Assessment.

Talent release forms.

These are talent release forms for the people who will be filmed for our music video. We need to ensure we have permission for legal reasons. 

Track permission letter.

Our group went to the record label website and sent them a message from there and gave our email and a number so they could contact us back, this is a print screen of our finished message.

Location permission letters.

This is the email that Daryl sent asking for permission to film in his dads bar.

This is a copy of Daryl's email to the whole group letting us know that he had been contacted and it was ok for us to film there.

Photo shoot schedule.

Photo Shoot Plan-3

We have planned to do our photo shoot on the Saturday 12th November. We will be using the photos for the advert and the album cover, and will hopefully be using Daryl's, Dads bar for a location. We are going to need the whole band for the photo shoots so have informed our actors of when we will need them and what they will need to wear and I will need to bring my camera so we can take the photos.

Shooting Schedule

This is our shooting schedule, we have worked out what shots need to be filmed in what locations and have broken it up into a location for each day. We have also informed the people involved with what days they are needed and what they will need to bring/ wear and have a list of equipment we will need for each day we film a different section.

Advert design.

For our advert design we decided that we wanted a picture of the band large in the centre as they are the people that create the music and are important. As soon as people see a picture of artists they like, they take more notice of it as they recognise them. We have used dark colours as it is stereotypical of heavy metal bands, we also used red for the parts we wanted to stand out such as the release date as it is a vibrant colour and it will stand out against the dark colours. It is also a negative colour as it can represent blood, danger and death, this is affective as negative lyrics and imagery are the main focus of heavy metal bands. We wast the background of the photo to be of a rundown building as it will add to the negative vibe we are trying to get across and will look good. We also want red seaweed to be replacing where their hands are meant to be, this will give it a weird, monstery look which makes it seem adbstract which is common in heavy metal music videos. 

This is a video of me and Freedie discussing Photo ideas for our advert.

For our photo shoots we want it to be similar to our music video in that it's mainly black and white and  has some red in it. This is because it stands out and represents negative things which is what we want to come across as it is what people associate with heavy metal music. I also think that black and white photos for our advert will make it look more professional and I like the gritty affect over this photo as I feel it makes it look worn down and will add to the negative affect we want to create through our music video, album cover and advert.

CD Cover design.

This is our album cover design. We made sure we interesting visual imagery on each side of it so it looks professional and interesting. The front cover is going to be a landscape photo of a beach but we are going to edit it on photo shop to make the sky dark and the sea red so it goes with the heavy metal genre of darkness and negativity. We also want to use posed photo shoots of the band to show who they are, we will edit this to look dark like the rest of the images on the album cover using the main colours of black and red.

This is an example of an album cover that I thought was really affective, we want to take the idea of having an object or something other than the band on the front of our album cover that will create a negative feeling as soon as you look at it and like above we decided to have a landscape picture of an ocean/ beach that looks dark and like a place you just wouldn't want to be. Most photos taken for heavy metal bands have quite a gritty, dark affect to them which you can see looking at the picture above, we want to apply to all of or photos in our photo shoot as we think it looks affective and will help the negativity we want to get through.

Location

This is an image from google maps and images taken of where we are hoping to film our music video, there are a number of warehouses that we can film in or outside of. We want to film in a place like this as it is typical setting for a heavy metal music video (quiet areas that don't usually have a lot of people around.

List of Costume, Make-up, Props and Equipment.

Costume and Make-up:

• Lead singer: Dark clothes; t-shirt and jeans, trainers, sweat bands, rings, piercings, dark eyeliner.
• Guitarist 1: Dark clothes; t-shirt and skinny jeans, converse, dark eyeliner.
• Guitarist 2: Dark clothes; t-shirt and skinny jeans, trainers, dark eyeliner, rings.
• Bass guitarist: Dark clothes; t-shirt and skinny jeans, trainers, dark eyeliner.
• Drummer: Dark clothes; jeans, t-shirt and hoodie, converse, wrist bands, hair in front of face.
• Girl: Dark clothes; skinny jeans and a t-shirt, lots of dark eye make-up, dark hair, piercings.

Props and equipment:

- 2 guitar amps.

- Bass amp.

- Drum kit.

- Bass guitar.

- 2 guitars.

- Mic and stand.

- Camera - More than one at some points during filming.

-Tri-pod.

- Fig rig. 

- Car.

Bellow is a 'Gif' I created showing equipment that Asking Alexandria use and that other heavy metal bands also use in their performances and music videos. Through research and watching heavy metal music videos like this we created the list above of all props and equipment we will need.

GIFSoup

Storyboard

This is a video of my group creating our storyboard. We all had different roles each, one person drew, one person added colour, one person wrote in shot types and camera angles and another person wrote the shot numbers, sound and timing.



Here are pictures of our finished storyboard.

This is our animatic we made of our storyboard, we created it on Imovie and put our song over the top to show what shot is being used at what part of the song.

Concept

This is a video of my group discussing the concepts of our music video and some ideas that we want to include. This video explains things such as; we chose this specific genre of heavy metal as you can do a lot of things with it visually and we chose the song as when reading the lyrics it sounded interesting and very visual. We want to use dark imagery as it is stereotypical for the heavy metal genre and it will look really effective. For our locations we have discussed filming the performance of the band in a bar as it will look more professional or at an industrial estate as a lot of heavy metal music videos are filmed in areas like this or run down warehouses. 

Image Annotation

Our genre is heavy metal, in class we discussed what costumes we will need people to wear. We looked at heavy metal and rock music videos to get an idea of what they generally wear and we came up with this list.

• Black t-shirts with gothic graphics on it
• Skinny jeans, various colours
• Straightened hair, rough/jagged
• Vans (Canvas shoes)
• Tape (accessory) 
• Anti-Christ like jewellery
• Make-up, foundation, eyeliner, painted finger nails
• Tattoo's
• Dark hoodies
• Wooly hats/Tight baseball caps
• Piercings eg. Nose, ears, lips, eyebrows

Bellow are some gifs of heavy metal music videos to show the costume that they wear. As you can see they wear dark coloured clothes, mainly blacks and greys. They have tattoos and piercings, have longish hair, wear skinny jeans and t-shirts, vans or converse. 

GIFSoup


GIFSoup

Lyric Annotation

These are the lyrics of our song choice and we annotated them on Microsoft Word and wrote about ideas that we had for each part of the song and what the lyrics are saying. As a group we had to  unpick each line and find the meaning behind it to be able to understand the song more and have visual moving image that relates to the lyrics, we discussed some really good visual ideas for our music video and now have a better understanding of the meaning behind the song.

Song details

Asking Alexandria - A Single Moment of Sincerity; is the song we chose to create a music video on. We chose to do this genre of music (heavy metal) as the music videos are generally really visually interesting. We picked this song because the lyrics create visual imagery so it will be interesting to work with and we can create lots of different ideas to make the music video visually interesting. This is also a fast pace song which enables us to use lots of fast pace shot changes.

Technical Tutorial - Photoshop

For this tutorial we got taught how to work on Photoshop to create the front and back of our digipack, doing this our group was able to experiment with effects and colours and see what would be successful for our genre of music. We used a black background as it instantly gives it a rock/ heavy metal look as it is a colour which is stereotypically associated with this genre. The black also gives it a negative look this is effective as negative emotions are usually the main focus of rock/ heavy metal genre. The writing is whit so it is bold and stands out against the black, this is also good as when people are looking for it in the shops it is easy to see and stands out well and we chose the specific font because it is bold and interesting. The photos of the people were successful. Even though we didn't have costumes and props we used the chance of taking the photos of trying out different camera angles and poses which would make them look stern and serious as rock/ heavy metal is quite negative and also to make it represent the genre which is really shown in Daryl’s pose as the hand sign is used often within the rock/ heavy metal genre. We used thus specific filter on top of the photo to give it a surreal effect as a lot of rock/ heavy metal muic videos portray the sense of the unknown or really unusual imagery. This is created in our photot as they are unclear as their faces are quite blurred/ distorted and look unusual. Below is a video that I took of a member of our group taking the photos.

Technical tutorial - Final cut.

We created a new lip syncing video which consisted of using a green screen so we could learn how to use it and how to edit the background on final cut. Me, Elenya and Daniel created this video on Jing which allowed us to video what we did on the screen and add a voice over to explain. When doing this we decided to explain how final cut works when you want to edit the background and take the green screen out, we wrote on a piece of paper what to say first and then read out the points over the video.

Roles.

This is a photo of our group. When making a music video there are a number of jobs that need doing to make it go successfully, we are going to share these out between our group so we have all contributed equally.

Me- Filming, Photographer.

Luke- Filming, costume and props organiser.

Daryl- Filming, location manager.
Freddie- Filming, lead singer, technician.

Initial Ideas.

In class my group mind mapped our initial ideas of what we need to include in our rock/ heavy metal music video. For our costume we knew that they had to fit in with the genre of our music choice of rock / heavy metal, for this we noted that the costumes need to be dark colours and quite casual like jeans/ skinny jeans and a t-shirt. For our song choice we were told that it needs to be English and it can't already have a music video to it. We also made a list of artists of our genre so we could listen to songs and watch music videos to get an understanding of what they consist of. For the performance we knew that we would need a lot of instruments and equipment so we created a list of them; bass guitar, guitar x 2, drum kit, keyboard, speakers, mic, amp, jack, leads.

Research Assessment.

Audience Research.

For my audience research I created a questionnaire online. This is a link to it -https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHhUMmpzU1pUYTBnYkF0MzEyN3RnUmc6MQ

Results:

For my audience research I created a questionnaire to find out how people listen to and purchase music and also how people feel about music genres and what they expect from their music videos. The most popular genre was rock with pop coming in close second, I think this is because these are the most commercialised genres so more people know and hear about them. I also found that a lot of people now download their music off the internet and watch music videos on television, this shows that the internet and television would be a good place for advertising as they are popular. I asked how people feel when listening to the genre of rock/ heavy metal as this is the genre of music we are going to do our music video of. Most people said that they feel happy and excited but that really depends on what genre you listen to, I think if a lot more people took the questionnaire the responses would even out more. I also as asked what people think are the main conventions of a music video as an open ended question. They gave answer such as electric guitars and other instruments, dark mise en scene and costume etc. which I need to include in my ideas when I think about what to use visually in my music video. 

Assessment 23/09/11 MCU

WWW

- Most posts attempted.
- Some detailed analysis showing good understanding.
- Some creativity with visual material.
- A good attempt to stay on track with all the posts.


EBI

- Your analysis of album covers is too simplistic and I know you can do better. Think about cinematography, mise en scene, colour, typography, layout as well as the conventions. What is the meaning of the adverts?
- Some of your posts need finishing, e.g. not all the videos from your genre have been analysed, adverts, CD covers etc.
- Posts 19 and 20 missing, you must have audience research it is in the mark scheme.
- Post 17 - what artists of  your genre does each label represent? Whay would this be a good choice for your artist?
- There are still posts with no visual material. You must include this and be more creative with it. I know you can do this!

EFFORT - IN

Advertisement research.

This advert is very black and dark which goes with the stereotypical look of the rock genre. It's called the neon bible and has a picture of this in the centre which makes it the main focus, neon signs are usually used at clubs and bars which are places that aren't asociated with religion and being ethical which is what the bibles about so by using this name and image it is giving it a negative image. It says 'featuring' which will give people an insight to what is on the CD. The fact it says limited edition will make people want to buy it more as it seems more special and that it won't be out forever. It has the release date in bigger writing so it stands out and people can esily see it.

The background of this advert is the cover of the CD and the writing has been placed around it, this enables people to know what the cover looks like so when they go to buy it they know what they are looking for.. The release date is clear in large writing and it also says 'includes' which gives people an insight of what is going to be on the CD. The date of release is on the front in large font so it stands out and people know when to buy it.

They have a clear picture of the album cover to the left which enables people to know what they're looking for when they go to buy it. The typography used is bold and clear, the name of the band  is the largest thing on the advert so the attention is automatically drawn to it so you know what the advert will be about. It has the title of the album bellow and then the release date in bold font beneath that, this is important information as then people know when its out and the name of the album for when they're looking for it. Dull colours are used as this is a convention of thee rock and heavy metal genre, they aren't happy, bright and colourful, they are the opposite, dull colours and have negative imagery and emotion in their songs and music videos.

Record Label Research.

Sony:

Is a music record label company which was joint 50-50 with the sony corporation of America and Bertelsmann AG. Sony renamed the record company Sony Music Entertainment (SME) on January 1, 1991. Sony reintroduced the Columbia label worldwide, which it previously held in the United States and Canada only, after it acquired the international rights to the trademark from EMI in 1990.

Warner Bros:

Founded by Jack Warner, it is an American record label was the founder of the present day warner music group. It was established in 1958 and has grown over the years to become one of the top labels in the world. Artists that have been signed consist of big names such as; Red Hot Chili Peppers, Muse. Iron & Wine, Green day and My Chemical Romance.

Roadrunner Records:

An American Record label founded in 1980 by Cees Wessels and works with Warner Musioc Group. It focuses on heavy metal and rock genre.It was distributed by Atlantic Record groups and originates in the Netherlands. Artists that are signed consist of people such as; Nickleback, Slipknot and The Wombatts.

CD Cover Research.

My Chemical Romance - Black Parade:

The typography is black which is a colour associated with rock and heavy metal, it is also scratchy and rough which gives it a dangerous look which is a convention of the genre it is also a similar look as the music video to the song 'Black parade'.  There is also a picture of a man wearing an outfit that looks like a soldier or a marching band and is wearing a skeletal mask which represents death, this is typical of a rock and heavy metal as they are quite dark and negative genres. The back ground is also quite scratchy and looks old and worn out, this is typical mise en scene for rock and heavy metal genre as it represents negativity.

Green Day - American Idiot:

The colours used in this (black and red) are associated with danger, death and darkness which is typical of the genre of rock and heavy metal. There is also a close-up picture of a hand holding a heart that also looks like a grenade, the fact that it's a close-up makes it the main focus and draws attention straight to it. This picture could represent violence and death as grenades are used to kill people and the fact they have a heart in their hand looks like they just ripped some ones heart out which is a very violent, negative image. All of theses are conventions of this genre as it is a dark, depressing genre associated with negativity. The typography used is bold, capital letters which enables it to stand out and grab the attention of someone looking to buy it, it's also got scratchy marks in it which makes it look damaged and some of the text is red, both of these things are negative imagery and are typical of rock and heavy metal genre.

Aerosmith:

This cover has a black and white photo of the band, this is also typical of this genre as it shows who has created the music and the group of them together, it's also a mid-shot which allows you to see what they are wearing which is typical costume for rock and heavy metal artists. Although there is no negative imagery it still has the main colour of black which shows the darkness and is stereotypically associated with this genre. For typography they have used their logo on the front, it is placed over the photo which makes it the main focus, the fact that it's the logo also means that it jumps out to fans as a familiar thing to them.

Genre research 3 - Conventions of a rock / heavy metal music video.

• They tend to be mainly narative (tells a story) or performance (mainly just the band performing).
• The bands logo is usually shown at some point in the music video, whether it be at the begining, end or throughout on their instruments etc.
• They wear typical outfits asociated with this gnere; black or dark colours, outlandish and eyecatching outfits, long or crazy hair.
• The location is usuall at a concert,. a derelect building or somewhere really strange.
• Fast pace shot changing to go with the fast and loud music.
• Close-ups of the artist singing and band playing their instruments.
• Mise en scene is very dark and negative as their lyrics are usually quite negative or depressing.

Genre reaserch 2 - Analysis of 3 rock/ heavy metal music videos.

Mise en scene:

The whole look of this music video reminds me of darkness and decay which is negative, this is effective as the song is really quite violent and loud which is also negative. The man in it has horns as part of his costume, this could be representing the devil which represents everything bad. The setting is also negative looking, it seems as though it has been filmed in a derelict, dirty, broken down building which adds to the negative look to the moving image and links to the music which is typical to heavy metal genre of music.

Cinematography:

Lots of close-ups are used, this creates the sense of unknown which links with the song as it's quite dark, it's harder to work out what something is if you only get a certain section of an object. Lots of different camera angles and shot types have been used to make the music video look more interesting due to there being lots of different things to look at for the audience.

Editing:

Editing has been used to create fast pace shot changes, this is typical of a heavy metal music video as it links to the fast pace instrument playing, it also adds to the harsh look of the moving image. Images fade over the top of each other and overlap, this makes it look more interesting, it also makes it look quite ghostly which looks good with the dead looking people.

Sound:

Lip synching is used to to show the singer of the band, it is an important part of music videos and it helps the artist to get their feeling across in the moving image. You can see that in this music video a lot of harsh emotion and movement is used when singing it which is typical for this genre of music.

Mise en scene:

It looks as if ash is floating around which gives the effect like bombs or explosions have gone off, which is a negative imagery which is typical of this genre. People are either in hospital costumes which is linked to death and illness or in outfits consisting of things such as gas masks, or military style clothes which is a typical in how heavy metal or rock bands dress. The setting looks as if they are going through a war

Cinematography:

Lots of shots are used as it goes with the fast pace of the song and means that a lot of moving image can be put across the screen to keep the audience entertained. Close ups are used on the singer to show the emotion when he is singing. Lots of different camera angles and shot types are used to make the music video look interesting.

Editing:

Starts with slow pace shot changes as the music is slow, when the other instruments come in and the music speeds up the rhythm of the shot changes go with it, this is typical of this genre as it intensifies the fast pace instrument playing. Black edges are added which makes it look like old film that was used during wartime in the past which gives it an authentic look. Colours are quite dull which makes adds to the negativity which is typical of this genre.

Sound:

Lip synching is used to show the connection between the artist and the song, they use lots of emotion and movement which is typical of this genre as the songs are usually quite depressing and emotional so it helps to get this across through the moving image.

Mise en scene:

it has typical head banging which is typically associated with and seen often in rock and heavy metal music videos. it's very dust which makes it look like a not very nice place which is typical of rock and heavy metal music videos as they portray negativity along with the lyrics. The location also looks old and warn out as this also adds to the effect of negativity as it looks like a place you wouldn't want to be.

Cinematography:

Lots of shots types are used such as an establishing shot which enables you to know where everyone is in the scene. Camera angles are used such as close ups on the singer to show the emotion when he is singing. The fact that lots of different camera angles and shot types are used makes the music video look interesting.

Editing:

The shot change pace is similar throughout, it is quite slow, and made me feel a bit bored after a while. It did get a bit faster at the end but you have to look close to notice it. Slow motion is used, this goes with the slow pace shot changes and enables you to see what's going on in busy shots easier.

Sound:

It starts off with someone taping their foot with the beat of the music playing, this is affective as it emphasises  the beat and makes the viewer want too do the same. Lip synching is used as it is a n important convention of a music video, it also shows who sings the song.

Genre research 1 - Mood board.

Heavy metal and rock have a similar look, they wear a lot of black or dark colours, have long, unusual or crazy hair so they stamd out and look different. The guitar is associated with them and they usually have very fancy looking ones like the picture above. The hand symbol above is  asocia1ted with this genre of music as at roch or heavy metal concerts people make this gesture.

Theory 3 - Andrew Goodwin - Dancing in the Distraction Factory 1992.

Illustration:

Music- Always cuts on beat.

Lyrics- Images illustrate the literal meaning or feeling of the lyrics, often just with the band singing and dancing.

Band Image- Dressed as would be expected including with instruments.

The clip below from a music video is an example of illustration as the image illustrates the words of the lyrics in that her heart has been taken and put in someone else's jar. 

Amplification: 

Music- Film cuts on the beat but also off to emphasise features.

Lyrics- Images amplify the lyrics, a specific narrative may be used that may not necessarily be picked up by reading the lyrics alone.

Band Image- The band take on fictional roles in the narrative.

This clip of a music video shows how they used amplification as the artists took on fictional roles in the narrative.

Disjuncture:

Music- Film cuts off the beat. (Sometimes the sign of a badly made video.)

Lyrics- Images which do not relate to the lyrics are used, sometimes used by bands that are already well established that can afford to take the risk.

Band Image- The band take on an image that is nothing like the expected image.

The video clip below is an example of a video that uses disjuncture as it follows a narrative which really doesn't have anything to do with the lyrics.

Theory 2 - Carol Vernallis (The kindest cuts: function and meaning in music video editing)

Carol Vernallis analyzed editing of Hollywood films and music videos. She identified distinct approaches in each.

Music video:

• Multiplicity of incomplete sometimes obscure paths.
• Order of shots - Unconventional as it shifts more freely between shots.
• Time space, character and narrative are revealed incompletely.
• Discontinuity; a pop video draws us away the narrative by are revealed incompletely.
• Visual hooks create continuity. Non continuous shots linked by a single feature.
• Sometimes all elements are equal and sometimes one is dominant.

Hollywood film:

• Single clear path through film's world.
• Order of shots - conventional. Typical shot order.
• Unity of time and space.
• Continuity, the film draws us into narrative.

Theory 1 - Boredwell and Thompsons theories of editing.

The main focus is Hollywood or continuity editing, they look at four different ways shots can be linked, graphic, spatial, temporal and rhythmic.

Graphic-

This is about the moving image so the shots are linked due to the shape, colour, patterns, movement and depth. Graphic match: Linkage of shots by graphic similarity. Graphic continuity: Centre of interest is constant through out cuts, maintaining lighting level, avoiding strong colour clashes. Graphic discontinuity: Contrasts colour and footage types.

Rhythmic:

Is about the duration of the shots and its pattern in association to the moving image. For example increasing the pace of shot changes in an intense moment o the moving image helps to create the feeling that you want to get across to the audience.

Spatial

Is to do with the setting and location, and manipulation of different points through similarity, difference and development.

In this clip a long shot of a boat cuts to a close-up of the interior of a boat. We now know that the man is on a boat.

This clip is another example of spatial editing but is different to the first as it is all one place that is linked.

Temporal

Concerns time of action and contributes to the plots' manipulation of storyline order, time and frequency. The order of shown events can be manipulated- changes in story- plot relations which interupt 'temporal' order. E.g flashbacks ( to past events) increases story knowledge and flashforwards ( to future events) creating enigma. Duration of story events within the plot can altered via use of ellipsis. For example; fade in or out.

Assessment 9/09/11 MCU

WWW

- Detailed and insightful analysis carried out on a range of music videos.
- The work is presented to a very high standard and you are using the blog well.
- It is clear to see what you have learned about music videos and how this will influence your own work.

EBI

- Check spelling, especially 'effective'
- Consider using short clips to illustrate your points, as well as screengrabs. (See a teacher or a technician for help doing this)
- Discuss the target audience when you carry out analysis.

Effort - EX

Well done!

Low Budget Ideas: The Fix - Just Got Paid.

This is another good example of a low budget music video created by A2 Media students. This is set out like a typical pop video that a boy band would create. The first shot grabs the audiences attention straight away as it is set up really well and the lights come on at the same time as a word is sung, this helps to show the connection between the music and the moving image. They have used stage lighting which is really effective as it gives the shots an interesting and professional look. They use lip synching which is good as this is an important factor of music videos so it shows the connection between the artist and the song and so the audience knows who's singing it. The shots of the boys in the mirror is effective as it shows them getting ready to go out and they are wearing smart, expensive clothes therefore these shots back up the lyrics. They have some posed shots which looks like they are having a photo shoot or something which gives the affect that they are famous. For the music video they have created a dance routine and perform it, this is effective as they use stage lighting for these shots which gives it a concert look and the fact they ae dancing is typical of a boy band which shows they have researched their type of artist. In some shots which have possibly been filmed at someone's house they have chandeliers in the background which gives the effect they have money which comes with the famous lifestyle and goes with the songs lyrics about just getting paid and having money.