TITLES (RESEARCH)

Titles are a feature of many music videos, however tend to be dependent on the genre of the music video. For example in pop and rap videos they focus on promoting the artists image and titles often help  put emphasis on the name or song of the artist. Shown on the right and below are the artists names in the "All of The Lights" music video, the artists names are shown to promote their names.


I have done some research into dance and electronic music videos and they tend to not have the title of the song or the name of the artist in the video itself as they do not promote themselves in the same way as other genres do. We are using a song that falls into the dance and electronic genre and therefore have decided that there is no need to use titles in our music video. This also enables us to have a more appropriate use of generic conventions.

We do plan, however, to use a type of titles in our video which will exist in the format of captions, much like in the video that accompanies Wilkinson's "Afterglow".

 On the left is the visuals that are joined by text on the screen which act as statistics that document the relationship of the two characters 'Paul & Dana'.







We wish to emulate the use of text in our music video with captions that help to explain each individual shot.

BLOG (RESEARCH)

Researching other peoples blogs.

Andrew Johnson:

http://andrewjohnsona2media.blogspot.co.uk/

What went well...

• Thoroughly planned and detailed. This is exemplified through blogs detailing his poster designs and editing tutorials

• Despite completing the coursework by himself, he has managed to complete nearly 50 posts, showing he has committed a lot of time to the project.
• Used a range of different softwares to make posts, for example slide share and youtube.

What could be improved...

• Some of the posts haven’t embedded properly, as shown below. This means videos or pictures cant be displayed, which is needed when posting things such as storyboards

• The script he has posted could be a lot more complex or at least complete. It only displays 4 lines of dialogue.

Jordan Putt

http://jordanputt.wordpress.com/page/4/

What went well...

• Very well layed out, bright, colourfull. Looks very presentable to readers.
• Despite lots of writing, there is a fair amount of pictures aswell which evens it out and makes the blog more easy on the eye.
• High blog count, all in order.

what could be improved...

• Maybe a few posts containing more photo’s. As you can see in the picture below, some posts solely contain writing, which might be very detailed but lack visuals which boosts the marks on your blog.

CAMERA SHOTS (RESEARCH)

POST BY: Danny O'Brien

BASE TRACKING - HOW IT HAS HELPED ME (CONSTRUCTION)

Shown on the left is my video with both the audio and video clips imported. I have utilised the use of base editing in the processing of putting together my film.


I used markers first of all to find the duration I wanted each shot to be and also to ensure that I could find these places when I was editing at later dates.


 Once I had the markers in I put various clips on the track in different layers then used a multi-cam tool to view all of the different shots with the music accompanying the video clips with a great deal of ease.

This enabled me to choose the relevant video clips for each part of the video, cutting all clips with the use of the razor blade tool, which then allowed me to keep the cuts in the music video in line with the markers.

POST BY: Danny O'Brien

BASE TRACKING - PRACTISE (RESEARCH)

 First of all I started off by importing four video clips and one audio clip that lasted 30 seconds. I put these clips all above one another. The four clips allow me to choose which shot I use and also when I use any particular shot.










Then I proceeded to put markers in the places that had a change in beat in the music. This was to make it clear where the changes are, and to act as a reference for when I later looked at the video.

I then deleted the clips where appropriate, leaving me with the video I wanted where I wanted it.



In editing my own music video base editing would be useful as I can put many different angles in at once, ensuring they are cut to the beat of the song and also compare what each video clip looks like at any point with relative ease.

POST BY: Danny O'Brien

FINAL PRODUCT IDEAS (PLANNING)

Album cover research/Ideas:

*Flume’s original album cover, titled ‘Flume’.

This cover is quite complex, and may not be achievable such as our software which is Photoshop. Therefore it is most likely we will take a photo of our actor and add effects to the background scenery.

Digi-pak ideas:

This is a picture of the actor that we cast for our video. It’s helpful that he had the equipment to take the photo himself due to the line of work that he is in. This however doesn’t really have much relevance to our album and the genre that it is in.

This is our attempted photo which could possibly become our album cover. The picture is taken by myself and James and features the other person in our group, Danny. We’ve added effects to the background which makes the person in shot look more definitive.

POST BY: Geraint Padfield

HOW THE PROJECT IS GOING - (REFLECTION)

We are on track to finish our project on schedule, currently doing the second edit of the video, therefore we have made good progress. However the project has not come without it's problems.

Problems;
We have encountered a fairly substantial flaw in our current music video - that is that the video is currently far too short for the song we have chosen to use. So in order to rectify this we have arranged an additional shoot, to be done without our actors, as this enables us to have more flexibility when and where we shoot, thus allowing us to get all of our footage quickly.

FUNCTION & PURPOSE OF A MUSIC VIDEO (RESEARCH)

The primary function and purpose of a music video is to promote the image and music of an artist.

The music video for 50 Cent's "Candy Shop" quite clearly adheres to the primary function and purposes of any given music video. The video features the artist in many different outfits - all of which contain expensive, branded items of clothing and flash jewellery, this is purposely done to promote him as a wealthy successful artist.

POST BY: Danny O'Brien  

EVIDENCE OF FILMING (CONSTRUCTION)

POST BY: Danny O'Brien

MAGAZINE ADVERT ANALYSIS (RESEARCH)

Magazine advert analysis; Jay Z’s ‘The Blueprint 3’

The advert to the right was taken from XXL magazine, featuring the rapper Jay Z filling the front cover, whilst his upcoming Album was advertised on the back page. The advert shows a bunch of musical instruments crammed together, for example Keyboards, mixers and drums. He’s trying to explain how he’s bringing old sounds back and stressing the importance of these instruments that once were the ‘blueprint’ to this genre. 

The cover is showing Jay Z standing taller than the biggest buildings in New York with the Title, ‘Is Jay Z bigger than HIP-HOP?’ This is making the connotation that he is one of the most influential figures in the industry of this genre due to the stats given on the left of the cover, for example selling over 30 million records. The way the artist has his hands in his pocket makes him look confident and accessories such as the belt and shades make him look cool yet classy, which is stereotypical of this genre.

Our artist flume has a completely different audience, and there is less pressure to portray him as cool and powerful as his demographic buy into his music, not necessarily his personality or the impact he’s had on the dance genre. 

The black clothing worn by Jay z contrasts well with the lightly coloured layout in the background. This makes him stand out more and this is something we’ll consider when making our cover because we want the artist to look important and professional, just like jay z does in this image. 

The cover shows Jay Z’s name written in a bold san-serif font, something which modern

The amount of colours used is very minimal as you can see. It’s just Red, White, Black and Grey. Interestingly, the colours used for the front cover of the magazine are the same ones used in the advert, which was to become the album cover. This maintains the relevance between the two, constantly reminding the readers of the upcoming album. When we make our magazine cover and digi-pak, like this example, will try and keep the same colour scheme in both to set out the clear purpose of the magazine cover, which essentially is to promote the upcoming album.

POST BY: Geraint Padfield

MAGAZINE ADVERT ANALYSIS: JESSIE J - WHO YOU ARE (RESEARCH)

This is a magazine advertisement for artist Jessie J's debut album "Who You Are" that was released in February 2011 in the U.K and April of the same year in America. The singer songwriter from London endured much success with this, her debut album, achieving second in the U.K album charts.

The magazine features a close up of the artist showing her face, hands and some of her upper torso, the face being in the centre of the shot. This immediately makes the focus on her face, which is exactly the impact she wanted to have - recognition of her face and her. She is shown in this image to have an open mouth, signifying she is not quiet or shy, that she speaks, or sings, what she feels. She also has a serious look on her face with slightly squinted eyes, this connotes to us, the viewers of this advert that she is a serious artist with serious ambitions. This statement of intent through the visuals creates the basis of the image she is portraying, a strong, confident woman with serious aims. The costume and make up of Jessie is striking, the black make up, nails and clothing beautifully compliment and contrast the plain white background to make her stand out more, ensuring she is the focus of the viewers attention.

One other colour is used in the advert, this is the gold that is used in the text and also on her jewellery and lip gloss. Having gold text is a counter typical of the pop genre, but is more typical of the rap genre, as it conveys wealth and creates an image of status. This acts as a secondary aim in promoting her image, that she is fashionable and classy, two things that are often associated with the colour gold. In terms of promoting her as an artist it acts as something that sets her apart from other typical pop artists, it acts as her USP. In promoting her as an artist that isn't typical of the pop genre it immediately gains her more attention and interest, as she is different. The italic, san serif font provides the text with a modern, attractive look that will appeal to the young target audience of Jessie J. It is positioned in the middle of the frame, highlighting it as one of the most important things in the text, her name. The gold italic Jessie J has since become a trademark of hers, and she says Jessie J in many of her songs, providing a synergistic link between these two things that cleverly make you think of the other when hearing or seeing one.

The advert includes the name of the album and the title of the main single from the album. The naming of one of the successful singles of the album enables Jessie J's album and this song to cross promote each other. This is a convention used by all music artists when advertising their albums, as it allows them to benefit financially most effectively through the boosting of sales of their singles and album. It features the record label that Jessie J is signed to in the bottom right hand corner, a convention that is used throughout all artists signed to labels.

Although this is completely unrelated to our ancillaries, there are still pointers that we can take from this advert as it is a professional magazine advert. The amount of text used, the colour of the text and where it is placed are all things that we can take advice from. there is not much text used, it is all positioned in the centre of the advert and the use of colour contrasts well with the background colours used, for example the black and white and black and gold. This makes the text stand out even more and makes it eye catching. It is also the use of only three colours that makes it aesthetically pleasing, it makes the audience focus on what is in the centre of the picture as there aren't too many colours distracting you, thus automatically making you focus on the image.

POST BY: Danny O'Brien

ANALYSIS OF ANOTHER A2 VIDEO - D GRADE (RESEARCH)

 This is an example of an A2 music video that I marked according to the following criteria and rewarded a D Grade;                        

This music video demonstrated a basic use of camerawork, mise en scene and editing, and for that reason I put it into the level 2 band, achieving a D grade at 21 out of 40 marks.

The video featured various inappropriate transitions between shots, which did not allow it to get out of level 2. It also had a low cut frequency accompanied by a frequent long shot duration, which lead to it looking boring and amateur.

The mise en scene in the video used was also basic, with the use of lighting creating clearly noticeable shadows on the actors and the acting giving the video yet again an unprofessional, unrealistic feel.

There was however a good variation in the shots used, with many different angles and size of framings, which made it an interesting watch and provided the video with some element of pace and action. Unfortunately the steadiness of the camerawork was not present to compliment the variety of shots.




POST BY: Danny O'Brien

ANALYSIS OF ANOTHER A2 VIDEO - A GRADE (RESEARCH)

 This is an example of an A Grade music video made by a group of boys from The Windsor Boys School.
In terms of editing this video demonstrated excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:     

• making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions.

• making selective and appropriate use of captions.

• making selective and appropriate use of other effects - these include the bubble effect they put on the image shown above, as well as temporal extensions and elipsis'.

They also demonstrated excellence in their camerawork and also their use of mise en scene.

Shown to the left is a minor example of the variety of shot framings and angles that were present in the video.







The actor cast and used in the video was believable and did therefore not stand out or make the video seem at all unprofessional. He also wore appropriate clothing and had a bag and badge that a teacher would use, thus making the use of props appropriate.

                                    

The mark scheme that I used to score this video is shown here on the right hand side. I scored this video 37 marks out of a possible 40, making it an A* Grade piece of work.

POST BY: Danny O'Brien

WEAK VIDEO MARKING (RESEARCH)

Weak Video marking: ‘Miley Cyrus- wrecking ball’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrMTw_f-ock

1. “Shooting material appropriate to task”

This video deserves a low level 2 for this criteria. The mise en scene used is relatively sound and relevant, Despite this, the camera work is quite shaky, they could have used better framing on certain shots and there isn't much variety on where they have placed the camera.

2) “Editing so that the meaning is apparent to the viewer”

This is also a very low level 2/high level 1 piece. Some of the effects such as temporal extensions don’t really fit the the video’s narrative very well. The black and white is quite a nice touch, however the colours worn by the lead actor clash with the effect, as you can see with the picture above. Some of the shots last way too long.

3)“Recording and editing sound with images appropriately.” Although the actress isn’t very convincing at showing her emotions whilst miming the lyrics, the group have done a good job in syncing the lyrics with the song. Therefore they hit a high level 2/3 for this criteria.

Score- 22

Grade- D

POST BY - Geraint Padfield

A GRADE VIDEO MARKING (RESEARCH)

Strong video- A/B.
Little Party










http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoT5RL_s_8Qlist=PL_P5ZEHuHS2azgyOhlhwVDYfbWkY-N47O

Shooting material appropriate to the task set:
I’d give this a level three. Although the camerawork is very steady throughout and the amount of attention to framing is evident, there isn’t much variety in the shots and it’s been shot in a minimal amount of locations.

Editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer:
the video is very basic but done very well and very professionally. The whole meaning of the song is communicated very easily through the video and it runs smoothly, for this is deserves a level four.

Level four. The video fits the genre very neatly, contains appropriate generic conventions such as bright lighting and flashy clothing.

points total = 34.

Grade- A

B GRADE DIGIPACK ANALYSIS - ANCILLARY TASK (RESEARCH)

Ancillary Research Task

• The colours used fit the genre type of the track and also their media video. The song is mostly upbeat and dance music so having dark colours wouldn't relate to the theme.
•  The use the colours throughout the digipack and magazine advert they have also done the same with the font style and its colour.
•  They've used the actor from the video so they know what they can slightly expect.
• Although when they open the digipack they will see the props (Rubix Cube and Cards), leaving an enigma until they see the music video.
• The track list for this album is on the pillars. The graffiti also adds to the urban, grime and underground theme that drum and bass music presents.
• They've stuck with the concrete urban theme throughout the digipack to create a on going theme which potentially makes it more rememberable.
• In all 4 sides of the digipack they have used props/locations/actors that feature in the film at least once so again they know what to expect whilst still leaving that enigma until they watch the music video itself.

STUDENT ANCILLARY (RESEARCH)

Shown here is a student digipak, which includes a front cover, back cover and two inside covers of a Jay-Z album. This was done by a group of students from The Windsor Boys' School, who achieved a C grade, mainly for the inconsistently. Both the front and back cover are appropriate for the task set, however both of the inside covers do not fit the chosen genre, which is rap. The editing, colour scheme, text size and font used on the front and back cover all suit the rap genre, as well as the composition of the image in the front cover being easy on the eye.

The picture of a city in the reflection of the sunglasses is a common convention of rap, with the use of sunglasses appropriately fitting the genre as well, as they are commonly featured in rap videos.

The use of black and white keeps the back cover simple, shows consistency in the colour scheme whilst also making it aesthetically pleasing and classy - something the artist often tries to portray himself as.

This inside cover again fits the use of black and white however is slightly unrelated to the genre and does not do anything in terms of promoting the album or artist, which are the primary functions of the digipak.

This other inside cover shows more relevance to the genre and acts as a reference to the actual music video, which is important as it shows thought behind the picture itself. Again sticking with the black and white theme the image is typical of rap but it needs a bit more editing done to it to make it look professional and appropriate.

A GRADE DIGI PACK RESEARCH

•  Dark colour scheme fits Linkin Park's genre very well. They are a rock band and aren't associated with bright colours.
• All the text is seen very clearly, colours work well together.

•  Half of the persons face being shown in all of the pictures. A generic convention of album covers is that the camera or lighting is focused on half of their face for good effect.

•  The logo shown on the front cover is again being shown when you open up the digi pack. By doing this they're making every page relevant and have kept a theme going throughout the content.

• Songs clearly displayed on the left, a style used by many artists to make the whole thing look more presentable. 

POST BY: Geraint Padfield

LYRICS (RESEARCH)

POST BY: Danny O'Brien

RISK ASSESSMENT: RE-SHOOT (PLANNING)

POST BY: Danny O'Brien

SHOOTING SCHEDULE: UPDATED (PLANNING)

POST BY: Danny O'Brien

SHOOTING SCHEDULE (PLANNING)

            POST BY: Geraint Padfield

LAURA MULVEY SUMMARY (RESEARCH)

Summary Of Male Gaze theory:

It is clear from the examples used, such as Alex Gaudino's 'Destination Unknown' that the creators of videos such as these use clever camerawork and Mise-en-scene to help attract the male audience to watch their videos. However due to the target audience of the genre our song is in, it's unlikely that we will rely on this theory to attract it's audience.

LAURA MULVEY PRESENTATION (RESEARCH)