[PRODUCTION] - Editing 1

Editing 1

[PLANNING] - Updated Production Schedule

Updated Production Schedule

[PLANNING] - Updated Locations

Updated Locations

https://speakerdeck.com/nadayasmin/updated-locations

Skills Development

[RESEARCH] - Analysis of website for original artist

Analysis of website for the original artist

[RESEARCH] - Analysis of original digipak

Analysis of original digipak

Revision to Pitch & Final Decisions

Originally as a group we planned our first day of filming for the 2^nd November however we stumbled a few problems such as members of the group not being able to attend the session because of reasonable reasons, not booking out the equipment in time for this date and also the weather made it impossible so we did not start filming until the 7^th November.

Another change that was made was the amount base tracks that was filmed for the music video. In the beginning we decided on having a few base tracks (maybe around 5) however there has been a lot more base tracks than this filmed for our music video in order to make the editing process easier.

The last change that was made was the outfits. Originally we wanted our artist to have shots of her in all white and shots of her in all black however as time passed and filming went on the group decided it would be better if she wore different outfits in black for all the base tracks. 

[PRODUCTION] - Filming Day 2

Filming Day 2

*A word cloud to summarise the filming session. Created using ABCya.com*

Here's the link to the video I made about my experience on filming. Unfortunately it was letting me embed properly and the pictures, don't always load when viewing, but I need to expand my ict use. So far this is probably the worst one I've used as it was so slow and irritating. I would advise opening up the link separately to view properly. 

http://www.rawshorts.com/animations/M2RO0AnohXqQUX5_GhGi9Q

[PLANNING] Day 2 Filming

Day 2 Filming by Slidely Slideshow

Day 2 of filming had taken place, we began shoot on a Sunday and was able to shoot three locations. Two of which were in Wapping and the last was in King's Cross. The first location was the tunnel, like we planned. When we began filming it was a little awkward at first as we were in a public space meaning that there were going to be a lot of the public around us. We made sure that we'd give enough space for the public and be considerate of them as this was a public area that we were using. Nicole found it a little hard at the beginning to get into the role at the beginning as she felt a little silly since we were attracting slight attention but after the encouragement of me and Nahida she slowly got the flow of it and when she did she was able to do a really good job. The second location was really a spontaneous one as we hadn't planned on using it but as the weather was really good on that day and the view was really amazing we felt as though it would of been too much of a waste to not try and get any shots, Our last location was the most difficult as we all didn't know where it was, we had to ask around and use our phone to try find out where it was. When we arrived at the location it was already dark so we had to use the dedolights to film. The locations itself has small LED light which we thought would help but really it was still to dark for us to film. It was really to good lighting whilst filming as the camera has a difficult time trying to pick up the lighting so that meant that we has to do more of a mid to close up shot of Yasmin instead of a long shot. At the location there was also a water area which we thought would be really good to film Yasmin but as it would be really risky and dangerous for the equipment as we only used a slight portion of it. For this particular location I think that we would like to try filming there again this with a top light which hopefully would give the lighting we need as we really all felt that the location was a really good one

[REFLECTION] - Organisation 1

Organisation 1

One of the targets I set myself is to get organised and catch up with my blogs and another was to use more media technology to make my blog posts more appealing and not so dull with just text and a few images here and there.

To organise myself I have created a list of blog posts that I still have to do and as I got them done I highlighted them off the list as well as my blogging checklist. This has been effective as I was able to successfully catch up with my blogs and have tried my best to put in as much detail as possible. 

To ensure I use more media technologies, I also made a list of all the possible softwares/apps I can use on my future blog posts. However one obstacle that I came across was that not all technologies allow me to embed them onto the blog and so I have to screenshot them in and it looks like I'm not using different media technologies, and so I have decided to underline the technologies I use next to the screenshot and explain why I was unable to embed them onto the blog.

Reflection on Progress 2

In my first blog reflecting on my progress in media my 3 targets were:

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

Since then I have attended one workshop session and also have included a bit more information to my blogs and also made them clearer however even though I have done some of these things it has not been enough to make a huge difference to my blogs.

Two more targets that I am going to set for myself is that:

1.       I need to blog more often

2.       And use more ICT in my blogs

I am not impressed with myself and the amount of effort that I have been putting into my blogs so I would think my mark would remain at 13/20 which means I need to work a lot harder. 

[PRODUCTION] - Filming Day 1

Filming Day 1 - 7/11/2014

*make fullscreen before viewing to make more clear. pause at any slides if more time is needed to read*

[PRODUCTION] - Day 1 Filming

Day 1 Filming - 7/11/14

Chenny Bui's Slidely by Slidely Slideshow

So for day 1 filming it took place and it we had a shorted time then we would regularly which meant we had to try and get quiet good footage done in a short amount of time. We followed our projection theme that we agreed on so we then used a classroom and in that classroom we use the projector to achieve that effect we wanted to. When we found what we wanted to began to film. Here's a short clip from the artist and crew:

[REFLECTION] - Blogging Health Check 1

Blogging Health Check 1

After reading this note on my progress so far in Media Studies, I am very disappointed with myself as I know personally that I am capable of much much more. But this has now motivated me to up my game and work 5 times harder than I did last year and also to leave my lazy behaviour behind if I want to achieve the grade I believe I deserve which is an A.

So far in this coursework it is apparent that I am not motivated to do well. I started this year off confident that I will do well and that I can definitely achieve the A grade that I want. However when it came down to the Pitch and working as a group this motivation and confidence went down the drain. This could be for a number of reasons;

1. Firstly, I stepped out of my Lastmin.com phase and decided to work on my parts of the pitch as early as possible to make is easier for other members of the group, however I was not able to do some of my parts of the pitch without information from the others. This meant that I had to rush it and even take on other parts that where not assigned to me, which means I lacked adding as much detail as possible. And as I didn't really know anyone in my group it's been hard for me to step out of my shell and actually push them to do the work.
2. Secondly, there was a lack of communication within our group, and we're all too nice to actually take charge when things are not working out. This is why the storyboard didn't really make sense to anyone, even myself as I had created it in a rush with whatever ideas I could come up with at 1am.
3. Individually, we are all laid back so we don't feel the stress of getting down to do the work, or at some point's we are perfectionist and have this sort of fear that our product may not come out the way we want it to, hence why it's taken us time to do something i.e. filming.
4. Lastly, (which I think was the major problem) is that we took our time to get down to filming. Every time we decided we would film we ended up cancelling as something came up and all members of the group were not available or we didn't know where would be filming or when. I think after we start filming there's a possibility that I will gain confidence in producing a masterpiece, but for now my confidence is really weak.  

TARGETS:

• Organise myself to keep up to date with blogging (I am actually really surprised at how unorganised I am, usually I'm really organised with details.)
• Tweak my part of the pitch blogs, by using different forms of ICT as there's a lot of posts with just text. 
• Catch up on the missing blogs - See checklist on what is missing. 
• Use more and a range of technology in the upcoming posts.

Audience Task

Audience Task from Yashima Marshall-McDavid

Interview: Introducing Yasmin Ally

Incorporating Synergy

Original Artist and Website

Influences on our Music Video

Analysis of Digipak/CD for Final Song Choice

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