Footage Filmed! & Digipack Shots.

On the 12/12/12, our group went out and we filmed the footage we needed for our music video. On the day, we did not have our storyboards right away so a few shots were from memory. Here are some pictures of our filming experience:

After we filmed, I took some pictures myself of various things that will make an appearance within the footage we have gained. These pictures are hopefully going to be used in the production of my digipack and website once edited to fit along with my chosen colour scheme. Below are the pictures I took:

This is one of the slides from the powerpoint we used within our footage. For my digipack, I had the idea to follow with the theme of being in school. This is because I can make all of my products synergistic; my logo could be used as a school badge/coat of arms, the actual music video is based within a school lecture, and so I thought it would be fitting to try and keep the music video, the website and the digipack within this theme.

This is a picture of how the lecture seating ends up towards the end of the narrative of our music video. We feel that having these seats empty by the end of our music video will easily make the  proposed narrative much more straight forward to conclude, as each individual 'student' we have in the apparent 'lecture' will each, one-by-one, leave as the artist's persona slowly declines into his madness.

This was the set-up of the teacher's desk that was included within a number of our shots. We had the idea that as he begins to get mad, he should slide his things off of the desk and then when we come to edit, we can add certain effects onto it like slow motion for example.

This picture shows a slide from the powerpoint that will be displayed throughout many of the different shots of footage we got. This powerpoint will be focussed around a theme that links in with the lyrics of our chosen soundtrack - "...blame it on my ADD baby...' We thought that this would be the most fitting way to link the narrative to the soundtrack itself.

This is one shot that I have already chosen to be in my digipack. This is simply a close-up shot of the chair layout within the lecture theatre. Once I have edited this picture, it will definitely be used on my digipack layout, either as an inside cover or  as the back cover, but it will require some form of editing first. The layout of the students in the lecture theatre had to be planned out at first so it was easy for people to get out of the row of seats they were in and exit the shot in a decent space of time.

Digipack Analysis and Example

Location Shots

Before going out to film, we went out to the location where we plan on filming at to take various pictures:

This is the hall that we plan on using. These seats will be folded out and we plan on setting the hall out like a lecture-style setup, with a desk and chair for the teacher/actor. We then plan on setting out our 'extras', who will be students attending the lesson, in various spots of seating, just to spread everyone out a little, instead of keeping everyone grouped together. 

This is the projector available within the hall. We have chosen this to be our main source of light during our filming as we plan to use a powerpoint within our narrative. We also feel that it would be a much more unique source of light to use, rather than just having the normal lighting.

These pictures show the corridor just outside of the lecture room. We plan on filming our chosen actors and extras walking into and out from the lecture both at the beginning and end. By doing this, we hope to help the audience gain an understanding as to where the music video's narrative is taking place at this point.

Website Layout (Final)

Below is the copy of my webpage design that I plan to use:

The logo that is used above is NOT the logo that I will be using. That was my initial idea for a logo. As of yet, the detail that I will be including in each area of the webpage is not yet clear but from the titles of each area, its pretty clear which form the detail will take once the webpage is created.

Logo (Final Design)

Today, I have come up with my final design for my logo. Below is a picture of my logo

For my logo, I decided that the core element of it should be the 'M' and the 'X' from the artist's name . I've implemented this into my logo the best way I could. The 'X' needed to have a different style to it, so I though that this chosen effect would go well, especially when looking at various electronic artist's logos.

The Angel wings were an idea that I had out of the blue in all honesty, however they seem to be fairly effective in contrasting with the 'rough and rugged' look that I have given the 'X' in the background. The crown was also something that was very spontaneous in my thought process. I watched a music video by WoodKid called 'Run Boy Run' and in it, there was a consistent image of two keys that had a royal-like style to them, so I took that as my inspiration and used a crown instead.

At the moment, I'm still experimenting with what my colour scheme is going to be. I have the idea to use two contrasting colours to go alongside the contrast in imagery within the logo itself, hence the reason why I've used orange and blue. The only idea that I will definitely be implementing is the outlining of colour rather than colouring it in fully.

Peer Assessment of our 2 Column Storyboard

In todays lesson (28th November), we created a 2 Column Storyboard for our music video. This is what it looked like:

This storyboard shows our narrative at every stage of the song we are using. In detail, it shows what we plan to have on screen at various sections of the soundtrack. For example, at the very beginning, we plan to have numerous shots that set the scene of the video, like a close up of the door handle turning, and footsteps walking into the lecture theatre.

We then got feedback from another group on the content of our storyboard, with any criticisms or good ideas that we have used. Below is the feedback we received:

We were told the following:

1) Describe clearly what sort of room its in?

2) What shots will we be using for the opening shots?

3) We had a good blend between the narrative and the performance

4) Need a slight improvement on the narrative

We have taken this feedback into account and will incorporate it into our storyboard in due time.

Results/Findings From Our Questionnaires

Questionnaire Results

From these findings, we have come to several conclusions:

• We now have decided on what our final idea will be for our narrative
• Within our final idea, there will be very minimal forms of conflict, seeing as there were no positive feedback on existing music videos that contained violence/conflict
• We will be making sure that our footage we get pretty much includes our 'artist' in every shot possible, as that was another key focus that those asked said was vital when they watch a music video.
• Our 'artist' will be given a look based on existing artists within the industry, similar to Calvin Harris, the most popularly voted for look.

Evaluation of Our Focus Group

Here is our evaluation of the Focus Group. 

Focus Group (20th November 2012)

            

This is our Focus Group we have done to gather more research into our genre of music, Electronica. We will put this alongside the results that we have gained from our questionnaires to help us make a final decision on what to include in our main idea.

Webpage Design (FIRST DRAFT)

This is my first draft of a webpage design that I plan on using:

As you can see it is not fully completed yet as I plan to add more to it as I go along, simply because there needs to be a background image added and that may effect the positioning of some of the links, images, etc.

First Logo Ideas

As a group, we decided on this being our starting idea for our logo:

We decided on using the eye as part of our logo because within the footage that we plan on getting, we hope to use a number of different close-up shots, and so we thought that it would be a good idea to keep this theme consistent to our music video.

We have all decided upon including different symbols within each of our eyes, similar to how the Rolling Stones have styled out their logo of the lips:

I have decided to use the shape of an eye but with a Union Jack instead of a pupil. The other themes within my group is a 'x' as the pupil, a fully black pupil and a glass-shattering effect.

Moodboard for Webpage

Media Moodboard

This is my moodboard for the artist's identity.

There are reasons specifically why I chose to include these images and fonts. For the fonts, we had the discussion that electronica bands seem to have futuristic characteristics, so I took this approach and went looking for any styles of font that seemed to show a futuristic 'feel'. The ones above I feel best reflect this, especially the 4th from the top, which seems to show the letters in a slightly more unique way than expected.

In terms of the pictures I've chosen, I took inspiration from electronica bands like 'The Prodigy' and 'Deadmau5'.

Our Ideas (Pitches)

Our Group's Initial Ideas

During the process of choosing our soundtrack, collectively, we came up with a brief idea that still needs a little more detail to it, but we all feel could work to our advantage.

Idea No.1

For this, we came up with the idea of having the person playing our artist in a dark room, with a singular spotlight or several spotlights aimed at the centre of the room. Within these spotlights, the 'artist' would be in a trance-like state, giving a number of cameras we were planning to use loads of direct address in a semi-confrontational way. We'd also have a number of close-ups mainly directed towards various body parts such as the hands and forearm, the legs and different areas of their face. This would be at the very beginning as its gives a build up to the physical appearance of the artist from the off, leaving the audience to want to stay on and watch to find out more about the 'persona' that we want the artist to portray.

Idea No. 2

This was an idea that I have recently come up with by myself. I have sat and listened to the soundtrack  a number of times through and have thought about the different themes that strike me straight away.

There are a number of different elements to this soundtrack that are possible to implement within our own music video, however there are two in particular that I feel we could pull off. The first is that the instruments used in the soundtrack create a machine-like atmosphere, possibly even zombie-like. So, taking elements from idea no. 1, I thought that the starting shots could consist of pretty much the same, close-ups of different areas of the artist's body, however they could be a lot more lacklustre, giving off that 'zombie' vibe. The shots would then focus on the artist's face, which has make-up on to make him look partially 'dead' but on only one side of his face. Following shots would then consist of different locations, rather than just the one, that gives both machine-like surroundings and isolation.

Idea No. 3

The third idea I have is the other theme I found was predominant from the soundtrack, to portray a 'break-up' between the artist and a 'lover'. I had this idea when I saw the new lecture-style room that had been built in our school. This would be the setting for the music video, and would have a clear narrative and performance element to it. Like the first two, the starting shots would be the same but this time, there would be a number of shots showing the artist putting a CD on, and then on the projector, showing him and his 'lover' on a recorded video. This video would then be the main source of light in the room and then to follow this, there would be a number of shots showing the artist slumped in different spots of the lecture stand watching the video back whilst clearly singing/miming the soundtrack as well. This would be cut up with a number of shots showing the crazed look of the artist that has obviously been an impact of the break up, much like the one's planned for the previous two ideas.

Band Filming Activity

In todays double period, we filmed a band performing on stage live.

There were three cameras in use to start with:

A static camera

A free, handheld camera

A Dolly camera

Here is a diagram of the set-up for filming:

Our group found this to be a valuable experience and have gained a number of useful notes that we feel can help us when we get to the process of going out to get our footage. for our music video. For example, my group in particular ended up using a variety of different shot types to film the band. We also found it useful to film at different levels to the artist/instruments as it makes the shot a little more interesting.

The Dolly Camera was the one camera that I was most interested in working with. This is because I have seen from other people's work from previous years as well as in other popular music videos that a Dolly Camera can help to create some interesting and extravagant shots that helps to keep the audience's attention to the music video, so, from a personal view, this was one area that I myself found useful to learn about in this activity.

Before going on to use camera's in other areas around the performing band, I had noted in my mind the  ways in which other students in my group and others were filming the band. This gave me some ideas as to not only how I could film the band when the time came for me to be in that particular role but it has also given me some ideas into how we, as a group, could choose to film our 'artist' when it comes to getting the footage for our music video.

Website Analysis

The website that I am analysing is The Pet Shop Boys:

As soon as you click on the website's URL, you are greeted to the Splash Page to the website. There are three different links from this page. You can go directly to the main site, you can order their newest album or watch the music video to their most recent single. This is a very interactive feature, that gives an insight into the artist's most recent activity and merchandise. The background image is also of the new album cover.

This is the main site. There is lots to highlight here:

As you can see right from the start, we are introduced to the Body Copy and The Hero Shot. These are the most stand-out areas of the webpage. The Hero Shots clearly show the artist's 'image' and is taken from the front cover of their single that is being released today. These images are parallel to the Body Copy. The text gives details to the target audience relating to the newest information about the artists.

From this page, the target audience are given the current/upcoming tour dates for the artist, although there are none at the moment. This Landing Page is like a 'mini hub' for everything about the band. 

Artist 'Frankenstein'

Media 'Frankenstein'

Research Plan

We have decided as a group to split our different research plans between the 4 of us.

Here are the different areas of planning that we have decided on doing:

• Questionnaires
• Focus Groups
• Interviews
• Characteristics of the Electronica genre
• Market Research ( Representations etc)

My role in the planning process is to research the main characteristics of the electronica genre. In this, I will be watching various music videos to see the common themes that run through e.g. dancing, performance etc.

I will also be helping out with the organisation of the Focus Groups with Stevie. We have decided to hold 2 Focus Groups, one will have an age range of 17-18 and the other will be teachers ranging from 24-30. We have decided to aim our music video at this specific target audience simply because we feel that any age lower than this will have difficulty buying the song on places like iTunes for example, hence the reasoning behind why we have chosen a higher aged target audience.

All of us have begun our research tasks straight away. I had an input on all aspects to start with, coming up with the questions for the questionnaire with Kirstie, discussing the target audience and how we would go forward with the focus groups with Stevie and looking at the different branding and logos of other electronica artists with Becky. After this, I watched a few different music videos, particularly from the band 'The Prodigy' and 'Fatboy Slim', as secondary research, to get some inspiration for common traits in the ways the music videos are filmed e.g. camera angles, shot types, etc.

Below are the different music videos I watched:

From this video, I have noted and focussed on the use of facial expressions and how they can add to getting across a particular form of emotion, similar to how we are thinking of portraying our actor within our footage once the filming process begins. Also, the use os very minimal colour and the use of black and white can be visually striking, something that we could take into consideration when filming  and editing.

This music video was purely used to see the limitations of movement within a suit. This is because we are thinking that our 'artist' should maybe wear a suit, which would be fitting towards our narratives we have composed together. Also, if any comedy elements were to be added into our music video, then this is the ideal example to follow.

The decision to use this video was purely down to the chaotic scenes portrayed. In our planned music video, we are all in agreement that we want our 'artist', within the narrative, to be having some form of breakdown, leading on to crazy, almost intimidating scenes with other extras involved. Also, the lighting in this could be thought provoking as using just ordinary lights from the ceiling doesn't look very original.

Iconography Research

Iconography Research">

Lip Synching Task

We were given the task by our teacher to film ourselves lip-synching to a song of our choice, and then try to edit the footage that we got, in Final Cut, to get it in time with the soundtrack itself.

Here is our finished product:

Firstly, we had to choose our song. For this choice, we had to make sure both of us knew the words otherwise it wouldn't look too good. We had found this song a while back and we both like this song quite a lot, which in this case was quite handy.

From here, we had to decide how we should film the different sections of our lip sync video. We decided on doing a clean run through from start to end to begin with, so that we could pick out certain sections of the footage that were able to fit to the soundtrack. After we did this, we then had to decide on a variety of other shots to include within the video, so that we could keep our audience interested throughout. I decided that we could have sections of myself miming the song and then piece both sections together in order for it to look like there was another artist sing as well as myself and my partner.

Once all of the footage had been recorded, it was time to edit it all together. Firstly, we imported all the footage from iMovie into Final Cut. We then transferred the main section of footage onto the timeline on Final cut. Then came the tricky part. We had to sync the soundtrack and the footage together first before we added any other layer of footage to the timeline. This was the hardest part of the task, simply because we had to 'guess' roughly how much footage we had to cut so that our miming of the song was perfectly in time with the artist's voice on the soundtrack. After this was done, it was then just a simple job of removing sections of the footage that were not needed and replacing them with other footage that we wanted to include. All we had to do after everything was in place was to add any effects that we also wanted to include.

Music Video Representations (Research)

As research before we get into our coursework groups, we were given the task to choose a music video of our own choice and answer the following questions:

• How is the artist being represented?
• How are the lyrics being represented?
• What is the overall effect of the video on the audience?

For this, I chose the song ' Men In Black' by Will Smith:

Here are my findings:

How is the artist being represented?

Well, Will Smith, throughout the whole of the music video, is in his character from the film 'Men In Black', Agent J. Therefore its hard to say how the actual artist is being represented, seeing as we are only seeing how his character is being represented. He wears dark sunglasses throughout the majority of the video, which could connote secrecy, which is a them explored quite often by the Men In Black, linking to the films.

There are also certain points in which Will seems to be escorted around the place by two female 'bodyguards'. This is unusual as it gives off the message that he is in a much weaker position, going against the usual stereotyping of the masculine authority.

there is much direct address from Will as well. From this, we get two feelings. The first, and most obvious, is threatening. This is also reflected in the lyrics (see next question). However, you could also get a friendly vibe from it as well, seeing as the whole video is almost a 'parody' of other videos.

How are the lyrics being represented?

For this question, I took various sections of the lyrics and analysed them:

"..Don't fear us, cheer us, if you ever get near us, don't jeer us, we're fearless.."

     - This is demanding/ threatening. Saying don't actually be scared of them, but if you go against them, then they'll retaliate due to their "fearless" nature.

"..we're your first, last and only line of defence against the worse scum of the universe.."

     - Again links to the film; signifies organisation's (MIB) importance to the world, raising his status when compared to ordinary people in the world.

"..Do what we say thats the way we kick it, y'na mean?.."

     - This has a double meaning. Threatening as its telling you that you HAVE to follow their instructions, but at the same time is slightly more friend-like, particularly shown through .."y'na mean?.."

What is the overall effect of the music video on the audience?

Well, its a very upbeat, "get up and dance" style song, although it is a promotional video for the release of the soundtrack for the film itself. There are also certain sections of the music video that seem to have real-life interactions with the audience, although not actually being real-life, echoed through the use of the 'neautralizer' at the end of the video.

Coldplay Research

Coldplay Research

Richard Dyer's Star Theory - Madness (Research)

Richard Dyer's Star Theory - Madness (Research)

Choice of Soundtrack for Our Music Video

As a group, we have decided to use this song for our music video coursework.

We were then asked to contact the artist to see if we were allowed to use the soundtrack for our coursework. We decided to contact them through Twitter. Below is the evidence of this: