evaluation task 4

technology used:
i used itunes to get the song for my music video. it was helpful because i already had the song, however i had to edit the format because it wasn't mp3. itunes changed the format. after that i put it into garage band and took 10 seconds from the end to shorten it slightly. it didn't want to play around with it too much. after that i put it straight into final cut. without the software i wouldnt have been able to manipulate the song the way i wanted, i would have had to find another way of doing it. itunes and garage band were really useful.

for filming i used a sony HDR video camera and a tripod. having an HD camera meant i could get better resolution which meant that my video looked better and more professional. college also have DV cameras available to use. i used a dv camera for the primary school footage. the reason being is because i wanted it to look more abstract and older looking, because in a way it's the story of past events. the HD camera was used for the performance aspect of the video. i wanted it to stand out and look cleaner than the narrative. the blend of HD and DV looks great. some people wouldn't notice but i think it really does show and works well with my theme for the video.

to edit i used final cut. final cut is a professional editing program and i really wanted to experiment more with the software. i'd used it before so i had basic skills but i really wanted to push myself because i felt passionately about making my video the best it could possibly be. i played around with layers and transitions to construct my video and some of the effects i used were colour correction to make the playground footage darker.

for my digipack i used photoshop to maipulate my images and combined them to make my final digipack design. i've used photoshop before but i still find it quite hard to use. i played around with stuff i knew and then pushed myself to get some good imagery. i wasn't sure

evaluation task 2 - digipack

final digipack design

front design



inside design

evaluation task 3 - digipack rough

my rough digipack is very close to my final design because my teacher really liked it. he said that he liked the pixel blur effect i did and he said that the visual style complimented the theme of the album. he said that i had lots of fantastic ideas, but putting them all on the front of the digipack made it look a bit messy. i explained to him that i liked the visual style of the front and he understood what i was trying to show. he then told me to add little things to make it better. such as a bar code and a dvd logo and such. i added the little bits and it made it look more professional. i really like my design because it refers to the album.

he also liked the reference to the bands religion. he thought it made the album cover more personal. the band refer to their religion throughout their music so i thought it was a good tribute.

evaluation task 3 - audience feedback

when my class watched it they gave me positive feedback as well as negative, which is good because it meant i had something to work on to make my video better. they said that they liked the performance part of the video due to the strength of the performance and the lighting. they said it made it look really professional. they didn't understand the narrative part of my video though. they said that i needed a link between the band and the narrative. with out it, it wouldn't have made sense.

after listening to their feedback i combined the band with the narrative so that there was a clear link between the two. it wasn't hard to do and it worked really well so i'm glad that my class gave me clear feedback for me to work on. i didn't need to move my video around that much either which was good. the shots below show what i did. the footage behind the band was there to begin with, all i did was lower the opacity of the band and put it above the playground footage. the feeling i wanted to represent was isolation and the fact that the band were slightly transparent gives the impression that there just a memory.

evaluation task 3 - audience feedback

after i finished my rough cut i rendered it and then we watched them all in class and got feedback. my teacher told me that he thought that it needed more cuts to make it more interesting due to its length. because its longer than 4 minutes, he thought that the video would benefit by adding in more shots of the narrative. i took his advice and added some more narrative. i had about 8 gaps in my rough cut anyway so i used the space to add the narrative without manipulating my video too much.

he also said that i needed more close ups of the lead singer because the shots were too similar and he said that music videos with the same genre have close ups of the singer. i then did more research on music videos and found that in rock music videos, the singer in portrayed in a certain way, and that there are many close ups. i then zoomed into my shots of the singer slightly to make my video more professional.

evaluation task 2

evaluation task 1

1. my first shot shows a link i used between the lyrics and visuals. the lyrics were, 'tell the world how he felt with the sound of the gat'. i then performed the song and visually represented what the lyrics were saying.
2. my second shot is of the band playing on stage. it's a really lively shot and shows a good and strong performance. to me, it represents what the record company would want out of a music video. it shows that p.o.d are lively.
3. the third shot is of an empty playground with the lead singer singing, except he's transparent. the idea was that he's simply a memory passing through the playground. the genre of the song is isolation and i think that this shot really reflects the mood of the song.
4. the fourth shot is of a note that a child has either left of it shows how a child is thinking at the time. in a way, this is an intertextual reference to the dirty little secret music video. in the video, people hold up notes on how they feel. it's the same idea that i used but then turned into my own creation.
5. my fifth shot is of the empty playground. i like this shot though because the sunlight seeps into the shot really slowly; and it's a really smooth pan shot. this shows that i have a good use of camera skills in my music video. i believe that looking back at my previous work shows me how far i've come in terms of camera skill.
6. this shot is a slow motion shot of me headbanging. the lighting however lights up my hair and gives it a tranquil feeling. the lighting in the performance part of the video is fantastic. i'm really happy with it. it shows that i have good use of lighting, especially in this shot.
7. this shot is the same idea as shot 3. the empty playground is in the background and the band fade in and out. this shot reflects the mood of the song. the fact that everyone has felt isolated at some stage in their life. this shot shows that the band understand the feeling. i like the setting for this shot. it shows a good use of mise en scene.
8. this shot is a close up of me singing. in music videos featuring mostly performance, their is always close up shots of the singer. i found this out from watching other music videos such as 'freak on a leash' and 'youth of the nation'.
9. this shot is of all the band playing together. it shows the bands emotion and energy. most music videos i did research on shows the band playing together because it shows the bands energy performing which helps sell the band.

evaluation task 1

1. the first screen grab is from the music video, 'around the world' by daft punk. the dancing in the video relates to the music in the way that they're moving to the beat of the music. it's a very well structured music video.

2. the second screen grab is from the music video, 'rock show' by blink 182. the music video features the band acting lively and playing in front of a live audience. this is how the record company wanted the band to be represented.

3. the third screen grab is from 'freak on a leash' by korn. the music video is dark and lively which compliments the music.

4. the fourth shot is from the same video as 3 and it features an intertextual reference. the idea of bullets going through objects is used in bad boys 2 as well as the korn video. it's filmed in the same way and looks stunning.

5. the fifth shot is from the blink 182 music video and features a fish eye lense which is normally used in skateboard videos. this is a good use of camera as it reflects the audience their aiming to reach. the skater culture and blink 182 go hand in hand.

6. this shot is from the korn video and uses interesting lighting. the common factor of the video is death in the form of a bullet. the lighting in the screen grab i chose is filmed in a dark room. the walls have bullet holes in and the lighting seeps through revealing the band playing.

7. the seventh shot is from the daft punk music video i've previously used. the costumes that the dancers are wearing work well with the music because the music is lively and energetic. the costumes compliment that.

8. this screen grab that i took from the blink 182 video featuring a live performance which is often used in music videos because it's a good way of promoting the band.

9. some music videos feature a concept. this means that it isn't a standard live performance, cut back to narrative video. it has an idea and sticks to it through out. around the world is a good example of this. the concept being that you see sounds and hear colours. the dancers move to the music.

magazine advert for cd

like the keane advertisement, this ad features similar visual styles of the album its advertising. this is a recurring thing amongst cd adverts. it features an image of the cd and the word 'madness' is in big bold writing so it stands out. at the top of he page it had a quote that compliments the bands mood and appearance. madness to me have always seemed different and slightly crazy. they featured on 'the young ones' twice. a television show that was aimed at young adults that was completely original and wacky for it's time. the quote even uses the term, 'the nuttiest sound around'. at the bottom of the page there's a small play.com logo. on my ad i'll need to feature a logo of where you can buy thew album.

magazine adverts for cd's

this is a magazine advert for keanes album hopes and fears. it's fairly simple in terms of appearance and style. the reason why it works though is because it holds the same theme as the album. the title is in the same format as on the album. it also has an image of the album in the corner so it shows you what your buying. it has some writing underneath the title. it mentions the fact that it's a deluxe edition. this makes it sounds appealing to keane fans.

the reason why it's a good advert is because it holds the same themes as the album. it should really because the album is what it's advertising. because it's in the visual style of the album (and the band), it's almost homing into fans that will be interested.

junction feedback

the other day we went back to the junction in cambridge to show our rough cuts. when we got there we were introduced to 2 guys who work at the junction. they were going to give us feedback on our music videos and give us helpful tips to make them better. they were Rob Tinkler and Pete Edwards.

after watching my rough cut they asked me about the gaps and i explained that i hadn't finished yet. they then said that they really liked the outdoor playground footage. they thought the dark eery atmosphere complimented the song really well. they thought the band footage was good too. the lighting worked well and it was cut well. they wated more outdoor playground footage and wanted the band footage to be cut more. pesides that they really enjoyed it.

cd research - red hot chilli peppers,blood sugar sex magik

this album made red hot chilli peppers a household name. 5 of the songs from the album feature on the greatest hits album. All photography, paintings and art direction for Blood Sugar Sex Magik were done by Gus Van sant who was a filmmaker. The cover of the album features the four band members' faces positioned around a rose. The lyrics are printed in white lettering across a black background, hand written by Kiedis. The booklet also contains a collage of photos assembled to showcase the band members' various tattoos, which feature faces of Native American tribal leaders, animals and sea creatures, as well as various symbols and phrases. Photographs of each band member alone, and two photographs of the band as a whole are also included.

the cover itself is simple but stands out and is vibrant. i bought this album having not heard any of red hot chilli peppers other stuff. my reasoning was for the cover. it just looked really inviting. i want my digipack to look approachable even to a non-fan of the band.

cd research - korn issues

the album cover for korns fourth album was a competition that mtv organised. the winning design featured on the album. you can buy the album with 2 different covers, winners of the competition from 1st place to 2nd place. in a way, this is a digipack because you can get special and different cover designs for the album. the artist (and winner of the competition) was alfredo carlos. he's was a huge fan of korn and therefore his cover art for issues was his interpretation of what korns image was. and as an album cover, it works. it's given me an idea for my cd design. whatever design i decide to do will be my interpretation of p.o.d's image. hopefully it'll work.

digipacks. who are they made for?

the people who buy a re-mastered acdc album, are those who bought the original and love the music. the people who buy a special cased lamb of god album are really in to them. the people these digipacks are made for are fans. the fans are the people who go out and buy these. therefore the covers and such need to reflect that of the bands 'image'. hence, lamb of god are a metal band, the cover is dark and ties in with the bands image and style.

therefore, if i'm going to make a digipack for p.o.d, i need to aim for the fans. i'll need to find out the style and image of the band. good thing i'm a big fan.

examples of digipacks

digipacks come in all different shapes and sizes. most digipacks are a combination of cd and dvd material. the madness, one step beyond cd is a double cd package with a huge list of bonus tracks. the 'bonus tracks' is what makes it different. this is what makes people buy this rather than a normal cd.

the acdc album 'if you want blood you got it' remastered edition is just a single cd package but the fact that its remastered makes it a digipack. it's what makes it different from the original album.

wrath by lamb of god is a limited edition album with a special cover. the onlt difference between this and the original album is the fact that the case is different. the tracks havent been re-mastered but the different cover nakes it appealing.

digipack

the next part of the project is to create a digipack for our album. i wasn't sure what a digipack was until i looked it up. a digipack is selling the cd but it has something extra as well. it might be different packaging or it might have a poster with it. the old pink floyd albums have posters with them.

images of shoot

these are some images of my first day of shooting. on the first day i shot my old primary school playground. most of the shots are meant to represent the feeling of isolation and loneliness. most of the shots are either of the actual playground or of the sky. on the day i played around with height. i made the shots either looking down or looking up, the camera therefore representing the child.

pitch 2

just in case my first idea doesn't work, i've come up with another idea. it's for the same band (p.o.d) but the song is called 'ridiculous'.

to me the song name gives it away really. the song is layered with different lyrics and sounds that people make. my idea was to have 4 heads on a table and each head sings a different part of the song. one head will sing the lyrics. one will say the word ridiculous and the other heads will say the various different sounds. the idea then that in time all the heads will be singing together. the idea of the heads is abstract and compliments the idea of the song.

it would be an easy thing to film because all id need to do would be to film 4 people singing the various parts of the song with out them moving. then id crop their bodies and place the heads on a table. it would be a simple video but it would look interesting and effective.

this is the demo version of the song, i can't find an example of the album version which is the one i'd be using

\

shooting at the junction

the other day, i filmed the performance part of my video at the junction. it went really well. when i got there and walked into the stage area, i was a bit skeptical because i wasn't sure if the stage would be big enough. but i turned out great.

i spoke to the technician when i got there, simon, and asked him about what affects i could expect and he showed me the lighting that he rigged up. i emailed him earlier in the week and gave him a few ideas but i didn't expect it to be as good as it was. it was fantastic. there were red haze lights and a black background. he put the drum kit on the stage too.

after all my band members got there we got on the stage and i directed them and explained what i wanted.

first day of shooting

over the weekend i went to my old primary school and filmed in the playground. this footage will work as the narrative for my music video. i didn't get as much footage as i wanted but i was happy with the footage i got.

the scenes i really wanted to film were of shadows coming to life, for the choir part of the song. but during filming, the sun went in and i couldn't film any of that scene. i was a bit frustrated but i had to film the rest of my footage. i spent a while getting slow pan shots of various different angles of the playground. these shots came out really well i thought. they captured the feeling of isolation and loneliness.

i had enough time to get a time lapse as well of the sky. i figured, that while your young you look up a lot due to lack of height. not only that though, when your young you're afraid of the unknown. in a way, the sky is a metaphor for how children feel while growing up.

after filming i completely changed my mind on how my video would work. i don't want there to be that much narrative. the ghost effect things and the singer finding the notes just wasn't working. i scrapped that idea. instead, i want there to be mostly performance but with some narrative. the narrative will be of the playground and the sky. i might still use the photos morphing idea but I'm going to wait and see how much performance footage i get next week.

the process of making a music video

to former students from long road came in to talk to us about the film industry and explained the process of making music videos. through their career they've made many music videos including making a video for kaiser chiefs.

1. Video Commissioner at record company puts out track to potential directors/production companies

2. Directors 'pitch' for track with ideas/concepts, based upon brief from record company and the music they have listened to

3. Record company chooses the one they want and allocates budget; producer looks after budget and arrangements for the process- a percentage of the budget is allocated to this role

4. Director of Photography and art director(production designer) brought on board- art director oversees the planning of the look of video; scouting for locations, planning of shoot etc takes place (PRE-PRODUCTION)

5.Shoot takes place- usually one day

6. Off-line edit where an editor assembles all the footage over a period of a few days; record company and artist may want to see it and suggest changes.

7. online edit, adding special effects, getting final version ready

8. delivery of finished video to client and play it on tv, online etc

Steps 1-8 may take as little as 3-4 weeks these days as budgets have fallen and demands are greater.

target audience

i've been thinking about who the target audience for my music video is. not only the video though, i need to think about an audience that will buy the dvd and cd. i'm a big fan of P.O.D so when i think of what the audience would look like, i think of me. they would wear t-shirts and baggie trousers. they'd wear hoodies and skate trainers. hobbies would include adrenaline ridden sports such as surfing and skateboarding.

i think the audience is mostly male. at gigs, the fan base is definatly male. they would be mostly middle class. so they'd be well off but not wealthy. they'd hang out in the streets. spend most of there time outside. home would be used as a hotel. they'd spent time with there friends at the skatepark maybe.

my audience probably don't go out and buy cd's. most people i know download music. but if theres a band i really like, i'll buy the cd. my audience would buy p.o.d's cd. dedicated fans.

music video - internet banner

i designed an internet banner for my upcoming music video. i didn't any of my footage so i used non-copyright images from flickr. i combined imges to make my banner which compliments the theme of isolation.

model release form

i made a model release form to give to actors who are appearing in my music video. im shooting in 2 days time. i will need there permission if i want to upload in onto public broadcasting websites.

ed lovelace - industry talk

ed lovelace, a previous long road student, came in today to talk to us about his life in the media industry. it has only been 7 years since he left long road and he's already made his first feature film about the life of a traveling folk singer (documentry). he's made numourous music videos including working with the gallows.

after doing media studies at long road he went on to university at bourneworth. after university he went to work with a record label and started helping out with shoots and such. he then started making music videos.

he explained that in order to get work, you need to be 100% commited and you need to make things in your spare time to show people. it's a way of showing people your talent. during university he was incouraged to watch loads of films and anything good on television to get inspiration.

you need dedication and enthusiasm to get anywhere. ed stated that he was lucky to get work because most students who come out of university dont. there isn't alot of money in music video making anymore. ed made 2 of his videos with a budget of £100. others had a bigger budget of £40,000. some of his styles used in his videos are inspired by natural born killers. he really wants to make a music video refering to enternal sunshine of the spotless mind.

looking at his old college videos and then looking at his music videos today, you can tell he's come a long way. he made a video for the song 'sleeping swords'. he didn't have an idea while making the video at long road. he said that the most important thing is the idea. once you have an idea, you can make a video. the videos we're making at the moment are of a much higher standard than the ones ed made 7 years ago. maybe in 7 years time we'll be making videos.

ghost effect - practice footage

this is the effect i tend to use in my final music video. i'm going to film the singer in the playground. he's going to be a ghost, a passing memory. the way i did this was i filmed the background with a static camera, i then had my actor come in the shot. then i uploaded the footage into after effects and made the opacity about 50% for the actor. they had to be 2 seperate layers. it wasn't as difficult as i imagined. using this is my video shouldn't be a problem.

recreating the band

after thinking it over i've decided to film at the junction. therefore i need people to act as members oft he band. p.o.d have a cain look that i want to capture. some of them have dreadlocks for example so i want people who vaguely resemble the band. it wouldn't look right if they didn't have some features that the band have. it would look like any other student made music video. i want to have a go at making my video as good as it can be.

i've talked to some of my friends and they will act as the members of the band but they are also happy to learn the music. i was happy to just make it look like we were playing it but they are really enthusiastic. adam plays bass guitar anyway so he said that he's happy to learn the music. dan plays guitar and he's looked over the tabs and he's comfortable. i know the words after learning them. all i need to find is a drum player. next time i go to the junction i'm going to ask if they have a house drum kit.

junction

after visiting the junction, a local venue for bands and clubs, i've been thinking about filmin there. it's such a good oppitunity i would be silly not to take it. i've been thinking about my ideas and how i'd incorporate it into my video and i've come u with some ideas. i still want to film the narrative part of the vide in a playground but i'll have the band playing at the junction for cut ins. i might have a long tracking shot at the beginning of my music video and near the end make the camera go through the school wall, then cut so it would be the junction. it would seem as if the band were playing in the school. this would work well with my theme.

P.O.D band site

http://www.payableondeath.com/index2.html

this is a link to P.O.D's official website. it shows you what the band looks like and gives you some information on their music and inspirations and such.

inspiration for video

i had another idea to have the singer find notes left by children in the playground. the notes will be about how the children feel. for example, one might say, 'i just want to be heard'. not only will this add more depth and drama to the music video but it will also amplify the mood i want, but it will also make my video quite intriguing. the idea is quite similar to the all american rejects video for, 'dirty little secret'. in the video you see people holding up secrets that they have. i've taken this idea and changed iut to work for me and my music video.

feedback to pitch

make sure that it doesn't get boring. filming someone in a empty playground might get tiresome so i need to film it in a way that makes it interesting

i'll need help shooting it because I'm most likely going to be the singer in the video.

i need to ask permission to use the playground and to take photos of the children for the picture

time management. when am i going to shoot each section?

think of more ideas to fill in possible spaces

might need to cut down the song because it's quite long

pitch 1

my first pitch is for 'youth of the nation' by P.O.D. my idea for the video is to have a mixture of narrative and performance that will blend together to create a mood that the song expresses. the song speaks of children growing up and being isolated. all they want to do is shout out and be heard. so my idea is to film the video in a empty school playground. the singer will be dressed in black so he stands out and so there's contrast between him and the background. there will be a strong performance by the singer, showing emotion through movement as well as expression. the video will be quickly cut to give the video a feel of disorientation.

apart from cuts of the singer and various scenes of the playground, they'll be imagery as well. for example, a picture of a school photo with the children disappearing, leaving only one child. this helps create the sense of loneliness. they'll also be cuts of children's faces going past the screen so quickly that you can hardly see there faces. with some of them i mite blur the face as well that will make the video darker and amplify the meaning. i aim to make a video that is as emotional as it is visually interesting. i was also thinking about doing layers of imagery. there's a part in the song where there's a choir singing as well as the lead singer of P.O.D. i was thinking of layering up the imagery to go with the music. this too will act well towards the disorientation.

i couldn't find music video's that had exactly what i wanted by the energy from the performance i want is close to that of 'chop suey' by system of a down. the performance in that video is really well cut and is full of confidence.

progress report

so far, i've thought about ideas for my music video and i've chosen the song i'm doing as well. i've asked permission to use the song. i've also thought about how i could do some of the effects i'm thinking about using.

the next thing i'm going to do is ask permission to film in my old school on a weekend. i'm also going to make some practice footage using the effects i want to do, to make sure they would work in my video. the effects i want to include are a ghost effect among others that include certain things disappearing.

music video inspiration

after discussing ideas with the class i've got some more ideas as to what to include in my video. i want to include a photo of a class and have each pupil disappear one at a time. the way to do this would be taking a  photo of one pupil with a steady cam, then add a pupil after the picture is taken. it would be easy to do but i would need permission to take photos of the children.

lyrics of the song

Last day of the rest of my life
I wish I would've known
Cause I didn't kiss my mama goodbye

I didn't tell her that I loved her and how much I care
Or thank my pops for all the talks
And all the wisdom he shared

Unaware, I just did what I always do
Everyday, the same routine
Before I skate off to school

But who knew that this day wasn't like the rest
Instead of taking a test
I took two to the chest

Call me blind, but I didn't see it coming
Everybody was running
But I couldn't hear nothing

Except gun blasts, it happened so fast
I don't really know this kid
Even though I sit by him in class

Maybe this kid was reaching out for love
Or maybe for a moment
He forgot who he was
Or maybe this kid just wanted to be hugged
Whatever it was
I know it's because

[chorus:]
We are, We are, the youth of the nation x4

Little Suzy, she was only twelve
She was given the world
With every chance to excel

Hang with the boys and hear the stories they tell
She might act kind of proud
But no respect for herself

She finds love in all the wrong places
The same situations
Just different faces

Changed up her pace since her daddy left her
Too bad he never told her
She deserved much better

Johnny boy always played the fool
He broke all the rules
So you would think he was cool

He was never really one of the guys
No matter how hard he tried
Often thought of suicide

It's kind of hard when you ain't got no friends
He put his life to an end
They might remember him then

You cross the line and there's no turning back
Told the world how he felt
With the sound of a gat

[chorus]

Who's to blame for the lives that tragedies claim
No matter what you say
It don't take away the pain

That I feel inside, I'm tired of all the lies
Don't nobody know why
It's the blind leading the blind

I guess that's the way the story goes
Will it ever make sense
Somebody's got to know

There's got to be more to life than this
There's got to be more to everything
I thought exists

[chorus]

what does the song mean

the song in itself is a story about a shooting that occured at a school in america (2001). a disturbed young boy took his dads 9mm to school and shot 2 children in his class. the band, p.o.d were at the recording studio accross the road when this incident happened. the band realised that children have a real hard time coping with life sometimes because, in some circumstances, they lose track and feel neglected.

the children are the next generation, that's what the song titles means. but in a darker sense, the children rule the nation when they use a gun at a school as well. that's what the song is saying. that children sometimes just want to be seen after living as a ghost.

ideas for music video project

i've decided not to do 'will you' because i don't have any good ideas for the song. i've decided to do 'youth of the nation' by p.o.d because i have some good ideas that work well with the songs meaning. the song 'youth of the nation' is one of my favourite songs so i'm really enthusiastic to make it well and have something i'm proud of.

the song is about thoughts and feelings of children growing up. the feeling that children are invisible to the world. that they lack importance and that they are treated with disrespect. my idea is to film an empty park and playground, occasionally seeing ghosts of children running about. the effect for making children ghosts is easy to do. i found this video on youtube that shows you how to do it

youth of the nation - lego music video

student made music video

this video is a very well made student video and the concept works well with the music. each of the beats to the song has a different image or motion. the motions move in time to the music. although no lip syncing was done for this song, because it features no live action, it must have be frustrating putting in the motions correctly to fit with the song.

there are a few parts of the video that get tiresome. theres a part where the music slows completely down and the screen goes blank. the student then has a go at making it seem as if the screen is rebooting. to me, it lasts too long and although the idea would work with the video, the standard isn't as good as the rest of the video.

goodwins six points

Andrew Goodwin writing in ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ (Routledge 1992)

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics
(e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).

2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals
(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

3. There is a relationship between music and visuals
(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).

5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

6. There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).

hwk

art
andy warhol - cover artist
jack davis - comic book artist - ec comics
rick griffin - cover artist - reknowned for grateful dead
roger dean - cover artist

film
david fincher - director
clint eastwood - actor, director
marc cherry - writer of desperate housewives
Tim Kring - Executive Producer & Creator of heroes

music
johnathan davis - singer and song writer from korn
slash - guitarist from guns n roses
spike jonze - music video director
dave meyers - music director, famous for his disney music videos. hilary duff

brittany video

editing the brittany video

editing the video wasn't as difficult as i first thought it would be. what i did was i downloaded the brittany video and then imported it to final cut. i then went through the first minute and made cuts where all the different shots are and then i dragged the footage in and began to swap the shots for the footage we filmed. some footage was hard to find due to long shots or outtakes but it was easy in the end.

the hardest part was piecing together the dancing because the dancers were slower at the moves than the people in the actual video. so what i did was i either made it quicker or i cut it so the footage wasn't perfect but accurate to the video. i think the final video looks really good and it was fun to do. i also feel more confident with editing music videos now and directing them as well

brittany task :4

i got into college early so i could plan the shoot. joe managed to get in early too and he brought in the costumes which was a great help. he also wasn't feeling too good either so the fact that he still came in and brought the costumes was really good of him. i respected him for that.

a lot of people didn't turn up including a few of the damcers and kirk so it was only me directed. theres a few people in the group that clearly don't like me so i was relying on kirk to help me out in that aspect. i was determined to do my best though.

when everyone turned up i told everyone what to do and they all go on nicely. some people went to set up the scenes including the corridor and the classroom. because dave wasn't feeling very well i helped him set up the classroom scene.

philippa and others were practicing the dance for the video and everyone else were manning the camera's or working closely to me. hayden was the cinematographer and my right hand man. i knew i could count on him to help me out and do a really good job as well.

i struggled without kirk though. it was a really hot day and because of this people were being lazy. i understood that but we had to get this video done because we had a deadline. we only had 3 hours to shoot the video. after a while i began to lose my cool and started being more forceful which backfired because people just wouldn't take orders. what they didn't seem to understand was that my job was to direct them and their job was to listen and follow my instructions. these activites are good for reference to how the industry works. if people struggle now they have no chance in future life.

towards the end people were getting annoyed and were answering me back and making sly remarks when i turned around but i had to just ignore it and get on. i wasn't going to let afew individuals ruin the video. in the end we managed to get a minute done which was roughly what we were aiming for so it was good. i wasn't happy afterwards though because some people were just being disrepectful and outspoken. apart from that it went really well and i believe that the jobs i asigned for everyone was a good choice. philippa and hayden in particular did a great job. also ash and lawrence did good too because learning a dance isnt easy but they were really enthusiastic about it.

brittany task :3

i needed people to work hard for this because we only had a day to shoot it. i asked if people could watch the video and learn the dance so that they could teach the dancers. luckily philippa did that and the next day i saw her on the bus with each move on a differet bit of paper. she did a really great job.

brittany task :2

we realised that the were 60 shots we had to replicate so in pairs we drew out 8 each. we then photographed them and gave them to hayden so he could begin editing them together. we also put all the images in a folder so we could use it as a storyboard and refer to it on the shoot.

i also asked for people to bring in costumes and see what people could do in the video. not very many people were kean on dancing or playing brittany. in the end i managed to get lawrence to play brittany and i also got a few dancers too. quite a lot of people said they could bring in costumes too which was great. we were putting in so much detail.

brittany task

our latest task was to construct and replicate the music video for 'hit me baby one more time' by brittany spears. we would all get asigned roles and we would have to edit our own one so that we would get practice for our final music video. editing music videos isn't easy work at all. it takes timeand attention.

we watched the music video and discussed as a class who would be good at directing and who would be good at editing the animatic. after a lot of debating our teacher made the final choice and ellected hayden as the editor for his skill and ellected 2 directors. me as director and kirk as co-director. the reason being that i was more foward but got things done and kirk was more laid back and was more civil whe talking. it was a good system.

me and kirk then selected what everyone would be doing. after deciding what everone would be doing we highlighted what would be hard about it.

i thought the law and the law won exercise

the next task was to make a video ourselves and by using a song we're given. we didn't know what song we were getting and we didn't have any time for planning. the exercise was so we could practice lip syncing with the music. we got 'i thought the law and the law won' by the clash.

we automatically got a rough idea of what we were going to do so we got to work straight away. we filmed each person twice so we had more to edit and we found it easier singing the song rather than mime it because it looked more genuine.

after filming it, which was loads of fun, we transferred it onto final cut and began to edit. after we finished that we watched them all and gave feedback. feedback for me was:

-good lip syncing

-good performances, compliment the fun song

-needed more variation of shots, most were the same angle

-the idea for the video was good and complimented the song

-well cut

this exercise was a good practice before we did our proper videos because we can learn from our mistakes and feel more comfortable with final cut editing a music video

music video - looking for a song

i went onto myspace so i could contact artists and ask for their permission to use their music. i managed to find some underground bands so i contacted them but i also contacted well known artists just to see if i would get some feedback. i got replies from 2 bands. one was called M.E.S.T and they got back to me saying it was okay.

i also contacted P.O.D and they got back to me but i don't have the email anymore. they said that it was fine to use their music but they didn't want me to use their new stuff because of promotional reasons or something. anyway that's okay because i'm using a song called ' will yon' hopefully. i have a dew ideas.

you wanna what exercise

after doing the exercise with editing the footage with out lip syncing, we went on to lip sync a song called 'you wanna what' which was country western. we got the footage and the song and we had to lip sync it together so it looked as if the actors were singing the song. it was quite hard to get right and it showed me that it wasn't as easy as i first thought.

i got the hang of it though and felt comfortable doing it. i did it the fastest out the class. after we all did it we watched a few of them and found that everyone had got the hang of it really quickly which was good. i then started to think about what i could do with my music video.

research - spike jonze

Spike Jonze was another person we looked at. he has the same reputation as michel gondry in the way that he changed the business in terms of ideas and filming. in one of his videos it's filmed backwards and then reversed. the band learned the song backwards so the lip syncing looked okay. another one of his videos was of christopher walken flying around a hotel room. watching these concepts showed us that if you have a good concept and it works, the video will be just as good as a narrative video. 

research - Michel Gondry

Michel Gondry was a music video director that we looked at and analysied. he's one of the music directors that went that little bit further and put that little bit more time into his work. actually, judging by some of his work, he put a lot more time in his work through planning, filming and editing. he puts so much care and attention into his work it's hard not to like it. his video for daft punk, 'around the world' is one of my favourite music videos because it shows thar simple ideas done well are the best. it's like a live action animation. people are dressed up and are moving to the beat of the music.

he did videos such as the 'come into my world' video when the Kylie is walking around in one shot and then she multiplies. it's a fantastic video showing that planning pays off and that if you have a good idea it doesn't matter how many cuts you do. it really shows off what Michel Gondry can do. it showed us what could be achieved as well because some of us were in the mind set that music videos weren't taken as seriously as films. 

cutting exercise

to practice cutting music videos we were given 4 different songs and different clips of footage to play around with. we had to chose one of the songs and then cut the footage to compliment the music. it wasn't as easy as it sounds. the footage didn't have any lip syncing in it so we only had to concentrate on the cutting. this gave us an understanding of how many cuts music videos actually have. the average for a 3 minute video is between 200-300 cuts. that's a lot more than what we're used to. we cut it together the best we could and then went round and watched them ll. some people had put effects on to make it look more visually interesting, others just cut it well. it was a good exercise to do because it showed us how to form a music video on final cut.

music video project

we're just starting the music video project. we're looking at different music videos and analysing them so that we get an understanding of what we need to achieve. music don't follow any rules like feature length films or even shorts. some videos follow the same ideas such as live performances and such but some times music video directors create crazy, adventurous music videos that change the business and standards. we looked at some examples of these so that we could get an idea of what we could do and what is possible.