In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? - Part 4

One element that have to be considered when planning were the location our performance and narrative shots. As we needed to film in a house, a pub, a country road and access to a small river for the narrative shots we felt it would be beneficial to travel to Haconby, Bourne as we could access all three places in this village.

The first location is the marital house which is one of our actor’s homes, we decided that this house would be a good location for our house shots as it is tidy and fairly rural styled inside which will fit stylistically with the pub location as well as the running scenes through country lanes. The kitchen, hall, and bedroom will all be used, and the only issue that we felt we might have with this location, was an issue with the lighting due to the dark walls, however with an extra desk lamp we were able to solve this problem by lighting up the shot with the desk lamp. Typically the houses that are used in music promos tend to be big houses with spacious rooms and expensive furnishings however this was difficult to scout, and as we were using a rustic pub and country roads a rural styled house would fit in better than the typical house that we see in promos.

The second location we used was a country road leading out of Haconby and as it was a back road and not the main road out of Haconby we were able to film the shots we needed from the middle of the road without having cars having to go by. We also decided to choose this location as we needed to locate a small river for the shots were the phone gets dropped in the river and this location is also able to provide a small river further down the country road.

The final location we chose for the shooting of the narrative shots were the village’s pub, The Hare and Hounds and this was the only location that we had to seek permission for, however the bar owner was happy for us to shot our poker scene that we have planned. This location was chosen mainly because it was located in a quiet village so we thought that it wouldn’t be that busy so we would be able to film, whist if we was to film in a pub in a town it would have been harder as we would have to control the background of what was in the shot as well as the particular shot in the foreground we wanted.



For the performance location so we followed the typical performance shot location we felt it was necessary to film the shots in an enclosed empty space, which had either a plain black or a plain white background so we could follow the characteristic conventions for performance shots as well as having a plain colour that doesn’t denote any emotion that could be linked with love such as a colour in the red colour palette. These performance shots are important to the music video as it gives the audience access to the band performing which they wouldn’t be able to get anywhere else.

In music video the right ‘image’ had to be created for the costume for the actors was somewhat important. I felt as the costume was important as it had to think about, so the right image could be portrayed. By looking at the pictures available of The Colours I felt it was necessary to use the image they have already created for themselves as an unsigned band. They seems to have a smart casual look, so I searched through the shirts, ties, blazers, t-shirts, belts and coats that were available from local high street stores that fitted the image we wanted to portray. The clothes below show the type of costume that I felt was required for the music video, however when filming we wanted to make use of the actors own clothes if they are owned anything similar that also fitted the look we wanted to portray.

After researching around how narrative and performance are used in music promos of the Pop Rock genre I was able to compare how narrative and performance is used in this genre than other genres. Before editing our promo together we decided to have the ratio of narrative to performance as 60:40 as that was the typical ratio I saw in other videos that were the same genre, however while editing it ended up a bit more balanced although this still fitted the genre. For the performance shots it showed all three band members performing in a close proximity which enables the audience to get close to their band playing which wouldn’t be possible unless they got front row tickets at their gig. This makes the band organic, and it is necessary that in the performance shots although mining they give a convincing performance. Also with the use of a narrative has given the audience something to follow and the story the narrative has helps give the video it’s unique selling point and it also helps with the repeatability of the video which is vital for the promo.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? - Part 3

In addition to the current music promos that influenced us with our own promo, there were also other media that we took influence from for our Digipak in addition to our Magazine Advert.

The typical conventions of a Digipak are:
- Image of the Band/Artist
- Band/Artist Logo
- Band/Artist Name
- Record Company Logo
- Music Industry Logo
- CD/DVD Logo
- Barcode
- Track Listing on Reverse
- Reviews
- Credits
- Band/Artist Web Address
- Explicit Warning Logo (depending whether it’s necessary for the songs on CD/DVD)

-

Whereas for a magazine advert although they have similar conventions such as a band/artist image and logo however there are some additional conventions that are used in a Music magazine advert and not in a Digipak seems the advert is to publicise the song release.

The typical conventions of a Music Magazine Advert are:
- Record label
- Band/Artist identify
- Title
- Tour dates
- Price of CD
- Release date of the CD
- Band/Artist website
- Quote from other sources
- Pictures of the Band/Artist
- Star rating

For our ancillary task we simply took inspiration from a pack of playing cards which then took us to the James Bond Casino Royale opening credits which we took some influence from.

Although we were inspired by the moving figures, we took influence from the positioning of the cards, and this can be seen in the first ideas we had for the Digipak covers, although from this first ideas we told more influence from images that contain people’s hands holding a hand of cards, and then we felt the three band member could be represented by the three Jacks, from the club, spade and diamond suit, while the women that is mentioned is the song could be represented as the Queen of Hearts. These pictures below helped influence us when it came to presenting the idea of three jacks representing the three band members, as it would be an iconic image to have as a front cover of a Digipak

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? - Part 2

There has been a range of promos and other media that have influenced our work, the current promos that have influenced us are:

Kelly Clarkson “Never Again” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDvePB2Gz7o&ob=av2e

From this music promo I was influenced by the shots where Kelly Clarkson was getting into the males personal space and looks as if she is seducing him whist he has no reaction to her actions and she was aggressively singing with a plain black background. I liked how it was a plain monochrome colour background and as we only had access to white walls we were able to use these. And I was also influenced with the attempt of seduction, however it was for a different reason than the Never Again promo but I felt it would work, with the woman trying to charm the man back into her arms, but fails. I felt it would be beneficial to have the women attempting to charm the man as It would appear at the beginning and set the scene as the audience is aware that the man is at wanting to let the women go, which links to the song’s lyrics, and throughout the narrative we see why the man would want to let the women go.


I was also influenced by the performance shots that were used in this promo as it was performed with a pure white background and the entire band are wearing white which helped with the heartbreak message the song has, due the use of white and there not being an emotion that is clearly linked to the colour. And when applying this influence to my own promo, I felt it would be beneficial to have the white background however as I was trying to make sure the band had the “right” image I felt it was necessary for them to have the black, white, grey and red colour scheme with their clothing throughout both performance and narrative shots. This is as the black/white/grey colours are all colours in the monochrome palette and the hint of red helps relate the clothing to the theme that appears throughout the three texts, which are playing cards seems the main colours we see in a typical pack of cards is white, black and red.

Pink “Please Don’t Leave Me” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH1IE8R-P9o&ob=av3e

The element from this promo that I was influenced by were the fade shots that appear at the beginning of the promo, which help set the scene of the video as it shows the house from the outside, a shot from the hallway inside the house, and a upstairs room in the house were people are located, all are put together with black fades instead of the typical straight cuts that are used throughout music promos. I felt this was a good effect as the transition to the next shot weren’t as harsh as it would have been with the straight cuts through these beginning shots, and the fades also fit with the tempo of the song, also this is a quite unconventional way of using fade shots as they give the impression of flash backs or something back into someone’s memory. Conveniently the beginning of my chosen song had beat that would benefit from the use of fade shots and it would enable me to set the scene of the video with shots of the female seducing a man trying to get his attention but not succeeding. However the main influence from this promo was the fade to black shots, which were also used in my own music promo

Maroon 5 “This Love” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPpTgCho5ZA&ob=av2n

An element I was influenced by from this promo were the location of the performance shots, as the location is a courtyard is quite isolated which is typical feature when it comes to band performance shots as well as using a plain colour background which is a reddish orange which could easily have a link to love, which is conveyed in the song. They make use of nature with the blossom trees that could be seen as significant symbol of power. Typically it represents a feminine beauty and sexuality and often holds an idea of power or feminine dominance. And another element that I was influenced was from the same shots were the positioning of the band which helped when figuring out the positioning of the band members when filming my own music promo. Although I got influenced by the plain colour background and it having a link to emotions as well as the use of natural to help signify things such as emotions, however I felt this would be difficult to pull off successfully.

I was also influenced in how this promo put together its sex scene with a range of camera shots, put together to the tempo of the song. As well as the positioning of the camera giving the audience the effect of invading their privacy and getting into their personal space as we are brought a little close to the action, which is also known as voyeurism which is a common convention used in music videos. However due to the nature of my promo this would have to be toned down a lot and be covered and only be implied, however from the sex scene I was mostly influenced by the camera positioning because the shot was thoughtfully angled and creates a sense of voyeurism for the viewer so when it comes to filming the scene in our own promo the camera positioning will have to be considered

Sandi Thom “I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc2jDz6w-r4

The element I was influenced by from this music promo was the feature of the singer travelling towards to camera, although this feature was used throughout the promo I felt this would be a good element to use as a shot for our own promo, however adapting the element to the singer running towards the camera, and not staying the same distance away from the camera throughout the shot.

Maroon 5 “She Will Be Loved” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIjVuRTm-dc&ob=av2e

Once watched this music promo, we were influenced by the way the female was represented in the video through the use of costume, facial expressions, body language and props. So to mimic this effect we felt it was necessary for the female character in the promo to wear clothing from the red/pink colour palette with make-up to compliment. By using these colours we felt it would help represent the female as once the female in the Maroon 5 promo we can associate the red dress with feelings of love as well as danger, so we felt it was necessary for the female to be represented in a way that meanings can be denoted from the way they look.

Mumford and Sons “Little Lion Man” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLJf9qJHR3E

The element from this promo that we were influence by were the use of close up shots of the band member playing their instruments as well as the whole band shots, these shots are a successful convention in pop promos which are commonly used to give the viewer a close up view of the band performing which they wouldn’t get unless they attended the bands concert and were located in the front row. We felt Mumford and Sons promo for Little Lion Man used this typical convention effectively so we took notice of how the shots were angled so we could attempt to get the same effective shots of our band playing to use in our own promo.

My music promo followed a range of typical conventions of a video in the same Pop Rock genre such as the use of band shots, whole band shot and performance clips, the use of Close Up shots (CU), straight cuts, panning, deserted locations, fast-pace editing cut to the tempo of the song, voyeurism and singing whist acting in the narrative scenes. Whilst we have also broke some kept to some conventions, and we never just used straight cuts as we felt the use of fade shots would be more effective as it would create a fade back effect. Which we felt was necessary.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? - Part 1

Our brief was to create a music video promo for a song sung by an unsigned band, as well as a CD/DVD Digipak to house the CD and a Magazine Advert to promote the single release. For this production I had chosen to create these materials for The Colours and their single “Tonight I Let You Go”, a song which is in the Pop Rock genre from an unsigned band from Reading.

The purpose of these texts is as follows:

Music Video: To entertain and help sell the record, as well as giving the audience access to the band and a better understanding of the song.

Digipak: To house and protect a single CD that an artist/band is releasing, in addiction to more importantly to be targeted to attract the target audience to purchase their music.

Magazine Advert: To publicise the song release as well as advertising the artist/band to its target audience.

There are many elements that are used that make a music promo, the following elements are what we could expect to see in a music promo, however some would depend on the genre of the song:

Some of these elements would be dependent on the genre of the song as not all genres utilise these elements as they don’t have any relationship with the song.

The typical conventions used in a music video of this genre are:
- Band Shots, whole band shots and performance clips
- High lighting
- Bright lighting - not natural
- Close-ups and extreme close-ups
- Colour effects, often monochrome
- Fast-pace editing
- Straight cuts
- Panning
- Seductive pose from the female artists
- Deserted locations with straight forward narrative
- Guitar solos
- Voyeurism
- Urban locations
- Singing whist act

In the majority of music videos of a similar genre there commonly links between the lyrics of the song and the video in the narrative parts of the video. So before planning the video possible links had to be identified, so this conventional link between the lyrics and video could be made. You can see below how we deconstructed the lyrics of our chosen song to benefit us when planning the narrative scenes for our video.

Final Design of Digipak

This is the completed version of the Digipak which follows the typical conventions of a Digipak with the use of Band/Artist pictures, Band/Artist logo, the Title of album, Barcode and Track listings. It also contains the Playing Card theme that is seen throughout all the three texts which would enable the audience to be able to easily identify that this a part of the bands release of the song. Also this Digipak contains both the band name and song title which is a feature that the audience we asked said they preferred, as well as the album cover containing artwork that is related to the title, eye-catching colourful image in addition to it being easy to identifiable which are the opinions of the features the audience we asked want to see on the front cover of the Digipak.

Final Design of Magazine Advert

This is the completed version of our Magazine Advert, it follows the typical conventions of a Magazine advert as it contains the title of the album its advertising, the band/artists identify which is in a form of the logo and as well as a star rating from a reliable source, and in this case it is a popular Music Magazine. Although this Magazine advert does not follow all of the typical conventions of the text, the most important conventions are followed and the advert has been kept simple which is a more beneficial as it’ll attract more of the target audience as from the audience research I gathered that the audience are attracted by eye-catching picture with a heading that big and bold that instantly attracts attention.

Theories in Media - Part 2

Andrew Goodwin: Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in a heavy metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band). The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist and the artist may develop themes which recur across their work. There is frequently reference to the notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. There is often intertextual reference to other media such as films TV programmes as well as other music videos.

Steve Archer: There needs to be a strong and logical relationship between the narrative and performance in music promos. Music videos will cut between a narrative and a performance of the song by the band. A carefully choreographed dance might be part of the artist’s performance or an extra aspect of the video designed to aid visualisation and the ‘repeatability’ factor of the music video.

John Stewart: A music video has the visuals of a TV commercial, with lots of close-ups and lighting being used to focus on the star’s face. Visual references come from a range of sources, such as cinema, fashion and art photography. ‘Incorporating, raiding and reconstructing’ is essentially the core of Intertextuality, using something with which the audience may be familiar, to generate both regretful associations and new meanings. The video allows more access to the performer than a stage performance can due to the close-up shots that are used. Mise-en-scene can be used to emphasise a desired lifestyle.

Sigmund Freud: Voyeurism referring to the notion that erotic pleasure may be gained by looking at a sexual object, preferably when the object is unaware of being watched. (This can be seen in the music video Rio by Duran Duran)

Laura Mulvevy: Because filmmakers are predominantly male, the presence of women in films is often solely for the purposes of display rather than for narrative purposes. The purpose of this display is to assist a voyeuristic response in spectators, which presumes a ‘male gaze’ one that is a powerful controlling gaze at the female on display, who is effectively objectified and passive.

Theories in Media - Part 1

There are a range of theories in media; some are just general theories that explore the theories of Lyrics, Genre, Camerawork, Editing, Intertextuality and Exhibitionism. As well as peoples own theories surrounding there own views on the topic.

Lyrics: Establish a general feeling/mood/sense of subject rather than a meaning.

Music: Tempo often drives the editing.

Genre: Reflected in types of Mise-en-scene, themes, performance, camera and editing styles

Camerawork: Has an impact of the meaning. Movement, angle and shot distance all play a part in the representation of the artist/band (close-ups dominate)

Editing: the most common form of fast-cut montage images impossible to grasp on first viewing, ensures multiple viewing. Editing using digital effects, which play with the original images to other different kinds of pleasure for the audience.

Intertextuality expresses that not all of the audience will be able to spot the reference however this wouldn’t detract from their pleasure in the text itself although the audience that recognise the reference would get more pleasure out of the text due to recognise this link to another text. It would also increase the audience’s engagement with the product, and many music videos raw upon cinema and other areas in popular culture.

Exhibitionism explains that the apparently more powerful independent female artists of recent years have added to the complexity of the politics of looking and gender/cultural debates, by being at once sexually provocative and apparently in control of and invited a sexualised gaze upon themselves.

Ideas for Multimedia Content in Evaluation

As the Evaluation that needs to be completed requires Multimedia content such as Images, Graphs, Videos and links to sites on the World Wide Web to make sure there is beneficial multimedia content throughout the Evaluation I have had a brainstorm of all the ideal content for each of the Evaluation questions as then it would help ensure that the Evaluation is making use of multimedia and isn’t just paragraphs of text.

Final Design for Digipak Cover

Idea for Design of Magazine Advert

As the magazine advert hasn’t been properly thought about yet, I make my group take time out from starting the evaluation to all get a general idea of how we want our magazine advert to look like, we have came up with a simple but effective idea that would attract the target audience of the band.
.

Completion of the Music Video

Here is the First Copy of our Music Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItgwYGHGK7I

This is the first copy of our completed Music Video as after uploading it to YouTube I noticed that some of the clips haven’t been muted in the narrative and the performance. I felt this needed changing before burning it to the final disc to be handed in due it to being sound which was out of place in the video; the only sound that we felt needed to in the video was the key dropping. However in this version there are many unmated clips that we thought were muted such as the clip where I am calling Kieran as Chris was mimicking a telephone dial which can be heard.

As well as performance shots that have the track playing from when filming it, as we were playing the track in the drama studio from a CD player, and as it was a drama studio suddenly there is clip with the song echoing which isn't what we wanted to be unmuted.

Slow Progress of Digipak

The Digipak has been a task that has been going on for a while, and is making slow progress, and its the front cover which has made the no progress, although I have established which image will be used as it has come to the text I find this the more difficult part as there are many fonts that could be used, however finding the right font and also placing it on the Digipak Cover is proving difficult.

I think I have finally found the font that could be used for the song title as it is the same font as the lettering that is found on playing cards and as we have made the connection between the song and the playing cards I feel it would be the right font to use. I found the font on dafont.com which has many fonts that are there for users to download for personal use. The font I have chosen for the song title is titled “Slab Tall X” and is available to download for free from dafont.com.

I now have to identify the right font for the band name, but this would also be a band name/logo that the audience identify the band by. So it has to be artistic and need to link to the band more than the song as the graphic would be used for all of the bands Albums, and no just for this album of “Tonight I Let You Go”.

The Progress of the Digipak

When designing the Digipak I feel that the most important thing to get right is the front cover due it being the part of the CD that the audience sees first. So taken it into consideration I have been going through different edits to create the perfect front cover than will match the other shots for the Digipak to the front cover so the theme runs throughout.

For the front cover these are how it has developed (please note: the text hasn't been added yet to all front cover attempt and will be added when the final design as been created and agreed):

Attempt 1:
Although I hate this Attempt I felt it was necessary to include it to show the development of the Idea. There are many reasons I dislike this design such as the colours being too bright and the picture appearing in the background is too bold, and would need to be faded in more, which I then did the other attempts I created.



Attempt 2:

Attempt 3:

Attempt 4:

Attempt 5:

This is the only attempt that I decided to add text to while in Picnik, although the text works I’m not sure about the font and think there could be a better font for the band name which would also work as the band logo, and then the song title.

.

Attempt 6:

With this attempt I played around with the colour to see what the effects would create although it looks okay, and could be a Digipak cover I don’t feel it has that wow factor which is needed for our Digipak cover.

.

Attempt 7:

This attempt is the same colouring as the next attempt but without the picture appearing in the background, there is a white vignette applied which I feel gives a good affect the Digipak cover, also I like how the colour stands out from the white background and the text when included would stand out due to it appearing on the white background.

.

Attempt 8:

This is the attempt I feel would be the best to use for the Digipak, because it is pure white, which matches the colour background of the performance shots in the video as well as looks abstract with the picture appearing faint in the background which I feel gives more of an effect than Attempt 7 which is the same edit without the picture being put into the background.

As I feel this Attempt will go on and be the Digipak front cover the text font for “Tonight I Let You Go” and “theCOLOURS” needs to be found and added to the CD cover, and all the other panels of the Digipak should be edited to match this, so there is an overall theme going through the Digipak.

All of these images were edited on Picnik, a online photo editing site that I have used frequently in the past to edit my own photos, there are many effects that could be applied and as I was comfortable with the editing software I decided to use it rather than Photoshop which we had access to on the Mac’s we were editing on.

The next task is to get the correct font and add the text to the front of the Digipak, the text will be added to the cover in Adobe Fireworks, which is software I know how to operate due to having used it before and I am comfortable in using it.

How to get Audience Feedback in an Innovative way

There are possible ways that we could get audience feedback for our Music Video especially in an Innovative way, which would be better than a paragraph after paragraph of plain text.

- Filmed interviews, with a range of people from our target audience, asking then the same questions from a script to see how people views differ.

- Wordles, which is a method I used when I presenting the feedback I had from the target audiences favourite music genre.

- Creative graphs.

- Mood boards.

- Feedback from the band, which could be quite beneficial.

Idea for Digipak

In order to know what to take photos of when it comes to creating the Digipak I have planned what the Digipak could look like, and which pictures are needed. And it also enables me to had a design to work towards and hopefully create in a more developed manor.

Media Update

Over the past couple of weeks the tasks that have been completed during my media lessons were the editing of the film as well as photographing possible ideas and developing ideas for the Digipak that also needs creating. After a couple of lessons with three people crammed around the watch watching the editing happen we then spilt it up so that only two people were on the Mac and then the other was sorting out the Digipak ideas while getting feedback from the group members that were editing. We came to this decision as I was ill for one lesson and it was said that we progressed in the editing more than what we did with only 2 people rather than all three group members and as I had many ideas I wanted to try out for the Digipak I decided to go onto the Digipak while the other two group members continued editing. However to make sure that I still had input into the editing, when the Jack and Chris needed a third opinion I was asked and also at the beginning at each lesson I watched the video and commented on what I felt needed to be changed or adapted, them Jack and Chris would implement the changes if they thought it was necessary.



I think working this way has helped us to progress faster in the editing and then we also have progress achieved on the Digipak.

Colour Effects for Shots

Seduction Shots:

Exp - 174%

Bri - 0%

Con - 20%

Sat - 200%

Vignette

Hair Swishing Shot:

Exp - 156%
Bri - 0%
Con - 0%
Sat - 140%
Speed 25%

Performance Shots:

Exp - 149%
Bri - 0%
Con - 0%
Sat - 123%

Storyboard of "Seduction" Shots

These are the beginning shots that will appear in our Music Video, we felt it was beneficial to storyboard that as it would mean when filming it’ll be more organised when filming the shots.

In total there are 8 shots were needed to be storyboarded. I drew the Green boxes and the man, while Jack drew the Female in Pencil so his ideas for position could be presented, as changed if I felt it needed to be, so it was a team effort on this storyboard to get the ideas down to help us in the long run.

Storyboard for Music Video

This is the storyboard that has been created for the whole narrative scene in the music video. We felt it was necessary to fully storyboard the narrative scene as it was the part we really needed to get right to make the video flow, although the Performance shot were just as important these would be easier to film without a prompt.

Filming Day - Monday 8th Novemeber

So it was the final day we had to film for our Music Video, it wasn’t planned to be as demanding as Friday’s filming day however this time we had to work around others seems we were filming at our school. We asked permission to use the stage for our performance shots a couple of weeks back and were told we were able to use it during lessons 3 and 4. However we also had to work around the English Exam which was happening in the School hall and stage which started at 9:00 that morning.

After arriving at school for the normal time and meeting the group in the common room through what then was form time, we discussed on where we could go to practise the performance and give the band members time to learn the lyrics and beat to the song etc. We also were able to practise the seductions poses and film the hair swishing shots within them two hours we allocated. During this time we also found ourselves trying to mend a bass guitar that we couldn’t fix so in the end it wasn’t used.

When it came to 11:15 we wandered over to the stage hoping that the exam was over and we were able to use the stage, and was told that we could only use the stage at 11:45 when the examiners had finished collecting the papers and sorting them, as we didn’t know what to do then we wandered to find a room that was free to use our time wisely and do some practising. However before getting to another room to practise we saw the drama teacher that gave us the permission to use the stage and as he realised we weren’t able to use the space until later on that day he offered us the drama studio to film in, although the background would be white and not black. But as a group we decided that a white background would be suitable and the studio would be better to film in as was well lit.

The filming of the seduction shots was done first to get it out the way and it meant that the music equipment could be transported to the studio while they were being filmed saving us time. Once those shots were filmed we went straight onto the performance and filmed it a whole shot throughout the whole song then got close up shots from different positions and angles in different parts of the song, in total all these parts in the drama studio had to be filmed within the two hours that we were given, and we also have to take the instruments back. The final shot that was needed to be filmed was the card shower, which we used four packs of cards for. We used the technique we used to test the card shower and we felt they fell in clumps and also the shot that we got wasn’t from the best position. So we picked all the cards up repositioned the camera and Rob came up with the idea of just throwing the cards up and letting them fall, as the drama studio didn’t have a proper ceiling so plenty of room to throw the card up and allowing them to shower over Kieran. We watched back the shot and we felt it was a success so we called it a rap!! Next step is to upload all the filming to the Mac and hope we have all the shots we need.

I felt that the filming days have been successful however they have been very tiring, however the editing is the next step as well as planning and completion of the ancillary tasks.

Itinerary for Mondays Filming

8:50 All Meet in Common Room

9:00 All Meeting in A23

11:15 All Go to the stage and Collect instruments

11:20 All Film performance shots

1:45 All Lunch in Common Room + Review

2:05 All Film on stage if possible

3:15 All Film hair swishing shot

4:15 All Finish

Filming Day - Friday 5th November

After the first day of filming the day has been successful, as well as being fun filled. Unfortunately the day started with a trip into school as we forget to pick up our camera at school the day before, so Jack got the camera from school and I came across him when I was walking into school checking whether the camera have been gotten. We got to Haconby before schedule as we planned to get the bus to Morton and walk to Haconby. However luckily when getting off the bus in Morton and meeting Rob; Rob’s mum pulled up and offered us a lift to Ben House, which was the location we choose to film at. After getting there a little earlier we went through the folder with the storyboards and shot lists and ticked the ones that had to be done and at which location. And as the weather looked okay we felt we should do the outside scenes first then come inside and do the indoor scenes as we felt it make rain later on in the afternoon.

.

Taking the dog with us, the first location of filming was down the countryside road where we took shots of Kieran running away and towards the camera, as it was a quiet road we were able to film without many cars needing to come through. Seems the shots we wanted were high shots, we had a stepladder with us and we took the same shot from different angles on two cameras, enabling us to decide later which angle would be better. We then went further down the road to film at the bridge where Kieran walks up to the wall and sits on it, legs over the side, and drops his phone into the river below. When getting to the location we decided it would be beneficial to get shots from in the river and of the phone falling towards the camera. So this meant that a person had to go down into the river, it ended up with four people in the river as a coat was needed to save the phone from actually going into the river. Although we should have thought of the risks involved with going into the river, the four guys went into the river helping each other and well we survived it, no cuts or bruises and just good footage (hopefully).

After successfully getting shots from in the river, we wandered to the next location, “The Hare and the Hounds”. While Ben and I went back to Ben’s house taking the dog back and getting changed into our costumes as we had been behind camera until now. And by the time we got back to the pub, we had cokes all round and the cameras set up to film as Chris asked the Owner whether we could film in there, and after not being that keen she accepted. After getting the shots needed in the littlest time possible so we didn’t disturb their day to day business.

After the morning of shooting after getting back to Ben’s house we got the Camera’s on charge and the Pizza’s in the oven and sat down and reviewed the day so far as well as states what had to be done. While going over shots that could be done we did decide to shot then that minute while waiting for the Pizza’s to cook, so the shots of Kieran walking out the door and leaving his keys behind was shot as we were reviewing what had to be done next. With nearly of the shots of Kieran running away sorting, while eating in between shots.

The next scene that needed shooting was the scene were Kieran walks in on me in bed with Jack, it was a risky shot to put into our music video however as a group we feel it’s needed as it’s a typical convention of a music video, and well it’ll either work or make our video awful, however it is worth the risk, in order to make a video with elements that other groups in our school have considered. Although the scene being awkward it was done successfully and looked fine when we played it back on the camera, it’ll just now depend on how it looks when edited and put into the video.

Seems it was getting into the late afternoon we finished the final shot needed with Kieran and allowed him to leave as he had work to get to and we continued with my scenes that had to be filmed. One problem we came across was that the Cappuccino with the heart added with chocolate dust didn’t work as hasn’t been filmed yet. It wasn’t successful as the heart wouldn’t stay on the top of the drink as the frothy milk that was on top was too liquidly and allowed the chocolate to spread across the top of the drink instead of staying in the shape of the heart. We will have to go back and film this shot when we can, which is hopefully soon.

Overall the day can be called a successful and the filming is only half way through as the “seduction” shots and the performance shots have got to be filmed and hopefully they will be an success too. Our group was able to review the day on our 4 mile trek home, were we talked about the day’s events and what went well, and what needs sorting. The cappuccino shots not working is a disappointment especially as it was tested to make sure it worked, however we should have used the same drink and made it the same way to enable it to work when we needed it to.

Itinerary for Fridays Filming

9:30 Jack, Lizi Waiting at Bus stop bay

9:30 Chris, Kieran Waiting at North St. for Bus

9:45 Jack, Lizi, Chris, Kieran, Meet Rob at Morton Bus stop (Church)

10:10 All Meet Ben at his house.

10:20 All Start filming Marital House scenes

12:20 All Have lunch at pub and review the day so far

1:20 All Film outside street scenes

3:20 All Return to pub to film Mates house scenes

5:20 Jack, Lizi, Chris, Rob, Kieran Walk to Morton

5:45 Jack, Lizi, Chris, Kieran Get bus back to Bourne

Testing Music Video Shots

This is a quick video which Jack put together showcasing two of the most complex shots, testing which way is the best way to film and best way to edit them.

The first shot that we tested was the card shower that will be included at the end of the video in the performance scenes, we tested different angles which we felt it could work in as we weren't sure which angle would work best so tested them, as well as testing which way was the best way to throw the card for the best effect. We looked at the different angles available and we decided the best way for the cards to be thrown was when to press the ends of the cards with the fingers until they shot out, which is the typical way you would throw cards when playing 52 card pick-up.

The second shot we tested was the hair swish, this would be included near the start of the video. We attempted this shot out to see what kind of lighting would be best for this shot. As well as the best motion would be necessary to create the shot we wanted. The letters and numbers at the bottom of the video when these shot are shown correspond to the different filter effects that Jack used when editing the shots in iMovie.

Performance Shots in the Music Video

For our performance scenes we haven’t fully planned the shots, and have only planned the final performance shot where the band finish performing and there is card shower. However in our structure we have planned where performance shots well be in the video. As a group we felt it would be easiler not the plan which shot would be used at each part, and instead film the performance as a whole band, then film it from different shots such as close-ups of the vocalist, guitarist or drummer and film the whole song in these shots, and then when we upload the footage onto the Mac use the shots we film look better in that part of the song, and as we would have the whole song filmed as a performance we would be able to put in any of the shots in where we have given space for performance.

Costume For Female Narrative Scenes

For the Female character, I feel that this outfit should be worn for her narrative scenes. It is casual however the short skirt and frilled waistcoat keep the image we feel is needed.

As I am playing the role of the female I purchased the clothing, which wasn’t that expensive; Skirt, £1.50, F&F Tesco; T-Shirt, £3.00 F&F Tesco; Waistcoat, £12.99, H&M; Flower, £4.00, New Look.

4Music; Intuitions

4Music – Music and then some!

The intuition that I feel our music video should be shown on is 4Music. 4Music is a music channel in the United Kingdom and was launched on the 3^rd of August 2008 and replaced The Hits. The channel has a web presence and can be found at www.4Music.com as well as a present on Facebook and Twitter. 4Music is owned by the Box Television Network and is the only channel within the network to be branded under Channel 4, as well as being the only channel in the network to be broadcast in widescreen.

The reason why I feel our music video shown be on 4Music is because the channel is available to a bigger audience as it is available for Freeview viewers as well as Sky and Virgin Media viewers with a audience share of 0.3%. As well as it being a well known channel that is advertised over its sister channels; Channel 4, E4, More 4 and Film 4.

4Music is also now he home for music and celebrity orientated show and comedies that were once aired on Channel 4 as well as exclusive shows on 4Music. The non-music programmes that are being shown on 4Music are:

Being... N-Dubz

The Simple Life

Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood

Bo’ Selecta

Balls Of Steel

Girls Aloud: Off the Record

Alan Carr’s Celebrity Ding Dong

The Friday Night Project

The Kevin Bishop Show

Keeping Up With The Kardashians

Shipwrecked

Planning the Storyline for the Music Video

During our half term our group met up for two days to plan the storyline and shots for the music video we were due to film in less than 10 days. During Tuesday we discussed the storyline, and briefly described the possible shots and where they could fit. While on the Wednesday we when in to much more detail and also tested some shots, such as the playing card shower to test if they worked and in which way they worked better. This would help when we film the shots as we would know the most successful way to achieve the best shot.