Analysing Student Music Video

I particularly like this work as I feel that there is a strong realtionship between the visuals and lyrics. I really like how unique the story line is I feel is works successfully. I also like how the genre of the music is shown very clearly, I finally like how they show the band playing it works really effectively

Analysing Real Magazine Ad

I have chosen to analyse this magazine ad, as I feel it links in very strongly to our music video. Noah and The Whale played a big part in the development of our music video, we link many aspects to our work. We particularly liked their hazy effect that they used for their video Five Years Time. We felt this gate it a happy feel and made it hugely eye catching. This Ad uses many interesting factors. It is a simple image which has been thought out very well to ensure that it give a full potential. When first looking you notice that the band are shown on the bottom half of the image. The lead singer is in focus, making out as if he is the moast important person within the band. As the image fades out of focus, the other band member are later shown. They are shown looking up at the sky this leads the veiwer to the title. The font of the title is simplistic the name of the band is shown in a slightly larger, then the title of the song is shown in a smaller font. The whole image mainly focuses on the easy going, fun loving factor. Theere is also a filter over the top of the photo, it gives a really nice happy feel to the image as a whole.

Analysis of Music Video Using Goodwins Theory

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDTZ7iX4vTQ&feature=related

I have chosen to analyse Pumped up Kicks by Foster The People. I feel that this professional music video links particularly well with our music video and concept as a whole. From first veiwing the music video it is very clear, that this is an indie pop band and the music video demonstrates genre characteristics very well. The Band are introduced, with shots of them as a group.

The music video also shows the band playing at a live gig which allows the liping sinking to also be involved within this part. There isnt a hugely strong relationship between lyrics and visuals, although it shows a combination of illustrative and contradicting relationship, as the strong line is strong but doesnt specifically link with the lyrics as a whole.

The are a very strong relationship between music and visuals, whenever the chorus takes place the footage jumps back to where thay are playing live on stage, this could also be demands of the record label to develop motifs and begin to introduce tha band as a whole to produce a strong following for them all.

The reason why i think it links well to our music video as it has the hazy effect over the music video as a whole, i also feel tat the music video has a very similar concept through the whole video - friendship. I feel this music video is interesting and works well with the song.

Looking back at our storyboard

After finishing our project, we re-looked at our storyboard to compare how far we stuck to our original idea for the video.

We stuck to the head shots of the people in the video but certain things changed as they were all holding a piece of food instead of things to play with like the bubbles. We still used many long shots of the group all together but we used more close up shots on the action. We couldn't stick to some shots as we couldn't find a parachute.

I think that we did stick to our idea well but some shots we couldn't do due to not having the correct equipment.

Editing of our Music Video

These are screen shots of our project in final cut, we used different lines as we felt this was a lot easier to move about and everything wasn't squashed together.

Our Music Video Commentary

This is our final commentary for our music video. 

Shot List

Shots 1-10: All of these shots will be close ups of each indivdual character, the shot will be a mid shot showing an item that they are carrying or wearing. This will give a chance for every character to be introduced before the music video starts properly - Allows the video to start like a story.

Shot 11: This will be a shot of the group of friends all running up and past the camera, this allows the location to be introduced and also to add a bit of interest to the music video - it also fits nicely with out concept and genre as it shows the friendship group with a fun loving quirky feel.

Shot 12: Shot 12 is where the storyline and picnic to actually start properly, the shot shows the characters opening blankets out and setting up a good spot. The group then settle down in a circle.

Shot 13: The group of friends start having a joke around and enjoy the food, the begin to talk as a group . This fits with our genre and concept really well as it shows the strong bond within the friendship group.

Shot 14: Within this shot is will allow alot of close up andf mid shots to be taken of people enjoying themselves. It will add a different feel for the music video and add more contrast between shots.

Shot 15: This is where the food fight actually begins to start, Someone in the group throws some food and it is taken to the extreme. The group then get over excited, and choose their item of food opening them and choosing the person to throw it at.

Shot 16: This will be a long shot, which will show the food fight from all different directions, It also allows for many different characters to be involved in the shot all at once. The shot will show food coming in all shots of directions. This will be a long shot so that we can cut it in different places which are most successful, and also so that we dont miss anything.

Shot 17 and 18: These two shots will also be long shots like before so that we dont miss loads of action. We will so all of the characters coming down a water slide, this allows our concept to come out very strongly as it shows the kind of childish and immaturity of the group. It also attracts to our target audience really well.

First Pitch for Chosen Song Feedback

After pitching our first idea to the song by Jack Johnson - Sitting, Waiting, Wishing we didnt get very successful feedback. Although we were very keen on our idea we found it really difficult to explain our idea in a logical idea. By the end of the pitch, we had a chance to hear the feedback from the rest of our class and our teacher. As a whole they all agreed that our idea was too confusing, but I feel this was mainly because we didnt explain it as well as we could have. Another comment that often came up was that our idea wasnt original enough to be the idea of this song. The lyrics of this song were quite predictable and as a group i dont feel we stretched out imagination as well as we could have done. There were also 3 groups as a whole all going for the same song, this made it quite competitive, but 2 of the ideas were very similar and all of them involved being quite narrative based, which can sometimes be abit risky and boring.

Analysing a Professional Digipack

My Chemical Romance are a popular Rock band from America, they have realeased many albums and songs and when they created their greatest hits album they decided t make it a digipak. On the front cover of the album itself there is a photograph of the band, this introduces them to the target audience which could create more of an interest. over the top of the image My Chemical Romance is written in gold and red. This introduces clearly to the target audeince the image of the band itself, the name of the band and the album that is being released. From the front cover you can clearly see what sort of genre they are, which the theme of black, red and gold. This theme is introducing the genre of the band as a rock band. this is shown clearly through out the whole digipak as a whole.

Inside the digipak itself there are three different sections on the first section there is another image of the band, this is a way for the band to be recognised and also to see what they look like as a whole. The photograph is in black and white which is also staying within the theme of rock as a whole. The next section is for the CD itself. it is designed with the sane concept of the other sections of the digipak showing the colour theme of black and red. The same red splash of paint which is used within the title on the front cover is also used for the CD. Finally the last section of the digipack shows infomation about the band itself and about the making of the songs. This gives a chance for the fans to keep up with whats going on and also so always keep them involved. Finally at the bottom of ther digipak there are more photographs of the band and previous albums that the band have also produced.

Analysing Past Students Magazine Ads

This is an example of  a past students magazine ad, throughout the whole ad there is a clear colour theme of black, white and red. This seems to be the main focus for the group, as their magazine ad had a similar look and feel about it, and their main concept throughout.The magazine ad gives a sence of a powerful and dramatic band. The genre isnt that clear to the target audience, it could be related to indie./rock kind of music or it could be rap music. as the colours would match both genres. The ad includes many professional bits of information. The is a quote from NME which are a well know company in the music career. The details of a myspace account where the band can produce and publish infomation about upcoming songs and gigs, they also have a webiste. The most eye catching area of the magazine ad is the image of the band themselves. The title is also very clear to the audience so they know exactly what they are buying. Finally, the release date is shown on the magazine as which shows where the song or album is able to be purchased. I feel that in general this poster is effective as i like the whole concept i feel it works very effectively all together. I feel it is very eye catching, what i feel could be improved is what the genre of the music is and what the band are about.

Filming our commentary

We filmed our commentary in pairs and a group of three in order for us to concentrate and focus on the points that we were each making. We only had 35 minutes to film our commentary which we found not a lot of time as there was a lot of information to cover between all 5 of us. We did not get chance to film a small section of our commentary due to this and will therefore use a voice over for the remaining information that we need to include. The information included in the rest of our commentary was successful.

Analysing Past Students Digipacks

This was one groups Digipack, as you can see a lot of time has gone into it to plan and designing a concept for the whole idea. From this digipack you can see that it was designed for a pop song. The colours which are involved in the rainbow stripe which is shown across the whole design. The background of the digipack  is kept simple in contrast to the bright colours of the stripe. They have used an image of the band as the front cover of the Digipack. The allows the band to be introduced the their target audience. The name of the band is shown in quite bright writing at the bottom of the front cover and at the top of the back. The name of the song itself isnt that clear to the viewer as its only shown on the spine of the Digipack. The could be shown more clearly as a whole - for example on the front of the Digipack so that the target audience know exactly what they are buying.

On the back of the Digipack, the song names are realistic and shown  very clearly. There are also screen shots from their video shown which adds more of an interest point through out the Digipack as a whole. They have included Quotes from popular well known music magazines and music channels. Which gives more of a professional feel throughout the Digipack. They have also included a bar code and producers labels. I also like how this makes the work more interesting. As a whole I feel that this is a professional looking Digipack. Although I do feel the title of the song needs to be made more visible, and a tint could have been used over the top of the image of the back to fit with the 'pop' theme.  

Directors Commentary script/notes.

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Jack: Noah and the whale, The Vaccines, inspiration, hazy effect

Charlotte: Genre, indie/pop, summer fun, food fights, target audience

Olie: goodwins, lyrics + visuals, music + visuals

Jade: singing, food fight, indie genre

Alex: research into 'pop' video conventions


How Effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Charlotte: music video, food fight, preparation

Olie: digi pack, how we made it, screen shots, energetic

Jade: tins, wrappers of food in video, clear links, writing on tins

Alex: fonts similar/same, effect same as video

Jack: Tour dates poster

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Olie: initial pitch 'Jack Johnson', not great feedback

Jade: 'We're from Barcelona' heard lots of great ideas

Alex: rough cut, rushed, wasn't finished, no singing

Jack: final improvements, added shots, colour corrector, added singing

Charlotte: over all how feedback helped us.


How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stage? 

Jade: final cut, rewind, fast, slow, colour corrector

Alex: photoshop, magazine ad, text, layers, easy to use

Jack: blogger, research, planning, easy to use 

Charlotte: HD cameras, tripod, stills camera

Olie: how everything helped our video to be amazing!! 

Past Student Director's Commentries

First commentary that I reserched:
http://42longroadmusicvideo10.blogspot.com/2010/12/commentary.html

This group didnt use many visuals throughout their expanations and the majoirty of the footage was just of the group talking about all of their products as a whole. In some of the footage they showed their video in the backgrond on a computer screen. The was effective as it made the commentary a bit more interesting but it wasnt big enough for the veiwers to see. What I like most about this approach was the simplistic side of the commentary, but I feel that they needed more visuals of the video itself while they were evaluating their work.

Second commentary that I researched:
http://12longroadmusicvideo10.blogspot.com/2010/12/evaluation-commentary.html

This group used a more original idea with a more proffessional approch. They again explained their work in very good detail, but the way that they presented their work was more interesting. The obviously filmed the commentary on a green screen, which allowed them to over lay behind the original footage, whilst they were explaining showing in detail what they actually talking about I found this really effective. I also liked their idea of playing their music videos song very quietly in the background of the footage, this also added a nice natural approach.

Final commentary that I researched:
http://35longroadmusicvideo10.blogspot.com/2010/12/commentary-for-video.html

This group also used a simplistic approach filming in the studios with plain back drops. What I particularly feel works well with this commentary, is the way that the group talking about the good and bad points within their music video and also showing the video at the same time. This gives an opportunity for new people that havent veiwed the video to still understand why they chose to portray something in a specific way.

Evaluation

1. Our music video was developed in detail after analysing many different music videos which included Noah & the Whale and The Vaccines. These music videos influenced us as they had strong connections to our concept and idea of summer, easy going, fun loving friendship groups. We wanted to create a natural and spur of the moment feeling throughout the video and the research that took place helped us to create this. The genre of our music video is Indie Pop which was shown strongly throughout our music video idea We showed this by having a group of close friends at a picnic which slowly developed into a food fight. We chose this idea as we felt it connect with our genre and our demand characteristics through the video. We gained alot of inspiration after watching other Indie genre music videos. Many that we looked at used a vintage/ sunny tinge filtre that was put over the whole of their footage.

The song that we chose for our music video is up beat, so we wanted our music video to have fast pace and alot of actionl. We created a strong relationship between lyrics and visuals by showing a group of close friends together as the song as a whole is related to friendship. The video also had a connection  between genre characteristics as it suites the song well.

2. Our three products work very well together, the concept that we created was summer fun. We chose this as our music video was all about a food fight between close friends. Although we wanted to drift away from these sorts of ideas for parts of our products, and focus more on the summer side. For out Digipack we focused on more of the concept of summer fun than the food aspect and we used screen shots from out footage. We used images showing a group of friends having fun together on a summers day, we wanted to create a happy and easy going atmospere throughout the video and the products as a whole. For our magazine ad we focused more on the food aspect - which was the idea taken from our music video. We did a photo shoot of food grouped together to link with the food which was presented in the music video, and changed the lables of the food to infomation about the song release date and the bands web address. As an extra part to out products we also created a tour poster that could be sold as an extra with the Digipack. For this design we also focused on the summer fun side of designing. This gave the opportunity to focus more on our concept of the porducts as a whole rather then just the concept of the music video.

The concept creates a very interesting image for the group. The song itself has a happy and upbeat feel which then links it to childish behaviour. The sort of image is portryed throughout all the images. This then connects well with our target audience which we aimed at teenagers and young adults. We felt this would fit best as many of the people that are in this target audience have long summers and can appreciate the fun which is invloved in the video. The products as a whole would be most suited and successful in this target audience.

3. The feedback from the audience as a whole was really useful and as a group we really benefited from all the opinions and good and bad points. It gave us all a chance to think about the improvements and take them all on board to make all are products as successful as they could be. The feedback from our initial pitch gave us a chance to evaluate our original idea and work out the reasons why it wouldnt be very successful. We chose to then pick a new song after getting the feedback from the others as we realised out idea wasnt original enough. We found our second idea much more successful and had a much more unique idea and concept as a whole.

The feedback of our rough cut from our peers and teacher allowed us to assess our work so far. It allowed us to improve our work to a much higher standard and to find our what could be improved over many different areas of the video. Although some feedback we didnt agree with we always tried different ways to see which would be more successful. The good points within our work made us think of ways to incorprate these techneques through all our work as a whole. For example we had very good feed back from the idea of reversing out footage, we started to use this technique through the whole of our work. Finally the feedback from our final cut allowed us to see the development between the rough cut and final cut, but also to see overall opinions and what really stood out and what still could have been improved. All of our work was analysed by Goodwins' Theory, so this meant that the evaluating was consistant throughout.

4. Media technologies were really helpful throughout the whole production. Blogger allowed us to publish our improvements, research and development. It allowed us to broaden our knowledge of music videos and also brainstorm with many different ideas. Improvements as a whole and feedback was published on our blog and this allowed the infomation to always be handy. Final Cut allowed us to produce out whole music video. It made our video as a whole look more proffessional and also gaining and building apon many different types of techniques. Finally photoshop allowed our digipack, poster and magazine ad all to be created at a very high standard. This proffessional designing software allows us to use many different tools and equipment to make all of our work as successful as it can be. Gaining very high standard results.

The equipment that we used to film our footage was also very useful. The HD cameras allowed us to have high quality footage to use on final cut and play around with different techniques. Also using a tripod created more stable filming and as a whole better quality footage. The stills cameras were also used to create some of our other products like our digipack and magazine ad. We also used the cameras to develop ideas and document specific things and filming days.

All of these products allowed our final products to be at the best standard that they could have been. HD cameras created good footage that could be used in many different ways. Without all the technology and equipment all of our final products wouldnt have been as a high standard and so successful.

Research into a director's commentary

Director's commentaries are a way of the 'director' to explain their choices within a scene, music video or film, why they specifically wanted a shot to be in a particular place, or the location of a scene for example. The director usually explains their choices for costume design and location and saying his opinions behind them. Director's commentaries give a chance for the director to evaluate their work, mention what they particularly liked about the scene and their main reasons for why they chose it and what they thought worked best. Although it also gives the opportunity for them to say what was more difficult about working in a particular loaction and what could have been improved as a whole. Particularly the main reasons for a director's commentary is for them to explain their choice and what the story was that they wanted to create.

Commentaries can be produced in many different ways, although the most popular is using a voice over over the top footage. This gives a chance for the veiwer to see which part is being analyzed, it gives a chance for them to hear the comments and analyse at the same time. Another way that commentries can be presented is by cutting inbetween showing the director talking about the footage in different sections, then after, the clip is then shown to the veiwer to be analysed.

the first example can be seen here:

Digipack and Magazine ad planning

We were thinking of using this as our magazine ad. We feel that the concept would work really well, the only down side to using this image wqould be that where isnt alot of space to write the info around it. Although it really does focus on our food fight concept.

Charlotte did a photo shoot of the products and food which was used in the food fight. We feel that this could also work really well as a magazine idea asw it is more simplistic and and also gives more space to allow the prodct infomation to be released.

We feel that these images would work best as the Digipak as it allows the concept to be stretched to friendship rather than just the food concept. It allows the band to be know from other songs which arent just related to food.

These Images are all ideas for our magazine ad and digi pak. We narrowed it down to these few as we felt they all showed a clear theme and linked well together. But as we didn't want the Digi Pak to focus on the one video we felt that the last image would be better for the whole album as it shows the Artist as a Group rather than a solo artist, which the top image would have suggested. 

 We also liked the idea of using the cans of food as our album is all about teeange years and summer which is heavily linked to food, we decided on using this as our Magazine Ad as we have many different ideas to try out regarding where the text would go, etc.

FINAL DIGI PACK AND MAGAZINE AD ITEMS

Tour Date Poster - Digi Pack Extra!

Final Digi Pack Ideas.

The theme for the whole digi pack is Summer with Food.

Magazine Ad:

For our magazine ad we are using a picture of some of the food used in the filming, that is set out well in front of a white background. The food takes up the top half of the picture the there is a white space in the bottom half which we are going to use for text of the magazine cover. We are blanking out the brand names of the food products and replacing them with information about the track such as release dates, where its available from, etc. 

DVD Case:

We are going to use a shot from our music video for the front of the case, which is of the group running away. There is a big clear blue sky that we can put the title of the album and name of the band. We are thinking of calling our album 'We're From Barcelona'. Many bands call their album by one of their main songs so we thought we could do the same. This way we can also use a photo from our video as it will relate to the album. For the back of the album we are going to use a till receipt as this is going with the idea of food as part of the theme. We will change the items on the receipt to track names and the prices changed to the track length. 

Tour Poster:

We are going to make a poster with all the tour dates on it as an extra leaflet inside the DVD/Album pack.