We used a website called ‘unsigned.com’ to select an artist/band
to create a music video, the reason we used this website was to avoid any copy
right issues that we would face if we wanted to use a signed band/artist, an
email was sent to the band, in this we asked for the permission to use the
song. (Copy of the email). We then went onto YouTube to look at other bands
with a similar genre (the chosen genre being Indi pop) to see what other bands
had done and try to get inspiration for our promo, the band I thought sounded
most like the colours was (‘Scouting for
girls) .
During this process we had been
introduced to many new technologies that we could use to present our work, some
of these involved:
·Moovly- this allows you to create little
animation involving the movement of text and pictures with the option to add
sound. The program is much like PowerPoint, but you can do so much more on it
making it a better program to use. Moovly does take some getting used to as it
can be very difficult to understand the first few time you use it.
·Go animate- this program lets you create
short animated sketches involving characters that you can create and design how
you want, you can also give them a dialogue and have the option to make them
mobile, the program is very easy to use but can be difficult to upload and save
videos
·Prezzie- this program allows you to add
text onto a blank page, add text boxes and then ass transitions between the
sections of text, Prezzie is very easy to use and looks very effective even
though the idea is very simple
·Moovly needs adding from home
The main one of the technologies I
have used is moovly; this allows you to create a mini movie about a topic of
your choice whilst you present, you have the option to let it run through or
you can play and pause when you wish.
I feel that my shooting skills have
developed from the last time I filmed, this is because I have learnt from any
mistakes I made last time by communicating with my group more, we also had
three cameras available to us on the occasion, instead of the one that we had
previously, this allowed us to get much more footage from many different
angles. Another skill that I was my photography skills, I had the option to use
a high quality camera which allowed me to take in detail shot, those of which
we were able to use as filler shots when necessary, this is another thing I had
learnt from my transition from AS to A2, filming out thriller we did not manage
to get enough footage so had to re-film, in a way this benefited us as we could
get more and better quality footage, again we learnt from this mistake from
last year and made sure we got enough it not too much footage so we had plenty
to edit and try to make the video as good as it could possibly be.
Also my editing skills have
improved as I was able to do a lot more with this video than the past one such
as cutting to the beat, this process works by getting a copy of the lyrics,
going through them and deciding the best place to cut your shot, we didn’t
stick to this plan as sometimes it is just better to look at the video you have
in front of you and decide what looks better rather than just follow what you
had planned to do without looking at your footage. I also used a lot more stop
motion which gives the video a rougher feel making it fit to the beat, this
involves taking photos and editing them together so they flow.
Another skill I learnt was lip
syncing, this involves editing the shots you have in time to the song that
selected, one major negative I had with this stage was the performance element
of my music video, as my actor had not learnt the lyrics before he came to film
he was looking down a lot, it was so frequent that there was no way I could
edit around it, meaning the final product wasn’t as smooth as I would have
liked it to be
To create the promo itself we used
I movie, I felt confident editing on this program as I had previously used it
before so was already familiar with the program, after using this I had the
option to move onto final cut, I decide against this option because I was
unfamiliar with how the program worked and did not want to risk ruining what I
had previously created on I movie.
To create the ancillary product
photo shop was used. We had the ability to use a studio with lighting and a
professional camera to take photos with, but as we had planned to paint all of
our ancillaries we decided this was not needed, the fact that we did decide to
paint them all I felt created more of a challenge as it was more time consuming
and we did not have the chance to go back and change something if we didn’t
like it or went wrong.
We conducted a lot of audience
research to try and make the ancillaries as good as they can be for example: to
select the font for the poster and digipak we had short listed 6 different
fonts in the colour we wanted and placed them on a poll everywhere, this is a
free website in which you give people the shortlisted fonts and ask them to
text in the code of their preferred option, the website then registers this and
places it in a bar chart so the results can be easily seen and judged. When we
presented our pitch to the class, we had a draft mock-up of the digipak which
we asked the classes opinions of, the feedback that we got from this was: ‘well
detailed’, ‘good use of colour’, nicely spaced out and well presented’.
To gain some audience feedback on
everything we've done so far, we handed out questionnaires to people who our
similar to our target audience (aged 17-19, male and female). We showed them
our digipak & poster as well as playing the song and explaining the idea.
Most people liked our idea and preferred much more to our other as its unique.
They also liked the art aspect as its creative and will keep them
watching it again and again. They said one thing we could change is the
performance and have it done in the garage/art studio too. When filming we will
try this out.
We asked people if they thought the song and video would match. 10 out of 11
said yes, while 1 said no as they thought it’s too much of a pop video and said
that if we may be included more performance it would fit more so we will add
some more performance. Once they saw the storyboard matched with the lyrics
they said the singing and story line work well together and the narrative is
like a puzzle almost.
For the fourth question we asked if it fits our genre. Everyone said due to the
quirkiness of the video and the arty aspect that it does as many
alternative/indie videos have an art vibe to it. Also the heartbreak theme is
like it as many songs from this genre are e.g. Arctic Monkeys - Arabella etc.
The animation also fits as its different and not done often. Although people
said that the clips we showed them were too short, so we will make longer one
to practice/ see if it works.
The digipak and poster were liked by people. They liked how a similar theme was
kept throughout and the picture fits to the song. They said that the digipak
could include less about tours and more about the band and maybe include the
lyrics. When making the final digipak we will include band info/lyrics as it
will appeal more to our audience.
We have a visual concept throughout
our promotional package which involves hands letting go which fits with the
name of the song ‘Tonight I Let You Go’ we also decided to make the background
of the poster include many different colours as we have an art theme running
through the song and the band is called ‘The Colours’, this design also
features on the front of the digipak and on the CD itself.
We also decided to create a stop
motion scene in the song involving the hands slowly moving apart to reveal a
heart being crossed out again emphasising the message of the end of a
relationship and the individuals coming to terms with what’s happened.
The image of the hands was used
throughout our ancillaries as a way to link them all together or create brand
recognition, the idea came when we did the pitch as it involved a draft of our
digipak which had this image included, the feedback we received from the class
was very positive e.g. simple yet effective they also said it was eye catching
and very unique so we decided to stick with this design and incorporate it in
the music video, on the CD its self and on the magazine advert.
This helps to promote the package
as we hope that in the future potential fans will see the hands and
automatically link them to the magazine advert. Digipak and the promo itself,
(giving the band an image). This is the magazine advert, if I saw this in a
magazine I would be intrigued as to what it was about, I feel the down side to
this advert would be if you hadn’t seen either the digipak or the promo you
wouldn’t know what it was about or what it related to as there is not a lot of
information on the poster.
The ideas this could give about the
ban are that they are very art based as there is a lot of colour involved in
the making of the advert, you could also say that the band know about letting
go of somebody they once loved as this is what their profile talks about on
unsigned.com.
This is the front and back view of
the digipak again we have used the idea of the hands and the colours again to
emphasise the fact of letting go, I feel this is a stronger representation of
the band as there is more information included as it is a six panel digipak, so
you get all the extra information about the band and about the song, I feel
this would be stronger on its own than the magazine advert as it is backed up
with the rest of the digipak, whereas the advert would be placed in a magazine which
could be easily looked passed if you didn’t know what you were looking for, the
digipak is also very eye catching so would stand out if it is placed on a shelf
with many others like it.
This is a still from the promo
involving the hands letting go, again much like the magazine advert I don’t
think that this would be very strong on its own as it is not what I would think
to be a main focus in the music promo, however the three combined together
would give fans something that they may be able to see an remember and
hopefully would recognise in other forms of media, such as the digipak and the
magazine advert.
There are many different ways in
which the band could be promoted using these products, the music promo itself
would be placed on you tube, but from then onwards there are many different
ways it could go as it would have fallen into that hands of the general public
so it could be shared on Facebook or Twitter giving individuals the opportunity
to comment what they think, a hash tag could be created using twitter e.g.
#TheColours or #TonightILetYouGo, which gives users the ability to tweet what
they think of the band and talk to other people about their views and opinions.
The video also has the ability to
be shown on music channels, such as MTV, 4 music and heat, I feel these would
suit our video as these channels have quite a wide fan base and play lots of
different styles of music meaning our song could appeal to other individuals
and not just the expected target market.
The digipak would be sold in shops
and individuals would have the opportunity to purchase the magazine in shops
and newsagents, all of these methods would be considered as traditional media
as purchasing or watching the video is no way different from what an individual
would do in their everyday life.
Now days you don’t actually have to
leave the house to go and buy anyone of these products as we have technologies
such as I tunes, the ability to view the magazine article as an advert on
social media sites such as Facebook and or twitter this is known as new media.
The popularity of new media has grown a considerable amount over the past few
years as more people are able to get their hands on the technology that is
required to use it (such as IPhones and IPad for the use of I tunes) this has
had a negative impact on the traditional media, an example of this would be the
music channels, the viewership has gone from millions to thousands, also the
buying of CD’s has decreased a considerable amount as individuals can now download
music and TV programs online. There is strong evidence to suggest that ever
since technology has developed, it has helped artists get discovered which
would not have been the case if the weekly music chart was still based CD sales
as only well-known songs would be known about, you could also say that this
transfer has allowed peoples taste in music to develop and change as they are
given the opportunity to listen to new music and artists, also the use of new
media is easier to track what people are downloading and listening to as it is
monitored online.
Our task was to film and edit a
music promo for an unsigned band, we were then asked to create ancillaries to
go along with the promo which involved a digipak and a magazine advert which
would basically give information about the band e.g. background, social media
information, possible tour dates and ratings from other magazines and critics. These three elements together
create a promotional package which is there to promote the band in any way
possible e.g. the promo is to show off the talents of the artist(s) in regards
to their singing, dancing and acting skills in a hope that fans they have will
want to see them live, download their music, watch them on the TV and listen to
them on the radio, this then leads onto the magazine advert which shows what
other media platforms think of them (synergy) through star rating, comments and
or quotes (which are given by other magazines and some individuals). The advert
may also include tour dates and an image of the band although this is not
always the case (image of magazine advert along with analysis).
The digipak is there to give a
little bit more information about the band e.g. twitter user names, Facebook
pages and background information such as band history, the digipak also
includes a CD with a selected amount of tracks on as digipaks are usually
released for an occasion such as a certain amount of years performing or as a
limited addition release, a digipak can sometimes include lyrics to the tracks
and sometime posters as well. (Digipak and analysis).
The typical conventions of a music
promo fall into the categories of performance, narrative, camerawork, editing,
actors and mise-en-scene.
The conventional pop promo usually consists
of equal shots of narrative and performance, they can either relate in some
way, whether it be through location or the band member or artist featuring in
the performance itself, they can also be completely un-related or involve no performance
or narrative at all, which would be considered unconventional.
There are three main types of music
video, these being:
·Amplification- Uses a key idea/ image from the
lyrics and develops it into a concept within the promo, a link remains between
the lyric and the promo
·Illustration- The promo illustrates the ideas/
narrative in the song lyrics
·Disjuncture- The promo bears no resemblance to
the lyric or its meaning; abstract; often seen as unconventional/ 'arty'
videos; creates a new range of the meaning (Prezi needs uploading from home, won’t
let me from school)
The typical setting for a pop promo
usually involves some kind of studio or staging for the performance element and
then any kind of setting for the narrative whether it be a shopping centre, a
fair ground or a green screen could be used if a more extravagant backdrop is
wanted, depending on the song depends on how well the performance/narrative
setting is lit e.g. if the song is quite slow or a very dark song then the set
will not be as well lit as if the song was a happy up beat song, again the
costume would have to fit the song and the setting e.g. if the song is set in
an everyday location then everyday clothing would do but if the song was
relating to super hero’s then super hero costumes would probably be best.
A normal conventional music video will include many
different camera shots, these tend to be: long shots close up’s and mid shots,
this is so the audience has a full view of the artist/band and the main focus
of the group is made clear, these shots also make the location of the promo
known and give the audience views from different perspectives, the use of a
close up’s can be used to show emotion and facial expressions.
There can be many different ways to film a promo, this can
be done through a normal camera on a tripod, the artist themselves holding the
camera and filming themselves or the area around them, they can also be filmed
on a camera phone e.g. I phone.
The camera is moved so the audience
get a full view of either the scene or the artist/band, these shots usually
consist of: panning shots (moving the camera on a tripod or without in one
swift motion) tilt shots (the camera either moving up or down) and tracking
shots (the camera following the main focus of the video)
The typical conventions of a pop
promo include editing that matches the pace of the song which is usually fast
pace and can include many quick cuts, the costume is usually everyday clothing
so jeans and a t-shirt or extravagant costume all depending on what the song is
about. There have been many different pop promos that have broken conventions
for example in Ed Sheeran’s song ‘You
need me, I don’t need you’, there is no use of performance from Ed himself
only narrative in the form, of a dancer which has no relation the lyrics.
To create the promo, we used many
different editing techniques, these included the speeding up and slowing down
of clips when necessary e.g. when a clip was too slow and did not fit the pace
of the video, this was a common occurrence just before and just after and stop
motion had been added into the video. The ability to speed up clips helped a
lot due to the fact that our actors were quite slow when carrying out the
action that was required of them so in order to fit the pace of the song,
needed speeding up.
We also did a lot of cutting to the
beat, this is more obvious when the beat of the song is quite fast pace, with
lots of short choppy sections, this gave me the opportunity to add some shot of
the two arguing or just facing the camera giving blank expressions, emphasising
the fact that the relationship was not an easy one and did not run smooth.
We also used a great deal of stop
motion throughout the promo, this was shown when the hands separated to reveal
a heart, again I had to make sure that the image changed when the beat did in
order for it to be in time with the song and look as smooth as it could, the
second element of stop motion I used was creating the red handprint heart on
the sheet, this was then split up into sections so we had a break from the
narrative and the performance elements. (Stills of the stop motion at key
parts).
For the location we decided we
wanted it to look like a makeshift art studio, this was because we had based
our idea around the concept of colour (as the band is called the colours).
There are also elements in the song that can relate to art well e.g. the lyrics
are ‘colours never change’. We
created this studio from old bits of fabric, table and art work from previous
class projects, this gave us the ability to turn a kitchen into an art studio
by moving furniture around and hanging up drapes and pictures, I feel this
looked believable as we only ever filmed from one angle, so you could not see
any kitchen related items in the background.
Our costume was a very basic every
day wear it involved Hope wearing jeans, hoodie and shirt for the first part,
as the video progresses she changes into smarter clothing e.g. jeans and a
jumper, this fits with the pop genre as many pop videos are filmed in everyday
locations e.g. parks, shopping centres and the location that we decided to go
with which was a houses, it would therefore make sense for the individuals
featuring in the promo to be in believable clothing.
Joshes costume again was everyday
wear as he was in a denim jacket, shirt and trousers, slightly smarter than
hopes outfit as conventionally the main artists are wanted to be noticed more
so would want to stand out. One way of doing this is through your outfit.
The way we have edited the
performance and narrative together in our promo is by having one or two shots
of the narrative, so having a shot of Hope painting the hands on the sheet and
then washing them, then a shot of Josh performing has been included, this is to
create a bit of variety and make the video more interesting to watch with the
changing of location and the different shots used, we have tried to link the
performance and narrative together through the painted heart on the sheet,
which is behind Josh as he ‘sings’ the song.
The basic idea for our promo was
the ending of a relationship where the male is the performance element of the
video and the female is the narrative but towards the end of the video the two
come together as we combined the performance and narrative to show the couple
coming together and trying to fix things between them. The performance side of
the video involves our actress (Hope) walking into an ‘art studio’ and beginning to paint, she then receives a message
which we assume if from the male which frustrates her and she gradually becomes
more and more angry, shortly after this she begins to place red handprints on a
sheet the is in the studio, these later forms a heart which the male (Josh)
later uses to perform the narrative against to try and link to two scene
together by something simple.
This is typical of a video in this
genre (pop) as many people can find this subject relatable. If we take scouting
for girls ‘this ain’t a love song this is
goodbye’the song is about a breakup
and how individuals deal with it in different ways, which is very similar to
the song by the colours as a previous groups had chosen this song and focused it
around the relationship ending due to cheating and around playing cards,
whereas when our group heard the song, we felt we could take it in a different
direction e.g. the art studio.
We had many other ideas before we
settled on the art perspective, we took inspiration from Bryan Adams and Mel
C’s ‘baby when you’re gone’ this was because we liked the idea of the two
individuals being in the same location but never actually seeing each other, we
could have also done split screens so you can see the two individuals together
and see their reactions without them seeing each other.
A conventional digipak involves 6
panels usually containing information such as: band name, information about the
band, CD, ways to get in contact with the band, track list/ song lyrics (on
occasion) and possible posters of the band, (analysis of the artic monkeys
digipak, favourite worst nightmare)
We have looked at many theorists,
this theory states that: 'Genre is no longer a fixed set of
elements'. This could suggest that genre is no longer set in
categories and has merged together to create many different sub genres hence
why we now have genres such as Indi pop/rock and alternative pop/rock.
Another theory proposed by Buckingham (1990's)'Argues
that genre is a constant process of negotiation and change' this
suggests the idea that things move on, develop and change along with the time
as pop music is not that same as it used to be.
We have decided to edit out the parts where the singer is looking down so that it looks more professional and so that our audience will like it more as this is some of the feedback we have been given. We are going to change the parts where he is looking down to filler shots as much as we can.
Another piece of feedback that we have been given that we are following up on is the idea to try and get shots of the singer and the actress on the beat of the drums at the beginning of the song. We are in the process of trying to do this and we have found that it looks a lot more effective like this then it did before.
More feedback that we have been given is the idea of adding more narrative of the girl being heartbroken before the shots where she makes herself up to symbolize that she is getting over the break-up. We have already started to do this.
A creative decision we have made for the digipak is cropping the magazine advert so that it only shows the hands in front of the painted colours. We will then put this as the main theme in the digipak so that it works well with the advert and the promo due to the hands showing up in all three tasks.
On the other parts of the digipak we have decided to put things like the tracklist, contact details etc.
For the magazine advert we have decided to keep it quite simple so we are going with just the hands in front of the painted colours. We are then going with the most popular font from our audience research and adding the things that are conventional for magazine adverts such as ratings and information about the album.
We are also going to make sure that the writing matches by doing the text in a similar font as the one that we used in the title.
To make the star ratings stand out we have added a back glow to the stars. This makes them stand out on the white background.
During the performance elements of the promo the singer is in front of the fabric with the heart on it as the video is focused around art so having the singer sing in front of the heart fabric links it to the overall theme of the music promo as well as the narrative. This gives it an abstract look as not many videos are focused around art making a video that is focused around art look abstract due to being not very conventional in terms of style of music video.
One the shots of Hope writing 'Tonight I Let You Go' we are going to take photos of it and then filming someone putting their hand over the red hand on the go page with a yellow handprint and then with a orange hand.
During editing we have changed the structure of our promo when looking at the storyboard. This is because some of the shots just didn't work during filming and we added new things in to make up for the fact that we had to miss some of our storyboard out. Another reason we have done this is because we had to make sure the things that we added in fitted with the stuff that we kept. We have kept the basic structure of our promo but otherwise we have changed most of the way things were fitted in with our storyboard and shot list.
Some of the things that didn't work was the idea of the guy being painted and then having the boy painting sing some of the song. This didn't work due to the complexity of the idea as we couldn't get the idea to work well with the technology and programs we have available to us, making the idea look bad when we tried to do this with the technology we actually had.
