AS compared to A2

One thing I've noticed so far is that compared to AS, A2 media has a far more intense workload which I am finding hard to keep up with because of my other subjects. I need to start continually blogging as I have already started lagging behind which will put me at a disadvantage when it comes to doing my evaluation. Similarly, one challenge I have also faced is the pressure of working in a group with completely new people; although I enjoy working with new people, having to complete such a large amount of work with people I have never worked with at such a fast pace has been quite challenging as we initially hadn't  had enough time to get to know one another. 

Ways in which I could improve are:
1) Going to workshop and completing work that I need to catch up on
2) Adding more detail to my blog posts (i.e. different forms of technology)
3) Staying on top of my workload by finding a balance between completing the work for all my subjects and being employed. 

Progress so far

From our pitch we came to the conclusion that we needed to rethink our storyboard as it was far too vague and had not been discussed among the group properly yet. Similarly we decided that we needed  to clearly outline our costumes and locations continually incorporating them into our storyboard. Because of this, instead of filming on the wednesday during the half term that we collected our equipment, we met up in starbucks and spent the day sorting out our storyboard, locations and equipment needed for specific days. In doing this, we now have a clear direction of the days we are doing our initial filming, making sure that we have enough time for re-filming if necessary. 

[PLANNING] - Final Storyboard

Final Storyboad

Original we had set the 29th of October 2014 for filming instead we had to use the day to plan our storyboard. During our last media lesson (24/10/2014) we had planned our changes to the storyboard with everyone's ideas in-cooperated and created it as a group however as the member who had our storyboard had lost her folder on the train, we had to use this day to recreate that storyboard. We now know that we want our music video to have a female who is dancing around enjoying the song showing feelings of euphoria under the influence of love, however still imply the influence of drugs through the lyrics and not so much the props and setting and so the music video has a narrative of amplification according to Andrew Goodwin. 

We decided to focus on cross cuts between a black and white room as well as inside and outside to show a structure of verse and chorus.

We also planned that we would be filming Sunday 2nd November 2014.

[PLANNING] - Changes to Location

Changes to Location

We contacted the Art Gallery in Brick Lane that we wanted to use, unfortunately we did not get a reply, and took this as a sign that we cannot use it. We had to think of alternative locations which we can use as we wanted to stick to this idea of minimalism through a black room and a white room. 

We found a black room which is the Drama Studio at our college, however finding a white room was difficult. We have the option of the Photography room at college or one of the walls at my (Nahida) house. *can only use one wall as it will be too difficult to remove all furniture from that room.*

We also wanted to use this idea of lights to reinforce a euphoric theme. So we added Granary Square and Southwark Street into our location list.

[PRODUCTION] - Filming Cancellation

Filming Cancellation

We were supposed to film on the 2nd November 2014 at Wapping, however this filming session was cancelled and so we did not film during half term. I was seriously worried about this as we were now behind on filming which decreased the motivation in many members of this group. 

Firstly, Nicole had lost her phone and being the performer, there was no way we could film without her. We had no way to contact her to ensure that filming was a definite go ahead on that day.

Secondly, we didn't book out all the equipment we needed, i.e. a fig rig and lights. This meant that there wasn't really much we could film. 

Lastly, it was raining and the weather was really dull, and so we were afraid that we wouldn't get sufficient daylight to produce good footage. 

We have decided to start filming on the 7th November 2014.

[PLANNING] - Pitch Feedback

Pitch Feedback

After our pitch presentation we found that there was A LOT of work to get done. 

ThingLink Moodboard

MoodBoard

PITCH - Evaluation (Nicole)

Throughout our production we will be tweeting and instagraming our progress so we can refer to the posts when it comes to evaluation.

We plan to expand our media technologies and use the following to present our ideas:

• Prezis
• Powtoons
• Emaze
• Camtasia
• Photosnack
• Mural-ly
• Gifs

We will also be vlogging. 

PITCH - Social Media (Nicole)

PITCH - Risk Assessment (Nahida)

Risk Assessment

When putting together a production there are many risks involved.

PITCH - Production Schedule

PITCH - Animatic (Nahida)

PITCH - Storyboard (Nahida)

Storyboard

(14)Theory (Yashima)

The video will follow Goodwin’s theory on the singer being both the ‘narrator’ and the ‘character’ which would make this video an amplification, we will have certain parts of the video where the performer is breaking the fourth wall and connecting with the audience and there will be other parts of the video where the performer will be in character and illustrating meaning to the lyrics.

The reason we decided to do this is to appeal to our audience and keep them interested by having them watch something that they was not expecting to see which will hopefully keep them intrigued.

(13)Industry (Yashima)

If our artist was to be signed to a label it would be ‘XL Recordings' which is a very successful independent label.

This record label is was founded in the UK however they now have a location in New York which means the label has expanded, it is also well known for producing some of the most established artists to come out of the UK such as Dizzee Rascal, Adele and M.I.A. It could be mistaken for a major label because of the success of some of their artists.

FKA Twigs is a similar artist to our artist as her genre of music that she creates and performs is PBR&B which is the same genre as the song that our group is using for the music video.

The song would be available for internet download only as our artist’s main audience would be teenagers and young adults, this particular age group tend to use the internet the most out of all age groups which means this is where the song, music video, promotion would catch their attention.

The artist would be signed to an independent label such as ‘XL Recordings’ as there would be more creative control from the artist; being able to have an input in what music you create, involved in making big decisions, being the leader of your own career.

(12) Post Production (Yashima)

Base-track editing is one of the main techniques that will be used to edit the music video as we need to make sure the footage as well as the singing is in sync with the music.

As the song is slow editing may be done to slow down certain scenes to give a different element to the video.

The also has a ghostly, haunting feeling to it so our group thought of reinforcing this by editing the video to have a greyscale effect so the audience can connect with this and find it appealing.

PITCH - Draft Digipak & Advertisement (Chenny)

PITCH - Draft Digipak & Advertisement (Yashima)

PITCH - Draft Digipak & Advertisement (Nicole)

PITCH - Draft Digipak & Advertisement (Nahida)

Draft Digipak & Advertisement

Created using Coral Painter. Minimalism theme reinforced with use of black and white colour, plus the smoke effect so there's synergy throughout all cross media products. Artist name bold and clear and there's a signature font used though both products. This is how I would imagine the rough outline of a possible digipak for the artist to be like. 

Other Essentials; Barcode, Icons for downloads i.e. iTunes. Parental Advisory logo.

PITCH - Synergy (Nahida)

Synergy

Throughout our products we will maintain the same colour palette to make the products easily recognisable and link them together.

One key visual element that we are going to use to link together our promotional video and digipak as well as the advertisement will be the idea and effect of smoke. Our digipak will feature the artist with some sort of blur effect and smoke on top as we plan to use smoke or powder (to make a smoke effect) in our video. 

PITCH - Costume (Chenny)

Overall we would have 2-4 costume changes. We have decdied to go for a minimal look, mainly using black and white clothing this is beacause we felt that it would allow the audience to focus on the the artist more.

Pitch - Setting and Location

Taking our genre into consideration we looked at other music videos which are PBR&B for inspiration for our locations.

To keep with the theme of minimalism, we've kept our locations simple.

1) Archway Tunnel - Wapping

This tunnel keeps with the theme of minimalism. Its large and dark nature will be effective in our shots of 'Yasmin' at the beginning of the video where she will be seen walking down with glow sticks/powder also keeping with the idea of euphoria. We intend on creating very symbolic imagery with our choices of location rather than being literal.
2) Skatepark - Mile end and Waterloo
3) Brick Lane/Shoreditch - Graffiti Walls
These two locations, which are in our storyboard, will add an urban feel to our video suiting our genre (PBR&B). This will help assist our videos ability to appeal to young adults and fans of our genre as well as being recognisable to those who are interested in PBR&B as they have also been used in other artists videos. In saying this, we intend on making our video stand out by portaying this location in a different manner to those who have used it previously, through our editing i.e. effects.
4)Art Gallery - Brick Lane
This art gallery will also be an effective location because of the relevance of the artwork within it (i.e. photography of famous artists such as The Weeknd, FKA twigs and Tyler the Creator as well as abstract imagery of our motif: smoke. Consisting of plain black/white walls, this is where most of our minimalistic shots of our artist will be taken. Having a plain background will be effective as it is a motif in other PBR&B videos, which is something we intend on recreating.

Pitch - Audience 2 (Nicole)

We're basing our core audience on research we've done into the song, it's original artist and Ellie Goulding's fan base as well as who we would like/believe our artist would appeal to.

After visiting a record store, we found out that the original song sung by The Weeknd is part of a new genre called PBR&B which is a hybrid of r&b with a hipster feel to it. Other artists who are common in this genre consist of FKA Twigz, Kilo Kish and M.I.A. We also found out that this genre specifically appeals to young adults aged from 16-21 mainly. Generally, the artist is seen singing the song but in an abstract manner, e.g in FKA twigz's video to Water Me, she is seen in a close up continually throughout the song while she appears to be rotating. From this we understood that our video would be reliant on minimalism in order to appeal to our target audience.

In addition to all the research we had done into the song, we also had to consider the fact that although the song is PBR&B, Ellie Goulding belongs to a much different genre: indie pop. Although the two genres share similarities, for example their ability to appeal to 16-21yr olds, we realised that we would have to appeal to fans of two different genres. Taking this into consideration we concluded that our wider audience would be fans of the song, fans of Ellie goulding and fans of the Weeknd as well those interested in PBR&B. PBR&B is based on innovation and reinvention. Videos from this genre are usually shot in distinct and memorable locations, with a variety of videos using the green screen to create a futuristic effect.

PITCH - Audience 1 (Chenny)

Our target audience for Yasmin Ally are girls aged 16 - 21, we chose to target this type of audience as we felt a more slight more mature audience would fit along with her music style. There would be times where Yasmin would produce explicit types of music or produce explicit videos.
The wider audience could be boys, family, friends or even just people who have a slight interest in her. The male audience could also be attracted to her which is why they will considered the wider audience. The wider audience might not particularly know Yasmin but know her because she as featured in a artist that they like or are a fan of.

Audience Profile:
Eliza Peaches Kelly
18
Female
White
Art Student
M&S or Waitrose
Draw, goes brick lane and listen to music, smoke
Don't particularly read newspapers, more magazine such as ID, Daze and Confused.
Public transportation, buses, overgorund.
iPhone, computers, Polaroid cameras
Urban Outfitters, Stussy, Adiddas, Nike
Fiji Water, Aloe Vera Water, Coffee
Japan, HongKong, Amsterdam, Stockholm
Because they like their music style, fashion style, the artist, also because they fit into their social category.

PITCH - Initial Idea (Chenny)

Our target audience are young teen starting from the age of 16-21, we decide to target this age range because we felt that there are times when our artist can produce sexual and explicit themes and so we though that a slightly more mature audience would be more appropriate. The wider audience would be aged 23+ men and women, these people could be family, friends of the primary audience, but also they could show a interest in their fashion style or just cause they've heard them feature on another artists song. 
Our audience will appeal to the artist because they enjoy the music they make but also like their sense of style, they appreciate the artist as a person. The wider audience will show some interest the artist song and sense of style, they make like her because of her connections with other artistes. 

 These two vides were our main inspiration for our own video. For the first video, we all like the way the video was shot in a close up view with a slow motion effect through out the whole video. For the second one we liked the speacial effects as well as the smoke effect. We thought that we could incorporate those elements into our video. 

And we also looked at one of The Weeknd's video because we wanted to undertsand the what feeling he portrays in his music video and then try and incoporate that into our video as well.

PITCH - Brand Image (Chenny)

Our artist is called Yasmin Ally, we chose this name as right now there isn't any current artist with this name, we also felt that this name was able to flow well when saying it making it more easier to remember. Yasmin is a 20 year old artist, she hasn't released any official albums or singles, only featured on other known artists music. At the moment she is preparing to release this single 'High For This' which would then build up for her debut album. She is currently trying to build her fan base and get gain a target audience, in preparation for this she will be featured on a one spread page for a magazine. She will also have street advertisement e.g. train stations, newspaper and also mini television adverts. 

Their image might help connect with the wider audience as the wider audience might not like the artist in particular but they could have a interest in their fashion style. 

PITCH - Song Choice (Chenny)

PITCH - Concept (Chenny)

A euphoric experience of love through the eyes of a teenage girl.

[PLANNING] - Individual Research

Individual Research: Ideas & Inspirations

Communication

In order to stay in touch throughout the production, we have created a group chat on whatsapp.

Independent vs. Mainstream

Indie vs major from Yashima Marshall-McDavid

Costume, Location and Setting in Music Videos

Conventionally in music videos, the costume is dependent on the genre and nature of the artist and song. Costume plays a key role in the visual appeal of a music video. Similarly, the location and setting are dependent on genre and the artist/creators of the video's concept. 

In Chiddy Bang's video to their song 'Opposite of Adults' their clothing (jeans, chequered shirts, snapbacks) portray them as the actual opposite of adults. Mainly shot in a park surrounded by kids, Chiddy Bang managed to capture the visual aspects of youth through their costume, location and setting. 

[PLANNING] - Requesting Copyright Clearance

Requesting Copyright Clearance

[PLANNING] - Final Song Choice

Final Song Choice

Our shortlist had many choices that already had videos and so we were given the choice between High For This - Ellie Goulding (Cover) and Cologne - Clean Bandit. We decided to go with one without a video to avoid expectations and to make sure we didn't lose creativity as a group by being too similar to the original. As 'Cologne' had male vocals we decided to scrap that as we are an all girls group and so the whole group agreed on 'High For This'.

The song 'High For This' is originally sung by The Weeknd however we're going to use the cover by Ellie Goulding for our music video as she is a British artist and female (so it's applicable to our group) too.

[PLANNING] - Shortlisting Songs

Shortlisting Songs

We spent some time on YouTube looking for potential songs that we can produce a music video. Here are the ones we chose to shortlist:

• You & Me - Disclosure Ft. Eliza Doolittle (Remix)
• F For You - Disclosure Ft. Mary J Blige 
• High For This - Ellie Goulding (The Weeknd Cover)
• Right Here - Jess Glynne
• Cologne - Clean Bandit Ft. Nikki Cislyn & Javeon 

[RESEARCH] - Reflection On Progress

Reflection On Progress

Looking at what work I have produced so far I think I am proud of the stage I am right now. I am coping with blogging however I think I definitely need to step it up as I did fall behind on blogging a little bit. But I was able to successfully make up for it and hopefully in the future I will not fall behind and always be on task or ahead. I have successfully used a range of media technologies and hope to expand in that area and use more. I feel I have done a fairly good job on these posts and would maybe give myself a mark of 15 out of 20 as I know that I could have been a lot more creative in the way I present my work. 

To Improve:

• Expand on the media technologies used and explore new ways of presenting blog posts. 
• Carry out more independent research
• Keep up to date with blog posts and possibly attend workshops to ensure I don't fall behind. 

[RESEARCH] - Skills Audit

Skills Audit 

On entering the AS year, I had little experience with Mac's. As the AS year progressed I picked up skills such as the use of speed and effects when editing. In our teen film I expanded on skills of filming but mostly editing; creating a logo for production companies etc. The concept of blogging was new to me and I wasn't one who enjoyed writing and the whole English aspect of media however I got used to the blogging and found I was fairly good at it.

Looking back at research from AS and comparing it to research in A2, I can say that research this year seems to be more effective as it has helped me gain many inspirations and expand on what creative aspects I can bring out to the final MV. I have also explored more with different media technologies to make the research of the blog more interesting and intriguing. Also I have expanded editing skills while in the research stage on this project. I had no idea how to base track or even what the effect and purpose of using markers was. However now I see a huge difference it makes to the product.

[RESEARCH] - Synergy

Synergy

Synergy - two things working together for a greater impact (mutual benefit)

e.g. Music Video, Digipak, Magazine Ad

[RESEARCH] - Lip Sync Practical Evaluation

 Lip Sync Practical Evaluation

We were given the task of creating a 50 second Music Video for the song You Got The Love - The XX (Cover). 

Pre-Production:

During Pre-production we had difficulties coming up with ideas, so we watched through videos that could give us inspiration. We looked at You and Me - Disclosure as we wanted so sort of journey to occur in our MV. Finally we had come to the idea of having the artist put headphones in and basically sing along to the song while walking down the street to show a journey. This was also so the artist could hear the music as we didn't have a lot of time to learn the lyrics.

Filming:

The filming process was quite quick and simple. Base tracking did speed the process up as once we knew what we wanted to film i.e. what shots, angles, movements to use, all we had to do is put the music on and record all the way through. As we were doing many base tracks, if the artist messed up in one it didn't really matter because we could have swapped it with another shot while editing.

Editing:

Editing was another really quick process. However I did encounter some difficulty at the beginning. As the artist was not singing and was lip syncing it was quite difficult to figure out if I had perfectly matched the song to the video. The base track idea was simple to follow and we added some slow motion at the end to make it more effective and too follow Vernalli's theory. As we didn't have much time the editing was sort of rushed, so next time I would think to add more effects and be more careful and patient when adding markers and cutting to the beat. 

Improvements for next time:

• Next time to ensure smooth editing have the artist actually sing the song allowed, so there is more mouth movement and it's easier to sync with the soundtrack.
• Watch through the clips carefully and possibly re-film some shot as we found there was a lot of shaky footage, or use a stabiliser for better footage.
• Add more effects and be more creative.

Overall:

I enjoyed the base track practical as it let me further expand and practice my editing skills. It taught me something new and helps to understand the concept of editing in music videos a lot more. The tutorial we had was very helpful and understandable with the use of makers and the the shift blade tool is very effective. I am confident that we can produce an exceptionally amazing piece by the end of our final music video.

Analysing Costume, Setting and Props

Analysing Costume, Setting and Props 

[RESEARCH] - Analysing Costume, Setting and Props

Analysing Costume, Setting and Props

[RESEARCH] - Mainstream Vs. Indie

Mainstream Vs. Indie

Previous Student Music Video

My favourite music video from last year is Reanne, Danielle, Asrun and Esme's visual to Sbtrkt - Wildfire. Not only am I a fan of the song which attracted me to their video but I truly believe they captured the concept of the song in their video through their well thought out choice of location, effects and ability to appeal to the target audience (people like me!)

03. Reanne, Danielle, Asrun, Esme from 283goswell on Vimeo.

Images of the keyboard on the kindle were in perfect timing with the song, enhancing the realism of the artist they had created making it seem as though it was actually their song which they had created and would be able to perform live.

Images of the flame were edited into slow-motion which worked well with the beat and pace of the song. Not only is the flame significant to the name of the song (wildFIRE) but it also gave the the video an abstract and professional feel to it.

Their choice of location complimented the urban nature of the song. It is colourful and eyecatching which makes it memorable which is a trait which all music videos aim to do. 

Reflection on Progress

I feel my blogs this year have a lot more information and research put into them compared to this time last year, also my use of ICT has widened since the AS year and I have used more ICT in my blogs at this point more than I had during October last year.
So far I would give myself a 13 out of 20.

Three things I could do to improve is:

1. Go to workshop to learn how to use other forms of ICT.
2. Include more information and research in my blogs
3. Make sure my blogs make sense to the readers

Skills Audit

During my AS year of college I conducted a lot of research for my AS practical work by watching different teen movies, finding out the wider audience to teen films and also the different type of genres within teen films, however all my methods of research for teen films were very basic and took a very long time.

Since my AS year I have learnt how to use a wider range of technology to present my work and also learnt how to do thorough research using different methods such as knowing features that are used in a music video to aim at a specific audience.

Synergy

Costume, Setting & Location in Music Videos

 

 

Review of a Previous Student Video

 

This short text at the beginning of the video shows that the group members are taking into consideration those who may be sensitive to certain images.

These two images have the same objects in each image, I like the

fact the light flickers at this point of the video as it gives it is relates to the lyrics as the song is about asking God for forgiveness which links to the bible.

Throughout the video there are 3 costume changes which relates to the lyrics and the storyline of the music video.

 

The use of different base tracks helps to tell the story. The background and the fact that it is night time also helps to complement the story for the music video.

 

The scene with the main performer walking out of the church is bringing the lyrics to life as this something that is spoken about in the song. 









This is my favourite previous student video, one of the main reasons for this is because of the song choice as I love Wretch 32's music. Another reason why this my favourite is because this is one of very few videos, if not the only video that has more than one person performing the song as there is two vocals, a male and female.