Note to Moderator

This is my A2 media blog.
This shows my my advert, digipak and my final music video.

I have a total of 68 post and 60 of them are research and planning posts.

I hope you enjoy my blog

Question 1 Evaluation

 

 Shane
Hannah
Lisa

Shane Throughout our A2 course, whilst creating our music video, we came across a range of conventions of which we could use, develop and challenge.

The song begins with a medium close up of one band member playing guitar, the video then cuts. Here we tried to link the lyrics and visual together – when the song says ‘’alarm clock rings’’ we showed a shot of the lead singer in bed, with an alarm clock ringing next to him. This follows convention as it clearly links together lyrics and visuals.

Hannah  As the camera pans down towards the clock the video cuts to a wide shots of the band performing together, by the side of the street. This is a very bright daytime shot and we used colour correction to bring down the exposure.

We chose to use singing into camera all the way through our music video. It can be first seen in a medium close up of the lead singer. This convention is a good way to connect to the audience as it is as if you are looking directly towards them. For this shot ‘’I’m going out of my mind’’ we added a blur around Liam’s head, this symbolised how he was feeling.  The video then cuts to a wide shot of Courtney walking down the street towards Chris with the band in the background this happens as the song says ‘’until she walks in’’.  We slow-mowed this clip as it shows that you are focusing directly onto Courtney, it also makes you realise that this girl it ‘Emily’.  

Lisa  The video soon says ‘’when I look in her eyes’’ it then cuts to a close up of the female actors face, again linking lyrics and visuals. We added a ‘ken burns’ to this so that the camera zooms slightly and slowly into the face.

The video then cuts on the beat to bring in the chorus. We chose to cut on the beat to follow convention however, we decided to mainly do this during the chorus as we though it fit better since the music became more upbeat. For the first chorus we used a series of fast shots, this consisted of a range of medium close ups and wide shots. We think this was successful because it fits well with the genre and speed of the song.

Shane  During this first chorus we mainly used performance shots, this is because this part of the song especially is from the bands point of view. We used short clips of the female actor to strengthen the narrative. We think this was successful because without these short clips the narrative would not be as clear. We have also used walking into camera, again following convention. We think this works well as it makes you feel that you are a part of the video, and you are walking with them. We used a dissolve as a transition from the shot of the couple walking towards the camera then away from the camera. This gives the impression that time has passed. We used a dissolve for this part of the song as we felt it was calmer than the rest of the song which is faster paced.

Hannah  We used cuts to go to the next shot as the song continued to be upbeat. During the next verse the lyrics say ‘and I’m on a short lead’ we tried to link together lyrics and visuals by getting Courtney to pull on a band members guitar strap. This shot was at night therefore we used car headlights to create a glow and a mysterious atmosphere. One problem we came across, when filming, it was not possible for us all to meet up before 4 o’clock therefore when it came to filming it was very dark – we overcame this problem by using car headlights, this was very effective as it was as though the band were performing in a spotlight. We also added colour correction to make this shot a touch lighter as it was too dark, this made it harder to see the location.

Lisa  During this verse, for the line ‘you don’t even know my name’ we used a short close up shot of Liam’s face in the tunnel, we feel that this was a good way to show that the singer was sad and that he felt alone therefore, overall we thought this was really effective.  We then cut to a 2 second wide shot of one band member playing guitar in the tunnel, this was a really interesting shot, the silhouette could connote sadness or loneliness - something the band members may feel when they are not with Courtney or ‘Emily’ as the song suggests.

Shane  When the song says ‘I must be invisible’ we connected lyrics and visuals by making Courtney walk straight past one band members, ignoring them – this makes you feel sorry for the band member and almost make Courtney look like the villain – this is where we used Vladimir Propp's theory.

Hannah  The song then cuts to a two second wide shot back in the tunnel, this is a short build up to the chorus. As the song cuts to the chorus a low angle shot of the band appears, we edited this so that as they jump they jump on the beat. This is followed by a series of low angle and wide shots of the band, these shots are very upbeat, the band are very energetic, our target audience said that the performance shots were ‘exciting’ this proved that we were successful.

The band continued to sing into camera for this part of the song, this is really effective as it is a good way for them to portray their emotions to the audience.

Lisa  From high angle shot of the drummer, the video then dissolves to a shot-reverse-shot of the couple in an argument. The location in which this takes place is where they were walking previously in the song, but this time the location does not connote romance instead it shows distress and sadness. This is a very harsh scene as it shows an argument between the couple and that it ends with violence.  We chose for the girl to push the boy first, this was challenging stereo-types as usually the man is the more dominant in the relationship but we tried to twist this and show the girl as stronger therefore creating a representation of a modern day woman. We chose to slow-mo the girl pushing her boyfriend as this emphasises her movement, we wanted the audience to realise that the girl pushes the boy first. We colour corrected this scene to make the grey colours stand out more, this is because this scene is sad and we wanted the colours to emphasise this.

Shane  Throughout the whole song, Chris does not sing to Courtney at all – we chose to challenge this convention and I think it worked well overall as the narrative is still clear, this shows that the main singer does not have to be the one to sing directly to the girl all the time.  

When the video cuts to the next shot, the band in these shots look sad, this is because we tried to make what had just happened link with the band and show how all their emotions are linked. This is all done in a wide shot.

Hannah  Next the video cuts to a high angle close up shot of one band member playing a solo. We colour corrected this so that it is brighter and there is not too much exposure making it unclear. In the next cut we used the ken burns tool to zoom into the band member’s guitar, this gives an extreme close up of him playing. It then cuts to another high angle shot of the same band member, this gives an all round view of him playing, giving a range of angles and views, this worked well for the solo, as it was effective and shows off his skills. We are still continuing to use performance shots here meaning we are still adhering to the convention. This high angle shot moves round revealing the other band members playing therefore it goes from a medium shot to a wide shot of the band.

Lisa The video then cuts to the whole band playing, this is shown in a wide shot. This is only shown briefly, before it cuts to the tunnel. This again is another performance shot, like before we see a silhouette, I do not think that seeing a similar shot again is boring, therefore disagreeing with Steve Neale’s theory on repetition. We next see a series of cut as the camera dollies towards the exit, this again cuts between the silhouette of the band member and this, until it goes back to the band all playing together.

Shane  The next cut one band member finishing the solo as the camera pans up and round to reveal the others members it quickly cuts again to the whole band. The camera then dollies inwards towards the lead singer, at the same time he sings, the wide shot becomes a medium close up - we colour corrected this shot and added a mask around the lead singer so that we only corrected him, we needed to do this as his face was too over exposed whereas the colour for the location was okay.

Hannah  As the song then says ‘’such a pretty face’’ the video cuts to a short medium close up of the female actor smiling – this is a cute shot that shows that the band members are attracted to her – it also links lyrics and visuals together.

The couple seem to have made up after their argument, we do not see this happen therefore this relates to Bordwell and Thompson, because the audience do not see what happened to them during the time the band were playing.

Lisa  The video then cuts back to the chorus. During these cuts we showed a close up of one band member singing the lyric ‘next to me’ we chose to using him here as you can see the power in his face and how much this girl means to him. I think that the range of shots after this are good as they blend well together and do not cut too fast. 

We used a handheld camera for some of these shots, this shows their movement and energy.

Shane  After these fast cuts we then chose to use a fade, this brings back the romance portrayed from the couple as the audience assumes they are back together again. We used a fade to bring in the low angle shot of the couple, the camera pans as they walk past a park gate and then dissolves to bring back the band. I like this series of shot because as the camera pans across the gate and dissolves, the shot of the drummer appears as the camera continues to pan, adding a calm effect.

Hannah  Towards the end of the video we realise that no band members end up being with ‘Emily’ this makes you feel sorry for them as throughout the video you think they are the heroes of which you expect the girl to go to, when in reality her boyfriend may be the hero as he wins her back.

Lisa  We see this sadness portrayed from the lead singer when he says ‘I was barking… up the wrong tree anyway’ this was shot in the tunnel location therefore it is very dark, this emphasises the sad feeling, and makes you feel sorry for this member.

Shane  The video then cuts between multiple shots, one of the lead singer in the dark tunnel then to the couple, who seem to be talking. We colour corrected this shot of the couple to make it so the couple were slightly brighter, making them easier to see.

Hannah  The couple contrast with the lead singer, as the couple look happy but the singer looks sad. Again, making you feel sorry for the singer but happy for the couple.

Lisa  In the end, we realise that the band members definitely do not get to be with ‘Emily’ and the couple make up, this is shown through them hugging. The boyfriend holds out his arms and the girl steps forward first to hug him, we chose to point the camera towards the girls face as it was her emotions we wanted to capture at the end.

Question 2 Evaluation

When we finished creating our music video we had to develop our ancillary products. We ensured that all of our products had synergy and linked well with each other. We matched colours, fonts and images to ensure there was a clear link between our work we also got stills from the music video we created and tried to fit them into our designs.

The first thing that we created was the advert. We tried a wide range of images such as a photo that we took when filming in the dark with the car headlights in the background. Those photos were not as the successful as the one we decided to use. We decided to use this picture as it looked more like an advert you would see in real life to promote a new band. This was the most successful image that we used and I think it is an effective image and a eye catching advert.The instruments that each band member is holding in the picture is the same as he ones they use in our music video which links the two together. We also considered using this location to film but it was to small of a space and it would not have turned out as well as we would have wanted.

When we was creating our advert we knew what kind of font we want and that is what we used it has a urban look about it and what we noticed when we choose it the boldness stands out and is a very eye catching font. We used the same font for our digipak therefore we created synergy between the two. We used blacks, dark greys, dark blue and dark greens to create synergy between the ancillary's and the music video. Using photoshop we was able to take the brown from the roof on the picture and use it as the font colour for 'Debut Album Plus Live Performances' this as a successful thing to do as it linked the image and the text together which makes the advert more effective.

For our digipak we created synergy between our advert and music video but using greys, blues, blacks and oranges. We created more more synergy by taking pictures straight from our music video such as the image with the drummer this was a still from our music video and so was a few more in the montage on the digipak.

On one side of our Digipak we listed names of songs that are on the CD and on the other side we wrote some of the lyric of the song Emily we only choose certain lyrics because these were the most gripping lines and didnt give to much of the song away so you have to listen to the song to understand it.

Our ancillary products both have a logo that we created to advertise our company ( Sasha Sounds) the name is created from our names and this also makes the audience realize that the two products are created by the same company.

We chose to use this picture to go behind the CD as it shows the couple that are i our music video  and it also portrays the romantic side of the song.

Question 3 Evaluation

what have you learned from your target audience from ShaneJackson123

Question 4 Evaluation

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Construction

These images show us setting up the band and getting their equipment to the right place that we needed them to be. They also show us going over the lyrics when this was so Chris and Courtney knew what parts they need to act in and when Courtney needed to walk to Chris without us telling them over the band playing. This also shows the filming of the band and actors, this was done using a Panasonic TZ62 camera, with a tripod to keep it steady. We used the tripod to ensure that the shots we needed were steady and focused. This was harder when we started to using panning shots as some of the shots and pans we found when it came to editing we had to remove because of shaking and unsteady shots. The tripod made panning smoother and easier to use but we had to learn how to handle the tripod so that the shots and pans were as steady as possible and this would mean we wouldn't have to record them again. When it came to recording in the dark we had to set up the equipment when all of the band arrived because we didn't want anything ruined this meant that had less recording time and were pushed for time. This was a problem because it got dark quickly because we was filming in the winter and it was cold which meant time was even shorter but we over came this knowing exactly what we want to film and how we wanted the band positioned.

Final Cut Pro X



When editing our music video we was able to add transitions such cross dissolves which makes the video more entertaining and more fun to watch rather then watching the music video cu all the time to the next shot. The transition that we chose is placed onto the timeline and goes over the clips of video that we want this allowed us to drag it out so the dissolve wouldn't be as quick and would be a calmer change and we would shorten it if we wanted to go from a light shot to a darker shot a faster dissolves would work better.


This menu in Final Cut allowed us to add a colour effect. This allowed us to add a gungy effect to our shots which gave the video a more pop punk feel and look.




Markers were an important part in creating our music video because they allowed us to put markers onto the timeline and make it easier to sync up the audio and cut when needed.







We image is taken from our music video. We used the tunnel in our music video because it allowed for natural framing. This work out successful and was an effective shot.

This is the Ken Burns filter that we used and this allowed us to zoom into a certain thing that we didn't zoom into hen filming because we didn't want to ruin the shit we used this to zoom into the lead singers face.

By using Final Cut Pro X we as able to put certain parts in slow motion which we used effectively by putting the argument scene in slow motion to emphasis the problems in the relationship and the strong one in the relationship.




Research

During the research stage we used YouTube to look at existing music videos from artists such as Parmore and others. By doing this it gave me a better understanding of what a music video such have in it and should look like and it also told use that not many videos have extreme close ups until we looked a Adele's Hello music video. The video I watched were many pop punk and this also gave me a better understanding of what kind of colours and feel a pop punk music video should have.

When creating our advert we looked at many existing pop punk and pop rock magazines. This gave us a clearer idea of what type of fonts and colours this particular kind of magazine should have. It also helped us with positioning the picture of the band n the advert and it also gave use the idea to use the roof of the building for the colour of the font.

When creating our digipak we also looked at existing didgipaks and we noticed how much was on one didgipak so we took some of what is typically on a digipak like the song list, lyrics and tour dates but we also used some of our own ideas that aren't commonly used like the montage of the band and the couple which we think turned out successful and was a effective part of the didipak.

Before making our music video we went out and took pictures of all the different locations that we could use in our music video this helped use plan were we could position the band of the coupe and what different angles we could get when filming.

When it came to presenting my work I mainly used PowerPoint, Prezi and Slideshare this was because I had used them before and I knew how I could make my work as creative, eye catching and as clear as possible.


Planning

During the planning stage I used my blog all the way through. This helped me show my journey and help me organise my work. We also printed out the lyrics and annotate them this made linking the visuals and lyrics a lot easier because we was able to come up with ideas with others and see what would work the best. The cameras were the main part throughout the course and the cameras that we used were Panasonic TZ62. With using the camera came with storing all the pictures and videos onto a memory card and a hard drive to keep our whole music video on.

Evaluation

When creating my evaluation I used different techniques to present my
answers. To create question 1 I used quick time to take a video of my screen we then spoke over the screen recording to explain what we did and why we did certain things during filming and editing and any problems that we faced. This was a good way to answer a evaluation question because we was able to physically show the audience what we did and we was able to clearly explain what we did and why.  For question two I took screenshots of my ancillary tasks and wrote up about them on my blog. For question 3 I create a PowerPoint presentation about my target audience this was a good way of presenting my work because I can add lots of things to make it existing and eye catching to read.

Emily Music Video Final

Final Digipak

Final Advert

Advert Drafts 2

Adding a Title Slide and End Credits.

Digipak Draft 2

T-Shirt Designs

Final Logo

Digipak Drafts

Advert Drafts

P&O Actors and Locations 5

We have planned the last past of the music video which involves Chris and Courtney and we are hoping to film it on Tuesday 24th. We planned them to together and in each others arms in the tunnel and that will be the ending to our music video.

Possible photos For Our Digipak

Emily Music Video Rough Cut 3

P&O Actors and Locations 4

My group filmed on the 14th and the 15th. On the 14th we filmed Liam's part in the tunnel this was so could have a extreme close up of the lead singers face. We got him to sing the whole song so we could cut to this shot at anytime in the song. I think the filming went ok but if was difficult to film because of the cold weather and it was darker then we would have liked but we got the shots that we needed so it was a success. We didn't need transport because we all live in Brigg so it was easy to arrange a time and place to meet.

The filming on the 15th went very well because we got a lot of different shots and angles including a low angle shot and a tracking shot which is one of the most important ones we needed. It was my group, Chris and Courtney we filmed them walking together and being a couple and also them having an argument so we can have that scene before the end part of courtney walking in to see the band The filming was easy to organise because we all live in Brigg and we were free all weekend.

Planning: Editing Today On Final Cut Pro X

Digital Technology/ Media Language

A2- Final Cut Pro X

These are all techniques that we have used whilst using Final Cut

• Blade 
• Import Pane 
• Viewer 
• Timeline
• Disable/Enable Audio 
• Detach/Delete Audio 
• Playhead/ Scrubber Bar 
• Snapping 
• Cuts 
• Over/Under Cranking 
• Markers

Organisation of Actors and Equipment

I am contacting Chris and Courtney to do a reshoot. I want to ask Courtney to wear a different costume - something soft that connotes love and suggests they are close.  Hopefully we can film this week and i can collect the equipment we need. I also need to look at the weather for the week.

Planning and Organisation of Location and Storyboards

This location has not been used and i feel we should use it. It provides a natural frame and we need far more close ups and extreme close ups.

We need to use this location for the same reason, the tunnel provides a great focus and frame. We also need extreme close ups - this is a shot type we are missing.  We also need tracking shots.