Shooting schedule for wednesday

early afternoon: argument scene
outside scenes
birds eye view and running scene
singing/performance shots

Shooting schedule for this weekend

Friday evening - shot of letter and hallway scene
Saturday afternoon - argument scene
singing shots
birds-eye view shot
running scene
living room scene
couple scene and lights shot
Sunday afternoon - bedroom scene
park/outdoor scenes

Script for argument scene

This is what the character's in the argument scen will be miming, music is to be put over this audio.
Me: What's wrong with me having a life.
Mum: I'm just saying I think you're too young.
Me: Mum, I'm old enough to have a boyfriend.
Mum: You're so irresponsible.
Me: Fine.

Make-up and Hair for the characters

Singer (Amy) - Eyeliner, Smoky eyes eye shadow, light pink coloured lip gloss and wavy tousled hair.
Main narrative character (Me) - (For bench and outside scenes) smudged eyeliner and mascara, no lipgloss. messy, wavy hair. (For other scenes) The same but the eyeliner is not smudged. Tidy, slightly curly hair.
Mother narrative character (Mum) - Mascara and foundation, dark red lipstick. Straight hair.
Male narrative character (Adam) - Not Applicable.

Clothes for characters

Singer (Amy) - A pale coloured butterfly dress, no shoes.
Main narrative character (Me) - T-shirt and Black skinny jeans with converse trainers.
Mother narrative character (Mum) - Red jumper and jeans.
Male narrative character (Adam) - T-shirt, Red and Black checkered jacket, Jeans and skate trainer shoes.

Prop List

Argument scene - Photo strip.
Bedroom scene - Rucksack, Clothing (various items), The photo frame, Various make-up and cosmetics, a teddy, Items of Jewellery/jewellery stand.
Bench scene - A blanket.

Location List

Argument scene - The Kitchen.
Bedroom scene - Dad's Spare room.
Bench and outside scenes - The local park.
Running scene - The street.
Bird's eye view scene - The local park.
Singing/performance scene - Dad's attic.

Cast List

Singer - Amy.
Main character in the narrative - Me.
Male character in the narrative - Adam.
Mother character in the narrative - Mum.

Location Photos for narrative section

This is part of the bedroom scene, the character in the narrative is taking clothes out of these draws and putting them into a rucksack. I have chosen this location for this scene because the colour scheme is white and acts as a blank canvas for my scene. The vinyl records also connotates the rock genre.

This is also part of the bedroom scene, this is where the character picks up a photo frame (the exercise bike and clothes are not included in the scene). I chose this prop because there are typical conventions of a teenagers bedroom, such as a lamp, bookcase and frame. When shooting the scene I plan to use other props such as make-up bags and cosmetics, jewellery and various other ornaments which represent youth.

This is the hallway scene in which the character leaves a note on the desk then walks out of the door. I chose this location for this scene because the lighting is good and the scene represents an adults (parents) household. This fits in with my narrative as it is about a teenager feeling trapped in her parents house and the scene which is being filmed in this location is where she is walking out of her parents house.

Animatic

Storyboard

Lyrics and interpretation of Lyrics

Theoretical Evaluation of Production

When creating the preliminary task, which was to produce a college magazine, I did not know how to use Photoshop as I had only just been introduced to the technology program. This put me at a disadvantage because there could have been certain areas of the project, such as improving the quality of the image or adding a background, that I did not know how to do. This meant that the final production was more basic than it could have been had I had experience with using a variety of different and advanced technologies. If I had created the product again after practising my skills with Photoshop and other editing software I think that my product would have looked more professional and would have more appeal to my target audience. Examples of some of the complications with using Photoshop was that I did not know how to use the blur tool, the red-eye tool, the spot healing tool and the clone tool. As I developed my skills in using these skills, I was able to manipulate the image to create better effects. I also had to develop my skills in order to understand how Photoshop worked with regards to layers and importing images for editing. This was essential for organising the layout of my magazine efficiently so it could be easily read and consumed.

Another element of the development of my skills in using editing software is changing the backgrounds to suit my creative decisions and ideas. Some example include: accommodating a background for the ‘phoebe can’t dance image on my contents page, the original background for this image was dull and messy, to change this I had to learn to erase the original background and learn to use layers in order to apply the new background. Another example of my creative decision making, influenced by my skills using editing software was, on my double-page-spread, I used a notebook-style background, in the beginning of the production process I did not think about using an image as a background of the page. Once I had realised this, I took a picture of the inside of a notebook, then uploaded the image onto Photoshop and organised the text around the background image.

When creating my foundation portfolio (producing a music magazine), we used Blogger. This showed the progress of the production, examples of this was posting blogs of any images, masthead texts, fonts and logos that were of great influence, posting images and photos that I had taken for the magazine and explaining how they met the codes and conventions of my chosen genre of music magazine. I also posted regular blogs of any ideas that I may like to include in my product. My experience in using the internet and blogging websites was limited as, at the time, I had not used a blog before and was not used to the settings. I also did not know how to customise the blog to make it look more organised and the ways in which I could display my work efficiently.

Another piece of digital technology which I had little skills in using was the cameras. The camera I used was only a basic digital camera but it was still hard to take a good picture that I was happy with as I had little skills with using camera’s, which settings I could use and how to manipulate the images. As I developed my skills with the camera throughout my foundation portfolio product I was able to take better pictures, this made a difference to which images I included in my magazine and how they followed the codes and conventions of the genre of music magazine which I had chosen. An example of this is the main image on the front cover of my magazine. The particular image that I used was one of many attempts to produce the right image. When practicing taking photos, I learned from my mistakes and investigated a variety of camera settings, angles and focus. This helped me to make a more creative decision of the image that I wanted to include in my magazine.

Throughout making my music magazine I had used basic text fonts in the early stages of the production, as I improved my skills on Photoshop and using the internet, I found a website called Dafont.com, which offered a wide range of different fonts. This helped me to make more creative decisions about the style of text and how it related to the conventions of my magazine and how it represented the music genre. An example of this is the masthead on my front cover.  At first the name of the band was Sticks and stones, I realised that this name did not have the same effect as the name Pulse, so I tried to find a font that would be relevant to this name. By using the website Dafont.com I managed to find a font that was relevant. Had I not developed my skills in using the internet, I feel that my overall product would have looked basic and ineffective.

In conclusion, the ways in which I developed my skills by learning from the mistakes that I made in my preliminary task and the early stages of developing my foundation portfolio task, and exploring different uses of technology, I was able to make creative decisions and carry them out successfully to create a professional-looking product that met the codes and conventions of a typical rock music magazine.

The Genre and Target Audience of my Music Video

http://goanimate.com/go/movie/0x4J6K0PjqrA?utm_source=emailshare&uid=0O-bMiZMwSkU

Picture

In my video, I want the main character to have angel wings. This picture shows a typical angel figure, for example, tousled hair, pale skin and white clothing. This sort of image is what I want to project through my video.

Avril Lavigne - Wish You Were Here

The artist in this video is Avril Lavigne, the genre of her music is mainly rock but some is identified as pop-punk or punk. She is signed to 'Epic Records' and produced her first album 'Let Go' at the age of 17, she also first performed with Shania Twain when she was 15 years old.
At the beginning of the video, the first shot is establishing but the artist is in medium shot, this shows the mise-en-scene, which in this video is an attic. This style of camera shot shows an emotion of lonliness. The beginning of the first scene looks like it has been filmed in reverse and been played normally. This camera shot zooms into a mid-close-up with no editing in between, this suggests a sort a storytelling theme which may suggest that the artist is telling a story of her emotion at the time of writing the song. The camera shots start to change into close-ups and medium close-ups after 0:48 and the editing technique is a dissolve between shots, this also adds to the storytelling theme as it shows there are no breaks in between the shots (story). At 0:52, the camera is steadycam and moves randomly which creates a disorientated effect. Thiss effect matches the pace of the song at this time as from 0:52 the song becomes more fast-paced.
In this video, there is a blurring effect between scenes, this makes the video entertaining as the setting does not change much. I think this is a good editing technique and I am inspired to use this effect in my video.
The mise-en-scene of the video higlights the emotion of the song and the lyrics. The fact that the video is set in an empty attic adds to the mood.
Through the rest of the video, many of the shots are close-up which draws the viewer's attention to different parts of the shot. This creates a bond with the audience and attentiveness to the video and what is being represented. The close-up shots of the artist's face creates a personal bond between the artist and the viewer. It also concentrates the viewer's attention on the artists facial expression.
In the video, an audience is not being represented but what is being represented is the personal feelings and emotions of the artist. From my own perspective, the representation is not the audience but the feelings and emotions which the audience might feel. Therefore the video is effective in portraying a certain mood (in this example the mood is sadness) The fact that the artist is representing their own personal feelings appeals to the audience as they look up to Avril as an inspirational body. This shows the viewer that not every artist has to be glamorous and put on a made up act to be successful and appeal to their target audience.

Ed Sheeran - The A Team (Official Music Video) OUT NOW!

Ed Sheeran is a new, rising artist and this is the video for his debut single. the genre of Ed Sheeran's music can be identified as folk soul.

This video has a black and white setting. As it is a slow-paced song, this is effective to set the mood. This effect would be useful in my own video as it would follow the codes and conventions of the genre of the song I have chosen. Also, the video features a lot of extreme close-up camera shots, I think this is effective because it emphasises the character's emotion and shows an intimate side to the narrative. In my video, I want to include some close-up shots and some extreme close-up shots as I believe it is a creative method of camera usage and would create a bond with the audience.
through the video there are close-ups of certain things that the character does. an example is of her walking down the street. The camera follows her feet as she walks, this creates a sense of distortion as this technique is not usually seen in videos. The scene where the people walking past her in the street are in fast-motion but the main character is still is effective. This technique focuses the audience's attention to the character and how she is out of place in society.
The beginning of the video is the end of the video, in that the video starts exactly how it ends, this breaks the usual convention of a narrative of having a beginning, middle and end in that order. This method of video is effective as it leves the viewer wondering how the situation at the beginning happened. It also immediately draws the viewer's attention to the narrative and what is being represented.
The establishing shot of the character laying on a park bench represents not only homelessness but also a low class urban society. The clothing in which the character is wearing represents homelessness and prostitution. Her ripped fishnet tights signify the stereotype of a prostitute or 'tart' and the rips indicate that she has been wearing them for a while. She also has a thick coat on and is holding a blanket, which suggests that she has been living outside.
at 1:37 there is a close-up shot of a sign saying 'improving the angel' this is significant as it suggests that the character is a good person but she needs help in her life in order to improve.
at 1:52 there is an establishing shot of the character sitting on the street, in the background there are shops. The shop on the right represents glamour and fashion and the shop on the left is a house showroom. Both of these shops create the view of the aspects of life which the character lacks and the fact that she is sat in between the two shops outside creates a distinguishing contrast between her situation and what she doesn't have.
The video represents many typical problems in society such as: Drug Abuse, Prostitution, homelessness and poverty. As the target audience is young people approximately aged between 16 - 25, these problems being represented are most common within this age group of people. This means that the video effectively raises awareness of these problems and puts them into their negative perspective for the viewer.

Paramore: The Only Exception [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

Paramore is an American rock band and released their debut album 'All we know is Falling' in 2005. The style of their music varies from song to song. Some are upbeat rock while others are slow and emotional.
This paramore song is from their album 'Brand new eyes' and it is slow-paced, this fits in with the narrative form of video with the exception of a few performance scenes. This is effective as it tells a story which is backed up by the lyrics. The establishing shot at the beginning shows the mise-en-scene of the living room of a house. The conventions of the mise-en-scene in this shot includes a television, coffee mugs, blankets, bookcases, a lamp and a sofa. The set also suggests that the character's are students and that they live alone. We can tell because the furniture is mismatched, the television is small and old, which suggests lack of money. Also, when the female character writes in the notebook, we can see on the left page that there are class notes. This shows that they are students. when the female character walks into the next set, we can tell that it is representing a single parent who lives in a different house, the single couch chair in the bottom right of the first establishing shot suggests lonliness. I can tell that the scene is meant to show a scene in a different house as the character acts as though she has not seen the older male character (seemingly her father) in a while. The furniture is also fairly matched and organised. This suggests that it is her parents house. When the character exits this scene and enters the bedroom scene, we can see the divide of the two sets. This follows the post-modern theory, in that it relies on the viewers knowledge of how the text is actually made to make it effective.*
The narrative features the artist as a character, this means that the video promotes the artist as well as telling a story, probably a story of an experience of the artist. The narrative also includes some lip-syncing, which isn't included in the narrative apart from on one occasion when the character in the narrative mouths the lyrics that are important for distinguishing what the rest of the lyrics mean. The idea that she 'would never sing of love, if it does not exist', while the rest of the song is about the person she is singing about being 'the only exception'. This refers to the fact that the character's parents are seperated as when she sings that she would never sing of love if it does not exist, she is looking at a photograph of her parents.
When the character runs throught the different sets, she is showing the process of which the character would go if she was going to go along with her decision shown at the beginning. When she realises that the path she has chosen is wrong she goes back through the sets back to the beginning.
The target audience is being represented in this video. The target audience is young people who prefer the rock genre. The song talks about a girl's parents who have split up and that she is relating that back to her own relationship with the male character in the first scene. This situation is a common occurance among young people as they are just starting to have relationships and experience expressions of love at the same time as adult divorce becoming more common.

Paramore: That's What You Get [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

This video is partly performance and partly narrative. The song is quite fast-paced but the background narrative on its own as the video would fit a more slow-paced song. The beginning shots are each around a second long and feature a clear cut between the shots, this fits in with the fast-paced music at the beginning. Having this many shots in the opening sequence allows the viewer to get an overview of the setting and basic storyline. There is a clear representation of young people throughout this video. The narrative elements represent young love The steadycam in many of the shots creates distortion. Therefore, the performance highlights the more upbeat theme and the emotional narrative highlights the meaning behind the lyrics. I think that this is a proportionate method of promotional video making for this particular song and I plan to use a similar technique in my own video.
The artist is shown singing with the characters of the narrative in the background. This is a cross-over of the two elements of the video. This may suggest that the lead singer is part of the social group that is shown in the background. This lets the character into a bit of the artists personal life.

My chosen song and lyrics

"We Are Broken"

I am outside

And I've been waiting for the sun

With my wide eyes

I've seen worlds that don't belong

My mouth is dry with words I cannot verbalize

Tell me why we live like this

Keep me safe inside

Your arms like towers

Tower over me

Yeah

'Cause we are broken

What must we do to restore

Our innocence

And oh, the promise we adored

Give us life again

'Cause we just wanna be whole

Lock the doors

Cause I'd like to capture this voice

That came to me tonight

So everyone will have a choice

And under red lights

I'll show myself it wasn't forged

We're at war

We live like this

Keep me safe inside

Your arms like towers

Tower over me

'Cause we are broken

What must we do to restore

Our innocence

And oh, the promise we adored

Give us life again

'Cause we just wanna be whole

Tower over me

Tower over me

And I'll take the truth at any cost

'Cause we are broken

What must we do to restore

Our innocence

And oh, the promise we adored

Give us life again

'Cause we just wanna be whole

The History of Music Videos Essay

The History of Music Videos

In the early 60’s music was very popular in worldwide societies. Many artists such as the Beatles and Elvis were extremely famous internationally. This was both an advantage but also a disadvantage. Artists, particularly the Beatles, had to stop touring as they were so famous and popular that the stadiums could not hold the vast amount of people who wanted to see them play. Extreme popularity also meant that the Beatles would be touring around the world constantly and would have very little time to write new songs.

Therefore, as a result of this, the Beatles decided to film documentary style feature films in which the Beatles played themselves as characters. In 1964, they produced a film called ‘Hard day’s night’ http://youtu.be/cD4TAgdS_Xw.  Throughout the film the Beatles would play their own songs and often performed as they would live but on screen and are set aside to the narrative of the film. This gave the audience the opportunity to see the artist as the main purpose of these videos was to promote the artist.

In January 1964, Top of the Pops was produced. A weekly BBC television programme which allowed viewers to watch the artists play songs live through TV. This also promoted the artist, but additionally the programme showed viewers which music was popular. In the early days of music videos, this was one of the only ways to promote artists. A good video would increase a song’s sales as viewers hoped to see it again in the next episode of Top of the Pops.

Feature films which music artists starred in were often shown on television. This promoted the artist among a wider audience as people who did not own the film would watch it.

In 1981, the USA launched a music video channel called MTV, first airing ‘Video killed the radio star’ http://youtu.be/W8r-tXRLazs, which signified the beginning of a 24-hour-a-day music on television era. The channel was originally produced to promote rock music but later MTV began to produce other music video channels to promote other genres.  By mid 1980s, music videos were set to play a central role in popular music marketing. At this point it was thought that the better the artists music videos were, the more successful the track would be. The key innovations of the production of music videos were the development of relatively inexpensive, easy to use video and editing equipment, conjoined with the development of ideas for visual effects. Artists then began to include a storyline or plot to their video (fiction or non-fiction), with some having direct relevance to the lyrics or the artist. This is very often seen in most music videos of the present time. At the time, these developing ideas were seen as a modern genre of video.

In 1983, the most successful and influential video of the music video era was released. This was Michael Jackson’s video for his single ‘thriller’ which was nearly 14 minutes long and included special effects and an original narrative, this set new standards for video production but also conjured up more controversial matters with regards to what was aired on MTV. http://youtu.be/N1tTN-b5KHg.  This particular video used many of the codes and conventions of a typical horror genre as it was filmed in a graveyard and featured old abandoned houses and a dark setting with connotations of fear. The video also started a dance craze; many people who had seen the music video were instantly willing to learn the dance routine, one that, at present, is a very iconic and famous routine. This increased the amount of publicity for Michael Jackson among a range of audience. After the success of many of Michael Jackson’s videos, it was noticed that it was the first time African-American artists had been regularly promoted on the channel. In 1984, MTV launched the MTV Music Awards which was later to become one of the world’s most famous awards events. It also signified MTV’s importance within the music industry.

In 1985, animation was starting to become mainstream in the production of music videos. The first artist to use animation was Dire Straits in their song ‘money for nothing’ which helped the song become an international hit. A year later Peter Gabriel released a music video for his song ‘Sledgehammer’ which used many icon and surreal special effects and animation. The video won nine MTV Music Video Awards http://youtu.be/N1tTN-b5KHg.

From around 2005 to the present day, streaming music videos on the internet became very popular. This was because it was easier and often cheaper to view an artist’s music video on a website rather than buying a physical copy on video tape. In 2005, YouTube was launched; this made viewing music videos faster and easier. It also meant that the public could comment on the video, and post their own video. Many artists that are famous now, rose to fame through posting videos of them performing on YouTube for record labels to see them. Another advantage of YouTube was that the audience could watch the artist perform without needing to see them in concert. Many people who had been to their concerts (though of bad quality) posted videos of the performance on YouTube for others who had not been to see and experience. With the development of music in a digitalised form, MP3 players and IPods were now starting to develop and improve. Music videos became more accessible and portable, as consumers were able to upload music videos onto their mobile phone, IPod or MP4 player device. Another recent development is the 3DS which consumers can use to stream music videos using Wi-Fi connection; this means that music videos are now available to view in 3D. An example of this is a band called OK Go, who regularly provide videos available to stream every so often and are famous for their famous video of the band performing using treadmills. One of the first videos to be streamed on 3DS was ‘White Knuckles’ http://youtu.be/nHlJODYBLKs.

Many music videos in present day use codes and conventions of other music videos and also films. Many artists take ideas from other media texts and interpret and combine them in a unique way. An example of this is Blink 182 in their video for ‘all the small things’, in this video they are mimicking other music videos made by other artists http://youtu.be/9Ht5RZpzPqw .

To conclude, the form and style of music video has changed over time, mainly due to technological advances but also popular demand from the audience and level of competition from other artists. However, the main purpose of a music video, which is to promote the artist, has stayed the same.

The Brief

A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with a cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package) and a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).