Sunday, 14 March 2010
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
From existing music videos we can see that the forms and conventions used within them vary greatly. Therefore by challenging one aspect of a particular video we will unavoidably conform to that of another.
Our previous work for our foundation portfolio provided us with valuable skills in identifying forms and conventions within a genre and how we could apply them to our own production. We gained an insight into conventions of this particular genre in a similar way to our foundation work; by watching and analysing existing products.
Traditional conventions of the music video genre is the obvious use of a music track and visual representations of this music. It is most common to see the use of actors or the musicians themselves within the video; this can be seen in Paramore’s video for their single ‘Misery Business’ and also Brand New’s video for ‘The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows’, which both use the band and other actors to present their stories. As we do not have access to use the band of our chosen song in our production we have had to challenge this particular convention and have used actors only. However, actors were featured in place of the band in Death Cab For Cutie’s ‘What Sarah Said’ video, and so we are still able to present content conventions of certain music videos despite restrictions. Other forms used in music videos include animated characters, such as those seen in the videos for the band Gorillaz, however this is not a employable technique for our production due to equipment and time restraints.
Our foundation portfolio allowed us to become aware and accustomed to the restrictions in time, budget and equipment that would affect our planning in regards to location, actors and props. This allowed in us being able to more efficiently plan our advanced production accordingly. These restrictions inevitably resulted in us challenging the often clean-cut and professional conventional appearances of the music videos we are regularly exposed to, due to having to create our own props and use friends as actors. However i feel our awareness of these limitations was applied effectively and also worked suitably in our favour; handmade props allowed us to create a fantastical and ‘cartoon’ atmosphere as part of our fairytale theme for the video, and our choice of actors are within the age group of our target audience which would hopefully allow them to relate more to the video.
I feel the content of the story presented within our video is conventional in the sense that it is relative to the audience we would target. The representations of boy/girl relationships we used and the idea of an escape from the 'real world' is consistent with the interests of our target audience. Also, our use of teenagers to act within our video, although practically a matter of convenience and necessity, also allows for a higher potential positive feedback from our audience as they are of the same age group and therefore could be related to.
Within some music videos, techniques other than straight film can be seen. For example, in Oren Lavie’s video for ‘Her Morning Elegance’ is constructed entirely from the stop motion technique; a technique we have incorporated into our production in small clips but not throughout. Paramore’s ‘Hallelujah’ used photographs as well as video clips, forms we too have included in our production. This highlights the wide variety of techniques and conventions that are available and acceptable within the music video genre, which we have taken advantage of to present the production we had already envisioned in conjunction with the song when we had heard it.
The editing of our video is conventional to existing products within the genre as it matches the pace of the song itself and the atmosphere plot that is featured within the story; techniques that are used in editing for music videos and almost all moving image products.
We will be challenging the conventions of Paramore’s existing music videos, as our production will not feature the band themselves. However, we will mirror the song’s lyrics in our story – a form that is evident to some extent in all their videos.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Having to create ancillary products provided an added challenge that wasn't present within our foundation portfolio, and so the employment of effective time management was vital in order to finish these ancillary texts as well as our main product.
I feel the combination of our main product and ancillary texts is effective as we have strong, recognisable links through all of them.
The main product itself contains the music track itself which already has the recognisable style of the band, and we have attempted to literally translate the track's lyrics into a visual accompaniment. We have established the presentation of fantasy and storytelling as well as relationships within our video, which we maintain throughout our ancillary texts.
Our CD/DVD Digipak design features the storybook introduced within the music video, which establishes a link between the disk and the music video/song of it's contents. We have used a polaroid image of a heart for the disc face, which relates back to the relationship presentation within the video. The font for the title, tracks and the details on the insert are the same fonts used in official products released by the band, and so maintains their previously established theme.
Our magazine advert also features the same established fonts, and also relates back to our main product and Digipak design with the image references to fantasy and the story of the lyrics; butterfly, castle and flower. These images are edited to produced the idea that they are polaroid images; another theme we have continued throughout our main product and then Digipak design. The colour of these images are produced with digitally edited photographs of the band, grouped together and digitally created to fill the images. This is an obvious link to the band themselves.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
To gain audience feedback we used the platform of instant messaging in order to receive opinions from people we have showed our main product and ancillary texts to.
"The video fits with the song and i love how you have put those tiny little details there and it looks like you guys have done a lot of work to make this video =)i love how it looks a bit "amateurish" cause it makes it look real. it doesn't look like Hollywood special effects x 1000 you know and that's why i like it. i think it's cool that you guys made this, and i really like it and i think you had cool effects there like those bricks in the "badababadababada" part."
This is positive feedback, suggesting the viewer enjoyed our product. The reference to the use of stop motion within our production is encouraging as initially we were unsure if our idea would translate into visual presentation successfully, but we feel it was indeed a success.
"Yeah i liked it! Some cool ideas going on there, I thought your mate looked like she was going to burst out laughing at the start though. I really like your advert, looks pretty well done to me, not so sure about the digi-pack covers though, you could maybe try out some different colours"
The criticism of the beginning shots featuring the 'princess' is something we have picked up on ourselves, as I feel it diminishes the overall professionalism of our product. However, the time restrictions (and the weather) meant we could not re-shoot these scenes and could only edit these particular shots to the best of our ability in an attempt to cut out these mistakes.
The comment on the Digipak is noted and I perhaps agree, however as we were trying to stay within the previous themes the band had already established within their official products (previously released singles from the same album featured a similar colour style) this might not have been able to be avoided. In hindsight, I would have perhaps used a different main image for the cover, however time constraints meant that this was not possible.
"as far as the shots go i think they were pretty good.... the first "head in the clouds" shot was weird because it was a little dark.... probably because you were shooting into the sun. i really like the whole idea especially the picture concept and the end"
Due to the weather and equipment we had to work with when shooting, the varying levels of brightness in the shots was almost unavoidable. We do note that the darkness of the particular clip referenced in this feedback is perhaps out of place, yet even with digital editing of the colours and contrast within the clip we could not match this shot with the rest of the video. I feel, however, that the occasional use of darker clips within the video highlight the plot as the 'princess' finds herself slipping out of her fantastical world.
"I like the whole concept of this with the photos and bricks and prince, and the stop motion parts are done really well. i thought the girl was going to start laughing most of the time and i didn't really like her facial expressions as i think she should have told the story more as the main character... but overall very creative"
This is another reference to the expression of our 'princess' in the opening shots, and we can see that this is the weakest point of our video. However, I do feel the shots were necessary in order to establish an idea of the scene and atmosphere of our video, it is just a negative point we could not re-shoot in time for our deadline.
"I might just not "get it" but about 1:14, was she reading the book back to front?"
This is a mistake that was not noticed at the point of filming, and once again we could not re-shoot once it was brought to our attention. We attempted to reverse the clip when editing, but this was not an effective solution and so we decided to include the clip regardless.
We used a variety of media technologies throughout the course of this production.
The internet was an important part in the research stage of our production. Youtube was used in order to research a wide range of pre-existing music videos in order to gain an idea on how we should present our production and also to inspire the story of our video. This was a useful resource as it is free and offers such a large variety of videos to see. We also researched existing Digipak and advertisement designs in order to plan our ancillary texts, and used our featured band's official website to gain insight on previously established themes of their existing products.
The filming of our main product was achieved with the use of video cameras and also a digital stills camera. These are now widely available to us at a reasonably cheap cost, whereas a few years ago it would have been difficult to produce our product on such a low budget. The techniques of filming with this equipment and the effects different shot and angle types have on the atmosphere of the product was much more familiar to us within this production, as we were able to build upon the basics we had learned within our foundation portfolio.
To edit our main product we used Mac computers and the iMovie software to capture the footage and the cut the clips and the music. We used the same technology within our foundation production; this previous experience allowed for a progression in awareness and efficiency in editing as we knew the limitations of the equipment and the effect they would have on our finished product. For example, in our foundation production we altered the colours of some of our clips; however this significantly reduced the quality of the clips in question, so for our advanced portfolio we were aware not to use the same effect. For our ancillary texts we used Photoshop to edit the images used on both our magazine advert and Digipak design, and then Serif Photoplus to construct the final designs; software we had not used in our foundation portfolio and so these were new skills we had to acquire to create our desired designs.
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
Video/Shot Analysis
We begin our video by introducing the band and song name through a close up of an ipod screen playing the song. The camera then pans upwards to show a girl reading through a picture book. We use this to introduce the main character video as well as setting up the beginning of the plot.
The frame cuts to a shot of the book with the words "Once upon a time...", the typical introduction to a fairy tale and used to present the idea of fantasy to the audience.
We then use a fade to white transition to show a sudden change in pace and time, the scene now showing shots of the princess in front of her castle. The vibrant colours of her surroundings and props contrast with the previous scene, presenting the bright world of dreams and imagination in comparison to the dark clothing and scenery of "reality".
A range of shots are used to showcase the surroundings within the scene, and edited to change quickly in order to match the relatively upbeat pace of the song.
The next shot establishes the use of bricks, drawn as a literal translation from the title of the song "brick by boring brick", with the use of medium shots of a large coloured brick. Bright colours are used and 'cartoon' flowers are scattered around it to accentuate the idea of make-believe and how the world is separate from reality.
The frame cuts to a close up of the princess with a polaroid camera, who then takes a pictures of the bricks, followed by a shot of her dropping the photo on the ground. This is to set up for the plot progression of our video, and to involve the scrapbook contents on which the girl bases these imaginary events.
Shots of her feet are used as a literal represenation of the lyrics "keep your feet on the ground", the frames of two shots divided by a fade to white transition to separate the "reality" of muddy shoes and then the "fantasy" world with clean shoes and bright flowers. A tilt shot of the princess framed against the sky is used in conjunction with the lyrics "when your head's in the clouds" to present the idea of royality and importance that the princess possesses.
The following static shots shows the princess entering the frame to collect another coloured brick, with more carton flowers and even dancing butterflies in the background used to emphasise the fantasy atmosphere. The use of butterflies are a reference not only to the connotations of happiness and fairy tales that they carry, but also to the band Paramore as a butterfly is featured on their album "brand new eyes" from which this single is taken from.
The camera returns back to the scene of the girl in "reality" looking through the picture book as at the beginning to re-establish the storyline.
We introduce the use of the stop-motion technique of a brick wall building up and down, edited in time the the music.
The story returns to the princess as she places her collection of bricks beneath her castle. We introduce the new character of a pince as he enters the frame and presents her with a golden brick, only to exit once again. This establishes a relationship between the two characters for the audience to follow and relate to.
We once again incorporate the use of stop-motion to coincide with the lyrics "the clock struck 12", an important line to focus on within our tale as it is an instantly recognisable theme for fairy tales with specific reference to the famous Cinderella. Close up shots of the princess holding a clock striking 12 are presented, once again edited in order to match the beat of the song.
The translation of the lyrics "build your home brick by boring brick" shows a shot of the princess placing the golden brick on top of her collection, presenting the idea of how the prince has helped her complete her collection and fulfill this fantasy search or quest.
For another lyrics reference to fairy tales with "the wolf's gonna blow it down" we involve a quick shot of a dog investigating the wall of bricks to add humour to the story.
The plot begins to show the break down of this fantasy world for the princess as we present a long shot of the prince taking the golden brick away from the princess as she sits with her dismantled "wall". The shot changes to show the sadness on the princess' face as the prince walks out of shot and she is left with a pile of bricks. This portrays the change of our plot and interpretation of the song representing the inability to live life in a way that is not real.
We further present the break-down of the girl's fairy tale as we show shots of her hanging up her camera and tearing down the paper castle. A close up of this castle as she leaves it amongst the weeds on the floor is used to represent the damage in belief for this fantasy existance and how it has affected the character. We track the princess as she walks down to the water and places her crown in the stream and watches as it sinks and floats away. We zoom into a close up of the wind blurring over the crown in the water as a representation of the disintegration of this imaginary world.
The camera then pans up a pile of the discarded bricks to show a folorn shot of the princess beneath a tree, now without a crown or her palace, effectively de-throned. We then see the prince enter the frame once again, he too without a crown, and present her with some photographs. we use and over-the-shoulder shot to show the princess looking through these photos as they depict the story of the plot so far far. A long shot is then used showing the prince lifting the princess up to her feet.
The story line of the prince and princess ends with them walking hand in hand in the distance. We show the princess smiling at the camera before they begin, which initially was intended to be edited out but we felt helps engage the audience with the character's emotions. As they walk, the princess drops the photograph's on the floor, effectively letting go of her fairy tale as she ends up happily ever after with her real prince, rather than one with a crown. The camera pans down and zooms in on the photograph of the two walking hand-in-hand, a typical presentation of the end of a story.
The song draws to a close, and we use stop-motion once again to show the scrapbook flicking through the photos, effectively showing the audience a recap the story in picture form, and as they place themselves into the picture book that the girl is seen reading.
Fade to white is used once again to show the sudden change in location and time, as we return to the scene of the girl sitting on the bench with the picture book. A long shot is used as she closes the book and walks away.
We finish the video with the song, on a shot of the page declaring "The End", a reference to the traditional end of fairy tales and an effective way to also the end of our story.
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
Monday, 7 December 2009
Magazine Advert Finished
(click image for actual colours)
The original design for our magazine advert had to be altered as we discovered we were not allowed to use other people's photographs for our product. With this in mind, we redisigned the whole advert. We have involved polaroid pictures and images associated with fantasy (flower and castle) as well as paramore (their album "brand new eyes" features a butterly on the cover". These images are filled with small pictures of paramore taken at concerts. We then digitally altered the colours.
We feel the colours and content of the advert are relevant to the band's existing image and our own video production, as well as remaining within mainstream conventions of a magazine advertisement.
Digipak Design Finished
When designing the digipak, we considered how we could make it relevant to our music video and the song itself whilst maintaining conventions that have already been established in the band's previous releases. We decided to use an image of the scrapbook cover used as a main feature in our music video, an alter the colour schemes to reference the style of previous CD designs. We created a sepia tone to maintain the subdued colour palette of their album "brand new eyes" from which this single is from, and digitally altered the image so the yellow/orange colouring is visible. The font used is the same type and placement as the band traditionally uses on all CD releases. The back cover features an open page of the aforementioned scrapbook, with a polaroid image of a palace. This references the song context as well as our music video, whilst providing a space to place the necessary text. The same colour effects were used as the front, and a barcode and their record label logo was included to imitate authenticity.
The inlays of the digipak are a plain burnt orange colour, chosen to contrast with the subdued out covers and also to reference the inlay of previos single examples such as "ignorance", shown below:
As with this example, our design features the credits on the inside sleeve. The CD/DVD disc design features another polaroid image from our music video with a prominent heart visible. The colours and relevance are congruent with the other aspects of our production, as well as fitting in with the band's theme and the song's context.
Sunday, 6 December 2009
Props and Cast
Crown - Flowers - Butterflies - Camera - Scrapbook - Bricks - Palace - Clock
As we wanted a fantasy theme for our video, typical fairy tale props such as crowns and a palace were required. Due to budget, time and equipment restraints, we had to produce our own props. However, we feel our home-made props actually accentuate the make-believe atmosphere we intended to create within our story.
As the band of our chosen song are targeted towards the 13-21 age group, we felt the characters within our video needed to be around this age so the majority audience could relate to the characters and the situation portrayed within our narrative. Actors were required as we obviously do not have access to the band themselves. The "princess" played by Kayleigh Winter and the "prince" Joe Lockyear are typical examples of their age group (18) which is within our target audience age range.
Music Video Synopsis
Somewhere too far for us to find
Forgotten the taste and smell
Of the world that she's left behind
It's all about the exposure, the lens, I told her
The angles were all wrong now
She's ripping wings off of butterflies
keep your feet on the ground
when your head's in the clouds
Well go get your shovel
And we'll dig a deep hole
To bury the castle, bury the castle
Ba da ba ba da ba ba pow
So one day he found her crying
Coiled up on the dirty ground
Her prince finally came to save her
And the rest you can figure out
But it was a trick
And the clock struck 12
Well make sure to build your house brick by boring brick
or the wolves gonna blow it down
Well you built up a world of magic
Because your real life is tragic
Yeah you built up a world of magic
If it's not real
You can't hold it in your hand
You can't feel it with your heart
And I won't believe it
But if it's true
You can see it with your eyes
Oh even in the dark
And that's where I want to be"
Sunday, 20 September 2009
Promotion planning
For our first design sketch for our CD/DVD digipak cover, we tried to incorporate the themes of Paramore's previous albums and single covers which we had previously analysed. We wish to maintain the themes set for the 'brand new eyes' album, including lowercase lettering and italic font, as well as a subdued colour palette and minimalistic image design.
We will use a polaroid photograph of a scene at the set of our music video for this promotional package, ensuring the inclusion of a a red brick which will contrast against the greens and blues of the landscape scene, and be a literal representation of the song 'brick by boring brick'.
Our first design for our magazine advertisement has been roughly put together using image editing software. We wished to maintain the conventions seen in the magazine adverts we had analysed, such as a prominent image of the band. We have included the theme text used in Paramore's 'brand new eyes' album for the promotional writing, with the aim of maintaining easy recognition. We have included a small image of our CD/DVD digipak cover, however this is not our final design/sketch of this cover and so is subject to change.
Saturday, 19 September 2009
Storyboard and Planning
