Audience Feedback and Evaluation

During our initial screening on December 17th I will conduct a focus group of teenage males based on my research findings in my audience research, During this evaluation I will be able to gain valid and useful opinions from my audience in how both conventional and entertaining my video and digi-paks/magazine concepts are in relation to their opinion and the genre.

Pitch for Ideas

My video will open with a long shot of a small performance stage that my 4 band members are stood on, the first 3 or so seconds will feature diegetic sounds or muffled talk and slight feedback from the amps and guitars in order to create the sense of a real performance. Once the band starts playing the story will focus on two parallel story-lines, the first being the band who are performing/rehearsing to make a statement against the character of "Brian" and their passionate dislike against him. The other part follows "Brian" an over-enthusiastic fan keen on meeting the band and engaging with them, my inspiration came from the combination of both the lyrics and an interview with the band talking about the man who inspired the song and its lyrics.In addition I think this will be an interesting as it shows an alternative meaning for the song that the actual video choose not to portray.

Risk Assessment

Magazine Advert Planning

Planning for Digipak

Through planning my Digipak I found that my main influence came from the Arctic Monkey's AM album design of minimalistic and simple graphics used in a way that is portrayed as extremely graphic and impacting. The colour scheme will be small but consistent like many of the digipaks that I analysed. Also I have implemented logos to portray the band particularly in terms of name with lots of my imagery reflecting electrical symbols, also I plan to include promotional style images taken on the day of filming in the natural and black and white style that I found almost all of the images in my research used.

Music Video Timeline

Music Video Timeline-Performance

Music Video Timeline-Narrative

Editing Software Plan

The editing software I plan to use will be Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Affects, the majority of my video will feature very few visual effects as I found that it was very conventional of the indie genre to use effects or alterations in a minimalist style. However I do plan to use one effect in the form of a split-screen for a portion of the video due to the results of my research showing it to be conventional. Furthermore I hope to add an alteration of colour grading to make the video feel both more genuine and professional by introducing a filter and possibly extra lighting effects. The colour grading will be used on the raw footage of my performance with the main edit, including the split-screen being done in Premiere Pro. 

Brianstorm Lyrics Analysis-Media

From this analysis I have learnt that the songs lyrics strongly revolve around the character of "Brian" as the band talk about his attributes and personality. Furthermore they frequently use the lyrics to talk about their dislike for him, but also their jealousy of his lifestyle. In terms of  narrative after analysing the lyrics in detail I think my video should feature a character to represent "Brian" whilst I continue to cut between him and the band performing. Finally my knowledge of the lyrics referring to the bands dislike of the person will influence my performance in terms of playing and energy, I will try and make it more aggressive and passionate.

Shot List

Shot List - Performance

Narrative Shot List

Storyboards/Shot lists

Performance:

Narrative:

Filming and Editing Schedule

Filming and Editing Schedule

Letter to label/artist

John Cabot Academy

Woodside Road

Kingswood

Bristol

BS15 8BD

Dear Sir/Madam

My name is James Powell and I'm currently a sixth form student at John Cabot Academy, one of my core subjects is Media studies which I ‘am presently studying at A2 level working towards making our own music video. I ‘am writing to you in request for permission to use your labels (Domino) song (Brianstorm) and logo for the audio portion of my music video in order to clearly communicate the Indie genre I have chosen to replicate within my own project. The songs use is purely for educational purposes and as an effective reflection of my chosen genre with no profits or credits being generated from the final music video. Furthermore the use of the logo will be featured in a more practical element of the course where we have to create a digipak for the artist with realistic and appropriate branding utilized to communicate the bands identity and style, again the digipak will not be produced and no profits or credits generated as a result of its use.

Thank you for your time.

Yours sincerely

James Powell 

Props List

The majority of my props will be instruments or general performance equipment e.g: Electric Guitar, Acoustic, Drums and Microphone.

I will also need to use a mic stand as all the performers will be holding/using instruments and so utilising a mic stand will help with making the video feel genuine and authentic.

Raw footage of locations: Performance

Photographs of locations

Artist Styling/Costume Planning

I plan to style my band in a very casual fashion to add to the realistic representation of conventional indie bands. This also means that collecting costumes will be quite simple as most of the performers can use their own clothes within the video. However  I think that black jeans and plain jackets will fit well and work as a planned costume.

Lead Performer:

Lead Guitarist Costume:

Mood Board

Mood Board Indie

To help me form some initial ideas I created a mood board outlining the main props, locations and general costumes/style that I plan to use to represent my band. It has also given me chance to begin planning the use of location and my performers in order to fit my genre and aesthetic.

Initial Planning Ideas

Research into adverts for digipaks

Digipaks

Digipaks Research by powell97

Research in to an Artist/Band

Music Channels

Audience Research

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

I have utilised a website called SurveyMonkey to specifaclly design a survey aimed at discovering my audiences interests and needs in relation to the music videos they consume on a regular basis. It will hopefully help me to refine and aim my own project into a format that will please the general conventions and audience of the genre.

Results of survey  |Create infographics

From my survey of male teenagers I have learned that my audience think that both narrative and performance based content plays an equal role in their enjoyment of music videos. They also think that is essential that the pace established in the song should be copied or matched within the video to maintain enjoyment, quality and consistency. Furthermore they also commented that it was generally conventional for music videos to match pace in and that it would seem strange and off-putting to watch. I further learned that the audience I looked into enjoyed bands such as The Arctic Monkeys, The Cure, Oasis and Area 11, most of which were conventional indie bands that fit the same conventions and appeal that my research helped me analyze and understand. In particular two of the bands, (Oasis and Arctic Monkeys) were bands I had researched into in depth which is going to be very useful when creating my music video due my existing knowledge of their work and techniques. In addition I also learned that some of my audiences favourite music videos were also strongly tied to indie genres and videos I have studied, for example my audience choose videos from The Arctic Monkeys and The Last Shadow Puppets "My Mistakes Were Made For You" a video which I analyzed in great detail early on in my blog. This like the band research is going to be very useful as background knowledge to appeal to my audience. Moreover my audience said that they choose these music videos due to their unique use of shots, simplicity narrative telling me that whilst it will be useful to stay conventional in order to appeal to my audience it will also help to add in new and original ideas of my own to keep the video engaging and unique. Also I learned most of my audience consume their music videos through Internet and specifically upload sites such as Vevo and YouTube because of the accessibility and ease of viewing that other platforms lack in terms of on demand content. Finally most of my audience claimed that it is not important for the music video to portray the artist as they felt that the song was a more important feature that the video had to reflect, including things such as lyrical content and genre.




 Transcript: Hi, I'm Barry, I'm 17 Years old and I'm a big fan of indie music and bands. I particularly like indie rock bands such as The Arctic Monkeys, The Libertines and Oasis. Some of my favourite videos include "The Importance of Being Idle" by Oasis for the unique and interesting blend between performance and narrative. Also I like to watch music videos on sites such as YouTube and Vevo using my smartphone because I love the on demand accessibility it offers. Finally I really enjoy music videos that feature a good balance of performance and narrative shots as I feel both are equally important within indie rock music videos.

 

Analysis of Previous Students Work

After analysing these 3 tasks I also looked at 3 previous students blogs in order to get an idea of how to utilize technology and construct an effective blog using them whilst also allowing me to look at some past examples of final constructions and break down what was effective and what could be improved about them:
http://www.fahminaali.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.i-m.co/kayjianoran/kayjianoran/
http://laraanisere.wix.com/media-a2-coursework-

After looking at previous students work and studying both their blog and final constructions, the importance of planning has become clear. The students who were most successful had clear and concise planning sections that used a variety of technology to present. Furthermore they also had a blog that was easy to navigate allowing the tools to quickly view tasks.

Inspiration and Influences-Film

Inspiration and Influences (Film) on PhotoPeach
The films I have chosen all relate to the element of British/social realism that many indie rock music videos try to portray in both their images and videos. Submarine,Train-spotting and This Is England all represent the working class people of Britain in an accurate and honest way, similar to the way that Indie Music represent the average person using their image and sound. In particular for Submarine I was intrigued by the way that locations were used to show the industrial and labouring side of British realism, in addition the setting of Swansea in Wales further plants the film in realistic British roots due to heavy focus on the more gloomy and downcast weather and abandoned industrial areas. Moreover the film also has strong links to British indie as the director Richard Ayoade also directed the "My Mistakes Were Made For You" video for The Last Shadow Puppets, an indie rock band I have looked into and analysed during this research task. Furthermore the films soundtrack features Alex Turner lead singer of The Arctic Monkeys and  The Last Shadow Puppets whose music videos I have looked into and featured as solid examples of the indie genre.
I also choose This Is England due to the use of costume being very much in connection with conventional Indie Rock clothes. They mostly consist of jeans and casual t-shirts further representing the realistic and honest attire of the working class public in Britain. Furthermore the themes of the film of the everyday struggles against social conflict and the government, all common and strong themes within many Indie songs lyrics.
Finally I have chosen the film Train-Spotting  for its use of editing to match the pace of the story, similar to the way that Indie Rock videos match the editing of the video to the pace of the song they are creating the video for. In both the film and the videos it makes the project more engaging and consistent for the viewer to watch because it allows for the visual element to be a reflection of the sound/narrative element. Furthermore Train-Spotting link in context to Brit-pop places it at a time when British Indie was at its height of success and popularity meaning that many pieces of media, including this film, reflected the indie scene and the political and social views that it represented.

Carol Vernallis and Andrew Goodwin

Research into the relevant genre

Inspiration and Influences

Bands: Inspiration and Influences on PhotoPeach

After creating this PhotoPeach I had a very clear and concise view of both my musical inspirations but also aesthetically the look of the band and their image. I have realised the look should be very casual and plain featuring mainly t-shirts and jeans in dark colours. In addition I now have a very clear idea of props, the primary features should be the instruments used in the song e.g: Electric Gutair, Drums, Bass, but also general equipment used for a bands perfomance like speakers and microphones. Finally the casual look also reflects the band members who are not made up or styled in any particular way.

Tracking an artist/band throughout their career

Detailed Analysis of Music Videos

Detailed Music Video Analysis

Research Into Existing Companies That Produce and Distribute Music Videos

Record Label Research-A2 by powell97

Conventions of a Music Video

Music Video Analysis A2 by powell97

History of Music Videos

Barry Island - Workshop

Workshop:

In order to introduce new features into our method of editing we went on a trip to Barry Island where we experimented with green screen and after affects in addition to Premiere Pro. We looked at existing music videos that featured heavy use of effects and green screen such as Busted's "Year 300" and Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend".

We then planned our backgrounds and actors to be used, gathered the images and videos from various internet sources that related to the original music videos use of backgrounds.

 

 

 

We went on to begin the filming. During this stage we were challenged with balancing performance with props lip-synching and also the clipping of the green screen. We also had to consider the lighting in terms of hot spots and even lighting.

 

 

 

The final stage was to edit the clips together and add the green screen footage. From this technique I was able to effectively learn keying and chromo keying. 

Media ppt

Narrative Workshop

"Music Videos are simply an extension of the lyrics"- Andrew Goodwin

How could you prove/disprove this?

Gather screenshots of music videos and compare them to the lyrics spoken at that point, evaluate if they match up
Look at specific genres of music and decided if they greater reflect the music/lyrics or the band/artists views
Evaluate conventions of genres and how they affect the video, for example rap videos typically portray a lifestyle whilst rock band groups portray the atmosphere at live shows and performances

What does it mean?

Suggesting the video is an extension of the ideas or moods that the lyrics portray
Suggests it could create its own individual film/form of media
Could be the preferred reading from the band or artist
The video is the lyrics told in a visual way

What is the main idea behind this?

That the music video can be more than literal possibly a metaphorical interpretation
Is content built and defined by a product that already exists
It can only add to but not improve or alter the original product

How significant is this?

Not  very much, as the music video often also reflects the attitudes or ideas of a context/time
It can be more than a product of words, it can be the product of the thoughts and feelings of not only and individual artist but also a generation or time frame
Furthermore the video can also make its own independent statement in conjunction and separate from the message/ideas of the song (existing as its own idea)

What evidence can you already present for this?

Music videos such as Lego House by Ed Sheeran which tells its own narrative independently from the song, however  the lyrics are quite ambiguous and so an interpretation of the lyrics
Music videos from boy bands such as One Direction and Justin Bieber portray the ideas and concepts of the artists as they are typically designed to appeal or feature female leads, as to attract the audience and portray the bands image

Do you agree with this? Explain your answer 

To a degree, yes
They may not necessarily be a enjoyable or good extension but they do expand upon pre-created content
Saying its "simply" the lyrics is maybe not looking at it in enough detail, other things have influences
Almost always reflects the mood or tone of the song e.g. Happy and Sad



Narrative Workshop:

For the next task we were challenged to create a narrative based on a short synopsis. We planned and filmed this the whole way through creating a narrative independent from the performance. Once the filming was complete we edited the narrative into a coherent storyline and exported it, after this we took our original performance and mixed it in with our new narrative attempting to portray the storyline whilst having our performance shots equally relevant and frequent.



Evaluation:
So far I have learnt that the mood of the song and lyrics can have a great effect upon the narrative, for example our narrative synopsis involved friends spreading rumours but due to the content of Taylor Swifts "Never Ever Getting Back Together" The story, unintentionally, came across in the style of a relationship.
 Furthermore I have learnt that choosing an appropriate song to construct with the narrative will improve both the clarity of the narrative and the relevance of the performers. In addition the use of multiple performers in our own music video made it unclear to the audience as to who they should identify with meaning that a solo performer who is at the centre or the narrative during filming would allow the audience to clearly see the main subject of both the narrative and lyrics. Finally the effectiveness of markers and lip-synching is greatly improved when the performer speaks the lyrics aloud as it makes the singing more believable and maths the vocals much more effectively.
I have also noticed that our music videos have been edited much differently from the film openings we made previously. For example the editing within our music videos are much more fast paced and quick using jump cuts and specific important shots to effectively communicate the narrative.

Peer Assessment:

What did you understand from the narrative ?

David- "There was a clear conflict between the man and the woman, with another person  continuing to spread rumours"

Luke- "Two people are together (man and women) the man goes on to gossip to another man behind her back, the girlfriend eventually finds out and they fight"


How well did it work alongside the song?

David- "Very well, the song was about break-ups a theme clearly shown within the narrative through the conflict between the characters"

Luke-"It  worked well with the music, because it follows a very similar narrative to that suggested by the song"


What did you think overall about the final outcome?

David- " It was effective although occasionally confusing due to multiple performers lacking a clear protagonist to identify with"

Luke- "It was a nice clear narrative that worked well with the music video creating an effective overall product that reflected the typical conventions of the a music video"

Lip-Syncing Workshop

Critique of Amatuer Taylor Swift's from Riko101

For this workshop we were challenged to create a short music video with a focus on performance, framing, composition and lip-syncing. We all used the Taylor Swift song "Never Ever Getting Back Together" and all videos were filmed on the school premises. After creating our music videos we then critiqued and evaluated our class mates own music videos suggesting improvements or alterations. Finally as a group

Poster

Composition

1st Attempt

2nd Attempt 

These pictures were taken in response to a task that reviewed our use of composition. We were given a theme to display or evoke through choice of objects/people and several of the techniques designed to aid and improve our composition. In my case I had to contrast broken and working taking this theme into account as well as the areas of: Depth of Field, Framing, Symmetry, Rule of thirds, Colour, Negative space and Leading Lines. After finishing our first attempts we reviewed our efforts as a class and decided to focus on specifically one or two of the key aspects listed.

 In my second attempt I had the focus of depth of field and rule of thirds, this helped me think about the framing of objects within the shot being subtle but by utilizing the depth of field they remained the focus of the composition.

I think if I were to take more pictures I would improve my focus on theme, as I don't think my objects/actions effectively reflected my theme. Also I would I have considered a more plain background in order to achieve a greater use of negative space adding to the use of compositions.

3rd Attempt 

Task 1- Skills Development

Post-Production: 

During our research and planning stage of our 2 minute film opening I took and extended look into the sub genres that were part of the overall genre of gangster film. We looked into and studied the conventions and styles of each genre by watching the openings and evaluating aspects such as mise en scene to study the typical characters and locations featured within each of the genres. From there we continued and decided that the sub-genre of British Gangster was the most appropriate to the resources and locations that were available to us.

We then researched into the companies behind these films and how they are funded, produced and distributed some famous and independent gangster films. We discovered that they were mostly funded by the larger conglomerates and then being produced by smaller film companies. Like our genre, we decided on a producer and distributor that was appropriate to the conditions under which we would be making our film based on this research. In addition we also went to look at the directors involved in gangster films researching into people such as Quentin Tarantino. Through this research we also studied his films for further conventions and techniques involved, discovering features of violence and crime that would be easy to replicate within our own film.

Now that we had researched into the style of film we were making and had a good idea of the production we began to research media theories such as Todorov and Barthes to gain insight into the structure behind films in general. This helped to understand the inner working and general pacing and production of a film also assisting in knowledge of the content of our opening. E.g.: How much story should be shown, Fast paced vs. slow paced etc.

Finally to gather additional ideas for our audience and how to appeal to them we sent out a survey using survey monkey that was able to gain responses about how they think the film should be paced and the story/themes within the film. This was incredibly useful for us as it allowed us to combine this knowledge with our genre research in order to make our film opening conventional yet appealing. In addition it allowed us to create our ideal audience member using voki, further crafting our target audience and our understanding  of them.

Planning:

Our next stage was applying our research and deciding how to utilize it in our final film. We begun with initial ideas in the form of a mind map and mood board, outlining costume, equipment, software and plot. We then went on to physically visit our locations and gather photos and video that would allow us to study and evaluate it beside our research. During this stage we created a slideshow containing and compressing our essential images and possible shot types for our final film. This helped to build upon our ideas and start to organize the filming stage of our coursework.

Once we found our location we began to turn our initial plot ideas into a script. During this time we applied our research into the dialogue and descriptions making sure that our slang and props were appropriate and relevant without hindering or restricting the story. In addition this allowed us to draw up a storyboard that assisted in deciding on shot types and props in a visual way that further helped with visualising the final piece. After this stage we were able to create both a costumes and props list describing what we needed in order to create our film. Furthermore we gathered any relevant items we had already and recorded them on our blog.   

Moreover we continued to plan detailed features of the film such as finding genre appropriate titles and music. The font was done using the internet and then comparison with the research to see if it was conventional. The music however consisted of contacting a local band in the area called The Showhawk Duo who cover traditional music in an acoustic style. Finally we continued arranging the production by contacting actors and creating a timetable that we could follow depending when each member was available.

Construction:

This stage involved the physical on location filming. Our initial stage was inconsistent and the sound/lighting was muffled and difficult to see. However it gave us a good experience into the interactions with the actors and actual filming including on location re-drafting and evaluating the shot types and plot. Although this initial film was not the standard  of quality we wanted to achieve it allowed us to look at the elements we thought were weak and decided on how to improve it whilst expanding on the elements that did work. Furthermore we also gained and recorded feedback from our class in order to gain outside opinions' and recommendations from some of our audience.

 We also went back and did several re-drafts of the script and various alternative edits to experiment and evaluate the features. It also allowed us to get in contact with our actors and create another filming schedule for re-filming to apply these improvements and suggestions.

Evaluation:

Our final stage allowed us to evaluate our final construction and our course work overall. We looked at how well we had been influenced by our inspirations, comparing screen shots from both our project and films such as Get Carter, 44 Inch Chest and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. We evaluated how well we were utilising lighting and composition of our shots in comparison.  Our next stage included evaluating our four main features: Mise en scene, Camera, Editing and Sound and the effectiveness of each stage we had used. The final stage involved considering the choices we made regarding the institutions and audiences, if they were appropriate and also how we attracted/ appealed to them. Finally we considered what we had learnt and gained from each stage including technology and our preliminary task, it let us see how we have progressed and the improvements made in every stage of our task.