Sarah's Media

Digipak Final

2010-05-06T04:14:00.001-07:00

Digipak

2010-05-05T12:59:00.000-07:00

With the digipak, we wanted to keep a consistent theme. So looking throughout the website for ideas and a feel of what the feelings image is like, we noticed above that the options are old open books. We thought this would be a good idea because if we put the lyrics on the book it would be like telling a story. Most digipaks also include the lyrics to songs inside, and on the back the playlist is usually stated on a digipak.

To give the book texture, using the photofilter we put in effects the rough pastels and accented edges to give it the 'old book' look. And then used the photofilter to change it from white to a brown colour which is what the old fashioned books looked like.

We also used the same feeling sign got off the website and tinted red using the photofilter in photoshop. As we used this on the advertisement we thought we would use the same red to keep the consistency.

We discovered a font 'Andes' which looks extremely like the feelings font which we used for the back cover with the band.

To have a theme with the video, we decided to take a flower that was quite limp, and brighten the flower part but keep the stem dead. This relates to the theme of the video as it is upbeat yet the lyrics are depressing and relate to death.

The CD London Eye not only relates to the video but makes the CD stand out. We were originally going to do a red or blue plain cover (british colours) then we thought it would be too plain and not memerable for the band, so we chose to do it around the london eye to make it more appealing and memerable, also relating to the video.

We also included the basics that a professional CD would involve such as the barcode and island records picture.

Characters

2010-05-05T12:46:00.000-07:00

The feeling have their own robotic characters. The are very simple and chirpy. Quite anime like, they are very different to our characters and our characters we created are too emo for the band image. However as we did not have time to correct this we stuck with the original characters. Also as the advertisement is would be put in a music magazine and most of them are dark, we thought it wasn't completely useless and could still grab attention. We used the characters on the back of our digipak to familiarize with the characters and help promote the t-shirt.

Construction - Final music Video

2010-01-08T04:18:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI-r2OtRR7w

Construction - Final Magazine Advertisement

2009-12-23T07:17:00.001-08:00

Construction - Final CD cover

2009-12-23T07:15:00.000-08:00

Evaluation - Question 4

2009-12-14T04:37:00.002-08:00

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

The first stage of production is research. We often used youtube a lot to look for inspiration in carrying out or music video, especially when looking at music videos from the same genre. With the CD covers we mostly looked at the Feeling’s CD covers as we were trying to use the cover we made to reflect on the band and there style they usually use. One problem with this is there isn’t many other bands that have CD covers similar to the Feelings CD covers style which makes them very unique yet harder to follow as there are only a few covers we can look at and analyse from.

For planning, when coming to filming we mainly produced tables to show which locations, shots, characters and types of equipment we would need, using Microsoft Word. The main problem with this as it wasn’t as detailed as it should have been and we were not prepared to adapt for certain things that may have happened or changed. For example if it we didn’t check the weather so if we had finally travelled to the location to find it had started to rain we would not be prepared to cover all the equipment and would probably have to change the day of filming.

The main thing learnt about construction is that there is a lot more work involved in it and the poor time management we had meant that the production started a lot later then it should have. The knock on affect this caused is that after going through the weaknesses of the cover once it was done and the feedback meant we didn’t have a great deal of time to fix it. We used Final cut express for the music video, which meant we could add in affects and keep it within the beat of the music. After importing all of our clips onto Final cut express we then were able to look through and delete the worst clips and keep the best ones for our video. Then we had to work on cutting the clips down to decide what bit we wanted in our video and how long we would want this clip to drag on before the beat or lyrics changed in the song, using ‘in or out’. Before preparing our actual video we practised on a song ‘midnight at the oasis’, we filmed clips around the school and then cut down clips and put them together as a mini music video. We practised ‘lip syncing’ and figured out how hard it was to keep it in sync with the lyrics. This gave us hesitation on using a band yet at the same time we could not use one in order to get the audience to understand.

The main technology we used for the CD cover was Photoshop and PowerPoint as publisher was not available to us. Using the programmes Photoshop and Final cut were the most challenging as they took time to master and work out for ourselves how we would get around producing these projects. For the magazine advertisement we put it into pages, and used a notebook application to draw the characters where it involved having to draw them onto a device and implementing them onto the computer to be able to use.

The main thing I feel confident about now is Photoshop. I have managed to grasp many elements to Photoshop such as the magic wand, photo filter and filter gallery.

Filter Gallery

Photo Filter/Black and white

The biggest problem we had with the construction of the CD cover with Photoshop in making my cover was cutting out ‘Sun is shining’ from previous Feeling covers. We knew how to cut them out however the amount of time it took was enormous. In the end we had manage to cut the text out but it looked poor. Instead we stayed with ‘The Feeling’ title and used a similar looking text for ‘sun is shining’.

Compared to our design, the turnout of our original cover seemed to cover all the weak areas of our very first design. However overall the cover didn’t turn out as well as we had hoped which is why we changed our cover to use the British version. Pictures didn’t seem to work as well together which may have been able to be altered over time but with our limited amount of time it would be less hassle to stick with our British version which still ties in well with our video.

With our poor time management and lack of knowledge with computer applications we would need to use every project was completed in a very tight time schedule. I think if we had known how to use applications such as Final cut and Photoshop we would have been able to save time and hassle rather than having to work it out for ourselves.

If we had done it again I think the main improvement would be using our time more effectively and having better organisation. However I also feel we managed to work good together as a team and spread work out evenly even though there were some absences throughout the year. With more commitment I think we would have been able to complete our projects a lot sooner than we did.

Evaluation - Question 3

2009-12-14T04:37:00.001-08:00

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

The main type of audience research we did that was most helpful to us was the focus group discussion. We thought this would be most useful with the age as they are only 1 year younger then us so they would have a more level of understanding and it would be mainly teenagers that would stay in and look up music videos on the internet as adults would tend to have the time. So if this research happened to be unsuccessful then we would know it would need to be changed because if these students didn’t like the video then it wouldn’t work. This feedback was extremely useful to us because it pointed out the main factor that the music video can become too complicated easily. Along with the flashback, the murder scene at the beginning they suggested maybe not using a band, as that would over complicate things so it would not make any sense. We discussed as a group that it would probably be a good idea to use text, therefore still relating to the song yet not making it too hard for anyone watching it to understand. As we as a group had gone over the storyline many times it was quite startling to find that even the flashbacks put people of course in following what was happening in the video. We figured that it is best to listen to people that are hearing the idea for the first time as most viewers that would not tend to watch it over and over to simply understand so still using our ideas we wanted to make it as easy to get as possible. This overall was the piece of feedback, which had the biggest effect on our video and our advertisement in involving a band.

As a whole I think one of the most important aspects of feedback is that you get it before and after the product is finally finish therefore having feedback at many times of the process in producing the product to reduce the risk of having feedback once finishing the whole thing.

Evaluation - Question 2

2009-12-14T04:36:00.002-08:00

How effective is the combination of main product and the ancillary text?

The main role of a CD cover is to reflect on the song and tie in with the nature of the band, yet also attract people’s attention. The intended role of a magazine advert is to advertise and promote the band as well as the CD to try and attract people to buy it.

We looked at adverts located in magazines and figured that mostly magazine adverts are stretched out versions of the CD covers or do at least include the CD cover on it, some with minor changes. Such as ‘Cure’, ‘13^th floor elevators’, ‘Them Crooked Vultures’ and ‘My son the bum’. The fact that CD covers are mostly located on the advertisement could be that when people see it advertised they know exactly what they are looking for in future reference for buying the product.

The CD cover relates to the music video quite a lot yet still ties in with the theme of the Feeling covers. The ‘look’ is from the Feeling covers yet the objects are from the video. With landmarks such as Big Ben and London eye in the music video as well as the carousel, the swing chain and feet.

Jamie T’s video ‘Sheila’ uses the location of lights by the London eye, which we also used in our video. The lights brighten up the dark atmosphere yet still make sure the man is the main focus.

Pink’s ‘Who knew’ video contains flashbacks and fairground rides where the fun smiley flashbacks at the ‘funground’ shows good times and makes it all happy with the rides yet the later fast pace action of the rides going round show the fast pace and intense moments of the music video.

Including flashbacks in our video make it less violent. Showing ‘Happy’ moments give it an upbeat feel. Although we didnt want our video to be typical with the song (such as flowers, sunshine), we didnt want to completely go the opposite way. Therefore putting in chirpy flashbacks helped balance this.

Evaluation - Question 1

2009-12-14T04:36:00.001-08:00

In what ways does your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

As our CD cover is following the same style as covers such as 'Love it when you call', 'Sewn' and 'Twelve Stops and Home' in comparing it with one of those covers it is easy to spot what is similar about The Feeling covers to the one we made. As the real covers have all similar looks with the similar effects they look like they have we wanted to make sure that our own cover resembled the same look as the originals.

Comparing The Feelings cover with the 'Love it when you call' music video points out what concepts on the cover relate to the video in anyway. The obvious object such as the telephone cord is something you can notice straight away relating to the title and the telephone call that the song is based on. In the Sun is Shining cover the source of light or 'sun' is the traffic lights which isn't really at all obvious and goes into more detail which could come off as confusing and complicated for the audience. Looking at other magazine adverts where the CD cover always seems to be a part of it we decided to make the CD cover 3D which the new feeling characters we designed would sit on, making it a large focus of the cover.

The characters are versions of the real people. The Feeling band always seem to have pictures of them as a group which all tend to look identical so we thought we would put a twist to this duplicate look and change them to characters, much like 'Gorillaz' band do. When discussing with our focus group (younger sixth form students) and we discussed out music video they mentioned that it would be too confusing to stick with the story-line we had and have a band included. With this feedback we decided that creating characters for the role instead would be more subtle yet not disinclude the band members all together. The main reason we created them as a replacement for having a band as our feedback suggested a band would be too much complication to put in our video with our storyline.

Other bands such as Gorillaz or Coldplay have either used characters generally or in a video.

Comparing our products with the Feelings brand helped us add in certain yet subtle objects that were needed in order to make it authentic. For example the record label was put on the magazine advert which we got of the website. We also got The Feeling neon sign off the website so that it would be recognizable by a feeling fan that has visited the website. Looking at ‘Twelve stops and home’ the CD cover and the advert we noticed that the text on the cover was used on the advert as well so we made sure we did the same on our advert, shown above.

Doing a content analysis of these music videos helped me pick up more information on areas such as music genres and what they tend to include in such videos. With quite a few music videos from the same genre (such as The fray or Foo Fighters) having similar aspects in their videos compared to our own music video.

With the music video the whole main theme of the video is 'madness' a lot of quick cuts are included. At main parts where the quick cuts of the carousel is spinning very fast along with flashbacks its similar to the 'Pink' music video 'Who Knew' towards the end where all of the fairground rides are going fast along with quick cuts/flashbacks. There is also a link to Rhiannas music video Disturbia where the main theme is madness.

The robotic moves and the costumes give it a horror theme, along with the dark and creepy settings (smoke, fire, chains).

Putting in colourful cheerful locations in our music video such as the carousel and park also helped tone down the violence behind the story. Making it a theme of madness yet different to Rhiannas approach by using brighter locations compared to darkness and horror.

Another video in particular, ‘ANTHEM’ by Filo & Peri ft Eric Lumiere, is extremely similar to our storyline. Even simple locations like the park are locations we used for our video. In the video they use messages instead of a character to lead the man on where to go.

‘Over my head’ the music videos from The Fray also use text in their videos for main lines. This is the same method we chose. However they use the boy to sing the lyrics, which we did not use in our music videos to avoid complication with our storyline. Typical use in ‘The Fray’ music video is graffiti and a test paper. With our video, throughout we have used graffiti to use on walls or billboards.

In Foo fighter’s music video ‘Everlong’ they include photos to show happy memories. This is a more subtle way of showing memories rather than flashbacks. Using black and white makes it obvious it is a memory from the past as well as it being a photo, which is similar to our sepia effect used in our music video.

In our video, automatically it was the man character that killed the woman. Stereotypically being the ‘stronger’ gender it would be expected to find the man has killed the woman. In scenes such as the graveyard were filmed at night to give it a scarier effect, as it would look less spooky if it were filmed in the daylight. With certain objects were crucial in making the video seem real. Such as the ‘blood’ that was used when the woman was lying on the floor, which without it would have not been obvious she was dead, Therefore without these objects it would make these scenes less realistic.

Construction - Magazine Advertisement

2009-12-13T04:56:00.000-08:00

Looking at other Music Advertisements the thing you notice the most is that they always include the Cd Cover on. So we wanted to base the whole page around the CD cover to make it the main focus so people would know what to look for when they find it and it is quite a distinctive cover. Making the CD 3D we thought would link with the previous covers of the Feeling we looked at where the objects on the cover are big sized and 3D.

They are similar in the ways they both include the CD covers and the texts are the same. However The feelings real advertisement seems more simple and laid back whereas our advert is very busy with lots to look at. Over covers such as Foo fighters greatest hits and Them crooked vultures also seem quite plain however we could not completely forget a band as there wasnt one in our music video so i feel the band characters on our advert were very necessary.

Construction - CD cover

2009-12-06T11:25:00.001-08:00

Using pictures from the internet we planned out what our cover would look like. We kept the theme of the over feeling covers by having some feet in as every cover has a hand, feet or some sort of body part in. We used the idea of the red shoes as throughout the video she is wearing the same shoes and have some significance to the video so we linked it to the cover. We also used objects such as train tracks and swing chains as we wanted to relate it to our video as much as we could yet still keep the objects relatively subtle not giving too much away.

We completed more or less the same look as our design using our own photos. Overall we felt that this cover wasnt the look we intended for and we used our british one to work off instead.

Construction - Music Video

2009-11-28T13:15:00.000-08:00

Working on our music video we used Final cut express. We started off by deleting scenes that either went wrong or didnt look good. After doing this we needed to cut it down and fit it together keeping in mind the changes of the lyrics/beats in the music. We had to be very precise when cutting the clips down as some of the beat changes were very quick. After doing this throughout and making sure the clips are all rendered, we were able to add affects to it such as sepia or black and white. These mainly outlined the flashbacks. To add in the lyrics in the background, we had to change the scene into a photograph then draw on the lyrics, we then changed this photo to be inserted while the scene was playing, making it in the background yet the scenes are still rolling.

Construction - Photoshop

2009-11-25T05:52:00.000-08:00

To get an idea of what our album cover would look like we got some basic photos on the internet of what we would want to be on the cover and played around with them on photoshop.

This was the basic idea of what our album would look like

We then played around with some effects that would look appealing and quite liked the effect gave the cover this basic look.

Using the picture we had a look at some of the effects with things such as filter gallery and picked out ones we thought suited the cover best such as 'Film Grain' which is shown above.

We then tried to advance our skills on photoshop such as black and white/colour effects.

Using the rubber tool to make certain things stand out and using the 'Photo Filter' tool to make things a certain shade of colour.

Compared to the original picture of this which was mulit-coloured we set this one out to have the british colours to suit our 'British version' of the cover. As most of the filming was set out in London and we had footage of many London monuments we decided to do a british one and then decide which one we prefered.

For things such as our advert we had to things such as 'invert' the characters as they were drawn in black and were needed in white.

Construction - Working on the cover

2009-11-11T06:29:00.001-08:00

Having a look at some of the previous feeling covers we decided to keep with the orginial theme and work off them. We discussed that they mostly usually contain objects with something to do with the video with a few random objects with a pop arty effect. When filming as we went along we took photos of things that we would be able to put on the cover that would reflect on the video yet fit well together.

Construction - Lyrics in text

2009-11-06T03:29:00.000-08:00

http://www.makethefrontpage.co.uk/

http://www.makethefrontpage.co.uk/editarticle.aspx

We experimented around in what kind of ways we could use text in our video rather than a band due to the difficulty we thought we would find and the little time margin we had. We thought of things such as using text on a bus advertisement, general billboard or a magazine. So we made a newspaper article using a website with the lyrics imprinted on and a picture of where the dead character would go. However we thought it was best not to use a newspaper as we would have to include it in the video and we didn't have space to fit it in for viewers to get a good clear look at the newspaper as our storyline is packed we didn't have enough room to fit it in.

Construction - Last Night of Filming

2009-11-01T05:56:00.000-08:00

We went back to London in the evening to Film things such as the caraousel lit up at night. We filmed most of the flashbacks to contrast with what was going on in the rest of the video. The carousel mainly was the scene that worked best especially when we put it in sepia to give it a flashback effect. We also filmed the beach scene at night as this is when the tide went out. We also put the sepia effect on this as it made it less dreary.

Construction - Second day of Filming

2009-10-27T04:48:00.000-07:00

We were given an inset day at school so decided to use it as an opportunity to do some more filming. We filmed the bathroom scene, the graveyard and various streets yet again. We also wanted to film throughout the day to get the change of the light for effect throughout the story. We had a high imagination when trying to vary the amount of shots as possible to get as many points of view and angles as we could to see what would look best from the audiences view.For example shooting from inside a car while the character ran behind, and filming outside the window of the car. We also had the chance to film on the outskirts of Epsom downs and the graveyard. We made sure we filmed the graveyard at night to make it look even spookier.

Construction - First Day of Filming in London

2009-10-23T06:46:00.001-07:00

We took a school day and got up at 6am in order to take a whole day out to film in London. We chose London because we thought it would be good to get some interesting artifacts in the video and aspects of London that people can recognize such as the London Eye and Big Ben. We Filmed in Locations including a train station, a park, at the side of a carousel, outside the London eye (inside the London eye!) and various streets where the character would run.

Research and Planning - Location Planning

2009-10-22T03:47:00.000-07:00

Shoot no.	Location	Time of day	Characters needed	Costumes	Equipment	Scene
1	Dorking station	Day time	Tom + Annie	Tom: Present: Jeans, white trainers, tshirt Flashback: Different clothes Annie: flashback: jeans, tshirt cardigan, casual dolly shoes Ghost: White summer dress, red shoes	Camera, tripod,	9, Train and flashback
2	Siobhans House	Any	Tom + Annie	Tom: Jeans, white trainers, tshirt Annie: White summer dress, red shoes	Camera, tripod,	1, Bathroomand all flashbacks of the murder
3	Shadbolt park	EarlyMorning	Tom + Annie	Tom: Present: Jeans, white trainers, tshirt Flashback: Different clothes Annie: flashback: Different clothes Ghost: White summer dress, red shoes	Camera, tripod,	6, Park and park flashback
4	Street	EarlyMorning	Tom + Annie	Tom: Jeans, white trainers, tshirt Annie: White summer dress, red shoes	Camera, tripod,	Intro. Happy couple in street
5	Streets	All day	Tom	Tshirt, Jeans, white trainers	Camera, tripod,	Running scenes throughout
6	Graveyard in ewell village	Night	Tom + Annie	Tom: White trainers, tshirt, jeans Annie: White summer dress, red shoes	Camera, tripod, lights	15, grave yard scene
7	Fairground at hook road arena	Evening/ Night	Tom, Annie and crowds of people	tom: Present: Jeans, white trainers, tshirt Flashback: Different clothes Annie: flashback: jeans, tshirt cardigan, casual dolly shoes Ghost: White summer dress, red shoes	Camera, tripod, lights	12 + 13, fairground and fairground flashback
8	Kingston	Day time	Tom	Jeans, tshirt and white trainers	Camera, tripod,	8, Man in street

Research and Planning - StoryBoard

2009-10-22T03:29:00.001-07:00

This is our storyboard we made out of Powerpoint which goes through every shot of the video with what would happen to give a larger idea of what will be happening in the music video in more detail.

Research and Planning - Final Treatment

2009-10-22T03:28:00.000-07:00

Treatment

The Feeling- The Sun is Shining

The video opens before the music starts there is a young happy couple walking down a residential street hand in hand. The shot is in the style of an old fashioned video camera. The next shot starts off a black screen and we hear people screaming and arguing then we hear a smash and the next thing we see is the girl falling to the floor.

We then see feet running down the street the camera follows them and slowly moves up their body as they continue to run and we see it is the man from the couple.

As the video continues we see the man continue to run, he sees what he believes is his girlfriend, but she is always ahead of him and in places that they spent time together, we see her in parks where they used to walk and at a fun fair they visited together etc. But as the man reaches where he has seen his girlfriend she is no longer there. As we follow the man the feeling of the video is that he is nervous and unstable.

At each chorus of the song we see the band playing the song and the feeling changes, it becomes happy and upbeat, which is a contrast to when we see the man running. We also see the band playing randomly in the background of scenes where the man is running though they are not a main focus.

Scene One

As the video starts there is no music, there is a video of a couple laughing on an old style video camera, you can hear the crackling of the film and the couple laughing. They look happy and are walking down the street smiling and holding hands. This introduction will last for approximately 15 seconds, with quick shots cut in for 1 second of someone running and all you can hear is heavy breathing and footsteps.

Scene Two

Then there is a black screen for about 2 seconds you hear a smash and then we see the girl fall in front of the camera with broken glass around her, she lays motionless on the floor after a beat the music starts to play.

Scene Three

On the first beat change of the song it goes to seeing the man running along the street, we first see the mans feet at street level, the shots tracks his feet as he runs and the camera moves up his body as he runs until the next beat change at about 15 seconds.

Scene Four

We see from the mans point of view, he sees a girl go round the corner ahead of him, who he believes is his girlfriend. He runs after the girl he has seen, we see him running after the girl from many different angles, and him running from his point of view, as if he is holding the camera, until 22 seconds.

Scene Five

Then the camera is stationery on a street the man runs past along the street he runs over a bridge and the band are in the background again on the other side of the bridge, until 29 seconds. 29 seconds.

Scene Six

The man sees the girl run through a large gate he follows her into a park but nobody is there, he sees the girl swinging on a swing on the opposite side of the park, we see him running towards her from his point of view, we then see a flashback of the couple playing on the swings together, in the style of an old fashioned camera, then for a split second second we see the girl screaming, then we see form the mans point of view the swing continuing to swing but with nobody on it. We then see the mans face looking confused.

Up to 42 seconds.

Scene Seven

Chorus starts: the man walks away from the park and continues to walk around looking confused and worried, he then sees the girl ahead of him again, she starts to run away from him and he runs after her, he follows her to a busy street.

Until 56 seconds

Scene Eight

The man stands still in the street with people moving past him quickly, we see close ups of his face and he starts going crazy in the street.

Until 1:02

Scene Nine

The man is running again, we see him from many different angles, he thinks he sees the girls again and starts to run after her, she leads him to a train station, and he follows her down onto the platform and the girl runs onto the train, before he gets there the doors close and he’s left looking at the girl in the window, as the train goes past him he sees her face in every window staring at him.

Until 1:16

Scene Ten

He stumbles back from the train and sits down on a bench, as he sits down he has a flashback of a train arriving and the girl getting off the train, they run towards each other but as he gets closer to her the flashback ends and he sees a flashback of himself killing her, this time the happy flashback has gotten shorter and the murder flashback has got longer.

1:30

Scene Eleven

Chorus Starts: We see shots of the man running in different places, the shots change on the change of the lyrics.

Until 1:57

Scene Twelve

The man sees the girl again, he chases her again, she leads him to a fairground, he follows her through the crowd but he loses her, he sees her on the waltzers, then he has another flashback, he sees himself on the waltzers with the girl, they are happy and laughing and joking, the flashback lasts for a shorter time, and is interrupted by a flashback of the murder, this is longer than the happy flashback.

2:20

Scene Thirteen

The man runs out of the fairground, its now dark and he continues to run through the streets, he’s wearing white trainers which in the dark show up very brightly.

2:26

Scene Fourteen

We see a close-up of the mans face he is scared and worried, he’s holding his head and going crazy.

2:29

Scene Fifteen:

The man is still running, he then stops, and sees the girl run past him again, he follows her into a dark empty grave yard, he walks around the graveyard and trips over a grave, when he looks up he sees a pair of feet swinging in front of him, they are the girls shoes, the man pushes himself away from the grave but when he looks up there’s nobody there just a grave with his girlfriends name on it, she died years ago. He then has a flashback of everything he has already seen, really quickly, then him killing her and her falling onto the floor like at the beginning.

Until 3:06

Characters:

Man

Girl

Costumes:

Man- plain T-shirt, jeans, white trainers

Girl, In flashbacks- different outfits, the ghost- white dress, red shoes.

Props:

Broken glass/mirror

Fake Blood

Grave stone

Equipment:

Camera

Video camera

Camera stand/ tripod

Lights

Locations:

Dull Street

Living Room

Park- playground, on swings - Shadbolt Park

Fun Fair - Hook road arena

Cemetery- Ewell village

Train Station- Stoneleigh station

Shots:

Long shots of every location

Close ups of characters faces, objects

Establishing shot of each location

Panning shots of locations

Medium shots of locations and streets

Girl in background/ reflections

Running shots:

Shots of his feet

His pov

Tracking with the running

Close ups of his face

Shots that are off centre

Him running towards the camera

Him running through the shot

Camera at bottom of stairs, he runs up stairs

Two shots pasted together

Arial shots

Research and Planning - Post Moderism

2009-09-25T07:50:00.000-07:00

Post modernism rejects theories, culture is so fragmented and so diverse there are no need of theories now. Its always equal for example with things such as Shakespeare being more important. As things a re used their meaning changes, and first impressions are important. Post moderism believes there is no meaning so it isnt necessary to look deeply, and subverting is the way forward. Subverting can be found in run lola run, where the woman seems dominant in the start.

Post moderism helps us understand the relationship between media and reality in a new way through simulation, implosion and hyper reality:

Simulation: where virtual reality is more real than reality, that you don’t have to go somewhere or see something to know what its like, you can see it in a game or on the TV, everything now can be simulated, simulated life.
Implosion: We make no distinction between real experiences and simulated things, eg: real friendships and online friendships
Hyper reality: where the distinction between the two realities becomes harder and harder to notice and the simulated reality gets the upper hand and becomes more important than actual reality

Research and Planning - Feminism.

2009-09-25T07:45:00.000-07:00

Feminism challenges the power structures and the roles and perspectives of women. It is particularly interested in the media and the dominant gender roles. Culture determines what we think are the typical stereotypes of males + females and the media influences culture.

Stereotypes of men and women are fed to people through the media and things that we consume. In general men still get paid more than e, as power is still at the heart of it associated with men, the stereotypes have changed slightly as feminists have tried challenging them.

The male gaze: when pretty girls are used to sell things to male spectators and constructs things from a male point of view

"Beauty is a currency like the gold standard. Like any economy its is determined by politics, and in the modern age in the west, it is the last belief system that keeps male domination in tact".- Naomi Wolf.

Research and Planning - Mood Board

2009-09-21T16:30:00.000-07:00

Research and Planning - Video Analysis - Taylor Swift (You Belong with me)

2009-09-20T15:03:00.000-07:00

Lyrics:

You're on the phone with your girlfriend, She's upset
She's going off about something that you said
She doesnt get your humour like I do

I'm in the room, its a typical Tuesday night
I'm listening to the kind of music she doesnt like
And she'll never know your story like I do

But she wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts
She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers
Dreaming bout the day when you'll wake up and find
That what you're lookin for has been here the whole time

If you could see that I'm the one who understands you
Been here all along so why can't you see?
You belong with me
You belong with me

Walkin the streets with you in your worn out jeans
I cant help thinking this is how it ought to be
Laughing on the park bench thinkin to myself
Hey isnt this easy?

And you've got a smile that could light up this whole town
I havent seen it in awhile, since she brought you down
You say you find I know you better than that
Hey, Whatcha doing with a girl like that?

She wears high heels, I wear sneakers
She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers
Dreaming bout the day when you'll wake up and find
That what you're looking for has been here the whole time

If you could see that I'm the one who understands you
Been here all along so why can't you see?
You belong with me

Standin by, waiting at your back door
All this time how could you not know that?
You belong with me
You belong with me

Oh I remember you driving to my house in the middle of the night
I'm the one who makes you laugh when you know you're about to cry
I know your favorite songs and you tell me about your dreams
I think I know where you belong. I think I know it's with me.

Can't you see that I'm the one who understand you?
Been here all along so why can't you see?
You belong with me

Standing by or waiting at your back door
All this time how could you not know that
You belong with me
You belong with me

Have you ever thought just maybe
You belong with me
You belong with me

The music video is high school based, the star being teenager herself makes it easier for it to be related as she looks young she could easily pass off acting like she is in high school, making it easier to relate to people who are in high school or was recently in high school. It’s a story about a typical teenage romance where the main girl wants to be with a young boy who is with another girl, hence the song title ‘You belong with me’.

The star plays both girl main characters in the video which can take
out the realism and make people which could make viewers believe less in the video. It shows two different sides of the star yet we find the popular girl character she plays less believable to be like the star as we see her as the evil like character. The main girl character also looks like the star in real like which would lead us to believe that the star carries traits from the girl we see in the video. The star sings the lyrics in the video yet at the same time she is doing it in character.

At one point in the video we see the star dressing in different outfits, which look like they would reflect on different types of stereotype of students in school. For example Goth, hippy, dunce. This gives the star many different looks throughout the video which shows all the different types of people you may grow up with in high school. The main girl character that comes off to be like a typical smart geek like character. The features such as the glasses, messy like hair and shot reading books suit her nerdy like character.

The opposite character the girl who the guy is with looks like a typical popular girl who gets a lot of attention and wears stylish tight clothes driving an expensive fancy car as she does in the video. Being a cheerleader compared to the main girl who is in the school band which would be seen to be more geeky in the whole high school stereotypes. The main boy seems typically popular who is in the soccer team with everyone cheering him on in the video including the two girls.

The video goes on to the end to show that she turns up to the prom all glamed up and she and the boy end up together. The video shows realism in the way that you would expect this would be a typical situation you would expect to happen during high school years. However it creates less of a realistic situation as you can clearly tell that the star is already a beautiful girl rather than the nerdy, quiet and unattractive girl she tries to create an image of.

The locations of the video that the scenes are filmed in do not involve an actual high school yet you could imagine by the theme that they are in high school. For example the soccer event, the main girl studying and the prom. Also at the prom the two main girls where different colour dresses, one being red and the other white. This could give us the impression of the main girl in the white dress and the angel and the other the devil as it matches their characters throughout the video. The red is also more revealing which could reveal a more confident and rebellious side to the character. We notice just before the prom there is a close up shot of her taking her classes off which is a big event in the video as it shows she is just about to transform. Once she is there we notice how different she looks and we notice everyone is staring at her as if in shock.

The upbeat lyrics match the quirky and up beatness of the stars action in the video. For example when she is in her bedroom dancing, and when she lip syncs with a lot of exaggeration such as at the soccer game. In the beginning of the video when we see shots of the boy and the girl in the windows the camera angles make us feel like we are the girl looking at the boy from the other window making us feel a part of the video.

The CD cover also fits in with what the video is about and makes it clear what kind of characteristics the actors in the video have. Although the boy on the cover is not the same boy in the video. Also the 'Me' in the title matches the colour of the band girls hair which shows that it is from her point of view.

Preliminary Work - Work of the week - Tom's second visit

2009-09-11T06:25:00.002-07:00

The class received a second visit from Tom so he could help us with the new apple macs and teach us to become more comfortable with knowing how to use programs for editing such as Final cut express and iMovie.

We re-filmed some of the footage we had from last time so we could edit it and hopefully get some more useful shots then last time.

The video is about a popstar who is running late for her show so rushes through various halls to get her make up done then rush onto stage

We did various shots such as floor level, high angle and medium close ups. After we were happy with how much we filmed we looked at our shots through final cut express and cut them down. We then put them in sync to the music and had managed to produce a mini music video (without effects) with Tom's help.

Research and Planning - Treatment

2009-09-11T06:25:00.001-07:00

Synopsis

Before the music starts off and we see a happy couple walking down a residential street. Blackness suddenly fills the screen and then we see the girl's lifeless face on the floor with blood pouring out of her. Music starts and we see feet running as the body slowly comes backwards till we see the full person.It is the boyfriend running, supposedly following the girlfriend. In the background we regularly notice the band playing along to the song. She leads him into various happy feel places and as he arrives at these places we see a flashback of the couple laughing a joking at the same places the use to go to together. Once come out of these flashbacks we get a quick shot of the girl dead revealing what has truely happened. Once we come out of the shot the flash where we see her dead, we come back into the location she has lead him to and we notice she has disappeared. Locations she leads him to include a park, a fairground, and the last destination being a graveyard when he then realises that she has been dead for many years, by death of him murdering her.

Actors

Boy - Jon

Girl - Ellie

Band

Drummer - Josh

Guitar - Arron

Keyboards - Ali

Singer - Ben

Locations

Dull Street

Park

Fair ground

Beach

Living Room
Outside shop front

Costumes

Band - Suits yet casual.

Props

Instruments

Gravestone

Equipment

Camera

Camera stand

Lights

Video Camera

Research and Planning - Content analysis. Empire of the sun - We are the people.

2009-09-10T04:27:00.001-07:00

When the video starts off and the stablishing shot is looking up at the sun with the sunkissed look it is almost as if it is a religious view and we are looking up at god, or even just a simple daydream. Along with the crosses which could come across as being to do with religion or death. We see the facepainted man and with his hat looks as if he is part of a tribe, yet the paint on his face is the look of a skull which is a symbol of death. Digetic sounds of water make us think that it may be some sort of hallucination and looking at the sand and the light of the heat is making us hear what we would crave if we were there (fluids) as what we see at the time of the sound is an empty cup, which we would want to be full of water.

The overall feel of the video is random, there are no links to the lyrics, creating enigmas. With the deserted location we can tell it is most probably a hot country, the foreign language you hear proves that. We see the two tribal characters dressed in there costumes and appear to be dancing in the desert, their heads are dragging and they are doing some mysterious moves, yet stubbling at the same time. We get the opinion that they are quite mad, yet remain dominant throwing their hands up while singing 'We are the people that rule the world'. Along with locations of the church may suggest this is a part of their religion or would just fit in with the theme of death. The main female charcter in the video is seen more as a object of desire which is pretty to look at. Showinf shot of her dancing, simply just to watch. We see more shots of the sun then switch off to a waterfall, where they have magically appeared as if the are in their own imaginations including what they desire with a suspension of reality.

With this huge gold object we see, it looks as if it would be a symbol to do with the tribe, or an item of worship. We then see the people sitting on some building surrounded by dust, as if they may disappear or are high from it. With their tribal stances next to the water it makes out that they may be convinced they have powers and have been able to get themselves to some water using these. Their customes and make up are very dramatic and artistic with a lot of bold colours to help them stand out and give across their bright lively personalities. Their unique moves show they may be doing a religion type trance or simply perfoming to the camera. Shots of him in front of the sun shows he could be dilusional as he keeps disappearing yet looking up on him intimidates the audience.

Objects such as a fan and umbrella randomly appear, with the fan appearing in the jungle where it would least be needed and the umbrella appearing in the dessert where it would also not be necessary. With the woman situated in between the men suggests she may be an object to 'win'. Prancing through the village with various dances going on gives an impression of a celebration going on or some sort of tribal festival.

It then goes back to shots that were from the beginning, showing the people appearing dead in a hole, we see a man standing over them which shows he may be the suspicious murderer, or overall it could have been their hullicinations and none of it could happened and they may have just died in the desert deprived of food and water.

The narrative is very complex and hard to understand, as there could be many interpretations of the video. It also isnt linear as it goes back to the beginning at the very end which could suggest it goes on over and over again and the before events of the beginning may be in the middle. The video is very surreal and with the events that occur in it and the twist of time make it less believable and more of a illusion.

The shots are very edited to the beat and all the close ups show it is very intense.

Research and Planning - Rihanna - Disturbia

2009-09-10T04:26:00.001-07:00

Disturbia is a music video based on madness like our music video however it is a big contrast on what mad music videos may include. Disturbia is dark, creepy and scary and ours is violent yet upbeat. Different appearances of the star seem like different signs of madness. The video includes things that may scare people such as spiders or confined spaces. She shows dominance over dead/stuffed animals. Which could result into a wider issue of animal cruelty which viewers may be against.

Research and Planning - Content analysis. Fountains of wayne - Stacy's mom

2009-09-10T04:25:00.001-07:00

Lyrics

Stacy's mom has got it goin' on
Stacy's mom has got it goin' on
Stacy's mom has got it goin' on
Stacy's mom has got it goin' on

Stacy, can I come over after school? (after school)
We can hang around by the pool (hang by the pool)
Did your mom get back from her business trip? (business trip)
Is she there, or is she trying to give me the slip? (give me the slip)

You know, I'm not the little boy that I used to be
I'm all grown up now, baby can't you see

Stacy's mom has got it goin' on
She's all I want and I've waited for so long
Stacy, can't you see you're just not the girl for me
I know it might be wrong but I'm in love with Stacy's mom

Stacy's mom has got it goin' on
Stacy's mom has got it goin' on

Stacy, do you remember when I mowed your lawn? (mowed your lawn)
Your mom came out with just a towel on (towel on)
I could tell she liked me from the way she stared (the way she stared)
And the way she said, "You missed a spot over there" (a spot over there)

And I know that you think it's just a fantasy
But since your dad walked out, your mom could use a guy like me

Stacy's mom has got it goin' on
She's all I want, and I've waited so long
Stacy, can't you see you're just not the girl for me
I know it might be wrong,
but I'm in love with Stacy's mom

Stacy's mom has got it goin' on
She's all I want and I've waited for so long,
Stacy can't you see your just not the girl for me,
I know it might be wrong but oh oh
(I know it might be wrong)
I'm in love with (Stacy's mom oh oh)
(Stacys mom oh oh)
I'm in love with Stacy's mom

The music video involves young children that look an age of young high school children. The video starts and we see a shot at ground level shooting different types of shoes. We see typical girl like shoes (ballerina) and bulky quite dirty shoes which would be seen as boy shoes. We get a flash of a shot with a sign that says ‘School Xing’. It flashes up straight to the beat as if the beat of the song is diagetic and not suppose to be a part of the song.

Another large beat and we change to see a flashy car pulling up with a grown woman figure driving, we see her open the door and we notice that she is not wearing much to cover her body showing off her legs as the main focus. We then see the reaction of a boys face as it lights up it is clear that he is happy to see the woman. The young girl (supposedly the daughter) is stuck hiding behind a group of boys who are all wearing sunglasses, which would seem to boost their confidence as look as if they are trying to make themselves look more grown up. This would match with the lyric ‘I’m all grown up now’. She pushes her way through yet it is clear the boys are staring at the woman in a desirable way. As she gets up to open the back of the car we notice the boys pointing and gawping almost in disbelief that the woman is real. We then see a boy take of his sunglasses with his eyes and mouth wide open and we get the impression he is staring at the mum. We then see a personal licensed plate that states ‘I Love Ric’ which could mean that it is the name of the boy staring and he is dreaming that the woman loves him.

We then get a pop art image of a band member playing as the verses starts and we notice they are playing on her wall which creates an animation effect as they look like a surreal moving image in the background as if it is a television image. We then see the girl writing in what looks like a diary on her pink fluffy pillow on her bed with pillows on. This creates a typical young girl image and what we could imagine she would be doing in her spare time. When she gets up we notice that she is dressed in limited amount of clothes which contrasts what she is doing and gives her a sex appeal look.

We switch to see the main young boy lying in a pool, we see the young girl enter the garden in the same clothes as the scene before and she smiles at the boy which indicates she is attracted to him. She then takes off her top so she is in a bikini and does a running bomb into the pool. This makes her again look more childish and less ‘sexy’ as the water goes everywhere is doesn’t look like an elegant jump. We see the boys reaction and he is less pleased when he is splashed with water. We then see the mum enter a kitchen fully clothed and we see her through some blinds as if we are seeing it from a distance as the boy would. We then see the girl playing in the pool obviously trying to attract attention but the boy is mainly focused to see what the mum is up to, we switch back to the mum as if we are seeing it from the boys point of view.

Quick cuts from seeing the mum then the girl again and it remains clear that the boy is putting all his attention to the mum and he is clearly flustered from her seeing her. She then starts to strip down into her bikini and at the same time we see the girl to the side of the screen who is bringing over drinks yet we mainly focus on the mum. As we continue to see shots of the mums body it is clear that the girl doesn’t have a clue what is going on and assumes that all the boys attention is on her and they are having a good time. The boy then tries to act like he is paying attention to the situation by opening his drink when we see that the mum is starting to take her bikini off to strip down completely and the boy is still staring with his mouth open when his drink bursts everywhere. The young girl starts to giggle when the boy slowly realises it is pouring everywhere yet it is clear he is still day dreaming and not quite with what is going on.

We then come back to the band for the chorus and we see them perfoming as if they are all performing separately and privately to the camera. The line that we see on the outside of the band characters acts like a shadow and matches with the pop art type theme. We get close ups on the band singing and the instruments being played.

The scene then changes and we see the band singing along on the cover of a magazine acting like some sort of art work piece. The image changes and we see various members of the band in different shots acting as a moving image on the magazine which makes it look animated comic like. We then see a flash of the sign ‘Fountains of Wayne’ this is the band name which could be used as a method of promotion during the video or to remind the viewer what band sings the song.

We see the girls face through a circle as if seeing it through binoculars or a peep hole at a less flattering angle which makes it seem like she is being watched and innocently has no clue she is. We get a shot of her feet which throughout makes it seem like less flattering shots are being shown of her and very flattering shots of the mum are being shown throughout which makes out the mum is suppose to be the attractive older more mature woman.

We get a shot of the boy who is biting his lip, the young girl then smile at him. The mum walks along in the towel. This suggests he is looking at the mum rather than the young girl. The girl is then shot wearing pink heart sunglasses which bring out her girly character again and we notice the band in the reflection of the sunglasses to bring us back to thoughts of the band rather than getting carried away with the ‘storyline’. As the mum then lies down to be massaged which is an activity that also requires little clothes we notice the boy once again in a stance staring at the mum desirably. The lyrics ‘I can tell she liked me by the way she stared’ we hear, then in the video we notice that she does not actually stare at the boy at all, as if he is not visible. As the girl looks on at the boy smiling still clueless to who the boy is actually staring at, we get close shots of the man massaging the woman on various parts of the body, once again the boy makes a mistake and knocks over a post with the lawn mower from staring too much.

As if he is too busy staring dreamingly at the mum. Quick shot to a new scene and we notice from behind as if watching them watch television, we see on the screen the band once again. It all seems clean when suddenly a fast paced cut to the mum in a seductive outfit showing a lot of flesh dancing on a poll to the disbelief on the boys face. We get shots of her winking and leaning into the camera flirtingly.

We then see her immerge from underneath a swimming pool in a bikini in slow motion as you would see in various movies such as James bond as if she is a grown sexy woman bursting out of the water. The boy looks on with his mouth wide open shocked as if he knows he is day dreaming. Once she is out of the water she slowly walks through the grass with sprinkles going off the add that ‘wet’ effect.

We notice that the boy is smiling with his eyes closed ‘pleasing himself’ the young girl walks in and we see both their reactions of his embarrassment and her being shocked. She closes the door and we see he is clearly gutted she has seen him yet behind the door she seems shocked yet flattered as we assume she thinks it is over her. The last shot of the sign on the door with ‘ocupado’ written on in what looks like Spanish. This foreign language would also been seen as quite saucy.

All the way throughout the video it is seen as a daily event that would happen something like a linear ‘mini story’ with realistic events such as lawn mowing, watching television. Yet is also gives an impression with the fancy car and the swimming pool that is quite an up estate wealthy area. The lyrics mainly being ‘Stacy’s mom’ and how the mum is the attractive one and no one is really interested in Stacy, stick to the scenes as the main ‘hot’ focus always seems to be the mum and how she has little clothing on. The woman looks almost as if she has memorised this boy and she has complete power over his mind as the images/clips we see of her we see as a figure of his imagination and he is simply dreaming as young boys would. The video brings out mainly what you would imagine would go through a boy or mans mind fantasizing about women. Throughout the video the only sound we hear is the music, there are no diagetic sounds involved.

Research and Planning - Content analysis. Lily allen - LDN

2009-09-10T04:24:00.001-07:00

Lyrics

Riding through the city on my bike all day,
'Coz the filth took away my license.
It doesn't get me down and I feel OK,
As the sights that I'm seeing are priceless
Everything seems to look as it should,
But, I wonder what goes on behind doors.
A fella looking dapper - and he's sitting with a slapper,
Then I see it's a p**p and his crack whore

You might laugh - you might frown,
Walking round London town
Sun is in the sky, oh why, oh why
Would I wanna be anywhere else?
Sun is in the sky, oh why, oh why
Would I wanna be anywhere else?
When you look with your eyes,
Everything seems nice...
But, if you look twice,You can see it's all lies

There was a little old lady,
Who was walkin down the road,
She was struggling with bags from the tesco.
There were people from the city having lunch in the park,
I believe that is called 'al fresco'.
When a child came along to offer a hand,
But before she had time to accept it,

Hits her over the head - doesn't care if she dead,
'Cause he's got all her jewellery and wallet

You might laugh - you might frown,

Walkin round London town.

Sun is in the sky, oh why, oh why
Would I wanna be anywhere else?
Sun is in the sky oh why, oh why
Would I wanna be anywhere else?

When you look with your eyes,
Everything seems nice...
But, if you look twice,
You can see it's all lies
Life, yeah that's city life
Yeah that's city life
Yeah that's city life

Life, yeah that's city life
Yeah that's city life
Yeah that's city life

Sun is in the sky, oh why, oh why
Would I wanna be anywhere else?

Sun is in the sky, oh why, oh why
Would I wanna be anywhere else?
Sun is in the sky, oh why, oh why
Would I wanna be anywhere else?

Sun is in the sky, oh why, oh why

Would I wanna be anywhere else?
When you look with your eyes,
Everything seems nice...
But, if you look twice,
You can see it's all lies
When you look with your eyes,
Everything seems nice...
But, if you look twice,
You can see it's all lies

The video starts and we get an establishing shot of what looks like an old run down shop which looks very old and gloomy. We then see the star and she is dressed up, a lot of make up and typical 'chav' like bling. The background music as long as all the old style records proves that it is quit an old shop. She then starts speaking to the shop workers which we don't usually find in music videos as they usually start off with the music. She speaks in quite a common quite voice using phrases such as "kinda like' and 'Do you know what i mean'. The way the man simply blinks back in slight confusion but mainly just staring through her she seems to have a 'whatever' reaction of her face as if she isn't bothered and goes to walk out, she receives a phone call and stands still while on the phone as if she doesn't care the shop people can hear her phone call, as she walks out you notice the shop workers grin at each other as if they are laughing at her yet her carefree attitude wouldn't care and the music starts. The fact that she is wearing trainers with her dress makes her look like a typical common person. We get another gloomy view of the front of the shop and what look like teenage thugs are running passed followed by a policeman, typical crime that would happen these days which negativity matches the look of the shop. Once she opens the door to leave the shop, we notice it immediately light up with colour, everything's bright flowers are out and rubbish is cleared, a complete contrast from before. She starts strolling/ skipping along while singing and we notice how while she is walking behind following her is the murkiness that was before yet in front of her is the bright lively shops as if her imagination is making the things in front of her look great when what's behind her (the past) shows the real colour. "everything seems to go as it should but i wonder what happens behind doors" matches the fact that she is blinded on what the streets really look like. We see a cute couple then notice the darkness go over and notice the girl is now in revealing clothes and the man is trying to harm her. The bumptious beat sounds as if it is what she can hear in her head as she skips along. As she Glides along we notice this bubble of what look like a rainbow around her as if it sheilds her from the bad and all this good is flowing out of her. We then see a scene of a old woman struggling with her bags then as the darkness comes over she is robbed by a little boy. This relates to the crime rise that has happened with the younger generation over the years and why older people seem to fear any teenagers as she did sing "But before she has time to accept it" as if the woman would try and resist this little boy helping her. We continue to see many good things being turned into bad and it is as if the star would rather the good things are in front of her so she doesn't see all the negative things behind her. She then skips along with behind her nice bright wall changing to typical gang like posters which reflects on what kind of music is encouraging this crime with teenagers. Then we see a man provoke a policeman that is smaller then him making him more vulnerable yet it also shows how policeman are losing respect. She reaches some sort of beach as we notice the sand with a smile on her face twirling around like she is her her own fantasy world. Suddenly she receives a call where someone cancels on her and her mood changes, once she hangs up the whole atmosphere changes into the whole darkness and she looks disappointed and gutted. It as if the whole video was based on her imagination and then the truth of the negativity and reality on the going ons in the world. The diagetic sounds of the driller reminds us of a bad sound as when we hear this in thew streets ourselves is tends to annoy us with its noise. The police sirens suggest that the crime is going on a lot of the time. She slumps off then kicks a bin bag showing her anger and disappointment as if she has given up on looking up and has the attitude of everyone else in the gloomy parts of the video had.

Research and Planning - Key Words

2009-09-06T10:14:00.001-07:00

Production Outcomes
TV Drama
Media Institutions and Audiences
Genre
Narrative
Representation
Media Language
Audience
Media Literacy
Global Media
Media Reulation
Online Media
Identity
Post-Modern Media
Democracy

Research and Planning - Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody

2009-09-06T10:13:00.000-07:00

Performanced based - Spotlight used
Bright lights
Dim lights (on faces)
Fog/misty
Face in/out shots (close ups)
Four heads together
Cut to the beat
Focuses on whoever is playing
Two seperate things showing at once
White silky outfits
Climps of a crowd
Low angle shots

Research and Planning - Pendulum

2009-09-06T10:07:00.000-07:00

Hold your colour

merky like dull/dark colours; green, blue, purple
suggestions of a lake - colours/bubbles/flowing lines
quiet mysterious
Looks quiet chaotic which could reflect on the bands image and music
The whole cover revolves around the main object being the eye

The background looks like a the insides of a computer chip or coggs out of a clock
Robotic like
Bright colours
neon lights suggest its glowing like a woman would when pregnant, which explains the child in the womb
Baby like figure could suggest the outside are sperm like figures
Shape suggests a pendulum, which links to the band name

Similar deisgn to last cover
Red sticks out to black and white
Looks more rock/emo like
The main focus is clearly the title.

Research and Planning - The beatles - CD covers

2009-09-06T09:55:00.000-07:00

Scetched out
Black and white - suggest the year of the band
The main memeber is the only member face on
Old fashion Clothing
Some scetched, some actual photos
Photos worked around scetches - balanced on ear/head

The Beatles Anthology is the name of a documentary series, a series of three albums and a book, all of which focus on the history of The Beatles.

Research and Planning - The birth of music videos

2009-09-06T07:55:00.000-07:00

In 1965, the beatles began making 'promotional clips' which were known as 'filmed inserts' for distribution and broadcast in other countries (primarily the USA) so they could promote their record releases without having to make in-person appearances.

At the same time, The Byrds began using the same strategy to promote their singles in the UK, starting with the 1965 single "Set You Free This Time".

In May 1966 they filmed two sets of colour promotional clips for their songs "Rain" and "Paperback Writer" all directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg who later went on to direct with The Rolling Stones song "Rock'n'Roll Circus".

Colour promotional clips for songs "strawberry fields forever" and "penny lane" were directed by Peter Goldman in 1967. Using new techniques to videos such as slow motion, dramatic lighting, unusual camera angles and colour filtering. Which were all techniques burrowed from the underground and avant garde film.

Many song films were produced by UK artists so they were able to be screened when artists were unable to screen live.

In the UK "The Kinks" made one of the first real 'plot' promotion clips for a song. For the song "Dead End Street" in 1966 a miniature comic movie was made, where members of the band acted like undertakers in old London streets and also features still pictures from the Great Depression. There was no lip-sync involced, but the clip was edited according to the phases of song. However it was refused to be aired by the BBC as it was considered to be in 'Poor taste'.

The Carpenters also made a promotional clip of their cover of the Beatles hit Ticket to Ride.

After 1969, the independent music movie clips came out of fashion with psychedelic music and style. Bands preferred performing in TV shows which themselves became visually more attractive.

Top of the Pops was a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. Each weekly programme consisted of performances from some of that week's best-selling popular music artists, with a rundown of that week's singles chart. Although the weekly show was cancelled, the Christmas special has continued. In the 1990s, the show's format was sold to several foreign broadcasters, and at one point various versions of the show were shown in nearly 100 countries.

1. The House Of The Rising Sun - The Animals
2. I'm Into Something Good - Herman's Hermits
3. (There's) Always Something There To Remind Me (2004 Digital Remaster) - Sandie Shaw
4. I Get Around - The Beach Boys
5. Oh, Pretty Woman (Album Version) - Roy Orbison
6. Just One Look - The Hollies
7. Do Wah Diddy Diddy - Manfred Mann
8. Tobacco Road - The Nashville Teens
9. You're No Good - The Swinging Blue Jeans
10. Poison Ivy - The Paramounts
11. Shout - Lulu & The Luvvers
12. Yeh! Yeh! - Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames
13. It's Only Make Believe - Billy Fury
14. The Rise And Fall Of Flingel Bunt - The Shadows
15. Don't Blame Me - Frank Ifield
16. I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself - Dusty Springfield
17. A Message To Martha (Kentucky Bluebird) - Adam Faith
18. One Way Love - Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers
19. Where Did Our Love Go (Single Version) (Mono) - The Supremes
20. Chapel Of Love - Dixie Cups

1. Smile - Lily Allen
2. Put Your Records On - Corinne Bailey Rae
3. Ride A White Horse - Goldfrapp
4. Another Place To Fall - K.T. Tunstall
5. Fallen - Franz Ferdinand
6. Because I Want You - Placebo (2)
7. Lost And Found - Feeder
8. Standing On My Own Again - Graham Coxon
9. I See You You See Me - Magic Numbers (1)
10. Conceived - Beth Orton
11. Otherside - Breaks Co-Op
12. Piece Of My Heart - Beverley Knight
13. Coming Around Again - Simon Webbe
14. Sooner Or Later - Duncan James
15. Something About You - Jamelia
16. Say Say Say (Waiting 4 U) - Hi Tack
17. Rock Steady - All Saints
18. You Got The Love - Source & Candi Staton

The Cd covers differ in style, The text and numbers are different with the latest version with rounder type text which is more modern. The old fashion car suits the date and in the newer version features a Stop sign instead. Most of the pictures are also colour rather then some in black and white.

Research and Planning - Conventions of a pop video

2009-07-20T16:02:00.001-07:00

Looking at the different style of pop videos and the 3 main forms that they come in, Performance, Narrative and Image. Performance is a performanced based video normally on a stage or something of a similar sort. Narrative is where the video tells a story either the one relating to the song or a separate narrative is told. Image is when the video focuses mainly on the artist or artists.

We looked at music videos such as Stan - Eminem, Praise you - Fatboy slim and Rich girl - Gewn stefani.

Stan - Eminem

Real life story

Narrative - the lyrics tell a story

Star plays himself

lyrics 'Thank you' give it a softer look yet contrast what is going on

Stan waves a TV screen convinced eminem is waving at him - looney

We hear what he is thinking/writing

Posters of eminem everywhere - obsessive

Stan has neglected girlfriend for fantasy life with star

Lightning and Sweaty obsessive look creates intense dark atmosphere

Performance shots

Agression comes out of obsession - anger is taken out on girlfriend

Violence/murder - typically found in rap videos

Little brother carries on his obsession

Shown on live news - realistic in real life

Praise you - Fatboy Slim

A Parody

Home video Camera

Obviously not professional dancers

Goes against the average music video
Heads walking past block view, along with cars and a crowd (like a pirate copy of a cinema film may)

From a bypassers view or a person in a crowd watching
Outside of a cinema (a place you would expect a crowd of people to be)

Using a plain stereo for music
Dancing tries to be stopped by what looks like security (what would normally happen in this sort of situation if it happened in real life)

Dance moves are purposely amateur.

Rich Girl - Gwen Stefani

Star in video

Dramatic costumes

Historical content
Main narrative tells story from certain era

Slave - pretending to dream about being rich

Fast paced

Edited to match story (like a childs imagination)

Children laughing - non diagetic

Mainly all female - Post moderism, females are dominant.

Showing little flesh being 'sexy'

Preliminary Work - Visit from Tom

2009-07-20T15:38:00.000-07:00

The class got a visit from technical wizz Tom who gave us a 2 day workshop on music videos and the types of planning involved and what we would need to consider when planning/filming a video. We did a practise run and planned out and filmed a music video on the song 'Midnight at the Oasis'.

First of all we watched the video 'Thriller' and filled in a table on different aspects of the video and how it can relate to the genre and music followed by other videos we chose in groups.

We then came up with ideas and wrote out a synopsis and drew a storyboard of what would happen in our version of the music video for midnight at the oasis.

We produced a storyboard showing a more detailed sequence of what would happen throughout the video, timing, costumes. This made it easier to not get lost when filming and putting it together.

Lyrics

Midnight at the oasis

Sing your camel to bed

Shadows painting our faces

Traces romance in our heads

Heaven holding a half moon

Shining just for us

Let's slip off to a sand dune real soon

Kick up a little dust

Come on cactus is our friend

He'll show us the way

Come on 'till the evening ends

'till the evening ends

You don't have to answer

There's no need to speak

I'll be your belly dancer

Prancer and you can be my sheik

I know your daddy's a sultan

A nomad known to all

With fifty girls to attend him

They all send him

Jump at his beck and call

But you want need no harem

Honey

When I am by your side

And you won't need no camel

No no when I take you for a ride

Midnight. At the oasis

We also produced a mood board to brainstorm ideas we got from the lyrics of the song to give a hint of what we could involve in the music video.

On the second day we began filming our video, we imporvised with the equipment we could use and using the school grounds as a location. We also used costumes from the school drama department and filmed our scenes.

From filming for most of the day, as a group we learnt the amount of intense planning we would actually need and the large amount of things we need to consider when filming.

Research and Planning - The Feeling - Influences

2009-07-19T13:50:00.000-07:00

The Beatles (1960- 1970)

Supertramp (1969 - 1988, 1997, 2003)

Queen (1970 - 1997)

10cc (1972-1983, 1992-1995)

ELO (1989 - 2000)

Jellyfish (1990-1994)

Research and Planning - The Feeling

2009-07-19T13:11:00.000-07:00

Members

Dan Gillespie Sells - Vocals and guitar
Richard Jones - Bass guitar and backing vocals
Kevin Jeremiah - Guitar and backing vocals
Ciaran Jeremiah - Keyboards and backing vocals
Paul Stewart - Drums

Twelve Stops and Home -2006

Join With Us - 2008

EPS: Four Stops and Home

In an e-mail newsletter released on January 11, 2007, it was announced that The Feeling was the number one most played band on UK radio in 2006. Their four singles received a total of 97,436 plays, which meant that, on average, a song by The Feeling was played 267 times every day, or once every 5 minutes.

Awards:

2006 - Q Award - Best Track - Never Be Lonely (nominated)

2007 - BRIT Awards - Best Song - Fill My Little World (nominated) (got to the final 5) Ivor Novello Awards - Songwriters of the Year

NME Awards - Best band (nominated)

2008 - Elle Style Awards - Band of the Year

Research and Planning - Media Literacy

2009-07-19T10:49:00.000-07:00

Media is a changing progress, it constructively changes as technology improves, these are some examples on how things have changed.

Here are some interpretations of media literacy:

The ability to create, use, analyse and understand media products, within the context of their audiences and institutions. (Donna Cooper-Cliftllands)

A broader version of conventional literacy, which includes all visual, aural and digital forms, seeking to enable people to become more thoughtful producers and interpreters of media
(Pete Fraser)

Media literacy is being able to engage not just with the immediate content of a media text, but also to be able to apply knowledge and understanding of institutional factors that have an impact on shaping the text itself and on the messages and values embedded within the text. Media lieracy also invloves knowledge and understanding of how different audiences in different times places may interpret the text in different ways. Crucially, the media-literate reader of the text is qable to see that his/her own reading of the text may be at odds with that applied by some or all of the target audience. (Wayne O'Brien)

Highlighted above in the interpretations is what makes them different from each other and the similar things said in each definition, we looked at 5 overall and i came up with my own overall interepretation of what i think media literacy is:

Media literacy is the way people understand the meaning of a text and how they react to it.

There are increasing concerns on the youth of today and how we have alot of use of 'We Media' sights such as facebook and how youths could be missing out on 'enriching' culture such as novels or plays due to the way their main source of communication now.

New Literacies

In between the old school idea of literacy seen as something you either do or do not have are a range of theories and strategies as literacy being a social and political practise.

Freire (1972)
Freire believed how people can be disempowered and often excluded from literacy due to social culture. For example people with less developed skills who could not read or write would have less of a say is things they may not fully understand, causing them to possibly become controlled by people with more knowledge of the concept.

Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown believes that in order to be considered in the society people should learn to speak english, read and write. To lack these skills would be considered as 'not making an effort' and therefore excluding yourself from the 'values' of the country rather then being overpowered and people that do not 'join in' are seen themselves as outsiders.

James Gee has a 'Meta-understanding' (meaning many undertstandings) of literacys. This skill he calls 'Poweful literacy' is the simple idea of 'Discourse'. He has the idea that different types of literacy can be used and different times and it is poosible to have several different types of literacys, that you could analyse together or seperately.

Digital Literacy
Digital literacy is basically a digital divide (divided world) of a social justice issue. People that may have access to certain technologys will have alot more knowledge then people who don't have the privilage. Using these sights such as facebook and youtube requires a certain amount of knowledge which may come quit easily to people who use these technologys often. It could be from learning or creativity we practise and improvise for example being able to complete a video game without reading the inside rule booklet.

Memes and remix

A Meme is the rapid uptake and spread of a new or particular idea.
When people pass on a meme, they would be reinforcing their own sense into the world. Like viral marketing such as 'word of mouth' spread just as quick and effectively as a virus can spread.

Preliminary Work - Visit from Spencer

2009-07-13T06:25:00.000-07:00

Our A2 media class got a visit from Spencer a successful Graphic designer who spoke to us about marketing and helping us gather our ideas.

'Listen so customers will talk, Talk so customers will listen'

He mentioned how the best ways to grab peoples attention is by being completely random and different. Yet you would also have to consider who wants it and how you can interest them.

Song lyrics:

Alright

Those were the days
Your mother would say you could come out and play
Wed' kick things around
Climb up a tree and jump across the canal

Then every summer was a year in my head
When it ended, yeah, we wished we were dead
But nowadays it comes and goes before before you noticed

The sun is shining
We've nothing left to loose
The sun is shining
Put on your favorite shoes
Were getting tired im
Sick of waiting for you

Iv'e gotta move on
But my heart belongs in a world that has gone I went to your house
Your mother's still their but she said you moved out
She said you left 11 years agoShe said she told me this before but I dont know
She wont understand if I say that I love you

The sun is shining
We've nothing left to loose
The sun is shining
Put on your favorite shoes
Were getting tired
I'm sick of waiting for you

The sun is shining
It's gonna be alright
The sun is shining
Stop putting up a fight
Im getting high so high
We've nothing left to loose
Nothing to loose

(The sun is shining)
We've got nothing to lose
(The sun is shining)
Put on your favourite shoes
(We're getting tired and I'm)
Sick of waiting for you
Waiting for you
(The sun is shining)
Stop putting up a fight
(The sun is shining)
It's gonna be alright
(I'm getting high so high)
We've got nothing to lose
Nothing to lose

We spent the time together as a group with Spencer and listened to the song and conducted a brainstorm on the things that we immediately think of when hearing the song:

Following on the concept of being different and unique, we came up with another brainstorm on the opposite things to come up with different ideas we could use in the video:

As a class we put ideas together of other things we think of when listening to the song.

Research and Planning - The Fray

2009-07-07T17:44:00.000-07:00

The Fray Formed in 2002.

Band members:

Isaac Slade - lead vocals, piano/keyboard
David Welsh - lead guitar
Joe King - rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Ben Wysocki - drums, percussion

Previous members:
Dan Battenhouse, Zach Johnson, Dave Hedin, Caleb Slade, Mike Ayars, Alex Cooksey

CD covers

•Broken lightbulb – light bouncing off crushed glass.
•Dark background
•Glowing text
•Smaller pieces of broken glass at top remind me of tree branches

•Extremely similar to ‘how to save a life’ but heart matches the title of the song- ‘Heartless’ (Broken heart)
•Opposite colours (light background, dark text)

•Neon- like letters (light bulb theme with covers)
• Busy crowd walking around (blurred so means they are walking fast)
• Reminds me of a underground train station (platform sign, busy people)
•Dark (letters are only source of light)

Merchandise

Quite unique yet musical designs with a wide range to both men and women/ different ages. A wide range of t shirts with various of different unique designs.

Website

Matches Cd cover.
• Play button matches neon text.
•Simple layout
•Moving people walking in the background bring it to life.

Music Video: How To Save A Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UksIFm8Ru6s

•Uses people of all kinds of races
•Goes against typical videos in having to have skinny good looking people
•Confronts Death and lets us see how loved ones react rather then focusing on the deceased.
•Doesn’t exactly show attractive shots (girl with braces, girl shouting)
•A lot of emotion shown.
•Butterfly is symbol – Growing (Cocoon and Butterfly)
•Filmed in white room, no distractions focuses on the people and the band.

A2 Project Brief

2009-07-07T13:34:00.000-07:00

This year A2 students would be expected to create a range of projects using various skills and developing them of a higher level compared to AS. As a group we decided on one brief we all agreed on and it was

A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together of two of the following three options:

A website for the band;
A cover for it's release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package);
A magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package);

We then decided that we would chose to do the cover and the magazine advert. We thought it would be easier as in the previous year we had already developed skills in designing covers. Even though the standard would have to be equal as the video we had to make we thought we would have a better chance of designing to a high quality.

At the same time we would be coming in to a whole new area of video, we would have to look into music videos and the music industry developing a wider range of skills.

To be able to achieve the grades I want to come out for me at the end of the year, when producing my work I will keep to the mark scheme and make sure that it is clear what level I am aiming for.

I will make it clear the different between basic and proficient work is compared to excellent.

For my research I would need to make sure it relates to my potential target audience and the whole feel of the video.

I would need to make sure the organisation of the characters, locations, costumes and props and really clear and detailed.

I would have to handle my time management extremely well, preventing to fall behind which could possible make my work more rushed and less good quality due to rushing it.

My presentation would have had to be well thought out, making it overall very well presented being clear and neat. Also making it look good.

Another thing I would need to make clear is skills I have used or learnt throughout my project to keep my work at a high level making it seem more complex and professional. Also making sure that I have excellent communication skills.