QUESTION 4

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Unfinished- in process

Foo Fighters Animatic

Foo Fighters - Animatic by Freddie and Carl from Freddie Taylor on Vimeo.

Animatic
What did we do?
In order to extend our knowledge of  editing and the way a music video is made, we created an animatic. This is a video created from story boarding to show the shots in order before they are actually filmed. We created a group animatic on The Prenender by The Foo Fighters.We were required to watch the first 45 seconds of the video to work from. We edited this in such a way that the actual video plays in the bottom right hand corner.

What did we Learn?
One of the main skills I learn from this was editing to the right beat. From my original research i knew that music videos did have lots of various shots but this had around 20 in the first 45 seconds, which is substantially more than i expected. All of these shots were completely unique to each other which gave us some really good ideas for our own video. Since there were so many shots, they were all cut very short, this also came as a challenge. I quickly learnt how to pick up the fast editing once i started, this was a new skill for me.

How is editing a Music Video different to editing your Thriller?
Editing the music video is massively different in many ways. Firstly, the pace of editing. When we made our thriller we did have some music, although we wasn't editing to any beat and the music was slow to set the mood. Editing to the fast beat is completely new to me. Also the shots were very different, nearly all the thriller shots last at least 4 seconds, which is substantially longer than any music video shots unless its for a slow song. The shooting of the music video is also very different as we would have to take long shots of the artist to make it easier for lip syncing at the end. This may be a difficult task as we cant just stop and start once we have what we want.

Model of the Media

http://prezi.com/knrdh5klv8rk/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

(embed link is currently unavailable, please bare with this technical difficulty)

Question 3

Evaluation Question 3; What did you learn from audience Feedback?

Above is our audience feedback. We had a focus group that we used though out the whole of our audience feedback for our music video. These people consisted of 2 females and 2 males. We wanted to have an even number of boys and girls in our group as the genre is typically very mixed, this is another reason why we had the same amount of boys as girls in our actual band.

Planning

Before we actually started doing anything for the music video we wanted to address who our target audience would be. As i stated above we wanted to have an even number of sex's due to out target audience being so mixed. We gathered the same focus group back in January to see what they thought of the song. They all agreed that it was fast paced, and up-beat. They also all agreed that it was a song they would listen to- despite their personal preferences not being 'rock/alternate' music. This song seemed like a good all round song to choose. We found this song on 'soundcloud' which was extrememly helpful thought the process of choosing a song.

We also made a 'survey monkey' which was helpful as we could put this on our social media sites and get feedback from lots of various people, people who may not like rock music. Things that were in the survey monkey were very basic to see what kind of things people wanted to see in music videos. What music videos they may have seen, and what they watched them on. This gave us a good insight into what social sites we might want to put the video on.

Production

The next stage of the process once we had all of our audience feedback together we came up with a digipak and magazine advert. These would be two huge selling points for our music video as these were going to be representing our music video. They also had to be similar in consistency as they were part of our bands brand identity. Our peers and teachers were also very much involved in our process. Our teachers would watch our video in its early stages and be able to make recomdations on how to improve it.

After we put up the rough cut of our video, we continued to ask our peers and teachers what their opinion was and how they might go about fixing this. Some of the things they has said we took into consideration, such as replacing the guitar scenes that didn't look realistic and changing the brightness in some areas so it was clearer to see.When we watched our final music video against the rough cut we could clearly see the difference the audience feedback had made as the scenes did look better and our audience seemed to engage more with what was happening.

When we looked at creating the digpak we asked some different teachers and students their opinions as we wanted to keep our audience variety as wide as possible while still reaching out to our target audience first. The teachers we spoke to gave us very crital changes to make such as the font size and the positioning of photos, which despite only being small changes, make a huge difference on the end product. When we spoke to the students we wanted to make sure they were still able to regconise our brand identity even if the format had changed ever so slightly. To out delight, they agreed and this re-assured us that was was doing things the right way.

The last question we asked when looking at our audience feedback was 'Do you think the combination of the music video,magazine advert and digipak gave our band a unique image?' This can be found in our video at 2:54. One of the girls in our audience feedback talked about the colour of our complete digipak. As a group we had debated weither to keep the colors or to keep it black and white. She said in the video that the colours would give more life to the digipak instead of having everything in black and white. This was a visual decision that we had to make, by listening to our audience feedback we was able to give them exactly what they wanted to see.

Evaluation
This was the last stage of our audience feedback where we gathered all 3 media texts and showed them to our peers. We did this to find out what it was that we had done well and what could have been improved on. The first thing people said they liked was the editing. The editing though out the whole video was consistent and to the beat. People that we asked rated it 8/10 - 9/10. This really shows how much of a difference the editing of a video can make. The next was costume choices. This was a mixed respose as two of our focus group really liked the way we had chosen to look quite hard and edgy with the monochrome pallete but we was cristicsed on our use of 'fake tattoo sleeves' in the band scenes but not seen in any other scenes. We realised as a group that this may be a problem but didn't know if our audience would notice. To improve we would have used the sleeves in all of our shots.We then asked the focus group what is was they thought we could improve on if we was to do this project again. Colectively, they agreed that we could have used more locations when shooting the video. When we had talked as a group we dicussed that depsite the fact that we did have difference locations, we could have used more to conform to the generic conventions of a music video.


On a whole, we do agree with our target audeince. We feel like we have learnt from them, and they have had significant input in some of our decisions regarding visuals, Im glad that we kept the same focus group the whole way thought the project as they could see our improvements instead of randomly commenting on small things they liked/disliked. However, i also feel the help of other teachers and students allowed some fresh eyes to the project to pick up on things that we may not have seen.
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Looking for an Artist.

Looking for a suitable artist for our our group 

Our group is made up of 2 females, and 2 males. As a group, we need to collectively search our own interests in ouder to find something that will suit us. 

On of our group members is in a Rock Band already. We are able to use this as an advantage as he may already have unsigned songs that we can use and may also know about that section of the industry.

As an Actress myself, i am comfortable performing in front of people, this helps as some members of the band may not want to be in front of the camera, however, i do not have a problem with this.

Things we need to look for

-Unsigned bands

We can only use songs from unsigned bands, with their permission as they do have rights to their own songs. We can not use famous songs as these will have many legal rights of their own which we can not copy. 

-Time

the video can not be any longer than 5 minutes and no less than 3 minutes. This is a normal range for a chart song so it shouldnt be too hard to find one under this rule.

-Genre

After small discussion we as a group may be swinging to the 'Rock/Alternate' side of the genre choices as they have very vibrant music videos which would be fun to film. Anything too slow may be very depressing and people would not want to watch that.

the genre CAN NOT be anything along the lines of rap,country music or anything obsene/hardcore or violent.

Blog 15; Digipak and Magazine Advert

A digipak typicaly consists of a small folder like CD. It has folds which seperate the Ad case from the album. It also has the typical plastic trays for the actuall CD and so forth. This tray, however, doesnt get in the way of any album art that is displayed on the cardboard panels. This is a much nicer way to present the album and also looks very professional.

The typical Digipak would include;
 -Photos of the artist/band
-a track list including credits
-a dick impression where the CD would sit in the case
-any information the band might want to add about themselves for fans.
-Barcode
-other references to other work/signatures/special edition information

Examples of Album Art

 

 Beyonce

-This album art shows her two sides. 

-Black and white shows it may be a serious album 

-Using contrast text to attract audience

All Time Low

-much more fun, less serious

-teen attraction using colours and silhouette teens

-light hearted

-bold black writing

-summer colours- nostalgic?

Both of these are good examples of Album arts as they are two very different types of music, they represent different areas of the industry.

Blog 3; Purpose of a Music Promo Video with Special Reference to Synery

 There are bands and artists in the music inductry that only make music for one reason, not only to entertain but to use in other ways.

The art of the Music Video

Music videos have more than one purpose other than to make money and show the artists. They have mant different goals that are made in order to achieve different benefits depending on the specific band.

1.It helpts to promote the artists work, such as apearing on their album or making it 'exclusive' to a deulux album also brings in more sales

2. It persues the audience to buy whatever merchandice may be realted to the artist or things that were seen in the music video production.

3. It raises audience awareness of the artist therefor making them more popular.

4.Product placement is also used a lot in music videos for advertisement purposes, this brings in lots of money for the artist and production company.

Synergy
There are a hundred and one ways to promote a music video in the 21st century. Not only using the song but also lots of other ways. One of these ways is using Synergy. This is when 2 different companies work together to produce the same motive. A common example of Music video Production using synergy is when a song is used in a film and it is hence Robin Hood, Prince of Theives.. Without the film this song may not have made it to the charts.(https://youtu.be/ZGoWtY_h4xo)

What makes a good Music Video?
As well as being popular in the charts there are lots of up and coming artists that have produced music videos that have gone viral. This is a new way of getting the word our about your music. Music videos can be seen in a variety of ways such as on MTV and on Youtube.

Some common ways are;
-word of mouth
-Number of hits on Youtube
-News and TV
-What kind of publicity the artist is getting
-Chars and cd/single sales
-Brand identity of the arist

Blog 14 Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson has been a global success nearly his whole life, starting from 1971 when he was in the Jackson 5 to his last appearance in his 'This Is It' Tour before he died in 2010. He was known as 'The King of Pop' in the heights of his career.

The first hit that featured Michael Jackson was 'Rockin' Robin' with his 4 other brothers in the Jackson 5.This hit was the first major pop music video that has many characteristics within the video.For example, the frequent dance routines throughout the music video whilst the members of the band are singing. Jackson's career did nothing but skyrocket to success from his video.

Jackson's first major hit as a pop star was in this video (Rockin' Robin), although at the time he wasn't know as the star he is today. At this point in time Micheal was only known from being in the Jackson 5. It was the first major pop music video ever made that had most of the characteristics within the video that would be seen in modern videos. For example, there are a variety of dance sequences in this.

The next hit that Michael had was the ever popular Billie Jean. This video was seen as Michaels first major hit as a solo artist without him being part of the Jackson 5.This was the first video that had a real storyline to it instead of just close up shots and endless dance routines.

'Beat it' was the next big hit that Michael brought out. The video he created for this video was one of the first ever to have so much group choreography thoughout one scene of a video. This shows Goodwins pop video features for the frequent chroeographed scenes.Its also popular as the video realtes to problems faced at the time it was made such as gang violence in streets.

This is the most famous of all videos, selling almost 9 million tapes in the form of VHS's. This gave it a Guineas world record for the highest grossing pop video. It was the first pop video of its kind to invole so much detail in dance routines and story line. The original video that was recorded lasted for 14 minutes, however, MTV would shorten down the video. This was a good selling point for fans to see the original video if they brought the VCR.The music video cost around half a million dollars to make, which made it one of the most expensive pop videos of all time. However, this pay out was worth it as 'Thriller' is one of the most popular videos, even today and since Jacksons death it is referred to in research and known by everyone.

'Bad' was one of the last videos Jackson made before getting plastic surgery and bleaching his skin making him white. This video shows as a symbol of his past that he left behind as he went white. His fans didnt react well to his changes, and this is why Bad was popular, as his last video bring black.This video was aired on BBC at midnight on the day of its release, this shows how popular Jackson was at this point.

Evaulation Question 2

Audience Feedback.

This video is one that we edited of a voice over recorded from our focus group.We asked them some questions which they answered, and we have added pictures in the video to make it easier to understand.

What we learned from the Feedback.

By carrying out this survey, we learnt lots of things that were good, and things that we maybe could have changed;

-the editing was fast, to the beat and well done.
-the 'fun montage' went down well with the target audience as it was easy to read
-the costumes were used well by keeping the same colours, however there were a couple obvious errors

Evaluation Question 1

Above is Question 1 of the evaluation questions.

Finial Digipak

Today we finished our digipak, but we cant decide what version of the digipak we would rather use. We have a fully black and white version and a half colour version (The second one).

We will leave the decision on what one we should use for our final project up to our audience feedback. 

Above are both choice 

Finished Magazine Ad

Here is our final Mag Advert. As a group we are really pleased with it. The image we used shows us as an approachable band and the QR code shows good use of technology. 

Constructing the Digipak

Above; The back of our Digipak.

When making this we thought about another music digipak from No Doubt which i have shown in a previous blog. I choose to base it on No Doubt as they have a female singer in a alternate band. This isnt very common and we used some of the images to inspire our female artists posing. 

Above; The Front of the Digpak.

This is still a working progress as i feel a boarder may be needed. The contrast is something we really like, again very similar to the look that No Doubt use. It gives a hard edge to the groups image through the use of contrast and brightness, but also looks appealing as we still look approachable.

This still needs group discussion but is a working progress and i feel that it looks very professional.

Blog 5: Key Features - Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin was a very important figure in our media research role for the main reason of his features and references that are contained within his book, "Dancing in the Distraction Factory".

In this book he explains all the key features and stereotypical occurrences throughout different types of music video. This really helps us with our understanding and throughout the year we can refer back to these points that made great films we all know about today.

These are: 

-Music videos that demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g stage performances in metal songs, or dance routines for boy/girl bands etc.) 

An example of a music video that perfectly fits these guidelines is his, All American Rejects - Gives You Hell. this video shows them as a relatively popular rock band having fun and showing off their musical abilities through the form of this very catchy and repetitive song. The frequent use of close ups of the lead singer as well as overall shots of the band preview and showcase their ability as a band whilst still allowing the song to draw you in. The mise en scene is more or less scruffy, therefore also giving off a rock band feel to it and correlating with the song.They also have a narrative version that shows more of a story. This also fits the genre characteristics that Goodwin speaks about.

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Another characteristic of music videos that Andrew Goodwin described to us through his book is that of the relationship between the music videos synopsis and the story that the lyrics are portraying either through illustration, amplifying, or contradicting. 

An example of this characteristic in a music video is that of: Adele - Someone Like You

This videos story line dictates a very sad love song where Adele who plays herself in the video is singing about someone she once lost(break up and that she will never find again,) it is a very sad song and the video reflects this through the constant black and white theme giving off a very sad motif throughout the song, as well as the constant takes of Adele on her own with no one else, also reflecting the very sad mood of which the song and lyrics also portray, they are correlating.The black and white really shows the illusion that the song is sad and has a sad story. The water also helps portray this.

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The video will need lots of closeups within the context of the video in order to please the record label and preview the artists full potential in order to make as much money as possible. the close ups will portray the artists brand identity for example, lady gaga weird sense of style.

This video by Lady Gaga features a lot of closeups which highlight and draw special attention to her style and fashion sense,of which being her brand identity that she has built up.This can also be liked back to Laura Mulveys ideals of feminism, as in almost every scene within this music video she is practically half naked, purposely trying to show as much "allowed" skin as possible in order to attract more male viewers and appeal to her male audience. this really shows her brand identity as she shows it in nearly very way, location, shot choices, looks, and even dance types.

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There is also frequent reference to 'the notion of looking, screen within screen, looking into Iphone, computer, phone, or tv screens as well as generally any technological advancement that is being abused in order to redirect your attention to it. An example of this is within the video made by the killers- "just another girl" nearing the very end of the video we see a reference to looking through looping tv screens all showing the same picture.

This video doesnt contain lots of these looking notions, like looking at screens through a screen, However does have a very good example near the end of the video. This is where the singer of the band leans over a monitor which is filming him, making a repeat image on the screen.

There is an intertextual reference to other music videos or generally other forms of media such as films ect. This cause other people to relate said music to other music videos thus refering to as well as it would also make their video more popular because of the use of famous examples well known films, ect.

'Walks Like Rhianna' by The Wanted uses many different references to many different famous music videos thoughout the course of their video. This contains references to bands like Take That and Backstreet Boys; therefore proving how popular this can make a video just because of its well known references.

Magazine Advert

Here are some inspirational images we have found for out digipak/magazine advert. This band, 'No Doubt' we chose because of the female role. As our band has 2 females we wanted to find some images of a band that had a female singer/meber to see what they were styled like and how they were positioned in the picture. 

The one we particularly like were these two above as the facial images are very alternate in style and really target our auidence well.

This picture of them shooting the cover was a great help as it allowed us to see the exact angles of the picture and the lighting setup.

OUR FINISHED VIDEO

Blog 13 - Sexism in Music Videos

Trough out the 2000's we have seen an increase in Sexism in Pop Videos. This topic follows with Laura Mulvey's male gaze, as they are all connected under the umbrella of 'Sexism'. It has sparked converstaion in the media industry. Some videos that potray this are 'Blurred Lines' and 'Wrecking Ball'.



This video is one of the most sexist. The nature of the video is the main character telling a 'story' which shows him as a misogynist, and in the video portrays himself as better than the others. All of the women in the video are wearing next to no clothes and at some points are seen in the nude. The glasses and suits represent the men's power in the video and make them seem superior. As well as their lack of clothes the women are seen as a sexual object of desire than an actual woman. Looking at Goodwin's Characteristics, this video correlates with women being the point of erotic desire. In the 21st Centry, we see a lot of women being used as objects of desire.



This video by Miley Cyrus casued huge controversy in the media industry. This was the first video by Miley where she shows off her new image. Many of her followers have always known her as Hannah Montana, a singer/performer whos target audience was under 10. This new video was not targeted at that age group. In the video we see miley swinging on a ball with no clothes on. although we see no actual parts of her body which are explicit, this still was not acceptable to many of the 'Montana's' fans. It is rumoured that Miley made this video to showcase the fact that she was not 'a little girl' anymore. That she had grew out of Hannah Montana and was looking for new life in the music industry. According to Goodwin, we see 'the male gaze' in action here. However we see the opposite of what is normally shown, as Miley is willingly making herself the male gaze and exploiting herself on her own watch.

Rough Cut - Music Video

Above is our rough cut, This cut shows all the main shots that we intended to use. As it is not yet finished, we don't have everything in that we would like but it is a pretty accurate. The whole song is also not in this as we didn't have enough footage to finish the video. I am pleased with the progress i have made so far and i believe it wont be long until we are completely finished.

Blog 12- Case Study 3 : Alex Southam

Previously Working for Agile Films, a fairly major film company that Hired Alex Southam as their all-round video producer. The described Alex as an 'exciting new talent' in the industry. Southam has working with some big names in the industry such as Walkmen, Alt+j and Lianne La Havas.
When Alex began making videos he was the one on the team that was organised and carried out tasks at hand, he needed no help. He did everything from the actual filming, lighting and editing on his own. Although Alex has now been recognized for his work, he does have some help and advice from other music producers. Alex enjoys making music videos as he says they allow him to use new techniques and have real artistic freedom. Because of the format he likes to use he is less keen on media products such as commercials that dont allow as much freedom as they involve lots of other factors. Southham uses 'Vimeo' to showcase his work and media texts. He describes his work as having a high status than Youtube.



His Work

This video in itself is an unusual one and is quite obviously something that hasnt been done before in terms of production. The video itself does not follow the genre of the band or have ant relationship with the lyrics at all. In many ways is goes off course and does its own thing and only certain lines does the music video corrilate. For example, 'You're the shark and im swimming' is the only line that really relates to what is going on in the video. This particular video doesnt follow any goodwins characteristics of a normal music video, but does push the limits in the industry.



Other music videos made by Alex have all been rather generic. A recent video that did well was 'Chase and Status - Lost and Not Found'. This video had a budget of £50,000 and had only 3 different locations. It was shot using a stedicam and ooriginallyonly had 36 frames per second and was no longer than a minute and a half. However it was slowed to give the full effect.

After looking back at the videos we can see that there are next to no trace of characteristic by Goodwin though these music videos. The only characteristic that we can notice is the notion of looking which is used by looking at headlines though screens in the video. We can also see this at the beginning where the boy on the bike's eyes are looking at the 'missing' poster. The fact that the video is only shot in 3 locations is risky as we never ever see this in normal music videos. Unlike the Alt+j video this does follow the relationship with the lyrics and follows the story more.