Final Music Video Edit

Video Analysis

Digipak Oustide Cover

Digipak Inside Cover

Digipak Finished

Magazine Advert Finished

• The magazine advert features similar shots to the ones used in my digipak in order to create a sense of cohesion in advertising of my media product
• I used the same fonts in order to maintain the similarity to really drive home to the audience 

Question 4 - How did you use new media technologies in the construction and planning, research and evaluation stages?

Research –

In the research stage, It was vitally important that I make use of the internet because of the various different search engines such as Bing, Google and Ask.com, this allowed me to very quickly refine what I was looking for and speeded up the research process. Because of computerisation, it also meant that I could find links to all the major names in the music industry in one place. I used Wikipedia to source information on different genres of music, There was an awful lot of information to divulge and regurgitate, however, it is widely known that the use of Wikipedia as a primary source of information is not always a good idea, because anyone can add information to it, therefore there is a high possibility that some of my information could be incorrect, although the pages are looked over by professionals to check the validity of the text.

I used YouTube to conduct research into genres because this allowed me to find real media products created by bands similar to the one I planned on using, but it also allowed me to find videos made in a certain way (e.g. Stop motion or ‘all in one take’). If that was the type of video I had decided on making.

I mainly used Google to source pictures, as I found it was a much more user friendly search engine than Bing, when it came to sourcing pictures, although the computers that I mainly used prevented easy access to these pictures, so when I wanted one, I would ‘print-screen’ the whole page and then use paint to crop the picture down to size. On some occasions I used a Mac laptop, this was useful because it allowed me to crop a print-screen immediately making it easier for me to access photos.

YouTube was also very useful in allowing me to embed my videos into blogger, this meant that I could provide videos to go along with my text, that didn’t require a person to click on a link (which may have taken some time to load) and possibly leave the page. This made it easier for users to process the information on screen. YouTube also helped me to make a shot count analysis on a music video, allowing me to pause, rewind and replay a video to my hearts content. It would have been virtually impossible to analyse a video in such a way if I had say watched it on a music channel.

Planning –

During the planning process there weren’t to many ways in which I used new meda technologies, this was because it was easier to do things by hand, because I was in a group of 2, we did things like brainstorming, storyboarding and choice of actor etc. by hand.

However I used Word Processor to create a risk assessment sheet because of the ‘table’ tool, this meant that I could easily create a readable table with columns for ‘Risk’, ‘Prevention’, ‘Successfulness’ and ‘Ratings’, this meant that I the assessment would flow and be easy to understand.

I used a scanner to input my hand written work onto a computer so that I was able to put my work onto my blog. This saved time, because I didn’t have to then write up digitally what I had already written, meaning I could get on with completing other tasks

I used a Leica D-Lux 4 to take pictures of my storyboard, I did this because I didn’t feel it important to use a large expensive camera to do a job that a normal user friendly camera was quite capable of, although I wouldn’t use this camera to actually film my music video, even though it filming capapbilities

 

I used the same camera with a wide angole lens to capture my recce shots, again, I did not feel the need to use such an expensive camera which may have been booked when a standard good resolution
was available at any time I needed it.

 

Construction –

During construction I used a Canon Eos 1100d with a standard tripod to film my video. It was necessary for me to make sure I had a HD filming camera to create my media product, if I had used a standard definition camera the entire video would have been let down, and there are certain parts that the viewer would not be able understand. The Canon Eos 1100d has an automatic white balance feature, which sped up the entire filming process, because we did not have to stop every time we moved to camera to reset it. This was one of the most important factors in deciding which camera to use because it meant that we could stick to a schedule and not lose train of thought. The camera also films in HD meaning we could get the best quality footage for the video, and also the various attachments such as the macro-lens meant that we could really achieve a variety of different shot types whilst also making important shots more visible, such as the part where to protagonist is crying.

Adobe Premiere was a key part in the construction of my music video, this is the place where everything came together, and there are key aspects of it, which helped shape the video into what it is. Things as simple as video effects; the black and white effect for the shots showing the protagonist was just a standard feature within the software, and needed no tweaking to achieve the type of shot we were looking for.
 

The software has two separate viewing screens; one of those is to allow for the user to check a piece of footage before inputting it. I was able to select a clip and decided whether it was the right take to put into the video, making sure that I did not input clips, which I did not need to use.

 

The video and audio timelines are split into three lines, this is a useful tool because it means that we could sync clips together without overlapping and deleting parts, therefore we could be sure that we had got the sync right.

I used Adobe Photoshop to create my ancillary texts, this was because there are a number of different features, which made it easy for me to overlap images and create realistic looking products.

The wizard crop tool meant I could input images from the internet (again via Paint) and then crop of the background and any other white sections I felt unnecessary so that when I placed the image on top of a background image, it would look professional.

 

The software also allowed me to open images in separate documents so that I could edit them before inputting them into the product as a whole, although it took me a while to find out that I could do this.

There are a number of small features which make the software very good (but only if you know how to do them) such as, originally I did not know how to make images smaller without stretching/shrinking them in the X and Y direction, however it was pointed out to me that by pressing the 'Show Transform Controls' button, you can edit the image size without affecting the ratios, this was very useful when trying to put logos and such on my products.

 

Overall once I got used to using Photoshop there were many key aspects which made my construction easier, although I would say that it is much less user friendly compared to some other types of software such as fireworks. This is because fireworks is much more straight forward, and I did consider using fireworks to create my media product, but it lacks the technical ability that Photoshop possesses.

Evaluation –

For my evaluation I used a variety of media products, such as right now I am answering question 4 in Word Processor this is because with Question 4 being one of my longer answers, I felt it necessary to use a media technology that allowed me to easily transfer my thoughts into a readable and chronological order, although I would not use Word for all of my answers as it could be a deemed a little boring.

For Question 1 I have used Prezi, and online website that allows the user to create in effect a Powerpoint, but spread across a page with a path so that the viewer can follow the thoughts of the text’s creator. Using Prezi also meant that I did not have to re upload an answer to my blog if I edited it, because it does it automatically.

I used Wordle, a website in which you input text and then it creates an image including the key words from the text you inputted, I used this mainly when answering question 3 on my audience feedback, this is because it was a quick and interesting way to get across the answers from my questionnaire.

In order to properly gather information in an effective manner, I used Survey Monkey to produce and distribute a questionnaire to as any people as I could within the time I had. Survey Monkey was useful to me because it meant I had all of my questionnaire results in one location where I could access them at any time. Although had I lost access to the internet I would have lost all of this information, so that is the down side to storing valuable information on the internet, in hindsight, it would have been a god idea to transfer all the information into a Word document as soon as I had gathered it.

Question 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I felt that in order to really access a wider audience I needed to make use of the internet, so I decided to collect the following questions using Survey Monkey.

1.       On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate the media product created?

The graph above shows how a group of 23 people rated my music video out of 10, with the percentage of total people asked on the left hand side. The average rating was 7.7, although 8/10 received the most votes. This shows the general feeling of my music video was very positive, people must have enjoyed the viewing and possibly been inclined to watch the video again(repeatability factor).

2. What were your impression of the main character?

·         From the majority of the answers gathered, I have found that we were highly successful in creating a character who looked lost, lonely and portrayed the role of ‘troubled teen’

·         ‘Confused, upset, young, self destructive, close to the edge’ This is the key answer that I think sums up our character an also justifies some of our scenes, such as when he is on the edge of the cliff looking of ‘close to the edge’.

·         Robi (our actor), I felt portrayed the role brilliantly, the vast comments on the type of character in the video shows that he played the character well as was able to communicate visually the way the protagonist was feeling to great extent

Did you have a favourite scene/shot from the video?

Of the 23 poeople who answered myt questionnair, I found for this question that the majority of people saiod their favourite scene was the action match where the protagonist falls of the cliff and then lands on his bed.

·         This question linked with the proceeding question provides different points of view on particular sections, such as the opening scene where the band walk into the rehearsal studio/garage.  ‘Opening scene when walking into garage to play song. Very natural and realistic’, whereas acclaimed short film director Graham Lester George says ‘That very first cut with the band filing into the garage. Does it bring anything extra to the video? For my money, just go straight in with the shot of the drummer.’

·         People also tended to agree that the best shot was the action match where the protagonist falls off a cliff, back into his bed, I believe this shot creates a repeatability factor(Dyer)

 

 

Did you notice any lip syncing issues?

There were in some places, lip syncing issues, We did not plan our time effectively so on the day we ended up filming lots of shots of the finger, but not really in chronological order, this meant that it was not easy for us to check which parts we had all the footage we needed for, then when it came to editing we also did not leave ourselves much time, and so could not re film the band shots, so when we noticed that we did not have a complete song that was free of syncing errors, there was very little that we could do, Such as at 2:36 where the lead singer is not speaking into the microphone. There is some places of the video, where we deliberately asked the singer to laugh, in order to create a positive relaxed feeling about the video, this backfired slightly as some people thought that the actors just weren’t very good.

 

 

 

Graham Lester George -

Director of short film 'Special Delivery'.

Thoughts of suicide are dramatic and often lead to tragedy, so if he was approaching something as dramatic and tragic again, it would give the whole thing more impact to find more visually arresting scenes - a very, very high bridge or building with maybe a long shot of Ikki silhouetted against the sky as he contemplates the jump. It's this kind of thing that will make the audience sit on the edge of their seats and give more power to the piece.

But overall I think it was well done - oh just one more thing, that very first cut with the band filing into the garage. Does it bring anything extra to the video? For my money, just go straight in with the shot of the drummer.

 

Ben Field -

Director of Children In Need's Morecambe + Wise with Chris Moyles Dance Sketch in 2012. He also co wrote and directed 'The Chronicles of Professor Elemental' which is a pilot series I worked on in March.

...Hey, sorry - I have watched it and have some comments. I've had an opportunity to write them down yet. It's mainly to do with getting mire performance out of the band who just look Like they dont want to be there! The black and white sections are nice though...

 

 

Question 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

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

In what ways does you media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products? on Prezi

First Draft Finished

Storyboard

Bastille - Icarus (Lyrics)

Look who's digging their own grave
That is what they all say
You'll drink yourself to death

Look who makes their own bed
Lies right down within it
And what will you have left?

Out on the front doorstep
Drinking from a paper cup
You won't remember this

Living beyond your years
Acting out all their fears
You feel it in your chest

Your hands protect the flames
From the wild winds around you

Icarus is flying too close to the sun
Icarus's life, it has only just begun
It's just begun

Standing on the cliff face
Highest foe you'll ever grace
It scares me half to death

Look up to the future
But it tells you nothing
So take another breath

Your hands protect the flames
From the wild winds around you

Icarus is flying too close to the sun
Icarus's life, it has only just begun
This is how it feels to take a fall
Icarus is flying towards an early grave

You put up your defences when you leave
You leave because you're certain
Of who you want to be

You're putting up your armour when you leave
You leave because you're certain
Of who you want to be

Icarus is flying too close to the sun
Icarus's life, it has only just begun
This is how it feels to take fall
Icarus is flying towards an early grave

Treatment

Bastille - Icarus

The idea behind our song will be following the story of a troubled teen who is going off the rails, and toys with the idea of leaving for a new start in life.

The basic storyline is that the person in our video will begin looking in the mirror, with a bruised face, he will then leave his house and walk towards a park, where he will meet up with friends smoke a cigarette and then go crazy on alcohol and pills. During the chorus the tempo is higher, the person will be 'off their head' falling all over the place and having fun, the next scene will be a come down, he is still under the influence standing on a cliff toying with whether to jump, he doesnt. Then he will attempt to get home, falling about alot, we will use an action match, where he falls backwards outdoors, and then that shot will be matched by an identical one of him falling onto his bed. He sits up, resentful and angry at himself, he then proceeds to smash up his room and possibly other areas of the house, we will use slow motion shots of items breaking. he then decides that he has caused too much damage throughout his life, packs a bag, takes some money and leaves home. He arrives at the train station purchases a ticket, close-up of ticket could say 'anywhere'. We could possibly have shots of the bopy waiting for the train and then the final few shots of him looking back at the place he came from, then the video will end.

Throughout the video, the lead singer will be in the background like a ghost figure which the main character cannot see, but there will also be close-ups of the lead singer, to maintain the star image factor that Pete Fraser comments upon as a key convention of popular music videos.

Actor Choice

Brainstorming

Basis of Story/Plan

19/09/2012 Lesson Update

Today in lesson we began working on the planning for our music video, at home we completed a Brainstorm, Treatment and Actor Justification, in this lesson we will do Costume, Props, Risk Assesment and possibly a Storyboard.

Risk Assessment

Digipak Research

 This Digipak is for a band called Distorture, the are a rock band, who write dark music music, the two main theme colours of this digipak are a bold red and white, it features a band emblem in the middle in bold black so that it stands out against both colours. the red is supposed to represent blood, it is the same colour as the blood on the hands on the person in the picture, all of the text is aligned and in a formal text, other than having graphic images on the cover and inside, this is a very suarve and sophisticated digipak.

The second digipak is for a band of which I am not sure of the name, their are two digipaks in the picture and I as focufing on the top one, the text is very well laid out and readable, in a reverse block font. The text is well set out so that people can easily read the credits. the band must be fairly 'metal', the disk matches the cover, which makes the disk look nice in conjunction with the case. the names of all of the tracks are on the album in bigger writing so people can easily identify which song is where. This is good for userbility.

Statistics

Bastille statistics

Followers on Twitter-

@BastilleDan - 10,724

Likes on Facebook -

- 31,589

Views on MySpace -

- 20,340

YouTube Top Videos -

• Bastille - Bad Blood                                      948,000 Views
• Bastille - Flaws                                              585,000 Views
• Bastille - Overjoyed                                       344.000 Views
• Bastille - What Would You Do?(cover)        283,000 Views
• Bastille - Flaws(live)                                     125,000 Views
• Totals Views For Top 5 Videos                    2,285,000 Views

Digipak Research

Target Audience

Indie

• Urban Dictionary - 'An Indie Kid is not, as many people seem to believe, a prententious twat who will only listen to obscure bands and cusses anyone who dares to like anything in the top 40. An Indie is, in fact, someone whos heart lies with indie, rock, alternative, music like that.'
• Urban Dictionary - 'Indie Boys tend to be skinny, shy, with messy hair and a fringe. The hair must not be confused with emo hair, which is styled using disturbing quantaties of gel, wax, mousse and hairspray. 

12/09/2012 Lesson Update

Today in lesson, me and my partner Jack pitched our idea for our video, we had previously spent an hour coming up with ideas for a story, the type of shots we would need, the location, mise en scene and cast. Our idea was well received and was given an Amber/Green rating on how good our ideas were and whether the class thought it would work. The feedback from our teacher Mr. Turner was that we needed to do more research for our locations and also nail down the cast, although I feel this should be fairly simple because we only need to cast two main members and 2/3 minor parts.

Research into the Industry

Bastille -

Formed - 2010
Location - London
Members - Dan Smith(lead vocals and songwriter), Chris Wood,Will Farquarson, Kyle Simmons
Record Label - Virgin Records

• Bastille are a musical quartet from London, formed in 2010 by lead singer and songwriter Dan Smith who started in the music business as a producer, they signed to Virgin Records in 2011 along with the likes of major producer/songwriter Eric Prydz
• Bastille are a fairly new band, and are relatively unknown in the music world, although this year they played the Festival Republic Stage at the Reading and Leeds festivals
• Quote from lead singer Dan about their style 'It varies a bit I guess, from darker cinematic pop to indie with no guitars, and there's a bit of electronic stuff as well. And lots of harmonies.'

Virgin Records -

• Virgin Records is a branch of the Virgin empire owned by entrepeneur Richard Branson, it was formed in 1972 by Richard Branson, Nik Powell and Simon Draper
• Some of the biggest acts signed to Virgin Records are Genesis, Simple Minds, Keith Richards, Lenny Kravitz and also The Smashing Pumpkins
• in 1992 it was sold to Thorn EMI for $1billion(£560million), and American company, its operations were merged to form the Capitol Music Group in 2007
• Richard Branson originally saw his record company as a 'New Wave' outpost in the world of music, signing such Punk Rock acts as the Sex Pistols

Research Into Genres

Rock - 

• Rock originated as 'Rock and Roll' in the 1950's, mainly throughout the United Kingdom and America, key musicians of this genre were Elvis Presley, The Beatles and Buddy Holly
• When the Rock and Roll genre first appeared it was seen as very bold and therefore originally it was not taken to very well
• It is a mix of Rhythm, Blues, Gospel and Country and Western, many artists used and still use scales such as the Blues Harmonic scales when composing music
• The popularity of the Rock genre has increased considerably since the days of the first 'pioneer' artist such as The Beatles, In modern times, some of the biggest bands in the world classify themselves as Rock artists, such as the Foo Fighters, ACDC, Kiss and Iron Maiden
• There are also many sub-genres of Rock such as Classic Rock, Folk Rock, Punk Rock, Progressive Rock, Glam Rock and Metal.
• The basic foundations of a successful Rock band are a drummer, a charismatic bass player, a lead guitarist, a rhythm guitarist and a lead singer, although many modern bands play around with other instruments such as keyboards and synthesizers (such as Linkin Park) or Violins (such as Yellowcard)
• The basis of the majority of Rock songs is the electric guitar, first introduced and familiarised during the 1950's when Rock and Roll music was just beginning to emerge
• Many Rock musicians see their music as a way to rebel against 'The Establishment' referring to the grip that large companies had over the world, they would do this by incorporating propaganda in theirs lyrics

Alternative -

• Bastille, the creators of the piece of music that I will be using for my music video, are classified as an Alternative band, Alternative is a branch of the Rock genre, generally Alternative bands cross over between two genres, such as Lostprohpets, who are a Rock band, but also a Metal band
• Alternative Rock originated from underground independent music(not signed to major labels) in the 1980's and 1990's
• An example of a major Alternative Rock band is 30 Seconds To Mars, who rely more on a electronic feel to their music, as well as incorporating guitar riffs into their music
• Bastille also have a large reliance on drum beats, loops and electronic riffs in their music, they use harmonies associated with Soul and Gospel in their back up singing, which is synonimous with the Rock genre as a whole
• As their lead singer originated as a music producer, their songs have a very electric vibe, their song are produced highly, etc the adding in of extra sounds and instruments to add to the harmonies
• Alternative Rock has a very Punk Rock heart, 'New Wave' and 'Grunge' bands weren very common in the late 80's and early 90's
• During the 21st century the biggest Alternative bands were bands like The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand and Interpol, who all tried to move away from the formal structure of Rock songs, whilst still maintaining a Rock feel to their songs

Pop -

• Pop is an abrieviation of Popular music, it refers to the artists who are formally known to many people throughout the world
• It began in the 1950's and is cery 'eclectic' in the way it uses conventions from all sorts of genres, such as Dance, Rock and Urban
• Pop music is often very highly produced, uses simple song structures, such as Verses, Chorus' and Middle 8's and tends to stick to simple chords and chord patterns, Gary Barlow, who is a household name and synonimous with Pop music, suggests that most pop songs use simple chords rather than complex and 'strange' chords such as the ones enveloped by the likes of Coldplay
• Modern Pop music often has a very electronic feel, extra sounds are added in, loops are used, keyboard and synthesizers are used throughout and drum loops are used, although when bands play live they will often have a drummer instead of using electronic beats, this is to appeal to the audience who want a more 'Live' experience
• There was a larger use of guitars in the early years of Pop music, artist such as Tom Jones would have used guitars on his tracks because at the time, guitars were very popular instruments, whereas in modern times, Pop songs are expected to crossover to dance slightly, so they can be used in clubs and bars, therefore reaching a wider audience
• Often Pop artists such as 'One Direction' do not write their own music, they merely perform songs written by specialist writers, taking away from the original feel

Quote from Lead Singer Dan Smith from Bastille - 'It varies a bit I guess, from darker cinematic pop to indie with no guitars, and there's a bit of electronic stuff as well. And lots of harmonies.'

Bibliography - 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_music#Rock_and_roll
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_rock#Alternative_rock_in_the_21st_century

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_music

09/09/12 Update

I have now decided to change the song that I am going to produce a music video for, I have now decided to use the track 'Icarus' by 'Bastille', I have emailed the email address provided on Bastille's Facebook page.

After this email was sent I spoke to a fellow student and we decided that we would work together on this project.

05/09/2012 Lesson Update

Today in lesson, I was trying to decide on a song to use for my piece, so that it would be easier to conduct research on current media products related to the song I had chosen. They could be related by genre, conventions, directors or bands. I am going to email DGC Records and Interscope Records asking for permission to use a track of Blink 182's latest album 'Neighborhoods'. One major problem I have had so far was finding an actual email address to send my email to.

My next task will be to Research different genres in detail and also the Genre of the band I have chosen, then I will conduct specific research about the industry of my band, record labels, albums, the bands history.

Prelim Task - 'Burning Down The House'

Shot Count - All I Want by A Day To Remember

Track: All I Want                                                 

Artist: A Day To Remember                                     

Director: Jeremy McKinnon                                 

Release Date: January 6 2011

Length of video: 3:35

Number of shots in entire video: 167 shots

Average length of shot: 0.93 seconds

Number of shots in 30 second segment: (0-30 seconds) 27 shots

Within the 30 second segment there are:

Number of CU: 4

Number of ECU: 9

Number of LS: 1

Number of MS: 9

Number of panning shots: 1

Number of tilts: 3

Other shots: 0

Analysis - what have you learnt from this process?

From this process I learnt that in music videos there is lots of use of close ups and extremje close ups, this is to help the audience make a connection with the band, its makes the band more accessible. Faster types of songs, such as rocks songs, are likely to have more cuts because this helps to establish a fast pace to the video, also the faster cuts causes a 'repeatability' effect(Archer).

Shot Number	Shot Type	Shot Length (seconds)	Description	Edit to next shot
1	ECU	1	writing on paper (band)	Cut
2	ECU	1	Writing on paper (Title)	Cut
3	ECU	1	Writing on paper (credits)	Cut
4	ECU	2	Mic on paper plugged in	Cut
5	ECU	1	Hand with pencil	Cut
6	MS	1	Man sitting on chair alone	Cut
7	ECU	2	Writing ‘Thank You’ on paper	Cut
8	MS	1	Lead Singer	Cut
9	MS	1	Lead singer	Cut
10	LS	1	Whole band from angle	Cut
11	CU	1	Pickboard on guitar	Cut
12	TS	1	Showing guitar from neck down	Cut
13	MS	1	Drummer	Cut
14	MS	1	Drummer	Cut
15	MS	1	Bassist	Cut
16	ECU	1	Snare Drum	Cut
17	MS	1	Lead Guitarist	Cut
18	CU	1	Lead singer face	Cut
19	PS	5	Lead singer	Cut
20	CU	2	Drummer	Cut
21	MS	1	Bassist	Cut
22	TS	1	Lead singer	Cut
23	ECU	1	Guitar strings	Cut
24	ECU	1	Lead singer	Cut
25	TS	1	Crash symbol	Cut
26	MS	1	Lead singer	Cut