Development: Rushes

After a successful day shooting in London for the narrative of the music video, I decided to create a rush of some of the shots that we had collected throughout the day in Windows Live Movie Maker to enable my fellow group members to see and gain feedback from them.

Planning: Date for shooting

We have decided to shoot our music video narrative in the Christmas Holidays on the 22nd of December in London. The locations we will use are:
- Bexleyheath train station
- London bridge train station
- Brick lane
- Shoreditch
- Camden
- Oxford circus

The equipment we shall use for this shoot are:
- Tracking system
- Steadicam
- Tripod

Planning: Second music narrative

Following the completion of our draft music video we had taken a couple of weeks ago, we have had numerous meetings as a group to discuss ideas and possible concepts that we could use within our music video for Misery Business. This has been a struggle for us to the say the least, trying to understand and make sense of all of the practicalities that need to be taken into consideration when re-shooting our video ensuring that the video is of high quality from our individual skills and strengths.

Similar to our original idea, we wanted to focus on the love triangle between our cast members Georgina, Joanna and Paul, demonstrating the jealousy and envy felt by the cast members throughout the video. We shall incorporate both band shots and narrative shots as we felt that this would be an interesting music video for our intended target audience to watch. The main synopsis of our narrative is that Georgina is the singer of Paul’s (the man stuck in the love triangle) band and is late for the bands practice and focuses on Georgina trying to get to the band practice over the location of London, although she doesn’t know meanwhile that Joanna (the girl trying to get Paul) has taken her place in the band and starts to flirt and sing with Paul. Georgina eventually makes it to the band practice and is shocked about what’s happened, she snatches the mic and starts to take over. By the end of the music video, it is clear that there is a resolution of the situation and Georgina wins over Paul and continues in the band singing.

We came back together as a group and decided to look closely at the lyrics more so than we did before to try and gain inspiration for the new music narrative.
Paramore - Misery Business - Lyrics
I'm in the business of misery
Let's take it from the top
She's got a body like an hourglass
That's ticking like a clock

It's a matter of time
Before we all run out
When I thought he was mine
She caught him by the mouth

I waited eight long months
She finally set him free
I told him I can't lie
He was the only one for me

Two weeks and we caught on fire
She's got it out for me
But I wear the biggest smile

Whoa, I never meant to brag
But I got him where I want him now
Whoa, it was never my intention to brag
To steal it all away from you now

But God, does it feel so good
'Cause I got him where I want him now
And if you could then you know you would
'Cause God, it just feels so
It just feels so good

Second chances they don't ever matter
People never change
Once a whore, you're nothing more
I'm sorry, that'll never change

And about forgiveness
We're both supposed to have exchanged
I'm sorry honey but I'm passing up
Now look this way

Well there's a million other girls
Who do it just like you
Looking as innocent as possible
To get to who

They want and what they like
It's easy if you do it right
Well I refuse, I refuse, I refuse

Whoa, I never meant to brag
But I got him where I want him now
Whoa, it was never my intention to brag
To steal it all away from you now

But God, does it feel so good
'Cause I got him where I want him now
And if you could then you know you would
'Cause God, it just feels so
It just feels so good

I watched his wildest dreams come true
And not one of them involving you
Just watch my wildest dreams come true
Not one of them involving

Whoa, I never meant to brag
But I got him where I want him now

Whoa, I never meant to brag
But I got him where I want him now
Whoa, it was never my intention to brag
To steal it all away from you now

But God, does it feel so good
'Cause I got him where I want him now
And if you could then you know you would
'Cause God, it just feels so
It just feels so good

Development: Photos from the video shoot

As well as taking videos for our music video on Monday, we decided to take photographs that we could potentially use for our ancillary taks. In Photoshop I have edited the photos, adjusting the lighting, composition, contrast and colouration to make them stand out more. We plan to take some more photos at our next video shoot as well as booking out the photography studio at school to take some photos against a plain background with professional lighting. In the photos, we have tried to include some of the bands props to show forms of mise en scene.

MUSIC NARRATIVE ONE (DRAMA STUDIO)

Development: Finished draft music video

The video above is the final edited draft video that we have created following our video shoot at our schools drama studio. At the beginning of this project, we were hoping that our initial idea would be successful and we could use it for our final video. However, when we uploaded and reviewed the footage that we had taken from this shoot, we all came to the consensus that we were unhappy with the final edit. We compiled and edited the footage together on Adobe Premiere Pro taking special attention to lip syncing................finish off

Development: Filming in the drama studio

Following from our video shoot on Monday, we have reviewed our footage and as a group we don't feel happy with the quality of shots that we had got as well as the location we had chosen. We feel that the location really lets the video down, and feel that with the right location the music video could look a lot better and fulfil our creative potential as students. Therefore, we have decided to regroup and discuss what the next plan of action is in terms of a new idea for the music video. However, we have still decided to go ahead and edit the shots that we had taken from the video shoot so we could get more experience in the editing software.

Planning: Preparation of filming

In one of our meetings, we discussed our next steps in terms of filming our video. We wanted to film the band shots first, where we would film the band playing instruments to the song as we have decided to incorporate both performance and a narrative within our music video. We decided within our meetings that we would use the drama studio at our school as our location for the performance shots. The main reason behind this decision is because our drama studio has a plain black background in which the band would look good against when the drama lights are shone on them, creating a moody atmosphere for the music video which fits nicely with the alternative rock genre. The props that we need for this video shoot are: amp, guitair, drums, wires, and a microphone. Our camera equipment will consist of: the dolly, a jib, tripod, steadycam, stills camera as well as two video cameras. As a group we're excited to finally start filming, fingers crossed the shoot will look as good as we envisage it!

Blog video two - Shots

This is a video that we shot in our school grounds demonstrating the different camera shots that we want to include in our music video. This enabled our group to become more equipped with using the different camera functions and how to carry out the shots effectively for our music video.

Mid Shot

High-Angle Two Shot using a Handheld-Jib

High-Angle Shot with Reverse Zoom using a Handheld-Jib

High-Angle Shot with Tilt upwards using a Handheld-Jib

Full-Shot with Tilt upwards using a Handheld-Jib; an example of Gaze Theory

Track and Pan using a Dolly

Track and Pan using a Dolly

Tracking Shot with Zoom using a Dolly

Over-The-Shoulder Shot using Steadi-Cam

Pan into an Extreme Close-Up using Steadi-Cam

Two-Shot with Reverse Zoom using Steadi-Cam

Two-Shot with Reverse Zoom using Steadi-Cam

Mid Shot; an example of using the 'Rule of Thirds' using Steadi-Cam

Canted Angle with a Pan left using Steadi-Cam

Angle-Reverse-Angle Mid Shot using Steadi-Cam

VLOG - What we've been up too..

We decided to film a video log of some of the things that we have done so far in this project, to document in a different format other than in a blog post. As a group we thought it would be beneficial to us to make a video log and edit it in the editing software we shall be using for our final music production which will help our editing skills. By creating this video, it helped us refresh our memory of how Adobe Premiere Pro worked and the different editing techniques that we could use. For this video, we decided to leave the editing quite simple and plain as the video is of some of our group discussions about our planning and research stages.

Research: Music channels

As well as researching existing bands and videos, I thought it would be important to research relevant music channels in the beginning stages of our research in the same specific genre as our music video. I thought this would be able to give us an insight in to the platform in which our music video would be predominantly shown on, giving us key ideas in which to include in our music video in order to comply and 'fit in' with existing media that would be similarly categorised as alternative rock music videos.

Most satellite TV providers offer a wide range of music channels to suit most tastes of music, some music channels in the 21st century have become hugely successful and popular worldwide such as MTV which operates across in Europe, Asia, America and Africa. They offer a mixture of music such as pop, dance, R&B and hip-hop, classics and rock. Whilst flicking through music channels on Sky, I came across MTV Rock, which showcases music videos from bands in the rock genre. I spent time watching this channel in order to pick out common conventions from videos shown, and the channel as a whole.

Research: Music Videos

The main purpose of music videos are to:
- Promote a single or album
- Promote the artist or band
- Entertain the audience
- Reinforced image of the band/artist.


Codes and conventions

Codes and conventions are ways of constructing meaning within media texts, they are a firm set of rules and way of doing things to abide too when creating media texts. It allows for audiences to clearly identify with a certain genre as they become accustomed to seeing certain things and ensures that the text fits into the genre as well as it could possibly be.

Codes and conventions of music videos

There are different styles of music videos, which can be categorised like this:

- Performance: Band/Artist playing
- Narrative: Includes a running story throughout relating to the video
- Mixture: performance and narrative mixed together
- Cameo: Band/Artist appears in the video but doesn't perform
- Animation: Computer created animation is used heavily in the video eg flash

This music video is an example of a performance style of music video where the whole video sees the band playing in a plain white room. This video is by the rock band Foo Fighters and the song is called Rope.

The below music video is an example of a CGI style of music video by Kanye West - Heatless.

Camera work

In music videos, a variety of shots are used in order to create an interesting and dynamic music video which is entertaining for the audience. Here are some examples of camera work that is commonly seen in music videos:

- Crane shots
- Pans/Tilts
- Close ups
- Tracking shots
- Establishing shots
- Low angle shots

Editing and sound

Many people think that filming the video is the longest and hardest process of the creation in making a music video, however a lot of attention and detail has to be paid to the editing of the music video. You have to ensure that lip synching is correctly timed with the music and the video runs smoothly with a clear narrative. Some examples of editing and sound include:

- Jump cutting
- Split screens
- CGI effects
- Diagetic sound
- Non-diagetic soudn
- Changes in the level of sound

Mise-en-scene

The mise-en-scene of a music video is highly important as it helps identify the genre and characters of the music video which helps relate to the audience.

- Props
- Costume
- Location

Research & Planning: Research into band photography

In media yesterday afternoon, we discussed what the next step would be in order to get our project up and running. We decided to start researching and planning for our photography shoot in which we hope to book a date for later this week. We hope to do the photography shoot in the photography studio at school either in our study periods during school or after school, however using the studio will limit our time and freedom to a certain extent so I therefore decided to plan and research what type of shots we need for the ancillary tasks. The ancillary tasks that I will be creating are the creation of a magazine advertisement promoting the release of their new single ‘Misery Business’ as well as co-producing a digi-pack with my group member Georgina Kerwin where we shall share the work load. Here are some of the band photography that I researched including shots from Paramore as well as bands in similair genres such as; Kings Of Leon, My Chemical Romance, Kasabian and You Me At Six.

Paramore band shots:

Other bands

Kings of Leon

My Chemical Romance

Panic! At The Disco

Kasabian

You Me At Six

Paramore in the press

I decided to research how Paramore are perceived in the press in different publications to gain ideas and inspiration for our upcoming photography shoot. As one of my ancillary tasks is to create a magazine advertisement for the release of the bands digi-pak, I thought it would be a good idea to research current magazine advertisements that Paramore have used.

Throughout researching Paramore as a band, it has become apparent to me that they are a quirky and fun band with lots of character as you can see in the below magazine advertisement for Billboard. In our photography shoot, we hope to bring character and an essence of fun into the photos to engage our audience.

Below is an advertisement of their single 'Ignorance' which includes their band logo which is a common code and convention of magazine advertisements. In this advertisement, they have slightly subverted a common code and convention as normally advertisements feature photography of the band to instantly be recognisable to their audience however, they have chosen to use a picture of two ornaments. Looking at this advertisement, it's simplistic yet effective by using plain text and a simple layout, this is a technique that I may use for one of my ancillary tasks.

In this magazine advertisement, Paramore are perceived as a rock band with attitude, using dark colours in the bands styling, it is obvious to see they are of the pop-rock genre as dark colours are commonly associated with the rock genre. This advertisement uses elements of the gaze theory as attractive lead singer Hayley Williams dominates the page with strong eye contact with the reader enticing them to look further. Paramores band has members of both sex which is great in terms of gaze theory, as there are attractive  men for the ladies to admire and an attractive lady for the men to admire.

 

Paramore albums

All we know is falling (2005)

Riot! (2007)

Brand new eyes (2009)

Ancillary tasks - Magazine

These are my intial drafts for my second ancillary task which was to create a magazine advertisement promoting the bands album, however I misunderstood this task at the beginning and thought that the task was to create a magazine advertisement for the the bands upcoming tour. However, I decided to still post the original drafts that I designed for the tour to show how I went through different creative layouts and progressed on to my final drafts to promote the bands album which you will see at the bottom of this post.

Album tour magazine advertisements

Album magazine advetisements:

Ancillary task - Drafts

The scans below are of my drafts that I created for the digipack which I have chosen as one of my ancillary tasks. The drafts include a front cover, a back cover an inside slip and a cd cover.

These are a few examples of DVD tours I gained inspiration from:

Before I started to make my DVD digi-pak I researched some existing examples, through doing this I identified some of the conventions that normally consist of:

- Band name
- Song
- Image of the band
- Images of the music video or performance
- Barcode
- DVD logo
- Copy Right
- Rating
- Synopsis
- Credits
- Special features

Production schedule

In order to create a music video to the best of our groups abilities we decided to create a production schedule to abide to, to ensure that we are on schedule with all of our tasks which is especially vital when working with a group as it gives everyone a clear identifiable deadline to stick too. The deadlines have been left open fairly vague in order to create room for changes to the production schedule, eg if our ideas change, we have allowed ourselves time to resolve the situation. However, working to a rough outline will give all group members and indication on whether or not we are on target for our production deadline in March.

Planning: Story Boards

The next stage for our group was to create story boards for our music video for Misery Business. As Misery Business is a high paced upbeat song we had to storyboard around 55-65 shots with room to add more storyboards in later filming stages if needed. We found this process helpful to think about how we were going to construct our music video and different ideas we could use and incorporate within our video. I've scanned two of the story boards as examples of our story boards as well as pictures I took of the rest of the group (Georgina, Joanna and Paul) in the process of making the story boards for our music video.

Paramore - Misery Business

This is Paramores official video for the song we have chosen to do; Misery Business. We have looked at this video a number of times to gain inspiration and to fully understand their take on the song, we shall continue to refer back to this video throughout the process of making our own music video to this song.

Planning & Development: Edited band logo

This is our edited version of our band logo after adjusting and experimenting with different creative ideas in Adobe Photoshop. We added two lines of colour; Mustard yellow and grey to incorporated the bands overall colour scheme into the band logo which we felt worked well and added a modern touch to the logo. We also emphasised the P and E of Paramore to make the logo stand out and add a different dimension to the overall logo. As a group we were happy with this logo, however after feedback from our media teachers they felt that the stroke of the lines needed to be increased as when the logo would be scaled down  for different publications the lines wouldn't show at all because of the thickness of them. We then went away and came up with our final band logo which you can see below:

Planning & Development: Style guide

It's important when designing and creating a media product to be consistent throughout all of the products, therefore a style guide is often created to refer back to and follow to ensure all products follow a certain style which emulates the bands brand further. We created our style guide to show our teachers in our pitch. Here are some screen shots of the style guide:

 

Planning & Development: Band logo

 After researching and trying out different fonts for the band logo, we all agreed on using agency FB as the main heading font. From there, we started to design and create different logos in Adobe Photoshop. These are the drafts we went through before finally chosing our band logo that will be used throughout all of our ancillary tasks.

Planning: Font + Band Logo research

For our pitch we needed to create a band logo in which will represent the band and identify them from other bands. We strarted to look at different rock bands and their band logos. You can see the logos we researched below:

After we looked at different band logos, we then decided to research fonts for our band logo and main writing that will be used throughout the whole of Paramore bands 'brand'. As a group we came up with these potential fonts. The two main fonts that we chose for Paramore are the fonts ticked. These fonts are agency FB and Orator STD. Agency FB will be mainly used for all headings and the band logo, and Orator STD will be used for small informational writing.

Planning: Choosing our song + Pitches

Following on from my first post, here are the steps that we went through before we narrowed down our song choices and the research that we carried out. Before beginning the music video, we all needed to decide on a final song choice for the group, we researched into the different music genres that we like and could potentially choose a song from. The genres we researched were Indie, RnB and rock.

Initially, in our group there was no real pressing song that we had in mind for our music video, so we decided to brainstorm ideas for potential choices. We looked through the BBC chart playlist, our iPods, and music magazines to gain inspiration for our song choice as well as researching different genres of music.

Through this process we came up with several song choices in which we all liked, from there we then went through an elimination process trying to narrow down our choices to the songs we wanted to for our final production by printing out the lyrics and constructing potential narratives. It came down to two songs that we all agreed on, both from the same artist; Paramore. The songs that we narrowed it down too was The Only Exception and Misery Business. These two songs are completely different to each other, The Only Exception is much slower compared to Misery Business however they have a similair narrative to do with love and relationships. We decided as a group to ask our peers as well as pitching both song ideas to our media teachers. Our peers preferred Misery Business over The Only Exception, because they believed it would be a more interesting and captivating video to shoot and watch. We pitched our songs idea last week to our teachers, where they gave their opinion and advised us to choose Misery Business for the reasons being that it would challenge our group in terms of all areas from creativity to production and editing work. As a group we came to agree on choosing Misery Business as our song choice for our music video production. We are pitching our Misery Business song choice and concept to our teachers tomorrow where we will include information about the songs narrative, the style guide, locations, costumes and audience research.