evaluation

My evaluation

Question 1 -   In what ways does our media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?   

Question 2 -   How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary task? 

 

 

Question 3 -  What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Question 4 -  How did you use media technologies in te construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

evaluation script

Evaluation script

1.       In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

We used Lana Del Rey’s ‘video games’ music video as the main inspiration for our own but we also looked at some of her other videos aswell as Ellie Goulding's 'I need your love'. We found 'video games' contains many random shots and a variety of shot types and cutting speeds edited together well to the beat. We followed this convention by filming many random shots for example instruments, a swing and effects such as paint falling in water and then editing these in throughout. We felt that this would add a more artistic look to our music video and keep the audience interested, wondering what is going to happen next. We also included close up and medium performance shots of our artist singing in many different locations which is very much like Lana Del Rey’s video with the artist remaining in eye contact with the camera the whole time to entice the audience in. We did this right from the beginning to immediately introduce our artist to the audience as she is the most important part of our product. We were originally only going to use these performance shots at the beginning and end of the video, however in our feedback people said that they liked these and thought we should use them the whole way through. These shots were mostly close ups as this shows her vulnerability and also that there is no hiding for the artist and in our research we found that artists like ours were shown as though they are more interested in the music than their appearance. We also showed this in our mise en scene and costume by having her wearing simple clothes unlike artists like for example Rihanna who rely heavily on their appearance. Lana Del Rey's video games included the performance shots placed where the lyrics were more important and needed to be exaggerated so we aswell used this technique. Many music videos we looked at contained footage that looked as though it had been filmed with a handheld camera which makes it more believable, it would also mean the audience are more able to relate to it. We also found that many music video’s were based around a love story and decided to use this as the base for our narrative. For example Ellie Goulding’s ‘I need your love’ contains many different cliche shots of the couple in love and doing typical things you would expect a couple to do. We followed this same convention by including many different shots, in different locations and with different mise en scene, of the couple in our video. In the end our couple eventually break up which is shown by different long and medium shots edited together of the couple arguing and walking away from each other, this made sure that, although our video includes many random parts, the audience can still clearly follow the narrative. By watching other music videos we were inspired by, we realised that the editing was a very important stage in ours. We had lots of different shots and, like the ‘video games’ video, edited them together to the beat so they didn’t necessarily follow any order apart from the narrative shots. We made sure the editing sped up when the music sped up and slowed down when the music did, this makes sure that the audience keep interested while also emphasising important parts in the music. This was almost like a dream sequence, so we added the artist closing her eyes at the beginning of the video and opening them at the end so it is as though the whole video is a dream. We felt the random shots added a different edge to our video and could artistically explain feelings that could not easily be portrayed by the two actors, for example the rose being put together shows that their love is coming together but then at the end the colour also connotes danger and the nettles towards the end connote pain as the relationship is breaking down. We particularly liked the driving shots used in Ellie Goulding's 'I need your love' where it skips parts so incorporated this into some of our shots such as the corridor. We also liked the clouds in Lana Del Rey's 'summertime sadness' and wanted to include these so we developed this and used time lapsing for clouds and a clock to show time passing fast.We found that many indie music videos had an aged look and didn’t show bright colours, we added a sepia effect over our whole video to follow this convention and to keep this theme running. The random shots throughout our video add confusion as they do in Lana Del Rey's videos but they also engage the audience as they can work out the meaning as most of these shots have a connotation. Our music video mainly follows the conventions effectively that were found in our research and doesn’t in many ways challenge these.

2.       How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?

For my digipack I used the theme of roses which ties it together with the rose in the video that symbolises the couples love. I carried on this theme as a background through my whole digipack and added photos over the top as, in my research, I found that artists such as Nina Nesbit in her ‘the apple tree’ digipack used a background with a different photo over the top. This shows the audience that this is an important aspect in all the products while also emphasising  the narrative of the couple in the video. I then used the same colour as the roses for the artists name and song title on the magazine advert to keep this colour theme going through my magazine advert aswell. I also included a small photo of the front of the digipack on my magazine advert to tie these together while also giving the audience more information and showing them the CD that the magazine is advertising. I added a slight sepia effect over the whole digipack as we did for our music video to give them an older look and to keep the theme running. When I asked for feedback people said they liked the colour theme so I decided to add this effect to my magazine advert aswell to further tie all my products together. In my research I found that many front covers of the digipacks used a simple natural photo of the artist for example Lana Del Reys ‘video games’ and Ellie Goulding’s ‘bright lights’. I also found in Ellie Goulding’s she is looking away from the camera and it is more as though it is not posed, I liked this idea as it again shows that the artist is care free and is more interested in the music. So for my front cover of the digipack I used a close up natural looking photo of the artist just showing her head and shoulders looking away from the camera as I also did in the magazine advert. I found many other magazine adverts such as Ellie Goulding’s and Lana Del Rey’s did this, this follows the performance shots in our video as these are also close ups as we felt this was better for the audience because they can clearly tell what she is singing. This also keeps the convention going that we followed of the artist not being able to hide throughout the video, digipack and magazine advert. I also found in my research that many digipacks included song lyrics on one of their panels for example Lana Del Rey’s ‘born to die’ I decided to include the song lyrics to time over the background of the roses in two of my panels to follow this convention. I used the same font for this as I used for the ratings, website and other information in my magazine advert. For the artists name on my digipack I used a swirly font that I also used in my magazine advert for the artists name and song title to tie the two together. I also made sure that these were the largest text on the magazine advert to show that the artist is the most important aspect as is shown in our music video for the performance shots which are kept simple just showing her so there are no distractions for the audience. 

3.       What have you learned from your audience feedback?

We first set up a focus group and asked our target audience for verbal feedback about our music video before we had fully finished it, people said that they didn’t always understand the narrative so we decided to re-film the ending and include shots of the couple arguing and walking away from each other to make it more obvious to the audience that they are breaking up. This showed how valuable audience feedback was as our video was immediately made much better just by making these few changes, I also learnt that the audience are the best people to take advice from about our video as they are the people that will be watching it in the end. Therefore after we had finished our first draft we showed this to the rest of our class and asked them what they liked, what they didn’t like and what they thought we could improve on. Many people said they liked the random shots especially the clouds and clock but that they were a bit too confusing so we overcame this by filming and adding more random shots to make it obvious that it was supposed to be random and like a dream sequence. We also changed some of these such as the chair spinning around as although we wanted it random they were confusing the audience more than what we would have liked. Another thing that was commonly said was that people liked our performance shots and they were filmed and put together well but they would have liked to see these more throughout the video. Originally we were only going to have performance shots at the beginning and end but we decided to film some more in different locations and incorporate these into the middle of the music video aswell to further show our artist. However there were also many things that the target audience liked about the video aswell such as the time lapsing for the clouds and clock, they thought this was an interesting and creative way to show time passing. Another common theme that people liked was the quick cutting speed as they thought this fit in well with the song and was very much like Lana Del Rey’s video games which was our main inspiration. I also asked for written feedback for my digipack and magazine advert after we had shown the video, I showed two different magazine adverts, one with a rose background and one with a more natural background and asked which one they preferred. Most people said they preferred the magazine advert with the more natural background and I also thought this one fit in with the conventions of indie artists I had researched better than the other one. Many people said they liked the colour theme of my digipack so I kept this the same with the roses in the background but replaced some of them with the roses in different positions, I also kept the common theme of natural photos as many people liked this.

4.       How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

We used a camera with different features such as time lapsing as we felt this would add more of an interesting concept to our video, for the clouds and clock we turned on the time lapse feature then left the camera to take many consecutive photos. We then used sony vegas to edit our music video as we could add effects and play around with different technologies. We added all the photos taken with the time lapsing feature together and then sped these up to show time passing and to show the couple’s relationship changing over time. We also sped many shots up for example the ballet shots and the swing as we felt this would fit in better with the music and wouldn’t drag on as much for the audience so keeping them interested. A common feature we used in the editing process was opacity; we placed two different shots over the top of each other but faded them so the audience could see them at the same time. We did this for different reasons for example; at the beginning we put a shot of the boy over the girl to briefly introduce him to the audience before the main narrative became clear. Another part we used this in was for some of the performance shots where we put these over the top of other things for example the rose to make it different for the audience so they were not all just purely performance shots. With the rose we sped this up and then reversed it so it looked like it was being put together rather than being taken apart. I felt this worked well as it showed how the couple’s relationship was being put back together and going well. We edited the shots together to the beat of the music not necessarily in a specific order. This helped to emphasise important parts of the music as the shot changed when the beat changed, we also kept the order quite random as this was how ‘video games’ was done, however there was a slight order for some of the shots for example the narrative shots. I used photoshop to edit the digipack and magazine advert as there were many different features I could use in this. This is a more difficult program than others so took time to get used to for example the different layers. I  played around with the hue and saturation on my images to enhance them and to make the colours fit with the colours in the music video.  For the front and back covers of my digipack I cut out the photo of the artist from the background and then put this over a background of roses as I felt this was more interesting than just keeping the normal background. It also made it tie in better with the music video as a rose was commonly used it that aswell. I made it look as though the photo of the artist on the back cover was the same photo as that on the front cover but from the back as I thought this would add an interesting concept to my digipack. I kept the theme of natural photos running through the digipack and magazine advert and then added a sepia effect over the top of both of them as we did for the video aswell. I used blogger to present my research and final products as this way it can all be viewed together. I embedded photos and text together to show pre production for example mise en scene, location and lyric analysis aswell as feedback. This further showed our ideas for the music video and how we changed it according to our feedback. I could also show the conventions I researched for my digipack and magazine adverts aswell as some analysis’ I did on existing products to make it easier in the editing stage when making my own products.

Final video

Time by Bliss

This is our final music video, we followed the feedback from our target audience and re-filmed some more random shots then edited these in to make it more obvious that there are supposed to be random things throughout. We also filmed some different shots for the ending to make the narrative clear that they are arguing and splitting up towards the end. We edited all the filming together to the beat so it speeds up when the music speeds up and slows down when the music slows down, this will make it more interesting for the audience and make important parts of the music stand out. We filmed some more performance shots to add in to the middle of the video as we only originally had these at the beginning and the end but our target audience said they would prefer it if we had more. We decided to add a sepia effect over the whole video to give it an old effect as this is a convention used in many other indie music videos, this will also tie in with my magazine advert and digipack as they also follow this colour scheme. Some objects are used repeatedly throuoghout the video video for example the rose, clock and clouds. The rose shows their love breaking up and coming together again and also fits in with my digipack. Both the clouds and clock show time passing as the name of the song is time, it shows how their love changes over time. From our original idea we changed a few things as we were going along as we felt this would work better for our video. Instead of using a busy city to show time passing we used clouds and filmed these with time lapse then sped them up in the editing process as this would show time passing fast. We also swapped the shot of the water balloon popping with a shot of paint falling in water as we felt the balloon shot looked slightly amateur and the paint shot would work better with the rest of our video.

magazine advert

After the feedback I decided to choose the magazine advert without the roses as a background as most people preferred this, it also follows conventions of indie artists magazine advert's better as it keeps it simple and natural looking. I kept the large photo of the artist as this will immediately draw the audiences attention to her, making her the main focus. She is looking straight at the camera which makes it look as though she is making eye contact with the audience and drawing them in. I also added a sepia effect to make it look slightly older as this is a convention used by many indie artists. I changed the colour of the artists name and album name to match the colour of the roses in the digipack, this makes it tie in better. I added purchasing options and singles that the album features in  a smaller font to give the audience more information. I included ratings from magazines and newspapers to persuade the audience to buy the album, as these are included in many other magazine adverts. I also included the artists and record companys websites to give the audience the option to find out more information. I moved the text at the bottom from the right hand side to the middle as the audience will be more drawn to it and this is also where it is placed on most other magazine adverts. I also decided to include a small photo of the front cover of the digipack to further tie together the magazine advert and the digipack.

digipack

After the feedback, I changed a few things on the digipack. I added production credits in small credits at the bottom of the back cover along with a barcode to make it look more realistic. I also added more opacity to the photos so the roses can be seen through them more. I added a slight sepia effect to make the digipack as a whole look slightly older.

Feedback

I showed my digipack, magazine advert and music video to a terget audience and asked them to write feedback on what they thought was good, what they thought was bad and what the thought I could improve. This is the feedback I received:

I

digipack draft

I used a recurring theme of roses throughout the digipack as this fits in with the rose in the music video and connotes the love in the video. This is like Nina Nebit's "the apple tree" album cover which uses the background of an apple tree. Like the magazine advert, I wanted to keep the digipack simple which follows conventions of other indie artists such as Lana Del Rey. I also used lyrics for some of the panels as in my research I found many artists did this. I used a swirly font for the artists name as this fits in with her name and also the rose theme. I used a block font for the album name, the lyrics and the song titles to keep it consistent throughout the digipack. These are also the same two fonts that I used in the magazine advert. I used opacity on the front and back covers so you can still slightly see the roses through the photos of the artist. I also used opacity on the 3rd panel so you can see the roses over the top of the photo with the artist. I made the back cover look like it is the same photo as the front cover but from behind so the front and back of the artist is shown.

magazine advert draft 2

I decided the roses in the background didn't work as well as the natural outside setting. This background looks more effortless which is another convention of indie artists. I still kept the advert simple like the draft. I used a swirly font for the artists name as this fits in with the name and conventions of indie artists. I then used a block font for the rest of the writing as this is easier to read ans simple, but I also wanted to keep this consistent throughout the magazine advert and digipack.

magazine advert draft

I decided to use the roses as a background as I thought this would tie in with the roses in the music video. I kept the magazine advert simple like that of Lana Del Reys as this is a convention of indie artists. I used the same colour as the artists top for the artists name and the same colour as the roses for the rest of the writing to keep the colours consistent.

conventions

Conventions of digipacks

• Many indie digipacks are kept simplistic with the front cover featuring a simple shot of the artist and the text kept to a minimum with just the artist's name and the album name. This shows how the artist wants the photo to be the main attraction as this is the first thing that the audeince's attention will be attracted to.
• The back cover usually follows the same theme so it ties in with the front cover. It usually has a very minimalistic look with a font used for the track lisitngs that is the same as a font used for the front cover. 
• The inside follows the same theme as the rest of the digipack which is minimalistic. Some inside panels contain lyrics to songs included in the album. 
• The fonts are usually kept to a minimim with just two or three fonts used.
• The colours are also kept to a minimum to keep the digipack simple. 
• Many of them have an added effect to make them look older.
• The photos used are usually not posed but more of a natural photo to make it look like the artist cares more about the music that their image.
• Production credits are included at the bottom of the back cover. 

Conventions of magazine adverts

• Indie artist's magazine adverts usually follow the theme of their digipack to link everything together.
• Many of them include a simple shot of the artist which draws the target audience in and makes the artists the main attraction. Again, this is usually a more natural shot and is not posed.
• The different text fonts are kept to a minimum and are simple to keep the main focus on the artist. The artists name is usually the biggest text and is placed at the top on most magazine adverts to show that the artist is the most important subject. The album name is usually the second biggest font as this is also an important aspect in the magazine advert. The rest of the text is usually smaller as it still needs to be included but is not as important.
• In many magazine adverts ratings from magazines, radios and newspapers are included to persuade the audience to buy the album. 
• The artists or recording company's websites are very often included at the bottom to allow the audience to find out more information. 
• The colours and fonts used usually tie in with them on the digipack in some way. 

video first draft

This is the link to the first draft of our music video. We are going to present this to our target audience and ask them for feedback so we can then change parts and add parts to improve. We will re-shoot some parts and edit these in to link together our digipack, magazine advert and music video.

http://youtu.be/7PR6VeUWQpQ

digipack research

Lana Del Rey's born to die album is quite simple with a simple front cover shot outside with not many effects and bold writing. She has used lyrics and kept the background simple.

magazine advert research

This magazine advert advertising Lana Del Rey's 'Born to die' album is kept quite simple with the text, photo and colours. It uses a simple mid shot which is placed in the middle of the advert, this will immediately draw the audiences attention to the artist which is the main subject. The artist is looking straight at the camera so it is as though she is making eye contact with her audience, this will draw people in to the advert. Simple fonts are used for the text and the different fonts are kept to a minimum, this will keep the main focus on the artist. The artists name is in the biggest font showing she is the most important part of the advert followed by the album title. The white text for 'Lana Del Rey' matches her white top while the blue text for 'Born to die' matches the sky, this ties the whole advert together. An effect has been added over the photo to make it look as though it is old. Text informing the audience of when the album is out is included at the bottom along with singles included in the album and the artist's website.                                        

Many digipacks and magazine adverts seem to use a simple mid shot, this will focus the audiences attention on the artist as their eye will go immediately to the photo of them. It also keeps it simple so there aren't any distractions to take their attention off the main focus which is the artist.

I have decided to use the same convention and am going to take some simple mid shots on varied backgrounds. Both outside with interesting backgrounds and also on plain backgrounds to see which will work the best.






Ellie Goulding's magazine advert uses a simple shot of the artist which seems as though it is not posed. It is more of a natural photo which is a convention of indie artists magazine adverts. Ratings from magazines are included at the bottom to persuade the target audience to buy the album. The text is kept simple with only two different fonts used and it all being white. This also makes it stand out against the dark background. The artists name is in a bigger font which makes it stand out more than all the other text. Websites for the artist and recording company are placed at the bottom so the audience can find out more information if they want to.

digi packs analysis

 Ellie Goulding

Ellie Goulding is an indie pop artist and her album 'Bright Lights' was released on 26th February 2010. Her main target audience is teenagers and young adults.
Front cover

 Ellie Goulding is shown in a way which seems innocent and possibly quite vulnerable which represents her as an artist. The background is blurrred out and the camera focuses on just the artist as she is the main star. The photo is a close up of her face which again draws the audeinces atention to the artist so the main focus is of her. The photo seems as though it is care free, not posed but insteasd an action shot just taken without her knowing. This suggests she isn't bothered too much about her image so adheres to indie conventions. The artists minimal makeup show she is making litle effort and is common with many indie artists. Her clothing also makes her seem care free as she is just wearing a white top and isn't dressed up while the white may also represent purity. Her minimal makeup, efortless hair and casual clothes are a common theme used on many of her albums. This will also appeal to the target audience as it will her seem just like them and so they will be able to relate to her. The photo has been taken outside which is common with many indie artists as it shows she is out exploring and  finding lyrics for her upcoming songs. The title stands out as it is in bright white and yellow and a simple font has been used. This keeps the album cover simple which again adheres to indie conventins. The writing seems as though it is lit up this, along with the lights surrounding the artist, tie in with the album title 'bright lights.'

Back cover

The back cover is very simple, keeping to indie convemtions where the main focus is on the music rather than the image. The blurred background ties in with the blurred background on the front cover keeping the whole album consistent. The lights make the title of the album 'Bright Lights' relevant and again are consistent with the front cover. The song titles are the main focus and these are clear and easy to see as they are in a simple font and a light yellow colour which stand sout against the background. The font used for the track listing is the same font as used on the album cover tying the back cover and the front cover together. Production credits are included in small text at the bottom.

CD

The CD is very simple which is a common theme that runs througout this whole digi pack. This shows Ellie Goulding is indie as the main foucs is on the music. The font used is the same as the font used on the front cover which brings the whole digi pack together. The simplicity of the plain yellow background make the album titile and the artists name stand out to the audience. This, along with the artists name in a larger font, make the main focus on Ellie Goulding as her name is the main thing that can immediately be seen when looking at this CD.

 Rihanna 

Rihanna is a mainstream aritst who's music appeals mainly to older teenagers and young adults. The album 'Loud' was released in November 2010. 

 Other inspiration

Nina Nesbit has used a natural looking, simple photo on a background of an apple tree which fits in with the title of her album. This makes the album cove rmore interesting than just a normal outside background but still keeps it quite simple. 

Feedback

We showed a draft of ou music video to the rest of the class and asked them for feedback on parts they thought were good, parts they thought were bad and ow they could be imprioved and whether hey understood the narrative.
The main comments we recieved were:

Good                           Bad                            How to improve

• The variety of shots are good 
• The shots of the artist singing are nice but they could be used more throughout the video rather than just at the begining 
• The editing is good and yo ucan tell a lot of efort and time has been put into that but a few parts are slightly out of time with the beat of the music.
• Even though there are supposed to be random shots some of them are a bit too random and confuse the audience too much.
• More random shots could be added to make it clear that they are supposed to be random and confusing for the audience 
• The narrative is easy to understand at the beginnig but some people did not get that they were supposed to be arguing and breaking up at the end

editing and effects

We have now got all our filming done and are in the process of editing it all. We wanted to include different effects to make the music video more interesting and to keep the audience interested. We have used time lapsing and sped this up for clouds and a clock to make it look like time is passing fast, we also thought this was more interesting and looked better than just speeding up normal footage as it has a more 'juttery' effect.
Clock and cloud editing:

For some of our performance shots we have added a sepia and grain effect to make it seem quite old. This is quite a common convention used in indie artists videos as it makes the footage seem less clear and as though little budget has been spent on it.
Performance shots:

We are going to make some of the shots reverse, for example the rose, to make it seem as though the girl in the video is trying to repair her love with her boyfriend as she is putting the rose back together. This is also more interesting for the audience than the normal forwards footage.

Shot plan

PERFORMANCE

Laid down sleeping beauty shot

Stage

Cinema           

Time

Driving speed up shot

Clouds

Dance shots

Clock

COUPLE

High angle field

Saddleworth moor

Woods

Beach

PROPS

Lemon

Water Balloons

Paint

Flower

KEY

Beth’s

Joint at school random

After school

Planned at school

Treatment

Our music video will be split into three sections due to the tempo of the song and our narrative. The beginning slow bit of the song will introduce the artist as our aim is to introduce Bliss to her target audience and release her with a song. The mise en scene will be very carefully planned due to fashion trends of the time and to make sure the audience, in particular girls, accept her. The middle section of the song will be where our narrative is introduced, Bliss will be sat watching a cinema screen where memories of her and a boy will be played. The cutting speed and general pace will be significantly increased and fit to the rhythm of the song. The end section will be slowed down and more performance and artist shots will be shown as the narrative draws to a close. Alongside the narrative we will include some slow motion and sped up shots of objects such as flowers and a lemon and we will include shots of crowds and the weather to show the influence of time. 

pre production - lyric analysis

Lyric analysis

"Time" Chase and Status (feat. Delilah)

If you can find the time
To give your love to me
I will wait for you
If that's all you need
(Time, Time)
If you can find the time
(Time, Time)
If ever you're free
Just drop me a line
And tell me where you'll be
I'll be right here
If you can find the time
Just be sincere.
If you can find the time
I'll wait for you.
But if you can't find the time
(Time, Time, Time)
Then cut me loose.
'Cause I don't have the time
And I don't have the patience
What do you take me for
Why must I wait
'Cause while you decide
I'm fucking suffocating
'Cause if you can't find the time
My bleeding heart won't make it [x2]
If you can find the time
To give your love to me
Just drop me a line
And tell me where you'll be
I'll be right here
If you can find the time
Just be sincere
'Cause I don't have the time
And I don't have the patience
What do you take me for
Why must I wait
'Cause while you decide
I'm fucking suffocating
'Cause if you can't find the time,
My bleeding heart won't make it [x3]
I'll be right here
If you can find the time
Just be sincere
If you can find the time
I'll, I'll wait for you
But if you can't find the time
Then cut me loose.
'Cause I don't have the time
And I don't have the patience
What do you take me for
Why must I wait
'Cause while you decide
I'm fucking suffocating
'Cause if you can't find the time
My bleeding heart won't make it [x3]
'Cause I don't have the time [x6]
My bleeding heart won't make it 

 

The lyrics of this song seem to be about a girl and a boy who's relationship is breaking down. Lyrics such as "and I don't have the patience" suggest the girl is sick of waiting for the boy but the reason she is doing this isn't shown in the lyrics. On the other hand lyrics such as "I will wait for you" show that the girl still wants the bo and will wait for him no matter what. She is almost begging her boyfriend to come back but at the same time saying she can't wait any longer. This song uses a lot of visual imagery such as "bleeding heart" which allows the listener to think deeper into the song and think of a deeper meaning rather than the song just saying exactly what it means. Lines such as "if ou can find the time" seem to show the girl as questioning their love while lines such as "to give your love to me" are quite personal and show that the girl does still love him. The girl is clearly very undecisive about the relationship and the mood and feeling are very clear to the audience. We want to show this through the narrative in our music video.

pre production - Goodwins theory

Goodwins theory

Andrew Goodwin's 5 key aspects:

• Thought beats - seeing the sound
• Narrative and performance
• The star image
• Relation of visuals to song
• Technical aspects of music video

Thought beats

• Look at the music and take into account structure
  we are going to do this by taking into account the slow and fast parts of the song and editing in time to the pace of the music. We will also make sure the structure of our video fits in with the lyrics of the song for example the flash backs to the memories will be in the middle of the song when it speeds up and there will be fast cuts to these. The slow motion and sped up parts will also fit in with the pace of the music.

• The voice - the artists voice is unique
  We will show this by having close ups to the artist singing so the audiences attention is focused on her singing and the lyrics of the song.
• Artists mode of address this can be seen as stories
  We will show memories from the artists past so the audience understand her background and the narrative of the video.

Narrative and performance

• Don't give complete narrative
  Our whole video won't be narrative, we will have performance shots intergrated with narrative to keep the audience interested and entertained. We will also miss parts of the narrative out to keep the audience thinking while also making sure they don't get bored watching just narrative. This will also make sure it looks like a music video and not a film but while also having some narrative in there.
  
• Should ignore common narrative
  We will make the video our own and not use common cliche's used in many music videos such as the fans chasing the artist.
  
• Have a motif that's repeated
  As our song is called time and is about waiting we are going to have an image of a clock repeated throughout the video at dofferent parts. This will link into the lyrics and the narrative of the song.
• The audience need to believe it is real
  We will make the music video believable to the audience by making sure the lyp syncing is in time in the performance shots. We will also make sure the narrative is believable and not too over the top but while also keeping it entertaining for the audience.
  
  
  
  Star image 
  
  
  • Describes the development of the star over time
    This will be shown through her costume and her performance. Her performance will be more rehearsed and the costume will be appropraite for her age and the audience.
  • Personality
    We will show our artists personality throughout the music video. This can be done in the shots of the memories with her boyfriend and also the performance shots. Her personality can also be shown through her costume and outfit choices.
  • Mise en scene
    We will use appropriate clothing and props that fit in with our artists overall image and also the lyrics and overall song. We are using props such as flowers and fruit which symbolise different lyrics and parts of the music video.
    
    
    Relation of visuals to song
  • Illustrate - use a set of images to illustrate the meaning of lyrics and genre.
    We are going to use images such as a flower which will symblise love is teomparary like a flower, a lemon which will show love is bitter sweet and a clock which will sybolise time and waiting. This will fit in with the meaning of the lyrics and help to explain them while also explaining the narrative to the audience.
     
  • Amplify - Meanings are manipulated and constantly shown through the video.
    The clock will be repeated several times throughout the video showing the meaning of the song is about waiting. The memories will also be shown trhoughout the video with an added effect such as black and white or sepia to make it obvious to the audience that they are memories and in the past.
     
  • Disjunctive - where the meaning of the song is completely ignored
    We will nit be using this as we are going to take into account the meaning of the song and our narrative will link in with the lyrics so it makes more sense for the audience when watching our music video.

   
  Technical aspects
   
  • Camera, movement, angle, mise en scene, editing, sound and special effects.
    We are going to use different angles and a range of different shots to add variety to our music video and keep it entertaining so the audience don't get bored watching it. Lots of our mise en scene will symbolise different things for example love and waiting. We will add effects in editing such as slow motion and sped up parts to fit in with the music and also black and white or sepia for the memories.
     
  • Edit to the beat We will edit our shots to the beat of the music to emphasise the important parts. For example at the beginning the song starts slow so the cuts will also be slow but as the song becomes faster there will be more fast paced cuts

pre production - summary of roles

Summary of roles:

We are going to collaborate together to do the filming and editing as we both wanted to experience and play a part in the coming together of the whole music video. This will allow us to gain new skills and build up on the ones we already have in different areas rather than just in either filming or editing. This also meand that we can bring our individual editing and filming skills from previous
media projects into this one. Therefore we will both play a part in being the producer, director and camera editor while also editing the video.

However, we split the pre production up into separate sections and each had a different section to do. I did the location recce, soryboard, costume and mise en scene while Elise did the shotlist and interaction with target audience. We felt that this was the best and

most efficient way to go about doing the pre production.

pre production

We couldn't find an e-mail address for the record company mercury so instead contacted them to ask permission to use Chase and Status's song "Time" via twitter.

pre production - interaction with target audience

Interaction with target audience.

We mutually decided to put a lot of thought into our target audience and consistently get feedback throughout the pre production process to ensure we created and produced a music video that introduces a main stream artist that will be well received. We decided to brief a selection of target audience about what we were thinking about doing with our video, as our artist is a girl and she is mainstream we knew there was a lot we had to consider. With our artist being a mainstream female she is vulnerable to attack from critics and more importantly, to dislike from the target audience who could instantly repel the artist if constructed and shown the wrong way. With teenagers and young adults having a lot of power with social media and opinion being so easily published we decided we needed to tread carefully with our artist.

We have decided to create a video where the female is dressed according to preference of our target audience whilst also being in accordance with her own individual style which is what we are trying to exaggerate. We have decided to stay well away from the high budget video kind of thing where material possessions are a focal point of the video as this comes under scrutiny often and we need our artist to be accepted.

Using a video with our artist and a boy we are hoping that this will make girls accept her as a genuine and relatable artist with a situation that people may be able to relate to. We hope there will be no resentment to the artist. We are going to slightly sexualise the artists clothes to hopefully attract boys also.

Here are some questions we asked some of our target audience:

Would you appreciate a video with the narrative of a young couple and their story?


What do you find intimidating about mainstream female artists?


What kind of things do you like seeing in young, female solo artists videos?


Do you like the idea of not seeing a female artist dancing in minimal clothing or do you think that's just what mainstream is now?

pre production - costume and mise en scene

Costume

For the shots of the boy and girl together the girl will wear simple clothing to show that nothing else matters when they are together. This will also make sure the audience focus their attention more on the what is happening rather than what she is wearing Our artist is main stream and we want to show this through the clothing in our video. We think that this type of clothing is what the normal everyday girl of this age would wear therefore our target audience of teenagers and young adults will be able to relate to this. 

Some examples:

Black shorts

                                                                         White jumper

Black ankle boots 

                                                             skinny jeans

The boy in these shots will be very much the same, wearing casual clothes. This will again make him seem like the normal everyday boy and will helpo the video to appeal to a male and female audience.
 Examples:

 

Jeans

                                                                                                                   Casual top

In the performance shots the girl will be more dressed up to show variety in the video and also sticking to conventions of music videos as our artist is mainstream. However, she won't be very dressed up as his will again detract the audiences attention away from the song and the narrative of the video. We also want to show a difference between the performance shots and the narrative shots to keep the video interesting for the audience. We want to appeal to a male audience through her clothes but while at thye same time making sure they are not too revealing. This will ensure that we are also appealing to the female audience as they can relate to her still.

Examples:

Black disco shorts
 White top









Red heels



 Pink top

 

 Props

A clock will be used throughout the video as the song is called "time". In the narrative the couple are waiting for the boy to go away so the clock will symbolise this and show they are waiting. There will be cuts to the clock throughout the whole video with the time getting nearer and nearer to the time that the boy has to leave. We will use time lapse and speed this up to make it look as thought time is passing faster.

A rose will be used as this symbolises their relationship. Flowers are temporary and don't last forever, similarly their love is temporary and will end up breaking down in the end. It will also show the stage their relationship is at. When the rose is falling apart this will symbolise their love falling apart however when the rose is whole this will show their relationship is good.  

        A lemon or another fruit will be used to also symbolise their relationship. It will show that love is bitter but sweet like the fruit. These objects will be cut to throughout the video to symbolise thier relationship and help explain what is happening in the narrative.