Production Of Music Video

New Actor For Our Music Video (FINAL)

Weekly Log 8/12/11 - 15/12/11

This week, we are aiming to finish filming and editing for our rough edit which is due in on Thursday. We have tried to stick to the schedule as thoroughly as possible to ensure that we would film all our footage in time for our deadline. However on the Sunday, we were unable to film because the actor which we had previously arranged to film with dropped out due to dedications to her own work. Luckily, on the Monday, we managed to find a more appropriate actor who is easily accessible and lives local so we could film for longer durations. We arranged to meet up on the same Monday after school and go to Southbank to film some test shots to see what the footage would look like when filming in the dark. This didn't go down to well as our actors face was too dark when filming so we couldn't see her facial expressions very well when it came to miming the lyrics. We showed our teacher the footage and was told that it was too dark and that we should film during the day when its light. Me and Kadeem sat down with our actor and discussed when each of us were free to work out when would be the best time to film. Our actor was free to film after school on the Tuesday and in the morning from 8:00 - 10:30. On the Tuesday...

December Schedule

Below is a schedule for our media coursework to help us stay on top of our work. We created this on Microsoft Word by creating a 6x7 table and filling in the dates. This will enable us to keep organised and will tell us what we will be doing and when. This schedule was primarily created so that we could prioritise our time efficiently to meet our rough edit deadline. 

New Actor For Music Video

Unfortunately, both our actor and our back up actor that we had previously arranged to meet up with to film our music video have dropped out and are now telling us that they can not participate in our music video because they have other coursework that they need to commit to.

Image of the new female actor for our music video.

 Above is an image of our friend who has volunteered to act in our music video as our artist. We have already arranged to meet up on Sunday at Southbank where we will begin to shoot some real footage for the rough edit for our music video.

Recee Shots And Location Footage

 

Below is an image of the main walkway at Southbank. This will be where we will shoot the footage of the artist/actor walking down and singing. This is a good location to shoot because it is quiet during the day whilst most people are out or at work so we won't be getting in anybodies way or no one will get in our way. The advantage of using this location is that if it's dark or light and were shooting and the lighting is natural and high key, we are already provided with lighting, where as if we are shooting and it is dark, we are still provided with the street lamps and other lights around us. If it is dark we could also bring lighting like torches or lights which use batteries. Another advantage is that if we find this area to be quiet busy, we can always walk down and use another section of the South bank as the pathway is very long.

Walkway at Southbank.

Walkway at Southbank (Other side).

Walkway from above.

Below is an image of the skatepark at Southbank. We may consider filming at this location because it is an area which is popular amongst a lot of young people and they may be familiar with it. A disadvantage of using this location is that if it gets dark, its going to be hard to film because it would literally be pitch black in the skatepark due to a lack of lighting.

Skatepark at Southbank.

Below is an image of a bridge near Southbank. This is where we will shoot some footage of the artist/actor singing along the bridge. The reason we chose this location is because the view from the top of the bridge looks appealing and the car and street lights along the bridge would also look effective in the scene and would provide additional light if it is too dark whilst filming. A disadvantage of outside locations is that we are shooting in a season where it becomes dark at early times. The sky will also appear to be dull and grey as well which could possibly ruin the visibility and vibrancy of the music video. Therefore, when it comes to editing we may need to use tints to create brighter effect, possibly change the contrast or bring torches and lights which use batteries.

View along the bridge.

View from the top of the bridge.

View along the other side of the bridge.

Below is an image of a pathway leading to the London Eye. This is where we will film our artist/actor singing whilst she is walking towards the camera. We chose this location because by having her walking down the middle of the pathway, the audience can focus their attention on just her even if there are other people around. Also if it is dark due to the time of day, it shouldn't be a problem because there are currently christmas lights on the trees which will add to the lighting and it shouldn't be too dark.

Pathway leading towards the London Eye.

Below is an image of Namco station. This is an arcade where we will film the male winning a prize i.e. a teddy bear for the female as a romantic gesture. We chose this location because it is nearby and easy to access. It is also convenient for the scene that we want to shoot. The disadvantages of using inside locations is that we have limited space. This restricts us from moving around the room and filming our music video. Also, if we were inside a location such as a Namco station and the light was also limited, there are no sources of electricity where we can plug in bright lights such as red heads. 

Inside Namco station.

Namco station from outside.

Below is an image of the location where we will film the male and the female sitting down at a restaurant together. We chose this area because it is local and we wont have to travel far in between different places when filming. Also it looks like a nice place where a couple would sit down to eat together. Also If we are shooting in an inside location, we may require permission to shoot our music video and if we aren't given their consent, then we have a dilemma. To avoid this, we have to make sure we come across as polite and always explain to the people who approach us exactly what we are doing and why. If we carry around a letter from our teacher giving us permission, we may be able to avoid getting into any trouble.

Restaurant at South Bank.

Exit via St. Thomas hospital from Waterloo station.

I feel as if these locations are the most suitable as they are typical locations of romance. These are locations where the male would typically take the female out to, maybe to the arcade to win their partner a teddy, to a restaurant to eat or to drop them back home via train and these situations all represent the R&B genre. These locations are all set in South bank, an area in London. Because south bank is a very modern place full of entertainment, this could also represent our artist to be outgoing, fashionable and trendy.

Shot List

Unfinished Version Of Poster

Below is an image of what our final poster will look like. The poster in incomplete at the moment because we havent yet got an image of the actor to put on the front of the poster. However, once we incorporate this, plus a couple of other things such as reviews and star ratings and the record labels logo, the final draft of the poster will be complete and we will present it to our teacher, peers and a wider audience so that we can receive feedback on how it looks. The poster looks different to how we previously wanted it to look, which is due to the fact that we had to change the design of the front cover of the digipak and we wanted to poster to have a similar appearance to the digipak. We have tried to stick to as many convention of a poster as possible when creating the poster on Adobe Photoshop CS3. We included the artists website and social network pages, the artists name in an exquisite font to reflect her star persona, the name of the album in an eye-catching font, the names of other popular songs that will feature on the album, the release date of the album in a font that stands out and where the album will be available to purchase on the day of its release - iTunes.

Final Draft Of The Poster
Without An Image Of The Actor.

Unfinished Version Of Front Cover Of Digipak

Below is an image of the front cover of the digipak that we originally had in mind (without the image of the artist). After creating the front cover on Adobe Photoshop CS3, we asked our teacher and a couple of our friends for feedback on the use of colours, effects and text. In response, we were told that the colour purple didn't look too good for the digipak and that the purple almost made it look like an advertisement for a Cadbury's chocolate bar, which we somewhat agreed with. We were also told that the font looked a little bland and old fashioned, and was advised to change it to something which looked more modern and bold. In terms of the effects used, we were told that the addition of the smoke was very effective as it linked in with the whole theme of the album.

Previous Idea For Front Cover Of Digipak.

Taking all of the advice that was given to us onboard, we decided to make a few simple changes to our digipak including the colour and the text. Below, you can see the processes of producing and developing our digipak.

After Changing The Background Colour
And Adding Both The Lighting Effect And The
Flare Lens Effect.

After Adding The Smoke Effect.

After Adding The Album Name In A More Modern
Font With A Ghost Like Effect.

After Adding 'Conquest Presents' To
The Front Cover Of The Digipak.

Below is an image of what the final front cover for our digipak will look like. The front cover of the digipak will be completed when we incorporate an image of our actor. As you can see, we have listened to the feedback that we had received and we have developed on our previous idea. We decided to lose the purple and make the background for our digipak black. We added a lighting effect onto the black background to make sections of the digipak lighter, giving it a greyish appearance. We also added a flare lens effect to the front cover of our digipak for additional lighting. The primary reason for adding the flare lens effect was so that when we incorporate the image of the actor, the light shining down on the her helps to draw attention to her. It also adds to her star persona making her seem innocent and pure at heart. We also changed the text to a more modern looking one and we spaced the text out. We also added an effect to the text to give it a 'ghost like' appearance. The text fades out vertically from top to bottom. We felt that this would help to make our digipak look more visually exciting for the target audience.

Final Draft Of The Front Cover Of The Digipak
Without An Image Of The Actor.

Weekly Log 1/12/11 - 8/12/11

On Wednesday, we were unable to film due to the fact that our actors were not available on that day. Instead, Kadeem and I went to Southbank to take some recee shots and short videos of our location. This will be uploaded as soon as possible.

Today, Izak will be scanning the audience feedback that we had received in response to our final pitch so that we can upload the images onto the blog. These will help us to develop on our ideas for our music video, digipak and poster.

Kadeem will start creating the digipak and the poster for our artist's album on Adobe Photoshop CS3. However, because we have not yet got an image of our actor to put on the front cover of our digipak or on our poster, he will create an unfinished version which will be complete when we take photos of our actor and incorporate them.

Audience Feedback Sheets

Below are some images of the feedback that we had received from our final pitch. We had scanned these sheets and uploaded them to our blog. These will help us develop on our ideas for our final music video.

• Good research into conventions.
• Include pictures, too wordy.
• Good genre study for digipak, could have more information on the poster.
• Study more into the costumes.
• Clear storyboard, with clear pictures.
• Good organisation of actors with a backup.

• Clear understanding of conventions.
• Clearly isn't sure about whether or not they will be subverting or conforming to conventions of R&B.
• Doesn't know how they are incorporating their conventions.
• Should include how audience consume media, as well as their hobbies and interest.
• Good label research.
• Understand how costume represents artists star persona.

• Narrative in depth, has a good storyline.
• Should reduce alpha when editing footage, would be effective.
• Clear intertextual references.
• Sounds like a 'BIG' project.
• Like the idea of spreading the poster through social media.

• What are the conventions? Which have you used?
• Include media consumption and target audience's hobbies and interests.
• Good label research.
• Clear consideration of costumes and locations - think carefully about make up and style of your artist.
• Well drawn digipak and poster.
• Some good ideas but need to experiment with the Ghost & silhouette technique.

• Good narrative and link to a conventional R&B genre.
• Good target audience and information about the artist.
• Good ideas.
• Need to make sure we have actors who are available.

Audience Feedback

Above is a video containing all of our feedback from our class mates. This will allow us to develop on any ideas that weren't particularly strong according to our audience.

Practice Shots: Opacity Test

Above is a short video of a practice shot which we filmed and edited today. We managed to successfully create the illusion of the person within the shot fading out, to create a 'ghost' like effect. In order to do this, we had to put our camera on a tripod and keep the tripod in the exact same place when filming. I filmed footage with Kadeem in the centre of the shot, and then I filmed the same area but this time, Kadeem stepped out of the shot. I uploaded this footage onto iMovie HD, where I then transferred it onto Final Cut Express. Here, I layered the footage and then added a cross dissolve transition to make the shot with Kadeem in it, gradually fade out into a shot with just the scenery.

Weekly Log 24/11/11 - 1/12/11

This week, me and Kadeem are aiming to get some shooting done for our music video. We have created a schedule and today, we plan to do a practice shot so that we can upload this onto final cut express and experiment with the opacity. Because we have done something similar to this in AS, it should be fairly easy to do. We want to do this because we want to make sure that it will look effective in our real music video, so by practicing it now, we can evaluate the practice shot and decide whether or not to use it in the music video.

Today, Kadeem is gathering some audience feedback from our class mates and he will edit these into one short video for us to upload on our blog. This will be useful because it will help us to develop on some of our ideas that may need improving.

Also, because our school is on strike on Wednesday, we are going to take advantage of this and we are going to try and shoot some footage down in Southbank. We need to double check with our actors that they will be free on this day. If they are not available on the Wednesday, this may prevent us from shooting on the Wednesday.

Influences For Our Music Video

Final Pitch And Ideas For Our Music Video

Pitch For Our Artist/Music Video on Prezi

Carla Jaye - Ghost (Official MP3 Track)

Carla Jaye (Ghost) Written and Produced by Conquest by Carla Jaye Official

Conventions Of R&B Music Video

CINEMATOGRAPHY
In most R&B music videos it is conventional to use many of the following:

• Close Up Shots
• Long Shots
• Mid Shots

These are popular shot types among R&B music videos because they tend to display to the audience, the artists emotional state in that particular shot. In Jordin Sparks music video for her single 'No Air' featuring Chris Brown, I denote a number of close up shots being used throughout the vast majority of the video. This is an effective shot to use, particularly in R&B music videos because R&B is a genre generally designed to evoke emotion from the audience, and the close ups of the artist's face in the music video allow the audience to relate to how the artist is feeling, further drawing some form of emotion from the audience.

Close Up Shot

In R&B music videos, close up shots generally encourage a relationship to be developed between the audience and the artist. If we look at the image above which is a close up shot of Jordin Sparks face, we can clearly tell through her facial expressions that she is feeling hopeless, vulnerable and somewhat unloved which may be something that the audience may feel that they can emphasize with. The direct eye contact with the camera may make the audience feel as if Jordin Sparks is sending a message through her song directly to them, which builds up the audience-artist relationship. The close up shot also focuses on the artist's beauty as well as her emotional state, which may be something that males may find attractive, or females may find inspirational.

Mid Shot

Mid shots are another type of camera shot that are popular in music videos. Mid shots are used when trying to draw a little more attention to the artist, rather than the mise en scene. They are an effective type of camera shot because they do not restrict the viewers from seeing what the artist is doing, and the viewers can still see the location of the music video without viewing it in too much detail. Mid shots also still allow the viewers to see the artists facial expression to a certain degree. For example, in the image above, we can see that the artist is leaning on a railing by a river and through her facial expressions, we can tell that she is contemplating. She is isolated within the shot which enhances the idea that she is in deep thought.

Long Shot

Long shots are another type of shot used in many music videos. Long shots are also used to show the audience what exactly the artist is doing in the video. They provide viewers with a full detailed body shot of the artist so that we can see their leg movements as well as their upper body whilst they are performing. This type of shot tends to focus on the artists facial expression in less detail and actually focuses on the location of the shot in more detail. In the image above, we can see clearly that Jordin Sparks is sitting alone in a big white/cream room, connoting her loneliness and pain.

MISE EN SCENE

Weekly Log 17/11/11 - 24/11/11

This week, Izak will be doing a genre study on the typical codes and conventions of an R&B music video to try and grasp an idea of what types of camera shots, editing techniques and locations are used for a music video. This will help us when it comes to finishing off our storyboard, because it will give us an insight into what micro aspects (i.e. cinematography, editing, mise en scene) we will need to consider to make our music video look high quality and professional. He will also be posting images from other R&B music videos which have influenced our ideas for our music video. He will analyse these photos to explain how these videos have influenced our ideas and he will talk about how we will incorporate these ideas into our music video.

Kadeem will be posting up images of our chosen locations and will analyse them to explain the advantages and disadvantages of these locations. He will also talk about how these locations reflect our artists star persona. He will also be incorporating all of our ideas into a presentation on prezi.com. The presentation will include information about our artist, our track ideas, ideas about our location, props and costumes, primary and secondary target audience for our artist, flat plans of digipak and poster and information about the record label and marketing. We will present these ideas to our class so that we can receive audience feedback. This will help us to develop on our ideas if necessary.

Digipak And Poster Flat Plan And Analysis

Promo Poster For Our Artist

Above is an image of the promotional poster for the album titled 'Ghost' by our chosen artist Carla Jaye. When drawing the poster, we took into consideration the typical conventions of a poster and tried to apply as many of these conventions to our poster as possible. In the poster, we made sure that we incorporated typography, including the artists name and the name of the album. We used two different contrasting fonts on the promotional poster.

We used a fancy looking font because this is the type of font often used at a wedding ceremony when the certificate is being signed, and it usually connotes feelings of love and affection, which is reflected in the genre of music on the album which is R&B. The fancy font also draws the audiences attention to the artists name and it is not too overwhelming, neither is it underwhelming. We decided that we wanted the other font to be simple because we wanted to audience to be able to read the information on the poster clearly and we wanted the typography to fade out vertically from top to bottom to represent the album name. The reason we decided to give it this effect is because we didn't want the font to look too boring, however we wanted it to stand out, be informative and be easy for the audience to read at the same time. The white font connotes the innocence of the artist.

We made sure that we included a fairly large image of our chosen artist so that the audience would recognise from a far distance who's album was being promoted on the poster. We also wanted to make sure that there was an image of the artist available for those who were not familiar with the up and coming artist. We have tried to create an image whereby through the composition and the facial expressions of the artist, the audience could see that she is lonely and isolated and that she is a 'hopeless romantic'. Through this representation of her, it is also possible for the audience to predict the genre of music which may be on the album.

We also made sure that we included other conventions such as the artist's website, the release date of the album and other popular songs which will feature on the album. These are all important aspects of a promotional poster, as the website will give the audience an insight in to a little bit about the artist, what she has acheived and what she does, the release date informs the audience about when the album will be available to purchase in stores and online and the list of other popular songs that will feature on the album may entice the audience the buy the album if they have heard and enjoy listening to those particular songs.

We decided to use a two tone palette consisting of a combination of different shades of purples and greys for our poster. The reason we decided to use purple is because purple is quite a mysterious colour often associated with spiritual practices and psychics. This relates to the album name which is 'Ghost' and so we thought that it would be a good idea to choose a colour which compliments the album name.

Front Cover Of Digipak

As you can see, we have used the same colour scheme for the digipak so that when it comes to advertising, the poster and the digipak have a similar image. The colour purple also represents leadership, which is further accentuated through her strong composition on the front cover on the digipak. We wanted the image on the front cover to socially influence the primary target audience in particular, because we also wanted to include an element of female empowerment. We wanted to digipak and the poster to compliment each other and we wanted a continuity in design so that if someone has seen the advertisement on the poster and wanted to buy the album, they could identify the album in stores or online easily.

Again, when it came to designing the digipak, we tried to stick to as many conventions of a digipak as possible. We made sure that we had incorporated typography on the front cover of the digipak including the artists name and the name of the album. We used the same fonts as we did on the poster because we wanted to things to be kept consistent when it came to advertising the album. The fonts which we used are similar to those seen on a number of album and digipaks of female R&B artists which we have looked at. We thought that by using two contrasting fonts, the front cover might be slightly more visually appealing.

We made sure that we included an image of the artist on the front cover of the digipak to allow the audience to easily identify the artists album. We used a slightly different image for the front cover of the digipak, one that focuses more on her beauty and composition rather than her emotional state. We did this because we wanted to show that our chosen artist isn't emotional all of the time, and that she can actually be strong at times. We also made sure that we included a message which informs the audience about a couple of popular songs which will feature on the album.

Back Cover Of Digipak

On the back cover of the digipak, we have incorporated a number of conventions including an area in which information about the production team will be. This information will include the record labels name and logo, the names of the songwriters, the record labels website, the copyrights logo and the year that the album was published. This is important in recognising who has taken credit for what and the copyrights logo ensures that no one can take any content from the album and claim it as their own. We have also put a barcode on the back of the digipak so that it can be scanned when it is being purchased in stores.

We have also included a track listing on the back cover of our digipak. It is important that every digipak has a track list so that the audience can see a list of all of the songs that will feature on the album. We felt that an important aspect of the track list is the order in which the songs come. We have put ten songs on the track list  which include: 1) Intro 2) The Script 3) So In Love 4) Ghost 5) DayDreamer 6) Missing You 7) Interlude 8) Anuva Luvr 9)The One 10) All For You. We have also included who these songs have been produced by. We have put these songs in an order which somewhat explain a typical females love life. Intro represents her being exposed to love as a young teen, The Script represents her love life being written out on paper i.e. a diary, So In Love represents her falling deeply in love with her man, Ghost represents her breaking up with her man and seeing him with another female, DayDreamer and Missing You represent her still thinking about her ex, Interlude would be a short song inbetween singing about how she shouldn't be dwelling on her first love, Anuva Luvr represents her finding a new love, The One represents that fact that her new man is definately the one for her and All For You represents everything she does and would do for her new man.

We have also made sure that we have put the artist's own website and social networks sites e.g. Twitter and Facebook on the back cover of the digipak. By having the artists website on the back of the digipak, the audience can freely browse her site to find out more about the artist. In addition, the artists social network sites on the digipak would help to broaden the artists fan base because if people that have purchased the album have Twitter or Facebook, they can follow her or like her fan page and also pass the links to her sites on to their friends for them to follow or 'like' if they please.

Front Panel Of Digipak (Biography)

On the front panel, we decided that we would include a very short biography just to give the audience a little insight into Carla Jaye's life. The biography will summarise information about Carla Jaye's childhood, how she started off singing, how she became recognised and how she has progressed from then.

CD Tray Of Digipak

For our CD tray compartment, we would like there to be a design or an image behind the clear plastic CD tray to ensure that every compartment of the digipak is visually appealing. Above is an image of the design that we would like to incorporate into our digipak. We will create the design using Adobe Photoshop and we will then stick the transparent CD tray over the top of it.

First Inner Panel In Digipak

With the inner panel, we thought that we would insert an image of just the artists hands whilst she is writing one of the songs on the album. We wanted to include this because we wanted to show the audience that Carla Jaye does write songs as well as singing them.

Second Inner Panel Of Digipak

In the other inner panel, we decided that we want to include an image of the artist actually recording one of her songs from the album. We wanted to include this because we also want the audience to see the work that the artist is putting in to making the album.