Audience Feedback Survey

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Equipment and Software

I will use the DSLR camera Canon 550D camera provided by school to film my music video. The professionalism of the camera will enable me to take high quality footage. Using this camera, I will also be able to easily change the settings to create different depths of field, I can also store all of the footage on one memory card which I will then easily transfer onto the computer ready to place into Premiere to start editing. I am also quite familiar with using this camera after using it for previous media projects including my foundation portfolio. Furthermore, as I already do photography for A-level I have an advantage as I already have background information.

In terms of lighting I will use the school's free-standing lights which I can move and adjust myself to create the perfecting lighting for my shots. This will be very beneficial as if I do not like the lighting in a particular shot I can easily move them. Furthermore, in the drama studio at school the room is very dark as it is surrounded by black walls signifying the need and importance for studio lights.I will primarily utilise the lights to create a spotlight effect on my main model Aaron, producing a soft and calm effect.  However, when shooting outside and on location I will reply on the source of natural light to film the narrative sequences of my video. 

The main piece of software that I will use to edit my footage and put my music video together is Adobe Premiere Pro CS6.  This a new piece of software and even though I have used it a few times in previous years I have mainly only used Adobe InDesign and Photoshop before, including my foundation portfolio I completed last year. However, I have recently been using the software to prepare for the media exam, using basic skills such as adding text and altering sounds. I will perhaps watch a few tutorials before producing my music video so I can get to know the different tools the programme offers before editing my footage. 

I will mostly use Adobe Photoshop CS6 or InDesign to produce the ancillary tasks that go alongside my music video as both software's feature a wide selection of different tools and settings that I can use to maximise the quality of my work. One of my favourite tools includes the curves tool which you can use after altering the brightness and contrast of a picture to ensure the levels are perfect. I also like the filter tool which enables you to change the colour of any image. I believe the ancillary tasks will be fairly simple to make as I have used both Photoshop and InDesign many times before and feel comfortable using the different tools and settings. 

I will also use the software Adobe After Effects CS6 after editing and putting my music video together. I will primarily use the software to add a layer over the top of my footage and change the colour to black and white to follow my proposed plans of having a complete black and white music video. This will finish the overall image styling of my music video, creating an effective and professional looking music video.





Overall, I found this to be very helpful as I was able to familiarise myself with the different pieces of equipment and software before creating my music video. This will hopefully make it much easier and quicker for me as when it comes to creating my actual video I will know ho to use everything and therefore not waste valuable time looking at tutorials of how to work each software. I will also now be able to use the different camera equipment and software to the best of my ability, enabling me to get the best possible shots and editing techniques.

On Location: Grandparents House

Location Recce

 

This is the location recce for my intended locations I will use for my music video. A “recce” essentially includes visiting a shoot location before filming to assess its suitability for shooting and is vital to ensuring your shoot day goes as well as it can. On this document, I have outlined all the details of my locations including the advantages and things I should consider before I begin filming.  

Analysis of Ed Sheeran - 'The A Team'

The music video ‘The A Team’ by Ed Sheeran was released on the 22^nd April 2010 and was shot and edited by Ruskin Kyle (Rivers Rush Video Production Company). The video narrates the story of a girl played by Selina MacDonald who is addicted to drugs and is shown to be homeless, living on the streets of London. She tries to sell magazines for money but is shown to only sell one which is to the artist of the song, Ed Sheeran. The girl later resorts to selling her own body, trying to provide herself with a general income. Towards the end of the music video, the pain becomes too much for her to bear as she trades in her ‘dirty’ money for drugs, referencing the lyrics “…an in a pipe she flies to the motherland” and later succumbs to her drug abuse.

The music video is show to follow conventions of a circular narrative as the video begins with the scene of the young woman as she is found dead, taking the audience through a story of how she ended up there. This also follows Levi-Strauss idea of binary opposites. The idea of life and death is illustrated in the video as the young women is show to struggle to keep alive. The video begun with the concept of death and moved onto the idea of life as the young woman wakes up on a park bench to a new day with the ambient sounds of vehicles moving in the morning rush hour. The music video then ends with her death, which represents the idea of life being incessant regardless of the loss or circumstance.

The entirety of the video is filmed in black and white.  The black and white effect displays the voyeuristic treatment of the female body which is further shown through the subject of prostitution.  One particular scene in the music video shows car headlights focusing on the woman’s body. The bright lights contrast with the women’s leg and draws attention to her body and bare legs. The fact that it is cold and yet she’s not covered denotes how desperate she is for money and how she makes herself seem vulnerable. In terms of rule of thirds, the camera presents her eyes as the main line of interest detonating her as weak and helpless. She is further seen in the video as she is shown to take off her black coat. This is used as a metaphor as she tries to gain attention of the driver which links in with the dress code of females in regards to voyeuristic treatment. Furthermore, during the middle of the video she is shown to be standing outside a train station called ‘Angel Station’. The name of the station depicts her to be angel like which contrasts with her job as prostitution is often deemed upon. The panning shot of the sign ‘improving the angel’ suggests she needs to improve her way of living. Moreover, the scene of the car headlights contributes to this ideas as the lighting only focuses on her, leading her to stand out like an angel. This suggests the ideal of opposites as she is seen to be the complete opposite of angel like as she plays upon female voyeurism.

The mise-en-scene throughout the video has very similar themes portrayed. The young woman, who is shown to be the main protagonist of the video is shown to be troubled. This is conveyed through her choice of attire, for example she is shown to wear old and tainted clothing including a hoodie and dark trousers. Her choice of clothing suggests she is from a lower class background, this is further conveyed as she is shown to wear large, hooped earrings which are normally associated with people of this class. Furthermore, her makeup throughout the video is messy which suggests she has been crying hysterically.  As the narrative progresses, she is shown to change her makeup and wear revealing clothing before she goes out at night which reinforces the idea that she is a prostitute, selling her body to receive her earnings.

The majority of the sound used within the music video is non-diegeitc, with the soundtrack being the only sound heard. Although at the beginning of the video there is some non-diegetic sounds of birds singing which contrasts with the music of the song as it is more of an upbeat tune. The editing used within the video is effective in portraying the idea of flashbacks and memories. The whole video is shot in black and white, which creates a dark atmosphere along with a depressing atmosphere conveyed to the audince. The blur used between shots when the narrative flashes back in time is used as a creative method to show the change in time. The narrative is also shown to get quicker near the end of the music video which suggests her urgency and need for drugs.

Analysis of Existing Students Magazine Adverts

I decided to analyse Amy Wichelow’s magazine advert as I really like the layout of the advert and the image of the main dancer dancing. The use of slow shutter speed makes the dancer stand out and emphasises the use of movement signifying the visuals of her music video as it is solely performance based – focusing on the dancer dancing and singing in different locations. Amy has also included all the information required – including the artists name, album name and important details such as reviews and social media websites. I also like how she has changed the colour of the letter ‘U’ in the name of the album ‘LUNGS’. The use of the colours yellow and white reflect against the dark background and the dark clothing of the main dancer. She has also kept a simple colour scheme of white, yellow and black. The artists name ‘Florence and the Machine’ is written in different font, in comparison to the rest of the text which stresses the importance of the group’s name. This was also suggested by my media teacher, who said we should include different fonts and change the sizing of different words to stress the significance and meaning of different information. I also noticed she had included a landscape version of her magazine advert, I will perhaps think about doing this as well as a portrait version for my final magazine advert.  I will put all these factors into consideration and think about the importance of colour and font.

I also decided to look at Clare Hanington’s magazine advert. I really like how she has included real polaroid’s of the main characters depicted in her music video and has taken the image from a low angle shot - as if she has captured the movement of the polaroid’s falling to the floor. Although she has included very little information, I think this looks more effective as it leads the viewer to focus on the important information. Again, Clare has included several different fonts including a more relaxed and fun font for the name of the album and the different mediums the album is available on. She has also included the different social websites at the bottom of the page, which is an important required for my magazine advert as my music video is targeted towards 16-25 year olds. I also like how she has divided the magazine advert up in different sections as she has included three individual lines, dividing the information up, making it clear for the audience to focus on the key parts of information. At the bottom of the page she has also included details of the production companies. I will perhaps think about including this for my own magazine advert as I have already designed my own logo for my production company. The colors are very simple which follow the genre and theme of her narrative and performance based music video.

Influences of Style

Audience Research Survey Results

 

This is my audience research survey I conducted to get valuable results. I will use this information I have gathered to enhance the quality of my music video and ensure I am targetting it towards the right audience. 

Music Video Inspirations

 

Before even thinking about filming my video, I decided to look at a variation of different music videos to gain inspiration from. One of the first examples I looked at was The Scripts 'Breakeven' music video, the video includes flashbacks to portray the past and the present as the video particulary concentrates on the relationship between the protagonist and actress as he describes his feelings and emotions towards the break-up between him and his girlfriend. The video also includes black and white and colour footage, the flashbacks are shown to be much more colourful and slightly brighter than the real-time shots to give the audience the impression that they are looking back in time from the male's memory. I really like this idea for my own music video as the change in colour makes it easier for the audience to understand what the video is about. Another music video I decided to look at was Mikky Ekko's music video 'Pull Me Down'. The video includes low key lighting which contributes to the moodiness of the piece and the main artist. I will perhaps think about this for my own music video and include the unconventional method of low key lighting for the performance parts of my music video, following the emotional lyrcis of my song. Overall, I believe this task was very helpful as it gave me a better collection of ideas to include in my own music video, for example the use of colour and low key lighting.

On Location: Graveyard

This is a short video consisting of video footage and images of one of my chosen locations, a grave yard in the small village of Brampton, Cambridge. I decided on this specific location as I already had my camera with me while visiting my grandmother and in the second verse of the song Ed Sheeran includes references to his grandfather's funeral: 'And now we're left here in the pain, black suit black tie standing in the rain, and now my family is one again, stapled together with the strangers and a friend'. After filming, I then edited parts of the video in black and white to fit my proposed plans as I want my music video to be purely black and white. I also altered the brightness and contrast as some of my footage was a little too dark. I will now be able to use some of this footage in my final music video.

Audience Research

 

Ancillary Task Research - Digipaks

In order to develop a subtle understanding of the technical features and conventions of digipaks, I decided to look at a varied selection of digipaks from a wide range of different artists from the pop/indie genre.  I also looked at Sam Smith's album cover 'In the Lonely Hour' which relates to the song I intend to use for my music video 'Afire Love' by Ed Sheeran as the lyrics of the song are very sad and emotional. 

Analysis of The Script - 'Breakeven'

The music video "Breakeven" by the Script was released on the 12^th December 2008 and was directed by the film director ‘Aggressive’.  The song includes references to the genre of soft rock followed by elements of folk rock and acoustic music as the main singer Danny O'Donoghue's describes his feelings and emotions towards his break-up between him and his girlfriend.

The music video includes conventions of both performance and narrative based music videos to present the protagonist very differently. The narrative elements of the video portray him to be a ‘normal’ person with real feelings as he is just a man in love who misses his girlfriend, providing audiences with para-social intimacy. The performance based sequences, however show the singer with his band in front of crowds of people presenting him as a star. This adds to his ‘meta-narrative’ by making him appealing to audiences through showing this down to earth side.  

The lyrics of the song match the visuals of the music video as the song includes themes of heartbreak. In the first verse when the main protagonist is shown to sing the lyrics “Cos I got time while she got freedom” a low angle shot of his ex-girlfriend in a field is used to connote her sense of freedom as she is no longer in a loving relationship with him no more.  The lyrics “They say bad things happen for a reason” are emphasised in the visuals of the music video as the audience see his lover walking out of the front door with her bags packed illustrating this scene to be a ‘bad thing’.  The lyrics of the song are further emphasised as the main actor sings “While I’m wide awake, she’s no trouble sleeping” conveying him to be sitting on the edge of the bed with his hand on his head which suggests he is unable to sleep due to the breakup between him and his girlfriend.

Throughout the music video, flashbacks are used to show the difference between the past and present. This is displayed through the different variations of colour as the flashbacks are shown to be much more colourful and slightly brighter than the real-time shots to give the audience the impression that they are looking back in time from O’Donoghue’s memory. The constant change of colour conveys him to be much happier when he is with his girlfriend and sad and miserable when he is alone. Visual techniques are used to assist this, for example the room is lit by a flickering light which gives the impression of flames as if the artist is telling a story and reminiscing from the past. The rule of thirds is also used in the black and white flashbacks which make the shot feel like a photograph, reinforcing the idea that the audience are looking back in time from the singer’s memory.  Furthermore, a black and white shot of the lead singer sitting alone in a room looking at a colour video of his love divides the two aspects of the video to avoid any confusion of the audience.

The female character is described to adhere to the Madonna vs Whore complex which was first identified by Sigmund Freud as she is seen by the male as something he desires. This is reinforced by the apparent use of close-up shots of the lead singer and his girlfriend in bed together implying the male singer misses this kind of connection and intimacy between them. A close-up shot of the female figures lips is also used which again includes references to Freud’s theory.

The ideological discourse of the video shows that it is ok for a man to show his emotions by expressing his loss for the one that he loves. The main singer is shown frustrated by the absence of his love as he is shown to be walking along the seafront singing this as if he cannot hold this in any more. The lyrics “I’m falling to pieces” and “what am I supposed to do” reinforces the confusion and sadness he feels. This side of emotion conveys the 'new man' ideology found in contemporary society, reinforcing a hetro-normative discourse.

Music genres

This is a video I made on the programme PowToon of the different genres of music. 

Research into the Band/Artist

Music Channels

Music Record Labels

Music Festivals

Similar Product Research

What is a digipak?

This is a video describing the basics of a digipak. The written version of this presentation can be found below:

A digipak is a style of packaging usually used on CD singles or special editions of CD albums. The packaging typically consists of a gatefold paper board or outer binding with several different plastic trays to hold the CD or DVD included inside. Other materials which are included inside involve a lyrics book, list of songs and photos of the artist or band. The sole purpose of a digipak is to help promote the music industry and bring awareness to the artist or band by encouraging consumers to buy and listen to their music. 

The front cover of a digipak typically embodies what the artist represents and what their predominate genre is.  The front cover of this digipak includes aspects of futuristic idealism to convey the lyrics and visuals of the music and to create an obscure and contemporary look. Like most digipacks the front panel is colorful to attract and stand out to the target audience. The mix of the colours pink and black shown on the front panel emphasize what genre of music the album is from – soft rock and pop. The band name is shown to be written in bold font which corresponds with the pink background reflecting the genre and atmosphere the band have created in their music. The bold font also enables the title to stand out and make the font recognizable to fans of The Twilight Sad.

Inside, there is a CD and lyrics book. The CD follows a simple design only showing the band’s name, the name of their single and an artistic image which is also shown on the back panel of the digipak. The small font shown on the inside panel includes legal details and copyright notices prohibiting people from using the same style of digipak and songs listed on the album. There is also a credit list of everyone involved in the production of their album as well as a thank you note written by the band thanking family and friends. 

Like all digipacks, the back panel consists of a track list which gives the names of each song the band have produced. The colours pink, black and cream are used again to show a consistent colour scheme throughout. The barcode and record label logo ‘Fat Cat Records’ are shown at the bottom of page. This is an important convention of a digipak.

The spine located on the far right of the back panel includes a small version of the band’s name and single. Although the text is of a smaller font, the design still enables buyers to identify the digipak as a product made by The Twilight Sad.