Audience feedback continued

THE FINAL VIDEO!

Collection of people's comments

Viewing on Thursday

This Thursday, my group members and I will proudly be presenting our finished music video. Here are some shots from the sequence for a sneak peak!

Using silhouettes within our video is inspired by avant-garde cinema and other cinematic influences such as films like: Un Chien Andalou and Psycho. However we are working against the supposedly suspenseful and frightening impression of a silhouette and creating other characters with shadows. This is definitely linked into the indie genre that we are aiming to achieve.

More stop motion

A very iconic and memorable line in the song is: 'And there will be love in the bodies of the elephants too'.

Thanks to our creative team member Felicity who does Art A-Level, she presented the idea of having two elephants gradually kiss each other on the trunks and for vertical hearts to appear on the screen.
This was quite a lengthy process to handle yet, thanks to her brilliant idea, we completed this and inserted this into the video's sequence perfectly.

Here is a snapshot of the elephants below:

We used the Sony professional camera that Felicity uses for her Photography A-Level work to use to slowly snap pictures to use for the stop motion.

We used orange background to avoid any unwanted background light, this bright colour also tints the frame as a result.

Positive things to share!

Adding animation and new technology

Having researched the wonders of music videos, particularly from our genre, my group and I came across this quirky and alternative video with hearts incorporated. This gave us the brilliant idea of using our Media Studies classroom to experiment and put the original idea of drawing suns on the model's face with face paint, to replace this with the projector's images. This is really interesting and can be visually thrilling for the audience.

Although this is only linked to the lyrics, this focuses on the creativity and youthfulness of the video.

During our free time and allocated lesson time, we worked on this part of the video.

Spontaneous Work

 As the three of us have discovered our perfectionist ways whilst working on this project, we re-assessed the video as whole once again, and thought it would be really charming to insert a 'LOVE' shot with a girl tying her hair back and this medium close up shot would capture the multi-coloured sign inscribed on her neck. This is alternative and fits in with the young, wild and cultured genre that we are portraying.

 We used felt tip markers to write the powerful word on the back of her neck.

Above is me filming with the Canon camera, finding the appropriate angle and height by panning the camera to estimate the best possible shot. This took me 1-2 minutes to order which I then filmed and directed the actress to re-run the shot 3 or 4 times until the shot looked its best.

Working towards the deadline

Coming towards the end of the production process, we are almost at the end of the editing and now will focus on individual evalutation and audience feedback of our completed video.

Developing the digipak

Applying my ideas creatively towards my final digipak, I have created this useful template to work with.

Team Meeting

Coming towards the end of the creative process before finalizing edits and starting the evaluation questions, we took the liberty to have a very important group meeting to go through the exact shots needed for the music video sequence that are either missing or need to be re-filmed and edited.
Today, Felicity and I filmed with our friend Alex Alter, gaining certain bits of footage to upload to Adobe Premiere.

For example, we completed the planned shots with:
glitter,
number 5 shaped candles
Ribena bottle
'stupid cigarettes'
feet at the edge of the bed
Russian doll shot
and many more

Like last year, from useful filming experience at AS, we feel comfortable on set to experiment and explore new and quirky ideas to incorporate within the music video.

We worked with different angles varying from high shots, low shots, zoom, over the shoulder and more. This enabled us to freely experiment and play with the different types of camera shots possible.

When filming, I used zoom, panning and crabbing techniques.

I feel that today's work demonstrated our positive group work ethic towards the production of the project.

James Dean

James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931 – September 30, 1955) was an American film actor. He is a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment. In the song's lyrics:

Oh, well I'll look at you and say it's the happiest I've ever been
And I'll say I no longer feel, I have to be James Dean

This intertextual reference plays a part within the wider context of the song which we feel is important to reflect and manipulate in our video.

 

We used this photo to doodle on: horns, a mustache, a beard and geek glasses. This was then filmed and uploaded onto Adobe. We fast-fowarded the timing of the action which added a satirical yet cinematic effect. The black and white photograph used, (yet above is sepia-coloured) is unusual within the sequence which highlights and colours the music video effectively.
 

Iconic symbolism within our video

During the post-production process of filming the video, we have carefully studied and analyzed the outstanding and salient features of the collected footage so far. The third shot of the sequence is myself skipping down a street in Primrose Hill wearing a mango-coloured, bright dress that is the first real establishing shot of the song.

Prior to the shot is the fast-motion shot of the title spelt out in Scrabble letters followed by the successful stop-motion shot of the sun gradually traveling. This connects to the themes of sun, positivity and fun within the song's lyrics as well as our video.

We have decided to shoot more clips of myself/ another actress lip-synching and improvising, whilst wearing the dress in order to develop the video's narrative and allow the viewer to focus their attention on a specific character.

This is definitely influenced by Spielberg's Schindler's list as the little girl in the red dress, is the iconic character in this classic, avant-garde, black and white film: 

The primary colours attract the viewer's attention in order to provoke their senses when watching entertainment or any visual form of media. 

Gymnastics and talent within our video

During our second day of filming we encountered stuntmen who did freestyling tricks in the park where we briefly filmed. This gave us a deeper insight into exploring the possibility of inserting acrobatics and special tricks into our music video. Madonna's pop song: 'Hung Up' spurred us to experiment working with young people and gathering footage of their own freestyle stunts to insert into our final video. This may steer away from the initial narrative yet it grants us opportunity to electrify and urbanize our video for a positive representation of young people.




A friend of mine from my gymnastics club is a skilled and talented gymnast who has agreed to work with us to get some fantastic and jaw-dropping shots of backflips etc.

We asked our actor to fill out a health and safety form as well as a risk assessment before proceeding with the stunts to ensure his safety and assurance during the filming.

More album cover creations...

This album cover allowed us to experiment with different layers of the photo's composition.

 

This is my own draft/brainstorm of the what I envisage the Digipak cover to look like. Using the technical wonders of Corel-Paint 11, I used special effects such as the solarisation tool to alter the colour and tone in order to achieve my studied artist's genre.

I also copied and pasted love heart doodles and positioned them on the corners of the image to create a college effect. I also filled in the backdrop image layer with a blue coloured sky that works well with the overall positive image.

Looking at Mise-en-scene

 

Mise en scene is a key concept in Media Studies that I was introduced to in AS level. It’s a French term meaning ‘putting into the scene’. In any genre of film consisting of the music video, refers to all the elements that are in front of the camera that compose a shot. These elements include:

• Lighting
• Objects and props
• Costume and make-up.
• Colours and shading
• Position of characters in the frame and their relevant movement
• Setting and location (can be external or studio)
• Shot types and camera work
• Composition of the shot as a whole—how it is framed and timing of shot

This motivational and enlightening online slideshow on the importance and essence that the mise-en-scene offers in a music video really reinforced my understanding and awareness of this key concept.

Mise En Scene – Music Video from amyamz12334

Dedicating time in the suite

Spending lunchtime hours, free periods, after school hours and even occasional media lessons working on our thriller title sequence either altogether or individually. All in all, the process is a lengthy one and we all have established a work ethic that motivates us to listen to one another's opinions and then to adapt each others creative ideas into the piece. The media studio at our school provides us with a Active Premiere double screened computer as well as speakers, desk space and normal Dell computers in order to fulfil the requirements of the task professionally.

Art of the Title

The art of the title is an inspirational, creative website listing the creme de la creme of the best and more individual title sequences in music videos and film. As a group this was an extremely beneficial source to creativity during the earlier process of our work.

Our fascination with sound

Experimenting with digital software

This transformed image is a perfect example of the gradual progress in learning the skills needed to create the very best possible Digipak album cover.
I really enjoyed adding and adjusting shapes and colours in a pop culture fashion. m

Filling in the gaps

As we have regular group meetings in the editing suite to evaluate and alter the footage that we have so far, we also contribute to discussions regarding inserting new shots and ideas.
We have come up with some ideas listed below:

Face paint of animals is really iconic for our music video. It cleverly links to the lyrics: 'in five years time we could be walking around a zoo'- this creates humour and charm to the video.

The image of couples feet in bed also would be an adoring shot type in the video. 

Our lack of special effects make it authentic and bona fide.

We are also considering including a shot of someone laughing whilst drinking out of a Ribena bottle to replicate wine as the lyrics say: 'drink stupid wine'- this mocks alcohol and creates a comedic effect for the viewer. It is known that the alcohol culture amoungst young people is very popular, yet we aim to promote a healthy and stable message within our video.

General feedback from teachers

As a group we have successfully created the core part of video, and have been given feedback on our stylistic choices from shot types to creativity.
Today, 16th October we were told by our teacher Ms Whitman that she admired the wide, group shot of people jumping in and out of trees. This echoes the Sound of Music when The Von Tramp children are playing in the park and amoung the trees.

This definitely is a classic film reference that we have adapted into our video. It shiows the fun and adventures that young people embark on and very much suits our genre of choice. This is known as pastiche technique.

On the side, we have also taken still photography shots that offer a collage effect to the video. For example, we have chosen girls to stand on tree stumps an pathways whilst holding up decorative signs with coloured hearts and messages that mirror the song's lyrics.
When editing them into the timing of the song by cutting and adjusting accordingly (in order to fit with the timing), this successfully worked out and provides another form of cinematography to the video.

Today we came up with another inventive idea to incorporate within the video. We took the Canon camera in the filming studio, and placed a red gell sheet over the redhead to create a vibrant and colour-symbolic shot. We held up fingers to spell out: L, O, V, E. This footage was then captured onto our Adobe folder where we played around with the sequencing of this shot. As a result, we were very much satisfied with the clever arrangement of this idea and decided to save and keep this for our final piece. The use of shadows and silhouettes against this pink/red background is authentic and traditionally artistic.
Our constructive criticism:

1. To focus on more quirky transition shots
2. To include more lip synching

Storyboarding page 1

Independent research into my Digipak

Coverhunt is a very useful website as it is a collection of any possible album CD covers that one can want to look for! I have browsed through and had a look at the hipster/indie folk genre covers which has given me more of a perspective when applying my own research and ideas into the video and of course into the digipak cover.

I have also explored different sites that are listed as Album Art Collections. They have listed a galore of CD covers that vary in such an artistic and detailed range.

Noah and the Whale's Five Years Time

Uploading footage

As the three of us all act as editors, producers and directors we have arranged to meet up at our school's media suite to go over footage and break it up into fractions in order to organise the order of shots in the sequence. As of yesterday, October 12th, we are satisfied with the introduction (45 seconds) of the song, which has most definitely been completed. The core of the song is still yet to film, yet we have plenty of transition shots to incorporate within, from our first day of filming. We had a group meeting yesterday to discuss the plan as we will be working on the footage as well as gathering even more footage at the same time. The target is December so we feel that October-early November is set for filming, and the rest of November is dedicated to editing.
Overall, we feel confident and satisfied with what we have at the moment, which has motivated us to explore more shots and ideas together.

Album Cover Analysis

 

As an assignment, my class and I were given the task to analyse two different artists' album covers. One relating to my chosen music genre for the music video and another completely separate.
Below is the Iron and Wine album cover:

This album cover exhibits Van Gogh's style with the delicate, vertical brush strokes and fine lines showing the variation in tone and colour. There is a man who appears to be lying in a field of grass sleeping. This creates a sense of serenity and tranquililty within the frame. He is wearing a white, open collared shirt that shows he is casual and not formal. There is an angelic and god-like feel to the picture as the grass is spread arond his head symbolizing a halo or that he is a holy figure. His beard also is connected to the stereotypical image of a god. The album cover is illustrated not photographed which appeals to Iron and Wine's target audience as it echoes his artistic taste and style. The album title: 'Our endless numbered days' as well as the artist's name: 'Iron and Wine' are both written in lower case showing a lack of effort and informality. The font is written in a serif, chalkboard form that is unmodern yet stylistic. Overall, the album cover is ornate and full of interpretations.

 

This album cover is by an alternative, soft rock band called Young Guns. This is a completely different genre and messgae. This photograph/animation is particularly gothic and sinister. There is a woman floating in mid-air fully nude with her head fully back. This might be an exorcism, spiritual healing or post-death. Her hair is faded white which signifies purity and after-life. The open, bright window is almost paralysing the figure with its natural, harmful light. There is also sexual undertones emitted from this image. This can also be interpreted as a portal to the afterlife. The edges of the frame are damaged showing that the photograph is maybe taken with a poloroid or an old fashioned camera. The band's name: 'Young Guns' is positioned in the centre of the frame in an enlarged and son-serif font. The translucent tone contributes to the eerie, ghostly feel of the image. The overall colour scheme is misty and faded with its dark purple, black, white and greys. The album name's font: 'Bones' is hand written like an artist's signature at the bottom right corner providing the viewer with a piece of art aside from an album cover.

 

My presentation on the crucial points!

Digipak from Tyler Alexander-Abt

Experimentation on the Digiak

For our second lesson in the ICT suite, my class and I were taught many more editing and technical points in order to use later on when creating the Digipak itself.
We were given the task to merge the PowderFinger album cover and a close up shot of actress Angelina Jolie into a two-toned image. During this exercise we tried out colour schemes, adding objects and combining objects together to create a transformed final image.
This really educated me on the editing technique needed for the final digipak itself. I also learnt the variety of tools and the selection of options to choose from on the Corel Photo-Paint software. This enabled me to learn how to mix tones and how to manipulate original images into a brand new one.

We also discussed how and why music artists choose their album covers personally and what messages are conveyed to their target audience.
Using both cross-media devices: a website homepage and Digipak, this promotes and represents the artist and their artistic style that is reflected on both of the separate mediums.

I independently researched further into what a digipak is and why it contributes to the image of the artist as well as their own sale promotion. This sildeshare presentation really informs me of the key points to what makes a digipak so important.

What is a digipak from Valvainolivi

Day 2-3 of filming

During our half term, we gathered a big group of our friends to agree to participate in a whole day's worth of filming. We experimented using boxes and a ukelele. This image of a cardboard box gives a child-like, frivolous and creative feel to the video that agrees with the genre's culture. In order to film the male lip-synching, our friend Alex agreed to mouth the lyrics whilst giving direct eye contact to the camera. This allowed us to progress in our stages of filming. 

Things to include?

Pastel colours and vibrant shades reflects classic 1970's sitcoms and the variety of patterns give a touch of authenticity and vintage style to the music video. Here are some examples:

Retro Movie Clips, is an example of intertextuality. this overlapping and sometimes irregular clips from films gives the audience a chance to interpret the video further as well as recognising the artist's tastes.

Filming in front and behind camera

As we attempted to use actors in our first official day of filming, it was hard to secure them 100 percent due to uneasy weather conditions and timing. Therefore, we went to plan B and used myself in merely 2 or 3 shots in bright, hipster outfits that would be great transitions for the final piece. We were warned prior to filming of the objectives of the project and how all three members should remain behind the camera however, in this case it was better to obtain some footage than none. Ultimately the three of us have given an equal amount of work and participation towards the production of the video.

More pictures from first day of filming

 

Just like on a professional film set, there is a hired photographer to capture and document footage from make up, actors, set, backstage work that all record the progress to look back on after. The last, striking image is of our friend Robyn, who we experimented some voodoo style make up on her. This creates a somewhat carnival and youngster effect that could pop up as a still shot in the video.

Research on narratives within music videos

Narrative In Music Videos from Leanne Gelder

I found this enlightening presentation on SlideShare that really gave me a deeper understanding into what a narrative does and how a music video is with or without.

Introduction to Website homepage and Digipak CD Cover

Part of my coursework is to produce two separate ancillary products. Apart from the fact that they need to be made and designed independently, the same software will be used to make both products. This is known as a Photo Editing Program. With the ICT department, we learnt how to access and utilize Corel Photo-Paint and Adobe Dreamweaver. Just like the music video, there is also the same amount of case study research as well as touching on the semiotics and connotations of images that are used to outline my designs.

We were showed how CD covers and dominantly image-based and how a website page should provide a range of information and advanced technology. The is a big focus on how the website page will be interactive with the user both dynamically and visually.

Designing each product will allow me to experiment with my taste in culture and permit my exposure and extra knowledge to reflect on my chosen artist/genre.

With our ICT teacher, we went through the image editing program to give us an insight of how to work with images and transform them into something completely different.

Inspirational! from animated to reality...

Film and other forms of cultural media have a big impact on our inspiration for shots and intertextual references throughout the video. This is known as pastiche and the opposite, parody.

Juno's title sequence is really edgy and extremely detailed. We are not aiming to put in animation but the gradual stop motion shots of objects creates a beautiful and artistic transition into reality.

Official first day of filming

Wednesday, 3rd October, my group and I met at my house in St John's Wood and got prepared with the required equipment. Having charged up batteries and got the cameras in spick and span condition, we set off to Regent's Park Road for our first outdoor day of filming.
We have researched colourful houses in London, and I had already been familiar with this street leading towards Primrose Hill park.

Felicity taking pictures with her Sony 8290 camera

We met at 10:30am at my house and together drove over to Regents Park Road near Primrose Hill to fulfil the aspired shots. We did some shooting there, as well as documenting the filming with the professional camera. We then invited some members of the public to participate which really excited them to do. For example, one of our signs saying: 'sun' was held up by a man in the road. This looked really abstract and good behind camera.

We then felt satisfied with this footage and drove to Camden Town to ask more people to do the same thing.

We tried out filming and photographing the name of the song with Scrabble pieces to create a child, fun effect.

Official Risk Assessment Form

We have been reminded the importance of filling out a risk assessment form prior to filming. This is crucial to do in any type of technical project in media, from film, to TV and especially music videos. Since we are planning to do some of our filming outdoor, it is therefore essential to have this documentation fully completed for assurance.

Possible locations

In order to get the best shots and footage possible for our hipster style video, we have researched and been to the quirkiest and cultured places to choose from. We have come up with a bullet-point list of the
best suited locations where will be considering filming. London is a cosmopolitan and unique city with plenty of places to choose from, therefore we are aiming to utilize what we can in order to achieve the very best results. Here are some of our ideas:

• Hoxton
• Clerkenwell
• Camden
• Soho
• Primrose Hill
• Notting Hill
• Portabello
• Hampstead High Street
• Little Venice 
• Covent Garden 
• South Bank
• London Bridge/Bermondsey

Noah and the Whale's website page

As a group, we 'Googled' the band's official website page to browse through their blog, tour dates and music links. This provided us with a deeper insight into who we are working on for our own production of a music video, as well as inspiring us to see what a professional website homepage is like for further reference to make our own.

Synesthesia Exercises: Research Method

In class we learnt that another form of qualitative research is through a synesthetic exercise. This gives the viewer an opportunity to participate in listening to the music. This triggers images and thoughts in the brain due to hearing sounds and noises, automatically responds to visual motions. 

This can be a source of amazing artistic inspiration when creating the video, as it gives us ideas as to what an audience hears and feels. Especially our TARGET audience! It is known to be a unique experience for the participant as they capture colours, tones, images, harmonies, shapes and other elements included.

Musician and synesthetic Michael Levy, made an over 2 minute film on his thought processes whilst listening to composer John Coltrane's jazz music. This was definitely eye opening and gave us a scientific insight as to what we are expecting from our audience feedback.
Below is a filmed interview with a peer, that records James listening to Five Years Time, and then saying his reaction and any thoughts that come to mind right after. Take a look!



As a group, the three of us sat down and did our own, professional synesthesia exercise. We came up with a brainstorm combing all of our ideas.

Group Contact and Networking

In order to communicate and post instant ideas online where the three of us can see, we have created an
interactive Facebook Group that is called: Media A2 for our benefit.
This use of free and useful technology very much assists us to brainstorm and to share ideas and thoughts in this pre-production process.

Facebook was also used for our Media AS thriller title sequence as well as the tool to send our survey out to friends and family on Survey Monkey. 

We also send each other brainstorms and spider diagrams filled with ideas and possible concepts to incorporate in the video. Here is an example:

Our chosen song!

Lyrics to Song from Tyler Alexander-Abt

Audience questionnaire feedback example

Below are 3/10 of the questions from the survey, made into pie charts. This help us to analyse the results strategically and show the difference of information.