Editing 18/12/12

18/12/12

Today we started to make the clips more fluid as they transitioned to the next.
There still is a big gap which needs to be filled so after the Christmas Holidays, Ellie and I will be trying to come up with ideas to solve this problem.

When editing, we have kept to the storyboard however there have been some changes such as in the start we have also included a guitar but we have also got rid of the bit with the ipod and the silver heart necklace idea (both was written in the treatment sheet). 

I'm sure there will be many more changed to come but we will be keeping to the story and loosely to the original storyboard.

Editing 17/12/12

17/12/2012

Today we edited our Hainult footage, there was a lot to get through and there were some bits that we did want to use, so we cut and deleted the bits we didn't want. 
Still there are bits that need to be filled, so we do need to go out and film some more to fill in the gaps, as well as use footage we already have e.g. writing lyrics, guitar miming etc.

After editing our Hainult footage, we looked at the start of the video and decided to turn the piano chord bits to black and white to add to the sombre mood. 

Starting to Edit

13/12/12

Today we started to edit our footage, first we looked over the clips that we filmed and got rid of anything that was 'bad,' after doing so we started to put some of the clips into place using our storyboard as an brief idea of what the video should look like. 

So far we have edited up to the first chorus in the song.
However looking through the footage we have noticed that we will need to go out and film a little bit more to fill in gaps, where needed. 

Filming 12/12/12

Location: Dance studio, Robert Clack Leisure Centre

Today we filmed the dance studio part of our video, I filmed Ellie dancing and singing to the  first 40-50 seconds of the song. I filmed many shots so when it comes to the editing process we would have a variety of footage to use. 

Filming: Hainault Forest 11/12/12

Location: Hainault Forest, Greater London

Today we filmed at Hainult, it was really cold and misty, and it unfortunately started to get dark early so we did some of the filming but not the amount we wanted to. I filmed Ellie walking around, and various shots of her singing.

Because we didn't get enough filming, that we wanted today, Ellie suggested that we use a local park near where we live called Central Park to shoot the rest of the woodland bits. So we should be doing that hopefully either tomorrow or sometime this week.

Tomorrow we will be filming the dance studio bit, so looking forward to that as it allows us to express ourselves artistically.

Shooting Schedule

From 3rd December 2012-12th December 2012

Cast and Crew

Writers: Ellie Moore and Jessica Pye
Producers: Ellie Moore and Jessica Pye
Director(s): Jessica Pye
Director of Photography: Jessica Pye
Editor: Ellie Moore
Actor(s): Ellie Moore

Filming Schedule

Day: 03/12/12
Scene(s): Cards and guitar scenes
Location: Jessica's house
Equipment: camera, tripod
Costume: gold top, skull cream/black cardigan, black long leggings, hair pulled up in a bun
Props: cards, blue guitar

Day 04/12/12
Scene(s): Cards, keyboard, notepad writing
Location: Jessica's house
Equipment: Camera, tripod
Costume: N/A
Props: cards, notepad and pen, keyboard

Day 11/12/12
Scene(s): walking through forest, lipsyncing, shots of location
Location: Hainault Forest
Equipment: Camera, tripod
Costume: high-top trainer, leather coat, gloves, black leggings, striped scarf, mustache print top. Hair in a high bun and natural make-up
Props: N/A

Day 12/12/12
Scene(s): singing into mirror, dance shots
Location: Robert Clack Leisure Centre, Dance Studio
Equipment: Camera, tripod
Costume: Black leggings, grey studded jumper. Hair down and wavy, and natural makeup
Props: N/A

05/12/12

Due to the weather conditions we've put the Hainault filming back a few days to a day where so enough natural light and drier and more visible.

Preparing for filming tomorrow

Today I looked up the weather forecast for tomorrow as we plan to film.

I used BBC Weather and searched: Hainault, Greater London.

The weather looks not bad, considering the time of the year, as it is going to be slightly sunny and no rain. So far it's all good to go.

For tomorrow we are going to use the card props again for diversity in shots; but tomorrow we will be mainly be filming the forest/woodland side of the video which counts for a large amount of the video.

We will try and use different spots/locations within Hainult tomorrow, and we will be working rather quickly as it quite cold and so we make the most of the natural light, so we will be filming early daytime around eleven/twelve 'o' clock.

Filming 04/12/12

Today we filmed some more shots, this time we filmed the piano chords part which we are going to use at the start.
Ellie filmed me playing some chords on the keyboard, I play the piano so I tried to make it look realistic. We filmed at many different angles and at different heights e.g. close-ups, crane shots.

After doing this, we spread the cards which we used yeasterday when we filmed, and spread them on the floor and filmed. One of the shots was we had the cards, in the order they appear, in a line on the floor and I hand held the camera (trying to keep a steady shot) and went along the line of cards.

We also did a bit where Ellie filmed me writing the lyrics, drawing a heart on a back of one of the cards and writing on manuscript paper.

Filming 03/12/12

Today we filmed some shots of Ellie standing, holding up the cards and changing them in sync to the music.
I also took some shots of Ellie pretending to play the guitar.

Here are the cards that we used in the footage today, and my blue guitar:

Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment Sheet

Project: A2 Media 'Music Promo Video' Coursework
Writers: Ellie Moore and Jessica Pye
Producers: Ellie Moore and Jessica Pye
Director: Jessica Pye
Editor: Ellie Moore
Actor(s): Ellie Moore

Date: 03/12/12

Main Issues

Filming at:
Jessica's House
Robert Clack Leisure Centre, Dance Studio
Hainult Forest

Solutions:
Icy weather conditions- need to check for weather updates as well as wear appropriate shoes and clothing, and to check transport times 
Dance Studio- wary of visible wires, suitable footwear, be conscious of surroundings e.g. mirror
At house- wary of pets and any simple accidents e.g. water spills, make sure that the equipment set-up properly, aware of surroundings

Contacts:
Mr Johnson, at Robert Clack School (Green Lane), Media Studies 
Robert Clack Leisure Centre reception
Personal emergency contacts e.g. Mum/dad/ next of kin

Emergency Services:
On site services: First Aid at the Leisure Centre
Local Police: Metropolitan Police Station Dagenham, located at 561 Rainham Rd S, Dagenham, Essex  
Local Fire department: Dagenham Fire Station
Local Hospital: King George's and Queen's Hospital 

Contingency Plan

Contingency Plan

Name: Jessica Pye
Production: "Paper People" by Charly Houston Music Video


Potential problems and how to overcome these problems:

Weather Conditions: If there are poor weather conditions such as ice, snow or misty weather it will be hard to capture clear footage, as well as it could be quite dangerous working in them conditions. To overcome this I will have to leave filming and keep a close eye on weather reports and updates to see when would be the best time to film.

Filming at Hainault Forest: There are many problems we could encounter when planning to film at Hainault such as: the weather, the visibility (which effects the quality of the shots) and transportation. To overcome these problems we should go and film on a day when the weather is okay to film in as well as to capture the desired shots. Hainault Forest is also quite a long way from where we live, so we would have to get all the shots that we need on the day because we might not be able to go back there.

Availability of the Dance Studio: The dance studio is always busy, so we will have to book a time very soon, and on the day we will have to get a lot of dance footage done as we will probably not get another chance to film there.

Proposal How to Expand/Increase Sales

Looking at our target research, and taking into consideration the age-group our target audience are, the music video needs to be entertaining as well as tell a story.
Sometimes with sombre/acoustic music videos the story can overpower the song and maybe discourage people to buy the song, it can have an effect on the artist too as they could be labelled to only do ballad-like songs. 

With the acoustic genre it is very easy to get caught up in the story that the lyrics are telling, however as Jamie Thraves says 'never be too literal with the lyrics.'

To increase sales, and allure our secondary audience, we are going to make the video fun and try to capture a youthful-vibe which should hopefully attract our target audience. People watch music videos because they want to be entertained and they want something visually captivating therefore we need to be creative and come up with some original ideas.

Audience Feedback

Created with Wallwisher

Digipak Ideas

As I mentioned in my last post, we've begun to brainstorm ideas for our digipak and poster.

These are the ideas we have for the digipak design:

This is a rough design of what we want our finished digipak will look like. The digipak design is very important as it hints at the genre and tone of the album/song, and the design itself helps to target a specific type of audience. 

It is vital that when producing our digipak that we keep within the conventions of the genre as well as try to attract an secondary audience in order to expand sales. 

Poster Ideas

My partner and I have started to brainstorm some ideas of what to include on our digipak and poster. We both agreed that we wanted something original and unusual for our poster to make it different from what everyone else is doing in our class.Here's a brainstorm of ideas which we have got now; which we hope to expand:

 

We also researched online and looked at examples of posters and art work to help expand our ideas, this also helped to visualize what our finished poster would look like.

Below are examples of posters/artwork which caught our eye:

This one I thought, the design was very interesting as it was like a mix of modern and vintage- making an artistic statement. 

I liked this poster because it effectively made the artist the centre of attention. The setting is very rural and natural hinting that the type of music would be easy-listening. The red flowers and white in this poster have all been enhanced; this creates contrast and draws the reader's eye to the title. The font is interesting as it is swirly, which can be seen as girly, and it is clearly printed so it is easy to read. 

 

Here is a typical pop (artist's) poster, this poster is very bold and catches the eye effectively. The artist is highlighted as she is in blue, contrasting the hot pink background. The singer's name is in big, bold, capital letters with the band underneath her name; this represents their role as they are the accompaniment supporting her. 

At the bottom is a smaller image of the album also stating that the album is  available to buy now - pushing downloads/purchases. 

Treatment

This is the treatment for the coursework, the treatment is a document that expresses the ideas for a music video and how the idea relates to the artist and the song. 

Costumes

We used a couple of different costumes, depending on where and what we were filming, for the promo video.

For the dance studio:

A grey studded jumper with black leggings, 
Make-up and hair: hair down, natural make-up and stud earrings.

At Hainault Forest:

Leggings, mustache print top, a striped scarf, navy gloves, leather jacket, and high-top trainers. 
Make-up and hair: natural make-up and hair in a high bun and the same stud earrings as in the dance studio

Props

For the coursework we are going to use some props; props are important as they can reflect the music genre and mood of the song. 


At the start of the video we are also going to use shots of [my] keyboard to mimic the piano chords at the start. We also are going to use a guitar, which is also shown below:

A major prop that we are going to use is a silver heart necklace, which holds sentimental value to the character about a loved one- reflecting the acoustic music genre. 


In the chorus, a prop that we are going to use is cards with the lyrics of the song written on them. 

Locations

Dance Studio

For the first minute or so of the video we are going to use the school's dance studio in the Robert Clack Leisure Centre.

This location is going to be used for shots of the character dancing to the music at the start of the song 'Paper People' when it is just the voice and piano.

Hainult Forest

 

Hainult is where we are going to shoot the rest of the video as it has a rustic and reflective feel like our chosen song. Hainult in the autumn is beautiful as it is ranges from different types of greens and at this time in the year the leaves have fallen which will help to add to the sombre mood. 

 

Sources:

Barking and Dagenham website

www.luphen.org.uk/walks/london_loop/london-loop02.htm&docid=S72BTeN6ufyRdM&imgurl=

Survey!

Don't forget to follow this link and take part in our survey!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HLZ5QN5

Ideas Moodboard

Animatic

Storyboard

Real Digipak Analysis

Katy Perry is a very bold character and her album/digipak refects that with its bright colours and bold patterns. The digipak has a sort of candy wonderland theme which is rather ecentric - just like her!
Two of the images of the artist is of her laying on a candyfloss-cloud (as you do) looking very sensual, in the third image she is making a fashion and artistic statement appealing to her more fashion-conscious fans.

The design represents Rihanna's more feminine side as she is surrounded by roses and her lips are red and full. All images have been edited to enhance red tones to make the album extra eye catching and 'loud' which the album is titled.

Analysis of student digipak, magazine advert and video combination

Here is the coursework which had been completed by a student from last year; this was a great opportunity to look at other's work to get an idea of what we need to include when it comes to my own coursework. I looked at Shelley Burgess's Music Video Blog from last year and her finished music video as she chose a similar artist within the same genre.

Poster



There is a medium shot of the artist placed in the centre to obtain attention, her lips are dark to draw attention to her mouth. The object placed around her neck looks like it's made from leaves and flowers etc suggesting she has raw talent and an innocence. 

The artist's name is in captials and underlined to clearly establish the artist name; the title of the song looks to be handwritten to give it a personal touch. 

There are logos such as hmv and itunes which everyone will recognise, the itunes one helps to promote downloads and is useful when targeting an target audience. As well as established logos there are also established company names, such as The Independant and NME, who give reviews of the song which makes the reader curious to hear what all the commotion is about.

Digipak

The title on the front cover of the digipak has been enlarged to draw attention, however it could have been made bolder or a different colour to create contrast as well as catch the customer's eye. There is a barcode on the back making the digipak realistic and creating a professional feel.

Inside there is a quote which I presume is a lyrical phrase from the song which could the focus of the theme of both video and digipak design. On one of the sides there is a coloured image which has been edited slightly to bring out blue tones implying the song is sombre, and underneath there is 'xoxo' in a handwritten font referring to the theme/nature of the song.

The finished music video

The song itself is rather dark and moody which reflects in the video. The video is made of a mixture of shots from a park/woodland area, past memories, southend beach, nature (e.g. water, moon) and of the actor standing behind a berry bush; almost masked even by the bush.
The colours are dull reflecting the dark mood/feel of the song; it's only the red berries that really create any contrast.

The actor lip syncs well, she looks into the camera straight on but sometimes looks down or to the side - it's not conventional but that seems to suit both song and actor and works well with the video.

Magazine Advert Analysis

Famous Album art analysis

Here are some of the most iconic album covers and the reason why they are so special.

Pink Floyd-Dark side of the Moon

The design is supposed to represent three elements which are the band's stage lighting, the lyrics of the album and Richard Wright's request for a 'simple and bold' design. Even at first glance the album cover is striking with its black background and bold prism.

The prism has six colours, missing indigo, this is quite interesting as one of the album's alternative name is 'the dark side of the album.' The missing colour could also symbolise the missing member of the original band Syd Barrett who Walters writes about in some of the songs in the album e.g. 'Brain Damage.'

The Doors-Strange Days

Second album and an artistic triumph. Unlike all their other covers, the band is not on there as the leader singer Jim Morrison refused to appear on the cover of the album; instead there is a picture of street performers - availability of such photos were low. 

The band were looking for something different than what American bands at the time were doing, so this in many ways was perfect.
Jim apparently had even said to a reporter : “I hated the cover of our first album. So for Strange Days, I said: ‘I don’t want to be on this cover. Put a chick on it or something.’”


The Clash-London Calling

The album artwork is of the lead singer smashing his guitar at The Palladuim in New York 1979, the artwork itself is a homage to Elvis Presley's album in 1956, which was rated the ninth best album cover of all time by Q magazine in 2001.

U2-War

U2's third studio album, released on the 28th of February 1983.

The boy on the cover of the album is also on three other album covers including their debut album, 'Three,' and 'The best of 1980-1990.'

Bono described the decision of putting the boy on the cover: "Instead of putting tanks and guns on the cover, we've put a child's face. War can also be a mental thing, an emotional thing between loves. It doesn't have to be a physical thing."

Sources used: wikipedia.com

Rough outline of Initial Ideas

Here are our brief ideas for the coursework so far; which we came up with today; at the end of the week these will be much detailed and hopefully soon we will start to film.

Key Music Video Conventions

Vox Pops

Before we do our actual target audience research we did a test run of a 'vox pop' to see how long the filming process would take and what editing would be needed. 
The next time I plan to include captions identifying each speaker including their age and occupation; which I forgot to do this time.

Here is the trial vox pop:

Detailed Research into our Artist

Charly Houston like most unsigned artists is on myspace and an unsigned website; but she also has also joined soundcloud and facebook. Soundcloud is a website where you can upload your demos online for others to listen to and also download (optional), this helps to reach out to your audience and other music lovers.

She also has her own Facebook page which she started in 2011 it features information about what gigs she is doing, ticket information, a band page where you can listen to music and view photos. This helps to interact with her fans and post the latest in 'the world of Charly.' Social media such as Twitter and Facebook is widely used and can be used effectively as a (viral) marketing tool as fans can tweet and share material with friends - and of course 'word by mouth' is the most effective tool there is!

Charly has also recieved positive reviews such as the one below:

"As professional as she is talented, Charly Houston undoubtedly has a very bright future ahead of her. I still can't quite believe she's only 15. Her voice has a rich, soulful, husky quality that singer-songwriters twice her age can only envy."
                                                                                        - Duncan Ross (Director, Klocwork)


A positive review can have positive effects and lure in interest from other music fans out there and possibly scouts looking for new, fresh talent.

Artist Perfomance

This video is of Charly Houston performing Paper People live at her first headlining gig in March 2011.



Charly seems confident during this performance and likeable with the audience as she makes them feel comfortable joking with them before her performance. She has a natural stage presence as we the audience are drawn in when she performs and she makes her audience seem at ease/chilled as she performs which demonstrates good body language.

The performance itself has an intensity to it as Charly gets into the emotion of the song which shows in her voice and her facial expressions. The lyrics themself are sombre however when put together with Charly's husky tone and guitar chords have a playful quality.
She writes and performs with a maturity which makes you believe she is an artist and has been doing this for a while, it also makes her performance convincing as we believe every lyric.

Looking at this performance helps to visualise how the song should be performed, so when it comes to shooting our music video mimacing how the artist performs will be vital to keep the same tone and emotion of the song.

The Process of Creating a Music Video

The Process of Creating a Music Video on Prezi

Vox Pops: The voice of the people

Vox pops is another technique we can use to get information about the desired target audience.
The interviewees are shown to be in public places and are supposedly giving spontaneous answers, in a chance encounter, to the interviewer. Vox pops are used all the time in news programmes to show balanced views.

Each person is asked the same question(s) with the aim in mind to get as many (variety of) answers by the public on a certain subject. Therefore to get as much variety as you can, you need to ask a range of different people, age groups, gender, religion, race etc.

Additional Filming

Today I helped Ellie with her preliminary task, I helped to film the video. Indifferent to my own preliminary task, I used different shots and experimented within the scene to make the video fun and eye-catching for example the actors in the scene are positioned differently in the scene and make most of the space. 

We did many takes to get good footage, different shots and to make sure the lip syncing was spot on. Something which proved useful was to turn the screen on the side of the camera to face the actors so they could see what they were doing, this helped as they could see what they were doing and to get the best performances. 

Ellie herself edited the footage and on her blog soon will be the finished video:
http://elliemoorerca2.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Survey

To further research, I've created a survey to get some answers from the public to find out what they think of my chosen song 'Paper People' as well as to get some insight of the type of audience the song will appeal to, this will also help when it comes to broadening our target audience.

Please can you click on this link and answer the survey!
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HLZ5QN5

Preliminary Task: What I've learnt

The preliminary task was a good introduction to what producing a music video would be like. It wasn't that hard to learn the lyrics because there was only about a minute's worth to learn, when it comes to shooting our music video that will be much different as there is about 2/3 minutes worth to learn, as well as it's just one person learning all these lines.

Filming the preliminary all in one day I think was useful as you get everything you need there and then, also helps just to get it out of the way and know you have all that footage. So when it comes to shooting my coursework I think it would be effective to shoot everything in one-two days.

The editing process, even for a very small project like this, seemed long and tedious I think I didn't actually grasp how long this process will take- and we just roughly edited! For the coursework if we get all the filming out of the way quickly then we can spend much more time editing which could prove very useful.

My Preliminary Task

This is mine and Shelby's preliminary task. We filmed it yesterday, all in one day, and roughly edited it this morning. Finally it's done! And here it is..

The Preliminary Task

For our preliminary task we have to lip sync to Elton John's 'Don't go Breaking My Heart.' 
The song itself is a duet, originally sung by ELton John and Kiki D in 1976. For the preliminary we have to film 3 or more continuous takes with varying camera positions, the objective is to be fun, creativity and to get a taste of what our actual coursework will be like.

Here is the video of the original song and lyrics:

Lyrics:

Don't go breaking my heart
I couldnt if I tried
Honey if I get restless
Baby you're not that kind

Don't go breaking my heart
You take the weight off me
Honey when you knock on my door
I gave you my key

Nobody knows it
When I was down
I was your clown
Nobody knows it
Right from the start
I gave you my heart
I gave you my heart

So don't go breaking my heart
I wont go breaking your heart
Don't go breaking my heart

And nobody told us
`cause nobody showed us
And now it's up to us babe
I think we can make it

So don't misunderstand me
You put the light in my life
You put the sparks to the flame
I've got your heart in my sights

Artist's Target Audience

Looking more into our chosen artist's music and profile it's clear that the primary target audience is girls aged around 16-24, like myself, and possibly younger teenage girls. Another audience the artist attracts are folk/acoustic music fans, so possibly people who like to listen to other artists such as Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran.
The target audience is also another factor we need to include whilst brainstorming for ideas, as well as to promote the track and the artist successfully.

What is a Digipak?

A digipak is a type of CD packaging and are mostly used for special CD editions etc, they are however more expensive compared to traditional CD packaging.
Digipaks are made of card stock with plastic trays attached inside that hold the disc(s), they are almost book-styled as they either flip open or can have three or more parts.

What to include on a digipak:

• The track list, this can either be on the back of the digipak or on the inside
• A small booklet which will have additional information about the artist, album, songs and lyrics etc. The small booklet will also include photos of the band/artist