Risk Assessments

Location Changes

Top Barn Farm is still scheduled to be filmed on, so is the city centre. However I have found more locations as to where the video would be well suited. One of these is the Cob House Fisheries. It is another large farm but with more opportunities to film by lakes and ponds. They have long grass there and that is one of the main features I wanted in my video. Secondly, I needed a more confident location to allow us to light a camp fire on. The River School Grounds in Worcester have lots of land and places where fires are regularly lit. I have spoken to the owner of the Cob House and she has said yes to us filming there. The caretaker at the school has also agreed to allow us to build a fire and film round that too.

Timeline - 'Timeli'

This is a piece of software I am using on an apple iPad. It is more mobile and quicker to use but still just as effective as other timeline software. Here are some screen shots of my first plans on the timeline.

First Page of Shot List

This is just one page of the shot list for my video. I have roughly planned out what I want to do however I love to experiment when I work and come up with new ideas at the time. I have no doubt this list will change.

Test Shoot 2

This montage of shots is an experiment reflecting some of the shots I would like for the music video. This is Josh in the streets of Worcester.  This exercise was based on experimenting and getting used to filming at night and with the camera. These shots would be cut down to about a second in the music video, so there is a lot of material here already.

Animatic

This is a rough idea of some of the shots that could be used in the video through this montage of drawings and test shoots put together.

Top Barn Farm Aerial

Top Barn Farm is full of different fields, buildings, bodies of water and interesting indoor locations. This is an aerial of the main complex in which I will be filming in.

Permission For studio.

I have asked to film in the studio at college and they have said yes. I spoke to some other teachers in the college who allowed us to use it.

Top Barn Permission

Some of my friends live on Top Barn Farm and are friendly with the owners. I have asked my friends about permission for filming outside their home and have also asked to speak to the owner about filming on the land. This includes land like fields, orchards etc.

Final Locations.

These are the Locations we have come up with for the music video.

Location 1- Random backgrounds for brown sofa.
Location 2- Top Barn Farm
Location 3- Malvern Quarry
Location 4- Film Studio-College
Location 5- Worcester City Centre
Location 6- Gheluvelt Park

Cast

This is Josh playing the main role and lip syncing. To the right is Dan, who will help with logistics but also be in the video probably playing a kick drum.

Test Shoot 1 - Camera angles.

Advert Final

Digipak Final

Digipak

I am really happy with the results that I have come up with for the Digipak. I am pleased with how the logo has turned out and the digipak as a whole. I was really lucky with the images I took and think that the colours reflect the mood I personally would give the music video.

Colours for Logo

I have had difficulty deciding on what colours my logo needs to be, so I have decided to let the computer decide, by giving the logo a threshold effect, increasing the opacity and then moving it over the background of my digipak. I think this gives a much better classy effect than using bright colours, which in my view cheapens the quality of music and the whole look of the Package.

Kings and Queens Music Video Analysis

 

In the music video, Kings and Queens by 30 Seconds to Mars the sounds match the visuals nicely. For example in the first cut we hear an eagles scream, and see an establishing shot of a vast and quiet cityscape. This is a great example of what Andrew Goodwin says about Synaesthesia and ‘seeing the sound’. In other words, this is exactly the type of image that someone would picture in their minds whilst listening to the track. This is accompanied by the music just playing soft, quiet electric sounds to set the atmosphere and lead into building up the song. It is a relatively long take when compared with the rest of the video but is important to contrasting it with the rest of the music.

The first 30 seconds of the song is slow motion visuals, the band are a silhouette to the audience and it is trying to set the whole scene for the music video. The audience would easily picture something like this when listening to the track. After this 30 second period in the video, the band suddenly crash into action with louder guitars, bass, and drums. The visuals are related because they are no longer slow motion, and the silhouettes are replaced with the real detail of cyclists but not yet the band. Further on in the video, the music fits to exactly what you would expect. When the music slows down the visuals slow down, when the music is sped up the visuals speed up. This is very much related to Andrew Goodwin’s theory of Synaesthesia.

The Narrative of the video is about Cyclist running wild throughout the city centre, with a sense of rebellion and free will. There are a lot of wide shots and panning shots following them through the city. There is also a strong star image theme through it. For example Jared Leto (main singer) is right at the front of the band, and crowd of cyclists. The silhouette is a side shot of his face, and you can recognise who it is from his profile.

There is a good structure to the music video. This is most closely related to Todorov and his theory of narrative. There is firstly equilibrium. Everyone is happy free, cycling around a city. Secondly, disequilibrium occurs. A man is hit in the side on his bike. This causes a disturbance and a point to the story. Both the music and the lyrics show recognition toward what has happened. The lyric ‘heaven and hell’ is recognising that this man has had an accident that could be fatal. Next, reparation comes into it with a white horse that somehow fixes the problem and a new equilibrium is made. Michael Shore’s music video theory is all about information overload. He says that it is all about containing male fantasies and having elements in the video to linking to things such as speed, power, girls and wealth. This videos narrative is partly linked to his theory. We have power and speed throughout the whole video. The bikes represent freedom and power as they scale the city without stopping. Michael Shore’s theory can’t really relate to as wide of an audience as Andrew Goodwin’s theory but has elements of synaesthesia in it for example the powerful guitars in this video.

The Cinematography, mise en scene and Editing are used really well throughout the video. When the music is slow the takes are long, and the editing is slow motion. When the music is fast, the editing is a lot smoother and the takes are shorter. The Mise en scene is really well done too. All the cyclists are wearing strange clothes, makeup and are on all different kinds of bikes. This has quite a disjunctive element to the video but could be emphasising the rebellious theme. There are many wide shots, aerial shots and establishing shots throughout the clip giving a sense of scale and the location of where everything and everyone is. Throughout the close ups of the singers face, there is a lot of narrow depth of field used, to get people to concentrate on the ‘star’ of the video. There is also a pull focus that focuses in and out of his face. The editing is a mixture of continuity and montage. The montage editing is mostly at the beginning where there are obvious changes in location matched with the music.

This video has elements of being disjunctive and amplified. I don’t really think that the video is being illustrative. Michael Shore’s theory of music video relates to the things people really want in a video, like power, speed and girls. This video has hardly any of this in an illustrative way. They may be amplified though and the video having some metaphorical elements. For example, the riders on the bikes, symbolising freedom, power and speed. Andrew Goodwin’s theory of Illustrative, Amplified and Disjunctive, fits well with what Michael Shore said about the content of the video. Some disjunctive parts were when there was a white horse in the video. Many people may not know what the relevance is in the video and could mean anything. It is a bit random for what the video is saying and where the location of the injured person is. There are bit of both Entropy and Redundancy in the video too. A good example is of the band playing. You would expect them to have normal clothes on, with normal instruments and a normal structure to the song. This is quite redundant and when people hear the music, they expect to see that, but when we see the band playing on a roof in open air, it seems to be a bit abnormal and entropic. In this video there is no part in the Male Gaze factor of Michael Shore’s theory. There is no reference to women being seen as sexual objects, at all. Michael Shore’s theory is not as powerful and as relevant to Andrew Goodwin’s. Andrew Goodwin has been able to section his theory up to make a lot more sense to what is happening in the video.

 

  

 

 

New idea.

I have decided I will redesign the superman logo and use big sky scenery to reflect the lyrics from the song. "Flyin higher than a plane". I think that if I can make it simple it should be really effective.

Photo Inspiration

From my photography project, I am hoping to take low down shots. I haven't been able to take shots of long grass and field of wheat so, getting down low, to create an abstract of grass or something of that genre, I will create something similar to it.

Pitch Feedback from Teacher

We were given good feedback for our pitch. Some comments made were that we had to re think our target audience, and that C1-E would be to wide an audience for folk music and that it would be more aimed at B-C1. We were told that folk music would be more aimed at educated upper class people.
Secondly, the sofa idea had a positive response. However we could do more other than just that to make it even more interesting. The sofa being in random locations is good and it was suggested that because wheat fields and long grass would be rare in January that we could maybe go to the beach?
Lastly our idea of a sepia look to the video was advised against and that we could look at desaturating it slightly instead.

Prezi - Pitch

http://prezi.com/ftldzeah8kps/pitch/

Mumford and Sons Advert.

This advert is an effective and simple layout.The image on the left is mirrored by the track list on the right. It sticks to a simple colour scheme. The layout is of a badge which is quite ordered and organised with the information it it. Again this advert contains yellows and in the image brows. It is quite a disjunctive colour scheme to the photo. This is quite a good idea for my digipak because my video is quite disjunctive. I think the colours used are good and concentrate on different shades for different things.

Coldplay- Mylo Xyloto Digipak Analysis

The Digipak front cover is the image below. It is a very simple cut out of an M and a X. These are the initials of the album. I think that it is very simple and effective. It targets no specific target audience and is quite confusing. It has a foreign name and a confusing layout. There is something very disjunctive about it when related to the names of their songs.

This is the back of the pack. It is again a strange layout. It is upside down to the front cover. (above)The typography is really good. It is just a white cut-out and through that we are able to see the art work behind. There is random writing and graffiti in the background that may give a clue as to what the songs are about or the target audience. There are M’s and X’s all over the wall with lyrics from their songs over it too. The way the lettering over the cover has been placed is really good, for example the OTO on the bottom creates a line of symmetry. The MYL and the OTO are shorter lines to the one on the middle creating a diamond or round shape. The idea of the cover is to get people to observe it closely.

This shows a much stronger colour scheme as we go through the digipak. The left image is more reds and greens and the right image is more concentrated on purples. They are using bright colours to get across a point. The album has a very wide range of instruments used, and song styles. I think they want to get the point across that it’s a very creative and free album for a wide range of people to listen too. The album also has a wide range of stories and themes which may be part of what they are trying to show in the digipak. There is a sense of rebellion and freedom shown in this image too. The words “tonight the streets are ours” on the left may give us a clue and the free roam of graffiti that is plastered across the walls. Graffiti is not something people should do.

This is a spread of Graffiti across three pages.The pages are literally just covered in Graffiti. For the same reasons as the previous picture I think that they are trying to communicate rebellion and freedom in a creative way. Perhaps the song ‘Paradise’reflects this?  Below are the symbols from the back cover that represent each song. A number are on the graffiti board.

This Photo is to give the performance element to the pack. I think that the way the image has been taken, with the lights in the background and the blur of wavy lines, looks really good and mirrors the graffiti that is  through the rest of the booklet. The photo has a very strong vignette around the image and the band is out of focus. This all adds to the chaos of the digipak.

This is the disk for the pack. It has been well designed, sticking to the theme of the graffiti and the colours. I like the continuous line following the shape of the disk. The colours are the same free, rebellious colours used as the ones throughout. 

This is the back cover. The same colours are used, and also the typography that is used for the main album title. I really like how the words have been positioned and the composition of the cover. The symbols on the bottom are there that are repeated throughout the albums graffiti. There are also some clearer pictures on the back too. I think the album artwork, works really well together and it flows from one image to the next really easily.

Toby Keith Magazine Advert

This is a really simple advert with a great feel to it. Both imagery and photos are well used to get across the genre.

Firstly the typography is well suited to a country genre it is in a yellow country like colour with the cowboy type font. It is the masthead on the advert. The type says the name of the artist which captures the audience’s attention. The other subheadings are also in the same yellow font. It is a really good example of repetition. Details are in white which is every other heading. This is quite striking but is also a professional way of laying out the advert. This is a tour advert but it also includes the album. The photo in the background is a good example of what country is like and the mise en scene of the genre. The photo is in black and white which mirrors the way the text is coloured. I have learnt that looking through the magazines in which I found my adverts, that they all seem to be half a page adverts. Tours tend to be a whole A4 page but album launches are usually a little reminder of the release on an advert page.

Third Day Digipak Analysis

This is the Digipak Cover to Third Day. I like the simplicity of the image and the grainy effect. The band in the middle show a very clear image as to who the Digipak is by and what the name is. Thename is plastered across the front in an old style serif font. It is very simple and well done. I think that the use of light is really good. It has captured the detail on the face well but also has blended the cover of the pack to go with their clothes. The use of clothes in the image has had to be thought about and made so it all blends well together.

This is the middle when the Digipak is opened. This is a mosaic type effect with photos. I think the sepia type effect looks really good. The photos in the collage have a lot of things to do with my genre of folk. I think that they are the types of colours I would use for my Digipak, browns reds and yellows.

This is the back of the digipak. I think that the layout is really nice and simple. It is done in a notepad way and adds a really good interest to the cover. There is scraps of paper and paper clips which make it look really homemade organic in a way. I think this could replicate the type of music they want to get across and the image people want them to view them by.

This is the digipak as an opened up view. The CD's sit nicely in amongst the images. They are a nice brown colour which fits with the colour scheme well.The back is the front cover on the left, the back cover on the right and another collage picture like the one on this photo. 

The Creative Process. A Moment of Inspiration.

We have been able to sit down as a class and go through the creative process for our groups. We have been able to listen to each others music and write down ideas that flash into our heads. I found this really helpful and interesting to switch ideas and get inspiration from each other. The creative process has so far helped me think of loads of ideas that will help me make my video with my group and I can already see the video coming together at this early stage in the process. I am confident that we will have a great idea by the end of the week.

Green screen.

Today we used the green screen. We also used a piece of green A3 paper a copy the same effect. All we needed was a camera and a willing volunteer. We filmed Beth in front of the paper. Once we had filmed what we wanted, we then uploaded the clip to premiere pro. Once we did that we uploaded a background picture and stretched it out to match the time of the clip. After that we selected 'video effects', then 'keying', then 'chroma key'. When the window popped up we selected the colour we wanted to delete and then used the sliders to delete the amount of shades of that colour until we could see no more green.  

Digipak Practise and Idea

This is just an idea I came up with as to how the front cover of our digipak may look and also the back. The superman logo will have to be redesigned though.

Redundancy and Entropy in Kings and Queens.

Through Kings and Queens the video has both mixed elements of redundancy and entropy. The fact that the main story of the music video is of a bunch of cyclists riding down a main city street is quite unusual. I think this is a good example of entropy in the music video as they are all wearing strange costumes too. However a band singing with instruments around them is probably not quite as entropic and would give quite a redundant feel.

Redundancy and Entropy

Redundancy- Redundancy is what is normal and most expected. For example a car driving down the street is a redundant image. It is a normal image we see day to day and can be quite boring.

Entropy- Entropy is what is much more unexpected and exciting. It's what happens when the weird and abnormal happens. For example a babies pram powered by rocket boosters driving down the street.

Goodwin's Framework for Analysis of Music Video

How does the visual respond to the audio?

The audio is quite an up tempo song and to make the visuals match the song, in the video they have included loads of shots and content to give it a busy atmosphere and match to something like what the listener pictures in their mind.

How is the structure of the song reflected in the visuals?

The song repeatedly cuts to the band on the side of a high building with the sun out giving it a sense of calmness and links well to the song as it slows down. Also for example when the boy on the bike and the car collide, the guitars suddenly stop. The lyrics say 'Heaven and Hell' repeatedly which shows the listener that there may be a life threatening situation in the video which could raise the question, heaven or hell?

How does the mode of address appear visually?

The mode of address it very much concentrated on the band having the star image in the video. It is very performance based.

Narrative and Performance

Does the music video contain a narrative? What percentage of the video is narrative and what percentage is performance?

I would say that the percentage of narrative to performance is 50/50. The video has a strong narrative and puts the idea across of rebellious behaviour. It is named ‘Kings and Queens’ which then lined up with the video of hundreds of teens and young adults on bikes makes the video seem to have a rebellious meaning to it. There are shots of people throwing and smashing things.

How does the video communicate the authenticity of the artist?

The performance element to the song shows the authenticity of the artist. They are very much performance based and concentrate on the star image. They like to use live audiences in parts of their songs which also bring out the star image element too.

Star Image

The star image is a very big part of this music video. Firstly it has the band on a much higher position to everyone else in the video. We find them on the side of a tall building with the sun shining on them. This brightens them up as if they are the most important people there. Also they are shown as silhouettes in most of the video which again blocks them out as if they are too important to be shown in relation to the other common people in the city.

Relationship of visuals to music and lyrics

Do the visuals illustrate or amplify the meanings present in the music?

I think that the visuals play a big part in emphasising the lyrics in the video. The load chaotic guitars in the main chorus of the song reflect the chaos of the bikes riding through the city. Also when the man is hit on the bike, the whole video slows down and a white horse comes from the distance. It adds a whole new meaning to the song.

Technical Aspects  

Are there any notable/ interesting uses of cinematography, mise en scene or editing?

There is an echo of an eagles cry right at the start which is visually replaced with a city scape. This emphasises the echo. Secondly there is the sun on the horizon and as the bikes start coming over the hill, the music builds up. It also builds as Leto gets closer to the mic. As the music builds often through the video there are bikes riding fast through the city. When the music slows down, the band and the sun are shown which sets a calm atmosphere again.

Generic Conventions and Iconography

Does the video challenge or fulfil your expectations of music videos in this genre?

I think that this does fulfil my expectations of music videos in this genre. It is very much to do with performance but also the way the video is presented with the shots and how the song is written, it makes the video seem how the audience listening to it would visualise it.

Synaesthesia

Synaesthesia is 'seeing the sound'. It is what we picture in our minds when we listen to a piece of music or audio.

Stop-Motion Animation!

To kick of my A2 blog I have experimented with stop-motion animation. Once a week in our class we have been exploring new creative experiments and digital techniques. We looked at lighting the first week and for this week we did stop motion animation. This is just an idea of what we were doing and what with, showing that you can animate almost anything.

Busted- What I go to School for.

This is a remake of Busted's 'What I go to school for'. The idea was to get us to lip-sync the lyrics and give us an experience of making a music video. We had to organise costumes, the classroom, and different cuts throughout the process to copy each frame from the original video. It was really good fun.