Comparing my video to a real music video

The video above is by Rhianna- Only girl in the world, i took a lot of inspiration from this video as you can see by the second screen shot using a similar scene. However i used two girls as a symbol of friendship and Rhianna's video is about being a sex symbol. The lighting used in her video is very heated, calming to show sexual references, whereas mine has a much harsher light as they are innocent friends. I also chose to shoot it at a different angle and have the girls running away from the camera rather than walking across the screen, but in both the cameras are still and the people are moving through the shot. It is not very visible in these shots but also Rhianna's outfit is much more seductive and provocative, whereas the costume my characters are in are just pretty floaty summer dresses, with wellies on, to me this connotes a care free vibe to the audience within the girls and that they feel comfortable with each other.

Facebook

I have posted the edit so far of my music video onto facebook and have gathered some audience feedback and peer assesment. They were mostly positive comments, therefore i have not taken much constructive critisizm from it on what i need to work on. However this version of the video, still does not contain any narrative, but i have been out and taken the images i need to add in as that was one of the things my teacher said i needed to make my video more interesting to view. 

Filming

Today i went out filming in the woods with the girls for my characters, i took some images of them on the rope swing and standing for my album cover and poster as well as filming a variety of shots to add to video.
 

Media terminology

Audience- A group of people reading any media text.

Connotations- The cultural meanings brought to a sign or symbol by the person/people interpreting it.

Convergence- Hardware and software coming together across media, and companies coming together across similar boundaries.

Copyright- The ownership of ideas as creative or intellectual property.

Deconstruction- A theoretical investigation of a cultural product or cultural actions, to see how they are put together and how they can only be understood in relation to other texts or cultural products or meanings.

Diagetic- Describes what is present in the world of a text, as opposed to extra material added for the audience, which is extra-diagetic or non-diagetic.

Digital- Information broken down into noughts and ones.

Download- The practise of selecting and receiving digital information from an online source on a computer, as opposed to sending it by upload.

Globalisation- The shift in media distribution from local or national to international and to the whole world at once.

Hybrid- A fusion of more than one media form, or a mixing of global and local, or mixing of identities.

Iconic- A sign which resembles directly what it represents.

Identity- The complex way that one has a representative sense of oneself.

Linear- In a clear, logical order moving in one direction.

Macro- Big broad themes. the sum of lots of micro things added up.

Media studies 2.0- A response to web 2.0 proposed by gauntlett in which the role of online user-generated content and sharing is seen as fundamental to how we understand media audiences.

Mode of address- How a text in any media speaks to its audience.

Multimedia- A cultural product produced using a variety of media.

narrative- The way information is ordered, or a story is told.

Piracy- Distribution of media material that infringes copyright law.

Polysemic- Plural meaning as opposed to fixed singular meaning.

Representation- Students of media are taught that media texts do not present a neutral, transparent view of reality, but offer instead a mediated re-presentation of it.

Semiotics- The science of signs and symbols from saussure's linguistics (1974) and barthes' structuralism (1973). The study of the sign in terms of its connotations within cultural myth systems.

Stereotype- A blunt overstated representation of a type of person. Usually negative.

Synergy- Interconnected marketing and distribution of media products across a range of platforms and sectors.

Deconstructing album posters

I have chosen this poster for Led-Zeppelin to deconstruct. It has the typical conventions of a poster for an album, with the artists name on top, album artwork in the middle and name of the Cd at the bottom with added info like the record company, and in what form the music is available on. The album artwork usually relates to the band or songs on the album or just an image of the artist. As this one has no image of the artist im assuming the image is relevant to the songs. Its a cartoon image of London, including the iconic big ben as that is what a lot of people associate London with, therefore helps people to know where the image is supposed to be off. It also has a large blimp in the sky, this is very relevant to the artist as another name for it is a Led Zeppelin balloon.

Filming

Today i was planning to go out filming for the rest of my video, this has had to be cancelled as it has been raining heavily for the past few days, this is disrupting my filming quite a lot as i could of got it done by now. I also cant go out and do a photo shoot for my album cover as this will also be outside.  There are only a few weeks left until the deadline for the video and i am getting worried that if the weather does not pick up i wont be able to finish my video. Its also difficult to work around when my characters can take the time to be filmed as they do have other priorities.

Reflecting on my work

I have made some more of my music video and come to the conclusion that i need more of a narrative. Therefore i have come up with the idea of, using pictures of when the girls were little together for the beginning. I will blow the pictures up and they can hold them over there faces. They can then reveal themselves as 'young adults' and the video will carry on to be what i have already done. At the end im going to have them fall down onto a sofa, or be watching the sunset as the day ends and the girls are still friends.

Audience feedback

I have now made about a minute of my music video, i showed my peers for some feedback. They liked the framing and colour of the shots and also the way he sun reflected off the sea. They also liked the effects i added using imovie on some of the shots, to make it slightly more interesting. However they did decided that one of my shots is held for too long therefore i need to make a cut in the middle of it. I have also decided that it needs a narrative and my audience agreed.

Album cover designs

 Here are two designs i have come up with for my album cover that i think will fit in with the genre of my music video and the actual video. The cover of the album will be square, therefore there will not be so much blank space like on my designs. The spots coming of the people on both images are shiny speckles of sun beams. I will be editing these in just like the wings on the second one. I will do this by using Photoshop. I'm going to ask my peers to see which they prefer as a cover and which looks best.

Conventions of an album cover

From doing this exercise, i have learnt that an album cover is very simple. It does not need to be made too busy as it will no longer be attractive to the public.

Planning my album cover

I have been online and googled Taylor swifts album covers. I chose Taylor because she looks very much like the friend i am using to film (April) and also in a natural environment like in a field or in the stream. The writing on both covers are white and italic. Her name looks as though she has signed it herself, making the cover more personal. I have taken lots of inspiration from these and may be trying out some similar ideas. I will be drawing up some plans in the near future of ideas for my own album cover. I will also be designing an advert to go in a magazine for my album. I will also be making a buble of the conventions of an album cover, to make sure mine includes everything it can to look its best. 

How to get a movie from imovie to your blog

1. First go up to the tool bar at the top, click export movie and export.

2. Next go to imovie projects as it should have automatically saved to this file in your area. 

3. Right click on the video and go on get info. 

4. Change the name of the video to .mov and a box will appear saying use .mov? (click yes)

5. The video is now the right format to upload to youtube, log into youtube and press upload video.

6. Once it has uploaded onto youtube, go to the bottom of the video, click share and embed. Copy the code onto html in 'new post' on blogger'. 

Audience feedback

I have made the first 9 second of my music video and created the title. There are 2 frames to this, i am going to show some of my peers the video and get some feedback, i know this will not be much as it is not very long, but it will give me a good idea if i my shots are adequate. Here are some screen shots of what my video consists of so far. This sunday i am planning to go out filming with my characters to film the rest of my video.

Christopher Atkinson, male 17 listens to Michel Buble- Good establishing shot and lighting in both shots

Calum McConnachie, male 17 listens to Kanye West - Looks professional

Charlie Thompson, male 17 listens to Take that -Its great, fits well with the music

Tom Bowern, male 17 listens to mumford and sons- I like the editing on the beat and the framing of the establishing shot

Half term filming

Over half term i had planned to go out filming with my cast members. They cancelled last minute therefore i went out on my own and took my establishing shot and a few shots of the sea that did not need people in it. I did not use a tripod and i could not get it steady on the rocks at the beach. I was worried my shots would turn out wobbly but i think they will work really well. I used a panning shot for my establishing shot to show the viewer the location. From this i have learnt that it is possible to get a steady shot without a tripod but if i choose this approach again , i will take lots of different cuts of the same shot, to make sure at least one of them is use able as this is what i did and i only like one of the shots i took.

I have now began to edit my shots and make a new movie project in imovie. I asked my friend to take a picture of me editing to show i am independently working on my video and learning how to use imovie as i go.

Animatic

Here is my first of two animatics. I did this one by drawing each picture on paint, this took a very long time therefore there are not many images. I put the video together using windows movie maker on my laptop at home rather than on imovie on an apple mac. I found this much easier as windows machines are much easier to use. Some of the pictures are unclear what is happening as it was difficult to draw using paint. The next animatic will consist of some images i have taken of April in school, therefore not the highest quality but giving an example of the type of shots i have been thinking about using. I will make this one on imovie.

Here is my second animatic.




The shots are orange as there was not very good lighting in the school hallway, from this i have learnt to make sure the lighting will look good before i start to take my video shots.

Animatic

At the moment i'm trying to make an animatic, i'm having some technical problems using the Mac as i am not allowed to use some programmes like itunes on the school computers, therefore it is taking longer than i first thought. I am also having problems getting my images onto imovie and have limited amounts of help. Therefore if i do not succeed in making an animatic due to the problems, here are the images i have taken of April that i'm hoping to use in the animatic. Click on the three images below to view the story.

Pre-lim filming

Here i have made a video of practice shots that could be used in my music video. Some dont fit into my Genre for example the one walking down the stairs is more likely to be used in a short film horror. Even though we used a tri-pod for each shot, some were very wobbly. We had a problem with the close ups as the camera went fuzzy as you can see in the video. I also played around with the audio and effects to see how to use things ready for my real music video.

Here is a screen shot of my video as i begin to edit it using imovie.

Ideal Audience member

This is Scott, he is 16 years old and plays football for his school. He enjoys listening to current music in the charts via his I-pod, Youtube, sound cloud and other music sharing websites. He also shares his music with his friends via Facebook and I tunes. He also likes to watch unusual music videos like Bruno mars- Lazy song (screen shot below). As the characters don't match the lyrics and its very random and fun. In his spare time he enjoys going out with friends and playing football in the park. He dislikes indie music because its too different and he prefers mainstream music.

Reflecting on my work

So far i like my ideas, from my mood board i have had to change them slightly as i wanted to use the sun and summer dresses, but now its come round to filming, the weather is not very sunny and my idea would not work with this. However, i have slightly changed my idea to use the rain as an advantage and film some shots in the rain as i think this could look really dramatic and effective. When i presented my mood board to my peers, they liked the fact that my mood board, represented my genre and theme well, and it gave them a clear idea of my plan. As i have recently been talking about how boys will be attracted to my video as my USP is April. Therefore i am going to make another Audience member profile of the type of boy that would be watching my video.

Here i have made some notes on a useful powerpoint of things i must remember when going through the process of my work.

Presentation nov 4 from petefrasers

Production- Keep notes on filming, how it went etc.
Gain feedback by using audience- facebook, twitter, use peers, teachers, record and respond.
Reflection- create posts on what I've done, how i could make it better.
Research-  Looking at real examples of music videos, keep evidence of all research. Conventions of genre, audiences, institutions.
Planning- plan for what could go wrong, record my planing visuals, show the process of my ideas developing.
Evidence- storyboard, animatics, screen shots.
Ideas- keep ideas simple, have a realistic plan that will work.
Logistics- people, places, props, costumes. Get it done early, rehearse and prepare.
Equipment- Practice using it, get to know it, make the most of it.
Production- Always shoot extra for coverage, organise material before editing.
Reflection- gain advice.

Top tips on making a video

Preliminary filming-
Keep the camera steady when doing hand held shots
Use your elbows for stability
Have an assistant camera man for support
Practise shots before filming on location
Direct the actors- mark where they need to stand
Film more footage than you need so there is enough to edit

Theme and audience-
Make the theme clear, how does the audience know this?
What is the narrative how is this clear to the audience?
What are you selling in the video, is it selling?
The video needs a beginning, middle and an end
What are you trying to make your audience feel, Happy, sad ect.
What signs are in your work that portray your theme?

Shots-
Use a wide, establishing shot to set the scene at the start of the video
Use close up cut away shots
Film with the editing in mind
Give the viewer something to think about
Use a variety of shots
Use correct shots to represent different situations - shot reverse shot for conversation
Check the camera has a card and battery
Make sure ALWAYS use a tri-pod to get a steady shot

Shot list

This is my shot list, i will take this to my location and use it while i am filming. It will help to guide me with which shot to film next and how to position my characters.

Story board

 This is my story board of ideas and shots I would like to use in my video. I think this will work well with the song and characters I have chosen to use. I will be doing some practice shots to see if they will work before hand to see if i need to re- evaluate my plan.

Audience feedback

Ideal audience member

The main audience i am aiming my video at is teenage girls, i would also like my video to appeal to a wider audience being teenage boys. I think it will appeal to boys as well because there will be pretty girls in the video.
 This is sally, she is 15 years old and enjoys horse riding, shopping and going out for lunch in her spare time. She also likes to listen to pop music, she tends to listen to bands in the charts like The saturdays and Cheryl Cole. She dislikes screamo music because of how screamo fans represent themselves and generally does not enjoy the music.
She likes to read magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Look and OK! magazine, to catch up on celebrities in the media. She is also a big twitter fan as it brings her closer to the artists she enjoys listening to and can directly talk to them (even though they may not reply). She watches music channels while she does her homework as it helps to stimulate her mind.

About location shots

Here are some images of me taking the pictures in one of my locations. The weather was not as nice as i had hoped when photographing both locations. Therefore i may have to re-think some of the ideas on my mood board and possibly re-do it, using rain to help my video look more dramatic as my video plan at the moment is very weather dependant.

Cast

In my video, i want to represent the main character as natural and summery. This is a picture of my friend April, I think she fits the genre and my video idea very well. She also wear the clothes i would like my character to wear, therefore she is the perfect model. She is also very good looking, this helps as any person would prefer to watch a pretty girl than someone that is not easy on the eye. This therefore works in my favor.

Mood board

 I have created this mood board to help my planning and preperation. I have tried to set the mood of the video i am hopeing to make. I have included images that the song 'Island in the sun by weezer' reminds me off. There are sunsets, holidays, couples, sun, surfing and lyrics to the song. I included the lyrics as i picked out key words from it and googles images that help to represent the song. I also included the 3 key words that the song is about. To include more of my own ideas, i drew birds and kites on it, this ties in with the holiday vibe of the mood board.