Laura Mulvey’s Male gaze theory is generally based around the camera being placed in the position a man would be viewing the music video from, this generally leads to the women being objectified and almost as the women are just sex objects for the males in certain music videos. For example in Let me entertain you- Robbie Williams the women are shown behind Robbie sliding on polls and dancing around for him, as well as Robbie having lots of other women with him at a hotel room, the shots can vary being low down for the male to make them seem powerful and pans up the bodies of the women almost like a male would, the women are also moving promiscuously as if to entice the males. The theory is based around the audience being put in a heterosexual man’s perspective almost gazing at the women such as looking at their curves or them dancing such as the example above suggests, the traditional target audience in which these videos are aimed towards are heterosexual males probably late teens to young Adults, this is based on audience research and the age of the women shown in the videos. The majority of the music videos that this theory is presented in is Rap, RnB and other girl pop group songs such as The Saturdays or Girls Aloud.
Goodwin’s Theory is based around the music industry creating a certain look and feel and following a similar standard for genre’s such as Rock genre’s have a lot of the band playing their instruments, or indie bands having really deep emotional videos to add depth to their music, or hip-hop videos showing a lot of the stars being greatly portrayed and having lens flairs to amplify the lighting coming across the scene to give the light a streak across and could give the connotation that everything is really great with this particular star making the audience want to buy more from the artist. In the music video Muse-Feeling Good the music video is very simple in terms of the location however it has almost been made into an abstract world which is something we might want to avoid in our video as it is very difficult to do on a low budget and does not seem like the true nature of the lyrics. The relationship between the lyrics and the visuals are somewhat similar with the “New life” and they seem to have created a new abstract world for the audience to be involved within, the videos seems to show the lyrics in an opinionated view with the lyrics amplifying certain aspects of the lyrics however contradicting other areas. For example having the lyrics “Feeling Good” and the people look almost angry at certain stages which is changing the feel of the music. The demands of the record label seem to be somewhat low with if seeming to be more about the music and the abstract nature of the video rather than the band, however having said that the band is shown very highly in the music video and has a huge group around them with no other story and mainly being performance based. This could be a way for the record label to promote the band trying to give the connotations of how unique the band is.
Sunday, 11 September 2011
Letter to Music Company
To Warner Music,
For our A2 Media project we are considering using Muse’s song ‘Feeling Good’ as you are the relevant copyright holder and hold the rights to Muse’s material we are requesting your permission to use the album version of the song in our final piece. The title ‘Feeling Good’ and the band’s name will also be used on our adverts and digipaks but they will not be used for promotional purposes or monetary gain and will simply be used as a piece of non-profit work.
The music video will not be released or be sold in any way, shape or form. The music video will only be seen by the OCR Exam Board and anyone in my media class but no one outside this circle. A copyright comment will be placed at the beginning of the music video to ensure no disputes with both Muse and Warner Music namechecked.
Yours Sincerely,
Bradley Russell, Ryan Almond, Jacob Caria-Preen and Connor Sleet
For our A2 Media project we are considering using Muse’s song ‘Feeling Good’ as you are the relevant copyright holder and hold the rights to Muse’s material we are requesting your permission to use the album version of the song in our final piece. The title ‘Feeling Good’ and the band’s name will also be used on our adverts and digipaks but they will not be used for promotional purposes or monetary gain and will simply be used as a piece of non-profit work.
The music video will not be released or be sold in any way, shape or form. The music video will only be seen by the OCR Exam Board and anyone in my media class but no one outside this circle. A copyright comment will be placed at the beginning of the music video to ensure no disputes with both Muse and Warner Music namechecked.
Yours Sincerely,
Bradley Russell, Ryan Almond, Jacob Caria-Preen and Connor Sleet
Thursday, 8 September 2011
Questionnaire Analysis
We decided a questionnaire would be an extremely valuable resource for audience feedback which we could build upon in our discussions. The audience were varied with different age groups and genders being queried. Our questionnaire (as shown in the scan) incorporates a general idea of what the audience like in music and music videos so we can gauge what catches an audience's eye in a music video and what techniques we can use.
The first question was: What kind of music video do you generally watch? The majority of the answers were predominantly indie and pop- following the trend of the general public but some transcended genres and simply listened to songs that appealed to them or songs in the charts. It was interesting to see there wasn't the wide variety of genres that we expected as genres such as country, classical and metal were scarcely represented or not represented at all.
'Why do you watch music videos?' was our second and probably our most important question as we are in the process of creating a music video and the audience's opinion is vital. The music video, according to the feedback, heightens the meaning of the song and adds emotion and extra depth to the lyrics. A storyline or visual representation of the lyrics is deemed to be a main reason why people watched music videos but it can also be broken down, again, to something as simple as liking the song.
The third question was 'What genre do you listen to?'. Although we are doing an indie/rock song it is important to classify our audience by what genre they listen to. Rock and indie were up there with the most popular genres but there was a wide variety of genres compared to the first question. Another interesting trend would be the similarity in answers between questions one and three.
The question 'Why do you listen to this genre?' can be described simply as striking a chord with the listener. The Uses and Gratifications Theory comes heavily in to play as escapism and entertainment seems to be a main reason for listening to the genre. The style of the song in relation to the general characteristics of the genre seems to help, as does relating to the person's feelings.
The final two questions explore the audience's favourite music videos and why. The videos tend to stick to the genre given in the previous questions but the reasons why differ massively. Some said the idea of the music video stuck with them whereas other felt the idea and concept of the music video helped enhance the message of the song.
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
Production of Music Video, Progression
Tuesday 27th September 2011- Whole Group- Croydon Car Parks:
Today the whole group took off to start the main bulk of filming for the music video. This included the introduction and various parts of the ending for the video. We went to Croydon to film and started off in Centrale Car Park but we got moved along by security after filming for a short period. Included was also some 'behind the scenes' footage of various aspects of filming.
We also took some pictures of the actors involved and of the group/band to be used for recreational purposes and for the digipack design to be finalised later. We then moved along to Whitgift car park where we filmed the introduction from a wider range of angles and also some elevator scenes and shots of one of the group playing the guitar. We were in Croydon for a good 3 hours and we went around filming various shots and angles including canted frames, POV shots and establishing shots that included both high and low angles. It was a very productive day and it was a great start to the main section of filming for the final video. We also gathered a few short 'behind the scene' shots of the group talking about various aspects and the progress of filming in the several locations we visited in Croydon. We managed to film a good 20-30 seconds of the video and we have already started to edit some parts of it.
Friday 30th September 2011- Whole group- Beddington Park:
Today we went to film a large part of the video in various sections of Beddington Park. We aimed to film a lot of naturalistic shots and we filmed in some wooded areas and used a lot of trees in shot. The weather was also to be to our advantage and we made use of the sunny and warm conditions. We did some lip syncing for the video and our actor had to make sure he was wearing the same suit. The first areas we went to was a leafy area in which we filmed some POV Shots and some shots of the sun through the trees. We also filmed our main actor against a tree with another group member playing the guitar in the background, something which we are using as a motif throughout the music video. We filmed a lot of close-ups of our main actor and also filmed shots of nature including the river, plants and trees. Also included in the filming was some reverse action shots in which our main actor was filmed walking backwards and taking his blazer off, something in editing that we reversed to make it look normal but with the effect of the blazer automatically coming up to fit on his body. Again in this we had the other group member playing the guitar to back up the motif of the video we he is always there behind the main actor. We also filmed some more 'behind the scenes' of various aspects of filming and preparation which will be used in a seperate edit and uploaded as an extra. We also had a camera to take various pictures of some live action including some stop motion filming in the river. It was yet again a very productive day and we got a lot filmed in the rare end of September heatwave.
We are also way into the editing stage and the shots have come together nicely on the timeline as well as some good special effects. The intro is looking good and the timeline is slowly being filled with various edits of shots and lip syncing. We have also added some audio and sound effects consisting of diegetic and non diegetic sounds to accompany the intro and the ending to coincide with creating atmosphere and mise-en-scene.
Friday 7th October 2011- Bradley, Connor and Jacob- Croydon (various):
After visiting Croydon for the first time we realised that it was a really good location to shoot on, with certain shoots needed to be redone after having to change the initial singer from Jacob to Connor due to feedback from other groups and associates. We decided to have a variety of different shots included within the location so not simplifying the camera work and making sure that each shot was interesting for example rather than fitting with the exact style of shots before in Croydon we decided to visit different area's of Croydon to give the video a different sense of location and a different feel to the shooting. Whilst there we also used the time to shoot some photo's of samples for the digipack's of what could be used and some shots which were just good for examples of what we could do however in better quality, for example shots of Connor standing against a brick wall with the shot back-light to give the impression of a silhouette. Overall we managed to get approximately 3 and a half hours of filming done with a good idea of how each shot can fit into the overall product but also keeping an open mind just in case certain shots don't fit into the final piece.
Tuesday 11th October 2011- Whole Group- Office Scene:
Today we filmed only a small but valuable part of the music video. We used an interior office as our location that was based in our school. Connor and Bradley directed and filmed whilst Ryan and Jacob acted. Both Ryan and Jacob were in suits as we were portraying Jacob's character handing in his letter of resignation to his boss (Ryan). Although only a small part it plays a key role in the audience understanding the concept of the video where it is ambiguous to whether or not Jacob's character is fired and that's why he is seen supposedly taking his own life by jumping from a car park roof top. It took a couple of takes and a number of shots and angles to achieve the finished footage. Also we thought a lot about the use of natural lighting within the office set and also the mise-en-scene that we wanted to be created. For example we made use of the office telephone in live action and also included in shot filing cabinets, a computer and various other office accessories.
Friday 14th October 2011- Ryan, Jacob and Connor- Central London- Various Locations:
Today 3 people out of the group travelled up to Central London to complete a whole day of filming for the music video. Today's aim was to lip sync the main parts of the song and with a new group member who is now miming pretty much everything. We started our journey at Carshalton Station were we travelled via National Rail on Southern trains to Victoria; despite the diabolical travel fare one way we arrived at a good time and got the number 11 bus to St.Pauls Cathedral. From here we made our way down via several points of interest within London.
We did about 15 minutes of filming around the St.Pauls area and then made our way down to the Millenium Bridge that is in line with the Cathedral. We walked across the bridge and did a lot of filming including a time lapse showing people walking past the main character whilst looking over the River Thames, tracking shots of the main character walking down the length of the bridge and also a long shot showing the entire bridge at the end of it with St.Pauls perfectly positioned in centre in the background with the main character walking towards the camera.
After the bridge we were by the Tate Modern art gallery and we then filmed some more there and also down by the South Bank were we did some lip syncing with the Thames in the background. From there we had a lengthy walk and we made our way to Blackfriars Bridge were we did some more lip syncing and another tracking shot. We then continued over it to the other side of the river.
We then made our way down to Embankment which was quite a long walk but time soon passed and we found ourselves by Charing Cross station. From there we crossed the road and went to the London eye were we filmed some shots with the attraction directly centered on camera. This was a very useful shot and we had our subject doing some more lip syncing and playing the guitar. We also got some more 'behind the scenes' that we have been building up on quite a lot in previous locations and on previous film shoots on other days. A member of our group also brought with him his camera that he used to get some pictures and various shots on that. After the London eye we walked past the Houses of Parliament and by Parliament Square and then went past Downing street were we got some telephone box footage. We then made our way to our final destination of the day; by now we had done about 3 hours of filming.
Our final location was Trafalgar Square and we positioned ourselves by Nelson's Column. We were right in view of the National Gallery and we set up the camera to film a final time-lapse of the public walking about the area. We also had our main character walking with the public very slowly so it would look effective when we speed up the shot into a time-lapse. We got a few more shots in the square which then concluded filming for the day. In total we were in London for about 4 hours that both included the time to film and to make our way to the various locations that we required. It was all planned ahead and the day ran smoothly; the weather was also on our side and there no security or safety issues.
Friday 21st October 2011- In School Filming- Whole Group:
Today we decided to film some of the last segments of the music video. We planned to include various drum shots and band performance but this didnt go to plan as we couldnt get the locations available. We hope to get these as soon as possible. However we turned the bad around and decided to film with a microphone prop and lip sync the final lyrics with our main singer for the video. We used various in-school locations including a brick wall backdrop which also included filming shadows and our main singer lying down on the grass playing guitar and miming some sections of the song. We have now managed since this to lip sync the entire song. From here on in all the filming left to do is filler shots and maybe a scene where our main character trashes an office like room where paper is flying all around him in slow motion.
1st November 2011- Up to now we have managed to edit a lot of things and all the shots are nearly on the timeline in the correct place with the music track. We are close to finishing the edit as it is now November and we plan to finish by mid-late November. We have filmed a substantial amount for our music video and we have gone through all our shots and worked out how good they are and were they will go. Also we are keeping up with our 'behind the scenes' edit which will show our progress in filming and how our group co-operated. We have just returned from half term and our final filming should be wrapped up within 10 days of returning. We are confident that our video will meet the standards we hoped it would and our Digipak design is also coming along good with it being nearly finished. Going back to the edit all that needs to go in the right places is the London shots and the final lip syncing shots. Then its just the fillers and we will double check the timeline and possibly consider some more video and audio effects. Then when we are happy we will convert it to the various formats for the blog upload and also for personal keeping.
11th November 2011-
At this point in the production of our music video we are close to achieving the final cut. We have literally two more things to film that will complete the 30 seconds that we have left to fill in on the editing timeline. We have used a wide variety of shots in our rolling edit and we have a few more shots still to go in. We have made good use of all our lip syncing shots and these have proved to be useful footage and up to standards. In our edit we also have a wide range of visual and audio effects and we may use a few more depending on how effective they are. Our edit consists of both a narrative stotyline and performance based elements that work well together.
Friday 11th November 2011- Trashing Room Scene- Whole Group:
Today was our second to last major filming session that involved Ryan, Bradley and Jacob in a confined space on a school location. We filmed some important elements to the music video where our main character 'goes crazy' and wrecks an office by hitting and smashing computer equipment and throwing paper everywhere, essentially getting the anger out of him for giving in his letter of resignation. We managed to obtain some old keyboards, a mouse and also a computer monitor that we made use of and broke for the good of our video. We spent a good amount of time searching for an enclosed and small space and took some more time to plan what we were going to smash and also consider health and safety. It took a few takes to show the entrance of the character into the room but then we got down to business and started to film him wrecking the room. We didnt cause a lot of damage to the room itself but we broke apart some of the equipment we had managed to recycle. It was a good filming session and we have managed to include nearly all of the shots in the edit. The scene lasts for about 15-20 seconds and we have edited it so its quick paced. We also triple layered some shots of our main character throwing paper in the air and ripping apart a newspaper that has created a nice blend in our timeline.
Monday 14th November 2011- Drums scene- Ryan only:
Today we filmed a minor part of the video that included a friend playing the drums to be used as a filler for our music video in no more than 3 sections on the timeline where there was previously gaps. Filming lasted for about 5 minutes to get some quick shots of a drums performance. Within the edit for our music video we have extracted only the video and deleted the audio so it looks like the drums performance is in time with the song.
Tuesday 15th November 2011- Final Scene (Ending twist)- Whole Group:
Today was our final major filming session that draws to a close nearly two months of filming for our music video. We aimed to film the twist at the end of our music video in which it is revealed to the audience that the letter seen previously was the main characters resignation letter. We went somewhere local, a street about 5 minutes away from school instead of our intended destination of Croydon, Whitgift car park in which we have previously filmed at. Filming went smoothly and we achieved a variety of shots with the sun in the background, aimed at acting as a contrast to previously seen footage featuring clouds and grey sky. After filming this we uploaded it and started to edit it.
15th November 2011-
As of 15th November 2011 we have achieved a final edit for our music video. All of the timeline is now filled up with a wide variety of shots and angles. The last scenes to go in were the fillers, the drum shots and the rest of the ending, the twist, both recently filmed. All of our filming is now finished and the group is happy with the final cut. As well as a finished cut of the video, existing also are other cuts that are either test effects or altered/older versions, there to show how the final cut was achieved. We have used a wide variety of visual and audio effects that make the video look better and some transitions to make the cuts slicker. Still to do on the edit is the candidate names, numbers and relevant examination information. Then all thats left to do is the conversion and uploading to the blog, something that should be done by Friday 18th November. Overall the group is happy with the final edit and if need be, some final amendments can be made within the week.
Left to do extra for the Music Video is the Directors Commentary and a Focus Group that will be filmed, edited and uploaded shortly after the video is complete. We aim to show the video to a wide audience and get a mixture of feedback about it. Also the Digipak design is on the verge of completion and that should be up to standards quite soon. Hopefully, everything should be complete soon in terms of the production of the video, including the extras, and then its the evaluation that is left to do.
Tuesday 29th November 2011- Re-filming shots (for ending)- Whole Group
Today was the definite final filming session for the video. We used an on-site location in school to re-film a small section of the ending where our main character is shown to be standing on top of a car park, ready to jump (both seen at the start and end of the video). However there was one shot that we used twice that didnt really work and was probably a bit too long and boring to use twice. So we went out to film our main character repeating the actions he did in the car park (27th Septemember 2011) where he holds his arms out and looks down to where he might be jumping. We achieved this by shooting it from a low angle and on a cloudy day for continuity. We also made sure the angle was low enough to not feature surrounding trees and buildingd within the school. We tried as much as possible to make it look like we were filming in the car park, but with a combination of weather/clothing continuity, action matching and the low angle shot we successfully achieved ther shots we wanted to go after the shot in question. We managed to reduce the length of the already existing shot and we put the new shot, filmed today, after it and made sure that the actions were continous, in which they were. It worked and it suits the edit really good.
Overall Production Update (29th November 2011)-
Today we changed the edit of the music video one last time and everyone is now completely happy with it. The newly filmed shots are in and the video has been converted. Whilst the group is happy with the final cut, the digipaks and relevant advert is also virtually complete with maybe some last minute amendments to be added within the week. We aim to have everything finished in terms of production by Friday 2nd December that includes the Music Video itself being uploaded to the blog, the Directors Commentary and the Focus Group- both of which will have been filmed, edited and uploaded by this date and the final design for the Digipak/Advert.
Today the whole group took off to start the main bulk of filming for the music video. This included the introduction and various parts of the ending for the video. We went to Croydon to film and started off in Centrale Car Park but we got moved along by security after filming for a short period. Included was also some 'behind the scenes' footage of various aspects of filming.
We also took some pictures of the actors involved and of the group/band to be used for recreational purposes and for the digipack design to be finalised later. We then moved along to Whitgift car park where we filmed the introduction from a wider range of angles and also some elevator scenes and shots of one of the group playing the guitar. We were in Croydon for a good 3 hours and we went around filming various shots and angles including canted frames, POV shots and establishing shots that included both high and low angles. It was a very productive day and it was a great start to the main section of filming for the final video. We also gathered a few short 'behind the scene' shots of the group talking about various aspects and the progress of filming in the several locations we visited in Croydon. We managed to film a good 20-30 seconds of the video and we have already started to edit some parts of it.
Friday 30th September 2011- Whole group- Beddington Park:
Today we went to film a large part of the video in various sections of Beddington Park. We aimed to film a lot of naturalistic shots and we filmed in some wooded areas and used a lot of trees in shot. The weather was also to be to our advantage and we made use of the sunny and warm conditions. We did some lip syncing for the video and our actor had to make sure he was wearing the same suit. The first areas we went to was a leafy area in which we filmed some POV Shots and some shots of the sun through the trees. We also filmed our main actor against a tree with another group member playing the guitar in the background, something which we are using as a motif throughout the music video. We filmed a lot of close-ups of our main actor and also filmed shots of nature including the river, plants and trees. Also included in the filming was some reverse action shots in which our main actor was filmed walking backwards and taking his blazer off, something in editing that we reversed to make it look normal but with the effect of the blazer automatically coming up to fit on his body. Again in this we had the other group member playing the guitar to back up the motif of the video we he is always there behind the main actor. We also filmed some more 'behind the scenes' of various aspects of filming and preparation which will be used in a seperate edit and uploaded as an extra. We also had a camera to take various pictures of some live action including some stop motion filming in the river. It was yet again a very productive day and we got a lot filmed in the rare end of September heatwave.
We are also way into the editing stage and the shots have come together nicely on the timeline as well as some good special effects. The intro is looking good and the timeline is slowly being filled with various edits of shots and lip syncing. We have also added some audio and sound effects consisting of diegetic and non diegetic sounds to accompany the intro and the ending to coincide with creating atmosphere and mise-en-scene.
Friday 7th October 2011- Bradley, Connor and Jacob- Croydon (various):
After visiting Croydon for the first time we realised that it was a really good location to shoot on, with certain shoots needed to be redone after having to change the initial singer from Jacob to Connor due to feedback from other groups and associates. We decided to have a variety of different shots included within the location so not simplifying the camera work and making sure that each shot was interesting for example rather than fitting with the exact style of shots before in Croydon we decided to visit different area's of Croydon to give the video a different sense of location and a different feel to the shooting. Whilst there we also used the time to shoot some photo's of samples for the digipack's of what could be used and some shots which were just good for examples of what we could do however in better quality, for example shots of Connor standing against a brick wall with the shot back-light to give the impression of a silhouette. Overall we managed to get approximately 3 and a half hours of filming done with a good idea of how each shot can fit into the overall product but also keeping an open mind just in case certain shots don't fit into the final piece.
Tuesday 11th October 2011- Whole Group- Office Scene:
Today we filmed only a small but valuable part of the music video. We used an interior office as our location that was based in our school. Connor and Bradley directed and filmed whilst Ryan and Jacob acted. Both Ryan and Jacob were in suits as we were portraying Jacob's character handing in his letter of resignation to his boss (Ryan). Although only a small part it plays a key role in the audience understanding the concept of the video where it is ambiguous to whether or not Jacob's character is fired and that's why he is seen supposedly taking his own life by jumping from a car park roof top. It took a couple of takes and a number of shots and angles to achieve the finished footage. Also we thought a lot about the use of natural lighting within the office set and also the mise-en-scene that we wanted to be created. For example we made use of the office telephone in live action and also included in shot filing cabinets, a computer and various other office accessories.
Friday 14th October 2011- Ryan, Jacob and Connor- Central London- Various Locations:
Today 3 people out of the group travelled up to Central London to complete a whole day of filming for the music video. Today's aim was to lip sync the main parts of the song and with a new group member who is now miming pretty much everything. We started our journey at Carshalton Station were we travelled via National Rail on Southern trains to Victoria; despite the diabolical travel fare one way we arrived at a good time and got the number 11 bus to St.Pauls Cathedral. From here we made our way down via several points of interest within London.
We did about 15 minutes of filming around the St.Pauls area and then made our way down to the Millenium Bridge that is in line with the Cathedral. We walked across the bridge and did a lot of filming including a time lapse showing people walking past the main character whilst looking over the River Thames, tracking shots of the main character walking down the length of the bridge and also a long shot showing the entire bridge at the end of it with St.Pauls perfectly positioned in centre in the background with the main character walking towards the camera.
After the bridge we were by the Tate Modern art gallery and we then filmed some more there and also down by the South Bank were we did some lip syncing with the Thames in the background. From there we had a lengthy walk and we made our way to Blackfriars Bridge were we did some more lip syncing and another tracking shot. We then continued over it to the other side of the river.
We then made our way down to Embankment which was quite a long walk but time soon passed and we found ourselves by Charing Cross station. From there we crossed the road and went to the London eye were we filmed some shots with the attraction directly centered on camera. This was a very useful shot and we had our subject doing some more lip syncing and playing the guitar. We also got some more 'behind the scenes' that we have been building up on quite a lot in previous locations and on previous film shoots on other days. A member of our group also brought with him his camera that he used to get some pictures and various shots on that. After the London eye we walked past the Houses of Parliament and by Parliament Square and then went past Downing street were we got some telephone box footage. We then made our way to our final destination of the day; by now we had done about 3 hours of filming.
Our final location was Trafalgar Square and we positioned ourselves by Nelson's Column. We were right in view of the National Gallery and we set up the camera to film a final time-lapse of the public walking about the area. We also had our main character walking with the public very slowly so it would look effective when we speed up the shot into a time-lapse. We got a few more shots in the square which then concluded filming for the day. In total we were in London for about 4 hours that both included the time to film and to make our way to the various locations that we required. It was all planned ahead and the day ran smoothly; the weather was also on our side and there no security or safety issues.
Friday 21st October 2011- In School Filming- Whole Group:
Today we decided to film some of the last segments of the music video. We planned to include various drum shots and band performance but this didnt go to plan as we couldnt get the locations available. We hope to get these as soon as possible. However we turned the bad around and decided to film with a microphone prop and lip sync the final lyrics with our main singer for the video. We used various in-school locations including a brick wall backdrop which also included filming shadows and our main singer lying down on the grass playing guitar and miming some sections of the song. We have now managed since this to lip sync the entire song. From here on in all the filming left to do is filler shots and maybe a scene where our main character trashes an office like room where paper is flying all around him in slow motion.
1st November 2011- Up to now we have managed to edit a lot of things and all the shots are nearly on the timeline in the correct place with the music track. We are close to finishing the edit as it is now November and we plan to finish by mid-late November. We have filmed a substantial amount for our music video and we have gone through all our shots and worked out how good they are and were they will go. Also we are keeping up with our 'behind the scenes' edit which will show our progress in filming and how our group co-operated. We have just returned from half term and our final filming should be wrapped up within 10 days of returning. We are confident that our video will meet the standards we hoped it would and our Digipak design is also coming along good with it being nearly finished. Going back to the edit all that needs to go in the right places is the London shots and the final lip syncing shots. Then its just the fillers and we will double check the timeline and possibly consider some more video and audio effects. Then when we are happy we will convert it to the various formats for the blog upload and also for personal keeping.
11th November 2011-
At this point in the production of our music video we are close to achieving the final cut. We have literally two more things to film that will complete the 30 seconds that we have left to fill in on the editing timeline. We have used a wide variety of shots in our rolling edit and we have a few more shots still to go in. We have made good use of all our lip syncing shots and these have proved to be useful footage and up to standards. In our edit we also have a wide range of visual and audio effects and we may use a few more depending on how effective they are. Our edit consists of both a narrative stotyline and performance based elements that work well together.
Friday 11th November 2011- Trashing Room Scene- Whole Group:
Today was our second to last major filming session that involved Ryan, Bradley and Jacob in a confined space on a school location. We filmed some important elements to the music video where our main character 'goes crazy' and wrecks an office by hitting and smashing computer equipment and throwing paper everywhere, essentially getting the anger out of him for giving in his letter of resignation. We managed to obtain some old keyboards, a mouse and also a computer monitor that we made use of and broke for the good of our video. We spent a good amount of time searching for an enclosed and small space and took some more time to plan what we were going to smash and also consider health and safety. It took a few takes to show the entrance of the character into the room but then we got down to business and started to film him wrecking the room. We didnt cause a lot of damage to the room itself but we broke apart some of the equipment we had managed to recycle. It was a good filming session and we have managed to include nearly all of the shots in the edit. The scene lasts for about 15-20 seconds and we have edited it so its quick paced. We also triple layered some shots of our main character throwing paper in the air and ripping apart a newspaper that has created a nice blend in our timeline.
Monday 14th November 2011- Drums scene- Ryan only:
Today we filmed a minor part of the video that included a friend playing the drums to be used as a filler for our music video in no more than 3 sections on the timeline where there was previously gaps. Filming lasted for about 5 minutes to get some quick shots of a drums performance. Within the edit for our music video we have extracted only the video and deleted the audio so it looks like the drums performance is in time with the song.
Tuesday 15th November 2011- Final Scene (Ending twist)- Whole Group:
Today was our final major filming session that draws to a close nearly two months of filming for our music video. We aimed to film the twist at the end of our music video in which it is revealed to the audience that the letter seen previously was the main characters resignation letter. We went somewhere local, a street about 5 minutes away from school instead of our intended destination of Croydon, Whitgift car park in which we have previously filmed at. Filming went smoothly and we achieved a variety of shots with the sun in the background, aimed at acting as a contrast to previously seen footage featuring clouds and grey sky. After filming this we uploaded it and started to edit it.
15th November 2011-
As of 15th November 2011 we have achieved a final edit for our music video. All of the timeline is now filled up with a wide variety of shots and angles. The last scenes to go in were the fillers, the drum shots and the rest of the ending, the twist, both recently filmed. All of our filming is now finished and the group is happy with the final cut. As well as a finished cut of the video, existing also are other cuts that are either test effects or altered/older versions, there to show how the final cut was achieved. We have used a wide variety of visual and audio effects that make the video look better and some transitions to make the cuts slicker. Still to do on the edit is the candidate names, numbers and relevant examination information. Then all thats left to do is the conversion and uploading to the blog, something that should be done by Friday 18th November. Overall the group is happy with the final edit and if need be, some final amendments can be made within the week.
Left to do extra for the Music Video is the Directors Commentary and a Focus Group that will be filmed, edited and uploaded shortly after the video is complete. We aim to show the video to a wide audience and get a mixture of feedback about it. Also the Digipak design is on the verge of completion and that should be up to standards quite soon. Hopefully, everything should be complete soon in terms of the production of the video, including the extras, and then its the evaluation that is left to do.
Tuesday 29th November 2011- Re-filming shots (for ending)- Whole Group
Today was the definite final filming session for the video. We used an on-site location in school to re-film a small section of the ending where our main character is shown to be standing on top of a car park, ready to jump (both seen at the start and end of the video). However there was one shot that we used twice that didnt really work and was probably a bit too long and boring to use twice. So we went out to film our main character repeating the actions he did in the car park (27th Septemember 2011) where he holds his arms out and looks down to where he might be jumping. We achieved this by shooting it from a low angle and on a cloudy day for continuity. We also made sure the angle was low enough to not feature surrounding trees and buildingd within the school. We tried as much as possible to make it look like we were filming in the car park, but with a combination of weather/clothing continuity, action matching and the low angle shot we successfully achieved ther shots we wanted to go after the shot in question. We managed to reduce the length of the already existing shot and we put the new shot, filmed today, after it and made sure that the actions were continous, in which they were. It worked and it suits the edit really good.
Overall Production Update (29th November 2011)-
Today we changed the edit of the music video one last time and everyone is now completely happy with it. The newly filmed shots are in and the video has been converted. Whilst the group is happy with the final cut, the digipaks and relevant advert is also virtually complete with maybe some last minute amendments to be added within the week. We aim to have everything finished in terms of production by Friday 2nd December that includes the Music Video itself being uploaded to the blog, the Directors Commentary and the Focus Group- both of which will have been filmed, edited and uploaded by this date and the final design for the Digipak/Advert.
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
Detailed Description of Target Audience
Muse-Feeling Good. The main target audience in which we would have to make our song appeal to would be people who enjoy some soft rock due to the genre and the music been altered due to the song not being an original and a cover of Nina Simone. This is why we will have to take into consideration the original target audience which is older people who enjoy more classical music.
The main audience for this song will be 15-30 year old's who enjoy the rock genre, they may also mainly be males who are white due to the band being white, this could be a factor when creating our music video and this is something we need to take into consideration when creating our music video, this way our music video can appeal to the correct audience and make the video more believable with similar actors to the members of the band.
The sort of films and interest that the target audience may watch could be action or thriller style movies, due to the more dark nature of the movies and that the intensity of the movies, the movie will most likely have a good soundtrack in the action or other high tension sequences, this will be somewhat immersive like the music they listen to and the have similar but higher levels of action then their music videos they watch.
The social demographic in which the target audience may be in will probably be BCD and possibly going into the E category, this is due to the majority of of the people who will listen to the rock music may be middle class, with their occupation probably being varying but be full time or part term in the high demographic. In terms of uses and gratifications of our music video our target audience are likely to be using the music for escapism, identity and for entertainment purposes. The reasoning behind this is that the video of Muse-Feeling Good suggests that the audience has trouble identifying themsleves and are using the music video to find themselves, this is conveyed through the blurred faces of the different members of the audience, the reason for escapism is that our audience may want to get away from the everyday stresses of everyday life and the changes going through with the younger end of the target audience, the abstract environment in the music video and speaker phone part of the song which is varied from other songs help to create an alternate world for the listener to be in for the duration of the video, this is something we will have to consider when creating our video to make sure that the viewers feel apart of a different world and feel a form of escapism from the everyday life they lead.
The main audience for this song will be 15-30 year old's who enjoy the rock genre, they may also mainly be males who are white due to the band being white, this could be a factor when creating our music video and this is something we need to take into consideration when creating our music video, this way our music video can appeal to the correct audience and make the video more believable with similar actors to the members of the band.
The sort of films and interest that the target audience may watch could be action or thriller style movies, due to the more dark nature of the movies and that the intensity of the movies, the movie will most likely have a good soundtrack in the action or other high tension sequences, this will be somewhat immersive like the music they listen to and the have similar but higher levels of action then their music videos they watch.
The social demographic in which the target audience may be in will probably be BCD and possibly going into the E category, this is due to the majority of of the people who will listen to the rock music may be middle class, with their occupation probably being varying but be full time or part term in the high demographic. In terms of uses and gratifications of our music video our target audience are likely to be using the music for escapism, identity and for entertainment purposes. The reasoning behind this is that the video of Muse-Feeling Good suggests that the audience has trouble identifying themsleves and are using the music video to find themselves, this is conveyed through the blurred faces of the different members of the audience, the reason for escapism is that our audience may want to get away from the everyday stresses of everyday life and the changes going through with the younger end of the target audience, the abstract environment in the music video and speaker phone part of the song which is varied from other songs help to create an alternate world for the listener to be in for the duration of the video, this is something we will have to consider when creating our video to make sure that the viewers feel apart of a different world and feel a form of escapism from the everyday life they lead.
Saturday, 3 September 2011
Conventions and Genre's of Music videos
All modern day music videos seem to follow a similar pattern of putting some form or meaning and emotion through the video to convey a certain perspective or message across to the intended audience. This could be really simple for a song such as Raise your Glass-Pink portrays a simple message in the lyrics which is to be happy with who you are and if you feel as though you are weird in your life then your normal, because everyone is different. This makes the music video simple to put across the message and easy to immerse the audience in the video.
The camera work in the majority of music videos that are performance based have a variety of camera angles which are generally filled with a quick edit almost like a montage of shots, this is mainly seen in the genre of rock or heavy metal songs. A key element of these songs are also to have the camera angles close up on the instruments to show the skill of the guitarist and is generally and low angled shot to make the guitarist or singer look powerful and show the level of skill and is more used for the bands purpose rather than to convey meaning in the song. The overall camera work in the music videos is to show the band or individual in a positive way and to help put across a certain image of them, this added together with the other aspects of the music video helps to create a new image or persona.
What the people in the video are wearing can have a big effect on the way the audience views the video and helps to show the tone of the video, in the music video Robbie William- Let me entertain you. Robbie is wearing a suit similar to a rock star, this gives the conventions of Robbie wanting to be like the rock stars of the older generation and therefore is dressing to be like that and living like them just trying to entertain which ties within the song and the lyrics.The lighting of the video is also very important due to the dark lighting of a video making it seem very sinister and giving the conventions of evil and hatred, this may be used for a more aggressive style of song and it more often seen in music videos which are heavy metal as well as them wearing a mask to be hiding like the lighting would help to convey.
3 Music Video Types
Narrative- This music type is only based around having a story within the music video, the story's could be very abstract and not have alot of meaning to the story, the main characters are generally played by the band with the lead character being played by the singer, this can also give the singers a chance to show off acting skills. The narrative music videos generally are the most used music videos in the industry because it shows what the band was feeling the band was trying to put across as well as showcasing the music to it's best, an example of this type of video is The Killers- All These Things that I've done. This song shows a story however doesn't do it in a chronological order and makes the audience watch the entire video to find out everything that happens and draws them into this world and the song.
Concept- This type of video is that is unique and promotes and unusual technique to showcase the song, the biggest example of a unique video for a song would be The White Stripes- Fell in Love with a girl. This was directed by Michael Gondrick who is a famous abstract director, with the music video being filmed with everything in lego including the band performing, this length of the video is approximately 1:55 which is quite a short video however the level of detail on the video is amazing however it is very unrelated to the song.
Performance- This type of music video consists mainly of the band performing in the majority of the video with a variety of shots such as close ups of the instruments if it is a rock performance, this is not used for telling a story and more to do with the band and the skills themselves.The location may change and the clothing of the band however it is mainly to show off the band. An example of purely a band performing would be The White Stripes- Button to Button, although this is a more abstract example this is mainly the band performing but with stop motion, this is a unique twist to the performance and again got the music video highly recognised.
Concept- This type of video is that is unique and promotes and unusual technique to showcase the song, the biggest example of a unique video for a song would be The White Stripes- Fell in Love with a girl. This was directed by Michael Gondrick who is a famous abstract director, with the music video being filmed with everything in lego including the band performing, this length of the video is approximately 1:55 which is quite a short video however the level of detail on the video is amazing however it is very unrelated to the song.
Performance- This type of music video consists mainly of the band performing in the majority of the video with a variety of shots such as close ups of the instruments if it is a rock performance, this is not used for telling a story and more to do with the band and the skills themselves.The location may change and the clothing of the band however it is mainly to show off the band. An example of purely a band performing would be The White Stripes- Button to Button, although this is a more abstract example this is mainly the band performing but with stop motion, this is a unique twist to the performance and again got the music video highly recognised.
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