Planning - Reflection on Test Shots

Reflection on Test shots

Reflecting on the test shots that we created...

Planning - Test Shots!

Test Shots

We created three different test shots. We intend to incorporate these kind of test shots in our music videos as well as different ones to include a large variety and show that we have a clean understanding of camera work. The test shots are slightly short because we just wanted to focus on the way the camera is going to focus on the artist. Enjoy the test shots!

Planning - Making Test Shots

Making Test Shots

We decided that it would be a good idea to make some test shots because we need to have a rough idea of how we are going to film all the different shots we need on the actual day. We practised recording techniques such as tracking the main character and also following the rule of not having the camera still when filming for a music video. As you will see in the following videos, you'll be able to understand what kind of shots we are focusing on and how we are practising them. Hopefully, we intend to use these and hope that the test shots come out as we want them to. Test shots in the making...

Planning - Who's Taking What

Who's taking what?

This video explains who's planning to take certain equipments for our filming next week.

Planning - Interviewing the New Artist, Molly Clift!

Interviewing Molly Clift!

We decided to set up an interview where we are pretending that me (David) and Sophie are reporters interviewing Molly Clift, as she is a new artist and her music is supposedly starting to become more popular. Here is the interview... Enjoy!

Planning- Video Influences

Planning - Synergy

Synergy is a huge part of the distribution of our Music Video, as we aim to include memorable images to accentuate this.



BOKEH LIGHTS:

Bokeh LIghts are mainly featured within videos that focus on the night life, this is paramount for our music video as it abides by our genre of music- House. Furthermore, we aim to follow Goodwin's theory of Amplification, we aim to amplify the theme of lighting as it will be evident in our video due to our city based locations - Southbank and Spitalfields. I think this will be effective as we will possibly use it as one of our basetracks in our video. This recurring motif will possibly be featured on our ancillary project (CD cover) as a back ground.




WIND EFFECTS: 

Our other image that we will possibly use for Synergy would be an silhouette of the artist which will express the brand image; focusing on her as an artist as opposed to as an aspirational person. Although we aim to target an audience of aspirers, we tend to feel that it would seem that our srtist would have to appear in designer clothing, making their audience want what they have and the prestigious lifestyle they may follow. However, we have chosen clothing items from well-known high street stores like River Island, Topshop and Office.

I could not seem to find a relaistic silouhetted image of curly hair blowing in the wind, so instead i used a colour compromise of somebody with ginger hair. However, against the Bokeh light background it would be difficult to intergrate other colours, so a shadowed version would apper better.

                                                         

Planning - Visual examples for Time-lapse

Visual examples for time-lapse (city view)

We are planning to use a time lapse for our music video at the beginning of the song and also at some points during the chorus or the end. This time lapse is going to be focusing on the city view at night time, when all the lights are bright and the landscape is very attractively illuminated. I wanted to take a look at some music videos that also use the city view and how they used it. I was focusing on whether the camera was still or was moving while showing the city. I looked at Alicia Keys' Doesn't Mean Anything, R Kelly's Same Girl, and Cee Lo Green's Bright Lights Bigger City. Two of the videos are really short because I edited it so that the part that I'm focusing on is shown. Cee Lo Green's is full because there are different shots of the city throughout the video that interest me. Take a look...

Planning - Thinking About the Logo

Thinking about the logo

These are some images of the logo maker...

Planning - Interviewing Possible Audience

Interviewing possible audience

For my audience research, I wanted to explore and ask the audience itself what they thought of a music video in regards to its genre, which in my case its 'house'. I think it is better to ask for our target audience's opinion because this will strengthen our idea and it will also allow me to visualise what they would like to see. In other words, adapt my vision to their likings.
It may be necessary to play it in full screen due to the quality of the video....

Planning - My Role During the Pitch

Role during the pitch

Before presenting the pitch, I chose and was also assigned to present specific perts of the presentation so it would be presented in an organised way and not all of us in the group would interrupt each other. I was in charge of presenting the initial idea, the theory and the animation. I felt happy and confident presenting these because I now have a rough idea of how we intend the video to be and I could think of so many initial points and music videos to look at for inspirations, so my point could be understood.  Moreover, when it came to presenting the animatic storyboard, I briefly explained how we created it  and the materials we used to make it as well as edit it. I also tried to help my colleagues if I saw that they needed someone to support or perhaps expand their point so that it could be clearer.

Planning - Potential Performers

Potential performers

For our music video, we didn't really think it was a good idea to have a lot of performers, especially because the video does not really follow a narrative. Instead, we decided to have Molly as the main and only performer because she is the face of our brand image and the point of the music video is to introduce her as a new artist to the audience. This is also good for us because it will avoid interruptions and let downs from having outside performers for our video.

Planning - Instagram Account

Instagram account

We have created an Instagram account in order to share our activities during our filming.

Planning - Pitch

Pitch

This is the pitch we have prepared for the past week. We intend to present this so our class in order for them to get an insight into what we are planning to do for our project and to perhaps get some class feedback and some ideas that could help us improve our planning. 

Planning- Examples of Time Lapse

Within our music video, me and my group have all come up with the idea of using a time lapse. We all believe this will be effective as it can be a fast way of showing how time is passing. Our initial idea is to use a time lapse about three within our video which results in having a time lapse for each verse.  This would follow Andrew Goodwins theory of Amplification in terms of something repeating itself. Below are two music videos i found which include a time lapse which may be influential.

CeeLo Green- Bright Lights Bigger City

Within this music video we can see various examples of a time lapse. Firstly we see one with cars, then lights. Its almost as if they have been merged together. I really like the time lapse with the cars as i think visually its very satisfying and looks really effective.

Basia-Drunk on Love

Although this music video is quite old, i really like the use of time lapse within the first 30 seconds. It features one of cars which i think is presented really effectively. The angel of the camera is positioned in a really unusual way resulting in the traffic within the time lapse seem larger.

Quick Idea

Thinking of the manipulation, I found a video which I remembered has a very good example that I hope we will be able to put into our video. It isn't a music video, but it is part of the movie 'Kidulthood' and a part of the movie has one of the characters walking down a street while 'The Streets - Blinded by the Lights' plays as a soundtrack.

(Play at 0.50) 

This does look slightly trickier than the normal speed manipulation but I think if we could pull it off it would work really well.
The speed difference is very noticeable, although the part where the character is moving at a different speed to the rest of the public is not what we will be trying to imitate, the lights blurring and the unstable camera could work well with our concept.

Help US??

The slow motion part of our video is actually quite... well important, as most of our video will be focused on the manipulation of speed.

But we need to figure out how to do it first??

We asked Dan how we would do it and we got this type of reaction...

Which didn't really help us, so then we asked Rebecca how we would do it and she
looked more like this...

which translates into more of a 'i know how to do it but i'm not gonna tell you' type of look.

We'll figure it out soon and let you know how we get on :(

Pitch Reflection

We had our group pitch in front of our teacher (Hi Rebecca) and I had to talk about,

• The Costume
• Our Song Choice
• The Brand Image

Also we introduced our artist, 'Molly Clift' and our class finally heard our song together.

Overall I think it went quite well and we were much more confident than we were in our rehearsal and we helped each other out whenever one of us got stuck.
However I think we could have improved on the variety of what we were talking about and we should have made our concept clearer.
Overall, I think we did well!

(Lets all try to forget about what David did please!) 

Influential Music Videos

Bokeh lights, the night life and slow motion are the concepts that our music video refers most to. 
These music videos have been big influences on our music videos in terms of mise en scene, concept and editing, but not in terms of music genre. They have the well lit scenes that we hope we'll be able to have and the slow paced editing.

To capture our bokeh lights we will have to un-focus our camera to get the effect we want for our background in some shots.

The other lights will be in focus and also help us to light up our artist as well as our own lighting equipment.

We haven't quite figured out how we will have to speed up our track and slow it down but... we'll figure it out soon.

Reflection On Our Pitch

-In todays lesson me and my group were the first ones to present our finished pitch to the class and our teacher Rebecca, Our pitch consisted of our final idea for our music video to Disclosures song- Boiling.It included information on when/where we would be filming and everything in between, such as costumes,setting,props along with other essential things such as our animatic our synergy idea and production schedule.
-Overall I believe our pitch went fairly well, i felt we included everything we needed to and gave enough examples to illustrate our ideas. A good time before the pitch everyone in our group was clear as to which part they had to present which really helped in terms of organisation as it meant there was no rush or confusion between any of us.

-However i also believe their was plenty of room for improvement. The thing we struggled the most with was the concept of our overall video, this was a problem as none of us was designated to do this therefore none of us had a fixed idea as to what it actually was. Although overall we had talked about it briefly before hand as a group i believe in the future we should double check and run through the whole pitch plenty of times before hand to prevent things like this happening.

Incorporating Synergy

Disclosure- Website promotion

Planning - Presenting Our Pitch

Presenting our pitch

This is us presenting our pitch to the class. Pitch is split into two part. Part 2 was unfortunately unsuccessful to upload.

Part 1

What I will be Pitching

For our pitch we each have three areas to cover. The three i will be covering are

• Setting and Location
• Industry 
• Risk Assessment 

For the setting and location I'm going to explain how many and which locations we will be using for our basetracks and where each location will feature during our song. This will not only give an understanding of imagery to our audience but also gives teachers an idea as to where are how we will be filming at these locations. 

When discussing the industry and which record label we will be singed to, i will briefly explain why we picked the specific one we did. (What it may specialise in and most known for). I will also explain as to why a small independent label will be more beneficial. 

Lastly for the Risk Assessment i will have to 

1. Identify all risks and hazards which may occur
2. How and who it will cause harm to
3. How it can then be prevented 

Planning - Our Pitch in Progress

Planning Pitch

Today we planned for our pitch which we will be presenting next tuesday (22nd october), so it gave each of us an official idea as to who was presenting what. We decided to divide the amount of slides equally, therefore each of us planned and created three each. By doing it this way, it meant it was easy for us to organise everything and focus on our particular slides rather then all of us trying to complete the pitch at once. We believe that organisation is the key for our project to be successful.

Planning - Creating Animatic Storyboard

Creating Animatic Storyboard

We used Final Cut Pro in order to create our animatic storyboard. As we took different shots, we had to look at the photographic storyboard to make sure that it follows the right structure. I also took into consideration following the beat and changing the image on the right beat. 

Planning - Incorporating Synergy

Incorporating synergy

The following video will briefly explain how we intend to use synergy for our three productions

Planning - Costume, Setting, Props and Location

Costume, setting, props and location

Planning - Draft/Photo Storyboard

Draft Storyboard

When planning our storyboard, we didn't fully developed a draft one because we already had clearly in our head how we wanted our photographic storyboard to be, so we went ahead and did the photo storyboard instead. 

Influential Music Videos

Research Skills

This year is a lot more heavy going then last. We are all expected to blog three times as much which I'm finding quite hard to keep up with. However because of the fact that i had blogged all of last year, I'm not having any problems with using the site and since september have been trying to blog frequently.

Planning - Animatic Storyboard

Animatic Storyboard

In order to create our animatic, we used a digital camera to take shots of the Playmobil doll using images of the locations we chose i.e Southbank, which were projected onto a big screen. We took several shots so that the animatic storyboard could more or less give an idea of how we inted to create our music video. 

Here is our animatic storyboard...ENJOY!!

Planning - Costume

We used a site called Polyvore, which is also an app and can be connected to social media sites. The site is used to design and create outfits which are either from the high street or designer.

This site was used to create my costumes changes within the video, we aim for two different costumes and one where I take my leather jacket off. Moreover, I was able to find the exact garments I own which are from: River Island, H&M and Office. This is relatable to our core audience of aspirers as they would be able to get these clothes from the high street.

Therefore, we can confirm that these are the costumes I will be wearing in our Music Video!!

Planning - Production Schedule via Timetoast

Production Schedule

This is the production schedule that we have decided to follow so that all the work can be done in time and in an organised way:

Planning - Examining Artist Website

Examining Disclosure's website

I looked at the website for the artist I'm focusing on and looked at some of the main characteristics that promote their brand image and songs. The following video will show what I looked at:

Planning - 3 Influential Music Videos

Influential Music Videos

Teacher feedback

Hello group 7
Here is a bit of feedback - for Molly and David primarily as I'm looking at your blogs (it's Rebecca, by the way!). Olamide and Sophie - Dan will give you your feedback in the lesson - just ask. 
David: your blog is coming along very nicely.  You are using a range of different methods of presentation (uses of ICT) and are more or less up to date with what we want.  You should look to blog off the list a little more - think about extending your research into other areas, for example examining editing in similar videos and putting together a camtasia video of sections from videos.  
Molly: yours is looking not too bad, although you've missed out some of the blogs from the list - the individual activity looking at costume and props in music videos and your most recent reflection on your progress (where you grade yourself out of 20).  Try not to fall behind.  You should also look to blog off the task sheet a little more - this will help to improve your overall grade.

Keep up the great work.

Analysis Of Final Video

Planning - Analysis of Video for Song Choice

Analysis of Video for Final Song Choice

The following video will explain my analysis. Our song does not have a music video but I will be explaining what we are planning to do and how different it will be. 

Planning - Copyright Clearance

Copyright Clearance

Research - Reflection on Progress

Reflection on Progress

The following video will explain how I'm doing so far within this new project. 

Research - Appeal of Music Videos to Audiences

Appeal of Music Videos to Audiences

In lesson, we were made aware of the fact that music videos needed to appeal to an audience. Today, most music videos are aimed at teenagers because they are the ones who usually watch videos most of the time on websites like youtube.

Music videos act as an influence upon audiences by the type of imagery that is shown and the way it is represented. Audiences, mostly teenagers, get inspired by these music videos and try to imitate what they see. This is why when making a music video, there needs to be an specification to meet what the audience are expecting in a way that it is not exaggerated or too controversial.

Also, music videos are a way to scape from the everyday life. Whether it is a positive or negative music video, it needs to be imaginative or surreal as it makes the audience imagine things that don't usually happen to them. They could perhaps relate to the music video, but most of the times this is not the case. 

RESEARCH- Music Video From Last year

The last three weeks of my AS year i worked in a group with three other girls to re-make a music video. Out of the options the video that we chose to re--make was Britney Spears 'Hit Me Baby One More Time'.

This is the link of our remake:

http://candistudentsummerwork.blogspot.co.uk

Scroll down until you reach  'Set 3 Marisa/Dan' and our groups is the second video.

Before filming our remake to Britney Spears video we had to plan what costumes we would wear.This was pretty simple as we all had our old school uniforms from the year before. Also where we were going to film, which again was quite simple as the original is shot in a school and we were in a college. The main thing we had to plan mostly where the camera angles and including as many base tracks as the original so it didn't become boring. However in ours all apart from one base track was filmed statically which really became quite boring, therefore this time we know not to have any static camera shots.

-During Britney's video at no point does it become boring, this is mainly through the use of different costumes and the amount of base tracks. Within our video we included 7 base tracks and tried to re make it good as we could.

RESEARCH- Skills Audit

Looking back at AS

-Last year i probably had one of the best groups, the amount i laughed was insane, however this year my group is even better AND i actually get work done during lessons. This year i feel i have matured immense amounts as i am able to identify the mistakes i made last year, and not do them again. I am a lot more confident with certain programmes as i have had plenty of experimentation with them from last year (photoshop, prezi,final cut pro etc).
-I feel as if my skills have been enhanced and can now produce a lot more quality work. I have also learned to plan, as it will help a lot. And do plenty of research which will contribute to the quality of my work loadssss.

RESEARCH- Synergy (independent)

Within the Music industry today, many artists use cross media convergence and/or Synergy when promoting themselves. This then makes it easier for the audience to identify aspects from this artist and are aware that they things are from the artist. Synergy includes such things as using similar colours and fonts when releasing an album or merchandise etc, however it is done in a very subtle way where the audience may not be fully aware of it all the time but in a way manipulates the audience into seeing these colours/fonts.

-The Artist who i believe uses a good use of synergy is Ed Sheeran, he is currently an international worldwide selling artist in which he has received two Brit Awards and a Grammy for his talented work.

Cover for Ed Sheerans Album- +

• -The first thing that i notice about the album straight away is the fact that all over is orange, this is already a very strong aspect of synergy used by Ed Sheeran as he is known for being ginger. 

-The orange background blends in with his hair making the thing we focus on most is his face.

• The Album cover in general is very simple and easy to look at, the artists name is in white font at the top of the cover, (which contrasts with the orange). It also has  a paw print just beside it and the + sign in the bottom right hand corner (which  is the name of his alum). 

-Many of the artist songs that he released from this album have been hits, that way he didn't just have one song that people could associate with the album, he included many.This lead to his fame growing and more people listening to more then one sing, this added many sales to his album +. 

 Ed Sheerans video from his hit single-Drunk

-The first and obvious thing we are able to identify is his hair (ginger), this adds to the general colour he has been using which is orange.

-Also at 0.54 the artist begins to play on his guitar, prior to this we are able to see an image of a paw print which was also in the bottom right hand corner or his album the song features on.
-Furthermore the video also includes a cat which can also be associated with the image of a 'paw print'.

- In terms of the artists t shirts which are sold, an orange paw is used instead of a heart, (identifies back to album cover and video).

-Along with the bag which does not include any specific images such as the paw print or the album name +, or include any writing on it at all, however it shows a faceless image of a man with ginger hair just like Sheerans and a blue jumper/fleece in which he wears at most of his stage shows and included in some videos too. Therefore it is just as easy for people to identify that it is Ed Sheeran then any other piece of his merchandise.

Finally the concert photo is also very relatable back to his album. It consists of the same images and font used on his album, however includes concert times and information on the left hand side. All of the above identify and show how well Ed Sheeran uses synergy within his career.

Synergy Activity

Synergy

Rihanna is a prime example of an artist who continuously builds a strong brand for herself. She seems to have created a different image for each album that she has released and has kept on reinventing herself and her image. Here she has just released 'Loud' and we see on her album cover her strong, iconic image of red hair and red lipstick.

This video if from her 'Loud' album, 'What's My Name' ft. Drake. This is the video where everybody saw Rihanna's red hair for the first time and she looks similar to her album cover as she still has her red hair and strong make up as we see in the music video and the gif below.

 

The back of the album also has her red hair but we see a softer image that was in another one of her music videos 'California King Bed' which was also quite an iconic part of her album.

Reflection of Progress.

Music Video From Last Year

Britney Spears - Hit Me Baby One More Time

http://candistudentsummerwork.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/set-3-marisadan.html

This is the link for mine, Sophie, Jaleesa and Orries music video from last year.

Skills Audit

I feel that my skills have improved from last year and AS definitely helped me. I feel that I am more capable and I have done more research and earlier on than last year and need less assistance from teachers. In terms of HTML codes and embedding technology into blog posts, I feel that I'm quite experienced and can do these more easily.

Reflection On Progress.

Reflection of Progress by aa58430 on GoAnimate

Music Video from Last Year

http://candistudentsummerwork.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/set-5-group-24-ryan-minh-molly.html

Here is the link to the Music Video that Me, Ryan and Minh made before the Summer Holidays. Our Music Video was aiming to replicate Rizzle Kicks'
'Down With The Trumpets'.

Here is the original:




We had to research for areas that were local to us, moreover Ryan and Minh had to learn the art of lip syncing to the song. We used two differetn locations and two costume changes throughout the song, this allowed us to show dual, opposing settings. Moreover, in order to film the video without being static we put the camera on a fig rig which allowed me to easily follow Minh and Ryan as they were walking.

As our Video was only one minute long we only included two base-tracks:

Whilst editing it was quite limiting only using two basetracks, that's why for our music video we want to use three/four different locations, which will give more of a variation of shots; we'll aim to have 7 base-tracks. 

Skills Audit

In AS I had learnt alot of new things which would assist me in my A2 year and I would be more experienced with the equipment. I used a lot of media technologies last year such as: 

The Mac 
The Mac computers store all of the available software that I would need to use in order to construct my Musis Video, they are quite easy to use and are MASSIVE so you can really see what you are doing.

Final Cut Pro
In AS my peers helped me when using Final Cut Pro, we had tutorials as a class, however I struggled a little. However, this year I will be using it on a larger scale and importing alot of basetracks when editing my music video, therefore I aim to explore the various editing techniques that it offers which would allow me to make my video more visually interesting.

Camtasia
Camtasia is a software that my group used last year, we used it within our Thriller to show clearly the impact of instant messaging between the characters. It basiclaly allows you to record the screen live so what you type or what you're looking at can be shown. 

You can also create and edit basic videos with transitions on here so it could be useful in that respect.

Blogger
In AS Blogger was the website/app I used to document the various processes I went through whilst creating my Thriller. This year I will use Blogger to my advantage as it will help me to document and demonstrate what I have discovered and used surrounding my work.

Quark

Quark was useful when planning our Thriller and our Prelim, it is a software which allows you to make a digital storyboard using images you had taken as well as writing the action and camera shot underneath each image. It really helped me to plan my work clearly and was useful during the filming process, so I didn't go off on a tangent. 

 

Photoshop

Last year, I did not use Photoshop as regular as I would of hoped. Therefore, I am anticipating using it whilst creating my ancillary products (Digipak and Poster) I feel that I will need some assistants to use the basic tools, so I hope I don't mess this up!

Individual Task - Costume/Setting/Props e.t.c

Costume
Illustration in a music video is a prominent aspect, as it can give the viewer a sense of the music genre, as well as possibly target an audience of aspirers; those who look up to the artist and may the viewer may aspire to be like them, in terms of fashion.

An urban artist who is accessible to an audience of aspirers is Katy B...

Her dress sense within her video is mainly hight street fashion, which allows the viewer to either copy or model their style on her clothing choices. I aim to abide by this within our Music Video as our wider audience would be young female aspirers, meaning that they would potentially be influenced by the artists fashion choices, especially if their clothing is accessible on the high street. This is vital as it allows the artist to connect with their target audience- young females who predominantly spend their time searching for clothing in the traditional high street stores: River Island, Topshop and Office, as opposed to the designer brands e.g Dior, Chanel and Michael Kors, which are normally associated with the more mature, working woman.

Setting

Furthermore, setting is also a main point within the mise en scene of the music video. The locations in Katy B's location also accentuate that Urban feel e.g Brick Lane Market and a Brick Lane Cafe. This location is renowned for it's vintage/ urban renewal clothing and the social night-life that is available. Moreover, it is recognised that the location fro this video also applies to the aspiring audience, as well-known locations can be visited and recognised.

In our video, we aim to shoot at renowned locations: Southbank, Millenuim Bridge, Stratford and Spitalfields. As we want to shoot at night time we want the lights surrounding these areas to be prominent.

These locations are accessible for us and we feel that they are safe to film in. The concept of our video is to view our artist in the cty she lives in and knows, therefore these well-known locations will be identifiable to our audience. 

Props

In terms of props we don't feel that they are necessary as we are merely introducing a new artist so the performance given will be very stripped back so that our target audience 15-25 year olds will be able to view the artist in a neutral way.  Although we plan to follow Goodwin's theory of disjuncture and there is no set narrative, we don't have to conform to a certain way of presenting our artist. However, we don't want to over complicate the audience, therefore no props will be used in our video.

Independent Research - Synergy

Many modern artists have their own brand, which is normally a recurring image that features in their EP release, Album release and aspects from their video. This will either be similar font, the costume or the setting that the video is based around. A brand effectively groups the different aspects of release together, so the artists fans/ target audience understand what songs belong to them and making the aritst themselves familiar.

A prime example of an artist who has made their own brand for their albums is the renowned Pop artist Katy Perry, who is an American artist who has done successfully. Moreover, she has worked with the likes of Snoop Dog, 30H3! and Timberland.

A key example of Perry making her album release familiar to her audience can be
recognised by her album: Teenage Dream. As you can see the design features alot of pink and the red and white striped font may insist the impression of sweets or candy canes.

This sugar-coated imagery can be recognised in her video, California Gurls ft Snoop Dog.



The same sort of theme has been carried from the album and adapted within the video, which successfully and collectively brands her release, as well as getting her Fans hooked on to the image she is portraying. This is a classic Pop Video as it's colourful and bright, as well as it includes tonnes of sweets and fun activities in this other world that Perry has created.

Furthermore, Perry also used the same font/colour scheme and costumes to announce her California Dream Girls Tour in 2012. This featured aspects of mise en scene which featured in the videos. Overall, I think that Katy Perry has succesfully used synergy through marketing and promoting her album releases sofar; she has used the same theme throughout all of the aspects which can be seen as paramount to intrigue your audience.

Previous Students Work

I have chosen this Music Video, done by the previous A2 students as I believe it contains multiple elements that make it successful also it visually inspires what I may want to do with my video. 



25. Christabell Ndive, Juliana Lopez, Tamara Akotuah

They cleverly use manipulation of Speed which is prominant in the music video to have a variation of dynamics and it also gives the video a ceratin effect. The use of misce en scene contributes to the 'Urban' feel of the video. The lead singer, has a minimum of three costume changes, which is a resonable amount, as we can still identify her style and the genre of the song- Pop. 

Moreover, the locations they have used: Box Park, Shoreditch are well known areas that are illustarted with that Urban/ youthful atmosphere. The use of lighting is also prominent within the video, although half the shots feature in the evening, their location is well light, whichallows the audience to view the artist. 

The natural lighting in the daytime shots, had a filter added to it making it appear more rich and deeper in terms of the colours she was wearing. I feel that I would want to use a filter within my video as it gives it an even tone, also makes the outlook of the video more professional, which is what I want to try and accheive. 

The use of camerawork wihtin this video is superb. I feel that they use a range of shots which allow them to play with the dynamic of the video through editing. Moreover, they must have alot of valuable footage so I doubt they would need to go back out to film some more. The 

The visions that my group and I have had for our video, follow along thew lines of it being shot in the evening, so we will need to locate a well light area like this group have done. Moreover, our target audience is young people so maybe the aspects of costume and image will also feed into our decision making. 

I can also identify aspects of Andrew Goodwin's theory in relation to disjuncture, there is no set narrative and the lyrics of the song are not illustrated within the video. This is precisely what I want to do with my video, as the artist is new to the industry, therefore her first single should visually introduce the aritst without over-complicating it with dancing or other characters.

Twitter Account

Twitter Account

This is our official twitter account in case we need to be contacted while we are out:

https://twitter.com/VerifiedGroup7

RESEARCH- Favourite previous student video Review

For this task this is the video i have decided to review, this was created by last years A2 Media students and personally i believe it contains many aspects a good music video should include.

23. Tobi Abiola, Anjana Varsani, Axl Smith

The video contains 3 base tracks along with 3 costumes, for each base track their is a different costume. Throughout the video various transitions are used such as the manipulation of speed which is an essential aspect when creating a good music video. As a viewer within the video i am also able to identify points from the three theories that i previously looked at. 

In terms of the video relating to Vernalis's theory the video contains:

- Three basetracks which throughout continuously refer back to. 

-The manipulation and transitions used (manipulation of speed), included an effect on the overall video.

-Camera movement- Jump cuts, tilts, zoom 

When identifying with Goodwins theory the video contains: 

-A narration, which is also told directly by the singer

-The ending to the video, the girl turns away from the camera and starts to walk away creates 'closure'

-Throughout the video the three basetracks are referred to over and over.

Lastly with Mulveys theory the video contains:

-Two of the three outfits included are a crop top, and a short bodycon dress to show the womanly figure, this may reflect aspects from Mulveys theory in some ways, such as some camera angles which show off her dress. However despite of this i believe the video was kept very tasteful and moderate and the choice of costumes contributed largely to the successes of the video. 

The style of song and ideas that my group have come up with is quite similar to this one, the fact that you cannot get bored while watching that video as the camera is always moving and never static is a really important factor, in our video we will also have one girl within it. This is so the video is kept simple and effective as videos with a narrative are hard to understand and complete. Because we hope to film our music video in the evening we also may include similar costume designs to this one, although they are casual they are effective.

RESEARCH- Costume,Setting,Location within music videos (INDIVIDUAL)

Research - Last Year's Music Video

Last year's music video

At the end of last year, we learned about base track editing and the use of markers. We learned that editing music videos is not the same as editing a thriller opening because music videos rely on base track editing in so that the flow of the shot can be continuous in relation to the song. Base track also helps to join two scenes together without messing up the lip syncing. Another benefit is that it gives us more material to work with. In last year's version of the music video, me and my group filmed four times in different locations. We then used base track editing to join the four together. We then incorporated the use of markers so that we would be able to keep the bits that we wanted and throw away other bits that we didn't want. The markers helped us to know which sequence to keep in each part of the music video.

My last year's music video can se seen on the following link:

http://candistudentsummerwork.blogspot.co.uk

My video is under the title of 'Set 3 Marisa/Dan'

Rizzle Kicks - Down with the trumpets

Research - Skills audit

Looking back at my As research skills

Following my first year of doing media A level, I find myself being more mature about the work I do and the way I want my project to go in the future. Thanks to last year, I was able to point out the things that I did right and wrong. Now, I can address those mistakes by acting upon them and making sure they don't happen again.

In regards to my research skills, I feel like they have been strengthened. Now, I am able to do a deeper research into the subject that I am interested in and I can be specific in my blogs about what I am looking at and what I'm learning. Also, I have learned that keeping the blogs on time helps me to know what I do and it also keeps me fresh for the next topic that I would focus on. It also helps me to understand more about the research that I'm doing rather than just typing it into the blog without understanding it. 

I have also learned to be open minded about my research as it does make an impact on the work being produced. Research can give me inspiration and knowledge that I can apply to my work, which is why it is important to have good research skills.

Research - Independent Research (Part 2)

Independent research intro an artist in the same genre as my chosen song

Having chosen my song, I wanted to do some research of other songs in the same genre as my song, which would be 'house'. I analysed 'Chris Malinchack - So good to me'. This song is a single, so I was able to find the cover for the single. The background of the cover goes from purple to orange; it is really simple and those colours usually represent calmness and relaxation. At the front, we can see the artist's name and a logo that makes his initials. Separated by a line, below we have the name of the single. Separated by another line, we see another logo, which looks like a woman riding a horse. All the written subjects are shown in white colour. 

The music video for 'So good to me' gives the feeling of calmness and tranquillisation. Along with the sound, the video follows a smooth structure that also relates to the narrative. In the video, there is a reference to the animal as a giraffe is displayed playing with a little girl. 

Between both products, it is clearly visible that the use of animals and females are used to create a brand identity. Also, the idea of 'chill-out' or relaxed vibe is being expressed by both products, which plays an important role in the used or synergy for cross media products. 

Research- Andrew Goodwins THEORY

Andrew Goodwins Theory 

Within Goodwins theory he explains that as an audience we identify 5 key aspects of a music video, he  believes that overall their are three types of music videos. Because music videos generally involve a narrative they are unable to keep to the structure of traditional longer narratives and are produced a lot shorter. However this is not always the case.

the five aspects are:

1. Narrative and Performance-  Music videos never really include the whole narrative,this is important in their role of 'advertising'.
2. Thought Beats- We have to consider the structure of the song for example many artists tell a narrative during their song, this gives the audience a closer connection as not only are we listening to the story, but also listening to the unique voice of the artist. 
3. Star Quality- Being able to relate with the artist 
4. Technical Aspects- This includes the camera movement, shots,angles,editing,cutting and uses of Mise en scene. 
5. Relation of visuals to the song (which are also the three types of music videos)- Illustrate, Amplify and Disjuncture.

Firstly ILLUSTRATION: Cher Lloyd- Want U Back

This video could be considered an example of a illustrative video as the narrative corresponds with the lyrics (the video was produced directly around the lyrics). 

The video for this is quite effective as moving Polaroid photos are mostly telling the story corresponding with the lyrics. 

AMPLIFICATION: Lily Allen-Smile

This is when videos do not correspond with the narrative however do not contradict the lyrics either. Usually the videos add new 'layers' of meaning.

In terms of this video i found myself getting a little confused however came to the conclusion that in fact the music video doesn't correspond or tell a narrative in terms of the lyrics, but doesn't contradict them either. This is clear as a line from the chorus 'When i see you cry it makes  me smile' and each times its played we see her smile and her partner looking distressed. The video finishes with the artist smiling. 

DISJUNCTURE: Darkness- I believe in a thing called love 

In terms of disjuncture usually the video has nothing or very little to do with the video. With this video initially hearing the title one would think maybe some typical props or colours may be used such as love hearts, the colour red/pink. However the video overall is very random and a lot of base tracks of close ups of the bands instruments are included. Many effects are also involved for example fire which has been added on afterwards, and the use of about 2 green screens.