showed this advert layout to a few people to see what there initial thoughts are:

Transitions in music video

After saying the transitions I used were too fancy and varied too much, I decided to look at a variety of music videos and see what different transition effects they use, in between different scenes.

I watched many different music videos to see what transition effects they use:

All the videos I looked at including the ones above, all show that the main transitions are the simple plain cut, and fades. This has helped to guide me and show me that I should reduce the number of transitions I use sticking to the main ones used in other music videos

Music Video Fourth Upload

With the previous changes done I showed it again to some friends and this was the feedback I got from that:

• Use more simple transitions fades/straight cuts, as that's what is used in music video rather than the big transition effects.
• Change the amount of waterfall scenes and put in a scene of the artist  walking or something because there is too much nature at the start, and through that bit, there is too much time without Nick on screen. 

Focus Group Music Video

Here is my music video linked via Facebook to YouTube, and with this I was able to get feedback easily and this meant that doing it through Facebook, lots of different people were able to view it without having to be in one place like the videoed focus groups. Another advantage was the large variety of people viewing it, including previous A level media students, Friends, Family and adults, with different backgrounds, I.e. Web designer, ect

Digipak Second draft

After looking at the feedback I received from my first draft of my digipak, I decided to listen to my focus group and then acted on it an produced this:

Digipak First Draft

Looking at my research again I recalled that there was a bar code on the CD case, and so I also saw this relevant to include.

This was a copy of my first draft,

Feedback from my focus group:

• Change the font,
• Change the image of the one by the window.

Music Video Third Update

Once uploading this to YouTube I then linked it to Facebook, and received feedback on there.

Video Focus Group

I was going to video my focus group but have been told by friends that this process takes a long time and that it would be easier to upload my music video to YouTube and link it from Facebook and ask for feedback from there.

Music Video Second Upload

This is my latest copy of my music video.
I did the piano shots in a Old Film effect. I did this to try and make that part seem older and I think that effect worked well on this section.

Focus Group feedback:
Piano Shots are too long and takes up too much time would be better to have more of the artist,
Would be better to include more of your artist

Digipak photo

Here is another photo for my digipak and hear is the feedback I recieved:

Original Photo:

This is the original photo


Edit number 1:

I edited this photo and this is what the effect.
The feedback I received:
-Looks very effective and like the white tree effect and the way that it is very bright in the background
-Could do with having the effect right up to the person and not on his arm.

Edit number 2:

I edited the last edit on this feedback,
I was told this was much better than the previous one, and maybe try doing an effect with the artist.


After trying many different effects with the artist I was told that it looked better without any effect on the artist and made it stand out clearly and looked well with the other photo in the previous blog post and will go well together on the digipak.

Filming add in sections

Today I went up to Laneast Downs and filmed the various shots I had to do, I also went down to Laneast River and filmed the mini waterfall there

First minute of my music video

Here is the first minute of my music video and this is the various feedback I received:

Powerful and effective shots of the river,

When I came across this music video I saw how the effect of slowing things down and speeding things up had on the impression the audience receive.
I found that this video uses this technique well.

Digipak photo

This picture is the picture I plan to put on the back cover of my digipak, and this is the feedback I got for it:

- Interesting use of colours like the pastel effect used to enhance the stream,
- A sad scene is shown in this picture and resembles the song used for the music video well,

Filming

On Friday afternoon when I was filming I used the manual focus on the cameras bringing things in and out of focus, so enabling me to put either the background or front of the shot in focus. Doing this means that I can cause the artist to appear the centre of focus or make the artist slightly blurred and out of focus. This effect was not the effect I wanted to get, and didnt work on the shots that I tried to use it in. This maybe a good shot to use should I need to re-film any parts of it.

Filming

Yesterday afternoon I went out filming, doing most of the shots I wanted an artist to be singing in now completed, I had to re-think where I wanted to originally film, this was due to the current weather as there was ice and frost around, and when I am editing the footage I want to ensure that the clips are ok and should I have to refilm any sections then this can easily be done at a later stage as I havent restricted myself with my mise en scene and weather in the video

Piano and Violin camera shots

This evening I plan to film the scenes with the piano and the violin in, this will be done and may take a while to get the angles and lighting I need to pull off the effect I want.
I have looked at some videos on youtube of music videos which have included pianos in the music videos like a couple of Adele's, and various other videos.
For example I like some of the angles and shots used to capture the piano in Birdy - Skinny Love

Digipak Plan

Here is the first plan for my digipak, and this means that once I have the photos I need I can create it.

Here were the focus groups feedback:

• Like the layout and the link between the front and back cover,
• Maybe have a photo of the artist on stage as well rather than just the nature as it seems quite repetitive and would be good to mix it up a bit,
• Make sure that it will still be clear for the artists name to be clearly visible.

Crew List

For my music video you need a crew list and this is just a list of the people you need to help out in your production.
I plan to have the following crew;

• Main Artist - Nick Seccombe,
• Violinist,
• Pianist

This is all the people I think I will need as I will be the one filming and editing.

Props List

A props list is a list of the equipment you will need to add to the mise en scene of the video. These are the following things I think I need;

• A grey coat, (for the artist to wear in the outdoor scenes),
• A stage, (live performance),
• Microphone, (live performance),
• Piano and violin, (for performance on stage)

Originally these are the props I will need but I am sure as it is being filmed bits will be added in to it.

Advert analysis of digipaks

I have analysised 2 adverts for music digipaks.

Ministry of Sound - The annual 2011

The advert starts off with a popular sound with a definate base line to it and the colours in the background being vibrant colours which represents the music on the CD. While the different clips of music from different tracks is being played there is someone talking over the top creating a voice over and telling you the relevant important facts. He talks about the CD facts, artists on it, the number of tracks, and who it is created.
This is very important as this is the only things the audience need to know is told to you. Throughout the video there are the bright colours and the dance music soundtracks, which resembles a nightclub where this music would be played.


Green Day - American Idiot



This advert is an album created by Green Day called American Idiot. On this advert they have done what most advertising companies do which is largely include the album art onto the adverts, and in this case the album cover  is enlarged to fill the page. The advert is simple showing only a small picture and the title. The picture shows a grenade in the shape of a heart and this means that the Iconic sign is that love is not going well and blowing apart.
Also on this album only shows two colours the powerful red and the white, with a solid black background making the other colours stand out clearly.

Adverts for digipaks

Companies advertise for music singles to promote them and increase their sales. This means that the adverts may be video clips only briefly shown in between music chart shows on the music channels and will not have long to give a powerful impact on the audience. This is similar to the posters because people walking past wont have time to fully study it so need to be given the information quickly.

Digipak Analysis 2

This CD digipak is different to the one below as the digipak shows the artist. This is because there is only one artist on the CD rather than various artists. This has the advantage of being able to be more personal with the artist and shows you more pictures.
The digipak shows shows three clear pictures on the front cover and the inside sleeves. The album title is clearly displayed in the corner and is clear for the audience to see.

Digipak Analysis

Ministry Of Sound

This CD is a dance album and on this casing it shows vibrant and fluorescent colours. This is strongly linked to the type of music, as this type of music is often played in clubs, and the lighting they use in the clubs is often bright colours so linking to the music genre closely.
The image on the front page is of a speaker with a crown on top almost signifying that they are the king of music, and it shows a powerful clear image.

Digipak

A digipak is the casing in which a CD comes in. It is important to have a powerful digipak which the audience would like as this is what they see when going to buy a CD, so it is important that you still follow the forms and conventions of your music genre.

Muse
The Resistance

Biffy Clyro
Only Revolutions

Both of these CD have the important information on the front like the Artist/Band Name, and the name of the albumn.

When creating a digipak though you need to create more than just the front cover you have to create the back cover, and also the art for the inside cover and whats going behind where the CD will be placed.

Here on this Albumn you see that the CD has a good clear photo in the background
and flows across both pages.

Filming

Yesterday on boxing day I went to Rough tor one of the Cornish Hills to start my filming. It was a successful day managing to get loads of footage and cover what I wanted to cover.
This was a cold day and the sun not out so it was represented as a cold day in the colours of the sky and landscape. This was the effect I wanted.
Here are a couple clips I really liked from the filming

Pictures of filming locations

I went to the woods near school and this was a really good place for me to base the woods scenes for my music video as the paths are wide and surrouned by woodlands. The woods near my home were not appropiate to film in as it was too steep and also it wasnt what I was looking for.

Pictures of the woods.

In todays media lesson we looked at a slide show made by Pete Fraser on Ten tips to making a music video.
I found this really helpful and informative and very interesting as well to see what he had to say. I liked to see that what he recommends doing is what I have already done myself for example using the cameras as a trial to see what they can do and familiarising myself with the software which I have done for my prelimonary task.

Filming Location

I plan to film the sunrise and sunset here. I have walked here before and know the areas I want to film. I will film the sunrise and sunset over the large rock formation at the top of Rough Tor

I also plan to use the woods near school or Laneast woods as my woods shot area so I plan to go there to see if its the right place I want with the right scenery.



Mise en Scene

When making the music video I am going to have to think about the mise en scene a lot. I have considered filming in the woods and I think all of this footage will have to be done in one day or at least a small time frame to insure that the woods scene doesn't change. When I am doing the filming in the hall I will be able to put up the backdrop to the scene so the mise en scene will not change in this scene.

If I film on different days I will have to ensure that my artist is wearing the same clothes all time that he is meant to be in the film.

This weekend I was unable to go and get the shots of the places I want to film as the weather was not how  I wanted it and would be giving the wrong impression.

Filming Schedule

This is the filming schedule I plan to follow for my music video

Friday 18^th – Sunday 20^th November

Go to locations and see where I am going to film exactly and start to take photos of where I want this to be.

Wednesday 30^th

Film in the New Hall with the lights, and film the appropriate shot required from the new hall

Friday 2^nd – Sunday 4^th December

Take the artist to the woods and get the shots needed in the woods.

Focus Group

I asked a focus group to give me there feedback of my storyboard.

A couple comments I recieved:

They liked the bit where it goes dark and shows the car filmed in the dark.

Storyboard

Here is my storyboard, I have added colour and expanded it more now.

The story starts off in an open space looking out and seeing the clear blue sky and then in the distance you can see the woods. Later on in the video you go to the woods and quite a bit of it is filmed there. Also I filmed in the new hall and here I plan to do quite a bit of filming

Permission Letter

Shebbear College,

Shebbear,

Beaworthy,

Devon

EX21 5HJ

Dear Copyright Holder,

I am an A-level media student about to make a music video and I am writing to you to request your permission to use the track Mad World by Tears for Fears.

With your permission the track would be used for my A level project. The project consists of making your own music video, creating a poster and a digi-pack for the artist as well.

If I received your permission for using the track it will be used for educational purposes only and only viewed by my media class, teacher and my exam marker.

Throughout the video the artist and your company would be fully reconised and be credited in the music video itself. If you wish for there to be a copyright notice to be included in the video I would need any information sent to me so that it could be included in the project. If this is wanted please inform me with further details.

I look forward to your response,

With thanks

Alexander Cornish

Storyboard Edit

When originally making my storyboard which I thought was fine at the time I have changed my mind on a few aspects of it.
I thought originally that the detail i went into enough but I have since expanded it a lot more going into much more detail and making the discription on each picture a lot more focused, with the pictures having colour and  more attention to detail for example the weather

Today we started to study the written part of the exam more. We were told we had to choose an area which we wanted to study. I chose to study how youths are represented in the media.
I have chose to look at a historic film, a contemporary film, and a news article. I was also told that a good thing to watch would be Scenes from a teenage killing.
We watched this in class and I think our whole class was shocked by the documentary.

My Video Concept

I plan to have my artist walking through the woods and also do a live performance. The woods shot will be filmed in the woods near school, and I plan to have the artist doing a live music performance in the new school hall. The new school hall has lighting, and music effects available to use and this means that I can choose the colour that the artist is surrounded by, I can also add many effects to this changing the colour and making it strobe and many other effects.

Music Video Analysis 3

I have chosen to analyse the music video for the song 'Every teardrop is a waterfall - Coldplay'

In the opening scene it shows the sunrising over the city skyscrapers and then it shows the drawings of it and this is all filmed in stopmotion. Andrew's Goodwin's theory has been proved in this video with opening section with it being filmed in stopmotion it has the words written on the walls. Mulveys theory isnt used in this in this music video.
The lighting in this video is generally rather bright showing that the music is upbeat.

Music Video Analysis 2

I have chosen to analyse the song Pumped up kids by Foster the people.

The video starts off performance based with the lights coming from behind them. Also in the opening scene we see someone tombstoning and later into the video we see the same place again but showing different people jumping. Later into the video it changes between the two storylines showing the performance side of the video and then showing the relaxed other part of the video.
This part of the video tends to be filmed in a different style often making it appear as if its a flash back because it is shown to the audience with a different lighting mood.
In this video they do not use Laura Mulvey's Male gaze thoery but however they do use Goodwin's thoery. They link the lyrics to the video thorughout.

Music Video Analysis 1

I have chosen to analysis the music video for Labyrinth's song Earthquake

This video is a concept based music video as it is set around one idea and this one idea is that speakers and other computer edited pictures.
Firstly it starts off with him sat in his mini cooper in a large warehouse before it shows all the computer graphics. Andrew Goodwins theory is used in this video as the speakers are linked in with the beats in music and the bit where he says 'Fire with fire' shows a flame in the background.
Mulvey's theory is not shown in this video as it is a concept/performanced based music video, and didn't have the narrative side to it.

Equipment List

Now I have worked out where I want to film and with what backdrop I can now work out what equipment I need.
I will need the following :
- Digital Video Cameras,
- Lights,
-Tripod,
- Microphone,
- Black Backdrop for Stage,
- Computer

To create the music video I want to do this is the equipment I need.

Bluestone 360

Today I visited Bluestone 360. Bluestone 360 is a advertising company who make adverts for Gregory's, Plymouth Argyle Football Club, Danepak and many more. I visited them today to see what Ian Gullingham the director there thought of my storyboard from an industry side.
He said that my storyboard wasn't detailed enough for industry. If a film director picked up your storyboard then he should be able to work out what happens in the video without having to read the caption. With the drawing you should include colour as it helps whoever is looking at your storyboard interpret it. The colour is very important to show the mood of the scene and it is vital to include colours, when you change the background colour this can easily change the overall mood of the scene.
As a company making storyboard for adverts and designing things he said that you cannot over do your storyboard as it is the bones to your video. Before he said he has done 50 drawings to make sure he is happy. He also said when choosing an illustrator for and advert that everyone has there own individual style and its important to show that.
I said that when I am making my storyboard that I am not very good at drawing so he recommended writing out the story and what I want to have in it and then draw the pictures, they don't have to be amazing just clear enough to the person reading who may never have seen it before knows whats happening.


He also mentioned that my storyboard captions must be much more detailed for an industry and have a lot more micro details in there. For example on the first scene in my storyboard is that a modern building, old building, what is the lighting like bright middle of the day or dark at night time, what is the weather doing.
He said that something he uses is finishing the video first. So make sure you know what your ending is going to be like first as this is the last thing that people are going to see and this will be the way they feel after viewing it so having the ending sorted can make people feel happy, sad etc.
He told me at the end to be creative because its the creative people with the unique style that get recognised and the people who stay in the crowd are the same. It is very important to draw or write down what you want to happen and show your own style rather than just follow the crowd.

Storyboard 1

Here are my intial ideas for my storyboard

This is my first intial storyboard with the timings ect on.

Audience Questionaire

I asked a group of people and asked for there feedback on two questions.

I had a couple extra comments:

Would be good to see a live performance and also see nature incorparated.

Live performance with music instruments.

Audience Research

I was curious to know where most people viewed music videos. So I asked a focus group to answer one question which was

"Where do you view most of your music videos"

This is how the results came out;

This shows that the younger generation view most of there music videos online on Youtube. Youtube is an ever growing company with more and more music videos going on there. Youtube holds all recent and past music videos, with the latest music on there.

Forms and conventions of a music video

A music video has many forms and conventions to stick to. When making a music video something the director has to consider is whether to follow or break the conventions of that genre.
Music videos tend to stick to the forms and conventions as the audience gets use to a certain type of video so there the audience feels familiar. Also the way the different music videos are filmed fit in with the right colours and lighting.

Pop videos

Pop videos tend to be based in a nightclub, or a party somewhere and they tend to use lots of close ups of the artists and mid shots. They don't tend to use a panning shot much it tends to be more jumpy and upbeat to go with the music. In a pop video there tends to be bright fluorescent lights and sometimes strobe is used.

Acoustic songs

In the music videos the tend to the natural environment, for example they use the sea, countryside, and woods for example. The lighting tends to be lighter. Usually you tend to see the artist playing the guitar. The video tends to be fairly free flowing with the transitions being smooth between clips.

Rock videos

Rock videos on the other hand tend to use dark colours using lots of close ups to show the facial expressions. The colours tend to be worn by the people on stage are usually very dark. The rock videos tend to follow two different story lines, usually one being performance based on stage for example and the other one tends to have a brighter lighting and is usually in cities.

Making a video

In the Guardian it gives a guide on making video. It talks about the different specifications of camera you should, what camera angles and other useful tips on making a video.

It was handy in here to read about Editing tips, sound advice, and how to make a film. It was really handy to read and other basic techniques.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2008/jan/26/makingvideoguide




Guardian January 2008 edition.