TJ - Evaluation Draft Question 4.

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

By using Blogger.com, we have contained our research, planning and evaluation on a collaborative blog. Embedding clips from Youtube to make our blog more professional and easier to read.

RESEARCH
Survey monkey - for our research we had to start with audience research and we accomplished this by using a website called ‘surveymonkey’. This enabled us to create our own questionnaire to send to our target audience and retrieve feedback from our initial ideas.
Test shots – by trying and testing various shots, we were able to discover what were the most effective for our music video. We did these on a trip to Brighton sea front where there were loads of different areas and locations to film in.


PLANNING
Slide boom – we used slide boom to upload our PowerPoint presentation to our blog.
Animatic – by drawing out each shot and filming them, we were able to create an Animatic which was used as a template so we knew how long our video would be and which shots worked the best.
Location shots – by practising and attempting shots in our location, we found suitable places on the rail track to shoot.
Blogger - by responding and keeping in touch through Blogger, we were able to gain knowledge of each others strengths..

CONSTUCTION
Photoshop – digipaks and advert using Photoshop and its many abilities to create a digipak, we added layers and images to create several different formats in development for our final piece.
Within this program, there are ways to create a professional picture easily. These include; changing the contrast, blurring the image, fading the image into another layer and even cutting and replacing bits from the original image which we did for the band photos on the digipak and advert. We used 'Old English' text for the titles as it is goth like and fits in well with the forms and conventions of the genre. This creates a brand image across the digipak and advert.

Premiere – this was the main, lengthy process of our whole project. This is due to the many different editing techniques and effects which were used. For Example -

• The crop tool to create the ghosting girl effect and overlapping each of the shots. Adding with it, the ghosting effect on the program to make it lag behind.


• And the black and white effect for the old style, as well as the film grain video we changed the opacity to layer over the top of the narrative parts to create the authentic effect of the film.


• And finally image control, to darken and change the contrast of the CU shots and performance to add to the mise-en-scene and feel for the genre.
  


• There is a main timeline, which makes it easy to drag, drop, cut and place your desired video clips in order. This helped us construct Dyer’s first person mode of address in places where we thought would be most effective.
  The shot size and zooming was also edited into the video at this stage, creating some movement which we weren’t able to film.


• The cutting rate was increased as well to conform to the rock genre conventions and the time lapse of the drummer was made to add to this.


• A problem we had was synching the lyrics and instruments. For example, some of the shots had the drummer not playing, when in the track it was a drum solo. So this created a small challenge for us.
  
  
  EVALUATION
  
  Youtube – By uploading our final edit to Youtube, we could find out peoples responses and comments. This is an example of using Web 2.0 to one of its full advantages.
  Survey monkey – using surveymonkey again, we were able to see if we had achieved our main goal successfully and conforming to the forms and conventions of rock videos.
  Premiere – we used premiere again to create a short multimedia video to produce the evaluation, with clips and screenshots to explain the points further.

SF Evaluation Question 1

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


By using the framework devised by Goodwin it is posible to see that this is a music video as there is a distinct link between the visuals and the lyrics, with one of the key moments being the use of the lyrics 'burning on the inside' with fire overlapping images of the band and meat shots of the girl.

With this shot, it is directly illustrative of the lyrics as the shot appears with the lyrics 'burning on the inside' also dded more connotation to the lyrics as it is suggesting that there is an inner hatred being shown by the musician towarss the girl. This is also reiterated by the non verbal language used in the ECUs as the male character is using facial expressions to show his hatred and fear of the girl.


With the ECU shots where the singer is looking directly into the camera, by using the idea of the notion of looking devised by Goodwin, we can see that it appears as thought the singer is talking directly into the camera. The lighting in the video connotes a darker side to the male character as his face is partially engulfed by shadow, suggesting that he has this more sinister part of him that he was trying to keep locked away.



Intertextuality is used in the music video through the referencing of the silent movie genre, which is strengthened by the use of black and white make-up to help to make facial features more pronounced. The black and white colours are used to imply that there is an idea of foreboding and also as an indicator of an earlier time, to give the music video the effect of having been filmed and produced in the 1920s.


The train shot in the video helped to amplify the use of the silent movie genre with it hurtling down the track towards the girl, connoting danger as she appears to show no signs of getting out of the way.


The idea of dismemberment is used with the focus on the girls face at points but there is a challenge to traditional stereotypes relating to women as we chose not to introduce the girl from the ankle up. Full body shots were used instead as a method of providing the idea of male and female equality as the same shots are used for both the male and female characters and at points the camera is looking up at both characters, with an example of this being when they are both walking directly towards the camera.


The girl was still reinforcing stereotypes to an extent as she still had a look on her face that made her appear dreamy, connoting the idea that she is still weak and potentially using the idea of ignorance, especially with the shot where she is walking towards the train as she appears to have no idea of the impending fate approaching her as she walks down the track.


The myth of masculinity is challenged to an extent because:
• The male character appears paranoid about something, meaning that during some point of the video, such as the shot with the girl following him placing her hand on his shoulder and there being nobody there.
• Also when he meets his doppelganger, there is the connotation of an inner conflict, thus indicating more vulnerability.
• This is done through a face-off shot which is another intertextual reference as it uses ideas from the video for 'The Kill' by '30 Seconds to Mars'.
• This is a band in the same genre as Three Days Grace, which helps it to relate to other bands in the genre and conform to the conventions.



However, male stereotypes are also reinforced as during the performance shots, the male character appears angry, strengthening the idea that men are prone to anger. • The video is a combination of narrative and performance, although the narrative to the video is more of a reflection on the idea of asynchronous narrative fuzz, with more of a focus on performance, which is a common feature within our genre.


With the combination of the silent movie genre with the music genre, this provides an idea of postmodernism through the use of Intertextual references to work between the two texts.
• The post-modern effect has been created by blurring the boundaries between the two different texts.
• With this post-modern style, the narrative is asynchronous with there being a time lapse showing the male character singing and the character staring directly into the camera as a method of communicating directly with the audience.
• This involves utilising the first person mode of address to make it appear as if he was talking directly to the audience members.


This has been done by changing the colour of the narrative segments to black and white and making the video appear grainy to give the video the effect of appearing to be from another older era. The silent movie influence is only really evident when looking at the loose narrative of the video because the effects are only really used on the narrative section, with the black and white colouring giving the music video an idea of authenticity.


By using semiotics to analyse mise-en-scene we can see that:
• The use of the black shirts worn by the band and the red tie worn by the singer, the video conforms to the conventions of the genre as the costumes relate to similar bands within the same genre.
• These black shirts are symbolic of the idea of rebellion as it can indicate the idea of impending doom because it potentially goes against some of the typical beliefs in society.
• This is because it ignores the idea of optimism that many people in society appear to portray.
• The red tie provides the connotation of danger as it can be used to remind people of fire signals.
• It can be with the overlapping fire-effect shown in the video as it reiterates that there is something rather dark and demonic about the character.


The presence of microphones, guitars and a drum kit help to establish the genre and again conforms to conventions of the genre because:
• Almost all the bands in the genre show instruments in their videos.
• This is commonplace as it shows that the band is conforming to convention of the genre.
• With it having a performance part being on a stage, it conforms to the genre as the band are being shown off fully by the record label.
• This would ideally be portraying their ideas and also helping to identify exactly who wrote the track.




The shot of fire overlapping the girl’s face connotes the idea of danger and also amplifies the lyrics ‘burning on the inside’ with it also being illustrative at certain point in the song. With this, it connotes the idea of the femme fatale, meaning that she is dangerous but still has the dreamy and confused idea about her. This overlapping of fire is also used with a meatshot of the band, again as a portrayal of anger and danger.

JC-Evaluation

2. How effective is the combination of the main product and ancillary texts?

The brief was to create a promotional backage for the release of a new album. This included making a music video, a digipak and an advertisement.

• We set out to create the three texts with the band image in mind at all times.




• After extensive research into the band, we knew how we would convey the band through our media.




• We set out to represent the band's authenticity, showing the group together with their instruments. We wanted the texts to have a genuine band feel to them.

The advertisement was designed to run in Kerang magazine. It was desinged as a whole page advertisement, and kept to the conventions of punk rock advertisements as well as conforming to the style of our other two texts.

• The advertisement had a colourful image and contained the album cover on it, the use of big wording that stood out made the advertisement effective as it jumped out at the reader flicking through the magazine.

Here is a copy of the advertisement, you can see by looking at it that the leading line is effective in the hard sale of the album.

The use of visual motifs reinforce the band image by keeping to their usual colours of white red and black and also by yet again showing their authenticity. The advertisement contained a picture of the band members standing together.

• Feedback from our audience showed that this helped give the message that the band played their own instruments on the album, and it isn't just a voice over pop group.




• The text on the advertisement was simplistic in terms of its content. This connotes the raw fact that the band want you to buy the album, and they're not all about being in the limelight.




• The same background patterns from the digipak were used on the advertisement, this time it was used as a border for the advert rather than its bulk content.

The leading line of the advertisement is:

• Album cover




• Band photo




• Text




• Out now

This was the desired impact of the advert as it quickly grabs the reader and the last thing they remember about the advertisement is "out now" so they know it is new and hopefully therefore more likely to buy it.

The text anchors the image of the band by again being simplistic. There isn't loads of wording to put the reader off or bore them, it gets clearly to the point.

• The band name is quickly seen which lures the reader in.




• The album name is read in quick succession so the reader knows from the offset what the advertisement is about, this makes it succesful as some advertisements do not have that effect and therefore are more likely to be skipped past.




• The colourful pattern keeps the reader looking and allows the eye to travel down to the album cover.




• The album cover shows the reader what to look for in the shops. This is effective because although they may forget what they saw in the advertisement, they will subconsciously remember it and so it will stand out to them when they see it on shop shelves.




• The reader then sees the band together, with the guitar, clearly showing that the band is genuine and the fact that they are there looking out at the reader conveys the meaning that they want them to buy their music.




• As the words "out now" are read, only moments from the page being turned, the album's message is anchored in the reader's mind and will hopefull influence the reader to buy the music.

The digipak was created with the music video well underway in it's editing stages. We were therefore able to use intertextual references with other digipaks, album work and our video.

• The digipak conveys the genre of the music with its colours and style.




• It is a four page digipak, typical of the punk rock genre and was designed to convey the band's authentic image. It shows their common meaning and and usual persona.




• The digipak contains a band photograph which is essential for the fanatic audience who like to see the band they are listening to, this helps them to feel closer to the group as they essentially have a piece of the band.




• On the front cover there is no image of the band, as this is not seen in the punk rock genre. The text is eye grabbing and quickly shows what the album is, it is recognisible easily from any advertisement the buyer may have seen.

Here is the front and back cover of the digipak.


• The back cover has the track names, numbers and playback times. It has a yellow text that is used throughout the digipak, meaning that it feels genuine and proffessional.




• On the inside there is the band photograph and the definition of Punk Rock, this is to help the the owner of the album understand the meaning behind what they are listening to.

Here is a copy of the inside pages of the digipak.


• On the page that the Cd would sit on is a white sillouhette of the band. This is a very influential image and helps to convey the mystery and dark nature of the band. It could also connote that they are still only human because the band are seen as white in darkness, rather than being dark themselves.

Both texts relate to the Music Video through:

• The use of the same three base colours throughout, red white and black. Other colours are rarely added in and only used for the relevant effects.




• Much of the music video is in black and white, so the coloured sections are important as they show live performance which adds to the authentic feel.




• By using these colours in the digipak and the advertisement, the reader who obtains all three will be able to relate the texts to eachother and will acknowledge the reccuring theme of the band's image.

By using Dyer's critical framework on the construct of star image, it is evident that the star persona is created through the three texts by use of light, colour, non-verbal language and visual effects.

• By having images of the band members looking towards the camera in the digipak, the owner has a virtual piece of the band.
• This creates a sense of accesibility to the band and also an inaccesibilty as this is a photograph of a band that they might idolise.
• This relates to Dyer's paradox theory of the band being made accessibile to the audience through being able to see what the band are like, and to have some visual links to them, to be able to understand what they have heard during the music. This is a paradox because the band is inaccessible to the owner of the digipak, the images help to create star image and the feeling of desire to meet these people.
• The music of the album, collected with the music video and the digipak creates a para-social intimacy. The audience will gain to learn a lot about the band, through understanding their values and beliefs through their music, learning about their career and what they look like in band photos etc. On the other hand, the band may not have ever met the possesser of these texts. The audience may know a lot about the band but the band has only a limited knowledge of the demographic that it plays to.

Star persona is created during the music video according to Dyer's theories:

• The performance shots of the band have the singer often looking into the camera, especially during the extreme close ups, this helps to show the audience that the singer is genuine and potentially live during the video, it creates the feeling that the singer is performing to the audience.
• During the video, the girl looks into the camera during significant points of the narrative. This helps to maintain the sense that she is of a darker nature and that is very important in the video.
• She is not directly represented as a person during the video, she is the inner struggle of the lead singer. Therefore she is also the male, thus star persona is created by the video emphasising two sexes and two beings as the same person.

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

• For our album, the target audience was males between the ages of 16-24. During the planning stages, we identified the artist's work as punk rock.


Pitch

We needed to test a concept in the planning stages to ensure that our video and album art would work. This was very important as without doing this test we could have been running blind. By testing our concept we could see whether the target audience thought along the same lines as us, without doing this we could have made something totally irrelevant.

• The results showed that our concept would work with the music




• The idea of using live performance video was accepted by everyone we asked.




• We asked our target audience as well as the other Media students.

We were concerned about the silent movie sections of the video, as we were not sure whether this idea would work.

• The feedback we got was that the use of a train line and a steam train would work well with the concept of our video.




• This screenshot shows the use of the steam train in the video. You can also see how the black and white effect makes the shot so significant in the video.

We told the target audience about the femme fetale idea during the pitch.

• This was accepted by the target audience during our pitch and so we decided to go ahead with our ideas.

Rough Cut

• When we felt almost finished with the video, we tested a rough cut of the video to a target audience. This allowed us to gain some feedback of our work so far.




• 
  The feedback from the rough cut highlighted a small glitch in one of our shots.

We were pleased to have got that as we had not seen the video on a large screen before and so could have potentially missed something like that.

We gave out a small sheet with some questions asking for comments.

• You can see an example of one of our question sheets in the screenshot.
  
  We asked if the video stood up to repeat viewing, everyone answered yes.




• We then asked if they enjoyed the video and why, everyone said yes and gave different reasons, these included the edditing, the use of steam trains, the use of railway lines, the performance shots etc.




• We asked if they could identify the genre of the song from the music video and everyone said rock/punk rock.




• We then asked them to name a shot that they particularly enjoyed, we had responses such as the face off shot, the steam train shot, the performance shots and the camera movement shot around the drummer.




• We asked if there was anything they thought could be improved, some said camera movement, some noted the glitch at the start and some said that there wasn't enough of the bass player.

Finished work

We tested our final work again to the target audience by the means of asking people to watch the video and either fill out a survey monkey questionnaire or give a vocal response if we watched it with them.

• Everyone we asked said that the video was strong and supported the sound of the song and supported the band's image.




• They said that the way it was put together looked very proffesional and looked great in the old film style.




• Having added camera movement to the video there were no more complaints about the way the video looked and we recieved very positive feedback for it.

The following short clip shows the camera movement around the drummer and also shows the shot that much of the audience feedback said was one of the most enjoyable shots.

We wrote the video with the intention in mind of having the girl as a haunter in the opening sections of the video, making a clear link between the singer and the girl and latterly in the video making the girl appear part of the the singer, a mentality link to "burning on the inside". The preffered reading of the video was that the artist would be portrayed as an authentic band and that the narrative sections of the video would contain a road into the lead singer's mind, in this case, his inner struggle and emotional link with this girl.

• We were pleased to see from our feedback that this was the majority reading of the video, and that they liked the look of the performance, making some viewers want to see the band perform live.




• Many said that the shots of the drummer were some of the best shots in the video. Here is a screenshot from midway through one of the panning shots.











• Post production




• The audience research carried out post production showed that the digipak carried strong links to the advertisement and the music video, essentially in its use of shadow and the three recurring colours.




• Many commented on how the digipak used the same background graphics as the advertisement, however in the digipak it had its contrast risen dramatically to wash out the details and give a darker effect.

• We posted our video onto youtube and it quickly gained many views, the first comment on the youtube site reads: "Awesome, well put together and good song. 10/10". The screen shot of the video shows this comment.

• The feedback on the advertisement was pleasing, as they said that it made the reader stop flicking through the magazine so fast to glance/read the advert.




• They said that it quickly made it clear what it was about and that they looked quickly at the name, album and out now then the album cover and was effective enough to get them to want to purchase it.







• The research showed that the advertisement was effective and aesthetically pleasing, as did the artwork of the digipak.







• The digipak contained pictures of the band, which was seen as an added bonus to the fans, as not only did they get to listen to the band but also got to see some images of them.




• They liked the artist sillouhette shot of the band behind the CD holder and said that the use of contrast was mostly effective in portraying the bands image, they said it was like many other proffessional album covers although it stood out as something new.




• Others said that the contrast ruined the digipak and we should have stuck with the background of the advertisement.

Music Video Final Cut

This is our final cut of our music video for 'Get Out Alive' by 'Three Days Grace'.

JC-Rough Cut Feedback

Yesterday we had a class session where we watched everyone's rough cuts and looked at their art work. During this session we were given small sheets that we could give some feedback to the videos about.
From this session, we got:

• Every group said they enjoyed the video and that it stood up to repeat viewing.
• Each group said that they enjoyed the performance shots and that the silent movie effect was a unique twist in this for the genre.
• When asked how the genre of the track was made apparent, the groups said that the dark clothing was a strong input, the darkened effect added to the performance shots was important and some said that it had a gritty feel. Two groups of the five that responded said that the flames were an important effect.
• We were told that the video reinforced the rock band image and that the style of video worked well with the song. It was also noted that the video was not directly symbolic to the lyrics which is what we intended.
• When asked for one shot that they particularly enjoyed, most groups said the meat shots, they showed emotion and authenticity of the band. One group said the shot of the steam train was the important one and another group said that the face off shot stood out to them.
• The audiences were also asked for an area for improvement, some groups said we needed more shots of Scott, the bassist and others said there was more movement needed in the performance shots. Also there was a glitch on the first face off shot which needs sorting out. It was also stated that the drummer had his iPod on, unfortunately, in some of the shots the speakers are worn and in others they are not.

This viewing was a good event for us because it helped us see where we could improve. It helps to iron out some imperfections when seeing it on the big screen. The feedback helps get an outside view of our work and allows us to get an opinion from someone who is not absorbed in the work. Watching other peoples videos helps us take a step back from being so stuck in to our own video and was a bit like a stress relief.

We had feedback from our teachers and some of the students on our artwork. They liked the advert but on the digipak, it was noted that the pages werent all the same size, this just needs sticking into publisher and making into a booklet file. The picture of the band on the front cover needed to be bigger and they didnt like the yellow wash on the photo. On the inside cover, the text font/colour wasn't easily readable because of the background style.

We are now in the process of making these changes.

JC Deadline

We have now handed in our rough cut for the music video and today we will be viewing all the videos in class so that we can get some audience feed back in order to make any final adjustments that are neccasery before the final deadline on Thursday.

The advertisement and digipak have now been handed in. We made changes on the last couple of days by changing the background colour, adjusting the text so that our font was clearly readable over our artistic background and done a lot of photoshop to get our band images how we wanted them. We used two images on the inside pages and another on the front cover, the front cover image involved making the band members have a yellow wash over them.

We are very pleased with the work we have done and are confident of the quality of it. I think all three of us are looking forward to the audience feedback that we recieve so that we can make our evaluation and move towards the exam knowing we have done 75% of the work.

final digipaks

These are our final digital pieces for the digipak and advertisment for 'Kerrang'. We diecided to use the same sort of background as a motif for both and kept them to minimal colours. This conforms to the typical forms of this genre. The text is also goth like and so adds to the whole feel of the digital art.

SF - digiak and advertisment 1

For our digipak and advertisement we have decided to use an abstract design on the entire album cover, but with a picture of the band on one of the inside covers so that we are working within the conventions of the genre. We have included a font called 'mutlu ornamental' which we found on 'dafont.com' This was so that we had an old fashioned style of writing to use so that we could work within and utilise our idea of the silent movie style.

JC-Approaching Deadline

We are now in our final week before the deadline and we are doing very well.
The advert is done how we want it to be, and we think it conforms to the right conventions. The digipak back cover is complete, the front cover is complete, and the inside is almost done, we are just waiting to do a photo shoot with the band to put a picture inside.
We have put constructed our special effects shots, such as the face off, the ghost effect and the inter-fading in the important low angle shot.
We have been putting our video together against the animatic, with most shots correct to how we did the animatic. We have managed to sync up a lot of the singing and drum shots and the narrative section works well, making the significant parts of the song match up with the introduction of new parts of the silent movie sequence.
We are confident that the rough cut will be complete in time for the deadline, and are very pleased with the work so far. We have approx two minutes of the song that has footage that is likely to stay like it is, leaving just over a minute to be moved about to make it what we consider perfect.

SF - Rough Cut 1

We are now working towards our rough cut for the video meaning the shots will be edited to the extent that we can use our footage to carry out some audience research for our evaluation. We have used effects to darken our performance shots which works well with the fact that all the band members are wearing black shirts, a generic convention of the genre, meaning that with the darkened performance shots we can capture the mood of our track. This is because through the verses of our track, there is a sense of foreboding, suggesting the idea of darkness or sinister situations.

SF - progress with editing

We have begun editing our music video so that we can put the performance and narrative parts of the video together. It seems to be going quite well as we have managed to put together some brilliant cuts and transitions, such as from the ghosting shot into a shot of our singer. We have used different types of shots for the piece, such as using an intertextual reference from a video by '30 Seconds to Mars' using a face-off shot as they did to indicate the idea of an inner struggle or meeting the other side of your personality.

JC-Our Footage

We have captured the footage from our first location shoot and also from our first studio shoot.
From doing this we have been able to see which shots have been successful and which shots need redoing. Hence when we went out to do our big location shoot we also knew that some of our previous shots had to be redone.
We have taken some extra shots to be able to fill up any time without too much repetition, as the track is still quite long. This will mean that our storyboard will not be exactly what the video looks like, we hope this will be an improvement and that the clips will sync with the track to make the video more understandable and coincide with what the band sing about.
We have begun some of the editing, and will be getting a good picture of how things are going to look when put together over the next few days.

JC-Location shoot evalutation.

Today we did our shoot on our external location.
This was a successful shoot which we were very pleased with, hopefully we have got good enough quality to not require a reshoot.
I was director today as well as cameraman.
Scott was also cameraman and props manager.
Tom and Natasha were our actors.
We got all the shots we needed and we did so quite efficiently, taking extra shots to ensure retakes weren't required and also managing to get a few shots that we didnt initially plan.
We made sure the costumes were correct to what we had planned and the make up applied according to our research.
Tomorrow we will have our next shoot in the studio and then we should have all of our footage.

JC-Location Shoot #2

This weekend we plan to have our big shoot at our external location.
This will involve the important shots with the lead singer and the girl.
Shots that we specifically need to do are:
Face-Off shot.
Ghosting effect of girl over tracks.
Singer Walking on track.
Tracking shots.
The bridge. (Above-High Angle-Under-Low Angle)
Girl following singer.
In train shots.

We will also be using a few ideal shots that can be used as filler shots.

JC- Studio Shoot

I have just captured the footage from the studio shot which was done whilst I was absent. There is some great footage of the band playing and shots of individual members of the band.

The meat shot, which is essentially the most important shot of the band needs reshooting as the bassist is too far away from the rest of the band and means that he goes out of frame a few times.
I have realised, after looking at the footage we have got, how important the direction of people's eyes are. For this reason, some of the close ups of the singer need to be reshot. We have also decided that when we redo some of these shots, that a shot of the singer under a solo spotlight would be a good idea.
In some of the performance shots, when the drummer is not playing it looks like he may be texting behind the symbol so when the band are playing it needs to look like the whole band are involved in this performance, so the band members look involved, and if they have any movement whilst playing, they dont stare at the floor all the time.
We plan to reshoot a few of the studio shots to include some camera movement, for this we will require the dolly for the camera, we want some sweeping shots across the band playing. The shots need to be composed for the best framing, and the stage lighting needs to be combined in to make the performance seem authentic.
It would also be nice to have a few flash cuts to different things, like parts of the drum kit, the guitar, the players faces, the stage lights etc

We should reshoot, with mulitple angles:
Intro, CU of singer(spotlight)/guitarist
Drummer playing (different cam positions)
Band's faces
Meat shot
"Burning on the inside"

SF -performance shoot

We have now done the shoot for the performance part of the music video which seemed to go quite well. It was best for us to attempt each shot from multiple angles and also multiple times so that we could see which angle works best and also to ensure that we could get the best shots possible. This also allows us to work out whether or not we would need to reshoot anything due to errors by the performers or the cameraman. However, we managed to successfully make the most of of our opportunity to film the people performing in the video, using our animatic as a guideline for our shots.

TJ - Advertisement Ideas

These are my ideas of layout for our advertisemnet for the digipak. it is only an idea due to needing take our own pictures and put them into the advert. I developed it by changing the font colour and changing the background picture as well as adding an old paper texture to it.

TJ - Digipak Ideas

These are some of my digipak ideas. also with fire layered over the top. I have gone with band images as ive found that most bands have pictures of them in the digipak, either performing or backstage. this is to let the buyer experience them offstage as well as listen to them.

SF - Digipak ideas

We have been putting forward ideas for our digipak design, including designing a draft copy with our ideas. The ideas put forward on my digipak were using shots that we hope to use in our locations, such as a shot of eyes looking through fire and a train coming through steam and smoke, with a shot of the band included on the inside cover. Some of my design did not really work with the idea although we managed to agree on the idea of fire as it relates to one of the key lines in the track , 'burning on the inside' which relates to the eyes appearing through fire. Going from the top left and round the pictures are eyes appearing through fire, a picture of the band, a train going through smoke and then fire around the edge of the cover with the name of the track in the middle at the top.

SF - Shoot 1

Today we did our first shoot so that we would have some footage to play around with and also so that we could see if there were any areas in which we could improve. We thought it was best to film during the day and we managed to get some really good shots, such as a ghosting shot which appeared to work quite well. This helped us to see exactly how we could make the shots work practically. We decided to film some shots inside one of the train carriages so that we work out the best angles for the shots on the train, as well as using the railway to determine the best place to film.
We have the callsheet and risk assessment for this shoot as proof that we considered any potential health and safety issues.

SF - Animatic 2

We have now finished our stroyboard and animatic meaning that we are now able to film practice shots of our location. The animatic works really well as we cut the song down so that it would be easier for us to storyboard shot ideas as we would not have as much time to fill. We are pleased with the animatic as it means we now have our ideas written down and can now visualise the music video taking place

JC-Shoot Dates

Our first shoot will be on Sunday 25th October when we will shoot the scenes that do not have any people on screen. These shots will be the fire shot, pullaway shot and the train coming towards the camera shot.

On Thursday 29th October we will be doing location shooting on the tracks. We want to get the shots of the singer, getting he close ups and the shots of him singing into the camera.
We will also get some of the on train shots, these may only be practice shots as we don't think the train will be moving on this day.

We are planning our future shoots at the moment to determine when we will shoot the girl on the tracks and on the train.

At some point we also need to plan our performance shots in the drama studio.

SF Animatic 1

We have now started producing our animatic on Premiere as a project before our music video. This is to show the shots we are planning on using, allowing us to put our ideas down on paper and meaning that we are able to put together a preliminary plan of how the music video will be put together. This, therefore means that through the making of the storyboard animatic, we will be able to decide exactly how the music video will be structured and how we will shoot it properly.

SF ideas for digipak

We have been thinking of some ideas from our digipak and Tom has been experimenting with some ideas for the digipak on Photoshop, which allows us to see exactly what options are available to us. The ideas that we have been putting forward and that Tom has been experimenting with ideas on photoshop using different effects and textures which includes using darker colours for the cover, working with the conventions associated with the digipaks we have analysed, using three or four colours and having a centralised motif.

SF evaluation of the pitch

We did our pitch in class yesterday and we believe that the feedback we received was positive, with some new ideas included in the pitch. We managed to put across our ideas successfully which helped us to understand exactly what we were aiming for. The idea of the pitch was to show exactly what we had learnt through our product analysis and also through the technical analysis. This meant we could point out the typical conventions from our genre and show ideas for our locations after the reccie. We also put forward ideas for our digipak which we have now learnt needs at least four sides, but the ideas we put forward seem perfectly apractical and work wel with our concept.

The pitch-JC

As we are about half an hour away from our pitch now, does anyone else have anything to add to the powerpoint slideshow? If not then it is all ready on my memory stick and it has been printed for us to see the notes that go with it.

TJ - Product Analysis 2

Product Analysis – ‘The Pretender’
‘Foo Fighters’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKhnmUdmz74


I have chosen to analyse ‘The Pretender’ by ‘Foo Fighters’ as it is a purely performance based video. This will help our group understand what is needed for our performance parts in our music video by Three Days Grace.
As this video is also from the rock genre, it will help more towards the production of our video, as they follow the same types of forms and conventions as each other. This genre is shown clearly throughout the video through the performance and the instruments are typically a rock bands. Their performance reinforces the rebellious form as it is very much jumping around and shouting down the face of the camera.

This video could be considered art with a message. This is due to the simplicity and impact of the video. The video would be postmodern as it is clean and original and by the band performing in front of a red wall signifies a stage performance although they are not on a raised stage.

As the whole film is performance based, they have relied on many camera angles and effects to keep it interesting. For example, the first shot is an ELS high angled shot which introduces the lead singer as if he were walking onto a stage with the instruments already set up and the lights being turned on in this warehouse/ hanger. Also the slow motion is used for the slower bits of a song which creates the feeling of tension and importance. At the beginning there is a CU shot of the lead singer wrapping his fist up like a boxer would before a fight. This could be representing the rebellion of the band. The costume within this video, reinforcing the stereotype of the rock genre, is also black and one other colour in this case, white for the lead singer. This creates the illusion that the lead singer, which is often the case, the main focus in a band. This colour scheme continues throughout the video in the hanger, with the riot police and band. However there is one bit of colour with the wall behind the band to make them stand out.

At the beginning of the song, the guitar introduction has similarities of ‘Stairway To Heaven’ by ‘Led Zepplin’. This could intrigue people that are fans of Led Zepplin to listen to this track and create a larger audience.

Foo Fighters are a strong stereotype of a rock band as rebellion and this is represented through the bands performance and shouting at the camera. The performance also blocks riot police which is supposed to be a powerful force of the law. This then connotes that their rock music is anti authoritative with a stand off and them winning which can indicate the idea of protesters. The lyrics state the rebellion against conformity with ‘What if I say I’m not like the others?’

The police are represented to being ready to fight and reinforcing male stereotype. There are no females within this video and so it is targeted towards the male audience and would be probably consumed as focused viewing due to the message behind this male stereotype.

Response Moodboard - JC

SF - Product analysis two

For my second product analysis I have chosen to analyse ‘The Kill’ by ‘30 Seconds to Mars’, a band within the same genre as ‘Three Days Grace’ which is the alternative rock genre. The video was produced by Virgin Records and Josh Abraham in 2006. The broad characteristics of the genre portrayed in the video are the costumes used, with dark clothing and also the shots of the instruments as a method of establishing exactly what genre the music is in.

Are the lyrics amplified and are they illustrated by the visuals?

As the song is about seeing yourself for who you really are, the lyrics are amplified to a great extent at certain stages of the music video and a key example of this idea is when the singer says ‘this is who I really am’ a face-off shot is shown, with the singer facing a duplicate of himself. This connotes the idea of an inner struggle because in this shot, he can be seen fighting with his doppelgänger, showing that he is refusing to come to terms with who he is. There is also a direct reference to these lyrics when one of the band members is seen reading a sheet of paper that says ‘this is who I really am’ over and over again, suggesting knowledge of who his is but also connoting his refusal to accept the truth. At one point in the video, the visuals do illustrate the lyrics, because the singer is shown shouting as part of the performance, connoting high emotion and also working with the lyrics because he is singing about breaking down, connoting that the emotion he is portraying is all a part of the emotional and psychological struggle that he is going through.

Does the video cut to the beat? Does the pace fo the visuals change with the tempo of the song?

There are various stages in the video where the visuals seem to cut along with the beat, as indicated early in the video where longer cuts are used as a method of establishing what is happening, with the music being slow paced. There is also a segment in the video where the drums and guitar speed up, causing the shots to accelerate with roughly ten frames flashing up within the space of two or three seconds, indicating an obvious change in the video as the music changes pace. However in some cases the music and visuals do differ in pace because at one point, when one of the band members is skateboarding down a corridor there is a relatively mid tempo beat and longer cuts are being used with the visuals.

How are the band represented? Are motifs used?

Throughout the video there are multiple meat shots of the singer and the rest of the band, an idea made obvious through one particular shot, when the singer is staring directly into camera and screaming with his performance, indicating Goodwin's notion of looking, The band is continually advertised as the video frequently cuts back to the band members in their specific roles, as well as the fact that they are all included within the narrative of the video. Another less obvious form of band advertisement is included in the film with the 'room 6277' which spells out 'Mars' on a telephone keypad, meaning a part of the band name is included within the video, as well as the band members themselves. This relates to other videos by the band such as 'From Yesterday' and 'A Beautiful Lie' two videos which are also heavily focussed on the idea of a performance. There is a specific motif used by the band with the idea of make-up, most noticeably eye-liner, worn by the singer, which he wears in other music videos, such as the two previously mentioned videos. The band are provided with the image of being rebellious rule breakers at the start of the narrative, the characters are given a note saying not to go into 'room 6277' which one character ends up doing later on.

Which dominant ideologies are shown here? Are they reinforced or challenged?

Throughout the video, the main character played by 'Jared Leto' is seen as breaking the myth of masculinity because at one point, such as during the face-off shot, he is seen showing some form of vulnerability as he ends up putting his head on his doppelgänger chest, connoting that he may be about to be reduced to tears. However there is a reinforcement of typical male characteristics as the singer is shouting in his performance and at one stage is shown throwing a ball at the wall, the first image connoting hostility and the second connoting stress, suggesting that men get stressed easier than women. At the very start of the video, in the little clip just before the music starts, 'Leto' says how they will be alone all weekend, suggesting that as men, they enjoy being masters of their domain. There is also a reinforcement of violence in the nature of men as during the face-off segment the apparition is held up to the wall by the main character, suggesting some form of inner struggle and also connoting the idea of self realisation, indicated by the phrase 'this is who I really am'. There an idea of Jhally's theory of the subordination of women as at one stage a woman steps out of the shower wrapped in a towel with a male character staring at her, also suggesting that she is being shown in a sexualised way. However, there is also a reference to the feminine touch as when she touches the male characters face, he appears to succumb to her will, connoting that she seems to act as a figure for reassurance of the male role.

Are there any references to other texts? music videos?

Intertextual references are evident in this music video especially with the film industry because the video is directly based on the 1980 film 'The Shining' as indicated by many factors and images in the video. Two key references to 'The Shining' are the fact that the video is set in an 'empty' hotel and also with the shot of the typewriter with a sheet of paper saying 'this is who I really am', directly relating to the character played by 'Jack Nicholson' descending into madness with the line ' all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy'. Another reference to the film industry is the use of credits at the start with the song name, but there is also an allusion to the silent movie genre with writing indicating locations and also time passing shown on dark screens and highlighted with white writing as a method of making the writing more noticeable.

Is more narrative, concept or performance based?

This music video is both narrative based and performance based with more performance aspects as more shots of the singer performing are used throughout the video, indicating that the video was being to advertise the band as great an extent as the artists could. It is more of a mainstream video because with the intertextual film reference, it means that the video is being advertised to more than one audience demographic.


Therefore, this video is a performance and narrative hybrid which is being used to advertise the band to a great extent with intertextual references. All in all it is a video that not only reinforce stereotypes but also challenges them.

TJ - Moodboard Response

This is my moodboard in reponse to our track. It shows most stereotypical motifs from the rock genre. i can see and learn that most things to do with rock are dark and, if any, not many colours. Most of the motifs are bland but affective. There are also wings in the motifs and the clothes are dark to connote the inner struggle of the bands lyrics.

SF- moodboard

This is my moodboard on punk and alternative rock. What I have learnt from this moodboard is that the members of the bands tend to wear dark clothes in their videos and also in their performances, wearing colours sch as black or red. Also , with reference to the album covers, there are only two or three colours used, which seems to be a feature of the genre as quite a lot of bands from the genre use this style.

SF - pictures from our reccie

Below are shots from a reccie that we did on Friday at the Spa Valley Railway in Tunbridge Wells. As you can see there are shots both on the train and of certain areas of track that we could use.

Our conversation

Here are some ideas and points from our conversation:

• Doll/Dressed up person as a doll.
• Jump Cuts for Horror effect.
• Face off shot, mirror filter.
• ECUs of screaming performance.
• Gothic Horror.
• Background fire, get a shot on bonfire night?
• Watch carpark north video.
• 30 seconds to mars-the kill
• Marilyn Manson
• Look into connotations of burning on the inside.
• Patrick P-B: Guitar
• Alex Dove: Drummer
• Tom Johnson: Lead Singer
• Inner struggle, self hatred.
• Screaming at cam.
• Grave yard.

Reccies

Scott, Tom: Are we still ok to do the Drama Studio reccie today at lunch break?

Scott: We're all set for our railway reccie tomorrow, so just to remind you that we'll head off after registration.

SF - Shot experimentation

Using ideas from other music videos we have seen by bands in the same genre to 'Three Days Grace' we decided to attempt a shot from a '30 Seconds to Mars' video. This was the face off shot and we wanted to see if it would work with our ideas. It seems to work really well so this is a shot that we can potentially use in our music video.

Costume probability

Today we also spoke about what type of costumes we would be wearing, for the performance and narrative. for the performance i thought we could go for a smart but casual black and red, to keep it a bit gothic.

And then for the narrative, the girl could be wearing something a bit old like a corset dress.