Website - Day 1

Website - Day 1 

I've done a screen cast taking you through my website from home. Please excuse my horrible, boring voice, I had to be quite!

I will continue doing little bits to it, but until the last day of filming, finding things to add will be tricky, as the last day of filming is the most important!! 

Update 19/12/13

Update 19/12/13

Today has been a very busy day for me, because it was deadline day for our drafts. Unfortunately I was not able to get the last bit of filming I needed to get done during the week, so I have had to hand in an unfinished piece, which is something I really do not like doing. The Christmas holidays give me a great chance to catch up however, and I will be caught up when we come back next year. 

Anyway, with the absence of any new film, I cracked on with the start of my ancillary tasks, and have got off to a good start. A basic template has been made for my website, and I am now in the process of filling it all in with the nitty-gritty stuff, which I am enjoying thoroughly right now. I am finding six very easy to use, and I am enjoying using it, and I think the website is coming on relatively well - I think it will be done to a good standard by the end of December. 

I will create a new post at the end of the evening with my process.

Update 12/12/13

Update 12/12/13

Today was mostly focused on editing little bits and bobs, and perfecting the intro split-screen, which is looking a lot better now. I made a list of the things that I didn't like, and things that family didn't like, so that I could edit/replace that today. I think that was successful. I changed one clip completely, due to it being a bit jumpy, I aligned some lip syncing a bit better, and just added a couple of shots of the guys in the car, to fill in some minor gaps. All I have left to do is film the final part, which is the party. I am going to try and round the guys up for a midweek filming session next week, probably tuesday, assuming that works for everyone. This will be the best time to do it, because the sunlight should be very similar to what it was when we filmed the last shots, providing there's no sudden weather change! I don't think it will matter too much though, because the rest of the filming will be inside - providing I avoid the window, I will be fine!

Update 11/12/13

Update 11/12/13

Today I put my new footage from the weekend into my music video, to replace what I previously had there. I am slightly nervous, because as it stands, I don't think it's quite as good. I think it needs quite a lot of work to get up to scratch. However, the car scenes have not turned out too bad, considering it was a slight last minute job, and a lot of re-arranging had to commence!

The new split screen intro is looking quite good, despite the fact that its so hard to maintain and get right. It's hard to explain why, its just perfecting timing and sizing is something that I am finding difficult. I have exported the clip to put on youtube, so I can analyse it at home this evening, to plan what I need to do during tomorrows lesson, so I don't have to continuously watch it.

Update 8/12/13

Update 8/12/13

Yesterday afternoon I had to go out and do some filming, and quite a lot of re-filming. I got the individual shots that I needed to get for the introduction section of the film all done, and hopefully ready to go up. I had to re-film all of the car scenes, due to the unavailability of the original car driver, and to keep up continuity, everything had to be re-done. A new location has been selected, however, it's somewhat worse than the original. I have had to go for my next best option, which is my games room, which is small and in a state; meaning I have some work to do tidying it, before the next filming day!

As far as I'm aware, it all went well yesterday. I am slightly concerned that the low, bright sun may have caused some issues with the car scenes, and might make the footage hard to use. I'm sure with some colour manipulation, this issue could be resolved fairly easily. 

I will be uploading and editing what I got today, starting from Wednesday, and should be ready for the weekend.

Playing With Wix

Wix Practice 

I had a go on wix today, so that I could get used to it as best as possible. I think the website itself is good, and its fairly easy to use, but its really, really slow and laggy, which at times, can get very aggravating. In the end, I have came up with a sample first page. Its really rubbish, but obviously I don't have some of the material necessary to make it! At least now, I am familiar with it, and would feel confident using it for the real thing. Below are some snapshots of the first and only page that I did ... 

Refilming

This Weekend's Refilming

My Plans For Ancillary Tasks

My Ancillary Tasks

I have probably mentioned it at some point throughout the blog, but I thought it necessary to completely clarify it, and make it clear what I actually intend to do. I have decided that I will be doing a website and a digi pack for the ancillary; I feel that these two are the easiest to link together and I think give me the greatest chance of achieving the highest marks I could possibly achieve. 

From research, I have realised the importance of linking the two products to each other. Things like the same colours and fonts etc is a really easy, yet effective way of making the two products almost like one. It also makes it come across as a more professional piece of work, rather than what I would call a 'Mish-Mash'. 

The only difference I intend on is that the digi pack will look into the party side of the video, whereas the website will be more based on the softer side of the video. I will be doing this because I feel that the digi pack is something that the consumer wants to look at, more than read. I think a cd's digi packs selling point can be if it's cool or not, especially within this genre, and I feel the party scenes can bring this out of the digi pack. The website, however, is something that users will use to acquire information, and the party pictures will be a lot more ecstatic, and could make the website horrible to look at, especially when users are trying to read any text that will be included. The website does have to be interesting to look at as well though, so I think I will have some pictures on every page, and then have a dedicated 'gallery' page, where lots of different pictures will be available, ones that I have taken throughout the filming process. The fonts on the website will be identical to that of the digi pack, but the colour of the website will be a much softer colour, that still has links to the digi pack. (I will be doing some research on the idea of pictures being more appealing on a digi pack)

Next lesson, I will be looking into wix and disc wizard (the two softwares I will use to produce the products) and learn how to use them, as the class did last week with PhotoShop. That lesson was really informative and I learnt a lot of different methods. The problem is that this was teacher led; I will be trying to teach myself, so youtube may be a useful tool tomorrow! I really hope the two intertwine - and have similar features, so that making the fonts match up etc is easy, otherwise I might find it difficult to do so. 

Update 5/12/13

Update 5/12/13

Its been a while since I've done an update, and in this time, I have actually made quite a lot of progress, albeit several minor improvements in quite a few places. The most dramatic decision I've made is to split screen the intro. This means that I will need to gather more footage for this section, because instead of one 4 second shot, I will need four 4 second shots in the longest example. This means that I will have to take extra care in my continuity, making sure the costumes are exactly as they were in the previous shots that I did, and am keeping. The picture below shows what the current state is. There will be two other shots in the two corner gaps of the other group members from the latter shots. There are 5 lads, so to make the split screen work, two of the guys will have to be in the same shot; which is totally do-able.

Split screen

With the fact that the house I was doing the party scenes in, and had begun shooting in has sold completely now, and is no longer owned by me, I still need to find a location to shoot the party, and I have no idea where to do this! I may have to do it in my games room at my house, which would require a lot of work, as it is disused during this period of the year. I will also be missing out on some cool features that the other house had, such as blue plinth lights, which would have made the 'party' seem more 'party like!'  

I was going to look at doing some ancillary task work, but I feel that without having at least all the shots done, I can't really start the proper tasks. I just feel that the party scenes may offer a lot to me, and will make things fall into place. I think the ancillary tasks probably should be based around the party, or at least the digi pack should in some manner! 

Learning Photoshop

Learning Photoshop

I had a go on photoshop today, and I quite liked it! I found it quite difficult to come to terms with at first, but picked it up really quickly. I made a small tester, which is rubbish, but obviously, I wasn't trying to make anything spectacular. I used all of the basic tools that you can use, and dipped into the more complex stuff, but didn't delve into them in too much detail. Below is what I done ... 

What I came up with!

Update

Update 28/11/13

Today I have added the keyboard shot that I said that I needed to do yesterday. I think it actually looks alright as its in time well with the music, which has been a problem for me, plus, it answers the question of "Who is the driver?"; well now he's the keyboard player!

The house that I was planning to film in (the yellow house that features) was my house, which was up for sale. Well, as luck would have it, it is now completely sold and I do not have access to the house; this therefore deems a couple of my shots useless because you can see it in the shots. This means I now have a little bit of re-filming to do as well - which also means having to re-film my favourite shot, which was really hard to time right! Also, I am wondering where I am going to be able to use the techniques that we learnt, ie colour manipulation and key framing? I can only imagine that the 2nd half of the narrative will open up an opportunity, because it will be several party scenes, where loads of wacky stuff can be done, and gotten away with, as seen from previous music videos (Last Friday Night, Katy Perry - Which I done an analysis on! :D ) 

Other than this problem, its all coming on quite well. I'm starting to feel more confident in the video as time passes and more of the intricate editing takes place. I am now debating whether to split-screen the intro or not? I will have to decide soon; maybe asking people after watching would be a good idea? 

One of the few shots that I now cant use due to the house!

Whether to make the two highlighted shots split-screened or not ... Note: Two more similar shots will be added up to 16s (yellow marker) to make up a 4 way split screen

Editing Update

Editing Update

Since I last done an update, I have added my performance shots and completed the basic editing of them (size and timing) and it looks okay at best. I'm not too happy with the lip syncing, its a bit out of time, and some of the notes are not help long enough etc ... There's not much I can really do about this, except from replacing it with some other clips of either other performance, or I'll add some of the narrative that I still need to film.

I also realised that there is a keyboard in the song, I don't know how I missed it, but its extremely annoying. I think that it's vital that all of the instruments get a mention, because otherwise it comes across as a mistake and looks stupid, so I will go and film that very soon; it wont be hard to do at all!

Other than that, there are no major catastrophes to report, and it doesn't look too bad, so I'm quite happy overall. Everything that needs changing, can be changed fairly easily without causing too much of a problem. 

Filming - Day 2

Performance Filming

Yesterday evening I began and completed my performance filming. It seems as though it went well, although I haven't watched it back at all yet, so I am ready to be disappointed when I see it in a moment when I upload the new footage. My biggest concern is the fact that none of my actors can actually play instruments at all, so I hope this doesn't come across too bad on screen. 

I will now start to edit the footage, and see how it looks!

Filming Day 2 (Plan)

Performance Filming

Today I will be filming my performance section of my music video. This equates to roughly 60 seconds worth of footage. I have made a quick, rough plan to help me do it all efficiently. Luckily for me, I have a good amount of actors to perform, with one person on each instrument needed. There is a section that uses a xylophone once, and a different section which uses a tambourine once, so the person who plays the xylophone, will also play the tambourine. Hopefully all goes well! Below is the list I made up; I thought it would be worth putting on here:

My plan

Update 15/11/13

Update 15/11/13

Without having any new shots, I am running out of things to do! However, I have finished my last axillary research task. I have done one of each for both past students and real ones. 

I will be speaking to various people to see if they could be in my performance shots; however, I do worry that if it's not the same people that's in the narrative shots, it would look totally random? With this in mind, I will ask Steven if he will be the singer. He done some lip syncing, and it was pretty good, so I'm sure he'll be happy to do it!

Digipacks - Real Examples

Real Examples Of Digipacks

Update

Editing Update

Today, I spent most of my time tweaking shots and putting them in their perfect positions. I haven't got any more shots since yesterday, so had nothing new to add at all. All of the shots that I put in and edited yesterday are all now in their place, and its looking alright! I have added a bit of colour corrector to some shots, because a couple were too dark, and I tried to lighten them up; it seems to have worked! 

Editing

Editing - 1st Attempt

We're now at the end of the lesson, and with a bit of editing, I am so much more happy with my filming! It's quite surprising what a little bit of work can do to some shots. I had to crop one shot, as I noticed my arm crept in, this was easily done however, and the image does not look 'out of place' at all. One continuity error noticed was a fence panel when everyone gets out of the car - A fence panel had blown over in the wind, and managed to get into shot without me realising. I picked it up and continued filming. Obviously this annoyed me greatly! This problem was fixed after I decided to speed up the shot, to try and distract the attention of the audience away from this error. It actually panned out, that speeding the clip up made it work perfectly in time with the beat; which I did not expect! Never would I usually speed a shot up to x 500, but in this case, it actually worked!
Overall, I am really happy with how things went today. A couple of errors are there, which will need sorting - but the majority of the filming is good and all of it was useable, meaning it looks like I wont be re-filming anything, which is great. Hopefully the party scenes and the performance scenes will be as enjoyable as today's shots were

Filming

1st Day Of Filming

On Saturday I done my first little bit of filming. I ended up doing the car scenes, and the first few scenes; because these were the easiest shots to do. 

Unfortunately, I was highly time-bound, because Luke (the driver) had to attend a family party, therefore only allocated one hour to me. Most of the shots seemed to be good when I watched back on the television, however some did not look good at all. This may be due to rushing it! However, possibly with some editing, these shots could end up being alright. 

Also, two of my original actors could not make it, so I replaced it with one other actor, and only had three, as opposed to four. Steven (the main character) was great, as expected, but my two other actors appeared to be very nervous and camera shy; I hope this doesn't come across too heavily on the edited edition.

Today I will be editing what I've got, seeing whether the shots are good enough, and whether or not I will need to go out again, and get some more shots.

Past Student Example - Magazine

Magazine - Past Student Example 

The Magazine Page

This magazine article is quite clever. It links quite well to the video and uses a similar format throughout. 

The use of leaves as a border was quite clever because in the video, we see leaves as quite a prominent thing, as they come up a lot, as they walk through a woodland type area, and then throw leaves around etc. The use of them around the border is quite cool. I think the colour of the orange leaves does not clash too bad with the image at all, which would be quite a problem. 

The image itself is something that I quite like. It shows the two characters that feature in the film either side of a tree, apparently oblivious to one another. The narrative behind the video is the two characters finding each other, and due to the fact that they are literally doing the same thing throughout, makes it appear as if they are closer to each other than they know. This image backs that theory up, because they are next to each other!

Something I like about this poster is the use of a QR code. I haven't seen it used in any other one, so the originality is quite good, and its use is somewhat unique; the designer has come up with that idea themselves, as opposed to just copying each and every code and convention out there! Something that does irritate me is the fact that it over-laps the border, the same with the universal logo. Its not really a major problem, however, for some reason, it really irritates me. Another thing that I don't like is the way that the letters with 'holes' are filled in. I just think this is kind of a childish approach. It doesn't loom bad at all, it's just something that personally, I would avoid.

Past Student Website

Website - Past Student Examples

Home page

This is the home page to a student example that I found from last year. 

This website includes all the vital conventions that is needed from a band's website. We can see that it has the band's name prominently displayed with the recurring font that this person has used throughout their work. It also uses a image which we see in the video a lot. The director of the video has been very clever, as this image is highly relateable to this video, however, it is the formation of the lads that is familiar, because the particular image is not actually used - Just the formation occurs lots of times in the video. He has also incorporated the music video itself in the top right corner, to create an even greater awareness for the video. The maker of this has also included fictional tour dates into the page to add to the realism - this feature is highly used in band websites, to keep fans 'in the know'. One last thing that I think is good, is the use of the social networking logo's, right at the bottom of the page. This is more and more popular in websites and the creator of this has 'jumped on the bandwagon' well! And to top it off, the links actually send you to pages created by this guy, associated to the band. This is a class homepage in my opinion!

Video Pages

This page really caught my attention as well. This is a page where the bands new and existing videos can be viewed. What I really like about this is the fact that as well as incorporating his own music video, he has included videos that the real band have made (as far as I am aware) which is really cool. It keeps up the realism of the work, and makes it look very professional, and also keeps it looking linked to the real band. The format of the page has stayed very similar to that of the homepage, minus the image of the lads together, which I think is a good thing, because it does not over kill the image. Keeping the same format between pages makes it look more professional as well. If the colour schemes, or the fonts or anything changed much, the effect would be lost and the work would look somewhat childish.

Gallery

The final page of the website I am going to talk about, is the gallery page. Its not so much the idea that I find interesting (a gallery page is somewhat mainstream) its the images themselves that I think are clever. They all show this reoccurring image of the guys in their lined formation with brick walls everywhere! I don't know what the brick walls are all about, yet I find them really cool and I think their use is highly effective, in this instance. I also like the fact that all the images have been slightly edited in different ways via colour manipulation. I think the way the pictures seem to be quite religiously similar shows that the student has been very careful and precise throughout the planning of this video, and his organisation skills have been exceptional! Something I did notice was that the order in which the guys are lined up does differ in some of the pictures. I don't know whether this is intentional, or a mistake - although I thought if the formation would have stayed exact, it would have looked even better. This is the ONLY criticism I have, and to be honest, I don't think it even matters at all!

Overall, I think this website is totally awesome, and it really sets the bar at a massively high standard. It really gives me something to aim for. The constant links between the website and the video is very clever, and done to the tee every time, which adds to the professionalism of this guys work. With this website in mind, I think it is highly important that (like this one) I keep all of the format the same, and link my website heavily to the video to try and gain the same effect that this one has. I think the reoccurring features are what makes this piece of work as good as it is. 

Digi packs - Student Examples

Past Student Digi Packs

Unfortunately, prezi is being very awkward at the moment and is not letting me embed the work at all! Instead, please find the link below which SHOULD(!) take you directly to the prezi. 

My Prezi - Digi packs

Update 7/11/13

Update 7/11/13

Again, filming during the half term was unsuccessful. I was going to do it, but unfortunately my actors couldn't find a day where they could all do it. Luckily, all my actors are free Sunday, and it IS going to be done! I have got a few location shots where I filmed shots with no people in them, but really I had no intention on adding them in. However, if I do have some gaps to fill, they would come in handy; and it gave me a bit of practice with the camera and equipment and also saved me from doing nothing at all. My main shots will be done on Sunday, as I have a car available - which has been a big issue, one that has been stressing me out quite bad! Editing will begin Monday, and I look forward to it greatly. 
Right now, I shall continue doing some axilliary tasks that I started last lesson.

Magazine Advert - Kings Of Leon

Kings Of Leon's Magazine Advert  

This magazine advert is advertising the band Kings Of Leon (if you didn't already guess) for their new album that they released quite a while ago now.

I love the way the image on the front is the exact same as the picture on the front of their digipack - It turns it into an iconic image. If you were to see this image without any writing, you would most probably recognise it, and probably link it to the band immediately. I believe it is important to create some form of iconography with this, because it makes any form of advertising eye catching, and makes the target audience want to continue reading the poster, and eventually getting down to the important information. 

The less important information tends to be in smaller font because it is not at all eye-catching, and would put people off reading the poster, or even taking a slightly longer look, if the text appeared to be the dominant feature. The text is short and precise and says everything it needs to. 

The use of green in this advert is quite heavy. Colour manipulation is used to make the whole image appear green, and also the album name is in green as well. The words "OUT NOW" however, are in a deep red colour. This is done so this grabs the attention of the reader, because overall, its what the poster needs to tell you - It is the main aim of the advertising campaign; to tell you that the album is out now!

If I were to create a poster, I would definately replicate the fact that the font is big on important words, because this is a huge convention of posters/adverts - It would be crazy not to. Despite liking the use of 'monocolour' in this example, I wouldn't personally use it myself. Kings of leon are a rock band, and it kind of suits their genre, however, the more upbeat nature of Grouplove wouldn't really 'allow' for the use of only one colour. I think with their more fun style of music would require splashes of all different kinds of colour all mixed together. This method is also very eye-catching (probably more so than one iconic colour) and providing the colour is not over-done, can look just as professional. 

Website - Grouplove

Grouplove's Website

The song I am doing is by a group called Grouplove, so I thought it would be a good idea to look at their website and get some inspiration from it.

Grouplove's official website  is very basic, and to be honest, I don't like it. Below I have some screen grabs and explanations of why I do/don't like this particular part. 

This is a screengrab from the homepage of Grouplove's website. I quite like the basic layout of this front page. It is all very colourless, apart from the eyes of the image in the middle. Despite trying, I couldn't find any reason as to why they would have done this, but I can imagine this is theme based. 

The idea of the big font is very cool and looks quite good, however, the fact that the word "ToonLove" goes over the grey part on the side really annoys me, and I think it looks unproffesional. Also "Grouplove" is smaller than the page tabs, which is breaking a strong, common convention.

I do like the way that the website has incorporated all of the bands social media which they (or hired personnel) run. Also, the use of smaller texts for the tabs that less people are going to look at is good. It means your attention is not drawn away from the important stuff. 

They have also got a news page. They have kept the layout very much the same, which I do like, except the fact that the annoying "E" is back, but this time, it can be overlapping some text. It's not really a biggy, but I get really picky over this kind of stuff, and this really annoys me! Another problem is that there is quite a lot of scrolling to do - However, the font is quite big, so the amount of text is not a problem, because there isn't much!

This final picture is of the "toonlove" page. I think this page is quite a good idea. It uses different topics/themes and does iconic illustration that the band have used. The band have a very iconic illustration method which they use throughout there album - if you know them, you will instantly recognise their artists work. Its very similar to the work of Quentin Blake; you would instantly recognise his work! I think this is a very good feature of the website, and it is something that I could definiately consider when I come to do mine. 

Finally, this page is the groups shop. It is quite hard to work out what's going on! Most of it, isn't even working at all, with the links taking you to daed ends. As well as this, some of the links are not really clear. The main link is the actual picture; this itself is a link, however, unless you hovered over it, you'd have no idea that it is in fact a link. 

Overall, I think this website is awful. I think the fact that the links aren't clear, and some of them don't work is really bad; and brings a real feel of unprofessionalism to the site. However, some of the features are quite good. I like the font of the links on the side of the homepage - despite them going over the side, which bugs me heavily. I also like the illustration page, because I think it brings a real sense of iconography to the group. It may also be that I like the artwork too! I will not be basing my website around this at all, because I don't like it. I might try and recreate a bit of iconography though, because it looks good - however, I will have to do this using my own video, and grabbing some iconography from there - because I can't really nick Grouplove's work! 

  

Note to self!

Importing From iMovie To Final Cut

I always forget how to do this, so I thought I'd do a post about it, so I can always check it, and remember how to do it! I also made a powerpoint with screen grabs just in case!

1. Save each individual scene to iMovie
2. Open Final Cut
3. Use Finder
4. Click 09HammondD
5. Movies
6. iMovie Events
7. Then click and drag each one into final cut
8. Repeat this as necessary 

Now I should never have to forget and ask Aidan! 

Update

Update 23/10/13

Saturday just gone was supposed to be the day I started filming. Unfortunately, things did not pan out like that, because two of the four main characters were unavailable. However, after having a sulk I sorted it out, and filming will start this Sunday! Everyone is available which is awesome, and hopefully all the individual shots can get done. The party scenes will be done during the half term, when everyone has a bit of spare time; and I have the opportunity to get as many people together as possible. If anything, the late cancellations ended up benefiting me! 

I haven't really had anything much to do lately. I have done location shots but that's about it. I am all set and ready to go for filming :D

Location Shots

Location Shots

Past Student Video Analysis

Past Student Analysis 

This music video was created by a student from our school last year. The main reason I have chosen to do an analysis on it, is because the main male character in this one, also happens to be the same person who is the main character in my video - So it is good to see how he acted, and possibly what he will be expecting from it this time round. 

Effective use of text

The first thing I noticed, which I quite like, was the use of text above the image at the very beginning. I'm not sure whether that is an essential or not (I doubt it is) but I thought it made it very professional looking; and made it appear as a real music video. The layout of the text looks quite good, and everything appears to be done quite well. The choice of colour is suitable and the use of italics is quite effective in making it look realistic.

Good use of split screen

Small continuity error

Starting the overkill!

This video saw a lot of the 'specials' being used, most noticeably, split screening. I thought the first few times, it was really good, and linked well to the story; but after a few, it began annoying me! I understand that the story was linked to the two characters 'Intertwining', but I thought that could have been made as apparent, if a couple less were used. It is a sign to me that even if its in the narrative, over using it can still really cause an 'overkill' effect. Despite this, technically they all have worked quite well, and I can imagine the use of them is respected by the examiner. (just personally, I think there is too many!) They also used split screen in the other manner, where the camera is kept in the same place, and the image is multiplied etc. I thought this was used very well, and looked really good - except one small mistake in continuity I noticed, where the grass had been cut quite noticeably, however, it could be argued that the grass was just sectioned?!


There were sections in the video where the transitions worked with the beat, which I really liked. One particular one I liked was the one where the girl spins around, but is done in stills, and the turn happens along with the beat. This is done perfectly, and is to the millisecond is on the beat! It also occurs several times throughout the film. This is really effective, because in the particular song chosen, the beats are quite powerful, and the actions in the film really emphasise the beat in the song. I did get a screenshot of this, but you can't really tell what's happening, so I didn't bother.

A little bit of fun!

The lip syncing is also perfectly done by Max (the actor I'm using) and he doesn't seem off at any point. This is good, because really, if the lip syncing is off, the whole video can be ruined, and it will look awful! This is important to remember, because I don't want that happening!
The use of the 'extras' to pop on to the screen adds a little fun to the video. (to go along with the fun nature of the song) Despite this add on being used more for the 'fun side', I think the people who done it, have actually done a good job with the lip syncing; from what I can tell, it's spot on! I quite like the use of the extras as well!

I do like the link to the lyrics that this group have used in their video. They have followed Goodwins theory quite well on this one. The lyrics state that 'Like vines we intertwine' and in the video, we can see that a vast majority of the time, the male and female characters are practically doing the same thing, as they walk towards eachother. This is shown through split screen, which is why there is so (too) much of it.
Most of Goodwins theories have actually been abided by in this video, actually. Rather than talking through them all, I will place screen grabs with a caption specifying the theory it is linked with ...

Goodwins theories in use in this music video

As you can see, there is no use of voyerism and no use of intertextual references; however, I feel that it could have been spoiled if it would have tried to include these things

Overall, I think this is a good music video. It hasn't tried to do anything too fancy, which I like; because if you try too hard, and it doesn't pull off, it can look rubbish! I thought the acting was good from everyone, and overall, the editing is really good. I look to incorporate some of the positives I have seen from this, including the clever uses of goodwins theories, and also the use of splitsceen (the 2nd one I mentioned) as I think its really effective. 

Shot List

Shot List

I have made a powerpoint showing my shot list ... Some of them contain a few shots, I have just listed the main actions; because there will be SO MANY shots! Due to the internet being down at school, I had to take pictures of each slide, and do it at home, so the quality has been affected slightly.

Goodwin's Theories

A Further Look Into Goodwins Theories

I have made a prezi to show goodwins theories ...

Update 11/10/13

Update 11/10/13

Despite having done an update yesterday, quite a lot has happened since. Three of my four chosen actors have said yes to be in the video, which is great news. One however, could not, due to work commitments. I will have to find a fourth actor quickly; I don't think that will be too much of a problem. Also, I have decided on the locations ... A post is to follow, probably this evening if I can get to all the locations (This will include pictures). The weather is pretty misearble and a bike ride out there doesn't sound fun in the rain! 

Over Planning!

Preparing For Filming

With filming getting ever so close, I have made a plan for filming dates and what will be occuring when. Below shows some pictures with some basic details. Red = What the scenes are   Purple = Things I'll need      Green = Who I'll need
The bottom notes are just anything else that I deemed necessary to jot down ... 

Update 10/10/13

Update 10/10/13

The past few days has been a pretty stressful time for media work! Wednesday saw the internet down on the mac's at school, meaning the work the rest of the class and I were able to do was very limited. I feel that I have done quite a lot of research tasks, and thought I would somewhat be 'overkilling' my blog if I posted any more. Instead, I watched previous students examples and just jotted down what I did/didn't like about them in regards to editing and camerawork, so I can incorporate (or avoid) particular things. 

I will be doing a few more planning based tasks tonight and then should be done in that respect; ready to start filming over the weekend, and then editing what I have throughout the week, hopefully filming during the week if possible.

Overall, everything is going well, despite the probability of the fact that I would have been far further progressed had the internet have been up, but oh well! 

Narrative

Narrative Music Videos

Concept

Concept music videos 

Guitar Chords

Guitar Chords 

Obviously during the performance scenes of my video, the guitar will feature in quite a few shots. This has made me realise that maybe playing the correct chords is quite vital, as well as getting the strum pattern right. I have found the guitar chords on 'Ultimate Guitar' and have printed them out, so the guitarist can actually play it properly. As I did this, I found out that it is capo'd on the 8th fret. A 'spotter' would notice this, so I think it would be important to get it all right.
Here is a copy of the chords with lyrics 

Capo on 8th


--0---------0-----------------------------------------|
--0---------0-----------------------------------------|
--0---------0-----------------------------------------|
--0---x16---0--x3-------------------------------------|
--2---------5-----------------------------------------|
--3---------0-----------------------------------------|


C  G


C
Take me to your best friend's house
Goin' 'round this roundabout
G
Oh yeah
C
Take me to your best friend's house
I loved you then and I love you now
G
Oh yeah


Em            D
Don't take me tongue tied
G             Bm
Don't wave no goodbye
C        G
Don't... wait!

G

    C
Oh, take me to your best friend's house
Normally we're making out
G
Oh yeah
C
Take me to your best friend's house
                                 G
I loved you then and I love you now


Em            D
Don't take me tongue tied
G             Bm
Don't wave no goodbye
C        G
Don't... wait!


Strum chords once during this part.

One, two, three, four
G
Don't leave me tongue tied
G
Let's stay up all night
C
I'll get real high
C
Slumber party; pillow fight
G
My eyes and your eyes
G
Like Peter Pan up in the sky
C
My best friend's house tonight
C
Let's bump the beats till beddy-bye


Em            D
Don't take me tongue tied
G             Bm
Don't wave no goodbye
Em            D
Don't take me tongue tied
G             Bm
Don't kiss me goodnight
C
Don't...

Am     Em     G
Oooooh oooh oooh

Am
Take me to your best friend's house
Goin' 'round this roundabout
Em      G
Oh yeah
Am
Take me to your best friend's house
                                 Em     G
I loved you then and I love you now

C              Am
Don't leave me tongue tied
Em             G
Don't wave no goodbye
C             Am
Don't leave me tongue tied
Em      G
Don't...

Outro
C Am Em G x2
You can add some pinkies.

Storyboard & Music

Storyboard & Music

I have whipped up a fairly basic plan of what my music video is about, and when transitions are going to occur. This is more for my use, but I was quite happy with the outcome, so I decided to stick it on here! Obviously its not 100% accurate and in some places more than on scene will be used (especially during instrumentals), its just I never bothered making millions of little tiles within the storyboard plan I made for my friend who then went on to do the actual thing!
The timing, however, is almost spot on. Hopefully I can make the actual videos fit in with the time slot allocated for each scene; because its easy enough with pictures, but videos may make it harder. 

Below is the result. I made it on movie maker, so don't expect perfection! There are a couple of small mistakes in the writing below, mostly where the times I wrote down, are marginally different to those I stuck with whilst editing ...

Storyboard - 1st Draft

Storyboard - 1st (and last hopefully) draft!

My friend Ben handed me my storyboard today, and I must say, he done a great job! It looks like it took him ages ...
To add the finishing touches, I went over the outlines in biro pen (he did it in pencil) and I coloured it in using felt tips. Unfortunately, I did not anticipate the fact that the pen would go right through to the other side, so I ended up with my colouring on both sides, sort of ruining the pictures! I have tried to save it as best I could, and to be fair, it still looks pretty good.
I will add a guide as to what is going on soon though, with all the timings etc

Here it is:

Side One

Side Two

Update 27/09/13

Update 27/09/13

With my song totally chosen, and my idea fully mapped out, I am very excited about getting the filming underway. I know what I need to do, and roughly how I am going to do it; however, I have no real set actors as of yet. I have an idea of who I want to be in it, I just need to ask them!
Locations are all ready as Dad has kindly let me use our house for a party scene, and all the rest is easy to do.

I have asked a friend who is a keen animation artist to draw my storyboards for me. I made a really basic one, but it looked awful, and I didn't believe for one second that it was 'blog worthy', so he kindly accepted to do it. He tells me they should be done for tomorrow, so I am very excited to see them! 

Overall, the project so far is looking good, so hopefully they come out as good on the camera, as they have in my mind! 

Questionnaire Results

Questionnaire Results

After having made a survey on SurveyMonkey the results are in. Unfortunately, it is not possible to embed the results in anyway, so I have had to screen shot the results.
Admittedly, it is not formatted in the best way, I hoped it would have been better - But despite this, from the actual website the data is clear and fully understandable, so the benefit to me is far better than it may come across here! 

I copied and pasted what I could, but some data had to be typed up by myself ...
Respondents that didn't answer a question is marked with "No Preference"

As you can see from the respondents, I attempted to ask people in my target audience category - Young adults. This would obviously give me the best results, ones tailored for what I needed. I asked a couple of people outside the target audience, to also gain insight into what they thought as well ...

A SWOT analysis

A SWOT Analysis - Tongue Tied

I have tried to find out what some of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats are to the song that I have chosen to do. Despite this technically being something I learnt from business studies, usually used to assess a business making a choice, I decided that the same principle could be applied for my song choice. 

I listened to the song (without looking at the video) and then decided what it is good/bad for. I jotted them down and later made a poster ... 

Performance

Performance Based Scenes - How Do You Do Them? 

I intend on having a few scenes which contain performance, to fill some gaps and to make the video more interesting. I wasn't really sure how to do it - so I researched some videos that are predominantly performance based and tried to pick up on some hinters as to what I should try and do during these scenes.

Below is a video by Bon Jovi - Called "It's my life'

From this video I have learnt that a majority of the shots are of solo people, flicking between different members of the group. A few shots of multiple members are used, but not as much as there are of solo artists. Something that I hadn't thought about was the use of audience. Many fans are used in this video, and I think that is awesome, and I would like to do that myself. Also, one main colour is used within this, and is mainly blue. I don't know if this has a meaning or not, I don't think it does?!
Finally, something else which is quite important, is that no shot on the artist is too long. It is flicked between the kid running along and all different artists.

Synopsis:

• One artist at a time (most of the time)
• A few multiple shots (two shots etc)
• Shots of the crowd
• Lighting held at a couple of colours, maybe even one
• Not done for too long
• Flicks between narrative and performance 

Genre Analysis

Genre Analysis - Indie Rock

'Tongue Tied' (the song I chose) fits in the indie rock genre. Grouplove cover several different music genres throughout their songs, mainly something around this genre, but with slight tweaks.

Indie rock is a fairly modern genre which came about in the 1980's and became more and more popular towards the 2000's. It originated from the term "independent"and follows the 'do it yourself' attitude. This genre is slightly associated with 'low budget' labels - however, now-a-days it is quite a popular direction to take, as the 'down to Earth' idea becomes more and more popular with consumers (studies show). Indie rock is very mainstream and features the obvious instruments; guitar, bass keyboard and vocalist.

The indie rock music video predominately features a narrative with very small, short aspects of performance. This is mainly done because an indie rock song will often have a meaning behind it - therefore the supporting music video will have a relation behind it, to support the narrative of the song.

Below is a very stereotypical, particularly famous indie rock song.  

This video shows all aspects of the traditional codes and conventions of indie rock videos except from the fact that there is no performance based scenes. This includes:

• Close ups on characters
• Narrative 
• Small aspects of concept (magician) 
• Link between visuals and lyrics
• Scene change to the beat of the music - This was only used a couple of times, but used effectively

I intend on using all of these aspects (except from concept) in my video. I wouldn't use concept because I feel there is no real place for it. The whole story I will be doing is narrative based, but you only really can tell at the end - Really it would appear quite concept based, but its not!

Questionnaire

Survey Monkey Questionnaire

I made a quick survey on survey monkey and posted it on twitter, for people to fill out - hopefully I should get a few responses!

Below is a link to the survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2GT3NRF

I will post the results on Friday next week ...

Analysis of Real Music Videos (4)

Tongue Tied - Grouplove

Seeing as I have changed my song choice, I doing an analysis on this song as well, as I done that for the others. 

There is an establishing shot at the very beginning of the video, showing us the field in which the main character ends up in. This then changes to a high angle shot, possibly done on a a small crane, or standing on top of something. This shot gives a good perspective to the mess that he's in! Lots of close ups are used after this. This could be down to a contractual agreement between the director and the record label (one of goodwins theories) or to show his facial expressions, as it turns out he has taken drugs, and they are trying to get across his feelings and emotions he is going through, as he 'trips out'.

Then lots of mid shots and long shots are used. They are quite basic really, and not done for any real purpose, apart from to show the people behind him as he is running, and to show him in general. There is a really great bit of camerawork at the beginning by the paddling pool. The reverse motion begins, and to go from morning to night, the camera looks up during day time, and goes back down as it changes to night time. I like the use of this shot, mainly because I think it is a cool shot and kind of goes with the whole theme of the song - PARTY! 

Not many fancy aspects of editing are ventured into within this music video. The obvious one that stands out, is the fact that the video is in reverse mainly, except from the start. The film is shot forwards, and will be put in reverse during the editing stage, this give it a realistic feel, because if you tried to do it backwards, it would look awful, unless you were a very skilled actor/actress! Most of the time, quick cuts are used to keep it quite simple, but every now and then (not very often) cross dissolves are used, probably to represent his mind playing up from the drugs. Also, a few times, an effect which sort of looks like a 3D screen when you're not wearing glasses. I love this, because again it represents his mind playing games with him, which is the whole narrative to the story - this is the same with the use of most of the slow motion, although some of the slow motion may be used, purely so the audience can get a good solid look at the party atmosphere to get them buzzed!

The main charcters costume (despite it hardly being a costume) is just a pair of trousers - no shirt. This is obviously shown to us at the very beginning, so we gather the idea that the film is going to rewind into some kind of party, because people do crazy things at parties! As it goes back, we see him acquire a shirt which matches the wall. This again is the director showing us that his mind is playing tricks on him. He gets back into his original grey t shirt. This could be subtle representation for the fact that he is quite boring a dull, and the drugs change him completely. The 'bad guys' are fully suited and wearing a mysterious face mask each. This is a completely random costume - again another bit of representation for the fact that he is spinning out. Everyone else at the party is in casual clothing, to show that they are just normal people. Right at the end, when we find out that the party he's at actually isn't happening, and he's actually at some really crappy party, we see that everyone is wearing dull clothing - telling us that really, he is just a loser and not one of the 'in crowd'.

The main settings are all meant to be a streotype for what happens to a teenager when at a party, we start of in a house, go out onto the streets and end up in some random field in a paddling pool; something that happens to everybody! All these settings are just representative to the average teenage party. 

The make up is fairly basic. The girls are all 'dolled up' but nothing too outlandish and the guys are just guys! This is obviously done to keep it as casual as possible, in an attempt to connect with the target audience; teenagers - If they went out dissing teens, saying they over do the make up, or something, the teens may feel disconnected and not enjoy it. 

Finally, the lighting is all basic. When inside, it is lit to a degree where it just appears as what you'd expect from a normal house. Outside during daytime, the lighting is all natural from the sun. When dark, however, there are light tints of unnatural lighting, so that you can actually see the character, but not to an extent where it becomes stupid.

Overall, I like this video, and hope to take some of the ideas used in this video, and incorporate them into my own, for instance, the idea of the pan up/down during a time change. I also liked the hidden narrative that you only discover at the end. I have no intentions however, on doing a complex narrative!