Editing progress - part 2

Our music video is over half way to completion. I have experimented so far with a mixture of video effects such as fading in and out. I am trying to keep the ratio of 70% performance - 30% narrative but I appear to have a lot more narrative footage.

Editing progress - part 1

We have began to edit our music video and so far are 40 seconds in. We are making sure to keep the performance in time with the music. We have rendered, captured and split each of our individual shots and are on our way to placing and creating our video.

Filming Completed!

At last we have filmed the final scene for our music video and are ready to move on to editing. Hopefully we have enough footage from different positions to make the car crash scene as realistic as we can.

Filming progress - 3rd Entry

A great day of filming, the music video performance has all been filmed. We asked to use the drama studio which had a large set of black curtains we found useful for the stage background. We had covered all of the song from a range of differnet positions which should hopefully gives us plenty of footage for editing.

Time Management Update

We have made several arrangements for meeting our coursework deadlines, we have booked the drama studio for after college to complete the filming for our performance for the 26th of November, we have asked Sophie (our singer) if she can stay behind for filming also. We have agreed to come into the mac room to work on our editing on the following Wednesday. This will also give us time to update our blogs or finish any incomplete work.

Locations for filming

The Housmans (Pub in Church Stretton)

The location for our narrative scenes for our music video will mostly be shot in the Housmans which is located in Church Stretton. The style of this pub connotes with the characters, and is a location which is quite redundancy. We have to ask permission off the owners to film in the pub, its also close to quiet streets and roads where we can film along without to many pedestrians. 



Filming around Ludlow

For our scenes involving driving around in a car, we will be using the location of ludlow for a number of reasons. One it has a urban which is relatively busy setting which will connote with our chosen genre. And two, it's the town of where our college is set so its easy to meet up with our chosen actors and not too much hassle to find a suitable location. 











Drama studio

We originally thought of filming the performance outside with an urban setting, however we decided to change our setting to the college drama studio. This gave us the freedom of using lighting and a stage which will look more appealing for the video. The background will be a black setting, so the focus can easily be shown on the singer. The black curtains will also connote the mood of the song.

Time management update

We have been regularly going to the mac room every Wednesday to continue working on our editing. I believe more time spent on it will greatly improve the quality of our music video. As for our blog work, we are making sure we get at least two blog posts per week so we don't fall behind.

Filming progress - 2nd Entry

We had a successful day of filming. Film a large majority of our video in the Houssmans pub. We experimented with a mixture of different positions and angles. Applying a night vision effect for the camera worked especially well for the outdoor scenes, giving it a nice dark atmosphere suitable for our video. I felt however some of the shots we took were a little shakey, but hopefully wont be too obvious if the shots are cut down.

Filming progress - 1st Entry

Today we had successfully managed to film most of the narrative storyline for our music video.  We covered the entire car journey for our video, and completed filming the bathroom scene; our only downside was the footage was taken in the daylight, which doesn’t reflect well on the style and genre of the song.  However we had filmed a mixture of different shots and angles, so we have plenty to use when it comes to editing.

Risk Assessment

Costumes

The costume is style is not a large feature for our music video, however typical teenage dress sence is something to consider. We need one of our actors (Luka) to dress up as a drug dealer. Which consists of gang clothing, such as tracksuits, caps and gold jewellery. Films that show this style of dress include 'Harry Brown' and 'Attack the block'.

Props

Props we are using...

Here are the props we are going to be using for our video. A lot of the props such as a phone and money are easy to obtain as they are everyday items we use. Alcohol isn't a problem as myself and our actors are above the drinking age. Also the use of a car is easily possible as my media partner Nat can drive. 

Due to our drum and bass genre of music there isn't a need for instruments for the performance shots, we just need a microphone for the singer.

Storyboard for our music video

Time table of our week

I've created a timetable to improve our time management and make it easier to decide on what days to film. The table shows that Fridays would be the best possible time to film as we both have a free day.

Cast and crew

We have selected a few people to star in our music video. We have chosen people we know well, but also considered their part carefully and as to why they would be suited to the role they play. For our original story plan our characters include: The boyfriend, his friends, the girlfriend, her friend and the drug dealer. For our performance we are just using one main singer. Here are the actors playing the characters for our music video:

Nathanial - The boyfriend

Nat will play a good role as the boyfriend as he has a confidence in acting as one of his current subjects is drama. He is also a confident driver which is very useful as a car is featured and used in our music video.



Sophie - The performer

Sophie will be our main singer for our performance part of the video. We think she will be suited  to play this part because she is listens to drum and bass and other similar genres. She also looks like the stereotypical performer and would match the voice of the singer.



Luka - The drug dealer

Although Luka doesn't look like the typical drug dealer you might expect, we want convey the message that anyone can be one, and example of entropy. He also has access to clothes which a typical dealer would wear.



Lizzie - The girlfriend

Lizzie is currently studying drama so she can understand and play the role well. Although her role in our video isn't massive she will still be able to make it convincing.



Elliot - Best friend of the boyfriend

I believe i'm needed to cast in the music video because I know the story line and the role I need to play. Although drama isn't my strongest subject, acting as a friend going to the pub shouldn't be too difficult.



Vitor - Friend

Vitor will be playing the role of another friend, although hes not a confident actor, he has a wide knowledge of drum and bass and has spare time for us to film.



Beth - Friend of the girlfriend

Beth wont have a large part in the video however is a confident drama student. So she will be able to play the role well.

The Pitch - Audience Feedback

After presenting our pitch, we were given some written feedback based on our questions we asked our class.

Our questions were:

    Does our idea appeal to our audience?

    Is the storyline suitable for our style of music?

    Do you think our locations are suited to our genre?

    Is our idea achievable?

   Are there any other ideas that might fit with our video?

The feedback we got from our pitch overall was very positive. Our feedback suggested that the narrative captured the mood of the song which was set to create be a sad depressing atmosphere. The audience also commented on the right type of locations and props we decided on for our video, which they thought was appealing and connotes the genre of the song. Also our feedback stated we had shown inspiration off other artists, they liked the similar style of storyline from other music videos we looked at.

We had some other criticism that explained they were unsure of the specific target audience. Which suggests that we didn’t show enough evidence or research to what our audience was. I believe more evidence and research is needed to show a clear understanding of our target audience. Also we didn’t look into a great deal of mise-en-scene, which was one of our criticisms for our pitch. We believe more information on certain costumes, props and actors available would be useful to include in our pitch.

Audience Profile

Audience profile from mediablog321

The Pitch

Pitch from mediablog321

Permission from artist

This is our email we sent to ask permission to use the song :

 Here was our response from the artist:

Redundancy and Entropy

•Redundancy is predictable. Which means scenes and actions are usually expected within the music video.

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•Entropy is unpredictable. Where the outcomes appear to be strange or out of place in a scene.

Redundancy and Entropy in a music video (PSY – Gangnam Style)

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The redundancy in this music video are scenes of routine dancing, because of the music genre being Pop and Dance. This shows the expected side of this music video. The central focus is on the singer, giving a clear indication of the artist. This is another use of redundancy due to similar genre of other music videos, focusing on the main singer. 

•The entropy used in a humorous way. This video included unexpected small cuts of random scenes, such as dancing in an elevator and also sunbathing in a playground. Its the of certain actions in odd places which gives this music video a lot of entropic scenes. Entropic use of mise-en-scene and camera is common. The costumes are very varied, some being redundant and others being unusual. The camera work is usually still to focus on the entropic scenes for a funnier outcome.

Redundancy and Entropy in another music video (Dirty Dike – Pork Pie)

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•The genre of this music video is rap and drum and bass, which uses a lot of redundant features. No instruments are shown in a performance part, and the video is usually focused on the singer. This states that its expected because drum and bass doesn't involve shots of instruments played such as guitar, drums etc. Also in a rap style of lyrics, the expectation of scenes are usually involved around the singer. As well using lyrics to visuals, the constant shots of pork pies is highly redundant as it’s the name of the song.

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There is only a slight entropic side to this video which shows the artist in a Mexican hat holding a plank of wood. This is unexpected as its unfitting with the dress style of the genre.

Coursework Schedule

Our chosen song

Music Video Analysis

Show me how to live - Audioslave

1: Shot type and movement - Mid close up fixed at radio presenter.

Music/Lyrics - “For whom, speed means freedom of the soul”.

The beginning of the music video is a brief intro before the song. The mid close up shows the radio presenter explaining the story line before. This connotes to the target audience as the whole setting is very laid back and calm, suited to the bands brand identity.

2: Shot type and movement - Mid long shot overlooking the desert behind two policemen.

Music/Lyrics: Guitar instrumental for intro.

As the music begins to play a rocky guitar sound, a series of shots shown of policemen signifies danger or outlaws within the story line  This also highlights the brand identity for Audioslave to be rebellious. The setting is a large open desert could be in a location such as Texas which connotes to a western outlaw kind of theme.

3: Shot type and movement - Extreme long shot of driving car, tracking from helicopter.

Music/Lyrics - Introduction gets progressively heavier.

As the shot cross cuts to a fast driving car, the non diegetic sound of the music indicates these are the outlaws of the story line  Also from the camera angle and tracking on the car also gives the impression they are being followed in an actual helicopter. This links back to the brand identity of rebellion which appeals to the target audience.

 

4: Shot type and movement - POV of police bikes trough car mirror.

Music/Lyrics - “Is this a cure, or is this a disease?”.

This shot again links with the whole outlaw theme to the story line due to the police chasing the car. The shot shows the police from the drivers perspective which connotes more of a sense of rebellion. The style of music also fits in with the footage as it relates well to the lyrics of the song.

 

5: Shot type and movement - Two shot; mid close up.

Music/Lyrics - “You gave me life now, show me how to live”.

This mid shot gives you a representation of the bands brand identity. The shot shows them to be relaxed in this chaos, which connotes the mood set for this band. The use of mise-en-scene increases the point of them being chilled and relaxed from their clothing. From their attitude in the story line they’re showing their not typical outlaws, as that isn't the representation they want to give to their audience.

6: Shot type and movement - Close up of guitar.

Music/Lyrics - Guitar solo playing.

After most of the song we finally see a small performance part of the story (which is linked into the story line). The close up of the guitar is to show the music becoming diegetic sound, where the band are performing in a similar setting. This shows the stereotypical style of rock genre, from playing live in front of an audience it connotes their brand identity and appeals to their targer audience.

 

7: Shot type and movement - Long shot of band.

Music/Lyrics - “Ready to begin”

This long shot shows the band members posed in different stances. This is to show the mise-en-scene used in this video to connote the style of the band again. They all face one direction which could link in to the meaning of the song which is about knowing where to go in life, however as shown in the middle of a desert, they are nowhere.

 

8: Shot type and movement - Mid long shot of singer.

Music/Lyrics - “You gave me life now, show me how to live”

This last shot relates back to the performance element. Again the use of mise-en-scene states that they don't care and influences the feel for rebellion even more. The fast edited camera shots during this part of the video relate to the music style.

 

Purpose and function for music video

This montage of photos and ideas I created to research into different genre and styles of music videos. This should help me decide what genre I want to use and give me an introduction towards the techniques of creating a music video.

Introduction to A2 Media

Our A2 Media this year involves creating a promotional package for the release of an album. This project will include:

• A music promo video
• A cover for the album's release on Digipak
• A magazine advertisement for the Digipak