Closing post.

Everything has been posted onto my blog.
Research and planning runs from June 2010 until January 2011.
Print work is in December 2010.
The final video is in February 2011.
The evaluation is in March 2011.
This blog is now complete and is ready for assessment. 

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

Evaluation Question 4

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Evaluation: Question 3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Evaluation question 3

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Evaluation: Question 2. "How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?"

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

Autumn Lily- Same Old Fashion Final Video

This weekend's shoot.

We have booked the video camera for this weekend so we can do some filming.

We are planning to do all the close ups of Autumn singing, and the shots of the guitar being strummed as well as the 'spontaneous' shots. 

We've checked the weather forecast and it's looking positive so hopefully we'll be able to get a lot done!

Research and Planning: Story board.

I have constructed a storyboard to go along with my song on Adobe Premier Pro so I can get a bit of an idea what it may turn out like. From doing this, I have found that it is very important to plan exactly what shots I need. If it doesn't all go the way I want it to however, I can always tweak it slightly to fit what we will have filmed.

Hopefully, this short story board will be a lot of use to us.

Research and planning: Time plan.

In order to take advantage of the time we have filming, we need to use as much of it as we can before the filming deadline. To achieve this I have come up with a time plan that we are going to try to keep to, as long as factors such as weather and lack of video equipment don't get in the way.

To do this, we are going to use the calendar feature on Microsoft Outlook, as I can link everyone in our group to it, so we can all view it.

Research and planning: Shot listing.

Here is a detailed list of the shots we are going to use in the video, along with the timings in chronological order.

1. Close up shot of the guitar; focused on the main body of the guitar and Autumn's hand strumming the strings along to the track. (0.00 - 0.07)
2. Cut to close up of Autumn's face [out of focus background] lip syncing (0.07-0.09)
3. Cut back to guitar body close up and strum (0.09-0.10)
4. Cut to high angle shot of Autumn lying down playing guitar and lip syncing (0.11-0.12)
5. Fade out to close up of Autumn's face [out of focus background] lip syncing (0.13-0.17)
6. Long shot of Autumn stood [in wooded area] lip syncing; hands in pockets looking straight at the camera (0.18-0.23)
7. Long shot of Autumn from behind walking up a path/lane/empty road (0.24-0.26)
8. Same as above, but Autumn gets further up the path/lane/empty road each time (0.24-0.26)
9. Same as above, now seeing Autumn at the end of the road (0.24-0.26)
10. Camera pans around from side profile to a front mid close up of Autumn [hands in pockets, road behind out of focus, facial expression indifferent] lip syncing (0.26-0.28)
11. Mid close up of Autumn, [on the left, wooded background out of focus] Lip syncing "in the same" (0.28-0.29)
12. Mid close up of Autumn, [in the middle, wooded background out of focus] Lip syncing "old" (0.29)   
13. Mid close up of Autumn, [on the right, wooded background out of focus] Lip syncing "fashion" (0.29-0.30)
14. 'spontaneous' mid close up shot of Autumn laughing/smiling (0.30-0.32)
15. Mid close up side profile of Autumn smoking/blowing out smoke (0.33)
16. 'spontaneous' shot of Autumn (0.33-0.35)
17. Long shot/mid close up of Autumn playing guitar and lip syncing [use rule of thirds] (0.36-0.39) 
18. Long shot canted angle of Autumn playing guitar from side profile (slightly panning around to front profile?) (0.39)
19. Hand held camera, high angle of Autumn's lower legs/feet walking along with camera following (0.39-0.40)
20. Cut to close up of guitar body being strummed (0.40-0.42)
21. Cut to close up of Autumn's face, lip syncing [facial expression slightly 'fed up'] (0.42-0.45)

Research and planning: Representation of women in music video.

Print work: Second advert design.

Print work: First advert design.

Print work: Digipack Design.

Research and planning: Casting/props/costumes.

Casting: We are going to use the original artist to perform in our video. We know her personally and she lives locally so it will be the best option. Also, it looks a lot more authentic when the original artist performs their own song.

There is a possibility of using some other extras, such as a male figure or people to act as friends in the video. I'm in the process of creating a rough storyboard, so this will help me determine when I need to use the extras.

Props: There aren't many props that we need in the video, but the most important one will be a guitar, as it will be used in a lot of the shots.

Costumes: There isn't any specific costume theme needed, as just casual clothes will give it more of an authentic/home-made look.

Research and planning: Permission to use artist and song:

Research and Planning: Audience research.

In order to find out whether the print work and video are going to suit my target audience, I need to ask people their opinions on my mock up designs to see if i'm going in the right direction. I also need to make sure that the styles I have chosen suit the genre of music.

I've posted the designs onto my facebook and asked some of my friends on there to comment, answering the questions I have asked. I posted this as the caption for both the advert and digipak designs:

"Mock up CD design. I've used existing photos to make this, so i

t's just to show how I want it to look. The actual thing will obviously have more information on it and my own photos. What's good/bad about it? Any other comments?"

These are the the comments I had from the digipak design.

The majority of people thought that I am going the right way

about producing this, however there were some comments about changing the font and colour so it is clearer to read over the top of the

pictures. But seeing as the final version will have different pictures, this may not be an issue.

I will keep the logo for the record label as it seems to make the CD look more professional. I will also keep the layout, positioning the text in a similar way.

Overall the feedback was positive.

Feedback I got for the advert was also pretty positive. I could probably improve it more if

I think I have done well to capture the simple theme I was aiming for, while still being effective in grabbing my target audience.

more people had commented on it, but I couldn't really help that.

One thing people did mention was the text in the "tour" section, it wasn't all the same size. When it comes to the

final design I will obviously take the effort to make sure the font sizes are consistent, so it doesn't look rushed and looks more professional. I like the way people have said that it is simple yet effective, which is the kind of thing I am aiming for. Also I am glad that the linking theme has been noticed, in order for people to associate the digipak and the advert.

I also posted my mood board on facebook to gain reactions.

I asked: " What feelings do you get about what kind of audience this is aimed at?"

The feeling I got from the comments was that everyone agrees it has an indie feel to it. This is good, as the music genre I am using is kind of indie-acoustic.

Also, people agreed that it was aimed at a young/teenage audience who are interested in music (probably indie) and the internet.

I think I've done well to link all the images and keep a consistent theme that clearly connotes indie-loving teenagers.

Research and planning: Mock-up advert.

I have done a mock up of the advert, using a photo from the artist's MySpace. This is just to show how I expect the final one to look, but it will obviously be using a photo I have taken myself. Also I will add things like the record label and logo to the final version.

Research and planning: Similar advert designs.

These are the kinds of styles I want the print work advert to look like. The main characteristics include (mid)close ups of the artist and the CD information. They each relate to their own videos, in terms of environment and props.

Research and planning: Print work ideas.

Seeing as the video will be set in an outside grassy area surrounded by trees, I think the print work should have a similar theme. But to make it more interesting I want to add something to the image, such as an object- guitar, or something do to with music. Also, I will probably include the artist on it.

Here is a mock-up of what I think it should look like, using existing images found on the internet.

Research and planning: Our artist.

The artist we have chosen to do our video on is a local solo artist, Autumn Lily. As we know her personally and she lives locally, we will get her to perform in the music video. This would be better than getting an actor to perform, as the original artist will look more convincing. Here is her MySpace link: http://www.myspace.com/autumnlilymusic

Research and planning: Music video concepts.

There are some key concepts that I wish to be able to capture in my music video.
I want it to have a 'home-made' look to it, so it's simple and almost minimalistic. A lot of the shots will be taken using hand held camera. This makes it seems as though it is effortless, even though it does take a lot of work to get the right effect with hand held. Another feature I would like to use is to have many close ups of the artist singing along with the song, or just mid close ups of her playing guitar as well as singing to it.
There are some other shots that I want to look as though they are spontaneous and not planned, such as shots of her laughing, or even just talking etc; shots that you wouldn't be able to get the right effect on if they were planned in advance. This may be a problem when it comes to drawing up the storyboard, but I can always change it to fit what we have filmed.
Ideally, I would like the shots to line up with the rhythm of the song, and to cut on particular beats. I don't want this to happen throughout the whole song as it would look too robotic. I think this effect would work well in the opening of the song, the chorus and perhaps the outro.

Research and planning: Health, safety and logistics.

Health and Safety

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Research and planning: Locations.

So far we have discussed that we want to use the Winter Gardens in Malvern and Barbourne Park in Worcester. These two places have similar atmospheres that we are looking for.

Research and planning: Creativity.

We are focusing on using creative skills for planning our video during this week. Things we need to work on in this time will be the storyboard, print task drafts and perhaps practising with camera equipment.

I may sketch up some drawings of how I want the Digipak to look.

Research and planning: Post-Pitch.

After we did the pitch in front of the class, we received some feedback comments which is needed to be considered when we come to planning the video.

As I am working with people in a different class to me, I am having to use Facebook, emails and texts to communicate when outside of college. I can see this being a slight problem when it comes to organising the actual video shoot, but it can easily be overcome if we prepare well in advance.

The feedback sheet had 6 different points the class could comment on:

"Comments on suitability for stated target audience"

The majority of the comments we had back for this agreed with us on our target audience, saying the genre of music would suit it. Although, a few people did say that it was a bit of a wide range target audience, and that we should have made it a bit more detailed/clear.

"Comments on the originality of the idea"

Many people liked our idea of having a homemade type feel to the video, saying it would fit our genre very well, and it would have an indie vibe. They also said that it could be more original if we showed them more ideas.

"Comments and thoughts on the logistical arrangements"

There were very mixed feelings on this area. A lot of people seemed to think that we didn't cover this in our pitch, I think this is because we didn't have a slide on it on the presentation, (people like to have visual aids to look at) but we did clearly read through our plans. The ones who did listen to our plans said that we seemed quite organised, and as we know the main performing artist, we know that she is reliable to turn up to filming sessions. They also said that we have good communication within our group.

"Comments on the technical aspects of the idea - does it sound achievable with the college equipment?"

Everyone said that it is an achievable idea with the equipment we have availabe, as it is simple and can easily be done.

"Does the idea sound realistic?"

Most people agreed that it is an achievable idea, is very possible and not too challenging.

"Overall, does this idea sound exciting and achievable?"

People mainly said that is is achievable, but seem to think that it won't be exciting. We can improve people's thoughts on this by maybe producing storyboards and clear ideas.

Research and planning: Audience profile.

Research and Planning: Mood Board.

This is the mood board for the genre of music I want to use for my music video.

I would expect them to be interested in watching live bands, including the ones on my mood board. They would be NME readers, as well as users of Spotify, Facebook, Twitter and iTunes. The majority of the audience play an instrument of their own, and wear similar clothing to that shown on here.

Research and Planning: Audiences and media 2.0.

The idea of the audience and the media being completely separate from each other, and that one is the sender and one is the receiver is now outdated. In the present day, due to new technologies and the increasing use of the internet, audiences are now able to become the producers as well as consumers of media.

Flew points out; When compared to other media the Internet stands out because it is networked, interactive, enables two way communication, and allows its users to be both producers as well as consumers of content. (Flew, 2004:1).

These new technologies enable people to create their own content to upload and share to the whole world over the internet. One good example of a website that allows this is YouTube. Youtube was created in 2005, it's aim to let people upload video clips including film clips, TV clips, video blogging, music videos (which now have certain copyrights on them) and pretty much any type of video that they have created themselves.

Another thing that makes it a lot easier for people to create their own content is that the equipment is now relatively less expensive than it used to be; you can buy amateur equipment from so many well known retailers for reasonable prices and still be able to make a decent product.

This can be worrying for the big companies of media, as they will not gain as much revenue through their own means of productions, even though they use the top equipment, producers, etc.

Research and Planning: Audience theories 1.

Effects Theory

Psychologists attempted to explore a pre-existing presumption that media violence would make the audience violent, and came up with The Effects Theory. The Effects Theory explained that the media has a direct behavioural effect on the passive audience, and is sometimes known as the Hypodermic Needle Theory. An example of a famous experiment on this was the Bobo Doll Experiment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdh7MngntnI

The kind of music I'm going to be using on my music video is in the indie/acoustic/alternative genre. The intended effect this will have on the audience is to make them feel as though the artist is genuine, and works hard to achieve what they have gained in their music career. Also that not all artists have all the work done for them, such as mainstream artists.

The audience won't all take the preferred reading, some will either be completely opposed or negotiated towards my video, which will make it harder for me to achieve this effect. I'll also have to get the filming and content just right to achieve it, which means I will have to plan it well.

Cultural Studies Approach

This was developed by David Morley at the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies.

This approach uses the Effects Theory and understands the intended effects of media texts, but also considers the active nature of certain audiences, and how different audiences take different views in relation to the values expressed in a media text. There are three different views that an audience may take:

• Preferred reading: The values in a media text are accepted by the audience as the creator intended.
• Negotiated reading: The values are generally accepted, but there is some debate over them, depending on the audience's different interests and experiences.
• Oppositional reading: The values in the text are understood, but are rejected and disagreed with completely.

This can be applied to this music video:

I think that the preferred reading of this video is to see the band out and about, having fun together as a band.
The oppositional reading may be that as they are in Japan, some people may feel that they are making fun of the country/culture.

Research and Planning: Music effects and theory.

The researchers are interested in what effects the music has on the adolescents, and how it influences them. Also, why is it only rap and heavy metal music that effects them?

The key concerns that have been raised about the effects of rap music are that they provoke crime in adolescents, shows sexism, and not conforming to society.

The author of http://www.funk-the-system.net/usualsuspect.html has explained that there are more important issues other than media products affecting adolescents. The main one being the availability of guns and other weapons to them, as well as their family background, how they've been brought up by their parents/guardians and other life experiences.

Research and Planning: Digipack and advert research.

Digipaks and adverts.

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Research and Planning - synaesthesia.

Synaesthesia is a condition and is estimated to affect just over 1% of the population. It is generally the joining of senses which are usually experienced separately. For example, some see colours when they hear numbers, sounds, or certain words. Others may experience taste, smell, touch, or sights in different combinations. This condition cannot be turned on or off, but people have been known to grow out of it when they left childhood. It's not harmful to anyone who has it. It is thought to be an inherited gene, one which many scientists don't know much about.

I have tried to apply this effect when I listen to certain songs, so I can visualise some ideas I might be able to use for my music video.

http://hypem.com/track/750403/Sick+Of+Sarah+-+Breakdown

When listening to this song, I can visualise the band either practising this song or playing it live in front of a crowd. Between these clips I could imagine some 'backstage' footage of them recording, or on tour etc.

When I hear this song, I could also imagine this being performed live, but there could also be a narrative in between performance clips. I imagine that the song is about the singer's hate or dislike for someone, so the main theme would be anger. The colours that come to mind are a lot of red, dark colours, and the possibility of some black and white shots.

I think this particular one would be a narrative/performance. Because the song is named Barlights, I can expect the band to be in a bar, lip syncing along to the song. There are lot of bright colours that come to mind, perhaps because it is an upbeat catchy song. I'm not sure what the story line would be, but because of the general tempo and feel of the song I can visualise the band and extras in the video to dance around, maybe with 'barlights' flashing in the background to the rhythm of the song.

Research and Planning: Music video and narration.

There are two key types of narration:

• Restricted narration - When the narrative is based around one character, so the audience are restricted to seeing only what the character knows/sees. This can create a sense of mystery as they cannot predict what is going to happen.

• Omniscient narration - The audience usually know more than the character(s), as the camera reveals elements that they may not voluntarily have wished it to, generally creating a feeling of suspense as the audience are waiting for something to happen.

This particular video is a restricted narrative. This has been constructed through media language due to the many point of view shots, and the majority of the shots focusing on the one main character. * http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQUIBJ_jYTU *

Whereas this video has omniscient and restricted narrative features. It has both point of view shots and parallel action editing. *http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEukS2YN9B8*

Research and Planning: Music video and narrative: Claude Levi-Strauss.

Levi-Strauss explained that a narrative is motivated by a struggle between binary opposites. The audience should identify the 'right' side and support it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEukS2YN9B8

Binary opposites are clear in this video; we can see that the man walking down the street is representing the 'right' side, and the suicidal girl is representing the 'wrong' side. This is clear due to the first shot of the video is a mid close up of him, which then tracks in front of him confidently walking down the street and we can see the secure/confident expression on his face.

The 'right' side of the binary opposition does represent dominant values as the Proppian hero is a young white male. Also we can see that the subject of suicide is deemed as 'wrong', which is the binary opposite. Although, as we see them into their last conflict he pushes the woman; a dominant ideology in society is to not use violence , especially against vulnerable women. So here we see the hero now on the wrong side of binary opposition.

Research and Planning - History of music videos.

Research and Planning: Digipack.

This is a digipack. I have experimented with PhotoShop CS5, which i have not used before, in order to prepare myself for print task.

Research and Planning: Music Video and Narrative: Propp.

Vladimir Propp says that the narrative is motivated by a variety of character functions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEukS2YN9B8

In this particular video, we can see that the man who first walks down the street and saves the woman is the hero, and the woman stood on top of the building could be seen as either the victim or the princess. There is one more character at the end of this video, but we assume that he would have the same character role as the hero. Even though there are so few characters, the main ones (hero and princess) do change their characters. For example, the princess could be seen as the villain when she starts to follow the hero around, and even starts to push him around. Although, at this same point in the video the hero seems to switch over to the villain when he gets aggravated and pushes her against the fencing, and we can see the angry expression on his face from the close up, as well as the scared expression she holds, making her look like the victim again.

The Proppian roles have been constructed through media language, through the way it is edited, and the shots used. For example close ups on both the characters faces are used to show their expressions clearly, as this indicates when there is a change in character. Also, it shows point of view shots.

The Proppian roles are not absolutely clear, as they challenge usual character ideas (the way they swap around several times). The producer may have purposely made the narrative enigimatic to address a niche audience.

I think the stereotypes of the hero and princess are mostly met, the hero is a young, white male, and the princess is a passive figure, although we do see them swapping roles, putting a twist to the roles.

Research and Planning: Todorov's narrative theory.

He explains that there are five stages in which narratives are structured into. These are:

• Equilibrium
• Disequilibrium (Disruption)
• Recognition
• Reparation
• New equilibrium

Here is one example of a narrative:

The equilibrium stage in this video is at the beginning, when she is lying next to who is presumed to be her partner.

Disequilibrium happens when we see her write a note saying "i'm sorry" and leaves.

The Recognition stage is when she goes to speak to her father, and he gives her a photo of him and her mother when they were younger, and the lyrics at this point say "... I'd never sing of love if it does not exist."

Reparation is when we see her lying down on a pile of love notes, while singing "Darling, you are the only exception." Also, she goes on several dates with other men, but they do not seem to work out.

She then runs back through all of the scenes to return to her partner we saw at the beginning, and this is the New Equilibrium.

The disruption is created by her, and the new equilibrium is also established by her.

The stages are signalled by quick transitions in shots, and change of scene.

Research and Planning: Goodwin and music video.

Andrew Goodwin identified key features which he found to be common in many music videos.

One of the features which Goodwin has identified is:

"A relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics."

The video Pork and Beans by Weezer has this convention, as well as another key feature:

"Intertextual references to other media texts may be present"

Meaning it includes other video clips that are popular on the internet, but they have made their own take on them.

Another point he made was:

"A relationship between the music and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the music."

This can be seen in the video Walking The Dog by Fun, and you could also say it is in Standing in the Way of Control by The Gossip.

"Multiple close-ups of the main artist or vocalist."

Walking the Dog by Fun also uses this convention.

"Voyeurism often plays a major part, especially in relation to females."

The Kanye West video incorportates this feature, as it relates to the genre.

Research and Planning: Spike Jonze.

Spike Jonze has directed/produced a number of music videos, as well as films, short films and a few television programs.
Directors usually have their own styles, known as the Auteur theory.



This video features the band playing with wild animals on what looks like a remote island. This is entropic as you cannot really tell what the message behind the video is. Also, it is not a situation that you would be used to seeing.



There a number of surreal events in this video, such as driving a golf cart on the roads through the middle of a busy city, and even playing golf in the middle of a road. It also features a scene of violence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiXg_70rMeM&ob=av2n

In this particular video, Spike Jonze actually takes part in the video, playing the leader of the dance group. They are dancing in the middle of a public place, which was in front of a movie theatre. It seems very authentic seeing as they did not gain permission to dance or film there, and the owner of the theatre attempts to turn off the music.



This entire video is filmed in slow motion. This is also quite a surreal video, as we see the singer tied up in the back of a Ford Mustang. We see the woman stabbing a weapon type object into the boot of the car, where the singer is lying.

All these videos by Jonze contain similar elements, such as slow motion, violence and surreal events.

Research and Planning: Genre and music video.

This is a narrative/performance video. It shows the "story" of the lyrics as well as the band playing it. I would say that it is quite redundant.



This is more of a performance/spectacle type video, it's mainly based around the artist dancing, and performing the song. It invloves a lot of different outfits etc.



The genre of this video is quirky/lo-fi. The purpose of it is to look slightly low budget, or as if it was made with little effort, as well as to entertain. It is likely to be aimed at a younger audience, teenagers.



This is a parody video. It has taken a lot of famous clips from YouTube and made them into spoofs, and it's purpose is to entertain. I think it is more entropic than redundant, and is probably aimed at an audience aged from 15.



This genre is performance/backstage. It shows the band performing at a concert, showing the audience as well as them. It also has clips of them in the recording studio. This type of music video shows that the band are serious about playing their music, and the purpose is to look authentic. This type of video is more redundant.



I would say that this video is provocative. It shows the artist performing the song with a woman who is wearing provocative clothing. It appeals to a certain audience, and is redundant.

Research and Planning: Redundancy and Entropy.

This video portrays a redundant "cool" style. They're breaking stuff and trying to do things that typical rock stars would be doing.

This shows a redundant message, everyone in the video has an upbeat attitude, the band are playing along to the music. The video relates to the lyrics.

This is entropic, its strange, relates to the music style but still unexpected.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH9A6tn_P6g

Paramore - ignorance

This is entropic, this could be seen as redundant however the singer is climbing on the ceiling, its irrelevant and not the norm.

Research and planning: 5 Skills that I need to learn or improve.

1. I think I need to develop my camera skills when it comes to filming.

2.When researching, I need to spend more time looking at different ideas.

3. I could improve what I know about using lighting.

4. I need to learn a bit more about the editing software.

5. I could be more creative with my ideas.

Research and planning: Prezi Links

Technology: http://prezi.com/pgg6f0613_lg/digital-technology/
Research: http://prezi.com/elz7g-nvik4v/research-and-planning/
Post production: http://prezi.com/cmcmb6mok1w8/post-production/

Research and planning: Post-Production.

Research and Planning.

Research and planning: Digital Technology.

Research and planning: Busted Music Video.

Research and planning: Lip Syncing.

Preparing & Planning: Firstly we chose our song which was Umbrella by Rihanna and Jay Z, and had to learn the lyrics so that we had them embedded into our brain so that our mouths were in sync with the song.

Filming: We put a video camera on a tripod in front of us so that we could both in the shot at the same time. The song was playing in the background whilst we were filming this was to help us be in time with the song.

Working with performing: We performed it ourselves so that we could experience being the performer rather than the camera man, this helped us understand that it's quite difficult to be the performer as it can be embarrassing if in front of others.

Technology: We learnt how to use a video camera to record, as well as to capture when it came to using the editing software. The editing software is called Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0, which allowed us to edit the clips. We removed the original audio and replaced it with the MP3 of the song we were singing to, which then had to be synced to the film.

Research and planning: Lip syncing task.