Extra Filming

When we started capturing our footage we decided that our performance elements were not good enough for the grade we wanted to acheive, through gaining feedback from our rough cut, our focus group also criticised us on our performance element. We felt the lip syncing was not in time, so therefore our video would have not looked as professional as we had hoped. So, we managed to fit in another slot for filming in order to improve our perfomance. We took some pictures of filming to show how we used a range of different camera angles to create a, hopefully, diverse looking video.

This picture shows how we used a high angle shot in our video.

This image shows how we captured a shot from the side angle. 

This image shows how we used a low angle shot in our capturing.

Time Management Update

As it stands our group is slightly behind schedule. We had aimed to have our final music video completd by Monday 10th December, but due to our group being set back by having to adapt our music video, such as having to film extra footage, and re-shooting our performance element, we have been set back a couple of weeks. However we are now on target to finish our final music video by Friday 21st December.

Rough Cut & Focus Group Feedback

1) What do you think our genre is and why?
2) Is our video appropriate for the genre and why?
3) Does the video appeal to you? Why?
4) Can you identify who the band members are? Why?
5) Do you think there is an equal balance between the performance and narrative? If not how could we change it?
6) Is there anything you would change or improve on in our video and why?
After looking back through our feedback and conversing with my group, we have decided to re-do the performance element of our music video. We took the views of the focus group into full considertion, and agreed that our performance was not to the best of our ability, and that it may effect our grade rather a lot. We have scheduled to re-film our performance element on our next double media lesson as this is when the performers and the rest of our group are availible. Apart from the performance element, the focus group on the whole thought our video was rather proffesional and fitted our genre well. As the majority of criticism was centred around the performance element, we do not feel it neccesary to change any other vital part of our video. However we are planning to shorten the length of each clip slightly to make it in time with the beat of the music to give off a more proffesional vibe.

Storyboard

Editing

To edit our music video we are using 'Final Cut Express' software. We will use this to capture all of our clips, and then attach the favoured ones together to make our music video.

So far we have edited this much of our music video. We feel we are on track to have a rough cut prepared for Monday 10th December. As we have now finished all of our filming we are able to input all of our time into editing. 

Our group are very happy with what we have produced so far, it still needs some work inputting as we want to use more points which we have identified in our research such as matching the beat of the music to the visuals, as stated by Andrew Goodwin. However we feel that our footage is ample for what we aimed to achieve, and we think that our shots give off the indie vibe we were hoping for. 

Moodboard Recreated

Due to our audience feedback stating that they thought our idea of filming our video at the beach was too adventurous we have no re-thought our plans as a group, and decided to film roughly 2 miles away in a forest. We decided this as it still allowed us to keep the main concept of a road trip and camping the same, but it meant it would much easier and more accessible for us to film. Therefore i have recreated the moodboard to show our new ideas.

Moodboard

This moodboard is to show what features we wish to show in our music video. For example we plan to film a road trip with a group of teenagers ending up at the beach. Finishing with a campfire. This video we hope will connote friendship and will include a number of elements that are redundant in indie videos.

Facebook Group

Our group decided to create a Facebook group which included each group and cast member. We thought this would allow us to converse with each other whilst we were outside of college to organise our time and tasks effectively  It also ensures that everyone is able to share ideas, photos and documents with the whole group to ensure that each group member is on target with their tasks. By having this group we can also add members of our target audience later on so that we can receive feedback from them which they fee may improve our video in some way.

Genre Research

Filming Update 19/11/12

Today was our last filming session, but due to completing the majority of our criteria beforehand, we were confident we would be finished filming by the end of the day. We finished off with filming some more narrative pieces to ensure that we had plenty of footage for our video. After looking back through our footage we as a group decided that we were very happy with what we had achieved and we felt we had created a variety of shots and angles to create the diverse image that we were hoping for. The weather was slightly wet again today, but didn’t portray any danger for us a group. Overall I am extremely happy with our footage and feel we have used our time effectively and have stuck to our timeline efficiently. Although we encountered a few problems along the way there was nothing we couldnt overcome as a group. We now have a large amount of footage to condense down to make what we hope will be a proffesional music video. This concludes our filming for this part of the course.

Filming Update 14/11/12

The weather was brighter again today which allowed our group to not be at such risk whilst going up into the woods although the ground was still rather wet. Due to our past sessions going to plan we did not have much more to film today. We decided to finish off our performance elements and continue with the narrative. We concluded that we thought a few more narrative shots were needed, so we are going to use our time in our last filming session on Monday 19^th November to tie up loose ends and finish off our filming.

Filming Update 12/11/12

Today we continued filming our narrative scenes and then started on our performance element also. We were not as lucky with the weather today, as we were last week as it was rather wet and windy. We made sure that our group and cast understood the health and safety regulations that our group provided in order to ensure safety for everyone. Although the weather was not as great, we planned to film within the forest so fortunately we were fairly sheltered from the rain; therefore we were not too disrupted by the weather. We filmed setting up camp and some performance elements of our video. Whilst on the way up to High Vinnels we decided to film part of our journey as part of our performance element as we thought this would add variety to our video and would fit in with our indie genre. However this posed a slight problem for us as it was difficult to keep the camera still and secure whilst we were driving along. We therefore fixed the camera onto the dashboard with white tac, this solved our problem and allowed us to film as we wished. We also identified that filming whilst driving may be dangerous due to the driver’s concentration being misled, so we ensured that Matt, who was driving and the rest of the crew understood the dangers.  Despite a few problems we were still able to film successfully, covering a range of footage and angles for our video. I feel we are still on target with our timing. We are planning to next film on Wednesday 14^th November.

Filming Update 5/11/12

After completing our storyboard my group and I felt we were now fully set to start the filming process. As the weather was dry and sunny this meant it was also the perfect opportunity to film as it would reduce any health hazards occurring to us and the rest of our cast. We took ful advantage of this opportunity and made our way up to ‘High Vinnels’ our chosen film location. We filmed one of the singers, Matt, packing his car up, the journey, unpacking the car and arriving at the location. We tried to film as many angles of each shot as possible in order for us to be able to add variety and diversity to our finished product. Thankfully everything worked in our favour today which allowed us to make best use of our time to cover a range of criteria for our video, meaning that we are still on target with our schedule. We have organised our next filming slot to be Monday 13^th November, as this is the next opportunity that the whole of our group is free.

Andrew Goodwin's Theory

Andrew goodwin’s theory from bethfrancis

Creativity

What is creativity?

Creativity is the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods and interpretations.

How can you be more creative?

Creativity is different for everyone. It comes naturally to some, but others often have to seek inspiration to reach their full creative potential. I believe that creativity is the centre of any art form so you have to be inspired in order to create something worthwhile.

Where does it come from?

I believe creativity comes from people’s interpretations of ideas and events, and their emotions towards them. Each individual will be inspired by different concepts as they will look at things at different angles because people’s experiences will determine their view of a subject. For example, when talking about war, some may feel sadness and sympathy if they did not participate in the war whereas others, who possibly were on the front line, may feel anger and frustration.

What role does it play in creating a media production?

Creativity is a key role in creating any media product. Generally, the more creative a product is, the more eye catching and intriguing it becomes, therefore it is generally the most popular. People enjoy seeing something different and unique, so by being creative and inspired when producing a product will have large benefits. When creating a music video, being able to decipher the right shot angles and types, along with the right costume and location choice, all come under the category of creativity.

Sir Ken Robinson

Robinson believes that education kills creativity. As to be creative, you need to be prepared to get things wrong before producing the final piece; however schools teach you, that being wrong is a bad thing. So therefore, Ken Robinson believes, that the creative adults in society, are the ones who have managed to surpass the idea of being wrong as a bad thing. He believes we are all born as artists.

I think that the ‘how to guide’ does talk about some valuable points on creativity, such as the idea of broadening your knowledge and learning about new things. This can make an individual more creative as they may find something that really inspires them, and it also enables them to engage in conversations with people about new ideas. The idea of sleeping and exercise I feel also helps to become creative, as this keeps the mind alert and healthy, ensuring that you are able to think and create to the best of your ability. However, I don’t think that daydreaming will necessarily help when creating something, it doesn't just come out of the blue, and individual needs to have a certain level of creative flair in order to produce a worthwhile product. 

Costume and Props

Matt:

For each of our members we wanted to connote our indie theme through the use of fashion choices and allow our target audience to relate to the band by wearing the same types of clothes. So therefore we chose items for matt and the rest of the group that we felt were in fashion for the indie genre at this moment in time, but also connoted the laid back feel that we wanted to portray. Therefore we decided to dress Matt in a casual denim shirt, paired with chinos and a graphic tee. All of which a member of our target audience is likely to wear on a daily basis. We also added a pair of Vans which is a common brand that the target audience choose to wear themselves.

Kieron:

We also wanted Kieron’s outfit to convey a common indie theme, so we therefore decided to put him in an Aztec print jumper, which is commonly seen throughout the indie genre in music videos and also within daily life for members of our target audience. In order to portray his outgoing personality Kieron has worn bright blue skinny jeans that are a fairly entropic feature of daily fashion, but are redundant when it comes to the indie genre. He is also wearing Vans, which allows the target audience to relate to the band members and for them to feel slightly more involved within the music video.

Abbie:

For Abbie we also wanted to create the casual laid back look, but in a slightly more femine way. We decided that she should wear a denim jacket in order to create a slight sense of contonutity throughout the costumes and as it is also a staple piece of clothing that is seen throughout the indie genre. By wearing a plain white vest and jeans Abbie is conforming to our image of laidback, casual lifestyle, which will really appeal to our target audience. Like the others in the group, Abbie is also wearing Vans.

Beth:

For my outfit we decided that a denim shirt would also be suited. We feel that they are a key part within the indie fashion world and that they connote the indie brand well. We have paired her denim shirt with leggings and a parka jacket in order to slightly differentiate her outfit from the others, but to also keep in with the indie style. She like the rest of the group is wearing Vans, which promotes the fact that the band is very focused on keeping up with the interests of the target audience. 

Audience Profile

Age: 17-22 years old

Gender: Female and Male 

Demographics: C2-E 

Psychographics: Explorers- seeks discovery and Hedonists – people who want to have a good time

Education: College students, University students and young adults 

The people in our target audience will be creative individuals with a laid back outlook on their lifestyle. This laid back attitude is portrayed through their clothing with them having an indie fashion sense. They will enjoy adventures and exploring new ideas through their creativity, which will link in with their social life also. They will have a loyalty to a number of brands, but will also seek unknown brands to be different. The mood board below gives a sense of what our target audience would be into. 

Risk Assessment

Pitch Feedback

Audience Theory

The Cultural Studies Approach to Audiences

This approach was developed within the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (BCCCS) principally by David Morely. According to Morely, audiences aren't just passively affected by media texts - they take an active role in reading the text.

There are three different ways in which a text can be interpreted:

Preferred Reading – the audience recognize the values being offered by the text and accepts them in general, but adapt their reading of the text to fit in with their experiences.

Negotiated Reading – the audience recognize the values in the text as legitimate and accept them in general, but adapt their reading of the text to fit in with their experiences and interest.

Oppositional Reading – the audience understands the values in the text, but disagrees with them and rejects them.

Applying the theory to our music video:

How might audiences read the values expressed in your video and print work in a preferred, negotiated and oppositional way?

I believe our target audience will view our music video in a preferred way as it connotes friendship and having fun with your peers, this is relate able to many of our target audience as they enjoy going out and having fun with friends, and taking part in activities such as camping and road trips which are both featured in our video. Audiences who view our video in a negotiated way, will understand the concept of friendship in the video, and may link this to their friend group and taking part in activities which they enjoy doing. Audiences who read our video in an oppositional way may reject the view of camping and road trips being fun, and may connote friendship in a different sense. Some people can often be intimidated by youngsters in a group such as this one, which may also link with an oppositional reading.

What are you going to do to encourage the target audience to take a preferred reading?

In order to encourage the target audience we are going to use close ups of the youngsters looking happy and having a good time, to connote friendship within the video. Plus we are going to use shots of the youngsters with alcohol as this is also a way in which people feel they are able to have a good time. We are also using actors of similar age ranges to our target audience so that they are able to relate easily to them and also will be able to relate to the activities occurring in the video.

What kind of person might take an oppositional reading?  

Someone who is not the intended target audience may take an oppositional reading to our video as they may not understand the concept and possibly may not see the activities as fun, or as something that a friend group might take part in. Others who may take an oppositional reading may be people who disagree with alcohol consumption, especially among young people, or believe that alcohol is not significant to have a good time. Also as I stated before, someone who may take an oppositional reading is possibly the older generation, who can be intimidated by youngsters in groups. 

Time Management

We have produced a time management plan to enable us to keep track of what needs to be done in order to ensure that we are prepared to film our music video. Here is our time plan for this month. 

Performers and Casting

Permission

This is to show that we have gained permission off the band to use their song in our music video.

Costumes and Props

Pitch

The Pitch on Prezi

Narrative Analysis

Genre Research

Redundancy and Entropy

Overall I believe this music video to be fairly redundant but with a few features of entropy. The scene images that we see throughout the video are redundant as they are city scenes which the majority of the public see on a daily basis, they are nothing out of the ordinary. With the school and kitchen scenes also playing a significant part in this video, this also gives off the redundant idea, as this is a typical everyday scene for children and adults worldwide.

The clothing the stars are featured in also is a redundant feature of the video. The clothes are not extravagant show clothes or anything out of what we typically see people in on a daily basis. The hoodies and baggy jeans are also typical of the clothing which we perceive people in the rap/r&b genre to be wearing.

An entropic feature of the video however, is the subtitles at the start of the video. This type of feature is normally associated with films and TV shows rather than music videos. It is not a dominant ideology that we link to a music video.

Another entropic part of the video is the adult’s heads on the children’s bodies. This links in with the title and lyrics of the song ‘opposite of adults’ but is not a common feature used in any form of media.

Linking on from the entropic ideas, another which is featured in the video, is the visual of a piano being played by one of the characters. This is fairly entropic of the rap/R&B genre as it is more closely linked with rock/indie genres to show their instruments being played within their music video.

The close ups of the lead singer however, is a redundant feature as this is commonly used in most music videos of any genre to highlight the main star. As he is singing throughout the video we are repeatedly shown close ups of him, which continue to perceive his importance in the video.

Music Video Analysis

Here is my first music video analysis. I have analyzed the video 'Crazy In Love' by Beyonce featuring Jay-Z. Beyonce is a world famous pop/r&b artist, with Jay-Z being more integrated into the rap/r&b scene. I have analyzed the following features:

-Shot types
-Camerawork and cinematography
-Mise-en-scene
-Editing
-Intertextuality
-Representation
I have analyzed how all these features are used to make the music video appealing to its target audience.

Functions of music videos

This mood board explores the many functions of music videos. The functions range from making money for the artist and company, to entertain fans and can also connote messages of issues in society at that moment in time such as drugs and alcohol.

Introductory Post

For my A2 media coursework I will be making a promotional package for the release of an album.  This will include:

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

On this blog I will record all of the research, planning and development of my work.