DVD Cover/Magazine Designs

For the ancillary tasks, we have to individually create a DVD cover for the release of an album along with a magazine advert promoting the release of the DVD. As a design feature, we had to watch our videos again to get ideas that we could incorporate into our designs. After watching our video, I decided that much of the effects and lighting we used was of a deep red colour, therefore I decided to use a firey design on the outer DVD cover and Magazine advert, creating a marketing link between the two products. The tracklisting in the inside DVD cover I have designed in a scrawly, almost grafitti like style, reflecting the almost angry tone of our genre.

I have also thought about audience, and generally bands in the drum n'bass genre are usually quite explicit with their videos and/or lyrics - therefore, I have decided to "certify" my DVD release as available to those only over 15 years of age, a clue to the audience I am trying to reach.

Refilming - 4th November 2009

Today, we were able to refilm the band segment to our Music Video - I felt this filming session was much more successful than the previous one, as we had enough actors for a full band along with a male singer who looked more of a singer in the genre.

Again, we were able to get many interesting shots of all band members - I was in charge of using the Fig Rig to film the segment which included the guitarist. I feel some successful shots came out of this, as I was able to capture some interesting close ups and tracking shots into the guitar, which is an improvement on the mise en scene from our last filming session.

Now, we need to upload the footage onto Final Cut Express and review it, to ensure it's good enough to use in our final music video.

Refilming Band Sequence

As a group, we have decided (along with the deadline coming up for the music video) to refilm the live band sequence sometime this week. Although from a cinematography point of view the last session was fine, the mise en scene of the footage was a problem.

Therefore, I feel it will benefit us as a group to plan out props and costume - this will mean having to think about our genre a lot, and will mean having to use authentic props to give the final produt a sense of realism.

Initial Editing

Now, we were able to being to edit sequences within our Music Video - the software now worked which obviously worked to our group's advantage. As I knew the basics of how Final Cut Express worked, I was able to give a quick tutorial to my group as to how to use it. This included describing the process of 'in' and 'out' points for footage and using the blade tool to cut up pieces of footage on the timeline.

As a start, I put some of the band footage on the timeline in time with the music to show the simplicity to the group of how to edit. John decided to put together some of the narration footage which made a good introduction to the film - the shots had quite a fast pace and some of the shots which were added in were interesting to watch.

Refilming DHM/Decks

In the lesson on Friday 16th October, the room in which the decks were kept was free, so we decided to refilm the decks sequence for our music video. This time, we ensured that the lighting was correct as we found that was a major problem the last time we filmed (such as seeing the lights on the vinyl records). We therefore was able to change the lighting which added more atmosphere and looked good on screen.

This filming session was more successful as we were able to get much more interesting shots with interesting angles. These included close up shots of the decks as the records were spinning, which gave some interesting shots when we uploaded the footage to Final Cut the lesson after.

Editing

Today, our group done two things - we had to upload some more footage which had been sadly lost, but this gave us the opportunity to experiment with some of the effects that Final Cut had to offer us.

We found some interesting effects, one I particularly liked was called "Indent" - it gave the video almost a serious cartoon look, and made the frames darker which would fit in with the style of our song.

As I have used Final Cut before, I began to see if some of the performance segment we filmed would fit in with our track - I done this by setting an 'in' and 'out' point from the footage we needed which fit the mp3 version of the song - this seemed to be successful, but as we have decicded to reshoot some of this segment, the footage was not the final version.

Uploading Footage 2

In today's lesson, due to some technical difficulties the lesson before, we re-imported our narrative section of our Music Video. For now, we did not re-import all of our footage, meaning we could analyse what we filmed for the narrative section.

I feel the footage we filmed was successful - we were able to get interesting shots using parts of the location to our advantage, such as allowing the camera to look through the trees, as if something is hidden to create a sense of unease for the audience.

We also achieved other things in today's lesson. I was able to find an MP3 version of our song which I imported into the timeline of our Final Cut project, and used the select tool to move the track to the beginning of the timeline where our clips would line up. In this lesson, Georgina also redrafted one of our storyboard sheets to fit in with the new footage we'd filmed for the narrative, but also due to the group decision to abandon the 'rave' idea - we thought it was impractical, especially getting the right number of people to take part in the segment.

Uploading Footage

For the previous lessons, we have been uploading our footage to Final Cut Express, the editing software which we will be using to create our Music Video. Although there have been some problems with uploading (such as frames being dropped and having difficulty saving), we have been able to come up with a general idea of how our footage looks.

WWW:
- Good Lighting,
- Interesting Camera Movements With Fig Rig,
- Decent Mise en Scene,
- Good Framing on Stationary Shots,

However, some of the things such as props and actors in shot we feel needs to be changed, which has made us think to refilm some segments of our footage.

Third Filming Session

After school today, myself, James and Georgina filmed the live band segments of our Music Video. Obviously, due to the reduced number of people, we had to rethink the members of our band. Therefore, whilst Georgina arranged the music and lighting, me and James took roles as the musicians (me as a bassist and James as the drummer).

I thought it was effective just having drums and bass as our artist, reflecting our genre of Drum n Bass. I thought using a number of cameras was a good idea, as we were able to get a variety of different angles for one performance. I also enjoyed using the 'fig-rig' - whilst filming the drum kit, I was able to get interesting sweeping shots and steadicam shots, which I am looking forward to editing together later in the construction stage.

Part of our plan this afternoon was to re-film the decks sequence, but we could not do this in the end due to the absence of John. Therefore, we will have to rethink a time to film the DJ sequence.

Although I felt a majority of this afternoon's filming was successful, I feel that when we review our footage we will need to re-film some stuff. However, this is all part of the process, and happens within the industry.

Successful Second Filming Session

Today, we decided to film some of our narrative section in lesson, as it was a dull/overcast day which meant it was darker than usual. We found a suitable location round the back of the Sports Hall, which was overgrown and damp which we felt was suitable for the dark, secluded place needed for the narrative section.

In all, we got about 5 minutes of footage, but many of these were for short flashes and short segments. We were able to keep to much of our storyboards, getting close ups of syringes and the belt. However, we were able to get more interesting shots when we saw what we had to work with in our location. For example, when we arrived there we found some warning signs, which were bright yellow in colour - vibrant and bold. I was therefore able to get some interesting steadicam shots using the tripod, the handheld giving a sense of unease which is suitable to our music video.

I was also happy with a shot in which we see the two characters on the stairs as there is a lot of light behind them, meaning they are hidden in silhouette which adds to the mystery of the narrative section. Although perhaps we could have thought about location more, I feel that this morning's filming session was successful, but obviously we will need to review our footage when we upload to make a fully justified judgement.

Change of Plans

Due to many reasons, usually beyond our control, our group has made some different plans regarding filming. These reasons include rooms not being free during lesson time along with people not being able to turn up/people not being free for filming sessions. Today therefore, after discussion with our group, we have come up with this backup plan:

Wednesday 7th October 2009:

Film Live Band segment, with our group cast as the band. Use any available equipment from a music room, be sure to use a drama room so that lighting effects can be used. Costume will be: Smart black shirt with dark jeans. After we have filmed band segment, we will aim to go to another music room where we should be able to re-film the decks to make the shots better than before.

Thursday 8th October 2009:

Early finish - if we need to re-film any part from the shooting period yesterday, we will do it after school.

• Segment set in the forest/woody area will possibly be filmed at the weekend - spend an hour or two filming parts of the narrative.

Initial Filming - Decks/DHM

As part of our storyboard, and to fit in with the electronic genre, we decided to add some shots of decks being played by a DJ. We had the facilities for this in the Music Department, and a member of our group (John) was experienced in using the equipment, meaning the shots would look more authentic.

Some of the shots we filmed in this session were quite interesting - we were able to get some extreme close ups at interesting angles of the equipment in use, and was able to use authentic vinyl records on the deck to add realism to the shots. However, after reviewing some of the footage, we realised that the light on the ceiling was reflecting on the surface of the records - although we do not know the full extent of what is visible on screen, when we upload the footage we will review this scene and decide whether or not to reshoot the segment, to get the best quality results for our Music Video.

Props List

As with all Media Productions, we thought it was essential to create a props list that we could use during filming so that we would not forget any essential items needed to allow our video to work. There are two main segments to our Music Video, the performance section along with an narrative section - here are the props we thought we would need in each segment:

LIVE PERFORMANCE SEGMENT:

• Drum Kit
• Bass Guitar + Amp
• Electric Guitar + Amp
• Keyboard?
• Microphone (for Vocalist)
• Microphone Stand

NARRATIVE SEGMENT:

• Syringe
• Drink Can
• Lighter
• Belt/Ribbon

Although the props in the Narrative Segment may sound extreme, this is the sort of look and feel we want to our music video - we want the video to be shocking to the audience, almost as shocking as some of the lyrics present in the song.

Storyboarding

After looking at our lyrics and noting down initial ideas regarding some of the themes we thought were present in the lyrics, we began to storyboard our ideas. This involved a lot of discussion, listening to the track several times and looking at the lyrics to be sure that our ideas were solid and definite. With our storyboards, we tried to keep them in as order as they could be (although they may be uploaded to Blogger in the incorrect order), but also used similar colours that we would use within our Music Video so that we had an idea of the sort of Mise en Scene we would eventually go for.

Second Shooting Schedule

Here is a copy of our second shooting schedule. We have revised the dates that could not be done previously, and changed the dates accordingly. Creating a shooting schedule has allowed our group to be more organized and has improved our planning skills for our project - it has allowed us to be more efficient with our time.

"Tarantula" Lyrics

The main lyrical themes throughout "Tarantula" are quite simple - the song is made only of one verse and one chorus, each time the lyrics being the same content.

Whilst reading the lyrics and after realizing how aggressive and upfront our genre was, we thought that it might be effective almost to shock our audience. In the end, some of our initial ideas included shocking shots of things such as drug taking and alcohol abuse, to fit in with lyrics such as "Go-a your funeral". Although we are not illustrating the lyrics and taking them literally, we have decided to amplify the lyrics, and give them a new (although admittedly dark) meaning.

[Chorus]
The tarantula,
Time for the massive come sing ya
Blad tarantula
Don't play with my style I might sting ya
Blad tarantula
You want me inject me bacteria
And if ya body goin’ stiff
And your spine goin’ numb
Now come fi get some...

Massive! Time to fix you up something here right now!

[Verse]
Shotter, hitter, serial killer
Go-a your funeral and all drink out your liquor
When you are bury we a-stand next to the vicar
Fling on some dirt and make your bury a little quicker
Shouldn’t test the youth them in the Tommy Hilfiger
Hug up ya mama, say sorry to ya poppa
All-a get number for ya little sister
It true we cold like alaska, freezer

Shooting Schedule One

Here is the first draft of our shooting schedule, in which many of the filming days fell through due to actors/people we'd asked not being able to make it. One part of this essentially was the band not being able to make dates that we had usually thought about filming, and as we thought the band segments were a pivotal part of our Music Video, we decided to change the dates of filming to accommodate when the musicians would be free.

After discussion, we will put up another shooting schedule which will be the revised version and hopefully one that will be followed.

Filming a Live Band

As part of our Music Video, I thought it would be a good idea to have segments of a live band performing the song, as the instrumentation in the genre (such as electronic instruments i.e. guitars and synthesisers) I felt called for some aspects of live performance. As part of planning for this segment, I decided to watch a clip of the song "Tarantula" being performed live by Pendulum, so I could note down ideas to carry forward when we eventually film the live music segment of our Music Video:

• At the beginning of the song, there are long shots of the entire band, used almost to introduce the act and each member,
• There are lots of sweeping shots and other interesting cinematography such as crane shots and extreme close ups to keep the audience's interest,
• Cutaways are present usually showing aggression and attitude of the lead singer,
• There is some extremely fast cutting and some clips are sped up, to add excitement to the live performance, something I feel would be effective in the editing stage,
• There are many close ups of the instruments as they are being played, something I feel would look good within the style and genre of our Music Video.

Here is the clip I took this inspiration from, taken from an official DVD released by the artist:

Table of Specific Genre

Similar to the table that we produced before analyzing Music Videos of various genres, we had to produce a table analyzing three videos from our chosen genre of Electronic Rock/Drum n Bass. Similar to before, we analyzed such aspects as cinematography, costume, props and locations. This helped us more with the planning as it allowed us to see how the genre we had chosen was interpreted by other directors on video.

Pictures From Our Chosen Genre

As part of the research stage (and entering the planning stage), we decided to look at different images from bands from our chosen genre. These included artists such as "Pendulum" and "The Prodigy". Looking at these images were useful, as it allowed our group to decide how artists from our chosen genre were represented on film and in images. I came up with the following points regarding the images we had collected:

- Usually in dark clothing, normally in Black

- Look of attitude on their faces – quite angry, quite aggressive

- Live performance looks colourful and extravagant

- Some element of make-up in their image

- Costume is usually informal – denim, jeans etc.

- Opportunities for live performance aspects

- Usually made up of ‘strong’ looking males, tough/aggressive image

- Many of the band photos are close up, adding to the aggressive sort of image - it's quite intimidating to the audience.

Tarantula Song

Here is the song, uploaded to YouTube by a YouTube user:



The song has many sections to it, an interestingly "laid back" introduction with overtones of the Reggae style, which led us to choose the song. Later on in the song, a heavy drum beat enters which I feel we could do some interesting editing/cinematography against, such as cutting to the beat and so forth.

Sadly, no official Music Video was made for the song - however, I feel this works to our advantage as a group because it means all of our ideas can be original - we have no creative barriers (such as copying ideas from the official video), though we have watched other videos by the artist and got ideas of how the genre is represented on screen.

Our Chosen Genre

Originally, our group was planning to make a video for a Reggae track, but after discussion, we realised that we may not be able to successfully create a Reggae Video - it would need exotic locations, lots of extras and so on. We did not want to go down the route of making a music video for a predictable genre such as Indie or RnB, so we decided to venutre into Electronic Rock/Drum and Bass. It was with this decision that we decided to make a video for Pendulum's "Tarantula".

Low Budget Videos - "X-Ray" by The Macabees

Similar to the previous music video, "X-Ray" by The Macabees is another good example of an effective low budget Music Video.

• Simple use of effects (such as colour hue changes, split screens and boxes),
• There are only a few shot types used throughout the video,
• Simple, accessible locations are used,
• Costume is kept simple and usually to a minimum,
• Mise en Scene is made up of cheap materials,
• The video is made up of one simple but effective ideas - there is one main theme throughout.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNXcHJFtVeI

(embedding has been disabled by the YouTube user)

Low Budget Videos - "Jenny Again" by Tunng

There are many aspects of this Music Video that makes it an effective low budget music video.

• The video contains more of a narrative,
• Very soft focus editing, almost hiding something - makes it quite emotional,
• Mainly use of simple camera techniques such as close ups,
• Not cut to the beat which is different and goes with the slow feel of the song,
• Lots of bright colours and natural light are used,
• There is a change of sound halfway through, making use of a basic but effective audio effect.

I feel that this video shows how simple technology and techniques can be used effectively to create a good music video - the lack of extravagant effects and shots make the video easy to understand and to watch.

Sugar Water Powerpoint Presentation

Here is a PowerPoint which I produced analyzing the Music Video for Cibomatto's "Sugar Water". The PowerPoint detailed how different editing theories were used within the Music Video, and other details including genre and demographic. We presented our PowerPoint presentations to some other people in the class, and here is some of the feedback we received:

WWW:

• Presentation related and applied to genre of the song,
• Correct use and detailed content about the theories,
• Good use of Media Language,
• Good mention of Audience and Demographic,
• Right context in terms of Godwin's Theories.

EBI:

• Expand on some bullet points and go into further detail,
• Expand ideas on Mise en Scene,
• Some more specific details on target audience needed.

Cibomatto - Sugar Water

As part of our research into the ideas and conventions of Montage and Continuity editing, we were given a music video to analyse, ours being "Sugar Water" by the Japanese group "Cibomatto".

Continuity:

• Simple shots used - one continuous shot throughout the video,
• Follows each character through a narrative,
• Chronological (in time order),
• Only three real locations used (not extravagant).

Montage:

• Extravagant use of effects (reverse, split screen etc.),
• Characters are reversed in split screen (Abstract),
• Mirrored split screen on the right hand side,
• Messages for the audience (for example the "You Killed Me" sign),
• One shot but a variety of angles are used.

There are some screenshots of the video above, which show the idea of the split screen, the idea of the message showing to the audience and also the simplicity of cinematography - the mid shot being used pretty much throughout the whole video.

Montage Editing...

Continuity Editing...

Godwin's Theories

Godwin came up with theories to do with lyrics in a song and how they can be shown on tape. There are three main theories:

Illustration: The visual narrative tells the story of the lyrics in the literal meaning/in a literal way.

Amplification: The visual narrative does not contradict the lyrics, but creates new levels of meaning (in a metaphorical way). In amplification, the theme of the lyrics is present in the visuals.

Disjuncture: The visual narrative goes against or does not match the lyrics in the song.

Bordwell and Thompson - 4 Categories of Film Editing

There are four methods of editing that can make a Music Video interesting to the audience, or any other type of video in fact.

GRAPHIC:
Draws upon Mise en Scene and Cinematography

Graphic Match - Linking shots by graphic similarities,
Graphic Continuity - Centre of interest constant throughout the cuts,
Graphic Discontinuity - juxtaposition of centre of interest.

RHYTHMIC:
Considers the duration of each shot (long or short?)

SPATIAL:
Is to do with the Mise en Scene and how it is established - how is it placed within the frame?

TEMPORAL:
To do with time - is it like a film? Is it chronological?

Genre Analysis

After collecting the results of my Questionnaire, I analysed 3 music videos from 3 different genres, those being the most popular from the results I had found. These were "Rock", "Indie" and "Soundtrack". Within these three genres, I looked at aspects such as the locations used, costumes, props, effects and editing techniques used, which allowed me to see how videos for different genres were constructed. Here are the videos I analysed in the order as shown on the sheet.

Kings of Leon - Notion (embedding disabled): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oayv_JWCpY

Coldplay - Yellow (embedding disabled): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAME8GDRTfI&feature=PlayList&p=FDC7E7E03039788B&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=10

Evaluation of Questionnaire and Results

WWW:

• Wide range of questions asked to find out more about the demographic
• Clear questions, with a mixture of open and closed questions
• Talked well about Music in general, finding out the target audience's tastes and so on
• Clear percentages in summary and good visual representation of results

EBI:

• Better if I collected more of a sample, for example a greater number of people of different demographics
• Some more questions focussing on the elements of Music Videos
• Ask a wider range of ages and demographics for varied results

Questionnaire Results

Here are the results of my Questionnaires (in percentages). The results shown although interesting, may not help a lot with the development of the music video, and this could be due to many reasons. Primarily, I feel that I did not reach a large enough demographic, I could have solved this by asking a greater number of people with wider music tastes, although through people taking part in my questionnaire, I was able to gain a wider understanding of what people would expect in a Music Video, which included dancing, a variety of cinematography, the Band/artist performing and some sort of narrative.

Music Video Questionaire

As part of our Market Research, we had to create a Questionnaire to give to a number of people so they could fill out their ideas and views on what a Music Video should be. In my questionnaire, I included basic demographic questions such as age and gender, but also asked people about their favourite genres of music, and asked some of the things that they would expect to see within a music video.

Advanced Portfolio - Music Video

For our A2 project, we have to create a promotional package for a new band, including making their music video. This blog will detail the processes of Research, Planning, Construction and Evaluation.