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-AngleTwo Shot using a Handheld-Jib
High-Angle Shot with Reverse Zoom using a Handheld-Jib
High-Angle Shot withTilt 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
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
