Final ancillary task

This is the poster that my group and I made for my advanced portfolio.

This is the CD cover that my group and I made.

Final Music Video

This is my final product from my advanced portfolio.

what have you learned from your audience feedback?

I think before I even start off I need to discuss some of the Audience feedback that I got from people before the music video was even made. During this research I asked different questions such as "What would you like to see in a Rock music video" ECT.

I firstly asked for the demographic of the people that I asked and got 6 people from each gender to make sure the survey is not gender specifc/ biased. From the reasearch we found that the majority would have preferred to see a music video with a mixture of narrative and performance. So in our music video we made sure that we used variety of performance mixed with narrative to add extra entertainment to the video and decrease viewer fatigue.

We also included a question "What do you expect to see in a 'Rock' music video?". The results we got back from this did not come as a surprise at all. The majority of answer we got were along the lines of Dark clohing, Energetic performance, instruments, artist lipsynching; the results were very conventional and these were things that we were planning on incorperating in the video before the audience research.

We took the ruslts from the research and this really helped us when trying to put our video together, and we knew that if we incorperated things such as Dark clothing, instruments and energetic perfomance ECT, we would get an overall successful music video. We wanted to have a very interesting and energetic video and I think we were successful doing this.

So I asked various people to come and watch the video and tell me what they thought of it and the following video's were what they thought:

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary task?

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning

For me this whole project would have been at all stages if I was not able to use various different media technolgies to make my work come out as good as possible. I used media technologies throughout my Research, Planning, Construction and Evaluation.

I am firstly going to comment on how I used media technologies during my Reasearch. Some programmes/computing elements that were a big help during my Reaserch was:

•  Blogger
• Screen Grabs
• YouTube
• Google Docs

These things all played a big part in my research in various different ways. For one blogger is the place that I used to document the things that I found out during my research E.G Conventions of my genre. I used screen grabs to take examples of different things like pictures or certain parts of a music video. Youtube was used so that i can find different examples of music video's and google doc helped with my audience reseach.

Whilst Planning my music video I also had to use a variety of media technologies and they consisted of things like:

• Animatic(Imovie)
• Still Camera's
• Draft of CD cover (Photoshop)

The animatic that we made was made in IMovie, and it job was basically to help usvisualise what our music video was going to look like. It done this through the music playing in the back ground and me putting pictures over on the screen for a certain amount of seconds and cutting to another picture like in a music video(the pictures representing shot in the music video). The still camera was used to help us to get to grips with photoshop and upload photo and see what looked good on a CD cover E.G The contrast of the picture, Fonts ECT.

The construction of the music video and ancilliary tasks used the more complicated part of media technology we used things such as:

• Da Font
• Photoshop
• Tripod
• Figrig
• Final Cut
• Cameras Moving image
• Brusheez

We used Da font because it has thousands of different fonts on the website that you can download and we used it so that we could find the perfect font to put on our Ancillary tasks, to make sure they match and add to the dark effect we were trying to create. Photoshop was used to add effects to the pictures that we took again to add to the dark grousome effect that we were trying to create. Here is what the album cover and poster:

The tripod and figrig were both used to ensure that the camera had either a still image or a smooth moving image. I used Final Cut in order to edit the the footage that we got from various different locations, it also allowed us to add effects on the footage that I got and create a quality music video. Brusheez is basically a website I used to get some of the background effects on some of my ancilliary tasks I used it to make the spines on the CD Cover and on some of the picture.

In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms, conventions of real media products.

The media product that I produced was an over extremely conventional piece and that goes for both my music video and ancillary task. The first piece of my practical work that I am going to write about is my music video. It is conventional to my specific genre and music video as a whole because it contains common conventions that normally make up a music video, for example Montage Editing.



As you can see from that short clip I have show a variety of performance shots, shot in three different places, and I have edited between the three locations. Here is another example of a Rock music video  from a band called 'Asking Alexandria' - "A Prophecy", that uses montage editing and follow conventions of a music video.





Another convention that I have used in my music video is the performance shots throughout the video. We have got our main vocalist to not only perform some of the shots but also to act in some as well in order for us to build up a story line, and try to prevent viewer fatigue with a variety of different shots and effects; we have also got another person to act in film again to add to the narrative and meaning of the song.



Here is another clip of a professional music video that uses a narrative mixed in with performance shots of the main artist in it in order to add to the entertainment of the video as a whole. This band is called 'Bring Me The Horizon' - "Blessed With A Curse".



The Mise en scene through out the music video is also very conventional and this is due to the fact that we show a lot of shots of the main vocalist and the band. The beginning of our music video has a lot of the bands instruments in there and this is in place to make it easy for audience to know what genre of music this video is and also to appeal to fans of the genre that may be watching the video.



For my genre showing the instrument and not only that showing the band playing the instruments is essential for the overall outcome out the video for a variety of reasons. One because it not only adds to the entertainment of the video but it also intrigues the person watching the video and gives the impression to the audience that they are there watching the band live. The band showed in the clip is named 'Capture The Crown' - "You Call That A Knife", This type of Mise En Scene is very common in music video of my genre, here is an example:



In my music video I followed a lot of conventions, and one of those conventions is lip synching. Most of the music video that have been made have incorporated lip synching in there video. It is now very conventional because, It is impossible to have a 'conventional' music video if you have not used lip synching, and we have included a combination of lip synching and narrative shots throughout the video.



This band Is called 'Shoot The Girl First' -"Last Breathe For A Capulet" and this is an example of a music video that has used lip synching:



My ancillary tasks are also very conventional in a variety of different ways. First of all we chose not to include pictures of the band in album cover because we thought it would add to the overall image of the album cover and would make it more conventional. The following is the layout of the album cover.

As you can see The overall Mise En Scene from the Album cover is dark and bloody. We chose to make the album cover genre specific because it would appeal to people who prefer music from this genre; As you can see we have a female model on posing throughout the album cover. I chose a female because it is a conventional in rock and also the facts that she is covered in blood makes the album cover more entertaining and also illustrates what the songs in the album are going to be like. Here is an example of a picture before and after we used Photoshop to edit it:

As you can see photoshop and Dafont enables us to make this part of the album cover that much more professional.

The album cover is the most important thing because it is the first thing anyone see when they go to buy the album, It would be the only thing they see on Itunes so we had to make it appealing and interesting to look at, and I think we were successful at doing this. Here is our Front cover and example of other bands front covers.

As you can see they all connotative with each other in a variety of ways. First of all they all have a very blank look in their eyes and either blood or organs in their hands. This is turn makes a obvious contrast and makes it seem as though the characters do not care that they have blood on their hands which again make the Album cover that much more interesting.

Shooting schedule

This is that dates and time that my group and I have planned for the days that we want to shoot.

Talent release Forms

This is that talent release form that we have given to everybody that is going tot be in the video. This letter basically states that the person signing it gives us permission to use any video tapes or pictures in the production of our music video.

Teacher Assessment

This is the assessment that I was given from my teacher. It basically states that I am at an overall high level three at the moment, how ever with a few adjustments to my blog I know I should be able to get it up to a level high level 4 easily.

Track permissions letter

This is the letter that we sent to Sumerian Records asking for permission to use a song from one of the band that are signed to their record label. The song that we are using is called 'Breathless' by an English group group called 'Asking Alexandra'. We chose this songs because we thought that the concept of the song would enable us to integrate a story line within the video.

Location permission letter

I went on to the Merton website and filled out a form online to get permission to shoot in Wimbledon common. here are some picture of the form itself:

We are now awaiting their reply. however since we are student and won't be needing anything apart from the location we have chose to shoot I would be surprised if we are not allowed to shoot.

Roles

Elenya's role in our group is mainly being the photographer, this is due to the fact that she takes photography as an A level so she is experienced with a camera and also because she has a great passion for anything under the photography umbrella. Even though Elenya is doing most of the film the group as a whole planned when are where we are going to be doing the filming. This is becuase we all believe that we should have a fair look part in the production of the music video. We are also likely to use Elenya's camera for the film as she has a much higher standard camera than the school would be able to provide so the video will come out looking nicer thank to this. Elenya also has a part in the narrative with daniel as her lover but they have their differences. 

I will be mostly working on the editing, This is due to the fact that I have a passion for filming and editing video's. Also last year I edited The opening sequence that my group done and we got an 'A' for the practical. This shows that I have previous knowledge of the editing program we may be using such as Final cut Express, I movie, live type and various other program tat we may have to use.

Daniel's role is mainly in the performance shots. This is because he makes up part of the band as he knows how to play the drums and has quiet a rock look, which would help us to add authenticity to the video even though he is going to be our vocalist. Daniel also has a part in the narrative that we using throughout the video. Daniel and Elenya are both going to be acting together.

Technical tutorial

In this video I am just showing people how to cut up clips and get them in the order that they want it to come up on the screen. In the clip is from my practice on how to edit green screen,  was half way through the process of cutting the shots so I thought it would be good to show how it is done with various short cuts shown through out the video.

Lists of Props, Costumes, make-up and equipment.

The lists of props, costumes, make-up and equipment is not a very long list because we no not need much for this and also we have a low budget to make the video. We are going to need some the conventional things in the video such as:

Drum Kit

Electric Guitar

Bass Guitar

Microphone wired













Theses are all the conventional things that are found in most rock music video's. This is to give them impression that they are in the woods, factory or where ever they are shooting the video. This is also used for performance purposes to add to the Mise En Scene and make the band look more like a band through the instruments.

The band themselves are going to be dressed in black as this is a colour that appeals most to the audience that watch rock music video's. We are trying to make our video as conventional as possible so the band are likely to be dressed like this:

As you can see both the people in the pictures are dressed in very dark clothes and both have the instruments that they play or sing in front of them, again sticking to conventions. The actors that we have for our narrative in our video are going to be wearing similar clothes. The main character in our narrative is our vocalist so he is going to be wearing the same clothes in that he wears in the performance shots in the narrative to add to the story. However he female may be wearing the a red dress to make her look innocent and a black dress to make her look distressed and upset.


 Looks innocent                                                     Looks hurt
                                                                              (Use of mascara add to the Mise En Scene) 

These two women are what we are going to try and re-create because in the narrative that we are using we are trying portray the women as desired although emotional women and we are trying to portray this through the lyrics and also the costumes.

Other props that we will be using is flour and a glass vase. This is mainly for the entertainment purposes and also it has a great Mise en scene and ,makes good cut away's. We are going going to put the flour on the drums so that when the drummer hits them it will explode off of the instrument and make a brilliant shot especially when played in slow motion. The vase we are going to just smash as we think it also would be a good cut away that we could use and manipulate throughout the video.

The following is things that we are gong to try with the flour in our video create except I will be using a whole drum kit. I have cut to the main parts of the drums:

Photo shoot

This is Our shooting schedule. We are going to be using both the pictures of the band and also of a model. We have chosen to use two because a lot of rock bands aren't actually on the front cover of their album ECT, and also we are going to be able to create a very demonic look with the female that we would not have been able to do with the band.

We are going to take some inspiration from other pictures and they should end up looking like this some what like the following:

As you can see all the photo I have chosen have certain elements in common. One of the things that they all have in common that is a very dark, simple yet scary photos; this is what my group are trying to create with the blood coming from the mouth and the eyes and also abnormally coloured eyes are all things we are looking to incorperate in our picture.

Album cover designs

This is just a video that we have made showing us working on the digi packs that we have to create for our work. In this video it shows us making some of the planning ideas for album covers,and the magazine advert.

This is one of the ideas that we had for our magazine advert, this going to be the general layout of the actual advert.
as you can see there is one person sitting down, I done this in order for him to stand out and so people would know that he is the main attraction of the band, the main singer. I have also included general information about the album like the bands name (Aftermath of ignorance), and also The album name (Bonded By Blood) and have included other information like price of album ECT.

The last part is the album covers themselves , we have had various ideas and the album covers reflect the names of album name 'Bonded By Blood'. For the one at the top it is mainly based around a women and she is covered by blood in the whole cover. We have chosen to show blood because it is a convention of the rock genre and the colour red represents love and pain also which is what the albums contents possess as well.

The second one along is one which includes the band so people know who's album it is. As you can see it has the name of the band on there and also interesting imagery. This cover also has dark imagery as darkness is also a convention of rock therefore it fits and appeals to the people hat listen to this genre of music.

The last one is just one panel of the album cover but as you can see the imagery of the panel is again exceptional. In this one we have chosen not to include the man whole face as we thought it adds more of a mysterious, demonic looks because the main focus is on his jagged teeth and the blood dripping out of his mouth. Again we chosen to use blood in this one because it connotates with the name of the album cover.

Locations

Box hill

Morden Hall park

Wimbledon common

These are three of the wooded locations that me and my group looked at, and thought it would be some  ideal places to record part of the music video. The three places are Morden hall park, Box hill and Wimbledon common. They are very conventional places that music rock genre music video are shot so we could get some shots here that do appeal to the rock audience. The place that we chose to shoot however was Wimbledon common, the other locations were good however wimbledon common is easy to get to and also the mise en scene of it was what we were ideally looking for.



Other places that we are going to use is a car park we are going to cut in between shot during the video to portray the main characters state of mind in the song and as a person. We are going to integrate shots of the car park when it is empty and cut them between shots of him walking through the woods. There is going to to be another actress in these parts as well to show what he is thinking about.

concept

The concept of this video is the lead vocalist playing a character in a narrative of someone who doesn't want a female companion because of the fact that he thinks that he is too dangerous for her but he can't get her out of his head. The lyrics would suggest that he has dumped him and through anger wants her to go away but deep inside really wanting her back, but between the lines another narrative begins to arise. This narrative is one that involves a disturbed male who believes that he is not stable or good enough for the female that we believe, as a group, is after him. He is doing this because he does not want to hurt her and is not willing to harm her because of his actions and instability.

Another slight variation to this narrative could be that the female does not want this male but he wants her and because of this she is stuck within his thoughts. He keeps telling her to get our of his mind because he knows he can not have her due to his instability and that because his mind is set on her he is outside his original mind and looking back at himself. These lyrics support this suggestion; 'I Need To Find, A Way Back Inside My Mind'. We have some suggestions on what we may do in term of cinematography and mise en-scene to support these narrative ideas. Both of these ideas fit our genre perfectly as the mood is very dark and portrays the severe depressive mood intensively.

Image annotations

When listening to this song I got a few visual ideas. Because the the narrative is based around this one girl which he doesn't want to hurt, I thought we should portray what is going on in his mind through quick shots and flashes. We could show memories of his time spent with her, to help us understand their relationship and what she looks like. Different short lengthed shots can be shown now and again throughout the video to support the meaning of the lyrics.
I tried to find a music video which interpretates the idea I am trying to explain. I remembered the music video for 'Breakeven' by 'The Script' done something exactly like I'm picturing for this video. Even though the genre of music is alot different and calmer, it can still be used in ours for quick cut aways. Here is a sample from the Breakeven video, you can see shots of the girl comes up various times:

This would depict what is going on in his head, we could also include short length and fast paced shots which create a manic busy feel that relates to the mood of the song, being quite angry and agressive. Having alot of built up fustration because he is trying to find himself and by having her in the picture, it is aggravating him. There could be a particular part in the song which is building up and suited to fast paced shots on a faster beat.

I cropped the part of the song that I thought was most suited to a build up of shots. Previously, when analysing one of Asking Alexandrias songs 'To The Stage', I really liked this fast sequance of shots near the end and from then I really wanted to use it for the video I would be making. Now that we have chosen the song I felt that this type of shot sequance suits the narrative as well as the sound.

Both of these videos that I have used as examples depict two diffferent narratives, in the 'Breakeven' video it shows shot of the women looking innocent and natural where as aa's video, 'To The Stage', it shows quite a dirty, sinful character. I think it would be quite good to put both of these extremely opposite personalities together in our video to represent this one girl. The cut away shots of the girl could start off quite innocent and beautiful, but then as the song goes on the personality could switch - suggesting that the longer she is around, the more trouble he will cause her, turning her into a different person, being evil and dominating. Or if we followed the different interpretation of the narrative, it could depict her driving him mad, constantly being in his mind and taking over. Appearing as if she is teasing the camera and acting manipulative, sneering and laughing at the camera as if she is laughing at the fact that she is causing this insanity to him.

As this song is aggresive and brings out a sense of fustration, I think it would be relevent to include some distructive kind of shots in the video. We could possibly show the guy being worked up and letting out his anger around him. This impact of violance and anger could be portrayed in a shot of breaking object. If we was to capture something like glass smashing on the ground, making sure every piece was captured, it would look really dramatic. If we were to do this I also think it would emphasise and show off the shot more by adding a slow motion effect. Here is an example of this type of shot in one of Asking Alexandrias previous music videos for 'The Final Episode', although the object would be purposly broken rather than accidently like in this video:

Storyboard

This is the story boards that my group and I made as a template for what we are going to do for the actual music video that we are going to make.






These are just videos of us doing some work on our story board for our music video and we have just being creating the shots that we think would have been the best at that point.

The second video is the animatic that my group have created using the story board. We have used the pictures in the story board in order to create a mini music video. We have edited the shots in a way that we would be able to depict what the actual music video is going to turn out like.