Blog 20 - Evaluation and Feedback of the video

(in my edit its shows thi text in paragraphs, sorry for the incovenience, i cannot change it) In this blog I am going to be evaluating my music video, in relation to feedback and my personal experience. I have gained and developed a range of skills throughout the year, in which helped me complete my music video. My music video ‘stay positive’ has a particular target audience, this had to be kept in mind constantly when producing the music video. Before I started filming I had to learn the appropriate skills that I needed. I learnt these skills in group with my fellow peers reconstructing the video for whetus - teenage dirt bag. At the very start of this process we were shown the importance of producing a storyboard, rekke, shooting script. Also, Before we started filming our teacher showed us how to correctly mount the tripod and fix on the camera, he then showed us how to operate the camera along side all of its functions, which were the use of when and auto settings. If you were to let the camera film automatically then it may result in the footage that is being captured back may not be high in quality. However if the manual setting is used than the operator is able to adjust the setting of the camera. One setting that was able to be adjusted was the exposure. If a shot was to dark or light than I was shown that the shutter speed and aperture to adjust this Also learning hoe to use white balance, which is basically set when in different lighting conditions. I experience the need to use white balance as we were filming in and outside. Another operation I learnt was ’time lapse’ After we knew the basics we then split up into separate groups and started the film a number of different shots from the music video. Once we had got all of the footage we needed it was then time to edit. My teacher then showed my how to edit using the application ‘final cut express’. I learnt a number of skills such as, how to add my footage to the timeline, cutting down footage, flagging o the timeline were the beat is, etc. The knowledge that I learnt from this activity was very important, and carrying out this activity allowed me to get on with filming my own music video with no complications. The first steps that our group undertook before we started filming our music video was the planning process. The planning process consists of, a storyboard, shooting script, rekke, health and safety analysis, diary of dates that we have agreed to go out and film and what camera we are going to use. We decided to film out music video from a first person point of view (POV). In able to accomplish this shot we filmed our music video using a handy cam, which was being shot as a 16:9. The use of the handy cam allowed us to move around with the camera and film from eye level. However, this turned out to be a very tough task, especially as we had been taught how to use the handy cam mounted on a tripod. Another reason we decided on using a handy cam was that our shots will look realistic, we deliberately added a shaking motion to the camera whilst filming to get this realism, however we did not want to over exaggerate this as it may look as a result of poor camera work. Once we had filmed all of our footage it was time to edit. Usually when editing the footage is needed to be caught back on to the computer, we were able to skip this lengthy process because the handy cam did not require DV tapes to operate, the handy cam uses a memory stick. The program that we used to edit our footage is called ‘final cut express’. We set out project setting to PAL. This means that we would be watching and editing to a frame rate of 24 frames per second, this is the European standard. As we editing was non linear, we were able to change the order of our clips with out any great deal of fuss. We completed a rough edit of our video by placing all of our footage on the timeline and putting it in correct order, this is called an assembly edit. The benefit to completing an assembly edit is that we were able to see is the footage that we had was long enough, also if we had missed out any shots and if there was we still had time to book a camera and go film those shots. This process also includes the adding of the music track, which is called ‘The Streets - Stay Positive’. In order to do this we had to convert out MP3 file to an AIF file, this allowed the track to be heard whilst editing. Once the track was added cutting to the beat was made possible. However, as we wanted to creating the most realistic visual experience possible we decided that it was beat to keep the cutting to a minimum as possible, we also did this so that the video looks continuous and is happening in real life time. Finally was our final cut, were we added a slow motion affect at the end, and added the noise of a gunshot, ending with a fade to black. This reflected the death of the character. As a whole I feel as though my group and I have had a good first attempt of making a music video. We stuck to our initial idea of filming from a first person perspective using the handycam. However we did come across a number of issues when using this handy cam. The main issue that we had was that when filming we only had one ‘free’ hand to operate props with, this was because the camera mans other hand was being used to hold the camera. We overcome this minor set back by having one us hold the camera whilst the other person used their pair of hands in front of the handy cam. We wanted the track to be diagetic, we accomplished this by the character in our video putting on his headphones and activating his MP3 device. The track of our video is based around a teenage demographic as the lyrics of the track highlight common stereotypical behaviour of a teenager. Some of these issues raised in the track lyrics are, drug use, crime and a disjunction to modern day society. As our target audience are young adults we felt that it was crucial to incorporate these stereotypical actions into our video, (adding a wrapped up gun, concluding with violent gunshot at the end of our video). Our video starts with the character waking up from a ‘heavy night out’ on the beach, in order to get this effect of a alcohol filled night before we tilt the camera through the video. The track starts as soon as the character pushes play on the MP3 device. The diagetic of the track puts the view in the soul of the protagonist. The story is of the character who is listening to the ipod gets hold of a package that is much desired by another person. A chase starts to get hold of this package, and once the audience discover what is in the package they not long after come to find out that the package holds no value, this is because before the package was stolen off the main character the contents had been swapped. The main character then shoots the character that has been chasing him. The video ends by the camera shot fading to black whilst the music fades. Whilst the audience does not know what is inside the package they are constantly wanting to know what is inside the package, this involves the audience and results in them being an active audience, this is what I wanted to achieve from this video. In comparison to other Streets music videos our video matches the m - e - s of a dark and violent background that involves drugs and alcohol. We wanted to reflect the bands other music videos that also match the stereotypes of teenage behaviour against society. We kept to the same style as the bands previous videos because the audience that had had interest in them are the same audience that we are targeting with our video. On top of my music video I also ensured that my advert and dig pack also kept to the continuous theme of ‘the Streets’. In order to do this, I kept the artwork relatively simple. I also kept to the theme of our video by only showing the legs of the character on the two designs. In which, helped to secure the mysteriousness of our music video. I have posted my video on my facebook page and recieved comments that are all possitve and a few saying that the package was the most interesting part of the video. In conclusion I am very pleased with how my music video turned out. I am also pleased with how my advert and digi pack keep to the same theme as my video. My music video is not mainstream as it does not consist of the common activities that star in a mainstream video, on top of this my music video is shot in first person and this has not been done a lot of times. I wanted to produce a music video that stands out because of its uniqueness, filming in this style allowed me to accomplish this.

Blog 19 - Finished Video

This blog contains my completed music video. Unfortunaltely i was unable to upload my video straight on to Blogger. So i have posted a link to my music video through google docs below: https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B7hZWTkEhQ07OGM1ZDRmMzUtZWQ1ZS00YTZjLWI1MWMtYzU0Yzk0ZWE4NjBm&hl=en

Blog 18- Creative camera use

Music videos of today often contains a whole range of different effects, which includes are range of camera movements, sound effects, and visual special effects. However as our group wanted to keep our music video looking as realistic as possible then adding in these sorts of effects would counter act our idea. However we did add in a sound effect of a gunshot at the end of our music video, but this is still a realistic effect. The gunshot shot was followed by the slowing down of the frame to slow down the character falling to the ground. Adding this effect allowed us to develop our knowledge of final cut express further. Below is a link of the shot i have discussed:

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B7hZWTkEhQ07ODM1MjlmODQtMjZjNC00ZWY1LWE5YmUtOGNkZmVkYjQ0MmQx&hl=en

Blog 17 - Rejected Footage

In total we had around 10minutes of rejected footage. As we wanted to make a video that is 3minutes long we had to cut the shots down. Another reason for the rejected footage is that some of the footage is to disorientated and looks like poor camera work, and this is why we decided to take it out. Other rejected footage contains of shots were the camera and camera man is visible in the scene. What i mean by this is that as our video was shot from POV the cameraman could sometimes be seen from material that reflects off an image. For example the camera man can be seen reflected off of the car door. These mistakes allowed us to go back and correct the errors that had occurred previously. Below is a link to our rejected footage:

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B7hZWTkEhQ07YmMzOTczNWEtMjA5ZS00ODA5LTg0MzQtNDMwMWRiMjJlMTc5&hl=en

Blog 16- Advert

This blog contains flat plans for my advert, and adverts that all ready exist. An advert is created to create awareness about the product that is about to be released. Record labels will advertise in different ways to reach out to their appropriate target audience. (apologies for this blog, i cannot find away to un -jumble my images).

Here are two different adverts for different artists, but their contents is very similar. Both of the adverts have a relevant image that relates to the artists also, both adverts consist a date in which the album is due to release. A way both adverts get their audience interested in the album is by publishing a few hit singles that are going to be included on the album. For example, Pendulum- 'granite' and Katy Perry 'i kissed a girl'. quarter page This is a flat plan design of and advert. The size of this advert takes up a quarter of the page. I have included all of the basics to inform the consumer about a new digipack that is now available for purchase. I have used artwork that is similar to my digipack, so that the consumer can easily related from the advert to the product.

half page

This is a flat plan of my half page advert. This advert would be published in a issue of a music magazine that is purchased by consumers of the same audience as my digipack. Thwe main image of this design is a gun, this is because this item pays a major role in the digipack video. Full page

This is a flat plan to a magazine advert that covers a full a4 size page. The main image to the advert is dangling legs and a black and white brick background. The compostion of these images relate to my digipack design, making it easy for the consumer to find the digipack when they go to purchase it. NMW rating has been added to the advert to interest the consumer to purchase the product. This design is what i am going to base my final advert on.

Final advert design.

Evaluation of my advert in PowerPoint form (link):

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B7hZWTkEhQ07YTJkZTZhNmEtNmIzZC00ZDMyLWFhNmEtMWJkYmFmODQxNjNk&hl=en

Blog 15 - Digipack

In this blog i am going to be looking at digipacks: what they are, and how artists use them for promotional purposes. A digipack is a patent style of a compact disk or DVD packaging. Digipacks typically consist of a gate fold paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays that are in a circular shape that is going to hold a compact disk firmly in place. First Digipack design- My first digipack design is very basic. This is because it resembles the artists previous artwork, which is bold and simple. The simpleness attracts my target audience (that i have researched in previous blogs) because of the clothes that the male in the digipack is wearing are urban, which is the same way the fans of the Streets dress. The inside of the digipack is dull and consists of only one colour throughout, with lyrics from the song posted on the left side. On the back shows the tracks on the CD. This is commonly were all artists place the track listings to the CD. This makes it easy for customers to pick up the case in a shop and see what songs are on the album with ease. Second digipack design I have made changes to my previous Digipack idea. I have still kept the layout simple, but have added art to attract the audience more than to it being one plain colour. I have decided to add a brick wall theme to the front and pack of the case. This adds to the urban theme of the CD and relates to the style of the music. The use of liquor bottles on the front and inside of my case also adds to the urban theme, and also alcohol plays an important role in our video. I have kept the track listing in the same place, also keeping lyrics printed on the inside left of the case. I have added a bottle of vodka behind the CD fixture that is the same size as the CD. The vodka bottle is lying on the floor half full, resembling were it has been placed on the front of my digipack design. Final Digipack design My final Digipack design has added further images on to my second design. All I have changed to the front cover is have added a fence above the wall, purely to fill up the gap that would have otherwise remained filled with a dark colour. Adding a fence behind the wall adds to the urban feel furthermore and relates to the place of were the target audience live. Which is in a council house that have a garden surrounded by walls and fences. The back of the pack is the same as my previous design. The inside of the pack is relatively same to my previous design of being based around the front cover. I have added the characters foot to the image and have changed the camera host to Birdseye view. I have changed this because it allows more detail to be added into the shot, as it covers a wider surface area. I have kept the idea of having the lyrics on the left side of the pack, but instead of placing them on top of the image, i am going to incorporate in to the background images that are in the picture, so the the lyrics look as though they are meant to be on the item. Existing Digipacks: This is an album cover, front/back for an album of Kayne West. The image stretches from the front to the back, which allows the image to be larger, eliminating the need to squash the picture onto one side of the pack. This is similar to my design as i am also going to cover the front and back of the my cover with one image. As Kayne West's music is also urban having a similar design shows that i am reaching out to my target audience with the image, because of the success of Kayne West's album sales. Evaluation of my Digipack in powerpoint form (link) : https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B7hZWTkEhQ07NTdkODE3MGMtMzllOC00YjFmLTk0MzAtOGNiZTQwMDk0OWNi&hl=en

Blog 14 Shooting Diaries

We collected all of our footage and are now ready to edit it down to a final video and add a soundtrack. As we only had one days filming, we have a relatively short shooting diary, however I had entered into this blog the diary from yesterdays filming drawing upon any problems or issues we had during the day and how I felt the filming went. Wednesday 16th March- Filming for Music Video: We started the day by heading to college to pick up the steady cam and a Risk Assessment form during Danns lesson the previous week, we were then ready to start filming at Telscombe Cliffs. We had managed to miss the rain which was a massive bonus. Uur first location at the beach front was deserted which was exactly how we had planned it as we wanted it to reflect an early morning, despite us not filming till 10. We encountered a slight issue with the handycam,as we realised the person filming would only have one hand to be able to use in the shot as the camera would be being held in the other which proved to be difficult, however we decided for the scenes in which both hands are required to have the other person who was not filming to hold the camera whilst the other did the movement. We had difficulty with the ipod scene, as the camera could be seen in the reflection so it took a few takes to get this right, and we will edit it down during the editing process. All of our filming down at madeira went perfectly, with the weather continuing to be miserable, exactly how we wanted it, however there were some members of the public around so we needed a few takes to ensure no-one walked past during our shots, as it was important to ensure our character was shown totally on his own during shots. Other than that we had a very incident free filming process and returned the camera on time to Craig ready to begin our 6 weeks of editing, which we ensured we had enough time to complete