The End

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Final Thoughts

My final thoughts on this year of media:

From this year I've learnt a lot, not just in terms of the course but also in my own personal style and way I like to work. Filming outside in really populated public places proved much more of a challenge than I thought it would be, but it's been a real learning point. I've learnt that I much prefer working in a small, private environment like last year, as I can control everything that possibly moves. Also, it really eliminates the light and weather changes which did become a bit of a challenge for us this year. This said, I'm really glad I learnt these things now so that I can be more prepared when I go to uni in September.

Evaluation 4

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

Evaluation 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Evaluation 2

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?

Evaluation 1

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

Evaluation 4: Planning and Script

Script

Throughout this year of media, we have used a variety of technologies to research, plan, construct and evaluate our main and ancillary tasks.

These technologies can be categorised by either hardware or software, both of which came together in order for us to develop ans create our products.

Hardware we used includes an iPhone 6, a Mac, an iPad, a MacbookPro and a Wacom graphics tablet; and the software we used includes Blogger, Youtube, Deezer, iMovie, Adobe Creaive Cloud and CutecCut Pro.

In the initial development stages of creating our product, we used various technologies to carry out the necessary research. When deciding on the song we wanted to use, music streaming service Deezer was particularly useful as it suggested smilar songs and artiststo those we had searched for ourselcesd, allowing us to find the song we eventually settled on. We also used Youtube to find pre-exisiting music videos and this allowed us to lwarn about the conventions that we could use or challenge on our own products.

After editinf, we did some research on how to create the animated scribble effect. and for this we used Twitter and Youtube.A video I came across from Savannah Brown featured  style of animation similar to what we wanted to create, so I decided to get in contact with the illustratoe, Maddy Vian. I used Twitter to do this, and it proved successful with Maddy gettong back to me within 10 minutues, explaining how she created the effect with Photoshop. We then headed over to Youtube to find this explained in more detail, which is where I found a tutorial for creating animations in After Effects instead. A fter looking into both, we decided to use After Effects as it seemed to be a better fit with what we had in mind.

Ater research we began to plan exactly what we wanted to film- a lot of this was through practice shoots and communiccarion, both done through media technologies. Things like photographing potential filming locaions ad going out to test the feaability of filming on trains allowed for us to plan in more detail and with more accuarcy. For both of these we used an iPhone to capture the images and footage. As for communication, a group chat between myself, Rachel, Ted and Catherine was vital, and for this we used Whatsapp. It allowed us to easily check schedules, plan filming days and share any ideas we had with eachother.

Producing and constructing our main and ancillary products is where the majority of media technologies were used this year. Like last year, we decided to film on an iPhone ratgher than a camera as this allwed us to easily share, back up and import footage to to other Apple devices we were using through feautres such as AirDrop. Also like last year, we edited our footage together on iMovie 9 on a Mac, however when itcame to adding post production effects we moved to different hardware and software. When we were ready to add the animations, we moved the project over to a MacbookPro where we could open it in After Effetcs. With a Wacom tablet and After Effects, we were able to create simple, sketch-like animations to bring another dimension to our music video and achieve a more light, fun feel.

As for my ancillary tasks, the digipak and magazine advert were created using Photoshop and Pages, both on a MacbookPro. We used Photoshop to edit the images, and Pages fro creating the layout and postitioning the text.

For my evaluations, in order to create 4 different videos, I used software such as Prezi to add variety. When collecting data to help evaluate my products, I used media platforms such as Twitter and Whatsapp to share or video and gather feedback from our audience. I also used survey creating software SurveyMonkey, a media technology I had never used before. This proved a really effective way of getting feedback from a large audience. Finally, I edited all my evaluations on an iPad on editing app, CuteCut Pro.

For all stages of media this year, from initial research to final evaluations, I have used Blogger to document my progress and share my final products.

Evaluation 3: Planning

Here's the planning of the evaluation Rachel and I are doing together. 

Evaluation 2: Planning and Script

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?

Script

As with any marketing campaign, it was vital that the music video, digipak, and magazine advert were all variations of the same thing. This means there needed to be a clear link between all the products, and this was achieved by using the same colour scheme, images, font and style on all 3 products. Real media producers also ensure this kind of correlation between their products, for example the recent album, video and advert from The Pretenders are all linked through the black and white images and light pink, eye-catching pink.

Our main task this year was to create a music video, and for this we used 'Don't Get Me Wrong' by The Pretenders. To add another dimension to the video, we used simple, hand drawn animations to display the thoughts and inner monologue of the main character. These animations became the base for digipak and magazine advert in terms of colour. The 5 main colours used in the animations were: pink, yellow, blue, red. and orange, but perhaps most prominent were the pink and the yellow. They were often used in small stars in various shots and scenes.

From this, we decided to use these as the main two colours for our ancillary tasks. The bright pink background with yellow accents and black and white writing on both the digipak and magazine advert immediately makes them eye-catching and noticeable even to someone who isn't looking out for them. Not only do they stand out, but these bright colours hold connotations of fun and youthfulness a lot more so that darker, more dull colours do. This really represents the music video well as it was intended to be a quirky, light-hearted, upbeat narrative. Feedback from the music video was overwhelmingly positive, and so by using the same style and features on our ancillary tasks, they too should be effective.

The use of the font chosen for the band name and album title is meant to act like a logo for the band. As it features heavily on both ancillary tasks, it would be reasonable to assume that this is a style the band always use, much like a trademark. The style of font we used in all of our products was a sans serif white font called Futura, placed on a black background. This makes it easily recognisable as well as legible. The lettering was capitalised for the most important information like the band name, the album title and "out now", but used in a lower case for the smaller details such as the reviews on the advert and song lyrics on the digipak. The use of this style of font was based off research into other bands of a similar gnere and era. Oasis use a very simple black and white logo for all of their products, and it is instantly recognisable to millions, making it very effective. We have adopted this style into out own products to also have the same effect.

The images we have used on all three tasks are perhaps the most effective feature of these products. From audience feedback, we found out the ending shot of the video was really memorable as many people commented in our survey how much they liked it. For this reason, we used it as the cover page for the digipak. It works really well because audiences are instantly introduced to both members of the band, as well as meeting them again inside the digipak. As for the magazine advert, the main photos are taken from the scene of the music video where these 2 characters meet and establish a 'love at first sight' connection. These photos are used in the inner sleeves of the digipak, and again ties all three products together. The decision to not use the ending shot as the main advert picture, is because it is featured on it already in the form of the the digipak towards the bottom left. By having more than one photo from the music video on the advert may act as a way of gaining more attention as it shows audiences that there is a story between the two characters.

Finally, the use of animations in the music video was a huge success, with all comments describing them as fun and that they give a new feel to the video. With the feedback we got, it was essential to include the animations in the ancillary tasks. In the main pictures on the magazine ad, there are some small hand drawn hearts between the two characters- for audiences who haven't seen the video, this is easily recognisable as the start of a possible relationship. As for the digipak, the same images are used on the inner sleeves but it is the CD itself where the main bulk of animation is. The CD shows the shot of the pivotal moment when the male character noticed the scarf, and what essentailly began the story that was to follow. It is placed on top of a pink and yellow map of London, tying the digipak to the music video.

Overall, I believe our main and ancillary tasks to have been very effective as  welistened to our audience and incorporated many of the features they enjoyed, namely the ending shot and the animations. All of our products are libked together in various ways, an this makes them memortable to an audience as they are seeing repeated images. The bright colours used in all three products are also memorable anf bring a light, quirky feel to all three tasks.

Evaluation 1: Planning and Script

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

Script

The song we chose to use for our music video this year is 'Don't Get Me Wrong' by The Pretenders. Though classed as a 'rock band', this particular song falls under the hybrid genre of pop-rock. For this we have created a music video that has both conventions of pop and rock, but falls more towards the genre of pop. 

Some typical conventions of pop music videos include things like bright colours, a narrative story line, and a link to the lyrics; whilst typical rock videos will often use lowkey lighting, have a darker colour palette, and are generally performance videos.

In our video, we have confromed to many more conventions of pop that rock, but we have also challenged many convetions of standard music video. As well as this, we have also developed upon some of both genres convetions to create our own.

To start, the style of music video is strictly narrative, with a distinct lack of any elements of performance, this develops the style of most pop videos, and challenges rock videos. Though many pop videos often feature a narrative element to them, they tend to be combined with performance elements, either through cut-aways to a performance, or with the performance taking place throughout the narrative, for example Dua Lipa's New Rules. As for rock videos, they are much more likely to be completely performance, with a strong focus on the artist, as seen in the Foo Fighter's The Pretender video.

The plot in our video is very typical to many narrative videos, as there is a focus on love and friendship. As this is a theme running through many songs, it makes sense that it would be a part of many music videos as well. Songs such as Ed Sheeran's 'Galway Girl' have a strong theme of love, and this really shows through in the video, particularity the ending shot. Our video conforms to the love narrative, and the animations simply emphasise this, particularly the use of hearts in the two shots.

Our use of animations in this video comes under a style of special effect, a feature that is becoming more and more common in all types of videos, including pop and rock. Bruno Mars' 'That's What I Like' video features sketched animations not too different from ours, and this is a convention of real media products we have used. Also, videos like Biffy Clyro's 'Wolves of Winter' branch into abstract, suggesting that the boundaries of what defines a rock video are shifting.

A convention of pop videos that we really utilised throughout our music video is the use of both highkey lighting and bright colours. Filming during the daytime in quite open parts of London allowed for us to get bright natural lighting, and even the scenes set at night saw bright indoor lights being used. As for colour, through both the mise en scene and the added animations, there is a lot of colour among the shots. with the main prop also being a bright red scarf. As this was in every shot, it meant there would always be some form of colour, even if filmed in a more plain location. Though this conformed to pop conventions, it really challenges typical rock videos which often feature lowkey lighting and a dark colour scheme.

The rest of the mise on scene in our video also challenges rock videos. As they tend to be performance videos, they often feature close up shots of the instruments played by the band, however this was something we decided not to include. The main mise en scene in  our video focuses on the famous sights and landmarks of London, such a The National Gallery and Piccadilly Circus. However, something in the mise en scene that pop and rock videos share is the costumes used- they both often feature casual dress. As our characters are both wearing jeans, a tshirt and a jacket, they conform to the typical dress of pop and rock music videos. 

According to Andrew Goodwin's theory 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory', two of the things all music videos should have is a link between the lyrics and the visuals, and a link between the music and visuals through editing to the beat. We have done this throughout our video, in order to conform to real media codes. On lyrics such as "pass on the street" our two characters cross paths, linking our lyrics to the visuals. It is also edited to the beat throughout, but is particualrly noticable in the instrumental montage section, where our character appears at a variety of famous London landmarks. At this section of the video, we have used fast paced editng to match the beats, a technique often used in rock videos to match the pace of the song.

Overall, our video for 'Don't Get Me Wrong' uses, develops, and challenges many codes and conventions of real media products. The style of video develops upon the usual pop video by being strictly narrative, and at the same time completely challenges rock videos as they tend to be all performance. The lighting and colour palette also conforms to pop and challenges rock, with bright lighting and colours. However pop and rock do have some shared conventions which we have utilised in our video such as the casual dress costumes and editing to the beat. 

Magazine Advert- Final Version

Here's our final copy of the magazine advert which promotes the digipak.

It's main colours are bright pink and yellow to match the majority of the animations, and it links together with the digipak and music video. The font used to display the band name and album title are also the same on all three products. The 2 main photos on this advert are also taken from the music video, and the animations on these shots really sum up the video and accurately advertise it.

Typical traits of a magazine advert such as quotes from critics, a star rating, and a plug of the hit singles also feature on here in order to make it look as close to a real media text as possible.

In the last quarter of the page there is a photo of the front cover of the digipak, one of the CD itself, and a label which simply reads "Out Now".

The website, band logo, and social media symbols also feature at the bottom of the page as this is a common feature of many types of posters nowadays, whether that be music. film etc.

Digipak- Final Version

Below is the final version of our digipak, it's come a long way since our first draft. We decided to go for a 6 panel instead of a 4 panel to make it look more like a digipak rather than a CD. Each panel has strong links to our music video, and the bold colour scheme is in place of the animations.

Survey Monkey

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/B5Q2NSG

Here's the link to the survey I created to get some anonymous feedback on our video. I thought that a survey would be an easy way of getting a fair amount of feedback from a variety of people as it can be distributed simply by sharing a link. As well as this, as its anonymous, it allows for respondents to be more honest than they would perhaps be face to face.

Possible Survey Questions

Here's a list of some possible questions to include in our Audience Feedback survey. As we are using SurveyMonkey to create and distribute our survey, we can only ask 10 questions so a couple of these will have to go.

For our evaluations, it is important to get a wide range of audience feedback so that we can learn from and improve upon what we have made. A survey can be easily distributed to a vide range of people of different ages, locations, etc, and are a quick and simple way of getting feedback.

Audience Feedback- Mary

After showing Catherine the music video she went home and filmed her mum watching it for us! This was really helpful as it allows us to get an adults perspective on it, rather than all teenagers. I think Mary enjoyed it, especially as it's a song she already knew.

Upside-down Vlogs

Something we've noticed with our vlogs on some of our posts is that they're all uploading to to YouTube upside-down. When they're preparing and uploading onto YouTube they're the right way round, but as soon as they publish they've been flipped upside down. I've Googled ways to fix this but to no avail, and I've even tried to rotate the video outside of YouTube, but it's still not working. It doesn't make sense as they were filmed on different days but it seems that they just will not upload properly. I'll keep trying to find a way to fix this.

Audience Feedback- Catherine

Our friend Catherine played a really important role in the making of this music video, so getting her opinion on the final product was great! Though she was in it, we only filmed with her for a few days so she really had no idea what the shots from other days were like and how they were going to be put together. The animations were also something she'd never seen, and from this we can see she really liked them.
   

Don't Get Me Wrong- Final Version

Here's the final version of our music video!

Audience Feedback- Sophie

In this video, Sophie is watch an incomplete version of our video. At this stage, we've added afew animations but not all of them, and from this you can see that she agrees there should be more. We had already planned to add some more animations but its great to get an audience's opinion too!

Audience Feedback- Class

In class today we got some initial feedback on our music video from the other groups, and were able to ask them some questions about what they got from it. Though we didn't show the completed version, the footage is edited together the way it will be in the final version, but we are yet to add animations. Once we have finished our video completely, we will get some more feedback.

From this, we learnt that all of the audience understood the narrative of the story and accepted the dominant reading, but there was a comment which suggested that we could make it more specific and clear as to where our character would be in London as it's such a large city and impossible to cover all of it in a day. Other than this, there were no issues and our audience liked the use of the colour red and the handheld camera.

Audience Feedback Questions

1) Apart from some shots being too long, are there any issues with shots?
2) Is the narrative clear?
3) Does the feel of 'London' come across? (through locations, etc?)
4) Does the song fit with what's onscreen?
5) Does the handheld camera work fit with the idea that the protagonist is rushing?

Magazine Advert- First Draft

Here's a really rough first draft of our magazine advert. Like our digipak we've used the yellow that features throughout the music video and the same font for the band name. The central image is apicture of the front cover of the digipak as this is a simple way of linking our products together. Underneath we also have "Out Now", advertising the release of the new album, a trait common to magazine adverts.

Digipak- First Draft

This is the first draft of our digipak. We've decided to do a 4 sided version, similar to a CD case.

The main colour is yellow, this matches a lot of the animations in our music video, particularly the stars that appear in many of the shots.

The front cover has a photo of the ending shot of our music video, showing the characters who are in place of the original artist. It also features the name of the band, and we have matched this to the font used on the video.

The back page so far has a space for a list of songs, and also features aspects of a CD cover such a the 'compact disk' logo and the logo of a record label.

The inside left hand page simply has a silhouette of a porcupine, on a yellow background, and we took inspiration from a digipak from Birds of Chicago. I think it's an interesting use of the bands logo and name.

'Birds Of Chicago' digipak

This article I found on digipaks features one from folk band Birds of Chicago. I really like the use of the black silhouette of the bird against the bright coloured background, and is something I would be interested in incorporating into our digipak. I think it's a really good way of adding either a logo or icon releated to the band, and since our band is called The Porcupines I think this could really work for us.

Significant Filming Locations

For our music video, we wanted to create an obvious feel of being in London, which we have done through the locatrions used throughout. As it is a narrative, it made sense for all of our main locations to be in Central London as it allows the character to move about within the time frame it is taking place, without the need for a lot of transport.

Our main filming locations are very 'London' and include a lot of the recognisable attractions and tourist spots. They include:

• Trains/ tubes
• Station fronts eg Picadilly, Oxford Circus
• Oxford Street souvenier shop
• Horse Guard Parade
• Millenium Bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral
• St. James' park
• Trafalgar Square and The National Gallery
• Covent Garden Market

Filming Day Six

Today was our last day of filming! It was quite a a short day of filming today as we just needed a couple of filler shots and montage scenes! We're really happy we've managed to complete filming whilst still in half term as now we have all our time left to edit.

Filming Day Five

We had another filming day today, and we managed to get LOADS done. We filmed in various parts of London, from Oxford Street to Piccadilly, Horse Guard Parade to Hyde Park. It was quite a long day but hopefully this means we only need to film for one more day. We're going to go into school tomorrow to edit this footage and then hopefully film for just one more day, probably Thursday as the weather's nice.

Filming Day Four

Tonight we headed up to London to get a few shots at night to link in the night train shots we got the other day. We wanted some shots at night as it shows the progression throughout the day and that the character has spent the entire day looking for the girl. Next week in half term we're going to have a couple more days of filming and then hopefully we'll be done before school starts.

Filming Day Three

Yesterday was our third day of filming and we got some shots to make the night train scenes. We had a little blip at the start because Ted didn't have the right top on, but we've managed to overcome that by making sure he kept his hoodie zipped up. As the narrative doesn't follow his entire day minute by minute, it doesn't conflict with our continuity.

Filming Day Two

Today was our second day of filming, and we filmed with both our actors today.  We got more done then we had planned for as we found ourselves with more time to travel into London to film some shots we needed from there.

Originally we had planned to film between 9am and 12pm, but due to Ted's later plans being cancelled we were able to film until about 3pm. Along with the train shots we had planned to do, we were also able to film the bridge shots and the ripping up of the map. This has given us a lot more footage that we can edit together next week in school.

Track List

Earlier today, Rachel and I took a bit of time to think of the list of songs we're going to feature on our digipak later this year. Here's a rough list of what we came up with:

As 'Don't Get Me Wrong' is the song we've chosen to make our music video to, this was an obvious choice for the song list. We've also added another genuine song by The Pretenders ('Holy Commotion'). Not only is this a great song, but also the track we used in our film opening last year! The other songs are ones we've made up, a couple are based off other genuine songs from other artists.

'Letters to Amsterdam' is a take on Chris Rea's 1979 song 'Cenotaph/ Letters from Amsterdam', and 'The Ballad of ...' is something we decided to use as it's a popular style of song title, examples including 'The Ballad of John and Yoko' (The Beatles) and 'The Ballad of Perry Smith' (Bastille).

Band Name

For our band name, we have decided to go with... The Porcupines!

There were a few factors which influenced this decision. Firstly, as the song is by a band called The Pretenders, we thought we'd pay homage to this by also using The P.... Having a band name with 'The' at the start is not uncommon for a band of this genre and era, for example, The Beatles, The Clash, The Rolling Stones, and many many others. Another reason we decided to go with The Porcupines is the use of the animal name. Again, many artists choose to use animal names in their name, The Beatles, The Animals, and more recently, Arctic Monkeys are just a few examples.

With these factors in mind, we narrowed it down to The Porcupines!

Filming Day One

Today we finally started filming! Later than would have liked to due to illness and bad weather but we've started nonetheless. There were a couple of issues with filming in stations and using a tripod which we've spoken about in the blog below.

Creating Animations

After doing some research into different animating software, we've decided to go with Adobe After Effects. I had a look into also using Photoshop as this is what I was suggested by illustrator Maddy Vian, but I think After Effects is going to be more suitable for exactly what we want. This video tutorial for how to use the animation/ scribble effect is really helpful, and I think we'll use this as a step-by-step guide when it comes to actually adding the animations.

Forgetting the Plate

When we got to filming yesterday, we quickly realised that we had a tripod and phone clip but no plate to attach them with. As a quick fix we used a piece of ribbon we Rachel had on her to tie the phone and clip to the tripod.

This worked surprisingy well and kept the phone really steady, but it has remindind us that we need to be more prepared when we film our final footage! We are, however, keeping the ribbon attached to the tripod as we might use it as reinforcements when we film.

Practice Shots

As we have planned to film quite a few shots on trains and tubes, we decided to go out and test out different lines to see which is the smoothest as a way to reduce shaky footage and reshoots.

On Monday, we spent a couple of hours filming on both the overground and underground to see where we would get the steadiest shots. Luckily for us it was more successful than we anticipated; both went well so we could film on either, but we've decided to go ahead with the overground for the opening and closing shots,and the underground for the single shots during the montage section of the video.

As the video shows, both the trains and the tubes were pretty steady.

That's What I Like- Bruno Mars

Storyboard

Below are some photos of our completed storyboard for 'Don't Get Me Wrong'. We have started each new verse on a new piece of paper in order to help us edit to the beat and clearly see where the music changes. As this years task is a lot more focused on timings and editing to the beat, we have written the lyrics above their relative shots as this will also help us determine how long they should be.

Between sheet 7 and 8, there is an instrumental break in the music where we will include a montage of various shots. This 36 second break has not been storyboarded as we are going cut a lot of shots together. We do however, have a list of locations where we are planning to shoot the montage shots.

Take On Me- A-Ha

Holy Commotion- The Pretenders

Lyrics and Timings

'Don't Get Me Wrong' is split up into very distinctive verses and instrumental sections. The timings are as follows:
17s- instrumental
19s- verse 1
21s- verse 2
16s- instrumental
19s- verse 3
21s- verse 4
18s- verse 5
36s- instrumental
19s- verse 6
37s- verse 7


Lyrics
Don't get me wrong
If I'm looking kind of dazzled
I see neon lights
Whenever you walk by

Don't get me wrong
If you say hello and I take a ride
Upon a sea where the mystic moon
Is playing havoc with the tide
Don't get me wrong

Don't get me wrong
If I'm acting so distracted
I'm thinking about the fireworks
That go off when you smile

Don't get me wrong
If I split like light refracted
I'm only off to wander
Across a moonlit mile

Once in awhile
Two people meet
Seemingly for no reason
They just pass on the street
Suddenly thunder, showers everywhere
Who can explain the thunder and rain
But there's something in the air

Don't get me wrong
If I come and go like fashion
I might be great tomorrow
But hopeless yesterday

Don't get me wrong
If I fall in the 'mode of passion'
It might be unbelievable
But let's not say so long
It might just be fantastic
Don't get me wrong

Contacting Maddy Vian

As mentioned before, we took inspiration from Savannah Brown's 'Loving Like An Existentialist' video which was animated by freelance illustrator Maddy Vian. I decided to contact Maddy through Twitter to see if she was able to give us some tips for creating our own. She was really helpful and let us know how she created the effects for Savannah's video and we can consider this method when we create our own animations.

Loving Like an Existentialist

Savannah Brown's 'Loving Like An Existentialist' video features similar animations to what we are planning on adding to our music video. The small, doodle style drawings (created by freelance illustrator Maddy Vian) add a simple yet effective dimension to the video, something we feel really brings it to life.

If we were to add similar style animations to our video, they would act as an extension of our protagonist and display his inner thoughts and actions in a more creative way than filming alone can express.

Reasons for Change

As discussed in yesterday's post, Rachel and I have decided to again change our idea for our music video and continue with 'Don't Get Me Wrong' rather than 'Hitsville UK'. Listed below are some reasons as to why we decided to rethink our pitch.

Filming in School- There were a lot of parts of the video that we had planned to film in school, but we then thought it would be hard to look realistic. As we go to an all girls school, we would have to use extras and other people in the background to create the illusion that it was a mixed school as our protagonist is male. As well as this, it would prove difficult to film in school as our actor goes to a ifferent school and does not have home study periods where he could meet us tofilm, The majority of our filming would have to be done after school and on weekends, times when we are unable tofilm in school.

Storyboarding- Whilst trying to storyboard we were finding it difficult to make the video interesting and we were discovering that neither of us were really invested into the video. We continued with it as we were unsure of what to do instead but since coming up with our new idea we are feeling much more positive. Since changing to 'Don't Get Me Wrong', we already have many more ideas for our video.

Genre/ Product- The video we had planned to produce was begining to feel more like a film opening as there weren't many elements of music video. With the new idea, there are more opportunities for us to conform to music video conventions such as clear verses for editing to the beat.

'Don't Get Me Wrong'- The Third and Final Idea

Over the last few weeks, we have been planing our music video for 'Hitsville UK', however we have come to the decision that we are no longer going to continue with this. There are a few reasons for why we have decided to change our idea which I will discuss in another post. However for now, we have decided to rethink our pitch and both myself and Rachel are much happier with the new plan.

We've decided to continue with a song called 'Don't Get Me Wrong' by The Pretenders, a song which is ultimately about being too shy or embarrassed to tell someone how you really feel. For this song we thought we could create a video which almost resembles a modern day fairytale.

The idea is that we would have a male and female character, most probably our friends Ted and Catherine. We want to have these characters have a brief encounter, possibly just bumping into each other in the street or sitting together on a busy tube, something that will put them in the same environment and for enough time to have them notice each other. We would then have the female character leave the scene but have left something behind, maybe a phone. This prompts Ted's character to search for her round London, following the famous landmarks on his way, in order to give it back to her. We haven't yet decided on the ending, if we're to follow convention then we'll have them meet, but we're not sure yet.

A modern day Cinderella!

Shot Ideas/ Locations

Whilst in the library, Rachel and I noticed a few potential shot locations we could use whilst filming in school. Here are some pictures we took of shots we could use:

We thought a shot of the protagonist through the book shelf would really emphasise the idea this is set in a school. It's a typical location within a school and one that all viewers will relate to.

With this shot of the school fences, we could use it to show the protagonists isolation from the other school kids. A quick sketch of this potetntial shot shows our character walking behind the fence, separated from the groups of other kids laughing and chatting at the tables in the foreground.

Intertextual References- 'The Book'

In Andrew Goodwin's 'Dancing In The Distraction Factory' theory, he suggests that intertextual references are an important fact of music videos. This is when references to other media are made in the video, something which we will incorporate into our music video through 'the book'.

As our central character is intended to be the past self of the lead singer, he will carry around a note book with him which the audience sees as his prized possession, something that never leaves his side. Throughout the book there will be references to hit Clash songs, with famous lines or doodles representing lyrics featured on different pages. These will be our intertextual references.

 
^possible ideas for the notebook and doodles style

Song Timings

As the brief specifies that the music video we create is around the 3 minute mark, we are going to need to cut and edit parts of the track as it is 4:28.

The timings of the original song are as follows:
0:00- 0:14 -1st instrumental
0:14- 0:24 - 2nd instrumental
0:24- 1:11 - 1st verse
1:12 - "Remember!"
1:13- 1:59 - 2nd verse
2:00 - "So Hit It!"
2:01- 2:24- 3rd instrumental
2:24- 2:53- 3rd verse
2:53- 3:49- 4th verse
3:50- 4:28- repeated last line

We are going to cut off the repeated last line as a) it is too long, and b) we think the message of the song is clear through only including the last line twice- this allows for us to easily shave 40 seconds off the song without having to alter the middle. This brings the song to 3:50, which is still too long, but getting closer to the ideal time. At the moment we are editing out different parts of the song to see which bit we can lose without losing the essence of the song whilst reaching the right time.

'Hitsville UK' Lyrcis Analysis

Here's the lyrics to our new choice of song, Hitsville UK. I have highlaighted some lyrics which we feel could be shown through the video.

mise-en-scene
intertextual referencs
concept/ narrative

They cried the tears, they shed the fears,
Up and down the land,
They stole guitars or used guitars
So the tape would understand,
Without even the slightest hope of a thousand sales
Just as if, as if there was, a Hitsville in U.K.,
I know the boy was all alone, til the Hitsville hit U.K.

They say true talent will always emerge in time,
When lightening hits small wonder 
Its fast rough factory trade,
No expense accounts, or lunch discounts
Or hyping up the charts,
The band went in, 'n knocked 'em dead, in 2 min. 59

- No slimy deals, with smarmy eels - in Hitsville U.K.
Lets shake'n say, we'll operate - in Hitsville U.K.
The mutants, creeps and musclemen,
Are shaking like a leaf,
It blows a hole in the radio,
When it hasn't sounded good all week,
A mic n boom, in your living room - in Hitsville U.K.
No consumer trials, or A.O.R., in Hitsville U.K.,
Now the boys and girls are not alone,
Now the Hitsville's hit U.K.

Song Choice and Idea Pitch

So, our final song choice is 'Hitsville UK' by The Clash. In our pitch we have discussed the plot and idea we are planning to follow and gone through factors such as intertextual references, coatumes and props, and filming locations.

Video Concept
Unlike typical music videos from the post-punk genre, we have decide to create a narativ video rather than a performance video. The plot line would follow the protagonist through his day to day life where he's often seen alone in school and unpopular. Throughout the video there will be small hints that suggest the character is infact the lead singer of The Clash 'pre fame', and shows how he was at aschool. A focal point of the video will be 'the book', which I will discuss in a separate blog post.

Possible Song Choices

We've thought of some more possible song choices, at the moment it's between:
- Boys Don't Cry- The Cure
- Smile- Lily Allen
- Hitsville UK- The Clash
- Town Called Malice- The Jam

I really like Hitsville UK and think there's a lot we could do with that song, it's really interesting how it's nothing like any other song from The Clash and could be a totally different style music video to some of their others.

New Group and Possible Ideas

After our Christmas music video didn't work out, Rachel and I have teamed up with Abbie and George to see what we can come up with together. After talking to eachother in class it seems that we have quite different styles, but this could help to push eachother out of our comfort zones and create something we never would have before.

A couple of ideas for songs we've come up with so far as a group are 'Smile' by Lily Allen and 'Boys Don't Cry' by The Cure, but nothing's been finalised yet.

Chistmas Video- Update

Unfortunately, we've had to no longer continue with our Christmas music video as we've realised just how unfeasible it will be. As we'd need to create Christmas in either mine or Rachel's house for a few days whilst we filmed, we'd need everyone to be available for a few long days of filming, which is just not possible with young children. The only times at which we'd be able to film with children for a few days is during half terms or school holidays, which just isn't possible with the people we would like to use. My cousin lives quite far and has different half term dates to us, and my friend with the younger brother is away for half term.

Onto the next idea...

'Step Into Christmas' lyrics

These are the lyrics to the song we've decided to use. We thought about ideas which would work with the song, and there are a few things we've thought of. 

-mise en scene we could incorporate

Welcome to my Christmas song
I'd like to thank you for the year
So I'm sending you this Christmas card
To say it's nice to have you here
I'd like to sing about all the things
Your eyes and mind can see
So hop aboard the turntable
Oh step into Christmas with me

Step into Christmas
Let's join together
We can watch the snow fall forever and ever
Eat, drink and be merry
Come along with me
Step into Christmas
The admission's free

Take care in all you do next year
And keep smiling through the days
If we can help to entertain you
Oh we will find the ways
So merry Christmas one and all
There's no place I'd rather be
Than asking you if you'd oblige
Stepping into Christmas with me

Step into Christmas
Let's join together
We can watch the snow fall forever and ever
Eat, drink and be merry
Come along with me
Step into Christmas
The admission's free
Oh oh oh
La la la la

Welcome to my Christmas song
I'd like to thank you for the year
So I'm sending you this Christmas card
To say it's nice to have you here
I'd like to sing about all the things
Your eyes and mind can see
So hop aboard the turntable
Oh step into Christmas with me

Step into Christmas
Let's join together
We can watch the snow fall forever and ever
Eat, drink and be merry
Come along with me
Step into Christmas
The admission's free

Step into Christmas
Let's join together
We can watch the snow fall forever and ever
Eat, drink and be merry
Come along with me
Step into Christmas
The admission's free

Step into Christmas
Let's join together
We can watch the snow fall forever and ever
Eat, drink and be merry
Come along with me
Step into Christmas
The admission's free

Oh oh

Step, step into Christmas
Oh for ever and ever
Yeah come along with me
Now
oh oh oh oh

Step, step into Christmas
Oh for ever and ever
Yeah come along with me
Now

Song Choice

For our Christmas music video, Rachel and myself have decided to use Elton John's Step Into Christmas.

We thought this song would be a good one to use as it is very upbeat, fast paced and also allows for editing to the beat. One of the most important things to me and Rachel is that the song has a happy, joyful feel to it, rather than sad or slow. Much like our AS final film, we wanted to create something fun, and Step Into Christmas would definitely allow us to do so.

Moodboard

Here's a moodboard for a Christmas music video:

Possible Song Choices

If we were to go with the idea of a Christmas music video, these are some songs we could possibly use.

Elton John- Step Into Christmas


Wizard- I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday


Shakin' Stevens- Merry Christmas Everyone

Christmas Music Video

For our music video, we have decided that we want to create something different and unique. A  genre I have never seen done by past students is the Christmas song genre, and this is something we think could be really fun to explore.

The idea we have had follows a young child (around 6 years old) very early on Christmas morning as they creep downstairs and begin to wreak havoc in the house by opening presents, pulling all the crackers, making fake snow, etc. Towards the end of the song we would have either the rest of the family or just one family member (most likely the 'older sister' of the child) come down to find the house covered in wrapping and cracker gifts with the child sat in the middle having fun. It would be a very fun, light-hearted video to an upbeat Christmas song.

There would be a strong focus on the mise-en-scene and costume with the house being highly decorated and there being seasonal features like the tree, cards on the shelves, and stockings over the fire. We'd also have everyone dressed in Christmas pyjamas. For this video, there are a couple of people we have in mind for filming. As the child would need to be fully comfortable around us, we thought we could use my cousin (6) and myself as the older sister as then she would be totally comfortable being filmed. Failing this, my friend and her 4 year old brother would also be up for taking part and, again, would be comfortable around each other.

Genre Research: Florence + The Machine

Florence + Machine are a British band who formed in 2007. The lead vocalist, Florence Welch, is 31 and currently working on solo endeavours, as well as being a part of the band. Their main genre is classed as indie rock but could stray into other variations such as indie pop, and has become a very popular style of music. 

Their videos consist a lot of narrative story lines with lip-syncing integrated into it. However they also have videos which are entirely abstract/ performance with no narrative. 

Genres

Music genres can vary massively and all have different conventions that put them within that specific genre. With a lot of modern music there are cross overs, where conventions of two genres are used to create a hybrid, for example, indie/rock or indie/pop.

Some of the individual genres that can be explore are: pop, rock, indie, jazz, country, classical, r'n'b, hiphop, soul and many other variations within these.

The genre I will be looking at most is pop, including crossovers into indie pop. I will be delving into various conventions of pop music, videos from specific artists, how these artists are presented in the media, and analyses of their videos.

Film Opening VS Music Video Prelim

From making our preliminary task, it is already hugely obvious some of the differences between making a music video and a film opening.

The main difference, I found, is the style of editing. Editing to the beat is massively important as I feel like it helps for the video to flow well and match to the music. As pointed out by Andrew Goodwin, 'editing to the beat' is essential for a music video as it forms a relationship with music and visuals. In our AS coursework, we had a small introduction to editing to the beat, as there are 2 titles which appear when the music changes; though not essential to the film opening, it would definitely be an important factor to a music video. As this is such an important factor, it will require much more planning in regards to shot length and pace of shots than our film opening did. 

Prelim Feedback

The feedback from our preliminary task was really positive. After showing itto the class, we recieved a few comments such as:

"great matching of props and costumes" - Izabell

"editing to the beat was done so well" - Emma 

"the accuracy of this compared to the original is so good!" -Lucy

Final Prelim

Here is the final video of our preliminary task.

Prelim Filming

When filming our prelim we decided to take pictures rather than film each shot, as many of the shots were still, or had a subtle zoom. As the zooming feature on the iPhone is not as subtle as we would've liked, we decided to take a photo of the shot and use the 'Ken Burns' effect on iMovie to create an inwards zoom.




The actors we chose when filming were used as they looked similar to the actors used in the original, especially our friend Emma. 

We also managed to find very similar outfits to those used, when we thought we would finding a green, patterned shirt to borrow for Emma to wear would be difficult.

Prelim- storyboard and planning

Below is the storyboard which we will work from when filming our preliminary task. We've used screenshots from the original video as our pictures and noted down their duration, shot type, and any camera movements involved in order to make ours as close to the original as possible. It also clearly lays out any props or costumes we would need. Unlike our AS prelim, this was filmed in a variety of locations and so we didn't use the storyboard as a way of organising a shooting schedule, however it did prove useful for recreating the original shots.

Duration: 5 seconds
Shot Type: wide to mid
Movement: zoom





Duration: 3 seconds
Shot Type: close up
Movement: none





Duration: 2 seconds
Shot Type: close up
Movement: none

Duration: 3 seconds
Shot Type: wide
Movement: none






Duration:  2 seconds
Shot Type: wide
Movement: sideways track






Duration: 2 seconds
Shot Type: mid
Movement: none






Duration: 1.5 seconds
Shot Type: n/a- animated
Movement: zoom out






Duration: 1 second
Shot Type: mid
Movement: upwards track






Duration: 1 second
Shot Type: mid/ close up
Movement: none






Duration: 2 seconds
Shot Type: wide to mid
Movement: zoom






Duration: 3 seconds
Shot Type: close up
Movement: none






Duration: 4 seconds
Shot Type: mid/ wide
Movement: none