Editing Process

We are currently in the process of editing our video, fortunately, Alex is a very experienced editor so she is teaching us and guiding us so we can all attempt the editing together although taking on the role of main editor herself. We are still at very early stages however it seems to be all going smoothly.

Sound and Lighting

We all have taken different areas of research to individually assess. Charlies was to look at sound and lighting within music videos.

Filming!!

We filmed everything we needed to today and more and can now start uploading this and editing to finally get closer to our final product!

Filming Schedule

This is the film schedule for our project.

And this is our schedule for some studio filming for greenscreen.

Location shots

Here are the location shots that Alex took of where our video is filmed.

Storyboard

Here are the storyboards which we all worked on before filming to gets some ideas down onto paper.

Camera Angles

6.Long shot - I think this shot because it shows a full picture including props, location, mise-en-scene and the performer. However this type of shot is often used to set the scene so we may not need to use this very often, just once to set the scene.

Camera Angles

5. Low Canted Angle - This shot was taken with the intention to make the performer appear bigger and powerful, the opposite to the high canted angle. I do think this achieves this, however I don't like how you cannot see much of the performance or of the performers face.

Camera Angles

4. High Canted angle - We took this shot with the intention of trying to make the performer look smaller and inferior however I don't think this quite had the desired effect so will probably not be used in the video.

Camera Angles

3. Extreme close up - This shot obviously shows a very close up shot of emotion in the face but may work more effectively with extreme close up of an instrument being played .

Camera Angles

2. Close up - This shot works because you can see the emotion and I think this effective for a music video because the emotion of the performer tells a story along with the mood. I think we will use this shot fairly often but not as often as mid shot.

Camera Angles

As a group we practised for our video by testing out camera angles to find the ones which we felt were most effective. We then discussed which ones we thought worked particularly well and which ones we thought wouldn't be appropriate for our video.

1. Mid Shot - The shot allows us to see a full picture of the performer as she is taking up most of the shot but this is effective because we can see emotion as well as performance. This is a shot we will probably use most often to achieve what we are going for in our video.

Semiotics within our music video

After researching semiotics we realised it is going to be something we need to consider when filming and creating our music project.

As the band we are creating the music video for are considered to be an indie band we decided to follow conventions and suit the semiotics to this genre of music.

There will be an element of performance but not a live gig, most rock bands uses footage of live gigs with thousands of spectators but indie bands tend to use more intimate private performances often without any spectators at all.
Most indie bands write their own songs and play instruments so by including the band members playing their own instruments and singing will indicate this type of music.

Examples of bands which use semiotics in this way are :

• The Kooks - She moves in her own way
• The View
• Jamie T

Mise en scene -

Semiotics and mise en scene are very similar within music videos.

Mise en scene is used to describe how a scene is designed to look like it is intended to me. for example a school setting would have a desk chairs, a blackboard etc.

So for our music video we want to create a natural setting; somewhere where the band would chill and and practise their songs. we plan to acheive this through some of the props we use, e.g beer cans, instruments, as well as having every day clothing. This is why it is very similar to the semiotics for our music video because we will be taking into account the semiotics which we then build our mise en scene on.

Next Target

We have taken photos of different camera angles now and are currently in the process of uploading these onto our blogs so they will soon be accessible.

Conventions of a Music Video

Conventions are a set of generally accepted norms or criteria. All types of media carry there own set of conventions and music videos are no different. I researched the conventions of a music video and listed below are the most common and universal.

Lyrics: establish a general feeling/mood/sense of subject rather than a meaning
Music: tempo often drives the editing.
Genre: might be reflected in types of mise-en-scene, themes, performance, camera and editing styles.
Editing: the most common form is fast-cut montage, rendering many of the images impossible to grasp on first viewing, so ensuring multiple viewing. Often enhancing the editing are digital effects, which play with the original images to offer different kinds of pleasure for the audience.

Andrew Goodwin's Theory·

• Visuals either illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics and music·
• Genres often have their own music style/iconography·
• Close-ups should always be included·
• Intertextual references are also popular

Semiotics in music videos

Semiotics is the study of signs and meanings. 3 areas of study are :
The sign – the picture, object, sound
The system into which signs are organised
The culture within which these signs operate

Semiotics is used alot within Media, and because of my project to produce a music video I found that researching how it was important to music promotion this would help me to produce a successful music video that uses semiotics effectively.
Semiotics plays a very important part within a music video. If we were to take away the music on a music video we should still be able to figure out the genre of music by the signs within the video such as, the location, lighting camera angles and mise en scene. Different music genres use different techniques which means they would use different signifiers. For example if a music video was bright and upbeat with the artist performing choreographed routines this would portray a pop genre whereas indie music videos tell more of a story in their videos.
Also another way of using semiotics is in the culture within these signs operate, if the video was set in a dark location, with the artist in dark clothing this may signify the sad tone of the song. So using semiotics proves to be an important part of music video to get across the genre and tone of the song itself.

Get Ahead OCR Media Blog

http://www.getaheadocrmedia.blogspot.com/

This is a link to the blog created by OCR which can help us to stay on track and query if we need to.

http://www.virtualmediastudies.com/

This is a link to an OCR media website, with information and media techniques and examples.

Next Target

By Thursday we have set ourself a task to be prepared for being able to experiment with camera angles, we will then either put ourselves infront or behind the camera, being a camera operator or the stand in- singer. This will be order to get ideas into how we will be able to use camera angles for our own music video.

Deconstruction of a music video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6QMz0Um_kM

We have decided to all deconstruct a music video each to gain as much knowledge and information as we can to make our music video as good as possible.

I am basing my deconstruction on the conventions of music videos to see how they work in actual videos.

I have looked at a song by The Editors whose genre is a mix between indie and rock.

Music - tempo often drives the editing like in this video, each edit is on the beat.
Match on match action - singing is in sync with the lyrics.
Element of performance is there but not in a live gig like rock bands.
There is no particular storyline.
Good use of effects in editing , all which fits the mood of the song.
Black and white - suits the genre and the tone of the song.
Close ups of lead singer and instruments to portray the element of performance such as the in sync singing and instruments being played.

Band Questionnaire Answers and Analysis

Here are the answers to the questionnaire which we emailed to the band so we could then research into creating the most suitable video to suit their music. The questions helped us to understand the band more to really suit their desires too.

Update

We have now recieved the completed questionnaires which we are in the process of scanning and uploading, the answers will then be clear for us to then anaylse on our blogs.This then enables us to deconstruct music videos relating to our artists answers so we can create our own music video. From deconstructing other artists music videos we will be able to find out other techniques such as lighting etc.

Profile on the Band

The band we are using in the music video production are called 'The Carpet Monsters', with one of their own original songs called 'Keep on Rolling' They have an album called 'Down to the Cuboid' which we are advertising with our subsidiary tasks also.
The band members consist of ;

Laura Hooper - vocals
Matthew Castle - Guitar
Simon Durrant - Bass guitar

The band have been together since 2005 and play at local pubs and beach festivals,.

The Carpet Monsters

We were planning on conducting an interview with the band to get to know their influences and opinions within music. However because of time issues and work commitments with the band we decided to email them a questionnaire instead. This means we can get answers from each band member. We have come up with a few questions to give to The Carpet Monsters which we think will allow us to find out the information we need. These questions are ;

1. How would you classify the music you perform?
2. Who are your influences?
3. Are there any current music videos which you like and would lke your video to be like in anyway?
4. If you could compare yourself to any artists or bands, who would it be and why?

We have decided to make our questions quite open which means this will give the band the chance to elaborate on them and their answers to give as much detail as possible so we can work to their ideas as well as own own.

A Creative Decision

The long delay is because of problems with our decision. After much discussion we have decided to join ideas and work on the project with Alex Castle.

We came to this decision because we were finding it hard to find an original artist who could dedicate a lot of their time for us and commit for whenever we needed them. Whereas Alex had a band in mind which seemed to be an easier and more reliable choice to use because one of the band members is her brother so getting in contact and planning our time should become more successful.

Together, we will now begin the research stage and begin drafting ideas of our own music production and the research needed to do so.

Target- next goal

Our target for this week is to find an artist which we can work with to create our music promotion.

We will then interview them to be able to start getting ideas as to what our music video can be based upon.

We are all working together on this initial part so there are no individual duties as we are still all putting our own ideas forward together.

Our decision

Today we came to the decision as to what our final project would be, we have chosen to do a music promotion. We came to this decision because of the fact that we have a member of our group who has previously created a music video at gcse level which gives us a head start into how to deconstruct them and the basic conventions. We decided we would be able to create something of a higher quality because of this advantage and our own specific qualities than any other range of production.

Our main concern was being able to find an original artist which we can put our own twist on. It gives us more freedom to create what we want and not have to suit certain opinions and reputations. The research we do can specifically relate to what it is we want to achieve and can be a lot more personal. We also want a particular artist who we can talk to, communicate with and work with comfortably to create the best outcome possible.

We are still undecided who it is we want to use for our music promotion. We have a few ideas but we have to follow these up.

OCR Media Studies Specification

Here is a hyperlink to the A2 media specification for OCR which I will be able to use to keep me on track with my project and constantly refer back to this. By having access to this, it can benefit us by not letting us stray away from our aim and keep to the necessary criteria.

http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/asa_levelgceforfirstteachingin2008/mediastudies/documents.html

A2 Media Project

This blog will consist of all of my work throughout the project right through to the final product, it will include all the research and planning, the final creation and an evaluation.

I will be working in a group with Rachel Gaffney and Charlotte Stokes.

Welcome to my Blog! :)

Hello!

Let's have some fun :)