Monday, 3 May 2010
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Media Technologies Summary
In the planning stages we clearly used technology such as the internet and television in order to research other music videos, CD's and magazine adverts are already out there which are all not particularly new expect for internet which is relatively new. However it was more the planning and creating of the products in which we had to us new media technologies which I'd never used before including iMovie, Sony HVR-A1E Camcorder, photoshop, and so on.
For the music video, at the very beginning we used a music video feature on iMovie to write the name of the video and so on and make it look professional. When it came to the opening shot, as said on the commentary we use an establishing shot of the sun and then move round to the shot of the tree in the park so the audience get a baring of their surroundings. We did not use a tripod for this and instead did this handheld as the tripod did not move how we would of liked it too and kept becoming for too stiff for what we wanted to do.
We used a lot of transitions to helps move smoothly from clip to clip particularly between both memory and present as well as using video FX to turn the image from colour to black and white for the past scenes. This is so we could make a clear difference between what was present day and what was past for the audience.
We also used a range of different shots so that we could get across different ideas, paying particular attention to facial expressions and body language as our actors could not actually talk so it was important for us to get out story put across by what the audience could see instead.
When filming it was a lot about timing, about when we should stop and start filming and also about continuity. For example when he looks at his phone when he just recieves a text from his girlfriend we had to make sure he was standing in the right place for when we switch shots from looking at him from a distance to looking over his shoulder which was quite difficult. This also occured for many other scenes.
We also used Final Cut in which we used blue card as a blue screen in order to go through what would be a photo into the next scene of which is a memory.
We also played with lighting to set the mood of each of the scenes both on set and on iMovie when editing as I thought this was important as well as playing with different transitions such as cross dissolve and fade as I thought these looked the most professional.
My main issue was the fact that when we put it onto the internet using youtube.com it spoiled a lot of the quality as someone from my feedback pointed out which is unofurtunate as it means that a lot of the key images are unclear. Take for example the text messaging scenes, we are unable to see what is being said and this is down to using internet technology as so this is something to consider.
For the ancillary products I used a combination of programs to help produce the best outcome I possibly could. I used the likes of Photoshop, Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 aswell as simply Paint.net, all of which have useful tools that I know how to work to the best of my ability. The digipak was mainly created on photoshop as it was easy to cut out the images and place them where I wanted them to. Also with the use of clone and other such tools it was really useful to create my digipak. However when it came to adding the barcode and the legal script I used Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 as I know this program well and it does not pixelate as much as simple Paint does. With the magazine advertisement I used Paint.net for it's magic wand tool as I have been using it for years and so it came easily to me. The magic wand tool I had to use for a lot of the writing as it was going against a background. I also used contrast to help contrast the images and then used a glow effect from Photoshop to use around the edges of the album front cover to make it stand out and really look special.
For my evaluation stages I used Toshiba Satellite pro L300 laptop's in built webcam and microphone in order to record my audience feedback and my commentary work. It was good because it was very simple to use, yet unfortunately there was quite a bit of white noise which I could not control. However it did the job and I think works well. I had to put the clips on to windows movie maker to edit them slightly as i did not have iMovie to hand and also had to make the file sizes a lot smaller which could of perhaps effected the quality slightly but I also uploaded them to youtube.com which also could of effected the quality unfortunately.
What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
My first audience feedback took place very briefly as I wanted to see if there was any changes I could make before making it my final piece. I only asked 3 people as I felt I only wanted to ask a small amount of people and make a quick finding on anything that could be improved as I felt that by using my own opinion would be biased. The key thing which I found was that the magazine advert needed to have more of a look of professionalism and my 3 people all came back with the fact that it was missing the usual logos such as the iTunes logo and the record label. This I would of not been able to notice on my own and so I decided to add that on as I wanted it to look as professional as possible. Nothing else particularly came back bad and so these were the only things I changed.
However after only taking out a brief feedback session I decided to do a proper audience feedback of my overall final products and find out what people really thought. I asked 10 people overall, 5 of which I filmed or audio recorded their answer, giving them open question so I could get proper feedback instead of set questions in which I gave them the answers as I felt this way I would get proper and much more useful answers. I asked all 10 of them 3 questions which were:
1. Overall what do you like about the music video, digipak cover and magazine advert?
2. What do you think could be improved?
3. What would you give each of them out of 10?
They all then were given the chance to answer these questions in whatever way they wanted. It was only 5 of which actually wanted to be recorded and the other 5 wished to be left anonymous.
Here are the videos:
Male, 50+
Female, 13
Female, 50+
Female, 40+
Male, 18
*
I also asked two females which were aged 18 and 16, as well as 3 males which were two were aged 18 and one which was 20.
I decided to ask a variety of ages as when putting a music video onto television it is not always going to be restricted to one age group. Dealing with the topic suicide I also thought it was important to ask someone of a young age so I asked someone of the age of 13 whether they were affected by this theme. When asked she said that no she was not at all disturbed by the scene of suicide and so with this in mind it meant that it would not be so upsetting for other younger viewers and would perhaps not create such a stir with parental figures. I also wanted to ask people of an older age as they would of course be watching the television as well and I wanted to know their opinion as well. They also were not keen by the suicide idea but out of all the 10 people I asked not one of them said that it upset them and I think this was because we did it in such a tasteful way. I asked a lot more people between the age of 13 – 20 as this was going to be our target audience so it was important I got their input. All of them seemed to enjoy the video in particular, the park scene in which they spin round on the roundabout as one of them said that they liked the effect it had and felt like you were actually the other person watching from their point of view. The other most favourite scene by an outstanding 60% was when we used blue screen when he was looking at the picture of him and his girlfriend in the park and it actually moved to that scene. I was surprised by this outcome as I felt that it was not the tidiest of transformations, however a lot of my audience enjoyed this scene the most. However they did find some fault with the music video, particularly with the party scene which we had the most trouble with and so I completely agree with them which was the fact that it was quite unclear. Due to us not having the right lighting equipment that all top movie producers have we were unable to make the image very clear, yet as people were able to indentify what it was it meant they we were able to get our message across but next time we will need to find a better way round this. Also another interesting point which came up quite a lot was the idea that perhaps the happy memories should have been in colour and the sad scenes should have been in black and white which admittedly I had never thought of. Yet luckily our point managed to get across about highlighting the differences between past and present which was our main aim.
With the magazine advert a lot of people liked the fact that the CD looked as if it glowed as it made it look more desirable. Not only this but they liked they way in which the CD cover and the horizon background really contrasted to help it stand out and could not believe how professional it looked. No one could find any fault with the advert which I was particularly pleased about.
The digipak a lot of people did like yet it never managed to receive a 10/10 like the other two products which is an interesting point. Although people liked the neon green standing out on the black background what put a lot of people off was the layout itself on the front cover. A lot of people picked out that the word “gravity” should have been centralized which we did not consider. However everyone still thought it looked professional, particularly with the use of the legal writing on it a long with the barcode and said it looked very realistic.
Overall I think that the positive definitely outweighed the negative in our work and generally everyone we asked did like our products very much. The combination of our 3 products worked well together and everyone found them very appealing. I feel from the feedback if we take into consideration the constructive criticism which I asked specifically for I feel that if we put our product out on the market it would do very well and I am very pleased with the outcome.
Music Video Results Out of 10
Digipak Results Out of 10
Magazine Advert Results Out of 10
As you can see from the graphs the magazine advert was the clearly the overall favourite with the music video second and the digipak last, not recieving one 10/10 which is unfortunate. From the feedback I found that a lot of their comments supported this result.
*Apologies for the quality of the recordings.
However after only taking out a brief feedback session I decided to do a proper audience feedback of my overall final products and find out what people really thought. I asked 10 people overall, 5 of which I filmed or audio recorded their answer, giving them open question so I could get proper feedback instead of set questions in which I gave them the answers as I felt this way I would get proper and much more useful answers. I asked all 10 of them 3 questions which were:
1. Overall what do you like about the music video, digipak cover and magazine advert?
2. What do you think could be improved?
3. What would you give each of them out of 10?
They all then were given the chance to answer these questions in whatever way they wanted. It was only 5 of which actually wanted to be recorded and the other 5 wished to be left anonymous.
Here are the videos:
Male, 50+
Female, 13
Female, 50+
Female, 40+
Male, 18
*
I also asked two females which were aged 18 and 16, as well as 3 males which were two were aged 18 and one which was 20.
I decided to ask a variety of ages as when putting a music video onto television it is not always going to be restricted to one age group. Dealing with the topic suicide I also thought it was important to ask someone of a young age so I asked someone of the age of 13 whether they were affected by this theme. When asked she said that no she was not at all disturbed by the scene of suicide and so with this in mind it meant that it would not be so upsetting for other younger viewers and would perhaps not create such a stir with parental figures. I also wanted to ask people of an older age as they would of course be watching the television as well and I wanted to know their opinion as well. They also were not keen by the suicide idea but out of all the 10 people I asked not one of them said that it upset them and I think this was because we did it in such a tasteful way. I asked a lot more people between the age of 13 – 20 as this was going to be our target audience so it was important I got their input. All of them seemed to enjoy the video in particular, the park scene in which they spin round on the roundabout as one of them said that they liked the effect it had and felt like you were actually the other person watching from their point of view. The other most favourite scene by an outstanding 60% was when we used blue screen when he was looking at the picture of him and his girlfriend in the park and it actually moved to that scene. I was surprised by this outcome as I felt that it was not the tidiest of transformations, however a lot of my audience enjoyed this scene the most. However they did find some fault with the music video, particularly with the party scene which we had the most trouble with and so I completely agree with them which was the fact that it was quite unclear. Due to us not having the right lighting equipment that all top movie producers have we were unable to make the image very clear, yet as people were able to indentify what it was it meant they we were able to get our message across but next time we will need to find a better way round this. Also another interesting point which came up quite a lot was the idea that perhaps the happy memories should have been in colour and the sad scenes should have been in black and white which admittedly I had never thought of. Yet luckily our point managed to get across about highlighting the differences between past and present which was our main aim.
With the magazine advert a lot of people liked the fact that the CD looked as if it glowed as it made it look more desirable. Not only this but they liked they way in which the CD cover and the horizon background really contrasted to help it stand out and could not believe how professional it looked. No one could find any fault with the advert which I was particularly pleased about.
The digipak a lot of people did like yet it never managed to receive a 10/10 like the other two products which is an interesting point. Although people liked the neon green standing out on the black background what put a lot of people off was the layout itself on the front cover. A lot of people picked out that the word “gravity” should have been centralized which we did not consider. However everyone still thought it looked professional, particularly with the use of the legal writing on it a long with the barcode and said it looked very realistic.
Overall I think that the positive definitely outweighed the negative in our work and generally everyone we asked did like our products very much. The combination of our 3 products worked well together and everyone found them very appealing. I feel from the feedback if we take into consideration the constructive criticism which I asked specifically for I feel that if we put our product out on the market it would do very well and I am very pleased with the outcome.
Music Video Results Out of 10
Digipak Results Out of 10
Magazine Advert Results Out of 10
As you can see from the graphs the magazine advert was the clearly the overall favourite with the music video second and the digipak last, not recieving one 10/10 which is unfortunate. From the feedback I found that a lot of their comments supported this result.
*Apologies for the quality of the recordings.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
With our project, “Horizons” by Forgetting Gravity it was important that we stuck to cross media advertising theory in order to tie the three products together so that they become more recognizable. From the beginning with decided that the genre of music and the song title itself were the most important aspects to represent as this is would be its main selling point. We wanted to portray a drum and bass club style genre of music which we can see portrayed through the song itself and the digipak cover through the image of a dancing crowd in the background. This ties in nicely with the party memory scene which also is black and white and lots of people dancing so we managed to continue this ideology through our work.
It can also be found on the magazine advert through the image of the digipak front cover. Not only this but by having a ‘glow’ around the image of the digipak makes it seem as if it is in the spotlight which is another party related lighting technique. Also by using the album cover on this magazine advert it made sure that the product was easily identifiable and let the consumers know what to look for if or when they were to buy it themselves.
By using similar locations between the magazine advert and the video, again it really ties in with one another and the audience can spot the connection easily. Also by having a sunset Horizon as the background it also summarizes the whole song and project itself. Not only this but we used the same fonts between both the ancillary products by using the font called “Birth of a Hero” which I had find from a website and that really struck me as interesting and appealing as it has an ‘erosive’ look to it which I thought tied in well with this music genre. This was used for both the main title of the magazine advert and the names of the magazines that provided the quotes. Also it is used on the digipak cover as the main title “Horizons” on the front as well as being used for the track listings so throughout those two products there is an obvious flow.
However, we wanted to use an image of the band which we had not used on any of the other products as we felt we needed to acknowledge the band for their creations as without them there would be no song, yet we felt we would not put it on the front cover as they are not what people would recognize from watching the video as they do not star in it. This is because we felt for a music video with an actual storyline to it we did not need the band to appear in it because it was something that had a serious message in which we wanted to focus on instead. For the CD itself we thought it would be ok to have them on there as it is not just focused on the single “Horizons” and does have other songs on there so we wanted a much more generalized look.
I think overall our main product and ancillary products do relate well with one another to a certain extent in a more subtle way, all having certain elements which help link them to one another. I feel that some of the links may not be so obvious as others but we thought hard in ways to make our products relate whilst still looking tasteful. I think as a whole our combination is very effective and when working together creates a very appealing package that the target audience and in fact people of all ages would enjoy.
It can also be found on the magazine advert through the image of the digipak front cover. Not only this but by having a ‘glow’ around the image of the digipak makes it seem as if it is in the spotlight which is another party related lighting technique. Also by using the album cover on this magazine advert it made sure that the product was easily identifiable and let the consumers know what to look for if or when they were to buy it themselves.
By using similar locations between the magazine advert and the video, again it really ties in with one another and the audience can spot the connection easily. Also by having a sunset Horizon as the background it also summarizes the whole song and project itself. Not only this but we used the same fonts between both the ancillary products by using the font called “Birth of a Hero” which I had find from a website and that really struck me as interesting and appealing as it has an ‘erosive’ look to it which I thought tied in well with this music genre. This was used for both the main title of the magazine advert and the names of the magazines that provided the quotes. Also it is used on the digipak cover as the main title “Horizons” on the front as well as being used for the track listings so throughout those two products there is an obvious flow.
However, we wanted to use an image of the band which we had not used on any of the other products as we felt we needed to acknowledge the band for their creations as without them there would be no song, yet we felt we would not put it on the front cover as they are not what people would recognize from watching the video as they do not star in it. This is because we felt for a music video with an actual storyline to it we did not need the band to appear in it because it was something that had a serious message in which we wanted to focus on instead. For the CD itself we thought it would be ok to have them on there as it is not just focused on the single “Horizons” and does have other songs on there so we wanted a much more generalized look.
I think overall our main product and ancillary products do relate well with one another to a certain extent in a more subtle way, all having certain elements which help link them to one another. I feel that some of the links may not be so obvious as others but we thought hard in ways to make our products relate whilst still looking tasteful. I think as a whole our combination is very effective and when working together creates a very appealing package that the target audience and in fact people of all ages would enjoy.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or change forms and conventions of real media products?
Part 1
Part 2
I felt the mise-en-scene would be an important part of our video as it was important to be a ble to set the right tone within the film. Therefore when it came to setting and location it was key that we should real places to help with the realism of our piece. Also the props were significant to help the audience understand what was taking place. For example the use of pills which the female lead uses to commit suicide was important as otherwise people would not know what was going on. Another example of use of props was for the picnic scene where we used typical picnic utensils to help set the scene, such as picnic basket, blanket, thermos and even food. In addition, costume was crucial as we wanted to make sure we targeted the right audience and help relate to that target audience. We wanted them to be fashionable as this relates heavily to the conventions of music videos. When it came to our actors we wanted to again relate to our young target audience by using young adults to act within our video. This was so the audience could feel much closer to the characters and feel more of a connection. Lighting was another important part of setting the right tone in our work and with the many different scenes it varied significantly. For example, for the party scene it was important to create a dark setting but have bright lights and make it clear it was a party and so we thought it was a good idea to use a strobe light which is seen in a lot of party scenes. I feel this worked well as it made a flashing effect which relates to drum and bass music videos however it did not agree with the camera so well and so in the future we would need to find a way around this.
For the Ancillary Products we wanted to do something simple and recognisable for the fans that were eye catching and fitted to that genre of music. Looking from album covers such as Chase and Status ‘Against All Odds’ we decided to do something straightforward that would use bright colours to attract peoples attention and with our final product we thought that by having actual fans dancing to the band’s music it would help audiences who do not know the band so well identify what genre the band is. By having a similar background the back and the same colour scheme we thought would look a lot more appealing as it would help both the back and front flow and work together well. Also, by having a contrasting green background for the listings with people dancing in the background it helps make it clearer to read and also makes the album look more exciting as for the target audience which is mainly teenagers, this image looks appealing and could even go as far as inspiring the audience to use the bands music to create their very own similar scene.
In relation to the magazine advert we wanted something that would show the digital cover so that the audience would know what to look for if they were to buy the album, yet we wanted a contrasting background to help the album cover stand out. I also felt that by putting the image of the cover directly in the middle of the page it would therefore be the centre of attention and be what consumer is drawn to. We experimented with a few backgrounds but in the end I felt that the idealistic scene of a horizon sunset was the best image to use because it links in with main song itself ‘Horizons’ and also creates a calm, idyllic setting which I thought could potentially subconsciously draw the reader of the magazine in as it seems such a nice location. Also it creates a glowing effect on the album cover itself which makes it seem quite special and again draws the audience in. From a lot of adverts I have seen, that main thing they use to help sell their album is to use quotes from well known music magazines saying how good the album is. By doing this they are then appealing to these magazines’ already huge fan base and so I thought this would also be useful for our advert as it would help increase the ability to sell the product and also make it more realistic in comparison to other adverts. Also by using the well known names of the magazines, Kerrang, NME and MOJO in the same font as the main title ’Horizons’ it also helped them stand out. I also remembered to put the website of the band like many other advertisements have done to help promote the band’s website also.
Part 2
I felt the mise-en-scene would be an important part of our video as it was important to be a ble to set the right tone within the film. Therefore when it came to setting and location it was key that we should real places to help with the realism of our piece. Also the props were significant to help the audience understand what was taking place. For example the use of pills which the female lead uses to commit suicide was important as otherwise people would not know what was going on. Another example of use of props was for the picnic scene where we used typical picnic utensils to help set the scene, such as picnic basket, blanket, thermos and even food. In addition, costume was crucial as we wanted to make sure we targeted the right audience and help relate to that target audience. We wanted them to be fashionable as this relates heavily to the conventions of music videos. When it came to our actors we wanted to again relate to our young target audience by using young adults to act within our video. This was so the audience could feel much closer to the characters and feel more of a connection. Lighting was another important part of setting the right tone in our work and with the many different scenes it varied significantly. For example, for the party scene it was important to create a dark setting but have bright lights and make it clear it was a party and so we thought it was a good idea to use a strobe light which is seen in a lot of party scenes. I feel this worked well as it made a flashing effect which relates to drum and bass music videos however it did not agree with the camera so well and so in the future we would need to find a way around this.
For the Ancillary Products we wanted to do something simple and recognisable for the fans that were eye catching and fitted to that genre of music. Looking from album covers such as Chase and Status ‘Against All Odds’ we decided to do something straightforward that would use bright colours to attract peoples attention and with our final product we thought that by having actual fans dancing to the band’s music it would help audiences who do not know the band so well identify what genre the band is. By having a similar background the back and the same colour scheme we thought would look a lot more appealing as it would help both the back and front flow and work together well. Also, by having a contrasting green background for the listings with people dancing in the background it helps make it clearer to read and also makes the album look more exciting as for the target audience which is mainly teenagers, this image looks appealing and could even go as far as inspiring the audience to use the bands music to create their very own similar scene.
In relation to the magazine advert we wanted something that would show the digital cover so that the audience would know what to look for if they were to buy the album, yet we wanted a contrasting background to help the album cover stand out. I also felt that by putting the image of the cover directly in the middle of the page it would therefore be the centre of attention and be what consumer is drawn to. We experimented with a few backgrounds but in the end I felt that the idealistic scene of a horizon sunset was the best image to use because it links in with main song itself ‘Horizons’ and also creates a calm, idyllic setting which I thought could potentially subconsciously draw the reader of the magazine in as it seems such a nice location. Also it creates a glowing effect on the album cover itself which makes it seem quite special and again draws the audience in. From a lot of adverts I have seen, that main thing they use to help sell their album is to use quotes from well known music magazines saying how good the album is. By doing this they are then appealing to these magazines’ already huge fan base and so I thought this would also be useful for our advert as it would help increase the ability to sell the product and also make it more realistic in comparison to other adverts. Also by using the well known names of the magazines, Kerrang, NME and MOJO in the same font as the main title ’Horizons’ it also helped them stand out. I also remembered to put the website of the band like many other advertisements have done to help promote the band’s website also.
Friday, 30 April 2010
Music Video Final
As it was put onto the web it has decreased the picture quality of the film by quite a considerable amount which is most unfortunate so does not show our film to as the best of our ability. However overall I am pleased with the film and think it really works well.
Monday, 12 April 2010
Film Cast and Crew
CREW
Director/s:Gemma Peet and Alex Stevens
Screenplay by: Gemma Peet and Alex Stevens
Producer: Gemma Peet
Executive Producer: Alex Stevens
Production Designer: Gemma Peet
Editor: Gemma Peet and Alex Stevens
Costume Designer: Gemma Peet
Casting: Gemma Peet
Music Composer: Forgetting Gravity
Art Director: Gemma Peet and Alex Stevens
Set Designer: Gemma Peet
Photographer: Sam Clark
Runner: Sam Clark
Cameramen: Alex Stevens, Gemma Peet and Sam Clark
CAST
Main Girl: Anneka Duffield
Main Boy: Tariq Ismail
Extras:
Gemma Peet
Sam Clark
Hope Sinicola
Natasha Ratcliffe
Richard Slater
Ashley Rovertson
Danielle Foulger
Jack Mertens
Thanks to:
Forgetting Gravity for permission to use the song, Horizons.
Debbie Peet and Tim Peet for one of the locations.
Julie Clark for providing some props.
Sam Clark for providing transportation, some props, and his photography skills.
Ashley Robertson for providing an amplifier and strobe light.
Director/s:Gemma Peet and Alex Stevens
Screenplay by: Gemma Peet and Alex Stevens
Producer: Gemma Peet
Executive Producer: Alex Stevens
Production Designer: Gemma Peet
Editor: Gemma Peet and Alex Stevens
Costume Designer: Gemma Peet
Casting: Gemma Peet
Music Composer: Forgetting Gravity
Art Director: Gemma Peet and Alex Stevens
Set Designer: Gemma Peet
Photographer: Sam Clark
Runner: Sam Clark
Cameramen: Alex Stevens, Gemma Peet and Sam Clark
CAST
Main Girl: Anneka Duffield
Main Boy: Tariq Ismail
Extras:
Gemma Peet
Sam Clark
Hope Sinicola
Natasha Ratcliffe
Richard Slater
Ashley Rovertson
Danielle Foulger
Jack Mertens
Thanks to:
Forgetting Gravity for permission to use the song, Horizons.
Debbie Peet and Tim Peet for one of the locations.
Julie Clark for providing some props.
Sam Clark for providing transportation, some props, and his photography skills.
Ashley Robertson for providing an amplifier and strobe light.
Saturday, 10 April 2010
Call Sheets - Day 3
Title: Horizons Music Video - Forgetting Gravity
Date: 12th April 2010
Day 3 of 3 days
Location/s: Shottery Park and The Willows
Time: Arrive at 12:45pm
Contact Details:
Production Manager: Gemma Peet
Mobile Number: 07792206548
Alex Stevens -
Clothing Recommendations: Bring exactly the same clothes as Day 2 as we will be shooting the clips which follow on from that. Also bring a change of clothing for memory scenes.
Scenes to be shot and general outline:
[12:45-1:15]
Opening Sequence (First minute)
• Shot of a sunset on a horizon/sun
• At the meeting place the couple always went to, they are both familiar with the location
• The couple are visibly arguing as the camera zooms in
• We see close up shots of both the man and woman arguing and clearly upset/angry
• He storms off leaving her there crying. It’s clear they have split up.
• She stands there crying with her head in her hands.
The Very End
• Girl is found lying unconscious on the floor, the boyfriend walks next to her and bursts into tears
• He kneels next to her lifeless body and cries as the visuals fade out
[1:20-1:30]
• As she walks down the road she thinks back to her and her boyfriend walking down the road and then there’s a fast cut back to her alone (only short scene)
[1:30-1:50]
The End
• We see a text message saying “Im Sorry. I love you. Goodbye”
• The boy receives it, we see his shock and he begins to run through the locations where the girl has been as we see shots of her taking the pills
Wardrobe and make-up to be done at home as we are going for a "natural" look.
Estimated time of completion: About 2:00pm
Note: We are stuck to a tight schedule as you can see but these are all going to be short clips within in the music video, with several takes for each scene needed.
Weather Forecast: Sun
Local Hospital: Stratford Hospital
Arden Street
Stratford-upon-Avon CV37 6NX
Local Police: Police Station
Police Station
Rother StreetTown Centre,
Stratford-Upon-Avon CV37 6NH
Equipment will all be provided by ourselves and our production team, including any props.
Date: 12th April 2010
Day 3 of 3 days
Location/s: Shottery Park and The Willows
Time: Arrive at 12:45pm
Contact Details:
Production Manager: Gemma Peet
Mobile Number: 07792206548
Alex Stevens -
Clothing Recommendations: Bring exactly the same clothes as Day 2 as we will be shooting the clips which follow on from that. Also bring a change of clothing for memory scenes.
Scenes to be shot and general outline:
[12:45-1:15]
Opening Sequence (First minute)
• Shot of a sunset on a horizon/sun
• At the meeting place the couple always went to, they are both familiar with the location
• The couple are visibly arguing as the camera zooms in
• We see close up shots of both the man and woman arguing and clearly upset/angry
• He storms off leaving her there crying. It’s clear they have split up.
• She stands there crying with her head in her hands.
The Very End
• Girl is found lying unconscious on the floor, the boyfriend walks next to her and bursts into tears
• He kneels next to her lifeless body and cries as the visuals fade out
[1:20-1:30]
• As she walks down the road she thinks back to her and her boyfriend walking down the road and then there’s a fast cut back to her alone (only short scene)
[1:30-1:50]
The End
• We see a text message saying “Im Sorry. I love you. Goodbye”
• The boy receives it, we see his shock and he begins to run through the locations where the girl has been as we see shots of her taking the pills
Wardrobe and make-up to be done at home as we are going for a "natural" look.
Estimated time of completion: About 2:00pm
Note: We are stuck to a tight schedule as you can see but these are all going to be short clips within in the music video, with several takes for each scene needed.
Weather Forecast: Sun
Local Hospital: Stratford Hospital
Arden Street
Stratford-upon-Avon CV37 6NX
Local Police: Police Station
Police Station
Rother StreetTown Centre,
Stratford-Upon-Avon CV37 6NH
Equipment will all be provided by ourselves and our production team, including any props.
Monday, 15 March 2010
Day 1 Filming
I begun filming in Brueton Park at 12:30pm after finding the right spot in order to get the right setting for our scenes.
I experimented with different zooming tecchniques as well as different angles and lighting using exposure.
Here are some of photos from the shoot.
I experimented with different zooming tecchniques as well as different angles and lighting using exposure.
Here are some of photos from the shoot.
Sunday, 14 March 2010
Call Sheets - Day 2 (Extras)
Title: Horizons Music Video - Forgetting Gravity
Date: 19th March 2010
Day 2 of 3 days
Location/s: 394 Tilehouse Lane
Time: Arrive at 4:00pm
Contact Details:
Production Manager: Gemma Peet
Mobile Number: 07792206548
Alex Stevens -
Clothing Recommendations: Wear suitable party clothes as well as it is key to do the party memory. We say think "Skins" fashion at parties. Please make reference to channel4.com
Scenes to be shot and general outline:
• The Betrayal[7:30-8:30]
• At the party everyone dancing.
• Cuts to girl dancing with another guy (JACK MERTENS) – quite intimately whilst boyfriend watches from other side of the room.
• [Chorus] Boyfriend storms over in a jealous rage, punches the guy and grabs his girlfriend and pulls her away from the guy.
• Then they argue with each other whilst other people stare.
• Boyfriend starts shouting at people who are staring at them and gets dragged away by a bouncer (ASHLEY ROBERTSON)
• Girl stands alone in the club in tears
Wardrobe and make-up to be done at home, with a grunge "Skins" like feel. As said previously please refer to the internet for ideas, with suitable party wear needed.
Estimated time of completion: About 9:00pm
Note: We are stuck to a tight schedule as you can see but these are all going to be short clips within in the music video, with several takes for each scene needed.
Weather Forecast: Rain but will be INDOORS
Local Hospital: Solihull Hospital
Solihull Hospital, Solihull B91 2
Local Police: Shirley Police Station
Stratford Rd, Shirley, Solihull, West Midlands B90 3AR
Equipment will all be provided by ourselves and our production team, including any props.
Date: 19th March 2010
Day 2 of 3 days
Location/s: 394 Tilehouse Lane
Time: Arrive at 4:00pm
Contact Details:
Production Manager: Gemma Peet
Mobile Number: 07792206548
Alex Stevens -
Clothing Recommendations: Wear suitable party clothes as well as it is key to do the party memory. We say think "Skins" fashion at parties. Please make reference to channel4.com
Scenes to be shot and general outline:
• The Betrayal[7:30-8:30]
• At the party everyone dancing.
• Cuts to girl dancing with another guy (JACK MERTENS) – quite intimately whilst boyfriend watches from other side of the room.
• [Chorus] Boyfriend storms over in a jealous rage, punches the guy and grabs his girlfriend and pulls her away from the guy.
• Then they argue with each other whilst other people stare.
• Boyfriend starts shouting at people who are staring at them and gets dragged away by a bouncer (ASHLEY ROBERTSON)
• Girl stands alone in the club in tears
Wardrobe and make-up to be done at home, with a grunge "Skins" like feel. As said previously please refer to the internet for ideas, with suitable party wear needed.
Estimated time of completion: About 9:00pm
Note: We are stuck to a tight schedule as you can see but these are all going to be short clips within in the music video, with several takes for each scene needed.
Weather Forecast: Rain but will be INDOORS
Local Hospital: Solihull Hospital
Solihull Hospital, Solihull B91 2
Local Police: Shirley Police Station
Stratford Rd, Shirley, Solihull, West Midlands B90 3AR
Equipment will all be provided by ourselves and our production team, including any props.
Call Sheets - Day 2 (Main Characters)
Title: Horizons Music Video - Forgetting Gravity
Date: 19th March 2010
Day 2 of 3 days
Location/s: 394 Tilehouse Lane
Time: Arrive at 4:00pm
Contact Details:
Production Manager: Gemma Peet
Mobile Number: 07792206548
Alex Stevens -
Clothing Recommendations: Wear simple fashinable clothes similar to that of Day 1. Also bring a coat as there will be some outdoor scenes.
Bring suitable party clothes as well as it is key to do the party memory. We say think "Skins" fashion at parties. Please make reference to channel4.com
Scenes to be shot and general outline:
1.[4:00-4:30]
• The man is upset by the break up
• Sits in his kitchen on his own drinking and running his hands through his hair and leaning his head in his hands
• He deletes all the text messages off his phone and we see him in anger and depression
2. Girl walks up her driveway and into her house [4:30-4:45]
3. Pictures of the past [4:45-5:05]
• The guy – upset by the break up.
• Look at a picture of the two of them – gets reminded. (Having a picnic)
• Rips the photo of them together in two at the first scream
• Trashes his room.
• Place one of the pictures together – zoom in and becomes a memory of the two.
4. She sits on her bed and looks around, devastated about the break up[5:05-5:15]
5. Girl slams cabinet mirror door, looking at herself in the mirror, pills in hand. [5:15-5:25]
5. Lounge[5:25-5:35]
• Zooms out on girl in kitchen.
• Sitting at table drinking alcohol – drinking away her sorrows.
• Puts head in hands clearly upset by what has happened.
• Door Slam[5:35-5:45]
• Guy slams door his front door as he walks out
• The Betrayal[7:30-8:30]
• At the party everyone dancing.
• Cuts to girl dancing with another guy – quite intimately whilst boyfriend watches from other side of the room.
• [Chorus] Boyfriend storms over in a jealous rage, punches the guy and grabs his girlfriend and pulls her away from the guy.
• Then they argue with each other whilst other people stare.
• Boyfriend starts shouting at people who are staring at them and gets dragged away by a bouncer
• Girl stands alone in the club in tears
Wardrobe and make-up to be done at home as we are going for a "natural" look.
Then at 7:00 there is to be a wardrobe change and make up change for the party scene.
Estimated time of completion: About 9:00pm
Note: We are stuck to a tight schedule as you can see but these are all going to be short clips within in the music video, with several takes for each scene needed.
Weather Forecast: Rain
Local Hospital: Solihull Hospital
Solihull Hospital, Solihull B91 2
Local Police: Shirley Police Station
Stratford Rd, Shirley, Solihull, West Midlands B90 3AR
Equipment will all be provided by ourselves and our production team, including any props.
Date: 19th March 2010
Day 2 of 3 days
Location/s: 394 Tilehouse Lane
Time: Arrive at 4:00pm
Contact Details:
Production Manager: Gemma Peet
Mobile Number: 07792206548
Alex Stevens -
Clothing Recommendations: Wear simple fashinable clothes similar to that of Day 1. Also bring a coat as there will be some outdoor scenes.
Bring suitable party clothes as well as it is key to do the party memory. We say think "Skins" fashion at parties. Please make reference to channel4.com
Scenes to be shot and general outline:
1.[4:00-4:30]
• The man is upset by the break up
• Sits in his kitchen on his own drinking and running his hands through his hair and leaning his head in his hands
• He deletes all the text messages off his phone and we see him in anger and depression
2. Girl walks up her driveway and into her house [4:30-4:45]
3. Pictures of the past [4:45-5:05]
• The guy – upset by the break up.
• Look at a picture of the two of them – gets reminded. (Having a picnic)
• Rips the photo of them together in two at the first scream
• Trashes his room.
• Place one of the pictures together – zoom in and becomes a memory of the two.
4. She sits on her bed and looks around, devastated about the break up[5:05-5:15]
5. Girl slams cabinet mirror door, looking at herself in the mirror, pills in hand. [5:15-5:25]
5. Lounge[5:25-5:35]
• Zooms out on girl in kitchen.
• Sitting at table drinking alcohol – drinking away her sorrows.
• Puts head in hands clearly upset by what has happened.
• Door Slam[5:35-5:45]
• Guy slams door his front door as he walks out
• The Betrayal[7:30-8:30]
• At the party everyone dancing.
• Cuts to girl dancing with another guy – quite intimately whilst boyfriend watches from other side of the room.
• [Chorus] Boyfriend storms over in a jealous rage, punches the guy and grabs his girlfriend and pulls her away from the guy.
• Then they argue with each other whilst other people stare.
• Boyfriend starts shouting at people who are staring at them and gets dragged away by a bouncer
• Girl stands alone in the club in tears
Wardrobe and make-up to be done at home as we are going for a "natural" look.
Then at 7:00 there is to be a wardrobe change and make up change for the party scene.
Estimated time of completion: About 9:00pm
Note: We are stuck to a tight schedule as you can see but these are all going to be short clips within in the music video, with several takes for each scene needed.
Weather Forecast: Rain
Local Hospital: Solihull Hospital
Solihull Hospital, Solihull B91 2
Local Police: Shirley Police Station
Stratford Rd, Shirley, Solihull, West Midlands B90 3AR
Equipment will all be provided by ourselves and our production team, including any props.
Friday, 12 March 2010
Call Sheets - Day 1
Title: Horizons Music Video - Forgetting Gravity
Date: 14th March 2010
Day 1 of 3 days
Location/s: Brueton Park, Solihull.
AND Shirley Park, Stratford Road, Shirley.
Time: To be picked up at 12:00pm and be transported between the two locations also.
Contact Details:
Production Manager: Gemma Peet
Mobile Number: 07792206548
Alex Stevens - No Phone at this time.
Clothing Recommendations: To wear suitable outdoor clothing with the enclosed mood board in mind as to what style of clothing to wear. Also bring two changes of clothing for the different scenes of a similar but noticably different style.
Scenes to be shot and general outline:
1. Memory (1)[12:30-1:00]
Memory of the couple back at the horizon place running together or playing some sort of game
2. Memory (2)[1:00-1:30]
Picnic Memory
• Sitting on the floor on a picnic blanket.
• Guy leans back on elbows.
• Girl feeds guy lovingly and puts some whipped cream etc on his nose
• She starts laughing, the camera zooms into her laughing face covered by her hands
3. Memory (3)[1:45-2:15]
Flash into a memory of the park with girlfriend in the play area on the swings.
• Cut to a deserted play area and then zooms out back to him on the bench.
• He turns from looking at the play area and takes a large swig from a bottle/can of alcohol to “drink away his sorrows”
Wardrobe and make-up to be done at home as we are going for a "natural" look.
Estimated time of completion: Between 2:15 and 2:30
Weather Forecast: To be reasonably sunny with a few clouds and a distinct chill in the air so please remember to bring a coat and warm clothing.
Local Hospital: Solihull Hospital
Solihull Hospital, Solihull B91 2
Local Police: Shirley Police Station
Stratford Rd, Shirley, Solihull, West Midlands B90 3AR
Equipment will all be provided by ourselves and our production team, including any props.
Date: 14th March 2010
Day 1 of 3 days
Location/s: Brueton Park, Solihull.
AND Shirley Park, Stratford Road, Shirley.
Time: To be picked up at 12:00pm and be transported between the two locations also.
Contact Details:
Production Manager: Gemma Peet
Mobile Number: 07792206548
Alex Stevens - No Phone at this time.
Clothing Recommendations: To wear suitable outdoor clothing with the enclosed mood board in mind as to what style of clothing to wear. Also bring two changes of clothing for the different scenes of a similar but noticably different style.
Scenes to be shot and general outline:
1. Memory (1)[12:30-1:00]
Memory of the couple back at the horizon place running together or playing some sort of game
2. Memory (2)[1:00-1:30]
Picnic Memory
• Sitting on the floor on a picnic blanket.
• Guy leans back on elbows.
• Girl feeds guy lovingly and puts some whipped cream etc on his nose
• She starts laughing, the camera zooms into her laughing face covered by her hands
3. Memory (3)[1:45-2:15]
Flash into a memory of the park with girlfriend in the play area on the swings.
• Cut to a deserted play area and then zooms out back to him on the bench.
• He turns from looking at the play area and takes a large swig from a bottle/can of alcohol to “drink away his sorrows”
Wardrobe and make-up to be done at home as we are going for a "natural" look.
Estimated time of completion: Between 2:15 and 2:30
Weather Forecast: To be reasonably sunny with a few clouds and a distinct chill in the air so please remember to bring a coat and warm clothing.
Local Hospital: Solihull Hospital
Solihull Hospital, Solihull B91 2
Local Police: Shirley Police Station
Stratford Rd, Shirley, Solihull, West Midlands B90 3AR
Equipment will all be provided by ourselves and our production team, including any props.
The Call Sheets
I created a call sheet in order for the partipants to know where they needed to be and when, what they needed to do and bring and how they were going to get there. It took a lot of time on my behalf to create these as I had to consider where the nearest hospital and police station were with the help of Google Maps and consider roughly what times each of the scenes were to take place. Not only this but to have to tell them what to wear, as well as check the weather forecast it took a lot of time. I realised that organising a lot of people to film was actually a lot more difficult than it looked and was time consuming but in the long run helped organise everyone on the day and also helped take into consideration health and safety and knowing we were all as safe as possible.
Monday, 22 February 2010
Sony HVR-A1E Camcorder
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The camera we have decided to use was the Sony HVR-A1E Camcorder as it was easily accessible and also is a high quality camera. We wanted something that help create a professional looking video that was simple to use.
Researching into the camera itself backed up our idea to use the camera.
From: http://www.sony.co.uk/biz/view/ShowProduct.action?product=HVR-A1E&site=biz_en_GB
(Sony's own website)
Sony's smallest, lightest yet professional HDV camcorder
Boasting an incredibly small size, and providing HDV with the 1080i standard, the HVR-A1E offers a host of advanced features for professional use. Using technology such as CMOS means the HVR-A1E is an ultra-compact camcorder capable of providing HDV in full 1080 line resolution.
Building on the affordability of HDV, the HVR-A1E provides users a migration path from Standard Definition whilst retaining the qualities of the popular DVCAM range such as ease of use and i.LINK (IEEE1394) connectivity.
Ideal for situations where space is at a premium, the HVR-A1E further broadens the range of HDV tools available to support professional users - it really delivers "HD for Everyone".
This information could potentially be biased but we know from Sony's background that they provide good quality technology and are a well known globally recognised business and so we felt using their camera would be a good idea.
Also, by going onto the link above it also showed the features and benefits of the camera which again had the necessary features we needed.
Thursday, 18 February 2010
Music Video - The Memories (Photograph Ideas)
In our video we decided to use a sequence where the boyfriend rips up a picture of the two of them in a fit of rage. He then later puts the two parts of the tpicture back together which will then move into a memory of the two from this photo.
Our idea was that it would be a picnic in which the memory takes place and here are some ideas used from the internet of what the images could look like.
This picture has the two of them looking at each other in a loving way which I feel would be a good idea as this is a memory of the good times in which the two shared. We want to make it clear that the two were quite clearly in love with one another and with this pose it could be made quite clear.
I found that this picture was maybe better in the sense that the two seem to be very laid back which then relates highly to the subculture in which we are trying to imitate and the age in which are characters are supposed to be, laid back is very major within this stereotype and we want to put this across in our stereotype as much as possible. However as this is a happy memory I want this to be a much happier picture to put that across or else it may not look believable to the audience that these two were so blissfully in love.
This couple looks very happy together which is the look I really feel we need to portray. Also with the use of the props we are a lot more able to tell that this is a picnic and as we can tell the audience this in words it is vital we tell the audience through what they see visually. As part of the memory is that the boyfriend leans back though however, I do not want them to be leaning back in the photo as what is in the photo is going to be the same as the scene in which it cuts straight to so everything needs to be right. I was also considering whether the picture should be held by one of the couple and taken by one of them of the two or whether it should be on a timer or whether we should get an extra to take a photo of the two as we need to keep it realistic in every sense.
When on set we will take the photographs so that then it makes it easier to quickly make the transition from photo to memory. I think that we will take photos of a few different positions until we find one that works the best in what we are trying to do yet include the elements in which we have likes from these photos. We will probably take the photo on the camera itself as then it is in the right position to start recording straight afterwards and make our continuity a lot more successful.
Our idea was that it would be a picnic in which the memory takes place and here are some ideas used from the internet of what the images could look like.
This picture has the two of them looking at each other in a loving way which I feel would be a good idea as this is a memory of the good times in which the two shared. We want to make it clear that the two were quite clearly in love with one another and with this pose it could be made quite clear.
I found that this picture was maybe better in the sense that the two seem to be very laid back which then relates highly to the subculture in which we are trying to imitate and the age in which are characters are supposed to be, laid back is very major within this stereotype and we want to put this across in our stereotype as much as possible. However as this is a happy memory I want this to be a much happier picture to put that across or else it may not look believable to the audience that these two were so blissfully in love.
This couple looks very happy together which is the look I really feel we need to portray. Also with the use of the props we are a lot more able to tell that this is a picnic and as we can tell the audience this in words it is vital we tell the audience through what they see visually. As part of the memory is that the boyfriend leans back though however, I do not want them to be leaning back in the photo as what is in the photo is going to be the same as the scene in which it cuts straight to so everything needs to be right. I was also considering whether the picture should be held by one of the couple and taken by one of them of the two or whether it should be on a timer or whether we should get an extra to take a photo of the two as we need to keep it realistic in every sense.
When on set we will take the photographs so that then it makes it easier to quickly make the transition from photo to memory. I think that we will take photos of a few different positions until we find one that works the best in what we are trying to do yet include the elements in which we have likes from these photos. We will probably take the photo on the camera itself as then it is in the right position to start recording straight afterwards and make our continuity a lot more successful.
Digipak Idea
This is the draft outline of the digipak in which I will use to revolve my ideas around as it makes a simple an easy template.
For my digipak idea I want it to look simple yet sophisticated. I decided that I wanted to incorporate the video and the song title into my work instead of using the artist on the front cover like for example that of Keane with their album "Under The Iron Sea" with the use of horses and the sea which I think will give the cover an edge.
What I found was important is the font type in which I used as I want something that is eye catching and looks stylish instead of something very simple and boring.
Here are some fonts that I found using dafont.com which decided to use as I have used it before and found has a great deal of interesting and exciting fonts created by a variety of different people.
I really liked these fonts and found I particularly wanted to go for a grunge look as that is the type of style I wanted to go for within in my music video as well. So with this in mind I decided to incorporate the particular font I used with an eroded look for the title "Horizons" in one of my ideas. As well as this I wanted to use the background of a couple on the horizon as this will be a key scene within our music video. Not only this but I still wanted to use the band in the artwork so decided to put them on the inside cover as I still feel that a picture should be included in the album packaging as I find a lot of people are curious as to what the band look like or they want to see the band if they are a big fan.
From looking at a lot of album covers also, I decided to keep the back of the album looking simple and continuing the "grunge" look in a simple way so that the album did look realistic and interesting to the customer.
Another idea I had was with the main band as the front cover so it is instantly recognisable as their work.
I like the use of this image as it means fans can recognise who it is instantly without having to find out for themselves. The picture looks professional and uses the font in which the band uses for everything and can be seen as a logo for the band. This font is good as fans can again recognise the band with ease and it is also easy to read and looks appealing. I liked the idea of having the whole digipak black but found that it could perhaps be seen as a bit boring. I like the use of a simple background which is straight to the point and have also made sure i included the copyright laws etc. to make it look professional. I found that I had issues with the program I was using to create the digipak cover however, as a lot of the pictures i used pixelated a lot as well as the CD disk logo -
which i found on all CD covers, but they were always found very small so I would need to find a way in which to resize it without the problem of pixelation. This also occured with the barcode.
Another draft for our digipak
I like the front cover for this as it shows a party scene which therefore relates to our music video with one of the memory scenes. I think it depicts the the band's music genre well as this is the type of look we want our band to go for and it helps relate to our audience more. However it is missing the title "Horizons" which I think is vital for people to be able to recognise this album correctly and it also makes it easier for our target audience as well instead of having to check the track listing to see if this particular song is there.
I like how the background ties in well with the front cover again with a party scene and the transparent green text box over the top, however i really dislike the font used and think this definitely needs to be changed as it just does not suit the cover at all.
The inside cover of the band I also dislike as I feels it does not link closely enough with the other two images and contrasts to greatly. Not only this but I feel the image is two grainy so I feel this would need to be changed too.
For my digipak idea I want it to look simple yet sophisticated. I decided that I wanted to incorporate the video and the song title into my work instead of using the artist on the front cover like for example that of Keane with their album "Under The Iron Sea" with the use of horses and the sea which I think will give the cover an edge.
What I found was important is the font type in which I used as I want something that is eye catching and looks stylish instead of something very simple and boring.
Here are some fonts that I found using dafont.com which decided to use as I have used it before and found has a great deal of interesting and exciting fonts created by a variety of different people.
I really liked these fonts and found I particularly wanted to go for a grunge look as that is the type of style I wanted to go for within in my music video as well. So with this in mind I decided to incorporate the particular font I used with an eroded look for the title "Horizons" in one of my ideas. As well as this I wanted to use the background of a couple on the horizon as this will be a key scene within our music video. Not only this but I still wanted to use the band in the artwork so decided to put them on the inside cover as I still feel that a picture should be included in the album packaging as I find a lot of people are curious as to what the band look like or they want to see the band if they are a big fan.
From looking at a lot of album covers also, I decided to keep the back of the album looking simple and continuing the "grunge" look in a simple way so that the album did look realistic and interesting to the customer.
Another idea I had was with the main band as the front cover so it is instantly recognisable as their work.
I like the use of this image as it means fans can recognise who it is instantly without having to find out for themselves. The picture looks professional and uses the font in which the band uses for everything and can be seen as a logo for the band. This font is good as fans can again recognise the band with ease and it is also easy to read and looks appealing. I liked the idea of having the whole digipak black but found that it could perhaps be seen as a bit boring. I like the use of a simple background which is straight to the point and have also made sure i included the copyright laws etc. to make it look professional. I found that I had issues with the program I was using to create the digipak cover however, as a lot of the pictures i used pixelated a lot as well as the CD disk logo -
which i found on all CD covers, but they were always found very small so I would need to find a way in which to resize it without the problem of pixelation. This also occured with the barcode.
Another draft for our digipak
I like the front cover for this as it shows a party scene which therefore relates to our music video with one of the memory scenes. I think it depicts the the band's music genre well as this is the type of look we want our band to go for and it helps relate to our audience more. However it is missing the title "Horizons" which I think is vital for people to be able to recognise this album correctly and it also makes it easier for our target audience as well instead of having to check the track listing to see if this particular song is there.
I like how the background ties in well with the front cover again with a party scene and the transparent green text box over the top, however i really dislike the font used and think this definitely needs to be changed as it just does not suit the cover at all.
The inside cover of the band I also dislike as I feels it does not link closely enough with the other two images and contrasts to greatly. Not only this but I feel the image is two grainy so I feel this would need to be changed too.
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Near to Final Draft of Magazine Advert
I really like this design as it has used the font design that I liked and it constrasts nicely with the other fonts used. With the use of a horizon as the background as it shows quite an idealistic setting and the combination of colours makes it look appealing. I remembered from my research that most adverts use quotes from well known magazines to help sell their product and so I thought that I would do this aswell to make my CD more appealing to buy. Also by having the magazine names in the main "grunge" font it helps make them stand out and as they would have a large fanbase which would help attract a wider audience. By having a picture of the CD cover as well, shows the customer what the product looks like and what to look for.
I also found that many of the adverts had the band's website address at the moment to help publicise their own personal website which again helps them promote themselves.
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
Magazine Advert Idea
For my magazine advert I had a few ideas of what I could use within my piece.
I decided that I would perhaps like the band members used in the advert as if there are any manjor fans of the band then this would attract them seeing their favourite band and an advert wants to be eye catching.
I decided to experiment with using the same font as what I used for the title "horizons" on the album cover as I like the font and think it looks more interesting than something basic. I also considered the colours used of pink colours and used black writing to contrast with that. I also felt that I needed to use the cd front cover in the corner as a lot of adverts do this and I want it to look professional.
Another idea was to use the horizon as a background and having the front cover of a digipak more related to the band instead of the single and word "horizon". By having such a nice and inviting background would really attract the reader and make them want to read the advert.
I wanted to play around with the fonts and positioning of the words and where it will fit best.
Lighting
As our video is going to revolve mainly around Horizons and involves a lot of outdoor scenes we will need to be considering times in which the light will create the right tone for what we are trying to produce. We are going to be using mainly natural light as we want to create that grunge effect like for example in the Arctic Monkeys video "When the Sun Goes Down."
We will be filming mostly in the afternoon as this is when I feel the lighting will be at it's best. We will also need to find out the times of when the sun sets as this will be crucial for one of our main scenes as well as our digipak cover and magazine advertisement.
We will need to use some of the settings such as the white balance on the camera to help get the right light as this will make it much brighter and clearer yet still enable us to create that grunge look.
We will be filming mostly in the afternoon as this is when I feel the lighting will be at it's best. We will also need to find out the times of when the sun sets as this will be crucial for one of our main scenes as well as our digipak cover and magazine advertisement.
We will need to use some of the settings such as the white balance on the camera to help get the right light as this will make it much brighter and clearer yet still enable us to create that grunge look.
Risk Assessment
For a lot of our video we have decided to keep it close to home as we found it easier to get to and we know the areas well.
We are considering to use parts of Solihull, Shirley and Stratford-Upon-Avon as we have found some particular places which we feel are suitable for some of the scenes we are planning on doing.
As we know the area well we know where to go and how to get there if there is an emergency or if there has been an accident and the numbers in which to call if necessary.
To help us to locate where everything is directly an easily we decided to create maps for anyone of our team who does not know the area too well and as a safety precaution.
This is the map of how to get from Brueton Park (which we found was a good spot for a lot of our main scenes to be shot) to Solihull Hospital. As we can see it is not too far away at about 1.2 miles and would take about 25 mins walking and 4 minutes in the car to get to.
There is also Stratford High Street to Stratford Hospital
And Shirley
We will also be filming in the afternoon and early evening as this would have the best lighting effect in which we want for our video and have considered the risks within this but overall we think it will be okay as none of our filming will be taken in the dark so we do not need to think about any precautions like this when there.
We are considering to use parts of Solihull, Shirley and Stratford-Upon-Avon as we have found some particular places which we feel are suitable for some of the scenes we are planning on doing.
As we know the area well we know where to go and how to get there if there is an emergency or if there has been an accident and the numbers in which to call if necessary.
To help us to locate where everything is directly an easily we decided to create maps for anyone of our team who does not know the area too well and as a safety precaution.
This is the map of how to get from Brueton Park (which we found was a good spot for a lot of our main scenes to be shot) to Solihull Hospital. As we can see it is not too far away at about 1.2 miles and would take about 25 mins walking and 4 minutes in the car to get to.
There is also Stratford High Street to Stratford Hospital
And Shirley
We will also be filming in the afternoon and early evening as this would have the best lighting effect in which we want for our video and have considered the risks within this but overall we think it will be okay as none of our filming will be taken in the dark so we do not need to think about any precautions like this when there.
Friday, 12 February 2010
Costume Ideas
For my costume ideas I decided to make a kind of mood board to portray my ideas of what I want my characters to look and dress.
For both of the characters I wanted to use winter wear to help with the mise-en-scene and show that its cold weather. This then in effect could help depict a cold and miserable atmosphere which would aid in creating an idea of what mood the video is.
For the girl, she will be outside for the majority of the time, so a coat I felt was neccessary as well as being fashionable (as in most videos the people involved are normally very fashionable) and the use of dark colours to help create the mood. Not only this but I want this to be related in the way the guy dresses as well, in a fashionable way but also with a slight indie/retro theme injected into it as this is the sort of thing the band would wear.
Girls Mood Board -
Guy Mood Board -
For both of the characters I wanted to use winter wear to help with the mise-en-scene and show that its cold weather. This then in effect could help depict a cold and miserable atmosphere which would aid in creating an idea of what mood the video is.
For the girl, she will be outside for the majority of the time, so a coat I felt was neccessary as well as being fashionable (as in most videos the people involved are normally very fashionable) and the use of dark colours to help create the mood. Not only this but I want this to be related in the way the guy dresses as well, in a fashionable way but also with a slight indie/retro theme injected into it as this is the sort of thing the band would wear.
Girls Mood Board -
Guy Mood Board -
Shooting Script
I think that I would actually like to start with the 3 of the memories including the picnic memory, the memory of them walking through the park and the mormory of them running after one another first. This is because I feel this would be easiest as the locations in which we want to use are close by and easily accessible and can ease us into creating the movie easily.
We would then film the shots which would ivolve the use of my house as one of the locations as then we can do all these shots within the same day so it saves times moving from set to set which would be ideal. These scenes involve scenes such as the memory of watching a movie and play fighting together, the boyfriend drinking as he deletes his texts at the kitchen table and one of our most important scenes, that of him trashing his room in a fit of rage and ripping up what will be a photo but we will blue screen which will be particularly difficult.
We will do the first scene and the final scenes last as they will also be all set in the same place, mainly Shottery Park in Stratford-Upon-Avon and the housing estates around that area. Again this would be to save time as we can stick to the same area. So although we will not be filming chronologically like many people would consider, instead we are going to take the more logical approach considering our location and timing.
We would then film the shots which would ivolve the use of my house as one of the locations as then we can do all these shots within the same day so it saves times moving from set to set which would be ideal. These scenes involve scenes such as the memory of watching a movie and play fighting together, the boyfriend drinking as he deletes his texts at the kitchen table and one of our most important scenes, that of him trashing his room in a fit of rage and ripping up what will be a photo but we will blue screen which will be particularly difficult.
We will do the first scene and the final scenes last as they will also be all set in the same place, mainly Shottery Park in Stratford-Upon-Avon and the housing estates around that area. Again this would be to save time as we can stick to the same area. So although we will not be filming chronologically like many people would consider, instead we are going to take the more logical approach considering our location and timing.
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Script of Action
Script of Action
• Opening Sequence (First minute)
• Shot of a sunset on a horizon
• At the meeting place the couple always went to, they are both familiar with the location
• The couple are visibly arguing as the camera zooms in
• We see close up shots of both the man and woman arguing and clearly upset/angry
• He storms off leaving her there crying. It’s clear they have split up.
• She stands there crying with her head in her hands as the visuals fade to black.
• Anger
• The man is upset by the break up
• Sits in his kitchen on his own drinking and running his hands through his hair and leaning his head in his hands
• He deletes all the text messages off his phone and we see him in anger and depression
• He has a memory of the couple back at the horizon place running together or playing some sort of game
• Girl walks up her driveway and into her house
• She sits on her bed and looks around, devastated about the break up
• Pictures of the past
• The guy – upset by the break up.
• Look at a picture of the two of them – gets reminded. (Having a picnic)
• Rips the photo of them together in two at the first scream
• Trashes his room.
• Place one of the pictures together – zoom in and becomes a memory of the two.
• Picnic Memory
• Sitting on the floor on a picnic blanket.
• Guy leans back on elbows.
• Girl feeds guy lovingly and puts some whipped cream etc on his nose
• She starts laughing, the camera zooms into her laughing face covered by her hands
• Kitchen
• Zooms out on girl in kitchen.
• Sitting at table drinking alcohol – drinking away her sorrows.
• Puts head in hands clearly upset by what has happened.
• Door Slam[1.44]
• Guy slams door as he walks out
• Girls slams cabinet mirror door in quick procession – looks at herself in the mirror, pills in her hand.
• Guy walks down the road – flash into a memory of the park with girlfriend in the play area on the swings.
• Cut to a deserted play area and then zooms out back to him on the bench.
• He turns from looking at the play area and takes a large swig from a bottle/can of alcohol to “drink away his sorrows”
• Girl leaves house (chorus)
• Girl looks upwards as lead singer says “Horizons”
• Girl puts coat on and puts pills in pocket then leaves the house.
• As she walks down the road she thinks back to her and her boyfriend walking down the road and then there’s a fast cut back to her alone.
• Boy Rage
• Stands up abruptly, looks at bottle/can and throws it in a fit of rage
• Walks away from bench
• Girl memory
• Back to girl walking and then she thinks about the time when they watch a movie whilst snuggled up on the sofa.
• They look at each other, she gives him a cheeky smile then throws some popcorn at him
• Play fight and then they stop and go in for a kiss, then cuts back to reality.
• Girl walks down a country lane and thinks about the betrayal
• The Betrayal
• At the party everyone dancing.
• Cuts to girl dancing with another guy – quite intimately whilst boyfriend watches from other side of the room.
• [Chorus] Boyfriend storms over in a jealous rage, punches the guy and grabs his girlfriend and pulls her away from the guy.
• Then they argue with each other whilst other people stare.
• Boyfriend starts shouting at people who are staring at them and gets dragged away by a bouncer
• Girl stands alone in the club in tears
• The End
• We see a text message saying “Im Sorry. I love you. Goodbye”
• The boy receives it, we see his shock and he begins to run through the locations where the girl has been as we see shots of her taking the pills
• Girl is found lying unconscious on the floor, the boyfriend walks next to her and bursts into tears
• He kneels next to her lifeless body and cries as the visuals fade out
• Opening Sequence (First minute)
• Shot of a sunset on a horizon
• At the meeting place the couple always went to, they are both familiar with the location
• The couple are visibly arguing as the camera zooms in
• We see close up shots of both the man and woman arguing and clearly upset/angry
• He storms off leaving her there crying. It’s clear they have split up.
• She stands there crying with her head in her hands as the visuals fade to black.
• Anger
• The man is upset by the break up
• Sits in his kitchen on his own drinking and running his hands through his hair and leaning his head in his hands
• He deletes all the text messages off his phone and we see him in anger and depression
• He has a memory of the couple back at the horizon place running together or playing some sort of game
• Girl walks up her driveway and into her house
• She sits on her bed and looks around, devastated about the break up
• Pictures of the past
• The guy – upset by the break up.
• Look at a picture of the two of them – gets reminded. (Having a picnic)
• Rips the photo of them together in two at the first scream
• Trashes his room.
• Place one of the pictures together – zoom in and becomes a memory of the two.
• Picnic Memory
• Sitting on the floor on a picnic blanket.
• Guy leans back on elbows.
• Girl feeds guy lovingly and puts some whipped cream etc on his nose
• She starts laughing, the camera zooms into her laughing face covered by her hands
• Kitchen
• Zooms out on girl in kitchen.
• Sitting at table drinking alcohol – drinking away her sorrows.
• Puts head in hands clearly upset by what has happened.
• Door Slam[1.44]
• Guy slams door as he walks out
• Girls slams cabinet mirror door in quick procession – looks at herself in the mirror, pills in her hand.
• Guy walks down the road – flash into a memory of the park with girlfriend in the play area on the swings.
• Cut to a deserted play area and then zooms out back to him on the bench.
• He turns from looking at the play area and takes a large swig from a bottle/can of alcohol to “drink away his sorrows”
• Girl leaves house (chorus)
• Girl looks upwards as lead singer says “Horizons”
• Girl puts coat on and puts pills in pocket then leaves the house.
• As she walks down the road she thinks back to her and her boyfriend walking down the road and then there’s a fast cut back to her alone.
• Boy Rage
• Stands up abruptly, looks at bottle/can and throws it in a fit of rage
• Walks away from bench
• Girl memory
• Back to girl walking and then she thinks about the time when they watch a movie whilst snuggled up on the sofa.
• They look at each other, she gives him a cheeky smile then throws some popcorn at him
• Play fight and then they stop and go in for a kiss, then cuts back to reality.
• Girl walks down a country lane and thinks about the betrayal
• The Betrayal
• At the party everyone dancing.
• Cuts to girl dancing with another guy – quite intimately whilst boyfriend watches from other side of the room.
• [Chorus] Boyfriend storms over in a jealous rage, punches the guy and grabs his girlfriend and pulls her away from the guy.
• Then they argue with each other whilst other people stare.
• Boyfriend starts shouting at people who are staring at them and gets dragged away by a bouncer
• Girl stands alone in the club in tears
• The End
• We see a text message saying “Im Sorry. I love you. Goodbye”
• The boy receives it, we see his shock and he begins to run through the locations where the girl has been as we see shots of her taking the pills
• Girl is found lying unconscious on the floor, the boyfriend walks next to her and bursts into tears
• He kneels next to her lifeless body and cries as the visuals fade out
Monday, 8 February 2010
Final Ideas
The Music Video
Our music video will be shown through a narrative. It will depict a very explosive realtionship break-up between a once devoted couple and show the many issues which people go through when experiencing this as well as looking at the good time back within the relationship. However we are also going that one step further by taking this topic to the extreme by showing the female lead commiting suicide which can be seen as quite controversial. Although it is not something we agree with we wanted to have the ability to send a message out to our audience and create a real impact within our video which would make it memorable.
We have also considered clothes which I will pull together and decide what they should wear but the general outline is that they will be trendy but understated so that they can relate easily with our target audience.
Our locations will be Solihull, Shirley and Stratford.
Ancillary Products
Digipak
I want this to portray the band themselves as they already have a large fanbase in which would potentially attract a wider variety of people. I also want it so that it relates to both the music video and the magazine advert so that target audience can find each product more easily recognisable. It will also have the standard track listings on the back and each side of the digpak will also link with one another so it looks smart and professional.
Magazine Advert
This I particularly want to link with the word "Horizons" which is the album and single's title and make it look interesting and eye catching. Not everyone will have heard of Forgetting Gravity or this song straight away reading the magazine, as with a music video and CD (within the digipak) you are listening to the song and so we know that the owner must know about them and assume they are fan. I do not want to be naive and assume that everyone who is reading the magazine has heard of this new band and therefore I want it to link with the other two products so they are easily recognisable and make it interesting to attract a wider audience. It needs to be simple and straight to the point and must include the band name, album name, and where it is available.
Our music video will be shown through a narrative. It will depict a very explosive realtionship break-up between a once devoted couple and show the many issues which people go through when experiencing this as well as looking at the good time back within the relationship. However we are also going that one step further by taking this topic to the extreme by showing the female lead commiting suicide which can be seen as quite controversial. Although it is not something we agree with we wanted to have the ability to send a message out to our audience and create a real impact within our video which would make it memorable.
We have also considered clothes which I will pull together and decide what they should wear but the general outline is that they will be trendy but understated so that they can relate easily with our target audience.
Our locations will be Solihull, Shirley and Stratford.
Ancillary Products
Digipak
I want this to portray the band themselves as they already have a large fanbase in which would potentially attract a wider variety of people. I also want it so that it relates to both the music video and the magazine advert so that target audience can find each product more easily recognisable. It will also have the standard track listings on the back and each side of the digpak will also link with one another so it looks smart and professional.
Magazine Advert
This I particularly want to link with the word "Horizons" which is the album and single's title and make it look interesting and eye catching. Not everyone will have heard of Forgetting Gravity or this song straight away reading the magazine, as with a music video and CD (within the digipak) you are listening to the song and so we know that the owner must know about them and assume they are fan. I do not want to be naive and assume that everyone who is reading the magazine has heard of this new band and therefore I want it to link with the other two products so they are easily recognisable and make it interesting to attract a wider audience. It needs to be simple and straight to the point and must include the band name, album name, and where it is available.
Treatment
Working Title
Our Working Title will be "Horizons Forgetting Gravity Project"
This title has been chosen as it is fairly memorable and straight to the point.
Format
Our format will be for the main product - a music video - will be digitally filmed and then edited on iMovie which will be good for this type of work.
For my ancillary products I will use Corel Paintshop Pro as I find it has some good tools in which to manipulate images. I will also consider using photoshop to help progress my ideas.
Synopsis
Our song choice is of the electro-rock sub genre of dance music and therefore we are going to interpret that in our video. We are going to have to consider the fashion trends of the people related to this genre of music. The general outline of our music video will follow someone on their way to a Forgetting Gravity gig. There will be a clash of reality and non-reality in the video which will question representation and stereotypes.
The ancillary texts will relate to the music video with the front cover and main image being featured with the videoas it is common within album releases and will help tie everything in as a whole.
Rationale
I feel this will be easy to do as we already have an idea of some of the locations which is key to getting the video right. We also have the bands permission in order to both use their song and themselves within the video so we are ready to start as soon as possible.
Resources Required
Alex - in my group - has an Apple computer so we are able to use the software on there aswell as being able to use the facilities at college.
Budget
We will not need a huge budgets as we will already have some things at home in which we can use as well as the college providing some facilities.
Deadlines
Our deadlines are already listed but we will also make our own individual deadlines if we find it neccassary.
Our Working Title will be "Horizons Forgetting Gravity Project"
This title has been chosen as it is fairly memorable and straight to the point.
Format
Our format will be for the main product - a music video - will be digitally filmed and then edited on iMovie which will be good for this type of work.
For my ancillary products I will use Corel Paintshop Pro as I find it has some good tools in which to manipulate images. I will also consider using photoshop to help progress my ideas.
Synopsis
Our song choice is of the electro-rock sub genre of dance music and therefore we are going to interpret that in our video. We are going to have to consider the fashion trends of the people related to this genre of music. The general outline of our music video will follow someone on their way to a Forgetting Gravity gig. There will be a clash of reality and non-reality in the video which will question representation and stereotypes.
The ancillary texts will relate to the music video with the front cover and main image being featured with the videoas it is common within album releases and will help tie everything in as a whole.
Rationale
I feel this will be easy to do as we already have an idea of some of the locations which is key to getting the video right. We also have the bands permission in order to both use their song and themselves within the video so we are ready to start as soon as possible.
Resources Required
Alex - in my group - has an Apple computer so we are able to use the software on there aswell as being able to use the facilities at college.
Budget
We will not need a huge budgets as we will already have some things at home in which we can use as well as the college providing some facilities.
Deadlines
Our deadlines are already listed but we will also make our own individual deadlines if we find it neccassary.
Initial Ideas
• We are considering relating our video to the lyrics of the song which overall is about the break up in a relationship and the grief it has caused.
• "You took my dreams so far from horizons." we will perhaps take this in both the metaphorical and literal sense and try and use a horizon as a setting within our video and I would also like to use this within our magazine advertisement and digipak cover.
• I would like to use a couple within our work as they can represent the two sides of the relationship and we will tell the story about the break up drawn from the lyrics of the song.
• At the beginning of the song it shows some regret about breaking up and so through this I was considering showing past events of the relationship and the happy memories as this would help tell the story.
• Then anger is shown as the person “wash your smell out of my clothes,
And wipe your kisses off my lips” as they try to get over what has happened and therefore we need to portray this in some way.
• I would also like to use a lot of tools within editing to make it some more like a “love story” perhaps so that the audience can get a proper idea of the theme as we want to make our ideas clear.
• We will consider using the band within our video as people like the band to be involved and it will also help the audience realise who is actually singing the song.
• "You took my dreams so far from horizons." we will perhaps take this in both the metaphorical and literal sense and try and use a horizon as a setting within our video and I would also like to use this within our magazine advertisement and digipak cover.
• I would like to use a couple within our work as they can represent the two sides of the relationship and we will tell the story about the break up drawn from the lyrics of the song.
• At the beginning of the song it shows some regret about breaking up and so through this I was considering showing past events of the relationship and the happy memories as this would help tell the story.
• Then anger is shown as the person “wash your smell out of my clothes,
And wipe your kisses off my lips” as they try to get over what has happened and therefore we need to portray this in some way.
• I would also like to use a lot of tools within editing to make it some more like a “love story” perhaps so that the audience can get a proper idea of the theme as we want to make our ideas clear.
• We will consider using the band within our video as people like the band to be involved and it will also help the audience realise who is actually singing the song.
Horizons Lyrics
This is the lyrics for the song in which we have chosen and from this we will be able to get a better idea of what to include within our video and produce our intial ideas.
Look at me now,
You need to get through my mind.
Fingers crossed and arms wide open,
Waiting for you to come back to me.
Gotta find a way out of here,
You took my dreams so far from horizons.
Horizons
Look at me now,
I cant believe a word.
Ears bleeding, eyes watering.
Im gonna wash your smell out of my clothes,
And wipe your kisses off my lips and hope that;
You wont ever really change
Gotta find a way out of here,
I wont let you invade my dreams anymore!
Horizons
The best part of last year was being so close,
I wouldnt change it for the world.
We're dying out to say;
this aint enough,
I wouldnt change it for the world.
Enough of this poetry,
Why did you want me to come?
Jest with my heart 'til i bleed,
'Til I say that im yours?
Well, look what you've done to me,
Look what you've done!
Look at me now,
You need to get through my mind.
Fingers crossed and arms wide open,
Waiting for you to come back to me.
Gotta find a way out of here,
You took my dreams so far from horizons.
Horizons
Look at me now,
I cant believe a word.
Ears bleeding, eyes watering.
Im gonna wash your smell out of my clothes,
And wipe your kisses off my lips and hope that;
You wont ever really change
Gotta find a way out of here,
I wont let you invade my dreams anymore!
Horizons
The best part of last year was being so close,
I wouldnt change it for the world.
We're dying out to say;
this aint enough,
I wouldnt change it for the world.
Enough of this poetry,
Why did you want me to come?
Jest with my heart 'til i bleed,
'Til I say that im yours?
Well, look what you've done to me,
Look what you've done!
Friday, 29 January 2010
Magazine Music Album Adverts
Bowie
• Writing in big letters, circles around it – makes it look more appealing.
• Use of pictures of the artist so have an idea of who the artist is and makes it look more visually appealing
• Contrasting colours of black white and purple so things stand out a lot more.
Midlake- “The Courage Of Others”
• Black background with white writing to make it stand out
• Big picture in the middle which is also the album cover so it relates well and the people buying the cd know what to look for.
• Date of when it is out so people know when to buy it
• Reviews by well known music magazines so that it could persuade people to buy it
• Dates of gigs are also at the bottom and their own websites are there as well so they are able to advertise these themselves.
The Family Jewels – Marina & the diamonds
• I like this advert because it has the use of a “vintage” background with white scruffy writing over it which I think gives it a unique look.
• It has the main singer as the centre of the advert and the image has been photo-shopped to give her a more “perfect” and “fake” appearance that is involved a lot in music videos.
• It advertises both the single and the album and when they are going to be out.
• Again has reviews at the bottom by well know newspapers and magazines and therefore again this would persuade someone to buy it more if they know other people think it is good.
• The artist’s website is at the bottom to advertise itself.
• This advertisement I feel looks more “chique” and isn’t as “messy” as I find Bowie’s advert where things are all dotted around. I think it looks better if it is more simple.
Quasi
• This advertisement I really do not find appealing as it has too much writing and needs to be more straight to the point.
• It still has the date of when it is out but has no real quotes or recommendations by anyone.
• It shows other albums by Quasi which although I think is quite good it just looks messy and definitely needs to be more simplified.
• The image at the top has no real significance and would leave some people clueless. Sleeping could give off the impression it is boring?
Thursday, 28 January 2010
Ancillary - CD Album Covers
CHERYL COLE - 3 WORDS
This album cover uses the main artist as the subject of this cover which I think is important to help with the identity of the album. It also has been noticeably airbrushed which I have seen happens on a lot of album covers including that of Lady Gaga and Rhianna and this may be to do with the representation of women and how they should be “perfect”. Therefore if I did decide to have a woman on my front cover of my album design I would have to keep in mind this fact and consider airbushing and “perfecting” the model. Black and white also helps work with the “classy” theme in which the artist is trying to do as we can see from the use of props – in this case the head piece she is using and so I should consider the use of colours and props and how they would relate. This album cover is not entirely related to that of any of her songs and therefore I felt that this would be a useful cover to look at as I could use this idea for my own digpak design. As this is quite a famous album cover it means that I may not need to stick closely to my choice of song.
CHASE AND STATUS - MORE THAN ALOT
Chase and Status’ album “More Than A lot” is a lot different from that of Cheryl Cole’s debut and instead uses vibrant pink and large words to help create emphasis and an impact. It does not go for a “classy” look and instead has more of an “edge” to its design which I think relates to the type of music that it is. Where Chase and Status has more of an underground drum and bass type of music Cheryl Cole is more of a pop icon and so I should consider this when designing my piece. I also like how they have the use of black and pink images in the writing itself which I think is quite clever and it uses a more spray painted, dotted effect to get it a rough edge.
RAZORLIGHT -
Razorlight have a different, very simple approach of just using themselves in the picture upon a white background using black and white. Although not as interesting as perhaps the other two, it is straight to the point, giving the audience an idea of who they are, the type of music they sing due to their perhaps stereotypical clothing in which may indicate they are an indie band and having “Razorlight” in big, bold capital letters to get the point across. With this in mind I feel it would be effective to keep my design perhaps quite simple and sometimes less is more and it would get my point across more easily.
This album cover uses the main artist as the subject of this cover which I think is important to help with the identity of the album. It also has been noticeably airbrushed which I have seen happens on a lot of album covers including that of Lady Gaga and Rhianna and this may be to do with the representation of women and how they should be “perfect”. Therefore if I did decide to have a woman on my front cover of my album design I would have to keep in mind this fact and consider airbushing and “perfecting” the model. Black and white also helps work with the “classy” theme in which the artist is trying to do as we can see from the use of props – in this case the head piece she is using and so I should consider the use of colours and props and how they would relate. This album cover is not entirely related to that of any of her songs and therefore I felt that this would be a useful cover to look at as I could use this idea for my own digpak design. As this is quite a famous album cover it means that I may not need to stick closely to my choice of song.
CHASE AND STATUS - MORE THAN ALOT
Chase and Status’ album “More Than A lot” is a lot different from that of Cheryl Cole’s debut and instead uses vibrant pink and large words to help create emphasis and an impact. It does not go for a “classy” look and instead has more of an “edge” to its design which I think relates to the type of music that it is. Where Chase and Status has more of an underground drum and bass type of music Cheryl Cole is more of a pop icon and so I should consider this when designing my piece. I also like how they have the use of black and pink images in the writing itself which I think is quite clever and it uses a more spray painted, dotted effect to get it a rough edge.
RAZORLIGHT -
Razorlight have a different, very simple approach of just using themselves in the picture upon a white background using black and white. Although not as interesting as perhaps the other two, it is straight to the point, giving the audience an idea of who they are, the type of music they sing due to their perhaps stereotypical clothing in which may indicate they are an indie band and having “Razorlight” in big, bold capital letters to get the point across. With this in mind I feel it would be effective to keep my design perhaps quite simple and sometimes less is more and it would get my point across more easily.
Friday, 22 January 2010
Primary Research For My Music Video - Questionnaire
I asked 20 people my questionnaire to get an idea of what is popular in a music video and what people would want to see in it. By using 20 people I would get a variety of different people and a better understanding of what is wanted.
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Secondary Research - "Top Ten Tips For Making Your Own Music Video"
As well as just using the internet for my secondary research I decided to also Media Magazines. What I did find to be very useful were Top 10 Tips for making your own music video as this would be ideal to help me get an idea of what to do and how to do it effectively.
I found this particularly useful as it gave me an insight on what to do and how to do it as I have never made a music video before and this is all very new to me.
Pete Fraser 'Ten tips for making your own music video' in Media Magazine, February 2007 Issue 19, English And Media center
I found this particularly useful as it gave me an insight on what to do and how to do it as I have never made a music video before and this is all very new to me.
Pete Fraser 'Ten tips for making your own music video' in Media Magazine, February 2007 Issue 19, English And Media center
Monday, 11 January 2010
Goodwins Music Video Analysis Theory
How to analyse a music video...
Andrew Goodwin writing in ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ (Routledge 1992)
1.Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).
2.There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
3.There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
4.The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).
5.There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
6.There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).
Andrew Goodwin writing in ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ (Routledge 1992)
1.Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).
2.There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
3.There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
4.The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).
5.There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
6.There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).
Secondary Research - Music Videos (Using Goodwin's MUsic Video Analysis Theory)
As I am going to have to create my own promotional music video I have decided to look at other videos in order to see how other people have created videos within the industry. I have decided to look at a combination of different genres of music to get a better idea of the criteria for a music video.
The first video is Down - Jay Sean ft. Lil' Wayne
There is a dance routine included in the video as is typical to that of an R’n’B/Pop singer, yet it does not really relate to any of the song and is instead used as a tool to keep the audience interested. The video itself does not really tell a story to go alongside the song and is instead just used to entertain. As well as this, the main male singer Jay Sean shows off his fit physique to the audience to create some sex appeal which is a big thing used in a majority of videos. There is also the use of a female love interest as well as other women throwing themselves over him again to add to the appeal. However the video is quite in the way it uses women’s body which could possibly be to do with the singer who may also want to project himself to a younger audience as well. The video also involves a lot of close up to the main singer but not only this but of the supporting act of Lil’ Wayne who is also a well known artist and so is also key to add to the appeal to the song. However what is different from some other videos is the use of special effects by using glowing lights to create a sense of “magic” within the room or could be related to the sky or something which could then relate to the song with the lyrics “even if the sky is falling down”.
It has no particular use of subcultures in which it is directed to in anyway and its projected toward a very wide audience, yet within the video itself it is very upper class focused with how it is at a ball and everyone is nicely dressed, the men in suits and the women in flattering dresses all of which is fashionable which is key. It gives the video a professional look and something in which people would perhaps aspire to be but has no particular stereotypical references in the visual things we see.
Secondly, Invaders Must Die - The Prodigy
The beginning is particularly related that of the lyrics in this song “Invaders Must Die” by using trespasser signs, army figurines and death within the video. Also it uses the Prodigy logo with the ant throughout it to help point out who is actually singing the song as they are not actually in the video as the main characters but only have a supporting role, instead using the actor Noel Clarke who is quite well known and so again this would attract the audience to watch it. However, what is key to this video is the fact that it does not use women as sex objects and instead concentrates on the song itself and ways to relate this to the video.
This video goes against stereotypes and is shown as very subversive with the use of the lone man who seems to go against any one "type" of person. He seems to be what we would consider a "loner" because he is different and we later realise he suffers from a disorder which therefore could make him fall into that category of stereotypes.
Artic Monkeys - When The Sun Goes Down
This video is very different from the majority of videos we see today which are all highly over the top in the way they are edited and made to be seen as perfect which is why I like how this video is so very different from the rest. I feel that it shows a high sense of realism in both plot and visual effects as it seems far more "real" than most other videos which show a more fake and "perfect" unreality where women are airbrushed to perfection and their are many different dance routines and everyone being the height of happiness. This video however, shows a more hard hitting reality with a dark grunge effect video with the use of dark colours and real setting. The story line itself is a lot different to normal videos also with an average woman who has not been airbrushed in anyway like someone like Lady Gaga is in her videos, and links in with the song lyrics and "roaming the streets." It also shows fights and disrespects women by treating them badly, which although could be said for the videos of women being scantily clad in other videos yet this video targets it in a different way.
It could also be a representation of the working class. The main women is said to be roaming the streets which could make us question whether she is homeless and this could then be a representation of women who find it very hard to live within todays society having so little money. She is also dressed in a very particular way which some of us today would consider very "chav" or common and in social terms is very beneath a lot of people. The male character seems to take advantage of this which some people could say is quite stereotypical, particularly as the man is quite horrible in the way he treats both the woman and other people around him. He could be seen as the typical "gangster" type character which we see happens a lot in films such as "This Is England" and "London To Brighton" in particular and so it has this film aspect of reality within its storyline.
With these things in mind I would like to consider a few of these ideas in my video as I think that this video is different in the way that it sees things and shows thing in a more realistic way which I would like to incorporate that in my own work.
With these things in mind we need to consider the locations of where we will shoot our video aswell as whether we will conform to stereotypes in order to get our message across in our video. We need to decide whether we want to surbverse against stereotypes or whether to go along with it to find common ground with our audience.
Not only this but do we go with the perfection aspect of the video or sway towards realism to help create a more hard hitting storyline.
The first video is Down - Jay Sean ft. Lil' Wayne
There is a dance routine included in the video as is typical to that of an R’n’B/Pop singer, yet it does not really relate to any of the song and is instead used as a tool to keep the audience interested. The video itself does not really tell a story to go alongside the song and is instead just used to entertain. As well as this, the main male singer Jay Sean shows off his fit physique to the audience to create some sex appeal which is a big thing used in a majority of videos. There is also the use of a female love interest as well as other women throwing themselves over him again to add to the appeal. However the video is quite in the way it uses women’s body which could possibly be to do with the singer who may also want to project himself to a younger audience as well. The video also involves a lot of close up to the main singer but not only this but of the supporting act of Lil’ Wayne who is also a well known artist and so is also key to add to the appeal to the song. However what is different from some other videos is the use of special effects by using glowing lights to create a sense of “magic” within the room or could be related to the sky or something which could then relate to the song with the lyrics “even if the sky is falling down”.
It has no particular use of subcultures in which it is directed to in anyway and its projected toward a very wide audience, yet within the video itself it is very upper class focused with how it is at a ball and everyone is nicely dressed, the men in suits and the women in flattering dresses all of which is fashionable which is key. It gives the video a professional look and something in which people would perhaps aspire to be but has no particular stereotypical references in the visual things we see.
Secondly, Invaders Must Die - The Prodigy
The beginning is particularly related that of the lyrics in this song “Invaders Must Die” by using trespasser signs, army figurines and death within the video. Also it uses the Prodigy logo with the ant throughout it to help point out who is actually singing the song as they are not actually in the video as the main characters but only have a supporting role, instead using the actor Noel Clarke who is quite well known and so again this would attract the audience to watch it. However, what is key to this video is the fact that it does not use women as sex objects and instead concentrates on the song itself and ways to relate this to the video.
This video goes against stereotypes and is shown as very subversive with the use of the lone man who seems to go against any one "type" of person. He seems to be what we would consider a "loner" because he is different and we later realise he suffers from a disorder which therefore could make him fall into that category of stereotypes.
Artic Monkeys - When The Sun Goes Down
This video is very different from the majority of videos we see today which are all highly over the top in the way they are edited and made to be seen as perfect which is why I like how this video is so very different from the rest. I feel that it shows a high sense of realism in both plot and visual effects as it seems far more "real" than most other videos which show a more fake and "perfect" unreality where women are airbrushed to perfection and their are many different dance routines and everyone being the height of happiness. This video however, shows a more hard hitting reality with a dark grunge effect video with the use of dark colours and real setting. The story line itself is a lot different to normal videos also with an average woman who has not been airbrushed in anyway like someone like Lady Gaga is in her videos, and links in with the song lyrics and "roaming the streets." It also shows fights and disrespects women by treating them badly, which although could be said for the videos of women being scantily clad in other videos yet this video targets it in a different way.
It could also be a representation of the working class. The main women is said to be roaming the streets which could make us question whether she is homeless and this could then be a representation of women who find it very hard to live within todays society having so little money. She is also dressed in a very particular way which some of us today would consider very "chav" or common and in social terms is very beneath a lot of people. The male character seems to take advantage of this which some people could say is quite stereotypical, particularly as the man is quite horrible in the way he treats both the woman and other people around him. He could be seen as the typical "gangster" type character which we see happens a lot in films such as "This Is England" and "London To Brighton" in particular and so it has this film aspect of reality within its storyline.
With these things in mind I would like to consider a few of these ideas in my video as I think that this video is different in the way that it sees things and shows thing in a more realistic way which I would like to incorporate that in my own work.
With these things in mind we need to consider the locations of where we will shoot our video aswell as whether we will conform to stereotypes in order to get our message across in our video. We need to decide whether we want to surbverse against stereotypes or whether to go along with it to find common ground with our audience.
Not only this but do we go with the perfection aspect of the video or sway towards realism to help create a more hard hitting storyline.
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