Auxiliary Tasks

So now we are starting to plan our DVD cover and magazine article for our band's new album (which in turn would promote said music video). I have decided to call our band 'Vision' as it connotes to a new change in music, and a different way at looking at it, and it also felt fresh and different (like what we want our band members to be).

From my initial design plans
Magazine Advert - Here, I had, a white background, with a border of blue and black swirls that surrounded the inside contents. In the middle of the advert I had the information of the album and also an additional tour that was coming up (for more promotion). For the design near the top of the advert is the name NOISIVISION... which is the name Vision both reversed and normal. From here I have a microphone towards the middle of the advert with the microphone wire trailing around the words of Vision and towards the side of the advert... making it look like it is going around the whole piece.

DVD Cover -
Like my magazine advert, I also have the microphone with the wire trailing around the cover, and also on the inside. However, instead of just having the microphone, it will be in the hands of one of the band members (probably me, as I can then incorporate the pose that I want...)

NOT FINISHED!

After weeks and weeks of changing and making our music video into something else, the initial deadline is over and we are still not finished. Our group is finding it hard to wrap our head around Final Cut, and using it quickly and efficiently in order to edit our camera work.

But we are determined to spend some lunchtimes coming into the media room and trying to finish it off, leaving us free to concentrate on our auxiliary tasks.

Placebo's Battle for the Sun...

In this music video, you can see that this is purely band shots and there is no story underlying it.

This is what we shall use in the music video that we are actually creating.

Camera shots such as panning down a guitar neck,

and looking upwards towards the singer of the band makes for simple but unique viewing.

I do hope that we cancreate something as successful as this...

Changes to our plans...

When we had filmed our band shots, and some of the scenes that are on the storyboard such as the lift scene and the car scene - after our teacher viewed it, she suggested that we re-film the scenes, mainly because we were not creative enough with the shot types. After much discussion within our group, we decided that - with our deadline coming up on the 13th November - we needed to make it simpler, not so much in quality, but in 'content'. We decided that we would make it a purely band shot based music video (Much like Placebo's music video 'Battle for the Sun') but make sure, and spend time on creating unique and interesting camera angles. We will not delete our old footage...in case any angles are good for our music video.

Photoshop?

For our television footage, I really hope, because I am semi-good with Photoshop, that I could photoshop or place a video of insects onto the screen of the T.V.
This is because we really need insects for the lyric 'had some help from insect ways' - becuase 1) It fits in the meaning of the song, 2) It links to our storyboard and 3) It connotes to the whole uncleaniness image that the song maintains throughout.

Even if I need help from a technician, this is one thing that I really hope I can acheive.

In terms of locations....

In a previous post, I stated about locations we could film in, such as late night in Sutton for the lyric 'cruising for a piece of fun'.

However due to the fact that we haven't got time to 'faff' around to put it bluntly, we had to film that in the daytime. Granted, in context, it doesnt really look 'right' to have prositutes working the daytime - its not stereotypical - but we needed to film the scene as soon as, so it just worked out that it was in the daytime. The filming still looks good though, and we can use it in our music video. I just hope it will be as effective, and maybe we could darken it down slightly on Final Cut so that it will fit in in the band shots.

Wednesday Filming

On Wednesday we filmed the 'band' part to our music video. This was such a big weight off of our shoulders because we had waited ages to film this part, and to be able to use the smoke machine etc... But it happened, so our group was very pleased with that.

After school, as we went to PDH (the room in which we would be filming the band shots), we had to wait for a few members of our group...which took a while. And then it turned out that the smoke machine wasn't in school, which led to one of the technicians having to ring up said person with the smoke machine, and ask for him to bring it in. As school finished at 3:10pm, we didn't actually get to film until around half 5 (this was also due to Parents Evening being on, so with all of us having appointments, there wasnt really a time we were all together until around 5:30pm). Once all of us were together, me and Jack got the drumkit set up to the back part of the room, so that one band member (who wasn't in our group) could 'play' the drums; we also set up white frames in which Charlotte, and Steven (who again, wasn't part of our group) could stand in and play the guitar parts, so that they could stand out and be noticed in the music video. I also got the computer that was in the room up and running so that we could play the music that we hve chosen into the room, so that we had a beat and rhythm to follow. After much discussion, and many people swapping roles in the band, it led to me being the lead vocalist (strange, considering the male vocal is male, and I'm female...) but it needed to be done, and I strangly enjoyed miming to the music and singing in front of the camera. The lights had been set up by Steven, which were Red, White and a slight green, in order to give a spotlight effect on the band, and make it feel more like we were in a warehouse location (like many Indie bands use on their music video), as opposed to a drama room.

After we had run through the song around 4 times, in order to get different angles in, we packed up for the day. It was an extremely successful filming session, considering last week we had absoutely nothing, and now we only have 2 scenes left to film. I will look forward to editing the filming that we have done today...it was the most enjoyable day of filming we have had so far.

Props for Wednesday's Filming

For Wednesday's filming, there are many props that need to be considered, seeing as it is the band shots:
* Microphone - for the main singer of the band
* Electric Guitar - For one of the guitarists in the band
* Bass Guitar - For the second guitarist in the band
* DrumKit - for the drummer in our band
* Some kind of framing - For the guitarists to make them stand out

Not so much props but we need to remember to bring -
*The song! So that we can listen to it, and mime what Placebo are doing
*I need to remember to bring the video tape in, because for some reason I took it home last lesson.

In terms of getting these props, the drum kit is easily obtained from the practise rooms at school, the bass guitar - Charlotte said she would get from home, the electric guitar and microphone can be got from the music rooms and the framing should be present in the Drama department, however if there isnt any framing, then it is something that isn't really important for our music video.

Unfortunately....

As only one member went filming on Tuesday (Charlotte) to film the lift and prositute scenes, me and Jack were unfortunate not to be able to get involved in the filming.

I cannot speak for Jack, but I personally was planning on meeting Charlotte to film. We had it all worked out for when to meet, and where in Sutton. But due to a miscommunication, and the fact that me and Charlotte didn't have each other's mobile numbers (which is all sorted now, so this mistake will not happen again), I could not ring her to say that I would be a bit late due to something happening at school.
As I left from school to meet her, I noticed Charlotte walking back into school after filming (coincidence?!) and she told me that she had filmed scenes from our storyboard.

It was a shame that I wasn't there for the filming. Having said that, I am really looking forward to tomorrow's filming, in which I will play a big role (hopefully)

As if its not stressful enough...

On Tuesday, just as I was about to go off and film, someone in our group wanted to change the song.

Grr...as things weren't stressful enough.

We have already changed the song once before (From We Were Scientists to now Placebo....because to be honest I hated the We Were Scientists song...) and we have done ALL the research and planning for it. If we were to change the song (which I'm not) we would have to do all the research and planning again, all the blogs, and all the filming (granted only 20 seconds, but its still footage...)
Noone should be thinking about changing song choices at this late stage, its past the point of that now...

Final Cut Express

After using this program for the first time, it is safe to say that all the technical aspects of this program are quite daunting at first. However saying that, it is easy to pick up on, and is a lot better than the standard program we have been using - Imovie. Imovie doesn't offer much compared to FinalCut in which you can produce tighter cuts and better effects.

I look forward to using it properly when all our footage is done and coming together.

10 seconds!!!!

Finally, even though it not great in length, we have some footage....of a televison...and of Jack smoking. Not exactly things that sound amazing no?

However, these weren't just random shots because we felt we had to put something on our video tape - we are going to use the television for the lyric 'Kind of buzz that lasts for days, Had some help from insect ways' in which hopefully we can put insects on the screen (as shown in our storyboard). For Jack smoking, we want to use spilt second shots of it in our music video when there should be scenes of partying. It links in with the whole sex, drugs (hence the cigarette) theme that runs throughout our music video.

10 seconds of footage....it's better than nothing! :D
But we really need to move now, and crack on with the other scenes on our storyboard.

Need a new shooting schedule?

Because the other shooting schedule failed, and we have a couple of days planned to film, would it be practical to redo a new shooting schedule?

I will discuss this with the group and see what one whats to do it (I don't mind if it is me...)

Nobody has the same frees...

When we needed two particular boys to be in our music video, everytime me, Jack, and Charlotte had the same frees, they didn't have the same frees as us, OR if they did have the same frees as us, they didn't bother showing up.

It's really frustrating because we just need to film something, and its getting to the points now where we are going to be the only group without any footage.

Editing

Two Types - Classic Continuity, and Montage

Continuity - follows a clear narrative with editing that flows. Shows a clear beginning, middle and end.

Montage - more artistic, more experimental styles of editing and approach to narrative.

In Music Videos -

Classic continuity

Furthers the narrative

Has a limited range of shot types in order to have a seamless movement

Narrow set of editing

Montage

Not a key function of linear narrative

Movement appears 'disjointed'

Interest in expressive frames, angles and shots

Editing conflict with each other

Makes use of a variety of editing possibilities

Discontinuity

Viewer is challenged to see meaning and new ideas

Polysemic - a diversity of meanings for a given word

Editing, Camera Shots, Location....

Still, we have not began to film - it's getting to the crunch time now....

I was thinking however, when we finally do begin our music video, we need to think very carefully about camera shots. I was watching some music videos on Youtube for research and I have found that it is not your straight close up or medium shot, its a whole range of shots quick cut in order to create a unique and interesting pace. That is why we need to use the figrig:


This is because it allows you to create fluid, interesting movements which would look fantastic in a music video. Your creavitiy is not limited if you use this!!!!
Another thing...when we have finished our music video, and use the editing software provided, we hve to be very carefully in how we edit it, because we need to have the fast pace throughout, instead of it juddering halfway through. We need to make sure exactly what transititions we want before hand, so that we can focus solely on that when we edit, instead of wasting lots of time trying to find the right transition, and not being able to create the perfect music video.
I plan to also get location shots relating to the post I posted previously, so that myself and my group can see exactly how they could go and film it for our music video

Location Ideas

Here are some of my ideas for location that I will share with my group when we meet up again later on today:

Cruising for a piece of fun

Here, we could film late at night, at the darkened park at the top of Sutton High Street. There is a few alleyways there that look eerie, so we could park one of our cars there as a prop, and bring the actors there to film. I think the 'spooky' atmosphere would rally help create a mood for our music video.

And it all breaks down at the role reversal

Here, we could film in either one of our bedrooms, which ever is biggest so that we can film the dancing scenes and also the scene in which the male has many partners come into his room one after the other. The reason why I say the bigger bedroom is because we need space for the camera to film, as well as the actors.

Press my button, going down
I think for this we should find on of the most dirty elevators in Sutton (or Croydon...) so that we can create a unclean, dingy atmosphere...because nothing is clean in the lyrics.

Really want to film now...

I really want to film now, and it's terrible because noone is availible when we want them to film. I suggestted to the group about filming shots that do not include any people, but according to Charlotte, there is none.

I'm just thinking about what shots I could film that don't include people such as the televison shot. As soon as I can get hold of a video camera, I will film that shot, because at least it is something that would be on our video tape.

Filming = Non Existant as of Yet

Unfortunately our group hasn't even laid hands on a camera yet and started to film. The filming has been restricted due to issues and problems that have arisen, for example:

• We had set a date for Wednesday 23rd September, to film after school, however none of our 'actors' that were meant to be in our music video bothered to show up. This is extremely frustrating because we have next to no shots in our storyboard that don't have an actor in them, whether they are pretending to be part of the band, or part of the story-line. We have a few, which we could film, and that we should film now, because we are running dangerously close to our deadline, and at the end of the day it is just not acceptable to not have any filming done whats-so-ever. So basically, we need to do something sharpish.

Here is our shooting schedule - in which we were very hopeful to have 'everything' done by after school today.

That has failed, as we have done no filming as of yet. However you can see the locations, props and actors that we plan to have in our music video, as soon as we start the filming.

Analysis of StoryBoards

In the post below, you can see our storyboards for our music video. Here we have many interesting scenes, including:

• An elevator scene in which a male figure and a female are standing, and a woman pushes the button to go down... there is lots of sexual innuendo there.
• A scene in which a female is dancing for two males who are sitting on chairs
• A scene where a male is lying on a bed, and different women and men enter and exit the bedroom that he is in.
• A wedding scene

Throughout our music video, there is lots of sexual innuendo, and misbehavior, which is linked towards Placebo's official music video, in which everything is 'trippy' and 'graphically natured'. We hope to make it as original as we can - using elements that perhaps haven't been used in commercial videos, as opposed to the alternative videos that you rarely seen on MTV or SMASHHITS...

Storyboards

Taking charge of the storyboards

For the most part, except for a few slides, I was in control of the storyboards. I was able to draw the pictures and colour them in and also add the information for transitions, and general information.

I really enjoyed this task (as I enjoy artwork and drawing anyway) and it was nice to see our music video ideas down on paper, even if the drawings weren't up to scratch (blame my drawing skills). It become more of a task, as opposed to some ideas in the imagination.

I am really excited to now film what is on the storyboards.

Presentation

Here I have made a presentation with the following key information -

• Genre and Song Choice of our band
• The YOUTUBE link to the official music video
• The Image that we are trying to portray
• The Research that we have done
• Target Audience
• Roles that each of our group is going to play/do
• Where are we going to film?

Lyric Analysis

Here are the lyrics for Placebo's Nancy Boy. I have analyzed the lyrics into what our group would like to put into our music video.

Alcoholic kind of mood
Lose my clothes, Lose my lube <---- see him drinking and cuts to an empty bottle
Cruising for a piece of fun
Looking out for number one <---- Car driving down a road looking out at the road, seeing all the people standing around
Different partner every night
So narcotic outta sight <---- See one man in bed, bed cover changes, see different people get out of the bed
What a gas
What a beautiful ass <---- Cuts to a shot of the male

And it all breaks down at the role reversal
Got the muse in my head she's universal
Spinnin' me round she's coming over me
And it all breaks down at the first rehearsal
Got the muse in my head she's universal
Spinnin' me round she's coming over me <----- The male is sitting there and a woman is dancing for him

Kind of buzz that lasts for days
Had some help from insect ways <---- There is a TV showing insects on the screen
Comes across all shy and coy
Just another nancy boy
Woman man or modern monkey
Just another happy junkie <--- Cutting between woman, man and then a monkey, moves into slow motion as they are all laughing, make up is smudged and the man looks scruffy.
Fifty pounds
Press my button
Going down <---- Shot of a lift and the man pushing the down button, and you see the women move down as the man stands there in the middle

And it all breaks down at the role reversal
Got the muse in my head she's universal
Spinnin' me round she's coming over me
And it all breaks down at the first rehearsal
Got the muse in my head she's universal
Spinnin' me round she's coming over me

Does his makeup in his room
Douse himself with cheap perfume
Eyeholes in a paper bag
Greatest lay I ever had
Kind of guy who mates for life
Gotta help him find a wife
We're a couple <---- See the man passing with his new wife, and there is another man who is standing next to him singing. Happy.
When our bodies double

And it all breaks down at the role reversal
Got the muse in my head she's universal
Spinnin' me round she's coming over me
And it all breaks down at the first rehearsal
Got the muse in my head she's universal
Spinnin' me round she's coming over me

And it all breaks down at the role reversal
Got the muse in my head she's universal
Spinnin' me round she's coming over me
And it all breaks down at the first rehearsal
Got the muse in my head she's universal
Spinnin' me round she's coming over me <----- Spinning around and they are in each other's clothes, and all the way through this final chorus they are each other but don't actually know that they are in role reversal

Target Audience

Our target audience is for older teenagers – maybe 18-24 – who are interested in the INDIE/ALTERNATIVE genre. The reason for such an older audience, compared to 15 or 16 year olds is because of the nature of our music video. The lyrics of Nancy Boy are not exactly ‘soft’ when put into context, and when we place this into our own images for our music video, it might not be suitable for younger ages. The general concept of Nancy Boy is filled with sex, drugs and general misbehaviour so its not exactly suitable for people under 18.

For our fan-made music video, we are using Placebo's 'Nancy Boy'.
We chose this because some of the members in my group are
interested in the genre of Indie, and the alternative side of music.
We also liked the lyrics in the song, even though they link to
images such as drugs, sex and general misbehaviour.
Below, you can see an official video to the song that
we have chosen. Throughout the video, you can see images that
aren't exactly normal - such as legs without a body, and a face smiling
wider than is humanly possible. We hope to include some of these
'trippy' elements into our own music video.

Who are the band we are using the song from?

The band that we are doing is Placebo. Placebo, an alternative rock band, were formed in 1994 in Gravesend, London. The band members consist of: Brain Molko, Stefan Osdal and Steve Forrest. They have become very successful, with such hits like 'Nancy Boy' (which is our song choice), 'Running up that Hill', 'Meds' and 'Infrared' to name a few.

Collage

As our chosen genre is of Indie, our group composed together a selection of images of different Indie bands, and wrote some stereotypical information about them. Here you will see bands such as the The Kaiser Chiefs and We were Scientists, all of which holds a key image into what we want in our music video - guitars, male singers, typical clothing such as skinny jeans, ties and shirts, and a band shot all throughout the music video.

What is Indie Music?

Analysis of Questionnaire

From my results, I can see that the most people I surveyed were male. This may be a stereotypical view at what gender listens to the most music, with females being stereotypically interested in makeup and clothes. I was pleased that my results showed a diverse range of ages from 10 years old to 50+ - it just proves that ALL ages listen to music, as opposed to stereotypical teenagers, however genres of music do reflect the age range. The nationalities in my survey are mostly White British, although I have several African/Caribbean and one Asian/Indian person. It is stereotypical that White British, especially teenagers, that listen to the most music. When I asked what people expect from music videos, almost every choice was circled (across the whole surveys) but the ones that came out most were ‘Focus on Singer Constantly’ and ‘Storyline’ – something to think about when I make my own music video. Most people live in England. Almost all the choices, across the survey, were circled for favourite genre, with ‘Pop’ and ‘Rock’ coming out the most – stereotypical genres that people like best. Question number 7 in which I asked the favourite artist/group didn’t help me at all because it was a too broader question for analysis – I could of used that number of question more productively. When I asked whether people watched music channels like The Box or TMF, it was almost an equal spilt between the people that did and the people that didn’t. It just proves that even though someone can be really into their music, they might not want to watch the music videos to accompany it. A lot of people on my survey download music, but due to some of the age ranges – it was evident that the older ages bought CD’s – maybe because they haven’t got used to Internet technology and the world of downloading. Some people like music videos that are available right now, but some don’t – so it is evident that there is a niche market out there that wants to watch music videos that are brand new.

What bands are we looking at?

In order to follow this indie/alternative feel to the music video, we have to pick a key song and band that will do this effectively.
We had in mind: We are Scientists, Placebo,and Billy Talent.

After much consideration, and looking at some music videos of each of the band, we feel like Placebo suits the mood of what we want to achieve best. For example, in songs like 'Nancy Boy' and '36 Degrees' there are elements that are classed as 'trippy' and would be good to include as it is original like:
* Singing underwater
* Having flashing images of various things, but very very quick cuts
* Having the band play with the singer
* Having 'crazy' elements like having a male sing but without any legs (weird huh? :] ) and singing in the bath

We hope to include and incorporate some of these into our music video

Questionnaire

Here is the template that I used and created so that people could fill in, and I would gain an insight into what people really liked in a music video

My 3 Best Genres

For my research and planning for music videos, I devised a table complete with my 3 best genres...here I have selected a few songs in the genres and gave an insight into the elements and props they used to make a successful music video. Perhaps I could use these elements in my own music video

Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity

For our music video research, we had to look at four theories:
* Spatial
* Graphic
* Temporal
* Rhythmic

We had to apply these to a music video in which I was given: Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity.

Here is my presentation, showing how scenes from the music video relate to either Spatial, Graphic, Temporal or Rhytmic elements.

Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity Official Video

Here you can see the video that we had to analyse for Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJmX1z1NY2c

Edit: Must change to embedded media

Audience Research

Why do you take surveys from the public?

• To find the right market (niche)
• To find a general opinion from the public
• What do audiences EXPECT from this product?

Quantitative

Qualitative

Quantitative - quantity of things, involves measurement of an amount

Qualitative - often used to gain a general sense of whats going on and ideas are explored

You need a large enough sample for results to be more accurate.

Open Questions

Closed Questions

Open Questions - information, more wide ranging

Example: How do you feel?...

Why do you think like this?...

Closed Questions - Do you like this?

Yes or no - are you happy with this?

What things to ask about in a survey:

Ethnicity

Nationality

Region-ality

Genre

Job

Finance

Starting to blog...

After last years blogging, and using the website edublogs.org, just from apperance I can tell that Blogger is so much easier, and more comfortable to work with. It is so easy to go into your dashboard and your individial blogs...and to be able to post without any issues at all (compared to last years in which EduBlogs didn't want to save posts most of the time). It is extremely easy to upload images and to embed media, and to publish without any hassle.

It is extremely better than last years blog, and I am grateful to be using this website in order to do my music video project.