Monday 27 January 2014

Editing




As you can see by the top photo, there was a lack of bright light when filming in the cafe, therefore I have increased the brightness on imovie, so that it looks like the bottom photo, this makes it look almost vintage.
I have also decreased the pace of some scenes which I think are important such as the exchanging of numbers and helping up the stairs, this will add a bit of  difference to the scenes so that they do not seem tedious.

Monday 20 January 2014

Tracklist

I am beginning to come up with song names for the digipak, I am going to use words that revolve around the theme of love.

1) Only one
2) Lovestruck
3) Unwritten
4) Words
5) Rollercoaster
6) The View
7) Mirrors
8) If Only
9) The End

The songs may be a bit cliché however they are centred around love etc.

Another plan of action

My teacher gave me a great idea to video in a café whilst in town tomorrow, previous students have used blakes café on grey street so it is not off course for us heading to leazes park. I am going to ring the café to ask permission for us to use the café early on in the morning so that we don't disrupt any customers or business, and of course we will be buying food and drinks
for their cooperation.

Plan for tomorrow

Tomorrow I am visiting Leazes park in Newcastle with my two actors to film more of the music video, hopefully we can get most of the filming done here. On the way there and back I am also going to film them in points of the day when they don't realise such as the metro journey over there, this will get footage that isn't acted and looks more real, considering they are best friends and could get some great footage.

If we have time I am hoping to also get photos taken of myself for the ancillary tasks, however I still want the use of fairy lights.

Also if possible I am wanting to go to the quayside to film some more footage however it is at the opposite end of town and the quickest way to get there is foot, and we only have a certain amount of time before needing to be back at school.

Ancillary task photos

When taking ancillary task photos just to give me an idea for the layout I came across a health and safety problem. For my photos I am wanting to use a pitch black room with fairy lights all around myself and possibly the room, however it has just came to my attention that if I was to do this in school it would propose numerous health and safety precautions, something which I am going to have to discuss with the technician at school.

A problem with the font


This is a problem I found when testing the font on a picture, since I only transfer the fonts, the background from where I am selecting it appears on the photo, this is a problem I am going to have to find a solution for. I will have to speak to a technician about possibly enabling me to download the font so this wont happen or I will have to get photoshop at home and do it there, if none of these ideas work then I am going to have to find a font on photoshop that will be suitable.

The fonts

These are the fonts I selected from the wide variety dafonts offered. I wanted to go for a signature type look for the artists name, therefore the font needs to be handwritten however still look professional, which is why I feel the bottom font would be best.

Ancillary Task

In first lesson I have been looking at various fonts for both my digipak and album advertisement, I want a font that is simple, clear yet has an edge to it. Photoshop does not have many fonts like this so I am using a website called 'dafont' which features a vast amount of different fonts which I could download and use in photoshop, I would however have to do this at home because of the restrictions at school. In order to post the different fonts on my blog I am print screening the page of the font, copy and pasting it then putting it on photoshop.

Monday 6 January 2014

Problems



When messing on with the editing I found the problem that when editing two different clips which I recorded at the same time the lighting was different when I made the contrast diffent. Although I made the contrast the same percentage on both clips they are noticeably different, this could be a problem throughout the whole of my filming process. Unfortunately it is going to be difficult to overcome this however I will have to make the best possible effort to make it look professional.

First Day Back

Today is the first day back from the holidays and I am beginning to edit the footage I have by messing on with lighting etc and removing the sound. I have not started filming from the very start of my music video as I am videoing the more simple parts first. Therefore I will be saving the footage I have edited so that I can just combine the clips.

Sunday 5 January 2014

Elements of a Music Video


Elements of a Music Video
Andrew Goodwin, in 1992, identified a number of key features which distinguish the music video as a form:

There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals (with visuals either illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics)
There is a relationship between the music and the visuals (again with visuals either illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the music)
Particular music genres may have their own music video style and iconography (such as live stage performance in heavy rock)
There is a demand on the part of the record company for lots of close-ups of the main artist/vocalist
The artist may develop their own star iconography, in and out of their videos, which, over time, becomes part of their star image.
There is likely to be reference to voyeurism, particularly in the treatment of women, but also in terms of systems of looking (screens within screens, binoculars, cameras, etc)
There are likely to be intertextual references, either to other music videos or to films and TV texts
In addition, Steve Archer in Media Magazine 8 has drawn attention to the need to consider the relationship between narrative and performance in music promos.

The key elements of a music video are:

Lyrics
Lyrics tend to help establish a general feeling, or mood, or sense of subject matter rather than offering a coherent meaning. Key lines may play a part in the visuals associated with the song but very rarely will a music video simply illustrate the lyrics completely.

Music
A music video tends to make use of the tempo of the track to drive the editing and may emphasise particular sounds from the track by foregrounding instruments such as a guitar, keyboard or drum solo.

Genre
While some music videos transcend genres, others can be more easily categorised. Some, but not all, music channels concentrate on particular music genres. If you watch these channels over a period of time, you will be able to identify a range of distinct features which characterise the videos of different genres. These features might be reflected in types of mise en scene, themes, performance, camera and editing styles.

Camerawork
As with any moving image text, how the camera is used and how images are sequenced has a significant impact on meaning. Camera movement, angle and shot distance all need to be analysed. Camera movement may accompany movement of performers (walking, dancing etc) but it may also be used to create a more dynamic feel to stage performance, for instance, by constantly circling the band as they perform on stage. The close up predominated, as in most TV, partly because of the size he screen and partly because of the desire to create a sense of intimacy for the viewer. It also emphasises half of the commodity on sale - the artist, and particularly the voice. John Stewart of Oil Factory said that he sees the music video essentially as having the aesthetics of the TV commercial, with lots of close-ups and lighting being used to focus on the star's face.

Editing
Although the most common form of editing associated with the music promo is fast-cut montage, rendering many of the images impossible to grasp on first viewing, so ensuring multiple viewing, some videos use slow pace and gentler shot transitions to establish mood. This is particularly apparent in promos for many female solo artists with a broad audience appeal, such as Dido. Often enhancing the editing are digital effects, which play with the original images to offer different kinds of pleasure for the audience. This might takr the form of split-screens, colourisation and of course the use of blockbuster film style CGI special effects.

Intertextuality
The music video is often described as a 'post-modern' form, a slippery term which is sometimes used to mean intertextuality, one of the post-modernism's more easily identifiable features. Broadly, if we see music promos as frequently drawing upon existing texts in order to spark recognition in the audience, we have a working definition of intertextuality. Not all audiences will necessarily spot a reference and this need is not significantly detract form their pleasure in the text itself, but greater pleasure might be derived by those who recognise the reference and feel flattered by this. Arguably, it also increases the audience's engagement with, and attentiveness to the product, an important facility in a culture where so many images and narratives compete for our attention.

It is perhaps not surprising that so many music videos draw upon cinema as a starting point, since their directors are often film school graduates intending to move on to the film industry itself. From Madonna's 'Material Girl' (Mary Lambert, 1985) which drew on the song sequence Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend and Howard Hawks' film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (USA, 1953), to 2Pac and Dr Dre's California Love (Hype Williams, 1996) which referenced George Miller's Mad Max (AU, 1979), there are many examples of cinematic references in music video. Television is often a point of reference as well, as in the Beastie Boys' spoof cop-show title sequence for Sabotage (Spike Jonze, 1994) or REM's news show parody Bad Day (Tim Hope, 2003). People see visual references in music video as coming from a range of sources, although the three most frequent are perhaps cinema, fashion and art photography. Fashion sometimes takes the form of specific catwalk references and sometimes even the use of supermodels, as by Robin Thicke in Blurred Lines (Diane Martel, 2013). Probably the most memorable example of reference to fashion photography (and to the fetishistic photography of Helmut Newton) is Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love (Terence Donovan, 1986), parodied many times for its band of mannequin style females, fronted by a besuited Palmer. 

A description of music video as 'incorporating, raiding and reconstructing' is essentially the essence of intertextuality, using something with which the audience may be familiar, to generate both nostalgic associations and new meanings. It is perhaps more explicitly ecident in the music video than in any other media form, with the possible exception of advertising. It is suspected that the influence of videogames on music videos, particularly for younger audiences, has generated more plasticised looking characters.

Narrative and performance
Narrative in songs, as in poetry, is rarely complete and often fragmentary. The same is true of music promos, which tend to suggest storylines or offer complex fragments in a non-linear order, leaving the viewer with the desire to see them again. Often music videos will cut between a narrative and a performance of the song by the band. Additionally, a carefully choreographed dance might be a part of the artist's performance or an extra aspect of the video designed to aid visualisation and the 'repeatability' factor. Sometimes, the artist (especially the singer) will be a part of the story, acting as narrator and participant at the same time. But it is the lip-synch close-up and the miming of playing instruments that remains at the heart of the music videos, as if to assure us that the band can really kick it. 

The video allows the audience more varied access to the performer than a stage performance can. The close-up, allowing eye contact and close observation of facial gestures, and role-play, within a narrative framework, present the artist in a number of ways not possible in a live concert. The mise en scene  in particular can be used:
As a guarantee of 'authenticity' of a band's musical virtuosity by showing them in a stage performance or a rehearsal room;
To establish a relationship to familiar film or television genres in a narrative-based video;
As a part of the voyeuristic context by suggesting a setting associated with sexual allure, such as a sleazy nightclub or boudoir;
Or to emphasise an aspirational lifestyle, as in the current emphasis on the latest gadgetry
Other commentators have identified some other styles in music videos, including gothic, animated, dreamscapes, portraiture, furutistic and home movie.

My Album Advertisement


For my album advertisement I want the same image used as is on my album cover, I want to keep the same theme by keeping it plain and simple, this will hopefully have the same strong effect as my album cover does. I'm going to keep the same colour scheme etc so that it looks professional and will be easier for my buyers to find it in the shops.

Album Advertisement

Album Advertisement

DigiPak Template



http://www.discwizards.com/cd-dvd-artwork-templates.htm
I found this template online and propose to use it to create my digipak to the correct measurements.

My Digipak

After analysing numerous digipaks I have decided that I am going to keep mine simple yet effective. I want a close up of the artist and for her not to be sexualised, this will keep to my target audience as also highlights the story of my music video, breaking conventions. The text will also be simple with very few fonts as I do not want it to look over crowded and an organised mess because these types of digipaks did not appeal to me.

Last Years Digipak


Image: 
The image is simple, yet powerful with its blurred effect. 

They have kept the background plain which helps to focus on the image more. 

And there is also no image on the back of the cd which once again helps you focus on the text. 

Text: 
The text is highly simple and only features a few fonts which keeps with the theme of the cover. The artist and album name are very small however the album name is bigger, this may be because the artist they have created is successful therefore does not need a huge text.

Track List: 
The trakclist is simple once again like the album cover, making the song clear and easy to read. 

Production Info: 
The production info like the rest of digipaks I have analysed is smaller and placed at the bottom of the album. 

Existing Digipak


Image: 
The image is of the artist on a carousel horse, sticking with the theme of the digipak which is obviously circus themed. Unlike Ellie Gouldings digipak, Pink is showing a lot more flesh, she is known for her raunchy behaviour etc, therefore this appeals to her target audience and attracts them to buy the album.

The background of the album sticks with the circus theme by being very loud and bright, the colour pink seems to be used alot obviously in correspondence with the artists name. 

Text: 
The album name and artist name are surprisingly the same size, unlike Ellie Gouldings where the artists name was significantly bigger, this may be because Pink is a more popular artist therefore is recognised more.

Track List: 
The track list keeps up with the fun theme by varying in font so that the audience are attracted to it more.

Production Info: 
This is small and like the last digipak is in a different colour however much smaller than the rest of the album. 


Existing Digipak



Image:
Shows the artist at an extreme close-up with a series of lights surrounding her, there is no sexuality to her image at all, which is breaking the conventions of a typical female album, showing that she has a specific target audience. 

The background is dark inorder for herself and the lights to stand out, the use of the lights is in correspondence with the name of the album.

There is no image on the back, it is highly simple and just features the names of the songs as if they are alight. 

Text:
The text is highly simple much like the design of the digipak, this enables the text to stand out more so you can clearly see the artist and the album name, although the album name is much smaller than the artist as you are buying the album because of the artist therefore it needs to be apparent that it is her album. 

Track List: 
The track list is very simple following the same theme as the rest of the album, they are simply listen with no numbers etc, just keeping it simple. 

Production Info: 
The production info is in a different colour to the rest of the album however is significantly smaller and not really noticeable. 

Intertextuality



The reason I am going to intertextualise 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' into my music video is because the story line for the film is where I gained my inspiration for the music video, I have always loved Ellie Goulding - The End as it stood out to me on the album as not being like her other songs and it just so happened that I was a big fan of this film when it was in the cinema and the two just seemed to fit. I am going to try and get a hold of the book and have one of my actors carry it or put it in the background of a shot if suitable.

Christmas Holidays

Over the christmas holidays I have been focusing on improving my blog and working on the ancillary tasks, I will post the photos for my ancillary task later on today as I am uncertain about them and the whole concept, however I am going to carry on with my research so I can get the best possible product.