Planning the Magazine Advert (JOSH)
This here is my planning for the magazine advert. I decided that we would keep with the idea of time by placing images of each of the band members dressed in clothes from particular seasons into a clock face that had the months instead of the numbers for the clock. The picture isn't completely clear so I will explain each of the different areas. The top right is a picture of our drummer Nicky, he would wear winter clothing and a christmas hat to represent the winter months. The image below is of the lead singer Mike with eggs, preferably easter eggs but the most likely would be kinder eggs as these are in my opinion the most suitable replacement. I decided that the most popular part of the spring months is probably easter so it is fitting to have easter eggs. The bottom left image is of Tom the keyboard player wearing swimming trunks, I thought that it could be a good idea to have him either topless or with a vest on, he would also be wearing sunglasses this was to represent the summer months and people going on holiday during these months. The image above this is of Tom in warm clothing and a halloween mask with the other two band members this was to show that the band enjoy fun activities with each other.
The writing at the bottom of the page is the album name and this would be in the same font as a digital clock, this is once again an idea that I had which meant that we could keep the album and song well linked together with the advert so that the target audience are able to understand the link and be able to find the album on display with ease thanks to the advert.
The writing at the bottom of the page is the album name and this would be in the same font as a digital clock, this is once again an idea that I had which meant that we could keep the album and song well linked together with the advert so that the target audience are able to understand the link and be able to find the album on display with ease thanks to the advert.
Market Research Album Adverts (JONNY)
Ellie
Goulding
‘Lights’
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Wretch
32
‘Wretchrospective’
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Kings
Of Leon
‘Take me home’
|
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Images -Presentation of artist/
band
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There
is a clear image of the artist ‘Ellie Goulding’ which takes up a good ¾ of
the page. The image has been photoshoped with lights in her hair to relate to
the album name. The emphasis has been on selling the artist more than the
album.
|
The
advert contains a full shot of the artist (Wretch 32). The surrounding/ Mise
En Scene relates to the artists origins. The image is creative with contrasts
of white and black which enable it to represent the genre without being too
dark and boring.
|
I
believe that ‘Kings of Leon’ are closest to our band out of these examples.
There is an unusual image comprising of split screens with the four band
members and an eagle, creating a strange creature covering a third of the
page. The name of the band is at the top which is very clear with the use of
white on black.
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Clarity of Album being advertised
|
The
album name is very small compared to the image of the artist. However it has
been place prominently in the middle of the ad in front of a black
background. It is very clear to read from a distance.
|
The
name of the album is clearly displayed in the middle of the advert along with
the release date. This is all very clear using a white text on a black
background. There are attempts to sell the album by mentioning the ‘featured
guest appearances’.
|
The
name of the album is in large font in the bottom sector of the advertisement
with the release date below it. This information is very easy to read with
the use of vivid colours. There are attempts to sell the album by mentioning
that their hit songs are included in the album.
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Other
information
|
At
the bottom of the advert there are reviews from reputable reviewers such as ‘The
Times’. Although this helps sell the album, there is no information on where
the album can be purchased.
|
Unlike
the other two adverts, this one clearly shows the consumer where the album
can be purchased on the right hand side of the ad. The advert also includes
the artists myspace account which is effective in gaining more long term
fans.
|
At
the bottom of the advert there is information for the bands website and the
record labels website. Similar to the first advert, it does not show where
the album can be purchased, which I think is important.
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A short analysis of a CD (JOSH)
Magazine Advertisment Research (JOSH)
This here is an example of an advert that an artist has put in Q magazine for their latest album. This is quite a simplistic approach to an advert as unlike most adverst it is in black and white.
I will take some inspiration for our own advert from this. Firstly I will have the name of the artist across the top of the page, so anyone who views it will know instantly what is being advertised. I will also ensure that the date of release is on the advert however I may place it in a different place so that there is more originality to the advert than there would be if I was to just change the font and size of the writing.
On this advert I think that by having a long road in the background of the image and Bruce Sprinsteen at the front the people promoting him are trying to illustrate the journey that he has been on throughout his long career. They don't need to concentrate on the image of the artist as much because he is well known by many people throughout the world.
I intend have an image of all of the band members on the advert as they are almost completely unheard of so it is important that we make sure that people are able to see them so that they quickly become recognisable. I am going to make a reference to time on the advert so that there is a level of consistency with the album cover. As this has a large amount of reference to time.
I will take some inspiration for our own advert from this. Firstly I will have the name of the artist across the top of the page, so anyone who views it will know instantly what is being advertised. I will also ensure that the date of release is on the advert however I may place it in a different place so that there is more originality to the advert than there would be if I was to just change the font and size of the writing.
On this advert I think that by having a long road in the background of the image and Bruce Sprinsteen at the front the people promoting him are trying to illustrate the journey that he has been on throughout his long career. They don't need to concentrate on the image of the artist as much because he is well known by many people throughout the world.
I intend have an image of all of the band members on the advert as they are almost completely unheard of so it is important that we make sure that people are able to see them so that they quickly become recognisable. I am going to make a reference to time on the advert so that there is a level of consistency with the album cover. As this has a large amount of reference to time.
Construction of Stop Motion (JOSH)
Our music video has stop motion at the begining of it as this was the best and most creative way that we could think of to introduce who the band were and the name of the song which we felt was important with them being unsigned. This was also a requirement that the band wanted us to include when we asked for permission to use the song in the creating of a music video.
We did a trial run using only the classroom lights and took the photos without a tripod. Doing this meant that we realised that we needed to use proper lights as well as a tirpod to get the effect that we wanted and to ensure that it was of the best quality possible.
From the outset we knew that this was a process that would take a long time in order for us to get the effect that we intended the stop motion to create. In total we estimate that we took around about 400 photos over the course of 3 hours. It was a process that was well worth the time as the end product does look superb.
In order to make sure that all of the photos were in the same light conditions we used the lights that you can see in the picture. This was very successful as it meant that all of the images were taken in the same light and thus meaning that there weren't continuity errors.
We used a large white board and put it on the floor so that it was flat and we could make sure that it was in the same position for every photo that we took. The reason that we chose a whiteboard was because it meant that we could rub bits of the image out and change the position of it to create the impression that the image was moving.
We did a trial run using only the classroom lights and took the photos without a tripod. Doing this meant that we realised that we needed to use proper lights as well as a tirpod to get the effect that we wanted and to ensure that it was of the best quality possible.
From the outset we knew that this was a process that would take a long time in order for us to get the effect that we intended the stop motion to create. In total we estimate that we took around about 400 photos over the course of 3 hours. It was a process that was well worth the time as the end product does look superb.
In order to make sure that all of the photos were in the same light conditions we used the lights that you can see in the picture. This was very successful as it meant that all of the images were taken in the same light and thus meaning that there weren't continuity errors.
We used a large white board and put it on the floor so that it was flat and we could make sure that it was in the same position for every photo that we took. The reason that we chose a whiteboard was because it meant that we could rub bits of the image out and change the position of it to create the impression that the image was moving.
Audience Feedback From 1st Draft Of Music Video (JONNY)
Josh and I received feedback for our music video today as part of a peer assessment in our class. Although our music video had not been completed, we were able to show our development and then collate some feedback in order to improve the video. A lot of the feedback focused on items which we were already aware needed improving, however certain suggestions did help us with methods of improvement. We have decided to work on 3 different improvements that were brought up repeatedly in the peer assessment.
Improvement 1- Lip Synching
The majority of video currently is 2 seconds in front of the song. This makes any singing in the video look very silly! It would be easy to fix this problem, if the whole of the video was 2 seconds in front. However as it is only part of the video we will have to find a way of only shifting that part, whilst keeping the rest in the same location. I feel that this will be the hardest challenge and will be difficult to fix.
Improvement 2- Dream Sequence
A lot of feedback talked about how the audience were unaware that one of our sequences was intended to be a dream. I have started attempts at improving this by finding a fce tutorial explaining how to make a filtered dream sequence (View Here). I hope to have this fixed by the end of the week.
Improvement 3- Dream Bubble
This should be the easiest problem to fix, but I am having a real problem with it! We have a dream bubble in front of a white background. The original colour of the dream bubble is white, but in the video it turns purple. This was also noted in the feedback as it makes the quality of the video very poor. I am not sure why this has happened and have tried to change this. I think I will need to conduct some research to establish what the problem is and how I can go about fixing it.
Market Research Album Covers (JONNY)
|
EXAMPLE
‘The evolution of man’
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MAROON
5
‘Overexposed’
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ONE
DIRECTION
‘Take me home’
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Images
|
The
albums show a person holding a picture of the artist example when he was
young over an image of a crowd at a festival. The style is very retro and has
a ‘home made’ feel to it. The image on the album is creative as it indirectly
relates to the title ‘evolution of man’ as in a way the image shows the ‘evolution
of example’.
|
The
album comprises of a number of hand drawn unusual images with a pink/ purple
colour scheme. The images and the colours are bright and so attract the eye
but do not tell a story or have any other purpose on the album cover.
|
The
band is clearly represented in the album cover. The fact that they are all
round a telephone box gives a British representation in international
markets.
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Brand Identity
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The
iconic Example logo is placed on the top left of the album. This makes it
easily identifiable for his fans, however it is not as easy to identify for
consumers browsing in a shop.
|
The
band name is placed along the middle of the album, however does not stand out
as much as the same colours are used. The name of the album is crushed along
the bottom of the album. Although the album cover is unusual it relates to
their other albums in terms of design.
|
The
brand identity is extremely strong with all of the band being placed in the
image. The name of the band and album name are clearly presented. This makes
the band easy to identify for consumers, even those who are not as familiar
with the band.
|
Presentation of artist/ band
|
The
album presents Example through his younger self. This portrays a sense of
innocence. There is also the idea of achievement, that when the picture was
taken he dreamt of being famous and the fact that it is placed over a massive
crowd means that he has achieved this.
|
There
are no images of the band, however arguably they are famous enough to get
away with this. The creative album image may be used to indicate their
creative music style.
|
The
fact that they are jumping and climbing on the album cover connotes
youthfulness, energy and fun. The fact that is a sunny day means that the
songs are likely to be happy. These are all things that we relate to boy
bands, especially One Direction.
|
Other
information
|
This
album cover is effective however suits artists/ bands that are already
famous. Our album will need to promote ‘The Village Musicians’.
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Although
I like the design of the album as it would stand out amongst all those other
CDs in HMV. It would be expensive and time consuming to produce the images.
Similar to the Example album, it would not promote our band.
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In
my opinion the album cover is too cheesy. However in terms of concept and
promotion of the band, something similar to this would be good for ‘TVM’.
However it would be important to make sure that we didn’t alienate the male
market.
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Digipak Market Research In HMV (JONNY)
After being given our brief to create an album cover for ‘The
Village Musicians’, I sought to conduct some market research in one of the UK’s
largest music retailers ‘HMV’.
The first thing that struck me when walking in to the store
were the vast amount of different sections ranging from band t-shirts to tablet
computers (their product range is extremely diverse!) Looking around the shop,
to the left a large purple sign caught my eye ‘Chart’ with a music sign next to it. I decided that
this would be a good place to start!
The chart music was aesthetically well displayed with lines of the albums all in unison. In my opinion, this allowed the artwork of the album to stand out far greater than if there had just been one album per artist.
An album that stood out for me was the new One Direction album which had different visual versions of the album, with the image of a band member on each.
This gives the consumer more choice (or dare I say, for real fans, the opportunity to buy all 4!) I found this interesting due to the fact that we are also promoting a boy band, although arguably with much greater musical talent than 1D.
Moving on from the chart music, the main section of the store is devoted to what seems like every album ever created, literally thousands! I payed specific attention to the Rock and Pop section as I felt that was the genre our song best fit in to. As you can see from the pictures, its not easy for an album to stand out when there are this many. The Rock and Pop section seemed to go on for ages!
The albums are firstly categorized by music genre e.g Rock and Pop. They are then sub categorized by alphabetical order of the album name. There are also other sections such as 'greatest hits' which contain compilation albums with a selection of an artists/ bands greatest hits. This methodology makes it very easy for browsers to allocate the album they may be interested in purchasing.
Alternatively I found this hybrid music DVD which consisted of a collection of Elvis Presley's greatest performances. This product was aimed more as a collectors item with a high quality box to encase the DVD with a small book including information on Elvis also included!
This music DVD is a documentary looking at the history of Rap music and its development throughout the years. It is called 'something from nothing the art of rap'. The purpose of this DVD is to educate the viewer about the music genre, teaching them to have a greater appreciation of the song. The video is directed by ICE- T who is a well known musician in this field of music.
Along with the conventional forms of music DVD that I mentioned above, during my market research I came across a 'fly on the wall' style documentary which follows the band around as if you are living the life that they have. The example that I took a picture of was called 'being... N-DUBZ'. The idea of this genre of music DVD is to allow the viewer in to the day to day lives of the band, something that is not normally shown.
After conducting my market research I stopped off at the listening post to see what styles of music were being played. Similar to the shop the selection of songs available to have a brief listen to (30 seconds) were in its thousands. These were all in a database with a search toolbar at the top of the screen, you could search by song name, song artist or even by genre. While I was very impressed by the vast amount of songs available, it was disappointing to see that 'The Village Musicians' were not one of them!
From my market research I have conducted that CDs are much more viable then music DVDs. I believe this is due to the increased usage a CD can have over a DVD. A CD can be listened to passively (whilst driving a car, doing homework etc) a DVD needs your full attention. It is clear to me that a lot of effort goes in to designing the artwork for an album cover as when albums are faced with such competition against hundreds of other albums as shown in my images above and that many different tactics are used to do this (bright colors quirkiness of the cover, no images/ no words). These all give USPs to the album covers, and increase the chances of a browser picking the album up! Having spent time in HMV my opinion is that the CD sector of their market is focused at the older demographic who would still rather listen to a CD then download the song online. This opinion was backed up having during my time viewed the majority of CD browsers as 40+. This market research will help me develop my own ideas for an album cover representing 'The Village Musicians',
Editing Schedule (JONNY)
I created this editing schedule at the beginning of November after we had completed all of the filming and had uploaded the footage on to the computer. I coordinated our availability through both of our school time tables. I then created a schedule on Excel placing hourly slots in line with our lessons at school.
I started by placing our media lessons in the schedule and then proceeded to place our own personal availability following that. Sections marked 'J+J' were when both of us were available to edit the music video. Along with using this time to edit the music video, we also re-shot our stop motion. The stop motion was shot on Wednesday the 14th and Monday the 19th where we were both available for 2 hours (it was a long process!). We stuck to the schedule most of the time, but when we were unable too, we made sure we found another hour where we were available. Overall we spent just under 30 hours editing our final music video, meeting checkpoints along the way e.g the rough cut which we set a deadline for Friday the 9th (this was achieved- just!). The use of a schedule allowed us to be efficient in our time management as we knew exactly when we were needed to edit. This allowed us to schedule our other plans around these times, thus avoiding conflicts which may have caused unavailability for editing.
Mood Board Representing Our Music Video (Jonny)
This is a Glog that I created, which gives a brief representation of our music video through words and images. It represents ideas that we had and implemented in our music video. This mood board was created on an online software called Glogster EDU.
I have had a Glogster account for a while now as this was one of the technology's that I used for my AS portfolio, and so was familiar with the set up of the software. Glogster edu allows you to set up a simple account which is free, however you can upgrade to a premium account paying a monthly fee. I used the free version which allows you to import images, videos and music to create a mood board which they call a 'Glog'. It is a very simple product to use and is quick to use if you already have the images saved. Another great benefit is that similar to other online programs I have used, you are able to embed your final product on to your blog. which makes it look that bit more professional!
The Decision To Place Stop Motion In Our Music Video (Jonny)
For our A Level Media project Josh and I really wanted to push the boat out and try as many filming techniques as possible, as to allow our music video to really stand out from the others. Something that we were both very interested in was the video effect of stop- motion. Our interest in creating a stop- motion sequence increased after both watching the following video on YouTube...
We came across this video when writing a blog post on similarities between our bands music video and that of Noah and the Whales. The girl that created this video was also doing A Level Media at the time. Knowing for sure that we now wanted part of our music video to contain a stop motion sequence, we then set about finding the best way to do this. A video that I found on YouTube gave us a good basic knowledge of how we should go about creating our stop motion...
This video was created by a group called 'storm the castle' who among other things educate people in different filming techniques. The advice given in this video- although quite simple made us aware of problems we did not anticipate occurring. The video also gave us one of the most important pieces of advice for our stop motion sequence, which was... USE A WHITEBOARD. I can not express how much time this saved us, as it allowed us to modify an image without having to draw it again from scratch (as in the Noah and The Whale stop motion). Haven taken on board the advice given, we set about creating our stop motion sequence.
http://youtu.be/uhrmCTcF7B8
This was our first attempt at our stop motion sequence. Although it was effective in terms of looking like a moving image, we were unhappy with the camera movement. This was due to the fact that images were taken holding the camera free hand, rather than using a tripod. Another error was lighting. By only using natural light our images were inconsistent, instead we should have used photography lights similar to the ones used in our green screen. Because of these errors we have decided to learn from our mistakes and reproduce the stop motion sequence, this time with tripods and lighting.
We came across this video when writing a blog post on similarities between our bands music video and that of Noah and the Whales. The girl that created this video was also doing A Level Media at the time. Knowing for sure that we now wanted part of our music video to contain a stop motion sequence, we then set about finding the best way to do this. A video that I found on YouTube gave us a good basic knowledge of how we should go about creating our stop motion...
This video was created by a group called 'storm the castle' who among other things educate people in different filming techniques. The advice given in this video- although quite simple made us aware of problems we did not anticipate occurring. The video also gave us one of the most important pieces of advice for our stop motion sequence, which was... USE A WHITEBOARD. I can not express how much time this saved us, as it allowed us to modify an image without having to draw it again from scratch (as in the Noah and The Whale stop motion). Haven taken on board the advice given, we set about creating our stop motion sequence.
http://youtu.be/uhrmCTcF7B8
This was our first attempt at our stop motion sequence. Although it was effective in terms of looking like a moving image, we were unhappy with the camera movement. This was due to the fact that images were taken holding the camera free hand, rather than using a tripod. Another error was lighting. By only using natural light our images were inconsistent, instead we should have used photography lights similar to the ones used in our green screen. Because of these errors we have decided to learn from our mistakes and reproduce the stop motion sequence, this time with tripods and lighting.
Construction of the Storyboard (Josh)
We made story board so that when we were out of set filming the music video we had something to look back at and were able to make the video as good as possible due the amount of planning.
We used one post-it notes for each different shot that we would take. The meant that we would easily be able to visualise what we would need to do at each different stage of the filming. Using Post-it notes meant that if we decided to change the order it which we were to have the scenes then we would be able to move them much easier than if we used storyboard paper like we did in year 12.
We took great care when drawing the scenes on the post-it notes so that when we changed the storyboard into an animatic to show to the actors they would have an even better idea as to what we wanted them to do as oppose to if the drawings lacked detail and we just spoke the instructions to them.
All of the drawings were originally done in pencil and then colour and outlining with a black pen was added after. This was so that if we made any mistakes with the drawings we could amend them much easier than we would be able to if we drew them in pen straight away. The pen made the drawings easier to see on the animatic as they were bold and colourful.
The storyboard to a number of weeks to perfect and we both feel that this was time well spent as without a brilliant storyboard it is impossible for anyone to create a brilliant end product. Here Jonny and myself are discussing the order in which we want the post-it notes to be. There were a lot of scenes that we weren't sure of the order and once we had put them in different orders on the animatic we were able to decide upon the perfect order for all of the scenes in order for us to make what we hope will be a really good music video.
Here we are comparing our original planning notes to the storyboard that we are in the process of creating. We wanted to make sure that we gave our self some guidance to how we would make the storyboard so that we didn't begin to come up with stupid ideas that seemed good at the time but once it came to filming them were impossible to actually pull of
We used one post-it notes for each different shot that we would take. The meant that we would easily be able to visualise what we would need to do at each different stage of the filming. Using Post-it notes meant that if we decided to change the order it which we were to have the scenes then we would be able to move them much easier than if we used storyboard paper like we did in year 12.
We took great care when drawing the scenes on the post-it notes so that when we changed the storyboard into an animatic to show to the actors they would have an even better idea as to what we wanted them to do as oppose to if the drawings lacked detail and we just spoke the instructions to them.
All of the drawings were originally done in pencil and then colour and outlining with a black pen was added after. This was so that if we made any mistakes with the drawings we could amend them much easier than we would be able to if we drew them in pen straight away. The pen made the drawings easier to see on the animatic as they were bold and colourful.
The storyboard to a number of weeks to perfect and we both feel that this was time well spent as without a brilliant storyboard it is impossible for anyone to create a brilliant end product. Here Jonny and myself are discussing the order in which we want the post-it notes to be. There were a lot of scenes that we weren't sure of the order and once we had put them in different orders on the animatic we were able to decide upon the perfect order for all of the scenes in order for us to make what we hope will be a really good music video.
Here we are comparing our original planning notes to the storyboard that we are in the process of creating. We wanted to make sure that we gave our self some guidance to how we would make the storyboard so that we didn't begin to come up with stupid ideas that seemed good at the time but once it came to filming them were impossible to actually pull of
Health and Safety Risk Assessment (Josh)
There are a nuber of risks that are involved in the construction of our music video. Most of these were during the narrative part of the filming.
The Tree
There are always a number of safety issues surrounding putting a man up a tree with a guitar. Before sending Mike up the tree Jonny went up to ensure that it was safe and the ladder was footed by myself so that it didn't fall over whilst he was up the tree. Jonny checked that the branch could hold the weight both when we originally found the tree and then once agin on the day of shooting.
To get Mike up the tree we used a ladder and ensured that he would wear shoes with a lot of grip in order to make sure that there was minimal chance of him slipping out of this tree. Once Mike got up the tree we made sure that he was comfortable before handing him his guitar. Once Mike was in position we made sure that the filming was done as quickly as possible so that mike didn't have to stay up the tree to long we did ensure that the film was to the highest quality.
We used a ladder to get Mike out of the tree so that it was as safe a possible. There was one more thing that we needed Mike to do at the tree, hang off of a lower branch and then drop for one shot that will be used. Before doing this Jonny checked that the branch was able to hold the weight
The Field
There is minimal risk here; the only that we found was rabbit holes along the down hill where the actors would run. For this reason before we started shooting the footage we walked up and down the hill to check for holes. We then found an area that there weren't any holes and began shooting the film.
The Bridge
Once again there was minimal risk at this location. The only risk was that Mike could slip on the bridge. The prevent this we made sure that Mike had grippy shoes so there was minimal risk of him slipping.
The Tree
There are always a number of safety issues surrounding putting a man up a tree with a guitar. Before sending Mike up the tree Jonny went up to ensure that it was safe and the ladder was footed by myself so that it didn't fall over whilst he was up the tree. Jonny checked that the branch could hold the weight both when we originally found the tree and then once agin on the day of shooting.
To get Mike up the tree we used a ladder and ensured that he would wear shoes with a lot of grip in order to make sure that there was minimal chance of him slipping out of this tree. Once Mike got up the tree we made sure that he was comfortable before handing him his guitar. Once Mike was in position we made sure that the filming was done as quickly as possible so that mike didn't have to stay up the tree to long we did ensure that the film was to the highest quality.
We used a ladder to get Mike out of the tree so that it was as safe a possible. There was one more thing that we needed Mike to do at the tree, hang off of a lower branch and then drop for one shot that will be used. Before doing this Jonny checked that the branch was able to hold the weight
The Field
There is minimal risk here; the only that we found was rabbit holes along the down hill where the actors would run. For this reason before we started shooting the footage we walked up and down the hill to check for holes. We then found an area that there weren't any holes and began shooting the film.
The Bridge
Once again there was minimal risk at this location. The only risk was that Mike could slip on the bridge. The prevent this we made sure that Mike had grippy shoes so there was minimal risk of him slipping.
Detailed Timeline Of Music Video For 'All This Time' (Jonny)
I created a detailed timeline of the footage that we will use in our music video as part of our planning. I chose to do this as I believe it will be extremely beneficial in the long run with both filming the footage and the editing of the music video. This timeline allows us to know exactly what footage we need and where it will go in relation to the other footage. I also have the timeline on a word document so that it is easier to consult when we are out filming.
I originally created this timeline on a power point presentation but then converted that to an online presentation using an online application called 'slideshare'. This was the first time that I had used 'slideshare' and so I was asked to create an account- this was fairly simple! However once I had created the account there were no instructions on how to use the application. I struggled at first on how to use the application, but I soon figured it out by simply uploading my power point at the click of a button. The application then processed the power point turned it in to an online presentation and gave me an embedding link. The program was very simple to use and is a clever idea for anyone who wants to share a presentation document online!
Audience Expectations Of Our Music Video (Jonny)
This is a video that I made to represent our target audiences expectations of our music video. I created the video on Imovie with the experience I gained last year from our film openings. In our questionnaire we asked people to listen to our chosen song 'All This Time' and then asked them questions relating to the style of the song and what they would expect from the music video. This video will help us to understand what our target audience expect from our music video and will work as a guideline when story boarding our music video. We realized after editing the video that we had no female input shown on our video, this was a problem as our target audience is both male and female ages 13-21. However we have solved this problem by keeping the data response from our Music Video Interviews and our Questionaire which have both male and female responses!
Synopsis Planning (Jonny)
We planned our Synopsis on a online brainstorm and mind map creator called bubbl.us. We started by splitting the music video in to 4 sections: 1st,2nd and 3rd verse and the chorus. We then followed these up with the locations, characters, the lyrics to that section and a brief synopsis of what would happen. This allowed us to create the mind map above.
This was the first time that I used this program and I found it relatively easy to use! There was a small introduction to the program when I singed up which talked me through the basics, this was useful. There were also buttons which worked as short cuts which made things much quicker, for example ctrl+enter added another branch to the mind map. This mind map program was really effective in organizing all of our thoughts on our music video synopsis and displaying it in a format that is simple to follow. I will definitely be using this program again!
Organizing Costumes For Our Music Video (JONNY)
I took on the role of organizing the costumes for both the band and the actors in our music video.
When deciding on what the band should wear, I felt that it was right to represent the real village musicians style. I hoped that this would give an authentic relation between the band members and the song. For example; it would not have been effective if our band members wore baggy jeans, baseball caps and golden chains.
However, I felt that it was also important that our band members wore something true to themselves and that represent their unique style as a band. I found some pictures of the band and posted them on our group facebook page. I showed our band what the real village musicians wore, however explained to them that they had free reign over their own costume as long as it was similar and represented the genre of music.
When shooting the narrative I ensured that Mike was wearing the same costume to avoid continuity errors. I worked with Ami (our actress) to co- ordinate a costume that represented her character
and that went well alongside Mikes costume.
I decided that it would also be important to start developing an 'image' for our lead singer Mike. Something that would distinct him from other artists. We decided that his leather jacket gave him a really nice nice image, and so you can see him wearing this jacket throughout the music video.
When deciding on what the band should wear, I felt that it was right to represent the real village musicians style. I hoped that this would give an authentic relation between the band members and the song. For example; it would not have been effective if our band members wore baggy jeans, baseball caps and golden chains.
However, I felt that it was also important that our band members wore something true to themselves and that represent their unique style as a band. I found some pictures of the band and posted them on our group facebook page. I showed our band what the real village musicians wore, however explained to them that they had free reign over their own costume as long as it was similar and represented the genre of music.
When shooting the narrative I ensured that Mike was wearing the same costume to avoid continuity errors. I worked with Ami (our actress) to co- ordinate a costume that represented her character
and that went well alongside Mikes costume.
I decided that it would also be important to start developing an 'image' for our lead singer Mike. Something that would distinct him from other artists. We decided that his leather jacket gave him a really nice nice image, and so you can see him wearing this jacket throughout the music video.
Filming of the Narrative 29/11/12 (Josh)
Yesterday we went and filmed the narrative parts of the music video. This was a long day for all involved with us starting at 10:30 and not finishing until 19:00. We had a number of different locations which we needed to shoot in and wanted to make sure that we wouldn't have to re-film any sections so we took lots of footage.
Here is a photo of jonny at the first location capturing soem footage from the point of view that the main singer would have. This will be used in the early part of the song. Jonny made sure that he held the camera steady whilst taking this shot so that the video is of the highest quality.
Here Jonny is explaining to Mike what he needs to do for the next scene. We made sure we done this before every single scene that we filmed so as the actors would have 100% confidence that they knew what to do. This meant that the filming would not take to long and would be efficent for all involved and wouldn't mean that the actors would have to film each scene to many times.
Here Ami (the girl in the narrative) and Mike are about to start acting one of the scenes and are just recieving a final brief on what they will need to do from myself and Jonny. This is another part of the film which will go during the part of the film where the main singer (Mike) is imagining that they are in a relationship.
Mike and Ami mid scene, this is another part of the footage for when the lead singer is imagining they are in a relationship. Mike and Ami were confident that they knew what they were doing and done a fantastic job of this scene. This was ine scene that we filmed not sure weather or not we would use it but after we had filmed it we decided that we would definately be using it as it look great.
To conclude this was a really enjoyable day for all involved and was very constructive for Jonny and myself. We managed to get all of the footage that we need for the film and hope to have it completely edited by the end of November.
Here is a photo of jonny at the first location capturing soem footage from the point of view that the main singer would have. This will be used in the early part of the song. Jonny made sure that he held the camera steady whilst taking this shot so that the video is of the highest quality.
Here Jonny is explaining to Mike what he needs to do for the next scene. We made sure we done this before every single scene that we filmed so as the actors would have 100% confidence that they knew what to do. This meant that the filming would not take to long and would be efficent for all involved and wouldn't mean that the actors would have to film each scene to many times.
Here Ami (the girl in the narrative) and Mike are about to start acting one of the scenes and are just recieving a final brief on what they will need to do from myself and Jonny. This is another part of the film which will go during the part of the film where the main singer (Mike) is imagining that they are in a relationship.
Mike and Ami mid scene, this is another part of the footage for when the lead singer is imagining they are in a relationship. Mike and Ami were confident that they knew what they were doing and done a fantastic job of this scene. This was ine scene that we filmed not sure weather or not we would use it but after we had filmed it we decided that we would definately be using it as it look great.
To conclude this was a really enjoyable day for all involved and was very constructive for Jonny and myself. We managed to get all of the footage that we need for the film and hope to have it completely edited by the end of November.
Organizing our filming schedule with the use of Social Media (Jonny)
Before commencing our filming for our music video Josh and I had the complicated task of organizing our filming schedule. This may not seem like a complicated task, however logistically finding a day where we could use our chosen location or green screen and where all 3 of our band members were available was never going to be easy! Because of this, we decided to take our filming schedule in to the 21st century and create our own Facebook event where we could co-ordinate days with our band and actress and find dates that were mutually convenient for everyone!
We invited our 3 band members and our actress for the narrative to the event. We uploaded images of the original 'village musicians' so our band could get an idea of the style, along with this we also uploaded our animatic to help explain to the group the structure and story line of our music video.
When we needed to film a scene we would 'tag' whoever was needed in a post along with what we needed to film and where it would be filmed. Those who were 'tagged' in the post could then post a comment telling us what dates and times they were available, allowing us to co-ordinate a date that everyone was available. This process was very simple and saved a lot of time. It was a excellent example of how social media can connect people, as if we had not created an event we would have been left with the tedious task of phoning each member individually and collating the dates that everyone could do, before phoning back all of the members to tell them the date we had decided. The event page also allowed us to inform the group of any plans for the filming, for example, where we would meet, what they would need to wear etc..
Along with making life easier for ourselves, using social media also allowed to us to add another technology to the ever growing list that we have used in this A2 course.
Prop List (josh)
There are a number of props that we will be needing for our video, these will be essential in ensuring that the video will be successful and have the professional look that we intend to have once we have finished it. Through planning in advance the actors that we will be using will know what they need to bring. It also means that we will know what we will need to bring for the actors.
The props required are as follows:
Guitar for all scenes mike will be in
Drum kit for the performance scenes
Key board for the performance scenes
Coke can for the scene outside the shop
Mike clothes: white T-shirt, jacket and jeans
Nicky clothes: blue jumper and jeans
Tom clothes: Jeans, two jackets
Ami clothes: a number of different outfits so that it doesn't look like it was all filmed at the same time
The props required are as follows:
Guitar for all scenes mike will be in
Drum kit for the performance scenes
Key board for the performance scenes
Coke can for the scene outside the shop
Mike clothes: white T-shirt, jacket and jeans
Nicky clothes: blue jumper and jeans
Tom clothes: Jeans, two jackets
Ami clothes: a number of different outfits so that it doesn't look like it was all filmed at the same time
Nine Frame Analysis (JOSH)
Firstly in the opening few seconds of the music video there is stop motion which is used to introduce both the band and the song which is an idea which we particularly liked as it is a reasonably unused method of making sure that the audience definitely knows the name of the song and the name of the artists. This means that the audience is much more likely to buy the song as they won't have to go the effort of finding out the name of the artist from an outside agent e.g. an app on their smart phone.
Second the music video has close ups of the ukulele when this instrument is being played which means that the images are cohesive to the audio. Without this it is possible that the audience my get confused and not understand the meaning behind the video.
In a later frame there is an image of a chicken which adds some irony and humour to the video without having being too cheesy as it is unexpected for there to be a chicken at a zoo. This isn't something that is done for the entirety of video as this could mean that the video looks unprofessional.
The whole of the video appears to have been filmed in a low quality camera which adds authenticity to the video and is yet another way that video has some uniqueness to it without being to wild and rubbish thus creating a poor viewing experience for the audience.
We also liked the way that in the chorus when the words " Fun, Fun, Fun" were said these lyrics appeared on the screen along with some actions which appear to show some dancers having fun. This is one technique that we will be considering for our video as it is one way of complying with Andrew Goodwin's rules that is reasonably easy to do.
Sixth is an example of another techniques that we intend to use, close ups of instruments. This means that the audience will be able to create a cover of the song easier if they wish to as they will know exactly what instruments are being used.
At 2:56 there is a shot of some characters within the video creating a square with their feet, this is one shot that is especially effective as it shows clearly what the shot is intended to show. If this shot had been done with a long shot from a tripod it would have been impossible for the artist to covey entirely what they want to.
3:23 shows the band performing all together which is one of the conventions of most music videos and is something that as we know from our research is something that audiences have come to expect from a typical music video.
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