Video

Evaluation question 4

Q4- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constucting this product?


During the making of our music videos this year. we have used lots of different digital technologies, equipment and software that has helped us to construct this mediated text. However some of these have been very difficult to use correctly. Therefore i spent alot of time trying to work out how to use the equipment and software which was highly complex. thus delaying us as a group drastically in meeting the deadline for our coursework.

If i was to re-do the whole project or was to advice someone starting there A2 coursework. i would tell them it is vital for them to get their head around final cut the progam used to edit the music videos, as it is highly complex and is much harder to use then I movie (standard mac programe) which the AS opening sequences are edited on. As on final cut there are alot more tools that can be used to add validilty to your music video such as two way shots, and mirror effects which you can not do on I movie. making the music video look like a real life music video. To be able to use final cut properly there was a online tutorial which after looking over is very helpfull and breaks down final cut in to understandable steps, it would be vital for someone creating their own music video to use this as final cut is a big jump up from I movie which is quite a simple programe to use. However i did not use the tutorial and this made it very hard for me to edit ceratin areas of the footage, as i could not get on with the editing of the video without a memebr of a group or a teacher helping me with specific conventions we wanted to add to our music video such as some transitions.

Although this did allow me to use my time constructivley as i was able to oragnise the schedule of the filming dates, contacting the cast and creating a cast. i could not of carried these tasks out if it wasnt for digital technologies. As due to my blackberry i was able to contact certain peers and also local actors/actresess over the phone.

Also over facebook which is blocked on the school macs but can be acessed through my phone, this also allowed me and the rest of the group to stay in touch with one and other  keep up to date with what stage we where at, with the project if not all memebers of the group where present in planning/editing lessons. . The use of social networking sites also were highly helpfull when updating the freddy and the let downs twitter/facebook pages as we did not create a band website.

I movie was very usefull once we had our initial storyboard as due to the software being very simple. we where bale to constuct an animatic using basic cut aways and taking still shots of each frame of the story board. we where bale to make an illustrated shot sequence. However the problems we faced last year with uploading footage to I movie re-accured when trying to up load the still images, making the process very time consuming which we did not need due to the cancelation of our first choice Freddy which also delayed us.

We also suffered problems with lighting when it came to filming the sex scene. as the filming took place in my room, and we needed the room to be dark to maintain the contunity of the narrative. However sam believed we did not need to rent out any lighting as we all ready planned to use a blue UV light to create an atmosphere within the scene. when we looked back at some of the footage the camera did not pick up enoguh light and the scence looked really dark and dull. thus being delayed again during a scheduled filming session. luckily i had a work (DIY) light in my shed therefore the room could be brightend up enough so the main light would still be blue.

As the bulk of our footage was filmed on streets as we had our artist walking around perfroming it was very hard for us to bring all the needed equipment as we were on foot and could only carry a certain amount each. Therefore we made sure that most of our shots were done in the day so we could use naturtal lighting, that way we would not have to carry around lighting. allowing us to be alot more portable.

The use of the tri-pod was also very limited as not all the tri-pods fitted our camera due to us using a HD sony camera which is used in the media industry. thereofre it was very hard to get a still shot as the camera was not fixed on a tri-pod and most of the scences contained tracking shots.

Compared to last year i believe the group did not function as well. However the delays where not caused by us not being on track but were cause by external problems such as weather and cast mebers not being flexiable with dates of filming. But on the whole i am very happy with our music video. and belive that we took the coursework very seriously as we conscousley gave each other indvidual tasks to carry out much like a real production company.

Evaluation Question 3

I have decided to present yu question 3. By using a online presentation website prezi  link

Evaluation Qeustion 3 on Prezi

Evaluation- question 2

To present you qestion 2 of the evaluation. I decided to use the online presentation website slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/upload?show_cta=true

Evaluation question 2

View more presentations from moppettharry.

Evaluation question 1

Q1- In what ways does your media product use, devlop or challenge form and conventions of real media products?

Our media product use the convention of scopophila (the notion of looking at sexual aspects). This is due to our music video having a sex scene with in it. Within this scene we set the camera up in a certain way along with the use of boady shots and close ups of our actress's face and 'assets' (bum), making the audience look at her in a voyurestic way. giving the audience a sense of pleasure from the on screen display signifying ideologys of the female boady and sexuality. However voyerism had been described as the notion of looking to gain a sense of pleasure form the screen therefore it is possible to say, that throughout the whole music video the camera and shots have been set up to display voyeristic pleasures to the audience. as they are looking in to this on screen constructed life.

I believe Jamie T has a highly distictive londoner accent along with is individual voice, it make him really distinctive when compared with other artists from the indie rock genre. The theory of the 'grain of voice' was produced by Roland Barthes he believes that an artist can be recongised through the style and sound of their voice e.g Michale jackson's 'yelp' is very distinctive and allows his fan and audiences to know the song is by him. and i believe Jamie T has this distinctive 'grain ofg voice' as the tempo in which he sings the lyrics makes it sound like there is an element of rap setting him apart from other artist within this genre.

The use of Visual associations with the music and lyrics are also used in our media product. As during the verse with the lyrics ' soit drips on the floor' and 'chick to the floor in my mums raybanns' are asscosited with partying which is the visual display during the music. Therefore we have used Goodwins theory of music video as we have illustrated the lyrics to the audience.

We also used Goodwins theory of amplyfing the lyrics. We used amplification during the party scene as the lyrics ' need that violent, silent seduction', therefore not iluustarting love between freddy and the actress, but puting in a sex scene which does not contain kissing or any signs of a relationship apart from the pysical. amplifying the true meaning of the lyrics to the audience.

Goodwins theory also implies conventions of performance and focus on the star. Which we could not break as these are general conventions in all music videos. And that itnis imperitive for us to show our artist is a good performer and is confident, but alos need for loads of close ups of freddy and also the let downs as a main reason for a music video is to sell the star and the band.

Another technique we used was the use of jump edits. which is also seen in most music videos wehn the display will go from one scence (inside) to an other scene (out side) and it is very effective in matching the tempo of the song and creating flow through out the music video. Thus due to us having a disjunctive narrative and the fast pace of the song at times it made it perfect for us to use thi. however due to us wanting quite a strong narrative through out the video we could not use this editing technique through out the whole video or our narrative would make no sense as comapred to minimal sense. therefore we have challenged this convention of most music videos, but where atill able to keep a strong flow through out the video.

Analysis of digipack.

The digipack was created using the website picnic and on the software Adobe photoshop. Using this software we were able to fit the images on the front and back vover of the template. A photo of the template we are using is below;

When we were deciding what photos to use we believed that this could be the product in which we could go against the genric conventions of digipacks with glamours photoshopped images. and go for quite simplistic natural shots of 'Freddy' (excluding the font cover) as the idea of him being a normal approachable muscian needs to be clear and projected through out all aspects of the marketing campaign. fro this reason we decided to use photos from two different shots;



front cover

inside 1

inside 2

back cover







Poster Design- reflection

Above you can see the poster/magazine advert we devised. i think the poster is very successfull as i believe the poster will be recognised amongst 'Freddy and the let downs' fans as this is the sam picture used for the front cover of the album artwork. Therefore not only advertising the the single but creating recongnisable imagery of the band. which we have senn before with such albums as 'The clash- Londons calling'

refering back to our album artwork it is also very succesful in letting the audience know when this new artist/single is going to be out (1/4/2012) this being the only other writing in bold and being placed right below the 'star' it becomes a main focus of the poster with out taking the focus away from Freddy (seen standing up) therefore marketing the dates of relaease. Another succesfull convention of the poster is the use of the whole frame as you can see there is not empty space, even to the side of freddy there is writing selling the single and band to the audience. making the advert/poster really successful in marketing the star/band/single.

However the only crtiscism of the poster i have it that magazines are portray whilst the advert is landscape. therefore there may be a need for whole different advert for a magzine. As the wording and positioning of the band will be out of place.

Test footage

here is some test footage i have up loaded;




we have uploaded this footage to see what the whole band like look as a whole on screen together. as it is imperitive that Freddys style is seen through out the whole band and signifyed to the audience. i believe they all look really good with one and other and are all highly photogenic and also to see if there was enough light at this location as the estate towe blocks were blocking out the light. We thought every looked fine, so we decided to shot our opening scene of the music video which was filmed last.

Animatic

Here you can see animatic. from this you can see we divised a montage of the frames from our story board to illustrate to us what the final video should look like. However the final video is most likely to differ from the animatic due to imprivisation or lack of props for example.

Changes made due to audience feedback.

After receving the audience feedback from our ruff edit of the music video. we had many positive comments about the narrative and over all flow of the edits and also of the whole video. however some negative comments, pushed to make some small changes in ceratin areas these where;

Changes made-

1. One of the comments that we got is that some bits of the music video can be a little lighter so it will be easier for the audience to see the whole video better. This made us to think more about that individual clip and we have decided that it will be easier to delete and find something that fits well with the rest. This was easier to make for us, because making the clip lighter would take some time and it would stand out from the rest of the footage as it will have different texture too. We wanted to avoid that. The final result turned out to be really good.
2. Another comment that we decided to take on board was that in some clips you can hear both the music and unwanted noises in the background. This made us to go through the whole video really carefully and check where there are some bits of the footage that has not been muted correctly. This also made us to finally go through everything again and see if all the cuts are in the right place in the line with lips sychronissation.
3. The audience gave us great feedback about the lipsing sychronisation in the music video, but we decided to check everything step by step, second by second so there will be no mistakes found when it will be too late and the video will be posted on YouTube for wider audience to watch it.

Plans for the album art work.

It is imperitive for the album art work to reflect the style of the music created by Freddy and the let downs. Therefore the art work should project images of youth and partying as the music project ideological views of 'not caring and 'having fun', however there should be the element of regret intwined in the artwork as the song higlights issues of growing up and taking responsibility. The main focus of the artwork shoudl be freddy himself as he is the 'lead' of the band, however there must be images of the 'let downs' as we are trying to create a star image for all the memebers of the band, but we must keep the main focus of the audience on Freddy.

An idea i raised with the group about the artwork. Was that we should illustrate with the name on the backing band ('let downs'). As we could have Freddy closest to the camera looking clean and freash faced along side him on the ground looking dirty and ran down are the let down projecting positve images of the star, but still selling the members of the band.

Audience feedback- Reflection

In lesson we where told to go round the

• the overall sychronising of the music video
• camera shots/angles
• the overall framing
• sustain of the interest
• pace of the music and the pace of the editing
• narrative
• target audience
• ....and the overall enjoyment!

After looking over the feedback and comments from our audience. it seems that many liked the pace of the editing as many said it compliments the pace of the beat. As a group we were very happy when the audience only had positive points to say on the editing, as we found it very difficult to get continuity with the edits and pace of music as it was imperitive too us to create the flow of a real music video, and from the comments I believe we have achieved this.
This means that the overall performance including movement and the miming was a sucsess

The other comments are mainly about the whole narrative and the use of actors, By reading the feedback we found out that the audience fully understand actually the whole narrative not only through the lyrics but also through the on screen display One of the audience member had a positive reply to the the narrative: "Engaging, funny with the use of kid police...Good narrative".
We also came across many positive comments about the lightingin the music video, during the party sceen and sex scene. iot seems tha audience liked the display of colours and effects which we used to create ambiance and atmosphere e.g "The lighting is amazing'

We had positive feedback about our varried cast making the music video more interesting and there is more people to watch taking the camera away from the star creating a sense of the audience being there e.g at the party with freedy or walking the streets, breaking generic convention of music video.therefore i am highly please that we carried out our idea well and it worked.

Prop List- Reflection

during the filming of our music video we have used many different props to create a realistic look for examply the club scecne. a list of the props we have used follows;

beer cans/bottles- used during open sequence too set the scence of a delerict pub.
devil costume- this was used to link with a lyric in the song, and also to add humor as it is following frededy waking up outside the disused pub.
ciggarett- used to link with a lyric. also to portray dont care about being healty i am young party attitude
envolop for the results- to make the STD result look realistic
painted wooden pannal- used within the club scence to add the effect that our artist is under the influence of substances
lepard print jackett- this was used during the sex scene to portray the girl as very sexualised and seductive.

The use of the props was to add realism to our shots. for example the use of empty beer cans in the opening shot used to represent the evnts of the previous night and also the use of ciggarets to project the self-destructive image of our artist.

The colourfully painted table was one of the main props we wanted to use. as you can see from the photo we orignally used this prop to act as a stage for freddy to lie on to give him a higher level over the extras.

used to act as a satge to get low and high angle shots of freddy. also used for a perfromance element.

The prop was then used for a perfromance section. The intresting pattern on the table really attarcted us to use it as we belive it implys drug taking ( as we are not allowed to show the consumption of alchol or drugs on film), which fits in with the music video and also the destructive nature of the character.

Lyric Booklet

Front cover

First page. inside left

right side of page

center spread. double page

next page left side

final page right side

back of booklet

Band logo reflection

I think wer are going in the right direction with the logo. As the smoke and change in font adds an attraction form our target audience. However i think we need to make the logo brighter to corresppond with the up beat tone of freddys music. Also the need for images of freddy is imperitive, as we need to sell him to our target audience as the star, also mabye intwineeing pictures of the let down as well. However the logo does looks very proffesinal and we are going in the wright driection with it.

I dont not believe that this logo represents the style and genre of music of the band. as i think the colour are too suttle within comparisent to the band on a whole and the lyrics in the song. As we are trying to create a unique band, with a style that has never been seen before. but i believe this logo conforms to too many genric convention of mainstream bands and does signfy the style of the band to the audience which will affect the marketing of the band.

The logo below is a combination of the two logos. and i believe it works really well as the dark colours signfys the meaning behind the song/band which we are trying to project, along with the bold FREDDY which markets him as the 'star' of the band and gives him domiance. Also i like the the scribbled qurkey writing in which the let downs is written as it projects Freddys domiance however still marketing the let downs.

Audience feedback

In lesson we where told to go round the

•  the overall sychronising of the music video
• camera shots/angles  
• the overall framing
• sustain of the interest
• pace of the music and the pace of the editing
• narrative
• target audience
• ....and the overall enjoyment!

These are the responses we got back from our fellow class mates;

Feedback 1

Feedback 2

Feedback 3

Feedback 4

Decisions- Disjunctive Narrative

As a group we discussed the topic of narrative through out the music video. We decided to look at the class work done on disjunctive narrative. we believed that it would be best for the music video if we created a disjunctive narrative. the reasons for this where;

1- We did not want the narrative to be the main focus of the music video. Taking the focus away from freddy.

2-  It was imperitive for the video to sell freddy as a 'star', and with a disjunctive narrative this is possible. as we have more shot time for close ups of Freddy, and also for performance scences.

3-  We do not want our music video to confrom to all generic conventions of real music videos, as i believe them videos that conform to all aspects are for highly commercial and generic songs with the backing of big record lables. However the use of disjunctive narrative will give our video authenticity when compared to real music video's. all though it is still imperitive to create an individual and unque music video.

Re-Casting

After a conversation with one of the intial members of the 'let downs'. Sam barnham was happy to take on the role of Freddy. We have made sure that Sam can be fully commited and felxiable with the times we can shoot due to other groups using cameras, and he seems highly co-opeative with this.

However sam had never heard of the song and does not have a great intrest in jamie t as Archie did, this will hold us back as there needs to be time for sam to learn the lyrics, hopefully this will not take to much time as we have been delayed by our previous actor.

We did not see mnay problems with casting Sam as he also holds a 'unique style and look' and is a very confident actore which is imperitive to us as Freddys fashion must co-respond wiht unquie style of music. Also his confidence must be seen by the camera to create the star image of a lively young party animal. As this is how we sell our star to the audience. pictures from our first scheduled shoot with sam (Freddy) follow.

Casting Issue

Our intial actor to be Freddy (Archie Harris-Eva), can not take on the part of Freedy due to other commitments such college work of his own. this has really delayed us as know we are back at stage 1 with no actor fillling the main part, and has left us not being able to film any footage. As freedy was planned to be in nearly every shot and was also needed for each sheduled day of filming.

Casting of actors

Once, we had finalised our song and story board. We moved on to the task of casting our 'star' (lead of the band), we realised that the actor we cast must reflect the individuality and orginal style of music performed by 'Jamie T'.

Archie Harris-Eva

A close friend of mine Archie Harris-Eva, he was our first choice to play/be our star 'Freddy'. we decided to use archie as he had a true lpove and respect for jamie T music, but also this song. as well as this Archie all ready knew all the lyrics to the song, cutting down the pratical filming side of the project as we would not have to take time to help him learn the lyrics. We also used Archie in our prelimary task, and found that he was very confident around the camera and that the 'camera loved him' along with his unique style, it made him perfect to be Freedy.

The main narrative includes a seductive young girl that cause all of the chaos in freddy's simple life of partying and being social when he pays the price for his lady back attitude, when he catches an STI of this seductive mysterious girl.

The actress that we need to play this part must be highly confident infront of peers and the camera, as they will be asked to be highly seductive and sexy when filming to project her feminity to the audience. she must also let us carry out voyeristic shot of her e.g loads of boady shots to create a realistic display. However the actress must have more than just feminity as she has to project ideas of her being individual and mysterious to coenside with the narrative in the music video.

Hannah Watson 

We have decided to cast Hannah Watson a fellow student who is studying Performing Arts. to play the role of the mysterious girl as we believe her acting skills and style will allow us to successfully create our mysterious character.

there is also a need for 2 children to plaay the iconic role of policeman. Who will  be cashing freedy throughout the video. Representing the contravertial topic of youth relationship with authority, as the policeman will be children representing freedys undermining view for authority.

 

The backing band know as the 'let downs' wil play a small part in the music video, in the opening shot freddy will be passed out along with the let downs. The 'let downs' will consit of me (Harry Moppett), Sam Barnham (seen in hannah watsons casting photo)  and Tom Roberts.

initial story board- Reflection

This is the story board we divised. when planning the story board we wanted it to be as detailed as possible, with every finalised idea on it. As we believed it would help us to direct the cast and shoot the footage with key realation to our finalised ideas.

However it is impossible to create a story board that will be an exact shot plan, but the story board will be a guide to keep us on track with our idea. Reflecting on last year coursework, our opening sequence did not come out as planned on the story board. therefore it is unnlikey for the Music video to come out shot exact as weather, loacation and imprivisation will all be apparent whilst filming.

Mind maps of possible production company names.

 

As a group we sat down and mind maped possible production comapny names. we came up with some really original names that would suit our style of music being highly different to generic geners. After a long discussion we finally came to the decision of 'Turning Point Productuions'. We decided on this name as it was used for our AS coursework (opening sequence) and believed it would make the display of the star more realistic, as many institutions create all types of mediated text for example Universal studios and Universal Records.  

Analysis of florence and the machine album cover.

The album cover is made up of a bordered image of Florence. The image takes up the majority of the album cover with the artist’s name ‘Florence + the Machine’ taking up the area above the picture. The album name ‘Lungs’ has be written on top of the image by using layers in an image editing application.

The main image on the album cover shows Welch wearing little more than a pair of lungs. The fact that Florence has her eyes closed and the theme of nature is used in the background gives Florence an innocent look. This is something that is has been reflected in the majority of her single and EP covers.

Location Research

As we wanted to display our ideas of inviduality through our music video. We had to pick specific locations to film scence of the music video. so the footage would match the genre of the music rock/indie. we used very specific locations and lights to set specific moods with in a scene, we used old abadoned pubs in south london to lighted bedrooms.

This was the abandoned pub we used in Roehampton. This was used to film to opening scene of our music video. I believe it works really well as it creates a run down atmosphere, which we want the audience to experience as this is wneh Freddy wakes up and realises thst he needs to change the way he is living as it is after a stange and chaotic night (party scene).





When we where filming the party scene, we had to make sure the scene would look like an authentic party. For this reason we decide to film the scene in the drama studios at our 6th form. this way we could use the lights that are used for school productions, to create a realistic party atmosphere. To create this atmosphere we need to have extras within the scene, however we do it need to create a party, as closeup and boady shots can immitae a large amount of people being there along with strobe lighting.

The filiming of the sex scene is going to take place in my bedroom. we decided to use my bedroom due to the fact of the black out bind. as it would allow us to immitate the night, and also allow a flow through our music video as this scene comes after the party. We are going to use the blue light in my room when filming the intermate parts of the scene. As it offers us a colourfull light which project ideas that freddy and the girl encountered each other at party, and that they are under the influence of alchol. Therefore they are hping not to meet or see each other again.

The filming of Freddy going to the 'sex clinic' will take place at a dis-used goverment building. The reasons for this are, the building is at the top of my road so we could film a big segment of the video in one day as we had the resouce of my house, allowing us to bring up needed props and equipment from my house with out having to carry it around with us, also the building offers authencity and replication of a real clinic. As the building has a goverment look to it, due to the fact the building is dis-used it fits in to the theme of the video along with the derelict pub, in the opening sequence.

The other locations needed where surban streets. as the rest of the footage needed was Freddy going on his jouney to the clinic after waking up out side the pub. We decided to use the idea of freddy walking taking the audience on a journey with him, as we would have to use a range of tracking shot e.g long track and close up tracking but could add elements of performance much like in Jamie T shelia video.