Past Student Evaluation Analysis

Declan's Evaluation - Analysis

Digipacks - Real Examples

Real Examples Of Digipacks

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

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. 

Goodwin's Theories

A Further Look Into Goodwins Theories

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

Narrative

Narrative Music Videos

Concept

Concept music videos 

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!

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!

Update - 19/09/2013

Update - 20/09/2013

After attempting to whip up a decent draft for a storyboard, I realised all three of the songs I chose may be quite difficult to get perfect, I decided to have a look into a new song choice. I found this really hard to find a song that I like, and that I believe could have a good video alongside it.

I just checked the video as I was writing this update out, just to check that its not too similar to the plan I have written out. It takes the theme of a party, but goes about it in a completely different way to what I had in mind, so that's good.

This is the song that now looks like what I WILL be doing ... 

I believe this song has far more potential for me to make a good video, and also gives off a better opportunity for me to use some of the technologies, such as split screen, and green screen, which are embedded into my plan.

Hopefully it comes out well! A fully detailed storyboard will be on soon, explaining my idea step by step.

Previous Student Examples (2)

< This is an example of a music video I found on youtube. The song is Pieces by Chase and Status Feat. Plan B The camerawork is dominated by mid/long shots (mostly long shots) showing the main character most of the time. There are some examples of close ups, especially from the point of view of the girl in the bed. Rap songs often show the artist throughout most of the video, so this video follows those conventions well. At the very beginning, we see an establishing shot used, although it really only shows the city for a little while, and pans away, whereas traditionally, it does the opposite. It doesn't look too bad though and gives the opportunity for the tiles to be displayed clearly - It could easily be argued that the director has intentionally tried to break this paticular convention, to follow the sterotype of rappers behaviour - Bad! Tracking is used quite a lot through this music video, as it follows the evening of this artist. It allows us to see how he lives, and at the end, it shows him rushing upstairs to find what we assume to be his girlfriend with another guy. They do use a shot out of the rear windscreen of a car going around a road. Despite this being a really generic shot, I quite like it, and I think it is used well in this example. All of the aspects of mise-en-scene are very natural within this video. No one is 'dolled up' too much, which is odd for a rap film, because often the rappers girlfriend/wife is made to either look full of swagger, or to be full of make up and looking really good. This girl looks natural, with minimal make up on. The setting is predominantly on the streets - probably where the artist lives. They are fairly rough parts which follows the conventions of a rap video. This piece of work is full of different editing techniques. The use of split screen is used a couple of times. The one that stood out most to me was the one with the beer bottles. This would have been a really good shot, however, it's a bit jumpy, which ruins the shot for me, as it's not clean at all. Split screen is also used to seperate the screen into four, showing him bascially doing the same thing. This shot was good, however, I feel it would have been better if the content within the split screens would have been completely different, giving off the same impression. The director/s have also made full use of the speed editor. They have sped up several scenes. It would appear that there is no real reason as to why they have done it, but it does look quite cool. This has been done to make the scene look good - It's okay, but would have been better if the director would have implemented a reason as to why they have sped it up! There is also a small use of colour manipulation, with the screen fully flicking between three different colours. I don't like this because I feel that the people have done this, just so they have used it, and haven't really put it in with a valid reason! They could have adjusted the colour so particular things on the screen coloured more, as opposed to filtering the whole screen. The lighting is very basic in this video. They have made full use of the street lighting around, meaning they didn't have to do any of their own. This is okay, but it doesn't seem to have stretched the students much at all, and looks a bit tacky - because it knocks the cameras focus out. Overall, I didn't really like this video. I thought it was okay, but it comes across as though the students have rushed their technology use, and haven't really used it with any meaning - it just looks like they have been thrown in. I think the fact that I hate the song makes my opinion a little bit bias, but trying to put that aside, I would still say I don't like it.

Previous Student Examples (1)

Past Student Example - Analysis

This is a music video completed by students at my school, last year. The song is an indie song performed by You Me At Six - Called Crash.

The camerawork used in this video really tells a story within itself. The angles used display the facial and body expressions to a professional standard; which really helps boost the power behind the emotion that the song gives off. A few point of view shots are used, again to help portray the emotions of the two main characters. The use of shot-reverse-shot is also used to perfection. It is used in away that expresses the differing emotions between characters - especially when done with the girl who he is cheating with. The quantity used is perfect as well, because it isn't underused, but most definitely isn't over used, which can really ruin a good bit of camerawork.

The editing is done really cleverly. The use of split screen at the very beginning is something I love, and I think it is used very well. It gives the opportunity to show how both characters are feeling, and how they are expressing it at the same time, without cutting. They have made it so that all of the male's encounters with his 'cheat' are in black and white, maybe to portray the fact that these were dark times, and his mind was not in the right place. The times with his girlfriend, however, are in colour, or tinted over with brighter colours, most likely to symbolize the exact opposite, to the meaning behind the black and white imaging.

All the locations used are linked somewhat to the characters shown; and tend to have a meaning behind them, none of the locations are 'random'.

The narrative is very powerful and is supposed to be one hundred percent believable. With that in mind, the directors of this music video have kept the other mise-en-scene aspects very natural - using natural lighting, and keeping the actors/actresses looking natural.

Goodwins theories are mostly applicable to this music video. The characteristics of this particular genre are that the music video almost always has a narrative behind it, and isn't a concept and very rarely performance based, mainly because the music isn't really exciting, and the thought of a gig/concert is. The relationship between lyrics and visuals are also present; and in fact, are very strong. The opening lyric says "Wait, where you say you've been? Who you've been with? Where you say you're going? Who you're going with?" which basically, to a tee, is related to the narrative, which is on the theme of cheating. Throughout the video, this is the same, with similar lyrics being said, with the same meaning. However, the relationship between the music and the visuals isn't really there. There are times were the guitar is more predominantly strummed when a scene changes; whether this has been done intentionally or not, I don't know - but it is there, just not very often. Lots of close ups are used during this video. Goodwin states that this is due to demands of the record labels, whereas I would argue it is done to express and exaggerate the characters facial expression, and therefore their feelings, but that's because in a students situation, there is no record label! Voyeurism isn't really used in this, however, some may argue that some 'bedroom scenes' count, all be it mild, but still show some aspects of voyeurism. I didn't notice any intertextual references at all, although sometimes you wont notice them, because you are unfamiliar with the original reference! But as far as I am aware, no intertextaul references were used.

Overall, I think that this is a brilliant example of a music video for this particular genre. I feel the students have done a really good job of putting across the meaning and emotions to the audience. I also feel that the way it has been set out really is good, and has a professional quality to it. If I were to choose my softer song (I wont give up - Jason  Mraz) I would use this video as a guide, because I think it is truly awesome!

Analysis Of Real Music Videos (3)

I Won't Give Up - Jason Mraz

Jason Mraz's "I wont give up" (Directed by Mark Pellington) takes a completely different approach and uses a lyric video. The video shows all of the lyrics coming up on the screen as they are sung by Jason. It also has a narrative going on alongside the lyrics. The story is of a man who is writing to his girlfriend - and towards the end the guy is reunited with his girlfriend, and its all good at the end!

This music video doesn't really use many of the technologies that we have learnt to use - it does, however, use the green screen. Its main use is for the window, looking out to the stars, and also when the paper house is used as a foreground; the background is done by green screen.

This song is an indie genre song, and the video is a narrative based theme. This tells me that when the song is slower, and has more meaning, it is more likely that the video that goes with it will be narrative based.

Analysis Of Real Music Videos (2)

Don't Look Back Into The Sun - The Libertines

This is another of my 3 choices ...

Like most Rock genre songs, "Don't Look Back Into The Sun" uses a lot of performance based footage, from what appears to be an actual gig, most likely as that song is being performed. The performance is done by a handheld device, almost as if a member of the audience has done it on a mobile phone. This gives off the impression that you are there. The other half of the video is filled with footage of the band sort of 'messing about' around in different locations, towards the build up to the gig. They are all done with a handheld technique - which is very common within modern music videos.

This music video doesn't really have a meaning, as such, it's more a video that shows lads being lads, which is something that the target audience (Male teenagers) can relate to. This tells me that sometimes a meaning is not necessarily important at all, and if it something the target audience can relate to, the music video will be appreciated.

Overall, I feel that if I were to choose this song, the majority of the video will be performance based; but to change it around from the original, I will probably add a little bit of narrative to the video.

Analysis Of Real Music Videos (1)

Fluorescent Adolescent - Arctic Monkeys

I will be analysing the three music videos that I have narrowed my choice down to. This will help me point out the good and the bad from the already existing videos, and may give me pointers to what I should do. 

Fluorescent adolescent is a strange music video. It is very concept based and doesn't really have any meaning or even link towards the lyrics being sung. Despite this, I really like the music video, mainly because I think its a cool one. This (to me) shows that not all music videos have to have a 'deep meaning' or any link to the lyrics; like most tend to. The only meaning I can salvage from it, is that (because of the costumes) from the childhood, your path is set and you are always going to be that way, although that is me really trying to claw something from it! After 'googling' it, it turns out that the video is about how it is boring to grow up, and life as an adult isn't fun at all.

Throughout the whole music video, there is no use of any of the technologies we have learnt throughout the course, it is very simple with just straight cuts, and one quick cross dissolve that takes us into the flashback of when they were kids. No sign of colour manipulation is used, which personally, I feel would have been really good, especially in the flashback; possibly making use of lighter colours in order to show how times were better when they were children. There is no use of green screen or split screen either. Split screen could have been used to show life from the two main characters very different perspectives. The director (Richard Ayoade - Yes, the guy from IT crowd) really hasn't really taken the opportunity to incorporate any of the technologies, although maybe he did this purposely. It could be to portray the meaning behind the song, because colours (nice ones, anyway) are associated with happiness etc, but in the adult life, there is none - What you see is what you get - However, a flashback to childhood doesn't have colours either ...

Overall, the video to fluorescent adolescent proves that you don't need fancy effects to make a good music video, just a bit of creativity. This one is really unique! I think this one shows that simplicity can be good. However, to gain as many marks as I can get, I feel that a few technologies must be incorporated. Also, this video shows that the story line behind them do not need to be obvious, for them to be good - I had no idea what the story line was, yet I still thought it was good!